On Endings

January 14, 2009: The First Day of The Rest of Our Lives

Then:

Now:

What a difference a day makes.

We all arrived safely back in Oberlin last last night without even any flight delays. After a full day of swimming and travel we were simply beat, so we all went back to our dorm rooms, apartments, and houses to sleep off the trip. Thankfully Mark Fino, being as weary as the rest of us, decided to give us today off.

It's amazing how quickly life returns to normal (or whatever amounts to it at Oberlin). Waking up in a room that I've seen one night in the past three weeks didn't even faze me, nor did walking across the frozen tundra of North Quad and Wilder Bowl to get to Dascomb for lunch. It all seemed pretty normal. In a few days the only reminders of Florida will be our gloriously tan bodies and the aches that those bodies give us when we try to swim.

Tomorrow it will be back to work with a new practice schedule, a pool that we've heard hasn't had its heater on in a while, and cold and snow to enjoy on the trek to practice instead of sunny, musical car rides.

So what, in the end, was the trip for? Several of my fellow swimmers have expressed the sentiment that the trip was an enjoyable experience, and in the end, I think it really was. Sure, the swimming was extremely rough, but it's not like we would have been worked any easier back in Oberlin. But we did get to relax in the sun, bond with our fellow swimmers, and generally enjoy being at 80 degrees in January.

At the end of Florida (and throughout Winter Term) everybody on a team gets just the tiniest bit sick of seeing each each other all day, every day. But at the same time, all that time together allowed us to bond as a team. There are stories to tell about this trip that I haven't had the time to tell (like when Corey, Jake, and Johnny took a kayak out without paddles and capsized at least three times), stories that I probably shouldn't repeat on this blog, and probably tons of stories that I don't even know about. It's all these shared experiences that bring us together and truly make us a team.

So Florida is just another of those experiences. It's tiring, it hurts. But Mark Muthersbaugh may have put it best driving to our last practice (and his last Florida practice ever):

"You know, we're all bitching about Florida. But you know we'll all be back next year."

See you next year.

Total Yards Swum: 0. And Counting.

A few notes on the blogging experience:

-Thanks to everyone who has been reading and pointing out my mistakes. I usually type out my entries as mostly stream-of-consciousness works and therefore am prone to making typos and errors. Luckily, my fellow swimmers and readers, being all bright people, are quick to call me out on these mistakes, from my simply forgetting "the"s and "of"s to more substantial mistakes like describing short-course swimming as being 25 meters (we actually do 25 yards) or over-exaggerating the feats of our alumni friend Fred Bobb (who has written to tell me that he swims three times a week, not the twice a day that I had him at. Still very impressive).

-Speaking of Fred Bobb, Scott sent me the picture of him and the Oberlin breastrokers before our big race:

Jebran, Fred, Me, Mike, and Bud proving that breastrokers are awesome.

-My dad has been making very interesting Google Maps from the meterage markers I've been giving out at the end of each blog entry. The final map can be found here. The rings are centered on the pool at Founder's Park and go out for each measurement I gave here in this blog. It looks like we made it a good third of the way to Cuba!

-To any readers who have read this blog and wanted to get into swimming or learn to swim (which I think is the wrong lesson to pick up), I know Oberlin College offers swim lessons at Phillips Gym. Other then that ask around at your local YMCA (where I learned to swim) or swimming pool during the summer. Chances are they have lessons programs or a swim team of their very own.

-As for me, I've work to do. Not done with Winter Term just yet. Probably later today I'll start another blog for the remainder of Winter Term, which will be less focused then this one. (Translation: Less swimming and more swears.) I'm flip-flopping about whether to post the link here: if all the nice parents and followers of my swimming want to read my rambling thoughts about nothing in particular, shoot me a line.

