Finding a groove

It has been a while since I wrote here and I apologize to anyone who might care.

Lat week I thought it would be a good idea to go to 3 days a week. It turned out to be a more complicated endevor than I knew. See fridays are sprint days and if wednesday is not a hard day( read technical session)I end up not really swimming for 3 days then sprinting on friday and being sore all weekend. I don't think my shoulders can handle this kind of schedule.
I am back on every day that there is practice although I skipped monday as I was afraid that the snow shoveling that I would be doing later would add up to too much shoulder work.

I do like being up early and this morning I woke at 5 and was able to do a bit of sketching before practice.

I am all over the place with my stroke and pacing. I know my lane mates arent crazy about swimming with me as sometimes I am fast and other times I am so slow and winded.
The issue at this point is all of the things that I have to keep in my head at once regarding stroke: Arms out front. rolling breath and reaching breath, kicking, keeping neck relaxed. I think I need to swim for a few months to let all of this sink in and hopefully I would come out of it with not too many bad habits.

I guess it all comes down to laps.

The weather has been so totally crappy. The good thing is that it hasnt been too snowy at night and the car doesnt need too much attention in the early morning. It is hard getting in the pool as the deck area has been pretty cold. After about 200 meters I get into it again and it is all good.

No swimming on xmas day which is good as we are going to have another storm. Back on friday./ Shea promised that the sprints wouldn't be too brutal. Thanks Shea!

Merry christmas.

Every other day

So I decided to start practicing on MWF and using the the other two mornings for writing. I really enjoy getting up at 5:45 and writing comes easy at that time for me so it works out. I think my shoulders need a bit of recovery time between practices. Hopefully three days a week will be enough.

We had another stroke clinic today. It focused on Backstroke. Pretty good stuff to learn- starts, turns and stroke. I don't really like to swim backstroke but all of the clinic subjects came pretty easy today. Maybe I need to reconsider not liking it...

The other nice aspect of the stroke clinic is that it mixes everyone up and I get a chance to swim and meet with people I wouldn't be swimming with otherwise.

below is an interesting computer model of the skeleton doing the 4 IM strokes. It shows what muscles are working at every stage. Pretty cool.

This week finished in a great way as we did really hard series of sprints- all out after a warm up of 1000meters. We started with all out 25s then 50s then 100 the last 50 was butterfly. Great and body breaking workout. Nice to have the weekend to recover.

I wonder if it is worth going to 3 days a week for the recovery process.? any thoughts?

Hooked

Today is my 40th birthday and I had a nice suprise related to swimming. Practice today was a clinic and not too much of a workout. We did a few hundred yards and then broke up into groups and worked on starts, turns and stroke. All very usefull and good.
My suprise was that I was really disappointed in not getting an ass kicking workout. Who would have thought? Today I woke up feeling well rested and was itching to get moving in the pool. The fact that I felt that way was a nice suprise and I feel like I have really made it over the hump.
A great birthday present.

After all... I took on this challenge with the idea of being in a new lifestye excercise routine in honor of turning 40.
I got my wish.

I made it!

I started this blog by saying that I wanted to swim for three weeks straight before I made a decision regarding whether or how often to continue. Today was an awesome experience.

The workout was fast-paced and tough. We did 26x 75meters on a decreasing inteval. After five or so my lane mates and i put on fins to be able to make the interval. There was a time during the 20th or 21st where I thought I might really get sick. Fortunately that passed and we were able to do it. On the last set we were coming in right on the send off for the next.

We swam a total of 1950meters (1.2 miles) at a pretty good clip.

It was very difficult but man it felt great afterward (more so emotionally than physically). I wouldn't have dreamed three weeks ago that I could have done a workout like this.I can really feel a big difference in my shoulder and torso muscles. They are feeling thick and toned.

I am feeling great about swimming and ready to continue it. I think every day is working well for me at this point.

I took this on thinking that I needed an exercise routine- I didn't expect it to be so great.

See ya next week- I am going to sleep in.

Turns

Although I don't have the lung capacity yet to be able to do flip-turns with long glides after swimming multiple laps with any speed, I am gearing up for learning the motions.

Here is a great video that breaks it down.



My coach, Shea says the best place to practice the turns is not near the wall but in the middle of the pool. Take a few strokes and flip. Take a few strokes and flip. After the tucking and rolling is in muscle memory then the wall is added.

The interesting thing about watching these videos is the arm position going into the turn and the arm position coming out. The arms just stay put.

The other thing that I need to practice is coming out of the turn on my back and turning over after the push. Part of my problem is I blow air out of my nose when I filp to keep the water out. Swimming upside down underwater takes more air still. By the time I come to the surface I have absolutely no air left and am desperate to breathe.

Apparently in Januar there will be a 1 hour swim with the goal of swimming the maximum distance. I am a bit afraid of it but I think it will be fun. Barry are you up for it? I think we can psyche each other up(out?). I wonder if it is a good idea to do a practice hour swim for comparison purposes?

'Nuff of that!

Ok, this blog is getting really boring to write and read. Yeah it is hard to get up early and do strenuous excercise. Got it. Done.

