Waterblogged

Tim and Michele have got to be nuts. But a good nuts...like "Wow, I wish I was nuts like that because then I'd be a total bad ass," nuts. While I was on the east coast stuffing myself with stuffing and brined bird (and some nuts, actually, as in pecan pie), those two were completing two Ironman races...at the same time. Read about it here . "But no athletic victory could match the priceless reward that Sheeper enjoyed as his lovely children, wife, sister and brother-in-law gathered around their well-loved Tim in the cool shade of a Hawaiian tree at the finish line."

And just a summary at that! Good, long free pulling. I love it!

Okay, so I slept right through swimming this morning. But I have a good reason. My husband woke me up at midnight to read the article on "my" company that came out this morning in The New York Times . Whoooohoooo! The paper version even has a picture of little old me in it. Today, craziness. Tomorrow, back to swimming.

Thank goodness last night I emptied my sons' (yes that is both of my sons') Halloween candy buckets into my belly. I needed that fuel for the work out today. *warm up: 200 free, 75 back, 200 free, 50 breast, 200 free, 25 fly done straight add fins for: *3 x 350's done as: 150 free, 25 underwater, 100 free, 25 underwater, 50 free (free swims descending) *500, 400, 300 with: 10 underwater dolphin kicks on back, 10 underwater dolphin kicks on belly, 10 fly strokes, 10 sprint free strokes with no breaths repeated twice in each swim remove fins for: *3 x 100's on the 1:45 *100 warm down

Wallace takes the keyboard... "I love the smell of sprinting in the morning."* That smell, that mixture of morning fog tousled by high-turnover swimming. Set intervals that make you say, “What!?” When Tim doles out 100 and 200 intervals that make me wonder if I am in the right lane, I find comfort in the tactics that he and Mike Ingardia shared regarding swimming these distance a few years back. On the 100 yard swim, Tim highlighted that the human body can really only sprint 75 yards. So an effective way to master a 100 yard sprint is to treat the first 25 as a length to build to your ultimate pace. The real work starts at the first wall. After that I generally find that fitness is good for the next 50, and pride is in charge of the last 25. Mike Ingardia later highlighted that the above does NOT work for a 200. “Split it evenly” is the advice I remember. So how do I split a 200 yard threshold piece evenly? How do I leave the piano on the deck rather than dragging it through ...

"...you've got to rearrange! Who you are and what you're gonna be! Sha na na na na na na na na. Sha na na na na!" If you didn't watch the Brady Bunch with rapt attention growing up like I did, you might not know this song . But whether you do or don't, Wallace delivered a direct replication of Peter Brady's adolescent voice changing during this well-loved number, today while trying to gasp for air and also verbally review our times during a set of four 200 IM's. I hate IM. But I love Peter Brady, and I really enjoyed Wallace's performance this morning. Sha na na! *warm up: 4 x 150's with 50 non-free 300 IM done broken at 25 for 5 seconds, each of three 25's of each stroke done descending 3 x 50's free descending *4 x 200 IM descending *4 x 200 free descending *3 x 50's stroke/free descending

Yesterday we swam for an hour and it felt good, especially as a precursor to a day filled with frantic dressing-up, Kindergarten parading, candy eating and trick or treating. Oh. Did I mention trying to work and field inquiries fueled by the USA TODAY article? I was trying, for fear of being correctly accused of shameless self promotion once again, not to mention that, but there it is. And here's the other article from yesterday, with an actual photo of "my" bottle. (It's just too exciting to see your name and own quote in a national paper, and your neighbor (Marina Borrone) in a big picture on the cover!). Today, Tim decided not to give us all a break (G-d bless him), and to keep with the long freestyle. Then the showers (at least on the ladies' side) decided to punish us with cold water only. Here I sit, an hour and a pot of hot coffee later, and I'm still not warm in my core. Shiver. *warm up: 300 free, 100 stroke, 200 free add paddles for: *300, 300, 3 x...