No swim yesterday; ran 9.5 mi easy
Today ran 7.5 mi with some mile-to-2 mi segments moderate, then 1075 yd swim

2 x 100 on 1:30
5 x [50 kick + 100 fast] 1:15, 1:14, 1:14, 1:13, 1:14
50 kick
50 swim
25 kick c/d

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I did 4 hours of swimming in the first two days of this month. Yesterday I swam the 1.9K in a half IM relay in the morning. I was around 2.5 min faster than a few years ago, which is great considering my right arm is still weak for pulling. My time was slow at 34 minutes, but even when I was swimming half IM's in 31 minutes in the past, I was doing this is 36-37 min.

Yesterday evening was another 70 min swim and the focus was IM sets.

This morning was a 2+ hour IM focus swim morning.

Main sets were

Warmup was 500m continous leading into 5x100IM easy continous

• 4x250m IM (tacked on 50m free to the standard 200IM)
• 200m kick with fin dolphin on stomach, dolphin on side using my body like fish, kick on back
• 2x400IM...steady pace focus on keeping body as tight and steamlined as possible
• 200m kick with fin dolphin on stomach, dolphin on side using my body like fish, kick on back
• 20x50m odds were fly-back, evens were free on one minute
• 200m kick with fin dolphin on stomach, dolphin on side using my body like fish, kick on back
• 1x200m Fly....focus on keeping knees and ankles and toes together like a mermaid and kicking hard up and down
• 200m kick with fin dolphin on stomach, dolphin on side using my body like fish, kick on back
• 8x50m fly sprint out, kick on back streamlined coming back

After that some easy free until I rounded it out to a 6000m workout. I am pretty cooked now doing ~12K in a bit over 24 hours.

Pool is closed starting tomorrow for 19 days, so I was kind of emptying the tank a bit as I will miss a lot of swims

Next Saturday and Sunday I am in London England and planning to do some big swims in the Olympic aquatic center and plan to do timed "solo races" in the 200 IM, 400IM, 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 fly, 400 free and 1500m from wall push off.

I'm cheating... I didn't post my last workout in the August thread.

I missed the first part of the week because I strained my lower back moving my daughter's apartment stuff for the 4th time. It's finally in a storage unit... So, I won't have to deal with it again for 6 months.

Friday :

WU: 3x10p drills
MS: 2x( 300 (30s) 4x75 fast (30s}
CD: 300 ez

Felt like crap.... Like I always do after several days without swimming. Mainsrt was supposed to be 3x, bailed hoping Saturday would be better.

Saturday:

WU:
200ez
2x50 kick
2x100 single arm drills

MS: 27x100 usrpt @ 1:42, failed at 15, 22, 27

CD: 200ez

Felt good. My last 3 reps (24-26) we all sub 1:40. #27, I blew up.

I haven't been posting much here because I'm doing the sprint challenge, so really the same thing most every day, 800SCY.

But I have decided I would do once a week a swim focused workout and today was a breakthrough, been having a lot of those lately.

Warmed up with 5x100 buoy@1;30(1;19/18's)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;54 to 1;48)
1650 pull for time(500 splits-6;16/6;18/6;14, total time 20;37)
350IM kick(6;59)
4x50 odds free@1;00(35/34) evens dolphin kick(1;02/;01)
3200SCY


So really happy with my 1650 pull, really didn't think I was ready for 1;15 pace. But warm up sets felt easy, so just decided to go for it. Now back to my daily 800...

I’ve moved from altitude in Colorado to thick humid air in Louisville, KY. Today is the last day of the season for world-famous Lakeside Swim Club,so I decided to do the USMS 5000m postal Swim. Advantage: coming down from altitude in the last several days. Disadvantage: the water was too warm, probably 83-84, so I had to keep things in check.

1:11:29.xy as 10 x 500, touch and go:

7:10.29
7:08.70 -14:19
7:08.00 - 21:27
7:09.11 - 28:36
7:10.41 - 35:46
7:11.71 - 42:58
7:08.86 - 50:07
7:12.54 - 57:19
7:08.58 - 1:04
7:00.47 - 1:11:28.xy

1 x 300 SWIM, BUILD by 100 on 4:00

2 x 150 PULL no BUOY on 2:15
ALT ML / SL by 25

3 x 100 SWIM MODERATE w/2 SB / 25

4 x 75 COMPLETE CHOICE on :10 REST

6 x 50 KICK w/BOARD, NO FINS on :15 REST

12 x 25 SWIM on :30
2 EASY / 1 SPRINT

6 x 50 SWIM, DES 1-4, HOLD 5&6 on :55

4 x 75 IM ORDER on 1:20
Yes, 75 FLY!

