the17thman

AQUAview: Watch Out! They Came From All Over The World

June Rearview Mirror In Swimming and Running

Well that is wrong since I didn't run at all this month.  I'm still recovering from some hip pain so a whole month without running.  Damn!  As for swimming I added it up and swam about 42,000 SCY for the month.  I'm saying about because that number sounds way made up.  I did add things up but it's me and well my math skills are lacking. Plus I could add in my LCM warm up and swim meet events.  But that really isn't training so that doesn't count.  It is what it is and it is 42,000 SCY.

Past Months To Compare -

May I swam 47,950 yards.

April I swam 44,950 yards.

March I swam 62,125 yards.

February I swam 41,750 yards.

January I swam 42,300 yards.

In 2011 I've swum 239,075 yards.

December I swam 22,050 yards.

November I swam 34,375 yards

October I swam 2,700 yards.

September I swam zip, nada, nothing

August I swam 25,000 SCY

July I swam 49,900 SCY

June I swam 43,650 SCY and 4,000 LCM

May I swam 55,000 SCY

April I swam 46,050 SCY

February I swam 53,250 SCY

January I swam 46,750 SCY

And so goes another month of swimming.

 

Thursday's Swim Report - Dip and Sip at Manhattan’s Poshest Swimming Pools

Lane 1 - British Swimming posts "British Airways unveiled as official airline of British Swimming.  British Airways will provide support to the British Gas GBR, Swimming, Disability Swimming, Diving, Synchro and Water Polo teams through flights to major competitions."

Lane 2 - Business Week asks "Who Needs the Hamptons? Dip and Sip at Manhattan’s Poshest Swimming Pools.  Lucky visitors to Manhattan (and even a few savvy locals) can beat the heat in the city's poshest hotel pools."

Lane 3 - The National posts "UAE swimming has made rapid strokes of progress."

Lane 4 - Adelaide Now posts "Swimmer backflips on Aquatic Centre outburst.  SWIMMER James Magnussen last month publicly ridiculed Adelaide and its new swimming facilities.  But after his first swim at the SA Aquatic Centre at Marion, he now believes the crowds will flock to the Australian Short Course Championships at the SA Aquatic Centre and prove his 'silly comments' wrong."

Lane 5 - Awe!  Adelaide Now posts "Swimming champions make waves at State Aquatic Centre in Adelaide.  OOPER Collingridge got caught in a downpour of reigning Olympians yesterday at the Marion State Aquatic Centre.  The two-year-old from Hove shared the simple joy of fun in the water with Eamon Sullivan and Geoff Huegill after they trained in the pool."

Lane 6 - One more from Adeliade Now  "Swimmers' rivalry is a joke for Olympians Eamon Sullivan and Geoff Huegill.  FORGET rivalry in the pool for Olympians Eamon Sullivan and Geoff Huegill, in town training for the Australian Short Course Championships.  'The only rivalry between us is in the cooking skills,' Geoff jokes. 'I know how to burn water.'"

Lane 7 - Village Soup posts "At age 77, Edelbaum sets record pace in pool
Union resident earns state record in 200-yard butterfly.  Donna Edelbaum is an unusual state-record holder.  At first assessment, the 77-year-old Union resident does not seem competitive. If you ask her about it she might say that is because she never was. She never even competed in sports until she was age 41.  So, it may come as a surprise that she is not only an avid butterfly swimmer, but broke the Maine 200-yard fly record for those ages 75-79. And the butterfly is by far the most difficult of the four swim strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke are the others) and 200 yards is a grueling distance."

Lane 8 - Active.com has some tips with "Swim Drills for Triathletes".

 

Dead Body Floats Undiscovered in Public Pool for Two Days

This story is so crazy I have to post two videos on it.  I gotta admit that  this story doesn't add up.  No one noticed someone dead in a pool for two days.  The first story video mentioned that the person climbed over the fence and then drowned.  While the second video suggest it she was under water for 2 days. 

WPRI reports "The body of a woman has been pulled from a Fall River pool.  Officers were called to the Lafayette Pool around 10 p.m. Tuesday for reports of a female floating in the pool.  Police located the female and pulled her out of the water.  EMS treated the woman, and then transported her to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead.  Police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death."

