Friday, November 15, 2024

Back at it

 Took yesterday off as I wasn't quite back to full health.  But this morning felt fine.  Got to the pool and in the water by 7:30am and did the following:

Warmup:

  • 100 easy 
  • 200 IM 
Main set:
  • 300 kick with fins and snorkel
  • 400 - 2 x 200 IMs
  • 500 - 5 x 100's free fast @ 1:22 on 2:00
  • 600 - 8 x 75's Rolling IMs
  • 700 Snorkel Free
  • 800 - 2 x 400's pull - 1st one normal paddles, 2nd one finger paddles
  • 900 - 300 drill, 300 kick, 200 IM, 100 free easy
Cooldown: 100 
  • 2 x over unders
Total: 4,600 yards

Tonight Northridge has a swim meet at SDRC with Viewmont and Layton.  I'm excited.  Should be good.
Wednesday's practice covered quite a bit of stuff.  Here are the details of the itty bitty techniques we covered.   One of the main things was to discuss my philosophy.  The values I want to imprint on these swimmers:
  1. Dream - You need to have a dream in the first place if you want to accomplish something of value. This is about goal setting, or having a vision and writing it down. Followed by steps to how you intend to get there.  Which is where Hard work and Discipline come in.....
  2. Hard work - As Capt Webb put it, "Nothing great is easy".  It's true.  If you can do something easily, it is of less value than something that is hard. If you work really hard, then the difficult becomes less difficult.  Which the average person who didn't work hard, will find impossible.
  3. Discipline - If you are easily swayed by doing the right thing or are willing to sacrifice the future for the here and now, you likely are doing something out of lack of discipline.  When you make your mind up to do something, you need to follow through and not come up with excuses to do what needs to be done.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Second Shingles Shot Side Affects

 Yesterday afternoon I went in to get my second shingles vaccine in a two-series administration.  The shot


itself was painless, but later in the day, I started to feel a little soreness in the injection site.  Nothing major.  But this morning I felt some pretty serious body aches but went to the pool anyway.  Here's what I did:

Warmup: 500

  • 300 Easy
  • 200 Kick with fins
Main Set: 2100 yards 
  • 8 x 50's free fast on 1:00 desc 1-4 (:42, :37, :34, :33)
  • 6 x 100's Pull Build per 25 on 2:00 (Got 1:17 on all)
  • 4 x 200's IM on 5:00 
    • At this point, I was feeling especially lethargic and sore. 
  • 2 x 400's Kick 1st, Choice on 2nd.  
    • However, I only made it through 300 yards of the first of the two sets.  I realized that I was going downhill in a major way.  I plan to actually get in the water with the Northridge swim team this afternoon to go over some technique, so I will get a few more yards today.  
    • I also had a terrible night's sleep last night thanks to the dogs. I put them outside to pee at 1:30 a.m., but I couldn't get back to sleep until around 4 a.m. I really need to take a sleeping pill every single night. It's not worth the insomnia I experience without it.  
Total: 2,600 yards

Monday, November 11, 2024

Veteran's Day Swim

 Got to the pool a little bit early and did the following:

Warmup: 800

  • 400 IM

  • 400 Kick with fins

Main Set: 3,300 

  • 8 x 200's
    • 1-2 Pull
    • 3-4 IM
    • 5-6 Free fast (2:38, 2:41)
    • 7-8 Kick
  • 2 x (100 free, 50 Fly, 100 Free, 50 back, 100 Free, 50 Breast, 100 Free)
  • 600 Snorkel Free

Cooldown: 100

  • 50 Grandpa swimming
  • 50 Under/Over
    • Completely swim 25 yards underwater and then 25 free recovery
Total: 4,200 Yards

Friday, November 8, 2024

Everyday is a Friday

 This morning I was prepared to sleep in and skip today's workout to give my achy muscles a break, but Oliver's obnoxious alarm clock woke me up at 6:30 and I got up to get his deep sleep broken up and get him up.  At that point I wasn't sleepy anymore so I figured I might as well go swim.  Here's what I did:

Warmup:

  • 200 Easy

  • 300 - 4 x 75 IMs
  • 400 Kick with fins and snorkel
Main Set:
  • 8 x 100's - 1 - 4 IM, 5 - 8 Freestyle on 2:00
  • 4 x 200's First 2 Pull, third one kick, last one IM
  • 3 x 400's Snorkel Free
  • 4 x 50's sprint!  Goal was under :35, got :32 on all of them. on 2:00
Cooldown:
  • 100 easy
4000 total

Near the end of my main sets I heard a woman a couple lanes down yell to another swimmer on the other side of me, "Hey Jeff!  It's Friday!".  It made me think.  Now that I don't work at Salesforce and I can coach which I absolutely love, everyday feels like a Friday!  That thought put a smile on my face.  I feel very blessed, even though my financial income is practically non-existant at this point.  I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have decent savings to live off, and was in debt.  Feeling very grateful!

Last night was Northridge's first swim meet. I was very pleased with how it turned out.  Every swimmer gave it there all, and out of the 27 individual swims, 17 of them were new PRs.  Outstanding!  Proud of those kids!

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Achy muscles

 Swimming is so good for me. It seems all the various muscles in my upper back and last are a little sore. Took yesterday off since I stayed up so late watching the Presidential election results come in until 1:30am. Went to bed happy.

Ran out of time for cooldown


Here is what I swam today:

Warmup

  • 300 easy
  • 200 IM
  • 100 kick
Main set:
  • 6 x 50s freestyle drill on 1:00
  • 30 x 50s all on 1:00
            6 x one arm fly
            8 x back
            8 x breast
            8 x free pull fast! Get all under :34
  • 1500 snorkel free (22:33)
100 easy

4,000 yards total

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Happy Birthday swim for Isaac

 This morning when I showed up to swim, the little white board on the front desk showed the water temp at 77 degrees.  I said "Woah, it cool today.  Love it!".  They chuckled.  Probably most people dislike when the water temp is cooler than normal.  I really do love it.  

Proud to swim in the best pool in Davis county.... Layton Surf N Swim!

Today is my son Isaac's birthday.  He turns 21 today.  So I added a set that involved 21....  In fact this

Isaac when he got a bike for his birthday as a kid.

morning when I woke up, I noticed he had texted me about swimming with me in the morning.  That would be so awesome!  He needs to get a suit, but hopefully he starts swimming with me!

Here is the workout:

Warmump: 400

  • 400 IM Easy
Main Set: 
  • 21 x 100's
    • 4 IMs
    • 4 kick with fins and snorkel
    • 4 backstroke
    • 4 Pull on 1:30 (got under 1:20 on these)
    • 4 breast
    • 1 one arm fly
  • 1650 snorkel free - loved this!
Cooldown:
  • 400 IM easy
  • 50 easy
4,600 yards total

Then treaded with the 10 pound brick for 45 second.  Man that was hard!  I was considering another set, but just preparing for it, started cramping. 

Monday, November 4, 2024

Early Start

 Got up earlier than normal thanks to the dogs.  It was a very cold ride on my scooter to the pool.  Below freezing.  Good thing I bundle up well. During the end of today's workout, I went above and beyond the prescribed amounts because I was feeling so in the zone with the snorkel swimming.  Here's what I actually did:


Warmup: 500

  • 300 easy
  • 200 kick
Main: 3,700
  • 10 x 100's pull free strong (1:20 and under on everything), on 1:45
  • 400 kick 
  • 2 x (200 free, 100 IM, 50 back, 100 breast)
  • 1400 snorkel free (prescribed 1200)
4,200 yards total

Went home and created a Northridge swim team calendar to keep all the meets in a calendar format that is sharable.  Good day today.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Late Start


 Last night was Halloween night so I got to bed a little later than I'd like.  Had a hard time waking up.  But I eventually got my big butt out of bed.  I then had to go digging around to find my winter motorcycle gear.  It's below 40 degrees in the morning and I needed all my winter gear this morning, so I finally got it all together, and then noticed Oliver got up early and went to a friends house using my truck which has my swim bag in it.