3 x 100 SWIM, DES 1-3 on 1:25

2 x 150 SWIM w/1 BT on 2:10
ALT 1 BT-R / 1 BT-L by 25

REST 2:00

1 x 300 SWIM for time

REST as NEEDED

300 CHOICE SWIM DOWN

Nice job on the 5k, 84 degrees is brutal for a swim that long, 77/78 would have been perfect. Probably negated all those extra red blood cells you have, maybe hit it again somewhere where it is cooler and you still have those guys swimming around in your blood..

I’m not sure where I can find an open 50m pool this late in summer. Anyone with suggestions, please let me know.

Got to the pool late, needed to maximize the volume in a short time, so I went cold into a 1.2 mile (2100 yd) pull (buoy, but no paddles). Came in at 27:26. Swam an easy 200 cool down, was done with the 2300 yard workout in just over 30 minutes.

I'm on month 4 of adding regular run and bike workouts to my routine, but I'm still finding my kick totally worthless in the pool more often than not. Any more, I'm doing all or mostly pull 2 out of 3 weekly swim workouts.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I fell off the wagon so far this week in terms of swimming. Got back in today.

9.1 mi run w/ 5.75 @ 8:57 pace and 2.5 mi @ 8:49 pace
550 yd swim (straight)

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

It's only the 6th and I've not been in a pool until yesterday. But, I've been in the ocean a lot!
9/1 - Waikiki Roughwater swim - 4584 yards (2.6 miles) in 58 minutes. Way faster than last year, but I dropped a place to 4th and therefore off the podium. Missed it by 40 seconds. My GF was a minute faster than me and placed first!
9/2 - Maui Channel Relay - I was 5th swimmer on our team and only swam my 30 minute segment. I got in 2373 yards in that time. We placed 2nd in our division and 9th overall out of 27 teams. We finished the 10.8 mile swim in 3:36. The amazing Aussie team, consisting of the top three overall Waikiki swimmers and a couple other really fast dudes did it in 2:54.
9/3 - An early swim in Kaanapali, Black Rock just to chill and take some underwater pics and such. Just 1500 in 30 minutes. The prepped to fly home.
9/4 - Back at good old Shaw's Cove whose water is just a few degrees cooler than Hawaii - no wetsuit need, I got in 2615 yards in 48 minutes. There was a strong southbound current which made for a slow climb to Seal Rock, but then nearly floated as fast back to Shaw's!
9/5 - Again at Shaw's, still a strong current. Pushed through 2404 yards in 35 minutes. Followed that later at lunch a swim in the Sloshbucket pool, 2000 yards straight in 28 minutes.
And lastly, this morning, Shaw's again. No current or a slight northbound current, 2116 yards in 30 minutes. Will likely hit the Sloshbucket again since I can't run... can't hardly walk, but swimming is like heaven!

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

5.2 mi easy run 49:48
1925 yd swim, left my body quivvering, lovely

5 x 100 on 1:30, extra :30 after the last one
200 fast on 3:00 (2:36)
100 easy on 1:30
50 kick on 1:30
200 fast on 3:00 (2:33)
100 easy on 2:00
200 fast on 3:00 (2:32)
50 kick on 2:00
200 fast on 3:00 (2:33)
50 kick on 2:00
200 fast 2:33
25 kick c/d

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I've been lazy about posting again this week. Mostly because I've been frustrated. I'm assuming I overdid something last weekend, not really sure exactly what though.

Tuesday:
WU: 200ez, 2x100 drills
MS: 3x100 ...
CD: get out of pool

Main set was supposed to be a usrpt set. But, my pace was WAAAY off (+6s/100), and shoulders felt like crap. I just didn't have anything, so I just bailed on it with the plan to try again on Wed.

Wed:
WU: 3x100 drills
MS: 20x100 usrpt @ 1:46 pace, failed at : #14
CD: just got out of pool

MS was a little better, still about 3s off pace...but, I stuck with it anyway.

Fri:
WU: 3x100 drills
MS: 20x100 usrpt @ 1:40, failed at #12, #18, #20
CD: get out of pool

MS started out slow again, at 1:44 pace. After #5 or so, something changed. I tagged the wall at 1:37. I fell back to about 1:40 after that, but held that pace. As the set wore on, I actually dropped to 1:39, then 1:38 before finally failing at #20 with a 1:42.

