First practice at Chimo...

Well, last night was our first practice at Chimo pool. There were only 5 of us that showed up that night no doubt to the dumping of snow that we got over the weekend which made the roads extremely treacherous. Despite the poor road conditions, I decided to make the drive up to Coquitlam to swim. I left early and gave myself lots of time to get there because I knew I would not be going very fast for fear of colliding with something. I don't have snowtires on my car but fortunately, I learned how to drive in the winter in Ottawa, so I learned how to drive in snow effectively. I think that has made a big difference in my confidence in my ability to drive in these conditions.

Anyways, the practice was fairly difficult but not too much so. We swam a total of about 2300m. We started off by doing 10x50 on :50. The first 4 were freestyle and the 5th one was backstroke. We repeated that twice. I was pretty stiff when I got into the water so I didn't go that hard on that set until I could get my muscles loosened up.

After that, we did a long kick set with fins as follows:

250 kick on 5:00 (1:00 pace per 50)
200 kick on 3:40 (55 pace per 50)
150 kick on 2:30 (50 pace per 50)
100 kick on 1:30 (45 pace per 50)
2x50 kick on :40

The last 2 kicks I made but not by much, only a couple of seconds. I guess having big fins is an advantage.

The next thing we did was 4x100 IM on 2:30 descending 1-4
My times were:

1:37
1:31
1:29
1:26

So, definitely not a bad effort. I was pretty winded by the end of the set so I guess it shows that I was definitely working hard. We finished off the practice with a 200m cool down (50 scull and 50 swim).

This brought us up to a total of 2300m which is pretty good. On a side note, I do not like swimming in this pool that much overall since it so warm. You jump in the shallow end and it's virtually a bath. It's horrible. It's definitely not conducive for any kind of fast swimming but I did the best I could under the circumstances. I'll have to swim there anyway at least until the 15th of December, so I think I can put up with it until then.

After that, I'm heading back to Ontario for 3 weeks with my girlfriend to visit our families for the Xmas holidays. I plan to continue doing some training (both swimming and weights) while I'm gone. I'll just have to find some good workouts to do. I know that there are swimming and workout facilities in virtually every place that I'll be going. I don't think it will be too much of a problem.

Hopefully the weather will hold up for the Nanaimo meet this weekend. We're supposed to get some more snow later this week but I heard it's not going to be that much (maybe 1 or 2 more cm). I am fairly sure if only this amount falls on top of the snow we already have, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm just going over there primarily to have some fun and swim some off events. Let's hope it turns out to be a good time.

Losing Weight

Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I think that one of the main reasons why I'm not swimming as fast as I'd like is still the weight issue. I recently went for a body fat test analysis and found out that I have about 10% extra body fat that I shouldn't have. The average person is supposed to have 15-18% body fat and I have 27.1% so it's not the greatest. Don't get me wrong, I've come a long way in terms of my weight actually. Shortly after my parents died, I went through a kind of depression and I gained a huge amount of weight. At one point, I was 220 pounds! Now for a guy who is only 5'8" that is certainly not healthy. Fortunately, I'm down to 182 right now and my target weight should be about 155 or 160 with my height.

I've decided to take a bit of a different approach this time and I went and consulted a dietitian to help me plan meals properly in order to help me lose weight. It turns out after talking with him, a general assessment is that I've been eating far too many carbs and not enough protein and this is causing me to lose weight a lot slower than I normally would be considering the amount of exercise that I've been doing as of late with going to the gym and doing the masters swimming.

I should be getting my diet book some time in a week or so. I'm actually really excited because I think that this is going to make a big difference for me. I never really realized that my eating habits were holding me back but I guess it's true that what you eat is just as important if not more important than how much you exercise. The diet book is great in that it's tailor made for each person so that what is in there is specifically to help me. It also gives step by step instructions as to what food to buy, how to prepare it and how much of each type of food to eat for an entire month. I think in the long run it's going to be great. After all, if I am having to pull an extra 25 pounds through the water while I'm swimming, it's only natural that my times would be slower. It's like swimming with a 25 pound weight attached to your ankles... let's hope that over time I can get rid of that weight and be fit, lean and stay healthy.

