Swam w/ Roger, Dave, Dave and Danny. Started the year by doing our annual polar bear jump in my neighbor's pool at midnight. Rumor has it the temp was 45 this year. It was nasty cold. I took a deep breath in and dove. As I hit, everything felt like it constricted inside of me and I started gasping as I glided to the shallow end. I stood up still gasping for air getting only short breaths. Finally, as I walked up the stairs, I regained full breathing and felt better. The 50 degree air w/ light drizzle suddenly seemed a lot warmer. This is one of those things that I'm not quite sure why I do it. I suppose there is the rush of adrenaline when I hit the cold water. It's exhilarating, painful and somewhat scary all at once. The pool actually opened today. Most of the team met at 10:00 AM for a swim. Afterwards, we went to Dave's house to watch football and consume food. We excelled at the latter part. Had a great time and really enjoyed the company. SCY 600 Warm up 13 x 200 (various intervals) * 1-5 Convert IM -> IM Kick: 3:15, 3:20, 3:25, 3:30, 3:35 * 6-9 Convert IM Kick -> Backstroke: 3:30, 3:25, 3:20, 3:15 * 10-13 Convert Backstroke -> Free: 3:05, 2:55, 2:45, 2:35 (made 2:18 on last one) 9 minutes (maybe it was 11?) 50 easy fly/50 easy choice, repeat I did 550 yds 3 Rounds of: * 100 Easy Pull - 1:30 * 2 x 25 Hard stroke - :40 * 100 Easy Pull - 1:30 * 2 x 25 Hard kick - :40 Dave and I ended up racing the pull instead of taking it easy. Eventually, we were doing 1:03s (I think he was near 1:00 on a couple of them) 100 Cool down (4750 Total)
Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 600 various 16 x 25 shooters w/fins @ :40 -- 8 back, 8 belly 50 EZ 8 x 50 @ 1:30 w/agility paddles odds = caterpillar fly drill evens = double arm torque drill 50 EZ Main Sets: 8 x 25 burst + cruise @ 1:00 100 EZ 8 x (25 AFAP + 75 EZ) @ 3:00 2 free from a dive (11, 12) 2 back from block (13) 2 breast dolphin from dive (15) 1 shooter (9) 1 flutter kick w/board (11) 2 x (4 x 25 @ 100 pace @ 15:RI + 100 EZ) -- free w/small paddles 8 x (50 w/small paddles & fins @ 200 pace + 25 EZ back kick) @ 1:30 odds = free evens = evil 100 EZ Total: 3500 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Swam in the new year with a HIT workout. Naturally. I like using the small paddles for speed work, but they are just not great for streamlining. I haven't seen any new years resolutions in the blogs! I have a few: 1. Work on my backstroke start. I know, everyone thinks it's my strength, but I have been consistently flat backing starts and not getting a clean entry. I'm not sure if this has to do with the new head back position I've adopted or something else. More arch and more toe flick needed! 2. Concentrate on keeping my upper body straight while SDK-ing. I've been detecting some upper body undulation in my 50 backs, and I think this is slower for me. 3. Keep working on the wider pull for evilstroke that helped me drop time at NE Champs. (No resolution at all to do more whip kick. ) 4. Swim freestyle more than once in a blue moon at meets. I had been dong it more in practice last fall with my shoulder improved. This may be somewhat hard as there are only so many meets and I swim all four strokes. 5. Continue to be entranced with in water strength training. This year, I added bungee cordz to my equipment bag and used my parachute more regularly. I may start doing parachute work in > 25 distances. I'm hoping I can use small paddles more regularly too. Of course, this type of work is very fatiguing, so I have to be careful not to overdo. 6. Use my 2XU compression top more regularly. I always forget to put it on! Today my excuse was that I had to go to Lil Fort's soccer game straight from the pool. 7. What else? No GTD suggestions please! (I did swim a whopping 17 more miles than last year topping out at 348.) I did spot my wayward training partner Speedo at the Fairfax New Years Eve 4 miler yesterday. Since Lil Fort smoked him, I think his real future is still in swimming.
