04/14/04 Breaststroke Taper Flying Blind

I'm on a family vacation this week. It's not the ideal way to taper for a big meet next week, but sometimes there's nothing you can do about schedules. It's been kind of an interesting challenge to work on speed in various motel pools! For example, in the following practice, I was in a really nice pool, but I had no idea how long it was (my guess is 22.5 yards or so). There were no lane lines and no gutters, so it was choppy, and of course there was no pace clock. But sometimes it's a good thing to be flying blind. It forces you to focus more on FEEL than on time. During the main set, I gradually decreased the yardage of the intervals, and increased my stroke rate. I tried to focus on turning in one continuous motion. I'm not used to flat walls, and they revealed that my turns were a little choppy -- that I've been relying too heavily on my fingers and arms to get me to the wall and turned around. WARMUP: 700 700 EZ, alternating free, back, and breaststroke kick.TETHER SET: 440 + 100The only anchor for my tether was a handrail in the play area of the pool, so I swam diagonally across the pool and back -- a distance of about 40 yards. 9 X 40 breaststroke tether1 X 80 breaststroke tether100 EZMAIN SET: 1100 + 4002 X 200 with fins, alternating 25 Underwater Body Dolphin and 25 Above-Water Body Dolphin100 EZ2 X 150 with no equipment, alternating 25 breast drill and 25 breast. Focus on super-extending the shoulders and arms after each pull.100 EZ2 X 100, alternating 25 breast drill and 25 breast100 EZ2 X 50 Head-Lead Breaststroke Kick, with 5 Rocket Launchers before each 50100 EZ4 X 25 FAST breast with turn and pulloutWARMDOWN: 200Total Yardage: About 3000