Sparrows Experiment

OMG i'm so sore. Spent the day riding in the car up the hill to berry picking. It was nice to sit on my fat a$$ for a while. It hurt to much to do anything else. ha. Swimmin tomorrow. I'll do about a third of what Michael Phelps does in his Olympic day, and I'll probably take as much time doing my third than the he does doing the whole 8300 meters. I'll also eat about a sixth of his total caloric intake-and I'll probably gain weight on that. lol.
 
300 swim
6x50 stroke drill/swim @ 1:00
10x250 Free but rotate 50 choice around each 250
4x75 25 fly kick on back/25 back kick/25 fly kick on back

Got exhausted by 8th 250. Muscles tired from weights this week. Still holding the weight loss and got tested BF before swimming today. I'm at 18.1% right now.
 
g8r80 said:
18% bf is real lean for a woman. Nice job! Are you where you wanna be now?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I hadn't thought about it. I did it to see where I am from where I was. i knew my body fat would be up a little from where I was when I was really watching my diet and doing more lifting. I was under 15% last year at one point, which isn't necessarily where I want to be. I just want my abs to show. I have definition in my midsection, just not as much as I'd like. Its "toned" but not cut. I have no goals. Its a strange place to be. I think I'd just like to get my squeaky clean eating back (with the cheat meal each week) and find a balance with the lifting/cardio. Kind of like a "Body for Life" approach.
 
70 min Swim:

500 warm up
9x200 (200free, 175free/25back. 150free/50back, 125free/75back, 100free/100back, 75free/125back, 50free/150back, 25free/175back, 200 back) @3:15
200 kick (50free no board/50 back alt.)
5x100 IM @ 1:45
4x75 pull @ 1:20
200 kick (50 free/50 back alt.)
total=3500

NROL for Women:
2x12 on everything

Squats: 115
bi curls: 15
push ups
seated row: 80
step ups: w/two 12# dumbells
"pitchfork" on stability ball for abs

I'm really enjoying swimming again. Its so peaceful and so comfortable. I felt stronger this week pulling out 3500 and only time made me stop. I had to coach.

NROL was cake. I'm lifting with my tri friend again. I am stronger lower body and she is stronger upper body so the squats were lighter than I needed, but it was fine for today. I think we ended our NROL season last winter squatting about 135.

Kids started school today (homeschooling). It was pretty fun, and challenging with the 3 I think its going to be a good thing
 
I love when new people post.

60 min run-7 miles
15 min stairs
core stuff

I had so much energy and drive in my legs today that I wanted to sprint those 7 miles or go longer. It was the most insane feeling. I felt like I couldn't get enough running. They really wanted to go the distance but of course time was my cage.

The stairs are just good butt whoopin-literally :) Gotta fight that gravity! :D
 
Hey Sparrow, I have some more swim question for ya...

During my last few training sessions, my shoulder tendonitis has been getting better. I have been laying off the bench press, so that is a factor, but does that suggest that I am keeping my elbows up? I am concentrating on this.

Also, my biceps have been tiring before other parts and have become somewhat of a limiting factor. I guess my biceps are tired because I am pulling with my elbow bent and using my biceps. I used to keep my arm straighter and didn't have tired biceps. Should the biceps be used that much in swimming? For the record, my biceps are a little wimpy for my body size.

My lats are not sore at all after swimming. Is that because I am not using them properly or does this suggest that they are sufficiently strong?

Thanks for now.
 
Hey g8r,

The biceps are supporting muscles in swimming. They are not primary in freestyle so I would guess, as you do, that you are dropping your elbow substantially enough to feel this kind of fatigue. It also could be due to normal fatigue from either biking (the static position on the bike) or other weight lifting you're doing. If you're already going into the water tired somewhere, swimming will highlight that muscle.

Here is a video I found on Ian Thorpe. Phelps basically replaced him, Ian was the "ultimate" swimmer at the olympics in Sydney.



I've never seen a catch so high in the water before so this is somewhat exaggerated (and obviously worked for him!) but very effective. He basically plants his hand and bends his elbow pulling his body past the anchored hand. Its all lat muscles and rear deltoid muscles.

As to the lat question. I'm not sure, I'd have to see you swim. you could be very strong in your back or you could be using most of your shoulder for all the work. You said you aren't experiencing the tendonitis lately. This could be that you altered your stroke sufficiently enough to take the pressure off the tendon or that you're compensating somewhere else to avoid that pain and may be in danger of overuse of something else. I think you'd need someone to evaluate your stroke. Get your daughter to tape you!
 
Swim:

500 warm up
400 IM
9x200 (like the other day but I went from freestyle to IM, I like this set) @ 3:15 interval
400 kick

NROL workout B
 
Fine. This is week 3 on NROL for women so its not new stuff. Just boring and intro like the break in was. there aren't a lot of exercises. I look forward to bigger and better things in the coming weeks.
 
Swim (again)

500 warm up

4x400 IM w/ 100 kick between each one

4x125 pull

total=3000
 
yes we decided to just start at the beginning again and go through all of them to chart progress. Both of us have lost quite a bit of strength over the tri season but neither of us are starting out where we were at the beginning last year on NROL. I think our squat was 95 start last year and we're starting at 115 with room to spare
 
30 min run
30 min eliptical
30 min stairs
core

One of those "I'm not sure what to do today at the gym" days. So i just played on the machines. Running is feeling very strong but its terribly boring inside (which is why 30 min is all I could muster). I'm looking forward to finding some time to go unbridled outside soon
 
Took yesterday off AND had a cheat meal at NIGHT (don't ever do that). Double whammy. Yes I felt disgusting when I woke up. Serves me right. I actually couldn't sleep in at all so I got up at 6am and went for a 6 mile jog. While it was nice to be in the fresh air so early, I was surprised at how tough it was come mile 5-6. I'd like to blame it all on my huge bowl(s) of brownie ice cream with extra caramel binge last night :eek:

I actually haven't had one of those kinds of cheats for a very long time

After the run I went to the gym to swim 3000 painful yards and felt a little more virtuous about my shameful ways :)
 
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