10Kmarathonswim

Russian swimming magazine, Плавание

I'm still hacking my way through Плавание, the official magazine of the Russian Swimming Federation.  It is work reading Russian, although reading swimming vocabulary is more fun than, say, reading politics or current events.  

The majority of the magazine covers the Russian National Team, and their successes since, I suppose, the last issue.  The Russians did pretty well at the World Cup in Dubai.  The cup was SCM in a newly built natatorium.  The organizers opened up the Cup at 10:10.10 on 10/10/10.  Perhaps that was lucky for the Russians; for the first time in history, they earned second place in a World Cup.  

They earned 10 medals: 4 golds, 4 silver and 2 bronze.  They were beaten only by, yes you guessed it, the U.S.!  Our team earned 12  gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze for a total of 25.  Our guys broke some records.  Ryan LOCHTE broke the world cup record in 200m free in 1:41.08.  

The Russians broke some records, to include a new (as of Oct 10) world record in the 4 x 200:  6:49.04.  Stanislav DONETS broke two world cup records, one in the 50m back in 22.93 and in the 100m back in 49.07.  

The Russians have a section called Pride of the Nation as well as a section dedicated to Trainers.  I haven't read in-depth those articles yet.  The training article on vertical kicking was a good read, but there is another training article on, I think, VO2 Max.  That will take a bit of study.  

The mail is here! The mail is here!

How lucky can one guy be?  I mean, really?  As it stands, I only get mail once a week, so what are the chances I get two swimming magazines in my post box on the same day?

Well, today was the day.  I knew the USMS Swimmer was in-coming.  I can always tell by a) the Swimmer magazine picture changes on the USMS webpage, and b) my blog friends start mentioning the articles. 

I figured my Russian swimming magazine, Плавание ("Swimming," equivalent to the USMS Swimmer) was coming soon, because the picture for the magazine also changed on their website!  But here it is April, and the magazine hadn't arrived yet.  I phoned the Russian Swimming Federation, and got forwarded to the magazine's senior editor, who spoke lightening fast Russian, but who assured me my magazine was en route.  Not only that, but once he heard my name, he immediately told me that he personally mailed my magazine and I should be getting it soon (and he didn't make any comments about that other Mike).

What's more, Dmitri invited me to a meet on 17 April (not to swim, obviously), in which Russian Olympians would be swimming, and, he said, I could meet!  I should expect an invite soon.  I plan on taking one or more of my kids, along with my neighbor's kid who is big time into swimming.

I'll do a review of Плавание soon; I've already read an interview with OW swimmer Yevgeniy Drattsev, who finished 5th in Beijing with a 10K time of 1:52.08 (holy говно!), as well as a training article on the benefits of "vertical kicking" a la Fitness Swimming guru Emmett Hines.

Dream two weeks

I'm really busy at work, and this summer will get no easier.  All should be less crowded towards the end of summer, so I've been looking for some swims here in my "backyard."  I found the perfect two weeks, except for, probably, the cost of hotel rooms.

SwimTrek is hosting the Hellespont/Dardanelles swim, basically a swim from Europe to Asia.  I've wanted to do this swim since last year, but logistics didn't work out, so I did the Christiansborg Round swim instead.  This year the swim will be on 30 August, when the world’s most concentrated shipping lane is closed to all traffic. 

Then, I got notice through the Outdoor Swimming Society in the UK that there will be a 10K swim in the Dart river the weekend of September 3rd.  The swim will be current-assisted, so it probably won't qualify as a 'real' 10K according to OW purists, but it still looks like fun.

If I were independently wealthy, I'd fly Moscow to Istanbul, spend the time doing the Europe to Asia swim, then head over to the UK, and swim the 10K. 

Cruise interval 200s

Well I did my first 15 x 200 cruise workout.  And it hurt.  I don't remember the 15 x 100 hurting this much. 

To review, I determined my 200 cruise interval by swimming 10 x 200 with only :10 rest.  My watch soap opera allowed me to only time the entire swim vice each lap, but I finished the 2000 in 31:30, giving me a 3:09 cruise interval. 

So far so good.  Friday I did this workout:

15 x 200:

1-2 fast on cruise +:05

3-5 moderate on cruise

6-9 breathing left 50, right 50, on cruise

10-12 swim 50 catch-up, 50 easy, on cruise

13-15 descend 13-15, with all-out for 15

That was the plan at least.  The first 5 sets went okay.  But for 6-9, I kept making it in at about 3:06-3:08, not leaving me much rest.  I made myself take :10 rest no matter what time I came in.  But after 9, I took :25-:30 rest.  I was dying.

Somewhere in the 10-12 sets I came in over my 200 cruise interval.  I still took only :10 rest, but again after 12, I took a longer rest.  My 13-15 normally with the 100 workout does descend, albeit by very little, but each does get faster, which is the point.  These 200s for 13-15, however, were not that successful.  I did manage to get in under my cruise interval, but only with 2-3 seconds to spare.  The entire 3000 took just under 50:00, meaning with rests I averaged ~3:20.  Yuck.

So, dear readers.  What say you?  Should I have determined my 200 cruise interval with a 10 x 200 with :15 or :20 rest?  Or do I just need to work up to it?  I should have written about my first 15 x 100, so I could go back and see if I had the same trouble keeping to the interval.  Unfortunately, I didn't.