The Talandis Family in Japan

Since my wife manages and coaches at a swimming pool and my 10 year old boy is a completive swimmer, it’s inevitable that during my breaks from work I’ll be in the pool a lot. This has certainly been the case for me this winter break. One thing I love doing is to train along side my son. There is something really joyful and satisfying about that on several levels. Trouble is, Luke is usually in the midst of whatever training regimen for his next meet while flabby me has not been in the pool for a long time. So the first week of training with Luke after a long time away from the water is an unusually harsh challenge. I’m up for challenges, however, so I do my best to keep up.

My secret for completing long workouts with Luke is to use fins as much as possible, at least to start. After a few weeks, as my strength and endurance return, I can wean myself off of them. But I’ve also thought they are a great tool for anyone wanting to increase their distance during training. With fins and occasional breaks, I can swim many more meters than if I just plod along non-stop by myself. I’ve learned a lot about swimming from my wife; perhaps I’ll write more about that in the future. For now, here is the workout I did yesterday, FYI: 

Total distance: 4,550m
Total time: About 2 hours 

1. Warm-up: Any stroke, slow pace (100m)

2. 4-strokes Swim: 100m x 16, 2:00 interval (no rest between sets) (1,600m)

This 1,600m block consists of repeating the following 400m block 4 times each: 

• Individual medley (IM) x 100 (fly, back, breast, free)
• Backstroke x 100
• Breaststroke x 100
• Freestyle (Crawl) x 100

This part is pretty tough; there is no break between sets, so it’s almost a continuous pace for 1,600m. Without the fins there would be no way to keep up.

3. Kick: (50m x 8) x 4 sets; 1:00 interval, 1:00 rest between sets (1,600m)

This 1,600m block is similar to the 1st one, only focusing on the kicks of each stroke Fly, Back, Breast, Free). Using a kickboard and fins when appropriate, we swim each type of kick for 400m, resting a bit between teach set. Naturally we don’t use a kickboard for the backstroke kick or fins for the breaststroke kick. The fins make this portion of the workout go rather smoothly. 

4. Drills: One-hand stroke practice (800m)

In this section of the workout, Coach Mama has us focus on a particular point. It could be anything, as there are various drills to practice or strengthen whatever. Today we worked on developing the form of our free and back strokes by swimming each stroke with only one hand. We used a paddle for the stroking hand and a figure-eight-shaped fulcrum gadget to keep the wrist straight on the forward arm.

(25 x 8) x 4 sets; 00:45 interval

• Backstroke (right hand)
• Backstroke (left hand)
• Crawl (right hand)
• Crawl (left hand)

5. Speed training (400m)

This is the killer ending of each workout, where you expend whatever little energy you have left for some final sprints. It’s positively inhumane!!! (Just joking, sort-of)

Swim (25m x 8) x 2 sets; 00:40 interval

• Backstroke
• Crawl

6. Cool-down: 50m, any stroke, very slow

So this was our workout yesterday. It was longer than most recent ones, but contains all the basic elements (warm-up, 4-stroke swim, kick, drills, speed, cool-down). 

In writing this post up, I still can’t believe I could do all that, even with the fins. I’m pretty wiped this morning, but less wiped than I was last week. I know if I keep this up, I’m going to be in great shape. I’m feeling really blessed that I have such an amazing wife with such a cool set of skills. She is such a great coach. She can help people do more physically than they ever thought possible of themselves. She has a real gift for teaching swimming as well as other sports, such as aerobics, skiing, and snowboarding. That I’m not a total slob is very much because of her. Don’t think I’m not eternally grateful!

:-)