the17thman

You Had Me At Free Ice Cream and Cookies!

Today was an early morning for swimming.  Wednesday is Leesburg day for swimming at 5:30am.  Which means leaving the house before 5am.  Now we might not be doing much of that for the next few weeks due to availability/access to the pool.  As for today's workout -

1x500 loosen

3x100 kick with fins on 2:00 (300/800)

4x125 on 2:30 - R, L, P, K, S.  I did them back/free/back/fly (500/1300)

rest

6x50 on :50 good pace (300/1600) Did them free and was a bit sluggish coming in around 36's.

rest

6x50 on :55 faster average pace (300/1900)  Did these also free and took a bit before getting back into swimming after the rest break and was coming in around 35's.  Now the water was cooler then last week but still feels so warm that it's like swimming in syrup.

rest 6x50 on 1:10 - one easy, one fast (300/2200)  I did the easy 50's free and the fast 50's butterfly.  I was actually faster in my fly 50's then my free 50's. 

rest

25s with insightful commentary.  Did these freestyle pulling so I could get my hand position correct.  I'm over correcting my hand entry drop.  I use to just automatically just drop my hand so then I was trying to let it float out front before the catch but of late I'm over thinking it and while my hand is sinking start to push it up before doing my catch.  So another thing to watch in my swimming. 

Workout was about 2,200 yards.  Not bad for the really hot water.  This won't be my only swim today.  Later on today I'm heading over to a local pool for a fun relay contest of the local high school vs the retired folks here.  I'm on two relays.  I think I'm only doing a 50 fly and a 50 free.  I was bribed into swimming for the free ice cream and cookies after the relays.  Wahoo! 

As for the gym I was able to do a spinning (Group Ride) class then finished my gym time off with arms/chest weights.  I may hit the gym before the relays or possibly after.  But maybe not.  It depends on how lazy I am!

Cooler Than Thou

91.2F!  Good god it's just boiling in the pool these days.  It baffles me to think that when building the pool no one thought about chillers.  Grrrr...With that said it was an easy workout.  I was struggling just the same.  I warmed up what I think was a 500.  Then the regular 200 kick.  I'm still sticking to one fin since my left foot is a bit sore.  Which reminds me that I shouldn't have taken the Group Active Class yesterday at the gym.  Group Active is 30 minutes of Step and (Group Step) and 30 minutes of weight training (Group Power.)  A great class but not for someone that still has a few black and blue marks on thier foot and ankle. 

Main Set:

400 - 75 Catch Up Drill / 25 Swim.  I did it on 6:10.  Well I didn't have an interval but the other swimmers swam either a 200 or 300 and left at what would have been my 6 minute interval but decided to take and extra 10 seconds rest before moving on to...

5x100's on 1:40 50 Catch Up / 50 Swim.  Descending.  Well, I sorta descending some of them.  I did a 1:19, 1:20, 1:18, 1:15 and a 1:10.  Not really fast times but hey the pool is 91.2F! (900/1600)

Then some rest and chit chat before 6x50's Pulling on 55 breathing 5/3 by 25.  Then since everyone got out at 7:40 I got out also.  Well I sorta swam another 50 of cooling down and unhooking the lane lines.  I only did the two lanes lines as a lap swimmer was using the other lane line.  At 8 am is Aqua Fitness and I usually try to help out with the lane lines.  Total workout was only 2,000 yards but that was enough. 

Monday Morning Attempted Swim

After yesterday's swim I quickly was out the door in my failed attempt to get my hands on a HP Touchpad.  I figured for 99 bucks it was worth the hunt.  But without landing one I was on to the gym for some weight training.  This morning is was all about the swim.   Crappy swim for me but it was all about the swim just the same.

Warm UP

I guess a 500.  I wasn't counting.

3x100's Kick on 2 minutes.  I used a fin on my right foot.  My left foot big toe is still bothering me a bit so decided not to wear a fin.  (300/800)

Main Set - descend the 2nd one of each set

2x200 on 3 minutes

2x150's on 2:15

2x100's on 1:30

I was able to descend a bit.  My first 200 I did a 2:30 then a 2:22.  Which is very slow.  I had a fast swimmer next to me for motivation but I just didn't have anything to bring to the pool.  By the time we got to the 2x100's my stroke was messy.  I was slapping around and I could feel myself just falling apart.  I really gotta work on my endurance. (900/1700)

We rested a short bit before doing 12x50's on 60 Fly/Back, Back/Breast and Breast/Free.  The first 50 was a mess.  The fly was horrible! (300/2,000)  So it was a challenging workout even though it shouldn't have been.  Then again the water was 90F!  But at least I had a fast swimmer to push me more then I would have without them around.

