It's been a good year

In 2009 I logged a total of 319 miles swimming.
In 2010 I logged a total of 758 miles swimming.

That's an increase of 237%.  I may not be 237% faster, but I believe my stroke has improved and my swimming endurance. This morning's swim I really focused on a long stretch out front (without overextending my hand towards the midline), and pulling straight back with no S curve.  My stroke has gotten better.

My goal for 2011 is 1000 miles total (pool + OW).  That is definitely achievable.  That's only and increase of 25% over 2010.  Considering the drastic increase in 2009 I hope 1000 miles isn't undershooting.  But I also don't want to get burned out.  I have a big swim in August 2012!

Today's swim was:

13 x 1000 yards free on 15:00


13,000 yards total

I had extra rest between a couple of sets for a quick bathroom break, but I did get the whole thing done in 3.5 hours.  I was aiming for 23,000 and that would have given me 150 miles for the month of December, but I hit a major wall at 12,000 and my stroke technique was starting to suffer so I called it good at the end of the 13th set and decided against continuing.  I already had a monthly PR at that point anyway.  For December I have logged 145 miles.  That kills November's 100 mile total which was my PR before this month.  Awesome.

I got the ball rolling a little on the GSL swim.  I contacted a friend about the possibility of making a documentary of the swim.  We'll see.

Happy New Years!

1000s

Got up this morning at 3:45 in order to get to work on time.  There was a pretty decent storm last night and the roads were all icy.  After I guarded from 5-7am I hurried in and did 8 sets of 1000 on 15 minutes:

8000 yards total in 2 hours exactly

Felt great!

400s

Got in the pool at 5:17am:

2000 yards free long strokes

200 easy

Masters workout:

400 easy

800 - 2 x 400's free descending (5:00) on 5:45

150 - 3 x 50's kick recovery

600 - 2 x 300's free descending (4:00) on 4:30

150 - 3 x 50's kick recovery

400 - 2 x 200's free descending (2:23) on 3:00

150 - 3 x 50's kick recovery

200 - 2 x 100 free fast on 1:30 (1:08)

150 - 3 x 50's easy

Then I got out and was going to do alot more yards, but it was difficult getting back into it and ended up only doing:

200 free

100 free

100 easy

5600 yards total

No Equipment

I had to lifeguard this morning from 5-7.  So today's swim was a little lighter compared to normal.

I read this blog entry yesterday and realized that I probably do spend way too much time swimming with equipment.  Now I always take Terry's blogs with a grain of salt.  I mean I NEVER use a pool buoy unless I'm also using my supersized hand paddles, so I believe that by eliminating the kick and putting more emphasis on the pull with the paddles in combination with the buoys that it gives me more upper body work.  However, there could be some truth to Terry's though process, so today, I thought I would just swim with just a pair of goggles (and my Rob's Aquatic speedo of course!)

2600 yards free no rest, go right into...
400 IM easy no rest...
1000 free free go right into
400 IM easy then into
3600 yards free


8000 yards total

1000 yards into my swim BJ Christensen jumped in and did a fast 100 yards.  Then he got into his normal pace. I was trying to keep up and picked up my pace just a bit.  It was nice having someone right next to me who would do more than just sets of 100 and would do a nice long pull on their stroke and go long.  I was able to hang with him which was nice.

I'm hoping to do 20 more miles for the rest of this week totaling 150 miles for the month of December.  That would be sweet!

10 mile Swim on Christmas Eve

This morning I lifeguarded at SDRC from 5-7am and then hurried into the pool and started my swim around 7:10am.  Swam in sets of 2000:

2000 free
2000 pull

2000 free

2000 pull

2000 free

2000 pull

2000 free

200 yards fulcrum paddles (which I don't like at all by the way), 

200 big paddles only, 

100 easy, 

500 kick, 

1000 pull

1600 free

17,600 yards total in 4.5 hours

Sprinted the last 200 yards.  Felt great!  Now for some serious carbs!

12th Day of Christmas swim

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me....
12 x 150s Tempo Trainer (:57) on 2:15
11 x 100's IM order

1000 pulling

9 x 100 IM/Free on 1:45

8 texas 50's on 1:00

7 x 50's drilling no stopping

6 x 50's pulling no stopping

500 free

4 x 100's kick no stopping

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(7000)

Plus a little extra:

2000 pull

2000 free

11,000 yards total in 3:00 even

11th Day of Christmas

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

11 x 100's IM order

1000 pulling

9 x 100 IM/Free on 2:00

8 texas 50's

7 x 50's drilling

6 x 50's pulling

500 free

4 x 100's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(5000)

Here's the Masters workout I did as well:

500 Warmup

200 - 8 x 25's 2 swim, kick drill swim

800 - 2 x 400's 1st pull, 2nd IM

1200 - 2 x 600's - 1st 12 x 50's free fast on 1:00, 2nd - 300 pull, 200 back, 100 free

400 IM kick with fins

400 - 4 x 100's fast (1:04, 1:08, 1:10, 1:12)

100 easy

8600 yards total

Got out a little earlier than planned.  I wasn't in the mood to start the 12th day of Christmas only to have to get out halfway through so I went to work a little earlier.  I'll do the 12th day tomorrow.  I got my January lifeguard schedule and am very pleased.  I'll be working T/Th 5-7am and Sat 6-9am  This will allow me to get my swims in with Masters during the week, but miss Saturday, but I'll steal the workout from them on Saturday and swim it after I get off at 9 and double it.  

10 days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me....

50 Easy

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me....
 2 x 25 one arm Fly drills and
50 Easy
(150)

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
3 x 50's back

2 x 25 one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(400)

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x 25 one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(850)

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

500 free

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x 25 one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(1800)

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

6 x 50's pulling

500 free

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(3050)

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

7 x 50's drilling

6 x 50's pulling

500 free

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(4650)

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

8 texas 50's

7 x 50's drilling

6 x 50's pulling

500 free

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(6650)

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

9 x 100 IM/Free on 2:00

8 texas 50's

7 x 50's drilling

6 x 50's pulling

500 free

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

(9550)

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

1000 pulling

9 x 100 IM/Free on 2:00

8 texas 50's

7 x 50's drilling

6 x 50's pulling

500 free

4 x 50's kick

3 x 50's back

2 x one arm Fly drills and

50 Easy

13450 yards total

500s

After Lifeguarding this morning from 6-9am I got in and did the following:

1000 free strong
500 - 10 x 50's alternate drill/swim on :45
500 Pull free
500 pull no ankle strap
500 paddles only
500 swim
500 kick with fins
500 kick no fins
1000 - 5 x 200 IMs :20 ri
2000 pull
2000 free strong
600 - 6 x 100's (25 fly, get out and do 10 pushups, then 75 free easy)

On the last set I did 25 PU instead of 10.  Felt good.

