200th Blog Post!

Although I've been backing off with daily updates of mundane workouts, today marks my 200th blog post since starting "Swimming Upstream" in October 2011. It really has been a fun way to keep track of my progress (and regression) throughout the years, even if it comes at the cost of annoying my friends and family on Facebook every time I share a link to a post. To that end, I'm sure I have been "unfollowed" on many people's social media feeds. Oh well ... I use it as an accountability tool. I don't really expect people to read through my musings about my personal health. It's incredibly narcissistic and kind of weird, I know.

A fist pump for 200 blog posts!

Anyway, today was another day of swim class and another day of me sucking wind. Since Cooper was born about six weeks ago, my diet has completely fallen apart and my exercise has mostly been limited to my twice-weekly swim classes. That has resulted in me gaining back 7 of the 12 pounds I lost during my 12-week diet and decreased stamina in the pool. I need to get back on the wagon soon, as the Huntsville Half Marathon is sneaking up on me and I have to take training seriously. At the same time, I need to continue working with the Weber State Masters team to prepare for the SDRC Meet in November.

Jen will get the OK for exercise from the doctor any day now, so we are excited to start setting new goals together and help each other out with our eating habits. It's so much easier when you and your spouse are on the same (or similar) page.

Total distance: 700 yards swimming (butterfly day)

New swim bag

On Sunday I got an unexpected treat. Jen's parents bought me a new swim bag for my birthday and I got to use it for the first time, today. It came just in time as my old one was falling apart at the seams, the zippers were broken, and it was an all-around piece of crap. This new one is actually geared for swimmers, rather than a cheap generic gym bag.

It's the AquaSphere Wet/Dry Swimming Duffel and it has two sides. One is for dry clothes and the other is for wet items. Having that waterproof barrier is fantastic and the "wet" side (wet and dry are labeled on each side) even has a small vent in the bottom of the bag, so the items won't necessarily stay wet and get all stinky inside of the pocket. Within the wet side is a smaller pouch for goggles and other small swim items. The bag is super roomy and I don't even have enough stuff to fill it out, so as I accumulate more swim gear, I will still have extra room.

It opens up much larger than this image show, but you can see the smaller pocket for goggles and what-not within.

Nifty little vent in the bottom corners of the "wet" side.

I took it with me to class today, and could barely fit it in the locker as it was so big. I guess that's a good problem to have. As far as my swim goes, we worked on unconventional strokes, which I'm not a big fan of. Combining dolphin kick with breaststroke pull and whip kick with backstroke pull isn't my idea of a good workout. I can see the merit in mixing it up in order to work on my timing and coordination between my kicks and pulls, but in the end, I just wasn't feeling it. Hopefully, Thursday's class will be better.

Total distance: 500 yards swimming

Weber State Masters

Today I did my first swim with the Weber State Masters team. I plan on joining their team in the fall, but for the remainder of the summer, I'm going to stick with my swim class workouts.

I let my U.S. Masters Swimming membership expire this year and I was previously registered as "unattached," being that I wasn't affiliated with any particular team. Josh, Chad, Gords and Goody have since started the Salt Lake Open Water team (ironically dubbed SLOW), and in years past I would have definitely been a member with that squad. However, since I now work for Weber State, I swim there regularly and I'm not doing much open water training in the near future, I figured the most appropriate option would be to join the new masters club at my alma mater. I'm excited to train with them regularly and compete in the South Davis Recreation Center meet in November, which I missed out on last year.

Anyway, here is the swim I logged with them this morning.

Warm up
3 x 100 freestyle
2 x 100 your choice (breast)

Main set
6 x 100 freestyle (50 drill, 50 sprint)
1 x 400 IM kick (w/fins)
5 x 100 choice sprint (rest :30)

Cooldown
2 x 200 your choice (free then breast)

Total distance: 2,400 yards swimming