Not-so-shameless Plug

This weekend is the Pan-Mass Challenge, a 190 mile bike ride from Sturbridge, MA to Provincetown which benefits the Jimmy Fund and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This organization is near and dear to my heart, and many MIT masters peeps are involved: I work at the Sturbridge site and have been a rider, Bill is at the Provincetown site, and Jimmy (morning lifeguard) is a rider. Many more of us have ridden in the past. This is not your usual athletic fundraising event - this is the gold standard by which other events are compared. 100% of every dollar you contribute goes directly to to Dana Farber. 100%. That is unheard of in the fundraising business. The goal this year is to raise 34 million dollars for cancer research. So if someone you know has asked you to support them in the PMC, I urge you to give what you can. WCVB (Channel 5 in Boston) will be covering the opening ceremonies live at 7pm, and this year Lance Armstrong will be riding the PMC and participating in the opening ceremony.

Just me and Sarah today - thank goodness she was there or I would NOT have finished the workout!

600 on own
200 going 75 free, 50 stroke, 75 free on :25r
150 (25 drill/25 swim) on :20r
150 (25 drill/25 stroke)
3 x 100 descend on 1:50
400 pull hypoxic 9,3,7,9
4 x 50 stroke on :60
100 free on 1:50
200 IM on 3:40
4 x 50 free on :50
100 stroke on 2:10
200 free on 3:20
2 x 50 easy
4 x 50 stroke on :60
100 free on 1:50
200 IM on 3:40

Growing old together

The kids weren't here today, so it was old school, literally, in the lane. With the exception of Sarah, all of us are in our 40s and three are in their 50s (they all have a "B" in their initials, btw). I've been swimming with some of these people for almost 15 years! It got me to thinking what we would all be like if we were all still together in a retirement community, sitting by the pool. C and I would still be arguing about that workout back in 2006 and KBB would still be shaking his head in disgust. BB would be playing scrabble and shuffleboard in a very loud speedo with an umbrella drink. E would be sunning herself with no more than 15spf while SB would be clinging to one of those swim noodles, his bouy long gone and still complaining about his injured calf. Coach Bill would stroll in 10-15 minutes late to happy hour. Dr. Bob would be the most popular guy at the pool because he still had prescription privileges. Oh, and Sarah would have to visit because she's too young to live there.

400 warmup on own
Three times thru:
2 x 50 front quad on :15r
100 drill/build by 25 on :20r
4 x 100 on 1:40
50 on 1:20
100 on 1:25
50 on 1:20
5 x 100 on 1:45
50 on 1:20
100 on 1:25
50 on 1:20
6 x 100 on 1:50
50 on 1:20
100 on 1:25
50 on 1:20

To break this up, we pulled some of the ones in the final sets. I made the first two 1:25 touch and go, and missed the last one at 1:27.

Too Hot in the Hot Tub

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SB!

The water temperature in our beloved pool has been pretty darn high over the past 2 weeks, and today was no exception. On Wednesday, SB and I swam a 50 and looked at each other and both thought: we should be drinking a margarita and leisurely looking out into the ocean with the water this warm. But what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, so we persist. The heat does a number on my memory, though, so I will rely on KBB to correct the workout.

300 on own
3 x (4 x 50)on :15
50 side kick
50 front quad
50 drill/drill
50 build
400 kick
400 descend by 100
6 x 50 going 25 sprint/25 easy
1-2 on :60
3-4 on 1:10
5-6 on 1:20
8 x 100 descend by pairs going:
1-2 50 stroke/50 free on 2:05
3-4 free on 1:40
5-6 50 stroke/50 free on 2:00
7-8 free on 1:30
6 x 50 sprint going:
1-2 on 1:20
3-4 on 1:30
5-6 on 1:40

Our friend from Stanford masters said there was "attitude" in our lane, or strong personalities, or something of the like. We keep it real here at MIT, keeps us coming back.

