I went into the Crunch gym in Stratford last weekend, and the guys at the front desk kind of gave me a hard time. "Hey, we haven't seen you in here this year."
I finally got back into the weight room on Sunday, January 8th. I kept it simple, but at least I went. I then had class Tuesday night, and we shot the AFF podcast Wednesday, but with Sally's encouragement I went back to the gym Thursday, doing a slightly longer back/biceps workout. I did a long set of pull-downs, some bent-over rows, and a few sets to work my core and lower back.
Saturday's swimming workout, however, was hard. The toughest thing about swimming after lifting is managing the recovery. When I'm lifting a lot, I often feel dead in the water. It makes it tough to put in quality work. That was the case on Saturday.
Saturday's Swim
5 x 200 easy warm-up @ 3:15
200 kick (fly / breast / free / fly by 50s)
10 x 50 @ :50 breathing every third
2 x Set (1 x swim, 1 x pull):
300 swim @ 4:30 aerobic pace
3 x 100 @ 1:30 tempo
1:00 rest
200 kick
100 easy
8 x 50 @ :45
-- 3 x easy
-- every 4th 50 fly (tempo)
100 easy
Total: 3500 yards
I lived. That’s about the best I could say for myself.
There was this age-group swimmer in the water, and she was kind of staring at me as I was struggling through that last butterfly set. And I really, really wanted to stop and explain myself. “I’m not a pathetic old man. I’m really good at this; I’m just tired right now. Especially my rear deltoids.”
No excuse, right? Sigh.
By the time Sunday rolled around, the pace of my week finally crashed in on me. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the crap that I had to do this week, not the least of which was maintaining a balance between my swimming and weight-lifting. I realize this may sound silly, but we’re supposed to swim an open-water 5K down in Houston in May, and that is, like, right around the corner in swimming terms. I am not ready. So I’ve got to get on-point, but there are a million other little demands on my time. As I’ve told several people this week, “I feel like I can’t schedule ten minutes on a Sunday without six months advance notice.” I know where literally every minute of every day is going.
My initial plan was to swim and then lift on Sunday and take Monday as a Rest Day, but I forgot to put my swimsuits in my bag, and although I hardly believe in Divine Intervention, I decided that this was a sign from God. I packed my stuff back up, drove from the YMCA over to Crunch and lifted--hard. In fact, I actually felt good in the weight room.
Sunday’s Gym Workout
Yoga/Stretching:
-- Arm/neck/trunk circles
-- 3 x Sunrise Salute
-- 15 minutes generally stretching, emphasis on core and legs
-- 3 x (10 push-ups / 10 bodyweight squats)
3 times through each group:
-- Dumbbell military press (10 / 8 / 12)
-- Forward lunges (3 x 12)
-- Bicycles (3 x 15)
-- Bench press (10 / 8 / 10)
-- Side crunches (15 each side)
-- Rear lunges (8 each side)
-- Front rows (10 / 8 / 12)
-- Tricep press-downs (10 / 8 / 12)
-- Supine leg raises (3 x 12)
-- Tricep press ups from bench (3 x 12)
-- Elevated sits ups (3 x 15 on the bench)
I spent about 20 minutes doing yoga and stretching, and at some point I managed to get my head together a little. I mean, I didn’t feel great, but I got going, and once I was moving, I leaned into it and made it happen. Little victories.
But this meant that I had to swim Monday (yesterday), and I was a little apprehensive. I felt like hammered shit just this past Saturday, and with an extra day in the gym and no rest day… This kind of thing was would not have been a problem at age 22, but at nearly 46, it’s just not that easy anymore.
But this meant that I had to swim Monday (yesterday), and I was a little apprehensive. I felt like hammered shit just this past Saturday, and with an extra day in the gym and no rest day… This kind of thing was would not have been a problem at age 22, but at nearly 46, it’s just not that easy anymore.
I decided to keep it short and just hope for the best.
Monday Swim
5 x 100 easy warm-up @ 1:30
200 kick
10 x 50 pull @ :45, breathing every 3rd / 5th / 7th
100 easy
12 x 100 tempo @ 1:25
100 easy cool down
Total: 2500 yards
When I got to the YMCA, I found one of the local high school teams in the water. They were not great, alas. And I get that the great State of Connecticut is not a hub of swimming powerhouse teams, but it’s always weird to me to watch these kids basically splashing around almost aimlessly for two hours.
Anyway, they were also taking up nearly all the lanes. I did my warm up, but then swimming lessons started, and they pushed me, a kid floating on his back with a kickboard, and an older woman all into a single lane at one end of the pool. I got there first, stretched for a minute or two, and did my easy mid-workout 100. The older woman gave me a hard look that clearly said, “I want this lane,” and asked, “Are you actually swimming?”
“Well,” I replied, “Right now I’m actually stretching, but yes, I’m still in the middle of my workout.” In fact, my workout hadn’t really started. I’d only just warmed up.
“Okay,” she said, pointing to the kid floating aimlessly with the kickboard, “but we’ll need to circle swim.”
“No problem.”
And I took off. My first 100 was just over 1:10, which was pretty good. But the woman got mad--I’m not sure what she’d been expecting--and not only threw the kid with the kickboard out of the lane, she then started yelling at me about circle-swimming.
I missed my interval, but I knew that I couldn’t just blow this woman off completely. “You said circle swim. I was circle swimming.”
Full shriek: “That was when that kid was in the lane with us! Somebody could get hurt!!!”
“Okay. No problem. Nobody is going to get hurt.”
“I could get hurt!”
“Nobody is going to get hurt. I promise you.”
“I could get hurt! You’re a very powerful swimmer!”
“Nobody is going to get hurt. But okay. I’ll stay on my side.”
By now, the clock was coming up on the next full minute. That was as much time and attention as I was willing to give this particular flight of fancy, so I took off again. Wonder of wonders, though, that woman had really pissed me off. With that, I managed to keep the next ten reps all right at or under 1:15 per 100. I kind of fell apart on the last one, but it was an outstanding effort overall. Much better than I’d expected, especially coming off a hard trip to the weight room.
So I guess the moral of this story is that nice guys really do finish last. You’re better off letting people piss you off and then using that to fuel your workouts. Granted, I’m tired today, but still… I’ll take it.
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