long swims, happy times!

Took a day off Tuesday - back at the loom - but did 2,500-plus, including 2,000 in a row, Wednesday. I think I could have gone much farther, but am highly aware of the danger. Plus, I'm a teensy bit sore today, so I'm thinking that a seriously long haul might not be totally wise.
Wondering what the pool hours will be during T-day break...

Speaking of sticky buns, by the way, here's the recipe from the Culinary Institute of America (with my amendments noted):

For the buns:

2 and 1/4 t active dry yeast (one of those little foil packets)
3/4 C warm milk (110 degrees F)
4 C bread flour (I use King Arthur all-purpose)
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C butter (a half-stick)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
egg wash (unnecessary, but an egg whisked with 2 T cream or milk)
2 cups "pan smear" (below)
1 cup "cinammon smear" (below)

(((They say use a stand mixer, I don't have one. A bowl works just fine))) Place the yeast and warm milk in the bowl of a mixer and stir to
dissolve; let stand about 5 minutes. Combine 2 and 1/2 cups of the flour
with the sugar, butter, eggs and salt. Mix on low speed using the
dough hook just until the dough comes together. Add as much of
the remaining flour to the mixture as needed so dough is no
longer sticky. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until dough
is soft, smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a warm place until
doubled in size, about 2 hours. Fold the dough gently over on
itself in three or four places. Cover and let rise until doubled,
about 1 hour. While dough rises, toast and chop the pecans, and
set aside; prepare pan smear and cinnamon smear, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Prepare two 9-inch square baking pans
by pouring 1 cup of pan smear into each of them; sprinkle with
the toasted, chopped pecans. Roll dough into a rectangle 8-by-14
inches and about a quarter-inch thick. Dust dough and rolling pin with
flour to prevent dough from sticking. Brush a 1-inch-wide strip of
egg wash along the long side of the dough closest to you. (((Yeah, if you want a mess. I've made these twice. Without the egg wash works much better. I don't know what they were thinking))) Spread
the cinnamon smear evenly over the remaining dough. Roll the
dough to form a log, starting with the edge opposite the egg-
washed strip. Pinch the dough together to seal the seam. Slice into
12 equal pieces. (((I only got nine, but I like larger rolls, and I used a big pan and cooked them all at once.)))
Place 6 rolls in each of the prepared pans. (You can refrigerate
the rolls at this point for up to 24 hours, or freeze up to 1 month.)
Cover the rolls and let them rise until they have nearly doubled,
about 30 minutes. Brush lightly with egg wash (((whatever))).
If sticky buns have been prepared in advance, remove them
from the refrigerator and allow them to warm to room tempera
ture before baking. Bake rolls until baked through and crust is
golden brown, about 30 minutes. As soon as you remove the pans
from the oven, turn each pan over onto a plate. Lift the pan away
and cool rolls before serving.
Makes 12 sticky buns.
Nutrition information per bun: 470 cal., 9 g protein, 79 g
carbohydrates, 15 g fat, 280 mg sodium, 40 mg cholesterol, 2 g
fiber.

The "pan smear"
1 C light brown sugar
3/4 C dark corn syrup
1 C heavy cream

(Note: A candy thermometer is essential for preparation)
Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and heavy cream in a
saucepan and heat to 220 degrees F, stirring frequently to prevent
scorching. Cool to room temperature before using. (The smear
will be caramel-colored and syrupy.) Makes 2 cups.
(((I don't like corn syrup. So I supersaturated 1 C water with brown sugar and made a sort of simple syrup by heating it - no thermometer needed - then added the 1 C sugar and 1 C cream. This didn't work out all that sticky, but it was fine by me and tasted super)))

The "cinammon smear"
1/2 C bread flour
1/3 C sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 large egg whites

Mix together flour, sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of a mixer.
Add the butter. (((are you kidding? have you read the nutritional information? 470 calories? I ditched this butter))) Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium
speed for 1 minute, or until it looks like coarse meal and there are
no visible chunks of butter.
With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg whites one at a
time. Continue to mix until fully combined, scraping down the
bowl as necessary. (The smear will be a kind of granular paste.)
Makes 1 cup.