Day Six

It was raining during the night but not when I awakened this morning. What!?! Nice. According to the weatherman, it was supposed to start drying up a bit. It did a little, but the sun never came out all day long. 

I took advantage of the semi-dry but cloudy day to take Jeff to the Recycle Bins. This has become a habit with us. In fact, he starts following me around on Saturday mornings and begging. He looks at me with an intensity in his eyes. Sometimes he pokes my lower leg with his nose. He wants to get in the truck and go. So we did as we usually do.

Jeff barking at a bird house. He's bad!

I dumped the recycle stuff, and then Jeff and I went around the paved trail. He likes that and we set a record time for making the loop. We stayed out of the woods where there is a forest trail because the river is all up out of its banks right now on account of the monsoons. Jeff and I try to cover a mile and when we got 1.03 done this morning, we climbed into the truck and left.

When we leave there, we always go riding looking for cats. Jeff loves cats and if he sees one he whines like a little baby. We stopped beside a house we always drive by because a whole heard of felines live there. The problem with Jeff is his eyesight is not good and if the cats don't move, he can't see them. Today they moved and he saw them and whined. That makes me happy.

Then we always ride some more and go by a couple of house that have dogs. Jeff likes dogs almost as much as cats. If he sees a dog, he gets happy and whines. We saw dogs. One dog, a big red shaggy one, approached the truck, rared up, and sniffed Jeff's nose while we were stopped in the middle of the road. Sweet.

After I took Jeff home, I went out for a shuffle and did 6.01 miles. The Viking Half Marathon is in two weeks. I am beginning to believe I may do it. Maybe. One thing is for sure: if I think there is a much of a risk of re-injury, I won't do it.

Later in the afternoon, I went outdoors for some dry land. Below are a couple of pics of Plate City Gym. I have made a few improvements lately. I have some more things in mind. This is not the whole of the gym, but this is the center piece, the place where I prepare my muscles for the training it takes to complete the Challenge.

Nearly Dangerous

I've been doing a lot of napping with cats, drinking coffee, and writing Poot stories. I love me some Poot stories. With the weather being how it is, my place of employment has been closed from Tuesday on through today. This has led me to tell you way more about Poot than I ever intended, and it has also caused me to contract a very serious illness. This odd string of circumstances has given me a bad case of the disease of ease.

The disease of ease is something I unfortunately come down with from time to time, but this time around it has been devestating. The sympotoms include (but are not limited to) an inordinate amount of napping, excessive coffee drinking, an uncontrollable urge to eat potato chips, Oatmeal Cream Pies, and candy bars, weight gain, loss of physical fitness, mental agitation, and a general dismal view of the future. Currently I am experiencing my worst case ever.

MDCC is not the only school to close. I think they all have during the great winter storm of 2015, also known as Remus. But the only other closing that impacts me is DSU, may alma mater. She has closed also. Her closing Tuesday knocked us out of a Masters practice. What made that cancellation so painful was the fact that we missed the entire week before due to a college swim meet, and the fish ponds were way too cold to think about swimming, even with a wetsuit. I'm not sure that the great cold water man himself, Shawn C. Turner, could swim these ponds right now. And as I type this, I am waiting on dreading my phone to buzz announcing a text from coach saying practice is off again tonight.

I swear, I am going to be dangerous.

I have missed two weeks of swimming, and I have a nineteen mile swim due in early June. I know, Shawn, I got this. But I am starting to get a bit antsy. It happens every year. Why can't i just train and go into the swim relaxed without the drama? I know what Poot would do. Poot would burn something down. But I ain't Poot and besides, we repented of all that sinful stuff we used to do.

I did go to Twin Rivers and lift weights Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday, I waited for the snow to pile up in the streets and then I went out. I walked a bit first and then shuffled for .7 of a mile. The snow was gorgeous and being out in it was a true worship experience as I thanked God over and over for the priviledge of experiencing His astounding beauty. This morning, when I arose and stood up, I had no unusual sensations in my foot, so maybe I really am on the road of recovery this time. If not, I swear, I'm gunna be dangerous.

Not only have I not been able to train, but these snow days will impact my future possibilities. We will have to make the days up even though this is a seventeen week semester as opposed to the normal sixteen weeks. It's not about pedagogy, it's about retaliation: retaliation for something none of us poor teachers (I mean that literally) had anything to do with. And when will we make the days up? you ask. On Firdays, of course, the one day I count on to get in some real endurance work.

