Stretching like Dara

As some of you know, I'm about as limber as an uncooked noodle. What's worse, it seems I'm getting less flexible as I get older. I knew I needed to do something before I turned into a dry rigatoni, but I just wasn't sure where to precede.

Research is showing that the kind of stretching I did as an age group swimmer (static stretching, the kind where you hold a muscle in one place without moving) is counterproductive. Static stretching before exercise has been shown to reduce your ability to perform explosive movement, which in turn inhibits swimming performance. And contrary to popular belief, it is useless for injury prevention as well.
http://stronglifts.com/5-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-do-static-stretches/

So I did a little googling. And this came up


hmm....well if Dara Torres is doing it, it must be good! Dara's resistance stretching program involves simultaneously contracting and elongating a muscle. In other words, the muscle stretches at the same time as it contracts against resistance. The workout lasts about 15 min (5 if I do arms only) and after doing it for 2 weeks I am feeling looser.

In other swimming news this week...Karen is back! After a brief hiatus from long distance workouts to concentrate on pool meets, Karen is back to join me for super long swims. She is going to compete in her first Swim Around Key West this June and wants to be ready!

To celebrate, Karen and I attempted a test set of doom. Honestly, I didn't think I had much chance of making it all the way through, but I am so tired of doing the some old long workout that I was ready to give it a try. Here's what we did:

Warmup: 1500

Test set (swim 100 easy after each set of 10):

9 x 100 on 1:20, 1 x 100 on 1:15

8 x 100 on 1:20, 2 x 100 on 1:15

7 x 100 on 1:20, 3 x 100 on 1:15

6 x 100 on 1:20, 4 x 100 on 1:15

5 x 100 on 1:20, 5 x 100 on 1:15

4 x 100 on 1:20, 6 x 100 on 1:15

3 x 100 on 1:20, 7 x 100 on 1:15

2 x 100 on 1:20, 8 x 100 on 1:15

1 x 100 on 1:20, 9 x 100 on 1:15

10 x 100 on 1:15

500 cool down

Total: 13,000

What I liked about this set was that it focused on controlled pacework. To have any chance at making it, the set had to be swum smooth, loose, but reasonably fast. If we went a little too slow, we would miss the interval, but going too fast would tire us out and cause us to miss it in the end. I also liked that the set was broken into reasonable chuncks. We started each set of 10 with confidence from having made the previous set. With new each set, we only had to make one more 100 on 1:15 than on the set before. And before we knew it we were done! We made it!

The next day, we celebrated Daisy's 35th birthday (in dog years) and Jason's 34th birthday (in human years).




Sneakers and I threw a Spanish style fiesta with tapas, sangria, and plenty of rum punch. There was salsa dancing...



a brief episode of the running of the bulls...



and when Sneakers started to feel jealous, he got to wear the birthday crown for a while.



Finally, Jason closed the evening with a traditional Flamenco fan dance. Believe it or not, he was nursing a serious hangover this morning...



Week 16:
Mon: swim 3200
Tues: swim 5000
Wed: swim 4800, run 3 mi, 40 min abs
Thurs: swim 4300
Fri: swim 13,000
Sat: rest
Sun: swim 6300, run 3 mi, 30 min abs
Total: swim 36,600, run 6 mi, 70 min abs