Training with the Gooey Tubes

I spent the last couple of days in Vancouver on business. While I was in town, I took this opportunity to train with a rogue group of Masters swimmers known as the Gooey Tubes (goo-ee-tubes).

Dare you ask.......What is a Gooey Tube?
- a cross between a Geoduck (salt water clam that has a very "large" siphon) and a Tube Worm
- both species are native to the BC Coast
- literally speaking, both species are the "lowest form of aquatic life"--capable of burrying themselves below the ocean floor

The Gooey Tube's Mission Statement
We swim like we really care

The Gooey Tube Board of Directors (above left to right: Graham Wellbourne, Suzanne Scriven, guest--yours truly, and Rod "the Rocket" Craig). These Gooeys are fast, knowledgeable about the sport, and they know how to have fun. Graham is one of the best freestylers Canada has ever produced. He was a Canadian National Team star when I was growing up in the pool and he is still swimming and competing at a high level in the Masters world. Suzanne and Rod are similarly very strong competitive swimmers. The purpose of my training sessions with the Gooeys was to work on some distance freestyle sets, speed work, and stroke analysis with Graham. Graham has a natural freestyle stroke and he is always exploring new ways of swimming efficiently through the water. He reads the literature from some of the world's top coaches and he watches and learns from the best in the sport. For any swimmer (age group, masters, triathlete) who wants to improve their freestyle technique, I highly recommend Graham's stroke correction clinics.

Summary of Gooey Tube workouts March 5,6,7th

March 6th (long course training in 50 m pool, Coquitlam)
*500m Warm up
*10 x 50m descend by 5 seconds every 2nd 50m
*Distance Free Set with minimal rest (purpose: work on aerobic recovery)
-1 x 400 m @ 5:50
-2 x 300 m @ 3:15
-3 x 200 m @ 2:50
- 4 x 100 m @ 1:25
100 easy
6 x 50 (odd easy stroke drill and even fast butterly)
100 easy
Total 3.5 KM

March 7th (long course meters)
*500 m warm up
* 10 x 50 descending by 5 seconds every 2nd 50m
* Sprint set (repeat x 2)
- sprint 12.5 m and 88 m easy
- sprint 25 m and 75 easy
- sprint 33 m and 67m easy
- sprint 50 m and 50 easy (31.5)
- sprint 63m and 37 easy
- sprint 75m and 25 easy
- sprint 88 m and 12 easy
- sprint 100 m (1:09)
*200 easy
* 4 x 50 kick IM order
*100 easy
Total 3.3 KM

March 8th (short course meters)
800 Swim, KIck, Pull, IM
200 stroke drill
8 x 100 on 1:30 (desc 1-4 and 5-8)
4 x 200 free on 3:00 (desc 1-4)
2 x 400m on 6:00 (1st mod @ 5:20 and 2nd fast @ 5:05)
800 m free (mod pace negative splitting--2nd 400 m faster than 1st) (time: 10:31)
200 easy
8 x 50 kick on 1:05 alt. flutter and dolphin
200 stroke drill
800 m free fast pace (out in 5:10 and back in 5:05 for 10:15 time)
100 easy
2 x 400 m free on 6:00 (1st @ 5:20 and 2nd @ 5:02)
100 easy
4 x 200 m free on 3:00 (1st 2 pull with paddles, 3rd pull and 4th freestyle fast @ 2:27)
200 easy
Total 7.8 KM
Note: I am very happy with the pace times I was able to hold toward the end of workout--especially in light of the distance I covered up to this point.

Stroke technique session with Graham:
* need to work on my hand entry and catch when I breathe. I tend to "slip" my hand out to the sides on my entry; and in so doing, I am losing a lot of power and efficiency. I need to work on some catch-up drills where I "connect" with the water on the entry
*tips:
- visualize my hand entry before turning my head to breathe
- swim overtop of the black-line on the bottom of the pool (my hands should not deviate outside the line)
- watch YouTube footage of Grant Hackett (Australia) and other top freestylers

Total KM for this week = 20, 000 meters

Winter Update

Some Channel swimmers are already training in the ocean. This is fine if you live in warmer climes but there is still some snow on the ground in the Okanagan Valley....hopefully not for long. I took the kids canoeing in the lake today. The surface temperature is 4'C! It will be May, at the earliest, that I dare wade into the lake donning my Speedo. I have ocean training swims lined up for end of April in Vancouver and late May in San Francisco.

My present training regimen consists of:

• Resistance weight training 1-2 sessions/week
• Run or bike to work 5 sessions /week (8 KM round trip and add an extra 10 KM if I cycle my kids to school)
• Swimming 4-5 days/week

As far as swimming is concerned, I am presently up to 20 km/week. Most sessions are 3 Km in length; and on Saturdays, I am pulling double workouts --averaging 9-10 Km over 3 hours. These are coached Masters' swimming workouts during which I swim a variety of distances and strokes on specific time intervals. The emphasis is on speed, aerobic capacity and technique. Although I will be swimming freestyle (front crawl) across the Channel, I like to swim all of the other strokes like butterfly, backstroke and breastroke. This variety challenges me to incorporate different muscle groups into the mix. It makes you a more efficient swimmer. Freestyle is by far the fastest and most efficient of all the strokes; ergo why I will be swimming it across the Channel. Butterfly is the most technically and physically challenging stroke. It is my favourite, but I am only good at racing it over a 100 to 200 m distance. The 200 m. distance is pushing it....it often feels like someone is throwing a piano on my back for the last 15 m. of that gruelling distance....and to think that some Channel swimmers have swum butterfly for the entire distance! That is truly impressive.

Here are some sample workouts from the past week:

Session One

600 m warm up (swim, pick, pull x 200 meters each)

1500 m freestyle (moderate speed holding 1:23/100 m)

12 x 50 m kick (IM order fly, back, breast, free)

600 m of freestyle stroke drill

1500 m freestyle (fast pace holding 1:18/100 m)

200 warm down

Repeat the above set for a total of 10 km

Session Two

800 m Basic (swim, kick, pull, swim)

200 m freestyle stroke drill

3 x (10 x 100 m) freestle on 1:45

* 1st 10 holding 1:17 pace

* 2nd 10 holding 1:15 pace

* 3rd 10 holding 1:13 pace

- the goal is to hold a consistent fast pace with lots of rest in-between to aid aerobic recovery

200 m warmdown

total distance 4.2 KM

I am using these pool workouts to prepare me for my one and only swim meet of the year....the Provincial Masters Swimming Championships in Kamloops, mid April. I have certain goal times for the 1500 m free and 100 m fly. Achieving these times will give me lots of confidence heading into the final stretch of my preparation for the Channel.