Simons Finswimming and Cycling Training log

Spin Pyramid

2011-02-24T03:44:00.000-08:00

Great spin session this week, including the 'pyramid' sprints
led in increasing speed
15s sprint 45s easy
30 + 30
45+15
full 60 second sprint
60 easy
45 sprint+15 easy
30+30
15 second sprint+45 easy and slow down

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Finswimming lactate session

2011-02-24T03:41:00.000-08:00

- nice gentle warmup any stroke normal swimming 400m
- finsimming stroke on back with small fins for 500m
- finswimming stroke on front with float and snorkel for 500m, mixed pyramid
(25m freestyle kick, 25m monofin kick, 50+50, 100+100, 50+50, 25+25)
- 50m sprints full on every 3 minutes x10 small fins
- nice gentle cool down

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Cycle Power Session

2011-02-24T03:35:00.000-08:00

This is a real leg burner:
Nice warmup, then select a gear/resistance you can just keep turning at 70 rpm whilst geting to 85%-90 max heart rate within 4 minutes.
then 3 minutes easy and low resistance
Repeat this 5 times

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Double Spin class today

2011-02-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

2 x 1 hour spin classes today using "The Hunted" video

- now Im suffering.....

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Gym Bike Lactate session

2011-02-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

Lactate session today-
1. warmup 5 mins until hr is 135bpm
2. 20 mins at 80% mhr (140bpm) cadence > 95
3. 15 mins at 85% mhr (150bpm) cadence >95
4. 10 minute 90% mhr (160 bpm) cadence > 95
5. cool down

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Cycle Training: 14 Feb 2011

2011-02-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

Turbo power session:

Warmup at least 5 mins high cadence >95 rpm until heart rate exceed 135bpm

Repeat 6 times
- 4 minutes high gear 70-80 rpm, Heart rate 85-90% about 155-160 bpm
- 3 minutes easy

Easy fast pedalling 100 rpm for 5 minutes

Cool down & stretch

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Pool Training 12 Feb 2011

2011-02-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

Got to get my act together for going to Eindhoven this year (end of June):

1. Warmup - no fins 100m then 2x (100m float kicking and 100m freestyle + small fins)

2. Pyramid 1: small fins, snorkel and float: 25m kicking 25m finswim stroke, 50+50, 100+100, 50+50 and back to 25+25

3. Finswimming small fins on back - 500m

4. Pyramid 2: small fins as pyramid 1 without float

5. Monofin on: 1500 m straight turning each 100m within 1m 18s

6. Cool down & stretch

www.Live-NoLimits.com

Something strange in the Loch Video

2009-08-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

via link

http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/sjkidd2002/finswimming/?action=view&current=DSCF4540.flv

New PBs at Eindhoven - May 2009

2009-08-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Really pleased with results at Eindhoven.
New PBs and new British Records.

Loch Ness - Aug 2009

2009-08-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well it had to be done... There had been heavy rain this week and so that had put off my practice run for a few days. The water was cold - and was very cold when swimming across the many streams and rivers flowing into the Loch. The weather is vary changeable too - one minute bright sunshine, the next cold wind and waves.

A lovely swim though. The water is crystal clear for about 2-3m near the shores. Very cloudy near the rivers though as the churned up water enters.

Open water swimming heaven up here in the Highlands.

November 2008 - back in the pool

2008-11-29T01:46:00.000-08:00

Winter setting in fast so little opportunity to go out on the bike. So its back in the pool again for some winter training and I'm hoping now to go back to work on my starts from the blocks. Ive not really worked on these for a year after putting my back out in a big way last November and start looking forward to some pool competitions in 2009.

September 2008 - something else

2008-11-29T01:32:00.001-08:00

Life has been abit crazy the last few months, building on the house, leaving my job, my Mother passing away and little time for swimming training, Heron Lake closing due to Algae so Ive been going out on my bike to get some fresh air for a while. I thought it might also would help strengthen my back and quads for finswimming. So inspired by the Tour De France I entered a sportive on the South downs this month - very pleased to do 50 miles in 2hr 54 mins. Very nicely organised event. Ive been in a few more Sportives since then - good fun and even a ride to the coast and back in a day (3 hours to the coast and 3 hours back a total of 167km, just over 100 miles. Since then Ive had some good rides out to Winchester, Henley and the Chilterns, although my favourite afternoon run has to be out to the Royal Horticultural Societies Gardens at Wisley, a cake stop and return. (get to Wisley in 45 mins now !)

June 2008 - German Long Distance Nationals

2008-11-29T01:08:00.000-08:00

Ive been training every weekend and mid week on Wednesdays in Heron Lake near Staines. This is a lake used by Tri-athletes to proactice their swimming and is open from May-September each year. A 1km course is marked out which is ideal. I get a few strange looks and the occassional claim that 'Im cheating' with my large fin but really everyone is interested.

I swam with Gunnar and Benjamin to join a German team for the event and enetered the 6km individual and 3x3000m with them. I came 4th in my category for the 6km (1hr 10m 19s). It was along way and quite windy. We came second in the 3x3000m.

