tyler's take

Todd wasted no time getting back on the training wagon after returning home from zones. The very next day (Monday) he took advantage of his family still being away on vacation and did what any suddenly single guy would do: he joined me for a wild night at the grove gym.

That’s right, he opted out on cougar night (which is Thursday night anyway (or so I’ve heard)) and went for the straight up exercise triple header. And that worked fine for me since I was (informally) planning to make it to the gym every day of the week on my first time off of taper in over a month.

By carefully reading the group fitness class schedule I discovered that there was a (seemingly new) FIT class on monday at 5:30 pm followed by an hour of downtime before the 7:30 Yoga/Pilates Fusion class that I had attended many times previously. We had both skipped morning workout at Garrison (having had plenty of wet over the weekend), but it’s hard to get away from what you know, so the middle hour seemed like a perfect time to stretch it out in a nice evening swim. Now most ordinary people would likely balk at such an evening plan, but for a dedicated world record holder like Todd (who was also a steady, if not almost obnoxiously frequent reader of my antics) it was an easy sell.

Todd rolled up around 5:25 and that left just enough time to get him signed in as my guest, dump our bags in the locker room, and make our way up to studio 1, which was pretty packed. I found two open spaces near the instructor’s stage (most people do seem to prefer the periphery) and had Todd hang out there while I rounded up equipment (funny how it always seems to be in the other room, but maybe that little bit of extra exercise is a bonus of arriving last). I think Todd had a somewhat curious look on his face when I dropped off the balance balls and the BOSUs (“hmm, fun!” that must have been what he was thinking). I also picked up hand weights (only light 10 pounders), long stretchy bands, figure-eight bands, and heavy body bars.

Upon completing my double hunt-and-gather mission I looked up and appreciated for the first time that the instructor was someone totally new to me. It’s fairly impressive how much a class workout can vary by instructor, so I was interested to see how familiar or different this class would be. Turns out it the answer was, “fairly.”

I won’t go into all the sweaty details, but I think it’s safe to say that Todd rather enjoyed the class. He liked the squat press with stretchy bands (at one point he said his heart rate monitor was over 150), the presses and crunches on the BOSU, and he especially enjoyed the part where we were lying on our backs with our straight legs at 90 degrees in the air and figure-eight bands on our feet, trying to separate our feet as much as possible, hold them apart, pulse there, then hold them apart some more. Hip or leg abduction might be a more compact term, and I was certainly feeling it in my gluteus medius (or there abouts in the outer booty). Now I suppose it could have been a workout induced haze (Todd can either correct me or back me up on this), but it seemed like the instructor kept insisting that we should be feeling this exercise in our inner thighs; I found that claim to be quite perplexing. Maybe she was feeling it there, though I’m not sure how (perhaps female anatomy is a lot more different than I realized). This last exercise was by far the most agonizing for me, and based on the effortful sounds coming from Todd’s direction I imagine that it was challenging for him too. I have to say, I think we were both also laughing a bit at this point (because that’s so much more manly that crying). There must be something slightly humorous in self-induced shared suffering.

After FIT we put away the equipment and made our way down to the pool, only to discover that some ominous looking storm clouds had foiled our plans for a nice evening swim (apparently someone saw lightning six counties over). Fortunately the indoor pool was still open, but with one person in each of the four-foot-wide lanes it seemed pretty crowded. After a few minutes of standing around Todd unintentionally intimidated one of the dunked denizens into departing by politely asking if he would be willing to split the lane or circle. The fellow responded that he was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to do either in such a skinny lane and seemed satisfied to just get out. So, Todd and I split the lane, and in about 30 minutes managed to get in about 2k.

Following the swim we were back up in studio 2 in time for the stretchy yoga class. This class was nearly as full as the first one, but this time there were not two adjacent spaces and Todd (perhaps intentionally) set himself up way over against the wall. With the class actually a mixture of yoga and pilates (a fusion I guess) there was a fair bit of stretching, but also a fair bit of exercise. With both yoga and pilates to pull from there are a lot of different things for the instructor to choose in one hour, so the class varies quite a bit.

