Merry Christmas...

...Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all! It was nice to wind down the year this morning with a nice long course swim with lots of people there. We almost had to break up the band! E, BB, KBB, R, Dr. B, IW, J, BG, H, MM, all present. I hope I am not forgetting anyone. It is hard to get into a cold pool when it is 12 degrees out, but we did. Here is what we did:

500 swim
10 x 50 drill/swim; stroke/swim
500 pull
5 x 100 on 1:50
2 x 250 descend
100 easy

I hope everyone has a fun, safe, and happy holiday!

Wetsuits recommended

The good news today was that our pool is open again and it's 50 meters! The bad news is that amongst all of the signs on the locker room doors warning us of the flu, thiefs, schedule changes, and overnight locks, one was conspicuously missing. This was the sign that says "Dear patrons: the pool is really, really clean now, but because we drained it and put fresh water in, it's a bit cold too, so you may want to wear a wetsuit." That is an understatement! Now I admit I am usually the first to claim something is cold, but today was ridiculous. After 1500 yards I was still freezing. E turned blue. Nearly everyone screamed after diving in. Steve even threatened to wear a swim cap on Wednesday. That is not how I want to start my morning. So here is the plan: everyone please bring a cup of boiling water on Wednesday. If all seven of us dump it in the pool, it will warm up. Right? I wasn't very good at science in middle school, but it makes sense to me.

Oh, and apparently there is no masters this week. But 15 people showed up anyway. Here is what our lane did:

300-500 swim as fast as you can so you don't get hypothermia
5 x 200 going:
200 swim
200 drill/swim
200 IM
200 pull
200 swim
then three times thru:
4 x 50 sprint on 1:15
300 pull/swim on :20
100 easy

BB looked at me after the first 300 and said "this takes some getting used to." Of course I thought he was talking about the cold, but he was talking about the long course. Funny how you don't notice it when you can't feel your hands. A bunch of us will swim on Wednesday. I am not kidding about the wetsuit though.

Found: all the yellow bouys

Our pool is closed this week, but eight MIT masters swimmers were in Alumni pool this morning. But the real disovery - and Woods, listen up - is that ALL of the white and yellow pull bouys are at alumni! There was a whole basket of them! I was nearly catatonic as I stood there by so many yellow bouys, like a kid in a candy store. This is because each morning I ask (beg if you will) Woods to please give me the single yellow bouy in the basket, and he always does. I now think he is just saving it for me so nobody else gets it. :) I'd love to switch the yellow bouys with the tiny purple ones that Kevin likes, but then the kid swim teams would be out of luck. SB, I know what you are saying - bring your own and this isn't even a conversation. But now I know, if I need a fix, I head to alumni pool.

Okay, so we had a good workout today. E, me, IW, and Dr. Bob2. Bill, Joel, and Rach were in the next lane and Mo was a few lanes away. Here is what our lane did:

5 x 200 going:
200 swim
200 swim
200 drill/swim
200 pull
200 IM
20 x 100 on 1:40 (fun!) going:
1-3 descend
4 easy
5 hard
6 IM
7 easy
8 IM
9 easy
10 IM
11-15 pull
16-20 keep pace (1:20)

Some of us plan to swim again on Friday. Then the pool is long course starting Saturday until sometime in January! Yay!

Careful what you wish for....

...because you just might get it. As you recall I commented (some may say "complain" but that is too negative and I am a positive person) on the set last week with kicking and 25s. So Bill gave us our 3 x 800 with a little twinkle in his eye, thinking we were going to be upset. Playing along, we pretended to be mildly agitated but then secretly acknowledged that we love 800s. Poor E, though. She is swimming the 800 on Friday night so couldn't put her heart and soul into the workout. BB is the only one who finished the set. I felt I had to stand in solidarity with Elaine and taper for the meet. That's what friends do. Here is today's workout:

Warmup
8 x 50 kick/drill alternate
5 x 125 loaded IM (50 fly, 25ba/25br/25fr; 25 fly, 50ba/25br/25fr, etc)
3 x 800 going:
800 cruise on 2:00r
800 going 200 IM, 400pull, 200IM on 2:00r
800 FAST

E is in heat 3 or 4 on Friday night and I am counting for her. Feel free to come cheer her on! Stay safe in this snow everyone. Winter is here.

Little black cloud of doom

Most of us were in a happy and sunny mood when we arrived at the pool today despite the monsoon that was occurring outside. Even during the warmup set we were chatting and laughing just like usual. Then the little black cloud of doom hit. By this I mean the workout that was "recommended" to coach Bill by one of our fellow swimmers who will remain nameless but he swims with Joel in Lane 2 and is a lawyer. Anyway, the workout which was recommended contained everything that was evil and wrong about masters practice. It had fins, kicking, short sprints with stroke, and no time for E to practice for her meet next week. E and I made it through four rounds, Steve three rounds, and BB stayed for the whole thing.

Here it is:

4 x 200 going:
odds stroke
evens hypoxic
16 x 25 going:
fins underwater for half, then swim
Main set - Repeat three times:
6 x 25 stroke sprint on :25
2 x 50 ez on 1:05
6 x 25 free on :40
2 x 50 ez on 1:05

Hey coach Bill - I have a recommendation for tomorrow. Warmup 5 x 200 and main set 3 x 800. It's simple, it's easy to follow, and will make lane 3-ers very happy. Thanks!

Ladies day

With apologies to Steve, there was a rare occurrence in Lane 3 today: it was nearly all women. Yep, me, E, R, and M kept SB company. Of course in true "gals morning out" fashion we compared our manicures, talked about how excited we were to watch the "View" today and planned a little holiday wrapping party with hot apple cider. And if you believe that, you'll believe that Steve stayed for the entire workout or that Bill got in and swam with us. What we ladies did do this morning is work the set, which was tough but good. After Steve got out we secretly hoped he was next door getting us lattes and croissants (we love to be pampered you know) but he never came back.

200 warmup on own
3 x (4x50)
25 kick/25 swim
25 drill/25 swim
50 build up
50 build down
12 x 25 going fast/stroke/fast/choice
3 x 200 IM or stroke on :25r
Main set
100 (50 fast - 50 cruise) on 1:45
100 (25 cruise - 75 fast) on 1:35
100 (50 cruise - 50 fast) on 1:45
100 all cruise on 1:55
100 all fast on 1:15
2 x 25 ez on :40
100 (75 fast - 25 cruise) on 1:35
100 (25 cruise - 75 fast) on 1:35
100 cruise on 1:55
100 all fast on 1:15
100 fastest one so far on 1:10
2 x 25 ez
100 cruise on 1:55
100 fast on 1:20
100 all cruise on 1:55
100 fast on 1:15
100 cruise on 1:55
some random kick set

Great day everyone! The 1:15 and 1:10 did not happen, it was more like two 1:15s in a row but it's good to have something to work towards. The others had such easy intervals that it made it kind of fun. Me saying sprinting and fun in the same sentence is a miracle. Nice job ladies and SB.

Rec swimmers

Good morning to all and welcome back from four days off. Some of us went to the pool on Saturday (a lot of us, actually!) to help our friends like E who are training for the meet. Going to the pool on a weekend only reinforces how lucky we are to swim masters. Let's be honest here. Rec swimming is as hazardous as riding your bike on a bike path on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. If you can't commandeer a lane, you are in big trouble. I don't want to sound uppity at all, but we all know how challenging it can be. First it's the evil glance you get when you ask if you can either split a lane or - God forbid - circle swim. Then there's Carmen's favorite - the "I just want to chat the whole time" swimmer. Worst of all, it's the swimmer who decides they want to "race" you while you are doing a warmup. The whole thing gets really wacky when we go long course and everyone has to circle swim. Anywho, it was great to be back this morning after indulging for four days.

