Toss the Kickboard

pc1/86/110-70
I brought the car and yup, I'm back at the pool today. Somehow, taking the service bus seemed a lot better. Maybe I've become so accustomed to it already - ya know, having your "own" driver with free time on the way to the office.

Anyway, I feel I could chuck kickboard soon. It's slowly becoming a crutch rather than an aid. I suppose it has served its purpose of helping me with the drills on left-side breathing.

And this is in aiding me to float more and not sink too much when I breath left.

I generally don't mind the kids that hang around the pool everytime I swim whether they're there for P.E. classses or whatnot. But the kids today were something else.

They were swearing and saying curse words like there's no tomorrow. I mean what's up with that? Even the girls do it. The shower water's cold, they swear.

The pool water's cold, they swear. Goodness. I wasn't raised that way and neither are my kids so it's simply disgusting to hear all that swearing.

Luckily my time at the pool is mostly underwater so I don't need to hear all that *&^%$#@! swearing.

T-shirt Day

Funny, today I was dressing up and I was wearing one of my boring usual office shirts. I said to myself "heck, why don't I just wear a t-shirt today."

And so I did and it felt liberating! You see, for so many years I don't ever recall wearing a t-shirt at the office. Heh.

But hey, today's Friday and it might as well be a dress-down day. And I suppose it goes well with my colorful backpack which was a school bag.

Bilateral Sawing

While the car's out for mega repairs, I took the opportunity to cut the remaining (some rotting) thick branches in the empty garage.

Some of them were 5 to 6 feet in length. But with the trusty 14 TPI hacksaw, I was ready. Here's a pic with some of the branches cut already.

Foundation Day at La Consolacion College 2008

Today was Sandra's Foundation Day at La Consolacion Collge Binan. We still don't have the car so DH and Renz tagged along with the school service. DH brought the camera and here are a few pics.

A surprised Dada waiting with schoolmates at the shed.

It'll be the Shuttle Service Bus from now on

With the car out for major MAJOR repairs, I took the service bus today. I'm so very lucky that the bus is just right here waiting in my subdivision.

If I don't see it when I get there, it just means it has departed and then I turn back to walk and get the car (assuming it's working of course).

Super Size Me

Super Size Me is an old old film that I've seen splashed on the papers many moons ago yet didn't give it a second look.


Well, I somehow took interest on the content which is a documentary on a person's 30-day experiment eating nothing but McDonald's food.

No Car and more Left Arm Sawing

I did some sawing today with my left arm and remarkably, the action didn't feel as awkward as before. Yup, I'm slowly getting into the groove sawing with the left arm.

And there was no soreness afterwards either, just the usual tiredness. The action also entails stepping on the timber with the opposite leg, the right leg.

Had there been more dry timber (been raining yesterday), I wouldn've sawn more. Here's Renz out in the rain yesterday and Sandra (with the hat) chasing him with the hose.

Bilateral breathing feels so much faster

pc1/90.5/80-110
After the 2 kickboard drills, which was about 70% of my session today, I breathed on the left using normal freestyle. And then I also breathed bilaterally.

Wow, I felt like I was going so much faster. Or was that the after effect of previously going so slow with the kickboard drills? At any rate, I thought I was riding high on the water.

It felt good. There were still some awkward left breaths but that will eventually go away after more of the drills.

I think I'll be bringing the trusty kickboard on the weeks to come. The white sealant on the kickboard has been holding up so far. Gosh I'm so excited.

It's that excitement one feels when one gets into a milestone in a journey. I think I'll be more confident and efficient once I'll do it naturally and flawlessly. Something more to feel proud of.

Beat Up Kickboard

Today I put in white sealant on the cracks on the "family" kick board. I call it "family" because I never really used it as I generally disdain the use of pool toys.

So, it became a toy for the kids whenever we went swimming. And since it was made of styro foam it eventually had cracks and dents everywhere. This, after being tossed to who who knows where every time we bring it.

Why Did You Marry Him or Her?

Without anything else to write (sorry, my swims are infrequent), this entry is about Sandra's homework in Religion. The question was to ask each of the parents, why did you marry mom/dad.