-Thanks are in order: Thanks to my family, my Mom and Dad, and Peter and Stephanie, who are always wildly encouraging of my stupid ideas. Thanks to my fellow swimmers who make swimming bearable. Thanks to my roommates: Chris, Jebran, Jon, and Nick, who lived with, slept with, watched TV with, massaged with, and most importantly fed me this past week. Thanks to all the seniors and coaches who drove us around in Florida, especially Mark, who probably should have kicked me out of the Kia a few times. Thanks to the nice people of Tavernier, Islamorada, and Key Largo, who put up with more then they deserve, and thanks to the people at Ocean Pointe Suites and Founder's Park who had us for a week. Thanks to Mark Fino for suggesting and supporting this blog, and mostly thanks to all the readers and commenters.

On The Extreme Temperature Shift

January 13, 2009: Training Trip Day 8

So we done.

I am currently sitting at the gate in the Ft. Lauderdale Airport waiting for flight to Atlanta, where we will transfer to a flight back to Akron/Canton (which will most likely be delayed due to inclement weather conditions, which we will discuss).

This morning we did our traditional end-of-Florida set, a challenge set of decreasing 100s. We start with 3 on 1:45, then drop and do 3 on 1:40, then 3 on 1:30, and so on. It's not the roughest set because when you get too tired to swim you just stop. But there's still some mental effort required.

We were sitting on the deck waiting for the kids with more endurance then us to finish when Sarah Cassella made a very profound observation. This morning we were sitting outside in our bathing suits enjoying the warmth and in less then 24 hours we would be back in Oberlin, dressed in multiple layers, and still freezing our butts off.

Since my mind is currently consumed with traveling, I'll wait until we get back into the freezing cold to wrap up this blog and deliver my final thoughts on the whole training trip expierence.

Hopefully we won't be trapped in Atlanta.

Completely Total Meters: 70,680 (+meet)

On the Wrapping up of a Trip

January 12, 2009: Training Trip Day 7

-We are not the only swim team staying at our hotel. This fact was driven home yesterday afternoon when our own Laura Fries, while wandering from room to room looking for some dish detergent, accidentally walked into the open door of the guys from another school! This fact was really driven home a few hours later when Shira Korn, looking for people to hang out with, wandered into a room and complained about the lack of cleanliness, especially the pizza box on the floor. This room, of course, belonged to guys from the other team.

Almost there...

This morning, Mark Fino decided to give us the 'last long set' of Florida. This set consisted of swimming freestyle (with the option of various toys) in the following meterage configuration: 800, 600, 400, 200, 600, 400, 200, 400, 200, 200. For those unwilling or unable to do the math, that adds up to a 4000 meter set, which is in layman's terms "a long set".

Of course, at this point in time, we were not really in the shape or mood to do a long set. Since we were able to use toys, I was able to make it through the set pulling with paddles, which afforded me some more rest at the cost of completely destroying my arms for the rest of the day. It's those little trade-offs that keep things interesting.

But the time for keeping things interesting has almost run out, hasn't it? Early tomorrow afternoon we'll be leaving the warm weather and long pools of Key Largo to embark on our long airplane journey up north to return to the cold (and I've been told snow) of Oberlin.

There are a few difficulties concerning returning to Oberlin. The first of course concerning the current state of our rooms. For the last week we've been living in, messing up, filling up with food and subsequently emptying out with food the hotel rooms that we've been living in. While we've been keeping them in relatively good shape (Mark Fino relayed to us the horror stories of Spring Break hotel patrons), we've still been, ya know, living in them. Which is enough for 5/6 college students to create a pretty substantial mess to clean.

The next, of course, is packing. Our old 'friend' returns to haunt us one last time for this trip. Extra fun in this packing spree is putting our wet swimming stuff back into the same bag as our dry clothing.

Then there is the trip itself. I may do another photo entry, but I'm considering just writing a wrapup after our long day of travel. We'll see.

Almost Completely Total Meters: 58,160 (+meet)

ps: Jordan looks great in her bikini
pps: Shira looks great in everything

On Alumni and Life After Swimming (if we make it that far)

January 11, 2009: Training Trip Day 6

I managed to leave my room and the NFC divisional game (even Mark Fino came over because we have HD) to make this blog update because I care so much about you, the reader.