Big thank you again to Gunnar for putting me up, the team, VDST for letting a non-German enter and the folks at Heron Lake for lettig me train there. Nice medal too.

24 May 2008 - Phew a busy busy week.....

2008-05-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

Berlin is a long way........Thank you to Gunnar who let me stay overnight on the way out and back.

The orienteering was great and I was made very welcome by TCO. I entered the 5 point on Saturday Morning, the M course on Saturday afternoon and joined a team event on the Sunday. The 5 point went well - I found 1 point and was within 2 m of the second when I timed out. On the M course - not so well, I has set my compass to 0 deg and not 355, so that meant that I grazed the turning point on the wrong side - doh. On the team event I failed to meet the rest of the team - although again I seemed to be within 2-3m of them but couldn't see a thing in the 1-2m visibility. http://www.tco-ev.de/

I had not anticipated the need to read map bearings directly off the table using a compass (was thinking of a scale paper map) - but fortunately I had a spare arm compass I could use - although using the wrist strap as a point of reference probably added to my inaccuracy. Some changes to make before the next one I think.

Meanwhile its back to the training for the next long distance continues at Staines - 48 mins for 4k on Wednesday and earlier today 58 mins for the 5k (with 47 mins at 4k). I think Staines is faster because you can see a buoy line to follow down half of the course - or at least the sun rays in the water to help stay in a line.

Thursday evening was my first go at track cycling. Nice not to have to deal with traffic, potholes in the road, gravel, road junctions etc. I do need to up my gearing though as I couldn't spin my legs fast enough. 200m time was 16.7s.

First British person to enter Underwater Orienteering Event

2008-05-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend sees the UK's debut in Underwater Orienteering. I am going to the Spreepokal, which is run by a Club near Berlin. No-one seems to remember the last time anyone entered such an event, although the sport used to be popular in the 70's. Anyway if you look on the CMAS website I am the only person in the UK with a competitor licence.
Ive no idea how I will do - but I expect I will learn heaps.

which way is North.......oh yes the pointy end

Fixie - Revisited........

2008-05-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here's my bike after a good tidy up and respray - lots of new authentic bits and artwork. Very pleased with this. Here's to some nice bike rides.......

Belgian Long Distance 4k

2008-05-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ok here's the first official result of the year:

4,000 m open water at Seneffe in Belgium - 53m 48s

I was hoping for something nearer 48 mins based upon my recent times around Heron Lake - but in the end its how you do on the day. So lots of work now to build up my pace before the next event: 6k in Germany. Starting tomorrow at 6am. At least its sunny.

5 May 2008 - Long distance & Orienteering

2008-05-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks I have been stepping up the training again. Heron Lake near where I live has opened for open water swimming between 6-8 in the mornings - yawn. Actually its quite nice when the sun comes out. Once round the lake is 1km. So for Ive done 3 x 3km and 1 x 4km. Water is about 9 deg - so wetsuit needed. Found that wearking the wetsuit 'inside out' with the smooth oustide is faster than normal - by about 10%. Time for 4km was 52 mins. A place to start - I was hoping for under the 50mins - but my foot started to complain and thats with the wetsuit in its slower way out.
This weekend off to Belgium for a 4k canal race......
Following weekend a long trek to Berlin area for my first underwater orienteering.....

Decided to do the long distance in September for World Championshis in Italy - I think it will be faster in the warner water with no wetsuit.

Yo - heres my Fixie Dudes - !

2008-04-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

- heres my training bike - and here the geeky bits:

genuine 1949 Claud Butler with Reynold 531 tubing short wheelbase for track/sprint use, 1950's Weinmann centre pull alloy brakes, original GB alloy handlebars, Modern Weinmann deep rim large flange 700c wheels with matching yellow flip-flop hub, Continetal Gatorskin 700x23 clinchers, Zeus alloy pillar with Brookes B17 leather saddle, Stronglight 80 cranks & Shimano a520 SPD pedals running a 54:18 fixed gearset.

Weighs next to nothing.

April 2008 - more long distance training & Orienteering

2008-04-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

What an eventful month its been......

Orienteering:

- now the weather has got a little warmer Ive been off to Wraysbury every Monday to practice this with my monfin rig. - see picture elsewhere on this blog. I started out with some out and back swims to a buoy at 67m. Then made up a triangular course, then a square course, each week getting slightly more difficult. This week 21st I made it round the whole lake course that we used last year for the open waterswim findeing every point (simulated 5 point course). The longest stretch was 119m. This was doubly hard as the visibility was poor (3m) and I had to find the wires for each buoy and not the larger targets. My buoyancy is now about right - being neutrally buoyant at 2m. Looking forward to Germany on 17/18 May.

Finswimming:

A bit of a mixed bag here. My endurance has definately gone up and Im able to sustain 50 mins at an average HR of 150 bpm. This has not been without some problems though as Ive pulled a back muscle twice on the bike after doing the 1 hour continuous sessions. Ive done 1500m in my 17:30 comfortably now and also 800m in 9:05. This weeks big adventure is the start of the open water swimming at Heron Lake on Saturdays - 6.00 am !

