Not the Same Old Routine

Head under water and you tell me to breathe easy for a while

Breathing gets harder - even I know that! "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles

Seemed appropos for describing our new session of Stroke Improvement class. Coach Aaron whipped up a whole new routine for us, and I got to experience it last Thursday night for the first time. I missed the grand unveiling because I was in Phoenix on business the week before. Gil was there for the first class, though, and a new person - Carol. Gil said it was tough - which speaks volumes because he is a good athlete and because he is not one to complain. Carol? Well, she wasn't there. Maybe she had a conflict in her schedule. Coach speculated that maybe his new workout had scared her off - he almost seemed pleased by that thought!

We had a pretty full class: Jess and Christina, Kelly, Mike, Gil and me. Steve had a conflict so he wasn't there.

Dodie wasn't there - she had had surgery on her foot and her lip last week so she couldn't go in the water. Dr. only charged her half price - since she has her foot in her mouth so often, he did them both at once. (rim shot) She swears that the problem with her lip was not due to an overuse injury (rim shot) (Oh, boy, am I going to get it!)

First we warmed up - the good athletes get to do 10 wall push ups at each end of the pool. I just have to do the laps. After warm up, Coach gave us different sets - 100 free at 70%, then a 25 yard sprint, then 100 yards back at 70%, then a 25 yard sprint, then 100 yards kick only (kickboard) then a 25 yard sprint. Then we did different 100 yard sets with 50 yard kickboard drills in between. Coach figures we have been at this a while now, so he is making it tougher by letting us "rest" while we are still working. Making us shorter of breath while we are in the water, and thus the Sara Bareilles quote at the opening of this entry.

We also do treading water drills, alternate 20 seconds just feet, both arms out of the water, then 20 sec just arms - like a big buzzard flapping his wings (builds the shoulders) - we do this for 4 minutes. Aaron put these in the middle of class, as another "rest". I like the arm only drills - one of the only times when have a higher BMI - more fat, less muscle, meaning I am less dense than the athletes in the group - is advantageous to me.

And we do more brick drills - swimming on our backs, using just our feet, carrying a10 # brick on ours chests (mine fits under my jaw ;and then another brick drill: getting in a circle in the water, staying up with just the feet, and passing the brick around, with our arms way out of the water, taking the brick in our left hand, transferring it to the right (arms overhead during the whole process) and then passing it to our neighbor - completing 4 complete times around the circle. Wonder if he will put two bricks in the circle at the same time next week?

At the end we do "melt downs" - 50 yard sprints, with short rest between. I try to start (with the zoomers) at 45 seconds, with 45 seconds rest, and then get faster. Sometime we do 3, sometimes we do 5. My fastest with zoomers is 38 seconds. My friend Kelly does them consistently in 35 seconds - no zoomers.

It was a good work out, and even though I was tired at the end, I am preparing for another indoor tri in two weeks, and I know this will help. It was also really good to see my friends again and to catch up a little with what they have been doing. I missed seeing Dodie and Steve, though. And it was good to see Coach again, too - I think! (Aaron the Agonizer?)