10,100 yards total

Realized during my swim that I didn't get proper dismissal from the head guard when I left.  I need to make sure that I am dismissed from duty properly and get a first aid question instead of just say hi to the Head Guard (Stephy) and just go start swimming.  Oops.  Gotta get these procedures down!

Rush it

Got to the pool a little late so I felt a little rushed.  I had a shift to start at 7 so I had to hurry to get in a decent workout:

600 yards free
600 - 6 x 100's kick with fins
600 - 6 x 100's free on 1:30
200 pull

Started Masters workout:

400 free easy
600 - 12 x 50's kick
600 - 12 x 50's free, first 4 on :60, second 4 on :50, last 4 on :40.
200 - 50 fly, 150 back
200 - 50 fly, 150 breast

4000 yards total

Craig Barnes was in the next lane over and man that guy has a serious underwater streamline/kick.  He goes about 5 feet further than I do underwater.  Love it when I get pushed.

Then while I was lifeguarding there was a young guy who was doing fly 50s on :40 over and over, then 50 backs on :40 over and over.  I was dumbfounded.  Looking forward to a 4 hour swim tomorrow.

First swim after taking an early shift at SDRC

This morning's lifeguarding went fast!  It didn't seem like two hours, but man was it boring.  It was quiet.  Except for the swim team.  They were swimming with fins and were doing sub two minute 200's with fins on.  I was impressed.

After my shift I got in and just swam 5300 yards straight.  Did it in 1:20.


5300 yards total

First day as official staff of SDRC

Got to the pool this morning at 5am:

600 - 400 IM, 200 choice
400 - 4 x 100's kick IM order on 2:15
800 - 8 x 100's pull 2 fly, 2 back, 2 breast, 2 free
400 - 2 x 200's 100 rt/left arm, 100 fingertip drag drill
500 - 1 x 500 build by 100's

Then started the Masters workout at 6am:
300 - 100 free, kick, pull
600 - 12 x 50's choice
900 - 3 x 300's free 1st on 3:50, 2nd on 3:45 (pull), 3rd on 3:35 (pull)
100 all out!  (1:04)
600 - 4 x 150's free on 2:00
100 all out (1:05)
400 - 4 x 100's on 1:15 (I've never done 100's at this interval since probably high school).  I was doing 1:10 or better on all of them so I felt great about this set!!!!

It was 7 and the High School swimmers were waiting patiently so I skipped the cool down since I was just going to finish the rest of my own workout that I began before Masters Started.  So I moved over to the north side of the pool and resumed with the following:

800 - 2 x 400's free build 1:00ri
900 - 3 x 300's free build 1:00 ri
800 - 4 x 200's free fast 1:00 ri (hold 2:30) on 3:30
500 - 5 x 100's free sprint hold 1:10 on 2:30
300 - 6 x 50's free sprint hold :30 on 1:30
400 - 4 x 100's choice
300 easy

9700 yards total

I filled up my lifeguard locker with stuff so I don't have to pack as much.  I start work tonight at 6pm for a couple hours.

Timed minute swims

This morning I got up early and did a pre-masters swim at 5:00 am:

1000 free easy
1000 free pull
1000 free strong
500 kick with fins

Masters started.  Kris Edwards prescribed this workout:

600 - 100 Swim, kick, IM drill, swim, 200 IM
300 - 6 x 50's - 1&2 drill free, 3&4 kick, 5&6 drill swim free
300 - 4 minutes timed swim (285, + 15 recovery) 1:00 ri
460 - 2 x 3 minute timed swims (215 + 15 recovery) 1:00 ri every 4th 25 do backstroke
480 - 3 x 2 minute timed swims (155 + 5 recovery) 1:00 ri every 4th 25 do backstroke
400 - 4 x 1 minute timed swims (85 + 15 recover) 1:00 ri  every 4th 25 do backstroke
250 - 5 x :30 sec timed swims (got 50 yards exactly) 1:00 ri
100 Easy

Masters was over at 7am sharp, so then moved over to the North end of the pool and swam this:

200 easy
1000 pull

7,590 yards total


I was planning on going clear until 9:00 or so, but those sprints at the last part of the workout Kris had us do really took the strength right out of me, so I stopped at 7:20 and hit the hot tub/steam room.  Will get to work at a decent time this morning.  Yay!

I also just registered for Slam The Dam race in 2011 (October 1st, the same day as the St. George Marathon, so that should workout since Cathi is doing the Utah Grand Slam for Utah again next year).

Swimming with SDRC Masters

Now that I'm done with the Lake Huron race, I can start to focus on speed and technique rather than plain distance.  Here's the workout that Tim came up with.  It was awesome:

400 - 200 free, 100 back, 100 kick
300 - 6 x 50's fly drill/kick
500 - 3 x 25's fly, 2 x 50's fly, 1 x 75 fly, 1 x 75 fly, 2 x 50's fly, 3 x 25's fly :15 ri per 25
300 - 6 x 50's back kick with fins
1000 - 3 x 50's back, 2 x 100's back, 1 x 150 back, 1 x 150 back, 2 x 100's back, 3 x 50's back, :15 ri per 50
300 - 6 x 50's flutter kick with fins
1000 - 3 x 100's free on 1:30, 2 x 200's free on 3:00, 1 x 300 free on 4:30
1000 - 1 x 300's free pull on 4:30,  2 x 200's free pull on 3:00, 3 x 100's free pull on 1:30
200 cooldown

5000 yards total

Then Tim video taped my stroke.  Looks like I still have an issue with my hand coming in and drifting too close to my center line.  This is something I have honestly been focusing on lately, but apparently it's still an issue.  I'll have to focus on it even more!

My Rob Aquatics suit came yesterday so today I wore it for the first time in today's workout.  It definitely is an eye-catcher.

Completed the Lake Huron Swim - 250 miles in 70 days

Tonight I went to SDRC to swim the last 6000 yards of the 250 mile swim I've been tracking since October 1st when I started.  Here is a copy of the spreadsheet that has all the daily totals and stats.

Sorry about the crappy quality, I only had my cell and not a real camera.

Tonight I did:

2000 yards free
2000 yards pull
1000 yards free
1000 - 10 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45

6000 yards total
19,400 yards total including this morning's swim.

Cathi and some of the kids showed up at the pool about 1000 yards into the swim so they stayed for over an hour watching me finish.  They brought a huge poster and cheered from the stands.  I'm sure everyone was wondering what they were cheering for.  I sure appreciated that Cathi came out to cheer me at the "virtual shore" on the south end of Lake Huron!  It would have been very anti-climactic to finish and get out without any kind of acknowledgement so it made me feel appreciated when she came out to do that!  Thank you Cathi!  What an awesome wife huh?