March 2008 - Long Distance Training

2008-03-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

Starting to build up the endurance now by building up my non-stop swim times towards the hour so Im used to swimming for a long time in the long distance - using my pacer to keep the 100m times to about 1m 10s and drill in the rhythm I will need to keep going.

Im also using the bike to work on the quads and endurance. Today I managed 34.36 km on the trainer cycling for 1 hour non stop. The trainer was set to half way through its resistance range which feels realistic for flat road. Im looking forward to trying out the hour in a Velodrome some time.
Also starting to mix in the power and lactate work now. e.g. 4 x 5 x 100m on 1:15 and
5x 4x 50 sprints every 1 min. AND of course all the routines I leant in Russia with Igor - thanks again Igor if you are reading this.

First competition coming up in Antwerp on 6th April.

Feb 2008 - swimming again - World Cup here we come

2008-02-18T08:45:00.000-08:00

Fantastic news - recovering fast. No more tingling in the toes. This week Ive been given the ok to start training and entering for competitions again - Hooray.

Its cost me alot in additional private medicals and Physio and both Physios have been great.

So it going to be a busy year as I want to to enter the World Cup for long distance this year. Whilst Ive been swimming recently have done lots of 1500m in the pool and now getting regularly under the 18mins. Now time to start working at getting under the 17 Mins. Best times so far have been about 17m 30s. My old bike has come out of retirement and on to some rollers to help with building up the quads and the endurance...... fitness 'garage' picture here.

Ive still yet to work on these starts which triggered the whole episode......

Dec 2007 - Prolapsed disks

2008-02-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

well - heres the damage. You can see the disk material splurging down the nerve roots.

Recommendation is was to stay with the physio for a few more weeks, stay active and it will eventually shrivel up. ... so its back in the pool and loads of swimming ...Ive got at least 25,ooo calories to burn away after the last few weeks inactivity .... havent quite worked out how to go for a run yet though.....

Another setback

2007-11-18T01:39:00.001-08:00

Just as I had got into my new schedule of runs and early morning swims (which incidentalyy were starting to work really well - Its worth perservering with the 'Pose' style running - my route was getting easier. Watch out for calf and hamstrings at first though) - another setback.

I was practicing starts and turns eady for the British Short Course championships on 17th Nov when back pain started. Ok I thought - gentle swimdown painkillers and take it easy from now on. Only the pain got worse and worst until I had shooting pains down the left leg and numb toes. I managed to pinch the sciatic nerve. It hurt like stink for a whole week and is still sore a week later. Had to pull out of the competition - no way am I in any shape for a start or turn - or even driving to watch the others. It slowly seems to be getting better and I hope to be in the water soon. So things I found helpful -

1. rolling backwards over a swiss ball
2. painkillers and anti infallamatory pills
3. TENS
4. dont sit down for long periods
5. lie of the floor face down and using your arms, gently lift your shoulders off the floor.

So - what happens next and how to avoid this problem in the future ????????
- I guess one thing is not to do such an intense starts and turns routine - stick to no more than 5 then do something else.
- Another is to flex the back backwards in the warm up and cool down.
- dont do an early mornign swim and then go to the office and sit in a poor posture all day.

Im also looking at start techniques and from some web videos it seems obvious that the grab start could put a big strain on the lower back. Having looked at some swimming videos its noticeable that some people significantly drop the hips to get a good push with the legs rather than opening up the folded body like a hinge.

Pose Technique for running

2007-11-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

..... 2 sprained ankles later...... Ive decided to take up my physios advice and do some more running. Finswimming is great for a good cardio and core workout but does nothing to build resilience into your joints. For that you need some form of impact excercise like running, skipping etc. (not cycling) .Ive looked at this Pose technique (see www.posetech.com) for the last month and found it quite helpful. I needed to do something to get my ankles going again. Maybe my running style was a bit heavy on the heel impact before but after a month Im now finding my weekly trail run easier on the legs. If you decide to look into this - do watch out for some very heavy calf loading at first, so take it easy to start with. Also concentrate really hard when going downhill to get the technique right. Its also really hard to try a different running technique.
Ive now stopped using my heavy built up heel type trainers and gone for some very lighyweight ones with thin soles. They make it easier too.

9 Sept 2007 - Open Water Long Distance

2007-09-09T02:45:00.000-07:00

Its a pity we did not send a team to the World Championships last month. I was hoping to do a long distance open water. I completed the 300m in Australia in 34 mins and so wanted to see how I fared in the 6000m....thats a long way.

We have an open water national championships coming up at the end of the month in Wraysbury and the longest distance will be 6000m. ......so here goes.

Ive been down a couple of times to check out the water temperature and ---- well its a bit cold at first but as long as you keep moving its ok. And it really helps if its sunny. Off to try and get used to the water temp again later today....

Ive also been doing some more running to strengthen up the ankles a bit. There is a lovely park near us with a slight hill and Ive been getting to the point (before the holidays took there toll) of being able to sustain a HR of over 160 for the whole run circuit (or 2 circuits sometimes).

