Teenagers, Pencil Cases & the Law of Unintended Consequences

It's amazing isn't it how your best laid plans can be absolutely kiboshed by such a simple event as a teenager forgetting to pick up her pencil case and nipping back home to collect it.

In the three minutes this seemingly innocent task took to fulfill, of course the school bus arrived and departed without the said teenager amongst it's passengers, thereby setting in train a series of events which meant that today kicked off as an unmitigated disaster. 

The unscheduled trip into Newcastle (during rush hour) took 80 productive minutes out of my day, not to mention the environmental damage and the increase in green house gases, as a result of the unnecessary car journey, and the stress and blood pressure reaching "clinically dead" levels (deja-vu?) as I realised the fate of my lunch time swim was now in the balance. 

What a great start to a Monday, fortunately by lunchtime things had improved somewhat and I managed to sneak away for and hour or so. Swimming up and down can be quite soothing and does give you a chance for some thinking time.

The pool was pretty quiet (5 head up breaststrokers with pretty good lane awareness and an aging backstroker hugging the wall) and I was going so nicely my initial plan to swim 3 x 400's extended to 5. I was repping on about 6:35's - 6.40's so for the first time this year there was a pretty generous rest, a long way away from the slow plod in the "Can I Outsmart an Excel Spreadsheet" post and I was wearing paddles for the first three in that set.

1000 Warm up swam as
3 x   33 free, 33 drill
        33 free, 33 back
        33 free, 33 drill
        33 free. 33 brst
        33 free, 33 drill
5 x 400 @ 7.30 pull breathing every 6 strokes
3 x 66 brst kick @ 10 s RI
200 swim down
3400 m

Sunday Swimming & the Near Death Experience

Dropped in to Consett Masters to get my Sunday swim in and found myself working pretty hard in this session. That's one of the problems when you get a decent rest between repeats there's a temptation to try harder and swim faster.

So there I was hanging on for grim death and just about to push off for my final 100 m repeat when I glanced down at too smart watch and it was showing my pulse rate at 217! Now at my age my maximum heart rate should be somewhere around 165-170 and that sort of level I think I'm probably pretty close to being clinically dead. Here's the print out of my heart rate over the session.

The two red peaks show my heart rate at 217 and 221, too smart watch tells me that the 221 reading is 131% of my maximum heart rate. Should I be worried or is it just a techno glitch. I'll go with the latter, cos I'm still here and feel fine and at the end of the sesh too smart watch told me the effect was "Maximal perf and fitness improving" no mention there of imminent demise then.

Well yesterday when I first posted this I had to add the following apology "Now I'm sure that there must be a more technically proficient way of uploading the graph to this blog, but I couldn't work out how to do it, so I went for the low tech option of taking a picture of the screen and uploading that so I apologise for the poor quality." as you can see from the above I was introduced to a bit of clever software which allows me to capture screen shots..... Whoa Binge Swimmer techno nerd and thanks to EJ for the steer.

400 @ 7.30s warm up
3 x 200 @ 4 mins  (swam 3.10, 3.05 & 3.02)
8 x 100 @ 2 mins
6 x 33.3 @ 60 s kick
6 x 33.3 @ 60s sprint
200 swim down
2400 m

Fully Gadget Compliant? with 445,800 metres left.

Did I mention I'd misplaced the chest strap which compliments my too smart watch; so for the last week I've been swimming without the clever graphs or without the polarpersonaltrainer telling me I'm knackered and I should refrain from hard exercise or racing.

Well courtesy of Amazon, nearly 40 quid and a trip via the post office at some unfeasibly early time on the way training this morning I'm now fully gadget compliant... and once upon a time I thought all you needed was a cossie and goggles..

Training this morning was fairly steady, although the 150's nipped a bit. It included a nice 5 minute break, while the Fairy Snow Baby made "I'm Simon fly me" do a 200 timed swim because he missed the T 30 last week. Not sure that that really stacked up 30 minutes flat out swim versus 2 mins and 28 secs, but hey I for one was grateful for the rest.

600 Warm up 50 swim 50 drill
8 x 25 free sprint @ 35s
8 x 150 pull free @ 2.30 broken 10 secs rest @100*
200 back swim down
8 x 75's kick 50 steady 10 s RI, 25 hard 20 secs RI**
400 IM drill swim down
400 swim down
3400

* These were a bit of a test, I started off swimming comfortably under 90 seconds for the first few 100m but knew I was in trouble when I thought we'd done 6 to be told it was only 5 and I still had 3 to go, I was really hanging on.
**As you may have noticed from my sessions I tend to do the stuff I like doing, and I simply hate kick and I'm awful at it, so these were tortuous...but I probably should do more.

Lunchtime sessions and cold showers.... 449,200 metres left.

Hi there it's still cyclone like outside just about blown off my feet dashing from the car to the pool as I managed to grab a quick 50 minute (well ok 48 minutes) swim at lunchtime. Determined to complete this challenge I decided you just have to forget about all the things you should be doing and give your swimming a bit of priority, no pressure there then.

Fairly short session as "Billy no mates". I did however learn that it is advisable to check the temperature of the shower before you put shampoo/shower gel on your head...Brrrrr

1000 Warm Up as 66 free, 33 ba, 66 free, 33  br x 5
5 x 66 @ 75 pull, catch up
5 x 66 @ 75 pul breathing 8 strokes up the pool, 6 strokes down
5 x 66 @ 75 pull
200 brst kick
200 swim down
2400 m

The great thing about swimming at lunch time is that I can conk out on the sofa and fall asleep watching the telly.... what an exciting way to spend Friday night, don't you just love being a grown up!

