Back in the Pool

Long time no post. With our 73 children, we’ve been busy!

I’ve wanted to log my swim routines for a while, so here goes. First, an intro.

I’ve been living with pretty bad and consistent back pain/sciatica since last March when I tweaked a couple of discs while demo-ing our backyard. Old man! I don’t need surgery, but the orthopedic surgeon told me to exercise like crazy with something low-impact like swimming, and then go to physical therapy. So over the summer I hopped back in the pool to swim laps, something I haven’t done since my freshman year of college. I used to be a good swimmer (I was a lifeguard and swim instructor in high school and some college) and with surfing my love for water and stroke never died, but right as I was getting into the swing of things … boom … we had twins.

My back is still screwed up, and suffice to say that besides my consistent stretching and core strength routines, the pool has offered the best way to keep loose and in shape, and has reduced my overall pain. I aim to get into PT this week, and I’ve been seeing a chiropractor once a month, primarily for deep-tissue muscle work.

Working at a startup, plus tending to our three kids, hasn’t allowed me the time to get into the pool nearly as much as I’d like, but I’ve tried to keep a steady schedule of going twice a week. It’s just enough to improve my distance, lung capacity and stroke. Incidentally this has been one of the most unhealthy years of my life (thanks son and daycare!). So it seems every time I get my routine going and I start feeling good in the water, I get hit with a cold or something. Then back to square one.

My goals have been pretty doable, and I’ve been hitting them so far. I started out wanting to build up to a straight 500 yard freestyle, after a good warm-up and with a cool-down. Check. I do that and more now each time I get in the water. Now I’m on the cusp of doing 1,000 yards straight. I did my first one the other night, and when I got out of the water I felt an endorphin high that I’ve never had before – it was amazing! So now I want to hit the 1000 yard mark regularly and build to a mile straight. That’s about 70 x 25 yard lengths. After my swim Friday evening, I realized I had come 100 yards short of a mile (broken up), and I was pretty bummed I hadn’t thought of it before I got out of the pool.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the Masters swim group workouts, trying to emulate some of it each time I go. Masters would also be a goal but I’ll have to improve my speed and times. Anyway, typical routine now is looking like this:

• 3×50 freestyle warmup at intensifying rates of speed – 15 sec. rest between sets
• 1×100 breaststroke fast – 30 sec. rest
• 1×200 breast and free
• 1×500-1000 yard free (I did a 600 this morning and could have kept going if time wasn’t short)
• 1×100 breast
• 1×100 free
• 3×50 free at fast then reduced speed to cool down

= approx 1300 yards total, or more or less