Swimming with Pat...

...is not exactly like "swimming with the fishes" but at one point today I did feel like a 50lb weight was attached to my torso dragging me to the bottom of the pool. Pat is a friend of BB's and was a guest leader in the lane today. He is ridiculously fast and probably should have been in lane 1 but swam with us instead, and we were happy to have him. But strange things happen when you swim with people much faster than you. First, it makes you feel really slow, even though you are holding faster times than normal. Second, it brings out the testosterone in the men in the lane. Case in point, mild mannered BB turned into a maniacal swimming machine following Pat. This is evidenced by a sub 5:00 400 free at the beginning of the workout. The rest of us were just holding on for dear life trying not to get lapped on a 200. So the moral of the story is this: if a guy named Pat shows up in your lane, you are going to work your butt off.

8 x 50 various on :60
8 x 25 fly on :35 because Dr. Bob was late (that's my story and I am sticking to it)
400 free on 6:00
2 x 75 on 1:25
200 IM on 3:15
200 free on 3:15
200 IM on 3:15
2 x 75
300 IM on :30 rest
300 Free on :30
2 x 75
4 x 100 odds IM, evens free on 1:45
2 x 75
6 x 75 free

So this was supposed to be a IM-only set but coach Bill mixed it up for us. Have I mentioned lately how much love and respect we have for Bill? Still, it was hard, and also fun to push it more than we might have without our guest leader there. Thanks Pat! Oh, and if you want to return I have some ankle and hand weights for you to wear to even the playing field, so to speak.

Multi-tasking

Today was the perfect workout for me as I had a lot of things on my mind. It had lots of distance and not much social time at the wall (which I usually love). So, I re-worked an agenda for a meeting today, sketched out an outline for a paper, and thought about what I wanted to eat for breakfast. Oh, and I watched the clock too! I was just starting to grapple with world peace when 7:30 rolled around, so I promise to get to that tomorrow.

200 WU on own
6 x 75 odds kick, swim, stroke, evens swim descend, drill
15 x 25 various things to think about
Main set:
800 (400 cruise, 200 start to pick it up, 200 fast) on 2:00 rest
400 IM on :60 rest (no fly for me)
400 on 6:00 going 200 cruise, 100 pick it up, 100 fast on 6:00
400 same on 5:40
400 fast on 5:20
6 x 75 odds 1:10, evens easy 1:35

Everyone did great - E, IW, KBB. This was my first true distance set in a while and I was not sure how I would feel. For that reason I tried to hold back until the last 400 and tried to really work it, coming in on 5:13. Everyone seemed to work the last one so Bill you should be happy that we did what you said! Bill is trying to prepare us for long course, and some of us are chomping at the bit not to have those pesky flip turns get in the way! And I know you are all wondering - with all of that thinking today, just what did I have for breakfast? Coffee, fruit, and a bagel with peanut butter.

Enjoy your day!

Weekend Warriors

I forgot what Monday mornings feel like after a warm sunny weekend. Here is how it generally goes: alarm goes off, body says "don't even think about getting out of bed". You fall back to sleep. Alarm goes off again, and your mind says "it will be good to get in the water". Pretty soon, your body and mind are in such a fierce debate and you are so fully awake that you have no choice but to get out of bed and to the pool, giving victory to neither as you shuffle your way to the edge of the pool. Yes, it was a gorgeous weekend and most swimmers are not just swimmers so we were biking, running, playing tennis, watching baseball, or doing other healthy or not-so-healthy things that made us pretty tired. So of course, the coach gives us a distance set!

WU: 300 on own
4 x (3x35)drill, drill, swim on :30
3 x 3x50 (swim, fly/back/descend) on :55, :60, :55
6 x 400
400 swim steady on 6:00
400 swim 100 fast, cruise, fast, cruise on 5:40
400 negative split on 5:20
2 x 50 easy
Repeat

It was a shocker to go right into this set as we were still waking up, but it felt good once you got into a rhythm. I only did four of them but E, KBB, and IW completed the set. You have to really concentrate on the third one to negative split so you don't miss the interval. Congrats to everyone who made it in today! Great job.

Was there a full moon last night?

Honestly, some mornings are so boring and others are active and strange. That was today. First, I spilled an entire cup of coffee on my newly cleaned oriental rug. Ugh. So I was already late when I pulled up to MIT to find BB just waking up from a 90 minute nap in his car, only to see police and fire trucks everywhere. Apparently there was a suspicious package that had to be blown up. Go figure. Then I forgot my card and towel cards, but thankfully our friend at the desk showed mercy. Already late, I got on deck and the lane had four people in it with three of us waiting on deck. We hopped into another lane and did a special workout R came up with, but when I found out what L3 was doing, I had a severe case of lane envy.