Now I can taper my workouts down a little.  I'd like to keep going and see if I can do a 2-way before the race cutoff of March 31st.  But I won't need to rush it as much.

Almost there.....

Got this workout from here.


1500 - 1500 yards warm up
1000 - 10 x 100 @ 5 seconds rest

1000 - 10 x 100 Drill / Free @ 1:40

1000 - 10 x 100 Kick (with fins)@ 2:00

1000 - 10 x 100 Pull @ 1:40

1000 - 10 x 100 Pyramid of Back @ 1:45 

100 Free  

75 Free / 25 Back  

50 Free / 50 Back  

25 Free / 75 Back  

100 Back  

100 Back  

75 Back / 25 Free  

50 Back / 50 Free  

25 Back / 75 Free  

100 Free 

500 - 5 x 100 IM with fins @ 1:45

500 - 5 x 100 Back @ 1:45

500 - 5 x 100 Free @ 1:30

1000 -10 x 100 Kick (with fins)@ 2:00

500 - 5 x 100 Drill @ 1:40

500 - 5 x 100 IM no equip @ 1:45

500 - 5 x 100 Back @ 1:45

600 - 6 x 100 Free Descend @ 1:40, 1:35, 1:30, 1:25, 1:20

1500 - 1000 pull, 500 free no equip

800 - 200 each stroke warm down

13,4000 yards total - Only 5550 yards left to go.  Will finish it up tonight.  I can see the south shore!!!!


Today's workout was a little tougher.  I didn't really like it.  The sets were too short and there was too much rest.  I like longer sets.  Plus this workout had way too much kicking in it.  I only like to do about 10% kicking or less and today's was much higher than that.

Trying not to covet being 6' 6" tall

This morning when I got to the pool at 4:50 every lane was taken with some old guy sitting on the deck.  I went with the nice guy who wears fins.  Next to me was David Balling.  He's a local masters swimmer who has age group records.  He's fast.

I got in and started the swim promptly at 5:01:

800 free warmup
5500 - 100, 200, 300, 400...1000 free :05 ri

These were good cause David was doing a ton of 100's on I think 1:30.  He was doing like 1:10-1:15 on them so he was passing me up, but because of his rest interval I was slowly lapping him.  When I finished this set he told me to come over and take his place since every lane had two people in it and his partner was leaving too.  

 3000 - 4 x 50's breast, 2 x 100's free, 4 x 50's back, 2 x 150's free, 4 x 50's one arm fly, 2 x 200's free, 4 x 50's breast, 2 x 250's free, 4 x 50's back, 2 x 300's free, 4 x 50's one arm fly
500 free pull w/ ankle strap

3000 - 6 x 500's (pull (no strap), kick, swim, kick, swim, pull (no strap))
I really sprinted the last 150 of the last 500 pull.  I think I was doing sub 1:00 100 it was really fast.  I felt so great!
400 IM cooldown

13,400 yards total - I actually got out of the pool thinking to myself "If I could make a living out of swimming all day long, I would change careers".  Don't get me wrong, I love my job.   But I definitely love swimming even more!

Had a talk with BJ Christensen about his plans for next year.  What a lucky guy to not just be so dang tall, but so athletic and have such great success with his events.  Its a shame, but I covet tall people.  I'd would love to be like 6'6".  That would naturally mean I'd have an additional 6" on my arms and my swimming would greatly benefit!  But no, I'm a stalky 5'11" doofus who I'm sure is an object of scorn among those who think old fat dudes in speedos are funny.  So I'm learning to just be thankful for what I have.  I could be like 5'6 or something.  That would suck.

Thank you Dark Chocolate M&Ms!

Last night Cathi and I went to see the Jazz play the Grizzlies.  She brought a treat: Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's.  She ate a couple handfuls and said,  "these taste funny".  I said, "Oh I like 'em.  I love dark chocolate. She almost spat out the one she had in her mouth and said, 'Is that what it is?".  Haha.  She hates dark chocolate.  So I got to have the rest to myself.

If I weren't swimming so much I would feel guilty for eating junk like that.  But I see it as sugar that is a fuel for the next morning's swim.  Which it definitely was.  This morning's swim was without strain or need for energy.  I was fully energized and swam strong:

2000 free
3000 - 10 x (225 free, 50 back, 25 breast)

At this point the pool got really crowded and there were several people waiting at the wall watching everyone swim.  It really is silly that every lane only holds two people.  So I told a couple guys.  You wanna circle?  They joined in.  But the lady I shared the lane with originally said "NO".  I can't do flip turns cause I had surgery on my shoulder and I can't turn at the wall very well.  So I told one of the guys to take my place while I butt my way into another lane.  I moved over a couple lanes and sure enough.  There was Sarah Bowman Hansen.  I said Hello, and she asked "What's your name?".  I'm pretty sure she was pretending to not know who I was.  I mean, I was a VERY CHEESY friend who wanted to be more than a friend at one point.  I know that she didn't want the relationship to advance at the time, so who can forget a nerd like that?  If some girl was chasing me and I was trying to avoid her advances, I'd probably remember her the rest of my life, and not in a good way! Anyhow.... I continued on with my workout.....

1000 kick with fins
2600 yards free
2000 - 10 x 200's free pull on 2:50
750 - 15 x 50's sprint on :45

These were fun!  I first was holding :40, but then I was able to really push it and hold :30 and sub:30 50's.  

2000 free strong
400 IM warmdown

13,750 yards total

Having a cold sucks, but the swimming must go on!

I'm in the middle of a pretty bad chest cold.  I'm coughing up all sorts of crud.  Last night I went to bed early cause I'm pretty sure it's the cold that's making me feel like crap and NOT the excess swimming I'm doing.  I actually feel great when I'm in the water.  Here's the workout I wrote down last night just before going to bed:

1500 free warmup
5000 - 10 x (200 free, 150 back, 100 breast, 50 one arm fly) no rest, just keep it going strong.
2500 - 5 x 500's free odds pull :15 ri
1000  kick with fins
1600 - 16 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45
1250 - 10 x 125's - 100 free really focus on pull technique, 25 kick
500 - 10 x 50's (kick, swim, drill, over/under, breast)


13,350 yards total


Felt great!  Just wish I had more time so I can put in some extras.