I’m not entirely sure what Todd’s take was on the whole thing, but he did get to try one of the pilates exercises that often makes me laugh: open leg rocker. Here you’re sitting up on your “sits bones” with your straight legs and back all elevated so that your body makes kind of a V shape. Then while holding onto your legs you roll backwards onto your shoulders, hang out there for a moment, and then roll back up into the V-shaped seated position, ideally without falling forward or letting your legs collapse. Then you do that several times. As you rock back and forth your straight legs are slightly spread, or open, hence the name. The funny part comes when the instructor says, “those of you who are able can take two fingers and wrap them around each of your big toes and keep going.” I can appreciate how doing this would make the exercise easier to control, assuming that you could actually wrap your fingers around your toes while keeping your legs straight. For me it’s the seeming absurdity of this notion that often makes me laugh, and watching Todd try it was no exception. With Todd in the room I think there finally might have been someone even more “hamstring challenged” than I.

After that class we were all done at the gym and I was hungry. Someone had the good idea to get some dinner so we left the gym and regrouped over at Pei-Wei. I had spicy thai noodles and a Kirin, and Todd had something like dan dan noodles and a bud. I can’t say for sure if it was exercise-induced sensory enhancement or just a particularly skilled cook, but that food tasted really good.

Epilogue:
While it’s certainly helpful to train with someone of similar ability (who can push, pull or prod you through a moment of mediocrity, and for whom you can do the same), simply having someone familiar or friendly nearby can often be just as motivational. Staying healthy and fit is important for our bodies and minds, but it’s not so easy a task in our modern world of conveniences; finding effective and lasting ways to get it done can often be a challenge.

I have to brag on Todd a little right now. Only a few years back he used to carry around the equivalent of a 45 pound plate with him everywhere he went. Anyone who’s ever hefted one of those things might have an idea about what that would be like. At some point Todd decided that he wanted to make a change, so he found something that worked for him and he stuck with it. Very few people have the luxury to exercise for three hours every night, and Todd is no exception (I certainly have no expectation of him being my frequent dryland training partner). Work and family obligations typically come first (and rightly so), but that doesn’t mean that there’s zero room for anything else. Three days after our monday night three-hour workout Todd had a gotten a BOSU for his house and was home in the evening showing his kids all the things he had learned how to do with it. Sometimes all it takes to light a fire is one tiny spark.

One of the best features of my fitness club (I do often call it a gym though it’s a lot more than that) is its wide offering of adult group fitness classes. There really is something for everyone and the instructors are very good at pointing out modifications for almost every exercise so that people at every fitness level can stay moving and working together as a group. That kind of thing may not work for everyone, but something else might, and trying it once might light a spark like it did for Todd. If you find yourself wanting to improve your life in a way that lasts why not try something new? Take a chance, it might change your life for the better in ways you never expect!

The South Central Long Course Meter (LCM) Zone Championships are history. Master’s LCM nationals are still ahead, but this summer I’m not going. So for all practical purposes the season is over, and that’s actually rather satisfying … it’s been a hectic run these last few months; a break from the competitive streak will be a welcome change. But before we go on … the zone meet highlights:

For the first time in my life I attended a LCM meet hosted by The Wooodlands and it was *not* outside in the 100+ °F blazing sun. Jon took some fishy shots of the new indoor 65m pool in Conroe ISD. It’s very fast, has a beautiful wooden ceiling, a big scoreboard, and the water temp was a cool 78 °F: perfect for racing. The construction materials seem to still be off-gassing a bit so there’s something of a fragrance when you first enter, but it’s not intolerable.

There’s actually a lot more to get out of a meet than the simple competition-driven endorphin high. Hanging with your buddies is fun (and the ladies say there’s nothing like old men in tights! (just kidding, actually those are swim skins … honestly, they’re way more expensive than tights, and we swim in them)):

One of the most enjoyable aspects of going to a master’s meet is watching the other competitors. It’s not every day that you can see a 78 year old throw down with the young guys (in their 50s) and beat them!

Another great thing is seeing someone achieve a goal that had previously been insurmountable. Sometimes a challenging hurdle is physical and sometimes it’s mental, but finally getting over it can change you in a way that imparts a permanent strength.

