Waterblogged

I'm posting this before workout today since we ALL know what it will be. 50 x 100's baby!!!!!!! I can't wait. It's also Thanksgiving, and my birthday. And, as you can see on our "thankful wall" from my kitchen, one of the things I am super thankful for is...swimming pools. I think my entries on the wall (not all of which you can see) go like this (not specifically in this order except for #1 of course): my family swimming pools lifelong friends soccer awesome parent-teacher conferences (yes, it was conference week this month) amazing grandparents and mommies apple fritters birthday celebrations good neighbors laughter I could have gone on and on about what I'm thankful for, and for THAT I am thankful.

I wish I had bigger boobs. But that's not really relevant. What is relevant is that I can't do breast stroke. Related? Probably not, but still worth mentioning the connection since I'm twice breast impaired, making today's workout painful and also not that sexy. *warmup: 200, 150, 100, 50 free all followed by some little spurts of breast stroke. *3 x 50's free *4 x 25's free kick on your side repeat 3x *3 x 50's breast *4 x 25's breast kick repeat 3x *3 x 50's free *3 x 50's breast

I am just, very, excited, about, Thursday. Can't wait to eat turkey and drink wine after a long swim! Today was a nice pull to warm up the shoulders for the 50x100's coming up! *warmup: 5 x 150's all free then gradually adding backstroke by 25 add pull gear for: *12 x 100's free remove pull gear for: *3 x 100's back add pull gear for: *6 x 200's free remove pull gear for: *3 x 100's back

I know I've talked about this before but there is just nothing better for me than having my two bestest friends here for a night out and then a swim in the early morning. Thanks Judy for a great Sunday AM swim! *warmup: 300 "vanilla", 300 every 4th length kick, 300 ever 4th length dps *600 free with every 4th length *2 x 300's *500: 100 moderate, 100 fast, 75 moderate, 75 fast, 50/50 and 25/25 *3 x 200's free *4 x 150's free

SO. My husband works with this guy's sister - the one who saved his life with a stem cell transplant. Amazing story. AND his latest song is called "Swim". LISTEN TO IT. You can hear it on the site , and see a synopsis of the film here: http://www.dearjackmovie.com/ The site also shows his appearance on the Daily Show from last night. Crazy inspirational stuff. SO, today's workout was too complicated to remember (even while we were doing it). Here is yesterday's nice, long, SWIM. *warmup: 500 straight *1650 straight *700 *500 YES, swim indeed.

We had a victorious and exciting weekend in Manteca, where W's team won all four of their games (including one in PK's which is sending us back to Manteca next weekend - argh!) and enjoyed a hugely happy dog pile after the semi-final. You can see here that, while a step down from Cabo, I still enjoyed some hot tubbing and beer. Upon returning from the weekend, many of us are ill and I missed swim practice yesterday due to an early morning wakeup by the kids. Today, I made it to the pool only to find breaststroke awaited me. Ah, it was still a workout nonetheless. *warmup: 4 x 200's all free, 50 breast, 100 breast, 150 breast *10 x 50's free with funky breathing patterns *10 x 50's breast with every even 50 done as arms only *5 x 100's free with long streamline *5 x 100's free with funky breathing patterns

I will be in lovely Manteca California this weekend for the State Cup soccer tourney. From Mex to Manteca within a week's span. Wow. So I shoved four swim days in a row in this week. I will be wishing for a pool tomorrow morning. NOTE: I will also be wishing I was here to watch the Stanford women's soccer team play on Sunday. Went last night (NCAA first round) and they won again. They are undefeated and amazing. Watching them just makes my jaw drop. I wish I had ever been half as good as they are! *warmup: 200 free, 100 stroke, 50 kick repeat 2x *8 x 150's with 5th length kick *8 x 100's with stroke limits and yesterday... *warmup: 1000 straight and for variety... *1000 straight and for more variety... *750 and finally... *500

I love when people who don't swim say "Oh, you are cheating, using fins?" For me, fins are nearly impossible. They rob me of my oxygen and make me feel like I'm doing water Pilates (not a bad idea perhaps?) while doing a full-out sprint. Unfortunately, I swim with Lanshin who is undeniably the world champion finner. If they would only add a fin event in the Olympics, she would win. Feet down. And I get to chase her during fin workouts. PHEW! *warmup: 3 x 250's with first 50 easy, last 50 strong add fins for: *5 x 300's first and fifth slower than the rest *200 easy kick *3 x 300's done as 100 fast, 150 relaxed, last 50 fast

Okay I think we are up to around 6 other brave dorks that are sporting the Killer Quad suit with me. It's CUTE so get on it! If you aren't sure how to order, leave a comment here. In other news, I just returned from Cabo, where I did not do any swimming except paddling over to the bar you see in the photo above. I had one goal during this vacation: do not break a sweat. I did some yoga and pilates after rolling out of bed at around 9AM, followed by the paddle to the swim-up bar at around noon. It was heaven. Back to reality this morning: *warmup: 300 free, 3 x 100's kick, stroke, strong free *800, 600, 400, 200 800 and 400 free straight alternating strong and easy by 100's 600 and 200 repeat pattern of kick, stroke, strong free *175, 150, 125, 100, 75, 50, 25 odd done as free to stroke, even done as strong free

Okay, so I'm going to Mexico soon and I cannot wait. Logging a lot of swimming before then, and also logging a lot of candy eating and World Series watching. Here are some recent workouts, and the obligatory Halloween photo of the kids. Saturday (Halloween) The suit made its debut and yards were swum: 4300, if my counting was right. Sunday Brutal post-Halloween soccer game Monday One of those workouts where sets sound easy but are hard because of the mixing of IM and freestyle. Too hard to remember the actual sets. But if you haven't gotten the point yet, hard. Today *warmup: 125 free, 25 back, 125 free, 50 back, 125 free, 75 back, 125 free, 100 back add fins for: *2 x 700's done as 200, 50, 150, 50, 100, 50, 50, 50 first 700 50's are kick with two arms out of the water second 700 50's are kick with one bottom of the pool touch per length *2 x 500's done with 2 lengths fly, 2 lengths kick with board, 2 lengths underwater, and 4 lengths in 2 other lanes besides y