At 11/21/06 01:27 PM, Peregrinus wrote:

At 11/21/06 12:11 PM, Donthurtme wrote: On a happier note, I've got two days off this week for Thanksgiving, so I should be able to squeeze an extra swim session in on Friday (the pool is shut on Thursday). Yeay!

On a bad note, the pool I work at is closing down for most of December. And since they don't want to pay us holiday pay (for christmas), they found a wonderful solution:

We're all layed off.

They'll re-hire us when they don't have to pay us as much money.

What sucks is that December is when I need the money the most...fugging holidays.

That and it means I won't be able to swim as much...

Wow, that really sucks! There's never a good time to be layed off, least of all before christmas (that reminds me, I ought to buy some presents at some point...). Plus it's a pretty damn cheeky way of avoiding having to pay you holiday pay! I hope the situation sorts itself out soon- are there other pools in the area you could work at?

At 11/21/06 01:40 PM, Donthurtme wrote: are there other pools in the area you could work at?

None that are willing to hire 56 staff members for a 3 week period...

I'm joining, mainly because I am a strong swimmer and may be able to provide some good swimming techniques. I go swimming every weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, and I usually just go for the boards, but I also like to actually swim, and try to discover some new strokes. I have discovered many before, I'm sure I'd be a PhD in swimming, if only that were possible. All of my swimming knowledge, and techniques were descovered only throughout the last five years, before that, I had never even swum in my life.

So, I could probably post whenever need be here, and I'll be swimming every week, so I'm sure I'll be able to fit in well here. :)

At 11/22/06 03:04 PM, Paradox wrote: I'm joining, mainly because I am a strong swimmer and may be able to provide some good swimming techniques. I go swimming every weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, and I usually just go for the boards, but I also like to actually swim, and try to discover some new strokes. I have discovered many before, I'm sure I'd be a PhD in swimming, if only that were possible. All of my swimming knowledge, and techniques were descovered only throughout the last five years, before that, I had never even swum in my life.

So, I could probably post whenever need be here, and I'll be swimming every week, so I'm sure I'll be able to fit in well here. :)

Excellent- welcome to the club! All members are more than welcome as things are a bit slow in here at the moment :). Make sure you check out my little challenge on the previous page- best time for 50m freestyle. There will be results posted on Saturday afternoon/evening, and a new challenge for the week set then.

This discovery of new strokes sounds interesting- what exactly do you mean by that? Can you give us some examples? I'm always open to some new ideas to try out during swim sets!

At 11/22/06 03:15 PM, Donthurtme wrote: This discovery of new strokes sounds interesting- what exactly do you mean by that? Can you give us some examples? I'm always open to some new ideas to try out during swim sets!

yes this does sound intresting but if i may define a stroke because if youre talking about the way you swim thats not a stroke to me a stroke is a series of coordonated upper and lower body movements . not just floating round on the side while pushing yourself in a certain direction

i just had to point that out...

Yuck. I have a Lifeguard competition tonight.

It's gonna suck, but I'm being paid for it.

I'll tell you guys how it goes. I know for sure theres a timed swim...

At 11/25/06 12:18 AM, Peregrinus wrote: Yuck. I have a Lifeguard competition tonight.

It's gonna suck, but I'm being paid for it.

I'll tell you guys how it goes. I know for sure theres a timed swim...

Got to love those timed swims!! The ones you have to pass for the life guarding qualification in the UK (I don't know if it is different over here) were always stupidly easy though- I took the test with a guy that could barely swim and he still made it inside the time. I made it in about half the allowable time. In fact the whole test is too easy in the UK- when I was working at the pool I was the only person who knew how to use the spinal board, and some of the vice grips I saw were pretty scary. Are the US tests any better?

Plus good luck in the competition, although getting paid for it seems like a pretty sweet deal!

At 11/25/06 01:07 AM, Donthurtme wrote: Are the US tests any better?

