Off the Deck

I am sure parents everywhere will ream me for this, but here it is: I really don’t like it when little boys stare at me when I am showering or dressing in the locker room.

The inevitable situation is this: practice has just gotten out. The locker room is a busy place because the public has arrived with kids in tow for rec hours and lessons. The moms with more than one child always seem to have their eldest son ready to go first, so that child is always left with nothing else to do but stand and stare at me (or any other woman within range, I imagine) while they wait for mom to suit up their sibs. Of course, I am either in the shower or just about to put clothes on.

Do I mess up my schedule to wait for the kids to clear? That doesn’t seem fair somehow, since I am in the women’s locker room. Do I try a “dress under towel” manuever? Again, that will slow me down. Relocating isn’t usually an option because after the majority of practices, locker rooms are jammed. And the majority of facilities now seem to offer open shower areas sans “dressing booths.” To date, my only “solution” has been to minimize the view by turning my back to the child in question, if that’s even possible.

Not only is it uncomfortable for me, I wonder about a lot of things. Foremost is protocol. I get that there are a lot of single moms who can’t send their sons with dad into the men’s locker room. Or maybe the family locker room is full. And, just to be clear, I’m not talking about male babies or toddlers. They still seem too caught up in things like dust motes in sunbeams, their toes, etc. than to want to watch some master swimmer change. No, it’s the boys who are motoring around on their own steam, are speaking in full sentences and dressing/undressing themselves that seem a tad too old to be mixing with adult females in various stage of undress. Isn’t there some other way to accomodate everyone? Do we need cartoon-dedicated big screen T.V.s in women’s locker rooms?

Of course, I don’t have children, so I have no child development sense of what’s appropriate at what age. But I can’t help but feel a bit gross when some boy has a fixed 10-minute stare lock on me. What are they thinking?!? Am I scarring this child for life? Is he going to grow up with some weird fetish for goggles? Perhaps most importantly, do I really want to know?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Yes, I admit it. There has been a lot of negativity coursing through my brain during the past three months+ while I’ve struggled with two back-to-back viruses.

Today, I’m going to turn that ship around. Here are ten good things (in no particular order) that result from an unplanned winter “viral-layoff:”

1) Plenty of supplies: The bottles in your mesh shower bag and locker tote remain “topped off.” That drink-mix canister is waiting to be cracked open. Your holiday bonanza of new suit, googles, cap and equipment is still fresh and ready to go.

2) No over-use injuries!

3) Swim practice as social hour: Haven’t swum in a few months? All sightings and updates are fresh, entertaining and interesting.

4) Winter illness as hibernation: Sleep through those nasty, cold, dark a.m. swims until it’s almost time to swim outdoors again!

5) No dithering about state meet entry: Distance, middle-distance, sprint, stroke, I.M. — none of it matters when swimming a meet simply isn’t any option until you have a few months of conditioning and training again.

6) Chlorine break: skin and hair can recover from the ravages of constant exposure.

7) Lots to check out: Who has a new suit? Who has the newest in equipment technology? Who’s gearing up for states?

Deconditioned as time saver: feeling “worked out” (and seeing progress) now only takes 60 minutes vs 90+.

9) Mentally refreshed: Being so happy to just be in a pool means any set is fun!

10) Starting from scratch as opportunity: If you’re starting a re-build phase, why not focus on improving technique and breaking those old bad habits too?

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Last summer, about one month into my first “entire season break” from competiton training in many years (decades?), I realized that it also would be a great time to review and re-assess everything I was doing, from training to diet to recovery and beyond.

One area of experimentation was sports drinks. In fact, one of my goals for the summer was to find something to slurp during practice and meets for fuel/hydratation sans sugar high/crash cycle. (You can read all of my reviews via prior posts.) By August, I had switched to Gatorade. At the time, it was the lowest sugar drink that I could find with a formula that kept me hydrated and offered a slight fueling kick.

Since switching my diet around so much (check post on “Food Combining”) late last fall, I was interested in finding options that were ever lower in sugar. (The “original” Gatorade mix is 14g of sugar per serving; currently I am trying to avoid anything over 10g of sugar/serving).

