I Am GoingTo Work

Tomorrows entry will be from a different location, work! I am so not excited about the prospect of making up 6 mandatory overtime shifts, the first two are coming in the next 4 day. I will just have to suck it up, it is not unexpected. I should swim at the Terra Linda Recreation Center, I think that the pool will be there tomorrow morning.

This morning I swam at Finley.

500 swim, choice
500 kick on back w/fins
10x100 free on 1:45, last 3 on 2 minutes at1:13-5
100ez
2x50 back
2x50 breast
6x50 boindi fly drill, last 2 easy full stroke, slow
2600 yards

Butterfly, Unrestricted

I really did ot want to go to the pool this morning. I went to the Y to do P/T, so I rowed for 10 minutes and then worked on the rotator exercised. I did some balance board and then went to pool at Ridgway. I sort of showed up just as the group swimming with Warren was finishing some ridiculous magnificent mile set. Too many push ups involved for me to do.

I did swim and I wanted to do my stroke, butterfly.

500 swim
500 kick on back w/fins
500 butterfly drills
5x100 free/fly/free/fly
5x25 fly/25 swim back
5x50 free/fly
100 swimez
2600 yars

Okay, Let's Swim Butterfly

Remember to cautiously approach and think about the necessary progression to rehabilitation. I did that. I now consider myself back to normal. Shoulder is better..I swam some full butterfly today. I am happy. I swam with Warren, Leslie, Hermine, Paco, Todd, Don, and Michael in my first organized workout since the shoulder procedure. I am looking forward to swimming with the Petaluma group again.
250 swim

3x100 kick, 2:15
3x100 kick/swim 2 min

6x Morales IM on 1:30
25 fly/vertical kick, note, these butterfly laps are the first butterfly since before surgery
50 breast/vertical kick
75 back/vertical kick
100 free

100ez
12x50 on 60 I used this for warm down

2800 yards

What a Beautiful Evening

It is sub tropical this fine evening. There has been something from the south that has brought unusual weather for us here in North California. It is a bit humid, a bit overcast, partly cloudy all day, and it is a different weather pattern. Weather happens. GF and son will try to go to Fenway tomorrow, but it is supposed to rain, 100% chance. Game time is 7PM, perhaps the storm will have moved through.

I am continuing with my own little staycation. The bay area is fantastic, why even leave the area? I went to Berkeley today. I checked out Aquatic Park DG, nice little walk along the marina shoreline. The course can be seen from I80. There are many other pedestrians, picnicers, strollers, children, etc, so not only is the marina in play, it is very important to be aware of the other people along the way. No DG tomorrow.

I swam at Finley this morning.

10x(250 free/50 breast)
last 250 was 10x25, various interval

While doing sprints met Bill Cannady, a former swim coach, swimmer and San Rafael resident. He swam at SRHS, knows lots of swimmers from Joe D. to Marie McSweeny and Don Scwartz. He graduated San Rafael 1966 and is early 60's, and lives in Palm Springs.

Warm down 250

3000 yards

Now It Aches

But I think that I am still getting well. This morning all went well at Finley. I eased into a series of 200 free with 50 back between, so it will look like this for the workout.

10x(200 free/50 back)
10x25, various speeds with various intervals. Last 4 were controlled no breathers at 14 seconds.
The key to these laps are a controlled, slowed stroke rate, with emphasis on the smooth, clean and efficient entry, catch and hand placement through the pull.

2750 yards

Optimistically Cautious

I felt so good this morning that I was up at 0435, well before the alarm clock was set to play. I even got out of the bed and was drinking coffee before the radio came aloud. So I dallied and finally went to the pool and there it was, an open lane. I returned to the pool shortly after I suited up and began the morning swim.
1000 swim
250 back
250 breast
10x100 free on 1:45 descending from 1:32 to 1:15
250 swim down ez, with some butterfly arm movements
2750 yards

Santa Rosa Masters Summer Party 2009

Summer is a special time of the year. It is Long Course and open water. Many of us can appreciate the daylight as practice begins and how the sun is warm and pleasant on our fragile yet strong bodies. We can swim when it is warm outside, not just in the pool, where the temperature of the water only varies a degree or two from 80 F, year round. We can go to the beach, and the river and the ocean and appreciate the aquatic environment. Our environment is not only concrete, tiled lined, and temperature controlled. It can also be cold, choppy, dark, and deceiving. Currents, tides, and other aquatic life forms may await some of us who venture beyond the pool.

We had another successful masters swimming season. The team membership grew to over 100 members, as listed in the Pacific Masters newsletter. There is now a noontime masters workout, new for this season. We had almost 20 swimmers at the national championships, and we were outstanding. Masters swimming in Santa Rosa is constantly gaining participants, as seen in the growth of the Santa Rosa Masters, SRM.

