Shane

Tonight we found out the name of the other "regular" swimmer at Layton Surf N' Swim. His name is Shane. Today was his birthday. He said he only gets three days of vacation a year and he took today off. That's dedication to go swimming on your birthday, shows he likes it anyhow. Here is what I did:

900 - 900 Warmup (800 Free, 100 Breast)
2100 - 7 x (200 Pulling free @ 80%, 100 @ 60%) alternating free/breast on 100's

3000 Yards Total

Didn't get to run/lift today and work sucked today so tonights workout was much needed!

Cutting back just a bit

Today we were a little late getting to the pool. Both Cathi and I were both feeling a little unmotivated so we settled to do 2500 yards:

1000 - 1000 Warmup
1000 - 10 x 100's alternate between 100 IM and 100 Free
500 - 10 x 50's first 5 descending breathing free (4 breaths total), second 5 over unders

2500 Yards total

Came in at 216.4 this morning. Pleased with that and hope to get down to 213 next Wednesday.

Strong swim

1200 - 1200 Free Warm up. Swim strong whole way through
2000 - 2 x {300 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free} 100's are fast
50 - Grandpa swimming with Cathi

3250 Yards Total

Felt Strong on this workout. Hoping that my weigh in tomorrow gets me below 217. Doing good on my diet and exercise.

Speeding to the pool

Cathi was late coming back from taking some of the kids skating. I had the younger ones at home. She showed up at 8:50. We typically leave for the pool at 8:45 so we had to rush to the pool. We were only a couple minutes late but I was pretty impatient and was yelling a bit. I apologized but felt pretty dumb after the workout cause we still got in 3000 yards.

1000 Warmup - Every other 50 yards bilateral breathing
1800 - 6 x (200 Build up free, 100 Free fast)
200 - Cooldown

3000 Yards total

Had a pleasant conversation on the way home and all grumpiness had leaked from me into the water. Cathi too was forgiving and we ended the day on a good note.

New record

This morning I woke up hoping that Cathi would join me for 5000 yards. We slept in a little too much and had to settle for 4500 yards as the pool closed at noon for open swim. That is still a record. Here is what we did:

1000 - 1000 free straight warmup
200 - Breast recovery to let Cathi catch up
1200 - 3 x (4 x 100's free negatives) 1st @ 1:35-40, 2nd @ 1:25-30, 3rd @ 1:15-20, 4th @ 1:10-15 All at 2:15
2000 - 500 free, 100 Breast, 400 free, 100 Breast, 300 Free, 100 Breast, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 100 Breast
100 - Cool down

4500 yards total - Took @ 1:40

Felt good about this workout, but I wasn't swimming my best. Yesterday's chest workout had made my upper lats extremely sore so my strokes weren't as full and strong as I hoped.

SwimQuest 500

I'm thinking about putting together a group of at least 10 people want to join an online competition to swim 500 Miles. These would be primarily people who swim for fitness and not professionally (for college or high school). They could be participants in Masters swimming, but not for people who typically can swim the English Channel every other weekend.

I would be willing to sponsor the winnings of $100 USD given that:

1) There are at least 10 participants
2) Each participant agree to post their workouts and their total yards for each workout.
3) Each participant seriously consider this challenge and not get "flaky" and drop out after a couple weeks.

I'd like to get help designing T-Shirts and whether you're first or not, get a free t-shirt if you reach the 500 mile mark and join the 500 mile swim hall of fame.

Anyone who is interested in this leave a comment and/or send me an email.

Jacob joins in

Tonight Jacob joined us in the pool after taking several weeks off. He used Cathi's fins after she used them in the warmup. He swam around 1400 yards. Here's what I did:

1000 Free Warmup
100 Free Let Cathi catch up
1000 - 10 x 100's Free
800 - 4 x 200's IM
200 Free fast

3100 Yards Total

Cathi said she was having a hard time breathing. She is really congested. Found out I was the biggest loser for the 2nd week in a row that I've been in the competition. Got to step it up though. Only lost 5 pounds in two weeks. Which isn't bad, but I'd like more.

Lovin 200's

1000 Free
100 Let Cathi Catch up
1800 - (400 Free, 200 Free - 300, 200, 200, 200, 100, 200)
100 Breast Cool Down

3000 Yards Total

Got in just a couple minutes late and there was one person in each lane. weaseled my way in with one lady, but I think she got scared and took off. So Cathi and I shared. Lots of others came afterwards and did 50's and 25's, but none of the serious folks were there.

Didn't swim yesterday since it was President's day and the pool was closed. Plus we got back from the cabin late yesterday night. Cathi and I went on a three mile hike in the snow (which was packed from snowmobiles) which has given me some serious soreness (not a good sore either) in my left glute. Today's squats didn't help much either.

Happy Valentines

Yesterday Cathi and I went to the temple so we didn't get to swim, but had a good time doing a session. Tonight I didn't feel like going, but Cathi didn't let me be a negative influence. Good on her!

1000 - Warmup (did in around 14 minutes)
100 - 100 free - Let Cathi catch up
2000 - 5 x 400 {(50, 350), (100, 300), (150, 250), (200, 200), (250,150))
100 Grandpa swimming

3200 Yards total

Cathi is loving her fins. She's almost even with me on each set. I'm only gaining about 2 feet per 50 on her.

