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Wasting time apologizing for the infrequency with which I update this blog is SO last-month. I’ve crossed three significant milestones with my swimming in the last few weeks, and I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to post something about it, but have simply not had the time. But this is a three-day weekend for me, and that extra 24 hours makes a world of difference! It’s time to catch up.

1) Back in July, I posted about the USMS Go the Distance program. A few weeks ago, I passed my first milestone—50 miles. My goal is to get to 100 by the end of the year, and what’s particularly exciting about this halfway point is that I reached it exactly when I predicted I would (mid-September), so I’m exactly on track to reach 100. I’ve kept to my 15 miles/month goal pretty darn well, and that feels awesome.

2) Swimsuits do not last forever, particularly when they’re used regularly. My Speedo reached a point where it simply could not be worn anymore—it had lost all its elasticity, so it was dragging in the water and sliding all over the place. I bought a snazzy new one online in a size smaller than I had been wearing. I was a little afraid that the smaller size wouldn’t fit, and I couldn’t bear to be without a suit for another week, so to be on the safe side, I also ordered the bigger size. But the smaller one fit! So I returned the bigger one, and am very happy to be swimming in something that is snug and doesn’t drag. It’s amazing what a difference it makes.

3) I’m down to a 40-minute mile. When I started all this swimming-madness, it was my goal to get to a 45-minute mile, which didn’t take too terribly long. I’ve been doing pretty much the exact same workout every time I go (though sometimes on weekends, I’ll swim an extra 400 meters, just because I can), and slowly but surely, I’ve shaved 5 minutes off my time. Maybe when I get to 35, I’ll switch up my routine, but for now, my plan is to keep doing what I’m doing!

I’ve had my new swimming toys for over a week now, and I’d review all of them most-favorably. The long hair swim cap never slides back on my head, the Vanquisher goggles do not fog or leak (though they leave some really crazy-looking rings around my eyes), and the kickboard has enhanced my workout exactly like I wanted it to. These few small purchases have made a pretty big difference in my workouts—less reason to stop, more variety to keep me going. Yay!

I also, on a whim, signed up to be a member of US Masters Swimming. It’s an organization for adult swimmers, and while many members swim with local clubs (as in, they practice with coaches and compete in meets and stuff) there are also benefits to being an unattached non-competer like myself. Their website has a great forum where swimmers can share recommendations on workouts, pools, and equipment, and there are competitions and challenges that you can participate in even if you’re not with a club.

For example… they have a year-long challenge called Go the Distance, which I have signed up for. You use their online fitness log to keep track of how much you swim from day to day, and you get awards for major milestones. They have awards at both 50 and 100 miles, and it’s now my goal to get both of those by the end of the year. At the rate I’m currently going (15 miles a month), I should have no problem. It kind of works on an honor system (there’s nothing to stop me from lying about my progress) and the awards are nothing fancy (certificates, suitable for framing), but hey! It’s a motivator! They’ll list my name on their website when I succeed! That’s enough for me.

I am loving the swimming. Every other day, I’ve been getting up between 5:30 and 6:00 and heading directly to the gym (though on weekends, I do let myself sleep in a little). Sometimes on the drive there I feel groggy or achy and think to myself, “This is gonna suck,” but every time, as soon as I push off from the wall for the first time, I suddenly feel awesome. I take the first 100m really slow and make long, stretchy strokes that warm up my muscles and feel soooo good.

My routine, in case you’re curious, is to swim my mile (1650m) in 400m chunks. I swim 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, another 100m freestyle, then 100m backstroke.* Then I pause for one minute to drink some water, adjust my cap, and de-fog my goggles. After I do this 4 times, I swim a 50m “victory lap,” then I am done! I try to consciously alternate between focusing on speed and focusing on form, but I confess that sometimes I get lost in the music and realize that 200m have gone by and I haven’t focused on anything other than Gogol Bordello.

Within the next day or so, I should receive a package from SwimOutlet.com, which contains a kickboard, fancy anti-fog goggles, and a swim cap designed for people with lots of hair. I’m excited about all three! The cap and goggles will hopefully save me from all the adjusting and de-fogging I have to do every time I swim. And I am thinking I need the kickboard because I don’t feel like I am working my lower body enough. My arms, shoulders, and abs are surely feeling the burn of all these workouts, but I have yet to experience butt or thigh soreness.

I keep reminiscing about my childhood swimming days. For example… one day, during practice when I was about 9, Coach Scott (the “big kids” coach), pulled me out of practicing with the other kids and spent a half-hour working with me in my own lane. He took the time to show me what I was doing wrong with my freestyle strokes—the above-water stroke should be low and wide and the below-water stroke should be an s-shaped push through the water. I’d kinda just been flailing my arms in circles. That half-hour he spent with me did more to improve my swimming than countless hours of unguided practicing.

I also keep thinking of Coach Brian (one of the “little kids” coaches). He had this enormous booming voice, and when I would swim breaststroke in competition, I’d hear him booming “go” over and over, one “go” for each time my head popped out of the water. I was never an awesome swimmer, but he was always so encouraging, and I still hear him in my head.

The only downside of the whole swimming arrangement is that regularly getting up before 6:00 am is making me a pretty lame person to be around in the late evenings. I should make myself go to bed at 10:00 pm, but I’m having a hard time doing that. Instead, like a child, I whine, “no, I’m not tired, I can watch the Daily Show,” then I promptly fall asleep on the couch.

