Reporter Paul Tenorio swam what he thinks is his final workout at this pool, Washington-Lee, in Arlington. (Photo by Paul Tenorio, The Washington Post)

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Okay, I’m tired. Not in the sense that my arms ache after six laps, though that’s also true.

But in the sense that…well, I’m just tired.

I think I’ve worked seven days a week for the last four weeks. In addition, I’ve been swimming a lot. Five days a week the past two weeks, three days a week with two days of dry-land before that.

And today I’m dragging a bit. I got back from Redskins-Ravens last night at around 1:30 a.m. and hit the sheets immediately. The idea of doing a morning workout was just out of the question. Instead, I woke up at 8:30 and knocked out a Washington Freedom preview story, had a small breakfast and tried to feel better. Then I spent most of the late morning convincing myself I could do just resistance cord training and abs instead of going to the pool.

But I’m better than that. And too many people are following what I’m doing here — too many people I know who would not be afraid to voice their opinion if I skipped a day in the pool, no matter how tired.

So I dragged my butt over to Sport Fair and bought a new suit. Then I went straight from there to W-L pool for what, I think, will be my final swim there.

I’m not going to lie and say I did a full Jeff King workout. I cut it down to about 60-percent. Warm of up six 50s and eight 25s with paddles; 200 fly kick; 300 swim with paddles; 200 fly kick; 300 swim with paddles and fins.

The original plan was to follow that with another kick and then some 50s. But before that last 300 I promised myself if I made it through with no breaks and no excuses, pushing myself, that I’d let myself cut practice short. It was a treat to myself, and I justified it by saying that I thought Jeff might do the same type of thing. I was closing in on about an hour in the pool.

So I did it. I worked my butt off and I swam it. I made sure my turns were sharp, I made sure I was pulling hard and keeping my kick going. And even though I was tired and wanted to stop, I didn’t. And after the 300, I treated myself to a nice long hot shower to try to relax.

I’m back to work tomorrow. I’ll be covering a Washington Freedom playoff game at 4 p.m. and then Redskins training camp on Sunday. I’m going to try to push myself to do some strong dry-land. But in the back of my head I’m just trying to keep my energy level up right now.

It’s been a long week, and I know Jeff is back on Monday. I’m hoping he takes it easy on me, but I have an inkling that he’s going to push me to see how much work I put in while he was gone. Hopefully I don’t let him down.

Right now, I’m watching the Food Network and wishing I could eat some of this stuff they are cooking. Earlier it was prime rib with baked potatoes. That’s pretty much my ideal meal, and I have two huge kobe beef steaks (a gift) that are calling my name. I think I’m going to indulge at some point early next week when things slow down a little.

For now, I’m going to watch this Food Network show and pretend that I’m going to eat the chocolate pudding Tyler Florence is cooking. Because that would be awesome. A nap would also be awesome.

Chocolate pudding and a nap. I sound more like I live in a retirement home than a condo near the bar scene in Arlington.

And you know what? That’s okay with me right now.

Washington Post reporter Paul Tenorio will train with a swim club over the next few months and chronicle his journey as he attempts to transform from regular guy/sports reporter to competitive swimmer — everything from his waistline to his best times.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Diving Back In. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.