04/11/03 Long-Course Meters Practice

04/11/03 This is the practice that I did at Lehman College in the Bronx, while my stepson was working out with his USS team. The Lehman pool is set up for long-course meters (50 meters). When I have this much uninterrupted water, I LOVE to put on flippers and cruise, incoporating a lot of combo swimming (breast/fly and back/free) into the practice.

WARMUP: 600
With flippers.
1 X 200 IM using all Head-Lead Drills (Head-Lead Body Dolphin, Head-Lead Side to Side, Head-Lead Body Dolphin on Your Back, Head-Lead Nose Up/Nose Down)

1 X 200 IM using all Hand-Lead Drills

1 X 200 IM using all Combo drills

MAIN SETS: 1000 + 200 + 500
With flippers.
5 X 200 IM on 4:00 sendoff, swum as:
50 alternating one stroke fly and one stroke breast
50 backstroke
50 Body-Dolphin Breast
50 freestyle
I did this as a descend set: 3:35, 3:35, 3:33, 3:30, 3:25. I did most of the time improvement on the freestyle laps.

200 EZ recovery

2nd MAIN SET:
With flippers.
10 X 50
Odds: Underwater Slinky with a Mini Pull (this drill is shown on our new DVD, GO SWIM BREASTSTROKE) Odd 50s were on a 1:15 sendoff.
Evens: Body Dolphin Breaststroke, focusing on reaching full extension on each stroke. Even 50s were on a 1:30 sendoff.
It was interesting to see how much faster I swim when i’m under water. My times on the Underwater Slinky 50s were :50. My times on the Body-Dolphin Breast 50s were 1:00. Dramatic difference.

WARMDOWN: 400
No flippers
Alternate 1 X 50 easy breaststroke kick and 1 X 50 EZ backstroke or freestyle

Total Yardage: 2700 meters