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Beware of canine motif in today's entry. This was a day for the dogs! Opened the day with a visit to the vet with Sparky, who has had all sorts of issues lately, but was given a clean bill of health (wish I could say the vet's bill was as clean--ouch!). That's the good news. Closed the day with a yoga pose that many are familiar with and that I have used in the past to simultaneously loosen up shoulders, hams, and calves: the Downward Facing Dog pose. Here it is if you're not familiar:

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/491

I used to think it was called that because every time I put my body into this position Sparky would appear--upside down and face to face. No sense of personal space, but it's all cool, we love him anyway. Today the pose was not comfortable; left shoulder still cranky, and basketball with the sixth graders today after school was not helping.

Cold is pretty much gone, but my swim came very late in the day... time enough to cool down and tighten up after basketball; so it wasn't that great. 2K (2200 SCY) in 40 minutes:

4 x 250 (200 hard/50 easy)
5 x 150 (100 hard/50 easy)
250 recovery (breast, easy free)
4 x 50 on :50

Really didn't have a warm-up, probably not good, I know, but that's why we have ibuprofen, right?

I was under some time constraints as I didn't get into the pool until about 45 minutes to close. 200s in 3:15-3:17; 100s really slow (1:32-1:37), but I was feelin' tight and uncomfortable at that point.

I'm callin' it a night! I'll have to save my musings on Dante's Paradiso 3, nineteenth-century painting, and swimming in Lake Michigan for tomorrow.

0.26% of my goal for 2012 complete!

2000 yards at 2PM on the 2nd day of 2012. But I felt like . The cold I ended 2011 with is already on its way out, but in its wake has left me feeling like a shell of my normal self: low energy, cloudy/swollen head. The world seems like a really bad pirated version of itself recorded by someone's cell phone and uploaded to youtube!

Needless to say the 2000 yards was not impressive:

1. 10 x 50 on :50 for a warm-up.
2. 10 x 100 on 2:00 (I would have liked to keep a shorter interval on this main set, but just wasn't feelin' it).
3. 10 x 50 no rest (alternated hard/easy).
4. Crawl out of the pool and slither over to the steam room.

Hope to be back to normal tomorrow. Tired of feeling like Donatello's "Magdalene"; see this haunting photo of the sculpture on Wikipedia Commons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileonatello,_maria_maddalena_02.JPG


Would rather feel like Donatello's bronze "David" (but with a speedo).

"You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here"
--Walt Whitman, "Song of the Open Road."

The New Year opens up before us.

The FLOG that took a year to fill up with yards and miles is now empty again... A new journey begins:
---
My Go The Distance 2012 Progress
0.00 miles swum (=0 yards, =0 meters).
50.00 miles (= 88,000 yards, = 80,467 meters) to next milestone (50 miles milestone).

My Go The Distance 2012 goal: 417.00 mi. Progress towards goal:
0%
You'll need to pick up the pace to achieve your goal this year:
My goal pace: 1.14 miles required as of today to reach my goal by the end of the event
My actual current pace: 0.00 miles as of today
---

I'll need to pick up the pace! Haven't seen that in a while. The journey will start again tomorrow--Y is closed today and I'm fighting off a nasty cold anyway.

The road is there, filled by our journeyings. Walt Whitman--what a way to start 2012, by the way!--says of the road later in the same poem:

"Here is realization,
Here is a man tallied--he realizes here what he has in him,
The past, the future, majesty, love--if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them"

So, I look forward to continuing down that road and finding the things that can't be seen, Whitman's "much unseen," but the things that are most important.

One last, fairly easy 2000-yard swim before they closed the Y. The first mile was 30:30 then I just did a slow cool-down after that. Last swim of 2011, which ended up being a pretty good year for my fitness, despite starting with a running injury. On New Year's Eve 2010 I was limping with IT-Band problems.

Here's the year in review from GTD:

My Go The Distance 2011 Progress
342.65 miles swum (=603,057 yards, =551,435 meters).
Most recent milestone achievement: 300 miles on 11/26.
22.60 miles (= 39,783 yards, = 36,378 meters) to next milestone (365.25 miles (average mile a day) milestone).
My Go The Distance 2011 goal: 300.00 mi. Progress towards goal:

Congratulations! You have achieved your goal for Go The Distance 2011
My goal pace: 300.00 miles required as of today to reach my goal by the end of the event
My actual current pace: 342.65 miles as of today

So, tomorrow the journey of a new year begins. Happy New Year, folks!

