The "L" word

You all know what I am talking about. That elusive thing that we all seek in life. When it happens, it's newness surprises you. It is both fascinating and frightening at the same time. You're hesistant, thinking "can I do this?" Your world has changed. Your reality of yesterday is replaced by the exhilaration of today, yet you dive right in. This crazy little thing we call L, it takes some time to get used to. Yes, it's long course, and it is finally here! Day 1 for most of us, and it really does take time to re-adjust to both the intervals and distance. Bill gave us a nice workout to ease into:

2 x thru
100 drill/stroke on :25r
100 drill/free on :25r
200 kick
5 x 100 on :20r thinking about your stroke
200 kick
400 free on 6:30
2 x 200 IM on :30r
2 x 200 on 3:10
2 x 150 IM
3 x 100 on 1:40
2 x 50 stroke

Even as a huge fan of long course, this was a challenge for me mentally. I forget how much those walls help me to rest on flip turns (maybe I take it too easy on my turns!) But a fine job by all today.

Local swimmers get butts kicked

Cambridge, MA. Early reports from the pool deck this morning at MIT Masters confirm that swimmers got their fannies spanked by the workout. One swimmer, who wished to remain anonymous, said that "we knew things would be different when we saw Mariah on deck before any of the swimmers." That, apparently, is a change from the usual routine where many of those same swimmers drink coffee, chat, and take time to stretch until 6:23am. But not this morning. According to our I-reporters, here is what the swimmers did:

4 x 50 count strokes
4 x 100 drill/swim odds free, events back
4 x 50 backstroke
Main set:
10 x 25 on :20
100 backstroke on 1:50
8 x 50 on :40
200 pull
6 x 75 on 1:00
200 backstroke
4 x 100 on 1:15
400 pull on 5:50
4 x 50 kick

While the workout did not leave much time for idle chatter, words like "ouch!", "wowza!" and "zoinks!" were overheard in the seconds before each sendoff. One swimmer was conspicuously silent. Bill G., fresh off of his PR in the 1000 at Nationals last weekend, seemed to effortlessly make the intervals with no sign of distress. Reports that he had his new BlueSeventy suit on are apparently false - he swam this workout old school, just his speedo, googles, and mojo accompanied him.

Rumors are that both coach Bill and coach Mariah conspired this week to try to get swimmers ready for long course, which happens tomorrow. From the carnage left on the pool deck today, one might wonder if the swimmers can muster enough strength to pull it together. Stay tuned for part 2 of this unfolding investigative series.

Two days and counting...

to long course! No, we are not excited or anything! Today was D-day, as in distance day. And we did a ton of distance. Here is the workout:

4 x 100 drill/free, kick/free
4 x 50 count strokes
200IM
So let's get right to it!
300 descend by 100 on 4:15
300 fastest of the day on 4:00
400 first 200 pace, 200 fast on 5:40
400 fast on 5:20
500 alternate 100 pace, 100 fast... on 7:20
500 fast on 6:50
600 stretch it out on 8:20
600 fast on whatever you want

Great job BB leading the first part of the set, I enjoyed the draft. :) IW gets the gold star for proving the old adage "it's not how you start, it's how you finish." He was working those 600s and he probably would have kept going if we didn't get kicked out of the pool. It was a little awkward when he started trying to swim an 800 fast and the lifeguards had to use their safety poles, whistles, and finally the red tube to stop him because they wanted to vaccuum the pool.

What a gorgeous day - it started out cold and now is warm and gorgeous. Spring in Boston!

Manic Monday

If I were ever to be a singer/songwriter, I would make sure that I wrote a popular song with a day of the week in the title. Do you ever notice that they play those songs ad nauseum on those days? Case in point, I heard that awful Bangles song twice today, once on my way to swim, once on my way to work. Thank goodness the epic song "Eye of the Tiger" was the last song playing before I got to the pool. Anyway, it was a manic Monday. Nearly everyone at MIT Masters showed up for practice today, and at one point Lane 3 had 7 people in it. Yet just 20 minutes into practice, we were down to just four - we had one lane defection, one "I want to run" and one total disappearance. Bill was ready to go today! Here we go:

150 WU
6 x 50 stroke/free alternate
4 x 75 kick
Three times thru:
100 on 1:15
200 on 3:10
6 x 25
4 x 75 kick
Four times thru:
100 on 2:10
200 on 2:35

At first glance you might say "yikes!" but it's really just a mid-distance sprint set with lots of rest in between. So think of it as 4 x 200 fast. We kept consistent pace, though BB crushed #3 coming in on 2:22 (but then he left too!). I held :30, :27, :29, :29, but really felt it today. Nice job by Dr. Bob and Ian swimming fast. I am not sure how many of the 2:35s I could hold consecutively, so the rest was welcome.