200 warmup
4 x 75 drill 50/swim 25
4 x 50 stroke
4 x 50 drill, kick, drill, swim
5 x 200 on 3:05
4 x 50 on 1:05 stroke
4 x 25 easy on :35
4 x 150 on 2;20
4 x 50 stroke
4 x 25 easy on :35
5 x 100 on 1:25
4 x 50 stroke
4 x 25 easy

Good job E leading us on this set and SB, Dr. Bob, and C for making it through most of the workout. Note: none of us lasted for the whole workout!

Giving thanks

It has been awhile since I have been in the pool, so it was great to be back in the water today with my peeps! Since it is Thanksgiving, I want to take time today to give thanks. I have so much to be thankful for - my wonderful family, new and old friends, a great job and academic life, my health, and a parking spot right outside of my house. :) But this is a swim blog so I want to pay special attention and gratitude to MIT Masters and my fellow lanemates and morning swimmers. In a nutshell, I am thankful for:

1. Coach Bill. He is simply the best. Who else always has a smile on his face at 6:15 am (or 6:28) every morning? I am thankful to swim with him.
2. My lanemates. I have swam with some awesome people in the past (some of whom swim with me now) but as a group, I can't remember having so much fun at swim practice as I do now. It's great motivation to get up in the morning. So thanks, L3ers.
3. The morning swimmers. We just have a rockin' morning group, in all lanes. We may not swim the same intervals but we share the same fear of jumping in every day. It just takes Joel a little longer than most.
4. Towel service. I love the towel service, even if some days you get a spa towel and some days you get a hand towel. What other masters team has towel service?
5. Our pool. I don't care what anyone says about that pool across the river, we have the best pool in town.
6. BB leading the lane. I know that he could easily leave us for faster waters like Kevin did, but he stays with us through thick and thin. And he wears the suit.
7. Elaine for designing our line of L3 swimwear. I think she just may have to design a morning suit so we can all look dorky together.
8. The treadmill bank upstairs. Where else can you not swim, but swim at the same time? And critique your friends? I might start charging for my advice.

So to all of my lanemates - BB, E, IW, SB, Dr.B, KBB, CM, RS, KY - and all other morning swimmers - THANKS!

Now for our workout:

2 x (4x50) various drill
3 x (3 x 75) stroke/choice going:
3 on 1:25 (we did these IM)
3 on 1:15 (we did these random)
3 on 1:05 (we did these free)
400 going 100 IM, 100 free, 100 IM, 100 free
then:
2 x (3x100) OFF THE BLOCKS going
93%
96%
100%
on 3:00

While not much yardage today, much exhaustion. I pretty much despise sprinting but made it through. See y'all next week or even this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday gift ideas

It's never too early to start thinking about what to get your favorite swimmer this holiday season. Imagine the delight in you loved one's eyes when they open that shiny new pair of goggles (TRY Racetech), speedy new technical swimsuit (size 32), or adventure vacation (Bahamas, preferably.) But this morning a new gift idea came to me like a vision, right there on deck! Yes, it is the 2010 "Men of Lane 3" calendar! I can already see Dr. Bob with his stethoscope, SBB stretching on deck with his trusty pull bouy by his side, BB with his Blackberry and New York Times, or an action shot of IW doing research. And there is plenty of room for coach Bill and the men in other lanes, too (there is a reason why we have twelve months in a year!) Why did I envision this? Because all the men (minus SBB) had their L3 suits on today. E, the mastermind behind our uniforms, was watching it all from above. It was pretty hilarious, and I won't go into details, but will just say that it is hard to laugh and swim at the same time.

Now, for our workout:

300 on own
25 swim
50 gallup kick
75 drill
100 IM or stroke
25 kick
50 swim
75 drill
2 x 100 IM or stroke
6 x 50 backstroke kick with fins
MAIN:
500 work it on 7:30
500 pull on :60r
5 x 100 on 1:25
500 work it on 7:30
500 fast

We ran out of time so did our fast one fourth and did a 200 at the end. BB was on fire today, 6:08 for the 500 and IW a 6:30. I did my best at 6:32, but was reminded that when it's time to get up and go, my speed got up and went. Fun day today, happy weekend.

p.s. don't worry, the women of L3 will have our photos on coffee mugs or something
p.p.s. I am serious about the calendar, boys

Whatever it takes

I saw the most bizzare thing this morning driving to work after swim practice. I'm on Beacon Street and this woman in a fancy matching sweatsuit was power walking with what appeared to be weights of some kind. But on closer inspection, they were not weights at all but were two twelve-packs of Budweiser. While this may not be odd in St. Louis, it's definitely odd in Brookline, particularly at 8am. The thing is, no liquor stores are open at this time so this was intentional. Anyway, the takeaway message might be that Bud can be good for your health. I guess.

150 warmup
3 x (4x50), count strokes, reverse IM, drill
10 x 25 ascend/descend
2 x (3x100)going:
75 fly, 25 back
75 back, 25 breast
75 breast, 25 free
2 x 200 on 3:05
2 x 300 on 3:00
2 x 200 on 2:55
2 x 200 on 2:50
2 x 200 on 2:45

Carmen apparently emailed this set to Bill (who knew we could do that!) but then didn't show up. The intervals were perfect and not too stressful given I have not swam masters in a week. It was nice to swim with BB, E, and KBB. And I did burn some calories, E.

Casual Friday

Yes, it's casual Friday, which means I am just getting around to posting the workout from today and it's 7pm! Most of us walk onto deck on a Friday morning knowing we can chat a little longer, change the warmup a bit, or get out early. I mean, it's Friday! Dr. Bob celebrated casual Friday with his "basic black" new suit. But then we saw Mariah on deck (at 6:15 I might add) and we knew this would be no regular casual Friday. She means business. As BB says, it's like having a substitute teacher. But the difference is that rather than make fun of the substitute teacher we respond with a combination of fear and respect with Mariah. Here is the workout:

200 wu
200 swim
4x100 drill/swim
4x50 build
200 IM 3:00
3x100 1:45
200 IM 3:10
3x100 1:30
200 IM 3:20
3x100 1:20
200 IM 3:45
100 fr 1:15
50 ez
4x50 kick odd 55 even 1:10
4x50 swim odd 40sec even 50sec
4x25 kick
4x25 odd 20 sec even 25sec

As always, a great workout. Thanks Mariah!

The Biggest...Eater?

I am slightly embarassed to reveal that for the last two weeks I have found myself watching the show The Biggest Loser. For those of you are unfamiliar with this show, it's basically a reality show where people compete to lose the most weight by exercising a lot, learning about good eating habits, and getting yelled at by skinny personal trainers. All good things, however I don't really know what this show says about our culture, but I will hold my social commentary for another time. What I can tell you is that I eat more while watching the show than the contestants do the whole episode. I can't help it. They choose between a piece of cake and an apple, I go make brownies. They eat a delicious salad, I do the same but include 3 slices of pizza. And yesterday they walked by an ice cream truck and opted for a piece of gum while I walked to my freezer and got out the Ben and Jerry's. Maybe I knew that I would swim hard the next morning so it was okay, who knows. But today Dr. Bob gets the award for Biggest Fashion Statement (or perhaps Biggest Small Bathing Suit) for his new L3 suit. I can't post a picture because he is a renowned physician and doing so may hurt his career, reduce his invitations to talk shows, and prevent him from winning the Nobel Prize for something. But he is brave, and I for one look forward to the day when all the men of L3 wear their suits in solidarity.

100wu
4 x(3x50) kick/fr, drill/fr, stroke on :15rest
4 x 25 fly on 35sec
100 free pull on 1:35
200 descend by 50's on 3:00
3 x 100 pull 1:35
400 descend by 100's on 6:00
600 fr 8:30
400 fr pull on 6:00
200 IM 3:20
50 ez
200 IM 3:20
500 free hold pace
50 ez
3800 yards--wow!

Fantastic day! Great job BB, J, Dr. Bob, and IW.
Great job, everyone!

Just like a coctail party...

