Progress and Lessons Learned

Today's workout was tough. I was scheduled to swim 2600 at race pace in a series of drills. I decided I would use flipturns as much as I could from now on so I had to work real hard. Making things more difficult, I was going to do so without a warmup. A warmup is a great luxury to have because it allows you to get accustomed to the water and start off on the right track.

I started off with 4 200s with flipturns. It was okay but I felt real sluggish and even muffed a turn. To execute a flipturn you have measure a certain distance from the wall, flip over, push off the wall, twist your body and begin your stroke. As the set goes, on and you get more tired, it becomes harder and harder to execute the turns properly, plus you lose your technique and all sorts of other things happen. It feels really awful to mess up, lose your stroke, have water go up your nose etc. etc.

My next set was 500 yds with flipturns. I screwed up a turn early in the set and lost my stroke. I wanted to stop the whole workout but I pressed on, gather myself and vowed to finish the set. It stunk though, I had snot all over me, water in my nose and it took me about 45 strokes to get to each wall.

My final set consisted of 6 200s. After doing one of them without flipturns I was able to complete six of them. I went from wanting to quit and almost walking out of the pool, to finishing the set strongly and even doing an extra 200. I kept thinking to myself 'is this ever going to be easy'. I guess the simple answer is, 'as long as I keep working on them'. It doesn't really feel like I have made progress but the flipturns are going much better. I can easily complete them on 100s, 200s are getting better and as seen today, I can survive on doing them over 500. Plus I am pretty much doing them throughout the workout, so I am not far away from doing them as a rule.

Song in my head "PDA" John Legend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4R_oswROic

Freaking out, well, sorta

Yes its been a while since I wrote. I have been away. I went on vacation to Boston, Cape Cod, and Martha's Vineyard. Good time, but with work and family obligations I could not find an opportunity to work out. I thought I could but it was not in the cards. So I spent my time re-calculating my workouts so I could be on track for the race. I realized that when I got back home, I and screwed unless I stick to the program to the letter until race time. No excuses anymore. Work will take a backseat, family will have to wok in conjunction with training. I am not about to repeat the madness that was my first Olympic race, where I was severely under-trained, and thus suffered during the bike and run.

This week was good. I got back on Monday and cycled, ran, cycled some more and swam. Tuesday was a tough one. I was scheduled for an easy 50 minute run. But it was raining so I went to the gym and did a 30 minute run; 20 minutes less than needed. When I finished the run I bumped into some of my triathlon friends and started chatting just as they went into the spin room. Although I did not need to spin that day, I went in anyway and did 30 minutes easy. I then followed them to the track and did a tough 30 minutes on the track. It amounted to 90 minutes and my legs were dead (a good dead). Very happy I did that. There is a big difference between finishing a workout okay and finishing a workout gassed. I experienced the latter, and hopefully it pays off in the race.

Wednesday was a hard, yet short bike. Thursday I intended to skip, however Mary Anna needed to get out of the house. Therefore, I put together my stuff and instructed my wife to bring Mary Anna to the pool after my workout so we could swim together. It worked out great. I did the workout and swam with Mary Anna. I used all flipturns and set myself up for a nice rest day on Friday. Saturday is a monster day but I can rest easy knowing I totlly brought it all week.

Flipturns and more Flipturns

My last post was in reference to the fact that I have started using flipturns in my swim training. It is no secret that swimming has been my most successful event so far and my preferred training event. My running has been virtually nonexistent (that changes when I go back to Boston) and my cycling can be described as a work in progress. But I am pretty much there for my swims. I started using flipturns a bit last Tuesday.

Last Friday, I hit the pool again with a long workout of 4 x 300s using all flipturns. It is much much harder to do a full flipturn workout. By not coming up for air at the wall, you increase the stress of the set tremendously. You are constantly gasping to get more oxygen, thus your output decreases, causing you to lose form and go slower. As your body adjust you get more comfortable and normalize. As mentioned before it will not help in the race on that level, but by not touching the ground and not getting the extra breath, you better simulate the sensation of being in the middle of the lake.

