Failed attempt at 100x100s

 I put together this workout:

But only got to 5000 before having right shoulder issues. So I did 300 more to get 5300 total (3 miles)

Disappointing and concerning that my distance days may be over.

Back to the Grind

 I've been a real slacker.  Last week I gave up my Friday swim because of Summer Sampson's wedding.  Saturday I slept in (no excuse).  So this morning I absolutely couldn't talk myself out of it.  Especially given that at 10am was the joint HS swim practice and immediately following at 11am was the Surfers practice which I signed up for.  So it makes sense to get in my swim right before the 10am kick off. Here's what I did:

Warmup: 

• 300 Easy
• 400 kick

 Main:

• 12 x 100's 
• 1st Free
• 2nd IM
• 3rd Back
• 4th Breast
• 3 x 200's descending 1-3
• 1000 Snorkel Free
• 5 x 100's free pull on 1:30

200 easy cooldown

4,200 yards total

Coaching was fun today.  Had to push the intermediate group since I had three very full lanes (total of about 20 kids).  And then for surfers only had 4 beginner swimmers which was fun.  Worked on Freestyle breathing, kicking, and backstroke.  Fun stuff. 

Christmas Eve Swim

 This morning I was in the pool at 7:30ish and swam:

Warmup:

• 200 Easy
• 400 Kick with Fins
• 400 IM

Main Set:

• 4 x 100's build on 1:45
• 800 Snorkel
• 800 - 4 x 200's descending 1-4 pulling
• 4 x 100's fast on 2:00
• 8 x 50's IM order on 1:15
• 400 Pull

200 Easy Cooldown:

4,400 yards total

The Loss of a Pool Buoy

 This morning I slept downstairs on the couch with the ailing dogs with all the turkey bones and skin they ate yesterday.  Poor Marshy was whining to get let out and after a few times of that, I just slept on the couch to ease the burden of it.  Because of that I missed my 6 am alarm, but instead got up at 7:30 am and was in the pool at 8am.

Warmup:

• 200 Easy

Main Set:

• 16 x 100's - 4 sets of:
• IM
• Backstroke
• Freestyle
• Kick with finsbu
• 4 x 400's
• 1st - Pull with pads, Buoy and snorkel
• 2nd - Pull with paddles and snorkel
• 3rd and 4th - just snorkel

200 Cooldown

Total: 3,600 yards

After the first set of pulling, I threw my buoy up on the deck.  When I got out, it was nowhere to be found.  Someone had to have picked it up mistaking it as their own.  Can't recall if I put "Gords" on it or not, but it's long gone.  It was quite busy today.  Ended up circle swimming about half the time.

Right shoulder giving me grief

 This morning I was in the water at about 8:15 and did the following:

Warmup:

• 400 Easy
• 400 IM

Main Set:

• 8 x 75's Rolling IM
• 6 x 100's Pull Descending 1-3 on 1:45
• 800 Snorkely Free
• 2 x (200 IM, 200 Kick with fins)
• 6 x 50's fast Build on 1:00

Cooldown:

• 100 Easy, 25 Underwater, 50 free easy, 25 Underwater, 50 free easy, 50 Grandpa swimming 

4,200 yards total

My right shoulder was giving me grief near the end of the workout. Make me worried that I might more chronic pain with the rotator cuff.  Glad I'm not gunning for a big swim.  Might have to cut my yards down a bit to like 3,600 on a typical day.  We'll see. Need to keep an eye on that.  I don't want to have to go in for another round of surgery unless I absolutely have to. 

Got up early for a long workout, but ended up being a normal distance

 Got up at 5:30 and was in the pool at 6:15 to do the following:

Warmup:

• 100 Easy
• 200 IM
• 300 Build
• 400 kick with fins

Main:

• 500 Snorkel free 
• 600 - 3 x 200's desc (3:15, 300, 2:45) on 4:00
• 700 2 x (100 easy, 250 strong)
• 800 - 8 x 100's pull large pads on 1:30 (1:12)
• 700 2 x (100 easy, 250 strong)

I prescribed to go all the way back down to 1 which would have given me over 6K, but at that point was at 4.3K so I called it. I was pretty tired at that point and didn't want to push it cause I would like to swim tomorrow.  