I wouldn't know. I'm in Canada :P

hello fellow swimmers
I am very pleased to say that next week i have a swimming competition i will swim the following:
-50 meters freestyle
-200 meters freestyle
-400 meters freestyle
hopefully ill break the lebanese record in 400 meters this time but i have no chance in the 50 meters my good frind and lebanese champion got to 28.9 seconds as well as a guy i dont know who goes at 32.9 seconds
Finally id like to wish Peregrinus good luck in his competition especially because theres money involved...

At 11/25/06 03:38 AM, TheLebanese wrote: Finally id like to wish Peregrinus good luck in his competition

Thanks

especially because theres money involved...

The beauty is that I'm paid no matter what. :D

At 11/25/06 01:16 AM, Peregrinus wrote:

At 11/25/06 01:07 AM, Donthurtme wrote: Are the US tests any better?

I wouldn't know. I'm in Canada :P

Oops, my bad! Don't know how I forgot that- think I must have been tired, posted that quite late at night.

At 11/25/06 03:38 AM, TheLebanese wrote: hello fellow swimmers
I am very pleased to say that next week i have a swimming competition i will swim the following:
-50 meters freestyle
-200 meters freestyle
-400 meters freestyle
hopefully ill break the lebanese record in 400 meters this time but i have no chance in the 50 meters my good frind and lebanese champion got to 28.9 seconds as well as a guy i dont know who goes at 32.9 seconds
Finally id like to wish Peregrinus good luck in his competition especially because theres money involved...

Good luck to you in all of those events, and at beating that record.

I went for a swim yesterday and did another 60 lengths- not as much as usual, but I overslept (by about 4 hours...) meaning I didn't have much time to swim. No swim today thanks to Christmas shopping, but I'll be hitting the pool again tomorrow. The changing room renovations have been finished now which is a bonus- I was getting sick of not being able to shower afterwards.

Weekly competition results...

1) Donthurtme 33secs, no dive, 25m pool
2) TheLebanese 35.8 secs, 25m pool
3) ShortMonkey 12secs to swim 12m (so about 50secs for 50m going at the same pace)

I can pretty much guarentee that is the last time you'll see me at the top of the list, barring more hot girls watching me swim in the future. It woud be great if we could have a few more competitors in weeks to come as well *hint hint*. Three good times anyway, and hopefully in 5 weeks or so when this challenge comes around again we can do a little bit better :)

This weeks challenge

50m backstroke- keeping it fairly easy still. Give it your best shot and please don't hit your head on the wall, I don't want to be blamed for any concussion!!

At 11/25/06 04:45 PM, Donthurtme wrote: Good luck to you in all of those events, and at beating that record.

thank you very much its gonna be tough

swimming updates..
Weekly competition results...

1) Donthurtme 33secs, no dive, 25m pool
2) TheLebanese 35.8 secs, 25m pool
3) ShortMonkey 12secs to swim 12m (so about 50secs for 50m going at the same pace)

congratz to you i guess

something about the pretty girls
This weeks challenge

50m backstroke- keeping it fairly easy still. Give it your best shot and please don't hit your head on the wall, I don't want to be blamed for any concussion!!

oh i was thinking more of an endurance challenge I was actually gonna post one well maybe next time : How much distance can you cover in ten minutes freestyle

At 11/25/06 05:03 PM, TheLebanese wrote:
oh i was thinking more of an endurance challenge I was actually gonna post one well maybe next time : How much distance can you cover in ten minutes freestyle

Sure, we'll make that next weeks challenge then, though I have no doubt you'll be winning that one!

Yesterday's swimming:

*200 meter IM (50m Fly, 50m Back, 50m Breast, 50m Free)
*4x5m Pia Carry, no aid, with the victims ranging in weight from 125 lbs to 225 lbs.
*25m sprint, 25m Head up Crawl, 25m VO2 (underwater), 25m with "torpedo" (the orange rescue can you see in baywatch), 25m torpedo with victim (tow), 25m sprint
*50m whipkick (with flutterboard as resistance), 50m eggbeater (forwards, with flutterboard as resistance)

'Twas fun...

