Coach Jeff King's pre-swim talk today was about it being Fly Day...except for Paul Tenorio, a.k.a. 'The Gimp.' (Photo by Paul Tenorio/The Washington Post)
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I’m not a big fan of doctors but I went yesterday to get the stupid lump checked out and got the all clear on the x-ray. Doctors weren’t quite sure what it was but the consensus of the two doctors that came in for a looksee was that I caught an abscess early on. So they put me on antibiotics and gave me a pain killer and it was back to practice this morning.
Jeff announced early on that today was going to be Fly Day which made me just shake my head, but it turns out he wasn’t really ready to have me do fly with the lump still on my arm. So I ended up just testing out my arm with 10 50s of free, gave him the go ahead and then started my set.
Today I think the point of the workout was to get used to warming up your body with a race in mind. Here’s how it broke down:
Three 100s back
Three 100s breast
Three 100s free (descending)
Two 100s back
Two 100s breast
Three 75s free (descending)
One 100 back
One 100 breast
Three 50s free (race)
Unfortunately, as has been established here, I am horrible at breastroke. I think it is an evil stroke and I dislike the person who invented it. So I never got to the very last section of that set before Jeff pulled me out of the water to work on racing and starts.
My backstroke wasn’t exactly fast either, but man am I slow at breastroke. I was glad the people next to me were doing a lot of underwater kicking so they wouldn’t see my lame attempts at breaststroke — especially when I was on that third 100 or fifth 100 of it. I was tired, cranky and slooowwww.
(I was cranky because my brother’s JV football game last night went until 10:15 and I didn’t get to bed until 11. Seriously, how can a JV game last that long? That should be illegal. On the positive side, he bounced back from a rough first half and helped lead his team to a comeback win. Starting quarterback. Pretty impressive little bro.)
So after finishing up with the set I went over to the blocks and worked on starts and breakouts. Basically the set broke down like this:
25 drill
25 sprint, start off block
25 breath control
25 sprint, start off block
100 kick
My problem with starts right now is that I have so much going through my head and I feel like when I focus on a few things I forget something else. The things I’m thinking about include: keeping my head down, keeping my streamline tight over my head, start kicking right away, keep legs tight and together on the start, kick them out so you enter smoothly and don’t ‘hug’ your arms around on the start.
I think I’ve had one start in the last three days that I felt was perfect, but I feel like the more I work on it the better chance I have of perfecting it.
I’m excited for the weekend and for Monday’s Cold Chinese Buffet. It’s going to be a reunion of sorts, and I’m pumped for the experience.
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.
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How was the Chinese? Sounded interesting, but was not enough enticement to get my age group afternoon swimmer to Lee District in the a.m.
Have you watched “Meatballs” yet?…when your head is full and you’re starting to freak out about all the stuff you’re trying to remember – just remember, it just doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter, it just doesnt matter. Just worry about one thing at a time when you’re doing your starts – once that aspect becomes pretty automatic then move on to thinking about something else.