OK, I woke up this morning looking for the truck that ran over me... did anyone catch a license plate? Left knee aching, opposite hip in a knot, right shoulder balled up into a hump practically (call me Igor!). I'd better leave the basketball to the kids from now on. But a good enough excuse for a clip from 1989; The Dead performing "Truckin'":

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmukyU9zTiY"]The Grateful Dead-Shoreline Amphitheatre-Truckin' - YouTube[/nomedia]

Long strange trip indeed! Bob Weir's shorts are a trip straight back to the late eighties (did we really wear those things?).

My swim total reached 341.51 miles for the year today. I made the 3500 in the pool in spite of the soreness from basketball. I had my doubts at first, but I managed to loosen up enough.

My friend Scotty did his 3500 in 53 minutes I think. I mentioned before we started that I would just focus on getting in 2500 and see how it felt at that point. I did hard 200s followed by relaxed 50s, all freestyle, no rest; 10 times through. Felt ok, so I went for a few hundred more (alternating hard/easy 100s) and hit 3200 before I stopped to debrief with Scotty, who'd just finished his two-mile. After a couple of minutes I finished off the 3500 yards with some breast stroke to cool down.

One last swim tomorrow to finish off the short, but still strange, trip that has been 2011.

...I'll probably have two more swims before the New Year. Today felt a little better; got into rhythm sooner. 3000 straight, no breaks, though I did mix in a relaxed (gliding) 50 after every 100.

Tomorrow I'm going 3500, see if I can bring it in under an hour. 2 more miles! I love watching the mileage rack up in my FLOG.

I'm starting to get the hang of my higher stroke-rate; bilateral breathing is so much easier. Basketball with the 6th-graders this morning was much more difficult!

Part of the whole mid-life crisis thing is hearing that voice inside that says "this is probably going to hurt later, dude, you're not 17 anymore" and answering, "whatever, I'm gonna see if I can still get over the rim on a lay-up."

Still dreaming... but I'm in good company; for "Man of La Mancha" (and Spanish literature) fans, here's a picture of one of my favorite dreamers in an old Mexican restaurant in Austin, TX (El Gallo on South Congress):

Don Quixote!

Thrashing about with the wrathful in the Stygian marsh of Inferno, circle 5...



That's what the first half of my swim felt like today; there was bound to be something of a letdown and I initially thought I would simply do an easy 2000 or so. I couldn't find a rhythm to save my life. I was trying to find the right stroke rate and pay attention to body roll at the same time and then the roll started falling apart (am I over-thinking it!?). All of a sudden I've forgotten how to breathe too. What the heck is going on?!

Then, at 1500 yards, it's like a switch was flipped... rhythm is there. I'm alternating hard/easy 50s, no rest... bilateral breathing, core engaged, feeling pretty good. I took it all the way to 3000 for the day.

Within striking distance of 340 miles for the year.

In keeping with the season of heavenly choirs, and warm light on the longest, darkest, coldest nights of the year... sure, why not more Dante?

In Canto II of the Paradiso, our poet is soaring through the sublunar heavens and challenges his readers, "Turn back to your shores again" he tells them (in Sinclaire's translation)... you won't be able to handle this voyage; not for the ill-prepared. This journey is reserved for those accustomed to craning their necks toward heaven, for whom he has this encouragement:

"metter potete ben per l'alto sale
vostro navigio, servando mio solco
dinanzi all'acqua che ritorna equale."

Which Longfellow translated:

"Well may you launch upon the deep salt-sea
Your vessel, keeping still my wake before you
Upon the water that grows smooth again."

It is a moment like the Crispin's day speech of Shakespeare's Henry V: "we few, we happy few."

This swim is for those few who seek the "bread of angels"--"pan delli angelli" (Par II.11); the bread that, here, always leaves us hungering for more. Will we be sated by it one day? A tantalizing question... a quest. Answers, like the destination, always just out of reach.


...one of Gustave Dore's heavenly illustrations for Dante's Paradiso. As Dante nears the end of his quest, ours continues on...

3000 yards today, a simple workout:

20 x 50 on 1:00
20 x 100 on 2:00

60 minutes and out... like the bread of angels for mere mortals, I'm craving more. Heart pumping, lungs with that familiar "yeah, I've been working for ya" feeling, everything else pleasantly warmed, a little tight, the good fatigue of an invigorating workout.

