Day Sixty One - December First!"

It's been told that swimming is a wimp sport, but I don't see it. We don't get timeouts, in the middle of a race we can't stop and catch our breath, we can't roll on our stomachs and lie there, and we can't ask for a substitution.

~Dusty Hicks

Today I was stripped of the Big Fish title in Lane 1 and was demoted to the trail fish in Lane 2.

The holiday festivities brought out the swimmers in droves attempting to trim some of the turkey and stuffing that had accumulated around their wastes. The 5 lanes of the pool were filled with 4-5 swimmers this morning, well except for one. Lane 2. The lane that corrals all the Olympic and ex-college swimmers. Since I am the fastest swimmer in Lane 1,3,4 & 5 I was punished this morning by being bumped from my little pond where I reign as the "Big Fish" and was forced to swim with the sailfish.

As soon as I entered the Lane 2 I felt infinitesimal to the two Goliath swimmers taking off at a blinding speed for the warm up. Michelle, the former LSU Swimmer with records still unbroken on the walls of the local Dynamo Swim Club walls and Susan, the Olympic Breaststroker. I don't need to say any more on her accomplishments. The word, "Olympian" says it all.

Coach Mike's Workout (or anaerobic swim):

300M Warm up

150M Non-Free

150 Drills

5 X 200M on the 3:20

100 recovery swim

5 X 300M on the 5:00

Broken down:

100M Paddles & Fins

100M Fins

100M Free

100M recovery

100M Right/Left Side with Fins

50M Zipper

100M Fists

8 X 25M All Out with 10 seconds on the wall

100M kick

The first set of 200M's I held my own with only 3 body lengths of trailing. My heart rate was through the roof on all 5-200M's, but I came in at 3:05 on each.

The 300M's were an annihilation. I continued to fall back and by the 3rd 300M I was a length behind. I buckled down and did not quit even though I was about to be passed on the 5th and final 300M.

The 8 X 25M's is where I was able to hold my own. I maintained a 5 second gap between Susan and I as we blistered through the 25's. I looked at Susan at one point as I was huffing and puffing and it did not even look like she was taxed at all.

The rule of genetics applies to Susan. She has been a couch potato for 3 months, gets in the pool and by the third workout she is smokin' in the water.

Though the workout was more than I bargained for when I woke up this morning, I was glad I did it and I was really glad when it was over.

I could have stopped at anytime or wore fins through out the whole 300M sets as Mike suggested I do, but that deem me a wimp in my own eyes.

I guess if you want to be a Big Fish, you need to swim with the Big Fish.