Descending and Kicking

Wednesday morning:  I was pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up and find my back mostly recovered from last night's workout.  That did not mean I was eager to get out of bed, especially when I forgot to set the coffee maker!

The main swim set today was:

1.  3x150yds free, descending or getting faster with each piece, and 2x25yds of overkick or slow arms and big kick between pieces
2.  3x150yds free, descending with each piece, and 2x25yds of flutter kick with kick board, SPRINT
3.  1x150yds free, FAST.

Inserted in between each of the 150yds was 50yds of some form of kicking.  The overkick and flutter kick were designed to remind us to use our legs in the 150yds.  Coming from very little actual swimming background and picking up most of my swimming tips from my two semesters with the Cal Triathlon team, I tend to kick very little when I swim.  In triathlon, you want to conserve your legs for the bike and run so during the swim, you focus more on pulling with your arms as well as a million other things, such as trying not to get your goggles knocked off, elbowing other people, finding someone to draft behind, and popping your head out once in awhile to check your course.

Marcia really wanted us to descend on each piece, and she called out times so we would know whether we were actually getting faster.  In the beginning of the main set, after we finished our first 150yds, Marcia cried, "The next piece should be faster!  That shouldn't be a problem for most of you who were going ridiculously slow on the first one!"  If you went too slow on a piece, you would hear Marcia exclaim, "__(insert your name)__, what was that?!"  During the 2x25yd kick with board, Marcia was telling us to move our feet faster and to "Sprint, sprint!"