4,300 yards total

This evening is the last swim meet for HS before the Christmas Break.  I issued a challenge to the new 500 swimmers tomorrow.  If they do all 19 flip turns they can win $10, if they do not breathe on the breakout for all 20 lengths they get double that.  It's a fun little challenge that if they can do it, definitely deserve.  

My Wife, the Martian astronaut swimmer

This morning I woke up just having a very interesting dream.  I dreamt that Elon Musk chose my wife to be one of the first members of the crew to first visit Mars.  Well I dreamt she arrived there with the crew, and they discovered a pool of water (which was red water like the north side of the Great Salt Lake).  

She got in the water and was swimming breaststroke with her space suit on.  She was the first person to ever swim on Mars!  I was as jealous as ever hearing this news.  What a find! Wow, my wife not only discovered water on the surface of Mars, but also had the guts (or foolhardy) to get in and swim in it without understanding if there was a Martian monster under that water.  

Here is an AI-generated image of what I saw from her perspective (within my dream).

Got up a little later than I wanted and had to cut my swim short as a result.

Warmup:

• 300 easy
• 400 kick with fins/snorkel
• 400 IM

Main Set:

• 1000 Pull with snorkel
• 100 strong
• 8 x 100's alternating kick/freestyle
• 8 x 25's backstroke focus on far underwater on my back and seeing if I can get at least half way before surfacing. 

3,200 yards total

Descending 100s

 Today I did the main set of yesterday's workout I gave my HS kids:

Warmup:

• 400 Easy
• 400 Kick with fins

Main Set:

• 12 x 100's desc 1-3
• 1st under 1:30 on 2:00
• 2nd under 1:25 on 2:00
• 3rd under 1:20 (1:12) on 3:00
• Repeat 4 times
• This had me totally maxed out.  I was breathing hard for a good 45 seconds before I could get back to somewhat normal.  Good thing that last set calls for an extra minute.  Was pushing it just to get 1:12s on those sprint 100s
• 4 x 200's
• Odd IM
• Even finger paddle freestyle
• 1200 Snorkel Freestyle

200 Cooldown

4,200 yards total

Inspired by my HS kids

 Today's workout and a lot of it was spent thinking about the various HS kids and their inspirational work ethic and drive.  Found myself trying to work on various things as a result.

Warmup:

• 300 Easy
• 200 IM
• 400 kick with fins/snorkel

Main: 

• 2 x 5 x 50's freestyle fast on :50
• Work on reaching and maximizing each stroke while keeping a fast pace.
• 6 x 100's odd - IM, even - non free stroke on 2:15
• 4 x 200's pull on 3:15 
• work on strong 1st quadrant swimming and keeping stroke count to 7 cycles per 25
• 400 kick with fins
• 800 snorkel free
• Thinking about awards banquet and what/whom should get recognition for what....

200 Easy cooldown

4,200 yards

Yesterday's meet went well.
Here are some details with video

Coach's Coin

 So apparently Clearfield closed their comp pool for a month, cause this morning there was a larger group of swimmers.  There was a group of 4 youth that were all in one lane being coached by their Dad.  Here is what I did this morning:

Warmup:

• 300 Easy
• 2 x 200's IM
• 6 x 50's free on :50

Main:

• 1500 Pull
• 100 easy
• 1500 snorkel free

100 cooldown

4,200 yards total

My Coach's Coins came into today.  They turned out pretty good.  Here is what I am prepared to share with the Seniors tomorrow during a private coaching chat with them before the swim meet:

35 years ago, I was at the same stage in life as you are today. I had a coach who motivated and inspired me to dream big. At that time, many seeds were planted in my mind about what I wanted to do with my future.

