Thursday February 18, 2016

Picture taken at the OTC in Colorado Springs

T2 Aquatics athletes did one of two sets yesterday:

Set #1:  4x600 Free on (8:00) descend 1-4

                       

Set 1 bonus (this ended up being a goal for Jack on this day.  We didn’t have anyone else that is close.  We will keep throwing it out there!).  Here is how it’s done:

*Do the first 300 at 2:56-3:00, and then get to either 3:49 at the 400, 4:19 at the 450, 4:49 at the 500, or 5:19 at the 550.

*You can stop early if you get to the time!

*You can’t go out faster than 2:56 to do it.  It’s all about being good on the way, and amazing coming home.

*For any female athletes who can’t get the first one, I’d accept going out in 3:04-3:08, and getting to 4:03, 4:33, 5:03, or 5:33.  So, the female athletes have to go some 29s at the end to get the goal.  If they don’t do the 29s to finish, then they do the whole 600.

Most of our athletes are apparently not ready for these goals, at least not for yesterday.  I thought a few girls would have been closer, considering we’ve seen Emma and Karen average sub 408 for 3 400s in a row last week.  But to do this kind of set you’ve got to be very ready, and very energized, and even then it’s going to be tough.  It’s too difficult without high intensity and great focus…it’s a different type of mentality than a simple descend.  A strong descend is challenging, especially if it’s fast at the beginning and fast at the end, but it’s still not as physically-taxing as going 2:56 + 53.5 or 3:05 + 58.5.

Jack was able to get this set done in the way described above.  His first one he had no idea what he was supposed to do, and he simply went out at swam a fast 3:46.  However, his first 300 was a 2:50, and the rules of the set say you’ve got to go out in 2:56-3:00…and THEN find a way to get 11 seconds under :30 per 50 pace (3:49, 4:19, 4:49, or 5:19).  So if you think about it, Jack can really hit the jets and be done at a 400, or he can mildly hit the jets and be done in a 450 or a 500 or a 550. 

So, the first one, for the first 400 he went 3:46 (2:50 + 56) ….so he didn’t actually do the goal.  Normally he would have to finish the 600, but I took the time to explain the set to him again so that he could really get it.  To be clear, he went fast enough on number 1 (3:49 is the goal) but didn’t do it right (he went out too fast).

On number 2, he tried valiantly but failed, going 3:50.4 (257.2 + 53.2).  So he couldn’t stop at the 400, and because he took the chance to touch the wall and stop at the 400 for 2-3 seconds – there was no reasonable way he could make the goal for the 450, 500, or 550….so he had to do the whole 600.  Bummer.

On number 3, he got it.  3:49.8 (256.4 + 53.4).  He stopped at the 400 and could skip the lengths while everyone else was swimming.  He did 2x50s easy during the 4 minutes + he had on the wall.

On number 4, he went 3:49.1 (255.5 + 53.6).  I told him he could be 255 or so if needed, but not faster…I could tell he was holding himself back on number 3 to be only 256 or 257. 

I want to do 15x200 (230), every 3^rd Fast and Negative Split with a handful of guys.  I’d say Jack is ready to be 55.5-54.2 for some 149.7s, or faster, on that type of set.  I’d also like to do 10x300 and 3x1000.  Coming up soon guys!

Many of the athletes did a simple 4x600 descend.  Cole went 6:01-6:02-5:58, 5:58 – a very good set for him.  Paolo went 6:18, 6:08, 6:04, 5:55.  Karen was 816 and 812 on the end.  Those were probably our top times. 

Set #2 12x200 Free – we did one on (2:30), and one on (3:00).  The athletes had to do the first one well on 2:30, and then go fast on all even numbered swims.  There were 6 rounds on the set, but we told the athletes that they could get out of 1 or 2 of them by swimming fast.  So we put it out there that we wanted 4 of their best efforts, defined by this scale:

200 Free PR 1:49 or better: get within 10 seconds of your time

200 Free PR 1:50-1:54:  get within 9 seconds of your time

200 Free PR 1:55-1:59:  get within 7 seconds of your time

200 Free PR 2:00-2:04:  get within 4 seconds of your time

The times were good and often just under the goal.  Here are a few.

Davis (PR 1:49):        1:57, 1:47, 1:56, 1:56

Keiran (PR 1:51):     1:56, 1:57, 1:58, 1:56

Bean (PR 1:56):        2:03, 2:00, 2:00, 2:01

Matt (PR 1:49):         1:55, 1:54, 1:54, 1:53

Wyatt (PR 1:48):       1:57, 1:57, 1:58, 1:56

Rip (PR 1:42):           1:50, 1:51, 1:51, 1:51

Aaron (PR 1:48):       1:59, 1:58, 1:56, 1:57

Alex (PR 1:52):          1:59, 1:58, 1:57, 1:58