Catch up {Make a Splash, a few good sets, and the flu}

I'll call this post the "Catch-up" post because I have been a bad blogger.

Make a Splash
A few weeks ago {really it was a month, but I am resisting to let time fly by as quickly as it is, so I'll call it just a few weeks} we traveled to Akron, OH. We got to visit Mark's family who live in Akron and Mark got to participate in a Make a Splash event at a local YMCA. You can read about it here. A big shout out to Andrew Appleby and John {we call him Johnny, but I think he is now going with the more professional, "John"} Albrecht! Thanks for including us.

Mark also hosted a clinic in Hudson, OH that weekend. He is quite modest considering all of his accomplishments, but I could see a little twinkle in his eye as he looked up to the pool record board and saw his name still nailed to it. I believe the date next to the time was 1999.

A Few Good Sets {One of my favorite movies of all time is A Few Good Men... not sure why this came to mind, but I thought you might want to know}
Remember our trip to Charlotte for the UltraSwim? Mark walked away from the meet a little disappointed. I walked away from the meet not knowing exactly how to feel and definitely didn't know how to talk about it with Mark. You can read about it here. Well, the day after Mark returned from Charlotte, he sat down with Brett (his coach) and discussed how he was feeling, how he was swimming, and how he wanted to feel and swim going forward. With a few minor tweaks, not a total deviance from the plan, Mark is back on track. After a few weeks of coming home and saying nothing more than, "It was just okay," to respond to my question "How was practice?" it was nice to see Mark excited to come home and gush about good sets and fun practices. He has regained his overall positive attitude about the plan and his direction.

Mark tries very hard to balance listening to his body and listening to his coach. In Charlotte, Marks body was telling him to talk to his coach. He did. They're both {or should I say all three: Mark, Brett, and Mark's body} happy and excited about the coming weeks.

The Flu
It got us. Ugh. Not really much more to say than that... or at least nothing more that I think you would enjoy reading about.

Oh yeah... and today is our everyday Olympian's birthday! Happy birthday, Old Man River. 29?! You're old.

Two weeks is a long time

Okay, so I am officially the worst swim wife-PhD student-new mom-blogger. I stink. I don't even remember the last time I posted. Well, shame on me. Now, let's put the past behind us and move forward. Which is really a funny thing to say, since I will be going back to tell you about all of the things that I have failed to tell you over the last few weeks.

I'm not sure where I left off, so I'll pick it up wherever I want which is three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, after a family trip to Albany, GA with Mark for a Mutual of Omaha Break Out Swim Clinic, we took Mark to the airport, waved goodbye, and said, "we'll see you in a couple of weeks." Boo. I hate long training trips, though I appreciate them for Mark and do see their value. You see, Mark trains with the Auburn University college team (kind of) and with the Auburn coaches. So, come college championship season (conference championships are in February and NCAA championships are in March), those swimmers that train with college teams and college coaches must find alternative training. Mark used to just hang around and, without fail, be a bit disappointed in his lack of training. So this year, Brett (Mark's coach) and Mark decided that he would go on training trips as to not disrupt the plan. In February, Mark went to Florida to train with a French team and SwimMAC for a couple weeks, and just a few weeks ago he took a little USOC National Training Center tour. He first trained at Chula Vista and then at Colorado Springs with our friend Dave Denniston and his team.

This was Mark's first visit to Chula Vista. He said it was amazing--beautiful with fantastic accommodations. The only hitch is that there is not a pool on site (not sure why), so the swimmers were bused to a near-by pool. Mark enjoyed breaststroke specific workouts with some of the best breaststrokers in the country including Mike Alexandrov, Clark Burckle, and Kevin Swander. He loved racing the best of the best. The only other thing I really heard about, remember Mark is not a big talker, is that Mark crossed paths with the Facebook rowers. Remember the twins that were at Harvard, claimed that they came up with the idea for Facebook, and then sued the Facebook guy (and I think are suing again)? Well, they are Olympians (Rowing) and evidently still training... at Chula Vista in fact. Mark saw them and immediately texted me. Yes, we are still in awe of real famous people. Mark, though not a big talker is funny, and texted, "Do you think I should sue them for copying my idea to become an Olympian?" Good one, hon.

In Colorado Springs Mark trained with the Paraolympic national team. Here is a quick video starring Mark and the guys he trained with.

Click here to watch the video.

He said they were amazing. He said that no matter what their challenge, that they made it up and down the pool. He said that they worked their booties off. And, it seemed to work as Mark did get beat in practice a few times. Mark explained to me about the altitude and said that no matter how good of shape you think you are, that altitude will royally kick your butt.

Two weeks is a long time, so my mother came down to stay with Annabelle and I for the last half of Mark's trip. I am always ready for Mark to come home, though. Not to mention help with the baby, running errands, and other daily things that seem so difficult alone, I just miss my buddy when he is away. I think he feels the same, because Mark changed his return ticket and surprised us two days early! It was awesome. My girl friend (a swim coach's wife), Annabelle, and I were huddled on the sofa watching the live streaming of the NCAA championships (Congrats Dave!) when in walks Mark. I turned my head in complete shock. Even Annabelle was paralyzed with surprise. We were so happy to see him. And, again, though I understand the reason he travels, and I support it whole-heartedly, sometimes we just want him to be home.

