Motivation

A few of us were talking on deck today about how we had to drag ourselves out of bed and were experiencing a general lack of motivation. I call it the mid-summer slump, but it's not really the MSS because we practically just started summer. I think things come in cycles, and I for one have been less than motivated to swim. So when I got to the office today I started planning for a motivational speaker to come to masters and get us going again. I'm thinking a little combo of the Chris Farley living-in-a-van-down-by-the-river type guy combined with a perfect cheer by Will Farrell. Feel free to send me your requests, I aim to please.

Interesting workout. Not my favorite, but not my least favorite. I am neutral to slightly positive on the workout. How is that for a ringing endorsement?

4 x 50 drill/free
200 stroke/free by 50
100 swim
6 x 100 on 1:45
2 x 50 stroke on 1:20
4 x 50 stroke on :60
100 free
6 x 100 free on 1:40
2 x 50 stroke on 1:20
4 x 50 stroke on :55 (ouch)
100 free
400 IM (double ouch)

The young college kids got to go at this one. I even tested my shoulder today with some fly. It seems okay. Good job IW, E, H, and M for sticking it out. SB, I hope your meeting was worth missing the 400 IM.

Swimming in mud

I imagine that swimming in mud is a little like mud wrestling but with lane lines. I myself have never mud wrestled, but I have seen Stripes and as a kid used to do this pillow fight type thing where the losing kid ended up in a big mud pit. My brother also told me about this party he went to in LA last weekend where women were wrestling in chocolate pudding. Who does that? As an adult? I bring this up not to condemn the barbarity of it all (my male lanemates may not think it barbaric at all) but rather to say that today I felt like I was swimming in mud. And I don't think I was alone. I realize that this topic may invite inappropriate responses from some of you, so keep those on email as this is a family-friendly blog. :)

200 drill/swim
200 drill/stroke
200 descend by 50
Main set:
5 x 400
400 steady on 6:30
400 descend by 100 on 6:40
400 fast on 6:50
400 negative split on 6:40
400 fastest one of the day
300 kick or whatever (in my case)

The funny part about this is that our times were good and consistent, it's just the bodies didn't feel all that great. Our last one was our fastest as Bill wanted, but it hurt. A lot. H led us out and great job BB, E, Dr. Bob, and M. BB and KBB will be gone all of next week. What will we do?

Fashion tip of the day: The hot pink, tiny speedo is apparently back in fashion for men, so get yours now, guys!

Swimming Off the Wall

It was a Thriller of a workout today if you like mega distance, but if not, it was Bad. And when you look at the workout you'll understand why we didn't spend a lot of time on the wall. And who knew our coach was a conspiracy theorist? Either that or he is in denial, as he thinks MJ is still alive. Here is the workout:

300 swim
3 x (4x50) on :15r
1-4 drill/swim by 25
5-8 reverse IM
9-12 build
Main
3 x 800 going:
800 focus on front quad on 2:00r
2 x 400 on :25 swim the first, negative split the second
800 fast, negative split

This was more tough mentally than physically. With the 400s, you had to go out strong on the first one and not just match your time on the second, you had to Beat It. It's Human Nature to want to get out but with Bill telling us not to stop until we've had enough, it was hard to lose motivation. Oh this is painful. Okay, and BB let me know that he took one look at the Man in the Mirror after the workout and though he looked Dangerous. Lastly, the day would have been complete if Billy had worn Jeans.

And thus, our Lane 3 tribute to Michael Jackson is complete.

Flashback

It was only a matter of time before the ghosts of my swimming past would visit. I was saying to BB after practice that I was not inspired today, but what he didn't know what that I was still processing what had happened during warmup. During the first set I glanced over and underneath the high dive board I saw him - my age group coach, Skip. It wasn't him, of course, but someone who bore a striking resemblance to him. Imagine Mark Spitz, but with a whistle and clipboard, and you get the idea. My heart raced. Was he going to make me kick? Was the stopwatch already on, ready to get my time? Was he going to tell my mom I was socializing on deck earlier? Of course the negativity spiral continued and I remembered the time when the outdoor pool just opened, the water was about 55 degrees, and I could not breathe because of the cold. I recall getting out and sitting on the edge of the pool. Skip said to me "either swim or get out and go home." I'll give you one guess as to what 12-year old Katie did. I think my hair froze on the long walk home. Please tell me I am not the only one with these memories.

But thankfully, the pool was warm today, Bill was on deck sans stopwatch, and K, BB, E, M, and I swam together.

