Blue Line Saga

I have been swimming, either in a pool or in a lake just messing around, pretty much my whole life.  I grew up going up north to Bemidji, MN every summer for a week, staying in a cabin on a lake and pretty much growing gills that week I was in the water so much.  I like swimming, being on the water either in my kayak or in a boat or just being around water playing with Asher. 

I also swam in high school competitively.  And boy was that an experience.  In high school swimming starts before school actually starts, in early August.  I remember I was a REALLY raw freshman showing up for what I thought was going to be a total cake walk and I was just there because my friends wanted to do it.  Little did I know that I was going to have to work my butt off.  I show up in my Alonzo Mourning Charlotte Hornets jersey, baggy shorts, all thinking I'm tough and I got my butt handed to me.  When the coach (who was also in the Army reserves and a substitute teacher....in his spare time) told us we had practices twice a day I thought that meant we could pick which one we wanted to go to.  Wow, I thought, that's really nice of him to be so accommodating to a teenagers need to sleep in in the morning.  Well after I missed the first night practice to go to a Brewer's game with my family and got yelled at by the coach I realized those two a day practices were mandatory and the coach wasn't nearly as accommodating as I once though, especially after I tried to quit and he wouldn't let me until I "gave it a fair chance".  Well, needless to say, I stuck it out for 4 years and wound up really liking it.  Not always day-to-day liking it but it has allowed me to do things in my adult life that made my time in the pool, following that blue line, all worthwhile. 

So now that I am in triathlons my lifetime of swimming has really come in handy.  My coach in high school was really tough and made us work really hard but it made us better swimmers.  I use that same logic in my coaching and training, even though the kids all complain when I am the coach because they know they are going to work and work hard.  I never give them anything I can't do, and I tell them that, but that doesn't seem to ease the pain in the arms at the end of the night.   

I am a person that has to consistently be challenged, especially mentally, so following that blue line 2 hours a week, every week, gets a little taxing on the brain and I dread it some days.  I have a great swimming partner which keeps me coming back for more but it still wears on you, especially in the winter when it's dark and cold and snowy.  Well the last couple weeks I feel like I'm getting my excitement back about swimming, getting my groove back.  My shoulder is feeling pretty good again (I fell nasty on the ice running outside before Christmas and it's taken a long time for my shoulder to feel good in the pool again) and I am enjoying swimming a little more again.  We did a couple good sets this week.  I'll try and post when we do some good sets in case you need some ideas for the pool.  A couple notes first, I like long warm ups, gets me moving and ready to go and I like to pull using the pull buoy.  Wearing a wetsuit you don't have to kick much and my mind can't seem to kick and move my arms at the same time so I don't kick much naturally.  So because of this we are trying to incorporate more kicking into our sets, hoping that it gets me to kick more in a race, at least to keep the blood flowing to my legs if for no other purpose.

Monday:
Warm Up: 1200 S, 600 P
Main Set:
2 x
(200 P,
2 x 100 IM, Free,
4 x 50 IM Order Swim down, kick back)
Cool Down: 200 S
Total Yards: 3200

Thursday:
Warm Up: 1200 S, 600 P
Main Set:
4 x 300 P with every 4th length kick on back IM order
Cool Down: 200 S

Nothing real complicated but I'm learning to make my time count in the pool.  I need this advantage to come out of the water near the front so that people don't catch me on the bike and run.  Plus if I'm going to be there following that blue line, why do it half @ssed.  This I wish I would have learned in high school.  I would have been a better athlete and person if I had. 

The blue line saga will continue next week, Monday morning 5am sharp, so get your mind right and get your game on!!