Chlorine Burn

2000 - 2 x 4-4-4 (400, 4x100(on 1:30), 4x50(on :45))
3000 - 3 x 1000 :30 rest. hold channel pace, and aim to go the exact same times for all 3 

Eat a cereal bar, and drink some water

100 - 100 recovery, do some backstroke/double arms to loosen shoulders
900 - 18 x 50 free odds push-off 20yds fast no breath, rest easy; evens no push-start, 15 yards fast no breath, rest easy. 1:00
500 - 5 x 100 kick freestyle, go 50 regular kick w/ a board, 50 kick on back no board          

water and another cereal bar

3000 - 2 x 1500 free.  Get a drink and hurry into next set. Get the 3000 under 45 minutes

100 - 100 easy 
400 - 8x50 backstroke on :55 nice and easy
300 kick no fins

12,300 yards total


My face is on fire!  It is red and painful.  I think the chlorine is strong or something.  I also ran out of energy and was running out of time.  Nothing's worse than spending a Saturday in the pool, when the kids are at home driving Mom crazy and I should be there to help do the jobs and then HAVE FUN!  The kids need a Dad so I "sacrificed" my last 7700 yards for the fam. :)


Need to do 12000 yards M-F next week and I'll be done!

Insane yardage - 40,000 yards

Last night I decided to take Friday off work so that I can put in 40,000 SCY.  I normally would do that on Saturday,  but I need Saturday as well to do a long workout.  So I took the opportunity to take two LONG days this week.  Here's what I did in the morning from 5am - 1:45pm:

10000 - 20 x (200 free, 150 pull, 100 back, 50 breast)
1800 - 2 x 900s free
2400 - 3 x 800's IM/drill/free :15 ri
2800 - 4 x 700's (250 free on 3:40, 200 pull on 3:00, 150 - 25 x fly/back/breast, 100 free easy)
3000 - 5 x 600's TT start on 1:00 and go down by :01 each set.
3000 - 6 x 500's odd pull, even no equip
2800 - 7 x 400's IM no rest - :15 only
2400 - 8 x 300's free on 4:30 (1-2 kick w/fins, 3-4 free, 5-6 pull, 7-8 swim)
1800 - 9 x 200's free on 3:00 :20 ri

At the 125 yard mark get out and do 15 pushups.  Total pushups equals 135

30,000 yards

I could feel my body on the last two sets crying out for carbs.  I was low on energy, but I was still able to focus and push through strong.  I felt good.  I stopped at Little Ceasars on the way to my Mom's house and picked up a pizza.  I devoured the whole thing. 

I then napped for an hour, went to pick up Austin, Jacob and Jonas at the train station and took them to the club.  Then I immediately went back to SDRC and did 10,000 more yards. 

10000 - 10 x 1000's (1-2 free no equip, 3-4 pull, 5-6 free no equip, 7-8 pull, 9-10 free no equip.)

I really pushed the last 500 of the day to a sprint.  Tonight's 10K was awesome!  I felt absolutely no aches or pains whatsoever.  Whereas this morning's swim involved a couple of annoyances (left lower back, and left shoulder) but I was able to overcome those.  I find that if I focus on something else when in pain, that I don't really notice it anymore.  For instance if I really focus on my exhale, or push off the wall rotating the opposite of natural way, then I divert my attention to something other than the pain.

I felt so great today!  Looking forward to tomorrow.  After than, I'll definitely be able to finish by Thursday.

40,000 yards total  New Daily PR.

Going fanatic

I'm feeling a little fanatical about finishing this Lake Huron race in first place.  Today's swim was awesome!  I felt a little annoyance in my left shoulder, but nothing that really stopped me or slowed me down.  I got up at 4am this morning so that I could be in the water at the SDRC at 5am sharp.  By the way,  I'm now calling the SDRC my "Home pool", instead of Layton Surf N' Swim.  I have about 5 more punches left on my pass before I get hired there.

1000 - 1000 free warm up
5400 - 18 x {150 free long, strong strokes, 100 pull/kick/back on 1:30/2:15/2:00, 50 free sprint)
900 - 9 x 100's IM on 1:45 (felt great!!!!)
2500 - 5 x 500's free odd no equip, even pull w/all equip on 7:30
1000 kick with fins
1600 free with Tempo Trainer set to :57
200 grandpa swimming

12,600 yards total in 3:42


I got tomorrow off work so that I can put in a monster 30,000 yards!  I'm psyched.  That will kill my daily PR, and get me pretty close to my good friend Nicole Vanderpoel who is currently in the lead.

I'm a re-certified Red Cross Lifeguard

This last month I've been going to classes and getting re-certified as a Red Cross Lifeguard.  The Red Cross has sure simplified things.   They took out several things:

• No more removal from the water from the deep end without a backboard.
• No more timed swimming or treading with a 10 pound brick.  
• One thing that was added since my youth is AED's.  Very cool that we now have an advantage in getting victims of cardiac arrest a chance.  I remember a case where an old guy died in the hot tubs and the ambulance drove off just as I pulled into the parking lot.  My peer spent a good 15 minutes doing CPR before EMS got there and he had no signs of life at all.  Sounds like AED's when used early on, could actually result in a better chance at survival.
• No more "fighting escapes".  We used to learn how to push a victim away when they come at you.  Instead, you just learn how to STD (Suck, Tuck and Duck).  
• No more turning passive victim over using a one handed wrist turn.  
• Back in the day we used paddleboards and learning how to get victims loaded up on the boards and then swim them to safety.  Which makes me wonder why we even learned that as pool lifeguards.  So that is one skill I'm glad the Red Cross got rid of. 
• Old timers also did stuff with fins and snorkels to simulate underwater searches which was dumb for pool lifeguards.  So I'm glad they separated that out for a different type of certification. 
• We also did ALOT more with poles and ropes and reaching assists.  Today's Lifeguard just learns to toss a ring buoy and they didn't have us practice using a shepherd's crook.  
• Simpler, and less to remember.

I passed the written and practical tests pretty easily.  When I finished it was 7pm so I swam for an hour since I was there and didn't swim this morning.  I found out that I am still behind Nicole Vanderpoel by 25K.  So it is CRUNCH TIME.  I have a plan to really sprint to the finish.  So I'll putting in some major yards then next couple weeks.  I should be done by next Saturday.  Here's today's swim:

2000 yards free  (28:20)

2000 yards pull

4000 yards total

Milestone: Swim 100 miles in one month

So I was watching my mileage for this month and knew that I was coming close to swimming 100 miles in one month, so I made sure to get my yardage to where I could reach that milestone.  This morning I got up at 4:20 and drove to SDRC to do this workout so that I could get in early and still get to work at a decent time.  

I got this workout from Graham Wardell, who said that this workout is "A Real Killer!!"

