Another short swim

2x 400IM 4x100kick

400m drill

Ran to the expressway and back.

not so early morning run

i'm TRYING to get myself to get up and run in the mornings -the sun's up around 5ish now, so it's bright by 6:00 perfect for running. I have tried on and off for the last month to get my butt out of bed and get moving before work. But until today, I hadn't been able to convince myself that exercise we more important than sleep.

Maybe it was all the lying around last week, maybe it's the frustration I'm feeling because I'm putting off everything else right now (cleaning, studying etc). I tossed and turned for 10 minutes: "OK, 6:10 -still time to get a decent run in...6:12...6:15, if you don't get up now you'll never go...you've got time to run the the expressway and back...that's enough for your first day!"

And I did it! I was out the door by 6:24.

I ran to the expressway and halfway back, then the lack of breakfast caught up with me and I walked the rest of the way.

The Kanazawa Relay Marathon is on Sunday, I'd like to do better than my last relay marathon -that means not feeling like I'm dying after every lap....

small swim

400 RIM
2x100 IM

400 kick

4x100 random flailing

shoulders still feeling tweeked -blah

50 minute walk with Kirsten -felt good!!

no swimming yet for me -i still have trouble getting up in in the morning (stiff neck -stemming from my shoulder) so i've stayed clear of the pool for the week. tomorrow will make it a full week of being out of the water. i'm not sure what's driving me more crazy, my sore shoulder or not swimming.

in the mean time, i went for another run today -a short run, but a run nonetheless.

and i signed up for the kurobe road race -this will be my fourth time to run it -and i've chosen the 10km again. my goal is to run under 50minutes by the end of the season (the nyuzen race in November) -haha, there I go presuming i'm still going to be in Japan next year!!!

We had a warm day yesterday so I went for a run.

I ran to the seaside, along the coast and back home.

total time: 60minutes

total distance: I have no idea....

Well, we survived. Not without the help of ibuprofen for me...but it was a great experience and I'm learning to try things even when I know I'm not going to be good at it. I think that's my biggest fault when it comes to competing. If I don't think I can do well, then I don't try. Well, yesterday I tried. The results weren't what I wanted, but the fact that I dove in and finished both my races were a big stepping stone for me. I don't think I could have done it alone, I really needed Kirsten there to talk me through it. And I thank her for putting up with all my whining (and providing the drugs!!) regarding my shoulder.

I only had one major glitch of the day...I thought I was swimming 50 free which was scheduled for the afternoon, but I was down for the 100 free instead which was one of the first events!!! I didn't miss my swim, but I had some of my teammates in a panic over it.

The surprise of the day was my 200 Medley relay race. I was put on a team with 3 other swimmers who are all ex-compets -I was quite intimidated, especially since I was swimming BUTTERFLY!! It was my last race of the day, my shoulder was throbbing at this point, but Kirsten convinced me I'd be ok, and when we were waiting behind the blocks my teammates encouraged me with "MY PACE" -which basically means "go at your own pace". It made me feel a lot better and I even got a little bit excited about my first 50 fly!

We came in first!! We were all pretty excited about it and were giving high fives when they announced that we had broken the meet record!! It was a total suprise, especially for me! I don't think anyone got our splits unfortunately -most of the team missed our swim because they were in the marshalling area or they thought we were swimming in the other pool...haha. Oh well, I got to take home a gold medal nonetheless!


The day ended with a drinking party -of course...but Kirsten and I were so exhausted that we just stayed long enough to fill our bellies and collect our medals. It was a fun and fulfilling day. I had a great time, despite the shoulder and the exhaustion.
The next meet's in October...I guess if I'm staying in Japan another year, I should really try to improve my times.

100Free: 1:21.67 -blah!!!
25Back: 21.17 -I swear I was doing under 20 in practice -haha.

swim meet tomorrow

K and I decided to hit the pool one last time before the meet, nice and short but it felt good.

Warm up: 200E 200T 200K 4x25Y 200kick

random swimming

turns

I have had a kink in my next since this morning - I decided to go swimming anyway. I was in Toyama after work so with no time to get back to the Kurobe pool I took a trip to the pool I'll be competeing at on Sunday...I was able to do pretty much everything despite the kink, however I couldn't hold a board to kick...