There is a so-called polar bear swim here in Walton County—if you can call an event that takes place in conditions that would melt an actual polar bear that—but this year it got cancelled because of surf and currents. I went in for my own private New Year’s Day swim anyway, enjoying a mile barefoot run on the sand before a brief dip this morning. Winds were brisk from the southeast, but the air was warm, low-70s already by mid-morning. I didn’t swim much, just played and let the waves toss me around for a bit before heading in. It was a good way to start the new year!
2012: Despite all signs to the contrary (Record hot spring in WI, Super-storm Sandy, Notre Dame making the BCS national championship game?!), the four horsemen of the apocalypse did not make an appearance at the end of the 13th Mayan Baktun to terminate the universe as we know it. 2013 is here, and a whole new set of goals, but before looking too far ahead into this, as yet unknown, but hopefully "lucky" 13th year of the 21st century, I would like to mark the the new year by taking one last look back at the old. 2012 was my first "full" year as a swimmer, as opposed to a runner cross-training in the pool. I ended 2011, having become a swimmer only 6-8 months before, with 335 miles and then set my 2012 goal for 420 miles, hoping to average 2000 yards a day. By April I was so far ahead of my goal pace I decided to make the goal 500 miles. Would there be a new swim suit in the mail come year end? Here's how I did by month: Month--Total Distance Jan--45.11 miles (=79,400 yards, =72,603 meters) Feb--46.42 miles (=81,700 yards, =74,706 meters) Mar--45.63 miles (=80,300 yards, =73,426 meters) Apr--55.51 miles (=97,700 yards, =89,337 meters) May--62.61 miles (=110,200 yards, =100,767 meters) Jun--51.89 miles (=91,324 yards, =83,507 meters) Jul--56.76 miles (=99,895 yards, =91,344 meters) Aug--27.47 miles (=48,355 yards, =44,216 meters) Sep--27.51 miles (=48,425 yards, =44,280 meters) Oct--31.31 miles (=55,112 yards, =50,394 meters) Nov--42.60 miles (=74,983 yards, =68,565 meters) Dec--53.88 miles (=94,825 yards, =86,708 meters) Total 546.72 miles (=962,218 yards, =879,853 meters) Nearly 1,000,000 yards for the year (that certainly would have brought about a world ending cataclysm--phew!). Lots of little goals along the way... 1. breaking two miles in my first 1-hour postal swim; 2. my first 50+ mile month; 3. my first 60+ mile month; 4. doing a 12K continuous pool swim in my buildup for open water events; 5. my first USMS Open Water 5K; 6. my first USMS 5K postal swim; 7. mastering the flip turn; 8. first time starting off the blocks; 9. my first meet EVER; 10. my first attempts at fly and IM in practice. Some goals eluded me: 1. swim all the postals--just couldn't work out the logistics for the 10K, and I was running out of gas at the end of the summer anyway! 2. swim my first 10K or 10K+ open water competition--I had one or two opportunities in the area, but there were conflicts on the weekends toward the end of the summer as we prepared to see our oldest off to college for the first time. Some interesting discoveries and fun moments along the way: 1. Speedo Endurance: after burning through swim suits at the rate of roughly one every two months for about a year, I found that Speedo Endurance really does hold up where other fabrics don't. Been using the same two suits (alternating blue and black) since May; that's a lot of miles! 2. I like working on the "other" strokes... and not just using them as recovery lengths in long distance freestyle interval workouts. 3. Swimming is like running, in that it keeps me working on my aerobic and my endurance, but it's also like golf--because technique is so important (and often frustrating!); I can always be refining, and focus is extremely important for maintaining good form. (Bonus: swimming is cheaper than golf!) 4. Anthony, my second son, swam his first mile swim this summer--becoming the third in the family to complete the BSA mile swim. 5. Anthony and Aaron (my youngest) have both taken to swimming and have set goals for swimming the mile (or swimming it faster) this coming summer. I now have company in the pool from time to time! 6. I finished the year in GTD just outside the top 10 at #11 in my age group; I thought top 20 would be out of reach until I realized half way through the summer, that there really aren't that many people crazy enough to put in 40-50 miles per month, month in and month out. Go endurance junkies! So what will 2013 bring? I'll blog my specific goals for the coming year tomorrow; but I just entered my GTD goal for 2013 a few minutes ago: 550 miles.