Underwater Orienteering

2007-09-09T02:28:00.000-07:00

Time I updated this.. Over recent weeks I have been training in SCUBA and orienteering to start up underwater orienteering in the UK. This used to be quite popular in the 70's but seems to have died out. Ive had some great input from Gunnar Mobius and various websites from Germany, France and Czech.

Basically, underwater orienteering is swimming round a course underwater against the clock. All the rules are posted on the CMAs website.

I got a bit carried away with the SCUBA side. Originally I only intended to do the open water and navigation courses, but the thought of holidays looming up encouraged me to continue and so Ive now done some more specialisms and a rescue course and weel on my way to being a Master Scuba Diver.

Ive arranged the first proper underwater orienteering competition to take place at the end of this month at Wraysbury - which is ideal for this type of event. So far the uptake has been slow but hopefully will get a bit more interest as word gets around.

So I have the buoys, orieteering clippers and everything is all set for 30th Sept.

Ive also built the only monofin style rig in the UK to take part in some overseas competitions and found a great way to measure underwater distance.

16 April 2007 - New PB's

2007-04-16T00:22:00.000-07:00

Very pleased with my results at the recent British Long Course Championships and also at the Belgian Championships last weekend. Overall a new set of PB's

50m = 22.20s
100m = 49.63s (getting consistently under the 50s now)
200m = 1:50
400m = 4:02.28 (still working on the pacing for this - should be faster still)
1500m = 17:32.32 (keep on counting........)
100m i = 47.69
50m ap = 20.33s (getting under 20s is still being elusive)

8 April 2007 - Happy Easter

2007-04-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone.
Its been while since Ive written anything up but thats not to say I havent been doing anything. Training continues at the 50m pool in Aldershot and this spring has some great competitions coming up:
British Long Course Championships (April)
Belgian Open (April)
German Masters (June)
and of course the World Championships (Aug) - when I am aiming for a place on the GB team.

Im hoping to make some good times over the next few months:
100m surface - to get under 50s
200m surface - to get under 1m 50s
400m surface - to get under 4min
800m surface - to get under 8mins
and finally to get into immersion and get some good times.

Im hoping to arrange an open water long course later in the year too

bye for now.

.

7 Feb - 3 Golds for England

2007-02-06T22:22:00.000-08:00

And the results for my swims are:
3,000m - 33m 48s (gold)
400m - 4m 08s (gold)
200m - 1m 50s (gold)
100m - 50.91s (silver)
50m - 23.39s (silver)
50m ap - 22.97s (bronze)
for the full listing see the Ozfin website (www.ozfin.org.au)

26 Jan 2007 - Hobart here I come...

2007-01-26T00:49:00.000-08:00

Thats it - all the training and prep is behind me now. Had some great sessions in the pool this week - everything seemed to come together just right.
I have just a couple of short sessions in the pool next week in Sydney after the long flight and then off to Hobart to win some events. Im in for the 50m apnea, 50 surface, 100m surface, 200m surface, 400m surface and the 3k river swim.
See you when I get back - Im having a bit of a holiday out there too.
Then I need to start thinking about the British Long Course Championships on 21 April and the World Championships in July - when there will be a GB team selected to go.
Also this year I would like to get going on the immersion events.

22 Jan 2007 - Wintersprinkpokal 2007

2007-01-22T05:36:00.000-08:00

Ive just had a great time in Halle, near Leipzig, Germany for the winter sprint cup. I came in second in the Masters category. Very funny result - two of us who were older than 45 (category M2) beat all the others who were over 30 (category M1) on points. I took part in the 50m apnea, 50m surface and 100m surface. There were over 200 competitors at the event which was great. Unfortunately this also meant that the 200m was cancelled due to lack of time. Its all over so quickly.
This was a great practice for me to get into the race mind set before going to Oz. I was pleased with my starts and turns for once this time and came back with a few things to tidy up on this week.
50m apnea: 21.45s
50m surface: 23.99s
100m surface: 51.32s

18 Jan 2007 - 1 week to go

2007-01-18T02:34:00.000-08:00

Only one more week to go and this weekend Im taking part in the 'Wintersprintpokal' in Leipzig. (Here is the link: http://www.wintersprintpokal.de/ ) in the 50m apnea, 50 surface, 100 surface and the 200 surface.
After that a few more sessions in the pool next week as I complete the taper and then its off to Oz. It seems very strange nearing the end of this training plan after 21 weeks of training. The plan is based on one from 'Swimming Fastest' by Maglischo and Ive adapted the routines (endurance, threshold, lactate, power, race, recovery etc) to various finswimming and kicking with training fins drills. Time to check all my kit over. I do hope Qantas are understanding about my baggage weight.

12 Jan 2007 - tough week

2007-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

Its been a crazy week. It now looks like Im the only one going to swim for England at the Commonwealth champs. (Simon vs Australia ?). Very difficult to get motivated to get in the pool on Monday and it felt like I was starting to get a cold - felt terrible.