I alternated easy and hard on both sets, using my faster stroke rate on the hard 50s (:38-:39) and 100s (1:22-1:26); stretching it out on the easy ones. The churning, wake-making hard reps followed by longer strokes, full breaths, and smooth water.

Tired, but not "satollo" (sated). Dante found his answers, had his fill. We'll just keep swimming in his wake and hope we get there some day. Smooth waters for now!

Attached Thumbnails

 

...or there's something wrong with the scale at the Y. A pound and a half heavier than Christmas eve! I got a head start on swimming it back off again, though. No need to wait for the New Year.

On the positive side: I found a new stroke-rate under the tree this year. I was checking out some websites--trying to figure out a way off this plateau--and found one I liked:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/

My stroke-rate is super slow, which I chalked up to my long distance running background and over-development of the slow-twitch fibers. And I've been working on having a long smooth stroke for a decade now, so it didn't bother me too much... until I read their notes on stroke-rate and rhythm. So I gave it a shot at today's workout decided to up my stroke-rate and went from averaging probably 30-32 strokes per 50 in :50 to 38-40 strokes per 50 in :40.

This is still pretty slow for a stroke rate, but I was surprised at how easy it was to come in at :39-:40 or 1:24 for a 100 (I used to kill myself to get under 1:28 while trying to maintain low stroke counts). Convincing my body that it is supposed to be keeping a higher stroke rate is going to take some doing, so for now I'm alternating fast and easy (fast and easy refer to relative stroke rate now).

10 x 50 (fast in:38-:40; easy in :48-:49)
10 x 100 (fast 1:24-1:26; easy 1:40-1:45)
200 recovery (easy)
50 fast (:40)
200 recovery (easy)
50 fast (:40)
10 x 50 (easy :49-:50; fast :39-:41)
500 cool down (200 breast, 200 back, 100 free)

3000 total

OK, so two things became crystal clear during today's swim:

1. my plateau is primarily due to the fact that I'm an "overglider" and I need to increase the stroke rate to improve my times.
2. my back-stroke is truly sucky and probably the origin of my left shoulder issues (it felt a little sore on Xmas, but I thought it was just the 4000 yards on Xmas eve; surprisingly it didn't bother me at all during the freestyle today and when I went to cooldown with backstroke... bingo! There was the pain). So I'll have to figure that one out too!

Google Art Project's image of Madonna and Child in the Uffizi Gallery to celebrate the day:

http://www.googleartproject.com/muse...nta-trinita-25

The artist, Cimabue, was a near contemporary of Dante.

Today the Kenosha YMCA was open early, so I managed to get in one last swim before the holiday. 4000 yards.

I felt slow today, so I mixed in some interval work to see if I could flip the fast-twitch switch (I may be beyond help!).

4 x 500 on 9:00 (mostly in 8:40)
5 x 100 on 2:00 (averaged 1:32)
500 "recovery" swim (9:00)
500 mixed stroke (breast, back, 100 free)
10 x 50 on 1:00 (mostly :46-:47)

Still feeling a bit worn down, so maybe having Christmas day away from the pool will be good. Back in on Monday when they re-open. But, for now... it's time for a long winter nap!

Here's to goggles in your stockings!

Friday afternoon's swim was a recovery swim; just trying to loosen up a bit from the last few days (basketball practice w/ my 6th grader's team... why do I think I can still do these things?).

2000 yards, mostly freestyle, but mixed in some back and breaststroke (to remind myself why I do mostly free). I even did a few 50s with the kick board... I never do that... how do people do kick sets? I felt like a bathtub toy (churning and churning in the same spot practically--my whole December in microcosm!). Maybe I'll stick to my purist ways and continue shunning the accessories. Did I mention that I miss open water?

I hit a mini-milestone today, though, passing 330 miles for the year! This time last year I was a runner who liked to swim a couple of times a week for cross training. Now I'm totally hooked on swimming, can't imagine not swimming 5-7 times a week. The journey is full of twists and turns; for Buddhists, the physical journey or pilgrimage to a shrine, for example, represents the spiritual journey toward enlightenment. Every physical mile transforms something within.

The NY Metropolitan Museum of Art has some great thematic essays with slide shows; here's their "Buddhism and Buddhist Art" link:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/budd/hd_budd.htm

With every mile in the water I become more and more a "swimmer" . . . less and less a runner. It's an interesting transformation. My body adapts to the changing stresses and conditions, but so does my sense of identity. A rebirth of sorts.

At the very least, my knees appreciate it.

