Rearview Mirror 2012 In Laps

It wasn't a good swim year for me.  But at least I'm swimming.  I used the FLOG (Fitness Log) on the USMS.org website to track my yards swimming all year.  A little about that it seems some folks really really swim a lot:

USMS Go The Distance Mileage Milestone Achievements:

    50 miles (2588 swimmers)
    100 miles (2175 swimmers)
    150 miles (1755 swimmers)
    200 miles (1451 swimmers)
    250 miles (1194 swimmers)
    300 miles (887 swimmers)
    365.25 miles (average mile a day) (668 swimmers)
    400 miles (556 swimmers)
    500 miles (373 swimmers)
    750 miles (75 swimmers)
    1000 miles (23 swimmers)
    1250 miles (5 swimmers)
    1500 miles (4 swimmers)

That's crazy!  3,456 Swimmers participated which is a pretty big turn out of swimmers.  My mileage wasn't that great with 202.61 miles.  At least I broke 200!  I'm going to continue to keep it up for 2013 to see if I can make it to 250 miles! 

Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Oct    17.99 miles (=31,659 yards, =28,949 meters)
Nov    7.47 miles (=13,150 yards, =12,024 meters)
Dec    9.22 miles (=16,225 yards, =14,836 meters)
Total    202.61 miles (=356,587 yards, =326,063 meters)

356,587 yards is a bit down from last year when I swam 461,625  yards.  Oh well the year is over so I can't squeeze in another 100,000 yards!

12/25 - A Holiday Cherrished Moment of The Lost Swim & The Found Running Sock

Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho!  Despite being a bit umm. filled with Holiday Spirit from last night I woke up and decided to go swimming.  Unfortunately I have no proof of my swim as I've lost the swim workout when I had to reboot my computer mid sync.  But I did swim 1,225 yards.  I walked to the other end of the pool and warmed up a 225.  Then kicked a 100.  Then 4x100's pulling w/o paddles on 130.  Then 4x100's IM on 1:45 and warmed down a 100.  Making for a 1,225 yard swim.

That was it.  I came home and quickly ate a banana before heading out for a run.  I had to search high and low to find my running tights.  It was a bit chilly out.  Then I decided to wear a long sleeve running shirt.  I grabbed the orange one I last wore on Halloween 2011 for Aquaman.  Well after I put in on I wondered why I had one shoulder pad?  Shoulder pad?  It turned out to be one of my favorite socks.  I never tossed out the other one cuz' I still hoped they'd reunite some day.  And today they did.  It was my little running christmas miracle. I only ran 2.5 miles to celebrate the 25th of the month of December.  So that's it.  I got in my holiday workouts.  I've now have ran 498 runs using Nike+.  I'm going to fit 2 more runs in this year to finish up my 500th run in 2012.

200 Miles in 2012!

Brrr...48F air / 78F pool!  Chilly morning to be swimming.  But with all my non-swimming days I just gotta swim.   I pulled an old swim workout the coach gave me sometime ago and headed to the pool.  Since it was chilly not many people showed up so we all had our own lanes.   

The workout I pulled was from June of 2011.  Figured it was a good swim for me as I'm easing my way back into the pool.  Also this workout was one of our Wednesday swims when we would go down to Leesburg and swim.  Those at the time were my more challenging workouts.  Mind you swimming is challenging enough for me these days.  I'm outta swim shape.  Anywho...

Warm Up a 500 I must not have saved it on the Garmin Swim. (500)

4X75's Kick on 1:30 (300/800)

3x100's w/ fins swim/kick/pull/build on 2:00 (300/1100)

4x175's on 3 minutes catch-up on the odd lengths (700/1800)

6x100's on 2 minutes - long stroke odd 100's push the even 100's.  I guess I didn' save this on the watch once again.  Damn it!  Have I mentioned on the Garmin Swim is a piece of rubish?  And I created a custom screen which was perfect for 100's as it would show my last 100 split and a running clock.  But poof!  It's gone.  (600/2400)

200 easy pull (800/2600)

Then I called off the last and final set.  Mostly cuz' I started to talk to some folks in between the 50's and just gave up.  4x50's w/ fins odds easy / evens fast.  (200/2800)

So 2,800 yards this morning.  Which isn't much but alas I'm swimming which I haven't been doing much of.  As you can see I hardly even swim and this was the longest swim of the month.  I'm going to force myself to swim Christmas morning, Saturday morning for a short workout and Sunday.  Then it's over for 2012! Now will not make my original goal of 300 miles in 2012 or the revised 250 miles but at least I got in 200 Miles. 