-Illness update: Thanks to the magic of medication, I have my head cold under a fair amount of control and (hopefully) will be able to get rid of it in a few more days (just in time to leave Florida!). There are only a few problems left with this stupid cold. The first is that whatever leftover mucus is busy collecting itself in my throat and constricting my breathing. Let me tell you, swimming while you're coughing out phlegm trying to get a full breath is pretty much the complete opposite of fun. The other good news that this cold provides is that I've started hearing complaints from my teammates that they're catching what I have. I guess that the team that sticks together sicks together.

-I've been hearing a lot of positive feedback about the blog. Although we have a small time/place window for receiving wireless, the other swimmers have been giving me a good amount of feedback and I've heard through the grapevine that we've got some swimmers' parents and other college-affiliated people reading. Thanks a lot!

-Finding a radio station to listen to down here in Key Largo is sometimes difficult. I'm pretty sure that my standard traveling vehicle, the golden Kia with the slightly risqué name driven by Mark Muthersbaugh, has some sort of radio deficiency like a chopped-off antenna or something, because we are constantly getting fuzzy reception (although maybe the problem is listening to a station that purports to be radio for "Key West and Cuba"). While the drivers with fancier vans get satellite radio (among other perks like in-van TV and a little screen that shows what's behind you), we have to obey the whims of the capricious radio gods, which sometimes leads to impromptu car dance parties.

So.... yeah, anyways,

Last night we had a pleasant little surprise. Not a pleasant surprise on the "practice is cancelled" level, but still a nice one. Fred Bobb, Oberlin '79, came by to see our practice and do a little swim-off. Since Fred is a breaststroker, he swam me and the three other Oberlin breaststrokers (Bud, Jebran, and Mike) in a short little fun 50-meter race. While we beat Fred, he certainly gave us a run for our money.

We got to talk to Fred a little bit before the race and learned a few very interesting things (not least that he's reading the blog: Hi Fred!). He's still swimming twice a day, and involved in Masters swimming (even making qualifying times for Nats!).

Thinking about Fred makes me think about my own future with swimming. I've been swimming since I was 6, so I've got 15 years of competitive swimming behind me and only one more to go. Will I continue to swim like Fred did? Probably not.

With all of my bellyaching about how rough swimming is and how much it sucks, I wonder if I'll miss it. People I talk to that stopped swimming after high school or who have graduated college always say they miss swimming (though usually with the qualification that they don't miss the practices).

Will I swim for recreation or exercise? I'll probably need the exercise to keep in shape, but I'm dreadfully unmotivated on my own. Even though swimming is a great exercise for older people or those young people that already have joint issues (thanks to swimming), I don't know if I will find the time in my life after Oberlin.

Sometimes that makes me sad. But other times I remember what swimming has put me through (with stuff like this week) and I'm not too concerned about giving it up.

Speaking of this week, only four practices left!

Total Meters Gone: 46,240 (+meet)

On the Burning of Fishes

January 10, 2009: Training Trip Day 5

A few notes before the meat of this entry:

- Our nice beach dinner last night hit a slight snag: Mark Fino didn't realize that the park that we were planning on grilling at (about 15 minutes walking distance from the hotel) closed at sundown. Those of us lucky enough to walk to the park were met by cars right at the end of the walk, picked up, and driven back to the hotel. To Mark Fino and the seniors' credit, we did eventually get to have a nice dinner on the beach. It was just a little later then we were hoping for.

- Before each practice we either do static stretches (consisting of just standing in a static position and stretching) or active stretching, which involves "funny walk" and "butt slaps". "Funny Walk" is a long-stepping walk with waving, outstretched arms that attempts to be an efficient way to stretch but ends up looking like something out of a Monty Python sketch. "Butt slaps" involve placing your hands over their glutes and walking in a way that lets your feet hit against your hands. Both of these look so ridiculous, especially when performed as a group, that those of us obsessed with the BBC/Discovery Channel series Planet Earth have begun comparing them to animal mating rituals, which helps take our minds off our work.

Speaking of work,

Yesterday I was anticipating a nice relaxing afternoon and evening and then for us to get slammed with something difficult today.

I hate it when I'm right.

This morning we arrived to the pool (after Mark Fino and our injured swimmers got there even earlier to run around Founder's Park) and were told to get in early. Getting in the pool early is never a good sign.

