Who will be in the world cup final... ?

This is the question I've been asking myself as of late. I have been following the soccer tournament on and off for the past few weeks. I haven't had much time to sit and watch a full game due to scheduling and work commitments but I've been able to catch up on the highlights in the evenings. So far it looks to be a pretty interesting tournamet with some surprises (i.e. Australia making it to the 2nd round). In terms of the eventual victor of the tournament, I still think it's going to be Brazil... I know a lot of people think that the team is overrated but I think they still got something left. Of course, I would love to see an underdog or a lesser known team win the world cup for the first time. However, something tells me that the chance of that happening is pretty slim even though it's something I would like to see if Brazil doesn't win. Anyways, I guess time will tell to see how things play out...

Short course swim practice

Last night's swim practice was done short course due to the fact that this weekend they're having an outdoor swim meet at the pool that we train at and they had to put the bulkhead in ahead of time. I have to admit that in many ways it still felt easier than long course but hopefully that will change as we go later on into the season. We had a choice of doing 2 sets. One was a sprint set of 50s and the other was a distance set. I wasn't in the mood to sprint last night so I did the distance one.
The set was as follows:

400 freestyle @ 7:00
300 freestyle @ 5:20
200 I.M. @ 4:00
100 freestyle @ 2:00
50 freestyle 100% all out
100 freestyle @ 2:00
200 I.M. @ 4:00
300 freestyle @ 5:20
400 freestyle @ 7:00
300 freestyle @ 5:20
200 I.M. @ 4:00
100 freestyle @ 2:00
50 freestyle 100% all out


That set pretty much took the entire practice with a little bit left at the end for a warm down. On the 2 50 freestyles all out I did a 35 and a 36. So, it wasn't too bad. When I first started the set, it seemed rather daunting but as I got into it, it didn't seem that bad and I felt relatively good after finishing it which is great.
On Monday, we're back to long course again. I hope that I will be able to feel as good on Monday's practice as I did last night.

New principal

Recently at work, we've had a change in management or staff at the upper levels. We have a new principal or head teacher I guess you can call at the school. The good news is that I have worked with him for quite a while and get along really well so I'm happy about that. We had an important staff meeting today to discuss all the changes in policy towards the school curriculum. I was really excited about what was said at the meeting. The new principal has some really great ideas and I think the school will function a lot better in the future now. Before sadly, there was a lot of miscommunication and disorganization but since the old principal got fired, I think it's going to be a new era for the school. I won't be working too much over the summer as there won't be a lot available and I'll be going away as well for a few weeks. However, in September, I think it will be very exciting...

Grouse Grind

Today I did something that I haven't done in quite some time. I did the Grouse Grind. I did it 2 years ago before I had started swimming and this year, I was hoping for a better result than when I first did it. Alas, it was not to be.... I am actually quite disappointed in myself. It took me well over an hour to do it and it hurt a lot... I figured that all the swimming I've been doing would have helped but it didn't really make much of a difference. Perhaps this is because swimming works different muscle groups and also perhaps because it isn't as cardiovascularly intensive. That would be my best guess...I guess I was expecting more.. Hopefully in the future, I'll be able to do it again and do better...

Why does long course always feel so long?

Lately I've been feeling fairly tired lately.. I just want to sleep all the time. I'm not sure what it is but I just have no energy. I went to my swim practice last night and it wasn't too bad. We started with a 200 backstroke and then a 4x100 kick with fins on 2:00. Then we had a choice of doing one of two sets. Either 5x200 (first 3 IM and the last 2 50 swim, 100 kick, 50 swim) on 4:00, or 3x800 on 15:00. Needless to say that pretty much everyone did the 5x200. The only person who did the 3x800 in our group was Kim. She's a bit of a distance person so I am sure she didn't mind... After we did the 5x200, we did 6x50 on 1:00 sprinting in and out of the wall which was tiring in itself. I mixed it up doing freestyle and backstroke. After that, we had a warm down which I did about 100m.

In any case, I just couldn't get going this practice... my stroke felt good but my energy level was really low. I was able to make all the intervals but not by much. Chris seems to be swimming well these days so I always let him go ahead of me.

I hope that I start feeling more energetic soon and maybe feel like I can get in better shape.. that way, long course won't feel so long anymore...

Nude cyclists?!?

I witnessed something very odd this afternoon...
I was meeting up with a friend at the Starbucks on the corner of Robson and Jervis in downtown Vancouver. We were discussing the issues and I was giving her a bit of a hand with her homework when all of a sudden out of nowhere, I see this line of cyclists who are wearing ABSOLUTELY nothing cycling down Robson Street.. people were just staring them in disbelief as they were cycling by. After doing some research later, I discovered that it was the "World Naked Bikeride." It turns out it is essentially a protest against people using their cars and reducing emissions. It is definitely a good cause although I must admit that it was totally unexpected. Let's hope that their efforts are not in vain. That should teach those idiots with their H-1 Hummers and big honking SUVs a thing or two...