Sunday, November 25, 2007
Twice a week the winter through
Boxers. Climbers. Football Players. Wrestlers. Whatever It Takes: Women on Women's Sport is chock full of passionate essays about personal dreams and aspirations, competition and self-discovery. I was surprised to learn that before she crafted poetry, Maxine Kumin exercised racing dives, straight-armed windmills and dolphin undulations. In "Swimming and Writing," Kumin notes she matched the "rhythm of memorized poems to the stroke-breath-stroke of the trudgen crawl." Upon receiving a copy of A. E. Housman's "A Shropshire Lad" around her sixteenth birthday, Kumin recalls:
12 x 50 IM order stroke/free (descend :05 seconds by groups of 4)
12 x 100
first round: 1, 3 (free) and 2, 4 (100 IM)
second round: 1,3 (free) and 2,4 (stroke)
third round: 1,3 (ez free) and 2,4 (fast free)
Kick IM order
25 kick
50 kick/swim
75 swim/kick/swim
Generously adjusting our lane's intervals, Coach Lisa gave us no reason for rue.
Without making any conscious effort to do so, [I] had committed to a good portion of the book to memory. I swam to Housman's cadences, his classic romantic elegiac voice suffusing my long-distance swims with gentle melancholy. "With rue my heart was laden," I droned, swiveling my head for the next intake of air. "For golden friends I had," I bubbled, breathing out into the water.Yesterday, my golden teammates gathered for a classic workout:
12 x 50 IM order stroke/free (descend :05 seconds by groups of 4)
12 x 100
first round: 1, 3 (free) and 2, 4 (100 IM)
second round: 1,3 (free) and 2,4 (stroke)
third round: 1,3 (ez free) and 2,4 (fast free)
Kick IM order
25 kick
50 kick/swim
75 swim/kick/swim
Generously adjusting our lane's intervals, Coach Lisa gave us no reason for rue.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Perfect circle
Last week's 5-miler in Central Park was special. In the mix of 6,000 were Halloween revelers who kept the mood festive. Cats, witches and an unusually lively pack of women dressed up as candy corn bopped along the course. A member of a Chinese team bore a t-shirt that said "Powered by dim sum," and a portly 60-year old wore a shirt that read "I know. I'm slow. Get over it." Some ran with good humor and others, with heart. I spotted many shirts bearing the logos of Team in Training, Fred's Team and Race for the Cure. Running with purpose, these folks inspired me to do the same. Ignoring minor discomforts, I picked up my pace and ran for Coach Paul.
On Sunday, November 18, 2007, some of us from Team New York Aquatics will be participating in Central Park for the 14th Annual Race to Deliver. The 4-mile run/walk is a fundrasier for God's Love We Deliver, a not-for-profit agency which provides free nutritious meals to those living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. Please join us! To register for the event (or make a donation), visit the race site and look for the Team New York Aquatics page.
On Sunday, November 18, 2007, some of us from Team New York Aquatics will be participating in Central Park for the 14th Annual Race to Deliver. The 4-mile run/walk is a fundrasier for God's Love We Deliver, a not-for-profit agency which provides free nutritious meals to those living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. Please join us! To register for the event (or make a donation), visit the race site and look for the Team New York Aquatics page.
