Waterblogged

I have this little personal rule: I never make myself stay in for relays. I know I seem like a wuss when I jump out as soon as I hear the "relays!" declaration at the end of a workout on a Friday (like today), but I just feel the ROI on the five minutes is low for me. :) *warmup: 150 free, 50 stroke, 50 kick repeat 3 x *4 x 50's free repeat 5 times, interval decreases by 5s each time *3 x 50's back, breast, fly repeat 3 times, interval decreases by 5s each time relays = shower = get to coffee early for me!

Today was a good swim day. I can do flip turns again, and sets were long free. Great way to start a vacation day! *400 free, 4 x 100's free *2 x 400's free, 100 easy *4 x 200's free, 100 easy *8 x 100's free, 100 easy BBQ!

Tim must be hanging out with the synchronized swimming coach again because today we did kicking with two arms and one leg out of the water. Well, I should say that we tried to do this, not that we succeeded. I was wishing I had a camera with me during this set. Even saw one person stop mid-length and use their hands to manually lift their leg in the air. Didn't work well. *warmup: 800 with every fourth length non-free add fins for: *100 dolphin kick, 200 IM repeat 3x with 2nd 200 done as free *4 x 100's fly, back, breast, free 3 underwater kicks each way to make 360 turn: back, side, belly increase to 4, 5 and 6 by 100 *4 x 100's kick: one arm out, two arms out, two arms and one leg out, then regular flutter *Relays!

The ribs still hurt but I did almost a whole workout today without wincing. Good deal. Can't do a flip turn except when I forget I shouldn't be doing one. That's when I winced. But this cheered me up. Here is my kid's school doing something on the blacktop this morning that actually made me well up with tears. *warmup: 500 free, 6 x 50's descend every two 50's *2 x 25's kick, 2 x 25's catchup, 4 x 25's fast free repeat twice *10 x 100's fast with 3 minutes active recovery inbetween.

So it still hurts to breathe, but I got in this morning and did the warm up. After that, I was cringing under the water, so I got out and went to the warm pool to do some kicking. It was a mild workout at best, but boy did it feel good after a week of nothing. And, in the locker room I was re-inspired by Clara, who told me about a car accident she was in a few months before her Ironman race. She, too, bruised her ribs (that seatbelt plus the air bag at high impact is no picnic) and could not do much for a while. But she took a week off, then did some underwater jogging and kicking, and finally got back to running after a few weeks and made it back in time for her Ironman a few months later. My friends think I'm nuts not to just say "I'm injured" and sit out for a bit. That alone doesn't make me nuts. It's hearing Clara's story and thinking "Yah, I'm being such a pussy - I need to push through!" that makes me nuts. I'm not, after all, even...

The ribs hurt from a soccer collision, and I've been out of the pool for a week (much to everyone's chagrin - I'm grumpy). But Ben's Rock N Roll Preschool performance sure cheered me up and gave me a laugh last night. The dude is a born performer.

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while. It actually made my Mother's Day.

My husband asked me last night if there was anything I was "hoping to get" for Mother's Day. Sadly, or happily, I'm not sure, I couldn't really think of anything better than more swim time and a massage. We really are obsessed people. BUT, I'm not nutty enough to spend a weekend in Clovis at Nationals, that's for sure. I can't get over the fact that so many of our teammates go and spend a weekend waiting to swim, after whole childhoods full of days and days spent at meets waiting to swim. Impressive! Today: *warmup: 400 free, 400 non-free *3 x 25's kick, 3 x 25's drill, 4 x 25's sprint repeat 3x different stroke each time *1000 broken out like this: 2 x 50's, 2 x 100's, 2 x 200's, 2 x 100's, 2 x 50's (first of each is fast, second is recovery) *warm down (warm down?!?!?! we NEVER get a warm down scheduled in. Thanks Tim!)

Well, what do you know. I've won "Mother of the Year" and as this video shows , have been congratulated by President Obama, celebrated by Hollywood stars, and praised by a remarkably articulate baby. I knew I was good. Customize this coolio video for all of the moms in your life. MomsRising is the bestest, and I've been supporting them for years. Join on!

My oldest kid turned 7 yesterday, and we decided to revisit Chevy's for a bday dinner. We'd gone there when he turned 4 and done a few classic poses, so we decided to re-enact the whole experience three years later. Here are the results. Clearly he's a much more mature margarita sipper these days. and the post-margarita weekend workout was: *warmup: 600 free, 3 x 100's IM *drill 100, kick 50 free *drill 100, kick 50 back *drill 100, kick 50 breast *drill 100, kick 50 fly *4 x 50's fast followed by 100 easy *3 x 50's fast followed by 100 easy *2 x 50's fast followed by 100 easy *1 x 50 fast followed by 100 easy