It's rare to have a place where so many different people with different careers, opinions, and outlooks can gather in one place and all get along (for the most part.) That is masters swimming. There are certain things that we swimmers rarely talk about at practice, like politics, work, or religion. It's kind of an unwritten rule, just like when you go to a coctail party but there is no alcohol and nobody cares that you are scantily dressed. But it's amazing how little we really know about all the people we swim with. We stick to topics like the pool, our coach, who said what to whom and in what tone of voice, who crashed during the workout, etc., and that's pretty much it. There are, of course, exceptions for some of us who are friends outside of the pool, but the truth is that we are in a swimocracy every morning. In your day job you may be finding a cure for cancer or solving the nation's financial crisis but between 6am and 7:30am, it's really all about whether you kept the intervals.

150 warmup
12 x 25 going drill/build
3 x 100 count strokes
6 x 50 middle of the pool
100 on 1:20
50 stroke on :60
2 x 25 on :40
100 on 1:15
50 stroke on :55
2 x 25 on :40
100 on 1:20
50 stroke on :50
2 x 25 on :40
100 on 1:15
50 stroke on :45
2 x 25 on :40
100 stroke on 1:45
50 free on :50
2 x 25 on :40
100 stroke on 1:40
50 free on :50
2 x 25 on :40
100 stroke on 1:45
50 free on :50
2 x 25 on :40
100 stroke on 1:40
50 free on :50
2 x 25 on :40
4 x 100 going odds swim, evens kick

Let the record show that I did the kick set today. Lots of L3ers today, BB, E, IW, C, SB, and me. What happened to Lane 4? Nobody showed up, so we got to use your lane, thanks.

Happy Halloween!

I have no idea what I am going to be for Halloween, and in fact, I don't even like to dress up anymore. But I have been invited to a party and if I want to go I have to come up with something. Most of my best costumes are ones I didn't put much time into. One year I was Miss Congeniality Gone Bad (I am trying to find a photo so I can post it), another year I was a Fembot from Austin Powers, and I even won an award several years ago for my costume of Rose from the Titanic after she jumped, door and all. Last year was lame, I was the Heat Miser, imagine the irony of that. In any case, our Halloween almost got super scary this morning at swim practice when Bill tripped and almost fell into the pool on top of us. I think we all realized just how frightening that would have been.

Warmup - tons of swimming with fins
(I went into the warm pool and swam 500)
4 x 150 pull - odds free, evens stroke
3 times thru:
50 fast on :35
100 cruise on 1:40
150 fast on 2:05
200 cruise on 3:20
8 x 50 going 25 sprint/25 swim off the block

We kind of pulled a masters option today as BB and I defied Bill's authority and did not dive off the blocks. Are we proud of this behavior? No. Would we do the same thing if given a do-over? Maybe. Do we still think Bill is the bomb? Definitely. We gave him a mini pumpkin as thanks. It's really a gourd, but who cares it looks like a baby pumpkin.

MIT Masters Dreaming

Our lane poet, KBB, came up with this for our dreary day:




All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I went for a run
On a rainy day
If I was at the pool
I wouldn't be this wet

MIT Masters Dreaming
I should have gone to swim!!

It was a dreary day, but Bill gave us a workout that perked all of us right up, just like that double shot coffee I had afterward.

100 wu
4x50 drill/swim 20sec rest
3x
100IM 20 sec
100free
12x25 kick
1000 (400fr/200IM/400fr-faster than first)
1x50 35sec
1x50 1:05
2x50 35
1x50 1:05
3x50 35sec
1x50 1:05
4x50 40sec
1x50 1:05
600 (200fr/200IM/200fr faster than first)

I tried a new thing today called "kicking." (Notice deliberate use of air quotes, Woods.) BB suggested that I try this more often because I can go "faster." It seems to be overrated, but I'll give it a try.

Proper use of "air quotes"

There is an art to using the air quote. Using air quotes strategically is a skill that, when used properly, can make something funnier, more sarcastic, or place more emphasis on said subject. Yet when they are used incorrectly, they simply make the speaker look ridiculous. Case in point, a conversation I had this morning with someone in reference to loud construction work being done outside. All quotes are actual air quotes in conversation: I can't "believe" that they are doing this right "now". They started this before "dark". I can't wait until it "snows" so they stop making this noise. Not only did I not understand the relevance of how snow would stop construction, the air quotes distracted me. I felt compelled to say have a "good" day!

300 on own
6 x 50 drill
8 x 50 middle of the pool
5 x 100 stroke going free/back combo
5 x 100 stroke going free/breast combo
more swimming, will get from Bill

Not that I am queen of the air quote, but my lanemates would understand perfectly if I said I "swam" masters practice today. Why? Because I got in, did the warmup, and while I technically did swim, I did not do the workout and got out of the pool. I hope to be "back" at it tomorrow.

Fighting to be the caboose

It was definitely a Monday morning, and Lane 3 was well represented. The funny part was that other lanes had one, maybe two people in them while we were trying to cram five or six of us into our lane rather than dividing ourselves amongst the other lanes. Why? Because nobody wanted to lead. The whole "not it" sign just doesn't work when everyone in the lane is doing it. So we had a couple of choices. One, we could hang on the wall until we all got so cold that someone would have to lead. Two, get out and shower. Or three, look for another option. I saw an opening with Bill G. who was swimming alone, so I ducked under the lane line taking C with me. So Bill got company, I got to follow, and C didn't have to lead. Of course IW was none too pleased but swam so strong that it didn't matter.

300 on own
6 x 50 drill/kick combo
8 x 50 fly/back
4 x 75 build on 1:15
4 x (3 x 175) going:
odds 150 swim, open turn, 25 easy on 2:35 (descend within the three)
evens 150 hard, open turn, 25 easy on 2:45
4 x 50 underwater swim, easy by 25

Doesn't look like a lot, does it? But it's 3700 yards! Not bad for a Monday!

Humbled by the visitor

I was on the bench today nursing a bit of a shoulder tweak, but the word on the street was that Pat stopped in for a visit! Yes, you know who I am talking about - Pat, BB's friend from Chicago who likes to drop in to see us once in awhile, get in a good workout, and put a few deposits into his swimming/ego bank account. I had every intention of being there because I always like to see Pat, but from what I gather in piecing together what happened I may be glad I took the day off. This is a family-friendly blog so I can't use profanity, so I'll just use one quote that one of my lanemates, who will remain anonymous, sent to me. "You missed me being completely stomped by another swimmer today."

Here we go:

8x50
Odds: count strokes
Evens: breastroke kick
Transition: twice thru w/ fins
75 fly
25 fly kick fast
25 fly kick
75 back
25 back kick fast
25 back kick
75 free
25 free kick fast
25 free kick
Main set
5 x 500
1st at 7:20
2nd descend by 100 at 7:40
3rd faster than 1st at 7:30
4 repeat 2nd, but faster
5th repeat 3rd, but faster

So Pat, I know I always say this, but even though you should be swimming in Lane 1, come back to visit us in Lane 3. The truth is, we all need a little humbling once in a while.

Name that theme

If you ever played "Name That Tune" as a kid then you are going to love today's blog! Here's how it works: Read each set in the workout and see if you can figure out the theme for today. And no looking ahead! This is the honor system, which will probably work as well as the honor system I had last Halloween when I put the candy out with a sign that said "just take one" as I went off to a party at my neighbors. You don't have to be a genius to know how that turned out. Anywho, here we go:

200 warmup (come on, you would just be guessing here, read on!)
8 x 50 working on your pull, reach, finish on :15r
8 x 25 diving off of the side, working on dives
4 x 200 broken IM at the 100 for :15
100 on 1:15
100 on 1:20
100 on 1:25
100 on 1:30
4 x 25 on :40
75 on :55
75 on :60
75 on 1:05
75 on 1:10
4 x 25 easy
4 x 200 IM on 3:15
50 cool down
3350 total

I won't tell you yet what I thought the theme was. All I know is that at the end of the workout the theme was "tired." Well done everyone.

