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Happy New Year!

It feels fitting to sum up the end of my holiday training on the last day of 2021. I’m not much for arbitrary symbols and celebrations, but since most people are, I’ll jump on the bandwagon.

I always feel that, if we are to celebrate a “New Year,” then that celebration should occur in the spring. I don’t feel like January is the least bit appropriate for new beginnings. In April, I am inherently motivated… in January I would, if given the opportunity, hibernate.

But since our ancestors decided to celebrate the (all too minor at first) lengthening of the day, instead of the return of the birds and flowers and leaves, I’ll say that I’m happy with the way 2021 wound up. It has been another unusual year, but I think that maybe I am designed for unusual times.  And certainly for unusual pursuits, if the past two weeks are any litmus.

Important Question

Does anyone know how many yards it shows on someone’s Garmin when they cross the English Channel? i.e., How many actual yards are travelled by the swimmer? And does it feel like that many yards, or is some of it just getting pushed up and down the Channel?

Inquiring minds what to know 🙂

The Training

Unless my math is wrong (and coach, let me know if it is!), I just swam over 120,000 yards in 10 days. Over 68 miles. Last Friday during the 12 days of Christmas set, two of the kids told me that this week would be even harder than last week. On Monday morning my stomach was in knots like before a swim meet. Thank heavens, this week turned out to be easier for the most part, both in yards and intensity.

That is not to say that it was easy. But the human body is quite amazing in its adaptability, and if you give it a fair chance (and spend up to 2 hours a day stretching, and eat everything in your house and then some), it’s amazing what it can do.

At no point this week was I as tired and beaten down as I was the week before, and I had less trouble sleeping and digesting (which helped massively), and came through it with shoulders intact. I still can’t bounce back and sprint on command like the kids, but, thankfully, that is not at all what I am training for.

I’d like to pick up some speed in the new year, but I am very happy with where I am right now. As long as we can find somewhere to live in Bournemouth, I feel tentatively confident about the plan. Covid, stay out of my way!

Bad Jokes

Youth is when you are allowed to stay up on New Year’s Eve

Middle age is when you are forced to

(Can’t imagine why this is resonating with me right now)

The Week at the Pool

As of Friday the 24th: 68,700

Monday – 10,000 + 6,700 = 16,700

Tuesday – 7,100 + 7,100 = 14,200

Wednesday – 9,200 + 5,100 = 14,300

Thursday – 6,500

Total Yardage ~ 51,700

So Total Doubles Yardage ~ 120,400!!!

Monday 12/27

Practice 1 Theme: It must have been love, but it’s over now (~10,000)

• 400 ez
• 1600 w-up
• 8.5x:
• 500 free on 6:40
• 400 IM on 6:40
• 300 CD

I was so all in on this – just the workout I needed to get everything back in motion without hurting anything. It was going exactly as planned – 5-10 seconds rest on easy 500’s, and then still being able to go easy on the 400 IM’s while still getting enough rest to be able to drink once every 900 yards. Then, somewhere around the 3rd round, Lane 1 got thrown in with us. We still went on the same intervals, but I had to either go fast to not get lapped, or get lapped and then go fast to make up the time. I thought I was making too much of it until my lane mate came to the wall after one of the IM’s and said, “this is so stressful!” That was exactly the right word for it – something that had been as peaceful and serene as 10,000 yards can be was turned into chaos.

Happily, after we mentioned it the boys took it down a notch… but some of the damage had been done. I feel OK, but I hope this afternoon’s practice is not evil based on how easy this one was supposed to be. We’ll find out…

 Practice 2 Theme: This day was great (~6700)

• 400 ez
• 1600 w-up
• 21x:
• 100 choice on 1:45
• 50 choice on :50
• 25 drill on :25
• 25 kick on :30
• 500 cool down

I did the rounds IM order, subbing free for fly (except the kick). It was lovely.

(although the breaststroke was a bit tight on the interval… and I only realized at the end that I think we have a 5000 tiger IM tomorrow… lots of breaststroke. L said I’ll be trained for it 🙂

2 more full days!