I feel myself becoming dangerous.

I plan to get out on foot today and try to shuffle about .75, and if Cagri texts and says, 'Too bad guys, no practice,' I will grudgingly set up an appointment with the Endless Pool Fool. It's better than a poke in the eye, but only because I really like my eyes.  No, really, it is better than that.

Anyway, sorry about the rant and thanks for reading. I just needed to vent a little, and this blog gives me a venue to do that. If I didn't have this outlet, I swear I'd be dangerous.

Stupid Is, Stupid Does

For the week of 12/29-1/4, I did some of the stupidest training imaginable. I started on Monday by attempting to swim in 110 degree water at the Greenwood Leflore Hospital Wellness Center's Endless Pool. I thought about writing a blog post titled "Endless Fool" because that is how I felt when I crawled out after only three and a half mintues, exhautsed and beet red. One of the nurses told me I was being cooked alive.

Tuesday the weather was good, so John and I lifted weights. Later I went out for a nice 8.08 multi-paced run. That made sense. Wednesday, we were to celebrate Brice Roberts' birthday, so I did a short adventure run on my less than fresh legs. I went out through the Industrial Park and ran a stretch of the Pelucia Creek Levee I had never been on. I ran 9.89 miles that day and did a lot of walking on lower limbs that were already tired from the day before.

Thursday, New Year's, was rainy, so I got on the treadmill for the first time in months. It's nice to have one to fall back on in times of bad weather, but that is almost the only time I use it. Despite not going anywhere, I stayed on for 5.33 miles. Since I did a hard run Tuesday and another hard run Wednesday, I should have gone much shorter and slower Thursday. But like my first sentence says, I did some stupid training.

Friday the weather was still bad so I went to Twin Rivers to lift weights. Like the running on the treadmill at home, I only come here to lift when the weather is really really bad. I not only did upper body, but I hammered my already tired legs on their leg press and extension machines. Later in the afternoon, however, the rain broke off so I went out for a little shuffle. I kept my stupid pattern up and shuffled for 7.02 miles on totally trashed legs.

Saturday was another day of rain, but late in the afternoon it lightened up enough that I went out back and worked out on my Swim Pull machine. Between each set of the swim pull, I took a run while holding two pound had weights in my hands. I ran 3.51 miles and did a total of 263 reps of the swim pull. I was soaked by the time I stopped but the temp was warm enough that it didn't matter. Although the run numbers were low, that workout sort of finished me off. I woke up Sunday morning with my legs screaming at me.

Sunday is almost always a day of physical rest for me. My legs were so sore and stiff when I got up that I have doubts about my ability to train tomorrow. It was a stupid mistake to run hard five straight days. Sometimes I amaze myself at what a knucklehead I can be. I did preach at Centerville Baptist Sunday morning, filling in for Brother Gary. I felt a little rusty as I haven't spoken much in several months now. But it was nice for me, and I hope for them also.

For the week, I

swam 3:30 (minutes)
ran 33.83 miles
lifted weights three times, and
walked 5.88 miles.

Those numbers aren't that high, but my arraingment of them was all off and my legs are telling my now how stupid I was.

This week marks the end of my vacation. It's been good but a little short. There are still some things on my list that I didn't get around to. Maybe later. We are supposed to have Masters practice Tuesday night and I can hardly wait for that. I feel like I may not even know how to swim now. It is time to begin Chicot training and I am ready to go. 

The Jury Is In

The jury is in. I know. It was just yesterday that I wrote about the jury being out on my new weight lifting scheme. Not only have I split my upper body routine, but I am lifitng the same day and before swimming. It's not working. Don't get me wrong. I think it is a great plan in several ways. But I am going to have to go back to my old way-- whole upper body in one workout once per week-- until after Swim the Suck.

I have known for awhile that it was impacting my swims in a negative way. The only good swims I have had since starting the new program have been on the days I didn't lift. Even John has noticed a few times. One day last week after our swim he said, "You were struggling out there weren't you?" I thought maybe I would adjust and reach a point I could handle it. Wednesday afternoon disabused me of that notion. I went to the pond, a new one, because Twin Rivers was closed for a private party. I lifted that morning, just two moves, bench press and swim pull. I had some nutrition and an nap. At the pond, once again, I could barely swim. I made three laps of the half-mile fish enclosure before I tapped out.