Today I tried something new while swimming on my own at a rec center (still easing back into the swim of things after a dreadful virus-o-rama winter) — a packet of “Banaberry” Ultima Replenisher. I had bought a packet of every flavor offered by this company some time ago; just haven’t had a chance to try them until now. Here’s a recap of my initial impressions:

1) Tasty! It smelled and tasted like bananas and strawberries without that icky-chalk-y-chemical after-taste.

2) I liked how smooth it was — it’s not a “fizzy” formula. This made it much easier for me to ingest/digest while swimming.

3) No sugar high/crash cycle. It clearly states “Zero Sugar” on the packet front, but it does include stevia extract (natural plant-based sweetner.) At this point, I would like to do more research to understand why stevia doesn’t “count” as sugar, and to see if your body does not respond to it like sugar.

4) I felt well-hydrated/fueled for 75 minutes, and you know how hot those rec pools can be.

5) Their formula is free of chemicals, caffeine and other junk. Of course, being uber-senastive to such stuff, I never would have bought some to try in the first place…

Back at home I checked the website to learn a little more. Now I know that its “point of distinction” is: a balanced blend of electrolytes with a lower amount of carbs to provide quicker/easier absorbtion. (The Gatorade original blend has 50g of carbs; in comparison, Ultima has 3g). After reading the nutritional labels on the rest of the packets I have in my kitchen cabinet, I see that Ultima offers some vitamin-y stuff such as the Bs, Niancin, etc. The formula blend per flavor varies a bit though, so do check each label if you sensativities like I do. Both Gatorage and Ultima are fat free.

I look forward to testing the other flavors soon, stay tuned for updates!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Yes, I have taken a week or so off from blogging. Simple reason: I have been exhausted and needed a break from everything that could be placed on hold for a bit.

I thought I was about 85% over the two viruses I had back to back (yes, it’s been almost a full quarter now of feeling really, really, really off), so I was working out again; some swimming, a run, some weights. Just for a week or so. I thought I was finally edging my way back, so I wasn’t prepared for what happened this past Tuesday morning during another solo light “get back into it” swim at a rec pool.

The workout I had written for myself wasn’t crazy or extreme. On the contrary. Warm up was 5×200, with drill, back and kick mixed in. No interval; just nice and easy. My main set was 15×100, broken in groups of five, with a five second interval drop per block of five. Again, nothing crazy — all free, and my “fastest” interval was going to be a nice gentle 1:20 to offer plenty o’ rest.

Except that after the first five 100s, I hit the wall. And hard.

Of course, I’ve hit the wall before in practice many times over the years. Usually though, it’s at the end of a really tough distance/IM set or a two-hour+ swim. Yet there I was after only 1500 scy — I literally couldn’t move my body down the lane for one more lap.

Totally puzzled and edging into full-blown panic, I did the only thing that I thought might help: get my “second breakfast” from my locker (my “first” breakfast is fruit.). Dripping away with googles still on, I ate a few spoonfuls of the oatmeal/soymilk I had made and packed the night before, on deck. (One of the best things about sitting through a really rough 12 month “my life is imploding” phase is that things like “huh, I wonder what the other swimmers and guard think of my behavior” so don’t matter anymore.) I did feel a tad better once I got back in the water, but I could only manage a mini-set of 16×25 drill/swim.

Since that morning, I have been tired, tired and tired. Like, go to bed at 8 p.m. and sleep until 7 a.m. tired. Scary, no? A few days later, still trying to figure out while I was dragging away, I realized that I had broken the classic “F.I.T.” principle of training. F.I.T. is an acronym for “Frequency, “Intensity” and “Time,” the elements you manipulate to achieve various conditioning results.

After a long lay off, you should cut back on all three training principles. For example, if you normally swim five 75+ minute practices per week, you should aim for maybe 3x 60-minutes swims on softer intervals for a few weeks. When your body feels ready for more, you should choose only once principle, such as “Time” (i.e.:add another 10 minutes to each of those 3xs a week sessions), to manipulate. Once your body has adapted to the new workload, ramp up another principle (i.e. “Frequency” by adding in another practice day per week.)

Of the three principles, I was only obeying “Intensity.” While I was giving myself softer swim intervals, I was still swimming, running and lifting weights as much as I would during non-sick-recovery mode, and for the same session durations. End result? My body had to scream, or shut down in the pool that day, to get it’s “Too much!” message accross to my one-track “I just want to get back into shape” brain.