1200 warmup - 3 x 200 free, 3 x 200 IM

800 - 1 x 800 free on 11:30

1200 - 2 x 600 free on 8:00

1200 - 3 x 400 free on 5:30

800 - 4 x 200's (1st free, 2nd 50 fly/150 free, 3rd 100 fly/100 free, 4th 150 fly/50 free)

1000 - 20 x 50's kick odd 25's steady/fast, even fast/steady on 1:00

400 - 400 pull (50 free/ 50 back) on 6:00

400 - 2 x 200's pull (50 free/50 back) on 3:00

400 - 4 x 100's pull (50 free/50 back) on 1:30

200 - 4 x 50's pull back on 1:00

Added this to the original "killer"....

400 - 400 free on 6:00

400 - 2 x 200's free on 3:00

400 - 4 x 100's free on 1:30

200 - 4 x 50's free on 1:00

1000 warmdown Long easy strokes

10,000 yards total

So my total so far on the Lake Huron swim is:  70.83% complete (311,650 yards or 177.07 miles total)  In order to complete my goal of finishing before Dec 31st, I'll have to swim only 73 more miles.  Something I should be able to easily do in December.  The rush is on!

Back home, but doesn't feel like it

I made it back to Layton since they were closed last week with a broken heater.  I guess my heart has transitioned over to SDRC as my "home pool".  The water felt fine.  It was cool.  But I just didn't have my heart in todays workout.  Don't get me wrong.  I swam hard, didn't feel like quiting, or had any pain issues,  I just missed my SDRC pool.  Its a much more inviting pool.  I think it might be the bubble. Anyhow, here is what I did today:

1000 free
800 - 4 x 200's IM on 3:30
3200 - 8 x 400's free odd easy, even fast on 6:30
800 - 16 x 50's free fast on 1:00 (hold :32)
3000 - 6 x 500's free (1 & 2 pull all equip, 3 & 4, no ankle strap, 5 paddles only, 6 no equipment)
1000 - 10 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45
200 grandpa swimming

10,000 yards total

My goggles have finally bitten the dust.  The plastic outer gasket has lost it's spring and my eyelashes are brushing the inside front.  So I threw them away and went with my backup pairs which I hate cause they fog like crazy.  Time for a trip to Big 5 for another pair.

After tonight's Lifeguarding class I got in and did 3000 yards free in 42:05

13,000 yards daily total

Drained

This morning I started my swim at 7:00am.  I was pretty drained right from the start, so today's workout was about just getting in and not being a bum.

1000 yards easy
2000 - 400 IM, 600 pull, 600 pull, 400 IM
500 kick (10 x 25 underwater dolphin, 25 back kick) with fins
500 - 5 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45
2000  pull
500 easy

6500 yards total

So this week was a record breaking week.  Swam 59,800 yards total this week.  I'm pretty happy with that.  I need to have a 40K average to get the Huron swim by the end of the year.  So I'm doing pretty good.

Long Black Friday swim

Since we didn't go to the cabin for Thanksgiving, and stayed home I was blessed with the opportunity to do a long swim.  I got up at 5:30am.  Cathi drove me to SDRC (where she continued on to Sandy to run with an old friend) and I was in the water at 6:30am.  Here was the workout I wrote on a piece of paper on the way:

1000 warmup
1000 - 1 x 1000 strong (14:15)
1800 - 2 x 900's (800 free immediately followed by 100 back)
2400 - 3 x 800's pull
2800 - 4 x 700's

Take a quick bathroom break and take a buzz bite for energy.

3000 - 5 x 600's
3000 - 6 x 500's kick odd w/fins, even w/o
2800 - 7 x 400's IM (fly one arm only)

Cathi showed right at the end of this set.  She was done running with her friend and also going to breakfast with her sisters in Bountiful.  She brought a book and was really supportive as she said she was willing to wait and read her book while I finished out the remaining sets.

2400 - 8 x 300's pull strong

Take a buzz bite

1800 - 9 x 200's free on 3:00
1000 - 10 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45
100 - 2 over unders

23,100 yards (13.125 miles) in 6:25

That's a new PR for the most yards in one day.  I felt great.  I definitely could have kept going but Cathi was waiting for me.  Actually she fell asleep up in the stands, but the kids were home and already broke the record and didn't need to be a deadbeat Dad the day after thanksgiving.  So now I'm off to play games and hang with the kids!

Pre-Thanksgiving swim - 10,100 yards

This morning my swim went much better than yesterday.  I was able to get into meditation mode within the first 1000.  My last set with IM's in it was also very good.  Got some good speed and strength on those even though I had already swam 9000 yards.

3000 yards effortless free
1000 - 2 x 500's kick w/fins
2000 - 2000 pull w/ankle bands
3000 - 3000 effortless free
1000 - 10 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45
100 - 2 over unders

10,100 yards

Felt great, no joint issues, or weakness.

I'm very thankful to have the health that allows me to do what I want to do - SWIM!

Swimming right next to an old friend - Sarah Hansen

I wasn't sure if Layton was closed again or not so I went straight to SDRC this morning.

Sarah Hansen was in the next lane over.  We never talked cause we were both doing laps and I don't think she recognized me.  That's one thing about swimming.  It is definitely not a social sport (unless your a slacker and just chatting it up at the wall).  

My arms never got into power mode, but I was able to get through it. I think most of the problem today was yesterday I didn't eat all that much and didn't have enough calories to power up for this morning's swim.  So today I'll stop at Smiths and load up on stuff for tomorrow's swim.  Then I'll take Thu/Fri off and then do another long swim on Saturday afternoon.

3000 yards free
3000 - 2 x 1500 yards free
1000 - 2 x (400 free right into100 back)
2000 - 4 x 500's free
1000 - 10 x 100's odd IM, even free on 1:45
100 - 25 breast, 25 free really easy, 25 underwater, 25 free really easy

10100 yards total

Acting dumb

This morning I got up early for a long swim, but Layton Surf N' Swim was closed due to the heater going out and the water being "too cold".  I was like "It's probably just right then since it's usually too warm anyway."  But the lifeguard wasn't having it.  So I drove to SDRC.  Thank goodness for a backup plan.

When I got to the pool Tim was there and asked, hey are you swimming alone?  I said well Yes.  Then I was like "I don't have a membership yet and wasn't sure how much the charge was for Masters.  So how much is it?"  I didn't want to say, Look I'm going for yardage today and don't want to work on short speed sets.  So I played dumb and just swam in the Northern lanes by myself.  Here's what I did:

4000 yards free strong
1000 - 2 x 500's kick with fins
3000 pull w/ ankle strap
1000 - timed 1000.   Go fast (13:52)
1000 - 10 x 100's odd IM on 1:45, even free on 1:30

10,000 yards total

Felt great!

Long swim after High School Thanksgiving Invitational at SDRC

The pool was closed until 3pm as there were probably a dozen high school swim teams at a meet at SDRC.  I got there at 2:20 and watched the last two events which had 5 heats each.  It was the female and male 400 yard free relay.  There were some fast kids!