100
4 x 150 alternating free/drill, stroke, free
6 x 200 going:
1-3 on 3:15
4-6 on 3:30 pull
6 x 50 on :50
4 x 50 on :55
5 x 50 on :45
3 x 50 on :60
6 x 100 going:
1-3 descend on 1:50
4-6 descend on 1:50, #6 is faster than #3

This set was fun because it had lots of variety. Don't take the first set of 50s out too hard or the fast ones will be tough. And I loved swimming with all my old peeps.

This workout brought to you by...

(insert sponsor here.) I often get random emails from businesses that want to advertise on the blog - from things like a Sweedish electronics company to vaporizers. But I will not sell out our lane for my own bank account. Except today I was tempted to ask the Container Store to sponsor us because we needed a little organization. It was a little chaotic for a Monday, but we eventually figured it out. We gained BG and J from lane 4 but lost KBB to lane 2.

Here is the workout:

10 x 50 (free, drill, stroke combo)
3 x 100 kick
2 x 200 on 3:15
4 x 50 on :55
2 x 200 on 3:10
2 x 50 on 1:00
2 x 200 on 3:05
4 x 50 on 1:05
2 x 200 on 3:10
2 x 50 on 1:05
3 x 100 cool down

I could not believe a kick set - on a Monday! But it actually felt good.

Here is the real sponsor of the workout today - Bill's radio show, the Jazz Volcano. He's on Monday's from 4pm - 5:30pm and takes requests. He is also known to do dedications (ala Casey Kasem but less cheesy.)It streams live at www.wmbr.org.

Happy Monday!

Bailout

I wasn't sure what I wanted more: a bailout from this weather or a bailout from the set today. But after coach Bill posted the workout I glanced up at the inspirational saying on the board (something about a man soaring with wings...) and thought about declaring workout bankruptcy. I had a vision of President Obama swooping down from above and taking us to a place where there is sunshine and distance freestyle every day. Oh, toto, does this place exist? But then the dream quickly turned bad as I realized that if this happened the government would own 72% of us and that would not be cool. So SB, KBB, BB, C2 and H fulfilled our obligations and did the workout. Not sure if I got this totally right as I left the sheets in my car.

200 WU on own
2 x 50 dps
100 stroke
2 x 50 dps
100 stroke
2 x 50 choice
10 x 100 free on 1:50 we pulled odds
(The next set all on 2:10)
100 fly/free by 25
100 fly/free by 50
100 IM
100 back/free by 50
100 back
100 IM
100 breast/free by 50
100 breast
100 IM
100 choice/free by 50
100 choice
100 IM

Good job everyone, I know that most of us did not want to do this but we did. As I look outside it is now darker than it was at 5am. It's scary. There is a big group heading to Walden tomorrow, 6am - breakfast afterward. If it is not lightening I will be there, no wetsuit.

Happy 4th of July everyone! Safe travels for those of you heading out.

Daily Oddservations

The first thing I noticed this morning was that I needed to put a coat on. In July. It does not take a genius to figure out that is weird. The second thing I noticed is that during my pre-workout commute (5:45ish - 6:10am) there were very few people using their phones or bberrys while driving. Most are either still asleep or maybe drinking coffee. But they have nobody to call at that hour, and thus it's a pretty peaceful ride. Fast forward to 8am and it's crazy distracted driver time on the roads. I'd like to know if KBB feels the same way as he bikes in. The possible exception to the above is BB, who is usually asleep at the wheel, his car running, clutching his IPhone in the parking lot. I just hate waking him up. The third terribly strange thing that happened this morning was that I arrived on deck to see Bill there. Yes, Bill, our coach. Coffee in hand, smile on his face, ready for ultra-distance day. Apparently he was so excited about UDD that he pulled an all-nighter. The pool was packed today! Everyone trying to get those last few workouts in before the holiday. MIT is closed all weekend starting Friday, FYI.

2 x 50 count strokes
50 breast
2 x 50 count strokes
50 back
3 x 50 count strokes
50 fly
600 descend by 150 on 9:00 (too fast)
100 easy
600 descend by 200 on 9:45
100 easy
600 negative split on 10:00
100 easy
400 faster than your last 300 (plus 100)
200 fast (R and K special)
warmdown

Did I miss something? It feels like we did more. Swam with BG, BB, R, IW, C2, and MIT swimmer guy. Kind of a mindless set but the descending helped keep us motivated. A special note to recognize IW who looked great on the warmdown set, we were all impressed.

I also noticed that the barge is in the river for the fireworks. And I heard a PSA this morning that the Blue Angels are doing a fly-by today between 1:30-2:30 so don't be scared (unlike the whole White House low flying over Manhattan debacle awhile ago.)