I did my first swimming workout last night, squeezing it in between rain showers and thunderstorms. Compared to what I usually do — at least half an hour of swimming, which ends up being at least 20 laps — it was an easy workout. 800 yards total — 200 warmup with 20 second breaks between each 50, then 4×100 yards with 20 second breaks, and 200 cooldown with drills, 50 of each. We learned four drills on Saturday:
+ Catchup, where you wait until one hand meets the other before taking another stroke.
+ Fingertip drag, where you drag your fingers along the top of the water during the recovery of each stroke.
+ Thigh touch, where you swim normally but concentrate on touching your fingers to your thigh at the end of each stroke.
+ Six-count, where you count six kicks with each one arm stroke.
I finished my 800 yards, including breaks, in 20:34 with an average heart rate of 142.
In other news, I took this Personal DNA thingy that Brian linked to, and it says I am a Benevolent Director. Probably fairly accurate, though I keep reading “director” as “dictator,” and then I start wondering, well, is there such a thing as a benevolent dictator? Doesn’t that seem like a contradiction in terms?
And for people who complain when my blog entry is only about exercise, here are some interesting/funny links I’ve come across lately:
+ What if Microsoft designed the iPod packaging?
+ A review of the recent Mac commercials. (“Hi, I’m a Mac.” “And I’m a PC.”) The point he makes is interesting. I love the commercials, but they don’t make me want to drop my PC and buy a Mac.
+ iPods and baseball, a match made in heaven.
+ If Michelangelo was a soccer fan…
+ Ever wonder about the origin of @?
The rain continues. I’m hoping it stops this afternoon so I can squeeze in an outdoor run while the weather is cooler before heading to Minute Maid for the Astros game tonight.
That was a cool little test. I am an Independent Thinker. When my eyes first ran over your text I also thought it said Benevolent Dictator. Oops! Better Director than Dictator. Apparently I’m the Dictator, according to the test. 🙂
this is a test.
I started to take the quiz but apparently I’m impatient (is that one of the categories); I stopped when I saw it was 10 pages.
The iPod video was hysterical! There’s an article on the Chronicle site today talking about how Gates is now viewed so differently because he’s devoting the rest of his life to charity work instead of destroying all his competitors. It was pretty funny to read.