Wednesday, July 09, 2008

when a good friends turns on you...

I HATE TREVOR GLAVIN!

OK not really... but based on his suggestion I decided to try swimming with a band around my ankles. The idea is that you cannot kick and have to use your core and arms to pull you through the water and also makes you focus heavily on body position.

Wednesday was my first swim with the band... and I thought I was going to drown. I got in a solid warm-up and used the band for 1100 yards as:
5 x 100 (band, paddles)
3 x 200 (band, paddles, buoy)

The first 25 was brutal as my feet were sinking as I tried to pull myself through the water with assistance from my lowerbody. Over the course of the set I started to get the hang of it and it definitely made me use my core a lot more than normal to get myself from wall to wall. By the last 200 I was spent... beat down and decided I didn't like Trevor very much.

After the band set I continued with 10 x 50. Trevor said that these would feel great and like I was flying. Well kind of... I was pretty wiped from the band set but through it and ended up swimming pretty well. Maybe he's on to something and not just trying to torture me.

As much as it sucked I am going to stick with it. I know this will make me stronger and teach to use my entire body in the water so I will definitely be breaking out the band a couple of times a week. Cheers Trevor!


Seriously though... Trevor is a huge part of why have been able to accomplish the things I have over the course of the past couple of years. He has been in the game for a long time and knows a lot about training, racing, how to have a good time. Even though up until June we raced in the same age group (he's now knocking heads with the pros) he has always been willing to help me out and steer me in the right direction. He can always count at least an email a week asking his opinion on something and I am always blown away with how thorough his responses are, and he doesn't BS.

If you are a looking for a coach that knows his shit... get a hold of Trevor.

Trevor's coaching site

Other than that grueling swim set training is going well this week. It's another big and after I get through a monster weekend it will be time for some rest... and I'll be needing it!!!

Check Vo2 Maxxed. I posted on our "basic" nutritional guidelines. Go eat!

13 comments:

Jamie said...

Are those Pabsts ON the trophy?! That is sick!

I'm not sure I'm ready for the whole swim bondage thing, but once I get my swimming in a little better shape, I'm totally trying that out.

Luke said...

ha...i forgot. now that trevor has gone pro i can make my grand return to xterra...lol! ;)

'09 baby!!

Trevor Glavin said...

Hey, "hate" is a strong word! Ha, Ha =) I just love to make you suffer!
You keep doing these hard swim workouts and your Xterra pro card will be in the mail!

ll said...

DUDE that's great! Maybe I could keep
up to your pace on a speedboat when I
come train with ya :J

:) said...

I think I would drwon with my feet banded... :(

Ryan D said...

that is rather bad ass james...

Shan said...

Dude, that band-around-your-ankles thing sounds like it is PAINFUL and just plain torture!! But I imagine that Trevor knows what he's doing! I should try that sometime...

Glad to hear the training's ON and treating you well!

Matt said...

Dude, you're probably a genius IT stud, but who's kidding who: when are you throwing your hat into the coaching ring? Nutrition? Nails. How to focus and carve away at the competition despite limited experience? Nails. A great gesture towards Skinfit, but it begs the question, holmes.

Have a great weekend.

Zippy said...

Lots of toys out there to stimulate swimming progress: drag suits, parachutes, tethers; some coaches make their swimmers drag plastic 5-gallon buckets behind them.

runninggunner said...

Sounds like a tough workout. Going to have to give it a try.

TRI-ROB said...

Bro... it's only b/c he cares!

LOL

BONDAAAAAAGE!

Breathe...

Mark said...

I've swam with bands before and it is killer!

GZ said...

That dude is stacked.

I find that if I swim with the bands it is not that bad ... provided I wear my water wings.

This sort of reminds me of a crazy drill we used to do at summer camp. In the lake we'd drop a cinder block in by the docks out in the "deep" swim section of the lake (or a milk jug filled with sand) and then try to swim them up as fast as we could. Lung buster.