My resolutions:
1. Last month, I discovered "Go the Distance" and inputted all my yardage from the past year. With a week and a half left in the year, I have put in 660 miles. Looking at the top of the GTD results, I see that a "Don Tatzin" has the most mileage of anybody this year with 1685. That is almost 3 million yards. For 2012, I resolve to top 3 million yards and the GTD list.
2. Get under :50 in the 100 yard freestyle. PB stands at 53.13 from last July. My current season goal for the event is even harder, but that's between me and my coach.
3. Get under :23 in the 50 yard freestyle. PB stands at 24.58 from last July. Current season goal is even harder, " "... The NY resolution makes for a nice little stepping stone.
4. Attain a QT for a Grand Prix, even if it's not for this current GP season.
5. Become the best I possibly can within the confines of Jan 01 12 to Jan 01 13.
I have no idea how ridiculous some of these might be, but with Darth Real Life all sorted out and logistics of classes and job all worked out, I still have a lot of extra time that can be spent at pools, for which I am very thankful. If you doubt me, I forgive you in advance (but I won't forget your words).
What are your swimming New Year's resolutions? And if you don't believe in NY resolutions, then what do you think you can do to improve your swimming?
Former Member
I don't really do "resolutions" exactly, but here is what I wrote down earlier this week as it pertains to swimming next year:
...
Okay, upon further reflection:
Finish establishing sustainable habits for lifelong fitness
Become reasonably familiar with modern swimming - nutrition, dryland, strokes, rules, strategies, knowledge, etc. - and apply what is relevant to me
Open water: Complete five USMS/USAT swims of 1500m or more, including at least one 5k
Pool: Participate in at least two swim meets
Special: Complete five personal/postal challenges
:blah: :party2:
Okay, this is pretty funny.
online.wsj.com/.../SB10001424052970203471004577140900388728374.html
Somebody posted this article on the bulletin board at our community fitness center; it's a hoot! :D
Every January it's the same thing: All of the Resolutioners who quit last February show up in the gym again. And, the noodlers return... :afraid:
Those of us who are regulars joke about taking bets as to who is going to drop out when. One thing for sure: By March 1, all of the Resolutioners have dropped out, never to be seen again- until January 2. :bolt:
Somebody posted this article on the bulletin board at our community fitness center; it's a hoot! :D
Every January it's the same thing: All of the Resolutioners who quit last February show up in the gym again. And, the noodlers return... :afraid:
Those of us who are regulars joke about taking bets as to who is going to drop out when. One thing for sure: By March 1, all of the Resolutioners have dropped out, never to be seen again- until January 2. :bolt: It's strange, I never notice any difference at my gym each January. Maybe the n00bs all get herded into a special area, probably over near the ropes. Trainer: "Whip those up and down for our amusement. Oh I mean, uh, toned six pack abs mumble mumble!"
The first weekend of the new year the pool was packed. When I finished my workout and got out I saw at least three people waiting to get in. (For some unknown reason only two of the six lanes are set up for circling. The rest only hold two swimmers unless people agree to circle.)
Last weekend there were at most five people in the pool during my entire workout. There was always an empty lane. Although I was swimming in a circle lane I need not have bothered.
Resolution season is officially over.
S
Okay, this is pretty funny.
online.wsj.com/.../SB10001424052970203471004577140900388728374.html
THAT was hilarious!!
My resolutions are so humble I won't bother to bore you with actual times. Suffice it to say, I intend to go a lot faster this year. And farther. And to more meets. Whether anyone else from Tallahassee comes or not.
I have a meet at the end of January where I'll do the 50 and 100 free, and 100s of the other strokes. That'll be after a month of the kind of yardage like that week I had in November. When I have my times from next month's meet, I'll come on here with them and we can discuss whether or not I need to make a course correction. But for better or worse, I've made the resolution/goal and I'm not changing it until I have more of my own data about how I'm responding to the work.
Hello, again, guys! As promised, I am here to report on my month so far and the first day of this meet.
On the very first day of the year, I got sick. This was curious, because I got sick in the exact same way in the first week of 2011, too. Both times, I had done some kind of housecleaning two days before becoming sick (in the more recent case, I had been moving old dusty boxes out of a closet to a storage shed, and there was some mold). I stayed sick until Sunday the 8th, but I still swam through the week, sick and crappy and all. Last year, after getting sick, I opted out of going to practices and that just made the uphill climb to get back to where I was before the Xmas break all that much harder. So, this year, I had a classic Will Smith "aw hell naw" moment and just swam through it.
I did, however, decide not to do the extra workouts just yet. One of my new years' resolutions that I didn't tell anyone about before was to use my intuition more. My intuition told me it would be a bad idea to try and start this "big push" of extra work in the same week I was sick. I hope you agree.
Anyway, since my horrible meet in December, I had actually been on a roll with one great practice after another. That continued even after I'd been out of the pool for four days between Xmas and New Years, and after I'd been sick. Aghast at the thought of messing it all up by doing extra workouts, I just went to my one practice every weekday up until this weekend's meet. So, I took a rain check on the extra work.
How is my meet so far? Pretty intriguing! Today, I swam the 100 *** and 50 free.
100 ***: 1:17.04. That's a new PB by 3 seconds, which tops my previous 1:20.2 PB from July when I was shaved and tapered. I've been working on my rhythm, pullouts, and head and hand position. And finally, all my 100s are now faster than my first 100 scy free time of 1:19.92 from three years ago. :bump: My 100 *** is now faster than my 100 back was one year ago.
50 free: 25.32. This is virtually the same time I went last month when I was shaved and tapered for one week for that awfully disappointing meet (then, I went 25.29.). All my hair has grown back and I'm certainly not tapered at all. In the middle of the season, I'm now 70 milliseconds away from my July PB of 24.58 (my time before July was 26.3).
What changed? Every month last year I averaged about 100k yards when I was doing consistent work, but last November, I did 165k yards. That month, I would go to my university pool's lap swim hours on my own, away from my team workout, and do kicking workouts anywhere between 3000 and 7000 yards. On five days in November, I did 6800 yards of all sorts of kicking workouts ranging from sprint sets to distance sets. Last September, I struggled to get 6x100s kick w/ a board in on the 1:45. Last week, I did 100s on 1:40 kick w/ a board getting to the wall in 1:25 (with my body hair almost fully grown back). I have this very clear "tri-state muscle area" on my thighs, when I flex them, that I did not have before November.
I respect all of you and understand your doubt in regards to my strategy this year, but I think, for me, I know what I need to do. I need to be in the pool more. For me, work works. More work works more. Even in sprints. Maybe for my bad meet last month, my body just wasn't ready. So I'm going to have more November-sized months coming up in February and March, at least, and I'm going to diversify the purposes of the workouts from just kicking.
I have three more events tomorrow: 100 fly, back, and free. Can't wait. :)
I respect all of you and understand your doubt in regards to my strategy this year, but I think, for me, I know what I need to do. I need to be in the pool more. For me, work works. More work works more. Even in sprints. Maybe for my bad meet last month, my body just wasn't ready. So I'm going to have more November-sized months coming up in February and March, at least, and I'm going to diversify the purposes of the workouts from just kicking.
Dude... I love ya, but you are definitely a DOG!!