It is an exhilarating experience that’s hard to describe in words; pictures do sometimes help:

There’s also reconnecting with old friends:

there’s getting better acquainted with new ones:

and sometimes there’s just storing up the goofy happy moments to keep us going for the days to come.

And of course there was some fast swimming:

As a team we had some great swims: Jeff, Todd, Brad and I swam a 400 LCM medley relay over a second faster than the existing 15 year old national record for men 120-159 (still waiting for that to be verified). We missed the national record in the 200 LCM medley relay by 0.25 sec (that’s a tough one alright). T-bo has some video of those races that will be posted fairly soon.

For me personally the meet was a mixed bag. Some of my swims were merely average, some were slow for me, and some were fairly decent, and I did pick up two more zone records. I left one uncontested but I still have two more years in this age group (James, are you ready with the wings?).

So for me the season is over and I like it. As Ande says, I like it because it’s done.

With his 2:08.65 200 breast it looks like Todd is still in the running to make All American in two age groups this year. Of course, he’s got his work cut out for him what with Roque, and Kirk, and Mike in the mix. Aging up doesn’t seem quite as easy as it’s supposed to be, huh?

With his three top finishes in short course yards Ande’s got himself in the lead for 2009 Pool All Star in a very tough age group. Can he hold on to the lead over two more courses?

Meanwhile, I had my best short course yards season in years, but the results do seem to suggest that I’m not quite the sprinter I thought I was. Maybe this whole long distance thing is really the way to go …

While it may be true that the summer heat season in Texas is just getting into full swing (aren’t these weeks of 100+°F great?) the summer Long Course Meter (LCM) swim season is just about wrapped up. This weekend about 15 of the crew will going back to Houston for the third time in as many summers for the last competition of the season: zones (the last for most; a few are going to Indy in August, though not I).

Strictly speaking, The Woodlands (or this year Shenandoah) is not really Houston. It’s *Houston-ish* (though I suspect that native Houstonians and The Woodlandsers would likely disagree). Kinda like Georgetown is Austin-ish.

My training for the last several weeks has been anything but ordinary. After going strong through May and early June, I rested one week for the Senior Circuit meet June 12 -14. I then went on the road for the better part of two weeks and trained little (though I did get to spend a lot of time with distant family and old friends, which was well worth the down time). Upon my return I was three weeks out from zones. Ordinarily I would have started resting 3 weeks out, but that strategy seemed unlikely to produce the best results (having just taken 2 weeks off). So I modified the plan and decided to train fairly hard for 2 more weeks and then rest for a week, and I think Coach went along with this.

I had been pretty spotty on my dryland training leading up to this point, but I wanted to keep working on my flexibility and core strength fairly close to the meet (abs tend to not need as much rest as arms and lats, and legs need the most). I had done a small bit of running, some core, and a fair bit of yoga. On one of my road weekends in Tulsa I actually did two hours of back-to-back pilates and Yoga classes with my mom (wow, a year ago I never would have contemplated writing that sentence!) and reconnected with three people I hadn’t seen in years (and one of them, who I barely missed encountering in May at the CapTexTri, helped me be not-the-only-guy in the pilates class (thanks Don!)).

Just to keep things interesting, Coach told me on Wednesday June 30th that Tuesday July 7th was the last available date if I wanted a chance before September to do the 5K swim portion of my long-distance saga. To be honest, I was not thrilled about this scheduling. This 5k was something that I wanted to do really well, but I also wanted to do only once more in my life; I wasn’t feeling particularly prepared for it.

Things were starting to get a bit compressed. I was supposed to train hard for two weeks, but now I had this 5k to think about and maybe even rest a bit prior to it. On top of that, my dryland schedule at the gym had collapsed into Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and I had been missing a lot of Saturdays, which were my triple days. I rather expected to also miss the July 4th Saturday workout because it was a holiday and my gym had previously been very diligent about canceling holiday-weekend classes in favor of some mysterious “jam sessions.” Surprisingly, the schedule was unaltered and that actually complicated things for me. I had to make a decision about whether to train hard for zones or rest some for the 5k. In retrospect, I probably should have just rested, but some fluky thing caused me to miss Friday morning swim practice and that pushed me over the decision precipice. On Saturday I swam early, then went to the gym and did core, FIT and the third hour. On Saturday night I avoided the crowds and instead helped some good friends make some awesome fish tacos (with reds).