My thoughts on what's been going wrong lately: I think I've been focusing too much on eliminating the pause in the front...and forgot to finish the pull in back. I think as soon as I was initiating the catch up front, I was just truncating my pull through on the stroking arm. At some point today (#6), my swim brain/arms decided to pull all the way through even while starting the catch on the arm in front. It was literally from one interval to the next, but it was NOT a conscious change on my part):

1:43, 1:45, 1:44, 1:45, 143, 1:37, 1:40, 1:40, 1:41, 1:39, 1:38, 1:42...

And...suddenly my avg spl dropped by 2. I've got a follow up session with Bobby Patten on Sunday. THIS will be a big topic.

Went for my first “real” swim since July this morning, a club aquathon (1000m swim, 5km) bike. Perfect conditions in the lake, except the sun coming up made it impossible to sight the last couple of buoys. Swim was a bit long, guessing it was about 1300 or so.

Run was a nice little trail run. Nice thing was that the event was less than 2 km from my house.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Had to take a rest day sort of yesterday, did 1700SCY of various swimming.

Felt better today and did a real set;

5x500- 1 swim@7;30(7;14)3pull@7;00(6;35/6;30/6;25)1 IM kick@9;30(9;22)
3x100@2;00 Breast(1;30) buoy(1;20) dolphin kick(1;55)
2800CY

Back to the spring challenge tomorrow....

Another lesson with Bobby patten today. The guy is awesome. Somewhere around 1200-1500 m. Bobby's pool is a 25m pool (vs my normal 25y pool).

First he had me do a 200m warmup, then we did 4x50 strong on the 1 minute. I came in at 49 avg for the 4.

He said I wasn't fully extending, and I was truncating the finish.

We started with some paddle work. He had me swim with some finis iso paddles. He specifically wanted me to focus on my extension, and finish. We used them both ways (outside and inside), a couple hundred meters each way. Then a couple hundred meters regular swimming.

Next, had me swim with some short fins. He told me to relax and just go through the stroke motion without worrying about PULLING. Again, we did 2x100m with fins... 100m swim.

Finally he had me swim with 1 fin and 1 paddle... On opposite sides. The point was to focus on using the fin to balance the opposite arm pull. 100m each way. Again followed by 100m swim focusing on balancing each pull with an opposite leg kick.

This drill made a huge difference... It was like a light bulb. I could feel the solid thunk of each downbeat kick as each arm entered the water.

At the end of the session he had me do 2x50m on 60s at the same effort as the 4x50m we did to start. These came in at 43s/43.5s.

After all that... I was happy at the end when he said, "I think THAT can be your stroke!" for the next 2 weeks he just want me to focus on making these new changes habitual...try to ignore the clock.

A great session.

Followed by 43miles on the bike.

Saturday 11 mi run, 3 mi bike (errands)
Sunday 43.4 mi bike
today 7.5 mi run (2.2 mi @ 8:57/mi, 3.5 mi @ 8:49/mi, 1 mi @ 8:41), 1200 yd swim

800 w/u 11:31
50 kick
100 swim
50 kick
200 swim

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I don't understand (b). Picture no worky-worky.

Going to try to join here regularly as I swim more this fall.

This morning, the young fast guy came up with the workout.

600 WU
8 x ( 25/50/75 all on :50) the 75 was touch and go, I was probably 50-52.
12 x 25

About 2200 scy.

I, and my pod had a stupid swim today. We’re very proud of the poor decision making that went on. We did our usual swim out of Shaw’s Cove, this morning, with a fairly low tide. There were the occasional sets of 4 overhead waves coming in from the west (rate). Anyway, first stupid thing – Swim through the Portage – a 30 foot long narrow crack in the rocks. Not too brilliant to do with any kind of bigger surf as the surge through there will push you into the rocks. We were all lucky.
Next stupid thing was at Seal Rock where, despite the very turbulent conditions, we decided to swim around the rock. The backside of the rock is where waves reconnect after being split around the rock and they then break with a curl and much higher. It’s from 3 feet deep at the trough to over 6 feet on top of a wave and all rocky in the bottom. We go into it with abandon. I dipped under a wave only to find my face about 6 inches from a rock. Others had similar experiences. The water here is all bubbly froth, so you can’t see a thing. We all survived unscathed and high-fived, while commenting how stupid that was.

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Good luck Steve with all that fusion stuff, keep us up on how your are doing. Looks like I got on a relay at La Jolla, appears to be a 250+ one, so I may be the slug on the team. But I just saw that they allow wetsuits, fins, whatever in the AG race, so not sure what Mike Collins is going to do with our team, assuming he wants to swim scratch for this.

