Oh so much has happened! I found a team, and a great time to swim (mornings), but then I was disallowed to continue swimming due to work commitments, so I had to find other avenues.

Then I found Long Bridge Aquatics and Fitness Center. Holy crap. Beautiful. When set to 25 yards (yes, you heard me), it has 24 lanes. When set to 50 meters (oy!), it’s got 8. Oh, and if you’re one of those diver geeks, it has a diving well with a 10m tower, 5m, 2 x 3m springboards and 2 x 1m springboards. The place is awesome.

Bought a membership today because I turned 55, and that reduces the prices due to me being all old and all. But basically I’m paying $7.02 per visit now. Instead of $10+, so that’s nice.

It’s been weeks and weeks so I only did 3000. Actually I did 55 laps (get it?) and then a 250y cool down. And now I feel like I’d lifted upper body for two hours. Ouch!

I was in a funk. Out of the pool for about two months. Just wasn’t feeling it.

But found a team. More importantly, found a masters team with good workout times: 0630-0730, M-Th. All other possibilities here were either 0500-0600 or 1930-2030. One time slot got in the way of my sleep, while the other, well, got in the way of my sleep. Too early or too late.

But not Lane-4. I can do two swims workdays with them and even do Saturdays (0730-0830). Nice to be back in the pool. And holy crap, two months of no swimming. I hurt so bad!

Just on Saturday, one of the other guys in my lane asked me my 100 time, and I said 1:45-1:50. Sadly, what he really asked was what interval I wanted to swim at. What followed was

100 on 1:45, then 50 easy

Twelve times! So :05 or less of rest each rep. Pain. Arms killed me for the rest of the day. I took two naps instead of my usual one. Sacrifice!

…no blogging.

Sorry ’bout that. I have been swimming. Some open water, too. Been enjoying it. Swam in the North East Kingdom, too!

My first foray into open water this year, and 64F was cold! Pleasure Bay, just to feel the water.

Did two more Pleasure Bay swims, too. To include a swim where I found myself in the middle of a dozen of jellyfish. Turns out, after the fact, they were “simply Lion’s Mane” jellyfish. That was supposed to make me feel better. Told to me by a man in full wetsuit. I didn’t trust him.

End of May I was in DC, and swam the opening night of WaveOne’s summer swim nights. WaveOne, run by marathon swimmer extraordinaire Denis Crean, holds OW swims Tue/Thur nights and Sun mornings in National Harbor, MD. 27 May was the opening night, and I got to swim!

Did 11 laps in the hour-plus, making that roughly 3200 meters. So. Much. Fun.

Went up to Vermont to drop our daughter off at her summer job, and got a swim in at lake Memphramagog. Home to the NEKOWSA Kingdom Swims every year.

Did a couple swim at Revere Beach. No jellies! I’ve missed swimming in open water.

Soon, the crazy-length pool near work, Mirabella, will open, and I’ll be able to swim before work. Can’t wait!

Did a half-mile or so today to get re-acclimatized to cold (and salt) water.

The water near the beach was 64F-ish. Then I started to swim toward the bridge. Oy! Tide was coming in and it was cold. Pool thermometer read 60F, and was heading down.

Been since November the last time I’ve been in open water, and salt water at that. 30 minutes was long enough. Will try again in a week or so. Who knows, maybe the water will be in the mid-60s by then?!

Tried my hand at a dip in the ocean today. Revere Beach was practically empty. The water was also very cold. 50F when I first walked in. Brrr…

I managed to get a bit deeper, waist-high, and the water was 48F. Way too cold. Two years ago I did 31 minutes in 51F at Winthrop. No way I could do that now. My seven months in Africa, and three open water swims there in 80+ water, sure didn’t help me keep my adaptation to cold(er) water!

Did a short little video here.

Apparently you can get faster by going slower. Never knew that.

During my entire time in Africa, I swam pretty much LSD. Every once in a while I’d “push” it a bit, but rarely. Didn’t really do anything fast except when I was doing those timed swims.

Before I deployed, whenever I did USRPT, my 100 repeats would be 1:38 on 2:00 interval. And I could do 12 or so before failing one. Most of my 100s were 1:35-1:36. And I’d fail completely by 18 or so.

Since getting back I’ve been doing USRPT once a week. Same pool as before I left. But now, my repeats are 1:24-1:28. I even did some on 1:50. But mostly on 2:00. But really, I get back to the wall and wonder Who is swimming here?  Cutting 8-11 seconds per 100?

The only answer is consistency. I swam 5-6 times a week in Africa. And here so far I’ve managed 4-5 times a week, and at least 2000 to 2500 yards per 40-min reservation.

I swam 151 miles in Africa, more than most 6-month periods in my life. That has to be the reason my 100 times have gone down. All I know is, I’m happy, and will continue to try and get that 100 down even further.