At some point on Sunday I realized something: FIT is a good workout. Maybe too good. FIT makes me sore. I had gone fairly easy too, using light weights and pulling an easy “green” stretchy band (technically I pulled two greens after I snapped one into two pieces the first time I extended it (yeah, I’m not that strong it was just ready to go; fortunately it popped into the floor and not into my face)). I took Sunday as a day of rest, and went a little easy in the Monday morning swim, but I did go to the Monday evening yoga/pilates class and I think that helped stretch out some of the sore.

When Tuesday morning rolled in I was only very slightly sore and only very slightly excited about doing a 5K. I started it thinking that I might quit early if it wasn’t going well. Around 1500m I decided that it wasn’t going very well (I was 30 seconds behind my 10k split), but I also thought that it would be rather lame to quit at that point so I motored on. I took some very brief water breaks at the 1000, 2000, and 3000 and I had planned to stop at 4000 also, but somewhere around 3950 I finally got into a bit of a groove so I swam right through and didn’t stop until the end. My last 1000 turned out to be my 2nd fastest and only 11 seconds slower than my first 1000 (how’s that for even splitting Ande?).

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Saturday was one week out from zones and coincided with our last workout at the UT swim center until Labor day (it’s closed for extended maintenance). I ended up sleeping in and missing the last workout, but that was ok: I went to the gym and did core, then I *skipped* FIT and instead swam outside (I moved inside to find a clock with a second hand and did a 100 fly for time (ugh, don’t ask)), then came back in for the yoga/pilates class. That last class was very stretchy and relaxed and that worked well for me.

On Monday we tried out the new digs. It’s not the swim center. For sure. But it is a 50m pool, and apparently the only one that is currently feasible to use. Swimming outside has it’s charms.

I’m nearly at the end of my taper now and not doing much in the water so the pool situation is not an issue. Two more taper days, two days of racing, and then it’s all over. I’m actually looking forward to that last part. I typically don’t feel too much “pop” the week before a race weekend and if this week is at all atypical then it is so on the other side. I could feel a *lot* better in the water right now. Oh well, we’ll be swimming a few relays this weekend and we have some record shots so that should be fun. And I’m racing Ande in the LCM 400 IM, what could be more fun than that?!?*

*this closing question was only somewhat rhetorical and is an invitation for my 3 or so regular readers to offer some creative comments (you know who you are; yes, you with the mouse and keyboard, and you there with the laptop, and you with the fancy phone, you too).

swimming by moonlight is a treat …

even with not much left to taper …

flip turns are possible in only 3 feet of water …

yes, it really is only 3 feet …

stopping to watch the sunrise can be very enjoyable …

see?

lane ropes are for wimps … 3 and 1/8ths is plenty …

and the shutterbugs love the natural light!

Technically she was never my pet, though I’m not sure that she knew or cared. Felines can sometimes be funny like that. To be my frequent companion was her choice, though I consented.

What a curious thing it is to have an animal as a companion!

Certainly not human, but most definitely sentient, and perhaps even possessing that quality we call consciousness.

Providing a sense of comfort and, one may imagine, also receiving it. So, a give and take.

If the eyes are the window to the soul, or the doorway to the conscious mind, or the light of body, then peering into the eyes is something like reading the mind or seeing the light.

How much mystery may be found within the eyes of a connected gaze!

Even though their lives are relatively short they often appear to have plenty of time; the seeming paradox owing perhaps to their few obligations.

Suffering and death are both actually a part of life. If life lasted forever and involved no suffering, some might take life much more for granted than they already do.

No one with genuine compassion would want any living creature to suffer needlessly, but how many people would take an incurably dying parent or friend to a stranger’s table to be “put to out of their misery?” Not that it was technically ever up to me.

Death does not define life, but it does delineate its boundary. It is finite. It has an end.

And so it was that at 10:23 on a thursday morning in July, still cool in the dappled shade of a live oak, beneath a mostly sun sky, in a chorus and covey of cooing doves, Bailey the cat entered that peaceful final sleep that awaits us all. She did so from two of her favorite (or at least, most frequented) places: the backyard porch, and my lap.