Swimming with Eric

After racquetball Eric and I went down and swam the following:

50 yards warmup
150 - 3 x 50's free
150 - 3 x 50's (25 kick rest 15, 25 sprint rest 30)
100 - 100 yards straight
200 - 8 x 25's on :45
150 - 3 x 50's kick on 1:15

Eric's swimming is getting better. I encouraged him to do 100 - 150 straight each time to build up some endurance. Will bring hand paddles on Saturday to help him work on his reaching technique.

He left and I did a little more:

1000 - 1000 easy
200 Breast

2000 yards total

In the evening I met with Cathi at the pool straight from work and did:

1000 Warmup
300 - 100 Freezy, Breast, One Arm Fly
1000 - 50, 100, 200, 300, 200, 100, 50 Free Pulling

2300 Yards Total

4300 Yards for the day

Waiting for Cathi - 800 Yards in 10:57

Today I was late staying at work and agreed to meet Cathi at the pool. I got there at 8:45 and waiting until 9:10. I went out in the lobby to use the phone to call home and she was sitting on the bench talking to Irene, the custodian. I grabbed my suit and rushed to the pool. I had planned on doing a video of 850 yards and then top it off with more to get in around 3000 yards.

My right foot was killing me. So I only did 1150 yards today. I lost count at the 200 yard mark and ended up only doing 800 yards. My splits would have put me at around 11:30 for the 850. I need to get that under 11:00 by July. 800 in 10:57 is an average 100 split of around 1:22. Need to get that around 1:17



After the video I did 350 yards more or slow stuff and got out.

I think I broke a bone in my foot

A few weeks ago I did two different flip turns on the same day and hit the edge of the pool with my foot. Didn't feel too good and I cussed underwater. It is consistently giving me problems now when I push off the wall. It's my right foot in the very middle of my foot. Today just pushing off the wall felt excruciating. I ended up barely pushing with my right foot and a few times pushed off totally with my left foot.

Cathi was making a quilt for Andrea who is in the hospital so she sent me on my way alone tonight. Here is what I did:

1000 - 1000 warm up
200 - 200 Breast
900 - 12 x 75's Free (fast, slow fast) on 1:30 (Did these all just under a minute)
1000 - 400 Free, 300 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free
100 - Breast
100 - Free
50 - Grandpa swimming

3350 Yards total

Long Swim this morning

Woke up at 7:40 and went to Layton instead. Wasn't in the mood to drive all the way to Bountiful. Called Eric to arrange a different day to swim with him.

1000 - 1000 Free
1000 - 5 x 200's Free Pulling on 3:30
100 EZ
400 - 4 x 100's Free descending (1:35, 1:25, 1:16, 1:14) on 2:15
100 EZ
400 - 4 x 100's Bilateral Breathing on 2:00
950 - 25 Free, 50 Free, 75 Free up to 200 Free Rest :20 between sets
950 - 200 Free, 175 Free, 150 Free down to 25 Free Rest :20 between sets
100 Breast
100 Back
100 One Arm Fly

5300 Yards total

Some old fart was there and was trying to race me on the 1000 warmup starting at the 300 mark. He was actually catching up and was even with me at the 550 yard mark. I just pulled strong and kept him with me until he gave up at around 750 yards. I was very impressed that he was so fast for being an older guy (probably in his 50's).

Felt good about this workout.

Stretchout workout after racquetball

Exhausted from racquetball I did the following:

100 EZ
1000 - 10 x 100's stretch out Free on 2:00 (<1:30 on all)
100 Breast EZ

1200 Yards Total

More tonight.

Slacker Day

Today at work I didn't eat at all and I had a 10 hour day. So I had a 6 inch Subway with no cheese/sauce on the way home. Got home at 7:45pm. Had just a little more to eat and then went swimming. But didn't have that much energy so I had a slacker day.

1000 - 1000 Warmup
1500 - 5 x (100, 200)
100 EZ

2600 Yards total

Sleep is suffering. I'm getting about 5-6 hours a night is all. Definitely isn't enough.

