How Beer is Like a Fish

This is a long-overdue update from me, but in my defense this is almost a personal blog. Shots? What's going on? Anyone? Anyone?

Moving on - I took all of last week off from not feeling well, but I've done well this week. I went Monday and fought for a lane, and then went Wednesday, which is what I'll talk about today. First, I totally forgot to read up on the next set of drills, so I was stuck doing the old Zipper Switch again. This isn't too bad, because it's very much like real swimming, but I still got bored with it after 15 minutes or so.

The second part was that there was not one, single other person in the pool. All 6 lanes were empty. Nobody was there when I got there, and nobody came the entire 30 minutes that I was swimming. It was freaky. Bored with my drill I decided to try some actual swimming and see what was going on with the old stroke. First, I just swam the way I always used to, the decent enough stroke I learned in high school: 1 length (25m) took me 25 strokes. Then, I tried a length incorporating what I was learning in the drills: press down on the chest to keep the legs floating, keep one arm out in front of you until the "recovering" arm is at your head and then stroke, keep the body streamlined. Result? Damn, I was flying! It felt like I was gliding along, and after 20 strokes I hit the other wall. That's a 25% increase in stroke efficiency. And I still have 2 lessons left!

I'm sold. Good thing I'm getting more efficient; I'll need the extra energy for the ride on Gin's bike and the run in Vodka's shoes...

Farewell to a Shot

The Shot recently took a new job, and is in DC this week. Then she'll be somewhere else (I wasn't really listening), and then off to Philly for a long time. Two things I expect from this:

1. Even less blog entries than before.
2. Understandable frustration with the crappy hotel gyms that she'll encounter.

Last Thursday's drills went well - the pool cleared out some and people let me do my thing in my own lane. Same with Monday - I think the drills I'm working on actually look more like drills, and not just "why's this dude floating on his back?" Monday I was working on Lesson 3 out of about 5, dealing with the Under Skate and the Skate switch (relearning stroke timing) and tonight I should be working on Zipper Skate (yeah...) and Zipper Switch, which is even more stroke-like.

I'm still enjoying the book, and the drills, and everything. It's made swimming into something that's difficult mentally more than physically. Whether I'll be a faster or more efficient swimmer at the end remains to be seen, but I'm pretty confident.

Hang ups and hang overs

The beer lives! Went out last night to Red Line Tap up north to see "Sex Fist." As the name suggests they are a bluegrass band, and a pretty damn good bluegrass band at that. Granted, I don't have a huge amount of experience with bluegrass, but they were in tune and stuff, and their (seemingly original) songs were very entertaining. Plus, $2 Berghoff's are a good deal!

All of this is to say I'm NOT swimming today, preferring instead to hunt down, kill, and devour the greasiest burger in a 4 block radius. As far as Monday's swim, it was pretty brutal. This is the time of year when all the freaking New Year's resolution people show up for about 2 months, never to be seen again. I was working on Lesson 3, which is more floating, rolling, kicking, etc. From the side of the pool, I think I look like I'm just messing around because EVERYONE wanted to jump into my lane. First, a coworker who's also training for the triathlon showed up in my lane. He hopped over to another lane, and somebody else jumped in. He then decided to share a lane with somebody who was actually swimming, at which point my 3rd swimming budy showed up. And the whole time I'm trying to do my drills smushed to the side of the lane, trying not to get kicked by the girl in the next lane who only knows breast-stroke...

Yeah, swimming can wait until tomorrow.

Push the Float!

I'm back! Limitted swimming oportunities in the wilds of Virginia, so I was back in the pool again after a pretty long break.

Over my vacation, I started reading my Total Immersion book. In short the book is written by a swimming coach who figured out that the perfect form and ease that the really great swimmers have can be taught to any swimmer, no matter what level. Paradoxically, people who've done any swimming at all have to unlearn just about everything they were taught, and for that he has a series of drills that are supposed to retrain your muscles to swim correctly.