Tue Jan 1st, 2013 Today FINA considers me 50 for SCM & LCM even though I don't turn 50 for 4 months & 3 weeks Recently Renewed my 2013 USMS membership http://www.usms.org/reg/ http://www.usms.org/reg/content/benefits Don't have a team? Consider registering with: Longhorn Masters / TXLA especially if you ever swam for Longhorn Aquatics club or Masters, UT or if you are coming to the 2013 South Central SCY Zone Championships April 5, 6 & 7 in Austin at the UT swim Center and you want to do some relays Swam: a double yesterday LCM again, was close to cramping, missed warm up Today: Whitney Coached 9:00 - 11:00 dove in on time SCY UT Swim Center main pool Swam with Dick beside Stan, Kellie, Larry, Jeff, & Sharon kellie went pretty fast assigned: 13 rounds of a 400 or 5:00 on 7:00 odd: FR evens: toys Followed by a 50 Fast on 2:00 Did: 7 rounds then got out Odds did 500 fr went 6:00 5:40, 5:48, 5:22 did 1 SDK on each length Evens: swam 500 on #2 went 5:50ish, kicked 400 on #4, went 450 on #6 50s: most were FR went 25s, did a couple FL, & 1 flutter K with a board, didn't do the 7th 50, then got out I'm a little tired, bet I'd be fried if I did the whole work out Next Meet: 2013 South Central SCY Zone Championships Fri Apr 5 - Sun Apr 7 UT Austin, TX
I was able to drop in with the Oregon Reign Masters group out at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, OR on my way out of town from the Portland area this morning. Workout was coached by Dennis Baker. He was happy to see me there, and I was "happy" to see the outdoor pool was set up Long Course METERS!! They have a new bubble top over the pool which now makes it possible to swim outside at this time of year. Otherwise the pool would be unusable. LCM Warmup: 400 Free 200 Kick w/ board 400 Free Pull 200 more of Free waiting for the group (1200/1200) 6 x 50 Free Desc. 1-3, 4-6 @ :10 rest (300/1500) Main Set: Idea is to get faster on each set of two 100s, even with less rest 2 x 100 Free @ :20 rest (went 1:23s) 2 x 100 Free @ :15 rest (went 1:19s) 2 x 100 Free @ :10 rest (went 1:15s) 200 Free Pull 1:00 rest 2 x 100 Free @ :20 rest (went 1:20s) 2 x 100 Free @ :15 rest (went 1:17s) 2 x 100 Free @ :10 rest (went 1:13s) 200 Free Pull (1600/3100) 400 Kick w/ board, but must be fast in & out of the flags (400/3500) 12 x 50 Free Pull @ :55 every 3rd one breath the least amount possible - basically I did a 6 stroke breathing pattern on these. last one I did a :33 (600/4100) 6 x 50 IM (yes 12.5 of each str.) @ 1:10 I did 3 x 50 Fly, and 3 x 50 Back (300/4400) 100 EZ and out ------------------------------ 4500 LCM in under 90 minutes, then hit to road back to home for 5 hours of fun. At least the roads were clear and no snow problems to deal with. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Finished up the year with: My Go The Distance 2012 Progress 581.31 miles swum (=1,023,114 yards, =935,535 meters). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, and here is a picture of my Animal Meet trophy award from the meet on Sunday.