'Til Tuesday (pardon the song pun)

I think I can, I think I can...

This morning started out nicely, just me and Steve keeping it real in Lane 3. But harsh reality set in when Steve left right after the first part of the main set to go to a meeting, leaving me swimming solo. Yuck! Why even swim with masters if you have to swim alone? Where was everyone? So I had to keep telling myself I could do this, just like the little engine that could. So here is what we (I) did:

300 wu
6 x 50 drill on :60
8 x 50 swim alternate breast and free
400 pull hypoxic 5, 3, 9, 5 or whatever you want
300 pull hypoxic
MAIN
3 times thru
125 on 2:05
125 on 1:55
125 on 1:50
125 on 1:45
125 on 1:50
3 x 25 on :40

My suggestion is to go really easy on the first two and work the next 3. If you don't, it makes the set harder. I adjusted this during the second and third rounds and it made it more interesting. I also had to talk myself out of getting out - it was all I could do to finish this set alone but I did it. "I know I can!"

No swim for me tomorrow, so have a great weekend everyone!

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!

We need the town crier today because we have much to celebrate. First, Joe and his wife Krystal had a baby son, Colin. Congrats, Joe! We'll give Colin a little time before he gets in the water with dad. Second, our beloved lifeguard Kenny was honored last night with the MIT Murphy Award, one of the highest honors given to a member of the MIT community. Kenny has served over 30 years as a lifeguard and those of us who know him are delighted that his hard work and caring has been recognized. Thank you, Ken. And a shout out to Bill for giving us the set today to prepare us for long course! Finally, props to the sun, which came out for a brief moment after I got my coffee. I think it was the sun, or it might have been the effect of the caffeine, who knows.

6 x 75 odds swim, drill, swim; evens drill, swim, drill
3 x (4x50)on :60
50 build up
50 build down
50 easy
50 fast
4 x 150 pull hypoxic 5, 3, 7 (we were supposed to do 9) on 2:25
1500 going:
500 work it
500 stretch out
500 faster
2 x 75
2 x 50
2 x 25
Total today: 3450

I admit that I did some daydreaming during this set, looking forward to next Friday, May 15 when the pool goes long course. This set will be much more fun and it will be easier to count in long course. This time I counted by the clock, which helped. We started out by working it, held a steady pace, and descended the last 500. I think we came in on 19:34 (6:30, 6:35, 6:29). Great job by all today!

Doing our part

Lane 3 cares about what is going on in the world. Case in point, we are doing our best to stop the spread of the the H1N1 virus, formerlly known as the swine flu. Today we had a vat of hand sanitizer deckside, at the ready, for germ removal. Tomorrow E will bring in surgical masks, and of course we all had a small tutorial on sneezing into the gutter instead of the pool. We want Lane 3 to be in the news for all of the good things we do, not for a new cluster of this virus. We also came up with other ideas, like a sanitizer holster to put on your belt for easy access and perhaps a car-wash like spray that gets us all as we leave the locker room. Of course, this will help us avoid many things, including our loved ones who will think we are total freak shows, so keep that in mind as you implement these ideas.

On to the workout! A good one! BB, E, CM, IW and me present and accounted for.

200 WU on own
3 x thru:
50 kick, 50 drill, 50 swim, 50 choice, 4 x 25 (fly, back, breast)
2 x 50 on :60
3 x 50 fly on 1:05
4 x 50 on :45
5 x 50 on :40
3 x 200 on 3:05 working 2nd 50
3 x 200 on 3:00 working 3rd 50
3 x 200 on 2:55 working last 50

Great set - good amount of rest so you can really try to work the 50 in each set. We held a good pace for each, trying to descend by sets of 3. BB and I traded the lead on the first and second set, and I accidentally went on the wrong interval. So, I humbly apologize to C who pointed this out. In the image of Scarlett O'Hara, as she clutches the dry earth of her beloved Tara and lifts it to the sky, I say "As God is my witness, I will never miss an interval again!". Oh, and we even had a lane song this morning - "Last night, I didn't get to sleep at all..". I think there were varying reasons for this, and I will leave it at that to protect the innocent.
Hand sanitizer courtesy of BB's desk. The bottle went from poolside to hanging out with hula girls.