Spring Break!

I just get a kick out of the photo!  Dude - the pool will be closed most of next week, OMG - what to do?
Who even uses the word 'dude' anymore?  

Sorry about the math mix up for today's practice. I made the correction, and cut out the 2nd. 400. Only had time for 1 anyway. :-)

Tuesday evening workout was ugly for me, how about you?

This weekend I will be making roasted garlic and tomato soup for Soup Monday at the Alumni Relations office. I will provide the recipe and steps on Sunday.  Hopefully it will taste good!

Feelin' Groovy!

Swimming this week: 

Tuesday PM, Wednesday AM, Friday AM.  (Thursday Yoga and weights)  

Saturday/Sunday practice TBD.

Tuesday 3/10/15

Warm:
600 (free/back by 50)
6 x 100 descend 1 > 3 @ 1:30
Set:
500 swim (pace 80 %)
5 x 100 pull @ 1:30
400 swim
4 x 100 pull @ 1:25
300 swim
3 x 100 pull @ 1:20
200 swim
2 x 100 pull @ 1:20
100 swim
100 pull @ 1:15
200 cool 4,400

Wednesday 3/11/15

Warm: 400 (free/back by 50)
4 x 100 descend 1> 4 @ 1:40
Main: 5xs
150 (swim/drill by 50)
3 x 50 fast @ 1'
150 Kick (E/F by 50)
2nd. Main:
Paddles/snorkel/fins
 400
100 cool 3,550

Friday 3/13/15 - Happy Colgate Day!  

Warm: 600 (free/back by 50)
8 x 50 descend 1>4 @ 1:00
Main:  (ladder)
1:30 base
300 @ 4:30
200 @ 3:00
100 @ 1:30
100 @ 1:30
200 @ 3
300 @ 4:30
Main: 3xs
12 x 25
3 from blocks
1 EZ back stroke
100-200 cool

Four more weeks until Florida!

RAM Swim Meet

The Rochester Area Masters hosted a well run meet at the RIT pool Sunday.   The drive over was snowy and dark, because I had to leave at 5:15am.  The first event was the 500 at 9:00am.  I was happy to improve my 500 time from January by about 6 seconds.  Maybe by next year I'll improve another 6 seconds. :-)

I must have been feeling the 500 still during the 200 free, because I was a sec. slower. My legs turned to brick at the 125 mark, so that was not good. I will have to learn how to kick through that.

I won't even mention the 50 BR., since that is not an event I can swim any more with a hip prosthesis.  Next was the 100 FR, and I felt good. I dropped one second.  The time is about 7 seconds slower when I swam in my 30's, but I'll take it. 1:08:16.   Not coming from a collegiate background in swimming,  and spending 5 years with no formal training, getting fat and lazy, I was happy.

And finally the 200 BA, love this event, but I have a long way to go to meet the Nat'l qual time in  my age group.  Took 2 seconds off the previous Jan. meet. with a 2.55:XX.

I think one of the main reasons for the improvement in times was primarily due to the fact that I watched a USA Swimming Webinar last week on starts and turns with Russell Mark, sports performance consultant for USA Swimming.   I have seen Russell present before at the US Olympic Training center, when the Colgate team was there for Winter Training camp. That was a great experience, and the team, including myself learned a great deal about how to be a more efficient swimmer.  Russell is an excellent speaker, and really provides us good information and videos on what to think about when improving swimming technique on all levels.  I was able to employ the things I learned about turns from watching the webinar. I realized this morning, that the one thing I completely forgot about was the point he made about "Throw water over your head" during the turn.   I hope to spend more time practicing starts.

RIT pool is nice. 4 ft. at the opposite end of blocks. Diving well, and boards are gorgeous!

Really tired today, ate like a pig yesterday - so this morning's swim will be some standard stuff:

Warm: 1200
300 swim
300 kick
300 pull
300 swim
300 back
Main:
2 x 200 @  3:15
100 - paddle grab drill (hold top of paddle with hand) @ 1: 45
2 x 200 @ 3
2 x 100 - paddle grab drill @ 1:40 or 45
2 x 200 @ 2:55
3 x 100 - normal paddles (no buoy)@ 1:20
200 cool
3K

Happy Laps!