SCY@Fort Myers Aquatic Center Air temp of 66, pool at 81, 100% water clarity. Sunny skies with humidity at 63% *Warm up* 200 FR 6x50 FR K on 1:00 desc 1-3,4-6 4x75 FR P on 1:10 desc 1-4 8x25 FR S on :30 desc 1-4,5-8 *Set 1* 3000 FR Ladder Swim on 1:30/100 base interval; 100-200-300-400-500/1 min rest/500-400-300-200-100 Up ladder - desc pace 100 - 500/Down ladder - 500#2 (@/faster 500#1), desc pace to 100 Up: 1:10, 2:17, 3:22, 4:28, 5:37Down: 5:36, 4:25, 3:16, 2:09, 1:02 *Set 2* 1000 BK Swim w/paddles, fins Steady state swim *Set 4* 10x50 FR on :45 did 1-5)32-29, 6-7)31-29 Warm down: 100 EZ Comments: Had to swim SCY at FMAC over LCM at FGCU this morning due to only possible way to get a workout within our family activities but not swim at the community pool again. Warm Up - Pace work to get ready for Set 1.Set 1 - In this ladder swim, going up the ave 100 pace must be faster each swim to the 500, then the 500 starting down must be at/or faster then first 500 with each swim to the last 100 descending in ave 100 pace.Set 2 - Paddles/fins steady state backstroke is fun and fast, really works the legs.Set 3 - Working to build up more speed in Freestyle.
One last swim for the year. Here's what I did (3300 SCY/65 minutes): Warm-up: 400 free on 8:00 (7:00) 4 x 100 on 2:00 (1:28-1:30) 4 x 50 on 1:00 (:39-:40) Main: 10 x 100 on 1:50 (alt. pull/free: 1:30-1:35/1:25-1:27) 4 x thru 200 free + 50 back (200s were in 3:05-3:15) Cool-down 100 breast on 2:30 (1:50) 100 IM on 2:30 (1:38) 100 EZ free Yesterday was an easy day after the 7200-yard effort on Saturday, I did 2400... 400 warm-up free, 400 in back stroke drill and practice, 400 in breast stroke drill and practice, 400 pull and free w/ fins, 400 in butterfly practice (200 Dolphin kick drills, 8 x 25 fly), 400 cool-down (75 back, 75 br, 50 kick, 200 free). The dolphin kick is getting easier, but DOMS is definitely becoming more frequent as I approach another calendar year! I checked my 14-day totals, counting back from today (12/31) and find that, even with Christmas day off, I managed to get in 51,300 yards... that's over 2000 more than what I did for my two-week WI Water Warrior fitness challenge last year! I've finished the year with 546+ miles, which might put me in the top-10 for the 40-44 age group on GTD... we'll see. I'll blog my "2012: Year in Review" tomorrow--since it's a day off anyway. Happy New Years everyone!
After Saturdays annual swim I needed a recovery day. Did a nice easy workout. 500 free 500 free kick w/zoomers every 3rd 25 fast 4x200@3:00 free w/paddles easy pace held 2:50's 200 EZ Total 2000 yards
600 back/free 800 P speed/play by 100s 4 x 200 reverse IM 8 x 100 P on 1:30 200 cool down Total: 3200 LCM Had to get out early & go to work - workout was 7:30-10, and I had to be at work at 9. . . . Only four more days of mega distance left! Kids have to be back at school Jan 7th, so practice goes back to 5:30 to whenever. I wonder if there is some sort of check-off challenge or distance something I can do during January to keep up my mojo?