Here are DH's answers:

1. "Dahil mahal ko siya" I thought the question was about qualities so this shouldn't have been in.
   
2. "Matalino"
   
3. "Masinop" Actually, this was her polite way of saying kuripot.
   
4. "Magaling kumanta" But then she realized I wasn't singing when she met me, so she said to scratch it off.

Here are my answers:

1. "Aba, sexy na, beauty pa!" DH couldn't help smirking on this one and I don't think the teacher would like that.
   
2. "Magaling sa mga gawaing bahay: magluto, mamalengke, pagaasikaso." I had to qualify that statement by saying that she can be so self-reliant on many things.
   
3. "Mapagaruga (caring/nurturing), maalalahanin (thoughtful), masipag, etc..." I could've gone on and on when she said "Tama na, napapaiyak na ako..."

And just the other night, Renz was especially talkative. I guessed he was tired, ready to sleep but was just yakking himself awake. :) Here's the tail-end of our conversation in bed:

Renz: Alam ko po kung bakit ako ang pinakabata sa mga magpi-pinsan!
Me: Ow? O, bakit pala?
Renz: Kasi po, late na nag-asawa si mama.
Me: Eh, bakit naman late na nag-asawa si mama mo?
Renz: Kasi po hinintay ka niya eh. (I'm already half-laughing at this point)
Me: Talaga? Bakit naman niya ako hinintay?
Renz: Kasi po mahal ka niya, eh? (and I thought he'd be saying "naghintay po siya ng pogi")

Left Side Breathing

pc1/89/80-130
Today I started left-side breathing with drills I learned from the Korean swim videos. And for these initial 2 exercises, I used a kickboard.

1. Stationary left-side breathing with kickboard. The right arm holds the kickboard and is extended forward. The tip of the kickboard can touch the wall.
   
   With the left arm at the side, breath in at the left side and exhale down. This is essentially stationary coz no stroking is done. The kicking is just to balance the body horizontally.
   
   
2. Left-side stroking with kickboard. Hold the kickboard with both hands and push off. Stroke with the left arm only and breath to the left.
   
   Be sure the left hand's thumb brushes the thigh on exit. This ensures the palm is facing inward. It may be tough at first because a 6-beat kick may be required to be balanced.
   
   Upon reaching the "T" of the lane line, slow down and raise the kickboard so it doesn't slam onto the wall.

The drills were very good. I didn't feel pain while doing the exercises. Even though the water was cool, the 6-beat kick kept my heart-rate and temp up.

Over the past weekends, I bought 3 books, used but very cheap. And I must say I'm learning a lot (techniques and factoids). The first book is Swim for the Health of It by Ernest Maglischo and Cathy Brennan.

And the second is Swim Swim: A Complete Handbook for Fitness Swimmers by Katherine Vaz and Chip Zempel. Both for Php70, dirt cheap, although Magishcho's books is more useful.


And just last weekend I bought for Php95 an old hard-bound book Exercising for Fitness by Time-Life publications. Nice. Thank God for BookSale and the mall by my doorstep.

Meridian Stretching

I became fascinated with an American swimmer's (Dara Torres) training techniques which includes a lot of stretching. The lady's 40 years old and presently trains for the Beijing Olympics!

Stretching takes her 90 minutes with 2 people stretching her whole body. After my shoulder therapy with a physical therapist, I can appreciate the value of physical therapy stretching.

Fighting Depression

pc1/91/70-110
We have a relative who seems to be sinking in depression. He's a good man with a good family. Last Christmas day, he was quiet most of the time.

He wasn't gregarious before but he just wasn't his usual self. Before, we'd talk about the future: plans, careers, family. He is the godfather of my daughter.

New Year 2008

With the new SM Muntinlupa Mall nearby, we've been seeing fireworks display every Saturday at 7pm in December. And naturally, there were fireworks at New Year's Eve.

Only the girls were up and about at that time though. Renz was too sleepy and became irritable when woken up. I suppose he was super happy and became tired from all that lighting of the sparklers and pop-pap. It was his first to do those stuff.

New Year's day was slow though. It was just the time to take it easy and relax. Here's Karen and Renz pulling to swing themselves at the hammock.