The second comes from FOX25.  Umm…Fox News nuff said.  But according to Gawker "Police say Joseph was watching her 9-year-old neighbor at the pool on Sunday when she apparently had an accident sliding down a waterside.  Family friends tell FOX25 the little boy told lifeguards that she did not come up from above water but no action was taken.  Yikes! All of Fall River's pools have now been shut down, probably so that they can look for bodies. We don't really even want to think about the logistics of this situation, but to help make sure this never happens to you, here's a helpful "pool fun" checklist, courtesy us:  Is there a dead body floating in the pool?  If the answer to one or more of these questions is 'Yes,' do not swim in the pool."

The Atlantic - What America Looks Like: Variations on the Swimming Pool

Great photo essay over at The Atlantic "What America Looks LIke: Variations on the Swimming Pool." 

From Dumpster Diving To The Shallow End
To Sad
To Great View
It's worth taking a look.

 

 

Wednesday's Swim Report - Synchronised Moneying'

Lane 1 - SKY News reports on "Christine Lagarde's Rise To IMF Head…Ms Lagarde was a member of France's synchronised swimming team in her youth and was a high-achieving lawyer before being appointed the country's finance minister in 2007."

Lane 2 - Speedo "Swim to another world event in Berlin" via youtube.

Lane 3 - Chron.com has "Ageless champion keeps on swimming.  Jackson, 95, glides through the competition.  For Mary Jackson, age is nothing but a number.  The charismatic Massachusetts native is 96 years young and walks around hoisting a cane in one hand.  Jackson, a participant in the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events at the 2011 National Senior Games, is relatively new to competition."

Lane 4 - WaPo posts "After back surgery, Milorad Cavic concedes he’s not in form to beat Michael Phelps at worlds.  The latest installment in the Michael Phelps-Milorad Cavic rivalry might not be as thrilling as the last two editions.  Cavic underwent surgery for a herniated disk last July and only began diving off the starting blocks two months ago."

Lane 5 - Michael Phelps celebrates Olympic Day with TODAY [NBC: 6-23-2011] via YouTube

Lane 6 - ABC Adelaide reports "Aussie swim stars make a splash at Marion.  The likes of Geoff Huegill, Libby Tricket, Alice Mills, Hayden Stoeckel, Leisel Jones, Eamon Sullivan and Jessica Schipper will take to the waters of the South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Marion over the next few days to compete in team selections and the Australian Short Course Championships."

Lane 7 - USA Today has "3-time Olympic champ to miss world championships.  Three-time Olympic champion Libby Trickett has failed in her bid to qualify for next month's world swimming championships."

Lane 8 - Mercury News has "Pastry chef Marisa Churchill dishes up guilt-free desserts.  It's hard to say what was more memorable about Marisa Churchill's first appearance on "Top Chef" -- that the pastry chef packed a swimsuit and goggles along with her knives, or that her recipe for old-fashioned fudge cake weighed in at just 280 calories per slice. Competitive swimming certainly helps keep Churchill's waistline svelte, despite more than a decade of whipping up decadent restaurant desserts."

If This Morning's Workout Was A Test Then I Got An F!

Since the coach is out of town I was swimming by myself this morning.  Guess everyone else is attending the later morning official practice but I gotta work.  So I swam on my own.  The good side of that is that I can pick my own workout while the bad side of that is that I have no one else to push or motivate myself.  Before heading to the pool I pulled my pages and pages of printed workouts and picked a few choices.  Some of them were distance workouts and some sprinting workouts.  I picked a few just in case someone showed up to swim with me.  One of the distance free workouts that I picked I had once called "Best Swim Workout Set In The History of Swimming" LINK.  That was in January of 2009.  I decided to attempt to swim this workout as a benchmark to how I'm swimming.  Call it a test.  A test that I'd fail. 

For some reason I didn't print the warm up part of the workout so I did a 200 Swim and a 200 pull.  Then cut short the kick warm up set because well it's kicking!  I did 100 on 2:10, 2x50's on 60 and a 100.  So 300 kick set for a total of 700 yards warmup.  The original workout was a total of 1,650 warming up.  Damn that's a long warm up!

