08/01/06 Final Taper Practice in 25-Yard Pool

I usually do this practice or a version of it as a last official workout before a big meet. It lets me compare times from meet to meet, to see where I stand.

WARMUP: 600
No equipment, and real EZ.
50 dolphin
50 flutter
50 breast
200 free/back

250 breast kick in all positions, including some eggbeater kick

MAIN SET: 1825
On all the fast swims in this set, I was focusing on exhaling and relaxing into the speed. Trying not to swim tense. Before each swim, I checked to make sure my pulse was back down to 80 or 90 bpm.

4 X 50 breast kick with a standard kickboard on 1:15 descend [went 48…46…45…44 — not too stellar compared to other times, but my legs are feeling a little tired]

200 EZ EZ with pull buoy — back and free

1 X 200 breast race pace from a push, holding 8 strokes…8 strokes…9 strokes…10 strokes by 50. Focus on touching each wall in streamline and staying low on the turns. Also working on not gliding quite so far on the pushoff, to give me more air for a better breakout. [Went 3:02.]

200 EZ with the pull buoy

1 X 100 breast race pace from a push, holding 8, 9, 10, 10 strokes. [Went 1:25.]

200 EZ with pull buoy

1 X 100 breast race pace from push, holding same stroke count {Went 1:25.]

200 EZ with pull buoy

1 X 50 breast from push, holding 9, 10 strokes [Went 38.]

100 EZ with pull buoy

1 X 50 breast controlled all out from push, holding 10, 10 [Went 38.]

125 EZ with pull buoy

4 X 25 all-out breast controlled all out from a start and with a turn but no breakout — swim back EZ each time

WARMDOWN: 75 EZ

Total Yardage: 2500