Pools

Swimming .... this is not my strong point, although I enjoy it. Maybe I need to do more speed work, maybe I need to push myself harder. Either way I just know I need to somehow become faster. I could keep rambling, but hey I don't want this to turn into Sarah complain and wish she could magically become a better swimmer day.

So, anyhow I just realized that all three of my swim days are done at different pools. Which I think is pretty fun and is nice way to keep the scenery fresh. Ok well, I don't know if there is scenery in a pool, but all three pools are different lengths.

Pool #1 ~ Fairland Sports Complex, Laurel MD (25 meters)

This is actually my favorite pool. It is a 50 meter x 25 meter pool that is configured in 25 meter lanes. This really gives you a lot of lanes to swim in! So, the great thing about this pool is I always have a lane to myself!! Maybe it's because I swim here at 3:30 before coaching on Monday's and everyone else is still at work? My only complaint is the chlorine content is pretty high and I can still smell it on myself the next day.

Pool #2 ~ Eastern Market Pool, DC (25 yards)

This was once my beloved pool but they have crazy lane hours during the summer. I only swim here on Wednesday mornings now. And the mornings are busy! I think we had 6 people in a lane this morning. But the big plus about this pool is it's only about 5 blocks from my house. Come fall, I'm sure I will be spending most of my time here again.

Pool #3 ~ East Potomac Park's Pool, Haines Point DC (50 meters)

I am usually swimming here on Friday after work or Sunday afternoons. It's a great option for an outdoor pool and it's nice to swim long course once a week. Although it has some floating things in it which is kind of gross. Plus I have to ride my tank of a commuter bike to get down there which takes me forever!

And the greatest thing about all these pools... they are free for me to use :)

What's your favorite pool? Or do you swim at a bunch of different pools?

Happy Wed :)

3 Things Thurs:

1. Yesterday I was at the pool early at 6:45am. Well that's early for me since I usually don't swim in the morning. And to my surprise the pool at Eastern Market is pretty crowded in the morning. I'm kind of spoiled with the whole lane sharing thing since I usually swim from 4-5 and get a lane to myself. Or I swim at Fairland from 8:30-9pm and get the whole pool to myself. So anyhow I hopped in a lane with two other people and the lane sharing worked out great since we were all the same speed. The workout was a struggle for me though. I think I was half asleep and the water was rude to me when I jumped in. I set off to do 4 x 500 with 5 x 100 to finish up. By the third set of 500s my stomach was growling and I was hungry. Swimming while hungry = fail! But I did push through and finish.

 

I walked home changed into my running clothes and sat on my couch for 10 minutes while I stuffed my face with a granola bar and some fruit snacks. I was pretty tired and unmotivated to run, but out the door I went. All I had was 35 minutes of easy running and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, even though my legs felt heavy. I was happy to see my front door when I was done though :)

 

2. After riding 25 miles around haines on tues after work I get home to discover I couldn't get into our back gate! I don't keep my front door key on my back door key ring so I couldn't use the front door to get in our house. I waited for 15 minutes while my sweat began to freeze until M got home at 6. I figured he would have the front door key since somehow our back gate got locked even though we both rode? Weird?!?! M did have the key, but he never unlocked the chain from the front door so we couldn't get in. So, in the end I had to scale our fence anyhow to break into my own back yard :(

 

3. My dad is the best! Yesterday he went and took my car and got me two new tires! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

Happy Thurs all :)

7 Day Swim Challenge

I have been having a really hard getting myself to the pool lately ....

So, I set up a little challenge for myself to help get my booty to the pool. The challenge: swim 7 days in a row! It didn't matter what distance I swam, as long as I got in the water for the day. I was excited to get myself in the water the first day, but some of the days after that, I basically had to force myself to go. I could have easily just skipped a day because honestly who would know? The answer is: no one would know expect me. And I wasn't about to let myself down.

The 7 days went as follows:

12/11 ~ 2200 yards

* 400 warm up then 100-200-300-400-300-200-100 with a 200 cool down

* This was also my first time at Eastern Market pool on a Sunday and it wasn't  very crowded which is good to know

12/12 ~ 1650 meters

* swam this one straight as I only have a half hour in the pool after coaching since Fairland decided it would be a good idea to close their pool at 9 now. I got kicked out of the pool as usual.

