Endurance Day

That's what Fridays have become, my endurance days. Still facing vehicle problems, my plan was for Penny to go to work in mine while I drank coffee, then boosted hers, drove it to the shop, and then ran home. But the best laid plans of mice and men . . . I forgot how that saying ends. Well, the truck would not boost so I called the mechanic to come get it. He sent a wrecker. Lovely, now I get to add that to my bill. 

So I drank coffee, hung out with CC, and then headed out for a shuffle. For the first time this year, I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts for my run. This time, instead of running around the neighborhood like I've been doing, I headed for the Boulevard, then north, over the bridge and out Money Road. When I say "out Money Road," I mean I went out two telephone poles and then turned around. A few years back I may have run all the way to Money and home again. I hope to get that back. But Friday I shuffled only 2.63 miles. That is my longest run of the year. For now, that is a long run, an endurance workout. 

Penny came home for lunch then I took her back to work so I could have the truck for the afternoon. I picked up some weights I found advertised on Facebook Market Place (I can't say no), paid my utility bill, and went to the pool. What kind of sets did I do? If you read this blog, you know that on Friday I usually do a straight swim, endurance simplified.

There were babies in the water when I arrived at the pool, mothers on the deck, and a swim teacher in the water, but I got in and started swimming at 1:30 pm. When I finished two hours and twenty-seven minutes later, the pool was mine, everyone had gone. I was alone, tired, and satisfied. I make 7,850 yards, a little disappointing because my pace was so slow (1:52) but I had lifted four days in a row and swum four days in a row before Friday. When I started, my shoulders felt stiff and my muscles felt tired. For most of those two plus hours I wondered where I would tap out. But I didn't tap but just kept swimming one stroke at a time. The long swim put me over 21,000 meters for the week. Pretty good if I only sleep for the rest of the weekend.

I also did some stuff to Plate City. I'll shoot a short video and post it here.

Thank you, Jesus, for a nice run and swim. Help me, Lord, to get that truck fixed.

Double Trouble

Spring Break started with trouble. I'll tell you about that later, first the training.

I hit Plate City after first leaving work and going to Home Depot to pick up a few blocks and some Quikrete. I have been working on setting another post at Plate City for I don't know how long. Rain and lack of a vehicle has slowed my progress. I had a vehicle Thursday, after getting Penny's truck out of the shop Wednesday, and there was no rain in the forecast. The new post will hold plates for the squat station. 

Once home, I unloaded the supplies, changed clothes, and hit the back yard with an eagerness I rarely feel. The dogs were happy and so was I. I mixed the Quikrete, set the post, and yearned for it to be dry so I could get the squat plates off the ground. Then I lifted: bench presses, squats, and rotator cuff work. 

At 5:00, I had to go to Penny's work to boost her truck off. Yeah, after spending $637 on that thing, I had to jump her off. At home, the truck would not recrank and as I type the key is stuck in the ignition. No, it is not the alternator nor the battery. Trust me, I know this. Something supernatural or electrical, or some demon spirit is inhabiting this vehicle. Now I need to boost it, take it to the shop, and ambulate home. 

Sigh.

Back to the training. I went to the pool about 6:00 pm. I swam

2,400
5 X 100 @ 1:54
500 small paddles
4 X 50 @ 1:06
100 easy
total: 3,700 yards = 3,381 meters.

I have a pretty good week going. So far I have lifted four times, run twice, and swum four times. I hope to get two or three more workouts done today. If only that truck would get fixed, I would be as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.

Praise the Lord anyway.

Another Big Three

Wednesdays are turning into a golden day for me. I got in another three-workout day and it was real, it was good, and it was real good. My workouts started with Plate City after school. I had Penny's truck in the shop so I didn't know if to run there first or lift. When I called and they didn't answer, that made the decision for me. I worked shoulders, traps, biceps, and low back with dead lifts. I am still being very cautious on the dead lift. A few years age, I hurt my lower back after doing a long buildup and a good warm up. It turned out to only be a muscle pull, but that fright has not left me. I pulled 140 pounds for two reps. Part of me wants to shoot it on up, but when I get hurt, I have a long memory.

The shop called while I was lifting and said the truck was ready so I left Plate City shuffling in a circuitous route to Spain's Auto. I wanted to get at least 2.4 miles. I zigged and zagged and wound up there with 2.45 slow, old-man miles. That was workout number two.

What do you think workout three was? No brainer, huh? I started with 2,300 straight and then started some 150s at cruise speed. Right now, cruise speed is what I call easy speed, the fastest I can swim and still remain mostly comfortable. That equals for me about a 1:35 per 100 yard pace. At 1:30 I am hurting. At 1:35 I am pushing a little but in no pain. I did 12 150s at that pace before cooling down with 600 while wearing the small paddles. So I did what I wanted: I had a relatively easy swim with a bit of quality and some volume as well. Monday was about speed. Tuesday was stamina day. Wednesday was easy but voluminous with 4,650 yards. Tonight will be more speed. Friday will be pure endurance. Saturday will be make-it-up-as-I-go day. I'll kick, do other strokes, and bust it hard IF and only IF I feel like it.

Thank you, Jesus, for good health and a good workout day. Let me find that sweetness again this afternoon and night.

Tough Tuesday

Tuesday was another good day of training, not a three-peat, but a strong double. I hit Plate City alone in the early afternoon after first eating the largest hamburger in North America. Well, the largest one in Sunflower County at least. We had an English Department meeting on the Moorhead campus, a lunch meeting. A menu from a local eatery had been emailed to us all since we were meeting at lunch, giving us the opportunity to place an order. I ordered something called the Q Super Burger.

