18 posts tagged “swimming”

i love my wii. im borrowing a bunch of games from joe which are really cool, warioware, big brain academy, and mario party. i picked up house of the dead 2&3 which i have always loved, and it remains a good port. also, it hurts my wrist from keeping my hand tilted for hours on end. i didnt pick up the wii zapper because it looks bulky and dumb.

graphic design is going well i suppose. the visual arts center chose my design and layout for the student art magazine they put out each year. i also entered an identity system in the student art show and won a prize. so maybe i have a chance to pick up that internship in new york?

now that swimming has calmed down, i feel less inclined to swim myself. instead ive started running and picked up a free weights routine. its all new for me, which is exciting. i kind of like running. i think its a good alternative to swimming because everyone runs, and no one except mark can keep up with me in swimming. so socially its better, which makes it much easier to call people up and work out. but unfortunately that also means that im not going to ever get back up to speed in the water. hmm.

the spoon show with the walkmen and white rabbits was pretty awesome. it was really well organized and the walkmen had a good set. spoon played for near two hours, it was... really long. as much as i enjoy spoon, that was a lot of time standing on my feet. you know what i wish they played though?

06 Sister Jack

so last week i walked into a target to pick up some random things and saw a wii just sitting around, so i bought it. its pretty awesome. i picked up smash bros with it, and im loving that. i just wish my friends were more nerdy so they would join in my electronic excitement. they werent even interested in the fact that i have all the playable characters.

so if you havent heard about muxtape, go ahead and check mine out! its a really neat, simplistic site that takes mixtape sharing to a bigger level. make your own and leave me the address!

during march, i spent most of my time away from my house. the first two weekends, i was out of town doing swim stuff. senior champs at uva, and age group champs at gmu (manassas). that was pretty good, except for the whole respiratory distress thing going on –spending four days on a pool deck really kills your lungs. it makes you all snotty and congested and generally a mess. they just dont account for prolonged exposure when they do ventilation. fortunately it was super nice outside during age groups so they kept the doors open which was a huge help. anyways, during senior champs, i managed to do ok. 23.00 in the 50 free, 51.00 in the 100 free. nice, even times. not as fast as i should be, or could be, but you know; its alright for the amount of practice i do. id like to say that im happy with those times, but im really not.
as far as accommodations went, the motel we had in charlottesville was pretty crappy; but the hotel in manassas was really nice. like, totally makes up for charlottesville and having to work that weekend nice. and when i got back home, i went to house-sit for jay who went to junior nationals in florida. i crashed at his place for two weeks basically. it was long enough for me to take my computer over there. but im pretty partial to my computer.

now im back in my house, and its kind of ... annoying. not that i actually spend lots of time here, but still. i guess ill just have to pass the time playing wii :)

just got back from hillsborough, nc. its a small town outside the triangle that has little to offer. but, it does have a pretty sweet sports complex that combines an ice skating rink with an 11 lane competition pool and 3+ lane warm pool. so in fact, it may be even better than most suburbs. but, theres still not much there besides that. i was in charge of driving, so in our off time we took a scenic exploration of the area but were unable to find anything of real interest. we were mostly in search of food, and though they have a walmart and some chain fast foods, there werent any local eateries except for this one place that was a swim meet sponser, vinny's. it was pretty good, fresh sauces, i dont think there were fresh pastas, maybe the ravioli and lasagna, but all in all, just a good local italian place. of course, to get there, it was a short trip from the hotel using two lane roads through the wilderness of north carolina. i did drive into durham, but it was only to scout for food, and we didnt get very far because we were starving so we hit the first reasonable place we could find, only to end up at subway because of the wait. but yeah, maybe one day ill have better reason to go down there and see whats going on in terms of civilization.

overall, great meet. well organized, super effecient, highly effective meet staff. as for competition, there was a lot of mediocre ability with a few stand out stars. olympian chip peterson was there to swim against, as well as some of his college buddies (i assume). but mostly it was filled with normal kids in age and ability ranges. nothing our senior team and advanced team was unfamiliar with. as usual, i placed somewhere between fast and good. dropped a little bit of time, went a 1:57 in my 200 free, 23:7 in 50 free, and 51.7 in my 100 free. oddly, i tied with the person next to me in the 200, and then tied with him again in the 50 even though we werent in the same heat that time. in the 100 i blew away everyone in my heat for some reason, just by going my seed time. so, looks like my weekend warrior tradition continues to be an effective form of exercise. even without being a reasonable form of training. most of the kids did ok, they all dropped serious time in some things, and added in some other areas. but it was a fun meet, mostly because it was timed finals, so we didnt have to wait and come back for another swim, we were simply done by 11 (for seniors) and 3 (for 12 and unders). so we had some good chill time in which we did nothing and i was forced to supervise and babysit - sort of. most of the kids came with their parents, so i only had to really worry about a handful and even then, with their interaction with the chaperoned kids, they were limited to the trouble they could get into.