12/13 ~ 2400 yards

* 200 warm up with 100-200-400-600-400-200-100 and 200 cool down

* My left shoulder issue started acting up again and my whole arm was numb making this swim a really beast to get through.

12/14 ~ 3000 yards

* 400 warm up then 1 x 1000, 4 x 200, 4 x 100 with a 400 cool down

* This is my longest swim to date :) It also helps that I wasn't held back by the usual pool closing time restrictions I always have to deal with.

12/15 ~ 1600 meters

* back to swimming after coaching so I had to swim this one straight again

12/16 ~ 2400 yards

* 400 w/u then 2 x 500, 5 x 200

* I felt really good during this swim despite not wanting to drag my ass to the pool on a Friday.

12/17 ~ 2200 yards

* 2 x 200, 1 x 1000, 4 x 200

* I actually thought about something else other than trying to remember what lap I was on. This in itself is amazing!

After Saturday's swim session I realized setting up a challenge and having a goal in mind really helped motivate me. With being the off season and no races to be training for this month, having this small little goal/challenge really gave a little bit more of a purpose to my sessions. I also realized that I have no clue what swim workouts should be or are suppose to be. I still label myself as a new swimming and I really have no clue what I'm doing.

Have you ever set yourself up a challenge? Did you stick with it ?

Happy Monday All :)

A New Pool

I do not have to work at gymnastics this week as we always give the kids this week off so that they can adjust back to their first week of school. You are probably wondering what does this really have to do with triathlons? Well, nothing really, except for the fact that I use the pool at Fairland to swim at after I'm done coaching. There was no way I was driving to Fairland this week (it takes me an hour in traffic) if I didn't have to. I certainly wasn't going to skip all my pool workouts for the week though, so I had a plan B... Wilson! Then I was on twitter yesterday morning and discovered Wilson is closed this week! I guess I'm glad I found out before I went up there because I would have been really mad if I rode the metro for a half hour for nothing. And come to think of it, Fairland is closed until 9/11 for maintenance, so I guess I will be swimming somewhere else for awhile.

So anyhow, my plan B was out as well... great.... but have no fear....I do not give up that easily! I went onto the DC department of parks and recreation website to look up other DC aquatic Facilities. I actually never knew DC had so many free pools. Just a few short years back, swimming, and lack of a place to swim was one of the reasons I never registered for a triathlon. Duh, hello blondie, there is a ton of them in DC. I wish I opened my eyes back then, but never the less I found a bunch of good pools today. If you haven't checked out there website or don't know where to swim in the district you should check it out.

Onto plan C ...William H. Rumsey Aquatic Center located right next to Eastern Market. Now, one would think this would be the obvious place that I would swim since I live three blocks from Eastern Market, but believe it or not, I have never swam there. They have someone crazy hours, but the pool is decent with eight 25 yard lanes. On Monday's they close at 5pm and open again at 6:30. I really didn't want to go home and sit on my ass and do nothing till 6:30 in fear that I may not go, so I simply left work early. Not super early, just 15 minutes early and ran like a bat out of hell to the pool. I had a little less than a 2 mile run from my work to the pool and wanted to try to get there as fast as I could so I could get a good workout in before they closed at 5. I was breathing hard when I arrived, but made it there in just 15 minutes. The pool was nice and not very crowded at all. When I began swimming I think that there was a total of three people in the water including myself. I had a great workout and swam 1600 yards straight with 2 x 200 yards. I pretty much liked everything about the pool and have no clue why I have never came to this pool before???

Things I loved about William Rumsey:

1. I honestly really could care less what either the locker room or showers look like,  but it had decent ones. And since it's so close to my house, it's just as easy to take a shower at home.

 
2. The lanes may only be 25 yards, but the pool isn't crowded the time of day I would be going at. Having my own lane = me happy :)

3. It's right next to Eastern Market

 
4. Which means it takes me 5 minutes to walk home to my beautiful block! 

So in conclusion, WR pool is now my pool of choice :) and.... maybe I can even get my M to come with me :)

So do you have a favorite pool? If it's closed do you find another pool to swim at? 


Happy Tues All