March Madness

I did my last swim of March this morning at the Roy Rec Center. I wanted to take it easy, given how many yards I've been piling up over the past two weeks, so I considered everything today to be bonus yards. March was a great month for my fitness, home life and overall health.

I started losing weight again after a two-month stalemate, where I leveled out and couldn't drop any more pounds. At least I wasn't gaining. I only dropped three pounds this month, but it was still a pleasant surprise. Only two more pounds and I will have dropped 40 since beginning this exercise campaign a little over a year ago. I also started a new job two weeks ago which looks promising so far. It's already given me better hours so I can spend a few more hours with Jen every day, compared to my last job where we only saw each other in passing in the mornings, late at night and on my days off.

My shoulder injury is also seeing vast improvement. It seemingly came out of nowhere after little-to-no progress at all during the past three to four months. I'm certain it has to do with me improving my stroke and my breathing, which is helping strengthen my shoulder, rather than weakening it, like it was doing before. I've had almost zero pain during the past two weeks, with only the occasional soreness, which I think is simply the normal aches you get when you push yourself by increasing yardage. It's sore, not injured, if that makes any sense. It's a totally different thing.

Anyway, here's what I did today.

Warm up
200 free
Core
1,750 free
Cool down
100 breast

I wanted to see how fast I could do a mile, although my expectations were low. I pushed it hard and finished in 30.02 and was flabbergasted when I saw that I was only two seconds shy of a 30-minute mile. That's not great, but still much better than expected. I have plenty of time to knock a few minutes off that before the GSL swim in June. I'm also feeling more confident about going for the 10k at Deer Creek and the 7-mile Bear Lake Crossing in August. Those two would be difficult, but obtainable goals for me in the coming months.

This puts March in perspective.
January: 1.73 miles
February: 3.15 miles
March: 14.89 miles

It surely has been a mad March!

Total distance: 2,050 yards

First one in, last one out

The Clearfield Aquatic Center it was again tonight. I wanted to go for a new high this year, so I made sure to be there a few minutes early so I could warm up and get in a lane before it got too crowded. I was in the water at 8:55 all by myself and did ...

Warm up
200 free
Core
2,650 free
Cool down
400 easy (alternating 25 free, 25 breast)

Two fairly fit looking guys joined me in my lane and we circle swam for about 30 minutes, but they stopped frequently and hung out on the wall a lot, so it really wasn't crowded at all. Actually, I kind of felt like I was showing off every time I lapped them and for a while it seemed as if they were just watching me swim. That stroked my ego a bit and I did a few extra laps to mark a new longest single swim since coming back from my shoulder injury. I also logged the most total yards in a single workout for 2012. I plan on topping both of those again next week. All the Masters swimmers finished up just as I started cooling down and I was the last one out of the pool at 10:10. Huzzah!!!

Total distance: 3,250 yards

Late-night swim Part Deux

I hit the Clearfield Aquatic Center for my second evening swim in as many weeks tonight. Jen accompanied me and read her book while I tried to get my groove on in the pool. I was in the water at 9:10 p.m. and here's what I did.

Warm up
200 free
Core
4 x 250 free on 4:30
10 x 100 free brisk pace on 2:00
500 free easy
Cool down
150 breast

Once again, I made it a point to do more yards than the Masters swimmers, who had a total of 2,600 posted on their board. I had a half-lane all to myself, which was nice, so I was able to do some descending sets. On the 10 x 100's, I noticed I was finishing each 100 slightly faster than the last one and it didn't feel at all like I was exerting more energy to do so. It was very encouraging. I think I'll do a little more speed work -- rather than distance all the time -- in the future. Very nice workout.

Total distance: 2,850 yards

Glorious swim ... glorious day

Got up this morning and the weather was beautiful outside. I was able to wear shorts and flip-flops to the gym for the first time this year. Hopped in the pool to squeeze in as many yards as I could manage in the one-hour lap swim time window.

Here's what I did.

Warm up
150 free
Core
2,500 free
Cool down
100 breast

It was the longest swim I've done since changing my breathing patterns. After I hit about 1,200 yards, I felt like I couldn't stop, so I kept on going even after I hit one mile, which was my overall goal for the day. With only a couple of minutes remaining, I stopped at 2,500 and did some quick breaststroke to cool down before they kicked me out. I feel great, my shoulder is getting much better and I'm looking forward to swimming next week.

Total distance: 2,750 yards

Late-night swim

I started a new job on Monday, so the new hours are hard to get used to. I was working from 4 p.m. to Midnight and now, for the next three weeks, I'm working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That's a pretty big change. Then, after those three weeks, I'll be on an 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. shift for the next three months or so. This is making it hard to find pools near my home that offer lap swim at the right times for me.