Anyway, all the clouds seemed to have blown away by Wednesday and a nice note to finish the week today with a new PB in 400m of 4m:22s (very pleased with that). Earlier in the week I stuck to lots of lactate and strength drills with the float and small fins.

Looking forward to competing in the Winter Sprint Cup in Germany on 21st. I hope to come away with a prize.

DISAPPOINTED......

2007-01-07T02:15:00.000-08:00

I heard today that apart from teams from England, Australia and 1 person from NZ - no other CW countries have bothered to enter a team as yet so there is a real risk that the whole competition may get cancelled. This is a real shame and Im concerned about what this means for the development of the sport internationally. The folks here in England are very disappointed.

I feel absolutely gutted as Ive been looking forward to this for months and put so much effort and time into training, already bought my plane tickets etc.

... and I had a new PB on the 200m on Friday 1m 55s (this was at the end of the day with a soft fin).

4th Jan - Its the final countdown

2007-01-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

Counting the days down now until 26th when I fly out. 2 more weeks of more intense sessions and then start the taper. 9500 m yesterday including 650m of lactate work, 650m of power work and 1000m of race pace (10x100m) - prettty pleased with these as they were all under 55s and that was after already swimming 8000m earlier in the day. 500m recovery to finish. Same again on Friday. Good turns today - straight over and past the flags before surfacing.
Tried some different goggles today 'swedish style'. It took a while to get over the magnification effect of the flat faces. Nice not to have a side adjustment buckle sticking in my head too.
Heart bustin run again today averaging 150-160 and getting upto 174-176. (not bad for 47y old )

1 Jan 2007 - Happy New Year

2007-01-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

Well after a dry and chocolate free Christmas ;-( it was back in the pool again last Wednesday - felt terrible just after 4 days of not being in the water.
I had planned last week to be a 'quiet' week - which it was and still needed to get through 18k of various excercises concentrating mainly on speed and lactate work again. Prior to Christmas I had spent a week mainly doing 100m and 200m simulated races - which was good pace testing work. So this week was 1000m of lactate and race pace drills each of the pool sessions which was very tiring. My leg muscles were shaking when I got out the pool on Friday. Still I managed to get some reaosnalble times, as well as you can time your self, about 22-24s for 50m surface and always under the 2 mins (about 1:58) for 200m.

I witnessed a very interesting dive reflex one day with the heart rate monitor in the water on Friday. After doing some hypoxic work my HR was always around the 80-90 at the end of 100m. On the last 100 (breathing every 8th stroke) my HR was 89 and within seconds of lifting my face out of the water it rose to 112 and then gradually declined back to about over the next minute.

Well back in the water again this week for the final run into the competition. 2 weeks of specific race and pace practice and then I start the taper. I will be going for the early morning sessions in order to try and shift my body clock closer to Aus time.

2 Dec 2006 - British Short Course Championships

2006-12-24T04:49:00.000-08:00

I won the 200m, third in the 100m and joined the teams for the 4x50 and 4x100 relays where new British Records were acheived in both.
I found the pool quite difficult to swim in being quite shallow at one end (0,8m) and impossible to do the type of turns I had learned in Russia. I must have grounded nearly every time on the turn.
Pleased with the 200m time of 2:02.

(the shirt is a souvenier from Russia)

Some video clips

2006-12-19T04:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to some video clips of me finswimming....
These were taken before going to Russia - my style has changed a bit since these were taken and is more streamlined now - with my head lower.

http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/sjkidd2002/finswimming/

Is anybody out there ?

2006-12-09T04:58:00.000-08:00

anyone reading this .....

Tues 28th Nov - Привет ...I trained with champions...

2006-11-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

I was very privileged to have the opportunity to train with the team at St Pertersburg for 2 weeks in November. The team at St Petersburg are the current world champions having just won the CMAS world cup trophy. A big thank you to my Coach (Igor) and the team at St. Petersburg for being so patient with me.

This was a very hard 2 weeks with 2 sessions 6 days per week. I am now much fitter and my technique and confidence have improved considerably. The biggest thing for me to learn was to be more flexible in the water and to tuck my head in. Lots of exercises both in the gym and in the water to improve flexibility, strength and endurance. So much I could write here that I don’t know where to start – I filled a small note book in the 2 weeks I was there.
Each day started at 8.00 am with jogging, flexibility and gym excercises for 30 mins and then to the pool for 1 ½ - 2 hours. Back to my lodgings for lunch and a snooze to be back to the pool for 4pm-6pm.

If you buy me a Vodka I will tell you all about it.

Some photos from my trip can be seen here. Photo to the right is Igor.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/simon.kidd@btinternet.com/album?.dir=/1b72re2

Fri 3 Nov .... до свидания

2006-11-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Well last time in the pool today before going off to Russia for some more training. So I doubt if I will post anything for the next couple of weeks. Might go in for a short session over the weekend.

