the17thman

2010 New England LMSC Short Course Meters Championship

LA Observed: "Diana Nyad pays tribute to 'mentor' Bud Greenspan"

I have to admit that I'm a huge fan of Bud Greenspan's documentaries covering the Olympics and that he'll be remembered by fans of the Olympics for generations to come.  LA Observed posted that:

In her KCRW column airing tonight at 6:44, swimmer Diana Nyad calls the late documentarian Bud Greenspan "my long-time, dear friend...and he was far and away THE number one mentor in my career."

Excerpt:
Bud was moved by the soul of human drama…and nobody, but nobody, depicted, elevated that drama as he did.
And it wasn’t just the larger-than-life Olympic moments that inspired him. We would sit in his New York office for hours at a time, Jonah with a twinkle in his eye as I regaled him with the eccentric saga of my family history. He would invite the waitress to sit down and join us at lunch, fascinated to hear the rest of a story she had started.
Greenspan's given first name was Jonah. He died last weekend at 84.

So those of you in LA check out KCRW this evening.  As for the documentaries I do remember back when I had Showtime they had them in pretty heavy rotation.  Unfortunately none of his documentaries are available on Netflix.  UPDATE:  via twitter I've learned "A tribute to Bud Greenspan, the greatest sports documentarian ever airs on Universal Sports at 9p EST on Jan 1 starting w the LA Games of 84."  Now with Directv I don't get Universal Sports so I guess I'll miss out on rewatching them.  Doh!

Wine Bottle Stopper - Upcycled Female Swim Trophy

While doing some window internet shopping I started to look at various items on Etsy when I came apon the best swimmers gift ever!  The Upcycled Female Swim Trophy Wine Bottle Stopper!  I so gotta have it.  Here is a picture of it...

check it out at etsy.com

Where Is The Strength?

One more swim for 2010!  Got up and went swimming which the getting up part was a bit easier today.  After two mornings of 26F it was nice to wake up to 45F!  It was like waking up to summer.  Okay not that warm but better.  Actually after working two shifts to midnight in a row and getting up to swim yesterday morning all made up for a tough morning.  At least that is how I felt in the pool today.  Working at night means that I'm climbing up and down ladders and lifting things up and down.  Ugh!  I'm too old for that shit!  But without a gym membership I guess it's sorta cross training.  I miss my weight training and today I could tell in my swimming that my body misses the weight training also.  While swimming both the butterfly and the freestyle today I felt like I just wasn't getting enough power in the water.  It was a tough workout for me.  Plus it's the first time I swam 3 days in a row in months.  Hell it's the first time I swam 3 times in one week in a very long time.  I do plan on trying to swim tomorrow afternoon since I work at 7am tomorrow.  Now as for today's workout...

I warmed up about a 400.  I sorta didn't keep track as I was taking it very slow and stopping a lot.  I just felt blah, tired and sore.  So I'm guessing a 400 at least.  Then we did a 200 kick followed by a 200 distance per stroke.  So an 800 for warm up.

Main Set:

3 - Rounds

50 on 1:10 Kick / Swim Butterfly

100 on 2:00 Butterfly

150 on 2:40 by 25 fly/free/back/free/breast/free

100 on 2:00 Backstroke

50 on 1:10 Kick / Swim Backstroke

That was sorta okay.  Like I said I was tired and didn't get much of anything from my arms this morning.  Also the pool was so hot I felt like crap.  (1350/2150)

After that we were done for the most part.  I did a 200 pulling while breathing every 3.  So the total yardage was 2,450.  Then a few of us chatted a bit and that was it.  At least for today if not the year!

 

Wednesday's Swim Report - 2010 Almost Year End Edition

1.  Universal Sports rewinds the year with "Best of 2010: Five takeaways from swimming."

2.  The Sydney Morning Herald is partying like it's 2000, huh?  The paper looks back at Australia's greatest moment of 2010 which just happened to be looking back at 10 years ago and the summer olympics in "Strumming air guitars, swimming the blues: golden days resurface."  In looking back I get to post this photo of Ian Thorpe.

