Off the Deck

During the past few days, while stuck at home due to fall blizzard, I’ve been contemplating this: which of the two scenarios below trumps the other concerning my overall “big swim picture?”

1) Being snow-bound for a few days means I can’t swim. I still workout as best I can at home (ride my track trainer, do my free-weight routine) but of course this is not the same as being in the water, which adds up to feeling “off” in terms of my strokes and “sort of out of shape” if we have a lot of bad big storms over one season.

2) On the other hand, if I am confined at home for much of the winter due to big storms, I greatly reduce my chance of picking up a bug. Thus, I reduce my odds of hitting spring feeling “sort of out of shape” from being sick.

As much as sitting around at home while the snow piles up outside, I’m leaning towards the second sceanrio as one that’s more beneficial to my overall swim condition. For one, although I am missing water time, I am potentially healthy and still doing some sort of workout. And, I am not getting burned out — I always super excited to hit the pool after being cooped up. Finally, I guess shoulder-rest (i.e. “cross training at home”) can always be considered as a good preventive dose against shoulder injuries.

What do you think?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

O.K., just a quick recap before I begin today: I learned to swim at age three. I joined my first team and began racing at age five. Since then, I’ve been on numerous scholastic, age group and masters teams, trained in all kinds of regulation and wacky pools under all kinds of conditions, and competed in a gamut of long course meters, short course meters and short course yards pools. Until last Saturday, I thought I knew pools.

As you know, I’ve been “swimming around” for the past year or so. Relatively new on the route is a rec pool about 10 minutes from my house. I swam there for the first time at the end of this past summer, thanks to a free pass to help cover swims while my “main” training facility was closed for cleaning.

Unfortunately it didn’t make the “regular rotation” roster because it’s super shallow with narrow lanes, and most important, the water is way too hot. Like, “I’m going to have stroke” hot. But, it’s still good as a backup. After all, some workout (i.e. focus on drills, technique, etc.) is better than no workout.

Such was the case last weekend. It was the best option (open, regulation pool, coached workout). The water wasn’t as hot as usual (hooray!), but I was still swimming as sluggishishly as I had before, when it was super hot. So, what was it? Maybe the two immunization shots I had earlier in the week were slowing me down. Way down apparently — a quick pace clock check during the pre-set confirmed that my normal “pace” interval had turned into “touch and go.”

For the next set, Andrew, the coach on deck, announced a DPS (Distance per Stroke) drill: 4×100 free, count your strokes per lap and try to decrease one stroke per lap. After the first 100 my “what is going on with me?” rumination veered into panic: “Why is my stroke so off? Why is my count over 20 per 25?!?”

Even then, I still didn’t get it until a lanemate (who swims there regularly) told me that the pool was meters. Thank God! Definitely relieved, but still feeling out of it almost a week later — how could I have not thought of meters before?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Well, it’s taken me awhile to get to this post (frighteningly busy this past month!) but here it is: I am back to being an ad hoc swimmer.

Yep, I had to un-do what I tried to do earlier this fall: create another workout group.

We had a few swimmers per day; I think our max was five on just one day. But to be a “success” (i.e.: have enough swimmers attend regularly to actually pay for the pool space/time!) we needed to see at least seven per day.

Oh well. As with most “let’s try and see what happens” things in my life, I did learn a ton from this experience. But, I’ll limit myself to two key points that I think apply to many things in life:

1) Parking may be more important than actual facility or time: While there was ample parking for the facility, it was all fee-based (and required a ten-minute walk). I simply could not get the staff to negotiate on this point. I’m confident we would’ve had double the start number if parking was free, as it is with at all other local facilities. My ultimate plan was to subsidize parking once we had enough income to pay for the pool, but well, I didn’t even get to “phase one.”

2) Having already noted the parking flaw above, “people are resistant to change”: I’m not sure we would have seen a ton of people right away even if parking wasn’t an issue. Despite all the grumbling I’ve heard over the past few months about lack of pool time, combined with all of the “yes!” responses I received to my many initial “head count” interest-emails, few swimmers actually gave it a try.

So it’s back to swimming whenever and where ever I can. My dream is still a 90-minute team practice in a regulation pool filled with cool water. But in the meantime, my filter is: 1) 90 minutes per session in a normal-ish pool; 2) 90-minute team pratices in a normal-ish pool.

Right now that means swimming on my own during the week and with various teams on the weekend. In some ways, it’s a relief to be a free agent again because it allows me to go where ever I need when it best suits me. (Did I mention that my schedule’s been crazy since Sept. 1?)

On the other hand, it’ll be interesting to see how my training fares because I tend to need others to push me, especially on those days when I’m unmotivated at first. (Hey — we all have them!)

Here’s counting the days down to spring, when the local pool population doubles+ thanks to outdoor facilities opening…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

In the past, news of a lengthy pool closure for repairs has created a mix of anxiety (where can I swim? Can I swim somewhere else? How do I get there? Will it cost more? Will the drive be way longer? And so on…) and depression (I miss my pool! I miss seeing my friends!) in me.

