Flattery will get you everywhere

This is "penalty week" at MIT Masters. It one of the weeks of the year where Bill gets all tough about being on deck early, getting in the pool by 6:18am, and actually swimming the workout as he designed it. The consequences for tardiness or errant bouy use are a penalty of $5 per transgression, which will go to charity. Those of us who already break the rules frequently (think SB and Dr. Bob) have the option to pay a waiver of $15. Seems reasonable, as some have already racked up tens of dollars of fines. And buttering the coach up doesn't work, as evidenced by E telling Bill he looked skinny on Monday. That kind of flagrant brown-nosing really annoys me. Bill is such a great coach and we shouldn't cheapen his role by flattery to get out of a fine. By the way, have you noticed that he has started to look a bit like Ben Affleck? Seriously, I was half expecting Jennifer Garner to stop by the workout this morning.

400 on own
Twice thru:
100 drill on :25r
100 stroke/drill on :25r
100 free/build on :25r
8 x 50 kick going easy/fast
200 free on 3:30
400 free on 7:00
800 free on 13:30
400 free on 7:00
200 free on 3:30
300 swim easy

3700 meters. Hooray!

Success!

BB did it! He swam 12.5 miles AROUND Key West on Saturday. This is a pretty monumental accomplishment in swimming, and he did it in a stunning 5 hours and 10 minutes. All done by training in a pool. You can see the before and after photos - that is 40% zinc oxide (with the oh-so-fashionable blue stripe on the head) to protect him. Apparently all was protected except for a small area around the suit line, making for a painful 4 hours flight home. Congrats, Bob. We are all so proud of you!

Here is our workout today - I post it because it's a good one:

3 x 100 swim :15r
6 x 50 stroke :15r
6 x 50 1-3 free; 4-6 drill/free
2 x 100 swim on :15r
6 x 200 descend by pairs on 3:30
5 x 150
1-2 on 1:40 swim
3-4 on 1:30 pull
150 IM order no free

Love That (not so dirty!) Water

The third annual Charles River One-mile Swim happened on Saturday. Dr. Bob and I represented the lane well, and the conditions were perfect for a swim. Just a decade ago, nobody would even think about swimming in the Charles. High levels of bacteria and phosphorus made it unsafe for people to enjoy. In 1995, the EPA gave the Charles a grade of D, which has slowly improved over the last few years and it is currently a B+. The best part of the swim was rounding the bouy and seeing the city during each breath. It was really something! Over 100 swimmers participated. The water was 72 degrees and felt refreshing. Congrats to the Charles River Swimming Club for their efforts in making this happen, especially our MIT masters teammate Ulla Hester. Hopefully, in a few years we'll be able to enjoy the river all summer.

12 miles is a long way

Today was distance day, and we ended up doing 3700 meters. That felt really long to me. But when I stack it up against what BB will be doing this weekend in Key West, it's a mere sprint. BB will be doing 19,200 yards in his 12 mile swim AROUND Key West. His training is done, his Kayak is ready, his zinc oxide (40%) is fully stocked, and all he has to do is swim. It's pretty unbelievable, and the water temperature is in the low to mid 80's. We'll all be pulling for him this Saturday - make MIT Master's proud, BB!

Today's short workout:

300 on own
200 swim on :20r
100 free on :15r
2 x 50 breast
100 free on :15r
2 x 50 breast
100 free on :15r
2 x 50 breast
2 x 100 descend on 1:45
2 x 200 descend on 3:30
2 x 300 pull on 5:05
2 x 400 swim on 6:25
500 fastest of the day

I'm pooped! Good job everyone.

Going legit

The time has come to pay the piper. And by the piper, I mean the MIT parking and transportation office. After years of taking our chances that the police would not be up at 6am to ticket our cars, not only have we received lots of tickets of late but BB had his car towed. Yep, towed, as in off-to-Somerville towed, with a hefty price tag of $200. He seemed to take it all in stride (as many repentent law breakers do upon getting caught) and has agreed to join me in paying for parking. How does this relate to a swim blog? Well, no car = no swimming. How's that?

Distance day today

200 warmup on own
2 x (4 x 50) on :55
Ascend
Descend
Easy
Fast
2 x (4 x 50) on :60
1-4 IM order
5-8 stroke
800 free on 1:30r
100 easy on 2:45
800 free on 1:30r
100 easy
6 x 50

Tough, but fun.

Mixin' it Up

I am not sure why Coach Bill feels the need to apologize to us freestyle swimmers every time he gives a stroke set. Really, it's not so bad. I am often asked by non-swimming friends why any distance swimmer or triathlete would ever do a stroke workout. My initial reaction is that anyone who calls themself a swimmer should be doing all of the strokes. But truth be told, mixing it up with different strokes makes you a stronger swimmer overall. And our lanemates who love stroke put up with us and our distance freestyle sets, so all is fair.

300 warmup
200 free pace on :20r
2 x 100 IM on :15r
6 x 50 count strokes on :10r
200 kick on :20r
2 x 100 free
5 x 100 fly/back on 2:10
4 x 100 free on 1:50
5 x 100 back/breast on 2:15
4 x 100 free on 1:50

It was especially nice to swim with people who swam the whole set, thank you BB, KBB, and S (plus our other friend). Dr. Bob we hardly knew ye!

Seemed like more than it was...

I'm having one of those days. As I write this blog entry it's 1:15pm, but it feels like 5pm. I've done so much since I got in this morning that I feel that the time of day should reflect the amount of work I have accomplished. The same could be said for today's workout. When we finished, I thought, "wow, we just did 4000 meters!" But then we added it up, and without including our 300 warmup, it was only 2900 meters. I wasn't the only one surprised, KBB added it up twice. Maybe it was the number of sheets Bill put up in front of us, but it felt longer.

300 on own
Three times thru:
2 x 50 front quad :15r
100 going 25 drill/25 build :20r
4 x 50 on :45
4 x 50 on 1:05
4 x 50 on :50
4 x 50 on 1:05
4 x 100 on 1:45
2 x 50 easy on 1:20
4 x 100 on 1:40
2 x 50 easy on 1:20
4 x 100 on 1:45
2 x 50 easy on 1:20


That's 3200 meters total. E said "only the strong survived today." True, except SB who tore his calf (not swimming) which really stinks. But my favorite saying still holds true: it's not how you start, it's how you finish.