lunch water, keeps going and going...

I swam 3000m today, my longest routine in recent memory. It took less than 1.5 hours, which is kinda good, I think. And it went surprisingly smooth - no problems until after 2500m when everything started to cramp. This maybe is not a distance I can maintain every day. My typical 2000m in 1 hour will probably have to suffice for most sessions. But on weekends and the occasional "holiday", the ultra-distance routine could pay dividends for my fitness. Already I'm feeling the difference added volume has made to my stroke - the movement feels smoother and more efficient in all aspects. Oh, and if the masters swim club, or whatever that group of old fools is, who take up 3 lanes every afternoon is reading: suck it. You're probably thinking to yourself, "I'll just head over to the pool and swim around with my other Nazi friends...", when, out of nowhere, I punch you in the face - if you can put 30 pentagenarians in 3 lanes and swim 100s for an hour, I get to punch you in the face when you inevitably cause me to implode. And you can stop glaring at me through your stupid little swim goggles.

last water, good distance

I increased my workout distance significantly today. There was no real coherent plan - a lot of pull, pull w/ paddles, a 200 IM, and a bunch of zipperswitch drill interspersed - for a total of 2000m. That distance was the true goal. And it was no joke considering the pool is only available from 7:15 to 8:15 in the evening. I was fairly spent at the end.

total distance: 2000m

last water, back in the high life again

Today is my first day back in the pool for a couple weeks, and a few weeks since I've noted a swim routine here. Things weren't going so well with my back for a while there. This nervous condition, I guess, was sending sharp pains down the back of my left leg and I believe the lower back component of the swimming process was to blame - probably all the fly kick. In any event, a couple weeks dry seems to have alleviated the ailment. I was careful today to take things easy, incorporating very little fly kick and doing so only with a smooth, controlled, half-tempo stroke.

total distance: 1300m

last water, IM be good

My butterfly is coming together. I did a 200m IM today without passing out. Amazingly.

da numbers:

• 400m easy free/pull
• 3 x 100m free @ 2:00
• 100m fly kick drill
• 200m IM
• 200m pull
• 200m kick

total distance: 1400m

last water, IM progress

This evening's pool session felt alright. Of note was the 4 x 100 of IM strokes I did, which started with my first 100m of fly in long course. Well, 2-kick fly, but that's still progress. What by all indications should have been a flat swimming day turned in to a good workout. Just getting in the water was a challenge after the weekend's epic between the Tor and Pine Mountain. But, as usual, I'm glad I motivated to train. In total, the workout was 1500m, with focus on IM strokes and kick, 500m of kick to be exact.

last water, slow lane

I took another hit of Albuterol before getting in the pool last night. It made a little bit of a difference. My 100m free times were a touch faster than usual, but any good feelings I may have experienced from that were eclipsed by the level of talent of the human fishes next to me. Apparently yesterday was the day abnormally fast swimmers chose to workout at the Los Banos Community Pool. They were fast. I am not. Though I felt good for me, I got totally smoked, and realized I am a fat loser. Actually, that's not even accurate - there was a fat guy there who was faster than me. I'm whatever is worse than a fat loser. Maybe I'm fat on the inside.

da numbers:

• 400m easy free/zipperswitch
• 6 x 100m free @ 2:30
• coming in between 1:35 - 1:40
• 200m IM
• This hurt. But that's good cuz I've never finished an IM in long course. Yay! - Here's a cookie now stop sucking.
• 300m kick

total distance: 1500m

last water, kick or treat

Lots of kicking last night. After a quick 1000m of freestyle, zipperswitch, zipperswitch with fly kick, and butterfly, I kicked for 500m. That's probably more kicking than I've done for quite some time. It felt good, and kept feeling better the longer I went. Note to self: do more kick work. By about 200m my legs were cramping, but that went away before 350m. Towards the end I felt like I could go forever, until they closed the pool. Rad.

last water, good times

Last night's pool session was pretty good. Butterfly feels good, my freestyle is all stretched out from zipperswitch drills, my legs are hammered from lots of kicking, and I'm feeling pretty comfortable throughout the duration of my routine. I did 1300m. Good times.

last water, kinda good

Last night's pool session was kinda good. There was some freestyle and butterfly going down. Things felt smooth but I wasn't keeping track of time. And at the end I did a bunch of kick work, which brought the cramps out like a mother. Total distance: 1200m.

last water, still strugglin'

I'm strugglin' to get pool sessions over with lately. The motivation is has left me, presumably because it's winter and that's how it goes for swimmers during the dark months. Anywayz, did some freestyle last night.

