Interesting morning to say the least!
I got a week long membership to the 24 hour gym last night. KEARNS is closed for cleaning and I don't want to take a week off from swimming. I got a tour of the place and it is actually a pretty nice place. It was only $35 for 7 days which is $5 a day and completely normal for any community rec center for a day pass. I really like that they are open 24/7. LOTS of machines, a basketball court/gym, free weights, etc. The pool is even 25M. That little extra distance adds up and I was hopeful. Maybe when my membership at KEARNS runs out, I'll come here. That way I can start my swim at 0300 and do REALLY long swims whenever I want.
Today was day 1....did not start off well.
Yesterday I went to the mens changing area and checked it out. Lots of room, full length mirrors everywhere and the showers have COLD available. Fantastic.
This morning I went in the changing area and put all of my stuff in the locker. I went to the bathroom when I noticed something. Next to the toilet paper dispenser was a female hygiene trash box. Took me a few seconds to realize they ONLY have these in women's bathrooms. I had to replay where I walked into in my head. I thought I had gone to the same bathroom/changing area. It looked the EXACT same. Normally women's bathrooms are 300% bigger, have a sparkly fountain, and couches in them which gives them away. This one was an exact carbon copy of the mens. I was 99% sure I was in the wrong place. No one else was there which was nice...don't want to get arrested this early! I grabbed my swim bag and headed to the pool. Once I was in the pool area, I looked behind me to see "Women's Locker Room" sign right there. OOOOOOOPS!!! Just because I'm half a man does not give me the right to use the women's changing area.
Great...Now I have to GO BACK and get my clothes! I did with great caution and a little bit of speed in my step.
Went through the pool area and put my stuff in the men's locker room. I STARED at the sign before walking in this time!
OK, got my gear put away and technically got away with a minor crime. Time to swim.
Got in and the pool felt warm. It read 82 which is not bad but still too hot for my liking.
Halfway through my workout an older lady came in. She had the typical "gramma" look and swimming attire on. I told myself to just swim away before she said what I KNEW she would say. Don't do it Goody...don't stay here....DON'T! I then made a bet with myself and couldn't resist seeing if I was right. The FIRST and I mean THE FIRST thing to come out of her mouth, "Wish this water wasn't so cold".. DING DING DING We have a winner. I knew it. I won the bet that the first thing that would come out of her mouth would not be Hello or Good Morning, it would be her bitching about the temp! This is a 3 lane 25M pool. This was CLEARLY built for lap swimming only. It's way to hot for even that. This pool is not meant for pool exercise or aquatic aerobic classes. Anyhow...........
1000 WU Mixed in some breast and back but mainly did free
500 with snorkel
10 x 50 pull on the :60
6(25k-hard then 50 swim) then 50 easy
10 x 100 75% pace
4 x 50 fly - not too bad but still a struggle
50 easy
200 pull
50 easy
4000 SCM
OK, here is the wrap up of the pool. The gym itself is actually pretty nice. A lot of equipment and is aesthetically pleasing. Bathrooms/changing areas are nice...both of them! The biggest problem is with the ONLY reason why I'm there. The pool was not that great. 25M is nice but the water was a bit too warm. I could overlook this fact. It would easily be replaced with me being able to start a swim at 2 in the morning and be alone for several hours. What I could not overlook was how cloudy the pool was. Visibility was 10M at best. YUCK. Even with that aside, the temperature also changed. Half of the pool was cooler than the other half. There is a hot tub next to the pool and the heat from it warms the air and thus the entire area near where my gear would be. I could feel the water getting cooler as I swam away and warmer as I swam back. I tried to overlook this too. What I could not overlook and simply can not STAND was the parade of people coming in REEKING of perfume or cologne before they sit in the hot tub for 30 min. I'm trying to breathe here and I'm chocking on your fumes. If I were to swim here consistently, this would not be an isolated incident. Over time, it would wear me down and piss me off too much. I really started to miss KEARNS. KEARNS is clean, has serious swimmers in it and besides warm water here and there, is an amazing place to train.
I will keep going this week and I know that I can use this place in a pinch if needed.
The gym, locker room, and showers I'd give an A
The pool I'd give a D.
I wish it was the other way around. So much potential for this pool to be great to train in but the people that run this place clearly have the aquatic area on the bottom of their list.
I miss KEARNS and I am all the more eager to one day open my own pool. Yes, my OWN pool. It will be 25M, 2 lanes and be kept between 65 and 70 degrees year round. All of my swim friends will be able to swim there for free. I am debating whether I'd even let others use the place. I think I'd lose my temper if I ever had someone come in and utter one word of complaint about the temperature. REAL swimmers would LOVE it at that temp.