Timed Mile again

Ate way too many calories today. Felt like I needed to step it up or something so I did a timed mile:

200 Breast
1800 - Freestyle go strong and fast (26:05)
100 Breast
1000 - 10 x 100's on 2:30 (100 bilateral, 100 normal) all under 1:25
250 Warmdown

3350 Yards Total

Felt good about the 26:05 on the 1800, that's still one minute away from my all time personal best but better than my recent PR. That's less than 1:27 on each hundred. Pretty good. To get my mile under 25 minutes I would need get my 100 split time down to 1:23 per 100.

Early bird gets the lane

Mondays are not fun at Layton Surf N' Swim. At least for the first 10 minutes. It seems like everyone likes to come on Mondays especially those who only come once a week.

Here is what I did:

1000 Free
100 Breast let Cathi catch up
1000 - 10 x 100's (odd - 50 fingertip drag, 50 Touch and pull free. Even - Bilateral breathing)
1200 - 3 x 400's free
50 Grandpa swimming

3350 Yards total

Masters Swimming

250 Warm up
500 - 4 x 100's descending on 2:00, One more 100 fast match last 100 (1:25 - 1:20)
500 - 10 x 50's kick (with fins), fast 25, easy 25 on :50
1050 - 25,50,75..150 and back down free (rest :15 between sets)
300 - 6 x 50's sprint on 2:00
250 - 250 Warm down

2850 Yards Total

The 100's descending were tough. I was in the second to fastest lane. I swam with Kevin. In the fastest lane was Dave and a tall guy who got out early and I didn't catch his name. From the looks of Dave you wouldn't think he was a fast swimmer or a strong swimmer, but he is very fast. He doesn't splash at all and is very strong. Kevin tried to convince me to come during the week. I think I'll come next Wednesday and see how that goes.

Masters swimming on Thursdays just isn't happening

This morning I played Racquetball and left ten minutes to 8 hoping to join the Masters group which was fairly good sized last Saturday. However nobody was there except old people. One guy came for about 20 minutes and another guy came for another 20 minutes, but no real serious swimmers. So I take it Masters really only happens on Saturday. I was so exhausted from Racquetball and didn't have a ton of energy so I did 100's today:

100 Breast warmup
900 - 9 x 100's Free on 2:30 (Do on 1:25) First 50 bilateral, Second 50 right side
200 - 100 One Arm Fly, 100 Backstroke
1000 - 10 X 100's Free on 2:30 (Do on 1:25) First 50 bilateral, Second 50 right side
300 - 100 Breast, 100 Back, 100 Free Warm down

2500 Yards total

Tonights swim consisted of:

1000 - 2 x 500's free - Bilateral breathing every other 50
300 - 100 Breast, 100 one arm fly, 100 Free EZ
1000 - 10 x 100's Pull fast on 2:30 (1:05 - 1:10 on all of them)
500 - 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 100 One Arm Fly

2800 Yards total

5300 Yards total for the day! That's 3 miles

Last Chance workout

1000 - 1000 Free straight warmup
1000 - 2 x 500's Free
1200 - 6 x 200's Free
50 - Grandpa swimming

3250 Yards Total

Cathi couldn't resist chatting it up with some guy. She sure is trusting with strangers. Scares me how she opens up to anybody. She says she is a good judge of character, but there could always be a good con. I'd rather just swim at the pool and save the chatting for when I'm on land.

Crowded Monday

Why is it that Mondays at the pool are extra crowded. Every lane had two to three people in it. I started circle swimming with "Mr. Splash" but only had to swim 200 yards before a couple of slow old people left one lane and Cathi and I shared a lane.

1000 - 1000 Free straight swim
300 - 300 Breast to give Cathi time to finish her 1000
1800 - 12 x (200 Free, no rest go right into 100 I.M. rest 10 seconds)

3100 yards total

Masters Swimming at Bountiful

This morning I met with Eric and gave him some feedback on his freestyle stroke. I had him start with Bilateral Breathing. He has a tendency to bring his head too far out of the water and looking forward. Some techniques I had him focus on were:

• Exhale underwater to allow only inward breathing when mouth is out of water


• Breathe at 5:00 and 7:00 to force chin to stay close to shoulder. He has a tendency to breathe at 11:00 and 1:00 which makes his head come out of the water.