Got of the sprint tri treadmill today and did a good swim with dan up in the mountains here:

7x400 3swim@6;00(5;43/5;36/5;31)2 buoy@6;00(5;27/5;23)1 IM kick@8;00(7;37) 1 pull@5;30(5;10)
200IM kick(3;50)
3000SCY

Mike was trying to recruit Heidi and I, but we had already formed a team - just the two of us (Team name: 2-4-10, get it?). Then my back thing/surgery schedule came up. Well, Insurance is being a bitch, and I'm denied... I'm gonna miss my scheduled date. So, I'm back on, Heidi and I - 5 miles each. Then Pizza Port afterwards for recovery! I guess I'm gonna do the Nadadores Mission Viejo Lake swim, too. Might as well. That should wrap up my SPMS OW Swim series as high points leader and I'll get another towel (YAY!)
Also, the results changed for Waikiki Roughwater. I was fourth, but now third. I think Kaia is sending me my little bowl. Still, two third place bowls (last year, was third, too) don't equal the size of Heidi's first place bowl!

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

I am just starting to get back into the pool, so I have been keeping it simple.

100 SKIPS

4x through:
300 Pull (paddles, pull buoy, snorkel) R:15
4*25 FAST R:30

8*50 R:15 drill/swim by 25

100 easy

---

Superfly Coaching
http://www.superflycoaching.com/eric

IL PIRATA VI GUARDA

Tuesday night:

300 WU
12 x 25 @:30
4 x (200 pull/paddles @ 2:55, 50 fast @ 1:00)
6 X 50 kick
4 X 50 drill
9 x 100 @ 1:30 DESC 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 about 1:19 / 1:16 / 1:14 for all 3 sets
4 x 75 IM @ 1:15

3100 scy


Wednesday morning

600 WU
4 x (3 x 50 moderate, 1 x 50 sprint (fly) @ 1:00, 2 x 50 kick @1:10)

1800 scy

LOL. Copy paste error

8.2 mi run (2 mi @ 9:05, 5k @ 8:57), 550 yd easy swim

sore back so taking everything easy today.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Well I guess I will see you and Heidi at the race, glad you can still do it. And nice upgrade to get a bowl from Ohau, now you are not bubble boy anymore..

I got in today again at the high desert pool and felt as good as I have I quite sometime for a big set of 100's;

25x100- 4sets of 6- 1swim@1;40/1buoy@1;40/1IM kick@2;10/1 IM@1;45/2 pull@1;30 finishing with 100IM kick extra 15 seconds between sets

Set it up to get about 20 seconds per 100 +/-

(swims- 1;24/21/19/17) buoys(1;20/19/17/16) kicks(1;50/48/48/46) IM's(1;22/21/20/18) pulls(1;16/15/14/13/12/10/09/07)

2500SCY

8.3 mi easy run, 1200 yd easy easy swim

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

So 3rd day in a row just swimming, did some light stuff with some all sprint stuff;

5x100s@1;40(1;26 to 1;19)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;53 to 1;51)
2x(300p@4;10/100IM@1;50) (pulls 3;53/3;47)(IM's- 1;20/1;21)
6x100p@1;40 easy 1;19's for 5, then 100 IM for last 1;19
50 fly all out 30.2
50 free 95% 30.0
2500SCY

I’m swimming in a warmer pool now that has fewer lanes. My swims haven’t been all that long, mostly just pace and speed work.

Yesterday:
1000 warm up
20 x 75 @ :20-:25 rest, holding :48-:50
900 as a mix of snorkel, strokes, varying intensity
3400 scy

7 mi run
2 x 2 mi (6.7, 6.8 mph; 6.8, 6.9 mph) + 1 mi 7.0 mph


1025 yd easy swim, open turns (sore back)

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Well, that's no fun...was that an exam or homework question or something?

I seem to be having a hard time posting in here regularly.

Tuesday:
---------------
WU: 200ez
3x50 (:20) for time

MS:
2x100 (:30) paddles (thinking about extend above water, and finish stroke)
100 free

2x100 (:30) fins (thinking about relaxed catch motion, and finish)
100 free

2x100 (:30) Fin+paddle opposite sides 100 L+R / 100 R+L
100 free

3x50 (:30) for time

6x100 (:30) feeling rhythm of pull + kick

CD: 200

3.8mile run.

Thursday:
-------------
WU: 200 ez

50 fins
50 paddles
100 L+R fins/paddles
100 R+L fin/paddle

MS: 14x100 (:30) focus on the feeling the rythm of pull+kick

CD: 200ez

8mile run with 2x2miles at 6:35/mile pace.

Saturday:

WU: 200 ez

50 fins
50 paddles
100 L+R fins/paddles
100 R+L fin/paddle

MS: 25x100 USRPT @1:40 failed at 15, 22, 26

CD: 200ez

11mile run.

