Saturday, April 07, 2007

Santa Monica Swimming: SCAQ Workout Today

I took these pictures 20 minutes before workout. Santa Monica College has a really nice pool and if you get a chance to go swim there I really reccomend you do so. What I like best is their overflow gutters. Note that the water comes right up to the tippy edge; this allows chop to exit the pool and flow back into the pool vents below rather than backwashing into the pool.

Dimitriy coached today and it was primarily a middle distance workout.
200 warmup
12 x 50s - swim/drill the first 6 @ 55 seconds build/easy the second 6 @ 55 seconds
6 x 200s @ 3:00/3:40 - My fastest 200 was 2:30, slowest 2:45
6 x 150s with descending intervals easy/hard which I made
6 x 50 descending intervals easy/hard with the last interval 3 seconds

3 comments:

Scott said...

I actually have problems with the 'infinity' style gutter system as I find it difficult to locate the pool edge for turns. I note these gutters don't seem to be in any of the new pool designs (take a look at the recent FINA World Championship pool) so the consensus seems to be lower surface turbulence isn't enough to offset the lack of wall visibility. Evidently safety trumps speed.

Tony Austin said...

Your criticism is valid. I have nailed my ankles twice and they hurt for a few days but I find that these pools can hold more swimmers per lane than "backwash" pools and my times are better as well.

VNSO can only handle 3-4 swimmers per lane whereas SMC and LMU can go as high as 5-6.

Though I did hear from the swimmers down under that the Astral pool was really fast. Jusr look at how many WRs were broken.

Trevor said...

Santa Monica and LMU are by far my favorite pools because of the gutters...