Tuesday 12/28

Practice 1 Theme: Surprising reprieve (~7100) 

• 1600 w-up
• 21×50 (7x 10/3/10, 7x overkick, 7xDPS) My DPS is not so great – 12’s and 13’s when really trying
• 20×100 kick (shakedown set starting on 1:55,1:54, 1:53, etc.) – My right hip flexor seized up like the tin man when I did the side kick during w-up today, so this did not go well for me. Or maybe it did – I missed the first one and got to put on fins right away 🙂
• 200 ez
• 20×100 swim (shakedown – 1:30, 1:29, 1:28, etc.) – I made 1:14, missed 1:13. I was pretty pleased, considering how tired I am. H made it to 1:11, F to 1:10!
• 400 CD

I could have felt better (especially after yesterday felt so not bad), but I could have felt worse!

Practice 2 Theme: It’s Tiger IM Time (~7100) 

• 300 ez
• 1400 w-up (why no IM to warm up for the tiger IM, coach? 🙂 )
• 5000 Tiger IM (~1 h 11 min)
• 400 CD

The last 1000 was pretty excruciating, as I tried (successfully) to avoid getting lapped by L. Other than that, another pretty nice day. The front of my right shoulder was really twinging on the last 500 breaststroke, but it felt OK on the free and doesn’t feel worse than normal now.

Wednesday 12/29

Practice 1 Theme: God. Bless. Rest. (~9200) 

• 350 ez
• 10×200 on 4:00 (the best!!)
• 9×200 IM 3:20
• 8×200 Fr 2:45
• 7×150 Fly/Bk/Br 3:00
• 6×150 Fr 2:30
• 5×100 IM 1:35
• 4×100 Fr 1:20
• 3×50 Fl/Bk :50
• 2×50 Br/Fr 1:00
• 1×50 Fr 2:00
• 300 CD

It seems like a small victory now, but I was happy to hold 1:14’s on the 4×100’s on 1:20. That’s not a super fast time or anything, but I was pretty tired by then. And considering that sometimes this past summer I would try to go :37 for a 50 and miss it, I have come a long way in the last 4 months. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it 🙂

With the exception of subbing free for fly, I made the whole practice exactly as written, leading the lane from the 8×200’s onward. Yay.

Practice 2 Theme: I’m there to make people feel better about themselves (~5100)

• 300 ez
• 1600 w-up
• 125 ez
• 7x:
• 4×25 kick on :35
• 2×50 drill on :50
• 100 off the blocks ~4:30
• 100 ez 2:00
• 325 ez

Wow, I am… bad

• Free: 1:12
• Back 1:22
• Free: 1:11
• Back: 1:20
• Free: 1:07
• Back 1:16
• Breast 1:28

To be clear, I did not at all attempt to descend these – I was all out from the get go (the first one came with some disturbing shoulder pain). It apparently just takes me a while to wrap my head around the concept of going fast. The 1:07 was definitely me enjoining myself to carry my speed from the dive through the race.

So, bottom line, good thing I’m not training to race 🙂

Thursday 12/30

Only Practice Theme: We’re Done!!!! (~6500)

• 100 ez
• 1600 w-up
• 8×50 kick descend 1:10 (:47 for fly; :49 free with board)
• 8×50 drill fr/bk 1:10
• 8×50 build 1:00 (after first one, accidentally held :36s & :37s)
• 8×50 descend 1:00 (:41 to :33)
• 1:00 rest
• 3×200 build 3:00 (2:35, 2:28, 2:27)
• 1:00 rest
• 3×200 descend 3:00 (2:36, 2:30, 2:22)
• 1:00 rest
• 5×200 build and descend 2:45 (thinking about the 6 hour car ride and 3 days of no swimming I was about to embark on, I decided to see how I felt on these. Turns out, I felt like holding 2:44’s)
• 2×100 on 1:25
• 2×100 on 1:30
• 2×100 on 1:35
• 4×100 on 1:40
• 50 ez

For those paying close attention, I went a 1:12 on my first 100 off the blocks yesterday… and then went a 2:22 on a 200 today. There is something wrong with me. But luckily, it is a great defect for swimming the English Channel.

Meanwhile, JS was absolutely tearing up the pool today – 4000 yards of swimming on moderate intervals all under 1:00 pace, most of them significantly. Go team!