28 November 2021 I live in a place that is literally called "Snow Valley," so I shouldn't be surprised when it is almost December and the snows have started. Today's seems to be a gentle steady flow all day. The accumulation doesn't look all that great in my picture from inside the warm and completely empty LA Fitness pool, but I'm pretty sure that, by tomorrow morning, I'll be breaking out the snowblower before my Monday morning swim. I'm not sure if it's the snow, holiday

21 November 21 Either one of my whopping 8 unique visitors to my hothouse post works for LA Fitness, or they're finally choosing to save some electricity dollars, but the water was almost comfortably cool today. As promised to myself, I repeated my 400 IM test set and my 400 kick for time workout from last Saturday, making improvements on both. Warmup (1,750 yards) 1 x 400: IM kick-drill by 25s 4 x 100: on 1:20, free descend w/snorkel, 1:12, 1:10, 1:07, 1:03+ 4 x 100: on 1:4

19 November 2021 I had grand ambitions during this past week of business travel to get over to a couple of workouts with a great Masters team, but couldn't muster the combination of motivation to do the drive and work logistics to make those happen. I still managed add another pool, though, before heading out of DC and feel like I hit the jackpot with this architecturally beautiful and swimmingly-wonderful facility, the Deanwood Recreation Center: The pool as you see it was

17 November 2021 Though I had grand plans to go to an evening Masters workout on Tuesday at a new pool in the greater DC area ... I again fell prey to ... well ... my extreme dislike of working out in the evening! So, I felt I had to make it up to myself this morning with a longer workout at the wonderful Arundel Aquatic Center. I started with my traditional 1,750 yard long warmup: 1 x 400: IM kick-drill 4 x 100: on 1:20, descend with snorkel 4 x 100: on 1:45, IM kick on my

14 November 2021 I flew into DCA mid-afternoon today ahead of about a week of meetings at the company HQ, but wanted to grab a swim (and a new pool) before heading out to my Airbnb in Annapolis. Conveniently less than 10 minutes from the airport is the LA Fitness - Arlington, boasting not only 4 lanes, but the rarest of rarities across LA-Fitness-land, a digital pace clock! As you can see, the corporation still can't afford ratchets to tighten the lane ropes, but this water

13 November 2021 While I did make a paltry attempt to race in a pool event this summer, the last time I raced with some actual training under my belt was at the end of February 2020 at the Thornhill Masters' great Stephen Forsey invitational, which will hopefully return in 2022. I am very excited to say that, a month from now, I should be basking in the post-race endorphin glow after competing in the New England LMSC Short Course Meters Championships in Worcester, Massachus

9 November 2021 Lately, I've been trying to apply cognitive reframing to certain areas of my life, to see if a simple shift in my perspective, my outlook, my expectations could make for more overall positivity in my life. As I got all het up sweating through my 3 x 300 test set at my local LA Fitness this morning, I decided to reframe my attitude around LA Fitness's "hot tub" approach to pool temperatures. Here's where I ended up: Normally, I prefer pools to be heated or coo

5 November 2021 I had been dragging lately in my workouts, then got waylaid over the last week by a massive pain in my neck that seemed to radiate through my lower back and right shoulder. I was at the point where I couldn't really turn my neck and swimming anything other than backstroke was painful ... because I also had pulled something in my hamstring/groin area which made breaststroke not possible. I was feeling like a mid-50 year old man and not liking it, After a numbe