Over 20 years later, one of those seeds flourished. I trained hard and maintained a high level of discipline to achieve my goal. An inspirational man once said, “Nothing great is easy.” Today, I want you to plant seeds in your minds about where you want to go with your lives. I am giving each of you a token to remind you that you can achieve anything you set your mind to if you embrace three things: dream big, work hard, and stay disciplined.

Plant this coin in a deep coat pocket where it won’t fall out. When you find yourself in a dark place, needing encouragement, or searching for warmth in life’s cold moments, reach into that pocket. Feel this coach’s coin, and let it spark hope and determination within you—a spark you can nurture into warmth and motivation.

Later in life, when you have the chance to share your talents and skills with the next generation, seize that opportunity. Help them fulfill their own dreams so the cycle of greatness can continue.

The Fumes Are Killing Me

 Today I got to the pool late cause I had to drive Cathi to the Jr High. Yesterday I put a "Choose your own adventure type of workout where the swimmers got to choose whether they were in a speed lane, or an endurance lane.  Link to the workout.  Today's workout was patterned after the sprint option from that workout:

Warmup:

• 3 x 50's kick on back
• 3 x 50's kick on side focus on streamline on both

Main:

• 5 x 100's free on 2:00 (get under 1:30 on all of them)
• 5 x 100's Back on 2:30 (get under 1:50 on all of them)
• 5 x 100's Breast on 2:30 (get under 1:50 on all of them)
• 10 x 50's free fast on 1:00 (get under :38 on all of them)
• 10 x 25's bilateral breathing fast on :30 (get under :17 on all of them)
• 10 x 25's sprint with minimal breathing on :45
• 1000 snorkel free pull

400 IM cooldown

4,200 yards total

Halfway into the workout I smelled like a glue smell and remembered that yesterday they were repainting the "No Running" signs on the cement deck with red spray paint.  The fumes were pretty bad on the east side of the pool.  Reminded me of this scene in one of my favorite movies.  On A Clear Day

No breathing off walls

 Another day of thinking more intently on taking no breaths off the wall.  

Warmup:

• 3 x 100's easy

Main:

• 4 x (200 free strong, 150 IM (50's of stroke, no free), 150 kick with fins/snorkel
• 500 pull focus on no breaths off wall.  Got mentally lazy and forgot on one turn. But got it in 7:19

Cooldown:

• 400 IM

Total: 4,200 yards

I'd rather see a sermon, than hear one any day

 There was a poem that as a student of Coaches Corner Pickleball school I had to memorize.  Here is a little video I put together to help with the strategy to memorize it.  That poem is all about not being the kind of coach who doesn't practice what he preaches.  I mean it's like a spiritual leader who commits serious transgression while preaching to people about the damnation of it.

\

Yesterday I really expressed how strongly I feel about breathing right off the wall after doing a flip-turn, or right off the blocks and into the finish.  With all that in mind, I made sure that I followed that same charge for every single turn in today's workout.  My mind was soft on one turn and I had one goof up.  Which out of over a hundred flip turns, is a 99%.  Need to do better and get 100%  But here is today's workout:

Warmup:

• 300 easy
• 300 kick
• 300 IM
• 100 Build

Main Set:

• 10 x 50's free fast on 1:00 (Under :38)
• 12 x 100's free all on 2:00
• 1-4 descending (1:30 -> 1:23)
• 5-8 Pull w/large paddles (1:20 -> 1:14) 
• 9-12 IM on 2:00
• 1000 Snorkel Freestyle

Cooldown:

• 100 Trudgen
• 100 Back
• 100 Breast
• 100 one arm fly
• 100 Free

Total: 4,200 yards

Isaac stood me up

 This morning I was supposed to swim with Isaac for the first time, but he stood me up.  Here is the workout I did starting at 7:30

Warmup:

• 400 IM
• 400 kick with fins and snorkel

Main:

