Uplifted

Goody almost through week 3 of his Chemo treatements

This morning after lifting with Cathi I went to pick up Goody to take him to the hospital.  What a refreshing and uplifting morning!  He shared with me some of his thoughts on his take on his trials.  I didn't have a recorder, so I'll paraphrase what I got out of our conversation:  He was like "Who am I to question God and ask, Why me?  It's his decision on what trials to give and when.  I can only pray for his help in getting through it and being strong.  I'll be a better person for it."  What a fantastic attitude!

I often hear the "poor me" and "Why would God allow....." speech from many people and it's a little disturbing, but this morning Goody was able to show me the level of faith he has and trust in God and man what an amazing ride in to Salt Lake City it was.  Inspiring day.

After work, I was in the mood for a good long swim so I did:

1000 free warmup
3500 - 10 x (50 drill easy on 1:00, 100 strong on 1:30 (landed 1:16-1:20), 200 strong on 3:00 (landed 2:35-2:40))
500 - 100 easy, 400 IM
2000 pull large paddles
1000 pull star trek paddles
500 finger paddles
300 - 4 x 75's (25 w/3 pound weights, 50 sprint) on 1:30
200 - IM

9,000 yards total in 2:35

2013 One Hour Postal

Warming up

This morning I met up with Josh at Northwest at 6am and timed him for his one hour.  His stroke looked strong and controlled.  He got 4155 yards in an hour.  Nice job!

Split times

Last year's postal I did 4350 yards,  the year before I did 4535 yards.  This year my goal was at least 4500 yards.  (1:20/100 pace)  I ended up with 4425 yards (1:21.35/100 pace)  That's 98.34% of my goal.  Not what I wanted, but I wont whine about it.  I have to be happy with that given that only 4 1/2 months back I had rotator cuff repair surgery, and had to wait until December to really start swimming.

I did a good 500 yard swim warmup before hand and that was nice.

Afterwards I did 150 yards easy free then 300 IM easy

Total 5300 yards 

Didn't lift this morning before the swim cause I wanted to be fresh.  Will do it on the way home.

Weighted freestyle

Today when I woke up, I did my normal wake up routine which includes checking my email/facebook.  I saw this drill posted, and was super stoked to try it!



So I stopped at Walmart on the way in and bought 3 pound foam covered weights.  I tried this drill out today, and LOVED IT!

I'm sure my form didn't resemble anything like this video, but rather someone who was drowning.  However I got each 25 in about 27 seconds which isn't terrible I guess.  It was a lot of fun and forced me to focus on my fast and strong pull, and slow recovery.  Plus you have to kick hard too.  Lots of good stuff on that drill.  Looking forward to adding it to my favorite stuff to do.

1000 - 400 IM, 6 x 75 (25 weighted free, 50 free strong!) on 2:00
1000 kick with fins
1000 pull strong big paddles (13:00)
1000 pull star trek paddles faster! (12:55)
1000 - 400 IM, 6 x 75's (25 weighted free, 50 free sprint) on 2:00
300 IM warmdown

5,300 yards total in 1:35

Busy and fun day

This morning I was able to sleep in until 8am!  Felt so good!  Got up and drove to Fort Bueneventura state park for a cold water dip for a fundraiser for a local private school.  Met Goody there and it was good to catch up with him a little before the event.  This was literally just a dip and not a swim.  Water was only a couple feet deep and it was muddy and nasty.  Stinky stuff.

Then I went lifting at the gym, immediately followed by a swim at Northwest:

200 - 2 x 100's IM
400 - 2 x 200's IM
800 - 2 x 400's kick with fins
1600 - 2 x 800s free strong
1600 - 1 x 1600 free (25 catch up - 25 normal)

Then work back up starting with another 1600.

Total distance 9,200 yards in 2:50

Lots of good work today.  This evening had a great family party at the Lionhouse for my mother in law's birthday.  She's an awesome woman and so blessed to have such fantastic grandparents for my children!

Distracted

This morning I was limited on time, and only had a little over an hour to swim, so I just did:

4000 - 2 x 2000 free strong in 1:06

I was distracted during my counting, thinking about all the frustration I've been dealing with.  I own two vehicles and both of them are in the shop with car repairs.  Not simple little repairs either.  It's going to cost me over $3000 to get all of it taken care of.  What a pain!  At least I get them back today as the past week has been a complete juggling act trying to get transportation figured out.