Rules of the Road

I imagine coming to Massachusetts can make people crazy, especially if you are an international visitor. Like figuring out how to navigate a rotary here (yes, it's different), or that a yellow light means floor it, or that a left turn on green in front of oncoming traffic just means you are a more astute driver than the guy going straight. But I have a hard time imagining that the rules of the pool are SO different around the world. But apparently, they are. Today we had a guest from Brazil who was very nice, but then did things that we consider exceptionally rude, like push off in front of us as we are trying to make an interval, leaving 1 second behind on the sendoff, or not doing the workout. And after all of that, we were still very nice. Just trying to do our part for international relations. Just make sure he's in another lane tomorrow, coach Bill.

400 on own
6 x 50 count strokes :15 r (1-3 free, 4-6 stroke)
4 x 100 drill/swim by 24 on :20r
200 front quad
50 easy on 1:20
50 fly on 1:15
3 x 100 on 1:30
50 easy on 1:20
50 fly on 1:15
4 x 100 on 1:40
50 easy on 1:20
50 fly on 1:15
5 x 100 on 1:45
50 easy on 1:20
50 fly on 1:15
6 x 100 on 1:30

To make the last interval we pulled and it was essentially a straight swim.

Check that off the bucket list

Rarely do you get a chance to go back in time for a do-over. But recently, I've had this feeling that I am experiencing something that I wanted to do but never did. What is that? Swimming in college. Yep, I did not have the chance to swim in college because I was far too studious and spent nearly all my time in the library, except for that time I flew to the moon on the space shuttle. Anyway, when you swim with college swimmers, as we are doing now, you have a choice: feel old compared to them or feel really awesome that you can actually swim with them. Some days it's the former, today was the latter. And I think they are often surprised that we are still hanging in at the end of the workout.

200 on own
4 x 150 pull hypoxic 7,3,5 on :20r
12 x 50 on :20r going:
2 x 50 drill/swim
4 x 50 7 breaths max
4 x 50 reverse IM order
2 x 50 drill/swim
10 x 100 fast going:
2 on 1:45
3 on 1:40
3 on 1:35
2 on 1:50 FAST
4 x 50 sprint on 1:30
4 x 50 on :45

The Beauty of the Warmup

Back when I was young, warming up seemed silly. I used to think it was a waste of time and just stood in the way of my workout. Now, I can't even think of starting the workout without a solid warmup. The recent age gap in our lane (we are talking a 20-plus year difference) has exposed the stark differences between the young and the not-young (that sounds better than old) with regard to the pace of our warmup. Think: speed racer versus Sunday stroll. I think it is a bad sign when I am gasping for air during the warmup set, which happened today. Thankfully we settled into a decent distance set afterwards.

300 on own
14 x 50 going:
1-2 swim on :60
3 faster on :55
4-5 stroke on 1:05
6-7 faster on :50
8-9 stroke on 1:05
10-12 faster on :45
13-14 stroke
800 going:
400 pace
200 pick it up
200 faster
4 x 100
50 fly/50 back on 2:00
50 back/50 br on 2:10
50 br/50 free on 2:00
50 fly/50 choice
800 free going:
200 swim descend each 50 :20r
200 pull :20r
200 even pace swim :20r
200 pull hypoxic (11,3,9,5):20r
400 negative split

Memory

The challenge today, my friends, is to see how good my memory is. As I write this it's 4:30 and I have not had a free moment to post the workout from today. But I have a temporary lull and will try it now. I trust my lanemates will correct me if I get this wrong.

500 on own (that is what getting in at 6:18 can do for you!)
200 pull :20r
2 x 100 swim :20r
2 x 50 br on :20r
2 x 50 brick on :20r
5 x 100 drill/swim by 50 on :20r
Three times thru:
200 on 3:30
50 on :50
50 stroke on :60
2 x 100 free on 1:35
50 free on :55
50 stroke on 1:05

Looks easy, doesn't it? Well it wasn't! The only time we had decent rest in the entire set was the 200 free. So you got to rest 20 seconds each of the set. We were originally supposed to do this four times but ran out of time, thankfully.