I wrote last year that Dara Torres did something special. Little did I know that she'd outdo herself in grand fashion by winning the 100 free at Olympic Trials. That's right, a forty-one year old qualified for a fifth Olympic team. It's pretty impressive to think that at 41, you can do lifetime bests in the sprints at that level. It makes me wish I had the scratch to hire a team of stretchers, trainers, and nannies. In any case, my hat's off to you again, Dara. Go show the Chinese what drug-free and fast looks like... just don't forget to wear your contacts so you can see the scoreboard. I hope that Tessa makes it to China to make an appearance on the medal stand.

Some workouts I put together for Swimming World a few months ago have become the May 2008 Masters workout card. Titled "Emphasis on Diversity," the workouts represent 5 days of diverse training, as we like to do in the middle of hard training at Academy Bullets Masters. Check it out on p.32 (the left page of the centerfold)!

workout by Coach Kelly

200 swim, 200 kick, 200 IM, 200 pull
4/6x75 @1:30/2: 50 kick, 25 swim
sprint cycle: 4x25 @30: #1 easy/fast, #2 fast/easy, #3 build, #4 sprint
3x around: 4x50 drill/swim @1, 3x100 sprint @2:30

swim down 2-300 easy

This weekend, I did a clinic on breaststroke with the Carthage College women's team. We spent two hours the first night on the mother lode of breaststroke drills, and I promised the ladies some handouts. Here they are:

• The first one is a revision of a handout I created a long time ago to introduce wave breaststroke to a number of primarily freestyle coaches. It gives an overview of what I'm trying to do with the stroke.
   
• Page 2 of the second handout provides more of a swimmer's perspective on the stroke and the drills that we've done thus far.
   
• The third file is a proof of the article that appeared in the May/June issue of USMS SWIMMER on the breaststroke pullout.

Enjoy!

update 2008-5-21: The last time I updated the software that drives the website, I forgot to fix the links above. They should be viewable again... sorry about that!

WU: 300 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull no free

A. pull 8x75 @1:15 breathe 3/5/7/25
swim 100 @1:30
swim 2x50 @50 fast
swim 100 @1:30
swim 4x25@25 fast
swim 100 @1:30
swim 2x50 @40 fast
swim 100 @1:30
swim 4x25@20 fast
swim 100 @1:30
swim 2x50 @1:00 fast
swim 100 @1:30
swim 4x25@1:00 fast
100 easy
kick 6x50 @1:00 descend 1-3, 4-6
100 easy
--
2900

B. pull 6x75 @1:30 breathe 3/5/7/25
swim 100 @2:00
swim 2x50 @1:00 fast
swim 100 @2:00
swim 2x25@30 fast
swim 100 @2:00
swim 2x50 @55 fast
swim 100 @2:00
swim 2x25@25 fast
swim 100 @2:00
3 reps with buckets
100 easy
--
2050 +buckets