Been a good week and to finish with a new PB for the 50m (23s) and 200m(1:58) surface - with the training fin. If I had used my competition fin these should have been about 22s and 1:54. If I can get another second off each 50m then I will be the fastest in the country for these. Put some good runs in this week - feeling very comfortable on the ankles again now, although the Left one has lost some range of movement. Totals for the week: 28,100m

EN1 Basic Endurance: 15900
EN2 Threshold endurance: 3000
EN3 Overload endurance 1000
SP1 Lactate tolerance: 1000
SP2 Lactate Production: 1600
SP3 Power: 2000
RP: Race pace: 1000
Recovery: 2600

This is an interesting point on the training plan since next week is supposed to ease off in volume and concentrate on power and lactate production - but I expect I will be doing plenty of that whilst in St. Petersburg.

28th Oct ....A cracking week....

2006-10-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been really good. No pool on Monday - visiting my Brother and Mum so did some runs instead. Back in the pool Wed and Friday and afternoon on Saturday doing some fitness training and filming of stroke and starts.
Totals for the week are: 22,350m so not short of the target and that with missing a day.

Basic Endurance: 11650
Threshold Endurance: 3000
Overloaded Endurance: 1000
Lactate Tolerance: 1000
Lactate Production: 1400
Power: 1000
Race Pace: 1000
Recovery: 2300

I was particularly pleased with keeping up with the Finis Tempo on 5x200 as I decended the stroke times from 0.5s to 0.35s. (0.35s seems to be my optimum speed and complete 50m surface in 23s with this rate).

Fri 20th Oct - difficult week

2006-10-22T05:43:00.000-07:00

Been a difficult week this week, trying to keep up the increased volume of long sets and the pool being shut on Wed am. No chance to catch up at the weekend as it was used for a gala then. Tried using a very stiff fin for the power routines this week whcih weemed to work well as my normal fin seemed so much quicker when I came back to it. Foot pockets have a different fit too which eased the pressure on this weeks sore bits. Totals for the week: 21,850m + one 6k cycle ride and a 2 1/2 k run. Ive not been running since I sprained my ankle back in May - couldnt walk properly until the end of June - so pleased to be able to do this again as swimming is not good for improving the resilience of the joints the way impact excercise does.

EN1: Basic Endurance: 9300
EN2: Threshold Endurance: 1900
EN3: Overload Enduarnce: 700
SP1: Lactate Tolerance: 1000
SP2: Lactate Production: 2300
SP3: Power drills: 2300
RP: Race Pace: 1000
R: Slow recovery 3400

Finding the swimmers metronome a really useful tool to keep the 'race pace' constant. I will be using the next few weeks to 'burn in' the right pace and work on increasing stroke length. It also makes something a bit different in order to keep the interest in 'yet another set'.

Wed 19 Oct - New PB's

2006-10-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

Into another heavy week. Plans had to change this week as the pool was closed for 'Essential Maintenance' this morning. Meant 3 1/2 hours in the pool this afternoon. Things start building up to the races now with routines more specifically aligned to the needs of the 100m and the 200m. This means more lactate work, threshold endurance and overloaded endurance which have doubled in volume.

Some new PBs today - I was trying to find the difference between by brown fin (stiffer) and the black fin (softer) by repeating 50m sprints -5 with each fin at different stroke rates using a small swimmers metronome that fits inside the swimming hat. Brown fin is faster and a new PB of 22.4s for 50m on the surface. So Current best times are:

50m apnea 21.06s - official June 06
50m surface 22.4s - informal (previously 24.16s)
100m surface 49s - informal (previously 54.11s)
200m surface 1m 59s - informal (previously 2m 04s)

Friday 13 Oct 2006 - Recovery week

2006-10-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

An easier week - allowing time to catch up and 'adapt' the the previous 4 weeks exertions. Exciting news - had contact with Igor Orel from one of the Russian finswimming schools in St. Petersburg. Plannning to go and learn from them for 2 weeks in November if I can get this sorted in time. Getting a Visa seems to be something of an ordeal.

Monday:
Descending enduarance sets: 2800m
Lactate production sets: 3200m

Tuesday:
Mixed sets with freedivers, lactate production, endurance and threshold: 2000m

Wednesday:
Power and lactate tolerance - ouch: 2400m

Thursday - no training today

Friday:
Power, endurance and small race sets: 3500m

Tried my old racing fin today - felt really weird, couldnt get used to it. Have to decide now which fin to use for racing in future. Really cost and foggy this morning - thought of going to the pool was not comfortable. Ok when I got there though. Lots of people asking me how Im getting on at the pool today - nice.

End of General Preparation phase

2006-10-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

Friday 6th Oct and this being the 4th week marks the end of the general preparation phase. Next week eases off, then its back on the escalator for race specific sessions. New PBs today :-).
4x 200m in 1:59, 2:01, 2:07 and 2:07. First time to break the 2min barrier.

I wasnt sure how the long endurance set would work with friday afternoon race pace session - but it seemed to work quite well. I did feel like just curling up and going to sleep at lunchtime though.

I cant say how much I appreciate the Aldershot Garrison sport centre letting me train there with the fins.