Monday Dec 31st, 2012 400 KICK for Time Tomorrow I will be a FINA 50! Lately I've been preparing for the 400 Kick for Time I showed up yesterday for Sunday practice and the pool was set up LCM, and the 400 Kick for time is SCY, so it was a no go. Showed up today for 5:30 am to 7:00 practice & the pool was still LCM, did most of the practice, then got out 15 minutes early, put on a B70 jammer & gave the 400 another shot, my 1st 2 tries were 5:32 & 5:24, today I went 5:08.11 050 33 0:33 100 37 1:10 150 39 1:49 200 39 2:28 1:18 250 40 3:08 300 40 3:48 1:20 350 40 4:28 400 40 5:08.11 1:20 2:40 went out a bit too hard but it didn't feel like it at the time stuck with the NO STROKE RULE which I really wanted to break but didn't wore a jammer Recently Renewed my 2013 USMS membership http://www.usms.org/reg/ http://www.usms.org/reg/content/benefits Don't have a team? Consider registering with: Longhorn Masters / TXLA especially if you ever swam for Longhorn Aquatics club or Masters, UT or if you are coming to the 2013 South Central SCY Zone Championships April 5, 6 & 7 in Austin at the UT swim Center and you want to do some relays Swam: Sun, mainly worked on flutter kick with a board, doing fast 50's & 100's Did not swim on Saturday Today: Whitney Coached 5:30 - 7:00 dove around 6:40 LCM UT Swim Center main pool Swam with Todd (who hasn't swum in 10 days) & Marcio (who's swum 3 times in the past 2 months) I was very impressed with how they hung in there and did the practice. Trained beside David, Larry, Sharon, & Gull Warm up assigned 800 dove in late, did 3 or 400 Main Set 8 x 150 FR LCM 2 on 2:15 2 on 2:10 2 on 2:05 2 on 2:00 Made em leading the lane assigned 800 did 6 x 100 K We did 8 x150 same as above but PULL Todd went 1st, he's faster when he has oars, made em all again, held 1:55's & 6's, 1:52 on last one drafting was much easier than leading ASSIGNED: another 800 but I got out to prepare for my 400 kick thanking about doubling Next Meet: 2013 South Central SCY Zone Championships Fri Apr 5 - Sun Apr 7 UT Austin, TX
Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 600 various 10 x 25 shooters w/fins @ :40 50 EZ 5 x 50 torque drill w/agility paddles @ 1:30 50 EZ Main sets: 8 x 25 burst dolphin kick + cruise @ 1:00 50 EZ 8 x 25 burst fast hands drills + cruise @ 1:00 100 EZ 4 x (5 x 50 w/fins) @ 1:30 1 = EZ kick 2 = @ 100 pace 3 = EZ kick 4 = AFAP 5 = EZ kick R1 = fly (25/23), R2 = breast (29/27high), R3 = free (24/23 missed turn), R4 = flutter kick w/board (27 flat/25) 100 EZ 12 x 25 swim w/parachute @ 1:00 -- 4 free, 4 back, 4 breast 150 EZ Total: 3350 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I slept in and opted not to go the team New Year practice. I'm a little leary of the distance; I recall my shoulder was sore for 6 weeks after one of those practices two years ago. In any event, this practice seemed quite hard. I was bushed the rest of the day -- probably because it's the first time I've used a parachute since November before taper. Parachutes are very fatiguing. My meet plan for 2013: Jan. 20: MD series meet in Annapolis Feb: ?? Possibly I'll go to a SCM meet at Spire with Jimby or have an off month Early March: Warrenton meet. It's not on the PV schedule yet, but I'm hoping they have it again. March 16: Albatross SCM meet April 20-21: Colonies Zones at GMU May 10-12: Nationals in Indy Summer: ?? I may try to attend Colonies Zones LCM in Richmond in late June. The meet is on the calendar, but it doesn't specify a pool. I don't plan on much meet wise this summer as we'll be moving. I still plan to swim all the PV meets after the move. Oct. 26: Sprint Classic Nov.: Reston Relay/Sprint Carnival Dec.: NE SCM Champs We are going away for Spring Break for 9 days at the end of March (23-31). It looks like I could be out of the pool the entire time. Not ideal for Nationals prep, but a great happiness jaunt. I may taper for my March meets and then try to reboot in April and swim through CZ. Happy happy new year!