Here is what they did, which I will do on my own now. :(
(sent in by A)
300 warmup;
550 warmup set (3x100 dr/sw/st/fr 10R; 10x25 various phases of
free 10R);
2700 main set
600 descend by 200 @9:00; 2x50 ez @60;
400 descend by 100 @6:00; 2x50 ez @60;
200 descend by 50 @2:40; 2x50 ez @60;
400 descend by 100 @5:45; 2x50 ez @60;
600 descend by 200 @8:45; 2x50 ez @60;
100 warmdown
(3650 yds total)

Looks awesome. We did the following:
Main set:
3 x 100 pull on 1:20
200 on 3:15
3 x 100 pull on 1:25
200 on 3:15
3 x 100 on 1:20
200 on 3:15
3 x 100 on 1:25
200 on 3:15
2 x 300 swim on 4:15

So all of you at home have a choice! Mid-distance or distance.

CSI: Z Center

I was already in a good mood this morning when I got to the pool, but you can imagine my delight as I returned to the locker room after practice to find my once lost/stolen/missing red flower suit hanging up in my locker! This surprise turned to confusion. How did it get there? Who took it? Was she a fast swimmer, or just into fashion? Part of the puzzle was solved when E told me she hung it up in my locker after seeing it sitting on the bench as she walked in. She saw it yesterday too and was going to see who claimed it and do a little stealth investigation herself. The evidence suggests it has been worn and there is a small hole in it, but guilt must have overtaken the borrower/thief. I guess I could take it in for prints, but I choose rather to forgive the person who took it because they returned it. Plus it is always better to forgive (that is the only after-school-special moment you'll get today). Okay, on to the workout!

4 x 100 swim
12 x 50 free, breast, back, fly on :60
Main:
3 x (3 x 225)going: 200 strong, get time, 25 easy
1-3 on 3:30
4-6 on 3:20
7-9 on 3:30
4 x 50

It was me, Dr. Bob, and Marla. We decided to descend the first three holding 2:40, 2:39, :38, hold steady at 2:40 on the next 3, then descend the last ones, which we did 2:46, 2:40, and 2:31. The last one hurt! I wanted to get out after 3 of the final 50s but Dr. Bob said "Katie, do you want to walk around all day knowing that you didn't finish the workout?" Guilt is a great motivator, so I did it.

Guest Blogger: Miss E!

By way of introduction, E is an accomplished triathlete and long time blogger herself. She submitted this today as I was unable to make practice!

HELL hath no fury like a master's swim coach scorned.

Yes, it's true. We were punished today in Lane 3. Every last one of us. IW, M, KBB, SB, and I. Whether you were involved in the sneaky tactics or not. SB and I made the dire mistake of trying to sneak in a 300 warm up AFTER coach Bill had already given us a warm up set to start. Now we have done this in the past thinking coach Bill is too busy to notice but not today. Oooops.... He was keenly aware of what we were doing and stood on deck in front of our lane watching and contemplating our due punishment for this.
Here's todays set:
10 50's drill/choice
* a kicking set in which lane three was excluded from but given
8-25's of fly on 40 for our punishment with "This should warm you up!"
written on our little sheet of paper.
Main set:
500 on 7:30
4x25 ez
500 on 7:30 pulling
4x25 ez
500 broken (1:30)we worked these
4x25
500 on 7:05(we REALLY worked these)6:50
4x 50 ez cooldown

Birds chirping

I am not talking about the birds that awaken us so early these days. It's that I could almost hear birds chirping when I walked on deck this morning because it was so quiet. Where was everyone? It was just me and E in L3. If it had not been for a couple of night swimmers we would have numbered about 6 total in the pool. I admit it was hard to get up today after our long weekend, and of course spectating at the marathon is exhausting. :) Exciting race, especially the women's race. And several of us saw Bob looking strong on the course!

Here is what you all missed:

200 WU on own
100 free drill/swim
100 IM
2 x 50 descend
4 x 25 stroke
6 x 150 on 2:15 (we pulled odds)
300 pull on:30
200 swim (supposed to be pull)on :20
100 swim (again, supposed to be pull)
6 x 125 2 each 2:15, 2:05, 1:55
4 x 75 on 1:10 descend

This was a set for those who like a ton of rest. I got a wee bit restless but overall it was good to concentrate on our form and not worry about a tight interval. I hope to see more of you later this week!