Man where did the week go? It's a good thing I wrote things down or there would be nothing to post. At any rate I've been working my way back into a routine. At this time of year I attend to things like strength, flexibility and endurance. I also focus a ton on technique. So, except were technique gets difficult, the majority of my work is deeply aerobic. To make sure it stayed that way, I had a brief email conversation with runner/blogger Lucho. We talked about MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) specifically where it pertains to swimming intensity at this point in my training cycle.
Somewhere I'd read that swimming was a sport where intensity could be high year round (don't ask me where - I don't remember). But after reading a bit more about MAF, I came to the conclusion that this could not be right so, I checked with Lucho who is a big proponent of MAF and his results speak volumes as to the soundness of the protocol. As a result of our conversation my swim plans for the next few months have changed. I will be training in the pool the way I did last year which was something on the order of 90% drill 10% swim until about 8 weeks out from my goal race. I had planned to join a masters swim group this winter, and I still may to break up the monotony of the drill work. I just won't make interval swimming a steady diet in training until much later this year.
So here's what I've been up to this week. Monday was a 75 min bike ride and 90 min of yoga. Tue was a 1 hour run followed by a 45 min walk, then a 60 min bike ride followed by a 30 min drill swim session. Wednesday was a 2 hour run then 30 min of yoga. Nothing fancy but I'm feeling more and more like an athlete again.
2 comments:
Fred, you have incredible perseverance if you are spending 90% of your time doing drills. By the time I am done with my swim, all I want to do is take in some protein as quickly as possible and rehydrate. I have only recently been spending the last part of my swim workout doing drills. Tedious work, but worthwhile.
Yeah I found out a couple of years ago that I actually got faster focusing on drills if I prepared properly. Intervals incorporated later after the time spent on drills helps me to solidify the technique and strength work. So right now now I work on my overall body strength and movement patterns, add the drills in the water that focus on streamlining and generating power through my core. This means my swimming is purposeful, less time consuming (usually no more than 30 min) and restorative. I can use the extra time/energy to focus on cycling and running.
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