"It was all right"--Lou Reed

Today's workout was good; another 3000 yards. My buddy Scotty was there and I got in a set of 100s on 2:00 with him... he pushed me pretty good, before our workouts diverged.

500 free warm-up (9:00)
5 x 100 on 2:00 (1:24-1:27)
500 free (9:00)
5 x 100 on 2:00 (1:30-1:33)
500 free

I did 50 breast and 50 back between 500 segments again for recovery.

OK, so for the Lou Reed and Velvet Underground fans out there here's another youtube video I found surfing the net, "Rock and Roll" from 1970's "Loaded" album... playing on a real turntable.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2duFNff_ArY"]The Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll - YouTube[/nomedia]

I wonder if there is a way to get that vinyl sound--you know, the popping and scratchy noises--on digital tracks more often. Didn't realize I missed that; brings back some cool memories, doesn't it?

After my swim yesterday I watched National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation" with the family; I now have the image of cousin Eddy in flippers and tank-top bouncing on the diving board with a beer in hand every time I think about going back to the pool (Hawaiian Christmas music in the background... man is that tune catchy!).

My winter solstice workout was pretty good (for this time of year):

500 free (about 8:30)*
10 x 50 on 1:00 (:38-:44)*
500 free (8:40)*
10 x 50 on 1:00 (:42-:46)*
500 free (9:00)*

*Each 500 segment followed by 50 back and 50 breast

Total = 3000 SCY

Finished 5 and a half hours before the official solstice. Times were slow, but crisp enough for me to keep it moving. I've swum more than 325 miles since the last winter solstice (that's like here to Cleveland). Quite a journey; goal for next year = 417 miles (2000-yards/day).

P.S. This guy was on the cover of a Velvet Underground album! Check it out: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEnsb6-CmKw&feature=related"]Velvet Underground - I'm waiting for the man (1966 acetate) - YouTube[/nomedia]

Here's the workout I managed to get in Tuesday:

1000-yard warm-up in 17:30
1:30 rest
5 x 200 on 4:00 (3:03; 3:02; 3:03; 3:05; 3:09)
5 x 100 on 2:00 (from 1:29 to 1:33)
500 cool down (alternating breast and free; frees were in around :55 and felt very relaxed)
[3000 total yards]

So the speed work (it's speed for me!) felt OK; not great, but OK. It's a far cry from the 16-20 200s I would do this summer, or the 15 x 100 on 2:00 I could get in after time-trialing myself in a mile. Picking up the pace, pushing beyond the comfort zone for a little while does make "normal" swimming seem a heck of a lot smoother and easier.

It's all about perspective... :55/50 scy seems like a real slog when all you do is :55 50s. But seems like a piece of cake when you're doing a workout with lots of :45 50s. Tricking the body and mind... am I in an Escher drawing?

Check out the picture gallery on his official website: http://www.mcescher.com/

I guess I need to start thinking about the one-hour postal. I've been able to get in two miles in right around 60 minutes on some of my longer swims earlier this fall, so 3500 is certainly possible within a couple of weeks; but 3600-3700? We'll see what my long swim on Saturday feels like. So far, the raft off of Calypso's Island (see 12/19 post) looks like it's going to be made of a heavy dose of 100-200 intervals.

Woke up this morning feeling rested (heart rate at 46, I usually like to see it at 42-44), so maybe I've beat off the cold I felt coming on a few days ago. I no longer feel like I should be carrying my own head around like a lantern:



Bertrand de Born definitely needs a speedo.

Slogged through a slow 2000 yesterday. I think today I'm going to dust off some cobwebs and mix in some "speed" work (maybe some 3:00 200s on 4:00), not many reps, but just enough to remind my body that I can do this... make the easy swims seem easier.

Swam a mile at the Y today (or, I guess it's yesterday by now); had to get it in at the last minute... they close at 5PM and I waited until about 4:15 to get started. Finished 1750 SCY in a little more than 30 minutes (30:40). I was pushing the pace even though I know I've got a cold coming on and am feeling a bit run down in the last few days. Four Sundays ago I swam the mile in under 29 (on my way to a 3500-4000-yard workout).

After watching my mile time come down steadily over the last year, as I began taking my swimming more seriously, I'm starting to see it head in the other direction. I'm hoping this is normal... two steps forward, one step back, right? I've been on the plateau now for a couple of months (after bringing my mile all the way down to 28:00 at the end of the summer).

