A threshold session that covers 4,000m and tries not to be boring.
My Irish Masters Open 2019
Choosing the events This year, for the first time since 2016, I didn’t need to use the Irish Masters Open to prepare for a larger international gala. This meant I had a little bit more freedom in the events I wanted to do. So, in January when I sat down to do my entries, I... Continue Reading →
Short but Sweet
This session came about last weekend when myself and my sister Claire went for a swim. The pool was unexpectedly busy so we had to figure out how to get an aerobic workout in, while also trying to navigate around the odd swimmer or two that wandered into our lane for a few laps. Claire... Continue Reading →
Three Lessons on Rest
Three important lessons on rest for masters swimmers Mike learned
Arena Carbon Flex Jammer – Review
Mike reviews the Arena Carbon Flex Jammers
Mixing it up
A challenging session that keeps things interesting.
Summer 2018 + New Season – The Rome Challenge
Its been a while since I gave an update on Jia's Rome Challenge, it was a very busy summer. Summer 2018 Things went a little off the rails in the beginning of the summer. I took a two week break from swimming after the Irish open and afterwards I insisted Jia take something similar... Continue Reading →
European Masters Diary – Final Race Day
I only had one event on my third and final race day, the 100m freestyle. This was my best event when I was a junior swimmer, although in hindsight if I had more opportunities to swim the 200m free then that might have been my best. This was the event that I put a lot... Continue Reading →
European Masters Diary – Second Race Day
I was lucky to have a day off after my first day of racing, an unusual thing for me in multi-day competitions. We took the opportunity to go to see lake Bled using one of the competitions shuttles. As soon as we saw the amazing water I started to regret not entering the open water... Continue Reading →
European Masters Diary – First Race Day
I mentioned in the previous article that I was wary of making the same mistake a I did for my first race in the Worlds. It’s something that niggled at me in the run up to the competition, I was determined to leave nothing to chance. I would get to the pool early to make... Continue Reading →
European Masters Diary – Before Race Day
Arrival The Worlds in Budapest were so much fun last year, we decided to take the kids to the Europeans in Slovenia this year. The only downside was that getting to Slovenia is a little tricky. Our journey started with an 11pm trip to Dublin for a 5 am flight to Amsterdam, and from there... Continue Reading →
Nearly There
After writing this I realize some of it is a bit grim, but I'm going to go with it anyway as it captures the grind that goes with training for a big competition. My last hard week of training is now done and it certainly was the toughest. Over the last two months there were... Continue Reading →
Back-end IM
I'm doing a lot of anaerobic work at the moment, this session is something I've been toying with for a while. I did a test run with my sister Claire on it last week and plan to give it another shot this week or next. The idea behind this session is to prepare myself for... Continue Reading →
Basic Anaerobic Threshold Set
This is my go-to Anaerobic Threshold set. For anybody unfamiliar with this term: Anaerobic Threshold isn't actually using the anaerobic energy system, it's aerobic but just under where lactate is produced. So typically 85% effort and above, but under 90% effort. This kind of session will help increase your aerobic training speed and should help... Continue Reading →
Arena Training Swim Snorkel – Review
As I mentioned in my powerbreather review, until recently the last time I wore a snorkel was as a child heading off for a day of exploring a local beach. Of course, back then we didn’t have ones made specifically for swimmers. I have seen more and more swimmers start to use them in the... Continue Reading →
