Easy Friday, Again!

Wow, can't believe I haven't been here since Monday. It was a pretty busy week, although not so busy that I had to comprimise my training. For the 2nd week in a row, I took an easy Friday.

First, if you haven't been here before, I'm a father of a child with Autism and I'm competing in the 2012 US Masters Swimming Summer Nationals, and raising money for the Ozark Center For Autism. Go here for my intro blog.

Last weekend I had a swim meet on Saturday night, so I didn't want to work myself into the ground on Friday and not be able to go fast the next day. This week is kind of the same thing. There is a large healthcare software company in Kansas City called Cerner. They invited the company I work for,

Burns & McDonnell to a mini-meet at Cerner's fitness center, a little practice meet for the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. This would have been a pretty laid back deal, and I wouldn't do much to prepare for it. In fact last year I got there late, and got in and raced with out warm-up. I dove in dry for a 50 breast! (Don't ever, ever do that!!) This year, I got an email from one of their guys, Chris Musfeldt, who wanted a race or two to help him prepare for a meet he has coming up. He is a really good breaststroker, so I'm going to need my 'A game' to give him the challenge he needs. I'm really kind of excited about it.

Now, if you have never heard of the KC Corporate Challenge, go back to the above paragraph and click the link to check it out! It started over 30 years ago, and has gotten bigger and better every single year. This year there are 176 companies participating, will certainly be upwards of 10,000 participants. It is amazing for building team work, boosting moral, and more importantly, promoting health and fitness amongst employees. If you are in KC, encourage your employer to get involved. If not in KC, some other cities have started something similar. None are as big, or nearly as cool as KC, but it has to start somewhere!

Here is how my training has gone since Monday:

Tuesday; I had a really sore knee (probably from Monday's workout). My plan was to have a good swim workout, but not push my knee, and hope it loosens up. Mission accomplished!

5/15/2012
Qty	Meters	Interval	Total Mtrs
6	200		1200	Stroke	SKDS
6	150		900	50 Free Swim, 50 Stroke Kick, 50 Stroke Swim
1	200		200	Easy
12	125		1500	Odds are 25Free25Stroke25Free25Stroke25Free
			0	Evens are 25Stroke25Free25Stroke25Free25Stroke
1	200		200	Cool Down
			0
			4000	Meters
			2.485485	Miles

Wednesday: Time for another gym workout. My legs were still very sore from Monday's workout, especially my hamstrings. I found a couple of workouts in my Workout Trainer app that were easier on the legs, and really worked the upper body and core. I did Muscle Memory, and Ab Bootcamp. Great workouts. Chest, shoulders, back, abs, all were feeling it after that.

Thursday: A good I.M. workout. It started out slow, and stayed that way until the last swim, where I moved out of the "wall lane". Things seemed much easier, and faster when I moved towards the middle. Now I'm thinking that lane is worth about 5 seconds per hundred, and my bad workouts that I've had ever since they changed the pool format really weren't as bad as I thought.

5/17/2012
Qty	Meters	Interval	Total Mtrs
1	800		800	Warm Up
12	50	1:05	600	Stroke	Kick
			0	4 Fly, 4 Back, 4 Brst
3	200	3:20	600	I.M.	Swim	Tchnq
			0
8	75	1:30	600	Odds;FlyBackBrst
			0	Evens;BackBrstFree
6	100	1:50	600	I.M.	Swim	Dcnd 1-3
1	100		100	Easy
1	200		200	I.M.	Swim	For Time	2:47
1	200		200	Cool Down
			0
			3700	Meters
			2.299073	Miles

And then of course, like the blog title says, and easy swim this morning. Have a great weekend. If the races with Chris go well, I'll let you know how it turned out. If not, you might not hear about it!