Updated December 31st, 2012 at 10:19 AM by The Fortress
Went to my old high school pool in San Antonio and swam with some Masters of South Texas. It was a short workout but that was ok - I was really sluggish with all of the tamales, rotel, cookies, etc. Then, on the way home, I bought some Krispy Kremes for everyone since that is what Dad used to do. Oh well, it's the holidays - eating at family get togethers is what we do. The swim will at least help tide me over until I get back to swimming in Madison on Friday. Finished the year at 592.92 miles. Pleased with that, particularly after missing about a month in August thru October. My goal was 500 miles. Now I'm trying to decide whether to keep that goal for 2013 or go for 600 miles. My concern is focusing on distance (which I know I did in 2012) versus quality/speed. My friend, Peter, was at 799.42 miles as of yesterday. I know he'll swim this morning and will probably end up over 802 miles. I know Dave and Dave are over 650 miles, maybe even 700. Even if I swam on Thursdays, I couldn't keep up with them - distance or speed. But, I'm glad they let me hang around - it helps me keep going. Thanks for your friendship guys! Happy New Year everyone 4x25 Fly w/fins on :30 4x50 Back on :50 4x75 Breast on 1:00 4x100 Free on 1:30 5x200 Free on 3:00 5x200 Back w/paddles on 3:15 200 Kick 8x25 IM order on :30 2x50 Free 3500 yards 70 minutes
Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Roger, Danny and Brian. I managed to squeeze in 800 miles on the year: Jan 78.49 miles (=138,150 yards, =126,324 meters) Feb 48.21 miles (=84,850 yards, =77,587 meters) Mar 69.78 miles (=122,818 yards, =112,304 meters) Apr 58.10 miles (=102,250 yards, =93,497 meters) May 64.79 miles (=114,025 yards, =104,264 meters) Jun 61.90 miles (=108,951 yards, =99,625 meters) Jul 63.66 miles (=112,048 yards, =102,457 meters) Aug 62.22 miles (=109,500 yards, =100,127 meters) Sep 71.42 miles (=125,700 yards, =114,940 meters) Oct 76.90 miles (=135,350 yards, =123,764 meters) Nov 75.66 miles (=133,165 yards, =121,766 meters) Dec 70.49 miles (=124,065 yards, =113,445 meters) Total 801.63 miles (=1,410,872 yards, =1,290,101 meters) My goal this year was 750 miles. I made that in early December and figured I could make an extra 50. I seem to be faster for my efforts which is more important to me than yardage markers. But having that 800 miles in mind helped me push a little further in my workouts over the last month. It's been a good year. I'm fortunate to be relatively injury free and I've made some good improvement on all my strokes. Look forward to 2013. SCY 600 Warm up 8 x 100 - 2:00 * 1st 25 no breath * 2nd 25 easy fly * 3rd 25 breaststroke w/ 2 pullouts (make halfway across pool) * 4th 25 Sprint stroke (IM order x 2) 8 x 100 - 2:00 * 1-4 25 flutter kick/50 pull/25 flutter kick * 5-8 25 br kick/50 pull/25 br kick * Pull is easy, kick is hard 5 x 200 - 3:00 Convert free to fly 100 Easy Did a 150 (kick/pull/kick x 2) relay. I was the "puller" on our team. 12 x 25 Various 200 Cool down (3900 Total)
I felt quite good today despite taking cold medicine last night. Warm up 400 free 6x50 catchup 6x75 kick, drill, free Main set 4 x(3x100 on 1.10, 300 on 3.45) on the last set we lowered the 100 time to 1.05 and the 300 on 3.30. Despite my Lat's hurting I made all the times quite easily. 100 easy Second set 2x(3x50 free on 35, 3x50 stroke on 50) Warm down 100 easy Total 4350 After workout today I met with our coach to develop a program for Nationals. I am excited about what we developed. Hopefully I can persuade some of the other swimmers in the club to do a similar program. It will be great to have some relays at Nationals.