If I weren't training to race Randy Beets at Swim the Suck, I would continue my present program and just get in what swimming I can handle. But it is time for me to start ramping up the distance to build the endurance I will need in order to hammer down for ten miles. I just can't do that after an intense lifting session, so I will focus on running and swimming during the week and lifting on the weekend. hat is the new plan. After the Suck when I am reduced to swimming twice per week, I will go back to what I have been doing of late.

I have already written about Monday when I ran 7.75 miles and swam 3,300 meters. Tuesday, I lifted weights and swam 3,000 short course yards at DSU. Wednesday it was to the pond where the water had to be over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. That water temp and the lifting left me done, and I missed a good opportunity to bust out some distance.

On tap for today is a vVo2 max run, lower body weights, and a pool swim  this afternoon. Friday I plan to go back at the pond for big meters and some running too.

Take a look at this photo. I should have put something down for scale. That bone is about eight to ten inches long. This is a new pond, just rebuilt and pumped up. How did that get there? If you look closely, you can see my footprint in the mud on the bottom. What could have killed and eaten such a large animal so soon? There are only three possibilities I can think  of:

   1. Bigfoot
   2. Bull shark
   3. Alligator

Bull sharks, by the way, can and do live in fresh water. They swim up the rivers, into the ditches, (fish ponds are always bordered by ditches) and jump the levees. Once in the pond, they wipe out the fish, turtles, birds, and alligators.

Tension

I am in constant tension. Training is the issue. Every time I do the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon, I vow to train differently over the upcoming year. Specifically, I need to ride the bike more, do high quality work when I do, and push running off the bike. But that resolution, made on the run to the Neshoba County fair, fades over time and I return to default mode: swimming a lot, and running a bunch of slow miles.

The same tension applies to my running, and I usually resolve, after a tough battle with a fat lady at the 300 Oaks 10K, to run more high quality miles and do lots of leg work in the back yard gym. That resolution, like the New Year's kind, also fades as my legs default into their old-man plodding day after day. A couple of reasons for the plodding make a lot of sense because they include pleasure and pain. Specifically, I enjoy long, slow runs. That kind of training fires up my neurotransmitters and makes me happy. Also, I have learned the hard way over the years that too much pushing the pace in training inevitably leads me to injury. Injury means no running at all and no running means I am a hard-to-live-with man. My wife deserves better.

I have the same issues with swimming. Hammering tough sets in the pool all alone can be less than fun. In fact it can be difficult even impossible at times. I rather swim long and leisurely and rack up impressive weekly yardage totals. But I know that if I want to be able to perform (which mostly means finishing the Chicot Challenge and beating Randy Beets at Swim the Suck) I have to swim hard, at least some of the time.

I also have tensions in the gym. By "gym" I mean my back yard masterpiece that I will write about in the near future. I need to do a lot more leg work, but that  throws me into conflict with how much I can run. I also don't really like leg work so it doesn't take much for me to talk myself out of it.

All in all it is a tension between pleasure and pain, between having the will to train and having the will to train properly. My general stance on exercise is to find and do things you enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, you won't do it year after year.

Did you notice?

I am mixing terms and that itself is reflective of my tension. I have been using "excercise" and "training" as synonyms and properly they are not. I guess that is what I face daily when I think about my workout for the day. Am I going to exercise or train? It's a real tension for me. In my mind there is a heirarchy in all of this. In order of importance with "1" being the most important, I rank things thusly:

1. Health (exercise)
2. Enjoyment (exercise)
3. Athletic performance (training)

In actual practice, I sometimes get the order differently. That creates problems.

Age is another factor in all of this. I have been struggling with my running because I keep getting slower. I hate that and I have not been able to admit, even to myself, that age has anything to do with my declining performances. I blame it on "the tension." If I can just stay healthy (the tension has something to do with that) long enough, I will get it back, maybe even better that when I wore a young man's running shoes.

As I have grown older the tension has become more pronounced because there is one byproduct of my age that I have been able to admit to myself and that involves recovery. I just can't structure a running week that has three hard workouts in it, and I need four. My legs just won't stand for it. So I have a further tension of what workouts to do. I need to cycle them, that's one answer, because there are at least four types I need to do, and I can only do two per week. I need a long run, a tempo run, a vVo2 max run, and some strength work. But for some reason, I can't bear to go two weeks without a long run. I need the long run, for mental reasons as well as physiological ones, once per week.