da numbers:

• 300m easy free/drills
• 6 x 100m @ 2:30
• coming in around 1:40
• 100m free w/ paddles
• 200m kick

total distance: 1200m

last water, motivation issues

Bridget met me at the Los Banos pool last night for some hyper-unmotivating sets. I don't know what my problem is lately. Winter just sucks away my motivation for swimming. Evening sessions are hard, and forget about early morning routines. Anywayz, I did 1000m of drills and IM stuff then got cold and left.

first water, cold

It was cold this morning. Once in the water, things are fine. It's the walk to and from the pool that really suck. And I ran in to a nurse that took care of me when I was sick - Cyndi. Most memories from that time are not super clear but the more she talked the more I remembered. She's always happy and smiling it seems, and I remember how good that was to have around me when I was sick. After talking to her, I did some good butterfly lengths - her influence, I know it.

last water

The Los Banos pool was cold last night. Actually, the pool felt OK - the walk to and from the pool was friggin' frigid. Last week kept me out of the water because of this stupid cold, so last night's evening session was my first in a while. I did a bunch of different things for a total of 1200m - OK considering my condition and the variety of strokes and drills. About normal, actually. Butterfly feels better than ever.

first water, I believe I can fly

I did a length of butterfly today, my first 50m long course of fly ever. It was rad and tiring at the same time. What else was rad was doing fly with 2 kicks after the catch, which helps kind of a lot cuz straight butterflying for 50m is way tiring. Other than that, I went through a bunch of the usual drills, zipperswitch with flutter and fly kick, some kicking, back and breaststroke, and some easy freestyle. Total distance: 1300m.

first water, better butterfly

I'm not doing much freestyle this week. Instead, I'm focused on bettering my butterfly stroke. Butterfly is rad, obviously, so I've been pretty psyched on morning pool sessions the past few days. On the other hand, putting in a full-distance workout without much freestyle is not super easy, nor is it super fast. It took me about an hour to log 1500m this morning. No worries - I'm psyched I don't have to swim free 'til I puke. Those other strokes are getting done too, back and breastroke, or whatever. And lots of drills, especially zipperswitch w/ flutter and fly kick.

da numbers:

• I don't even know, lots of different stuff

total distance: 1500m

first water, something different

I did a bunch of different strokes and drills today, and not much freestyle. In recent days I've caught myself dreading the freestyle sets I've been putting myself through lately. So, I worked on the other strokes, mostly butterfly, and did some stroke drills like zipperswitch and one-arm fly. Not a lot in terms of contiguous sets here, few turns, and maybe 200m of freestyle in all. But it all added up to 1100m. And it was fun instead of grueling, for whatever that's worth.

first water, over easy

I really wasn't feeling the Eye of the Tiger this morning. So, what started out as a 1000m swim turned in to 3 x 200m freestyle then just turned in to random IM stuff, mostly butterfly. It's cool though - I'd rather stay psyched than keep beating my head against the wall with distance freestyle.
da numbers:

• 150m easy free
• 3 x 200m free @ 5:00
• ordinarily, I would do 200's @ 4:00 - this is pretty slow
• coming in between 3:20 - 3:25
• 50m easy free
• 100m zipperswitch drill
• 200m fly drill
• 200m 1/2 length fly
• 100m catch-up drill

total distance: 1400m

first water, IM

I thought I would mix things up by taking a break from freestyle to work on the other strokes, especially butterfly. It was rad.

da numbers:

• 100m easy free
• 200m fly stroke drills
• 200m backstroke
• 200m 1/2 length fly then free
• 100m breaststroke
• 100m kick

total distance: 900m

first water, sprint

I just wanted to do 1 fast 100m today.

da numbers:

• 400m easy free/zipperswitch/catch-up drill
• 3 x 50m free
• 100m free
• time: 1:17
• 150m easy free/zipperswitch/catch-up drill
• 200m kick

total distance: 1000m

first water, faster at a price

I repeated last weeks set of 12 x 100m @ 2:00, bettering my split times by about 3 seconds for most of the 100m intervals. And it wasn't magical. I wasn't faster because I implemented some new technique. I just pushed harder. And it hurt more. But I suppose if swimming hard felt good everyone would be in the pool. Which would really suck.

da numbers:

• 50m easy free
• 2 x 50m catch-up drill
• 12 x 100m @ 2:00
• every 100 was under 1:45, which is what I wanted
• 50m easy free
• 2 x 50m catch-up drill
• 200m fly drill

total distance: 1700m