A Monkey, Guitar, Flamingo & more

Tomorrow I'll be capping off a pretty solid week of training. Not a huge amount of hours, but some great intensity. I’ve been asked about my training, so I want to give you an idea of what my key workouts were this week.

Swim:
On Thursday Coach Lewin of the North Shore Swim Club switched things up a bit. We started with our usual warm-up and then he tossed a toy Monkey, Guitar and Flamingo into the pool and formed a triangle of sorts. The goal was to practice sighting and rounding the “buoys”. It was fun and it was a nice change of pace. We still put in plenty of swim time too.

Bike:
Coach Cap of Breakthrough Performance Coaching had us working hard this week. Some solid VO2 Max Intervals. They HURT! Keep in mind, these aren’t every week. If you are concerned or don’t have an understanding of when or how to do these workouts email Jeff.

jeffrey@breakthroughperformancecoaching.com


Bike 5' VO2 Max Intervals
Type: Bike
Planned duration: 1:30
Warm Up: 15' @ 65% FTP including 3 x 1' @ FTP and then 1' all out. Soft pedal for 5' and then get into the main set.
Main Set: 5 x 5' @ 115% of FTP (5' rest @ 65% of FTP)
Cool Down: Remainder of ride @ 65% FTP

Run:
Coach Cap gave us a tough run workout too. If done right you hate life and then love it because you know you worked your butt off!

Run Fartlek Pyramid 1'-4'
Type: Run
Planned distance: 6.0 miles
WU: 2 mile @ E pace, 4 x 20" strides (20")
MS: 1' (30"),2' (1'),3' (1:30),4' (2'),3' (1:30),2' (1') ,1' Run hard! Try to keep effort consistent. Learn to pace yourself and run with good form.
CD: 2 miles @ E pace

Additional Workouts:
Right now I’m also doing weights to build some strength and prevent injury.

Overall… so far so good.

Swim Update - when will it click?

It's not just mental. I know that I'm getting better at swimming, but it is so frustrating!!! I'm the last one on most sets and I don't understand why I'm not getting "it". Craig says my stroke is getting better, but there are some things I need to work on. I'll get there, but boy is this frustrating. Here is his analysis and the video:

Craig Lewin, North Shore Swim Club:
"Over the water is okay. Not to much to worry about. You need better body roll with the hips and to work on the timing of your rotation. Everything rolls together. Use six kicks and roll, 1 stroke six kicks, and 3 strokes 12 kicks to work on the roll.

Also on your pull notice how you cross over as you extend out and your turn your palm out before you pull. You need to keep the palm down toward the floor not thumb down to the side. This is causing you to sweep out slightly as you pull. The press and release drills and kicking on your side with your arm out front will help you correct this. Once you fix this you will have a better press and a deeper catch and pull. Also you are entering a little too deep so you can bring the hand up a little bit on entry. Your stroke is getting better we really just have to fix the roll and get a little more muscular endurance and power in the lats so you can really start gaining some speed.

Keep up the good work. If you have any questions please let me know."

Video Link: http://www.divshare.com/download/9999549-772

I have to say, Craig is awesome to work with. Super-supportive and he's making me better. It will happen!