Coffee and Backstroke

I stopped drinking coffee after my kidney stone eruption last Tuesday morning. I always do, but this time I did not drink for an entire week. Not only that but I did not drink Wednesday morning, the eight day. But on my way to Greenville, I dozed. Twice!!!!! Never in my life have I done that, in the morning I mean. I have had trouble staying awake late at night. I have had trouble, a time or two, staying awake in the afternoon. A couple of times I have had trouble driving right after lunch. But in the morning? Never.

They say there is a first time for everything. I hope that was also my last time to fall asleep behind the wheel in the morning driving to work. I drank coffee this morning, and I guess I will until I have another eruption. 

Before I had my problems staying awake, I was up at 3:40 a.m. and in the water before 4:00. I know, that is part of the problem, but I have been doing it for a long time and not having trouble driving. It can't be age. Can it? Anyway, at the pool, I swam 

brick kick
2,000 40:54
500 kick with fins
200 small paddles 4:00
100 back 2:07
200 small paddles 3:51
150 back 3:06
200 small paddles 3:52
50 back :54
200 small paddles 4:07
325 5:35
brick kick
300 6:09
total: 3,725 yards = 3,404 meters

You may have noticed that I am starting to work my backstroke a bit. I am contemplating swimming a back event at the Mississippi Senior Olympics. It is not my best stroke and no distance at it would be a good event for me. So why do it? To make myself a better all-around swimmer. Last year, I signed up for the 50 and 100 freestyle not because those are good events for me but precisely because they are not. That made me work my speed a lot in training. It made me better. And surprisingly, I won those two races, by the slimmest of margins, but victories nevertheless. 

So just dreaming forward, maybe I could do a backstroke race this year. I would then have a year to work on my breaststroke. And following that, I could try to learn the fly, a stroke I never swam. After that I could work on an IM. That gives me lots of stuff to work on for the next three years after this May. I like things that motivate me to do more than just show up at the pool and get a little exercise. Chicot has always done that, but one can get seriously slow if all one does is long, slow distance, the backbone of Chicot training.

A couple of things, however, make this backstroke affair a little iffy. One is that this year, every even year, is a qualifying year for the National Senior Olympics, which are held on odd years. In other words, you qualify and then have another year to train. Most likely, the competition will be a bit stiffer this time around in Biloxi since some people will be taking a shot at making the national games. Another thing is deciding which event that I won last year to give up this time. The 200 and 500 are non-negotiable for me. Those are my events. I would have to drop one of the sprints. So is it the 50 or the 100? and which back race do I enter. I am thinking right now to drop the 50 free and enter the 50 back.

I just had a thought. I wonder if I made appeal if they would let me enter five events. Right now the rules say four is the maximum. I suppose the reason for that is if you are that good, you are knocking others out of the possibility of winning and qualifying. But, I am not much of a threat to anyone as a backstroker. I am not sure there would even be anyone in my age group competing. I'll check in to that.

Oh, I was about to forget the rest of Wednesday. After I got home from Greenville, I had the whole afternoon to go the Twin Rivers to run and lift. I intended to do both. Once I went inside the house, however, I changed clothes, climbed into bed, and stayed there until time to re-dress for my night class. It was still a good day. Thank you, Jesus.