Calling in the troops

I had no idea that E was so upset about what happened earlier in the week with Woods touching her leg. But apparently she was upset enough to mobilize all of the MIT ROTC troops to the pool today, in full gear. They surrounded the pool, and let me tell you Woods was swimming with some anxiety. But he was not nearly as anxious as some of the guys who came on deck in their flowered/multi-colored or otherwise fashion-oriented speedos. There is probably a no more emasculating experience then to stand next to a military man in full gear while you are in your fancy speedo. I have to say it was kind of funny. But it certainly made those men swim fast!

4 x 100 swim on :20r
4 x 50 descending breath, 9, 7, 5, 3
2 x 150 pull, middle 100 stroke
6 x 50 middle of the pool 50s working turns
8 x 150 pace on 2:20
100 easy
4 x 150 (we pulled) on 2:15
100 easy
2 x 150 fast on 2:10
100 easy

BTW, it was SNOWING this morning, albeit briefly. Nice job by all today. And while we were swimming, the ROTC students were jumping off of the diving board and treading water in full gear. Hats off to all of them!!!

Behind the Glass Curtain

We all aim for transparency, so it should have been no surprise to the swimmers today that they were being watched. In fact, at one point there was an Olympic-size panel of judges up on the treads including me, E and Mike M. I began to daydream that we held the fate of the swimmers in our hands, judging them on flip turns, stroke counts, and speed. I'd give BB a 8.9 on his turns, Kevin a 9.5 and Joel a 9.0. Of course if I were the East German judge I would give Joel a 6 for getting in so late, but then I remembered: There is no more East Germany! We won the Cold War! This is what one thinks about up on the treadmill, FYI.

And here is what they did:

4x(2x50) stroke/drill
300 pull
100 fr 1:15
200 fr 3:10
100 fr 1:15
100 fr 1:45
2x50fr 35sec
100 1:45
6x125 25ez/75sprint/25active recovery(whatever that is) 2:10
50 ez
6x125 25ez/50sprint stroke/50 active recovery 2:20

BB was on fire today, training for some outdoor 3 mile river swim in Connecticut. Bill G. and Joel M. did not get in the water until 6:50! What is that about? And they are so fast, too. Not fair.

It's not how you start...

...but how (and if) you finish. So SB gets the gold star today for staying for the entire workout! I am not sure which phenomenon surprises me more - Joel getting in before the warmup or SB staying until the end. In any case, we did a lot of yards today and this adage was also helpful in thinking about the entirety of the workout, saving some fuel for the end.

4 x 25 swim
150 swim
4 x 25 swim
150 swim
8 x 25 fly
2 x 500 swim on 7:30
400 IM break at 100 for :10
300 swim on 4:15
300 going 100 stroke, 100 free, 100 stroke on :30r
300 pull on 4:15
300 going 100 stroke, 100 free, 100 stroke on :30r
12 x 25 4 on :30, 4 on :35, 4 on :40

Kind of a weird workout, but it worked. Steady pace on the 500s, keep it for the 400IM and then work the 300s. In some ways we don't know what is coming next so you have to hold back a bit when you know it's distance day. Woods got a little fresh today (yeah, Mo, it's true!) when his leg "accidentially" found its way into our lane and somehow touched E. Some things are accidental, others suspect. We'll give you a free pass this one, but I pity you if it happens again...please don't ever say we didn't warn you. :)

Account credit request

Dear NSTAR:

I am writing to request a credit to my sleep account for the work you decided to do last night in my neighborhood. While I am sure there was a good reason for it, using a jackhammer between midnight and 2am, followed by some kind of whizzing loud drill from 2am - 4am, accompanied by a large spotlight which made 3am look like noon, kind of interrupted my sleep. While I have not taken a poll of my neighbors, I am guessing we are all walking around like zombies today. I made it to the pool okay, had to get out early for a meeting, and it's been all downhill since then. I figure that sleep is worth about $50 an hour, and since I was finally able to fall asleep right before my alarm went off, it will only be $250. I love when that happens. In any case, I'll just deduct this from my next bill, thanks. I suppose I should just be thankful and appreciate that some huge disaster was averted, but I am tired and cranky so that will have to wait.

Katie "even earplugs did not help" O'Dair

300 warmup on own
4 x 25 snap hip (practicing for swimming with the stars, Bill?)
4 x 50 back/breast
4 x 75 swim on 1:15
2 x 100 kick
4 x 25 free
4 x 150 pull hypoxic on 2:20
8 x 125 broken IM on 2:15
50 fly, 25 bk/br/free
25fly, 50bk, 25 br/free
25fly,25bk,50br/25free
choice, repeat
10 x 100 descending 3,6,9 on 1:40

I missed the 100s, unfortunatly, but I trust that my lanemates descended them!

Wonder twin powers - activate! Form of...

..a speedboat! That's what BB was this morning, and I took advantage of the draft. Only a few of us will recognize this cultural reference, but did you know that the Wonder Twins were the originators of the fist bump? Yep. But the difference is that once bumped, they can transform themselves into any animal or even weather pattern. That, my friends, would be "way cool" as the kids say. Imagine how fun it would be to create a blizzard at the Z Center and then be a polar bear walking around. Kenny would freak. And we do have our own wonder twins in L3 these days, former college swimmers who took "two years off" but we can tell that those two years will melt away very quickly as they are speedy. And if you add their ages together, they equal BB's age. :) Here is the workout:

4 x 50 swim on :60
4 x 75 (50 breast, 25 free) on 1:35
4 x 100 on 1:45
a kick set, I forget it
Main:
5 x 200 on 2:50
4 x 25 easy
5 x 150 on 2:20
4 x 25 easy
5 x 100 on 1:30
4 x 25 easy

The L3 suit got rave reviews, and I think there will be a market for L1s, L2s, L4s, L5s too. So E, you might just have a new career designing swimwear! Stinging Bee was the fave, for sure.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm totally cereal about that!

Bill threatened to make us do the 400IM over if we didn't do our turns correctly. And to make a point, he wrote "I'm cereal" underneath. Apparently he had been watching Jerry Springer (I didn't ask) and some woman used this instead of "I'm serious". I got this immediately, and apparently got points from Bill for getting his joke. What he doesn't know is that I have a weird fascination with malapropisms, and get a big kick when people use them. The best part is that people are trying to sound really smart. Like when Dan Quayle said that Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child, or when someone puts out a fire with the fire distinguisher. My own personal favorites include when Michelangelo painted the Sixteenth Chapel or when a former colleague saw someone choking and gave him the heineken maneuver (I am NOT kidding). Okay, I could go on, but here is the workout.

400 warmup on own (we either were that early, or Bill was that late)
5 x 50 drill various
400 pull work the evens
6 x 50 count strokes
8 x 75 descend 2,4, 6, 8
1-2 on 1:05
3-4 on :60
5-6 on 1:05
7-8 on :60
400 IM
400 free descend by 100
4 times thru:
50 fast on :45
2 x 25 easy
some kicking

On the top of the sheet it said "distance day" but it didn't feel like it. Apparently this was just a pigment of my imagination.

From the upper deck..

While I was not in the pool today, I was with my lanemates in spirit. Actually, I was watching them from above, on the treadmill. IW, Dr. Bob, and C swam in lane 1, the latter two not getting in the water until 6:40am, and C getting out at 7am. I don't blame him, given what I saw them doing for a workout. I will do my best to capture what I saw, but it will be skewed by my own emotional reaction to what I was seeing. The twin powers were back in L3, likely ready for L2 action soon!

Warmup - a bunch of swimming
500 free steady pace
some 50s easy
some 50s sprint
1000 kick (it seemed like that, it might have been 100)
some 100s swim
50s kick
50s fast
more kicking
not much more distance swimming
more kicking

I am supposed to mention that Bill is doing the 3000 swim on Sunday at practice - 10:30am! Also, I have been asked when the L3 suit is debuting. Given the disintegrating state of my current suits, I'll pick Friday. So to my L3 friends, if you want to see you name in chlorinated glory, come to practice on Friday.

Guest Blogger BB: Too much time on his hands

I had about a nanosecond of free time today, so BB graciously posted our workout!

