Inaugural Honorary HSA Girl

Check out this article about a future Olympian... 

It takes cajones to do that kind of training, mostly alone, while dealing with frigid, dark winters. 

I hereby name Dagny Knutson the first ever Honorary HSA Girl.  

T-30

Here are the results of the first T-30 swim. 

2200 yards. I think. 

My watch timer didn't beep (at least not so I could hear it) so I'm guesstimating my distance based on the time that I stopped to check it and realized it had finished counting down and started over again. So frustrating. I need to figure out a better way of doing this, especially since I'd forgotten how hard it is to get a good test set in when you're dealing with open swim at a rec center.

Oh, practice Saturday was 4200 yards, the longest I've done since starting to train again. Yay!

Obliques. I wants them.

When I swim, I can tell that I am not rotating enough, or easily enough, and when I get tired I tend not to do it consistently. I'm sure this is because I have zero abdominal strength. Ergo, I headed to my first Pilates class yesterday. I think it's going to be exactly what I need, because everything from my ribs to my hips is sore today. Sadly, I think I'm only going to be able to get to one class a week at the gym--the others are too early in the day--so I think I'll get a DVD to try on my own and see how that goes. Plus, straight-up crunches never hurt anybody.

I did notice, though, during one of my post-workout inspections, that I *think* I might be getting the faintest shadow of baby obliques. They're not visible to the naked eye (only my own highly optimistic eye) but I do think they might be there. ;)

Baby steps.

A few small milestones:

-tonight the masters coach a) told me I had a great fly, and b) gave me a simple way to improve it: apparently it's not necessary for me to haul my entire chest out of the water when I breathe! I hadn't even realized I was going that, but the next lap of it that I did sure as hell felt instantly easier.

-I've dropped my stroke count on 25 yards from 20/21 a few months ago to 16/17.

-we did a breathing set at the end of practice tonight, and I didn't even feel out of breath when I finished the underwater 25. Then we were to do a 50 free on 3 breaths, and I did the first 25 without any, and only took 2 on the back end.

-oh, and I still don't have any abs, but I haven't given up hope that they'll eventually show up... and in the mean time, I am kind of frickin' stoked about my arms.

Next goals:

-get strong enough to do 50 fly without feeling like I'm going to collapse

-drop stroke count even more

-drop my intervals

-tighten up my turns

-do a timed mile, straight through. I have been avoiding this, because I'm vaguely nervous that being able to swim for two hours with breaks won't translate into being able to swim for half an hour without stopping, but I really ought to try it just to set a baseline and see where I'm at.

Hundreds and Hundreds

At masters this morning, we had a set of 10 x 100, odds fast with an out of water start (off the deck not the blocks) evens recovery. 

My times were:

1 - 1:05

3 - 1:05

5 - 1:06

7 - 1:08 (oops!)

9 - 1:06

So, not that bad. I felt pretty good until number 7, at which point the piano fell. Hard. I was able to pull it together again for number 9, although I had gotten to the point where I could no longer really feel my arms. I was just trusting that they were doing what I told them to, and I'm pretty sure I was flailing.    

If only I could hold that pace for 4.4 miles!!  

So, things to work on - holding a faster pace for longer distances. Not losing technique as I get tired. And ramping up the yardage. 

I'm aiming to do a T-30 this weekend. Any bets on whether I lose track of my laps? Ok, that's not a fair bet. Any bets on how far into the 30 minutes I lose track of my laps?

dude.

aren't you going to NEED those lungs?

BACK ON THE WAGON.

Yesterday my friend Tom was like, "so I've been meaning to ask you, on your gmail status it says '3300.' Is that some sort of distance?"

I said, "yes, that's what I swam the last time I was in shape, which was about three weeks ago."

Tom said, "so, a little over half a mile?"

And I said, "no actually, just under two miles."

And then I felt sad because I'm positive I couldn't do that right now.

So.

I am going to Masters practice tonight, despite the fact that it is like 25 degrees--I will be bundled up like a dumpling, waddling through the icy wind to the Y. All in the name of fitness.

I am the Master.

Actually, I am a Master. Ok, I just joined a Masters team. I'm really only slightly above average. 

So this morning was the first practice, and the sister unit and myself attended. 

After standing on the deck looking slightly confused, we were approached by John, who introduced himself, told us the rules of the road (or lane) for this particular team, and invited us to jump in. 

The following ensued:

500 warmup

12x50 drill down, swim back: right arm, left arm, fist, super catchup drills

11x200 swim

1-4 on 3:00

5 on 4:00

6-7 on 2:55

8-9 on 4:00

10-11 on 2:50

I averaged about 2:30 per 200, or 1:15 per 100. Not real swift, sadly, but at least I was able to hold the pace without dropping off (I did have all that extra rest).  

I decided not to go on the faster interval due to my current lack of conditioning and my soreness from Monday's BJJ class in which I got landed on hard by an overanxious dude. My back is still slightly out of alignment. I forgot to tell him he's a terrible chiropractor and should stick to his day job.