the17thman

Saturday's Swim Report / Things I Might Have Missed

It's Halloween!  An welcome to the Halloween Edition of The Swim Report!

1.  If you plan on fitting into that speedsuit one last time you may want to watch which candy you eat this weekend.  That's Fit has a list of the Best and Worst Halloween Candy.  LINK

2.  It might be too late for this Halloween but check out some very boo-licious Halloween prints at Splish.com (like the one pictured in this post)

3.  Just one of the many Michael Phelps' Halloween Costumes LINK

4.  On Deck with the WH2O Jack-o-Lantern LINK

5. 

Friday Night Short Axis / Half Axis of Evil Workout

Ahhh...butterfly.  F'...breaststroke.  That is how one can describe tonight's workout.  Since the pool was closed this morning I headed to the evening workout.  I actually enjoy most Friday night workouts as they are short.  Sixty minutes and you are done.  Of course it's usually all sprints but meh it's only an hour.  Tonight the workout was based on the short axis strokes. 

Warm Up

500 Mixed

Then we did 6x50's Kick.  I did them butterfly and breaststroke as they had to be of the short axis.  (300/800)

Then we did like 4x25's drilling of butterfly and only 2x25's of breaststroke.  (150/950)

Then we went on to a bunch of 25's and 50's

4x25's Fly on 30 (100)

3x50's Free on 45 (150/250)

6x25's Fly on 35 (150/400)

3x50's Free on 45 (150/550)

4x25's Fly on 25 (100/650/1600)

Then we moved on to the breaststroke part of the workout.

4x25's Breaststroke on 30 (100)

2x50's Free on 45 (100/200)

4x25's Breastroke on 35 (100/300)

1x50 Free on 45 (50/350)

2x25's Breaststoke on 25 (50/400/2000)

Then we just warmed down in which i did a 100.  So the last workout of the month was pretty easy.  It was nice to work on some fly.  I gotta admit that only doing a 25 at a time doesn't really do anything for me.  I always feel it's swimming the 50 that you either start to get the stroke in shape or you just fall apart.  But it's a short course pool so I guess 25's it is.  So 2100 yards for the workout.  Not bad.  And that ends another month.  NovemBrrrrrrrrrr! starts on Sunday!

Friday's Swim Report / Things I Might Have Missed

1. The Drool In The Pool is fast approaching and it seems that Lochte thinks that the Brits might be a growing force. Read more about it at morethanthegames LINK.

2. In Farmington Hills, Michigan today and want to see Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay? Well head on over to the Goldfish Swim School. LINK

3. An interesting article from Swimnetwork via the Arizona Masters Swimming Blog LINK that talks about "Getting into the Swim of Things". The article talks about one's first swim practice as a Master Swimmer. 

4.  It might be too late for this Halloween but check out some very boo-licious Halloween prints at Splish.com (like the Haunted House Suit pictured in this post)

5.  Holy Puke Your Guts Out Halloween "Satan Set" from Go Swim LINK

6.  Olympic Swimmer Richard Hortness blogs LINK with a quick shout out to Splish.com saying: "Cause Body Suits Are For Suckas"

7.  Who was Collegeswimming.com's Division 1 Male Swimmer of the Week? Check out Mansfield Aquatic Club's blog LINK to find out. HINT: Moon Over Rome!

DVR ALERT: Ricky Berens On Tyra Today

Besides airing the reported 1st ever televised colonic The Tyra Bank's Show will have swimmer Ricky Berens on today. The theme of the show is Butts! Here is a shot from JustJared LINK of his appearance. Oh and for everything Ricky Berens check out his fan blog LINK.

Too Much Chlorine, Not Enough Swimming

Woke up this morning and was a bit sluggish. So chilly in the morning. After I got myself together I headed to the 6am swim practice. With my luck the pool's chlorine level was too high so the morning swim was cancelled. So no swimming this morning. As for tonight I am up in the air on that. I could go for a run this morning but once again it's damn chilly. I sorta forget that it seems every year I run to about November / December and wait till it warms up again. Maybe I should invest in cold weather running gear.

Here is something I read online but couldn't find the direct link but it sourced from mylifeisaverage.com:

Today, we swam with kickboards in P.E. and our coach told us to make engine noises as we did laps. One girl didn't, and when he asked her why, she replied, "I'm being a hybrid."

Pumpkin Relay Swim Nite!

Tonight's workout was a fun workout.  Well most of it.  Well maybe just the end.  But fun is fun.  One of the coaches has this annual tradition of having a Pumpkin Relay in the workout.  Basically you swim or kick or some combo of both while holding a pumpkin.  Some think it's stupid and something that is best for kids under 12.  I love it.  I sorta like doing the stupid little fun things every so often.  Plus it's at the end of the workout when almost everyone has gotten out already.  I think when workout stated we had almost 30 swimmers in the pool and as time went on and on people got out.  When it was relay time we were down to 8 swimmers.  My relay won 2 out of the 3 Pumpkin Relays.  YEAH US!

As for the rest of the workout it was uneventful.  On Thursday nights we split between Stroke and Free Workouts.  I started in the Freestyle Lane but we soon grew to five swimmers.  I then looked a the Medium lane of the Freestyle and it too was busy.  So I moved over to the stroke which was less crowded.  But that really didn't work as the Fast Stroke Lane was super uber fast and the Medium Stroke Lane was a bit too slow.  I ended up swimming in the medium lane and got lots and lots of rest.  So I did some butterfly since I could rest.  I should have stayed in the Freestyle lane as one person got out right after warm up.  Mostly I didn't want to swim in the lane cuz' I was being immature and don't like swimming with a particular lane mate.  So Fly it was.

