21 November 2020
LA Fitness - Barrie Cundles Road - 25 yards
Anytime over the last few weeks I have done a workout after watching one of the International Swimming League "matches," I have had great performances of my own. This past Saturday, after watching Day 1 of the Finals where multiple world and country-level records were set, I headed over to my usual pool to repeat my 400 IM Test Set.
Going into the water and even through most of my standard, "long" warmup of 1,750 yards, I didn't expect to perform very well. My body's been feeling quite knotted up and tight ever since Thursday, when I had to drive to and from Toronto. Three-plus hours in a car is just something I'm not used to anymore since the March lockdown, and I've been unable to foam roll or "yoga-out" the constrictions since then. I started to see a little light by the end of the warmup, thanks to thinking about all the great form I saw through the ISL racing, trying to replay these swimmers in my mind as I swam:
Fly - Be like Caleb Dressel (who crushed the world record in the 100)
Back - Though he didn't swim in the ISL Finals as his team didn't make the finals, Ryosuke Irie has the backstroke technique that I dream of attaining
Breast - I will never approximate any of the world's great breaststrokers, and even though he got third (while breaking the American Record but not getting it since Nic Fink was 2nd), Will Licon's smooth, long stroke is aspirational for me
Free - Though he didn't win big in the finals, Lithuania's Danas Rapsys has one of the most beautiful freestyles I've seen ... and he was so fast earlier in the season that he still won the 400 after miscounting and hanging on the wall for a bit after only 350 metres of swimming.
I then jumped right into my 400 IM test set, putting up my best performance since moving to Canada almost two years ago (but still a ways to go to catch my 46 year old self from 2013):
8 x 50: on 0:55, 2 each stroke, build the odds and make sure the evens are at target 400 IM race pace
My dream splits would be 29+ fly, 31+ back, 36+ breast, 29.0 free
10/10/13 - 29, 30+, 36-, 28-
01/26/20 - 34, 35, 40, 32
08/03/20 - 34, 35, 42, 32
09/21/20 - 37, 34, 42, 31+
10/02/20 - 32, 34, 40, 31
11/21/20 - 31, 32, 38, 29
1 x 50: on 1:20, easy breast kick w/snorkel
4 x 100: on 1:40, do as 100 IMs, descend to target 400 IM race pace divided by 4, ideally starting on #1 no slower than 12 seconds above that
SCY target would be to descend from 1:14+ to 1:02
10/10/13 - 1:11+, 1:10, 1:07, 1:03+
01/26/20 - 1:22, 1:18, 1:14+, 1:10
08/03/20 - 1:27, 1:20, 1:15, 1:13
09/21/20 - 1:25, 1:21, 1:18, 1:15
10/02/20 - 1:22, 1:18, 1:14+, 1:11++
11/21/20 - 1:17+, 1:14, 1:10+, 1:07
1 x 50: on 1:20, easy breast kick w/snorkel
2 x 200: on 3:00, build each stroke on #1, try to make #2 at target 400 IM race pace divided by two (e.g., 2:05+ in SCY)
10/10/13 - 2:28, 2:13+
01/26/20 - 2:42, 2:27
08/03/20 - 2:57, 2:37
09/21/20 - 2:48, 2:37
10/02/20 - 2:45+, 2:31
11/21/20 - 2:42, 2:25
4 x 50: active recovery on 0:45, 0:50, 0:55, 1:30
1 x 400: IM on 5:20, hard
10/10/13 - 4:36 (1:05, 1:09, 1:20, 1:02)
01/26/20 - 5:05
08/03/20 - 5:30
09/21/20 - 5:18
10/02/20 - 5:09
11/21/20 - 4:58.7 (thanks Garmin Swim 2 watch for timing me!)
4 x 50: active recovery on 0:45, 0:50, 0:55, 1:30
After that, I took another run at my 400 kick for time and just squeaked under six minutes, going 5:59.6!
Now, I just need to find some fast swimmers to watch every time before I workout!