Reporter Paul Tenorio watches his Uncle John Reosti finish their race on Saturday. Paul won the race, but John was the most impressive. (Photo courtesy Leah Tenorio)
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Well, I did what I was supposed to do. I beat my uncle in a race on Saturday. I’m not here to brag or act like it’s a big deal. He is 20 years older than I am. I should beat him. In truth, he was more impressive than I.
At 23, I should be sub-30 seconds and wasn’t. He was at about 40 seconds. Not too shabby at all. And I’ll tell you what, if this race had occurred on July 20, it would’ve been close.
I was impressed, because I know how tough it is. I was only five years out of the pool when I started just over a month ago; he hasn’t trained competitively for 18 years — though he did swim a bit when stationed recently in South Korea.
But kudos to him and all my cousins and uncles who hopped in for the race. It was a fun family day for sure.
The weekend was a good one. I got in a soccer game, which was made tougher by the fact that we played with nine men for the entire first half and 10 for the second half. For those who don’t know soccer, that means we played two men down for the first half and one man down for the second. So it was tiring. But I needed the conditioning.
I went into this morning’s practice moving like an old man. My legs were dead because I didn’t stretch after the game on Saturday. My rib cage and lower back were hurting just from the twists and turns of soccer and some of the physical shoulder-to-shoulder and pushing stuff.
Let me just say, it was freezing this morning. I couldn’t see my breath like I could last week, but for some reason it just felt colder. The day started off with a nice hot shower, and it was so necessary. Then it was into the pool, which for the first time in a while felt warm — but only because it was so cold outside.
It was nice to have a group of kids working out today — Pat Sullivan and Sean Heffernan were among those who were back in the pool. It was a pretty chill recovery day for me. I did different kinds of things to loosen up the muscles. I started with 10 150s, split by 100 swim/50 kick and then 100 kick/50 swim. Then I just went down and did 25 breast followed by 15 bobs.
Bobbing is something I did a while ago, and is basically a breath-control thing. I go under the water, blow out all my air then come back out for one breath before going back under.
After that, I did a 25 free and I was done.
Seems pretty simple, right? Well that’s because it’s time for Jeff to start kicking my butt again. He said something I hadn’t really thought of. If this whole project ended right now, I could look back and say it was a success. I mean, look at the chart underneath this post. I’ve dropped nine pounds; I’ve dropped two inches off my waist. My body fat percentage is down at least three percent, probably more. (Sorry, I just haven’t had time to go to Gold’s Gym to get it measured and I got a ticket last time I tried to do it because no one was available for the measurement … so at some point tomorrow I’ll walk over and do it. I promise!) My 50 freestyle time is as fast as the fastest ribbon I could find from the age of 15 or 16 — though I don’t have any from when I was 17 or 18.
So, pretty much, I’ve gotten back pretty much to where I was. Well, plus about nine more pounds … haha.
But now it’s about raising the bar. And, as Jeff said, that means more work and harder work.
I’ll start doing more distance; I’ll start more intense training. It’ll hurt. I’ll be tired. I’ll probably hate it at times. But when you want to get better, when you want to get faster, that’s what you’ve got to do. And I’ve got numbers in my head that I want to accomplish by the October and November meets. So basically, I’ve been at this for about six weeks and now phase one is complete. I’ve got six more weeks until the first meet and that phase begins tomorrow.
Let’s get to work.
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- TBD
Aug. 17: Weight- 186, Waistline- 35, BMI- 26.7, Body Fat Percentage- 14.5
Aug. 24: Weight- 185, Waistline- 35, BMI- 26.5, Body Fat Percentage- TBD
Aug. 31: Weight- 184, Waistline- 34, BMI- 26.4, Body Fat Percentage- TBD
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.
it was good to be back in the water and i’m glad to see your still working hard paul keep it up!