• Kick hard to get his lower body more vertical in the water.


• Get a full upper body stroke rather than get arms to come out halfway through the stroke.

We swam:
400 - 16 x 25's free
then he went biking upstairs while I joined in the Masters swim. The Coach (Tim) told me to get into lane three since there were only three other swimmers in that lane. This was the medium speed lane. I got in and circle swam with them. I ended up lapping them every 100 yards or so. I wanted to move up as I could sense the other swimmers were getting frustrated, but with it being my first time and not knowing the temperament of the coach decided to just bear with it and stay in the lane. They were doing a 30 minute swim to see how far they could go. I joined in about halfway. I didn't keep a strict count of my laps as I wasn't able to really go at a pace I enjoyed. I would guess though that I swam around 900 yards.

Then the coach split the top four lanes into two teams and we did a "pursuit relay". That is where each member of the relay team swims 25 sprint and on the other end another member sprints back. You keep going until the other team catches up. We swam for 15 minutes before the other team caught up. The teams were fairly even and consisted of medium - fast swimmers. But our team didn't end up victorious. There was another swimmer there named Jennifer that introduced herself. Seems like a good group to swim with.

I bought a punch pass since I plan on playing racquetball there weeekly and swimming with Eric. They also meet on Thursday at 8:00 - 9:00 am which is great cause that is right after racquetball so I might as well go since I'm there anyway. So I will swim with the masters group twice a week. Thursday and Saturday mornings.

1550 yards total

Diving for Diamonds

After I finished my 500 yard warmup, Cathi motioned for me to join her a couple of lanes over. She said her diamond in her wedding ring was gone. She said she didn't notice it being gone earlier in the day. So I started on one end of the pool and dove down and searched the bottom of her lane, twice. I then searched the deck where she walked. Nothing. At this point my drive to swim was long gone so I sat in the steam room and thought about the important things in life rather than how crappy I was feeling.

Its just a stupid hard rock that cost more than $800 when I bought it 14 years ago. Anyhow, I have an appointment with Eric at Bountiful Rec Center to swim Saturday afternoon.

500 Yards total

Ditto

I told Cathi about yesterday's workout and she wanted to try it so I duplicated yesterday's workout:

3000 - 3 x 1000's free
350 - 100 Breast, 100 sprint (1:04), 100 EZ, 50 Breast

3350 Yards Total

Not as fun as yesterday cause I wasn't as energized, but it was still a good workout.

Swimming Solo

My knees are revolting and today's run was disappointing. Cathi was on a committee in charge of a Relief Society dinner which was tonight so I was on my own tonight. I got there a few minutes before 9 so I got a head start a little on my workout:

3000 - 3 x 1000's free
350 - 100 EZ, 2 x 50's over unders, 100 sprint (1:04), 50 Breast

3350 Yards Total

Felt Strong and like a train with a pace that wasn't overburdening so I just did two more of them. Felt great!

Bilateral Breathing

Today I was reading online from a triathlon site that swimming in choppy water really requires the ability to breathe on both sides in case one side is choppier than the other. So today I focused on that.

1000 - 2 x 500's (breathe on one side only for 25 yards and then switch sides)
1700 - 17 x 100's bilateral breathing and breathing same side for 25 and switch
50 Grandpa swimming with Cathi

2750 Yards total

Today's pool was very crowded there were three people or more in every lane so every lane was circle swimming. It's typical for the pool to be busy on Monday but today was abnormal.

Swimming on the left side wasn't too bad. I'm sure my stroke looks like crap when I breathe on the left. At first I was bringing my head too far out of the water, but I think I got better as time went on. I'll need to practice this every day in order to make it a habit and skill to breathe on both sides.

Timed Mile

Today we woke up and went to the pool before Racquetball:

1800 - 1800 yards straight timed (27:01). 21 seconds slower than last time I timed this. It was pretty tough.
50 Easy
1200 - 400 free, 100 Breast, 300 Free, 100 Breast, 200 Free, 100 Breast
50 Easy
200 IM Cooldown

3300 Yards total

I then and played Racquetball with Dan Harmer for the next two hours. We played about 5 games and won all except one. Austin came and played a little bit too.