It was just E and me today, so you can imagine my delight when Bill gave us a "custom" set just for our lane. My first thought was "cool! I love 200s and wasn't it nice of Bill to give us this special set?" What I didn't know at the time, but know now, was that Bill had something else in mind for the workout and was thinking "if I don't give these ladies a set they like it could be trouble". Hrumph. Okay, a slight bit of truth to that as 10 x 200 free is a lot more fun than 10 x 200IM. Point taken, coach.
WU 300
5 x 50 free
2 x 100 drill, stroke, free, no breath
400 pull front quad
Main:
10 x 200 free
1-4 on 2:50
5-7 pull on 3:00
8 on 2:40
9 easy on 3:40
10 fastest one of the day
6 x 50s random front quad, swimming through sewer pipe, rolling
Loved this set but arms were a little heavy today. Last one was 2:29, falling short of the goal of 2:25. Bill was really into the strange drills today, esp. the "front quad swimming" which is really just another way of saying catch up drill. Everyone else did 200IMs and I take my hat off to all of you.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Meet recap
A great job by MIT Masters swimmers, who as a team placed 8th in the medium team division this weekend at the SCY Championship meet. This was, according to the meet director, the second largest masters swim meet in the U.S. with over 850 participants. I can't possibly recap all of the amazing swims, but wanted to offer a few highlights.
1.The Geary v. Geary showdown was great - Bill had an amazing swim, and with a 5 second handicap "beat" Caitlin. Truth is, she won the race by 3 seconds. Both did awesome.
2.The highlight of the meet was Caitlin's 500 free. It was Phelpsian in it's drama. She was in the final heat, swimming neck and neck with her nemesis. At around 300, her opponent started to pull away - first a quarter body length, then a full body length by the 400 flip. Did that worry Caitlin? Nope. At the 425, it was down to a half body length, at the 450, a quarter of a body length. At the final flip they were neck in neck, and Caitlin touched her out by .08. Just take a look at the splits! The crowd went nuts. Suffice to say, she won the whole event.
3.I didn't get the memo about the half price sale on the Blue Seventy suits. Oh, wait, there was no sale, so that is why most of us could not afford the $375 suits. But they were everywhere, and records were dropping faster than I get dropped on a sprint set. Apparently, these are going to be banned at masters meets in about 3 months! They may have to offer counseling to those who purchased them and can no longer use them.
4. As I was walking in on Saturday afternoon, Dr. Bob and his family were walking out. Dr. Bob had this look on his face like he was a 10 year old kid and just got a bike for his birthday. The good news? He broke a minute for his 100 free - awesome!! Congrats - that new suit and new attitude paid off. :)
5. I did the 200IM for the first and last time. It was hard and painful and not that enjoyable. I had a solid 500 free with a PR by a second or so, finishing at 6:08:49.
6. Bill Paine is our hero. He was there all weekend, giving all of us feedback and splits and being his easygoing, supportive self. Most of us had our best swims ever - I don't think this is a coincidence so keep it up, Coach Bill!
It was fun to meet the night swimmers - they are nice just like the morning swimmers. I am going to encourage more of my lane three mates to do a meet soon - even if we pick one day and a few events. The a.m. was well represented by Bill, Joel, Caitlin, Nic, Dr. Bob, and me.
1.The Geary v. Geary showdown was great - Bill had an amazing swim, and with a 5 second handicap "beat" Caitlin. Truth is, she won the race by 3 seconds. Both did awesome.
2.The highlight of the meet was Caitlin's 500 free. It was Phelpsian in it's drama. She was in the final heat, swimming neck and neck with her nemesis. At around 300, her opponent started to pull away - first a quarter body length, then a full body length by the 400 flip. Did that worry Caitlin? Nope. At the 425, it was down to a half body length, at the 450, a quarter of a body length. At the final flip they were neck in neck, and Caitlin touched her out by .08. Just take a look at the splits! The crowd went nuts. Suffice to say, she won the whole event.
3.I didn't get the memo about the half price sale on the Blue Seventy suits. Oh, wait, there was no sale, so that is why most of us could not afford the $375 suits. But they were everywhere, and records were dropping faster than I get dropped on a sprint set. Apparently, these are going to be banned at masters meets in about 3 months! They may have to offer counseling to those who purchased them and can no longer use them.
