Coasted through this short course meters set this afternoon and felt pretty strong.
3 x [1 x 400, 2 x 300, 3 x 200, 4 x 100], plus 4 x 100 cool down (6,400m). 100s on 1:35, 200s on 3:05, 300s on 4:40, 400s on 6:15. This morning was core work, shoulder and back PT and stretch cords at the gym. Sunday I did a straight 90 minute swim at the Y and the water temp was 84 degrees. My face was as red as a hothouse tomato and the lifeguard said he was worrried. I had three brief pit stops (<20 seconds) for water. At 4,500m, I tried a 3.5 oz Peter Rabbit Organics "mango, banana and orange 100% pure fruit snack (no added sugar)." The ease of its' squeezy pouch and simple twist top made for a swift pit stop. Their website says you can toss them in lunchboxes, a stroller or car....or I would add "in an equipment bag on a pool deck." 

Saturday morning we had a nice short course yards team workout that I borrowed from Jim Barber (thanks to this summer's 25k swim- Facebook group), who saw it posted for Carmel Masters (we swam it upside down). We are three weeks out from the Michigan Masters State Meet and my swimmers said they enjoyed it. A nice change of pace from all the distance. Saturday afternoon, I got in 8 x 400m in an hour afternoon swim.
Warm-up (300 swim, 200 drill, 100 kick)
1 x 600 moderate
14 x 25 SPRINT on :30
1 x 500 moderate
12 x 25 SPRINT on :30
1 x 400 moderate
10 x 25 SPRINT on :30
1 X 300 moderate
8 x 25 SPRINT on :30
1 x 200 moderate
6 x 25 SPRINT on :30
1 x 100 moderate
4 x 25 SPRINT on :30
200 cool down [4,350 yards]

I am itching to get back in the lakes. Literally. Too much chlorine lately and heaps of lotion. All the signs of spring are here. Birds chirping. Tiger baseball is on 97.1 FM when I turn on the radio in my car after work. I have 4-inch tulips in my front flower beds and I stopped for a Slurpee today. And Spring Break is just two weeks away. But my favorite sign is that I have actually seen people in my neighbhorhood that disappeared months ago. Walking my dog in winter is like walking around a ghost town in the American West. This week was different. I saw teens strolling the sidewalks in shorts and flip-flops Thursday afternoon. As I walked Sophie this week and saw dogs walking, strollers rolling and runners pacing, I thought, "People actually live in this neighbhorhood. We survived the Blizzards of 2010."  Great to see everyone once again on-the-move!
 
Last Sunday was the longest pool swim ever. My goal was to swim more than 3-hours and get closer to the 4-hour mark.
I started at 7 a.m. (after "springing forward"...ouch!) with Noah and Dave as companion swimmers. I started out with
1 x 1500, 2 x 1000 and repeated that four times for a grand total of 14,300 meters, or ~8.89 miles. The last time through the set I broke the 2 x 1000s into 4 x 500s and felt the strongest. I'm grateful to have shared the experience with other companion swimmers Katy, Carol, and Ann. I used Usher and other artists to "push it to the limit" and get me through. After three hours of swimming, Pink kept telling me to "raise my glass" and I kept thinking that I just hope to be able to raise my hairbrush in the lockerroom. Finally I reached the 4-hour mark and swam an easy 300 to cool down. I almost fell asleep during brunch so I took a nap when I got home.

I'm looking forward to the Pool Party fundraiser this evening with friends and family.  One of my sixth grade students this week raised his hand and asked, "If I come to this pool party, are you just going to talk to my mom about my math grades?" I assured him that I had no plans to talk math, --only to have fun. I did my first LIVE interview with WXYZ Channel 7 this morning and enjoyed breakfast afterwards with Katy and Noah at the Original House of Pancakes. Katy did a fantastic job researching, collecting data and writing my press release. My sister made some wonderful swimmer cookies for toni