Session 4 – Bit harder
Warm up
200 freestyle
100 backstroke
Main set
16 x 25 freestyle kick on the 1 min
10 x 25 freestyle on the: 45 seconds
5 x 100 backstroke on the 2:20
100 breaststroke
10 x 25 backstroke on the: 45
Cool down
50 freestyle slow
Well, it’s been a week and a very long week at that. I was able to make it to the pool three times this week which I was quite pleased about. I have to say that it was a very long, tiring, draining but thoroughly enjoyable weak. So for those who don’t know I work at our local University. I am the gym supervisor as well as the head coach of our local Aquatic Centre.
Nearly back to normal
This week was our first swim training week back at the pool after a nice break. In a normal week I start at the pool are 6 am (so I’m up at 5 usually) then at 7:30 I had to the University. From 8 am until 3:30 pm I run the gym. Each day I everything I can to make our university students get the best experience from the gym as possible. Then 2 afternoons a week I had back to three pool from 4 pm until 7 pm. Some people say that their job is ok. Others might say they love their job. I honestly can say I love both my jobs.
So why am I telling you all this? Well, this is purely from the perspective of a back story position. Everybody has a busy life and I’m not trying to point out mine is any busier than anybody else’s. Instead of having one child most people have two or three however instead of having two jobs most people have one. So please do not get the wrong idea I’m not trying to make myself out to be a hero. I’m just like everybody else trying to the best I can in as many areas as I can.
Long week
Our squad stopped swim training about 
mid-December and reconvened on the 7th of January. If you’re a coach and reading this then I’m sure you’re sitting in the saying middle of your summer season that too long to have a break and any other year I would agree. However, the past 6 months of our squad has seemed to be in a bit of a struggle not only for me as a head coach but for some of the kids in the squad as well. I have to say that break gave me a great chance to recharge. Coming back it the year we held a swim training intensive week. For the swim training intensive week this year we took a different spin on it. We didn’t do a whole lot of technique work but we did do a lot of hard work.
During our intensive swim training week were able to talk to 2 Olympic swimmers, which included Ariarne Titmus and David Morgan. These two athletes are without a doubt 2 of Australia’s best swimmers. I must admit I was lucky enough to line these up and I am very grateful to both athletes for spending the time to chat to the squad via video. Our intensive sessions went for three hours and for nearly all of those the kids spent 2 1/2 hours in the pool. They all went above and beyond and I’m so proud of all of them. Back to my own Blog.
More sleep required
This week has been pretty good, as mentioned it’s been long but it’s been very beneficial. 13 hour days have taken their toll. However, now that it’s the weekend I intend to get a lot more sleep tonight and tomorrow night. I really don’t want to fall into the same trap and get backlogged on my sleep. It’s one area I really have to work hard on.
On time
So this morning I was up and at the pool right on 6 am. I wrote my program up on the whiteboard and instead of actually sliding in the water I dived in. I have to say that my dives also need a lot of work. Today’s session was about 1500 m and I tried to include a bit of Sprint work. The problem with sprinting for me at the minute is I can’t seem to move my arms fast enough. So my solution is at the next training session to put on fins, kick faster and force my arms to try and keep up with my legs. If you want it to swim fast you have to train fast.
I also included some kick in the session and noticed a small twinge in my left knee. I need to keep an eye on this so it doesn’t get worse and the whole process doesn’t derail before it gets started. The upside of my training session was that I got some quality backstroke in and this boosted my confidence a little. This fat old dog might be able to get somewhere.
Swimming through my first 200 warm up I started to think Sunday is going to be a struggle. This coming Sunday the local Bathurst swimming club summer qualifying meet is on. Previously I thought that might chances of getting into the races were zero. Somehow, I’ve been lucky enough to get entered into two events. It’s a great opportunity for me to try and qualify for the New South Wales Country Championships but to be totally honest, I think its too soon. The worst case scenario is that I get to official times under my belt.
After swim training this morning I’m not sure how I’m going to go, but I will give it a red hot go. I only have two races 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke. I’m only planning on doing the two races because at the New South Wales Country Championships. What the real problem is that multi-class athletes such as myself can only do 5 events ( rant coming later). So there’s not much point trying to squeeze in the 50 fly and the 50 breaststroke because my breaststroke is not great and I know I’m not fit to do 50 fly.
The weigh-in
I have decided to weigh myself every Friday
just to gauge whether I actually am losing weight putting on muscle, however at this stage I’m not sure what the difference is, but it does feel like I’m losing weight. Currently, I am 78 kilos and I think I have about 5 or 6 kilos to shed before I start feeling a big difference in water.
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