Swim happy

Last swim of 2010. Made my GTD goal!!

Swim happy end to the year -- ~5:40am in Scottsdale on a rare morning where the temperature dipped below freezing, a bit of ice on the deck, very few cars in the parking lot, the pool enveloped in fog rising from the 50 meter length and you could barely tell if anyone was even in the water. Like clockwork, though, there was our chipper coach Laura, smiling like it was mid-70s and sunshine and ready with another great workout. Thanks for another great year of training, Laura. Cheers!:chug:

I can't believe how swimming on my own has rejuvenated my interest for the sport. I like it more now than I ever did back in HS and college under a coach. Hopefully 2011 keeps the interest and the increases coming. :) I'm totally with you on this one. I thought it would be tough to keep motivated swimming on my own, but I have found I can swim exactly how I want. I saw some good time drops on my sprints this summer and am hoping that has continued. Also although, or maybe because, I am limited in my pool time, I really can't wait for my next swim!

26.35! :D I flew, baby, I flew! Way to go, Couroboros! :applaud: :cheerleader:

This will be a bit of a long post, so forgive me. One of my resolutions for the New Year was for my first meet of the year (which just ended) to be my new "BMY"- Best Meet Yet. Last November and December, I had two really spectacular meets where I dropped a lot of time in a lot of events. Perhaps this was too much to expect, but I wanted to prove to myself I could get right back into it after the Christmas break (which was a week and a half), and after getting sick the first week of the new year, too. The meet began well enough, I dropped almost a second and a half in the 100 back, to set my new PB at 1:16 flat. Then it was BZZZZT all downhill from there. 100 free's 1:00.83 is something I blame on my own arrogance (an arrogance which I didn't even know I had until it was too late). If I had just taken a test dive, maybe I would have a new 100 free PB right now. As is, I got flustered by the tiny blocks. So disappointed with my 100 free was I, that I blew-off cooldowns for the rest of the meet. Day 1: 100 back: old PB 1:17.38 (Dec '10) /// new PB 1:16.00 (Jan '11) 100 free: PB 58.93 (Dec '10) /// 1:00.83 (Jan '11) 200 ***: PB 3:09 (Apr '10) /// 3:17.08 (Jan '11) (admittedly, the April swim was tapered and shaved down, and I have no experience in this event at all) 100 fly: PB 1:11.25 (Dec '10) /// 1:15 (Jan '11) So last night, I just kept telling myself, "Keep your nerve, keep your nerve, keep your nerve, there's still another day, a whole 'nother day of racing..." When I came to the meet earlier, I was told I had to scratch one of my four events because the meet got overbooked. I opted out of the 200 backstroke and got a refund. That left the 200 IM, the 100 ***, and the 50 free. I have never swum the 200 IM before, or indeed any IM. I raced it and got a time of 2:42. I guess that's good? I really have no perspective on it. The 100 *** was a crusher, but I kept my cool and didn't completely wipe out. Still, my coach and I have both agreed that my breaststroke needs a lot of work, particularly my kick and my turns. I got a 1:29. So, the meet so far: Day 2 200 IM: PB 2:42 (Jan '11) It's a start! 100 ***: PB 1:24.30 (Dec '10) /// 1:29 (Jan '11) Only the 50 free is left to tell of. My PB coming into it was 27.53, as set at a meet way back in October. In those two great meets I had in November and December, I set new PBs in EVERY event I was entered in except for the 50 free. I got a 28.05 and a 27.86, respectively. So, how did I do? 26.35! :D I flew, baby, I flew! It was one of those spin-around-and-rip-off-my-cap-n-goggles swims, so I could find out my time on the board as quickly as I could. As I was packing up my bag to leave a few minutes later, I realized I was "back in it." Bad swims leave me feeling like a stranger in my own body. I feel like my temple is all disordered. I might have aches, I might feel disoriented for hours and days afterwards. For me, there is only one cure-all for this kind of thing: have a really good swim. Incidentally, my three latest PBs in the 50 free have all come at the end of of my most disappointing meets. My 27.72 last May came after a very dissatisfactory 100 free which was rather similar to my 100 free yesterday (I slipped off the blocks, lost streamline). My 27.53 last October came after a meet where I had made only marginal gains (even the 50 free PB was a mere 19 milliseconds faster than May's swim). And now this one comes at the end of this meet... 26.35. I felt great swimming it and I feel great now, afterwards. Keep your nerve, my fellow swimmers.

I was off work today because of the weather, but the pool was open. I guess all the snow and ice kept everyone else away this afternoon, because the place was empty. I had the whole pool to myself for the 2 hours I was there. No kids, no noodlers, just me and the lifeguard. The pool is usually very busy all day long, so it was a very nice change of pace.

I'm staying in Boston for a couple of nights, and last night I was able to swim at Simmons College for the first time in months. Their pool is wider, deeper, and much cooler than the one I usually use, and I did a 3000 meter workout with seemingly half the effort I seem to expend when I swim in my club's pool. I hadn't fully appreciated until last night just what a difference water temperature makes. Also, it's so nice to be able to flip turn and not feel like I'm going to bang my head on the bottom of the pool. :)

Got back to the pool today with my teammates for the first time in two days because of the ice. At practice, (granted I had my fins on) I swam my first ever 200 continuous fly! HOLY COW! So glad to be back in the pool!:applaud:

A 200 FLY???? Wow you were glad to be there!

First swim in 10 days!!!!!! So it was busy, and no 200 fly for me, but after about an hour and it had quietened down and there was just me in the lane a guy asked to split the lane. Fine - no problem, then he asked how long we were all practicing for. My response "Oh I'm not with the swim team" I mean I'm probably more than 20 years older than most of the swimmers in the next 5 lanes (which is why the lap lanes were so busy - poor swim team hadn't had a swim since Monday!) So it made me feel good until I could no longer make my interval :D