AM: 500m warmup, full power starts off the blocks 10x50m, 200m easy nofins, 6x50 tombstone, 10x200 slow swimming with small fins and monofin mix. 500m swimdown.
PM: 500m warmup, 3x100 1:45 small fins, 200 easy no fins, 4x200 race (watch set to 50m intervals of 35s, 34s and 33s) with 200 easy intervals - new PB - very pleased and the 1:59 includes the time to set and read the watch.

Wed 4 Oct - Lactate day

2006-10-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Big lactate sessions today....

AM: 500mwu, 8x50 full on 100% with small fins / 3mins, 200m interval, 10x100m/2min with small fins, 200 interval, 3x200 /3:20 monfin, 2x50 apnea :-), 600m swim down.
PM: 500mwu, 10x50m tomstone with small fins, 200 interval, drills on back, left and right 400m, 2x 4x100m/1:15 monofin, 200 interval then 1000m recovery swiming no fins.

Mon 3rd Oct ....The start of another week

2006-10-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Feel quite refreshed at the beginning of this week – no remains of a cold like last week- and some new PB’s.
Used the countdown timer on my watch to pace each 50m today which worked well and seems to be a good method to use to monitor speed and overload progress going forward. Practiced simulated turns with a tank today – pleased with how that worked.

AM: 400m with each 50m at 40s, 400m with each 50m at 35 sec, 2x200 with each 50m at 30s.. 5x200m/4m endurance swimming with small fins.

PM: Long lactate set again today. 3x 6x (50m sprint+50 easy)/3min with small fins and monofin. Long 600m swim down and a couple of nice slow 50m apneas to finish with monofin. Afternoon sun of the bottom of the pool :-).

New PBs of 4:28 for 400m and 2:01 for 200m. Also 30s for 50m with small training fins. Total: 7300m

Fri 29 Sept. The end of another week

2006-09-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

The training schedule is settling down into more of a rhythm now. Endurance and Lactate production this morning, just time to have lunch rest a bit then back in the pool to end the week off with some practice races. I also did some practice races with the small training fins to get some reference times to work out some new sets (I will be using the small fins about 80%) of the time now in order to save the feet some grief. Total for the week : 22k :

EN1: Basic Endurance: 12200
EN2: Threshold Endurance: 2200
EN3: Overload Enduarnce: 900
SP1: Lactate Tolerance: 800
SP2: Lactate Production: 1850
SP3: Power drills: 1500
RP: Race Pace: 800
R: Slow recovery 1900

It starts to get steeper from here on in.

Do Body Fat analyzers tell the truth ??

2006-09-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

Interesting discovery today. As it was coming upto the end of the month I thought it was time I calibrated my stats more regularly. So out come the body fat machine. Took a measurement, then realised that I hadn't updated my age - did that and took another measurement - different result ! ..... but nothing changed. So then I asked my son Ross (aged 17) to take a measurement pretending he was me = same result as me. I changed my age to 17 and got the same result as he does = a drop of 7%.

Finally to cap it all I put all my height, age & weight back to the proper settings again but selected female = a massive rise of 11% !

How can this variation of 18% on the same person be true just by changing the settings ... I didn't change .... so what is it measuring ?

Tues 26 Sept

2006-09-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

Early day at the pool 6-8. Its noticeably darker in the mornings, and colder. Managed to break my snorkel strap halfway through today's sessions - fortunately there was just enough left over to be able to re-string it.

am: Lactate Production session again. 400m wu, 4x50/45 small fins, 100m interval, 4x50/45 small fins. 4x100 monofin, 4x50/45 and another 4x50/45. 800m recovery.
pm: training with no-tanx at Elmbridge mixed session: 400m wu, 8x25m /1min apnea, 10x50m sprint /1min, 8x25m abs, 8x25m resistance against float, mixed swimdown.

Tried my old 'first' monofin today - felt really weird. Feet hurting again today and managed to acquire 4 blisters so far. Have to find a way of hardening the feet up after being in the water for these sessions. Picture is of centre snorkel used for racing.

Mon Sept 25th - in the pool again

2006-09-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

Finally managed to re-work the plan to line up better with pool availability. 2 sessions/day on Mon Wed and Fridays, 1 session on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I think this works better for recovery too. Ive put the sessions that are really heavy on energy on the Tuesday and Thursday slots, leaving the rest of the day to recover.

a.m: Power and starts session. 400m wu; 10x50 tomstone float; 10x50 starts of the block and go for 6 full on strokes. Pretty pleased with most of my starts today. 10x200m basic endurance with small fins. 6x100m / 1:30 threshold and 4x100m / 1:20 overloaded endurance. 500m sd.
pm: Lactate Production session. 6x (50m full speed+ 150m easy) - 200m interval and then repeat 3 times. Did 2 of these with the small fins as my feet were beginning to hurt with the monofin. Small fins make it even harder....Long session again. I think this works better without sticking to the 150m easy and just doing easy to repeat on about 3 minutes.

Pleased with todays progress (apart from feet hurting) since it started feeling it bit Blug from the cold that came on last Thursday. Early start tomorrow - yawn.

Thurs 21 Sept

2006-09-21T01:03:00.000-07:00

Recovery day today - day off. Well only the 6k cross country cycle ride. Time to review and update the training plan - and make any adjustments. Sounds like managing a project - funny that.....Anyway nose feeling sore from all the Chlorine thats got up it in spite of the nose clip. Anyone got a cure for that ?