Skiing by the light of the moon!

Hamilton was blessed with clear skies Friday, and what better way to take advantage of the full moon, but to get together with friends on the Colgate groomed trails for a night time x-country ski adventure.  Kuddos goes out to Dr. Jonathan who takes the initiative to coordinate these type of fun exercise opportunities.

A group of  9 plus Maya, Dan's black lap (our mascot), started on the 'lower loop', which eventually split by way of 3 ladies who ventured off to the the 'upper loop.'   The remaining of us took a couple of spins around the lower trails in opposite directions, with breaks for hot coco, courtesy of Jonathan.  Thank you!

The evening finished off at the Good Nature Brewing Company with plenty of laughter and interesting stories.  

FYI - On the next full moon, April 4th, a Total Lunar Eclipse will take place. It will be visible in Central N.Y. between 5:03AM - 6:17AM.

Enough about the moon, and skiing, let's talk swimming!   In preparation for Sunday's RAM swim meet at RIT in Rochester, I decided to take it easy today.  Total yards - 2K.

500 swim (working on good turns)
500 (kick on back/backstroke by 50)
500 (pull)
500 (snorkel, swim/kick on stomach by 50)
finish up with a few practice turns, focusing on getting hips over, and good feet placement, and getting off the wall)

Happy Laps!!

TGIF SWIM!

For tomorrow morning we will have some fun with a little mix of changing speed, drill and kicking.

Warm:
200 swim
200 kick
200 pull
200 swim
Preset:
4  x 100 @ 1:40 gentle descend
8 x 50 @ :55 stroke/swim by 25
Main:
3 times
3 x 100 build @ 1:30
50 drill @ 10sr
Kick:
4 times
75 moderate/25 blast
cool 250
(35K yards)

Happy Laps!!

Year of the Goat

Happy Year of the Goat!!

I guess I was not paying attention to the news, or social media or anything pertaining to what new Chinese year it was this year.  I heard today - we are celebrating the year of the goat.  Some literature will refer to this animal as a sheep. I guess this little guy looks like a cute little sheep with horns. The characteristics of the sheep are: crafty, sensitive, warm, elegant, intuitive, tasteful, charming, and calm. Hopefully we will see signs of peace and harmony in 2015! 

Now that we know what the Chinese New Year is, time to revisit this mornings swim practice. Apologies for not posting this earlier.  I make a habit to write the workout the day before. 

For Wednesday March 4th. This practice focuses on pace mixed with speed. 

Warm: 300swim/300kick/300pull/300IMdrill

Main: 6 x 150 

(100 free pace/50back fast) @ 20sr

Main: 3 x 300 

#1-2 pull paddles and buoy breath 3/5 by 50 

#3 snorkels/paddles/fins pick up the pace)

Three sets: 4 x 25 @ :40

#1-2 Fast

#3-4 perfect technique 

100-200 cool

(3400-3500yard)

Never ending SNOW!

Cross Country skiing with Mary and John at the Colgate trails!   Here they are coming down a mellow decent in the forest. 

It was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday!  Skiing is a nice way to x-train for running or cycling, but if your not good at downhill skiing, like me, then falling is usually inevitable!

Which of course I always do on this one particularly long downhill to connect to the lower trails. 

It was a soft fall on my stomach, except for jamming my thumb. I don't think I need my thumb to swim,  so I'm not going to worry about it too much. Plus I skied a little today. 

Monday morning swim workout is a combination of a modified workout from the Villanova Master's group and my edits.   If you are game, hoping in at 6:05AM for the following practice set:

Warm: 500 choice

Preset: 5 x 100 (free/back by 25) @ 1:40

Main:

18 x 50

6 @ :50

6 @ :55

6 @ :45

Kick: 300 (alternate E/F by 50)

2 x 700 snorkel & build (500 smooth/200 build to fast)

200 cool

(38K yards)

Happy Laps!!