04/24/05 Long-Course Breast Drill Practice

I was down in New York City this weekend and had a chance to swim at my old home pool -- Asphalt Green. Every Sunday morning they configure this 50-meter indoor pool for long-course swimming, so how can you pass up an opportunity like that? I love to do drills in an LCM pool because you can get a rhythm going and really tune in to whatever drill you're doing. WARMUP: 1000 + 200With Zura Alpha Fins, swim 1000 continuous:200 Head-Lead "IM"200 Hand-Lead "IM"200 Single-Arm Drill "IM"200 2L/2R Drill "IM"200 2L/2R/2 whole-stroke Drill "IM"All "freestyle" lengths were swum as regular freestyle, experimenting with the wide-catch armstroke that I learned at a weekend swim clinic (at Asphalt Green) with Karlyn Pipes-Nielson. PS If Karlyn ever hosts a clinic in a pool near you, GO! She has a really interesting freestyle stroke, and a progression to help you learn it. I'm still experimenting with it, and want to test it out with some intervals to see if it increases my speed. The wide-entry armstroke has certainly worked for Karlyn, who is swimming faster in her 40s than she ever did. Last year she set 11 world Masters records! 200 EZ breaststroke kick in various positions to get knees warmed up.BREASTSTROKE DRILL SET: 10005 X 200 on 5:00 sendoff, swum as:50 Breast Drill50 Hand-Lead Breast Kick on Back50 Breast Drill25 Hand-Lead Breast Kick on Front + 25 FAST whole-stroke Breaststroke#1: Drill is Breast with an Extra Kick#2: Drill is speeded-up Cobra, focus on pulling the hips forward.#3: Drill is Breast Breathing Every Other Stroke#4: Drill is Fast-Hands Breast#5: Drill is speeded-up Cobra, focus on pulling the hips forwardSwam all of these in 4:00 to 4:05WARMDOWN: 300300 with pull buoy, alternating 50 freestyle pull (with wide entry) and 50 whole-stroke breast (with the pull buoy)Total Yardage: 2500m