Wed 20 Sept...busy day again

2006-09-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Busy overload endurance and power day again today - it hurts

am: 400m wu; 4 x (4x50m / 40s + easy 200); 4x100m / 1:20; 1000m recovery...3400m
am: 6k cross country cycle ride
pm: the power drill again: 400m wu; 3x (6x (50m 100% + 150 easy)); 500m sd... 4500m in all.
total for the day 7900m !

tomorrow off - "your body gets stronger when it rests" - and back in the pool Friday.:-)

Tuesday 19th Sept

2006-09-19T01:23:00.000-07:00

Another early start.... Power and drills today.

am. 400m wu, 5x100m drills (left, right, back, front stretch, soldier), 10x50m / 2min - 6 strokes all out then easy rest of length, 10x50m / 2min apnea - all out for 10 strokes tomstone float, drop float all out 10 strokes then breathe and easy to the end. 400m sd. Finished off with 4x50m slow apnea with the sun shining on the bottom of the pool - nice.
am: 6k cross country cycle ride
pm. Training with noTanx freedivers at Elmbridge this evening. (www.notanx.com)

Monday 18th Sept

2006-09-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

Endurance and Lactate production work today - very tiring - that burning feeling:

am: 400m wu, 4x400m/1:20 + easy 200; rep 4 times, 400m sd
pm: 400m wu, 6x(50 full speed + 150 easy)/3m; rep 3 times, 400m sd. Took a long time to do this set.

Sunday 17th @ Southampton - success with tank turns

2006-09-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Club at Southampton going again after the Summer holidays etc. 2h hour session - Various Drills. This is a 25m pool and you really have to tuck up tight to do sensible turns - back still a little stiff. Legs still ache after yesterdays weight training.

400m wu
400m descending each 100m
12 x 25m apnea / 1min
10 x 25m 'one legged' drill with small fins
Fast turns and turning technique with scuba tank (this is much trickier than it looks - as you have to hold onto the scuba tanks all the time - and its attached to your face with a stiff rubber hose).
Various easing off stretching drills.

At last - got the turns going with the 2ltr tanks in the shallow pool here - hooray.

Friday 15th Sept - In the pool at last

2006-09-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

Ok in the pool with the main programme this time.

am. 400m wu, Recovery Session: 20x100m on 1:45 with monofin, 5x100m ease off with small fins, 400m sd
pm. using small fins only as pool was quite busy. 400m wu. Lactate session 6x(50m full speed + 150m easy / 3min) - repeat times 3 with easy swim between. Much harder work with small fins. 400m sd.

Thursday 14th Sept

2006-09-18T01:41:00.000-07:00

More easing off recovery swimming with the freedivers. Strangest thing happened this evening - its quite possible to do a 1 min 30 breathhold and straight away do a length underwater - much less fuss than going for the length straight off. Must the initial stages of calming everyhing down before the swim - which feels much more relaxed.
[NEVER freedive alone]

Tuesday 12th - Setback this week

2006-09-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

Well this was supposed to be the ramp up into the training programme starting today. But I've managed to hurt my back - must be a combination of training on Saturday, lifting heavy tanks & stuff into the car, competing and the 8 hours driving to Wales and back.
Managed to draft out a detailed training schedule from the Maglischo book though - covering all drills and weekly targets from now till Feb ... its not long when you see it on paper.
Easy finswimming, drills and breathholds with the NoTanx freedivers at Elmbridge leisure centre this evening. Practiced turning with the tanks - a mess - need to work on that

British Open Water Championships 2x Silver 1x Bronze

2006-09-11T09:25:00.001-07:00

This was my first open water swim. I was expecting the water to be much colder than it was. Sunny and an outgoing tide. Competition was supported by the local lifesaving club and the competitors included 2 ex channel swimmers. Very pleased with the result. Came 2nd on the 200m and 400m and third on the 800. Very hard to see where the buoys were - even with such a small swell. ..... if only I had swum in a straight line on the last leg of the 800m. Someone needs to make a small goggle compass or something...

Immersion

2006-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

First serious try at the immersion discipline on Saturday. This is where you race with a small scuba tank. Made a complete mess of it. Plopped into the water off the block. Speed of the water took the regulator out of my mouth half way down the pool and in the turn - went straight down. Much practice at steering the tank around is needed I think. Still not a bad time in the end for 100m in 60 seconds.

Starting Out

2006-09-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well here I am starting up this blog for all my friends to see how Im getting on preparing for the first Commonwealth finswimming competion in Feb 2007.
Although I have been training much more seriously over the last few weeks - getting in the pool for 6am - it all starts to get quite serious now. 2 sessions a day etc. It all starts up this afternoon with using the small scuba tanks for the immersion discipline. And tomorrow is a competion in sea - (someone has managed to organise that on an outgoing spring tide - doh) .

Picture is of me starting the 2km length down Lake Bled in Slovenia. Best time was 26 mins.