Run, Baby, Run….and bring your friends and family

…of the house, for being so grumpy that I was difficult to be around. He sent me anywhere, but suggested the gym. I skipped a Saturday morning class for a party for my daughter. The party was very cute and very fun (7 little girls running around) but I learned that I should NOT skip the gym. I’m, um, not very nice when I do, it seems. So, I left, sat in the hot tub, swam, sat in the hot tub. Came home much happier. Love my husband!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/29/2008
• Time: 17:30:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00
• Distance: 750 yd
• Average Pace: 2:39.8/100yd

which seems to be the only kind a fit in these days.

600 w/u
200 kick
8 x 50, 25 im order, 25 free
400 free
50 cool down

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/12/2008
• Time: 16:00:00
• Total Time: 00:35:00.00
• Distance: 1650 yd
• Average Pace: 2:07.05/100yd

Here’s the thing. I, yet again, have a cold. A cough, choke, snort, lose your voice kind of cold. This is, I believe, the result of living in a petri dish of small child germs, but I find it somewhat unfair that I seem to get sick more than they do. (Although a 3 year old losing his voice does sound really, really funny.) So yesterday, feeling kinda blah, I thought I’d jump into the pool and swim, just a bit. Because when you swim with a cold…well, let’s just say it clears your sinuses. Much like blowing your nose for the entire swim. And yes, I do swim with my mouth open, so….I didn’t last long. I mean really, 600 yards? That’s almost a warm-up. I think the voice will go tomorrow, and hopefully that will mean I’ll feel better!

Oh, and on the kid front, we started them in swim lessons. My daughter was a rock star in her puddle jumpers class. Swam on her tummy, blew bubbles, swam on her back. My son, the most independent dependent child ever, wouldn’t get into the pool. And he was so excited to be old enough to take lessons alone. Until he realize that he had to actually take lessons alone, I guess.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 01/14/2008
• Total Time: 00:15:00.00
• Distance: 600 yd
• Average Pace: 2:30.4/100yd

The swim pace got me thinking…what is my swim pace per 100 yards? In a lucky twist of fate, I found out today. I had time for a quick workout, then “had” to meet my husband at the bounce place. For those of you who are not aware of what a “bounce place” is, wait until you have young children in a rainy climate! It’s a giant warehouse-ish space, decorated in loud, crayola on crack colors, filled with inflatable slides, bounce houses, obstacle courses and balls and toys. It also has my daughter’s favorite toy, a drinking fountain. (Glad we regularly go there so she can practice dumping water down her shirt and pants, then want to take her clothes off. In public.) My kids needed to run around as much as I needed to exercise, so we planned to take them to play for an hour or so. Meaning, I had time to jump in the pool, swim, swim, swim and hop out. I’ve never done this, at least in my memory, but…”what the heck. I’ll just swim a straight through until I run out of time.” So I did. I’m a little disappointed in my pace, actually. Slow, slow, slow. That said, it also didn’t feel like I was working really hard. (I’m still recovering from the 75 or so squat jumps from Monday’s class. We celebrated a guy’s birthday by doing 49 reps of lots of exercises…next time, couldn’t he just say he was 20?) It was a nice cruise of a swim, anyway.

On the way home, my son turned into a terrible three right before my eyes. He screamed, I believe for the following reasons:

1. Didn’t want to ride in Daddy’s car.
2. Wanted his coat on.
3. Wanted to live at the bounce place (and sleep on the floor).
4. Wanted his coat off.
5. Wanted to stop on the freeway so he could run to Daddy’s car.
6. Wanted to go home.
7. Wanted to go to the pizza store.
8. Wanted to go to the drycleaner.
9. Wanted to go to the grocery store.
10. Wanted to drive anywhere in town but home.
11. Wanted to stay in the car.
12. Wanted to get out of the car.
13. Wanted his car seat unbuckled.
14. Wanted to stay in his car seat.
15. Wanted to watch TV.

When he was told no, (not a big surprise!) I think he wanted all those things at once. The best part? At dinner, I told Kirk that there would be N-0-T-V. Without missing a beat, he said, “No TV? But Mommy, you were supposed to tell me I could watch TV.”

Gues we need to start spelling things backwards.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 12/26/2007
• Time: 15:40:00
• Total Time: 00:36:00.00
• Distance: 2000 yd
• Average Pace: 1:48.23/100yd

That’s what my gym offers. I’ve swum on swim teams, played some waterpolo, swum with some Master’s groups, but never heard of or tried a “swim conditioning” class. Like a Master’s workout, I thought. Not exactly….