So I went to get the swim bag from the truck which fortunately wasn't far, and made it to the pool at 8:15am.  Here's the workout:

Warmup:

  • 300 easy
Main Set:
  • 1000 Snorkel Free
  • 400 kick with fins
  • 4 x 300's pull - first 2 large paddles, second 2 smaller paddles on 5:30
  • 10 x 100's - odd IM, even Free FAST!  Get under 1:20 on all.  Got 1:12 on the last one. 
Cooldown:
  • 100 recovery backstroke
4000 yards total

The last 100 on that kicked my butt.  Worked hard, and felt great!  Got out at 9:55am.  Only 5 more minutes and I would have been kicked out.  Perfect timing. 

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Halloween Swim

 Today I swam:

Warmup

  • 200 easy 

Main:

  • 4x50s free on 1:00
  • 3x100s IM on 2:15
  • 4 x 200s pull on 3:30
  • 2x300s kick with fins 
  • 400 snorkel free
  • 2x300s pull
  • 2x200s build on 3:30 
  • 2x200s IM and free with costume
  • 100 easy
Total: 4000 yards

Here is a little video of my shark costume swim: 


Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Increasing to 4K

 Today I planned out a slightly longer workout (10% increase):

Warmup:

  • 400 Easy
  • 400 Kick with fins
Main Set:
  • 2 x (
    • 400 IM, 
    • 100 Easy,
    • 300 -  4 x 75s Rolling IM, 
    • 100 Easy,
    • 200 Free Pull,
    • 100 Easy
    • 100 Breast/kick
    • 100 Easy)
Cooldown:
  • 400 Pull with Snorkel
4,000 yards total

Kinda felt Meh today. My shoulders felt pretty stiff.  Gonna take tomorrow off.  Got up early.  It felt good to complete 4000 yards before I even got into the pool on normal days. Was in by 6:40 and got out a little after 8am.

Monday, October 28, 2024

Being the bird of the water

 Today's workout: 

Warmup: 700

  • 300 Easy
  • 400 IM
Main Set: 2600
  • 500 Snorkel freestyle
  • 3 x 200's Free descending (3:20, 3:00, 2:46)
  • 2 x (200IM, 100 Kick, 50 fast)
  • 8 x 100's Desc 1-4 on (1:32, 1:28, 1:23, 1:17) on 1:40
Cooldown: 300
  • 300 Snorkel freestyle easy
Total: 3,600 yards

Tread :30 with brick completely above water.  Goal was to do this 4 times, but only 10 seconds into the second set, my legs started cramping.  Need to do this more often, or do it near the start of the workout.  

  • Today's Monday Motivation is the idea that we as swimmers, are the birds of the water for aquatic life.  They are looking up at their sky, and may be lucky to one day find someone up there at the surface swimming, looking down at them.  We live above the water in a realm that they can't survive in.  When we swim, we are passing through a barrier into their world.  We are the birds to them, which they may be in awe of. Be an awe-deserving bird.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Dude, don't be ashamed!

Marshy woke me up with his dog whine to go out at 6:20, so I got out of bed at 6:30 and got to the pool a


little early.

Warmup: 400 

  • 300 easy
  • 100 kick no board with fins
Main: 2800
  • 3 sets of rolling 75's IM (fly/bk/br, bk/br/fr, br/fr/fl, fr/fl bk) on 1:30
  • 1000 Free with snorkel (loved this)
  • 3 x 200's pull on 3:00 (Got all on 2:40)
  • 6 x 50's free - odd sprint! (:33, :33, :32) even active recover breast stroke
Cooldown: 400
  • 200 IM easy
  • 200 free easy
3,600 yards total

Last night I had a dream that I was asked to share a brief discussion on my religious beliefs at a MASSIVE event that Salesforce puts on called "Dreamforce".  I don't know why I was asked to do this, but I felt like it was a giant set up.  This would not be a topic at Dreamforce, but I definitely didn't feel saying "No" was an option.  Despite Salesforce having an equality group "Faithforce", I still felt like the company in general when I was working there was filled with a bunch of left-wing nutballs. And along with that a certain level of worldliness and cynicism. 