On a positive side note, I did get to walk around a women's gym locker room completely naked and got away with it! Not many men can make this claim...I don't recommend it either.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
17Feb14 - President's Day swim
Gordon posted on FB a long workout for the day off today. I decided to join him at Northwest gym. He planned on doing 10 miles. I planned on doing LESS than 10!
2000 WU, sets of 200 no rest. I mixed in free, kicking, back and breast, drill etc
2000 - 200 back 200 free repeats
2000 - 100-200-300-400 repeat back down
2000 - 900 swim 100 back repeat
I then did my own thing
20 x 100 This put me at 10k but I wanted to go a bit more
20 x 50 - This put me at 11,000 and a little over 6 miles.
Glad I got the distance but was disappointed in a few things.
1) Took me almost 2000 yards before my shoulders did not HURT while swimming. Gords gave me some Vitamin I and it helped.
2) Around 5k, my right knee felt a sharp pain. I played with my school kids all 3 PE classes on Friday and twisted my right ankle and hurt my knee then. Felt fine Sat but it definitely hurt now. Hurt so much that I went dead leg swimming for my right leg for at least an hour. Finally started to feel better. I could not do flip turns either and 90% of the power from my wall push offs were with my left leg. It hurt so much I was wondering if it was seriously messed up. Sore is one thing but this was sharp and specifically area pain. NOT FUN!
3) I could NOT go fast to save my life today. I was actually struggling to get :45 times averaging on the 50. Pathetic. I would pull stronger and glide a bit more but it did not help. I was about 4k when I threw in the towel on speed. I just focused on the distance. Not sure if I slept bad, didn't eat well, getting sick or what but I could not get the engines going today. Only 2 of my 8 cylinders decided to work today.
All in all I'm happy with 11k. I've only been back to swimming for 6 weeks and already doing 11k workouts. It was good to swim with Gords again. We didn't get to swim any sets together. He dropped me immediately and I could only make small chit chat between sets. I tried to minimize talking so he could keep on his splits and so would I!
Really glad I did it though.
11,000 SCY
2000 WU, sets of 200 no rest. I mixed in free, kicking, back and breast, drill etc
2000 - 200 back 200 free repeats
2000 - 100-200-300-400 repeat back down
2000 - 900 swim 100 back repeat
I then did my own thing
20 x 100 This put me at 10k but I wanted to go a bit more
20 x 50 - This put me at 11,000 and a little over 6 miles.
Glad I got the distance but was disappointed in a few things.
1) Took me almost 2000 yards before my shoulders did not HURT while swimming. Gords gave me some Vitamin I and it helped.
2) Around 5k, my right knee felt a sharp pain. I played with my school kids all 3 PE classes on Friday and twisted my right ankle and hurt my knee then. Felt fine Sat but it definitely hurt now. Hurt so much that I went dead leg swimming for my right leg for at least an hour. Finally started to feel better. I could not do flip turns either and 90% of the power from my wall push offs were with my left leg. It hurt so much I was wondering if it was seriously messed up. Sore is one thing but this was sharp and specifically area pain. NOT FUN!
3) I could NOT go fast to save my life today. I was actually struggling to get :45 times averaging on the 50. Pathetic. I would pull stronger and glide a bit more but it did not help. I was about 4k when I threw in the towel on speed. I just focused on the distance. Not sure if I slept bad, didn't eat well, getting sick or what but I could not get the engines going today. Only 2 of my 8 cylinders decided to work today.
All in all I'm happy with 11k. I've only been back to swimming for 6 weeks and already doing 11k workouts. It was good to swim with Gords again. We didn't get to swim any sets together. He dropped me immediately and I could only make small chit chat between sets. I tried to minimize talking so he could keep on his splits and so would I!
Really glad I did it though.
11,000 SCY
Saturday, February 15, 2014
15Feb14 - QUAC meet
At the pool and ready to swim at 0900.
1500 WU then I did my events.
200 Free - 2:30 Pretty pissed a this time. I've gone well under this during training swims
500 Free - 7:08 Not too bad. I ran out of breath at the 200 which is SAD
100 Fly - 1:31 - Happy with this
100 Free - 1:05 - Happy with this too. I was pretty beat by this time and my stroke was not that strong.
I also did the 50 fly for our relay team and 50 free for relay.
Between the warmups, cool downs and killing time, I accumulated 3200 yards.
Good meet as usual. The BIGGEST problem was they mixed people with completely different heat times all together. People with completely different speeds and abilities were mixed in with the faster people. It was a complete waste of time.
1500 WU then I did my events.
200 Free - 2:30 Pretty pissed a this time. I've gone well under this during training swims
500 Free - 7:08 Not too bad. I ran out of breath at the 200 which is SAD
100 Fly - 1:31 - Happy with this
100 Free - 1:05 - Happy with this too. I was pretty beat by this time and my stroke was not that strong.
I also did the 50 fly for our relay team and 50 free for relay.
