I did not row today, but I did drive by the lake at 5:55AM on my way to swim. I swim Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings at a local community college with Coach Marcia. I started swimming with Marcia almost two years ago. Rowing, working, traveling, and moving got in the way of swimming, and I stopped going after a few months. Plus, it was so hard to get up every swim morning. I am not a swimmer, and the idea of jumping into cold water on a cold day was hardly a motivator for me to crawl out of bed.
About six months ago, I was experiencing some left hip pain from rowing and was looking for a way to cross train. I rejoined Marcia’s 6AM swim group and have been swimming since. For me, swimming is great cross training because it requires muscles that rowing does not. It helps to develop upper body and core strength and puts less stress on your body than rowing or running.
About six months ago, I was experiencing some left hip pain from rowing and was looking for a way to cross train. I rejoined Marcia’s 6AM swim group and have been swimming since. For me, swimming is great cross training because it requires muscles that rowing does not. It helps to develop upper body and core strength and puts less stress on your body than rowing or running.
Marcia’s 6AM swim is an hour long, beginning with about 25 minutes of warm-up. The warm-up consists of 6x50yd free that usually includes a drill, 6x50yd kicking with fins, and 6x50yd pulling with a pull-buoy. The remaining 35 minutes is dedicated on the main set. This morning, the main set was as many sets as time allowed of 2x50yd free easy and 1x50yd free sprint; we did 7 sets. If you are a rower, you can think of the workout as 7x(500m-easy, 250m-sprint) on the erg or on the water. At first glance, the workout seems easy because the recovery time is two times the on time, but if you are really pushing yourself during the sprint (and Marcia is standing on the sidelines, yelling at you), you will find that you need that recovery time.
My splits for the sprints were 36, 36, 34, 36, 34, 33, and 33 seconds. I was a little frustrated with my sprints because I did not feel any “explosiveness” typical to sprints. My times definitely improved and I did feel stronger as the workout went on, but I lost a lot of time in the turns and push offs from the wall. According to Marcia, in the last five strokes, starting about at the flags, do not take any breaths, keep your head down, and speed up your arms. If you are a rower, think of it as increasing the rate in the last 250m, but do continue breathing and keep your head up!
If you ever wondered what it looks like swimming at 6 in the morning...
No comments:
Post a Comment