So the big question of the day was “why is the pool so cloudy?” For reasons no one could figure out the pool’s visibility was less than spectacular. It didn’t stop anybody from getting in, but it slowed us down a little. Since this pool is usually very clear and wonderfully sparkling on a regular basis I figured we could give it a pass for being a little gross just one time. Plus I’ve been out of the water since Saturday for various reasons so I really needed to get wet. We started with 3 swimmers but by the end of the warm up we were at 5 with a 6th still to show up later.

10 x 100 free @ 1:40

Repeat x 3 all fast with fins
100 free @ 1:30
4 x 25 dolphin kick alt. underwater and on your back by 25
3 x 50 fly

9 x 100 free

2950 yards total

The warm up was mellow, but the main set in the middle turned out to be an ass kicker! Everything in that set was with fins on in the understanding that you’d actually kick and go fast in them. I celebrated by going out entirely too fast on the first 100. I knew it as soon as I started, but once I lock into a pace it’s hard for me to drop it. I finished like 5 or 6 seconds ahead of Mike which let me know I went out way to fast and was about to pay for it in the rest of the set. By the end of the first round I was huffing and puffing pretty severely. The intervals gave me some healthy amounts of rest, but I just couldn’t reset my body inbetween send offs. I made it all the way through the set, but I’m pretty sure my stroke was fairly horrible towards the end there!

I won’t be underwater tomorrow because I’ve got work all day and then a Surfrider meeting to go check out, but I should be back in Santa Maria for some sprinting on Saturday and then the ocean on Sunday.

Another beautiful day for a swim this afternoon which was good because I wasn’t feeling so good and needed a little motivation to get out of the office (besides Saturday’s impending One Hour Swim!). I’ve been having a hard time getting excited about pool swimming recently, but when it’s outdoors and the weather is like this it’s hard to say no! There were 4 of us swimming today and I got to stretch out in my own lane which is always a bonus.

8 x 100 free @ 2:00

200 dolphin kick on back
8 x 25 fly drill @:45
4 x 25 fly @:45

200 flutter kick on back
8 x 50 free @:50
4 x 50 free descending @:45

500 yards of random swimming (was supposed to be 6 x 150 pull)

2600 yards

I popped out a little bit early today because I had a project sitting on my desk at work that I had to go do something about, but I still got in like 95% of the workout. I liked that we had some fly built in there today, I’m anticipating a lot of it between here and SCY nationals since Mike is aiming for the 200 fly this year! Maybe I’ll have to swim it too… we’ll see :)

In other news… I’m now officially Red Cross certified in CPR and First Aid! 100% on all my tests, look out! The classes were pretty decent but didn’t really go far enough for me. My Army first aid training was far more hands on and practical, but they also had days at a time to make us do it over and over and over again. I think I want to go back and get some Lifeguard training and maybe a more advanced first aid class. I just want to feel like if something bad happened at the beach I could make a meaningful difference in the outcome by knowing what to do while waiting for the pros to show up. The basic classes were a good start, but I wouldn’t mind being a little more competent in this area.

From here I’ve got plans to hit a CVMM workout tomorrow night and then do the USMS One Hour Swim with them on Saturday Morning. Since I’ll be in SoCal anyways… I’m going to spend the night in Orange Country and get in a Sunday morning ocean swim with some of my Laguna Beach open water friends!

I took a few days off after my big Polar Bear Swim to relax (minus a big workout consisting of 100m swim and 25 minutes in the hot tub on Sunday), but I started to get back to work this afternoon. I’m still in contemplation mode as far as what my next big goal swim is, but I know it’s going to be long so I better start swimming!

Today wasn’t a big workout but we worked the main set pretty hard. Gotta have those shorter intense days interspersed in the week right? We were 5 swimmers deep today and nobody really had a plan so I made up a set after we did our stock warm up. It’s fair to say it was met with a little hesitation… you know the set is a good one when everyone stalls for a second but doesn’t want to be the first one to complain about it :) I think everybody liked it once they were done though, if you’re only going to swim 2200 yards you might as well make it worth it! I just liked that I got to do strokes other than freestyle just to move my joints in new directions.

200 swim
200 kick
200 swim

4 X 100 Kick with Fins @ 1:45

Repeat x 2
4 x 50 IM Order @ 1:00
2 x 100 IM @ 1:45
200 IM @ 3:30

2200 yards total

The intervals were a little loose to give everybody a chance to make it and most of us held together through the set. i would have liked to do one more round but we didn’t really have the time. I think starting next week we’ll have actual workouts planned for here through SCY Nationals in Mesa. We’ve got some people interested so Mike planned out the next few months for us to get prepped.

double mustache... it's like a double rainbow but far less desirable

In other news… thank you to everybody that has shared my polar bear swim story on their blogs and facebook pages, sent me congratulations, watched today’s Morning Swim Show segment, and made donations! I’m totally bowled over at how much good coverage the swim got, and as an added bonus it gave me a chance to do some good in my neighborhood. We raised what’s looking to be about $1500+ for the SLO Food Bank! You can still donate through Friday if you’re so inclined. I’m pretty stoked that on top of locals donating I’ve had dollars come from Washington State, Chicago, New York, and even Moscow! I think there’s a very real possibility this swim will go down again next year but I’ll have a little company :)

And randomly… I’m looking for a surfboard… I want to learn how to ride this year so if anybody has a lead on a cheap (like sub $300) used board that large gentleman/beginner appropriate in the central coast area I’d appreciate it! As long as it’s reasonably solid and I don’t have to fix anything I’m in, don’t care if it’s ugly as long as it works!

I thought this had a very nostalgic "Wonder Years" kind of vibe :)

The pool I swim at in Santa Maria opened back up today after a couple weeks of closure only to be closed again tomorrow… as much as I’m bummed I can’t get wet tomorrow I am stoked I had somewhere to swim for lunch today. The sun was at least halfway out and it wasn’t raining so that was pretty awesome.

Unfortunately none of my regular swim buddies were out today to workout with me. I think most of everybody is out of town somewhere. I made up my own workout as I went along. I did 1500 yards in a structured format and then like 1000ish just swimming with my SwiMP3 on.

200 swim
200 kick
200 swim

8 x 50 IM Order @ 1:00

5 x 100 kick w/ fins @ 1:45

~1000 yards swim

2500ish yards total

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to swim tomorrow with the ocean all dirty and holiday pool hours but I do have some plans to be at the beach. A couple of us are going out for a little beach clean up day in Avila. I figure it’ll need one after a week of storms. If you’re in the area and you want to help out feel free to drop in Friday morning at 9am on the south side of the pier in Avila Beach! More info over at SwimAvila.com