Yet Another Excuse To Wimp Out During Workout!

Wahoo for Saturday and Wahoo for the rain that made for a quick 30 minute swim workout this morning.  I haven't swam since Tuesday when I did my 1,225 (12/25) Christmas Workout.  Which by the way is now back from the black hole of Garmin Connect.  I noticed when syncing my watch this morning that the workout was now up.  Which is a good thing.  But I've been busy teaching spinning all week with 3 classes on Wednesday and 2 classes on Thursday.  Friday I don't teach but work early in the morning so I use that as my default recovery day. I say recovery day but I think I told someone I'd go to a class next Friday at 5:45am.  Ugh, well see about that!  As for today's swim...

Easy 300 swim warm up

3x100's kick on 2 minutes

Main Set:

3x300's on 4:30

6x50's Sprint on 60

Distance:     1,200 yd
Pool Length:     25 yd
Time:     19:05
Avg Pace:     1:17 min/100 yd
Calories:     246 C
Avg Efficiency :     31
Avg SWOLF :     29

Time:     19:05
Moving Time:     15:30
Elapsed Time:     19:05
Avg Pace:     1:17 min/100 yd
Avg Moving Pace:     1:17 min/100 yd
Best Pace:     1:06 min/100 yd

Lot's of numbers for a quick set.  I'm copy/paste from Garmin. 

1    4:02.0     300     1:21
2    3:59.2     300     1:20
3    3:55.6     300     1:19
4    :35.3     50     1:11
5    :35.7     50     1:11
6    :36.0     50     1:12
7    :35.8     50     1:12
8    :36.1     50     1:12
9    :34.4     50     1:09

I was really just pushing my way in those 300's.  I'm really out of swim shape so by the last one I was feeling a bit sore and fatigued.  I really gotta snap out of my laziness when it comes to swimming.  I did a 50 easy and called it a day.  Then the storm hit and everyone had to get out anyways.  With one more swim for the month I'm at 9.22 miles (=16,225 yards, =14,836 meters).  So my goal for tomorrow is to do at least 3,775 yards to get to the 20K mark for the month.  I'll get to the pool a bit before the gang and swim a bit on my own. 

It's Swimsuit Season!

It's 39F degrees outside so you know what that means?  Swimsuit season has arrived!  Huh?  I get home from the pool and the first email in my box is from Neiman Marcus promoting the "New Swim Collections."  Oy!  As for my swim well it went a lot easier then I was expecting. After 4 Group Ride (Spinning) Classes yesterday in a row I thought my legs would be toast today. But I felt good.  Must have been the massage afterwards!

Warm Up
300 Pull w/o Paddles, 200 Pull w/ Paddles and 50 Swim.  Then we did a 200 Kick.  (750)

350 Swim pushing laps 3/6/9.  I had no speed as I was warming up still (1100)

Main Set:
4 Rounds -
50 Fly on 55
50 Back on 55
50 Breast/Free on 55
150 IM NO Free on 2:45

100 Warmdown

Nothing much to say about it.  It was what it was.  I really thought I was going to die when I heard the set but it went pretty easy as I was swimming.  I wasn't record breaking fast but I felt okay.  Getting ready for the 400 IM in Feb down in Clearwater.  Yeah, I'm going to finally bite the bullet and race the 400 IM.  I figure I'll be there for the 1000 free so why not attempt to drown in the 400 IM.  Workout Yardage - 2400 yards

Rearview Mirror: My December Swimming

December was just another month of sorta swimming.  Work kept me out of the pool that and some running.  Not that much running but some mornings I ran instead of swimming.  For the month of December I swam a total of 22,050 yards.  Not one of the biggest months of the year. 

Compared to other months...

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

351,750 SCY's for 2010 and 4,000 LCM. Considering my lack of swimming for the last three months of the year I did a bit of swimming.  Not as much as 2009 when I swam 533,344 SCY for the year but still not too bad.  Also last year I set a whole bunch of goals for times for events that I swim but alas I didn't even swim those events at any meets so I didn't make any of my 2010 Swim Goals.  So my only goal for 2011 is to keep swimming.  Not a lofty goal but a goal is a goal.

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!

 

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!

Just A Tiny Bit Of A Swim

After working to midnight and not sleeping to after 1pm I somehow was able to wake up and go swimming this morning.  Of course the snooze button really got put to use before I finally crawled out of bed. Since I was running on little sleep and hadn't swam in a few days the warm up was very very slow.  Actually the whole short workout was pretty slow. 