I'm Going So Slow My Workouts Are Growing Mold.

Ahh...Sunday!  The last time I swam was only two full days ago (Thursday) but it seemed like it had been a week.  After Thursday's workout I did get one gym workout in.  That afternoon one of the trainers at the gym had to film themselves doing the Group Kick Class for certification and well he needed people to do the workout with him.  So I offered to take the class again even though it was two days in a row taking that class.  You'd think by taking the class two days in a row I would have mastered some of the moves but hell no.  I'm rhythmically challenged.  Then that was it for working out till this morning.  I had a bit of an accident so had to chill for a bit.  But I'm feeling better and in the water this morning.  Since I am short for time I only swam for about an hour.  At the pool I pulled out the workouts out of my ziplock bag to figure out what to swim.  Some of the sheets of paper are starting to get moldy so I tossed them away.  As I started to swim I kept changing what I'd be swimming.  So I made up the workout on the fly.

Warm Up

200 Swim / 200 Pull w/o Paddles / 200 Pull w/ Paddles / 200 Kick (800)  The odd thing is that I found my missing paddle in my bag.  Huh?  I guess it was in my bag the whole time I thought it was lost?  Or I'm going senile or something like that.

4x50's on 55 Free (200/1000)

Main Set:

4x50's on 60 Fly/Back, Back/Breast, Breast/Free and Free

2x100's on 2 mins.  (fly/back and breast/free by 50)

200 IM on 3 mins

400 IM (1000/2000)  Damn I forgot what I did the 400 IM on.  I gotta admit the butterfly felt great but everything else felt horrible.  The water had to be at least 89F and I was burning up by the last 100.  Afterwards I got out and walked around the deck to cool off.  In my mind this was going to be a pyramid set but I was cooked. 

8x50's Pulling to warm down.  Yeah, like I needed to be warm.  (400/2400)  That took a bit less then one hour.  I gotta go into work today so I figured I'd do some weights before hand.  No super long Sunday swim this week.  But I'll be swimming Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  Thursday I have to be at work at 5am so that will be a no workout day. 

Twelve 150's Is A Lot of Swimming Math In The Morning.

Yesterday after swimming I hit the gym for the noon time Group Power Class.  Figured I'd do the class and then do some weights on my own but after the class I got hijacked.  Well not hijacked as much as being asked to attend one of the trainer's/groupX instructors Group Kick practice session.  I've never done Group Kick so I was a bit leery.  What is Group Kick?  Well it's easier to copy/paste so "Group Kick® brings it on! This electric 60 minute fusion class of martial arts and boxing movements will kick your cardio fitness to the next level while defining and shaping your body and self confidence! Energetic music, awesome instructors and a group environment will keep you punching, kicking and smiling! Group Kick will knock you out!"  It was a lot tougher then I expected.  And even if I was a bit unsure of myself and the moves I am going to take the class again.  Watching this video is giving me flashbacks of the class and my legs are afraid of the video.

Now for today it was swim, swim and swim.  I was late getting in the pool well I was on time but they got in early.  So I only warmed up a 350 before our 200 kick.  After that I was all alone doing the main set:

12x150's!  Oy!  So much to count for one person!  The first 3 were swimming freestyle on 2:15 while the second 3 were pulling on 2:15.  I then rested about an extra minute before swimming 3 fly/free/back/free/breast/free (modified IM) on 2:30.  Resting once more before doing the modified IM again.  (1800/2350 I think I'm too tired to do math.)

Then we had to get out for the Aqua Fitness folks.  The best part of the workout for me besides the 150's was after the workout.  With my body dysmorphia (i'm not really dysmorphic but more blind to my results) I was so happy that a fellow swimmer commented on how much more defined I am then I was a few months ago.  I don't see it so it was nice to hear it.  At least all that cross training at the gym is making me more defined in my old age.  Guess the article in the Globe and Mail was right "Surprisingly, the limited evidence available on how elite “masters” endurance athletes train (the definition of masters varies from sport to sport, but often refers to the over-40 age group) suggests that they typically spend proportionally less time on strength training than younger elite endurance athletes, says Joe Baker, a kinesiology professor at York University and co-editor of the book The Masters Athlete: Understanding the Role of Sport and Exercise in Optimizing Aging."