Early Valentines Gift

Today I bought Cathi some fins for Valentine's Day. She asked for them so don't think I'm dumb. This year we went with non romantic, but needed gifts. I gave them to her today since Valentines celebrations for us will span all week and weekend. Here is what we did:

1000 - Warmup
2000 - 2 x (400 Free, 300 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free)
50 Grandpa swimming

3050 Yards Total

Good workout. Weigh in tomorrow morning. Hoping for 220.

Timed Mile

Today I swam 1800 yards straight and timed it:

1800 - 1800 free in 26:40 (1:35 longer than personal best done in High School)
1400 - 4 x (250 Free, 100 Breast)
50 Grandpa swimming

3250 Yards total

The lifeguard started handing out free coaching tips to just about every swimmer including Cathi. That'll keep me off the wall. Just keep swimming to avoid the annoying guard. Not everyone has a pretty stroke for thousands of yards. Eventually everyone's stroke loses quality due to fatigue.

Flying Solo tonight

Tonight Cathi had a church meeting to go to. She was supposed to be back in time, but you know how old women like to chit chat and go off topic. Cathi was bugged that she had to miss swimming. I went ahead without her. Here is what I did:

1200 - Warm up - non stop
300 - 200 Free, 100 Breast
1000 - 10 x 100's free - First 5 pulling, 5 regular
250 - 100 Touch and Pull Free/fist/fingertip drags, 100 Breast, One over under

2750 Yards total

Felt really good to have the stamina to do 1200 straight. Did it without wishing I could stop. Felt great. Crowded pool. Some guy asked me for advice on his kicking. He made several compliments on my swimming. I don't like praise from strangers really. I just don't know how to respond. I just said "Thanks" and smiled, but felt like a doofus.

Taking it a little easy

Was planning on taking today's swim off. Austin had to put together his science fair project tonight. He had done his report, but needed to put it into a display. So we rushed through it and finished it in time to hurry to the pool and do this workout:

500 - Warmup
100 - Let Cathi catch up
1350 - 3 x (300 Free, 100 Strong, 50 Sprint)
400 - 400 IM
100 Cool Down

2450 yards total

Some guy got in and started sprinting next to me while I was in the middle of my warmup. Why can't I just relax and let people pass me? I kept up with him while he did 100 fast. Probably around 1:05 or so.

Swimming Strong again

Today's workout was great. Didn't feel fatigued. My chest is sore just enough from Monday's workout to enjoy each stretch. Here is what we did:

1000 - Warmup
100 - Let Cathi catch up
1800 - (2 x 200's, 2 x 175's, 2 x 150's, 2 x 125's, 2 x 100's, 2 x 75's, 2 x 50's, 2 x 25's)
100 Cool down

3000 yards Total

Eating much better and avoiding stupid foods. Hoping to get down under 220 by Valentines day. I'd like to give Cathi a Chip n' dale show hehe.

750 M Swim with workout

Today I was asked to provide an estimate of how long it would take me to swim 750 Meters (820 yards) in the Tomax Triathlon coming up in July. So I figured I would video an attempt this evening of it. You can download it here, or just watch it from this post.

The resolution of the embedded video here is too small to really see, so if you download you can playback in full screen mode for a better picture.


Breakdown:

100 - 1:08
200 - 1:23 (2:31)
300 - 1:24 (3:55)
400 - 1:27 (5:22)
500 - 1:29 (6:51)
600 - 1:28 (8:19)
700 - 1:30 (9:49)
800 - 1:30 (11:19)
850 - :44 (12:03)

The first 100 some guy next to me was swimming hard and the proud doofus in me wasn't about to let him pass me so I stayed with him. I should have just let him go so I could pace myself. The next bunch of hundreds were all much slower. It was a crowded pool today.

Here is the total workout:

850 Free - get out stop video and then finish up 1000 by doing
150 Free
100 Breast to let Cathi catch up
1500 - 6 x 250 free
500 - 5 x 100's free. GO Fast

3100 Yards total

Some factors which should make my time faster in July:

1) I've been swimming for about 4 months now pretty steadily. July is five months from now so I should be significantly more in shape by then.
2) If my weight loss goals hit their targets I should be down to 200 pounds (currently at 225) by then so I'll have less baggage to pull.
3) Adrenaline - being in a race provides more adrenaline than just doing a dumb video.
4) Colder water. Layton surf n' swim's pool temperature definitely isn't warm, but it isn't the coldest lap pool I've swam in. Cool water is better for making you go! Well as long as its not too cold.

Some factors which will negatively affect my time in July:
1) It won't be a pool with straight lines to look at underwater. I'll have to bring my head out and look forward every once in a while to see where I'm going.
2) It will be wavy. Turbulent water definitely will slow you down. No lane lines in the triathlon.
3) No flipturns in a lake!


So with that in mind, I'm expecting my time in July to be pretty comparable to what I did today given that the positive and negative factors simply cancel each other out.
So I would estimate 750 M to take roughly 11:30 - 12:00 minutes.