At 11/26/06 11:16 AM, Peregrinus wrote: Yesterday's swimming:

*200 meter IM (50m Fly, 50m Back, 50m Breast, 50m Free)
*4x5m Pia Carry, no aid, with the victims ranging in weight from 125 lbs to 225 lbs.
*25m sprint, 25m Head up Crawl, 25m VO2 (underwater), 25m with "torpedo" (the orange rescue can you see in baywatch), 25m torpedo with victim (tow), 25m sprint
*50m whipkick (with flutterboard as resistance), 50m eggbeater (forwards, with flutterboard as resistance)

'Twas fun...

That sounds quite a selection there! I hate head up crawl with a passion- it goes against everything I've ever learnt when swimming as a kid. Sadly it is rather essential for playing water polo, so I have to put up with it, even though I tend to revert back to normal crawl whenever possible (eg. when chasing a player).

I took a stab at my challenge on Sunday and put up a time of 40 seconds for 50m backstroke. It felt good- I haven't done any backstroke sprints for a long time.

At 11/27/06 08:51 PM, Donthurtme wrote: I took a stab at my challenge on Sunday and put up a time of 40 seconds for 50m backstroke. It felt good- I haven't done any backstroke sprints for a long time.

I tried today i took a really crappy 1 minute and ten seconds mostly for the weakness of my back while changing my swimming direction "virage " in french if anyone knows. I need to get my back back into shape and my legs too i was so frickin tired in endurance practice i can barely move my legs now though i made an astonishing 400 meters in 7 minutes and 42 seconds its worth the pain....

At 11/28/06 10:57 AM, TheLebanese wrote:
I tried today i took a really crappy 1 minute and ten seconds mostly for the weakness of my back while changing my swimming direction "virage " in french if anyone knows.

Backstroke has always been my best stroke, so I guess that makes my back strong, not that I would have any idea of what strong consists of... Still a decent time though.

I need to get my back back into shape and my legs too i was so frickin tired in endurance practice i can barely move my legs now though i made an astonishing 400 meters in 7 minutes and 42 seconds its worth the pain....

Astonishing is definitely the word- something tells me you are going to do rather well at the '10 minute challenge' next week. I can't say I am looking forward to it- short sharp sprints I am pretty good at, but start making me swim distance and I slow down considerably.

At 11/30/06 01:28 PM, Donthurtme wrote:

At 11/28/06 10:57 AM, TheLebanese wrote:
I tried today i took a really crappy 1 minute and ten seconds mostly for the weakness of my back while changing my swimming direction "virage " in french if anyone knows.

Backstroke has always been my best stroke, so I guess that makes my back strong, not that I would have any idea of what strong consists of... Still a decent time though.

A strong back is what gives you the most flexibility in swimming for instance the butterfly is a swim that needs a hell of a strong back if you want a fast swim

Astonishing is definitely the word- something tells me you are going to do rather well at the '10 minute challenge' next week. I can't say I am looking forward to it- short sharp sprints I am pretty good at, but start making me swim distance and I slow down considerably.

You play water polo right ? well if you do endurance is in order i guess though I never really played i tink you need quite a bit of determination to pull a whole match off

In other news my swimming contest on tuesday is canceled http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story .html?id=54b22789-2a8c-4f20-bbc2-d7e1bc38644a &k=75428

At 12/1/06 09:48 AM, TheLebanese wrote:
A strong back is what gives you the most flexibility in swimming for instance the butterfly is a swim that needs a hell of a strong back if you want a fast swim

Thanks- I guess that makes my back quite strong as my butterfly is fairly useful (over short distances at least). I do have a lot of lower back trouble though due to an injury a picked up a few years ago (whilst hiking).

You play water polo right ? well if you do endurance is in order i guess though I never really played i tink you need quite a bit of determination to pull a whole match off

I do indeed play water polo, and endurance would certainly be very important if you planned to play a whole match. Unlike most other team sports, however, you are allowed to use rolling substitions, and indeed it is very rare for one player to play a whole match. Although there are only 7 people in the water at one time, usually there are 12-15 in the team, and you tend to play in 3-7 minute bursts. As such endurance isn't as important, rather being able to sprint very fast in short bursts, which is certainly a good thing for me.

