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

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.

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

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 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).  

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.

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. 

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

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.

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