So here I go again, off to try it again but this time with a better plan — fewer, shorter workouts with lesser intensity; increase only one element at a time to allow my body to adapt. Hopefully I’e learned my lesson and won’t need a another wake-up call…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

For the past several months, I’ve been following the most basic of food combining tenet. When I first read about it back in November, I didn’t tell anyone I was going to give this system a whirl. Probably because it was to be yet one more trial in a long series of attempts to find “the” approach to food that meshed best with my body.

By now, external results have kicked into a point where people are starting to ask a lot of questions (i.e. “you look so much thinner — what are you doing?”). But before my food combining primer, a disclaimer of “this is not medical or registered dietician information, follow on your own discretion, blah, blah, blah.”

Basic* Food Combining Rules
1) You may mix proteins and fats
2) You may mix carbs and veggies
3) Fruit should be eaten alone and on an empty stomach
4) Veggies can be mixed with all — proteins, fats and carbs
5) Space your meals, meaning you should wait at least two hours before switching from a carbs meal to a protein/fats one or from either one to fruit.

The easiest big no-no to keep in mind? Don’t mix fats and carbs or proteins and carbs.

Absolutely, at first I definitely had to put some thought into how/when/what to eat. But I was surprised at how quickly and easily I adapted. Maybe because I felt so much better so quickly. More on results in a minute; for now a sample menu to give you an idea of a typical day’s fare:

–first thing in the a.m.: big bowl of fruit, maybe mixed berries, a variety of citrus (orange/kiwi/grapefruit slices), etc.
–one to two hours later: bowl of whole grain cereal such as oatmeal with non-fat soy milk (I am lactose intolerant)
–two hours later: sometimes a snack such as nuts or a hard boiled egg if I know a protein/fat lunch is to follow, or I might roll into lunch
–lunch is usally some sort of protein/fat/veggie mix such as grilled chicken with roasted veggies and some organic dark chocolate with PB
–a few hours later I have another bowl of fruit
–two hours later it’s dinner time: maybe more protein/veggies or a carbs meals such as pasta with tomato sauce and veggies

The only few “problems” I have with this system are, 1) my produce bill can get pretty high per week, 2) I have developed a $12+/week organic dark chocolate habit, and 3) sometimes I “run out of time” to eat something else at the end of the day, but then I figure it’s better to go to bed on a light stomach anyway, and that there will be more food tomorrow.

In any case, the payoff is worth it. Prior to food combining I felt as if my body really wasn’t digesting or accessing nutrients well. After certain meals (which I now know are horrible combos) I felt tired, muzzy-minded or even down-right irritable. I thought I had a lot of food allergies, so I avoided a lot of yummy, healthy foods such as whole wheat products like pasta, chocolate and tomatoes.

Once I started food combining though, I noticed a spike in mental clarity and mood stability. I slept sounder. I was able to add foods back into my diet that I had avoided for decades. Within two weeks, I had lost 3″ in bloat-factor. Since about mid-November, I’ve lost 8 pounds. Best of all? I haven’t really felt deprived or ravenously hungry.

Of course, there is more to it, but I don’t want to sound too infomercial-y today. Certainly, I will post more about it if there seems to be an interest via comments.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

*Food combing can get very picky-detailed; there are several experts, each of whom propose their own level of rules to study/apply.

I added a new page today, have you checked it out yet?

Definitely, it’s a huge, new experiment for me. Will people donate money to express thanks for information and entertainment while knowing that they are also supporting swimming beyond this blog? I don’t know if donations will roll in or not. If they do, I’m excited about applying them to the “swim evangelism” ideas list I started on a piece of paper earlier this week.

Because I am just beginning to dip my toes into the swim evangelism waters, starting small and local is my plan for now, i.e.: donate to a college swim scholarship, buy a swim magazine subscription for a child who’s just joined their first swim team, pay for a first swim lesson, purchase goggles for a new swimmer, etc. If the new program proves popular, I’d be thrilled to offer random acts of swim evangelism across the United States.

Of course, I’m hoping for the latter scenario — the ability to live up to my self-proclaimed “swim evangelist” title and bring swimming to people of all ages everywhere. If I accomplish only one item off my list via this blog within one year’s time, I’ll still feel a sense of swim evangelism accomplishment. If no donations roll in, that’s going to be O.K. too because at least I tried something, and I’ll know to try another avenue.