Going commando! and a smidgeon off 50,000 metres down.

I emerged from work thinking that Cyclone Yasi had veered off course. It was totally wild. On arriving late for training I came in for a bit of stick from Bart the Shark and Awesome Emma for not making Tuesday's session which apparently resulted in Emma going to A & E with an acute asthma attack, you see she hasn't been properly right since those 16 x 25's fly.

The new Gateshead Pools have adopted the changing village concept, so on getting out of the pool and heading for the changing rooms,  I scooped up my clothes and started to dress in a nearby cubicle, only to discover my knickers were missing.... deciding that rather than mess around and drape myself in a towel to check the locker looking for them, I'd simply "go commando". I packed up my gear and stepped out of the cubicle to be confronted by my black Marks and Spencer's undies lying in a puddle in the aisle....for all the world to see.

Anyway this was a bit of a mish mash of a session half invented by the Fairy Snow Baby and half by the club A squad coach who was taking the kids squad in the other half of the pool. Not sure I'm even close to being able to swim fast yet and the 100's were pretty poor.

250 Warm up
8 x 150's @ 2.45 100 free 50 IM order
8 x 50 @ 70s brst drill
2 x 5 x 100 @ 2 mins swum as
   1 x 100 15m max 85 m easy
   1 x 100 25m max 75 easy
   1 x 100 25 max 25 easy repeat
   1 x 100 50 max 50 easy
   1 x 100 flat out aaargh!
550 pull swim down
3200 total.

Blag a session to blog a session....and only 454,800 metres left.

A lunchtime meeting to discuss cash flow for god's sake, now I know this is pretty vital to our business survival but it certainly put paid to my planned lunch time swim. Never mind I thought, I have a cunning plan which involved a very late lunch and dropping by the pool between 4 and 5 on my way to a meeting. But nope sorry pool closed to the public at 4pm for swimming lessons. So no swim, but I was given a pool timetable.

With panic setting in and the thought of an endless pool session looming, I decided that I'd try and blag my way into the session with Consett Masters. Cookie the coach was as accomodating as ever and waved me in. The kid's squad who swim alongside the masters was fairly lightly attended so he also took our lanes....and set this rather nasty little programme.

I was swimming behind Queenie Reed, another swimmer of my generation and actually sister in law of El Tel (North East swimming can be a bit incestuous)) she was doing a great job, with a nice aerobic pace in the 200's  and I was trying to hang onto her feet.

I started off pretty promisingly but as fatigue set in I crashed and burned quite badly. I led off the 3rd set of 200's and promptly miscounted, I'm not sure if I was more upset by the fact that I still had another 100 metres to complete with no rest and then into the 100's or that I'd just sprinted a 100 and would never make the turn around time when I completed the 200.

266 Free warm up
3 x 200 free @ 3.30 steady short rest*
4 x 100 free @ 1.45 hard
3 x 200 free @ 3.30 as above
3 x 100 free @ 2.00 hard
3 x 200 free @ 3.30 as above
2 x 100 free @ 2.15 hard
3 x 200 free @ 3.30 as above**
1 x 100 free very hard
266 pull, 133 drill, 133 brst kick
4200 total
* which became even shorter and shorter rest
** and this wasn't as above either as it ended up a virtual continuous swim.

How to have your cake and eat it (or Leek and Chervil soup, followed by Roast Shoulder of Lamb, Fruit and Nut Cous Cous and Lemon Salsa)

There was never going to be any serious contest was there, Tuesday night training session lining up against a Collaborative POD meeting followed by a supper at one of Durham's finest eateries Bistro 21; which describes itself on its website thus "rustic chic style, whitewashed walls, pitched pine floors Bistro 21 has classic simplicity; Classically executed bistro style dishes are served in" yada yada yada.....enough of the commercial, you get the picture.. needless to say given my newfound commitment to the pursuit of aquatic goals; the night out won.

Spurning the delightful company of the Fairy Snow Baby, Synchro Dad, Park Ranger, Bart the Shark et al I opted for the more refined and chlorine free environment of Terry Laybourne's eating establishment, and thus immediately faced the first dilemma of the month, but what about the February Fitness Challenge?  Was I going to fail at the first hurdle, never get out of the starting blocks, be DQ'd for a technical infringement in marshalling?

No......problem solved with a lunchtime dip in Consett public pool, I felt a little guilty sneaking out of the office but it was a gorgeous day, the pool was quiet and the bright sunlight streaming through the windows more than made up for the fact that the pool is 33 metres long and feels really slow.

I was quite impressed I was able to swim on my own for over an hour, usually I run out of patience and motivation around the 40 minute mark but I lasted just over 65 mins with the following rather unimaginative programme. I did though feel that I had earned my dinner which was well worth the wait.

1200 Warm up swum as
200 free, 166 alt br/back, 200 free 166 alt br/back. 200 free 166 alt br/back 200 free.
6 x 100 @ 1.55 pull
6 x 100 @ 1.50 pull
6 x 100 @ 1.45 pull*
166 brst kick
233 free drill
3400 metres total

* I was quite relieved that there were only 6 of these 100's as I was seriously running out of rest on the last couple.