Updated January 1st, 2013 at 08:31 AM by StewartACarroll
This weekend was the annual Animal Meet weekend in Canby, Oregon. It started off as a USAS meet, and they have now piggybacked a masters version on at the end of the weekend for us to have some fun. Masters have the option of doing the: Sprint - 100 IM, 50 Fly, and 200 FreeMiddle - 200 IM, 100 Fly, and 500 Free (also what the 12 & under USAS kids do)Distance - 400 IM, 200 Fly, and 1000 Free (also what the 13 & over USAS kids do)Or Masters can pick and choose between all the events (e.g. 200, 500, 1000 Free)An "Animal" award trophy is given to the fastest male and female in each of the categories, Sprint, Middle, and Distance (I went Trophy Hoing today) The meet doesn't get very populated, partly due to the event selection, and partly from the time of year as well I suppose. I only travel down for this meet because I visit my grandparents for a few days as well on the same trip. I don't think I'd travel this far normally for just 3 events either. Warmed up about 800 yards or so - I had to get into the "masters mood" rather than the age grouper I've been lately. Lots of 50s and 100s of mostly free and a few lengths of backstroke, with lots of talking in between. I wasn't worried about my swims, knowing my conditioning would carry me through no problem. I really only wanted to do well in my final race of the day, the 1000. Did this meet on heavy Christmas training, with no additional rest aside from no swimming on Saturday (yesterday). 400 IM - 4:40.60 - not bad for a "cruise". 1:00.57 / 1:15.05 / 1:22.19 / 1:01.79 Got the splits from my old head coach that I used to work with here in Canby. He was there with his high school boys/girls swimmers who were our timers for the day. 200 Fly - 2:14.07 - whatever...not bad for how I swam it I told myself that I wasn't going to push it, and that my final 50 was going to be the fastest split of the 4. Who does this??? Well, my final 50 was a 31.5ish, but not quite the fastest - my initial 50 was a 31.0. I did even split the 200 Fly, which is tough to do in itself 1000 Free - 10:47.92 - very happy with this I was only 3 seconds off from my best time in the 1000, so considering the training I'm doing, this is good. I'm sporting a full beard right now, didn't wear anything remotely close to a "fast" suit either, just some plain ol' brief. I just got in a zone and went for it. The guy next to me said his goal was for me not to lap him 3 times. Knowing that, I tried to do just that, and got him 3 times on my final 50. Eric told me my splits were (roughly): 1:00/1:05/1:06/1:05/1:05 1:05/1:05/1:04/1:04/1:02
The weather down here usually involves tradeoffs. You can have warm, but that usually also means wet and/or windy, or you can have chilly, which usually brings brilliant sunshine. I prefer the latter, because it means very swimmable conditions in the gulf, with the colder north wind creating very calm water conditions in my south-facing beach. (Since the water is fairly shallow, strong winds from the south can make for surf that breaks unpredictably until you get a couple of hundred yards out, and they can also blow in massive man-of-war invasions). And cold and clear is exactly what I got today. Shortly after sunrise I could see mist rising up from the gulf, there being that much difference between the water temps (around 60) and air temps (around 30). While I was sitting on the balcony admiring the view I noticed a pod of dolphins swimming and bobbing in the water in front of me. They stayed between the first and second sandbars—ie where I swim when I venture in--and were moving back and forth very slowly. I watched them for about 20 minutes before they moved further down the beach. By early afternoon the air had warmed up to the 50s, and the water was very calm, almost glassy. View to the east I decided it was time to go for a swim. I was expecting water temps in the low-60s, but double capped and wore earplugs just in case. I was glad I did, because the water seemed a little chillier than that. I swam the same mile-plus course as last week, down to the beach flag to the east, then back. I swam a little further out from shore than last time, hoping to avoid any hooks and lines from the guys who were surfcasting. The water was more blue than green today, and a little cloudier than last week—I could see the bottom, but couldn’t make out the shrimp tunnels or furrows on it once I got out to swimmable depths. It was easy going both ways—there was some wind from the north, more noticeable in the water than on the beach, which is sheltered by a 30-foot bluff, but there were no waves or swells. It almost felt like swimming in a big pool. I swam with less skittishness today than last week, and halfway hoped I would see the dolphins that had swum in the same area this morning. I didn’t though, nor did I see any skates, although the mermaids’ purses I saw washed up on the sand suggest they’re out there somewhere. The water felt cold on my skin the whole time, but I never felt cold inside, just happy to be out swimming under the welcoming sun. I stayed in and floated on my back a little after I was done, then waded the 50m or so over the sandbar to get back on shore. It was a good day.
