Sleepy

Hi Friends! Since my kayaker and I are heading up to NH early tomorrow morning for a weekend full of friends and snow, I decided to go to morning practice with CMSC. It was SUPPOSED to be a sprint practice, but there were way to many 600s, 400s and 300s for my liking. Now I'm at work (so is Yoshi!) and I feel like doing exactly what's he's doing right now.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

Getting Better

Hi Friends! CMSC practice got cancelled tonight so I had the choice of A) Swimming at the Brookline Pool, B) Going to Yoga or C) Doing nothing at all. After work, option "C" sounded like the best option. But, after a pretty long fight with myself, option "A" won out. See? I have proof!

My willpower is finally improving! AND, I did those 8x100s on the 1:20 and held 1:15s. Yes!

Thanks for reading!

Ouch. And a Birthday!

So, I hopped back in the pool this morning after a week of not practicing due to illness. Ouch. Again I realize how easy it is to fall out of shape when it comes to swimming. And, I need a moment to vent, it's REALLY frustrating. You see, this morning our main set was 10x100 on the fastest interval you could hold. My lane did the first 5 on the 1:30 and the second 5 on the 1:25. I was barely holding 1:20s.  Miserable. To give a little context to my frustration, in college I could easily do 10x100s on the 1:05 and hold sub-1:00. Again, FRUSTRATING. But then I had to remind myself that I'm not 18 anymore and all I can do is just keep chugging along. Practice makes perfect. Less than a month until Champs!

Now I've had my Wired Puppy coffee and I'm ready for a productive day of work!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my super amazing and wonderful kayaker, Erik! The big 2-8! Radical.

Thanks for reading!

Gossip

Hi Friends! Still down for the count and unable to practice. It's driving me CRAZY so I've been spending my nights catching up on "The Wire" and my swimming gossip. ]

• A swimming video game courtesy of Microsoft. Sweet!
• Amanda Beard is penning a memoir titled "In the Water They Can't See You Cry". Yeah, it must be rough being a one in a million Olympic swimmer, posing for playboy and being recently engaged. Tough life. Bleh.
• A non-profit swimming organization in NYC dedicated to the health improvement of children and adults through swimming. Why didn't I know about this when I lived there? Bummer.
• The Missouri Grand Prix Meet starts in two days (2/18-2/21). All the stars are coming out for this one. Watch the webcast here. World Records get broken at this meet. Check out this clip from 2007:

Thanks for reading!

Sharon Montrose

Hi Friends! I'm a little bit (or a lot) under the weather so no swimming updates today. In my hours on the couch today I found this lovely gem about my favorite animal photographer, Sharon Montrose.

How cool is she? I have that giraffe print hanging in my (our) bathroom. I wish I could buy every print in her shop. Especially the baby deer, lion, baby white tiger and cow. Love!

Thanks for reading!

I am not an IM-er

Hi Friends! So, I've never been much of an IM-er (Individual Medley a.k.a. all-four-strokes) and last night was IM night. Ouch. Not only can I barely move my arms above my head because of all the butterfly we did but my knees are also sore from all of the breaststroke kick. Am I getting old or am I just meant to be a freestyler for life? I choose freestyler for life.  However, since two practices a week are focused on IM, I'm going to catch up on some film watching from the pros: Misty Hyman and Michael Phelps.

On a side note, I would like to thank the lovely barista at Wired Puppy Coffee on Newbury Street who gave me my medium skim mocha this morning even after I realized I left my wallet in my swim bag last night. Who does that these days? So nice.

Thanks for reading!

SAKW Preview Clip

Hi Friends! Some new info came out about the Swim Around Key West including this video. For some reason I don't remember the waves looking so big and the currents being so fast when I swam this 14 years ago....115 days to go!

Swimming Through Breast Cancer

Hi Friends! Every month I get an e-newsletter from the United States Masters Swimming organization. It usually contains interesting articles about what other masters (a.k.a. old) swimmers are up to and some helpful training tips. I opened up this month's issue and the first story was entitled "Swimming Through Breast Cancer" by Liz Pittinger. Wow. Please take the time to read her amazing story here. Stories like this are why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Thanks for reading!

Falling Off the Bandwagon

Hi Friends! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Did you watch the Superbowl? As a life long Vikings fan I could never bring myself to root for the Packers, but I was happy to see Aaron Rogers take the win because he just seems so...nice and normal. I headed up to Wachusett Mountain on Sunday morning to get some skiing in before the game and accomplished Winter Goal #1: Ski a Black Diamond! See, here's proof:

I want to switch over to another topic quickly as my very dear friend Mrs. Rachel LDW jumped back into something she loves; the clarinet! Like me, she dedicated most of her life to being a musician and then, well, real life got in the way when she started teaching a few years ago. She stopped practicing and focused on her j-o-b. Sound familiar? Yeah, we're going through the same thing. But, while it's scary, it feels so good to get back to something you know so well. So, Rachel, I wish you nothing but the best and I (and so many others) are here to support you 110%! xoxo

Thanks for reading!

A big, giant, giraffe-sized THANK YOU!

Hi Friends! I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to my AMAZING friends and family who have supported me thus far. I have received some absolutely wonderful heartfelt notes that have made me cry (good tears) and have truly touched my heart. Not to mention that I'm almost half way to my goal of raising $1,000 for Women's Cancer Research and it's only February. Woohoo! I'm so glad that I have been able to inspire some of you and I'm so grateful for the support you have given me. I'm very, very thankful for all of you.

Again, thanks for reading!

Uff Da! It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post and I have to say, I haven't been as good about training as I had hoped I would be by now. However, I signed up for the New England Short Course Championships Meet which is at the Harvard pool on March 12-13. I'm swimming the 50 free, 200 free and 500 free. Woohoo! Totally psyched to be racing again and I'm going to work my butt off until then so I don't embarrass myself :)

Whenever I need some inspiration, I watch this race. The men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay from he '08 Olympics in Beijing. France was talking smack before this relay and BAM...Jason Lezak has the swim of a life time and wins it for the U.S. Just awesome.

Thanks for reading!