I got in at 3:10pm and did the following:

4000 yards free strong

get a drink of gatorade

2000 yards free
1000 yards - 2 x 500's kick with fins
2000 yards pull w/ankle strap

get a drink of gatorade

3000 yards free strong with tempo trainer getting faster each 1000.

12000 yards total

More than halfway across lake Huron.  Hope to finish that before end of year.

Feeling great!

This morning I got up at 5:10am and got to the pool at 5:40am.  I was able to have a very relaxing, yet strong swim.  Alot of my swims included lots of prolonged reach before pulling and more focus on the pull:

5000 yards free straight no stop (Noticed that at the one hour mark I was at 4280 yards which is awesome.

1000 - 2 x 500's kick.  First 500 w/fins, second 500 without.
2000 - 2000 pull.  Long deliberate strokes with a little extra glide
2000 - 2000 free no equipment but with Tempo Trainer set at 1:00
400 - 4 x 100's first 100 IM strong, second 100 free strong, 3rd IM sprint, 4th free sprint  :20
100 easy

10,500 yards total

No joint or energy issues, swam strong the whole time and never felt like giving up.  Best swim in a LONG time!

Smiling Underwater

Last night on the way home from Lifeguard class I was thinking about things I'm thankful for. I kept thinking about Cathi and our life together. I was overwhelmed with love and gratitude for that woman. So I spent a few hours last night scanning pictures and narrowing all the good ones down to about 40 pictures and put this video together:



This morning I watched the video before coming swimming to appreciate the work I did last night. So I kept thinking about Cathi while I swam and often found myself smiling underwater while I was exhaling!

4000 yards straight strong (58:45)
1000 kick with fins
2000 free pull
100 free swim backwards

This was tough getting the breathing down. You actually swim front crawl backwards as if you were watching front crawl in reverse. Fun stuff!

1000 free with tempo trainer set to :97
100 IM strong

8200 yards total

Ladder #7

700 - 1 x 700 free easy
1200 - 2 x 600's pull on 8:00
1500 - 3 x 500's free descending 1-3 on 7:30
1600 - 4 x 400's long strong strokes on 6:00
1500 - 5 x 300's odd choice, even free on 6:00
1200 - 6 x 200's 3 kick no fins, 3 drill on 4:00
700 - 7 x 100's free fast on 1:30

8400 yards total

Felt like giving up at the 5th step, but kept on going.  Saw a couple ladies in my neighborhood doing some walking laps in the shallow end:  Kristi Sparrow AND Debbie Woodrow at the pool this time.  All they needed was to get Judy Hall there and then it would be a Primary Presidency meeting.

Day 2 of NW Zone SCM Championships meet - 400/200/50 M free

Here's the results from yesterday's 1500 M event.

I stayed up a little late last night watching "Gremlins" in my bed with the kids laying all over the floor.  But I knew I could sleep in a bit this morning considering I normally get up 5-6 to swim.  I love a meet that starts at 9am.

Swam the 400 M Free in 4:58.37 (new PR).  Second place overall.

A couple of events later I joined Tim Shumate, Dennis Tesche, and Pat in a 200 Free Relay.  I was the last leg and I did a 50M free.  We got 1:52.

Then several events later I swam the 50 M Free.  I seeded 28.31.  I got 28.29.  Those who get the closest to their seed time get a swim suit ( I was .01 off last year and got the suit).  This year I was off .02 and won again.  If I can't improve by very much at least I can win something.

About 30 minutes later I also participated in a 200 Medley Relay where I did the 50 free leg at the end again.  Overall team time: 2:08. (2 second faster than projected)

Then about 15 minutes later I had to do the 200 M Free.  At this point my arms were already pretty numb from the 50 sprints.  I wanted under 2:15.93 and ended up going 2:17.31.  So of all my individual events I got PR's on two and barely missed on the other two.  I'm pleased.  I didn't bomb on anything and came in first in my age group for all the events I did.

Swam 2000 yards total today including warmup/downs.

Now back to some serious yardage!

Day 1 of NW Zone SCM Championships meet - 1500M free in 20:44.73

Tonight I swam the 1500 M free.  My converted short course yards to meters came to 20:39.  I was aiming for 20:30.  I ended up getting 20:44.73.  


Here are some split stats:

I was doing great until I got to around 500 M and then I could tell I was starting to tire just a tad.  Not a ton, but enough to bring my sub 1:22/100M average to more like 1:23/24.  I'm not heartbroken though. I really haven't been focusing on speed very much in my workouts, just distance.  Some would call that garbage yardage.  I call it training for marathon swimming.

Anyway my yearly membership at Layton Surf N' Swim expires the end of this month.  Just in time for me to get hired on at SDRC and get my free membership there.  Once I do, I'll be swimming with the masters team there, so I should definitely get my speed work in there.  They don't do tons of yards, but they do work on technique as well as speed.

I swam 600 yards before as a warm up.  So today I ended up swimming 2250 yards total.  

Short workout and shave down

Got up at 6:30 and swam this short workout:

1000 yards easy
500 - 10 x 50's on 1:00 (odd 25 fly sprint/25 breast recover, even 25free sprint/ 25 breast recover)
300 backstroke
200 - 4 x 50's drill free
1000 yards easy

3000 yards total

Then shaved my arms in the showers.   I'm a little concerned that I've been so focused on marathon swimming, that my speed has suffered.  A little nervous about hitting my goal times tomorrow and Saturday.  I'm not going to beat myself up if I fail.  I'll do my best and if I don't hit the target, I can continue to focus on my marathon swimming.  The GSL swim is the ultimate goal and I have to keep that in mind.

Old dusty workout

I wrote this workout one night just before bed, but left it on my dresser by my bed for weeks.  I didn't end up doing it because it was lower in yards and I was trying to pick it up.  But this week I need to cut back cause of a meet on Fri/Sat at SDRC, so I ended up doing this workout today:

1000 yards free

My triceps, shoulders and upper back were all sore and stiff.  No joint issues, just muscles were stiff.  By the end of the 1000 I was feeling a little better. 

