Relay for Life and back in the pool

The luminaria bag in my mom's honor.

Tired. That was the overwhelming feeling I had going into tonight. I spent the weekend participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life here in Fontana. This event is always means a lot to me.

The main reason that the RfL means so much to me is that I lost my mom to cancer back in July 2005. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in about 2001, and after completing both radiation and chemo treatments, she seemed to be in remission. In 2004 she learned that the cancer had spread to her spine. She hung on as long as she could, but by June 2005, we had to place her in home hospice. Her body could longer take the stress and she passed away at the end of July. 

I participate in the Relay For Life in the hopes that the money that is raised will be used to find that cure for cancer and stop the suffering. Even though the race is over, I am still accepting donations to my Relay for Life page, so if you want to help, help me to reach my goal.

It's time to get in and do some swimming!

Well back to the pool. Last week was a light week in the pool for me. I swam on Monday evening, but an urgent personal matter kept me from practice on Wednesday, and Friday the pool was closed for the Aqua Prom. So week since the last practice, and spending the weekend in the blistering heat at the Relay, I wasn't feeling too great about how I would do this workout.

Coach David seems to have made this month the month of sprints, as this evening's workout was full of 25s, 50s, and 100 sprints. Working my way through these, I ended up with 2,250 yards for the night.

That places my Go The Distance total to 42.41 miles (74,650 yards) swum for 2014. The first milestone is 50 miles, so I'm approaching that first milestone, probably in the next couple of weeks. The 50 mile milestone is a free Go The Distance swim cap, and this will be my fourth straight year that I've made this milestone.

I know it's not winning the Olympics or the Worlds, but for me it's something that helps to motivate me to keep going. Somedays you just don't want to get up from that comfy chair and drive to the pool. Go The Distance gives me the motivation to do just that: get in and swim.

Last night's work out: 

Warm up
300 free
200 free pull
100 breaststroke

Set 1
8x50 free, concentrate on push offs, streamlining (10 sec rest)

Set 2
3x100 free, descending (2:45, 2:40, 2:35 time base)

Set 3
9x50 free, descend 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 (1:25, 1:20, 1:15 time base)

Set 4
12x25 free, race pace w/10 sec rest

Cooldown
75 free
75 breaststroke
50 free

-- the UberClydesdale