i desperately need a gps. i apparently cant go anywhere without getting completely lost. i forgot to make a post about new jersey and the swim clinic, but the only important story about that trip was getting lost on the drive up.

so im driving my car with two passengers, the head coach and a kid, riding with me. everything is fine leaving virginia, all the way up the eastern shore and into maryland. we have a slight misguidance in delaware taking a small detour on the business route, but nothing that takes us out of our way or throws us off track. we cross from delaware into jersey, and upon landing on the jersey side of the bridge, we get lost. like, off the fucking grid lost. it happens so fast we dont even know were lost until the streetlights just disappear. we were using google map directions, and it was at hitting the jersey turnpike that things just got all sorts of messed up. well we work back to the turnpike and find our way back up to where we really needed to exit (28 miles later). so we get off at a more appropriate exit and are working our way through the directions and towards cherry hill when all of a sudden the highway dead ends into the delaware river (i assume). well, we must have just missed our turn, so ok; we uturn and try a different direction, trying to find the right street. well, that is just the wrong fucking street. we go from a touristy/business harbor straight into the ghetto in 2 blocks. and not only do we hit the ghetto, but we get stuck there. in trying to turn around, we end up on a dead end street that empties into nowhere. i have to uturn in the dirt shoulder to head back. we cross where we originally exited the highway and try the same street, other direction. well, this is more promising, we recognize the street names from gmaps, but its still not making much sense AND were still in the middle of the fucking ghetto driving further into it. we finally hit some major roads take them the wrong direction and since its jersey, have to drive for a few miles before we can make a turn to go the other direction because jersey has no left turns. well, we finally make it to the hotel; and we NEVER leave it. not really. there was a wegmans a little further down the street. we had to hit that as many times as possible before leaving. when we did leave, we were doing just fine until right before the delaware memorial bridge where the signs get all weird and we did a full cloverleaf because jersey was trying to SUCK US BACK INTO HELL.

and thats the story of the swim clinic in new jersey. this weekend i went to blacksburg. you know, the place where i lived for 4 years, and a place where ive driven to/from at least 12 times just this semester. well i was taking 460, and i got lost. i missed the exit from 85south to 460, and didnt realize it until i was in mecklenburg. granted, it was more because i woke up at 6 than being actually lost, but it added an extra hour plus to my drive time. also, i had to rummage through my glove compartment to find a map and figure out where the fuck i was and how i was going to get to blacksburg. fyi, i could have taken 58 straight out of suffolk and not driven through the chain of dead towns that is the trail to petersburg. is it weird that virginia has so many ___burgs? anyways, i took 58 from mecklenburg to danville to martinsville where i caught 220n up to roanoke. bam. back on track. it was actually a pretty nice drive once i woke up and the weather brightened.

moral: buy me a gps. or at least an ipod so i have music while im lost in the middle of nowhere.

so this weekend im heading up to new jersey for a coaching conference. its in cherry hill, so im totally going to check around for a white castle out of sheer love of the movie harold and kumar. so yeah. ill hopefully post tomorrow from school with some of my work stuff. and then im out for a while. take your scrabble turn and ill get to it on monday.

this weekend, if i decline my friends' requests to go to either nc or dc, will be the first weekend spent at home in 5 weeks. its been a pretty hectic fall semester; mostly filled with driving. i recently changed my oil, it had only been a month and a half, but i had driven about 10,000 miles. so it was a little overdue. but i mean, it was fresh prior to all the massive traveling so... hopefully no engine seizure.

last weekend i bussed down to the obx with the swim team for a training trip. i titled it "obx boot camp" and it was essentially a one day exercise fest. friday we split from virginia beach and got down there for some minigolf; and broke the 30 kids into two teams. saturday was the marathon, starting with a 6am practice, going straight into surfing in rough seas, and then a short trail run (3 mi). break for lunch, a few hours of mental training tips and repurposing, then back to the pool for the double. a stop at a strip mall for dinner and then back to the meeting room for group activity stuff. sunday we got up at a reasonable hour: 8:30, had the kids do some teamwork/bonding, and then i got to send them off on another run (5mi) before a short final swim practice and "waterpolo" game.