And then there are the tensions brought on by races. If I taper for a race and try to cycle my hard workouts, things get all out of wack. If I don't taper, the fat lady always beats me and that is devastating to my ego. More tension.

There are huge tensions with food. At my age, it is getting more and more easy to gain weight. Athletic performance demands I get and stay light. I am, by the way, still overweight from the stress fracture last December. It's not just athletic performance that calls for me to stay lean. I am literally and metaphorically running and swimming away from diabetes. It runs in my family. I have seen how bad that condition is. Controlling body weight is a huge risk factor with Type 2 Diabetes. To lose weight, however, one must go into a negative calorie balance. That puts one on a razors edge if one is doing endurance training. Go too low and you bonk on your next workout, which takes the pleasure principle out of the equation and well as the quality principle of training. Go too high and you just stay fat. Nutrition is a constant tension of mine.

Recently, I changed my lifting routine. I am speaking upper body here. I split my upper body from one huge workout to three smaller ones. The split allows me to hit specific body parts even harder than before and the sessions aren't nearly as long. However, the reprcussion I am bumping up against is the way I feel in the pool after lifting hard. During the winter, I swim twice per week and lift on the off days. Now I am hitting the water the same day as hitting the weights. The jury is still out on this one.

Tension. How to train? What to do today?

One of these days,  I'm going to figure it all out. By then, however, I will be too old to do anything with my vast, hard-won knowledge. Maybe when that day arrives some young guy or gal will come along who has big goals and needs a coach to help him or her get there.

That would be great.

Trouble in Paradise

It was almost a great week of training, but you know what they say about "almost": it only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades. Monday I had to make a trip to Carroll County so I did a 4.1 mile run on a wild, dirt road that I seldom see anymore. I also did a deadlifting/core session. Late that afternoon, I went to Twin 

All I could capture of the backyard gym in one photo.

Rivers and knocked out 3,000 meters in the pool. Three workouts in one day. Paradise.

This was the week I planned to start some new dryland strategies. The back yard gym just keeps getting better and my imagination, which has been both a blessing and a curse to me throughout the years, has been in overdrive since I've been off work. Some days I just go out there and stare until  new ideas invade my thinking. I've been trying to improve the gym and make myself a better swimmer, get more fit for next year's Chicot Challenge. Tuesday I put one of those ideas into practice with a tire slam/wall ball workout. The idea was to work the fast twitch muscle fibers of my swimming movers by hitting an eighteen-wheeler tire with a sledge hammer and tossing a medicine ball against an overhead platform with the idea of targeting the antagonistics of my swimming muscles. Great workout, but I thought I felt a little twinge in my left shoulder. For the rest of the day, I ran 2.43 miles and went to DSU where I swam one of the Mad Swimming Scientist's complicated 3,200 meter practices.



Tuesday's toys. Not as harmless as they seem.

Wednesday I ran 3.51 miles, worked in the yard, and did a bicep/deltoid workout (another new idea). I drove over to Twin Rivers only to discover a private party had taken over the pool. AGAIN?!?!?

Thursday was the only day I got on the bike trainer. While I sit in one place and spin, I've been watching Alfred Hitchcock movies. The first six were great. Now, I need a new director. I ordered some 1930's John Wayne movies from Oldies.com. Can't wait. I did 42 minutes on the trainer, some squats, and ran 3.27 miles. I didn't go the DSU because my wife wanted to attend a festival here in town. She doesn't often ask me to break a workout, so I stayed in town and took my bride of thirty-six years to the river park to eat junk food, gaze at hordes of ugly people, and watch a firework show. It was nice.

Friday morning I went to Twin Rivers and hammered it pretty hard to make up for missing Masters. I swam

1,600
150 for time
50 easy
100 drill
200 small paddles
200 medium paddles
300 large paddles (miscounted)
200 extra large paddles
200 large paddles
200 medium paddles
200 small paddles
Total: 3,400 meters.

In the afternoon I ran 3.67 miles and started a swim specific strength training session at the backyard gym. While doing a set of chins, something hurt in my left shoulder. Trouble in paradise. I tried to swim Saturday morning but tapped out after 500 meters. I couldn't pull water with the left hand.

For the week, I
swam 10,100 meters (+19,497 over last year)
walked 9.94 miles
lifted weights three times
pedalled 42 minutes on the bike trainer, and
ran 21.98 miles (+338.88 over 2012).