4. As I was walking in on Saturday afternoon, Dr. Bob and his family were walking out. Dr. Bob had this look on his face like he was a 10 year old kid and just got a bike for his birthday. The good news? He broke a minute for his 100 free - awesome!! Congrats - that new suit and new attitude paid off. :)
5. I did the 200IM for the first and last time. It was hard and painful and not that enjoyable. I had a solid 500 free with a PR by a second or so, finishing at 6:08:49.
6. Bill Paine is our hero. He was there all weekend, giving all of us feedback and splits and being his easygoing, supportive self. Most of us had our best swims ever - I don't think this is a coincidence so keep it up, Coach Bill!
It was fun to meet the night swimmers - they are nice just like the morning swimmers. I am going to encourage more of my lane three mates to do a meet soon - even if we pick one day and a few events. The a.m. was well represented by Bill, Joel, Caitlin, Nic, Dr. Bob, and me.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Out of Context
There are things in life that when taken out of context seem strange, like a beautiful flower blooming during a snowstorm, Ronald McDonald eating at Burger King, or coach Bill swimming masters practice. This morning was one of those times for me. As I entered the Z Center this morning, I saw three or four men in speedos walking through the lobby, and it just wasn't right. What seems perfectly normal poolside is mildly disturbing away from the pool, and even our friend at the front desk was struggling with the parade of men in speedos. BB admitted that he probably would have received fewer glances if he went au natural rather than wear the brightly colored number he had on earlier in the week. Thankfully for all involved, the men's locker room will be re-opened next week.
Ok then! It was a relief to get into the pool.
200 WU
100 25 free, drill, kick, swim
2 x 50 breast
100 same as above
2 x 50 descend
6 x 75 random stroke and free
Main:
Twice thru:
400 free moderate pace on 6:00
200 IM on 3:20
4 x 100 keep it strong on 1:45
Great job, fun workout. And good luck to all who are doing the meet this weekend!
Ok then! It was a relief to get into the pool.
200 WU
100 25 free, drill, kick, swim
2 x 50 breast
100 same as above
2 x 50 descend
6 x 75 random stroke and free
Main:
Twice thru:
400 free moderate pace on 6:00
200 IM on 3:20
4 x 100 keep it strong on 1:45
Great job, fun workout. And good luck to all who are doing the meet this weekend!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Today's workout
Good morning! I must be blissfully brief as either the folks in IT are playing a early April Fools joke on me by overloading my email inbox or it's going to be a long day. My job really gets in the way of blogging. The nerve!
Here we go:
200 WU
4 x 50 free count strokes
4 x 50 stroke
Main:
11 x 150
1-5 on 2:10
6-9 on 2:20
10 easy on 3:10
11 hard (faster than 1:54:23)
3 x thru:
2 x 50 stroke sprint on :25
50 easy
2 x 50 free on :20
50 easy
Great job today - BB and Dr. Bob crushed the last one. Hey, if you see someone with a pretty red suit with black and yellow flowers on it let me know. Mine is gone from my locker (second one in as many months). Bummer.
Here we go:
200 WU
4 x 50 free count strokes
4 x 50 stroke
Main:
11 x 150
1-5 on 2:10
6-9 on 2:20
10 easy on 3:10
11 hard (faster than 1:54:23)
3 x thru:
2 x 50 stroke sprint on :25
50 easy
2 x 50 free on :20
50 easy
Great job today - BB and Dr. Bob crushed the last one. Hey, if you see someone with a pretty red suit with black and yellow flowers on it let me know. Mine is gone from my locker (second one in as many months). Bummer.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Wake up, sleepyheads!
All of us were a bit groggy this chilly Monday morning, but we could not stay sleepy for long with this workout. It was a pretty full pool today, too. Here goes:
200 WU
6 x 100 50 drill, 25 fast, 25 choice on :20r
3 x 100 50 stroke, 50 choice on :20
Main:
5 x 75 on :60
1 x 75 on 1:25
4 x 75 on :60
2 x 75 on 1:20
3 x 75 on :55
3 x 75 on 1:15
2 x 75 on :55
4 x 75 on 1:10
1 x 75 on :55
5 x 75 on 1:05
Not sure what else - got out early.
Our superhero/rock star lane mate today was leader BB, who kept it together until the end after doing his long marathon training run yesterday. Nice work. And Dr. Bob had a new suit, purchased after his daughter told him he looked "so 90s" with his regular speedo (I paraphrase here, but you get the picture).
Happy Monday!
200 WU
6 x 100 50 drill, 25 fast, 25 choice on :20r
3 x 100 50 stroke, 50 choice on :20
Main:
5 x 75 on :60
1 x 75 on 1:25
4 x 75 on :60
2 x 75 on 1:20
3 x 75 on :55
3 x 75 on 1:15
2 x 75 on :55
4 x 75 on 1:10
1 x 75 on :55
5 x 75 on 1:05
Not sure what else - got out early.