Fortunately, the Clearfield Aquatic Center offers lap swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., so I think I'll be doing that for the next few weeks. I'm not the type to get up at 5 a.m. so I can sneak in a one-hour swim before dashing off to work, so these ones will work fine for now, since I'm only doing two swims per week right now anyway.

Here's what I did.

Warm up
200 free
Core
2 x 500 free easy
10 x 100 free on 2:00
6 x 100 alternating breast and free on 2:00
Cool down
200 breast

I was the first in the pool and then the Clearfield Masters started a few minutes after. It was pretty packed for about 30 minutes and then they all slowly emptied the pool. I was proud to be the last one out of the water at 10:15 and I looked at their board to see what Masters did tonight and it totaled 2,200 yards. It's not much, but I was still a bit proud to have topped it.

Total distance: 3,000 yards (Highest single swim total of the year! Slowly inching back to old form.)

Preemptive strike for St. Patty's

I seldom work out on Saturdays, because those mornings are usually reserved for time with Jen before I go to work, but because I start a new job on Monday I have the whole weekend off. I haven't had St. Patrick's Day off in years and I always miss out on hanging out with some friends, so tonight should be fun as Jen and I are doing just that.

That being said, there will likely be a great deal of drinking involved. I don't drink often, especially not in the binge format and when I do drink, it's usually just a beer or two with a meal. I simply grew out of the party life after college, although it is still fun every once in a rare while. Plus, drinking involves a ton of calories. That's why I hit the gym today. There's no lap swim during the day on Saturdays, so I rode the stationary bike instead.

I tried to push myself extra hard, to burn as many calories as I could, so I would feel less guilty about tonight. I only rode for 50 minutes, but I had the resistance level cranked up a bit higher than I normally would, so I was really sweating. Once I hopped off, I knew I didn't slack off, because my thighs and hamstrings were on fire. Got home, did some nice stretching while Jen watched basketball, took a shower and now I'm writing this. A colleague and friend of mine, Matt Piper, gave me some local brews as a parting gift on my last day of work yesterday, so I'm excited to try them. It should be a fun night. I feel like I deserve one...

Total distance: 15 miles cycling

Feels great to be in the zone again

Kelly joined me for another swim today and it was a goodie. I wanted to see how far I could go with the bilateral breathing, so I just went for it. I was tired for the first few hundred yards, but then got into a rhythm and it felt like I could go forever. After I hit 1,200 yards, I noticed Kelly finally had an open lane to himself next to me (he waited for one while doing sprint runs in the shallow end), so I decided to stop and do some sets with him. I was feeling like I could keep cruising for a long time, but I didn't want to press my luck with my shoulder, so I was pretty happy with that result. I'll try and increase it again here in the next couple of swims.

Icing the shoulder in my office after today's swim

Here's what I ended up doing

Warm up
150 free
Core
1,200 free
10 x 100 free sprints on 2:00
Cool down
150 breast

Total distance: 2,500 yards

Open water practice

Every now and again, I'm stuck in a lane right between two swimmers who don't have particularly good strokes or old guys that flop around in the water a lot. The combined effect is a choppy, wavy lane in the middle, the one I'm trying to swim laps in. Every four or five strokes, I come up for a breath and get a mouthful of water from the wave hitting me in the face. There are no lane lines to work as wave absorbers either. I get used to it after a little bit, and to be honest, today it was kind of fun, because it felt like I was in open water again. Good practice, I suppose...

My shoulder was still a bit achy from last week, so I started small this week. Here's what I did.

Warm up
150 free
Core
10 x 150 (100 free, 50 breast on 3:00)
4 x 50 free sprints on 1:00
Cool down
150 breast

Not a terribly productive day, but I plan on cranking up the yardage on Thursday. I'm going to attempt my first 1-mile bilateral breathing swim.

Total distance: 2,000 yards

Cycling milestone: 500 miles

I didn't even realize it until I added the miles into my exercise log five minutes ago, but today I cracked 500 miles on the bike. It's a fun little milestone, but it's not impressive as it looks. I've found that when I'm on the stationary bike, I can do a mile in under four minutes. I like to use the following comparisons to measure my fitness by.

1 mile swimming = 3 miles running = 8 miles cycling

So I guess the 500 miles cycling is the equivalent of around 66 miles swimming. It's a nice chunk of change, but it will be more impressive once I reach 1,000.

Anyway, my shoulder has been quite sore since my Wednesday swim, so I decided not to press my luck with another one today. I cycled for 45 minutes instead and did some light weight lifting after. I'll try a swim again on Monday.

Total distance: 13.5 miles cycling

Jerks who don't share lanes

I don't run into this problem very often, but today was one of those days I wanted to punch a guy in the pool. Common courtesy when a pool is overcrowded during lap swim (more than one person per lane), is that you split lanes with people, either circle swimming or each person takes a half lane.