Sunday 12/30 PM only LCM 500 swim 6x100 @ 1:50 k/sw/dr/bld 2x 8x50 @ :40 RED 3x100 @ 1:25 D1-3 4x50 @ 1:00 V.S. 100 EZ 6x @ 5:00 per round 100 FAST from a dive 100 EZ Times: 1:04.6 1:04.5 1:05.8 1:05.4 1:07.1 1:06.1 200 EZ Total: 4400
Thursday: Zippo. We were traveling up to Pittsburgh and didn't leave in time for me to hit the Rivers Club for a workout. House renovations are coming along ... why are they always more expensive than you think? Friday: Made it to the Sewickley Y for a swim with Jimby's team. 300 choice 10 x 50 @ 1:15, SDK to 15 meters and build the rest 8 x 50 kick @ 1:15, mix up strokes 50 EZ 8 x (75 @ 1:15 smooth + 25 fast @ :45) -- I did evens swim, odds kick, the 25s at approx 100 pace 50 EZ 1 x through, each 100 faster even with breaks -- I did 100 IMs with fins, think I was a :51 on last one 100 @ 2:00 100 @ 2:00, break :5 @ 50 100 @ 2:00, break :5 @ 50 & 75 100 @ 2:00, break :5 @ 25, 50, 75 6 x 50 free w/paddles @ 1:00 smooth Total: 2800 Jimby and I had a lovely dinner afterward. We checked out Water Rat's new manse (even though he was off skiing). Very fancy! Saturday: I squeezed in a dryland session at the River Club. RC exercises, 10 min cable crunches, 110 x 3 x 15 each side wide grip lat pulldowns, 75 x 4 x 8 leg press (on strange machine), 19 x 4 x 8 abdcutor, 120 x 3 x 15 wrist curls, 50 x 4 x 8 overhead squats w/bar, 10 long arm crunches, 2 x 50 plank with flutter kicks on yoga ball, 25 (not so easy) box jumps, 3 x 10 med ball slams, 2 x 10 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I had a great week of training last week. This week, not so much, too busy with life. Need to get to the pool later today.
I was wondering how my distance freestyle day was going to go, since I've spent the last couple of days working pretty hard on the other strokes. I felt sore and run-down going in, but I stuck to my plan... 5 x thru 12 x 100 on 1:45 200 breast on 4:00 Cool-down: 200 back Each 1400-yard "set" lasted exactly 25 minutes and I finished the cool-down with 200 back in less than 5:00 so the whole swim, more than 4 miles, only took 2 hours and 10 minutes. My first time through the 100s didn't feel so great, some in 1:40, some in 1:30, I was all over the place... but at some point toward the end of the second set I relaxed and started zeroing in on a pace 1:35-1:37 per 100, which left me 7-10 seconds rest after each rep. The third and fifth sets felt the best... even when I was dog tired and my lats were screaming in the middle of my fourth set, questioning why I was still swimming, my 100s were coming in at 1:35-1:37. All in all I'm very happy with this. Instead of doing 6000 yards of free continuously in ever slowing pace (starting at 1:40 and falling off to 1:45 like last week, and this week it probably would have fallen off a lot more, given how sore I felt), I was able to hold an average of 1:36 for 60 x 100 on a 1:45 pace. Same distance and about the same total time in the pool, but a lot more quality swimming than I normally get on a distance day. I like it. This afternoon we (the family) went into Chicago and enjoyed the holiday lights on Michigan Ave, some exhibits at the Chicago Cultural Center, and then Millennium Park. We thought about ice skating, but that is not my thing and standing in a line for an hour just to get in with temps in the mid-20s didn't seem like the thing to do at the end of a long day, so we packed it up and headed back across the border. Fun family time nonetheless. And, bonus (!), we got home in time to see the fourth quarter of the Alamo Bowl on TV--Texas, our alma mater, in a come from behind win, 31-27, against Oregon State! Hook 'em, Horns!
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