Poor performance...

Well the recent swim meet this past weekend was not my best performance by any stretch of the imagination. I actually felt quite disappointed (and still do). I guess I just don't have it anymore which is too bad because I didn't think I was washed up just yet. Also, I was still fighting a cold at this meet and that zapped my energy a bit. That could have made a difference I'm sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to stop swimming by any stretch of the imagination. Although, I'm debating in my mind as to how much I actually will compete in the future. I definitely know that I won't be going to the Nanaimo meet. I think I need some time to assess where I am at and think about what competitions I want to go to in the future. I definitely will be going to at least one or two more this year maybe more depending but I don't think I want to go to Nanaimo at this time.

I know I've been through a lot in my life and I have my own issues that I'm trying to work out maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself on why I'm not swimming well. After all, in many ways, I don't even feel like the same person that I was when I was 16. I look at things I've done in the past.. I look at old ribbons and medals that I won.. I look at academic reports that I've written in high school and university and I think, it's not me who could have done that. It sounds weird to someone else who is reading this that I could think this way. But it's true, I actually think sometimes that I'm not the same person as I was when I was younger. My life has changed so much from then to now that I might as well be a different person. I've changed completely beyond recognition.

In any case, I'll keep up my regimen of training and working out and hopefully in the long run, I can see some results of at least staying healthy and losing weight if not improving my swimming times also.

Only a few days before the start of the meet...

Well it's only a few days before the start of the swim meet this Sunday. So far, my training has been going alright. Although I've had a bit of setback this past week with a nagging cold that won't seem to go away. It seems I am getting sick often and it usually sticks with me for a while. Fortunately, I can feel that it's starting to go away now, so I think I should be fine by the weekend. I guess being a teacher, catching colds and other viruses should just be considered an occupational hazard. Although, I think I'm going to try and start to take more preventative measures in the future from catching more things. I'll try and use antibacterial cleanser several times a day on my hands to lessen the probability of ingesting germs.

Today, I think I'll go to the gym later on and do one last weight training session before the meet. Hopefully it will prove to be useful. I will also go to the gym on Thursday too but I'm just going to focus on cardio for that session and not do any weights.

I have to admit that after last night's practice, I've been feeling a little bit of self doubt as to how I'm going to fare this weekend. I've been training really hard and going to the gym several times a week to supplement my water training to try and significantly improve my times. The way I look at it is this. My best 50m freestyle time ever was a 27.4 seconds in a race. That was only about 10 years ago. Mind you, I did virtually no physical activity between 1997 and 2004 due to university obligations and difficulties afterwards from my parents passing away in 2001. I guess maybe I expect too much of myself but I can't see that I'm that much different today than I was back then. Sure, I'm a little bit heavier now and that does make a difference but I am not sure if it makes that much of a difference especially now that I've been back in the water for about 2 years now (not training nearly as heavily as I did back then). I should be able to go 28 seconds for 50 free. I certainly don't expect a lifetime best or anything but within 2 seconds of my best should be a reasonable goal. I am not sure what else I can do to make myself swim faster. I have to admit that I do feel a bit frustrated as I tried my hardest and was only about to pull off a 30.1 seconds. I think there are a few things I can do to improve it a bit.. but I don't know if I can improve 1 whole second :-(

The second sprint 50 we did on practice yesterday was a complete write off as I kept banging my hand into the lane rope as I was swimming. I totally lost my concentration and at about 60 meters. I kind of gave up and did a 34 I think.

Another thing I notice when I swim any kind of freestyle race is that I get incredibly nervous before the race whereas whenever I swim a backstroke race, I feel quite calm and serene. I am not sure why this is. It might have to do with the fact that when I was younger, freestyle was my best event and even now there are a lot more people competitive with me in freestyle than in backstroke. Maybe I feel nervous that I am not going to look good compared with them. I'm not sure. I wish there was a way I could get over this nervousness. Maybe that is making the difference.

Anyways, the meet is coming up this weekend. I will try and think positively about things and do my best to achieve results that I can be proud of.