Racing tired, racing fast

Our final two home meets of the swim season last Friday and Saturday. My wife and her friend Cheryl attended and Cheryl caught some great action shots with her new Canon telephoto lens.

___________Abbie____________________Rachel

_________________Zach

Bread & Butter, Anaerobic Capacity, and Patriotism

It's really been quite a week since our return from California. Last Friday we boarded the bus for our long eastern Washington double. Friday night at Whitman some of the guys agreed (were talked into) singing the national anthem. After some quick practice out of the way, they gave a rousing performance. You can almost tell that the woman behind them in the video has never heard anything more beautiful. Nor had I. (This photo will have to take the place of the video until I can convince Blogger to upload the 100+ MB video...)

A mere hour after that verbal performance Lee Taylor--pictured center in the snazzy shorts--swam to a lifetime best performance in the 100 Breaststroke and moved into Top-10 all-time for L&C, bumping off a gentleman from 26 years ago.

After some great winter training, team fitness is up, as well as team morale. On Wednesday we swam a great workout including several rounds of sprint 50s from a push on 1:30. I saw max effort, quality finishes, and fast swims. After our training, Susie and Kaitlin served homemade bread with an herbed butter and a cranberry butter (all delicious) as a presentation of their "talent" leading up to the annual talent show tomorrow.

Last two home meets this weekend and tomorrow is Senior Day!

What a week!

Today marks our last full day in Cali and I think we made the most of it. After sleeping in, we hit the pool deck. First, Zach got us stretched out with a short yoga session and we hit some great core exercises (I took a yoga class on campus with Zach last summer and he was the first one in class to pull off the headstand).

After loosening up, the team put in a solid couple hours in the pool to cap off an impressive week of training. We were focused and attentive, with people supporting each other all the way.

About two thirds of us went to see Gran Torino tonight in Claremont before dinner. We leave in the morning for the Cal Lutheran Relay Meet and our trip home.

Workout, beaches and roller coasters fill our Sunday

Our Knott’s Berry Farm crew, plus Lindsay behind the camera.

Lindsay, Kaitlin and Cat line dancing and what do bobsleds have to do with Knott's Berry Farm? I do not know. But, our team is not one to shy from a photo op.

We got in our first California double of winter training today. This morning I watched the sun creep over the trees outside the pool and cut a swath of sunlight across water. Susie was the first one in its path. She was at the far end, just about to take off on her sendoff, and the sun hit her back and she turned around in the water with the biggest grin pasted across her face.

After some great training, it’s true we made time for a little frolic.


As my high school cross country coach used to say, “Workin’ hard or hardly workin’?”

Our “Prom Style” photo after dinner at Lindsay Nixon’s family home. Thank you for all the great pasta! And the homemade ice cream sandwiches. And the brownies.

Glorious Winter Training!

We arrived in southern California this afternoon for our Winter Training Camp. What followed was a trip to the pool and a sunset swim. We're looking at about 75 degrees tomorrow and that's just fine by me.