Every journey has these moments, hours, days, months even, where forward progress seems to be slow to non-existent. But we can't climb constantly; sometimes we just have to be cool with a little plateau time. Odysseus on Calypso's Island: we're all going to be a prisoner in a place we don't want to be at some point... and wouldn't we always rather be getting better than stagnating? Odysseus "spent the days sitting upon the rocks or the sands staring at the barren sea, and sorrowing"; time to start building a raft.

But what is that raft going to look like?

The shipwreck survivor drags himself onto shore and then stares back at the waves that almost consumed him. This is how Dante describes the feeling he has as he looks back down the dark wooded valley after he sees the sun rise over a hilltop. Mark Musa's translation uses the word "swimmer":

"Just as a swimmer, still with panting breath, / now safe upon the shore, out of the deep, / might turn for one last look at the dangerous waters..."

For the swimmer, however, that "safe shore" is not necessarily dry land. The "dangerous waters" are figurative. I'm in "the deep" when I can't get my swims in at all, or swim as much as I want to.

2000 more yards on Friday; 3000 yards on Saturday... I'm a distance guy, so I like slow and long; but these swims are not particularly long, just slow. I love the feeling of climbing out of the water after an "epic" swim (2-3 miles). Haven't had that in a few weeks. And these shorter swims are not exactly crisp... I feel like I'm swimming through ditch five in circle 8 of Inferno: bubbling tar. No demons with grappling hooks standing on deck, though; at least not the visible kind.

A month ago I was swimming 10-12 miles a week; now I'm barely at 10k/week. Little aches here and there. Just not feeling it right now... waking up with a cold this morning might be an indication that the body just needs a break... this last week even my easy days feel hard; yuck! This is a figurative "deep" I find myself staring into now... need to keep just plugging away, a mile here, a mile there... a little each day until I get to the point where I feel ready to start pushing the distances back up again; mixing in some faster swimming.

I envision my "safe upon the shore" being an average 2 miles/day in the water. I long for "panting breath" and the feeling of having swum to exhaustion, knowing I'll be strong enough to get back in and repeat the following day.

"Le tenebre fuggian da tutti lati, / e 'l sogno mio con esse; ond'io leva'mi"

Dante awakens at daybreak only steps away from the top of Mount Purgatory: "the shadows flee from all sides and my sleep-dream with them." He arises to meet the new day... hungry for the climb and light on his feet.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was flying through my first 1000 yards at a pace I probably couldn't have maintained for more than 3-4 laps the night before. I guess the "Hard/Easy" thing imposes its will no matter what our own plans might be. I'm anxious to see what today in the water feels like. Maybe I should work the hard-day/easy-day into my schedule... how easily we forget basic principles!

So easy for a distance guy, convert from running, just to slip into the water and keep swimming... forget about the workout, just keep the laps ticking by and see how far we can get in the allotted time. After the new year I guess I'll get back into something that looks more like a training routine.

Last night's swim at the Y was uninspired; I was happy to have been there at all. But I felt like I was just slogging through the 2000 yards... not enough energy to work in intervals. This month I've already missed 5 days; In November, despite traveling for 8-9 days, I only missed five days all month. Looks like my string of 40-mile+ months will come to an end this December.

It's been a good year, though. Met my GTD goal midway through November. More than 300 miles for 2011! Next year I'll go for the average 2000-yards/day: a 416-mile goal. I tend to forget though, when things are going really well, that I need to build different phases into my schedule. I probably should be in a rest phase right now anyway, so missing a few swims between the holidays and cutting back on my yardage is not a bad thing. Just feels strange right now.

I'm reminded of Dante ascending Mount Purgatory; as night falls he must stop his ascent... no matter how much he wants to keep going. Virgil, his guide, asks the poet Sordello (who has just mentioned this principle to them):

"What do you mean? ... If a soul / started to climb at night, would he be stopped, / or would he simply find he could not move?"

Sordello responds:

"There's nothing that prevents our going up / except the darkness of the shadows: this, / alone, afflicts the will with impotence."

(Trans. Mark Musa, _The Portable Dante_ [London: Penguin, 1995], p. 231).

Nothing... except the darkness of the shadows! This time of year, with so little daylight in Wisconsin it's sometimes hard to find the motivation. I long for those seemingly endless summer days on the lakes, reinvigorated by fresh water and sun. I think now "How did I ever get in so much yardage or mileage in a day?" Dante reminds me of the cyclical nature of our ascent... two steps up, one step back; at night we rest.

There will be a dawn.