So far in 2012 I've swum 353,512 yards!  That is less then last year but more then 2010.

2011 - 461,625 yards
2010 - 351,750 yards

Of course 2010 was a year in which I took several weeks and months off, moved cross country and was training to run the LA Marathon in March then continued to train for the 2011 Disney Marathon so I was running more then swimming.  I'll be doing a full swim down report in another week. 

But hey I'm tied with last month's yardage so I'm getting back in the swim of things -

Nov	7.47 miles (=13,150 yards, =12,024 meters)
Dec	7.47 miles (=13,150 yards, =12,024 meters)

Another Failed Attempt To Get Back On The Horse Called Swimming

I went to bed early after finishing up watching Season 1 of Downtown Abbey.  I know I'm so late to that party.  Anyways I went to bed early with plans of swimming this morning.  Just another swim to slowly get back into swim and chip away at my Go The Distance swims.  I had every intention of swimming with some swim mates but this morning I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that.  So I decided to just swim on my own at the other end of the pool. 
The above chart is far from complete.  In fact some mysteries have popped up or vanished into thin air.  It really is a case for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.  What isn't a mystery are the cycling reports since I am bad at using my Wahoo Fitness App and Heart Rate Monitor.  Sometimes I forget to turn on the app to get my heart rate while teaching.  It's on my iPhone using the Wahoo Fitness app and the Bluetooth HR Monitor.  After I'm done I can sync my workout to various websites like Garmin, Daily Mile, Runkeeper and others.  Sometimes I remember to use it and other times I forget to sync the workouts.  As for the mystery it's all my swims.  I finally got the Garmin Swim to sync but oddly the set I deleted or thought I deleted from yesterday popped up while today's workout vanished.  Hmmm...interesting.  And bad cuz' I really was just randomly swimming today. And since I did sync today the workout is gone from my watch. 

Warmed Up

200 Swim

200 Pull w/d-band no paddles

200 Pull w/d-band and paddles

200 Kick

So an 800 Warm Up

Main Set: (this was pulling with the toys)

2x50's on 45 (100)

2x75's on 1:15 (150/250)

2x100's on 1:30 (200/450)

2x125's on 2:00 (250/700)

Did I make it to the 150's?  Damn let me try to remember.  I did then the set earlier then I had hoped.  I wanted to do 2z150's, 2x200's then a 400 and call it a day.  But I was feeling sorta crampy on my side so decided to stop early.  Oh yeah I did stop at the 125's cuz' I remember I was at 1,500 yards.  So that was it.  Another attempted swim.  I hope to swim on Friday but I doubt it.  Tomorrow I think I'm subbing the 9:30 spin class so that'll be 3 morning spin classes.  Oy!  So no swimming.  With the holiday I have Monday and Tuesday off from work.  With that I gotta plan on which days I can swim which could be 5 days in a row which I know is too much right now for me.  Gotta plan it out.  Maybe take Saturday off since I do teach spinning at 10am.  Inch by Inch or Yard by Yard I'm closing in on 200 Miles! 

I Don't Even Bother To Call Myself A Swimmer Anymore Workout

I headed to the pool for the first time since December 5th.  Work, laziness, work and then kidney stones kept from swimming.  I can't complain about work since I'm loving teaching spinning.  Last week I taught 14 one hour classes.  Normally I teach about 9 a week.  So swimming sometimes takes a back seat to spinning since I get paid to spin and not to swim.  For the time being I'm just going to get in a workout whenever I can.  Even if it's a quick one like today. 

Cuz' A Swim Is A Swim.  Normally I'd post my splits and all that from my Garmin Swim but for some reason it doesn't want to sync at all to my computer.  It gets that way when I haven't swam in a while.  I guess it gets lazy too. 

