Swim practice, October 10

Swim workout in 25-yard pool with triathletes, overseen by Coach Kelvin:

• warm-up: 50 yards freestyle x 2 = 100
• 25 yd.: flutterboard x 2 = 50
• freestyle, 50, 100, 200, 100, 50 = 500
• freestyle, 50, 50 x 2, 50 = 200
• cool-down, 50 yd. breaststroke, 50 yd. sidestroke = 100

Total: 950 yd. or 855 metres.

Exercising

It’s increasingly clear that to feel good and be healthy, a person has to get some exercise. I’m trying to add some more activities to my modest mix of swimming a couple of times a week and doing Pilates once most weeks. I would like to add regular walking and regular bike rides, at least until the snow is on the ground. By that time my walking should be jogging or running. And I can switch to an indoor bike trainer. There’s also contra dancing about three times a month, for the price of a movie and a snack. Indeed, there are other regular opportunities for folk or country dancing.

That’s one of the things I like about Toronto: whatever you like, you can find people to do it with.

I probably won’t be keeping detailed notes here the way I do with swimming. But in the background, I hope to be working out more. I’ve made a modest start with a very slow bike ride of about 14 km (9 miles) this weekend, in the Don Valley.

Swim practice, October 3

Swim workout in 25-yard pool, overseen by Coach Kelvin:

• warm-up: freestyle, 50 yd. x 1, 100 yd. x 1 = 150
• body core rolling, 25 yd.: 1, 2, or 3 rolls per breath x 6 = 150
• stroke improvement: underswitching drill, 50 yd. x 3 = 150
• stroke improvement: 3 strokes, glide, breathe, 50 yd. x 6 = 300
• stroke improvement: 3 strokes, x 3, glide, breathe, 50 yd. x 2 = 100

Total: 850 yd. or 765 metres.

Pilates lesson

It’s back to Pilates, and a good thing, too: I was getting stiff. We did a lot of body core exercises. We raised and lowered our legs. I tried to learn to relax my back and thigh joints while holding my legs up. We curled and uncurled on the floor. We twisted from side to side through the ribcage, without moving our hips. We lay on our sides and swung our legs back and forth.

Swim practice, September 24

Swim workout in 25-yard pool, overseen by Coach Kelvin:

• warm-up: freestyle, 50 yd. x 2 = 100
• kicking with flutterboard, 25 yd. x 4 = 100
• freestyle concentrating on kicking, 50 yd. x 3 = 150
• body rolling and breathing, 50 yd. x 4 = 200
• freestyle for cardio, concentrating on kicking, 200 yd. x 3 = 600

Total: 1150 yd. or 1035 metres.

DRS World Conference, 2008

Tacoma Narrows Bridge II

One of my first fun groups on the Internet was the Dead Runners Society. It’s a worldwide virtual running club discovered by LotStreetWiz. Through it we’ve made friends and acquaintances, learned more about other countries, met contacts on our travels, and even learned more about running and physical fitnesss training.

The DRS has evolved from a simple running club to a multi-interest group with regional subgroups such ad SOBER, the Southern Ontario & Buffalo Expired Runners, training specialities such as Tri-deads for triathlon training, and just plain hanging out for fun. Into the latter category falls the World Conference.

Here are a few notes about the 2008 DRS World Conference, which was held in Tacoma last June.

Swim practice, Septembarr 19

Swim workout in 25-yard pool, overseen by Coach Kelvin:

• freestyle warmup - the first time I did freestyle to warm up, 50 x 4 = 200
• stroke improvement: freestyle with catch drills, 50 x 4 = 200
• freestyle practising catch, 100 yd.
• cardiovascular training freestyle, 200 x 2 = 400

Total: 900 yd. or 810 m.

Concentrate on rolling hips instead of shoulders, bearing down on stroke, proper breathing.

Another Pilates season

It’s time to start another semester of Pilates training. Pilates is a stretch & strength system of exercise that concentrates on spinal flexibility and core muscle strength. It’s named after its inventor, Joseph Pilates, who went from being a sickly child with rickets to the model for anatomical illustrations because of his perfect body.

Pilates has become a popular form of exercise and the benefits are well known, so well known that I’m “borrowing” them from the Absolute Control Pilates site.

Benefits of Pilates:

• Develops longer, leaner muscles (less bulk, more freedom of movement)
• Improves postural problems
• Increases core strength/stability and peripheral mobility
• Helps prevent injury
• Enhances functional fitness, ease of movement
• Balances strength & flexibility
• Heightens body awareness
• Non-impact – easy on joints
• Can be customized for everyone from rehab patients to elite athletes
• Complements other methods of exercise
• Improves performance in sports (golf, skating, dance, etc)
• Improves balance, coordination & circulation

Swim practice, September 17

Swim workout in 25-yard pool, overseen by Coach Kelvin:

• warm-up: breaststroke 50 yd. x 2 + sidestroke 50 yd. x 2 = 200
• kicking with flutterboard 50 yd. x 2 = 100
• freestyle concentrating on arm movements 50 yd. x 5 = 250
• freestyle for cardio, negative splits, 100 yd. x 3 = 300
• cool-down: side stroke 50 yd. + backstroke 50 yd. = 100

Total: 950 yd. or 845 metres.

Wetsuit practice

Three of us took our wetsuits to the pool today, put them on, and swam in them. Andie looked very efficient and athletic, but she should probably get another suit with a little room for growth.

The session was partly to learn how to put the DeSoto suits on efficiently, partly to check the fit, and partly to practice swimming in them. My wetsuit is too tight: it took me about 40 minutes to put it on, and that was with getting into the water and trying to get some water between me and it. I don’t know if it was the wetsuit technology or my iron supplements, but I was consistently faster than usual.

Coach Kelvin supervised and gave us some easy workouts. Distance, about 500 yards.

Coach Kelvin