Swim felt good today. I was alternating between 39.40.41. I was mostly trying to keep things in check. Left foot kick felt a little weak and less snappy than the right.

I took Saturday off to chill for Sunday’s 2.4 (2.6) Mile Tiki Swim. Big, BIG waves at the start and entering the harbor. I mean, big breaking waves in the harbor! The guards kept us away from them, but I tried to sneak over there to body surf one in. No luck. Didn’t matter, I placed 1st in 1:04. The GF, Heidi, also placed 1st in a 1:08. Fastest OA time was a :55.
Afterwards, we did a 25 mile bike ride to Encinitas (from Oceanside) and back. We’re now recovering at Pizza Port in Carlsbad – the best pizza and beer... ever!

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

yes, an exam question
yesterday very easy 3.2 mi run and 9 mi bike
today easy 7 mi run (avg 6.3 mph) and 1k swim, still babying my back

swim was straight free / breast / kick. Could do turns :-)

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Y'er killin' me! Now I want to know the topic and the question...
--------------

WU: 200ez
3x50 (:20) for time (:46, :45, :43)

MS:
2x100 (:30) paddles, 100 free

2x100 (:30) fins, 100 free

2x100 (:30) Fin+paddle opposite sides 100 L+R / 100 R+L , 100 free

3x50 (:30) for time (:44, :43, :41)

6x100 (:30) Descend (1:40, 1:39, 1:38, 1:37, 1:35, 1:33)

CD: 200ez

Whew...felt really solid today. The descend set, just sorta happened. I was still kinda tired from the 3x50 when I started...but, kept recovering a little better each repeat. After the first 3, I decided to keep pushing it a little harder each rep. With the final being all I was worth.

First race is in 12 days.

Sorry, I have not been posting much on the Swim Thread. I had an amazing 4 days swim "camp" at the London Olympic pool (3 days of it was before biz, 1 day early morning before biz). I cranked out 6000m to 7400m daily swimming in Lane 4 and Lane 5 where Phelps won all those gold medals and on one of the days, I saw the final stage city circuit of the Tour of Britain line 28x in front of my hotel.

I did a lot of IM sets and also got "good" at 200m fly long course which was often my final "interval" at the end of 2+ hours in the pool!

I also noticed on the ST log that I am currently at 825 km of swimming for the year with 110 days remaining in the year. To hit 1200 km for the year (or 100K per month average), I need to swim 3.75K each time in 100 days and budget for 10 missed days of travel or pool closure (ex Xmas and Boxing day are 2 days of closure). So roughly speaking I have to do an Ironman distance swim for 100 days each time I go to the pool for the rest of the year assuming 10 days no swimming.

NOT THAT ANYONE AROUND ST WOULD EVER WORRY ABOUT MILEAGE

Seriously the hard part this year is kind of missing a month due to the bus running over me in June (I got back in the pool 10 days later doing kick sets for a month, but you don't make a lot of mileage that way), and just generally focusing on IM swimming.

If I can hit 1200km again this year, it would be a rather large achievement in persistence and consistency and it would be my third year in a row doing that. If/once, I can complete my 4th year of that, I will have gone through a virtual delayed Div 100 swim scholarship (vs a Div 1 LOL) in my 50's.

LOL
my back is getting better but I'm still babying it a little

7.9 mi run (1 mi @ 9:31, 1.8 mi @ 9:22, 3.2 mi @ 9:22 pace)
725 yd swim straight mixed breaststroke and freestyle

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Wed. 3.3 mi run, 1 mi run, 4.3 mi bike
Thurs. 8.3 mi run w/ 30 min steady (not fast. just steady)
Fri. 6.5 mi run w/ 2 mi faster than yesterday's steady, 400 yd swim

swim actually felt normal; my back is almost back to normal. Hoping the PT can get that last 10% this afternoon.

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Here’s a workout:
MW x3 (24:20xR=1:13:00) [3000]
-(200+50) @3:00/2:00 (5:00)
-(150+100) @2:40/3:00 (5:40)
-(100+150) @2:20/4:00 (6:20)
-(50+200) @2:20/5:00 (7:20)
*R1
- first swim is IM, build each 1/4 (50,37.5,25) but 50 is sprint.
*R2
- first swim is primary build each 1/4 (50,37.5,25) but 50 is sprint, second swim is IM, as fast as possible.
*R3
- same as R1, but with fins

Anyone decipher this?

