Just one look at this picture shows a whole bunch of what's wrong with reporter Paul Tenorio's breathing. (Photo by Jeff King/Curl-Burke)
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Sorry, first of all, that this post is up late. I have been filling in on some soccer coverage while Steve Goff is in Salt Lake City in preparation for the U.S. World Cup qualifier on Saturday, and there was plenty of news that kept me busy all day.
It’ll probably be a shorter blog — I have some work left to do including a DCU preview, twittering the Redskins preseason game in the coming hours and working on some high school soccer previews. Again, I apologize.
Now, let’s get down to business.
After a practice that was all about arms yesterday, today was all about the legs. I swam 3000 meters on Wednesday and I kicked a ton today. The kicking included butterfly kick, backstroke kick and freestyle kick. And eventually some breaststroke workout. As a matter of fact, now that I look back on it I probably did less freestyle than I have in a long time.
The warm-up started simply enough: 25 back, 50 back, 75 back, 100 back — all with fins. For those of you who think the fins make things much easier I suggest hopping into the pool and trying some backstroke. The kicking itself requires a ton of work and I definitely felt it in the legs. Of course, I made the mistake of telling that to Jeff and he immediately added it to the workout.
The set broke down like this:
25 free catch up w/ fins
25 “shark fin” free w/ fins
25 free catch up w/ fins and paddles
25 “shark fin” free w/ fins and paddles
50 fly kick (no toys)
50 back kick (no toys)
50 free kick (no toys)
I did that five times.
Then I worked on some breaststroke stuff.
25 breast right arm only
25 breast left arm only
25 breast
25 freestyle (breath control, 3 and 2 breaths)
I did that three times.
Then Jeff worked on some breaststroke sprint stuff with fins on doing freestyle kick. I kept my arms short and out in front of me and just pulled as hard as I could as fast as I could. It really just zoned the workout in on my biceps.
What was the point of this workout? Well, it broke down pretty simple. Today was all about legs and breathing. I need to get these legs working a bit more when I swim, and my breathing continues to be an issue that messes with my stroke. So this was an attempt to really start to fine-tune things.
The breaststroke was just to torture me. No, really it helped me feel the pull of the water while also continuing my lessons on breaststroke.
Overall, it was another good workout, and I have one more day this week and NO idea what Jeff is going to have me do tomorrow. It’s always an adventure, though, and I’m sure tomorrow will be no different.
Maybe it’ll be like my old Stratford Landing Friday practices: water polo and donuts!
Washington Post reporter Paul Tenorio will train with a swim club over the next few months and chronicle his journey as he attempts to transform from regular guy/sports reporter to competitive swimmer — everything from his waistline to his best times.
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