Warm Up

200SWIM 2:47

200 Pull w/d-band w/o paddles 2:48

200 Pull w/d-band w/paddles 2:43

200 Kick 4:14

10x50's Pulling w/d-dband w/paddles breathing every 4 on 55

40/39/38/37/38/37/38/37/38/39

Times are from my watch and don't show the hth's of a second and all that other stuff.  SO far 1.300 yards.  Debated what to do next.

So 3x50's Fly on 60

50 Warm down.  1,500 yards.  But at least I got in a swim.  I'm still recovering from my kidney stones and having some cramping issues.  But it's a start.  Start of what, I don't know. My ONLY SWIM goal for the rest of 2012 is to swim 4,338 yards so I can at least hit 200 miles for the year.  Way below the 300 I originally planned for and still short of my revised goal of 250 miles.  But I know I made up for those miles in spinning.

As I was leaving the pool a man said to me "You are a serious swimmer" to which I replied "I use to be."  Someday again I'd like to be a serious swimmer again.

Just Another Morning Swim

Despite my best efforts I beat the snooze alarm and made it to the pool this morning.  I don't know if that is a good thing or not.  Oy! Since my last workout post I taught spinning Monday night at 6:00pm then again Tuesday morning at 5:45am and 7am.  That was enough.  No swimming on Tuesday.  So last night I told myself to go to bed and get up to go swimming.  It won't be so bad I told myself.  It won't be so cold I told myself.  I shouldn't listen to myself.

Warmed up a mix 450.  The Garmin Swim has 475 but I counted a 450.  I was pulling most of it so somehow it counted an extra lap in there.  I didn't use paddles but I did use the d-band pulling band for about 350 yards of it.  Then we did 3x100's kick with 20 seconds rest.  I didn't want to to math that early in the morning so I just did them on 2 minutes.  (750 yards)

Main Set:

2x200's on 3:10 (it was sorta on a 1:35 base)  I had to do at least 2x25's of it stroke.  I did backstroke the first and seventh length (I think.)(400)

3x150's on 2:25.  I had to do once again at least 2x25's of it stroke.  I did backstroke and I think the third and fifth length? (450/850)

4x100's on 1:35.  I had to do one 25 stroke.  I did fly for the first and third one and back for the second and forth. (400/1250)

4x50's on 60.  I don't remember what I did.  Some fly, back and free.  My Garmin Swim has me doing breaststroke but I KNOW I didn't do that! (200/1450/2200)

1    2:41.0     200     1:20
2    2:38.1     200     1:19
3    1:56.4     150     1:18
3    :00.7     0     --:--
4    1:55.0     150     1:17
5    1:14.4     100     1:14
6    1:19.0     100     1:19
7    1:13.9     75     1:39
8    1:19.9     100     1:20
9    :34.5     25     2:18
10    :35.0     50     1:10
11    :37.4     50     1:15
12    :33.1     50     1:06

So 2,200 yards this morning.  Not too bad. So I won't hit my goal of 250 miles this year but 200 ain't so bad!  I'm going to do my best to get in the water for a little bit at least once if not twice this week.  Even if it's a quick lap swim.  It's better then nothing.  Just gotta find some energy!

Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Oct    17.99 miles (=31,659 yards, =28,949 meters)
Nov    7.47 miles (=13,150 yards, =12,024 meters)
Dec    3.30 miles (=5,800 yards, =5,304 meters)
Total    196.68 miles (=346,162 yards, =316,531 meters)

Catching up with Novemember!

Kicking Made Easier, Yeah Right! It's All Joe's Fault!

Rut Oh! Good thing I swam or I wouldn't have noticed I forgot to post "Joe's Back To Basics Workout." LINK   If you haven't noticed the last two Monday's fellow swimmer Joe Denton has been posting workouts as a Guest Swimmer so since he's posting them I decided to try and swim one of them.  Try being the key word! Hey look cycling!  I can import from my Wahoo Bluetooth HR Monitor to Garmin now.  Of course I gotta remember to start my iPhone app to get it to work.  I didn't notice till almost 1/2 way into class.  Oh well!  I did teach spinning this morning at 8:15 so that is 52 minutes of work!  As for my swimming I totally screwed up with the Garmin Swim.  Well it's not all my fault some of the problem was that it's really not for swimming mixed sets of kick/drill/swim.  The modes between drill and swim require too many button pushes and math and when you are getting about 5 seconds of rest on the wall who has time to do math and hit buttons and toggle between modes?  It's really for lap swimmers who just swim countless mindless laps. 

