Week 34: Coach’s Notes, Upcoming Events, and Workouts of the Week

Home Forums Programs (open access) Masters Swim Program (MSP) Week 34: Coach’s Notes, Upcoming Events, and Workouts of the Week

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #20661
    chucifer
    Participant

    <p style=”text-align: left;”>Week 34: Coach’s Notes, Upcoming Events, and Workouts of the Week</p>
    Swimmers,

    There are three weeks to go before we arrive at our NTP/ODP/HIM goal races for this season and I’d like to take a moment to address the plan for the next few weeks.

    Our program is currently designed to push you towards these goal races. If you happen to NOT have these races as a goal race, that’s okay. Just join in and treat them like any other practice. If you have these goal races (or others) on your calendar, know that you have approximately two weeks of solid work left to go and then a week of taper.

    For these next three weeks of work, please make time to swim at least three times a week if not more. Unlike running and cycling, the amount of repetition to maintain technique in swimming is very high and for you to keep your technique until race day, try to not have more than 2 days off between swims. If you are time crunched and cannot make practice, find a local pool and even if you swim for 20 minutes, that’s better than not swimming at all.

    This is absolutely important during taper as well. For those that don’t know, Taper is the period of time right before a race when one intentionally reduces the volume and retains intensity to introduce more freshness to one’s body for optimal race performance. This period of time can be as short as a day for less important races and as long as a couple of weeks or more depending on the individual, the race importance, and the race distance. There’s no exact science to tapering, however, we will do our best to get you ready! So keep your eyes out for these weekly posts as we get closer to race day and understand that our expectation is that you will accomplish the recommended taper centric workouts with or without us so that you’ll be best prepared for the swim!

    As with last week, we’d ask that you BE PRESENT during the workouts and think about how the set will help your race. If the set asks you to start hard and ease into your swim, visualize your race start. If the set asks you to build your speed, visualize the end of your swim as you push hard to the swim exist. With deck ups, before you get to the wall, think about what you’ll have to do once you get to transition. Visualize exiting the water, getting your legs under you and moving quickly to transition and checking off all those actions so you can get on the bike quickly! The more you visualize and run through what you need to do and experience how you should feel when you’re swimming at your race pace, the better off you’ll be for race day.

    As with the last few weeks, we are stopping warmups at 6 AM for the UDC sessions and 7:10 PM for our Wilson sessions to provide more time for the main set. This shortened warmup time is to primarily mimic races with minimal warmup opportunities so that your bodies are used to the need to get going quickly, however, if you feel that 10 minutes of warm up is insufficient for your current fitness, we recommend that you arrive early to practice and either use resistance cords, light calisthenics, or, if possible, get into the pool. Warmups will be continue to be either a choice of the suggested warmup or an opportunity for you to practice your own open water warmup. If you need suggestions for an open water swim warmup, see the info section below.

    Good luck with your training and as always, if you have questions, feel free to post on our Facebook page or, as always, you can email us at masters@dctriclub.org

    Happy Swimming!
    -Your Masters Coaches

    For day to day announcements and interaction, we use Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/212967452505458/

    General Information:

    Recommended Gear: https://www.swimoutlet.com/dctmasters/ **Please come to practice with a swimmer’s snorkel and paddles. Please use resistance cords at home or right before practice.**

    Core Exercises: 3 minutes of front plank and 3 minutes of superman exercises three days a week. If you can’t hold a front plank for a minute, go for 30 seconds. If 30 seconds is too much, go for 15 seconds and repeat that until you get up to a total of 3 minutes
    How to do a front plank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7IuxfKFDzE (If you would like an easier version, try a high plank by supporting yourself with your hands. For an even easier version, plank from your knees)
    How to do a superman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6PJMT2y8GQ

    Sighting Steps:
    There are multiple times that you can sight, but effectively, the best time to sight is right at the moment when one of your arms is right at the beginning of the catch. Once in that position, in one fluid motion, pull hard and *slightly* downward and lift your whole head out of the water, not just your eyes.
    Once your head comes out of the water, take a quick mental snapshot of what you’re seeing and immediately put your head back down into the water with your nose pointed down. Do NOT keep looking forward with your head in or out of the water. If you do so, you create a severe amount of drag and can slow your momentum down significantly.
    Once your head is back in a normal swimming position, review your mental snapshot to see if you are able to identify what you saw. If the answer is yes, then continue swimming. If the answer is no, repeat the sighting steps until you understand what you’re seeing.
    As for adding breathing to this motion, you can breathe before or after your sighting. I recommend sighting first, then turning your head and breathing in as you lower your head into the water. I recommend this method because it limits the lateral motion that can happen with your head if you breathe then try to lift your rotating head to sight.

