Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Day Twenty One - "Off Season"

The day began with the sound of advertisement for “Events.com” blaring over the radio at 4:50AM. The night was another good night. My head hit the pillow at 10PM and that carried through the nighttide by the cool, crisp fall air that brings euphoria to my slumber, which enables me to sleep without disturbance.

Today is Master’s Swim and the time in which I pay my debt. I requested that Bob be a Master’s in the morning to allow me to unload the burden of the albatross that has been looming since Friday’s run. I am one to settle my notes in a timely manner and I wanted to unload the currency to Bob before I drank his winnings.

The morning was hawkish as I loaded the Honda with my swim stuff to make the familiar trek over to LTF. As I drove down the roads of Alpharetta, the night still covered the dawn with the only luminescent objects flashing from oncoming headlights in my front and rear view mirror.
Arriving at LTF there is a sense of repetitiveness witnessing the same parking lot, the same cars in the parking lot and the same greeting from the same LTF employees who check me in to the facility. Is it time for a change? Do I need to mix up my routine in order to stay fresh and interested? What should I do? Find a new gym? Attempt another Master’s class? I enjoy the company of my training partners and new found training partners, but the monotonous feeling is starting to overtake me. On the other hand, is it that I am a man without a mission? Am I sliding through the “off season” with no real purpose? With having a productive training season with 2 out of 3 good races in IMFL, Boston and then Augusta that seems to never die. Have I burned to the point of boredom in my routines? Swim, run, weights, repeat…Monday through Friday. The weekends do not have this sense of ennui due to family activities and the “to do list”. I look forward to the weekends not because of the extra hour of sleep I get, but the bonding of the family unit and the cognizance of my accomplishments around the homestead. I will drive to find ways to make the “5 day week” more interesting to ward of the complacency.


I met Bob in the locker room and awarded him his winnings, a “5” pack of Sierra Nevada.

Yes, one goes to the spoiler.

We hit the deck in the pool area and chatted a few minutes with the other fellow swimmers about, well, nothing in particular. Even for us hard-core people, 5:30AM at the pool half dressed in a swimsuit is still hard to get use too. There is a lag in the air due to the tiredness of the group. The only cure for this is the cool pool water to awaken the training beast within. The pool has steadily been going downhill lately. Before we took the lanes Melissa showed me the “war wound” she received from last week’s pushup battle. Still do not know how she cut her knee attempting push-ups, but I was sympathetic (a little) as she rubbed the scab. Hopefully it does not fall off in the pool. Reminder: “keep my mouth closed”.

The Aquatics Director is out for 3 weeks and the pool water has become consistently cloudier everyday with a fine layer of used band-aids at the bottom of the tiles. Today was the pinnacle of nastiness. The visibility in the pool was about a body length due to a milky white murkiness. Time to fire off a concern to the manager of LTF.

My lane mates for today’s swim were, Michele & Brian. Michele led us off, of course with me trailing behind her and Brian taking up the rear. Coach Mike’s workout for Tuesday:

300M Free
200M Anything but Free
100M Kick
4 X 200M on 3:50
50M Recovery
4 X 200M on 3:40
50M Recovery
6 X 100M 0n 1:45
6 X 100M Kicks on 2:10
10 X 25M with 10 wall pushups at each end
8 X 25M with 10 floor pushups at each end
100M Kick
100M Cool Down

The time intervals were all very manageable even with me attempting as an old dude to reel in the “sail fish” Michele in front of me. All I kept thinking is, “she is a swimmer and I will have her beat on the run, HA!”. I have no animosity against Michele at all, it just helps me dig through the sets. Her presence is a motivator for me to push a little harder. The sets of 200M had a sense of accomplishment coming in at 0:02:55’s as I pushed myself with a goal to not give Michele a lot of time waiting at the wall alone for us. After the 100M sets, Michele got out and left Brian and I to fend for ourselves on the wall and floor pushups. Brian and I crushed the rest of the sets and finished up a few minutes behind the B & C swimmers.

I hit the hot tub for a few minutes to talk to Ann Marie and see how she is doing and what the plan for track is in the morning. Her tempo run went well yesterday, she is feeling strong and is eager for the early morning workout around the Alpharetta oval. We should have a good group in the morning with each of us doing our own speeds and sets. This is what makes the monotony of “off season” fitness training worth it sharing the experiences with other athletes that are reaching for their goals and achieving them. I continue to thrive off my wife, sister and my friends as they continue to grow stronger on this program. Huntsville in December is going to be wild with Sarah, Wren, Bob, Jay, Ann Marie, Stacy (I just found out she is doing her first marathon) and a new addition that will remain anonymous for the time being. They are superstitious and do not want to publish to the LTF community their intentions. I respect that and will be on the “Q-T” until the time is right to let the cat out of the bag.

I needed to head home for a few hours. Ellie is home with the flu and with our busy lives, these days I volunteered to work at of the home until the afternoon. As I made my way home in the reverse direction from 2 hours early, the canvass of the sky is going through metamorphosis. The sun was pushing the darkness higher in the sky with hues of Yellows and Oranges on the horizon. Through the high-tension wires of the populated skyline on Route 141, I witnessed the beginning of a new day filled with sunshine and clear skies. Through the doldrums, I experience in the “off season” with maintaining fitness everything is put into perspective when you see a glorious day ahead of you.

I will hit an upper body workout even after the pounding on the pool deck prior to hitting the office.

Time to get busy and tackle the day. (Even though I have accomplished about 10 different work related items writing the blog already).

No comments:

Post a Comment