Deny yourself of unnecessary dependencies

I have a few dependencies when I swim, some more important than others:

• Swimsuit - that's an obvious one.  I don't want to get arrested for ludeness.
• Goggles - It sure is nice to see where you're going
• Eagplugs - thanks to a nasty ear infection a few years ago I don't risk the long term exposure of my inner ear to water that can have bacteria.  Not worth the risk.

When I swim in the pool yes I like to mix things up with some paddles, buoys, kickboard and fins, but when I swim open water, I don't use any of that pool training equipment.  I do use a safety device for visibility which I tow behind me, and for floatation should an extreme emergency happen which requires me to need it.  I use my Swimmer Buddy Board in open water for towing along feeds which I can grab anytime during long swims.  There are some other nifty gadgets I throw in a waterproof container: handheld GPS, camera, cell phone.  

I'm so glad Diana didn't swim (according
to her pics swimming  from
Cuba to Florida, she didn't) with
an MP3 during her Cuba to Florida swim.
My friends would have had one more
thing to freak over.

One electronic gadget that I highly discourage is waterproof MP3s.  I ride my bike with an MP3 and love it.  But I'm not training for Tour de France and bike just for fitness and for transportation.  If you're actually training to swim a marathon distance or perhaps even a channel crossing, be warned:  MP3 players while swimming are banned.  So training with something that is banned regardless of how bored you are will create a dependency that, trust me, you don't want to start.  If you're disciplined mentally during a workout to stay motivated without an external source of entertainment, you'll be disciplined mentally during the long event in which you will need to stay focused.  

As for today, I got up at 0445 and got to the pool and Andy wasn't there.  I guess he doesn't come in on Friday's anymore.  So I took a few minutes and compiled this workout on the board:

500 free

200 kick

400 - 200 free, 200 IM

4 x (500 pull, 400 free, 4 x 75's free/stroke/free by 25, 200 IM, 100 sprint (1:10, 1:05, 1:06, 1:07))

400 Kick with fins

400 - 8 x 50's hold :36 on :50

100 warmdown

8,000 yards total in 2:10