Nugent Coaching Systems

The endurance world is where I live. I love it. It’s what I’ve grown up with and one that I feel provides both a mental and kinesthetic therapy that few other modes of exercise can deliver.  However, too much of a good thing is not a good thing and while I love to train, I want to be able to continue doing this as long as it’s humanly possible.

The alluring part of CrossFit has been it’s claim to get a better result with less training time.   It also means more time to recover.  Recovery on one CrossFit style program happens every 4th day.   My ears perk up when I hear stuff like faster, stronger, improved in the same sentence as “less training time”.   This week I stumbled across this CrossFit journal article: “Pukie at the Pool”. The title might be misleading, as I am not a coach who believes that you need to experience puking in order to know you did well in the workout.  Rather it was the idea that a land-based strength program like CrossFit could be adapted to pool workouts that intrigued me. I took the bait.

Today I went back to the pool and did a 1000 yard time trial. It had been months since I’ve swam in a pool with the intent to get a workout in. It was a special day.  (I also had new swim shorts)

The workout went like this:

• 500 yard warm-up
• 1000 yard time-trial
• 500 yards of drill and cool-down
  • Tabata swim intervals
    • 8 rounds: 20 sec all out freestyle sprint, 10 sec walking rest
  • 5 rounds of :
    • 25 yard swim + 20 push-ups

Right off the bat I noticed something was different with my swimming.  It wasn’t because of the type of workout I was doing today, rather, it most likely had something to do with the CrossFit training.

My arms were sore from the previous workouts this week (i.e. the filthy 50, and ones I made up for Tuesday and Wednesday), so I wasn’t expecting the results I got from the swim.

My first 100 yards clocked in at 1:30 – not a big deal for most swimmers, but that was a GOOD time for me.  Especially since I can’t remember the last time I was in a pool, and also because I am not a swimmer.   As I swam along, keeping track of time, I was remembering where I used to be the last time I did a 1000 yard time trial – way behind.

The 1000 yards ended at 16:44.  That’s a minute and change off of my average time of 18:30.  That is a serious PR.

Next were the drills.

Tabata swim sprints

These were new for me.  Eight rounds of 20 second freestyle sprint efforts with 10 seconds of walking.   Mental countdown was required since there was no coach (but me) to call out the start/stop times.  These don’t compare to tabata bottom-to-bottom squats, but there seemed to be anaerobic benefit.  I would do them again, maybe with a drag element.

8 rounds of 20 seconds all-out sprint, 10 seconds of walking rest

Push-ups and 25 yards

This was pathetic.  I could only do one 25 yard length and 10 push-ups before my legs decided that they were done with the push-ups.  It was bizarre, but not totally unexpected.  It was a slowly building leg cramp that started near the knees and wormed its way up the thigh.  By count of 10 I decided a floaty environment would be better.

The workout ended with hand slap drills and breath holds working on clean form.  A friend of mine said their swim coach used to make the team hold their breath for pool lengths in order to encourage efficient form – I have no idea if it works, but it sounds good.

In short, my swim game hasn’t gone away.  It’s actually improved since I’ve been out of the pool.  Just think what a combination of CrossFit style conditioning and swim workouts could do for a committed swimmer…

Happy Training!

This is hard to describe…

Steph Davis – Castleton And Diamond Free Solo from Andrew on Vimeo.

This is not what I normally do.  I don’t articulate motivation/inspiration.  I don’t dwell on it.  It’s not that I am anti-motivational, I just think I’m slightly cynical/clumsy about the whole thing.   There are plenty of people willing to motivate and inspire us, so why do I need to add to the noise right?  This is how I feel about the topic, and I might add, should lend a degree of credibility to the claim “I was truly inspired after reading this”.  By ‘this’ I mean the following story:

Minding my own business, getting ready to fall asleep, I was reading.  It’s a habit.  I read before I fall asleep.  It’s hard to list all the books that have helped my ability to sleep.

The Hobbit.  It’s a quick read, well written, and was supposed to be a short, enjoyable  story I’ve read before.  Nothing more.  No source of enlightenment, not something that was going to make me stop and say “whoa… Tolkien… DUDE”.

I’m not going to recap the story.  Or tell you how it ends.  But on page 215 of my book, there’s a scene.

Bilbo (the primary character) is heading down a very dark cave to get information on the dragon (who he and the team of dwarves are trying to oust out of the cave).  He has a ring of invisibility, the dragon won’t be able to see him.  But he reaches a critical mass with his fear and thoughts of the unknown.  He’s  STUCK in the cave.  It’s pitch black.  Stuffy, and smells like hobbit-eating dragon.

Now I am supposed to be dozing off here.  I’m not.  I’m sucked in.

Tolkien goes to describe the level of effort that Bilbo must make, standing there in the dark, deciding to push onward, despite everything in his head that’s telling him to turn back.  Then says that this was Bilbo’s defining moment, the bravest thing he would ever do, despite all the achievements and acts of bravery that were to follow.

That hit me.  The battle of deciding to push on – to go into and through the “pain cave” as a friend of mine says on occasion.  The fear that Bilbo had to overcome was immense.  Then I put the book down.

So many stories of people doing exactly what Bilbo did.  It’s not about what they’ve achieved in a material sense (although that is something that helps us appreciate their experience).  It’s about the breakthroughs they have within themselves that are amazing.

It’s one thing to decide to do a marathon or a 100 miles, or run across the Sahara, each one impressive in the context of the event and who is doing it.  It’s another thing altogether when the back story is revealed and you find out that they have cancer, or that they have a fear of open spaces and lo and behold they are running through Kansas.

We should take it upon ourselves to learn these back stories, and learn from them.  Find out more about what made that accomplishment so important.  These things enrich our lives, and yes, I will admit, provide ample fuel for inspiration.

Cheers,
-Brandon