What was good:

1. I was in the middle of the pack. Neither the fastest or the slowest.
2. Decent sets with a good variety of free/stroke work/short/long/kick.
3. Got me there and swimmig at 6 am.
4. Seemed like a nice group.
5. I completed a 50 fly without drill for the first time in a while.

What was, different (not bad, decidedly different):

1. There were five of us. In 3 lanes.
2. Everybody started the send offs together.
3. The send-offs were too slow for the fast people and killing the slower people.
4. No circle swimming. (Still feel bad for the woman a clocked with my windmill stroke….)
5. The “coach/instructor” swam the workout too. “This is the job I need!” I thought. “Write and workout and get paid to swim it!”
6. Lots of rest….

So….did I like it? I did. Was it the hardest workout I’ve done? Not so much. Here it is, for those interested, but I can’t remember the send-offs.

w/u:
200 free, 150 nf, 100 im, 50 kick
6×25 pace

main set:
50 nf (1:15), 100 free
50 nf (1:15), 150 free
50 nf (1:15), 200 free
50 nf (1:15), 250 free
50 nf (1:15), 300 free
50 nf

4×50 free (1:00)

2×100 fly kick

100 cool down

And more quotes from my three year old. He loves plums. I was trying to explain that they grow in the spring, when the leaves come out. “I have a great idea, mommy! We can go get new leaves and tape them onto the trees. There will be leaves and plums.” “Interesting thought, T. We just get new leaves?” “Yes. From the store. From the grocery store. And them tape them on.” (Imagine a withering “of course, you idiot!” look from a three year old here.)

Last question: Anybody know if there’s any recreational adult water-polo around Seattle? Summer or winter?

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 12/12/2007
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 00:55:00.00
• Distance: 2500 yd
• Average Pace: 2:11.96/100yd

In a glorious “anything but the treadmill” workout, I hopped into the pool, aiming for 3,000 yards in the hour. I wanted to test the possibility of a 3.1 mile open-water swim next year, and see where I stood. And, let’s face it, I had two kids that I would have sold for cheap today, so I was ready for some good exercise and stress relief. Here’s the workout:

500 warm up
500 pace
200 kick
3 x 200 IM (with a little drill for the fly. I’ve been out for a while…) :45 rest
4 x 100 free descending on the 1:50
10 x 50 free, :60, :55, :50 (x3 with a 50 cool)
150 cool down (and I needed it!)

I started swimming in the last open space, smooshed against the wall right in front of the guard. The interesting thing about my pool and gym is that they have a solid number of swimmers, but a huge variety of speeds. I’m happy to circle, but couldn’t find anybody near my pace. Plus, a couple lanes had some kids’ classes. So, I took what I could get. Smoosh. And I warned the guard. “You know, I have pretty splashy flip turns. You might want to scoot back a bit. I don’t want to soak you. I’ll remember for the first 200, but then it’s just an old habit.” “You’ll be fine. I’m getting in soon anyway.” “Are you sure? You’ll get splashed for sure,” I said dubiously. “Yeah, yeah.” When I looked over at the end of my warm-up, she was about 4 feet farther back. And laughing. So, I’m still not sure about the crazy distance open water swim (are you reading this, Dave?) but it sure feels great to be in the water again!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 12/05/2007
• Time: 16:10:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00
• Distance: 2850 yd
• Average Pace: 2:06.26/100yd

Still reeling a bit from the half marathon of evil, I wanted to exercise today, but…no running! I decided to jump back in the pool, and I realized just how great it was to be in. I put in some decent yardage, considering the months going without swimming (unless you count many repetitions of Captain Kangaroo with my kids). My form was, well, not it’s strongest, but then, I’ve never been a form swimmer. I had a Janet Evans stroke, for those of you who recognize that. Call it a windmill. Coaches tried to change it for a while, and now it’s just a crazy half-breed of traditional stroke and straight-armed wildness. Anyway, I hopped in, warmed up with a 750 or so, did some IM work and a set of descending 50s on the :60, :55, :50, kicked a bit and warmed down. I was aiming for 2000, so I’m pretty pleased that it was comfortable and fun. My butterfly was even tolerable, for short distances. (If I could compete as an 8-and-under in the 25 fly, I’d be a rock star!) So I’m in a much better mood. It was nice to feel fluid today after yesterday’s slog. On a side note, this is the first post I’ve ever had for swimming. The swim pace is pretty funny. I’ve never thought of a pace per 100 yards, what with sets and stroke work and kicking. Any other way to record it, short of putting my whole workout in here, yard for yard?

Logbook Activity

• Type: Swim
• Date: 11/26/2007
• Time: 16:00:00
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00
• Distance: 2150 yd
• Average Pace: 2:05.49/100yd