Shamrock Swim

Top 'o the Morning - it's 5:15am in this pic

Last month I mentioned my love for swimming and my longing for holiday themed swims. The next day Sydnie proposed a St. Paddy’s Day Smashfest (a la Hillary Biscay). It wasn’t going to be a true smashfest (100x100) because 1) we don't swim in a tropical, pretty outdoor pool like some professional triathletes, and mostly 2) we needed to finish everything (showers, changing, perhaps hot tub time, before/after pictures, and a mega swim) by 8am in order to get out of the parking garage without paying. Plus we wanted to allow some time for breakfast.

After a bit of brainstorming Syd and I pitched the idea to some of the other “tri-babes” and started creating a buzz at morning Masters. Alicia had the idea of ordering matching green suits from our friend Mike who works at BlueSeventy. (Despite the fact that I am almost 30, my love for matching workout outfits runs deep). Since several of our teammates are racing Oceanside on March 31st, I knew we’d have longish workouts on Saturday. So we opted for a St. Patrick’s Day Eve swim and did the workout below on Friday March 16th.

All the matchy match girls - this was our 1st try for this shot (as in 6th try)

1200 warm-up swim (break it up, if needed)

1100: 11x50s/50drill (4 catch-up, 3 fingertip, 2 fist, 2 one arm)

 

1000 10x100 – 75 build/25EZ

900 pull: 100 fast, 200EZ, 300 fast, 200EZ, 100 fast

800: Good twin: 400 (25ez/25hard, 50ez/50hard, 75ez/75hard, 100EZ) 30 sec rest

        Evil twin: 400 (25hard/25ez, 50hard/50ez, 75hard/75ez, 100hard)
 
700: 7x100 kick (with fins because we don’t have all day)
 

600: 6x100s on the (1:25, 1:35, or 1:45 – each lane choose interval)

 

500: 5x100 stroke other than free

 

400 pull: 4x100 steady pull

 

300 3x50 drill/50swim

 

200 kick

 

100 w/d

I wrote the workout based on the “12 Days of Christmas” swim from December, since I knew people preferred sets that got shorter and shorter. And like my physical therapist said, “So 7,800 yards is your go-to holiday workout?” I guess it is. I got a lot of good feedback from people saying they didn’t get bored with all those yards and it was pretty fun. I loved it! I was really impressed that we suckered about a dozen people to join us at 5:15am and another 20 or so to jump in mid-way. Afterward a group of us stopped at Portage Bay Café, one of Seattle’s best breakfast spots, for some serious noshing before heading into work (albeit a bit late). I have a good feeling we started a new tradition and I’m already looking forward to 7,800 yards ‘o fun in 2013.