At 12/1/06 09:48 AM, TheLebanese wrote: In other news my swimming contest on tuesday is canceled http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story .html?id=54b22789-2a8c-4f20-bbc2-d7e1bc38644a &k=75428

oops huge link mistakethis is why my comp is canceled

At 12/1/06 11:55 AM, Donthurtme wrote: Thanks- I guess that makes my back quite strong as my butterfly is fairly useful (over short distances at least). I do have a lot of lower back trouble though due to an injury a picked up a few years ago (whilst hiking).

Lucky man, my back hurts alot everytime I do a 50m butterfly

water polo explanation

That explains your fast backstroke and freestyle . I once considered playing water polo then i found it to be a bit of a big mess tho i might , just might give it another try

At 12/2/06 03:05 AM, TheLebanese wrote:

That explains your fast backstroke and freestyle . I once considered playing water polo then i found it to be a bit of a big mess tho i might , just might give it another try

I can certainly recommend it, although it is quite violent and size is certainly an advantage (something that I certainly do not have). Your coach may also be reluctant for you to play it as it messes up your strokes quite a lot.

As there were just the two of us who took on the challenge this week I won't bother with the table, and activity seems to be a bit of an issue in this club at the moment. For those who have joined please try and post a bit more, and hopefully that will increase exposure and get a few more members.

This weeks challenge is the 10 minute challenge as mentioned last week- how far can you swim in 10 minutes. I should have a go at it this afternoon, although the weather is making getting to the pool rather tricky- there was something of a blizzard yesterday afternoon, and still a good half foot on the ground now.

I did make it to the pool yesterday afternoon despite some pretty tricky conditions- snow midweek followed by more snow on Saturday left the ground extremely icy, and with no means of transportation besides my own two feet walking there was more than a little hazardous (as the cuts all over my arms and hands bear testament to).

Anyway, to the challenge. This is something I haven't tried to do in a very long time- I believe the last time was at my swimming club at the age of about 11. We were challenged to swim as many lengths as we could in 15 minutes, with a certain amount of money going to charity for each length completed. Knowing how painful that experience was I wasn't much looking forward to this challenge, but willing to give it my best anyway.

I got off to a blinding start as my good sprint pace shone through in the early lengths. By about the 8th length, however, I was beginning to feel the pain, and my pace began to slow from sub 20 second lengths to closer to 30 seconds. This wasn't helped by a large (understatement) guy swimming in the same lane as me who seemed intent on racing me even though I was going way faster than he was. Every time I raced on a head of him he would wait at the end of the length for me to come back around and then sprint off in a bid to beat me to the end. I am pleased to say he failed repeatedly, but it was more than a little off putting.

With my arms feeling like lead weights and my legs wanting desperately to fall off in a fountain of blood and gore, I ploughed on, always with one eye on the clock. As the seconds counted down I pushed for one last sprint length before my time was up, finishing with a 23 second length, and a total distance of...

22 lengths, or 550 metres . That comes out at an average of one length every 27 seconds, which given how much my arms hurt by the end I don't think is a bad effort. Maybe if I had set off at a slower pace I could have bettered that distance, but my sprinting instincts couldn't be held down.

So come on people- meet the challenge and post your distance! And blame TheLebanese for any pain resulting from it (I know I am! :P). Results to be posted next weekend, assuming there are enough takers.

Well, today my swim team's got another meet against a town in our area. If we win, we'll be at 4:0 ;).

I'll probably leave in about an hour for the meet. I wish my times were a little better, though. My main stroke is freestyle, and I can pull 50 meters in about 34 seconds. I usually swim a 200 relay (4 people, 50 meters each) and a 400 relay (4 people, 100 meters each). I actually do pretty good on the 400 relay, my time being about 1:15.

