The Party's Ovah

Back to the grind today, both literally (today's workout) and figuratively (work, being responsible, etc). I forgot to ask Dr. Bob today if he could prescribe something for my PVLS: Post-Vacation Letdown Syndrome. I am sure there are a few things that would help this malaise that has suddenly come upon me. The positive news is that it was great to see my lanemates today. Not quite as positive but still okay is that I get to spend this rainy day in my office, warm and dry, checking my 500 emails. In every cloud....

The workout was a grind. Lots of people there today to enjoy it, too.

4 x 50 count strokes
100 50 back 50 choice
4 x 50 drill/swim
100 50 back 50 choice
300 swim :30r
300 pull hypoxic
8 x 100 on 1:40
2 x 50 back
6 x 100 on 1:50
2 x 50 choice
4 x 100 on 2:00
2 x 50 back

The challenge on this set is to not get too bored. We swam the first set even pace, pulled a few of the second set, and with all the rest tried to push the last set. It was hard, and I felt it after being out of practice for over a week. Everyone did great today!

OBX Journal 2009

Greetings from the Outer Banks! I thought I would include a page from my journal this week on the blog. It's pretty much the same, ho-hum, relaxing itinerary each day. If you read this expecting a swim workout, you will be slightly disappointed.

6:30am - wake up. Drink coffee. Sit on upper deck of house overlooking ocean. Check weather. Another 80 degree sunny day. Wonder out loud why I live in a place that isn't like this all the time.
7:00am - still sitting on deck. Play with multi colored play-dough with nieces
8:00am - go for run. Discover national estuarine reserve trail through wetlands. Appreciate this for the rest of my run.
9:30am - sit at pool. more coffee. teach nieces to kick holding onto wall (note swim reference).
11-ish - go to Corolla Lighthouse. Climb up.
1pm - receive calls and texts from home alerting me of bad weather in Boston. Feel sympathy for friends. Feel happy for me.
Afternoon - go to beach. read, build sandcastles, walk, body surf, play "baggo!", throw football, remember that shoulder still hurts, stop throwing football, start thinking about dinner. teach nieces (2.5 and 3 yo) the congratulatory "fist bump."
5pm - return to house. Brother-in-law prepares margaritas. Shower. Sit outside. Remember it's my turn to make dinner. 7:30pm -Prepare and make dinner. Corral 13 adults, 2 children, and 2 babies into dining area. Eat.
Post dinner - walk on beach. Listen to brother play guitar. Play Euchre. Sit around doing nothing. No TV. Wonderful.

As you might guess, I am exhausted from all of this activity. And while I miss all of you terribly, I can't say I would rather be there than here. And in case you are wondering, I am wearing my 30spf.

Mashpee Race Report

We finally got a beautiful day! And not soon enough for those of us who swam the Mashpee 3.1 or 1 mile swim today. Representing MIT Masters were Caitlin, Marla, Matt, and me. This is a summary of the swim.

It was about 64 degrees, which was almost balmy. The water was calm. I was amused when the race director went to take the water temp and put the thermometer in about 1 foot of water and said "68 degrees." I am no scientist, but my guess is that the water right near the shore might be a tad bit warmer than the rest of the (very) large and deep pond. But mentally, that helped a lot, just knowing that somewhere in the pond it was 68. We all discussed how this was only 3 degrees colder than our pool! But we quickly realized it was actually 13 degrees colder. Okay, the course was a triangle, and those of us who did 3.1 went 6 times around and the mile swimmers did it twice. The course looked long, and the final times showed that was the case. The field was probably around 100 - a perfect number.

We started on the opposite end of the beach from the milers. It was a deep water start, and the deeper it got, the colder it got. Remember, if you wanted to compete in this race you could not wear a wetsuit. So we are treading water, waiting for the starting gun. And waiting. More waiting. By the time the gun went off I was pretty cold. Bill gave me a strategy, which was to go out fast and try to stay with the fast group as long as possible. I did that, but we met up with the milers and I lost my draft. I ended up finding a group of guys who seemed strong, so I tried to stay with them. I quickly realized that some of them could not sight their way out of a tunnel with a light at the end of it. As they strayed right and left, I went straight, and met up with them at the bouys where I caught a bit of a draft until they strayed again. My thinking was this: I was more bothered by going off course than I was missing the draft, so while I swam my own race they were cruising. Since we all have to end up at the bouys it all equaled out.

Six loops is a LOT. After 3, I was cold and not relieved that I was halfway done. After four loops, I began to feel optimistic. On the last lap, I realized it was almost over. And then it was over. Amen.

So, our own Caitlin was the overall winner at 1:13:21 and she also won the 20-25 age group!!! She beat all the fast guys, and there were a lot of them. I am happy with my swim - third woman overall and 40-44 age group winner at 1:23:32. Marla got third in her age group for the mile, nice job! (I have your medal, Marla.)