Trust me, the picture does not do it justice. Here is another shot of it after I had been biting on it some.

Anyway, I got it down and my fellow teachers were so amazed that they gave me a medal and certificate for my achievement.

So I hit Plate City with vigor to work some off those calories. I did five sets of lat pull downs, five sets of T-bar rowing, a bunch of rotator cuff stuff, some pullups, and four sets of Swim Pull. Then I took nutrition and rested.

I hit the pool a little after 6:00 and the babies were still there along with a swimmer. I swam

2,000 36:30

10 X 200 as

  1 - cruise 3:12

  2 - 1st 50 fast 3:15

  3 - 2nd 50 3:15

  4 - 3rd 50 3:18 

  5 - 4th 50 3:14

  6 - 1st and last 25 3:14

  7 - middle 50 3:15

  8 - 1st 75 3:12

  9 - every other 25 3:14

  10 - cruise 3:21

300 small paddles

200 kick with fins

total: 4,300 yards = 3,930

After that, I hung out with CC and watched TV. Life is good. So is God. Thank you, Lord.

Three-peat

I did it again, three workouts in one day. The first started early in the morning while the sun was still resting. As usual, I felt sluggish and old mannish as I shuffled along in the dark. For the last two Monday mornings of February, the temperature had been 36 degrees each morning. I thought at that time that from now on the morning lows would rise and I would not see sub 40 again. Wrong. I'm good at being wrong. It was 31 for the first Monday morning of March, a full four degrees higher than predicted. I am not a cold weather man, but at least from now on . . . I don't dare say it or I will most likely see 20s next week. I did 2.35 miles to set the stage for my three-peat day.

Workout two was hard to get in because we had an English Department meeting at the Moorhead campus. That meant I had to leave Greenwood, drive to Moorhead and then try to get home in time to slam out number two and rest up for number three At Plate City, I benched

20 X 45
8 X 95
8 X 105
7 X 115
5 X 140
3 X 145
2 X 150

On the decline bench I pressed

4 X 140
4 X 140

And then on the incline it was

10 X 96
8 X 100

I also did squats and 40 X 22.5 on the triceps push down. 

I then had to pick Penny up from work because her truck is in the shop. Also I had to take her to pick up some medication. Then at home I took a nap and headed to the pool for number three. Penny suggested I swim at night since there have been some changes at Plate City and in the daytime I don't feel comfortable doing sprints with the babies in the water. At the pool, I swam

650
650
4 X 50 @ :55
300 small paddles
5 X 50 @ :59
350 small paddles
6 X 50 @ 1:03
400 small paddles
6 X 50 @ 1:09
200 small paddles
total: 3,600 yards = 3,290 meters.

That is 21 50s which is approaching what I need to be doing to get faster. My paces, however, were not that good. I wasn't sucking a lot of air like I used to after each one, but I didn't seem to have that little extra umph to bust them out really fast. Maybe it is because I lifted first. I always liked to swim before lifting.

All in all, it was a good day, a tiring one, but a full and productive one that left me ready for bed. Thank you, Jesus.

2/25 - 3/3

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. It was a pretty good week in some ways and not so good in others. On the training front, it was a bounce back week, after two straight seven day periods of depressed numbers. That happens sometimes, and I try to take it in stride. I look at it as an opportunity to recover from heavy training and rest for more hard work.

I ran three times for a whopping 6.75 miles. I swam six times for 20,837 meters (real training). For the first time in a month, I did a long pool swim, going 7,600 yards straight in 2:13:59. That was Friday. Saturday, I did some kicking, worked on starts, and did some limited but intense intervals in the pool.

Like my Saturday pool swim, my Saturday weight session was a mixture of things I had not done in a while. For instance, I worked the incline bench press, the dead lift, and the clean.

For the week, I 

swam 20,837 meters,
lifted weights four times, and
ran 6.75 miles. 

I can tell I have a little more fitness. My wind is better in the pool and out of it. I pulled off three reps Saturday of 100 yards @ 1:35. During the week I also was able to do ten reps of 50s @ :55.

I'm on track for a good meet in April and a good Chicot in June. 

Thank you, Lord.

Two out of Three

We had a preacher eating meeting Thursday night so I knew a three-workout day was out. In fact, I had capitulated to the idea of one physical session. So what would that one training hour be? Of course I chose swimming. I got to the pool as soon as I could and swam

1,100
10 X 50 @ :55 (This is a big improvement. Heretofore, the most reps I've been able to get at this turnaround is six)
200 small paddles 
4 X 100 @ 1:09 (I wanted to do more 50s, but the babies were in the water by this point)
600 small paddles
total: 2,600 = 2,376 meters.

After I left the pool, I realized I had time for a second workout. Duh! I'm smart like that. So I had another choice: run or lift weights. I chose,
(drum roll) weights. On the bench I pressed

26 X 45
15 X 95
13 X 105
12 X 115
10 X 120

I also did some squats, but why do I keep forgetting to do the triceps push down? With a swim meet coming up in a bit over a month, that should be a constant. It burns those important swimming muscles like nothing else and can add to their strength and fitness. I'm smart like that.

Anyway, we had a really nice time at the eating. The food was good, the company better, and the atmosphere totally relaxed. What's not to like? I'll tell you what's not to like. I woke this morning 3.8 pounds heavier. Sigh. Thank you, Jesus, for a nice day and evening.