Swim Intervals and Monkey Shake!

20 x 100 yards with 20 seconds rest in between. The pool was busy today. We ended up “circle swimming” for the majority of the workout. Here’s the comparison between my workout today and the exact same workout I did with Julia 2 months ago:

Splits in Dec / Splits today:

1:32 / 1:34
1:32 / 1:34
1:34 / 1:33
1:32 / 1:33
1:35 / 1:30
1:34 / 1:29
1:33 / 1:29
1:34 / 1:28
1:34 / 1:30
1:35 / 1:29
1:34 / 1:29
1:34 / 1:31
1:34 / 1:30
1:35 / 1:31
1:35 / 1:30
1:34 / 1:29
1:36 / 1:30
1:35 / 1:28
1:34 / 1:31
1:34 / 1:32

In Dec: 1:34.0 average
Today: 1:30.5 average

I may have gotten faster, but not THAT much faster. I think there are 3 reasons why my splits were so much better today: 1: While circle swimming, I was drafting for a few seconds when I was getting ready to pass someone, which made those few seconds a little easier. 2: When passing, I “kicked it up a notch” to get past the other swimmers and back to the right side of the lane. 3: The pool was busy, and I tend to try harder with a bigger audience. Lame, I know. But true.

Anyway, it was a good workout, and I didn’t feel nearly as “beat up” as when I did the same workout with Julia in December. Pharmie was still swimming when I wrapped up, so I lifted weights for a bit. We stopped at the Cheeky Monkey Deli for a sandwich and soup on the way home.

Then it was time for me to try the Monkey Shake from Chris at 10:10 Wellness. I wrote a little about this in my post on Thursday, and a few of you asked if the shake was any good. So after that hard swim today, I figured I try it out. (The Monkey Shake is basically a homemade super-hearty recovery drink.)

I grabbed one of my bags of the Monkey Shake. The directions said to use half of a bag:

I combined that with skim milk, a few ice cubes, and some frozen berries. Here’s the plateful of berries that I used:

Everything in the blender:

What emerged was think, hearty, and pretty darn good:

Conclusion: If you like hearty drinks, you’ll love a good Monkey Shake. If you don’t like “oaty” or “brany” things, then you might not care for it. Pharmie doesn’t care for some of those things, but she thought the Monkey Shake was pretty good. And I loved it! Here’s the direct link to info about the Monkey Shake in case you’re interested.

And as I’ve mentioned in my last 2 posts, check back tomorrow night for details from our 5 hour spin class that’s going down tomorrow! God help us! And I’ve got my last bit of good news that I’ll post sometime on Monday!