That is an over or understatement, depending on how well you know me, so before you start trying to figure out why I declare my freakiness today I will explain. My heart may possibly be as big as a horse's, and I don't mean from a "he's got a lot of heart," standpoint. I mean physically my heart is either big as a horses or just extremely efficient and strong. For those of you who are not avid endurance athletes, heart rate is a key indicator of your physical fitness and a good way to measure your exertion level. Most athletes have a lower resting heart rate due to an "in shape" heart. Lance Armstrongs resting heartrate is 32. An average resting heart rate is between 60-90. My resting heart rate is 38. Maximum heart rates are approximately 220- your age. Interestingly his maximum is 200+. My max is somewhere around 175. WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?? For reasons I don't know I am able to maintain a relatively large effort while maintaining a low heartrate by comparrison. Today was possibly the most freaked I have been by my heart rate.
This morning, Ed Hardin, a friend of mine, met me at my house so he could come row while I swam. I had 3.5 hours planned, but Shelly and I talked about it Friday and decided if I felt okay I would go 16000m or 4 hours whichever came first. We got to the lake at 5:45 and I was in the water for 6:00. It was still completely dark. Really a strange sensation to say the least. It was good for me though as I will be doing the 32 in the middle of the night so as not to have to swim in the sun. The first 4000 was a little slow as I couldn't see at all. I fell into a rhythm after the 2nd hour and really felt smoother than last week. I never even considered not swimming the full 4 hours and was easily on my 4000 per hour pace. I got some body glide for the neck chaffage this week and the neck felt pretty good too. So on and on I went feeling smooth and relaxed and hitting my pace. I figured my heart rate was staying below 120 and it was not going up. I finished up and stopped the watch. 3:56:14 for 16000 m. Average heart rate holding 1:30 pace, 97. BEHOLD THE FREAK!
On other notes, I have a media day in Mississippi next Thursday. I have a TV and radio interview Thursday morning in Biloxi and then a meeting with a lady who has big contacts to folks on the Coast. I am excited. It could mean a lot to getting the sponsorship going. On that note I had a friend from high schools father email and say he would personally donate $1000. I was blown away. I am the type to give a lot of what I have to others, but am amazed to find not as many big companies are lining up to. Maybe that's why they are big successful companies. I just know that if I am ever a big company and some yahoo emails me and says he is going to swim 32 miles (or run marathons or do pushups) for kids charities, that I will whip out the checkbook...fast.

MUSIC OF THE WEEK: I spent the whole ride to Prairieville today listening to a band called Verbow from Chicago that played the mid-late 90's. Dec 23, 1998, I think, two friends of mine and i were bored and we drove to New Orleans on a whim. We ended up @ Jimmy's and this band was playing. We were the only people in the club. They blew me away. A chick played cello through a Marshall half-stack and nearly peeled the skin off my face. AWESOME! Irony, I listended to 3 songs by them only to have My Poor Brain (no pun intended) by the Foo Fighters stuck in my head for 4 hours. I hadn't listened to that song in a month easy.

FAVORITE WORKOUT: Did this on Thursday and for some reason loved it. I think if i have a favorite interval distance, it is 400's. Just long enough to be long and short enough so I don't lose count.

1. 800 (every 4th 50 back or breast)
400 pull
200 kick choice

2. 4 x 400 @ 6:10 breath every 3
4 x 50 @ :45 pick up heart rate
1 min rest
3 x 400 @ 6:00 breath every 3
3 x 50 @ :40 fast
1 min rest
2 x 400 @ 5:50 breath every 3
2 x 50 @ :40 fast
1 min rest
1 x 400 @ 5:45
1 x 50--try to go :35 or :36

3. 100 easy

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: After finishing swimming for four hours I am staggering up the dock as blood begins to return to my extremities, my friend Ed who just rowed for 4 hours says, "Man are my hip flexors sore, that was hard work." I nearly passed out from my eyes rolling so fast. He gets a pass though as he rowed around in the dark and in circles for 4 hours.

rocketboy