Now I want to focus on the art of swimming and the study of it.

Check out this videa. Pretty incredible the energy Thorpe spends before he even does his first stroke.

new week

Monday it is. I was poorly disciplined this weekend and stayed up late on saturday night watching episodes of "the Wire" on dvd. Wow, what a cool show. 5:45 seemed earlier than last week. Once I got to the pool it was ok. The first few laps were hard but as I got warmed up it went OK.

Shea, the coach gave me some good advice on head position. Apparently my head is full of water and doesnt really sink or float. I was holding mine too high and having the top of the head out of the water was pushing the rest of my body down too far under the surface. These habits are hard to break. I like to see where I am going. Looking straight down will take some getting used to.

Turns are another thing that I need practice on. I am so out of breath each length that I use the turn as a cheat for a couple of breaths. I need to go to the pool and practice flips without being out of breath.


Lets see what this week holds...

Getting Better

Today is the end of my second week. Lots of struggle but lots to be happy about. Yesterday was thanksgiving and the workout was a bit different as it was an hour later but it wasn't that different when it came to the workout part. It was the first time that I swam the whole practice, although only an hour, which was a nice feeling. I had a massage on Wednesday afternoon be Heidi at Flow Yoga. It was very worthwhile to get the muscles worked out and get reaquanted with those muscles and nerves.

It was also the first time that I arrived and left with others and had a bit of the social aspect of swimming with a group. For the past weeks I have arrived while most are already in the pool and I have left early so the locker room was always empty. It is nice to be on a schedule with others.

This morning, Friday, was my first regular practice that I stayed for the whole 90 minutes. It wasn't bad at all. I felt that I was able to keep up with my lane groups. My lungs are still a bit behind and it makes good turns hard to do as I can't seem to be able to wait for the flip-turn and push off before I desperately need more oxygen.

Getting out of bed this morning was easy and I felt rested for the first time since I started this crazy idea. I don't think I woke up at all wondering how much more time I had. I did wake up 15 minutes before the alarm which was very nice. It gave me more time for stretches and yoga.

Also I put a new CD in the car. It is Paul Simon's "Suprise" album. There are some good tracks on it and some (most) that I will have to really wade into with multiple listenings.

See you back monday...

Bitch Bitch Bitch

Well I thought the first week would be the worst but today just plain sucked. My back has been pretty knotted up from all of the new swimming- I definitely need a massage- got to remember to arrange one.

Getting out of bed was brutal. It was 34 dgrees and raining hard when I woke up this morning. I had a headache all night so I didn't sleep well. And to cap off the first act of the comic tragedy, I realized that I forgot to put my towel in the bag right as I was going in to the pool building. grrrrrr.

Barry was my lane-mate today and he was in a mood equivalent to mine so that felt better.

I really thought that the first week would be harder than the others but the one thing I didn't count on was the newness and excitement wearing off. Having Barry there on MWF really helps- Thanks Barry!

The workout itself was fair. Lots of freestyle like the last few practices. We did a kick/swim warmup and then some pulling. When I had to leave at 7 we were in the middle of doing sets of 125s with the last length at fast speed. The next set had the fast portion increasing until we were doing almost all fast. 7 am didn't come quick enough. I think we were just getting to the part where the fast was more than the slow. I was thrilled to start my warm-down.

I guess you never know what the nadir is until well after the fact. I really hope that this morning was touching bottom for how I felt.

Tomorrow's practice promises to be different and in that way should be fun. It starts at 7 and goes to 8. The coaches will be in the water with us. It may be a brutal workout but just the fact that it is a holiday and different makes me excited about it.

One part of my morning that I am enjoying is listening to music on the way to the pool and back. The news on NPR is so terrible these days that I have stopped listening. I have had the soundtrack from the film "rushmore" in my car since monday and it is alot of fun to swim with these songs in my head.


So long.

No Fog and Fog

Tuesdays practice was pretty run of the mill. The windows of my car were frozen over of course. cold cold cold for the first few miles.

I got some antifog liquid from a friend who is a psychiatrist. It is a fluid that is to be used on medical insruments like mirrors so they dont fog. It works great. One application and it last for a long time. I don't know if it is approved for use around the eyes though- I had a bit of water in my goggles and when I switched from freestyle to backstroke the little bit of water that had been sloshing aroung the lens (and getting contaminated with the antifog) now was bathing the outside corner of my eyes. It didn't burn right aweay but felt funny while at practice. The burning and the foggy vision started later, while driving home. In the shower I flushed my eyes out the best I could. I didn't want to show up at the middle school looking like I was stoned with red eyes but what could I do. The foggy vision and the burning lasted for a few hours.


I gave some to mike in the next lane. I hope he didn't have a bad time with it. Sorry mike!


Must be carefull to not get water in the goggles.

Monday Monday

Last night I was telling Katy at diner how easy the swimming felt after the first week. Well I stand corrected. Monday morning was hard in every aspect: THe alarm, getting dressed, scraping the ice off of the windshield (I didnt think to budget time for this!) and most of all the swimming.