I could bear my testimony.  It's not like it was going to be a two-way conversation where there would be any kind of disputation going on.  Anyway, I was super nervous about the whole thing with the expected audience.  I woke up before I was able to deliver the address.  But was disappointed in my initial reaction. I should have been stoked to have been given that opportunity.   At some point in time every single person will know Jesus and the reality of his deity, mercy, and love.  Why was I scared to share that belief on such a huge scale?

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Coaches Coin Concept

 One wonderful thing about swimming that I definitely don't experience while playing pickleball is that swimming allows me to meditate and think while I'm doing it.  When I'm playing pickleball, my mind can't wander and think calmly and conceptualize stuff.  You're completely focused on every aspect of the game.  Swimming laps is different.  I can think and meditate, and I absolutely LOVE that!

Today I was thinking it would be really nice to give all my swimmers at the end of the season a "Coaches Coin".  I've designed it and sent on the idea to OakCoins in Kaysville which will give me a proof and a quote.  I'm pretty excited about it. 

Here's today's workout:

Warmup: 700

  • 300 easy
  • 8 x 50's IM Stroke, Free
Main set: 2600
  • 2 x 5 x 200's
    • 1st Kick with fins/snorkel
    • 2nd IM
    • 3rd Freestyle
    • 4th IM
    • 5th Pull
  • 600 Snorkel freestyle - It's these long sets where my mind really is able to go.  I miss doing long sets like this! I need to do more of these.
Cooldown: 300

Total 3,600 Yards

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

100 free sprint test today

 This morning I did the following.  A bunch of 400s:

  • 400 Easy
  • 400 Kick with fins/snorkel
  • 400 IM
  • 4 x 4 x 100's 
    • 1st set of 4 free strong (1:28-1:29) on 2:00
    • 2nd set IM on 2:15
    • 3rd Free - kick with fins/board - no snorkel
    • 4th  set 1st/3rd one sprint (1:10, 1:09), 2nd/4th free fingertip drag drill
      • Very please with the 1:09 especially with the in water start, and I'm wearing a drag suit. 
  • 400 free pull snorkel no fins (Freestyler paddles)
  • 400 cooldown
3600 yards total

I acknowledge today that my body fat percentage must be prettay dang high.  I can float without even moving.  It's not like I'm in the GSL.  I feel good, but my fat amount should allow me to do some decent cold water exposure stuff this winter.  Gonna go fill up the ice pool in the back.....

Monday, October 21, 2024

Early Morning Swim

 This morning I took Cathi to the airport to catch an early flight to Houston to see Charlie. I dropped her off at 4:45am, so I drove straight to the pool afterward.

Warmup: 600

  • 300 Easy
  • 300 Kick with fins/snorkel
Main: 2400
  • 2 x 5 x 50's finger drill free (start with 4 fingers, then 3, then 2, then 1, then fist swim) Slow but sure makes you glad you have fingers.  Amazing how much propulsion you get just having fingers.
  • 2 x (200 IM, 50 kick, 200 Pull)
  • 10 x 100's free on 2:00 Build
Cooldown: 300

Total: 3300

When I got out it was 6:45.  Most days that's when my alarm goes off and here I am getting out of the pool at that time.  Awesome!



Saturday, October 19, 2024

Saturday 2 mile swim


 Here's the workout I did this morning:

Warmup: 900

  • 3x300's - 1st Free, 2nd IM, 3rd Kick with snorkel
Main: 2600

  • 4 sets of (300 pull, 200 IM, 100 free, 50 kick)
Drill:
  • 4 sets of treading with 10 pound brick for :30 seconds.  
    • I had originally prescribed a minute, but scratched it out as I realized how tough this really is.  
Cooldown: 100 free easy

3,600 yards total


Feeling really good.  I was able to hold under 4 minutes on the 300 pulls (under 1:20 pace).  Granted this is a pull set, but still for me at this early stage of coming back, felt pretty good about that pace.  Eventually, I'll get pull sets under 1:15, but I'll take it. 