    Seasonal Reminders:
    We are continuing to do ‘Deck Ups’ and as detailed previously the goal of this skill is to help acclimate you to the rigors of getting out of the water and into a vertical position to mimic transitions in a triathlon. We would like you to, when directed, to get out of the pool (in a safe manner) at the end of the interval, stand up, and touch something a few feet away, then return to the pool safely. Remember, Do NOT, under any circumstances, jump into the water with a swimmer coming into the wall inside the flags. As always, our coaches will be guiding you through these workouts so please listen to them closely when Deck Ups come around! Further, please be sure that when someone else is getting out of the water, if you are behind them, to give them enough space in case they don’t make it out of the pool completely!
    With the region’s outdoor triathlon season starting, many of the swims are requiring wetsuits. If you haven’t had a chance to practice swimming with your wetsuit on, please come to practice ON FRIDAYS to gain familiarity with swimming with a wetsuit. Knowing how your body position changes with a wetsuit on is very important for those looking to maximize your race experience. If you would like to join us with your wetsuit, please arrive extra early so that you have time to put on your wetsuit. We expect that you will be ready to go when the practice starts. Please don’t forget any tools you might need to help you put your wetsuit on or to prevent chafing!
    With all of the sighting and Deck Ups, please be kind to your shoulders! Shoulder mobility and strength exercises can greatly help prevent injury! These skills are strength dependent and as such, if they become too much for you, please let a coach know! We understand the challenge and don’t have a problem giving you an adjusted exercises to better suit your needs! Mobility drills below!
    If you happen to be racing on any given weekend, please let the coaches know! We can adjust the workouts for you so that you can effectively practice skills, maintain your fitness, and prime your body for your race. Also, if you happen to have just raced on the weekend and you’re jumping right back into practice, please let a coach know as well! The coaches can adjust the workouts so that you can maximize recovery while maintaining your skills and your fitness without digging yourself into a training hole.

    Open Water Warmup Recommendations:
    If you have the opportunity to warm up in the water for more than 5-10 minutes: Swim out easy to a buoy (or a point) approximately 100-200m out and practice a turn around the buoy. On the way back, alternate between 20 easy strokes and 20 hard strokes with sighting. Do this again if you have the time available. If you don’t have any more time to warm up, relax and swim easy.
    Another good warmup if you have in-water time is to do a descending and then ascending ladder of easy strokes and hard strokes. Written out, this is 40 easy strokes, 40 hard strokes, 30 easy, 30 hard, … 10 easy, 10 hard, 20 easy, 20 hard… 40 easy, 40 hard.
    If you do not have the opportunity to warmup in the water for more than 5 minutes or if you are in a middle wave: Bring your resistance cords to the swim start and find a place to set them up. With enough time to put away your cords, perform 3×50** pulls with the middle 10-20 pulls hard and all other pulls easy (take a half to full step forward). Then, once you are allowed to get into the water for your wave start, get in as soon as possible and swim around easily in the start area with good form until the race start. (**This assumes you have been doing the recommended resistance cord pulls before practice and know how to use the cords. Reduce this value if you haven’t been doing the recommended exercises)

    Shoulder Mobility: Start this video at 6:10 and with the last exercise, you can do it against a wall (aka Wall Angel) starting from a superman position: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5BuC-bZ9WQ

    Upcoming Events:
    Club NTP/ODP/HIM Goal Races: July 7th & 8th, Williamsburg, VA http://www.rev3tri.com

    Workouts of the week:
    Monday
    Pre-Workout: 3×50 Resistance Cord Pulls. Bring your cords to the pool, get there early and crank through these before the workout.
    Warm Up:
    10 Mins On Your Own to practice your race day warmup
    or:
    300 EZ (BOP: 200)
    6×50 Descend on 10s Rest

    Main:

    3×300 on TP + 0:35 Race Start Pace for 150, ease into Threshold Pace (MOP:3×200/BOP:2×200)

    600 Threshold Pace with 2:00 Rest (MOP:500/BOP:400)

    2×300 Build & Sight once per length (MOP:2×250/BOP:2×200)

    3×100 with Deck Up (wall) on 20s Rest

    200 Warmdown


    Wednesday
    Pre-Workout: 3×50 Resistance Cord Pulls. Bring your cords to the pool, get there early and crank through these before the workout.
    Warm Up:
    10 Mins On Your Own to practice your race day warmup
    or:
    300 EZ (BOP: 200)
    6×50 Descend on 10s Rest

    Main: Challenge Set!

    3×1000 (MOP: 3×800/ BOP: 3×700) on 2:00 Rest
    #1: 200 Race Start Pace into TPace+1-5s
    #2: Sight once per length @ TPace+1-5s
    #3: TPace+1-5s into Build last 300

    Pace for each interval should be at Threshold Pace + 1-5s per 100. Goal time should be between your 1000 time trial time and 50s slower (adjust accordingly for MOP/BOP)

    Pull with Buoy and SKL until end of practice

    200 Warmdown

    Friday
    Pre-Workout: 3×50 Resistance Cord Pulls. Bring your cords to the pool, get there early and crank through these before the workout.
    Warm Up:
    10 Mins On Your Own to practice your race day warmup
    or:
    300 EZ (BOP: 200)
    6×50 Descend on 10s Rest

    Main:
    500 @ 70-80% Sight once every 8 strokes. (MOP:400/BOP:300)

    5×100: on TP+15 or 15s Rest (MOP:4x/BOP:3x)

    Interrupted 500 @ 70-80% Deck Up (Touch a Wall) at 200 and 400 (MOP:400/BOP:300)

    5×100: on TP+15 or 15s Rest (MOP:4x/BOP:3x)

    500 Pull with @ 80% (MOP:400/BOP:300)

    200 Warmdown

    Longer Distance Swimmer Added Set: Add to any day after the main set. This is NOT a replacement for the main set.

    HIM:
    600 Swim sighting once per length, 1:00 Rest, 600 Pull @ 70%
    Focus on maintaining form after every sighting

    IM and Longer:
    800 Swim sighting once per length, 1:30 Rest, 800 Pull @ 70%
    Focus on maintaining form after every sighting

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
You need to be a paid member in order to access this topic: Join, or Login if you’re a member.