This time, however, I am ready to concede “get it done.”

Here’s the back story: as you know, (if you’ve been reading along) I’ve been swimming in a variety of pools over the past year+ in search of consistent, 90-minute workouts in a regulation sized pool that’s not bathtub-temperature. Because of my quest, combined with pool closures for age group/Varisty meets, I haven’t swum as much in, I guess what I can still sort of refer to as, my “home pool.”

So last Saturday, I was looking forward to a coached practice with the old gang. It was the tail-end of a rest week, so I really didn’t care about intervals, sets or yardage total when I dove in. After a modest warm up of about 600 and a kick set, I started on 10×100s on 1:20 — pretty much a cruise set.

Yet, after just three 100s, I was in a panic: why was I barely making the interval!?! Especially after a rest week?!? Then, during the 4th 100, I realized I felt exactly like I did during that terrible 1650 at this year’s State meet. I couldn’t get enough air in; I was getting more dizzy and fatigued per lap…

Yep, same pool. I had heard that the facility had problems with air filtering. And just that morning one of the coaches confirmed that they were going to close the pool for two months this summer to fix the problem.

My first reaction to this news was my typical anxiety! Where would I train for long course season?!? But, I must be making progress because my second thought was, “I don’t want to swim like this anymore in pratice or a meet.”

Hopefully I will have the best of both worlds soon — available long course training for 2010 in other pools and a good-air, LC/SC year-round facility after summer.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

I felt a little off this morning when I woke up. Living with asthma and allergies can sometimes make it tough to tell if it’s just a reaction to something or an actual virus. Thus practice-attending decisions in the early a.m. can be tricky during peak allergy seasons (fall and spring for me).

My rule of thumb? If I’m on the bubble with symptoms (i.e. feel out of sorts, but not so bad that I immediately turn off the alarm clock and go back to sleep) I workout.

Why? Because if it’s allergies/asthma, I usually feel better during/post swim. I’d rather give it a go and see what happens because on most of my ify days, I finish practice as written and move on with the day sans problems. Plus, my reasoning is pretty much in line with the standard advice concerning mixing symptoms with exercise — if your symptoms are above the neck, you may feel better after after a workout.

If I’m sick, well, it’ll be apparent soon enough.

Luckily, it’s a scheduled “rest week” for me, which means no weights, and if I do cardio, it should be fun and easy with no goals other than to move around a bit. So, I chose to hit the pool.

After warming up a bit, I noticed I was more congested than usual, fatigued (even though I took yesterday off) and my stomach was playing that “starving or nauseous?” game. Since swimming this morning, my stomach has been squirrely, I can barely keep my eyes open and a sore thoat, headache and runny nose have kicked in.

Yep, sick it is. Oh well. I don’t think I did any damage, and now I know not to set the alarm for “early workout” until this blows over.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Today I did my first meet, the “Gold Rush,” since April. It was a little (50 swimmers) local one. Even better, the host team’s (the Squids) all-inclusive, light-hearted approach created the perfect atmosphere for me to return to racing.

Before I recap my events, it’s much more important that I give a huge shout out the Squids team. They did an outstanding job, and you could tell that a lot of thought and work was a part of the planning stage.

Some of the more unusual and really fun elements of this meet included:
–An acapella rendition of the national anthem
–Goody bags stuffed with coupons and trinkets
–A beautiful marketing piece — an oversized card in color on glossy stock
–More food than anyone could eat — fruit & bagels in the a.m.; sandwiches in the later hours
–two diving events. The last time diving was a part of my meets, I was still an age-grouper/scholatic swimmer!
–An announcer that encouraged applause at the conclusion of every event as well as cheering home first-time swimmers and those finishing tough events.
–An all-inclusive attitude to relays. “Teams” and “points” weren’t important; ensuring all swimmers who wanted to be on a relay was the key.
–An original approach to awards — top team placements, top short and long pentathalon finishers as well as over all winners of the longest events offered (500 free, 400 IM) received discounted swim lessons, restaurant gift cards and stroke technique DVDs, respectively.

Again, I have to say a heart-felt “well done.”

As for me, my times were about where they should be for the beginning of the season, so I can’t complain. More so because I didn’t really “attack” any event today. Instead, it was all about getting into a racing mode again and identifying what needs work.

Certainly, I need to get some swim lessons for myself to work on breaststroke. I just did the 50, but it felt so slow and awkward. My 100 fly felt o.k. — just need to build endurance/speed back up as I was thinking “I don’t think I’m ready for a 200 yet” during the last 25.