Warm up 200E, 100T, 100K, 4x25Y

3x200 Pull on 4:00 1.L&S 2.hard 3L&S

8x25Y @ 1:00

8x25K @ :40

cool down

feeling sluggish...blah -my fly was brutal today although I did manage 4x50 during warm up


Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

4x200 @ 4:00 holding 3:15 -yeah, I suck.

a sad attempt at some sprints....
3x 50 fly @ 2:00/2x25 back @ 1:00

random floating up and down the lane with some kick added for good measure

One week and counting

Well, it's one week exactly till the Master's Swim meet -my shoulders are still sore and I managed to wrench one pretty good last week by trying to open a glass jar...

Warm-up: 800RIM 400kick

Kirsten was at the end of here workout when I finished my warm up and we decided to do a sprint set together -it's so much better to do it with someone.

4x50 IMO on :30RIB
8x25 IMO on :15 RIB (1:00 RIB after the back)

400 pull
200 kick

25s

been doing hypoxics -did 2x25 and then went for the big one! managed to go 45m under H2OT.

200 cool down.

I was supposed to go bowling with some of my students on Saturday at 9:30 -the problem was that I had left my car downtown because I had a staff party the night before. So, after getting to bed at 2:00 a.m. I had to get up at 7:30 to go and get my car. I decided to turn it into a bit of a workout a.) because I hadn't run in forever and b.) it was pouring rain and c.) it gave me more time to sleep...

So that was my first work out of the day. When I got home it was 8:30 and I had a message from my kids saying they had to cancel because some of the boys were riding bikes and couldn't make it because it was raining so hard. We're talking a full scale thunderstorm at 8:30 in the morning.

So I went to the pool instead.

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

4x 200pull/4x25 sprint kick (pull on 3:00/kick on 1:00)

random sculling and 25s -the pool got busy.

I finally got out because the guy swimming next to me was creeping me out...

Nix the last comments

So after raving about my 1500 on Monday, I'm back to tweeks and pains...

ah well, it was good while it lasted.

so, i'm swimming 25 back, 50 free and 25 (i think/hope) fly (in the relay)

Warm up 800RIM 400kick

random 25s of sculling and pull and kick and whatever else I felt like doing...

finished with some hypoxics...went 1.5 lengths of under water T. -not bad, the last time I tried I only made it back out to the first red line.

100 cool down and I was outy

a 1500 FINALLY

My left shoulder has had a wicked knot in it for ages, in fact, I don't know when the last time my shoulders weren't knotted up. Massages just seem to aggravate the problem and rest does them no good either (I have terrible posture and I'm sure that also doesn't help anything). The reason for the sore shoulder is two fold - I've pulled it almost everytime I go our snowboarding. I have a tendancy to land in a way that always pulls that shoulder back and tweaks it. Secondly, my pull is off in the pool. My hand slips a lot -partly due it to being sore and I baby it, and partly due to it being my left arm...I know I'm left handed, but I do a lot of sports right handed, especially throwing sports. My right hand is my power arm, the left is precision I guess. Just the other day I was arm wrestling and noticed that I do that right handed as well. ANYWAY, I've been laying off the distance swims because anything over 200 was a little painful, but last week I did a 400 pull and everything seemed ok. So yesterday, being Monday I decided to get back into my routine of a 1500pull on Mondays. I had a lane all to myself, started easy, long and strong and then built up speed (I've also noticed I need a really long warm up to feel good). I managed to swim it in 25 minutes, not bad for being away from it in a while.

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick

1500 pull @ 25minutes

4x 4x25 ez K, T, Y, E

3100m

WArm up: 200E/200T/200K/100Y 400kick alt E/T

random 25s for about 30 minutes while the lane fills with fathers and their children....


400E
4x100 IM

cool down...

blah

Another swim with Osamu and Toru

When I got to the pool today, Osamu was already in the water!!

I warmed up a bit and then we had another short lesson and Toru joined us. It was pretty fun, they are both athletic so it didn't take long for them to catch on. The can both do a length of fly -it ain't pretty, but they can do it!

I managed to finished my regular warm up and then did one quick set.

3x 100Epull/4x25IMO

warm down

So much for a workout

Well, I took the night bus home from Tokyo last night and was feeling stiff and sore (yes my legs are too long).

So I got to the pool started my usual warm up when whose faces do I see pressed up against the glass....Osamu and Toru!!! Before I knew it, they were in my lane, "Linea, please teach us butterfly!!". How could I resist.....

Warm up: 800RIM 400kick alt E/T

4x 200E pull/ 100Im

200 kick

2600m

Warm up: 200E 200T 200K 100Y 4x100kick alt E/T

8x125 IM @ 3:00 -hold 2:15

200 kick

2300m