Warm Up:

300 Swim

300 Pull

200 Kick

2x50's Kick - 25 easy / 25 fast (900)

Set:

6x150's (25 drill / 25 kick/ 25 swim /  25 kick / 25 swim stop and then do a 25 sprint.  I did the first 3 free then 1 fly, 1 back and 1 breast.  (900/1800)

Then that was pretty much it.  The "coach" had to leave and I wasn't motivated enough to swim on my own.  So after chit  chatting with the other swimmers I pulled a 100 fre and got out.  So 1,900 SCY workout.  I'm debating on running or swimming on Christmas morning.  Guess I'll check the weather and decide on Saturday morning.  

Would You Like Some Fly With That Swim?

It was raining this morning so no running.  Knowing that sprinkles were in the forecast I planned to sleep in this moring.  Which luckily I sorta did.  Slept to a little after 9am.  Had a quick breakfast and then waited for the noon time lap swim.  I knew I wouldn't be swimming a hard long workout but really had nothing planned out.  Started off with an easy 600 warm up made up of 200 swiim/pull/kick. 

Warm Up Set:

12x50's on 60 Switches.  Fly/Back, Back/Breast, Breast/Free.  I tried and was able to descend each group of 3x50's.  (600/1200)

4x50's butterfly kick on 1:05 (200/1400)

rested a bit

2x50's butterfly on 60

rested before swimming 100 fly fast.  Well I did a 1:09 so not that fast.  I did try but about the end of the 75 I just was dying.  It felt like I was on lap 7 of a 200 fly.  I am really really out of swimming shape.  But a 1:09 isn't so bad.  I could have been even faster if I didn't do one really lazy sloppy turn at the 75 and if I had taken one more stroke into the wall at the end.  Maybe next week I'll do one off the block to see what I could do with a start. 

Then rested and chatted to someone walking by the pool area.  Swam a 50 easy and then did 3 rounds of ab work in the water - 20 sec side to side, 20 sec front to back and 20 secs rest.  So 1,650 yards.  Not too much but enough.  I gotta work to midnight tonight and then be back at 7am.  Ugh!  I'm off on Monday so my long run will be then and possibly an afternoon swim after.

Quick Morning Workout

Well at least I got in a short workout which is better then no workout.  This morning I set my alarm for an hour earlier than I needed.  Doh!  What was I thinking?  Actually I was thinking the pool opened at 6am but it opens at 7am.  So I got an extra hour of just laying around and playing Cityville on Facebook.  Oy!

Then it was time to go swim.  Workout was okay for what it was.

Warm Up

200 Swim

200 Pull

50 Back

50 Free Swim (500)

then we all regrouped and did a 200 kick (200/700)

4x50's Kick/Drill IM order on 1:10 (200/900)

Main Set:

4x175's on 2:30 (700/1600) Freestyle

then 4x100's Reverse IM on 2:00 (400/2000)

Then I did a 50 easy (50/2050).  Since the pool opens at 7 and I gotta be at work by 9 I had to get out early.  But I got in the pool so that is something.

Slow Poke Afternoon Swim

It's a fact, I'm getting slower and slower. It's all my fault since I can't get motivated to swim as much as I did a few months ago. Today was my first swim in a week. I can sit here and blame my crappy job that has me in at 6am, 7am, 8am or have me work to midnight but really it just boils down to me.  I'm unmotivated.  I will blame it somewhat on the cold weather.  It's hard to be motivated to hit the pool at 7am when it's below 30 F outside and it's an outdoor pool.  After working today from 7am to 3pm I decided to hit the pool.  By the time I got home and got myself together I was in the pool at 4:15ish.  I didn't swim too long since I was unmotivated and really tired.  Standing on my feet all day is also killing me!  Ugh!  Anways, enough complaining and on to the workout:

Warm Up:

300 swim

300 pull

300 kick

100 swim

The warmup itself was a killer for me.  My calves were sore from standing and my arms hurt from not doing anything at all.  I'm getting fat and lazy!  Ugh!

Main Set:

8x50's Free on 40

rest 1:40

4x100's Free on 1:20

rest 1:40

400 Free I kept under a 1:15 pace.  That was my only goal!  Well that and finish the swim.

Swam a 50 to relax / warm down.  So the workout was only 2,250 yards.  But it's my first swim in a week.  Better something then nothing.  I'll be back in the water tomorrow.  Hopefully in the morning but I may sleep in as it's my day off.  Either way I need to swim and get in a run.  At this rate I'll be a contestant on The Biggest Loser by Season 13.