Between the warmups, cool downs and killing time, I accumulated 3200 yards.
Good meet as usual. The BIGGEST problem was they mixed people with completely different heat times all together. People with completely different speeds and abilities were mixed in with the faster people. It was a complete waste of time.
14Feb14
Easy workout today before swim meet tomorrow. Was going to go before work but wanted to sleep in.
Got in after work and did 10 x 100 on the 2:00 Nice and easy
1000 SCY
Got in after work and did 10 x 100 on the 2:00 Nice and easy
1000 SCY
Thursday, February 13, 2014
13Feb14
Harder workout today. LOTS of pulling. I've never really liked pull sets even though they are really important. I just always feel like I am doing my stroke wrong. The WORST is when a long pull set is over and you swim normal. It feels like your hands are pencils. Am I going anywhere? Am I pulling?
200
2 x 200 k/drill x 50
3 x 200 desc
4 x 100 pull breathing 3-5-3-5
5 x 100 pull on 1:25
6 x 100 pull on 1:30
7 x 50 desc 1-3, 4-6, 7 easy on the :50
8 x 50 odds breathe 7-3 even easy :60
9 x 50 desc 1-3, 4-6, 7-9
10 x 50 3(1 EZ, 2 breath 5, 3 breath 9) 10 easy
100 CD
Did a total of 1500 pull which is the most pulling I've done in a long time. Shoulders were pretty spent after that. I made my times but my right shoulder was tired and my left started to hurt. Not a sharp pain but definitely a "WTF Goody?" pain.
Easy swim tomorrow then QUAC meet Sat. Pool is closed all next week for maintenance so I need to find a pool for next week.
4500 SCY
200
2 x 200 k/drill x 50
3 x 200 desc
4 x 100 pull breathing 3-5-3-5
5 x 100 pull on 1:25
6 x 100 pull on 1:30
7 x 50 desc 1-3, 4-6, 7 easy on the :50
8 x 50 odds breathe 7-3 even easy :60
9 x 50 desc 1-3, 4-6, 7-9
10 x 50 3(1 EZ, 2 breath 5, 3 breath 9) 10 easy
100 CD
Did a total of 1500 pull which is the most pulling I've done in a long time. Shoulders were pretty spent after that. I made my times but my right shoulder was tired and my left started to hurt. Not a sharp pain but definitely a "WTF Goody?" pain.
Easy swim tomorrow then QUAC meet Sat. Pool is closed all next week for maintenance so I need to find a pool for next week.
4500 SCY
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
12Feb14
Rest Day today
After doing 10k in the pool then the family funeral, I was wiped out yesterday. I nearly fell asleep driving back from class last night. Emotionally and physically I had enough. Decided even before getting into bed last night that I would take the day off.
Not the slightest big guilty either!
After doing 10k in the pool then the family funeral, I was wiped out yesterday. I nearly fell asleep driving back from class last night. Emotionally and physically I had enough. Decided even before getting into bed last night that I would take the day off.
Not the slightest big guilty either!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
11Feb14
Good swim today. I had a family funeral to attend in the afternoon so that left my morning free to do a long swim.
I elected to do 10,000 yards. I have not done this distance in quite some time so I just focused on the distance being done and not any specific or impressive times being achieved.
In the pool right after 0500.
Here are the sets. I did 10 of each and each distance was 100 yards
Free
Snorkel
Odds drill, even kick
pull
odds fast evens easy
breathe left only
IM
breathe right only
snorkel
free
I felt pretty good until I got around 6k. Shoulders started to get tired and my pull got weaker. Had to remind myself that today is about distance and not time.
Sue came in around 8500 and helped give me some energy. There is just something nice about swimming with friends. Always feels better.
REALLY happy I hit 10k. Good mental accomplishment for me and a nice step in my training. I'll go a shorter distance tomorrow to "rest" and then a hard workout Thursday then taper Friday for the meet Sat.
10,000 SCY
I elected to do 10,000 yards. I have not done this distance in quite some time so I just focused on the distance being done and not any specific or impressive times being achieved.
In the pool right after 0500.
Here are the sets. I did 10 of each and each distance was 100 yards
Free
Snorkel
Odds drill, even kick
pull
odds fast evens easy
breathe left only
IM
breathe right only
snorkel
free
I felt pretty good until I got around 6k. Shoulders started to get tired and my pull got weaker. Had to remind myself that today is about distance and not time.
Sue came in around 8500 and helped give me some energy. There is just something nice about swimming with friends. Always feels better.
REALLY happy I hit 10k. Good mental accomplishment for me and a nice step in my training. I'll go a shorter distance tomorrow to "rest" and then a hard workout Thursday then taper Friday for the meet Sat.
10,000 SCY
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