Peace and Tranquility in DC

As a kid who grew up in the woods who is now stranded in concrete jungle, my favorite places are those little spots in the city where you can find a moment of tranquility and peace.  I thought I would list a few scattered around the city in case you find yourself in need. 

The Capitol Grotto (At left): cool fairytale seclusion in the summer on the Capitol grounds.

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens: acres of huge lotus flowers make cloud-city landscapes in the summer.

Bishop's Garden at the National Cathedral: roses, sculptures and contemplative nooks to sit in.

Old Stone House Garden: to take a break from shopping Georgetown to eat a cupcake with your honey.

Down goes 900m, down goes 900m, down goes 900m!

Ok, so it doesn't rank up with the climactic ending of the Sunshine Showdown (Foreman vs. Frazier), but no less momentous, for me anyhow.  I just knocked out the fabled 900m workout, and a week ago I was definitely an underdog.  I don't think anyone will be calling me Mr. Foreman anytime soon, but I did feel like the "Big Man" as I got out of the pool.

For any of you who are wondering what all the hoopla is about--and there is a bit much of it, the swim portion of the Philly Sprint Tri in June is 900m. Granted I have to do it all at once, through a crowd of crazy Tri-ers or whatever they (we?) are called, in open water, but I will savor my victory. 

It was a little sloppy and the muscles were screaming by the end, but it feels great. I did 2 X 350 yards and finished with a 200 and a 150. My reward is likely to be another migraine, but until it hits, it was totally worth it.  Totally neglected Cobra attack on the water, and even "over a barrel" today, and I was reaching too much and lopsided, but I got it done.  Next workout will be focused on technique--I promise.

You are not going to believe this...

I didn't want to go swim today, I just felt cold and weak, not the sore and tired kind, the powerless I want to spend the day in bed because I feel drained kind. That would have been a huge mistake, because I swam today like I could go forever, like I found the rhythm I have been searching for for months now, and I didn't see any reason to stop, not at 250 which was my goal, not at 300 or 400, and then I might as well go half the distance and once you are at the other end of the pool, might as well come back, then I kept feeling comfortable so I topped it off with a final flip turn and I finished with 700m all at once! My body did it like it was the most natural thing, while my brain rode along on exclamation marks. I had time to work on various parts of my stroke, the cobra water strike, going over the barrel, let’s try different kicks, don't forget about bending the left arm...and on and on. I wasn't even out of breath at the end, just starting to lose form enough and I wanted to go out feeling good, and leave the final hurdle 900m to another day.




I wish I knew for sure what did it, the pancakes I had with the parents in the morning, great coaching from Ironwoman--early roll and breathing, for sure had something to do with it. Best of all, the support staff got to share the victory with me after inspiring it. I imagined each time I came back to the wall that she was still out of the pool and wondering, "When is he going to stop, isn't he done yet? Doesn't he know he can't go that far?" A particularly shapely and feminine foot went by me in the pool and it occurred to me might be hers, but I was in too positive a mindset to be worried about eating her dust (wake?)--which is exactly what I was doing of course. Anyhow, with all of the hard work over the last few months, and in spite of the slacking over the holidays, today was the single big breakthrough that I needed. Now I can start working on swim speed and oh yeah, the other two disciplines as well!



Post victory note. We celebrated with some great crepes at Le Chat Noir, which was great except that the sunlight coming in was really bothering my eyes. For our hubris, we both got handed vicious migraines, but even that could hardly dampen my spirits. What, a migraine after an unusually long workout, where have we heard of that before? Flashbacks to those early long runs during the marathon training. At a higher lever, beyond the raging left side of my brain, I couldn't care less, nothing could dampen my spirits.

MRI of migraine

Ironwoman Strikes Again

As always, sessions with the Ironwoman are very upbeat and super-helpful, and best of all filled with images of the ideal to carry me through to the next session like, don't be tentative as your hand reaches for the water, strike like a Cobra! 

As I understand it, this is an idea somewhere between stretching for a long stroke and the "going over a barrel" image to have a bent arm entry.  It turns out that this phrase has a nasty but perhaps apt history as it relates to the torture of me trying to swim.  Rename the blog, Over a Barrel and Still Swimming?

Since she swam next to me, she was able to see the problem that I forgot to mention, straight arm on the left (bad) bent arm on the right (good).  And even better, fix it! 

The problem: If you try to get your mouth out of the water to catch a breath after you start the stroke on the opposite side, it is harder to roll your core over, so you end up pushing down with your hand into the water with the opposite arm to bob your head up to catch a breath--really inefficient and it feels like you are having to push to reach for air.  Worse yet you can damage your shoulder, if your muscles ever get strong enough (no danger yet), and your window for breathing runs out when your opposite arm is extended--really bad. 

Simple solution: roll your body over sooner when your opposite arm is straight in front and the same side arm is at your side (really easy because everything is in a line), then you can pull with bent arm, which is much more efficient, and you start your breath sooner so you have more time to inhale.  It also apparently means you don't have a crook in your neck after swimming--how great is that? 

Added incentive to keep training, when you become an Ironwoman, you get to go to the Canary Islands where the Ironpeople go to get pounded into high carbon steel with gorgeous sorroundings. 

I probably didn't make 600m today, but I learned a whole lot.  Additional piece of advice, focus on drills you find hard (kickboard, one arm stuff) not the ones you find easy (pool bouy).  That's why she's the Ironwoman!

Holiday Training Fail, New Year's Resolution

Seeing...that the defendant swam only 2 times in 2 weeks over the holidays,
Seeing...that the defendant is now getting worse rather than better at swimming,
Let it be resolved...this will not happen again.

Punishable by: shame in front of my 6 regulars--love you all!

Yeah, we all have holiday regrets, no not buying my brother and his new wife a huge bean bag called a Love Sac, no not spending Christmas Eve digging my dad's 4-wheel drive out of a stream bed--smooth one pops.  That's the good stuff.

The pool is not subtle, it reminded me in no uncertain terms on Saturday, that (1) I still suck at swimming,  (2) if I don't keep going to the pool, I will suck even harder--in that out of breath I feel like I am drowning kind of way.  So I did my 600m limping and went home tail between my legs.  Only 1X200, it about did me in. 

So today (Monday) redemption was mine: a 270m long swim feeling strong and a total of maybe 750m.  I was floating along the top rather than sinking to the bottom, elongating my stroke and my air intake.  Ok, so that isn't that different, something about swimming on a shorter pool you feel like you are getting somewhere quicker. 

So I am back on the wagon again.  As always, I can only blog the bad news once I start digging myself out. 

Shout out to the parents and cousins who came up big on the Tri-gear and books for Christmas--thanks guys!  Hope you all had happy holidays and a healthy and happy New Year!