Friday, October 18, 2024

Dude, I'm feeling firm

 I noticed that my chest and biceps (and probably my butt) are feeling more firm than they used to.  I've


been going for nearly three full weeks and I'm feeling GREAT!  I'm on a hole on my belt that I haven't been to in a while.  I've got a long way to go, but I'm heading in the right direction. 

Today's workout:

Warmup: 350

  • 250 Free
  • 100 kick with fins
Main: 1,750
  • 10 x (100 free on 1:45, 50 back/breast on 1:15, 25 kick)
Drill: 900
  • 6 x 150's pull with snorkel - focus on 1st quadrant being nice and controlled, streamlined with a glide.  Descending on these.  Do these on 2:30 intervals.
Cooldown: 300
  • 200 IM Easy
  • 100 IM Easy

One of my HS swimmers was swimming in the next lane over and I could see she was working on her flip turns. At the end of the workout, I gave a few tips that should help her. It's great to see a swimmer come in on a fall break to work on swimming.  When a swimmer comes in when they don't really have to, it makes me think they like it.  You could be sleeping in on a day off.

3,300 yards total

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Sprint work

 Got in the pool by 8 am and did the following:

Warmup:

  • 400 Easy
  • 200 kick with fins
Main:
  • Snorkel kicking with fins: 4 x 150's alternating dolphin, flutter, swim by 50
  • 4 x 100's - first 2 flutter with arms at side, second 2 flutter on back arms at side
Sprints:
  • 10 x 25's free on 1:00, try to hold :16 or better (Success)
  • 8 x 25's back on 1:00, try to hold :21 or better (Success)
  • 6 x 25's breast on 1:00, try to hold :21 or better (Success)
  • 4 x 25's fly (not one arm, the real thing) on 1:30, try to hold :16 or better (Success)
I was actually really surprised I was able to hold those 16 second 25's on the fly.  It didn't feel very clean, but the clock doesn't lie.  Excited to think of the possibility of what I could get once I get stronger.

Distance:
  • 800 pull with buoy straight
Cooldown: 200 IM easy

3,300 yards total

I'm feeling a little pain in my left shoulder, so I really need to monitor that and don't overdo it. I think I'll stick to 3000 or so and not feel inclined to increase. I need to be mindful not to put a lot of torque on the shoulders. I'm not a young buck anymore, and another torn rotator cuff is definitely not worth it.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Every Breath Feels Good

 Today during the sets of using a snorkel, I REALLY enjoyed those sets.  It's as if every time I breathe while swimming with face looking down in the water instead of breathing off to the side, it's as if each breath has a little more sweetness to it.  It actually felt really good to breath.  I think with my lungs being able to breath at will while swimming instead of having to time my inhale/exhale in rhythm with my stroke made the act of breathing feel wonderful.  



Here's the workout:

Warmup:

  • 300 free easy
  • 2 x 100's kick with fins
  • 2 x 150's free with snorkel
Main:
  • 4 x 100's IM
  • 4 x 150's Snorkel freestyle
  • 4 x 50's kick 
  • 4 x 200's Pull Build ( was able to get these around 2:50 which isn't great, but given the first two I'm intentionally holding back just a bit, and then building to strong on the 3rd and 90% effort or so on the last 50)
Drill:
  • 6 x 25's free - first 2 only get 4 breaths, second 2 get 3 breaths, last couple of 25's get 2 breaths
    • That was not that difficult actually. Didn't really have to hold my breath very much.
350 cooldown

3,300 yards total


Monday, October 14, 2024

Supplemented my Swim Gear

 I recently acquired new swim gear:  

  • Speedo Pull Buoy
  • Speedo Snorkel
  • Speedo Training fins
I decided to put them to good use this morning.  Here is the workout:


300 Warmup
4 x 100's Kick with fins
500 Free w/snorkle
600 - 3 x 200's pull on 3:15
500 - 2 x 100 IM, 100 free, 2 x 100 IM
400 - 100 free, 100 kick, 100 breast, 100 back
300 cooldown

3000 yards total

Yesterday I felt some strange sensations in my shoulder which made me wonder if I'm aggravating my left rotator cuff.  Gotta be mindful of that.  But today's swim felt fine.  Got used to the snorkle, and really like it now. 