My parents have been kind enough to let me use their car a couple times when I was stuck without a way to get around.  Anyway, today's swim included several laps of "penance" due to distracting thoughts of car repairs, and wondering if I'm getting screwed by the mechanics or not.

Shark book

After reading this book, any nervousness of encountering a shark I'm hoping will be settled once the "unknown" gap is filled up with knowledge should I actually even see a shark out there.  But I got to finish my Fear book first.

This morning after my resistance training I did:

1000 free
2000 - 2 x (200 IM, 4 x 200's free descending) on 3:15

Descended the free from 2:45 - 2:15

 2000 - 1000 startrek paddles, 500 large paddles, 500 finger paddles
500 - 2 x (100 IM, 75 back, 50 breast, 25 free)
500 - 5 x 100's odd free, even stroke on 1:30/2:00

6,000 yards total in 1:48

No longer a Beluga

At last!  No longer a Clydesdale.

Psyched cause I weighed in on Sunday morning under 200 pounds.  Haven't been that weight in about 4 years.

200 stroke
200 kick - 4 x 50's
1200 - 4 x { 100 IM :20ri, 4 x 50's free on :45)
3000 - 10 x (200 free pull, 100 - 4 x 25's odd pull buoy down backstroke, coming back - breast)
400 kick with fins
500 - 5 x 100's free strong on 1:30 (got under 1:20 on all)
500 - 5 x 100's easy, odd free, even IM

6,000 yards total in 2:00

No longer a Beluga!

Saturday with the Fantastic 4, minus the fourth.

This morning when I woke up my shoulder was in so much pain!  Last night Cathi and I did our new resistance training workout that we were assigned, and while it was mostly biceps and upper back, my left shoulder could definitely feel it this morning!  I took 4 ibupofen and went to finish some things at the office.  Then hurried off to NWRC for some swimming:

1000 - 10 x 100's IM
1000 - 1000 kick with fins
1000 - 10 x 100's (50 free, 50 swim)
1000 - 10 x 100's free with small paddles on 1:30

By this point, all pain in my shoulder was gone and I was able to do these pretty strong.  Got 1:12-1:18 on all of them and felt great!

500 - 100 kick, free, kick, free, kick
500 - 2 x (100 IM, 75 back, 50 breast, 25 free)

5,000 yards total in 1:25

Then hurried off to the marina to meet up with Josh and Jim.  The "Fantastic 4" isn't the same without G4.  Jim measured the water at 29f.  It was definitely a shocker getting in.  I wasn't about to swim.  I just got in to my neck and enjoyed the coolness for one minute exactly, then I got out.  It was pleasant this time to enjoy it without going through the worst part - recovery.  When you're only in for a minute, there really isn't any recovery to deal with.  It was good to get together and Jim snapped some sweet pics.

Next Saturday is the NDPA Freezin' for a reason dip.  It'll be easy peasy.

Second Breakfast

This morning I went straight to work, and got off early.  Did a strong swim for the first hour:

2000 free
2000 star trek paddles

Did it in @ 57 minutes

1000 - 500 kick, 500 IM

5,000 yards total in 1:15 

In accordance to my trainers guidance I've been eating 6 "meals" a day consisting of around 300 calories each:  Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevensies, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Supper.

Reminds me of this clip from LOTR which is one of my favs:

Clean and warm

This morning I had to take take the train in to work, so I was stuck going to Layton Surf N Swim this morning.  The pool there is nice cause it's clean, but it's also warm.  Water temp was 85.  I'm getting so soft this week!  Didn't do a GSL swim yesterday cause of car trouble, but will do a polar bear dip this Saturday maybe. Ended up doing:

500 free
500 stroke
500 kick
1000 - 4 x 250's (100 free, 75 back, 50 breast, 25 free)
2000 - 4 x 500's pull first two with buoy, second two without.  All on 7:30
500 free no equipment
300 kick
200 free
500 - 2 x 250's easy (100 free, 75 back, 50 breast, 25 free)

6,000 yards total in 1:50