I just couldnt catch my breath. THe main part of the practice for me, since I leave at 7, was 4x50 of freestyle at a moderate pace with 30 secs rest each then a 200 IM at fast speed with 15 secs rest. the whole thing repeated 4 times. After the first IM I couldn't catch my breath all through the freestyle.

I was very glad to see 7am come around.

Week One Done

Well today was the finish of the first week. Although I am not staying for the last half hour of the practice I am able to keep up pretty well for the time I am there. Amazing to think that 5 days ago I would have had trouble doing just a few laps.

One thing I have noticed that is a challenge is doing the math necessary and folling the complicated orders given out by the coach. I am getting better at it though.

He will say:
"the first set is 7 100s on the the 2:20 then 6 100s on the 2:05 and work your way down to a single 100. when you cant make the clock go to 20 sec rest."

What was that? So that is how many laps?... I need to look at the clock- not just look at the clock but remember what it says and calculate the time to take off on the next set. This is a new language on top of the fact that it is occurring at 6 am and my brain is barely warmed-up. Hopefully I am in a lane with someone who can follow the speak then I can follow them.

I bought some different goggles that have made a big difference. They are made more like a scuba mask that doesnt include the nose than regular swim goggles.

I am feeling pretty strong for only having done it for a week. I am able to focus on my stroke a bit more now that I am not gasping for breath. That makes a nice difference. I have been trying to keep track of how many strokes it take to get across the pool. without fins it take about 21 With fins it is about 18. I hope to peel that back. I have heard of people that can do 15. A stronger push off and longer glide will help.

I drank 3 beers last night and ate crappy but delicious bar food. I am sure that made it hard to sleep, hard to wake up and even harder to swim this morning. I must remember to think of swimming on the nights before. Must remember...

I havent had a great night sleep since I started this and I hope that changes soon. Some part of my brain is anticipating the alarm and worried about the time all night. Not fun.

They say that ducks can sleep half of their brains at once if they need to stay alert. I feel like that.

Now that the weekend is here i wonder if I should continue to get up at the early hour or sleep in? It sounds like an easy question (sleep in moron!) but I think that the sooner I shift my full cycle forward the more comfortable I will be. any thoughts on this science friends?

Well off for the weekend...

See ya in the water monday.

Day 2 and 3

The second day was a bit harder as my arms were sore from the first day. Getting out of bed was harder also as I had not slept well the 2 nights before as didn't want to sleep late and kept looking at the clock every hour all night.

Organizing is a pain in the early morning and I stumbled a bit looking for clothes and swimming gear. My mind isn't the clearest at that time of day. I think the key is going to be to have everything in the bathroom all ready to go so there will be no need to think.

The third day was the first time I that I felt a bit stronger. I still wasn't able to do the whole routine but I was pretty close. When my group was finished with a drill I would stop also even though I still owed a lap or two. I feel like my stroke is improving also.
I spent some time watching youtube videos of the freestyle stroke. It definitely helped.

My Friend Grinell told me that there was some research saying that letting your fingers go limp during the stroke was just as efficient as holding your fingers straight. I tried it and it felt funny but seemed to work. I cant find any info on the web that says yea or nay to this theory. Grinell uses it for his surfing paddle stroke. Grinell- I think that the vibration of the fingers might be attractive to the many sharks that swim where you surf. More research is necessary.

I did invest in a tighter suit and some fins. It is not feeling like a habit yet but it is fun and makes me feel great- not just for the exercise but for the feeling of success I am enjoying by following through on a goal.

My intent is to swim at21 consecutive practices before I make up my mind about whether to continue or how many times a week.

3 down/ 18 to go

Jm

The first steps...

This is the first entry in a blog that follows my attempt to start a morning swim routine. I have always loved swimming and was on a summer swim team as a young teen.
Since then swimming has been something that I have loved but I have never pursued it methodically or seriously for health. I think I have swam 10 laps in 12 years.

That is all changing (I hope--I intend).

Yesterday was my first day swimming with the Hood River Master Swim team. The practice is each week day at 6am to 7:30. you can see by the practice time that there is more challenge here than just doing laps. It is still very dark at 6 am and is not getting any warmer as december is just around the corner.

It wasnt hard to get up the first day as I was excited and nervous about swimming in such an organized way and workout. My first contact with the living was in the locker-room and even there people were just coming alive. Out in the pool there were at least 20 swimmers getting in and warming up. On the deck the coach, Shea, and he made me feel right at home. There are about 8 lanes and the lanes are dedicated to the swimmer speed. The fastest swimmers are in the easternmost lanes and the slower swimmers are in the west. Shea put me in a lane with one other guy. The water was (relatively) warm and it felt good to get in.

I don't know how far I swam the first day. Maybe 15 laps. I wasn't able to keep up with the paractice and so I didn't bother. I just kept going to the best of my limited ability.

I left before the practice was done because I had to be home to help with the kids before my 8 am appointment at the middle school where I am the artist in residence.

I was an awesome feeling driving home at 7:15. I was tired for sure but to be so awake so early is a nice feeling.

I named this post the "first steps" because it has several meanings. By taking this on I am changing my sleep routine as well as taking on a course of exercise. The first steps out of bed on a cold dark fall moring feel as difficult as the last lap of practice.