3.  The Jakarta Globe reprinted an article entitled "No High-Tech Suits in 2010, No Problem in Swimming."  The first paragraph states "Sanity returned to swimming in 2010, and if that made for fewer fireworks, there was plenty of pop to be found in the pool from the likes of emerging US star Ryan Lochte and a resurgent China."  I don't know I think 2010 was a big problem without the tech suits as the record smashing blitz came to whimper.  Maybe all those outcries about the tech suits were with merit?

4.  About.com looks at holiday crazy swimming in "Swimming in Hyde Park on Christmas Day!"  According to the post "The 100 yards swimming race started in 1864 with a gold medal as first prize but in 1904 the novelist J.M.Barrie presented the first Peter Pan Cup and the tradition has continued. This was the year Peter Pan first appeared in London theatres and the swimming race is now just as legendary."  All I can say is "Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!"

5.  The Daily Telegraph looks at "Top 10 swimming spots."  Look at the dragon at the "Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre is one of Sydney's best spots to cool down on a hot Summer's day."  So cool!

6.  The Adelaide Now reports on the crazy idea of one swimmer going alcohol free for 2010.  "The new year can't come quick enough for Karina Leane. It marks her first alcoholic drink in a year.  The former Australian swimmer is coming to the end of a one-year alcohol ban for charity and she's hanging out for that first drink once the clock strikes midnight."  All I can say is "Cheers"!

7.  ESPN's New Jersey Jets Blog reports "Humphries beat Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps when he was 10…Kris Humphries beat Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps in a race 15 years ago…Humphries, the starting power forward for the Nets, was a standout swimmer when he was young, but told People.com in a wide-ranging interview: “I was so good at a young age [he outraced Phelps when he was 10 years old] that I got a little burnt out."

8.  The Bleacher Report released it's "The Sexiest Moments in Sports This Year" and according to the blog "Honorable Mention: Brittny Gastineau and Michael Phelps…When you're a socialite, reality television star and daughter of a former NFL player, people watch your every move. Especially if the paparazzi spot you hanging out with an Olympic superstar, such as Michael Phelps.  That said, Phelps and Gastineau is a hot hookup."

9.  Take a trip down my lane at Swimming World Magazine's "2010 Swimming World Magazine Covers in Review."

10.  Wishing Everyone A Happy New Year.  Keep Swimming In 2011! - Joel

Brrr...Another Record Cold Swim

Damn I hate the cold!  Two mornings of record breaking cold is two too many!  I woke up bright and early to go swimming this morning and got to the pool before it even opened for a change.  Which wasn't so smart standing outside freezing my ass off.  Before I left I was debating on which swim suit to wear.  Since it was about 27F outside I was going to wear my full blueseventy nero comp suit but decided to wear my Finis leggings.  Only cuz' the leggings are easy to deal with for bathroom breaks.  Either way I figured they'd help with the cold temps. 

I warmed up a 550 and boy did I love swimming in an old tech suit.  I so had forgotten the magical powers of the suits.  Being such a bad or lazy kicker wearing the leggings kept my legs up and not just flopping around as usual. We then did a 200 kick before doing 4x50's kick/swim.  So the full warm up was a 950.

Main Set - Continious

2x300's on 4:30 (1:30 base for this set)

2x200's on 2:00

6x100's on 1:30

Now this set was all about pacing.  The second 300 was to be faster then the first 300 and the pace for the second 300 was to be the pace for this first 200.  Then the second 200 had to be faster then the first and then the pace of the second 200 would be the starting pace for the 100's.  Then descend the 100's. 