*When I described this routine to my mom, she pointed out the conspicuous absence of the butterfly. Yes, that is true, I’m holding off on it for now, because it is hard and I have always sucked at it. Maybe someday I’ll feel up to the challenge?

Today was my first visit to the gym*, and it went as smoothly as I could’ve imagined. Our alarm clock went off at 6:00 and I was poolside by 6:20. Steve and I both went, but he didn’t join me in the pool—he elected to use the weight and cardio machines that I am still afraid of. I had hoped to swim a mile (1650 meters), but I ran out of time, and was only able to swim 1400 meters. But I guess that gives me something to aspire to! A quick check of Wikipedia shows that the fastest time for a US Women’s 1650 is 15:24. It seems reasonable for me to aspire to pull it off in thrice that.

Some observations about my gym experience:

- Before 7:00 am, the place is pretty empty. I was alone in the pool for the first half of my swim, and there was only one other person taking a shower at the same time as me. I had worried it would be crowded—I guess I didn’t need to. Let’s hope it stays this way!
- They use saline in the pool instead of chlorine. I remember thinking that it might be weird somehow, like it would smell salty or I’d be extra buoyant. But it was no different. I was swimming for 20 minutes before I even remembered that it was saline. My hair seems to appreciate it, though.
- There are TV’s everywhere. The TV’s in the locker room were playing reruns of Saved by the Bell on TBS. Not what I was expecting to see at 7:00 in the morning, but I was entertained.

We were back home from the gym in time for me to do my hair and makeup, eat breakfast AND drink coffee, and make it to the bus by 8:15. I can feel a little soreness coming on, and it just makes me so excited, and so proud of us!

* You should know that, when Steve and I refer to our gym, we pronounce it with a hard G, like Homer did in the episode of the Simpsons when he started attending an all night gym.

Our pool opened on Saturday, and it was so nice to finally go swimming! Since it was my first time in a while, I only swam 2/3 of a mile, and it took me about 40 minutes. I had to stop a lot, though, to adjust my nifty new waterproof headphones. They worked really well, once I got the ear buds adjusted right, which did take a fair amount of fiddling. I think I need to break down and buy a swim cap. In all my years of youth swimming, I was never a swim-cap-wearer, because I thought they felt weird on my head and I just refused to use them. But I think a lot of the trouble I was having with the headphones was that my hair was knocking them out. So, I need to bite the bullet and buy one, and deal with it.

And… our gym opens Monday! We went after work today and took a tour and it is FAN-CY! I knew it would be, but it was still so cool to finally see it. I gotta figure out how I’m going to work this, schedule-wise. It’s only a few blocks from our house, so in theory, I could do the following a few times a week:

6:00 – get up, put on suit, head to gym
6:15 – swim, swim, swim
7:00 – exit pool, quick shower, head home
7:30 – get dressed, do makeup, and eat breakfast
8:15 – catch bus to work

But it’s a little tight! Who knows how well I’ll do actually sticking to such a plan. I’m fearful that if I oversleep by 15 minutes, I’ll say, “oh well, I guess I have to skip the gym.” I’ll need to be diligent about packing my gym bag the night before, and I’ll need to make sure I keep grab-and-go breakfast options around.

It’ll be much easier, obviously, on the weekends, affording me time to try out other types of exercise (and the jacuzzi)! I guess I could try out the occasional evening workout, but I have this feeling that morning workouts are going to work best for me. I guess I’ll find out soon enough!

I wasn’t surprised to see a loss this week—I had a little of a stomach virus (or such) on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, which meant I ate way below my points requirement for those days, and what I did eat was of the soup and white rice variety. Fortunately, I’m feeling better—it was one of those 24 hour things, I guess. This week’s loss means I have reached the fateful 20-pound mark, which means I get another pink star on my Weight Watchers weight tracker. Yay!

In other awesome news… our pool opens today! The timing couldn’t be better. While I’ve been enjoying my alternating Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels workout DVD’s, I’ve been getting a little bored with them, and have been eager for a chance to do something different. Plus it’ll give me a chance to try out my waterproof headphones! Steve and I are still a little miffed that our gym is not yet open. When we signed up, they said it would be open by the end of April. Jerks.

So, my new gym still hasn’t opened. They’re saying sometime within the next six weeks. In the meantime, I’m still yoga-ing away with Bob Harper 3-4 times a week. (I’ve promoted myself to level 2, yoga/pilates/abs, which I am really loving. My core has never felt so strengthened!)

Yesterday, I ordered some new fitness-toys. The folks on the WW message boards can’t stop raving about Jillian’s 30 Day Shred, so I picked that one up. Also, the good people at Apple have released a new iPod shuffle. Steve and I went to the Apple Store on Friday and I played with it a little, and it’s weird. I don’t care for the tiny little clicky-bar on the headphones. So, that one is not for me, but it’s arrival means that the 2nd generation shuffle is available online at rock-bottom prices, so I ordered one of those. I have the 80GB iPod Classic, but I like the idea of having a second tiny, lightweight workout iPod. I’m now working on crafting my workout playlist, and I welcome suggestions!

But the third thing I ordered is really the piece de resistance. It’s H2O Audio’s Interval Waterproof Headphone System. It’s a set of waterproof headphones and a tiny little waterproof case that you pop your 2nd generation shuffle into. The case clips onto the back of your goggles, allowing you to listen to music while swimming laps. What a wonderful world we live in. I spent countless hours of my youth swimming for CRAA, and how freaking awesome would it have been to be listening to music that whole time? Oh I am so psyched about this. Now my gym just needs to open, so I can get my ass over there and try out my new toy!