Again with the swimming

As promised here is my pre-swim routine: (Some background necessary to explain lack of nutrition involved)

I am not a morning person at all and almost all of my swim workouts the past few years have been at Peak at 6AM. This requires me to be up at 4:45 and out the door by 5:15. I also like to hit the snooze so a 4:45 wake up call often ends with me getting out of bed at 5:05. Leaving me with 10 minutes to get out the door. So in order to ensure my arriving at Peak by 6 I do several things.

The night before I pack my bag with clothes for work and my workout gear. (Note that I almost always forget something. This morning it was my coat. And let me tell you it is FREEZING in Cleveland today.) So after dragging my butt out of bed, feeding the cats, checking the weather and my email I throw on my shoes and head to the gym. If I gave myself enough time I may grab a glass of juice on the way out.

Once at Peak (I arrive in my swim suit with my Pjs on over them, maybe this is why the receptionist hates me so?) I hit the locker room and put away my stuff. Put in my contacts then head to the pool. And here is where my pre swim nutrition comes in. I stop at the drinking fountain on the way and take a Tropical Blast E-Gel and drink some water.

I am just too lazy to get up earlier in order to eat a proper breakfast. Also I worry about eating too much before getting in the pool. The whole 30 minutes thing is a myth, but all those flip turns do turn your stomach a bit. I am glad to see that I am not the only one who doesn't eat much before their swim. I tend to do the same thing before runs which is bad. I could probably run a lot easier if I had better pre run nutrition.

Today's swim went well. I got in 3550 yards in an hour and 13 minutes. CK showed up just as I finished my warm ups and he hopped in to do the sets with me. Of course he is a swim god and I suck compared to him so I had to do shorter distances in order to keep up with his send offs. I had a really good workout though and felt really strong on all but the 125s. I lost my focus on that set, I still was making send offs but it just didn't feel as good.

After the workout I learned a new drill. I think it is a total immersion drill. I can't remember the name but I will call it triple back for now. You start out on your back kicking for a few seconds (hands at your sides) then roll to your left (I may be mixing this up but I think you actually roll completely over to get to your right side on the first turn) as you extend your right arm so that you are kicking on your right side for a few seconds, then roll to your left as you extend your left arm kicking for a few seconds on your side, then roll back to the right kicking on your side, then roll back onto your back. Repeat starting on the left arm. Very cool drill. I assume it is going to help with my roll.

Today I tried to focus on pulling the water using my whole arm (as opposed to just my hand). I think I did a really good job with this except on the 125 set. I noticed that most of the workout I wasn't positioning my head as high as I would like. Staring more at the bottom of the pool than at the water in front of me. I assume it must be because my neck is tired. In addition to the swim camp I have been doing push ups and the runners world ab session everyday so I think that may be taking its toll on my neck. The good part of this though is that I also noticed my head is moving with my arm as I extend. So I think this means I am rolling better. And with that here are the stats:

Warm Up 4*(100 free, 100 back, 50 kick)
5*150 on a 3:00 send off (This was probably too easy but I thought 175 would be pushing it. All of these were right around 2:20)
5*125 on a 2:15 send off (This was my weak set, I think I was coming in around 2:05 on all of these)
5*75 on a 1:30 send off (Back on pace, all of these were around 1:10)
5*50 on a 1:00 send off (Easy as pie, all under 45 seconds)
2*250 pull easy focusing on stroke
50 triple back drill

But wait that's not all. ;) There were these two guys at the pool today and yesterday. They are swimming (I am using this term very loosely) together but using two lanes. I am not sure what these guys motivation is but they are horrible swimmers. They are swimming like they don't have goggles on even though they do, with their heads out of the water the whole time, splashing all over the place. It is painful to watch! It is like they are attacking the water. Hopefully they will go get a coach. And I hope they are just swimming for fitness and not planning on racing or they are going to be in big trouble. I think it may be more of a social outing as they stop at the end of the lanes after each 25 and talk. Anyways I found it amusing but tried not to make eye contact as I was swimming. I probably look like a freak to them swimming all calmly over and over again.

There were a lot of women in the locker room today when I left. Note to those women (well all right really just a note to the closet exhibitionists in the locker room) I do not come into the locker room to see your bare naked self. So please close the shower curtain! Good Grief.

It turns out I wasn't the only absent minded one this morning. Another lady forgot her pants. I think I would rather have forgotten my coat. Coming in to work with no pants might be pushing the dress code a bit.