Several people came up to me after and asked if I was aware that my lips were bright blue. No surprise. I had the shivers for about 45 minutes after the race, and never really warmed up in the water. But it was a lot of fun seeing old swimming friends and hanging out with my teammates. I am glad it is over - my lanemates know I trained hard for this and am relieved it is over. Now I can go on vacation, which I do tomorrow. Maybe if I am inspired I will post something from the Outer Banks.

Please behave when I am away, Lane 3-ers. I don't want to hear any stories!!! :)

Out of Office Reply

I did not swim today, but I did open up my email to find the following:

Out-of-Office Automatic Reply:

SB is temporarily out of the office… actually, he is under his desk sleeping off today’s swim practice.

Please leave a message and if Steve awakes before 2pm ET, he will return your message.

If this is an urgent matter, please contact Katie O’Dair, Bob Burrow or Carmen Monks who will be alert and at the ready (as they did not attend swim practice).

I guess I picked the right day to miss practice! It appears that it was SB, KBB, and KY.

100 Warmup
8 x 50 on 1:05 Rev IM order
7 x 100 @ 1:45
2 x 50 @ 1:15
6 x 100 @ 1:50
2 x 50 @ 1:15
5 x 100 @ 1:55
2 x 50 @ 1:15
4 x 100 @ 1:40
2 x 50 @ 1:15

That is a lot of 100s! Sounds like it tired everyone out. See you all tomorrow.

Rock me, Amadeus!

This was the theme of the morning, mostly because more than one of us heard this song on the radio driving to swim practice. And as you already know once I get a song in my head it is there for the duration. But it did get us to thinking - some of our new lanemates were not even BORN in the 80s! That means they missed all of the formative music of our high school and college experiences. What are YOUR favorite 80s tunes? I have to go with anything from Duran Duran or Def Leppard. BB likes "I want to be sedated." Hmm. But who can forget Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer? Okay enough.

300 WU on own
8 x 50 various stroke, free, drill
2 x 100 kick
100 easy on 2:00
500 pace on 8:45
100 easy on 2:00
500 going 200 hard, 100 easy, 200 hard
100 easy
400 fast on 7:00
2 x 50 easy on 1:15
400 faster on 7:00
2 x 50 easy

Mad props to SB who not only stayed for the entire workout but swam really strong. And IW found his groove at the right time and was looking very good today. There is something to report which will make us all feel good. One of the 19 year old college swimmers, who is ready to swim in the fast lane for sure, said she didn't want to leave because she likes swimming in L3. Awesome! We did not scare her off! Good job, everyone.

Hair update: Today is a good day - the sun is out, and the frizz is gone.

Bad hair

It's the talk of the town, this awful weather we are having. From talk radio (what bad economy? It's 55 degrees out!) to the grocery store (carrots - 2 for one with an umbrella) it seems this is all anyone can talk about. But what I can't say to the guy in line next to me in Starbucks when he starts to bemoan how terrible June has been is how unhappy I am with my hair in this weather. It is just awful, and many women would agree with me. I can throw on a sweater or raincoat, but nothing can help the hair. Okay, this is a swim blog so I will get to the heart of the matter, the workout today!

WU 200 on own
8 x 50 on :50 varied free/stroke/drill
4 x 50 kick
1 x 50 breast on 1:10
1 x 50 breast on 1:05
2 x 50 breast fast on :60
1 x 50 free cruise on :60
1 x 50 free on :55
3 x 50 free fast on :50
1 x 50 back cruise on 1:05
1 x 50 back on :60
2 x 50 back fast on :55
1 x 50 free cruise on :60
1 x 50 free on :55
3 x 50 free fast on :50
1 x 50 choice cruise on :60
1 x 50 choice on :55
3 x 50 choice fast on :50
3 x (4x100) going:
100 fast on 2:15
100 faster on 2:00
100 wicked fast on 1:50
100 easy

BTW, where were all my old friends? And by old friends I mean anyone who has been voting/drinking legally for 2-3 decades and swims in Lane 3. Nobody was there! I started out with the 19-20 year old college swimmer crowd, which made me feel on one hand good but on the other hand old. So I moved over to lane 2 (now lane 4, go figure) and hung on for dear life. I was shaking at the end of the workout which I suppose is a good thing.

Why we love Bill, Vol. 1

There are many reasons why we love our coach, but a short conversation on the pool deck today made me even more appreciative of his coaching style. We had a visitor from Palo Alto today, a guy who swims in this 16 lane outdoor pool, probably with olympians and likely without 30spf. He introduced himself to Bill and asked "are you doing a tempo workout today?" And Bill, in typical Bill fashion, said "sure - we'll do a tempo workout, along with a bunch of other things." He then looked at me and said "I am not sure that I have ever named one of our workouts a tempo workout but what the heck." That there, my friends, is just one example of why Bill rocks the pool.

Workout
150 drill/swim
150 stroke/free
50 free build
50 stroke build
2 x 100 kick
5 x 200 on 3:20
400 pull hypoxic
5 x 150 on 2:30

I think I may be forgetting something. Got to swim with R, J, and K today - very fun. I hope that this awful rain stops soon because our May flowers turned into June showers which turn into huge puddles on Mem drive. Happy weekend, all!