The summer party hosted by the Canales was a blast. Warren and Rich Swain were grillmasters and the salads, sides and desserts were of the highest quality, made with love, care and the best ingredients. Laura made the dish of the party, a wonderful banana cake with the best caramel/butterscotch frosting in the world. Recipe please.

The pool was the perfect temperature,, and all the children swam. The putting green was in service as well. Aqua volleyball was dominated by the Beals, of course.

It was a very nice day.

Cautiously Optimistic

Actually I was cautiously optimistic yesterday because I felt pretty good through the workout and I did some gentle butterfly motion with both arms simultaneously, which leads me to be cautiously optimistic about swimming and going back to work soon. I am scheduled to go back to full duty next Tuesday, September 1. This morning I was at the Finley Aquatic Center.
It was a simulated workout.

1500 swim, no right shoulder pain, the left pec is a bit sore due to 23 holes of disc golf yesterday.
5x100 free on 2 minutes, 1:45
10x50, 4 biondi butterfly, slow straight arms, 6x25 medium, 25 swim back on 1=1:30
150ez
2650 yaards

Sunday at Ridgway

1000 free
500 kick
6x50 free
4x50 boindi fly drill, with 2 arm recovery, straight arm
100 warm down ez
2100 yards

Okay

The doors to Ridgway did not open till 0930 and several of us were waiting. It seemed to be a regular Saturday workout, with J. Morales leading the way. I went along and did as much as I could to keep in rhythm, and I did.
I warmed up with 300 free

Workout consisted of
5x100 kick on 2:15
4x100 kick/swim on 2:00
3x100 on 1:30

16x25 on 40 sec, reverse IM order, descending
I did easy Biondi drill for butterfly laps and brought both arms through recovery motion for the first time.

the rest of the workout was
5x50 with rest off blocks

I swam down about 300 more yards.
2200 yards with kicks, but not too much to complain about. Perhaps I may have turned the corner, I need to stay easy.

Real Quick

Finley@0700.
Sore this morning. Did some cruise swimming early in the 1000 free swim.
250 swim breaststroke
250 1 arm fly
500 kick with fins on back

2000yards

I am going to Golden Gate Park Disc Golf Course for a tee time at 2PM.

Backing Down

I have lowered the intensity of the swim workouts and I am just going to concentrate on the prescribed physical therapy. I decided take this approach and determine if it makes a difference in my recovery, which is taking longer than I would have expected, although I am impatient and I always try to come back too soon.
I went in to p/t yesterday morning very cranky and sore. I had taken the preceding day off from swimming and I did not do any p/t either. I swam in the morning at Finley, and just about every stroke hurt. I swam 2000 and kicked 500, but there was no quality, except for the end, I did 2x50, 38 and 35. I was real sore, I did not take any NSAID either, and then I used the arm bike for 30 minutes. I went for a long, hot walk at the Stafford Lake disc golf course. I played the first three and the final 4 but it was too hot and I could not find the 4th tee. I was pooped, and I got a bit dehydrated. Whoops.
I recovered well enough and I stuck to the plan of backing down on the intensity of the swimming this morning. I only swam 1200 yards. I felt comfortable for about 1000 yards before the shoulder started barking. I went to p/t again this morning and felt better than yesterday. I am having some severe range of motion problems. There is still quite a bit of tightness and pain and there is now crepitus, or popping sensations. There seem to be looseness. I am concerned. I have been unable to do any butterfly.

7 Days In A Row

IRidgway looked normal today. I has cleared up considerably and I took a head count when I arrived and there were 25 swimmers. I got cleaned up and yakked for a while with Olympian Gail Roper. She is cleaning up the record books for her new age group and had had several articles in Swimming World recently.
I did not keep accurate count this morning , I swam about 2000 yards, and I did a 500 but it was a 7:45. I guess I am tired from 7 days in a row, plus I was at the Y this morning to do shoulder rehab including a 7 minute warm up on the rowing machine.