At 12/11/06 05:34 PM, RaiderXMAS wrote: Well, today my swim team's got another meet against a town in our area. If we win, we'll be at 4:0 ;).

I'll probably leave in about an hour for the meet. I wish my times were a little better, though. My main stroke is freestyle, and I can pull 50 meters in about 34 seconds. I usually swim a 200 relay (4 people, 50 meters each) and a 400 relay (4 people, 100 meters each). I actually do pretty good on the 400 relay, my time being about 1:15.

Woah, you want times BETTER than that? 34 seconds for 50 meters is pretty damn fast, especially given your age (assuming your profile is correct). I can only just beat that and I'm a full 7 years older than you, and I certainly hope a good deal stronger! That 100m time is pretty special as well. Good luck in your meet!

At 12/11/06 05:34 PM, RaiderXMAS wrote: I'll probably leave in about an hour for the meet. I wish my times were a little better, though. My main stroke is freestyle, and I can pull 50 meters in about 34 seconds. I usually swim a 200 relay (4 people, 50 meters each) and a 400 relay (4 people, 100 meters each). I actually do pretty good on the 400 relay, my time being about 1:15.

nice really nice my max pull-off in a 50m is a 32 seconds now if you want to improve that well I'm not gonna say it's impossible because my freind and lebanese champ did it once in 25 but you need muscles like hell. In other news , I never liked relay because you never really get the appreciation you deserve, I once did it with the champ and well we had to sprinty like crazy to get first place because the rest of the relay teamwaas so fucking slow. and a pectator actually had a seizure watching us going fast and the others really slow

At 12/4/06 02:04 PM, Donthurtme wrote: 22 lengths, or 550 metres . That comes out at an average of one length every 27 seconds, which given how much my arms hurt by the end I don't think is a bad effort. Maybe if I had set off at a slower pace I could have bettered that distance, but my sprinting instincts couldn't be held down.

Yes I noticed you need some self control. especially when theres muscle involved

So come on people- meet the challenge and post your distance! And blame TheLebanese for any pain resulting from it (I know I am! :P). Results to be posted next weekend, assuming there are enough takers.

I spose it was a bit harsh on you guys so I promise my contests wil be monthly deal? anywa 10 minutes --> 700 meters each sprint faster than the other after the first 400 all in a days exercise

At 12/12/06 10:06 AM, TheLebanese wrote:

Yes I noticed you need some self control. especially when theres muscle involved

Self control is evidently something I lack :). Next time I'll try and keep it at a steadier pace.

I spose it was a bit harsh on you guys so I promise my contests wil be monthly deal? anywa 10 minutes --> 700 meters each sprint faster than the other after the first 400 all in a days exercise

Yeah, my plan is to come up with 5 events, making it a 5 week rota. Therefore your challenge will be once every 5 weeks, which is more than enough if you ask me :). That is a very impressive distance by the way, although I was certain you would top my efforts this week. Next time around hopefully I will be a little closer!

On a different note, I'm heading back to the UK for my holidays in just over a weeks time and as such I won't be as active around here for a few weeks. I'll try to pop in whenever I can, but when there is wine/turkey/general stuffing my face on offer it is hard to find the time :D. That is also going to effect when I can swim, and I doubt I'll be seeing the pool much in the next month. I am hoping to get back to university for the first polo session of term before I fly back to Denver though.

I'm thinking this weeks challenge should be a 4x50m medley (50m each of butterfly, backstroke, breastroke and freestyle in that order) although I can't promise I'll find the time to do it myself. Should you be very weak at butterfly then do freestyle at the start instead (and mention so if you post a time). This represents challenge 4, and I don't really know what to do as a 5th, so any suggestions are welcome! If nobody can come up with anything (and please try and remember we are trying to cater for all standards here, even if only a couple of us have been taking them on so far) then I will keep it to 4 and start the cycle again.

Well, we lost the meet. Their team was really good though. Sadly, now we're at 3:1.

