Back in the swim of things

It was not easy getting up for Adult Swim. I skipped all of the sessions last seek. Yes I was feeling under the weather but waking at 4:30AM and leaving the house by 5:00AM is damn hard. I do value my sleep. It is important to me. I go to bed early and I get up early. But out of the house by 5:00AM is damn hard.


The night before, I scripted out a meal plan for the week. I like to prepare most of my meals ahead of time. For one, it is more efficient to make 5 salads than one salad each day. But even more important if the meals are already prepared then you are more likely to eat health. It is much easier for me to make meal decisions in advance then when I am starving (although I do try to never be starving – that is just asking for disaster).

You see I have been getting off of my schedule and although everything is working during the day the eating has broken down at night. It was time to nip this in the bud. I am trying to cut out some of the grains that I have been eating. I would like to add more fruits and vegetables. I am still going to eat my oatmeal for breakfast but I am going to stop making oatmeal my go to meal. You see I like to add peanut butter to my oatmeal and it is simply delicious. I could eat it every meal. There is nothing wrong with this meal but it does not have the best mix of nutrients.

So I scripted out my meals and packed my foods for a few days. I also gathered up work clothes so that I could bike in for a few days. I only had to gather my stuff and leave the house. When I prepare for the coming day it is much easier.

Not me - Dara Torres

I was in the car by 5:00AM and made it to Adult Swim with plenty of time. I was awake but still tired. We did an easy warm up of 300 yards and then we started the main set.

3 times (3 x 50 pink, 2 x 100 pink, 1 x 150 red) all with 15 recovery.

If you remember the color chart of intensity is the color of your face (white, pink, red, purple). My times were basically 44 seconds for each 50 and doubled for the 100’s and tripled for the 150’s. For better or worse I was aiming at 45 seconds so that I could work the clock. As intervals should be the first set was comfortably hard. The next two sets were much harder. I was able to hold the 50’s but the 100’s crept up a few seconds. And the 150’s – well they crept up even more – probably about 10 seconds over.

After this working set we started doing drills. I do not mind the drill work at all. I believe that this is where my speed will come from – body position and form. After a couple hundred of drills we did 25 yard sprints trying to not breathe. I have trouble in this area. Several people were able to go the entire length without breathing but I had to grab a breath in the middle. Coach Steve timed up each length and I am slower in the short distance stuff. I think it is because I have absolutely no kick whatsoever. The total workout was around 2500 yards. When the swim session was over I was sure glad that I had made it – of course that is with every workout session.

Oh, by the way – I am ordering some new bibs. The ones with the hole are trainer only.