1200 - 12 x 100's free fast (get all around 1:10) on 2:00
1000 - 20 x 50's free fast (get all around :36) on 1:00
800 - 4 x 200's free strong on 4:00
500 pull

4500 yards total

Those 100 sprints were tough!  I took my HR on the last set and had it up to @170.  Tomorrow I'll plan to do around 3000 and thats it.  Then Friday I do the 1500 Free.  My seed time is 20:39.24

On Saturday I do: 400 M Freestyle, Seed Time 4:58.84
50m Free, Seed Time 28.31
200m Free, Seed Time 2:15.93

My goal is just to beat my seed times (which are all PR's converted from SCY to SCM)

Getting blown off by an Airheaded Aggie

Last week I had hoped to swim 10K yards on Saturday at the USU HPER pool.  So I called last Thursday to the pool to confirm the hours on Saturday and that there weren't any conflict.  Everything was a go.  I show up on Saturday at 10:45am fully geared up and ready to put in a three hour 10K, but guess what, there was a high school swim meet and they said it would be going pretty much all day.  I was a little pissed off to say the least.  I said,  "Man!  I call early in the week just to make sure, and I'm told 11-2pm is fine."    I guess next time I call I'll have to be extra vigilant in making sure the caller isn't just trying to tell me what I want to hear, but what the truth is.

I went to the Community center to see if they have a pool and they don't.  So I didn't get in my long swim on Saturday.  I was very frustrated. But today I felt the need to make it up a little so I did 10K this morning:

2000 yards free easy
1000 - 4 x 250's :15 ri
1000 pull
1000 kick with fins
1000 - 10 x 100's free on 1:30
1000 - 10 x 100's IM on 2:00
2000 - 2000 free with TT on :57
1000 - 500 free pull (50 pull w/ankle band, no buoy, 50 drill), 500 pads only

10000 yards total

After Lifeguarding class I quickly did another 2000 yards straight in 30 minutes.

Total for the day: 12000 yards

Lynn's workout

Nice workout from Lynn from the Issaquah Swim team:

1800 yards free pull - I added this little gem to get in a distance set.
1000 - 400 free, 4 x 100's IM (25 kick, 50 drill, 25 swim), 4 x 50's desc 1-4 on 1:15
1000 - 2 x (4 x 100 IM on 2:00 + 100 free on 2:00))
1600 - 16 x 100's free descending by set.

1st 5 - get HR between 24-26 on :10 count.  On 1:40

2nd 5 - get HR between 27-29. On 1:50

3rd 5 - get HR between 30-32 On 2:00

Last 100 get HR over 33

I was really disappointed with my inability to get my HR over 29 even at the hardest pace.  I felt like I was pushing it, but I just couldn't get my HR into the 30s like I wanted.  I don't know what's up with that.  Let's 30 HR for :10 means its a 180+.  Looking at the Max HR for a 38 year old is 182.  So I guess this workout is intended for kids with those numbers.

350 - (50 kick on :50, 75 drill on 1:15, 100 swim on 1:35, 75 kick on 1:15, 50 drill on :50)
250 - 50 kick on :50, 75 drill on 1:15, 100 swim on 1:35
25 easy
6000 total

Had to cut my workout short cause I needed to be to work already.  Will swim at USU HPER pool tomorrow.

Don't forget the nutrition!

I realized halfway into this mornings workout that I only had two pieces of french toast for dinner last night. I had to go directly to Scouts when I got home from work, and then when I got home it was too late to vote, so I felt like a slacker community citizen.  I didn't get a dinner so this morning I felt way sluggish, but I told myself.  "Gords, if you can just get through the prescribed plan today, you can reward yourself with a couple of bagels and a 2L bottle of the pineapple/orange juice you love".   Right on! I said, and I kept it going!

1000 free warmup - felt great once I got to around 700 yards into it.
2800 - 16 x (75 fly/back/breast by 25s, 100 free) on 3:00
2000 - 5 x 400's pull on 6:00.  Focus on long strokes and good form
1000 - 10 x 100's free fast on 1:30.  I was getting these around 1:26 which is terrible, but I was able to stay with the program with hardly any rest.
1200 choice easy

8000 yards total

Lifeguard class at SDRC tonight was kind of boring.  Talked about coverage, the lifeguards role, entry in the water and how to deal with patrons.  Swimming only consisted of about 100 yards worth of stuff using the rescue tube, so I won't count any of that as yardage.  But after class was over (again we were let out early), I swam 2050 yards straight, nice and loose, strong and in 28:53.  That's a pretty good time for 2050 yards.

Total daily yardage: 10050

Trying to stay ahead of the pack

So unless the swimmers who aren't reporting are keeping dirty little secrets, I'm in first place position in the Lake Huron Virtual Race.  Looks like I'm going to have to step it up just a tad, to stay ahead of Matt Hooper, who I'm sure he is going to try catching up, so I'll have to anticipate that and also put in more.  Thing that makes me feel a little comfortable is that for a whole week in October, I pretty much was out of commission with a bad lower back.  So if I don't have that issue anymore, my yardage in November will naturally be quite a bit more than Octobers.  Yippee!

Here's today's workout:

200 free
300 IM drill
2000 - 10 x 200's first 100 IM, second 100 free recovery on 3:30
900 - 12 x 75's 25 kick, 50 free fast on 1:30
500 swim easy :20-:30 ri
500 kick with fins :20-:30 ri
500 - 5 x 100 IMs fast on 2:00
500 pull :20-:30 ri
500 swim strong (beat first 500 time by :30)

Ended up beating it by :25 (7:10/6:45)

1000 2 x (2 x 100's on 1:30, 2 x 150's on 2:15)
100 - 2 x 50 over unders (25 under water completely, 25 free recovery) on 1:15

7000 yards

And Then Some...

I've been feeling sleep deprived lately, so I slept in a little this morning even though I got lots of sleep this weekend.  I also thought of the title of my book, when I finally write it:  "And Then Some".   I'll expound in the book obviously...

Here's today's workout that I came up with on the fly:

2000 - 2000 yards straight.  Moderate and stretch out stroke
400 - 4 x 100's kick no fins
200 free easy
400 - 4 x 100's IMs odd fast, even drill
2000 - 4 x 500's pull using tempo trainer.  :58, 1:00, 1:02, 1:04 last 50 of each 500 no paddles on 8:00
1000 - 4 x 4 x 4 - make the 100's descend on 1:30

6000 yards total

Tonight I went to the Lifeguard Training class at SDRC.  Craig Barnes was there and was giving me a hard time for training be a lifeguard.  Dude, its my personal key to staying young.  I want to be able to understand my 14 year old with all the cool new jargon and what better place to be embedded in the young crowd than at the pool as a lifeguard?

Anyhow, today's "test" for whether I'd be a decent candidate for the class consisted of:

300 yards (100 free, 100 breast, 100 free)
50 yards ( swim 25 yards to the deep end, dive down 12 feet, pick up the black rubber brick with two hands and keep both hands on it at all times and then swim back to the shallow end.

What a piece of cake!

Then we went to class for about an hour and discussed negligence, abandonment, and Good Samaritan laws. Then they dismissed since we didn't have books and they didn't have a video machine.  So I went back to the pool and swam 1650 yards more.

