06/02/05 CCB Masters New Toy

I recently purchased an 8-inch swim parachute. The chute is a piece of soft yellow plastic that clips onto a long piece of webbing, which in turn clips onto belt that goes around your waist. You push off and start swimming, and before you know it that tiny piece of yellow plastic feels ENORMOUS as it drags behind you. It offers a great aerobic workout, but the best thing is that it teaches you things about your stroke -- like where you have dead spots...or how your head position affects your speed...or how your rhythm affects your speed. I wanted everyone on the team to be able to try the parachute today, so here's what we did. The fastest lane did the parachute set first -- right after the first set of 100s. The next fastest lane used the chute next -- right after the second set of 100s, etc., until each lane got a chance to do the chute set. During the set, the swimmers in the lane do one 50 with the chute, then hand it off to the next swimmer.WARMUP: 400400 your choice, on your ownTRIATHLON SET: 1004 X 25 freestyle, swimming three abreast in each lane. Don't be afraid to make contact. If there are only two swimmers in a lane, one of them should swim right down the middle of the lane.MAIN SET: 19004 X 100 freestyle pull with pull buoy, except that the 2nd length of each 100 is sculling in stroke -- IM order* Fastest lane did the parachuet set here.6 X 50 your choice of stroke. A different swimmer uses the chute on each 50.4 X 100 freestyle with no equipment, except that the 1st length of each 100 is stroke -- IM order.4 X 100 freestyle with fins, except that the 3rd length of each 100 is stroke -- IM order.4 X 100 with finsOdds: IMEvens: FreestyleWARMDOWN: 100 EZTotal Yardage: 2500