Some of you may remember this oldie but goody from Styx from the early 80's. With the age demographic of L3 at practice this morning I am guessing we were all in high school when this song was popular. The possible exceptions to this are SB and Dr. Bob. (BB, that wasn't nice!)

Well, today I made a passing comment to KT that I was feeling under
utilized at work and that I had too much time on my hands so she suggested, only in the way that KT can, that I write the blog. I will be quick as I think the mere mention of being under utilized got the Work God's frowning upon me.

The tenor of the day was set when E said that Coach Bill wasn't prepared
for practice today as he was bit tardy in providing us our second set. It
all went downhill after that.

Warm up: Oops, no warm up - nobody was IBB
3 times thru 100 swim/drill, 50 free, 50 fly (back/breast)
A bunch of 25's fly with Coach Bill blowing that darn whistle--thanks E!
200 pull on 3:05
150 swim on 2:15
4x100 free on 1:25
200 pull on 3:05
150 swim on 2:15
4 x 100 free on 1:20
150 pull on 2:15
100 free on 1:40
4 x 75 on :60

We were a bit fractured as were split between L1 (E, BB) and L3 (KT, IW,
Dr. B). Even separated we still maintain a strong L3 identity. Time to go back to work and to become Mr. Roboto-domo arigato Mr. Roboto.

...another Styx classic

Punishment and reward?

Today, each lane had a little sheet stuck to the wall which said "On time for practice? Yes or No" with one of the two circled. And for those who were not on time? An 8 x 25 fly set. For those who were? 8 x 25 fly (or choice.) Woods wondered to me just who is being punished and who is being rewarded? We all thought this was a little hypocritical, too, given we are ALL on deck when our coach walks in, of course talking intensely about swimming, or strategy for practice, and/or appropriate swimwear designs. Even Joel was on deck, but that is a matter for another day and another blog entry. :) So instead of kicking us all out of practice like other coaches might do, Bill pretended to be mad and gave us fly and kick sets. Don't you know you can catch more flys with honey, Bill?

8x50 swim/drill
200 front quad
4x25 fly kick fins
100 free
4x25 back kick
100 back
4x25 free kick
100 fly
8x25 fly 30 sec
50 40sec
100 1:30
150 2:20
2x200 2:50
150 2:20
100 1:30
50 40
4x100 1:35 1-2 pace 3-4 descend
4x100 1:40 same as above
4x100 1:45 same as above
50 ez

Phew. That was hard to remember. Thankfully BB remembered it for me. Special thanks to Mike from the meat department at Whole Foods for buying me coffee this morning. It's the little things....

Fashion Line

Following in the footsteps of cultural icons like Jessica Simpson (footwear), JLo (handbags), and Pamela Anderson (beachwear?) I have decided to start my own line of fashion swimwear. And to do this, I have contracted with our own resident fashionista Elaine to design Lane 3 swimwear. We realize that this has a limited audience (3 women, 7 men) but I have a feeling that we will expand it to other lanes and come up with catchy slogans for each. For instance, "Lane 1: No talking, just swimming" might be an apt phrase, one worthy of a suit. Let me think about other slogans, ideas welcome. I actually am in possession of the suit in the photo, so will be debuting it next week.

200 on own
3 x 75 kick,drill,swim on :20r
25 underwater
3 x 50 build speed
3 x 75 stroke
25 underwater
3 x 50 build speed
2 times thru:
100 kick
2 x 50 kick
Main:
5 x 125 on 1:45
4 x 25 easy on :40
4 x 125 on 1:50
4 x 25 easy
3 x 125 on 1:55
4 x 25 easy
warmdown set

The key to this is not to go too fast on the first set - a 1:20 pace is sufficient - so that you can hold a faster interval on the other sets because you get the rest. Well done by BB today, he left it all in the pool. And while at first I resented the "no kick sets" phrase on my suit (nobody wants to be called out on misbehavior publicly) it's true. I did not do the kick set today, I opted for masters choice.

Doing the right thing

There's doing the right thing in the ethical sense, like letting the cashier know you got too much change back, or finding something cool that doesn't belong to you and returning it to its rightful owner. And there is doing the right thing in the legal sense, like stopping at a red light or not parking in a loading zone. Then there is doing the right thing in the workout sense, like reading the paper, listening to the coach, and doing what he says. I'd like to think of myself as someone who tries to do the right thing; yet after today's workout I realized that NOT doing the right thing has consequences. Let me give you the workout first:

250 kick or swim, masters option
6 x 50 count strokes/stroke on :60
4 x 25 fly
10 x 100 on 2:00 FAST
6 x 150 on 2:25
2 x 50 free

Our focus was on the 100s. I somehow missed Bill's explanation of the workout, which was this: Do it in pairs, holding a consistent pace for each pair, but DESCEND each pair also. I missed the descend each pair part so started out my first pair on 1:13. When I got to the wall I got an earful from everyone that now I had to descend from that when I thought I just had to hold it within each pair. This did not make me happy. At all. But I did my best, holding pairs of 1:13, 1:12, 1:11, 1:10 but not breaking 1:10. Everyone else "did the right thing" and succeeded. Well done!

There are always questions to ask yourself when faced with doing the right thing. How will I feel about myself later if I do it? Will it hurt anyone, including me? What does the little voice inside my head think about this? What will the people I respect think about it? No doubt about it, I will do the right thing next time, as I don't like the answers to these questions!!!

Have a great weekend!

tip of the day: if you find a wallet, return it with everything in it. Not only is it the right thing to do, but Dateline may be filming you.

You know it's been a long time when...

Time flies when you are having fun, as the saying goes. But sometimes time goes by and you are simply surprised that things around you have changed. Case in point, the acorns that now attack my car on the drive in. Where did they suddenly come from? Or the little dust bunnies in my spare bedroom, who I affectionately anthropomorphized by naming "fluffy" and "powderpuff." Didn't I just "swiff" last week? Or was it last month? But the reality of this time lapse set in today when I looked at the sheet of 500s and instead of thinking "great!" I thought "oh-no!" That is when I knew lots of time had passed, and much of it was not in the pool. But we persevered, as we always do.

Warmup
2 x 25 free, breast, back, fly
3 x 25 free, breast, back, fly
Most did a fin set here, Ian and I did the following using our "Masters Option" card:
3 x 200 pull
Main:
500 negative split on 7:20
500 pull hypoxic
5 x 100 steady pace on 1:35
500 with fins
500 fastest time of the day, beat 6:31:99

We skipped the fourth 500 and did the fast one. BB and I swam side by side and he won the race (were we racing?) coming in at 6:26. I made 6:28 and was happy with that, but the whole thing hurt.

Now that's a workout!

Field reporter KBB was back "working" again in far away places - this time in Hawaii. An extra special bonus was that he got to see our friend Spence. Spence, KBB, and I swam together on another masters team 10 years ago. Back then, we could each have a lane to ourselves but chose to swim together. Apparently they are continuing the tradition, but without me. Here is the swim workout they did:

Date: Sep 20
Location: Waimea Bay, Oahu.
Goal: Keep up with Spence.
Workout: Dive in, dolphin past the wave, angle right to the rock outcropping. Pause. Turn left and swim parallel to the beach to the rocks at the other end of the bay. Pause. Cut the angle back to the center of the beach. Total distance about 3/4 of a mile.

Is it just me, or does the lady in blue in the picture look like she's in distress?

Juxtapose that with our workout today:
Date: Sep 20
Location: MIT Pool
Goal: Get out of bed, attempt to swim, go to work

Warmup: a bunch of 50s, 100s kick, 25s stroke total of 1200
Main: 12 150s going 1-4 descend on 2:15, 5 easy, 6 fast twice thru

I'll take Hawaii, thanks.

Who's hot?

This was the text at the bottom of the workout sheet today:

You can do this!
You are strong!
You are smart!
You have what it takes!
You are tough!
You are hot!