• 10 x 200's
• 1-3 free on 4:00
• 4-6 Pull free on 3:30
• 7-10 - stroke IM order with fins (fly kick on breast)
• 1000 snorkel free

Cooldown

• 400 IM

4,200 yards total

Endless Pool Swim (Kind of)

 Today and yesterday I swam with the resistance band in the Princess Discovery boat pool early (7am) before all the kids got there.  Felt good, and it was fun.  Swam 1 hour straight which I estimate is about 4000 yards both days. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gordon Gridley (@gordsswimlog)

Happy Thanksgiving swim

 This morning I got in the pool at Deck 16 Midship of the discovery Princess. I brought my rubber tubing band setup which I use for games with the swim team for doing a tug of war in the water but strapped one end to the metal grate at the end of the pool. Swam straight for 50 minutes and then a kid got in and I felt obligated to disconnect but then swam a few laps and then the kid got out. I resumed to another 4 minutes with the tubing and then another kid got in. 

So I called it quits at 59:30. Felt awesome. Got in over 21 miles according to the GPS. :) But hard to say since it was a resistance band swim. 

 

Mexican beach mafia

 So Austin and I wanted to swim out to a small island off the beach of La Isla de la Casa Cardon to Isla Cardones. About a one mile round trip. But after swimming only a couple hundred yards we were stopped by a banana boat driver who wasn’t even wearing a PFD that said we weren’t allowed. Pissed me off. I was wearing an orange cap and had a safe swim device with me. But no. Butthole. 

Apparently Mexico is not a free country. So we turned back. Only got in 300 yards. Sucked cause I was really looking forward to it.

Thinking about next week

 Next week (the week of Thanksgiving), I will be on a cruise so my swimming will suffer a bit.  There are pools on the ship, but nothing big enough for doing laps.  So I got some long rubber tubing, and a couple of clip belts, and plan to take that on the ship for some swimming with resistance instead of doing laps.  I actually got this for a game for today's workout with the high school kids, but since I've got it, I might as well take it on the ship and use it myself and see if it's really worth doing.

Here's today's workout:

Warmup:

• 300 Easy
• 400 kick with fins & snorkel

Main Set:

• 1200 Snorkel free pull with finger paddles
• 400 kick with fins
• 4 x 200's pull
• 5 x (100 free fast, 2 x 50's fast)
• 100 easy

Total: 4,200 yards

Pre Meet workout

 Not my meet, but my High School kids.  This afternoon we host our first home swim meet.  My first swim meet organizing it since Masters at South Davis.   I got some major help from Jason Udy and Kyle Kofoed on the computers.  Paul Welch arranged all the officials.  I just had to get the timer volunteers which we were able to get from some of the Layton Surf N Swim kids.  That was awesome.  

Here's the workout that Cathi actually put together for me:

Warmup: 

• 500 Free easy

Main:

• 10 x 100's IM on 2:30
• 5 x 200's pull with large paddles on 3:00
• 400 kick with fins
• 800 Snorkel

Total: 3,700 yards total

The meet went well.  Here are the details of how it went for the kids.

Even Number Building

• 200 Easy
• 400 Kick with fins
• 600 - 12 x 50's free fast
• 1-4 under :38
• 5-8 under :37 (with fins)
• 9-12 under :36 (with hand paddles)
• 800 - 4 x 200's
• odd IM
• even free
• 1000 Snorkel Free
• 1200 
• 5 x 100's pull free on 1:30 (land 1:18)
• 4 x 100's IM on 2:00
• 300 kick easy

4,200 yards total

I had to take Cathi to Syracuse Jr High to sub and I rushed to the pool and got started at 8:30.  Good thing I wasn't later than that, cause I finished just as they were closing down the pool at 10am.

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.

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

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

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!

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

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. 

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.

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. 

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: 

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.

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.

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?

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

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.....

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 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. 

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

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.  

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.

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!

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.