I actually did a pretty good job with my pacing.  The first 300 I took it nice and easy.  I came in about a 4:05.  The second 400 I came in at 4:00 or a 1:20 pace.  Then my first 200 pace was about a 1:17 and my second 200 pace was 1:15.  The 100's I was pretty good even if I can't remember all of them but I did descend and finished up with a 1:04.  I think I did a 12,11,9,8 and a 7.  Or maybe a second faster towards the end so maybe 8,7 and a 6 before my 1:04.  Either way I swam the set the way the coach wanted.  (1600/2450)

Then everyone got out and I warmed down a 150 for a total of 2,600 yards.  I sorta wanted to do more but I was cold and lazy.  I'm going to try and swim two more times this year.  Since we only have two more days I'll be squeezing them in!  The good news is that the temps will be rising starting today.  Hopefully they'll stay in the 70's for the daytime highs.  These 27F mornings suck!

Ice Ice Baby! Swimming In The Cold!

Finally a morning I can swim and it's the coldest morning on record in Central Florida.  26 F!  Holy Mother F'ker, that is cold!  I got to the pool about 6:50am and people were already in the pool swimming since it was too cold to hang out on deck.  I jumped in and did about a 400.  The first 100 I was so ready to get out and go home.  The water was warm but the air was freezing.  My body just couldn't handle it.  I was cold.  But I stuck it out and adapted.  Of course none of us could see the clock due to the steam pillowing out of the pool so the workout was on an interval but Gary set us off by his watch.  So I have no idea what our interval was.

After the 400 we did 3x100's Kick taking 20 seconds rest.  (300/700)

Main Set:

4 Rounds -

25 Stroke Kick

50 Free Pull

100 Stroke Swim

100 IM Swim

50 Free Pull

25 Sprint

I used the 50 pulls as recovery and did my strokes all butterfly!  Figured that I haven't been swimming so I needed to push myself!  (1400/2100)

Then everyone got out but I stayed and did 6x100's Pull.  I did them breath control by 100 any/3/5/7/9/any.  I was going to swim more but damn I was cold.  When I got out my kickboard, pull buoy and my flip flops had ice on them.  ICE?  I'm going to swim again tomorrow in the freezing temperature but I will wear a swim cap and maybe pull out my old B70 Nero to keep me warm!  2,700 SCY was my workout today!

Mizuno Running Commercial : The Morning Run

Thursday's Swim Report - 12 Days of Swimming In Brief

Wahoo...Thursday.  Not that the days of the week mean anything to me.  But it's Thursday then Friday then a Holiday!  Pour the alcohol and see you on Monday!  In the meantime here are a five quick swimming bits...

1. Chicago Now's Going The Distance Blog has writer/blogger/runner Phil finding out that "Swimming is frustrating."

2.  Crazy Swim Dad has already hit the eggnog a bit and tries to remember his recent swim set called "12 Days of Christmas set."

3.  Swim Coach Direct talks to Terry Stoddard about swimming in "So Simple, So Effective."

4.  Swimmer Joe's Blog looks at tech in "Coaching in the 21st Century—Using Today’s Technology."  Oddly he doesn't list blogs at a tool for coaches.

5.  3 Wire Sports reports "Mike Alexandrov: see him with your eyes closed."

 

Nike Training Club-Your Full Body Training Program

I got to admit that I'm really bad at using my Wii Fit, EA Sports Active, The Biggest Loser and other fitness games so I don't know if I'd use an iPhone/iPad app for fitness.  But I'd try it if I hadn't killed my iPhone and replaced it with a uber-cheap phone.  Anyways, Nike just launched this new app called Nike Training Club.

The folks over at Lifehacker have tried it out and here is what they had to say about the Nike Training Club app:

…What's great about Nike Training Club is that it has a ton of exercises you can learn individually, but also groups them into specific workouts. At any point in the workout, you can stop to get a video demonstration of how to do the current exercise. The app will also time each individual exercise and let you know when it's time to move on. When you're done, your workout earns you rewards minutes that will eventually unlock badges like "Contender" or, my favorite, "Destroyer" (although I think it should be "Fat Destroyer"). While I'm not sure these badges are a phenomenal incentive to exercise more, the app itself should be enough…

The good news is that the app is free so folks with an iPhone/iPad should at least check it out.  Hey, free is well, umm…free!