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

yesterday I did a bunch of 50's in IM order for my main set....lost track of how many but I think it was going on for around 20 minutes or so. I picked two strokes out of each set of 4 to go fairly hard and took the other two at cruise effort and tried to work on my horrible form

7.5 mi run w/ 1.86, 2.06, 2.6 mi @ 8:57 pace
675 yds straight w some kicking to cool off after my run

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

1200km in a year is awesome! Great job even contemplating it. I didn’t get myself into position to do that much this year. Also, September may be my lowest total month of the year. I moved at the end of August, and pool time was in short supply as I started my new job. Once I found the pool I am using most often, I thought I’d prep for a short course meters meet, to take advantage of my recent move from the elevation in Colorado. I started doing short, race pace practices, because of the meet and bc the pool is too warm to think of going too long. I since decided not to go to the meet, and I noticed that my mileage really suffered. So, I got used to the temp and started swimming longer practices. I’ll have to grind out lots of distance in the next week to try to get to 50 miles. I’ve averaged over 58 miles monthly all year, except for January, often bc of 7000-9000m days on Fridays.

Today: Long and boring, 4650 yards total.
3000 straight
1000 with paddles
500 straight
2 x 75 as 25 kick, 50 Swim

1200 km of swimming is really not that much swimming. It is only 3.3 km per day.

BUT....the problem is if you miss one day, you need a 6.6 km day to make up.

For example yesterday the pool was closed. We had a tornado here in Ottawa Canada and the city was a mess with at one point half th city's power distribution network shut down. Hydro Ottawa has done a great job bringing the city back to like and today the pool was open, so swim just over 6 km. The problem is at this point, I HAVE to swim ~3.5 km EVERY DAY of the year to hit 1200 km so if I miss a day, then I need to catch up in the next few.

Like any yearly mileage goal that is a target that is mildly aggressive, you can't really miss that many days. I remember the one time I tried to run a 100 mile week. It does not "seem" that bad....on the surface you just have to run 7 miles twice per day. The problem is that if you miss a single 7 mile run (you have to hit all 14), then next day, you need three 7 mile runs or two runs with one run being 14 miles. The problem is that once you did that 21 mile day, the next day you still need to run 14 mile or you're behind again and you are playing catch up.

I remember that 100 mile week in a Boston marathon build and on day 4 I was really really tempted to miss one of my daily doubles, and went short on that run. Then on day 5 I had to go really long, leaving me trashed for day 6....I decided to back it off on day 6 and then went right over the top with an extra long run on day 7 to hit the 100 mile week. I got there, but said "never again".

With a year long personal challenge, it's one of those scenarios where you have to keep the pressure "on" for most of the year. If you get sick, or have to travel, or the pool you go to is shut, or you get run over by a bus like I did, then you're really playing catch up and the heat is on.

When I had a big buffer, I found that I was really doing a lot more kick and breast stroke....my two slowest forms of netting meters per second. Now that I am more behind, I am finding more freestyle creeping up. That's actually not a bad thing since I was really de emphasizing free, and now I can take stroke feel improvements from the other strokes and maybe apply them to a bit more freestyle.

Right now I am sitting on 845 km of swimming for the year. We have 105 days left in the year and I need to do 355km...so I guess I need to do 3.4 km per day not 3.5 km....or 100 days of 3.55 with 5 days off.

I'm at 490.5 miles/789.3 km on the year. I could get up to 1000km. I have some work to do. No more of these silly short USRPT workouts.

...hang on, you only need to do 410K over the rest of the year....that's "just" 4.1K per day if you miss 5 days.....let's do it!!! You don't need to it all butterfly or breast stroke kick so easy peasy for ya!!!

I'm going to try to bump it up this week. I've been trying to stay above the 50 mile threshold/month, since "just" 50 miles/month would get me to 600 miles on the year. Anything over that gets me closer to 620 miles or 1000k (1,000,000 meters!). September has been the aberration, with that little foray into USRPT training. I'm at 32 miles with a few days to go, so, while I may not get to 50, my average has been way above 50, so I can still be on-track for 1000k.

I'd have to go about 81 miles in each of October-December to get to 1200km.

5 km walk, 975 yd swim (950 free + 25 kick)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

2 mile swim race in a lake yesterday. 80 degree water. Wetsuits not allowed - there were three who tried, but were told to remove them or they could not start. None of them started. They also wouldn't allow watches to be worn, and I find that weird, but they cited it's illegal to wear a timing or pacing device. I don't think it was quite two miles. I finished in 48 minutes, so I'm guessing 1.9 miles. Anyway, I placed first in my division. And, that wraps up my Masters Open Water Season. I'm pretty sure I'm the high-points winner of the series and will get a giant lime green beach towel as my reward.