Main Set:
5x400's Freestyle!  As follows:

1x400 on 5:20
2x200's on 2:30

This was the point I started to doubt if I should continue on.  I did take 1:40 rest before continuing on.  I decided to pull the next two parts:

1x400 on 5:20
4x100's on 1:15

Taking no extra rest besides 1 or 2 seconds I removed my pulling gear and swam the last part.

1x400 on 5:20

I did a 5:05.  Not bad considering how I was hurting!  This was the hardest set I've done in months if not a year.  This set was 2,000 yards so with warm up I swam 2,700 yards before a 50 easy for 2,750 yard workout.  Since I took the extra rest and pulled the middle part I failed my own test.  Maybe if I had someone swimming the set with me I would have pushed myself.  Who knows.  Hard to motivate oneself at 7am.  But at least I got in a good workout.

This might be the last swim workout for June.  Gotta work in the morning tomorrow so I'll see if I'm up to swimming in the afternoon.  Then Friday is a new month!  Then July 5th is my anniversary of getting back in the pool.  It'll be 7 years of swimming with USMS.  Actually last year was 6 years with West Hollywood Aquatics.  Then since moving here I guess being Unattached.  So maybe this anniversary date is no longer valid.  Gotta stop this rambling post NOW.

 

2011 USMS Summer Nationals - James E. Martin Aquatics Center

The Tuxspeedo

Tuesday's Swim Report - Some Jumping and Breathing Edition

Lane 1 - Go Swim has "Starts - Cullen Jones Box Jumps."  I gotta admit that getting old has been tough on my knees and I know this would be painful for me.  But I'll try it sometime...

Lane 2 - AJC looks at Pool Operators Forbid Underwater Breath-Holding Competitions with "Underwater blackout a dangerous game.  In honesty, holding one's breath while underwater has been a common pool game for years. Competitive swimmers indulged in the practice as a training regime even before there were swimming pools…Recently,…he saw a child who had passed out due to complication from holding his breath. In another instance, Greenwald said he saw a boy who was submerged in water over five minutes in a breath-holding competition."

Lane 3 - NESN reports "London 2012 Olympics Releases Rules for Athletes on Blogs, Twitter and Facebook.  The International Olympic Committee released its social media guidelines on Monday for athletes and media to follow during the 2012 London Olympics. And they won't prevent Michael Phelps tweeting out more pictures of himself hanging out with Justin Bieber."

Lane 4 - From Houston Culture Map "My poolside search for a Silver Hero at the Senior Games: From a blind racer to a 61-year-old hunk." (w/slideshow)

Lane 5 - WTOK posts "Records Set at State Games Master Swimming Tournament.  An all-time high of 25 new speed records were set at the State Games of Mississippi Masters' Swimming Tournament."

Lane 6 - Waaytv.com reports "Did You Know: Swim Coach who Rides.  He's well known in the Huntsville Swimming community. But, he also excels on 2 wheels.
Brooke Pate was head coach at the Huntsville Swim Association for 25 years.  He retired from that job a couple years ago, but still spends lots of time at the pool,,, now coaching the older generations.  swimhsa.org is the website to check out if you want to get involved in Brooke's Masters swim program.  Wether it's swimming or biking Brooke really enjoys helping people enjoy an active lifestyle."

Lane 7 - Marin Independent Journal posts "Popular coach masters task of building adult swim team.  COKIE LEPINSKI spent 15 years as a hostage negotiator, which makes convincing swimmers to do an extra lap sound pretty easy.  In just two years with the Pirates, Lepinski's helped the program grow from 13 members to more than 100. Last year, she earned the Kerry O'Brien Coaching Award for her contributions nationally to the growth of masters swimming. In April, she was named coach of the year for the Pacific Region."

Lane 8 - Yahoo Sport has "London 2012 - Olympic stars to be clobbered by taxman.  Athletics superstars such as Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps could still be taxed on promotional activity they undertake in the UK during next year's London 2012 Olympics.  Athletes will now be taxed on any activity not related to the Games, such as personal or television appearances and work for non-Olympic sponsors, such as Bolt's major backer Puma or Phelps's long-time sponsors Speedo."