Tom Duke: Ban Cielo For Life!

The following is a Guest Blog from Tom Duke. For full bios of all our resident guest bloggers, click here.

First, my apologies for waiting so long to post. Brunhilda needed the computer to shop for a dress to wear to tea with the Higgenbotham's next week. It took forever. I told Brunhilda that I really needed to make an important post about Cesar Cielo but she wouldn't budge until she found just the write color for July. Let's get to the point: without a doubt Cesar Cielo should be banned for life. The main reason for the ban should be because I said so. Let's get into some of the secondary reasons.

Nighttime Snack: Swim to Hear

A few weeks ago a friend asked me if I had seen Ryan Bullock's website yet.  Apparently Ryan is training again.  He sent me the link and I couldn't believe what I saw.  Ryan is swimming for a cause, and it is one that he is very passionate about.  Check it out in the video below.

A Heartwarming Tale: How a Member of Team USA Saved a Swim Career: Happy July 4th!

My girls only began swim lessons last fall. They love it, they really do. I know this because I'm constantly asking them, "are you sure you don't want to play soccer...or softball....or kickball.....dominoes?" It probably comes out more like, "YOU LIKE IT! YOU REALLY LIKE IT! RIGHT? RIGHT? RIGHT?" Whether it's the truth of they're afraid I will stop feeding them and caring for them if they hate it (kidding! kidding!) they tell me the love it and I can tell they do. Awesome. Go big or go home, ladies.

Nighttime Snack: Charlene Wittstock Marries Fabulously Rich Deadbeat Dad

It is by far the second most talked about royal wedding of the year. Charlene Wittstock, South African swimming Olympian from the year 2000, married the Prince of Monaco, Albert. When I first heard of this story, I thought "what a great story!". I mean, what could be more picture book than a world class athlete from our sport marrying a prince. Then I googled Prince Albert.

SOCIAL KICK EXTREME!

We just had one of the strangest morning practices we have ever had.  It all started the night before.  We were in the middle of a zone 3 set, which is pretty much VO2 max for 20x 100 in the long course pool.  I was trying to make a deal with the kids.  If you can impress me by hitting your goal paces the rest of the way through the set we will have a recovery workout in the morning.

Nighttime Snack: The Spitzstache

So, I was watching "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" the other day, and Bob Costas was the guest host. During the usual banter, the topic of NBC's Olympics came up (duh) and the recent acquisition about the winning bid. Jimmy was joking/asking about the topic of athlete's shaving body hair, and Costas told him it was "to reduce drag." Then he told the story of Mark Spitz, and his mustache.

To me, the Spitzstache is the epitome of iconic glory. Here's a guy who won 7 gold medals while hauling around a Burt Reynolds-esque 'stache. The legend, as evident by Bob Costas' retelling (quickly, but still) on national TV, simply proves that mustaches are awesome, and swimmers wearing mustaches are the absolute cowboys of cowboys. 

Freaky Friday with NatCo

I can say with confidence I'm happy with my life a good 87% of the time.  That number tends to fluctuate during long school breaks and when my husband travels for work and calls me from the Bellagio after a really long day of "meetings" but I would say 87% is pretty accurate.  The other 13% of the time I want to be Natalie Coughlin.  I want to do like a "Freaky Friday" kind of thing, trade places and be Natalie Coughlin.

I think she's the epitome of fabulous.  She has won 11 Olympic medals in 2 Olympics. She has won a medal in every Olympic event she has ever entered.  She is the most decorated female swimmer in World Championship history.  At 15 she was getting Summer Sander's autograph.  At 15 I was going to this drive-in outside of Menomonie Falls with this guy in a "band" and not watching any of Breakfast Club (if you know what I'm sayin'.)  Different goals.