My GF, Heidi, raced at the Camp Pendleton Semper-Tri sprint race. She won her division and placed second OA women, behind Michellie Jones. However, she beat Michellie on the swim and was 4th OA male & female on the swim.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Even though it goes without saying it, I'll say it anyway. Those swimmers who didn't chuck their wetsuits and start the race in 80 degree water obviously needed their crutch. TBH, 80' is too warm to even swim in just skin. They didn't need the suits for warmth. Big hand to the RD for standing pat on the requirement and mandating safety, which, in this case, is avoiding overheating.

congrats to you and the GF on successful races!

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

SO missed most of the past week, went up to my college swim team reunion, 1960's to 1990's. It was the first time everyone got together and they inducted the 73/74/7576 teams into the hall of fame for winning the national champs..

I did one swim there in a 24.7 yard pool, don't ask. (well if you do I will explain)

Drove 10 hours straight yesterday and got up and swam at the high desert house, must have been tapered;

7x100 various swims and kicks, 1;19/20's..
5x200p@2;40 (2;26/25/24/24/20). best set in ages
50 fly from deck in 30.01
400 various swim downs
2150 SCY

Big OW race this weekend, trying to get my mile pace wired in..

Wow, that is a big deal doing a 30 second 50 fly! Well done!!!!

I had a fun workout in my quest to build mileage while doing some IM training. Each bullet below is continuos swimming, with 5-10 second rest between each

• 800m, warmup build mainly free with random back stroke and hard dolphin kicking off the wall....6 kicks to around 10m point
• 100IM-100 free
• 50 fly-150 free
• 200 IM-200 free
• 200 IM-200 free
• 50 fly-200IM-150 free
• 50 fly-200IM-150 free
• 400IM-100 free
• 400IM-100 free
• 200 fly-200 free

4100m total

No split times....took some legs hard, most moderate, the only easy was 25m free after each "IM" leg

Medium hard today, man goal is not to get sick, broken down, or tired before Sundays races;

10X100swim@1;40(1;26 to 1;20)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;54 to 1;50)
1000pull(12;40---6;25/6;15)
2500SCY

300 w/u
pull pyramid on 1:30 / 100
100/150/200/250 (coming in on 1:15 / 100)
250/200/150/100 (coming in on 1:15 / 100)
1700 SCY

please explain the 24.7 yds. Maine has a 40m pool; supposed to be 50m but they ran out of $ (so goes the story)

5 mi run 46:14
1025 yd swim (600 swim + 50 kick + 100 swim + 25 kick + 225 swim + 25 kick)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

please explain the 24.7 yds.//

They cancelled the swim team in Chico in the early 90's(title 9 casualty), so they filled in the pool with sand and it has been dormant all these years. But there is of course a need for a pool because of AG swimming and perhaps one day getting the team back. So they built a super gym on campus, private I believe, a sort of rec center. It is beautiful and like the best LA Fitness or 24 hour fitness gym you could imagine.


But some asshole in the beginning who had power over design, figured it they made the pool just a foot short that then they would never have to host meets, or even be tagged for swim teams. For whatever reason he wanted that pool to just be used for gym members, and the was it. It has all the lane lines, targets, and things you need in a nice competition pool, just a foot short so that no times could be recognized in a real meet..Wish I could have found that guy and told him a few of my thoughts...)-;

Good story.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Wow. That's brilliantly shortsighted of them. There's income from pool rentals, right?
But, usually those kind of pools don't have proper wave-quenching gutters. They have the lanes and targets, but just those little scavenger filter things - a couple on each wall. If that's the case, it would probably never be used for a real swim meet, making this guy's intention even lamer. Oh, and beside the fact those pools are usually way too warm for serious swimming.

2400 yards or so in the ocean this AM. Water temp is below 65, but still not wearing a wetsuit. The drop didn't hit me for an hour, when my fingertips went numb and I had to put on my hoodie.

A friend of mine attempted Catalina Channel yesterday. He's slow, but pretty tough. At 13 hours or so, he made 17 miles. He called it there with difficulty breathing. So close, but fantastic for him as a cancer survivor and all. 62 years old.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

It’s an outdoor 9 lane pool with overflow gutters, a perfect competition venue

Damn! What a nice pool... almost :-/

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

6.5 mi easy run, 350 yd swim. That's the time I had.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Too busy playing Doctor? :-)
Just another ocean swim for me. Still not succumbed to the wetsuit in spite of 64° water.
Sunday is my last scheduled event – The La Jolla 10 Mile Relay. Usually consists of 5 team members switching off at each mile (2 miles each). However, my team is just Heidi and myself. Right now it appears the water there is a comfy 70°. Afterwards, off to Dukes for lunch and Mai Tais.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

LOL

4.5 mi very easy, 925 yd swim (900 swim + 25 kick)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I'll see you there tomorrow Steve, will be interesting what this hurricane off the southern coast is going to bring to us. Could be a 10 degree drop in temp overnight with some swell, or a nothing burger until Monday when they have all the high surf advisories. My team went from a 250+ team to a scratch team in the open division now. So I dont have to bring my wetsuit just in case anymore, which I'm quite happy with. I told mike that as long as it is over 51 degrees I will be fine in jammers..

