Monday, April 26, 2010

There was an audience for my swim today

The swim plan said "go hard." I looked at the lanes. The pool big dog, the one I've nicknamed Mr. Outboard was in the fast lane, and very rightfully so. Another guy was trying hard to keep up and not doing a good job of it. Two slow women were sharing the other fast lane. I thought about "go hard", and got in the lane with the guys.

A brisk warmup showed I could pass the other guy, and he soon retreated to the next faster lane. Just me and Mr. Outboard. Holy crap can this guy swim! My warm up was a bit brisk, and he blew by me. Into the first main set, (4x100 on 2 min desc) and he's still passing me. My fastest 100m was 100 seconds on the nose, and he passed me in one length. I couldn't even stay in his draft. By the time I got to my 50 m intervals I think he was doing cool down because I could keep up and he was doing other strokes. I even passed him while he was doing a kick drill. (woohoo!)He left and Mr. Elegant joined me. He's a tall skinny guy, swims about the same speed as me or a hair faster, and uses fewer strokes doing it. Have I ever said how nice it is to be sharing the lane with people that know what they're doing in a pool?

All the time, I had an audience. Or at least, I could see them, even if nobody else could see them and their stop watches. JA, JS, KB, TW, and KF. You know who you are. All of them watching me swim, making notes, consulting their stopwatches, frowning occasionally, grinning every now and then, and periodically yelling at me to get the lead out of my ass, or get my elbows up, or TUCK AND FLIP dammit!!!!! I'm not sure how they convinced the lifeguards to let them bring in the deck chairs and a big frosty jug of some fruity drink. Yes, with the little umbrellas. I'd suspect there was booze in it from the good time they seemed to be having but some of them are teatotal. They laughed really hard during one length with fins (going hard) where I was trying for a better body position and ended up submerging myself just as I was going to breathe.

I wasn't sure what to think of going for a run. My knee is feeling better, but I was feeling sort of blah. Still, I decided to get'er done, and I'm glad I did. My left calf was a bit tight at first, but I stopped and stretched it a bit, and it was fine after. My knees were fine, as were quads and hams. Everything was fine. It was a fine night for a run, nice and cool, with a bit of a breeze. By Calgary standards of course. The 'Toontown girls would be in booty shorts and jog bra, I was slightly overdressed in tights and long sleeve tech shirt, and my California readers would be in multiple layers. I mean, what's wrong with 8 C (46 F) and a light breeze that has the flags nearly straight out? Walked to warm up, ran easy 10 minutes, and settled into a nice stride for another 35 minutes, then walked some more home. Stretched. Feels pretty good. Now lets see how the Tuesday bike goes. It will almost certainly be indoors since the rest of the week looks like rain. I should have known it was too soon to take the trainer tire off, but it's done.

4 comments:

  1. lol, love the nicknames you have on your swim mates.

    I agree, it is nice when you have people in your lane who know what they are doing.

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  2. My lips are still smacking from my frosty poolside drink. (I don't need alcohol as I am totally nuts on my own.) By the way, I was the one yelling at you to do flip turns!! LMAO!!!!

    Hahahahaha!!

    Nice run by the way -- sounds like you are slipping back into the groove. :)

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  3. I can't relate to your swim post at all. At. All.

    Except for the booty shorts and jog bra.

    Moving on...

    ;)

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  4. bootie shorts?? Maybe TW but not I - too much boot !!

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