Okay, now I promise to post again. Soon. Really soon... I swear. I've got to tell you about a note to a sponsor, and I want to follow up on a great suggestion by Turtle. Stay tuned... I'm going to tell you all about the swag.

A whole lotta shakin goin on

There's been quite a lot of "shakin' goin' on" in the swimming world this week. Eddie Reese with the announcement that Aaron Piersol is retiring, Brendan Hansen and Ian Crocker making a comeback, Frank Busch leaving the University of Arizona to become the USA Swimming national team director and a whole load of folks switching coaches, moving, blah, blah, blah...

The Gangloffs, on the other hand, are shakeless and are staying put. Happy, healthy, and really enjoying our stability.

Four years ago, stable was not in our dictionary. Two years ago, I still didn't understand the term. Now, however, we live it and it is glorious.

We have fallen into a quite beautiful routine. At this point (knock on wood) we've got a lot of balls in the air, but we're juggling them well.

Mark's plan is making him happy. He has some "loading" weeks and other "off" weeks. This week is an "off" week. He is recovering from, well, getting his tushy beat into the ground. One day last week he came home and said, "How much do you think I did today?" This translates into, "How many yards do you think I swam?" Knowing his philosophy and his history, but also taking into account how exhausted he looked and the fact that he was obviously asking me because it was more than I was going to guess, I said, "5,000."

"Nope."

Okay, "5,500."

"Nope."

"6,000."

"Nope."

Okay, Mark... I love playing games and all, but I've got whining 1 year old in a high chair, a pot of boiling water, halfway cut up veggies on the kitchen island, and a yorkie-poo begging for more dog food....

"Why don't you tell me how much you did today?"

Proudly, though still looking quite gassed he said, "7,000."

He then put on his PJ pants (yes, the PJ pants that he said he wouldn't like during the conversation that I began with 'how about we all wear matching PJs on Christmas morning this year?!') and made his way to the recliner.

This is the recliner (and Mark and Annabelle) on Christmas morning. Notice Mark's holiday PJ's. Please don't take notice of our messy house. Feel free to take notice of how stinkin' happy our little Olympic family looks.

The new recliner (Gangloff Family Christmas gift) has taken good care of our everyday Olympian during his "loading weeks." Now, however, is an "off" week, so I think tonight I'll try to steal his place in that cushy, reclining, chair.

Enchiladas and Cheerios

It's that time of year. You know, the time of year when your husband is training so hard that he is eating a million-ga-zillion times a day and can't hardly wait long enough for you to give him a fork before he tears through last night's leftovers.

Last night, Mark came home from pracitce. I think the clock said 6:02pm. I was already home with the baby. I was taking my time. Playing, thinking about what to cook for dinner, blah, blah, blah. When Mark stumbled in the door he asked what we were having for dinner as he opened the fridge. Before I could complete my answer he had leftovers from the night before in his hand (half of a 9x13 dish of enchiladas). At that moment I realized that it was an every-man-for-himself type of night.

Mark hardly warmed the leftovers before he ate them (all of them). I had a bowl of cheerios. Dinner was 'made' and eaten by 6:13.

Mark is training hard now-really hard. He is training with the college kids, which is great, but I think it makes him feel old (physically, mentally, emotionally). They do things that he doesn't do anymore like 5,000+ yards 2.5 hours in the water. Well, I guess I should say, used to not do anymore. Now that he is training with them... he does.

After college in 2004, Mark continued to train with the college team. In 2006, however, he started training only with fellow pros (post grads and other 'old guys' like him). From Auburn, Mark moved to Charlotte for 2 years to train with David Marsh and there, too, he swam only with other pros. See, the pros get more of a say regarding what kind of training and how much training they do. Not because they are prima donnas (though some of them are-I'm not mentioning any names), but because after so many years of experience at such an elite level, these athletes know their bodies better than any coach. Coaches listen to these atheltes. Additionally, Mark has drank the sprinter/race-pace/short-bursts-of-intense-effort Kool-aid and for the last few years has really worked with his coaches to implement this type of training. From Charlotte, we moved back to Auburn and Mark began training with the pro team. The pro team, though they used the facilities and same coaching staff as the college team, trained at different times and were on a totally different program (much like the Kool-aid previously mentioned). Now, after much discussion and analysis with coaches and other trainers, Mark is back to training with the college kids.

Mark's coach is still congniscent of Mark's stage in his swimming life (especially since Mark is primarily a sprint breaststroker-and 'old' one at that), however when training with the college team, you just have to put your head down and do what your told. Why? A) To set a good example and B) because Mark has faith in his coaches' ability to guide him in the right direction--towards the fastest swims possible. He trusts that they have his best interests at heart.

So, last night after another hard, long, practice, Mark ate enough enchiladas to feed the entire wait staff at a Mexican restaraunt. I had a bowl of cheerios.