That is the problem when you have to organize 5 people, something is always going to happen and people bail. Luckily we had some 16 year old speedster to fill in, but even my advanced age will not bring him up to 50+.

Did a sort of taper workout yesterday;

2x(2x100s@1;45/100IM kick@2;10/50 hard into 50 recover) (1;22/21/1;55/34/42)set 2(1;22/2/1;55/33/42)
500 easy pull(6;38) 108 HR
200 flutter(4;04)
1700SCY

Another easy taper swim today;

4x100s@1;50(1;25 to 1;20)
4x100IM kick@2;00(1;56 to 1;51)
500p(6;27) 110 HR
200flutter kick(1;51)
100buoy(1;20)
1600SCY

1.5 miles at Oak Street, Laguna Beach this AM while Heidi knocked out a 10 mile run. We’re refueling at Pizza Port, Carlsbad while making our way down to LaJolla. Spending the night there within walking distance of the Cove. See you there!

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

yesterday 10 mi run (4.1 mi @ 9:04), 4 mi errand bike


today 7 mi run (1.5 mi @ 9:05, 1.5 mi @ 8:57, 2.5 mi @ 8:49), 1025 yd swim

500 w/u
2 x [50 kick + 100 moderate] 1:20, 1:16
50 kick
150 swim (started on another of the above but foot cramped)
25 kick


month: 14,625 yds. I only update my USMS FLOG at the end of each month, and I crossed into 100 miles this month with 102.95 mi YTD.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Sep over and I checked the log. Currently at 871.5K for the year, with 328.5K to go with 92 days left in the year. I need 3.6K per day for the rest of the year to average 100K per month. I think I need to add a 6-7K day once per week that is endurance focused so that I can do a few days per week in the 2-2.5K range that are super high intensity....if not I will not be able to do enough higher intensity to improve my fly and IM times. Or add a double once per week which may be the better option, the problem with that is pool drive overhead.

La Jolla 10Mile Relay day! Heidi & I knocked it out in 3:40. My watch showed not quite a mile. My yards, times & pace:
1 1559 :20 1:18
2 1526 :20 1:22
3 1559 :21 1:24
4 1531 :21 1:25
5 1565 :22 1:24

Met up with Monty there, too.
My arms are tired. Now at Dukes forrecovery Mai Tai and a big Hawaiian style lunch (ribs & chicken)

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Hey Monty, if I want to get my 200 fly down below 3:20, how fast do you think I need to do my 50 repeats (on 60 min departure time). I think if I can get them down consistently in the 46-47 range that should be enough to hold 50 seconds for four continuously? Also if I get my 25 fly down to 17-18 second range from wall push, what do you think I can hold for 100m?

wow! congrats!

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Steve was the Ironman out there, as well as his girlfriend who did the same set of 5x 1 miles he did. And what a great fun time it was today, and apparently the first year the race filled at 120 teams and closed out. I heard of at least 10 more teams that wanted to race but missed the first time ever closing, so looks like this is going to be one of those nearly year in advance races you will have to sign up for, along with most ironman..

My team was set to be a 50+team, we had an average age of around 53 or so(me the oldest at 62), but one 46 year old guy bailed and we had to replace him with a 16 year old water polo player, and swim in the scratch mens division!! Our 45 year old hung with the high school swim stud on the first leg and I was quite surprised, until coach said he went a 16;20 in his age group for 1650. Polo kid did great, about a minute slower than the AG stud, and the 50 somethings both went 19 mid/ highs. I anchored with a 21;20, kind of pissed about my course selection, probably swam 1600. But got around a 1;20 or so pace, so that is around what I was looking for, dream pace would have been 1;17..

It really hurts when you don't race at all, I can see why Steve is doing so well, he races nearly every weekend, and everyday in an ocean workout. Beware Steve, I'm taking notice.(-

Oh ya, we won the overall male scratch(jammers/speedos), 2nd overall to the high school swim studs, and just touched out 3rd overall by 3 seconds, so I guess every second does count when you are swimming all alone and thinking, no one is watching, maybe I'll slow down a bit....I got a $20 gift cert to Dukes, so guess that means I'm pro again...