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Saturday Morning Swim

 Last night I slept out on the trampoline with Cathi (and the dogs).  That was a lot of fun.  Comfortable temperature, and no mosquitos.  Set an alarm for 6 am and got to the pool right as they opened the door (7am on Saturdays).  Got in the following workout:


300 easy

800 - 4 x 200's Build on 4:00

600 - 6 x 100's odd back, even free

200 - 4 x 50's kick breast

900 - 12 x 75's fly/back/br, back/br/free, br/free/fly, free/fl/back

200 easy

3,000 yards total



Felt good.  After the swim, Cathi and I headed down to SLC for Annie May's funeral (Shirley's mom).  

Friday, October 11, 2024

8th swim since restarting

 Today I brought my new 10 pound brick to the pool to do a little video of my freestyle to see what I'm doing:  Here it is


300 Easy Warmup

1000 - 5 x 200's pull on 3:30

400 - 4 x 100's Odd Back, Even Free on 2:00

900 - 12 x 75 Rolling IM's:  25 fly/back/breast, 25 back/breast/free, 25 breast/free/fly, 25 free/fly/back

200 easy

2,800 yards total

Followed by 45 seconds of treading with a brick above water with two hands.  Going for 1 minute, but started cramping in my hamstrings.  Need to keep practicing this!

Felt strong during this workout.  It was a good one.


Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Descending work

 600 warmup - 400 IM, 200 kick with board

1000 - 2 sets of 5 x 100's pull descend 1-5 on 2:00 (1:32, 1:30, 1:28, 1:20, 1:18)

500 - 2 sets of 5 x 50's free (no paddles) descend 1-5 on 1:30 (44. 40. 38, 36, 35)

300 - 2 sets of 6 x 25's free descend 1-6 on :45 (:20 - :15)

400 - 2 x 200's easy cooldown

2,800 yards total

Feeling stronger and faster compared to last Monday, that's good.  I'm enjoying it and my arm is thanking me.  I've been nursing a very sore right arm with some serious Tennis Elbow. 

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

3s

 Today was a play on the number 3:

300 Choice

300 - 6 x 50's kick

3 sets of : 300 free, 200 IM, 100 Back or Free, 50 kick or breast

300 Cooldown

2,850 yards total








Monday, October 7, 2024

First official day of Northridge practice

 This morning I lifted BEFORE swimming. I followed the workout given to me from an app.  A bit of chest workout.  Here's my swim workout:


400 Choice

 2 x thru each stroke:

    100 Stroke, 50 kick, 50 free


400 - 4 x 100's pull desc 1-4 (1:32, 1:28, 1:25, 1:18)

200 - 4 x 50's sprint (38, 38, 39, 38)

200 Easy

2,800 yards total


Here is the Monday Motivation I'm putting out for the Northridge swimmers today.




Saturday, October 5, 2024

Another Conference talk involving a Seventy who nearly drowned as a kid

 This morning I got up at 7 and went to Layton SnS for the following workout:

250 Choice Warmup

4 sets of: 

    200 pull, 2 x 100's free on 2:00, 2 x 50's kick (no board)

On each of the 200's go faster.  First 2 x 100's I landed on around 1:40, and the last 2 ended up landing on 2:24 which was pretty dang good given how slow I am.  Felt good about that.

At this time I saw Joe Linford get in and we shared a lane for the last bit was the drill/cooldown:

10 x 25's sculling with pull buoy.  Use just hands, no cheating with forearms.