Our superhero/rock star lane mate today was leader BB, who kept it together until the end after doing his long marathon training run yesterday. Nice work. And Dr. Bob had a new suit, purchased after his daughter told him he looked "so 90s" with his regular speedo (I paraphrase here, but you get the picture).
Happy Monday!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Meet recap: Distance Day
For MIT Masters, distance day was a good day. While we were small in numbers, we were big on results. Everyone who swam came up big and scored points for the team, with many first and second places. Congrats to Emily, Judith, Ted, Barry, Patrick, John, Bill, and of course our own lane three-er, Dr. Bob! And yes, Dr. Bob's daughter made sure he made it to the block and into his heat. And a huge thanks to our coach Bill, for an awesome job in preparing us for the day. I hope we did you proud. As it stands, we are in third place for the medium teams. Not too bad given we had only 9 swimmers!! Here are the results:
http://www.meetresults.com/2009/nelmscscy/results.shtml
As for me, I was so happy to be there and participate after 2 years off. It was great to walk in and see old friends, teammates, and coaches and soak in the atmosphere. There really is nothing like it. I appreciated the last minute pep talk and strategy session from friend/formercoach Nate (and thanks for the splits!). I had a good race, PR'd by 8 seconds, and most importantly I felt good and held an even pace nearly the whole time. Steve L. you are the bomb for helping me get ready for this and for counting/cheering me on. Of course, my real inspiration was the tiniest and cutest cheering squad ever in Bene, Will, and Carl Michael. You too would swim your best if you heard "Go Auntie Cake!" at every turn. :) Part 2 (the big one) of the meet is next week. Go MIT Masters!
http://www.meetresults.com/2009/nelmscscy/results.shtml
As for me, I was so happy to be there and participate after 2 years off. It was great to walk in and see old friends, teammates, and coaches and soak in the atmosphere. There really is nothing like it. I appreciated the last minute pep talk and strategy session from friend/formercoach Nate (and thanks for the splits!). I had a good race, PR'd by 8 seconds, and most importantly I felt good and held an even pace nearly the whole time. Steve L. you are the bomb for helping me get ready for this and for counting/cheering me on. Of course, my real inspiration was the tiniest and cutest cheering squad ever in Bene, Will, and Carl Michael. You too would swim your best if you heard "Go Auntie Cake!" at every turn. :) Part 2 (the big one) of the meet is next week. Go MIT Masters!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The glass is half full
There are two kinds of people in this world: those that see the glass as half full and those that see the glass as half empty. As an eternal optimist, I choose the former, and thus will focus on the positive parts of the morning. For instance, I enjoyed the positive feedback from the coach ("you guys rocked those 200s!") rather than the negative ("some of you are wusses for getting out early"). I enjoyed testing out a new type of orange goggles that actually fit, rather than worry that they clashed with my red flower bathing suit. I enjoyed swimming with some of my favorite people, SB, BB, and K, even if K was just on loan from Lane 2 with a sports related injury. And I enjoyed the brief solidarity of my fellow lanemates who said they would taper with me even as they pushed off on the 3500 plus yard set. See? I feel better already!
Now to the set:
200 on own
3 x 50 free 1:00
3 x 50 stroke 1:00
3 x 75 free descend on 1:10
3 x 75 fly,back, breast on 1:25
Main
5 x 200 on 2:55
2 x 50 easy
4 x 200 IM on 3:15
2 x 50 easy
3 x 200 pull
2 x 50 easy
2 x 200 (help me here) on 2:45?
Obviously, I did not do the last part so may not have it right. Great job leading, BB, and K it did not seem like you were too injured. I hope you join us again soon. Thank you to AA in Lane 4 for the loaner goggles - they are awesome.
Now to the set:
200 on own
3 x 50 free 1:00
3 x 50 stroke 1:00
3 x 75 free descend on 1:10
3 x 75 fly,back, breast on 1:25
Main
5 x 200 on 2:55
2 x 50 easy
4 x 200 IM on 3:15
2 x 50 easy
3 x 200 pull
2 x 50 easy
2 x 200 (help me here) on 2:45?
Obviously, I did not do the last part so may not have it right. Great job leading, BB, and K it did not seem like you were too injured. I hope you join us again soon. Thank you to AA in Lane 4 for the loaner goggles - they are awesome.
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