Oh how I mourn when February comes to an end.
I treasure those early morning drives to the pool during that wintery four week period--drives during which I can rest assured that my bare and freezing toes will not brave the elements only reach the pool's edge and be told the workout consists of a flurry of 25 yard Breaststroke sprints (or anything less than pure unadulterated LONG FREESTYLE).
Of course, I might be less aggrieved to see the month end if I had significantly stepped up the hours I spent in the pool. I might have even come to dread my next swim (egads, could that ever happen to me?). But, unlike some of you (commendable) nutsos, I swam well below 100,000 yards for the month. (Around 65,000 to be generally exact.) I'd like to say this is all part of my Master Smartplan to prevent burnout and reach optimal fitness, but truly I just couldn't get any more time off from my two kiddos and one kid-husband to spend at the pool. Perhaps if I hadn't taken the kids to Disneyland, if my youngest hadn't come down with pneumonia, or if I hadn't made the trip down south for the Oscar party, I might have squeezed in some more yards. But probably not. Somehow I can get "time off" approved by the hubby for larger events, but not for a simple swim. Hmph. I think he's just jealous of swimming. It does occupy a big space in my heart.
I did try to get more time in the pool. Lots of times. Most recently, this past Tuesday night I attempted to lure my husband into a "morning switch" so that I could swim Wednesday (usually his morning to work out, but in this case the last day of February, on which I knew we'd be swimming lots and lots of yards) instead of Thursday (usually my morning, but in this case one on which I knew we were going to "break out the kickboards and tone it down". Ewwwwwwwww.). My attempted switch did not fly (or swim).
And thus, I missed yesterday and swam this morning, the first day of March. I have to give Mad Props (I'm practicing my hip hop lingo) to Tim for (as always) surprising me by making something I wasn't looking forward to, fun. Besides a good workout (below), I particularly liked his instructions/explanation before the main set. "So as you increase by 25, you're building these blocks," he said. "Or. Whatever they are."
It seems even Tim takes a day or two to readjust to sets that require actual explanation as February comes to a close. I hope it takes him longer though. I love his casual sarcasm and occasional hint that maybe it would be okay if we didn't take the set too seriously (unless of course, and here comes my daily beating of the dead horse, we're talking about long freestyle. Total seriousness and concentration is then required).
Workout (everything with about 10 seconds rest in between):
*7 x 100 (each 100 consisting of: 50 swim, 25 kick, 25 stroke)
*4 x 100 (first 100: 75 kick, 25 swim; second 100: 50 kick, 50 swim; you get the picture, down to 100 swim)2 times through (total of 8 x 100) 4 freestyle, 4 something else
*Blocks or "whatever they are" with first distance of each "block" kick, second distance 3 count drill, third distance moderate, fourth distance brisk swimming:
25, 50, 75, 100
50, 75, 100, 125
75, 100, 125, 150
*6 x 25: first 25 underwater for 6 lines on bottom of pool, second for 5 lines, down to 1. Brisk swimming (any stroke) when you come up for air.
*6 x 25: first 25 6 strokes of fly, brisk swimming for rest of lap.
*Recover from all the thinking required to keep track of short sets and take a shower.
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