Shoulder Update

Ridgway was open this morning after being closed for maintenance the last week. I said hi to the masters swimmers, including Warren, Deb and Leslie J. Then I looked at the water. Yech! It is green, and it did not look like any pool that I would enjoy swimming in this morning. I trekked over to Finley and checked in and the water appeared crystal clear, inviting and it is very comfortable. The gutter system at Finley is more efficient and the pool is deeper overall. The lap swim area is deep at both walls. Finley may be a bit warmer but I think ther is only 1-2 degrees difference overall on any given day. The water gets roiling at Ridgway, especially when there are a large group of masters working out. I have actually sen whitecaps during sprinting and butterfly sets. It is like swimming in chop, good for open water training but it can be dangerous when there are 5-6 masters swimmers in each lane. Lane awareness is important and encouraged.
Saturday Finley 1000
1500 free, purposeful swimming, slow cruise
500 free 7:22
250 ez

Friday
1000 free purposeful
250 back ez
250 breast ez
500 free 7:25
250 kick with fins on back
250 breast kick
100 swim ez

Two for One

I had such a bad day on Tuesday. I felt much better Wednesday morning when I went to Finley.
I also went to the physical therapy session after I swam and felt pretty good. Later in the morning I went to ATT Park and saw most of the game from behind the right field fence, the game was a sellout and there were about 200 fans behind the fence. The security cleared us out after the top of the 4th, but then reopened the gate shortly thereafter for the rest of the game. It is always fun back there. Fans seem to be more boisterous and enthusiastic and the view of the field is great, and we can yell at the opposing teams right fielder mercilessly.

Wednesday
2000 yards, ez last 500 slow cruise@8:00
250 ez breast kick
2250 yards

Thursday
2000 yards ez last 500 ez cruise@8:00
2x100 breast ez
50 breast ez
2250 yards

Erik Sterne said...

Is it possible that masters swimming heard about my reasons for allowing compression assisted swim suits for older swimmers so they may feel less pain and be significantly more stable in the lumbar region, thus limiting back issues and so on and so forth? Allowing masters swimmers to use compression assisted swim suits for these health issues would reinforce my thought that these suits can be considered prosthetic devices, therefore having no place in competitive venues, excepting Masters swimming.

Tony Austin said...

I am loving this comment.

I occasionally post a comment on Tony's excellent blog and apparently he liked my comment.

On to swimming today I don't know what happened but I started out as I do, slowly. I started to build a bit because I noticed that both shoulders were pretty good.
500 swim
500 kick on back w/fins

That was it. I could not start swimming again because the left shoulder was bothering me too much.

Reunion Weekend With The Shed Boys

We stayed in the shed during the summer of 1969. There were 7 of us and a path barely passible through the 7 beds. Lake Tahoe. We graduated that summer and went to the lake to get summer jobs and what a summer it was. We were really good friends in high school and we are all so glad that we came together this past weekend. I tried to swim Saturday morning after 27 holes of disc golf, it did not happen. both of my wings hurt, although I did not take one throw with the right arm. Bravo. I played a controlled game, trying to conserve my throwing arm and preserve my dignity, There was no soreness Sunday morning, and we went to the other 18 hole course in Zephyr Cove.

I did manage to swim 2000 yards freestyle this morning.
I kicked about 500 yards on my back with the fins
I drilled TI style for 100 yards for a total of
2600 yards.

I just noticed that I did not log last Friday's workout. I felt good.
1750 yards(70laps)
12x50 free on 60
100 ez
2350 yards

I am apprehensive about going back to full duty on Friday. Am I properly healed enough?
I think I will call the doctor.

TLRC

We were going to go to the JCC this AM but the outdoor pool was broken again, I believe it is a faulty pump this time. We made a quick descision to go to the TLRC pool and it was really nice. The weather is changing today and there was some cloud cover but more importantly I felt pretty normal in the water. I did not have to start as slowly as yesterday, when I was really sore still from the previous days Y session and I went to p/t before I swam too.
Wednesday
1250 swim ez
30x25 on 30 sec, 2 1 minute rests after 10 and 20, last six very sore shoulder area at impingement region.
2000 yards

Thursday
1500 swim ez-near cruise
250 choice
5x50 cruise on 60, 40-36 sec
100ez
2100 yards

Elbowitis

My elbows are screaming. At least it is not the shoulder screaming. I better back off the weights. I am only going to to do p/t tomorrow, besides swimming. I think my elbows hurt so much from the stresses of lifting, although I am not lifting too heavy, I did do some strength moves, like clean/jerk and a couple of snatches. i rowed for a good 10 minutes too.

Swim at Ridgway at noon.
500 choice
500 kick on back with fins, dolphin
500 swim
8x50 free
1900 yards

Sore and Weak

I got back to the swimming pool this morning. I feel pretty good about it. I was only out of the water for 2 weeks, not counting the two days before surgery that I was injured with a muscle strain. That was bogus, I hope the surgery wasn't bogus.. The tricep/bicep is sore and there is still a bit of pinching at the a/c joint. Workout was easy.
500 ez choice
500 kick w/fins on back
10x50 free 1 min/1:30 from 45 to 38 not to straining
150ez
I then went to p/t and worked good, I was a bit sorer that previous sessions.