Today, I floated on my back and kicked. I couldn't really believe it when I was reading it on the bus this morning, and the author goes out of his way to warn not to skip the first lesson. Turns out, it's hella harder than you would think. The goal is to get perfectly balanced in the water on your back, making as small a "hole" in the water as possible. Once the balance was down, I moved on to rolling from side to side, still staying balanced, not kicking too hard, not struggling. Also, after every lap I'm allowed to stand up, take some breaths, drink some water. If I feel like I'm loosing concentration, I can stand up and take a break.

And it's still freaking hard. It takes a lot of concentration, and you can feel your core trying to stabilize everything at once. I'm totally hooked! I started reading up on the next lesson, for Friday. Instead of feeling beat up, I feel energized, and I feel like I've learned a new skill - good balance in the water.

Fine Form, But Frigid

I flip and flop through the locker room juggling keys, watch and goggles. Pressing on my mind is the fact that the room is being chilled to a uncomfortable 65 degrees, and I am sporting a lot of exposed flesh. After the brief respite found in walking through the hot tub area, the pool room is even more of a shock. Icicles crawl down the floor to ceiling windows, grudgingly releasing drips of blue water when struck by the harsh winter sun. I wrap my watch around my knuckles and punch a Beer-sized hole in the scum of ice forming on the pool, gaze at the dark, freezing water revealed, and prepare my body for the shock.

OK, so there wasn't any ice, but it was damn cold today. I cranked out 40 lengths in 21 minutes, only taking one 30 second breather half-way through. My form felt good, but I need to pick up the pace. Just for fun, I paced the guy in the lane next to me for a couple of laps - he was of the "I am strong, water will fear me!" school of swimming, lots of splashing, legs trailing out below him, but he was still fast! I could keep up with him for a length or two, and I think I was doing about 2 strokes to his 3 (or even 4), but I eventually had to drop off and let him do his thing. At the end of my workout, though, I generally don't feel really tired, or out of breath. This is just reinforcing my plan to swim smart, not hard, and let people tire themselves out and get fished out by lifeguards in Lake Michigan. I'm getting very excited to start reading my swimming books, but "Wicked" comes first. A dear friend has already threatened to disappear it from my house if I don't finish it soon.

On the note of pacing people - guys seem to be really competitive in the pool. I suspect that the guy in the lane next to me was kicking it up a notch whenever we happened to end up side by side - I'd like somebody to come watch me swim sometime and see if that's the case. I'm not the most competitive person, and I still try to lap the person next to me if I can. I would be surprised if that's not the case with other people too. If I don't feel like dealing with it, I'll throw in a lap of breast-stroke to un-synch myself, so I don't have to deal with somebody thrashing right next to me.

Death of a Workout

For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee, Thursday swim... Had a couple of social events last night, and on the way home stopped into the lush's last resort, Friar Tucks, for "one quick beer." Three hours, several drunk text messages and one sloshed phone call later, here I am, not working out.

Tomorrow is a new day, I suppose. The weekend is also wide open. I have high hopes.

Beatdowns and Heartbeats

This morning I'm recovering from the island-style beat down I received from Stevie B last night. I may have pushed myself too hard; I don't know if I was suffering from a ton of lactic acid, or if I was just hungry, but I felt pretty nauseous by the time I got home. Felt better after some food, if you can call something cooked in a plastic tray food. The life of a bachelor is harsh indeed.

I've settled on a heart rate monitor, I think. I like the Polar M32 which can save your workout results, has some sort of fancy coded sensor strap, and proports to track heart rate zones and calorie expenditures. I took a look at the instruction manual online - the English portion alone is something like 10 pages. Sweet! I've also convinced the clan to make it my big Christmas gift, so one less thing to worry about.

Now to find a Batman-esque swimming suit...

Tomorrow is swimming day. I think I'll swim easy and try for a minimum of 50 lengths, screw the time. If I'm not too beat up, another swim Friday. If I am, maybe this weekend. I hate to do that, because I tried that last weekend. Half an hour of hungrily waiting for the bus in the cold, and I literally and figuratively threw in the towel and went back home. Coach? If I get a bad time, blame the CTA!