250 choice cooldown

Total: 2,750

Went home and listened to the General Conference and as soon as I heard one of the Seventies from Chile, Elder Villar explain how he as a child followed his older brothers into the surf at the beach.  I knew where he was going with this story right away.  Another near-drowning story.  Sure enough, as expected he explained that he was overcome by the power of the water and was saved by his older brother just in the nick of time when he thought he was done for.  It amazes me how common this is in talks at Conference.  Reminds me that water safety and drownproofing are so important unless you want to tie it into a spiritual lesson and share it with people at Conference.  Talk Summary


Thursday, October 3, 2024

IM day - 2500

 300 warmup 

1000 - 400 IM, 300 IM, 200 IM, 100IM rest 1:00 between each

Repeat 1000 set above, but kick on last 100 IM portion

200 free cooldown


2,500 yards


After this I immediately left for a meeting at DSD Kendall building where the new 50 M pool design was being discussed.  That should be pretty awesome if it gets approved by the board.  There are a lot of details to get through, but it was refreshing to hear that the priority is that this is a top-notch competition pool, and the attributes of the facility are to draw competitive swimming from all over and have this be the go-to for championship swimming.  

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Embarrasing

 Today's workout was slightly longer than yesterday's and tougher.  It was quite clear today how slow I really am.  I was averaging 50 free in about :40 or more.  Terrible!  Embarrassingly slow.


400 warmup

3 x 50's backstroke

4 x 75's breast/free/breast

5 x 100's free descending (1:40, 1:30, 1:28, 1:25, 1:23)

6 x 150's pull freestyle paddles

400 IM easy + 100 IM easy


2,750 yards total

My upper back is also feeling it.  Today's workout was tough for me mentally.

Monday, September 30, 2024

First day back to the pool - Layton Surf N' Swim

 Today the bubble was finally reinstalled and I was in the water doing my first pool workout since January 1st, 2020 at SDRC with Sam!

It's been open water, or endless pool swimming for me since that time.  Woah!  Last week I got an annual pass to Layton and had to wait till today since they were putting the bubble up.  Here's the workout I created before going in:


200 free warmup

1000 - 4 x 25's on side on 1:00, 4 x 50's backstroke on 1:15, 4 x 75's free/breast/free on 1:30, 4 x 100's build on 2:00

Repeat last 1000 set but in reverse.

400 Cooldown

2,600 yards total

https://youtube.com/shorts/KcD0TSLYFrM?si=Z6JT8OKaUPzc78g3

Felt great.  Shoulders are gonna feel it for sure.  But I didn't push it and my heart rate never got super high. Just something to get back into it without feeling overwhelmed or too hard to come back and swim again tomorrow!  

I love that I'm no longer working for Salesforce!!!  I was so unhappy there for over a year. And now I can actually get a good nights sleep, get up and mozy on over to the pool and be in the water at around 7:30am and not have to fight for a lane.  The water temp was at 81 degrees which isn't terrible.  I wanted to swim at pineview many times the past few weeks, but Pineview has had a bad case of E Coli and toxic algae so I haven't swam since the last time I went there.  

I got a job as the Northridge High School Swim Coach, and tryouts are today.  That should be interesting to get back into coaching too.  I'm really excited.  I also got hired as an assistant to CCAT team.  I go in after this afternoon's tryouts to get setup. 

What a good day!




Friday, August 9, 2024

First open water swim in a couple years

So I have been playing lots of pickleball the past few years. I sold my pool a few months ago. I applied to be a high school swim coach and thought I should get in swimming shape myself. 



 I rode my motorcycle there and had my orange tow float, but didn’t have a drink and about 20 minutes into the swim got really thirsty. With this being my first swim I figured if I just swam a mile that would be a good first start. Ended up with 1.25 miles in 50 minutes.

I took 4 short breaststroke “breaks” of around 30!seconds and then resumed front crawl stroke. 

I bilateral breathed which felt natural. The water was 79 degrees according to my watch thermometer.

I’m gonna be a little sore so I’ll try another swim after I get back from visiting Austin in Houston next week. So next swim will be in a couple weeks.