Total daily yardage: 8000 yards

Spooky Swim

Yesterday was a busy day at work getting our pumpkin scene ready, and also had to get off early so I could make it home in time for a halloween 5K run that Cathi commanded me to join her on.  She was Bert and I was Ernie and she said she'd be mad if she had to show up without Ernie.  So I had to sacrifice yesterday's swim for the sake of family unity.  But I think I made up for it with today's long swim, which is a modified version of this one from swiminfo:


1000 - 400 Free and IM, 200 choice
800 - 8 x 100's kick IM on 2:45
1600 - 16 x 100's pull on 1:30
800 - 4 x 200's Drill (100 left/right arm, 100 fingertip drag) on 4:00
400 free build each 100.  1:00 ri
600 - 2 x 300's free build by 150.  1:00 ri
600 - 3 x 200's free hard (MUST GET 2:30 or your rest gets cut by :15!) on 3:30
400 - 4 x 100's free fast (must get under 1:15) on 1:30
300 - 6 x 50's free sprint
400 - 4 x 100's choice moderate 
300 Easy


Do the above workout all over again!


14,400 yards total

Calm mind

Felt really good this morning.  My mind was free of commotion and was able to swim strong as a result:

500 free warmup
2500 - 10 x (100 fast/50 easy on 2:30, 75 IM/25 free on 2:00)
1000 - 5 x (75 free/25 kick on 2:00, 25 kick/75 free on 2:00)

really focus on free technique and not so much about speeed.

4000 - 800 free pull strong :20 ri, 600 kick :20ri, 400 - 4 x 100 IMs on 2:00, 200 free strong.  Then do the same set backwards

200 easy

8200 yards total

9000 yards and The Parable of the Foolish Swimmer

3000 yards free
3000 yards pull
1000 yards kick with fins
1000 - 5 x 200's odds IM drill, even free
900 - 6 x 150's (100 sprint (get under 1:15), 50 breast active recovery) on 2:30
100 - 50 sprint, 50 back easy

9000 yards

Here's something I put together in my mind during today's swim.  Totally fictional, purely a parable that is similar to an actual event, but not related to swimming.  Sorry.  It's kinda long:

The Parable of the Foolish Swimmer


Frank always enjoyed swimming ever since he was a kid.  He swam on his High School Team and made lots of friends.  He had progressed to the point of being one of the fastest swimmers on the team.  He was good friends with Jon and Rick also were very fast swimmers on the team, but typically we assigned to swim in different lanes.  Frank had earned a reputation for his hard work and for taking first place in nearly every event he competed in at meets.

Many years passed, Frank had varying levels of motivation to swim.  He didn't swim with groups anymore, and rarely pushed himself to the point of exhaustion like he did when he was on a team.  One day he thought it would be cool to swim the Catalina channel.  So the next month, he drove to California, hired a pilot and started the swim.  He knew it would be tough, but didn't realize there were currents, marine life, and salt water to deal with. During one of the first couple feedings, he exclaimed, "I've never seen a seal before in the water with me".  The pilot crew tried to hide their amusement when they realize Frank is in over his head.  Once Rick gets about halfway he is beyond the point of exhaustion and can go no longer.  The pilot crew pull him out of the water and he heads home defeated.

Frank resolves to learn from this and to do: open water swims, extend his training to higher levels, do more research on marathon swimming.  He begins his research and reads a book where an English Channel swimmer makes light of the obstacles to marathon swimming and almost mocks anyone who nonchalantly attempts it.  This book disgusts him to the point of giving up and he goes back to swimming at the pool focussed again on just sprints with his workout total never getting higher than 3500 yards.

A couple years later, Frank's girlfriend, Jenny, hears about a sweepstakes put on by Swimming World where the winner of the sweepstakes will win a free trip to Dover including payment for a pilot to swim the English Channel.  The drawing is in 1 week.  Jenny asks Frank if she can enter him in the drawing.  Without really thinking about his past experience with the Catalina Channel he agrees thinking that he wouldn't win the drawing anyway.  A week later he gets a call, he just won the drawing and will need to take a week off work the next month to swim the English Channel.

Frank was mortified.  He knew he wasn't prepared, but he'd won the drawing and didn't want to waste the opportunity.  Every morning for the next month he went swimming in the local pond.  Frank and Jenny went to visit a psychiatrist to help him stay positive, and be mentally strong during the swim.  When the time came, he flew with Jenny to Dover.  Two days before his Channel swim, the pilot sent two of his assistants to take Frank on a training in the harbor.  He was to swim 8 miles in 60 degree water.   He arrived at the Harbor and noticed the waves were huge!  The water was freezing.  He finished the swim, but had to grab the boat a couple times, and at the end had moderate hypothermia and had drank alot of seawater.

The two pilot assistants reported back to the head pilot of what happened.  The pilot had heard of Frank's abilities through his old High School teammates Jon and Rick who had recently successfully swam the English Channel.  They both spoke highly of him and respected his speed when they swam together in High School.  Because of that recommendation and the fact that he actually did finish the training swim, (even though it was executed pathetically), they decided to allow him to continue to make the attempt two days later.

Once Frank heard they approved his attempt and he was scheduled to swim, he was surprised and horrified.  He knew he was totally unprepared to be successful.  At this point he called the whole thing off.  He resolved to go home, hire a personal trainer who had experience with marathon swimming, take his training seriously, and come back and make the attempt once he was satisfied that he had taken the proper steps to not just "make the attempt", but to be able to swim it confidently and powerfully.

There is no denying that Frank was foolish, but what was his most foolish decision?

Please answer the poll to the right at the bottom.

Reward for not being a chicken

I'm rewarding myself with a long workout this morning doing what I love!

1000 - 1000 free (every fifth lap kick on back)
1000 skips (swim, kick, IM, pull, swim)
1000 - 20 x 50's (5 fly, 5 back, 5 breast, 5 free) drill on 1:15
1500 - 10 x 150's (50 swim, kick, pull (no buoy, just paddles) on 3:00
2500 - 5 x 500's pull descend 1-5 on 7:30
800 - 4 x 200's :10 ri  odds IM, even free
200 EZ

8000 yards total

Felt like just getting out at the 7000 mark, but figured I'd just finish it up as planned.  Feels good to finish and not giving in to being lazy.  Especially going really strong on the IMs at the end.

Swimming with Butterflies

No I didn't do any fly stroke, I'm talking about butterflies in my gut because I'm nervous about something going on in my life outside the pool.  Anyhow so today's workout it was hard staying focused on my stroke or form.

1000 - 4x4x4
800 - 2 x (4 x 100's free descend 1-4 on 1:30)
2000 - 10 x 200's pull on 2:45
1000 - 5 x 200's kick with fins on 4:00
200 easy

5000 yards total