Wednesday January 6, 2010:
When I was a swimmer in high school, the 2 most favorite events were the 500 meter freestyle (and longer, if available), and the Individual Medley (IM). For those who do normally see swimming meets, this is an Olympic event that combines the 4 main strokes, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle into one event, in that order.
Although all of my competitive swims are now freestyle (do you really think I will use the butterfly for 2.4 miles in the Ironman?), I frequently revisit the other 3 strokes in my training just to keep myself sharp on those strokes. Just in case I get the urge to attend a swim meet again.
This particular workout is all specialty strokes. After the 500 meter warmup I do several 100 meter IMs, then do some kicking drills for all strokes, then finish up with a more challenging 200 meter IM.
Times were very good for the 100 meter IMs (on 2:20); 1:33, 1:33, 1:33, 1:32, and 1:31. Negative splitting is key here. Second are the kicking drills. These consisted of 12x100m untimed intervals with fins and the kicking board, doing each of the 4 strokes 3 times. It is designed to strengthen and perfect the kicking stroke by channeling power from the core muscles.
After working on the kicks I then do the more challenging 200m IM. Every stroke was strong throughout the interval and finished 3:04, nearly the same pace as with the 100m IMs. Excellent!
In all, 2400 meters of swimming total for today.
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