Some pictures of some of my teamates at the SPMA Regionals meet

Dan Leonard is hungry off the start and effective in the drink. Dan has a fast butterfly and a really strong catch. He swam a lot of events today but he actually had the gall to laugh in my face when I requested that he be my lap counter and a bell-ringer when it was time for me to do the 50 fly. I should have drawn a mustache on his photo. Click on the image to see a larger version.

I swim with Mike occasionally at Santa Monica College and every now and then at LMU. His heart is a like a steam engine and he is formidable in all the strokes. Here he is off the blocks in the 100 Breast and I believed he ribboned or medaled. Click on the image to see a larger version.

This is what your blogger looks like with a fresh sunburn, before a shave, and the sun in his eyes. Just before I took this photo Dan ordered me to pick up my pink ribbon for finishing sixth in my 50 fly. I had no idea I placed until he told me to acknowledge the three points I scored for the team. How ironic that the event I am the most inefficient in would be the only event that I would actually get a ribbon for. Click on the image to see a larger version.

SCAQ VNSO Swim Workout: I tried Lauren Matthewson's flip-turn tonight

Well, it appears Lauren Matthewson will still be the only swimmer in the United States doing that innovative and amazingly fast turn.

Let it be known that I have an anemic kick. It has gotten a lot better but it is still far below the average. The only reason that I am a moderately good swimmer is due to my enthusiasm for the art of swimming and my love for water itself rather than any sort of intrinsic talent. In my age group I finish in the middle-third when the final placings of a race are posted. In Open water I place in the upper third so basically that is where I am as a swimmer.

Tonight, I tried LMU swimmer, Lauren Matthewson's, innovative turn as noted below in the 'You Tube' video while swimming at VNSO tonight; (Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Pool). Though I was a little bit faster off the wall, it took up a massive amount of my oxygen store to accomplish. Since my kick was weak the advantage obtained is negated by my body going lactic much more quickly. Maybe I could integrate it into a 50 Free but I need a solid kick first.

If you have a strong backstroke kick, I recommend hooking up with Bonnie Adair and doing a turn-clinic with her. (Be sure you donate to LMU after learning the dark arts of a superior turn.)

IM workout at VNSO:

3 X 200's Free warm up

This set done 2 times through:

1 x 100's Fly/Free by 25s @ 1:40
1 x 100's Back/Free by 25's @ 1:40
1 x 100's Breast/Free by 25's @ 1:40

This set done 2 times through:

1 x 150's Fly/Free by 50's @ 2-something (Mark like he was a seeing eye dog tonight)
1 x 150's Back/Free by 50's @ 2-something
1 x 150's Breast/Free by 50's @ 2-something

150 warm down.

I sprinted a 50 under 30 to make sure I was ok.

Pentathlon at Cal Tech this weekend and I screwed up.

I forgot to send in my SPMA Masters Association thingy and $37.00 with it. Hopefully they will take it along with my deck entry but knowing my luck they won't and they will tell me what a miserable failure, a loser, and how much I suck anyways at backstroke and butterfly.

I am so not prepared! If they do let me in I think I will only do the fly, the free, and the IM. My backstroke is so bad that when I attempt it I look like I have a blood alcohol level of quintuple the legal limit. Oh well.

My fly on the other hand is much better. My strategy for the 50 is to start out slow and finish slower. At least I love doing it despite that if I was any slower I would be going backwards. BTW, I am the guy everybody is glad that had the courage to come and humiliate himself by swimming fly or back. This way even the elderly can brag that they beat somebody.

Here is a link to the Cal Tech Pentathlon: [Link]

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