As always, you can count on me to keep you posted on devvelopments – if donations come in, how they are spent, and much more!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Just about any child who grows up as a “serious” swimmer usually ends up working a lot of the part time aquatics jobs. I am no exception. As promised, here is the flip side of my volunteer list, all of the paid-work I’ve done within the realm of swimming:

–Tiny Tots instructor (ages 4-8)
–Learn to Swim instructor (back then it was the Red Cross series)
–Stroke technique coach (age group)
–Assistant coach (age group)
–Lifeguard
–Private lesson instructor (all ages’ many adults who want to improve the swim leg of their Tris)

Hmmm…not as long as the volunteer list, nor as diverse. No, variety here springs from setting: the number of pools, facilities, and age-ranges. As well as the wacky situations that occur when you are an aquatics employee. One of my most bizarre situations? Covering a group learn-to-swim class last minute for a dozen Japanese boys under the age of six who didn’t speak any English.

Most enduring impact from working many years in aquatics? One of my best “parlor tricks” is the ability to recite, verbatim, all of the lines from Johnny Learns to Swim. Let me explain…

As a teenager, one of my regular summer jobs was teaching Tiny Tot lessons, as noted above. During the course of a summer, instructors offered four half-hour sessions per weekday, for four two-weeks sesions. On rain days (and we always had at least one per session) the back up plan was to watch Johnny Learns to Swim with our kids. So…just a rough estimate of views would be 4×4 per summer, then 16×5 summers. Yep, that’s a grand total of at least 80.

The best rain day scenario was when your kid didn’t show, because then you gathered with your friends and took “a role” for that showing, such as Johnny, Suzy, Mommy, Daddy or the narrator. My favorite role was the narrator. We also developed a trivia game. You won a point if you could come up with a question that no-one could answer correctly immediately, such as “how many different suits does mommy wear?” and “at what point during the film does a goose walk by in the background?”

Ah, the perks of being a life-long swimmer!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

I’ve been in involved with swimming for a long time. Decades, in fact. During that time, I’ve had opportunities to do both volunteer and paid work, efforts which I hope have furthered the sport a bit.

If you’ve been reading along for awhile now, you already know that the past year has been pretty tumultous for me, both in and out of the pool. You know what I’m talking about, one of those years when everything that was once stable or in place implodes either with or without your help.

Processing such dynamic change (and I’ve already done a few cycles in my lifetime), is both good and bad. Sitting through all of it emotionally can be tough, but I also firmly believe that the window of opportunity is never wider open than at such times: after you reach ground zero, when everything old had been cleared from your life, you are granted with the gift of re-thinking and re-visioning.

For example, after making up and doing a little self-assesment test, I realize I need a fresh approach to swim-evangelism.

First, I listed all of the volunteer and paid work* I’ve done on behalf of swimming. Here’s what was on my volunteer list after just a few minutes:

–as a teenager, co-organize and run the annual swim team summer picnic for my age group team each year (think hundreds of kids and adults!)
–swim in swim-a-thons; collect donation money
–serve as captain of JV & Varsity scholastic teams (lead cheers, do team bulletin, organize banquet with awards, get gifts for coaches, order team loot, etc.)
–swim/not swim on relays as needed
–open/close facilities
–pull tarps on/off of pools
–put laneropes in/out
–serve as timer
–serve as counter
–pick up/put out equipment/clock
–drive meet/open water carpool
–set LC relays for nationals for two years
–attend numerous planning/recap meetings
–set up/pick up pre/post meet/open water swim
–attend conventions as a delegate
–write/deliver countless bulletins, emails, letters, press releases, newsletters, et al

Probably, I’ve done other things that I have forgotten about at the moment. And of course, other people have done way more than me. But the point of my made-up exercise was self-assessment. So I reviewed the list. Certainly, stuff like meets and picnics don’t happen unless people pitch in. In fact, it seems as if there is always an endless list of this sort of thing to do to keep “swimming” up and running on a day-to-day basis.

But as I sit here at ground zero, I’m also struck by the thought: haven’t I done the enough of the same thing through organized channels with little impact? Maybe it’s time to re-think (or maybe for the first time just think) about what I would really want to do for swimming if the sky were the limit.

I’m not sure what will come of my re-visioning stage. And it may have a very lengthy detonation wire. But I’m curious and excited to see what happens.

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

*I know you are all curious to read the “paid work” list. I will post it soon.