So we did our warmup, then an easy warmup set, and then Mark Fino told us that we would be doing Fishburn today.

Well poop.

Fishburn, to those of you who are unaware of it, is a 3500-total meter set that involves a decreasing of repetition with an increase in yardage and speed. We start with 5 100's on an easy time, then do 4 200's on a faster time, then 3 300's, 2 400's, and 1 500's. No rest between, of course, that would be too easy.

The trick is that each portion's time increases at a set rate. For example, on my interval, the 100s were on 1:45, an easy time, and the 200s increased by 1:10 to be on 2:55, a time while still easy, is much less manageable. The problem is that an increase of 1:10 per 100 is difficult because 1:10 is an extremely fast time to swim a 100 in during practice.

Combined with the lack of rest between portions of the set and the constant need to increase or maintain speed, it's obvious to tell why even Mark Fino admits that you're not supposed to make Fishburn.

So what's the point of a set that you're not supposed to make?

The traditional answer, of course, is that by continuing to persevere even in the face of insurmountable odds, that you can prove your own mettle and come out of the set stronger (well, not physically). By pushing yourself to make intervals that you have little chance of making, you're training your mind and body to push itself even when you're tired. This is, of course, little solace to you when you're swimming the set itself.

To me, Fishburn is itself a microcosm for the training trip practice experience. It's rough, it hurts, it basically sucks, and it feels like it will never end. But then you end, and you feel, while not not great, at least pretty alright about the whole thing. You realize what that work was for, and you realize why it was necessary.

And hey, only six more practices to go.

Total Meters Went: 36,420 (+meet)

P.S. After practice, we swam some relays against Boston College, in order to help them fulfill their training trip meet requirement. Boston College, being a larger school then Oberlin, had a larger team that handily beat us in the relays (with a few exceptions and some great racing!). The fact that we had just, you know, done Fishburn, deterred our bodies but not our spirits, because now we can say "We swim Fishburn for warmup!"

Just for fun, our practice today:

600 Choice
4 x 200 Drill/Swim by 50
3 x 300 Pull with Paddles @ 4:30
{5 x 100 Free @ 1:45/others}
{4 x 200 Free @ 2:55/others}
{3 x 300 Free @ 4:05/others}
{2 x 400 Free @ 5:15/others}
{1 x 500 Free @ 6:25/others}
10 x 50 Odds Kick/Even Drill
Relays w/ Boston College

On Meets

January 9, 2009: Training Trip Day 4

The poorly-kept secret of training trips is that they are not, technically speaking, training trips. NCAA regulations state that if a team is going to travel somewhere, they have to do so because of a meet.

So today, still at Founder's Park, we had our meet.




The meet is a nice little break from the intense practices we've been having, although we still of course have to put our best effort forth because well, a meet is a meet.

Swimming against us were the Colorado College Tigers, a team just arriving for their own training trip. The Tigers were very evenly matched against us, with many good races. While both the Oberlin Men's and Women's teams won their meets, we did so mostly by the depth of our team: Colorado could only field one relay per relay event and rarely could fill their portion of the eight-lane pool.

That is, of course, not to count out our own contributions. While, of course, individual results varied, on the whole the team put forth an incredible amount of effort, especially considering that we've been getting worn down by practices for the past few days. I personally surprised myself by the amount of effort I was able to put forth, with my cold and my state of being worn down I expected to be floundering in the water like a drowning child. Instead, I put up some times that maybe would be impressive if I had any idea what good long-course meters times were.

A few of our swimmers' parents even made it down to see the meet, which was an extremely nice gesture. It's always good to have support from the sidelines, whether it's in the cold of an Oberlin Winter or the warmth of a Flordia... winter.

Another positive thing about this day is because of the meet (and Mark Fino's generosity), we only have the meet today, no evening practice. With that added relaxation and rest, and the Traditional Senior-made dinner taking place on the beach, it should be a pleasent evening.

And then we'll go back to practicing.

Final Meet Scores:

Women: Win, 122.5-103.5
Men: Win, 107-97

Total Meters: 29,920 (+meet)

Meet Pictures

Photobucket Album