So let's see what did I swim.  I pulled a 200 without paddles and 100 with paddles all using the d-band pulling band.  LOVE IT!  Then I did a 100 kick using my new kickboard and no fins.  So just a 400 Warm up. 

Main Set!  Okay so I didn't do the set exactly as Joe wrote down.  I was pressed for time since I go back to work and later teach spinning again.  I need some down time in between.  Hey, I'm old!  So I skipped the 75's.

50 on 45 Swim Pace Free
2x25's Kick on 30
1x100 on 1:30 Pace Free
4x25's Kick on 30
200 on 3 Pace Free
8x25's Kick on 30
300 on 4:30 Pace Free
12x25's Kick on 30

A 1,300 yard main set.  Of course it should have been a 2,600 yard set as one is to swim it twice.  Umm..yeah right!  I was doing pretty well getting around 5 seconds rest on the 25's and more on the swimming.  I was like a 1:21, 2:25 and a 3:50ish.  Not bad but not great.  Swimming in the afternoon sun is hard!  Well hot!  I'm still boiling out and I've been out of the water for a bit.  It's too damn hot right now! 

The interesting thing about the set was that during the 300 swim I was going to my feet/legs and kicking more then I normally would have.  I think those 25's got my legs working and it being so little time in between my legs just keep moving.  Nice little trick that he did to get me kicking.  For the last 12x25's I put on my fins for the last 6 and somehow hit the pause button on the Garmin Swim.  I was kicking and realized it was paused.  Oh well!

I might have to try this workout again but do it the full way that Joe suggested!  It's the Joel vs Joe Weekly Swim Matchup!  Who swam it better?  Stay Tuned!

Month    Total Distance
Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Oct    17.99 miles (=31,659 yards, =28,949 meters)
Nov    7.47 miles (=13,150 yards, =12,024 meters)
Dec    2.05 miles (=3,600 yards, =3,292 meters)
Total    195.43 miles (=343,962 yards, =314,519 meters)

I'd Rather Be Sleeping But Swimming Won Out This Morning.

It's a new month!  With 21 days to the end of the world I hope I can get in a few more swims.  So last night I went to bed and set 4 different alarm times on my iPhone to wake me up.  Actually I was foolish to set it really really early. Why?  I don't remember.  But I was tossing and turning from about 3:30am to about 5:00am so when my first alarm went off soon after that it was an hour and twenty minutes of battling snoozing. 

I got to the pool and had a workout all waiting for me.  Which was good since I wasn't feeling ready to swim. 

Warm Up
500.  I didn't start the Garmin Swim to after the 1st 25.  I was still sleepy.  I swam a 200 then it was time to play with my D-Band Pulling Band.  Pulled a 100 w/o paddles then a 200 w/paddles.  Hmm...the Garmin Swim has me a 525 so maybe I got in an extra 50.  I was chatting it up from time to time so maybe.  Let's say 500 though.

200 Kick.  The workout called for a 300 but I'm teaching spinning in a bit so I didn't want to use my legs that much this early.  (200/700)

400 Swim pushing laps 4, 8, 12 and 16.  (400/1100)

Time:     5:23
Avg Pace:     1:21 min/100 yd

6x100's Free on 1:30.  Descending 2,  4 and 6 (600/1700)

I missed starting the watch on my 1st 100 but when I looked it was a 1:21
1    1:18.6     100     1:18
2    1:19.8     100     1:20
3    1:14.2     100     1:14
4    1:21.9     100     1:22
5    1:09.9     100     1:10

Then just did 4x50's pulling with d-band no paddles.  Drill 1 and 3 with catch up and just swim 2 and 4.  The actually set was 8x50's choice drill/swim.  Meh! (200/1900)

So a 1,900 yard workout.  Better then nothing.  Now breakfast and spinning. I am so not going to make my yearly Go The Distance goal.  But I should get to 200.  I guess that is something.

