Enter Sandman

Date: Friday, October 7, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Short Course Yards

4x(4x75 on 1:15)
1: 25 kick/25 drill/25 swim
2: 25 head up/50 swim
3: 25 underwater kick/50 swim

Thirty seconds rest between the following distances:
150 breast kick moderate (2:30)
100 breast kick faster (1:38)
50 breast kick fast (:44)
50 breast kick moderate (:50)
100 breast kick faster (1:37)
150 breast kick fast (2:16)

200 kick recovery

12x25 breast swim on :35, holding :15
(The effort was similar to a 200 IM pace.)

300 easy (25 drill/25 swim)

12x50 on 1:00, every third fast
(Backstroke -- 26.0, 26.5, breaststroke -- 29.4, 29.7)

Three rounds:
30 seconds vertical kick breaststroke, holding 15-pound weights
30 seconds rest

100 easy (with stretching)

Total (not including vertical kicking): 3,000 yards

Last night at 11 p.m., I was covering the prelims of the FINA Swimming World Cup in Dubai for SwimmingWorld.com. I thought prelims would end by 11:15, but they weren't over until 11:45. I finally went to sleep at midnight. I was very concerned about how I would swim this morning with only five hours sleep, but I did very well! Maybe the chilly water (about 78 degrees) woke up my body enough to make it forget about the lack of sleep. My backstroke sprinting felt awesome today, though my breakouts weren't great, because I was circle swimming. As for my breaststroke, I was still not feeling the power in my legs, but my arm strokes were strong.

On the downside, I pulled my right rhomboid muscle during the main kick set. It happened, I believe, from doing repeated turns off the wall while holding a kickboard with my left hand. I think the motion strained the muscle, and it ached for the remainder of workout. It still hurts now, though not sharp pain. I think some Ben-Gay will take care of that.

The endorphin rush we get after swimming only lasted for 90 minutes. By 8:30 a.m., I was ready to crash ... hard. If I had fallen asleep at my desk, I could have easily slept for an hour. I'm not upset that I had to cover a meet in Dubai (a meet that turned out to be fairly slow, by the way) and get only five hours sleep. Because I will be doing this for just about all of the world cup meets, I need to better plan my life around them.

I planned to go to the gym after work today, but I figured in my physical condition, it might do more harm than good. So, I will take a two-hour nap before driving to Tucson for the weekend. Since I have no plans for Saturday, I can sleep through Saturday morning after covering the Dubai meet tonight.

Earlier today, I submitted my entries for the Rowdy Gaines Classic, which will take place next week in Orlando. I didn't want to overload myself with events, since my primary focus there is covering the meet for Swimming World. I'm excited to hang out with some famous names, including my "childhood" idol Tracey McFarlane. I was 16 when I went to my first USA Swimming nationals in 1990, and I got an autograph from Tracey. And being on the same deck as Olympic champions Martin Zubero and Brooke Bennett will be a blast as well. I'm swimming the 50 and 100 breaststrokes, the 100 back and 100 free. Yes, the 100 free. Why not?