overall i enjoyed the trip, i guess. it seemed like i was mostly there to babysit the little kids who werent mature enough to focus on training; and when i was free, instruct the older kids. there was barely any time between events to talk and joke around with people because i spent a lot of my life and energy keeping kids from ruining the trip for everyone else. i dont know why some of the little kids (11-13) were on this trip, they didnt seem to get much out of it and they gave me a hard time with all their questioning our practice ideas and exercise routines and activities. not that they dont do it regularly at practice, but thats only 2 hours a day; these were long days just filled with it. it made it hard to stay upbeat and enthusiastic, that lasted all the way till lunch on saturday. i already talked about it all with jay and we decided to invite people or veto admission on the trip instead of leaving it an open event. at least i got to go surfing.

(because i have results of efforts in times. get it?)

summer is begining to close. i just got back from our last awards meet, senior champs at george mason university. it was pretty slack, we didnt have many kids entered into it since summer league divisionals was this weekend as well. and most people take off long course season anyways just because its summer. in any case, last weekend was swamped, i spent it all at midtown aquatic center in newport news for age group champs (formerly junior olympics).

i drove up thursday after morning practice and handled the mile freestyle, had all day friday off, and then worked the meet saturday and sunday. i was by myself all but today (sunday). for my day off, i was staying at my brothers and took some time to go to the national zoo. ive got so many pictures that ill make a separate post about it when i sort it all out. i like taking pictures of wildlife. its a big challenge to catch something instantaneous as well as work around all the environmental obstacles like cages and windows. ill explain it all later.

i swam everything i had cuts for, the 50m free and 100m free. long course is a huge problem for me since i never swim in a 50m pool, nor do i ever train with high endurance sets. well, i did as i was seeded in the 50m free, 26.7. you'll remember that i reached this time only a few weeks ago in maryland, and again in waynesboro. so no big surprise i didnt get any faster. i havent been training that much between all of that. but my 100m time dropped a full two seconds from 1:00.5 to 58.3! i actually had a strategy for swimming this one, i didnt know much about long course before this season, but its a whole lot more interesting because you have to understand how endurance works into the race as well as technique. i took to a new strategy of pacing out the first 25, sprinting the middle 50 with the turn and then gliding long into the last 25 trying to get as much out of my stroke as possible while im mega tired. seemed to work out ok considering i dropped time and placed first in my heat. however, i still finished 57/93. but thats not bad since all of these kids are in great shape and have been in good taper for this meet. the top 6 are heading to junior nationals, which is like 18&under olympic trials. its big. so competing with kids training for things like that makes me feel insignificant but proud that im not a complete failure.

so if youre ever interested, virginiaswimming.org has real time updates on meets. thus the title and joke.

IMG_8313

well, perhaps not "start."

ok, so in my previous entry, i mentioned i was going out of town on business; well im back, and ive got pictures! after picking up the vans and splitting the kids into "guys" and "girls + a 12 year old", we started out with a short stint in busch gardens on saturday afternoon, staying until close. i didnt get the chance to ride the new roller coaster, the griffin, but ive got a full season pass thing, so theres no rush. after walking around all night i drove the kids out to waynesboro; they pretty much all fell asleep during the 3 hour journey which was nice because i just listened to my music and drove like i would normally when i trek out to blacksburg. arrived at the motel around 1, had to wake up and get everyone out to the van by 9.

sunday was pretty much summed up by driving, swimming, and driving more. we made two trips to charlottesville for sightseeing and food, only to be disappointed twice. apparently jay, who loves uva, has no points of interest he would like our swimmers to note (not that they would actually listen to anything educational or trivial we had to say) and charlottesville did everything within its power to remind us that small college towns close down on sundays. as for food, i dont know how but over the past two years jay has managed to brainwash these kids to believe that gusburgers are the most delicious food ever produced by man. gusburgers, are a late night staple at the uva diner "the white spot," where they serve preformed beef patties with cheese and a fried egg on top. thats it. thats the big appeal of a gusburger, an egg. its really bland and highly unappetizing served up with a shred of lettuce on a bleached white enriched bun. although it may actually be just the nauseating atmosphere of a greasy hole in the wall diner not cleaned since it first opened. i just dont get it though. i understand how delicious it might be if i were a drunk college student stumbling back to campus, but for all these kids, it should be a gross statement about bad mom and pop diners in small towns. there are so many cool little eateries on the same street so close to campus, but 23/23 swimmers DESIRED to eat there. and normally we (as coaches) would not let them eat there (as nutrition and energy goes, burgers offer very little) but it is one of the promised places to visit on the roadtrip because it holds such high esteem in the minds of our children. and we were done with driving to charlottesville, so we just thought wed get it out of the way and cut our losses. oh yeah, in the afternoon we had our swim meet. i sprinted a 26.2 in the 50m free. yeah, its an open meet, so i just swam with the 15 and older group. i wasnt the only 23 year old though, my friend and colleague doug from TAC swam too (and beat me. once again).

