Week 4 - "Cross Training"

“Irony is a disciplinarian feared only by those who do not know it, but cherished by those who do”
Soren Kierkegaard

I spoke of Evan in my writings yesterday. His youthful talent of speed is untapped and uncontrolled at this point. Evan has been swimming with a bunch of 40 something swimmers for the past 3 months. He continues to learn from our experiences on pacing and planning but he continues to be impatient and quick to go instead of focusing on the team of swimmers and using each one of them to his advantage. This not a dig on Evan, he is a nice kid, but his “need for speed” is not controlled.

Well, today he got a taste of what speed is. Lane 2 was unbalanced in swimmers with only Michelle and Jeremiah in the lane after a few swimmers exited early. Coach Mike decided after warm up to throw Evan into the lane to equal out Lane 1 and Lane 2. Reluctantly Evan dipped under the lane line into the Autobahn of lanes.

Coach Mike’s Workout:

300M Smooth
200M Single Arm Stroke with paddles & fins
200M Catch-up with paddles and fins
3 X 500M with paddles & fins on the 8:00’s
5 X 200M Descending on the 3:40’s
3:30, 3:25, 3:15, 3:10, 3:05
10 X 100M Descending on the 1:45’s
1-5: 1:40, 1:37, 1:35, 1:33, 1:30
6-10: 1:40, 1:37, 1:35, 1:33, 1:30
100M Smooth
250M Drills
150M Kick

In Lane 1 minus Evan was, Melissa, Chandelier, Brian and myself. Brian was the taskmaster of the group this morning by taking charge and making sure we were on our marks. Brian did a good job at keeping us honest throughout the whole workout.

The workout was challenging but not exhausting this morning. The paddle sets could have been reduced to 2 X 500M or even 1 X 500M and workout to more sets. A few of the swimmers are not used to paddles and they need to get accustom to the feel and power needed in using this tool. Paddle sets are a great way to build you strength and acclimate yourself for rougher open water swims.

Pool conditions: D+. Cloudy, gritty, but the bottom only had a few pieces of debris floating. The balance was off a little with the chemicals. Hands were pruned when I got out and the water burned the eyes.

After the swim I talked to Evan. He kept indicating how fast Michelle was and how he struggled to keep up with her. Michelle is 5 years younger than Evan, so you see the irony yet? I told Evan about Michelle’s swimming history briefly, which comes to find out he had no clue about, and in the end of our conversation, Evan saw the light. He said to me, “Well that explains her speed”.

Lane 1 has shown Evan the ropes of swimming in a group of 4-6 swimmers over the past couple of months, but it is time he ventures out into waters that are more treacherous. A good test for him would be, Michelle, Carmen, Susan and Evan in one lane. Then we will see whose feet will be slapped.

Seriously though, it would be good for Evan to develop more technique by swimming with “real” swimmers. Evan has topped out in our lane. I could push him more, but that would disrupt the flow of the group in Lane 1, which is not my objective. The objective is to push all the swimmers in Lane 1. Evan has graduated to Lane 2.