Warm Up
Did a 350 mixed pulling, swimming and some drill.
Then I did a 150 before switching lanes from free to stroke.  Then I did another 50 in the fast stroke lane before getting out.  I was about to leave the workout but the coach talked me into swimming in the medium lane.  (550)

Warm Up Stroke Set:
4 Rounds - IM Order (600)
75 Kick
50 Drill
25 Swim
4 Rounds  IM Order (300)
50 Drill 
25 Swim
4 Rounds IM Order (300)
25 Pull
50 Swim
The full set was 1200 yards (1200/1750)

Main Stroke Set:
Two Rounds (Did 1st One Back / 2nd One Fly)
100 Swim
50 Swim
25 Swim
25 Swim 
This set was only 400 yards (400/2150)

Hmm...thinking I'm missing a set in here.  Oh well.

Swim 200 Stroke (I did backstroke)
Swim 100 Stroke (I did butterfly)

Yeah.  I'm missing something.  Hmm... (300/2450)

Then it was RELAY TIME!

First Pumpkin Relay:
Holding the pumpkin with 2 hands.
 
Second Pumpkin Relay:
Holding the pumpkin out of the water.

Third Pumpkin Relay:
Anything goes but must at least touch the pumpkin with one hand.  

And that was that.  Swam one more 25 to get to the shallow end for a total of 2550 yards.  Fun easy workout.  

3 Must Be My Lucky Number Today

My goal today was to wake up early and run to the gym.  Maybe a long run after the gym.  I ended up waking up at 9am and didn't make it out to run till' after 1.  So I ran to the gym.  It's amazing how cold it got here in LA so quick.  Normally when I run I'm always hiding in the shade but today I was attempting to find the sun to keep warm.  I was only running to the gym so it wasn't a long enough run to get my body temp up.  I'm going to have to look into getting cold winter running gear or get back on the treadmill.  As for my run it wasn't so fast or comfortable.  I've easily fallen off into slacker mode since the 1/2 Marathon.  Which is okay.  I only have a 5k in a few weeks and maybe a 10K in December.  Then my next 1/2 is in Jan.  Plenty of time to get back into running!  

Once at the gym I headed upstairs to the weights.  This was my first time back at the gym in a week.  I've been slacking in this area also.  I so need to focus or get motivated.  The good news was that I did get the access code to the small gym in my building.  So now I really have no excuse for not working out.  I don't know what they have down there except for a few treadmills.  Which will come in handy until I get my cold winter running gear.  
After the gym I ran home.  So two runs today for a total of 3.33 miles in 28.33 minutes with a pace of 8.33 and burned 353 calories.  Hmm...maybe I should buy three lottery tickets and only play 3's.

Thursday's Swim Report / Things I Might Have Missed

1.  Why you'll never catch me doing open water swims:  Australian Authorities Warn of Massive Great White Shark LINK

2.  OUCH!  In swimming from time to time we've all swam into another swimmer.  Crowded pools, idiot lap swimmers and just sometime things happen.  Check out this video of a running crash from the FAIL Blog LINK.

3.  It might be too late for this Halloween but check out some very boo-licious Halloween prints at Splish.com (like the Spooky Eyes Suit pictured in this post)

4.  Dara Torres is back at the gym.  Check a photo out she posted via Twitter LINK.

5.  Some news from those Maple Leaf / Hockey Playing /  Dudley Doo Right/ Swimmers from up north.  A Jennifer Beckberger has ben named to the Canadian FINA Word Cup Team LINK.

And those were just a few of things that I might have missed.  But I guess I really didn't miss.  Hmmm...

2010 USMS Renewal

Ahh...it's that time of the year to renew my USMS Membership.  Thinking I may go unattached next year.  That way I won't have to do any of those pesky relays!

Wednesday's Swim Report / Things I Might Have Missed

It's a Tony Edition of the Swim Report today just cuz' Tony's blog is GRRRRRRREAT! 

1.  Tony point s to an article by Olympic Swimmer Murray Rose. LINK  The article itself is long and Tony interprets it as only Tony can.

2.  I love puppets.  Well I love Muppets.  Check out this post over at Tony's Blog "Giant swim puppet for a Liverpool, England parade." LINK

3.  Tony's got a video of something called "Team Blu Frog" that features swimming great Rowdy Gaines LINK.

4.  I think this is the correct link from a post over at Tony's blog about Murray Rose LINK.  A bit of the background of the story:   Murray Rose believes swimming has been ''trashed'' by high-technology racing suits, and has warned of the potential for a swimmers' boycott of international events.

And for some non-Tony Swimming News...

5.  It might be too late for this Halloween but check out some very boo-licious Halloween prints at Splish.com (like the Black Cat Briefs pictured in this post)

6.  Swimmer and former reality show contestant Natalie Coughlin sits down with TVGuide LINK.  According to Coughlin  "I Was Never Fake On the Show"

7.  From Swimming World "USA Swimming Names 2009 Duel in the Pool Team" LINK   The event, which will be broadcast on NBC on December 27 from 2-4 p.m. ET

8.  Swimming World TV has a video about Diversity in Swimming.  Interesting piece and worth a watch.  LINK

9.  Even more Natalie Coughlin.  This time she talks once more t about DWTS with the MSS.  LINK