April Swimmies

[Selkie]

During today's long swim (4,000 yards), I was in such a meditative zone that time went by so fast. I got into a rhythm and just kept going. I barely noticed when lane mates changed (no circle swimming, but I ended up splitting the lane the entire time). Even though I wasn't trying to work hard or push myself, I was pleasantly beat when I got out of the pool. Went home and recovered with a Jethro Bodine-sized bowl of Special K Chocolate Delight cereal!

All week, the water has been COLD. I think they must have changed out some of the water or switched to the "spring/summer" temperature.

Outdoor pools are opening in TWO WEEKS, and some of my fellow early bird swimmers will be going to there to swim (one club opens at 5:30 --- heated pool and these folks will go there to swim when the outdoor temp is in the 40s!). Hopefully, this means things will get less crowded.

[tribogota]

yippeee spent 30 minutes floating in the pool today holding on the railing...it felt soooo good

[Selkie]

That's great!!! Were you inside or outside? How's your DVT? My husband had one a couple years ago and it ended up moving (Pulmonary Embolism). How about your other injuries? Hope you are healing quickly.

[Susan Otcenas]

2450 meters this morning, with the longest continuous swim being 1300 meters. Exact same pacing as my last endurance swim, putting me right on pace for a 50 minute 2000 in the pool.

I've been a little intimidated by the sheer distance required in the HIM, but as it gets closer (7 weeks!) and my endurance swims in the pool get longer, I'm starting to feel a little better about it. Last year, it felt like the 1500 in that lake would never end, but I'd also not done any continuous pool swims that long, so I wasn't mentally prepared enough (it had been 6 years since my previous Oly, and my memory is short. )

[GLC1968]

Had our last swim clinic last night. We did a warm up, 9 mini/max 50s (counting strokes and timing to get min strokes with max speed) with 20 sec rest between them. Then we did 500y continous for time so that if any of us needed to change our time for the tri, we could. I did it in 11:15 (DFL for the 8 people who showed up last night, btw) which is almost 2 minutes faster than I've ever done it before. It's also faster than the time I registered for (12 min), so I contacted the organizer to update it. Yay!

The weirdest part as we were swimming that 500y was how hot I got. I mean, I felt like I was burning up by the end! I don't think the pool was particularly warm last night, either. I really, really hope its not hot out next Saturday or I'm going to be in trouble by the end of the tri!

I'm swiming again after work tonight, but I'm not sure what I'll do for a workout. I had an interval workout on my schedule, but the mini/max's last night pretty much covered that. We'll see what I'm in the mood for when the time comes...

[Selkie]

January through April's swim total - 137.02 miles! Getting ready for this morning's long swim---since it's warm/clear outside, I'm hoping everyone takes it OUTSIDE instead of going to the pool. :-)

GoSwim has a new drill that I might try sometime (backstroke dolphin kick w/kickboard). I've never really tried to dolphin kick, so this might be a good way to learn it.

[sfa]

I swam a mile today! Well, not a real mile, but a swimmer's mile--1650 yards. This is such an improvement from a year ago--I trained for the 1000 meters for the triathlon and ONLY that distance, no further. I hated swimming so much that as soon as I hit that mark, I got out of the pool like a shot. So when the practice OWS turned out to be longer than the race distance, I nearly didn't make it.

Then I took all of the fall and winter (and well into the spring) off to let my SI joint heal and have only been back in the water a few weeks, but I've gotten my endurance back up quickly. Today I decided to try a mile to see if I could, and not only did I do it, but I felt great afterwards--I could have kept going easily.

And then I went into the locker room and discovered that someone stole my gym bag while I was in the pool! I didn't have too much valuable in there (iPod and phone, but the iPod is four years old and the phone was cheap and annoyed me anyway), but I'm pissed that the cute outfit I was wearing is gone! And also pissed that the bag itself is gone. Grrrrr. I hope whoever stole it is enjoying the worn out underwear and half empty toiletries, though. Idiot. Thank goodness for the soccer coach, who found me shorts and a t-shirt to wear the rest of the day (and I'm sure I looked fetching in my office in a soccer uniform, flip flops, and reeking of chlorine). I'm glad I didn't have any afternoon meetings!

Sarah