We were all in agreement on the first five items, but when it came to the last, there was a lengthy discussion and debate. Of course I, being the only lady in the lane, immediately thought Bill was talking to me. Yet given given the collective vanity of my lanemates it wasn't quite clear who was the target of the sheet. So we agreed to disagree and did the workout.

3 x 75 free on :20r
3 x 75 breast, back, free on :20
3 x 75 drill/swim on :20r
2 x 100 IM legal turns or we would be penalized
Main:
400 build on 6:00
5 x 100 on 1:20
300 build on 4:45
4 x 100 on 1:20
200 on 3:30
3 x 100 on 1:15
100 wasy on 2:00
2 x 100 on 1:15
kick set but I left

It was obvious after doing this that Bill was not referring to our good looks, witty nature, or overall sparkling personalities when he wrote that. He was talking about the 100s hard and Dr. Bob was, in my opinion, the hot one today. He is just good at 100s and came the closest to making all of them. I for one can only make 2 in a row before I explode, which happened today. But the good news is that the 1:15s make the 1:20s feel easy. :)

It's Friday and it's beautiful out. Have a wonderful day and weekend!

Ode to E

There once was a girl named Elaine
Whose last year was a little insane
Though she possess great skill,
she fell off the 'mill
But for this year, as Queen she will reign!

Happy Birthday, Queen E!

Flash forward

There is always a moment in the warmup when Bill places the sheet for the next set upside down hanging on the sign board right in front of the lane. It's usually around that time that the warmup is getting a little boring and that little sheet piques our interest. It's an exciting time, if you think about it. What is the next set? Is it distance? IM? Will the intervals kill us, or will we exhale in relief? It's like a mini-present that you get to unwrap every day. Imagine that much fun at 6:40am in the morning. You may disagree, but I think it's true: we all have that anticipation. As I was pushing off for another 50 backstroke today during the warmup I saw IW glance up at the sheet, looking (but not wanting to see) what we might be in for. He didn't see it, but the look was priceless. And then we got the sheet.

Here goes:

4 x 50 count strokes free
4 x 50 back/breast
4 x 50 drill
4 x 50 count strokes free
3 x (4 x 25) on :30 going:
25 sprint
25 stroke
25 underwater swim
25 easy
400 pull
3 x 150 fast free on 4:15
3 x 150 IM no free on 4:45
3 x 150 fast free on 4:10

Nice job, BB and IW. Bill was having some issues with his C-Drive today which oddly enough made him early to practice. I wonder what time he will get to practice if we give him a flash drive? Consider.

Flip flop?

I realized this morning that I don't like the whole being-a-candidate-for-Senate thing. Everything I say and do is being scrutinized by my "constituents." Case in point, when I tried to rally the lane for our 4 x 25 kick set I was accused of flip flopping on the issue of kicking. While it's true I don't like kicking, sometimes we public figures have to do things we don't want to do, like go to parades or ride around in a limo when we'd prefer to use our hybrid. Then, I was accused by SB of cheating the kick set by moving my arm while I was using the board. When I tried to explain myself, all I could hear was "you lie!" from the back of the lane. I am worried now that they are going to go after my tax records. Due to all this stress, I am sorry to report I am dropping out of the Senate race. You won't have Katie to kick around anymore! Okay, you probably will, but you can't see my tax returns and I am still not going to kick. So there.

300 warmup on own
4 x 25 kick on :15r
4 x 50 drill on :15r
4 x 75 descend by 25 on :20r
4 x 50 swim
4 x 25 kick
3 times thru:
200 pull on 3:15
100 back on 2:00
300 on 4:20
300 on 4:10
300 on 4:00
50 easy
200 on 2:55
200 on 2:45
200 on 2:40
50 easy

We only made it through the first 200 because of time. Shout out to BB who not only held a strong pace but conserved his effort until the end. Well done by all!

Intervention

I had a dream last night that my friends and family staged an intervention and recommended that I attend iPhone Anonymous. Of course this didn't sound all that bad so I went fairly willingly while pretending to be mad. At the meeting we sat around, sharing photos and music and saying "apps" a lot. We made videos and cleaned our screens with a soft cloth. We gleefully talked about the poor BlackBerry users in the next room who were doing an exercise on texting without a touch screen. Then my iPhone alarm went off for swimming and I realized that no such happy place exists, so I reluctantly got up and went to practice, guided by my phone's GPS but not before Bumping BB in the parking lot for some info I needed.

Our workout:

200 on own
2 x 100 fly/back by 50
100 free going 25 drill/25 swim
2 x 100 back/breast by 50
2 x 50 on :50
3 x 50 on :45
4 x 50 on :40
3 x 50 on :45
2 x 50 on :50
Main:
5 x 125s fast on 1:50
75 ex on 1:30
4 x 125s fast on 1:45
100 ez on 2:00
3 125s fast on 1:50
75 ez on 1:30
2 125s fast on 1:45
100 ez on 2:00

This was tough, no doubt about it. You must really work the 1:45s to get enough rest to keep up the pace. All lanes did the same interval which was fun. All in all, a great set to set us up for the weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Users Guide

Advice is cheap, and as someone who rarely gives advice, I am always cautious about doing so. Okay, that is a total lie. I love giving advice. And I cannot post the workout today without some helpful hints as to how to make it a pleasant experience for all of you at home. Failure to follow this advice may leave you languishing in the depths of swimming boredom.

First, the workout:

3 x (3 x 50) going stroke, free, drill on :60
3 x (3 x 75) going 50 fly/25 free, 50 back/25 free, 50 breast/25 free on :20r
18 x 100 on 1:30 (this is what the advice is for)
3 x (3 x 50) going 2 back on :50, 50 free on :60

Second, the advice:

Don't do this one alone, because you'll likely get to #9 and bail. Try to find friends or a buddy and convince them that 18 x 100 is fun. My buddy was BB today and if not for him, I would have been at work at 7am. We swam side by side which also helped the pacing. Also, try to mix it up a bit. For instance, we chose to break it up into 3 sets of 5 x 100 doing 1-5 swim with various 50s fast, 6-10 pull, 11-15 descend 1-3, easy 4, fast 5, then hold the last 3 on 1:20. Keep your mind engaged and it makes it more fun.

Campaign update: The response to my possible run for Senate has been remarkable. Thus, I have added a few things to my platform, among them:

1. No more 450 yard kick sets on the first swim day of the week… or any other day for that matter
2. No more 75 flys on the first swim day of the week… or ever
3. Long course only
4. Make it light for morning bike rides to practice

Lastly, I will be developing a patronage system, much like other politicians, and will find a cushy, high paying job for Coach Bill so that the above (minus the whole sunlight thing) can be accomplished.

Big Announcement from Me

Today on the drive in I heard that Joe Kennedy will not run for Senate. That makes it easier for me to make a big announcement on my blog, just like Curt Schilling did last week. Today I announce preliminary plans to potentially think about possibly declaring my candidacy for United States Senate here in Massachusetts! Why not me? Of course my platform would be the usual: education, healthcare, the economy. But what other candidate will think about YOUR concerns, like crime in the mens locker room, environmental problems like mold on the pull bouys, or unfair treatment by the coach when we socialize too much on deck? These are serious issues, and you need a serious candidate. Apparently I need only 10,000 signatures and about 10 million dollars to fund this campaign. I know a handful of people I can count on for the signatures, and I am sure I can find a backer with lots of money (any volunteers?) Hey, if I can bring about compromise in Lane 3, healthcare can't be far behind.

200 Warmup on own
8 x 75 (breast, back, free, fly)
100 breast kick
5 x 50 kick
100 breast kick
Main:
100 build on 1:45
2 x 100 on 1:20
200 build on 3:30
3 x 100 on 1:20
300 build on 5:15
4 x 100 on 1:25
400 build on 7:00
5 x 100 on 1:25

After being out of practice for a week, I (and probably BB, who was sick too) appreciate my health even more now. Good job with a full lane today: E, KBB, SB, R, BB, and me.

Health tip of the day: wash your hands to the song of "Happy Birthday" and cough into your sleeve. And don't kiss strangers!

