Found a team!

Swam with a team last night for the first time in a long time (2014?). The team is Reading Masters, hosted by the Burbank YMCA in Reading, Mass.

I’ve been here since July and my dear reader(s) are probably wondering: Why did it take you so long to join a team, Iron Mike? Well, this is Massachusetts. Apparently here masters swimmers can only meet and swim together at 5 am. And I’m not a morning person. I looked around before and after I moved here for a team, and found several, but all of them meet mornings, at either 5 or 6 am. Just too damn early for me. I simply couldn’t find a team that meets nights. Until now.

No idea how I missed Reading Masters. They swim Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:15-9:30 pm. Sure, that’s late. But that’s okay for me. My boss is great: As long as I do my hours, she doesn’t really care when I show up. So last night being the first time I’ve swum with Reading, I came in this morning an hour later than usual. No biggie.

Anyway, besides the weeknight swims, Reading Masters also swims Saturday mornings, 7:00 to 8:30. Wunderbar! That’s four hours of swimming per week with someone else deciding what we’ll do. I can just sit back and do what I’m told.

And with that, last night…holy crap. It’s been a while. The main set was 4 x {4 x 75} on 1:15, 1:10, 1:05, 1:00. So yeah, I kept up through the first set and got 4 or 5 seconds rest. But then after the first 75 of the second set, uh, no. Thankfully, the guy I was sharing a lane with had no problem splitting the lane instead of trying to continue circle swimming. I tried to keep up as best I could; I skipped 50 of one of the 75s just so I wouldn’t be so far behind.

The final was 16 x 25 in IM order on :45, which after the first “IM” turned into :40, then :35 after the second IM. Damn fast. This was followed by 16 x 25 free on :30. More doable. But jeez, what a (great) workout! 3400 total in the end, after the warm-up, pre-set, and cool down.

So nice being back!

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