By Paul Tenorio

Diving Back In Archive

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I knew this day would come. The day when I rolled out of bed for a practice on a Monday morning and stepped on the scale to see a weight gain instead of a weight loss. I was hoping it wouldn’t happen until I got down to around 180, but there are some things you just can’t control.

So, last week I was down to 184. Today I was back up to 186. Here’s the funny thing…everything else is going down.

My waistline is at 35 this week. My body fat percentage dropped down to 14.5 percent, a full percentage point down. I feel thinner, and frankly, I can see the difference when the shirt comes off. The pinch test is way better than it was when this first started, let’s put it that way. (The Paul Tenorio embarrassing fact chart is at the bottom of the page.)

So I don’t feel too bad about coming back up those two pounds. In fact my coach, Jeff King, sent me an article that said it was more likely for me to gain weight through swimming than lose it easily.

Does that mean I’m going to stop trying to lose weight? No. My goal is still to hit that 180-pound mark. I think I am going to try to pick up the dryland training if I can. It’s tough because I’m pretty busy balancing Redskins and high school duties right now and I feel overwhelmed enough by that, so adding an evening workout has, at times, not been easy.

I’ll try to supplement the swimming with some jogging to try to get a few more pounds off, though, and the diet continues. Now that my girlfriend’s week-long birthday fest is over, I have no more excuses to slightly break my diet with dining out. It’s back to the strictest of the strict when it comes to what I eat. It should also help that my two men’s league soccer teams start back up this coming weekend. Well, one of them this weekend and the second next weekend.

Jeff’s vacation ended today — which meant my vacation from a coach-run practice was, as well. And you know what? That is 100-percent a good thing. I knew I was going to be pushed, that Jeff was going to see how much I could do in his first day back. And boy, did he push me.

For the first time, I did a 300 without fins. And I did a lot more.

Practice was a pyramid…the “Mayan kind,” as Jeff put it. In other words: a lot.

It went like this: 50 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 100 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 200 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 300 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 400 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 300 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 200 swim, 4×25 hard kick, 100 swim.

I could have written “etc.” at some point there, but I didn’t get to do that in the pool this morning so I wanted to type it all the way out, too.

I went without fins all the way up, and from 400 to 200 down with fins, then finished without fins. It was hard. I was tired. There were times I thought my lungs were going to explode. But it was necessary.

I think I’ve done a pretty good job describing things up here, but I don’t know if I can describe how tired I was during that first 300. The funny thing is, even though my arms ached, the hardest part has been catching my breath. I’m having trouble getting that lung capacity up to where I want it, so once I hit about the 125 mark I really struggle because I feel like I can’t breathe. And it becomes a real mental battle to keep going — because I continue to wonder if I’m going to pass out. Haha.

Today I actually imagined while swimming what would happen if I passed out. How quickly would Jeff be able to hop into the pool and how freaked out he would be? That is the kind of negative thinking I need to avoid. I’m laughing right now as I type this just realizing how completely opposite that mentality is to the way I like to approach everything I do. Pretty bad.

I made it easier on myself at times during that 300 by flipping over for a lap of backstroke to catch my breath. I did three laps total (I think) of backstroke during that 300. It’s not really a break for my arms. It’s not at all, actually. But it gave me a chance to sorta kinda catch my breath.

I went into practice worried because my left bicep had been killing me all weekend. I’m not sure what I did to it, whether it was something done in the pool on Friday, but I hoped it wouldn’t hold me back. Jeff warned me to let him know if I felt any real pain. I’m glad to report I made it through the workout okay. It was sore, but so was everything else.

Overall, I’m happy with how the workout went. Was I a bit embarrassed by my form during the 300? Heck yes. I was exhausted and I just wanted to finish, even if it didn’t look pretty. But Jeff is so understanding and was all encouragement when I finished it. And it was great to look up and see him walking up and down and cheering me along during that 400, 300, 200 and 100 on the way down. It’s amazing how much that pushes me.

I want to make him proud.

Before I end today’s blog I wanted to pass on one more note. Jeff and I talked today for the first time about meets. I get the butterflies just thinking about competing. The plan is for me to compete in the Open on October 16, 17 and 18 in the 50- and 100- free. And then to compete again in the November Open. I’m pumped, nervous, excited…all of it. And it’s perfect timing. The October meet starts just two days after my 24th birthday, so I think it’d be a nice present to myself if I went into that meet and did okay.

As we get closer, I’ll provide more details. It’ll be fun stuff. I’ve got some ideas already about the meet.

Okay, chart time. And for me, strech/more work time.

July 20: Weight- 193, Waistline- 36, BMI- 27.6, Body Fat Percentage- 17.7
July 27: Weight- 189, Waistline- 36, BMI- 27.1, Body Fat Percentage- 16.6
Aug. 03: Weight- 185, Waistline- 36, BMI- 26.5, Body Fat Percentage- 15.6
Aug. 10: Weight- 184, Waistline- 36, BMI- 26.4, Body Fat Percentage- NA
Aug. 17: Weight- 186, Waistline- 35, BMI- 26.7, Body Fat Percentage- 14.5

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 Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 11:49 am 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.