Washing machine

After days of relative calm (read: nobody at the practice) the pool was like a washing machine today! All lanes were filled. At times I felt like I was swimming in open water as I swallowed half of the pool. But it's okay, many of my peeps were back so I was happy. BB had mega tan lines and KBB claimed that his were from before his West coast trip. Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the social aspect of today, I felt like I was put through the ringer (pardon the bad pun.) Here is our workout:

200 on own
4 x 75 drill on :15
4 x 75 stroke drill on :15
4 x 75 IM no free on :15
4 x 74 choice (we pulled) on :15
15 x 150 going:
150 (first 50 hard)on 2:15
150 (middle 50 hard)on 2:15
150 (last 50 hard)on 2:15
2 x 25 easy on :40
150 (first 50 hard)on 2:10
150 (middle 50 hard)on 2:10
150 (last 50 hard)on 2:10
2 x 25 easy on :40
150 (first 50 hard)on 2:05
150 (middle 50 hard)on 2:05
150 (last 50 hard)on 2:05
2 x 25 easy on :40
150 (first 50 hard)on 2:10
150 (middle 50 hard)on 2:10
150 (last 50 hard)on 2:10
2 x 25 easy on :40
150 (first 50 hard)on 2:15
150 (middle 50 hard)on 2:15
150 (last 50 hard)on 2:15
2 x 25 easy on :40

I didn't stay for the last set - I was exhausted today. Nice job by all with some aggressive intervals. We pulled the middle set which broke things up a little.

A view from the left coast

Our travelling field reporter, KBB, is on the West coast this week. Unfortunately, I inadvertently offended him by lumping him in the same category as all my lane friends who are on "vacation" (see yesterday's post.) Kim is not on "vacation", he is working. Of course he is an amazing multi-tasker - finding time to socialize with old friends, ride through scenic mountains, run in the foothills, sip on lattes, and go to a masters workout to watch the sun rise while balancing a very busy meeting schedule. It sounds really stressful, but if anyone can handle it, he can. Here is the workout he did at Stanford Masters this morning.

(Disclaimer: I am sure Stanford masters copyrights/trademarks/licenses their workouts, so posting it here in no way implies an endorsement of Stanford Masters or is meant to encourage people to swim this workout as opposed to the MIT Masters workout. Bottom line: those doing this workout do so at their own risk and parental supervision is recommended.)

400 swim
2 x (4 x 50, 2 x 100)
1 x (4 x 50, 1 x 100)
200 easy
2 x 50 sprint on 1 min
100 easy
100 sprint
2 x 100 easy
There were more sprints, but he had to leave (another "meeting", I am sure.)

Of course this was outdoors, 50 meters. KBB made sure I knew that. He made a couple of observations, too. No lifeguards, pool is reserved for masters only, few people wear flip flops, no lockers on the deck level and everyone leaves their bags out in the open on the benches. He may not come home!

Firsts and lasts

There were a few of both today. For one, it was the first time all summer that the sun was not up for my drive in to practice and the first time the thermometer in my car read in the 50s. It was the first time I clearly understood the writing on the glass wall separating the hallway and the pool (see pic and ask me later what it means.) It was the first time Paris came to practice without Ann, and the biggest first of all was that Bill Geary was the first person on the pool deck and in the water. That may also be a last, folks, so it must be chronicled. And of course today is my last day of vacation for the summer. Great swim today with Bill G, who is getting ready for the Maui Channel Swim next week.

Warmup 200 on own
3 x 100 swim, stroke, drill, no breath by :25
4 x 50 on :60
2 x 150 kick
6 x 75 on 1:20
15 x 100 going:
1-5 descend on 1:30
6-10 steady on 1:25
11 easy on 2:00
12-15 fast on 1:40

I truly miss my lanemates who have all been on some kind of vacation for the last 2 weeks. How do people at the pool know that I miss them? Maybe it's the fact that I mope around, or whine (not flattering), or delay getting into the pool, hoping that one will magically appear from the locker room. Eventually, like today, I resign myself that nobody will make it and convince others, like Bill, to swim with me. It's really pathetic, come back.

Pet Peeves

We all have little pet peeves, like people who chew with their mouth open or emails with no subject line. One of my pet peeves presented itself to me on my drive in to swimming today. I saw a guy who looked like a banker-type heading downtown in a late model Camry with the words NH or BUST 09' written in huge yellow paint on his back window. You might wonder just what part of this scenario is annoying to me? Well, all of it is a bit strange, but the part that bugs me is the inappropriate use of the apostrophe. I see this all the time. It is supposed to mark an ommision (in this case, it should be '09 replacing the "20") or mark possessives of nouns. It's like people know there is supposed to be an apostrophe somewhere there so they just put one in without thinking. I can't tell you why it bugs me, but it does. It's kind of like when someone leaves the apostrophe out of my name and spells it Odair. Upon further reflection maybe I have had issues with this my whole life and it came to bear this morning on Storrow Drive. I feel better already, just sharing it.

The water was still warm and it made Ian a little "peeved" at the workout today!

12 x 50 going swim, drill, stroke, choice
4 x 75 kick
4 x 600 all on 1:15 rest
600 pull
600 broken at each 200 for :15
600 swim (we broke at 300 and negative split)
600 broken at each 100 for :10
4 x 50 kick

Even though the water was warm, we kept a good pace on all and made it through. I never thought I would ever complain about anything being too warm but even I thought we could lose a few degrees.

iReport: Hurricane Bill

If you look closely you can see the eye of the hurricane right over my left ear. I look as frightened as I was.

So there I was, doing my best impression of Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel. Braving the elements of hurricane Bill, I stood there overlooking the beach in Wellfleet, wind and rain pelting me as lifeguards casually lounged while small children played at the water's edge and crazy surfers took on the fifteen foot waves. You can imagine the terror and the excitement, being right in all the action! Thank goodness I had my trusty iPhone to capture it all.

Anyway, just as I am about to break a story about some guy's cooler full of beer that was taken by the rip tide, our waiter from the Beachcomber comes out and says "do you want your margarita inside or outside?" How about an extra shot of tequila with that buzz kill, buddy? So in I went, my hopes of fame and fortune crushed like the ice in the drink I was about to consume.

Heavy sigh. Back to reality. Fun times today with Ian and Steve, the water was a bit warm (all the MIT kids are doing their swim tests so they didn't want them to get cold.) Today's workout:

200 warmup
12 x 50 (1-4 kick, 5-8 back, 9-12 drill/swim)
2 x 200 on 3:10
4 x 200 on 2:45
2 x 200 on 2:55
2 x 150 on 2:30
4 x 150 on 2:10
2 x 150 on 2:20

Woods had his own theory about Hurricane Bill. He thought it was mighty suspicious that coach Bill "missed" practice on Friday and then just showed up in the middle of the Atlantic to ruin our weekend. He might be on to something. You know what they say about those mild mannered types!

Today's workout

For those who missed practice (including me!) here is the workout today. Thanks KBB!

4 x 50 Count Strokes
4 x 100 Drill/Swim
4 x 50 Build

4 x 200 free @3:00
4 x 50 fly @ 60
50 ez @ 1:15
4 x 150 free @ 2:15
4 x 50 back @ 60
50 ez @ 1:15
4 x 100 free @ 2:15
4 x 50 breast @ 60
50 ez @ 1:15

GB Liz O: Everybody wins?

Sister Liz may be the final guest blogger of the month. As of this writing I am packing up the Hamptons house, loading up the Range Rover, and heading back to Boston after a quick stop on the cape this weekend. It's been a great break, but time to get back to work!

Recently, I took on the task of cleaning out my attic. I happened upon a box containing, to my delighted surprise, old swimming trophies. If you were an age group swimmer, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I own about 10 of them. My most prized one mildly states, “Most Improved Swimmer 1976,” which I achieved when I made the tremendous leap from Novice to Intermediate in a single summer.