Regardless though, I'm quite pleased with myself. We swam in a yard pool yesterday, and it turns out my time for 100 free was 1:17 (in meters). I'm never able to improve my 50 time for some reason, but yesterday I was able to achieve a 1:10 for a 100 freestyle, in yards of course. I'm assuming that if it was transferred into meters, my time would be a little higher, and still better than 1:17.

Alternatively, I also swam a 200 medely relay, in which I swam backstroke. I didn't ask for my time, but the person who I was basically up against was neck-to-neck with me, so I consider that good considering backstroke is my WORST stroke.

Our captain for the guys got I believe a 22.1 in yards on his 50 freestyle, which is pretty damn fast I'd imagine. He also had I believe a 5:21 for his 500 free, which is also pretty damn fast lol.

We've got another meet on Wed. right after school, in which we'll hopefully win (rumor has it they're pretty easy). I'll of course be doing my best, and I wont underestimate their team either.

Just checking in so you guys know I'm still around. I haven't had the opportunity to do much swimming recently (not counting the hours upon hours of teaching it).

Over the holidays, the pool I work at is closed too :'(

So I may not be very active unless I see someone asking a question about technique etc...

K THEN ~ We won today's meet, barley (I believe by about 2 points). One of our teammates was dq'd for apparantly doing less than 20 laps on his 500 free, which I think is bullshit. The other team's coach accused him of it, and for some reason I doubt that the coach was counting his laps. Anyway though, this brought us to 51 - 59. We were down 8 points, but were strongly motivated to win. This is what ended up happening after the 500:

- 100 back: Finished in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Ownage.
- 100 breast: Finished in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Still very good.
- 400 free relay: I BELIEVE we finished in 1st, 3rd, and 4th.

It was quite nice really. Sadly, the girls of our team weren't as lucky and they lost. That makes it 4:1 for the guys, and 3:2 for the girls. We were also home today, in a meter pool. Regardless, I think we accomplished quite a lot today. Also, I swam a 200 medely relay (I swam fly), and a 400 freestyle relay (I swam freestyle, obviously). I wasn't sure of my times, but I was tired as hell after both, so I'm assuming I beat my previous times.

Anyway, good day, good day.

At 12/13/06 06:52 PM, RaiderXMAS wrote: K THEN ~ We won today's meet, barley (I believe by about 2 points). One of our teammates was dq'd for apparantly doing less than 20 laps on his 500 free, which I think is bullshit. The other team's coach accused him of it, and for some reason I doubt that the coach was counting his laps. Anyway though, this brought us to 51 - 59. We were down 8 points, but were strongly motivated to win. This is what ended up happening after the 500:

- 100 back: Finished in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Ownage.
- 100 breast: Finished in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Still very good.
- 400 free relay: I BELIEVE we finished in 1st, 3rd, and 4th.

It was quite nice really. Sadly, the girls of our team weren't as lucky and they lost. That makes it 4:1 for the guys, and 3:2 for the girls. We were also home today, in a meter pool. Regardless, I think we accomplished quite a lot today. Also, I swam a 200 medely relay (I swam fly), and a 400 freestyle relay (I swam freestyle, obviously). I wasn't sure of my times, but I was tired as hell after both, so I'm assuming I beat my previous times.

Anyway, good day, good day.

Congrats on the win- quite the comeback there! It's always so much more satisfying to come from behind to steal victory :)

As for your relays, is that 200m per leg, or 50m each? I'm not sure I could even swim 200m fly, let alone quickly, so I'd be pretty impressed by that. In fact I'm not sure I could swim 50m at any kind of decent speed. Maybe that is something I should try and work up to in the new year- a resolution if you will :). 400m freestyle is a bit more my kind of thing, although still a little far for my liking! Give me 50m any day!

I'll be hitting the pool one last time this weekend before my holiday- I need to get the training in so that I don't completely show myself up when I make a one off appearance at water polo training in January. Hopefully I'll be able to swim at the pool I used to work at over the holidays, although it will be swamped with kids.