Let's Have A Pull Party!

It's been a full week since my last swim.  Oy!  Not that I'm being lazy since I'm teaching spin classes almost every day.  My swim scheadule is Tues/Thur/Sat from 10-11:30 with the team here but I teach on Sat at 10 so that is a no go.  On Tuesday and Thursday I teach back2back spin classes at 5:45am and then 7am.  So swimming at 10 is killer!  I don't have enough time to eat and recover.  My class times/format will change in Jan 13' so for now I'll just swim when I can.  Like this afternoon!

Well this afternoon was more of a warmup then a workout.  I only did 1,000 yards.  Hey, I haven't swam in a week.  I only swam to try out a new toy which I'll post about later today. 

I started off just swimming a 200.  Nice and easy. 

7x50's Pulling on 55.  Why 7?  Umm...just I felt like stopping!  Basically I did one 50 then couldn't be bothered to play with the Garmin Swim so I just let the watch keep going to the end of the set.

7x50's Pulling with paddles on 55.  Why 7 this time?  Cuz' I ran into some swim mates and decided to chit chat.

Then a 100 easy.  So 1,000 yards.  Pretty sad but hey at least I got in a swim. 

Since tomorrow is the last day of the month and I work at 7:30am this was my last swim for the month.  My lowest yardage in a month in a very long time.  Let's take a look:

Month    Total Distance
Jan    26.14 miles (=46,000 yards, =42,062 meters)
Feb    21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)
Mar    19.36 miles (=34,075 yards, =31,158 meters)
Apr    14.29 miles (=25,150 yards, =22,997 meters)
May    18.67 miles (=32,853 yards, =30,041 meters)
Jun    11.16 miles (=19,650 yards, =17,968 meters)
Jul    17.97 miles (=31,625 yards, =28,918 meters)
Aug    21.08 miles (=37,100 yards, =33,924 meters)
Sep    17.59 miles (=30,950 yards, =28,301 meters)
Oct    17.99 miles (=31,659 yards, =28,949 meters)
Nov    7.47 miles (=13,150 yards, =12,024 meters)
Total    193.39 miles (=340,362 yards, =311,227 meters)

Wow oh Wow!  Can I even call myself a swimmer anymore?

Gobble Gobble Swim Swim - The Golden Gobble Swim Workout

Let's see what to do on a Thanksgiving morning?  How about a swim workout?  It being a holiday I didn't have to work, yeah!  Yesterday on the other hand I taught 5 spinning (group ride) classes!  OY!  Crazy day!  I should have took today as a recovery day and stayed in bed but a 60 minute workout wouldn't be too bad? 

I was goofing off for most of the warm up time.  Since it was a Holiday it was actually busy at the pool.  I think the Turkey Day Gobble Contest at the end of workout brought everyone out.  Yeah, everyone is a bit crazy around here!  So I got in a 450 warm up before the 200 kick. (750)

Next up 6x50's freestyle swim breathing 5 going down and 3 coming back.  The interval was easy but I dont' remember.  (300/1050)

6x100's on 2:40!  Wow, now that is a gift.  Odds were umm..what's that drill.  Oh yeah catch-up.  Evens were fast.  I guess I didn't press the Garmin Swim pause button hard enough so I didn't get my time in the 2 fast one. (600/1650)

1    1:15.8     100     1:16
2    1:06.1     100     1:06
3    1:22.8     100     1:23
4    1:22.1     100     1:22
5    1:05.9     100     1:06

At this point I had no legs anymore.  Just standing in between swimming my legs were shaking.  It was the end of my swimming.  I stayed but really just dragged my legs along.  I pulled a 50. (50/1700)

Hmm...some stroke work.  I think it was 5x50's drill down / fast back.  (250/1950)

4x25's 2 stroke / 2 free (100/2050)

Then 2x25's Turkey Golden Gobble Swim.  Basically doggy paddle, head up and make turkey sounds.  Prizes were awarded I went home empty handed.  But I got in a 2,150 workout.  Better then nothing.  And I got to break out my Santa Clause Splish swimwear!