monday was another swim meet day, but we got up extra early to drive out to wintergreen resort and swam in the mountains. nothing like some high altitude training to remind you what being out of shape is like. more meet stuff in the afternoon, then back out to wintergreen for some fun. they set up a bunch of things for the spring time including a minigolf course, a paintball course, and some random things. theres a 25 ft rockwall i scrambled up, and the two pictures to the left are of me doing a bungee trampoline. basically its like jumping extra high and with a slowed fall so you can ... jump. and do flips.

tuesday we woke up to swim the dreaded "monster set." its basically an 800 of fly, back, and breast, followed by an 800 IM. boring and exhausting, but a fitting end to a training trip. after that we drove to scottsville (a one street town that looks like an old western movie set with buildings all connected together lining the two lane road) where we went rafting and tubing on the james river. it was really slow moving and shallow, 1.5 mph and average depth of 4 feet. not really exciting. i think it would have been fun had there been more team interaction, but it was sort of "float and talk amongst your friends," and the kids in rafts pretty much took off and did their own thing. now we know for next time i suppose. so 3 hours in the sun later, we drove back home. i was super tired from staying up to make sure the kids were all in their rooms and then getting up early to kick them out of their beds, not to mention the grueling training i endured with them; so i was extra vigilant in staying awake on the drive back. its really scary to realize their lives are in your weak and feeble hands as you speed down the interstate in an extra tall, extra long rental van with poor handling.

but all in all, good trip. i learned everything i need to know about my kids and more. if i were to compare my memories of swim trips with what they did, i think id be jealous of the opportunities they have. im also sort of upset at their money handling habits, diet, and other basic lifestyle choices; but maybe thats just the responsibility in me rearing its over-inflated head.

for the past few days ive been trying really hard to find something to post about because i know i havent in a while. or at least it seems to have been an incredibly long time since ive posted anything significant.

To Kill a Mockingbird

but maybe this will do?
im reading to kill a mockingbird for the Xbillionth time. ok, maybe like the fourth or fifth? i really like it and sometimes ill just pick it up out of the blue and read. its like one of those comfort fall-backs.
but what i really should be reading is harry potter. i have to reread all of them. except half-blood prince; because i sort of neglected to read it X(  i know, blasphemous; but i just never got around to rereading the series to remember where everything was in order to read hbp. but with the movie coming out and me having a ton of free time, i suppose i no longer have legitimate excuses not to catch up /prepare.

anyways, to kill a mockingbird showed up the other day on one of my favorite blogs, passive agressive notes: in a found message.

Yoga for jocks routine with Tara Stiles

and while im sharing things, i started making the swim kids do these exact yoga stretches (no balance poses though) during our medicine ball exercises. have i yet mentioned that im taking a yoga class through school? yeah, exciting stuff. i love it, minus the fact that its a really fast paced class. i barely make it to some poses before we change over to something else. im not really sure why we run through routines so quickly, but it doesnt give me much time to work into things. i think my teacher is just abnormal like that. shes got this heavy-as-a-lead-elephant accent from russia or ukraine or something that makes it impossible for anyone to really understand what shes saying. we all just kind of look around and mimic what we see. but still, that corpse nap at the end is nice and meditative and awesome so i still enjoy everything.

umm. what else... i bought and watched the first two seasons of veronica mars? im sad it got cancelled it was a pretty good show. oh, and im going out of town this weekend all the way till like wednesday for work. its a training trip, so ill be driving a big 15 passenger van across virginia to wintergreen and waynesboro and stuff. we'll also be stopping by busch gardens williamsburg, im pretty psyched about that new rollercoaster the griffin.