My 100 back was unintentionally hilarious. After entering the water, the gun didn’t work (the gun vs electronic beep helped me out today — instead of my usual “sticky feet” I felt so of “startled off” the block). After crusing around the water to stay warm (did I mention it was 30 degrees here today and snowing?!?) we were called back to the blocks. I was in a loose crouch when I heard the gun go off. At first I thought it was a test start, but no, swimmers on my left and right were stroking away. What an age-grouper move! I swear, I never heard the “take your mark…”

The last event of the day for me was the 500 free. Honestly, because of the weather, I was proud of myself for just sticking around and swimming it. Lame, I know. Plus, I didn’t really attack it like I would at States. Today I approached it more as a distance event vs sprint (it’s only 5×100 after all. I’ve learned that if you don’t take it out right away and hang on to that pace, you’re done).

In all though, it was a good day. Times weren’t scary-bad-depressing, I had fun, and I’ve identified what to work on before the next meet in one month.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

p.s. While in the locker room today I was asked who I swim for as I was listed as “Sqiud” but none of the ladies on that team had seen me before. After explaining my “swim on every team” this year approach, they tahnked me for bringing in a lot of team points. Maybe my experiment won’t be as under the radar as I assumed….

It’s contradictory, I know. I’m going to type it anyway: Yes, I blog, but I don’t do online social networking.

Nothing against Linked In or FaceBook, Twitter, etc. Lots of people have a ton of fun with each. Many businesses benefit from viral social networking. And, yes, it’d be a hoot to catch up with long-lost and far-flung pals.

Here’s what my resistance boils down to: I just don’t want more thing to set up, maintain and check on a regular basis.

Furthermore, since I blog, I feel like I’m “out there” enough already. Best of all, swimming is sort of my FaceBook. After all, I run into old friends and acquaintances at local and national meets, at practice (both while at home and while traveling), and I get random emails generated from my swim-related publications.

For example, just last month I ran into a fellow swimmer from my childhood at USAS. I don’t think I’ve seen him in 30+ years. It’s cool to see that he’s still in the game too after all these years. More importantly though, if not for swimming, it’s unlikely we’d have randomly reconnected because he lives in Hawaii.

See you at the pool?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Last week I switched to an earlier start time for a.m. practice. It wasn’t a huge time shift, just a half hour, from 6:30 to 6 a.m., driven by that annual seasonal shift from outside LCM to indoor SCY.

But based on how tired I’ve been these past few afternoons, you’d think I’d made a massive time zone jump, like from Mountain to Pago-Pago.

I don’t think it’s lack of sleep, since I’m still getting to bed at a reasonable hour to allow myself enough sleep. For example, last night it was lights out at 9 p.m. I woke up sans alarm at 5:15 a.m. So that’s still what, eight hours and a smidge?

Nope, I think it’s the light factor. Or in this case, the lack of it early a.m. now that we’re creeping into fall.

During the summer, getting up at 6 a.m. felt like time was a-wasting. It was sunny and warm. The birds were chirping. People were out and about, running, cycling, doing yard work. The lanes were already filling at the pool; I was alert and ready to go grab one.

Now I feel as if I’m getting up in the middle of the night. It’s pitch black out. Turning on a light is shocking and makes me all-squinty. On my way to the pool, there’s little to no traffic, forget about exercisers. Even worse, I feel discombobulated for the rest of the day.

One measly half-hour, yet it seems to make all the difference in the world. Maybe rising before dawn is against my internal clock. Once in the water, I’m good to go. After, I’m always really happy I got up and swam. But man is it tough to get up and ut the door. The afternoon fuzzies aren’t fun either.

And it’s only early October — YIKES! I fear for myself come January. I need to give some serious thought to “adjust training to seasons.”

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

I mentioned in my last post that “pool brokering” has been taking up a lot of my time lately.

Basically, I’ve been motivated by very selfish reasons to find an available pool in the a.m. and woo people to come swim: I want to train for 90 consecutive minutes on a regular basis again, and even better, with people to push me.

I’m not trying to start a new team. Good thing, since based on just the past six weeks of calls, emails, site visits, collecting money, juggling numbers in my head, researching parking options, panicking and more, I can’t imagine adding in writing seasonal training plans, ordering team-wear, creating relays and waaaaayyyy more tasks. Definitely, swim coaches should be paid enough to do it full time.

It can be challenging to start anything new, and this has not proven to be different so far. Right now, the program is still in the very early stages. I’ve checked off “find available regulation pool and make deal.” Now I’m in the “building” phase — finding enough swimmers to make a go of it; ironing out wrinkles as they pop up.

Absolutely, if it’s a solid “go,” many of the set-up tasks will fade away and the program will flow. But for now, I’m learning (maybe super late in life since it’s an old adage) that you can’t please everyone. The locale and time just isn’t going to match everyone’s schedule. You just have to pick something and stick with it.

Hopefully the program will succeed because again, selfishly, swimming 90-minute workouts again feels awesome. OK, OK, it’d be nice if it succeeded also because it provides a service to other swimmers and brings money to a facility during an economy when everyone’s looking for cash-raising avenues.

Ultimately, even if it fails, I will console myself with the thought that I am at the very least showing comitment to living up to my self-proclaimed “swim evangelist” title.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist