Tiring work out

Well, I tried something different yesterday. I wanted to run 5 miles, but my legs were sort of not up for it. I did 3 on the treadmill, and probably could have continued, but decided to play it safe (which is good, because my legs are really creaky today).

I think it was 'The Transporter 2' on TV.. seen it before, but amusing enough to pass the time.

I finished my 3, and then went in the pool.

I did 18 laps, a half mile.


Let me tell you something. I was just out of gas by the end. I wasn't out of breath, but I was struggling with the swim. Do a lap, take a pause. Repeat.

I can see why they do the swim first in a triathlon. Chuckle.

Why is Treat Williams in the pool?

Last night I went swimming. Wanted to give my legs a bit of a break, but still get a workout in.

There's 3 lanes in the pool, and you can fit 2 people per lane comfortably. Small pool, I know.

So, I took the middle lane. There was a guy in the left lane. The right lane was open.


So, I had finished about 3 laps, and a guy yells down, "Mind if I share your lane?"

Uhmm.. okaaaay... What about that wide open lane next to me?

So, I'm going back and forth, and back and forth. After I'd done a half a mile, the guy stops me. Looking at him, he looked a lot like Treat Williams. Granted, I have to wear glasses to see anything past a book I'm reading. And I have a bit of chlorine in my eyes. But, it really did look like him.

He proceeded to give me some swimming tips, indicating that my head was too far up while swimming, that my butt needed to be higher. I was also breathing improperly, as I wasn't rolling very smoothly.

Yeah.. Well, I'll give him that.

So, I did a couple of more laps, trying to keep my head down.. I think it helped, but my butt just doesn't float like that. I dunno. Probably a good thing, but still.

After a couple of laps, he stopped me for an update on how it felt. Better, I suppose. He then went into all of the things he *used* to do, but doesn't now. He just swims. Easier on the body.

I told him I was using swimming to cross train instead of running. That's when his credibility dropped.

He proceeded to inform me of how bad running was for you, and that you should just walk fast instead. Yadda yadda.

I didn't really want to get into a lively debate with him, plus I didn't need him turning into The Substitute and whoopin' me, so I just let him go on.

In the end, I finished up with 27 laps, just over 3/4 of a mile.

Look out Michael Phelps

.. Here I come!


Yeah, OK. Maybe not.

The other day I picked up some swim goggles, and I was itching to try them out.

Furthermore, I went out on the web and was searching around for "swimming tips". I figured, hey, I learned a heck of a lot about running by going around and reading advice, blogs, etc.. I suspect there is probably a swimming community out there.

So, after a good, oh, 2 or 3 minutes, I found this video out on YouTube. It goes over 4 common swimming mistakes. I'm sitting there watching the video and thinking to myself.. "uh oh". I suspected I made all 4 mistakes.

So, I hopped in the pool last night and did a quick half lap of normal freestyle swimming. Yep. I made all 4.

Super.

But, the goggles worked great. I spent the time at the pool working on my form, doing about half of my laps freestyle, the rest doing different strokes. It really is surprisingly more efficient to swim as the video instructs.. Not over-reaching, not reaching across the body, keeping your head down. I was tired, but nothing like before.

I wound up doing 25 laps, putting me a little under 3/4 of a mile.

I suspect Michael Phelps doesn't need to go to YouTube for training tips. *chuckle*

The ol' pump faucet

Pretty quiet weekend, really.

We've had this faucet sitting in a box for a couple of months that I've been meaning to install. Of course, I just haven't gotten to it.

Saturday, I had the brilliant idea of putting it in.

So, I shut the shutoff valves off, proceeded to unplumb the old one, and then ran into a snag. I couldn't get the old one off. The stupid plastic nuts on the bottom didn't have anything to hold on to, and I couldn't get one of them unscrewed.

Yeah, ok. Big deal.

Of course, one of the shutoff valves then started to really not be shut off. And it just got worse from there. I shut the water off completely to all sinks, toilets, and everything plumbing related, and proceeded to fight with the old faucet for an hour. Eventually, I got it off, after resorting to drills, chisels, and other tools not normally found in a plumber's toolbox.

Joe the plumber I am not.

So, I put the new one in (it does look like the one in the picture). Started installing a new trap.. yep. Forgot to get an extension tube. This sink is stupid and wasn't really put together right. Super. One trip down to Home Depot later (where Christmas is apparently in full season, thank you very much)...

Got the trap/drain all done, turn the water supplies back on.. and......

No hot water. Super.

I figure that shutting off the valve got it stuck in the 'almost off' position. Not quite "off", as it can still leak water at a decent rate all over.

Totally fricken awesome. So, we have cold water. It's going old school, back to the pump, ala this faucet style.

I wasn't about to fart around with putting in a new shutoff valve after this fiasco. Plumber is coming Friday.


So, Saturday was wrecked after all of that, and I didn't get out to swim, run, bike, do jumping jacks, or anything like that. I did make about 800 trips up and down stairs, though, so that's got to count for something.

Sunday I did get out and do 21 laps in the pool, so that was nice. I am humbled by the other swimmers though.. I'm struggling to do a whole lap with freestyle crawl, and they go back and forth and back and forth. Sigh. I mix it up with different strokes so I can work different muscles. Yeah, that's it.

And now for something completely different

Last night, I went to the gym. And......


I went swimming.

I wound up doing laps like this:

• A lap of crawl swimming, which literally crawled along
  
• A lap of breaststroke
  
• A lap of elementary backstroke
  
• A lap of sidestroke, half lap on each side.
  

And repeat.

All in all, 16 laps. I got a terrible cramp in my calf on lap 13, so I stretched it out, finished up my course of 4 and got out. It's still slightly cramped this morning. My recently broken elbow was starting to feel it too, so it was good to call it quits.

Looking at the length of the pool, it's 25yards, so that's just short of a half mile @ 800 yards.

Not terrible for not having swam in a couple of years.