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.