Today, every lane had two people in it except one, and that lane featured a jerk who refused to share. The lifeguard, who is kind of in charge, told me to get in his lane anyway, so I did. But the second he saw me on the other side of the pool, he switched over to my side and started circle swimming, as to say, "Don't even think about it, this lane is all mine." Me, being the stubborn person I am, swam right up to him. He stopped, threw his hands in the air and snapped at me, "What are you doing?!" My response was exactly as stated above. The pool is busy and you need to share a lane. He scoffed and then swam around me and promptly got out of the pool. I continued my warm up, but could see him jawing with the lifeguard on the deck. By the way he stormed off and into the locker room, I can tell the lifeguard told him the same thing. I see this guy in the pool all the time and he kind of looks like former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon. From what I hear, McMahon was a douchebag, too. Hopefully, I don't butt heads with this guy again in the future.

Anyway, here's what I did today.

Warm up
150 free
Core
10 x 100 free
700 free
Cool down
150 breast

Not too bad. If I'm feeling OK on Friday, I'm gonna go for a third swim this week.

Total distance: 2,000 yards

Monday swim with Kelly

Today, Kelly joined me for a swim at the Roy Rec Center, even though the madman ran 14 miles yesterday. We took his waterproof camera with us, so he could record some video and analyze his stroke a little bit. So I took the opportunity to snap a few photos, as well.

The pool looks so green from down here.

Rocking my European style suit. Don't judge it...

Here's what we did

Warm up
150 free
Core
10 X 50 free (on the 1:00)
10 X 100 free (on the 2:00)
500 free
Cool down
150 breast

I forgot how nice it is to have a swim partner. It really gives you the extra motivation to really push yourself. We decided to do some sprint sets, although they weren't full-out sprints, more like a brisk pace. The bilateral breathing is coming more naturally to me every swim and I even threw in some flip turns today.

I'm icing the shoulder as I'm typing, but thus far, I'm not feeling much pain. Today was the farthest swim I've done this year, but I don't think I went too far, beyond what my shoulder can handle. I'm going to swim again tomorrow and see how I feel.

Total distance: 2,300 yards swimming

Already excited for open water season

Yesterday, I got the latest issue of Swimmer Magazine in the mail. Almost the entire issue is dedicated to open water swimming. It has articles discussing feeding, safety devices, the top open water swims in the world and even a story on people having heart attacks during cold-water swims. Just thumbing through it was getting me amped for my first full open water season.

Gordon Gridley introduced me to the sport a few months into last season, so I didn't get to experience it from start to finish. This year, I already own a kayak, which technically isn't mine, but the owners live overseas now, so until they return, it's safe to assume it's mine. The real challenges will be getting my shoulder back into ship-shape for open water marathons and talking Jen into paddling for me during the weekends.

Gords, Josh Green, and Goody Tyler have been doing a ton of distance stuff in preparation for their big open water swims this year and I'm super jealous. Gords is swimming the English Channel, Josh is swimming the full length of Bear Lake and Goody is tackling the Catalina Channel. All three are monster swims of 20 miles or longer. I'll be fortunate to pull off my first 10k swim at Deer Creek in August. Hopefully, when my swimming and stamina have improved, I'll be able to meet up with those guys more often.

Anyway, I hit the pool for my second swim of the week today. I got there a little late, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to do a ton of yards, so I got in as many as I could before they kicked me out.

Here's what I did.

Warm up
100 free
Core
500 free (bilateral breathing)
4 X 200 alternating 150 free, 50 breast
Cool down
100 breast

It was all I could manage in just under 25 minutes, before the pool closed, but I was super stoked to swim a full 500 yards with bilateral breathing. I'd been having a hard time with just 150 yards in multiple sets, but I found that after about 250, I got into a bit of a rhythm and it got much easier. Distance swimming is nice like that. It really isn't that much compared to the thousands of yards I used to swim consecutively before, but this bilateral breathing thing is a whole different beast. I'm excited to try a longer one next week.

Total distance: 1,500 yards

2,000 yards in 40 minutes

I missed out on my swim yesterday, because I slept in. I couldn't sleep the night before and was wrecked the next day, so I decided to delay my swim until today. I'm glad I did. I felt fresh and I hit the pool without doing something else first, which gave me that much more of a boost in the water.

Here's what I did.

Warm up
100 free
Core
4 X 400 alternating 150 free and 50 breast (30 seconds rest between)
4 X 50 free sprints (on the 1:00)
Cool down
100 breast

I increased my bilateral breathing sets by 50 yards. I'll do the same for a few more swims before bumping it up to 200 yards before switching to the 50 breast set. The shoulder is sore, as usual, but I'm tired of pampering the damn thing if it's just going to be sore all the time even if I'm not swimming. I think I'm going to try one more swim tomorrow, this one a little shorter.

Total distance: 2,000 yards swimming