The other 9, however, are a bit suspect. They are the evil spawn of the “B” meet. The “A” meets included swimmers of all ability levels, including the top competitors. The “B” meets, on the other hand, were sort of like the Junior Varsity of age group swimming. If you were a mediocre swimmer, competing in a “B” meet made you feel a little like Mark Spitz cleaning up at the 1972 Olympics. I recall strutting around with medals around my neck and a trophy in each hand, feeling like hot poop. I’m still embarrassed about that, 30 years later. At the time, however, the adrenaline coursed through me and I felt drunk on power. I’m sure that the very next swim meet gave me a good dose of reality and my top dog status quickly evaporated.

I debate whether to keep the trophies. In the end, I simply leave the box in the attic. It’s too much of a bother to carry them down the stairs and out to the trash.

Today's workout:
150-400 swim on own
3 x (4x50) going free, breast, back, fly
3 x 100 kick
6 x 500 going:
500 swim pace on 7:30
2 x 250 pull on :30r
500 swim on 7:05
4 x 125 going 75 stroke, 50 free on 2:10
500 fastest swim of the day (beat 6:31, which we all did thanks to Joe)
6 x 75 going 2 on 1:10, 2 on 1:05, 2 on :60
50 easy

Guest Blogger Sweet Caroline: A fleeting crush

The sibling peer pressure was too much for my baby sis Carrie (twin of Danny), so she is making her debut here today. She's always been a hot ticket, whether or not 8 years old or 41. And no worries, there are no more O'Dair brothers and sisters, but I will say they have come in quite handy during my little break!

When I was little, I had a huge crush on one particular lifeguard at our pool.I can't remember his name, but he looked exactly like Bobby Ewing from Dallas, only with red lifeguard shorts on and a whistle swinging around his hand as he walked the deck. He was hot, at least as far as my 8 year old tastes were concerned. My friends and I would loiter around his lifeguard chair, talk to him, and try and act cool. I was pretty sure he was into me, he just couldn¹t let on in front of everyone else. One day as we hung around his chair, laughing at everything he said, a friend of mine started to threaten that she was going to give a way my BIG secret (like he had absolutely no idea). Just the thought of it made me go pale. I tried to play off the threat, thinking she wouldn't dare, until I heard it starting to come out of her mouth in slow motion- "Caaaarrie liiiiikes youuuuuu!!!!" I was so mortified, I had to escape. I dove into the water, swam all the way to the opposite end of the pool, and never spoke to him again.

Oh well. Probably all for the best. I would have been too much for him to
handle anyway.

Today's workout:

6 x 75 drill/swim/drill on 1:20
8 x 25 Kick odds on 35 evens on 30
4 x 50 GOLF (time + count strokes) on 60
300 rev IM
6 x 50
50 cruise
25 stroke on 25
50 fast on 40
9 x 150
3 descend on 2:25
3 cruise on 2:15
3 descend @ 2:30
3 x 100 warm down on 2:00

Guest Blogger Bob O'Dair: Don't drown daddy...

Our guest blogger today is my other baby brother, Bob! He is a swimmer, a triathlete, an amazing musician, and of course great dad, husband, and brother. He also never fails to make me laugh.

This summer I’ve been training my daughter to drown people. It wasn’t really something I had planned. In fact, I had fully intended to send her to swimming classes, hopefully get her to blow bubbles in the water, then go under completely, then swim 4 x 50 butterfly on 1:10. She’s only 3, but as a former child swimmer who quit when he was 11, I have some expectations. We’ve barely been swimming this year, at least in a real pool. The closest thing to swimming I've done so far is in the small pool we bought for our back yard. We got the pool because a) we all love the water, b) we have a concrete patio on which to place said pool, and c) it's been hotter than Hades (Katie asked me not to swear) here in Austin. Indeed, I can remember about 2 brief rainfalls since March, and the other day my car's thermometer read 109 degrees during evening rush hour. As of this writing, we’re at 54 consecutive days of triple-digit high temperatures. It’s hot. We got the pool.

My only rule is that youngsters wear a flotation of some kind – tube, water wings, or other – since the pool can be up to 3 feet deep. This allows Ruby to swim by herself. Of course that rarely happens, since I’m averse to melting, so I get in and we splash and jump and all, and eventually she just wants to drown me. This is her favorite game - push me underwater and make sure I stay there. "Daddy, I wanna push you underwater." I hesitate at the idea, but honestly it's kind of relaxing, just floating face down in the water and being pushed down until I float back up. I can stay that way for a while, and in toddler time it's an eternity. I realize this might be considered teaching and reinforcing bad habits, but I think our conversations really add clarity:

Me: "You know you can only play that game with daddy, right Ruby?"

Ruby: "Um, Yeah. Daddy, go underwater."

See? She understands. We’re cool.

Today's workout:

4 x 200 (stroke/swim, swim, drill/swim, swim) on :25 r
1 x 100 kick on 2:15
50 kick fast on 1:00
50 kick faster on :50
200 on 3:00
2 x 100 on 1:35
100 fly on 2:00
200 on 2:55
2 x 100 on 1:35
100 back on 2:00
repeat kick set
200 on 2:50
2 x 100 on 1:35
100 breast on 2:05
200 on 2:40
2 x 100 on 1:35
100 choice
2 times thru
50 fast on :50
50 easy

GB Danny O: That ain't cold water

In case you don't remember, Dan is my brother. He is also a swimmer. But he is still scared to race me in a 50 yard free.


We’ve all had it, that moment perched at the edge of the pool before the first plunge, filled with the dread of the cold below. Even the warmest of indoor pools can give us pause at the anticipation of the shock of the water as we summon up the courage to go for it. Every time I find myself in this moment, I steel myself with the memory of the coldest I’ve ever been. It was high school, and I’d taken a trip with my friend Doug for a little parent-free partying at his dad’s cabin on Indian Lake. The temperature hovered in the low 30s. Being the hardy types we were, we decided to spend most of the night at the edge of the lake hovered around a barrel fire while we knocked back can after can of Old Milwaukee telling stories about our miraculous 17 year-old exploits and making big promises about our the rest of our lives. Of course Doug’s dad didn’t know we were there, nor were we allowed to have a fire, which made it all the more exciting.

As we were about to pile in the car the next morning to head home, Doug remembered the forbidden barrel. His solution? Wrangle the barrel with its still-smoldering embers into the metal rowboat, row it out into the lake, and dump it. My instincts were that this was not a good idea, but it was Doug’s place and Doug’s boat and Doug’s barrel, so out into the slate grey water we went, breaking the thin skin of ice that clung to the shore as we pushed off. Somehow we managed not to capsize our little craft, and as the barrel hit the water I remember the hiss and the rising steam before it sank into the silence below.

The next day I got a call from Doug. “A neighbor saw us. We’ve got to go back up there and get the barrel out.” Doug’s dad drove us up and stood there glowering as we tried to muster up the courage to execute our mission. Never before and never since have I dreaded the first plunge as much as I did that day. Jumping into 35 degree water is, to say the least, clarifying. First there’s the shortness of breath, then there’s the sensation of every inch of your skin being pricked by blue-fire needles. To stave off hypothermia, we took shifts hunting for the barrel, one of us clambering for shore as the numbness set in while the other searched madly 20 yards from shore. We found it, eventually, and it took both of us to haul it back and heave it up onto dry land. I remember Doug’s dad smiling as we huddled around the kerosene heaters inside the cabin waiting for the sensation to return to our limbs, and despite all the stupidity and irresponsibility involved, I think we both felt like we’d just done something brave.

So that’s what I remember, and even if the pool is a bit on the chilly side, I know it won’t be as cold as Indian Lake in November. So in I go.

Today's workout:
200 WU
4 x (4x25) going odds free, evens stroke various
8 x 50 middle of the pool working on turns (E and her deep sea diving)
12 x 25 3 fly 1 free on :30, :35, :40
9 x 225 going:
1-3 descend on 3:20
4-6 steady on 3:30
7-9 descend on 3:10
KBB did I forget something?

editor's note: if anyone was up at 6am and saw the sunrise over Boston today, it was absolutely amazing.