Despite the shoulder and some Achilles issues, I am beaming with hope and scheming on the future. In the next post, I'll reveal my next big thing. It's big, it's crazy, and it's all mine.

Big Day

Wednesday after work, I ran 3.62 miles and then did a huge weightlifting session covering both upper and lower body. I really hammered the swimming muscles as well as the the antagonistic muscles and stabilizers. Among other things, I did six sets of benches, six sets of the swim pull, and six sets of one-arm-bent rows going up to 55 pounds on the rows. That's a lot for me. Last year at this time I didn't even own a dumbell that heavy. I am hoping, among other things, to ward off that pain I got around and under my right shoulder blade at about ten-miles last year. Pain at ten-miles this year would be a disaster.

But Thursday was the big day, the really big day. For the first time this year, I got out of bed and ran before work. It wasn't pretty, and I was so slow I'm glad the streets were deserted to hide my shuffle from public scorn. But I did it and got in 4.16 miles. After work, I loaded up and went to the pond and did a suit swim in 52 degree water for 1.7 miles. Then I drove to my daughter's where I took a nap. After that it was to Masters where the Mad Swimming Scientist lived up to his name. I did

1,100
400 pull with paddles
4 X 100 swim with paddles breathing 3, 5, 7, 9 by 25s
8 X 50 all out @ 1:00
300 pull with paddles 
3 X 100 swim with paddles breathing 3, 5, 7, 9 by 25s
6 X 50 all out @ 1:00
200 pull with paddles
2 X 100 swim with paddles breathing 3, 5, 7, 9 by 25s
4 X 50 all out @ 1:00
100 pull with paddles
100 swim with paddles breathing 3, 5, 7, 9 by 25s
2 X 50 all out @ 1:00
100 easy
Total: 4,200 yards.

Usually I swim several hundred, sometimes a thousand, after he says to cool down. I was so spent, I did a sloppy 100 and left. For the day I swam 6,574.1 meters spread over two swims, and an early morning run. I slept like the dead.

Friday I really didn't feel like doing much, but I drove to DSU anyway and did an assortment of nothing very difficult for a total of 3,600 yards.

I finally talked to the T-shirt lady. She e-mailed me her make up. I asked for a few changes and it looks like that ball is finally know about rolling. Not only that, but Luvie made his first announcement on Facebook today, letting people know about the Chicot Challenge. I hope it catches some attention.

New Read

My cat and I are reading a new book. It's The Great Swim by Gavin Mortimer given me by a dear friend, Robin Bond, who helped crew my last charity swim. Robin has gifted me several books on swimming and is scheduled to work my next charity effort, The Chicot Challenge Swim for Diabetes, set for June 1 in Lake Chicot at Lake Village, Arkansas. Thank you Robin.

The weather has been threatening bad, but not really severely inclimate, and I have been off work for a couple of days. The folks at DSU have been off work also bringing my swimming to a screeching halt. Dude, I am so tired of missing swims. I know I could go to the pond, but I'm just not tough enough right now to handle the water and weather. I read with envy all the others swimmers' blogs and posts in "Did You Swim Today." I just don't have that kind of access to the water. I've contacted MVSU about trying to use their pool, but no one there will talk with me. Why and I surprised? Our Chief of Police at MDCC has talked to them (they will talk with him), and he is supposed to let me know. But I need to be swimming now.

I did get in a four+ mile run Monday in the cold and threatening rain. Then I lifted weights until it did shower. Last week I failed to get any upper body weight lifting done and it showed as my poundage dropped a bit on the bench and my numbers dropped on the chin. On the bright side, I was able to do One-arm-rows. I feel that is a very important exercise for my swimming health, and I have been precluded of late from doing that move because of elbow pain. I harmed the right elbow in a bicycle crash in 2007 and it causes me a little trouble from time to time. Thankfully, it has never bothered my while swimming. However, it does not like certain exercises, primarily the ones I feel are the most important, like one-arm-rows and pullups. I have replaced pullups with chins. For some reason, chins don't flare the elbow up while pullups do.

Tuesday I ran another four miles, did some light squatting, and some easy spinning on my bicycle trainer. Now it is Wednesday morning, and I am scheduled to return to work. This afternoon, I plan a shorter run and maybe some spinning. My son's birthday run is Saturday. We are ambulating 27-miles to his grandmother's house where we will crash and cook. I'm looking forward to it but I need to taper, and I'm not in a tapering mood. I guess that's what you call discipline, or the lack thereof.