Yesterday was another milestone. I had 5 sets of 500s with 200 warm down after each set. I continued to try flipturns. I was much better yesterday for the first 300 but started to tire and have difficulty heading for the last 200. I really wanted to quit and my upper body was throbbing, but I kept at it and completed 3 500s and 2 200s with flipturns. I was really beat down by the end but the confidence I have now is extraordinary. I am going to rest today because I am tired. Tomorrow I am scheduled to cycle, and swim again on Friday. Friday will be a short time trial of 1000 yds continuously. I will be using all flipturns on this set. It should be very difficult but I am up the challenge.

Kaizen - Continuous Improvement

Tuesday was a shorter swim than I have had as of late. I focused on technique, breathing, and flipturns. My goal is for a smooth day out on the water. Although flipturns are useless in a race situation, I want to be able to train in a way that simulates the seemlessness of racing. Oftentimes, in training I will be doing a long set (say 400 - 800 yards) and I will take a breath and touch my feet down when I hit the wall. This works against the feel I am trying to achieve since I will not have that opportunity to touch bottom in the race. Therefore, my goal now is to swim using flipturns as much as possible, and to avoid touching my feet when I hit the wall. It will take some time and will be a huge, painful adjustment, but when I am through, hopefully my swim workouts will be much more effective.

Wednesday is my first bike/run brick. I have not run much this season, so I am a bit nervous. My goal is to cycle 15 miles and run for three or four. It's about the distance of a long sprint and will be a great challenge. I think I am up for it.

Sunburn

It usually happens on the golf course. But this year my first sunburn happened while hitting a new high on the bike. Today I rode 30 miles in 2 hours. A new personal distance best, and yes, I have my first sunburn of the year. It was one of those Ferris Bueller-type days where the whether is sunny and perfect and a great opportunity to blow off work. I got out there and rode to E. Puyallup and back (twice). No real breakthroughs as far as technique or speed, just distance. But I felt great. I am gradually getting more and more comfortable with the bike and my base is building nicely. Tomorrow I swim.

On a side note, I have been delaying my run workouts to get my bike distance dialed in. But now that I have hit my numbers as far as bike times is concerned it is time for me to start running. Plus, I will have plenty of opportunity to work on running when I am in Boston over the Memorial Day holiday since I will have no bike.

In work news, I was interviewed today via an deal that I thought I was disqualified for. It seems that I may not have been disqualified and my group were one of only a few competing for the contract. Not sure if I want the job or not, but it was fun talking to a reporter from a paper I read all the time. I am sure I will be misquoted but at least I will have a clipping to show to my Mom.

Tired but making progress

There are times when I think I am ready for the race. That is usually followed by an overwhelming reality check that I am NOT EVEN CLOSE to be ready for my race.....But I am making progress.

On Sunday, I decided to stop making excuses already and get out on the bike. On the road. Before, there was always an excuse. "It's too cold." "It's raining." "I need new wheels so I don't have to waste time changing around tires." "I have too much work." These were all excuses used by me within the last month. Finally I went to the Foothills trail for the first time. I almost died. There is no possible way to properly train for a race as well as being on the road or in the lake. I only made it a few feet before I nearly panicked. First, I barely got on the bike (my seat is so high I have to literally jump on the saddle). Second, I couldn't get my feet in the shoes for a good mile or so. Third, when I did get my feet set, I could not reach down and adjust anything because I was so uneasy on the bike. This was a real wakeup call. I thought my time on the trainer was sufficient. It wasn't by a longshot. Just like during my boxing days, the only way to train properly is trial by fire.

After that setback, I vowed to get on the bike as often as possible until the race. So I was on it for 10 miles on Monday and 15 miles today. I desperately need to get as much roadwork done as I can (at least on the bike before the race).

My fitness is improving gradually. I have been doing my swim workouts to the note. With that out of the way, my next goal is to focus on hitting the cycling goals (on the road this time). I really am not sure how much running I will be able to do before the race time. But now, as I write this, I will make an effort to at least run a little before the race. My lack of running was a detriment back in 2006 so I know I have to get out there.

Until next time...

Big week so far

First off, we have the baby, which puts the training in a tailspin. Then everyone gets sick for about four weeks. Finally work intervened keeping me really busy.

But I'm back this week with a vengeance. I had snuck a couple rides in along the way. Tuesday I got in the pool for the first time since early March and went roughly 1200 yards. It was a short workout but I felt really good. The swimming tires me out like crazy. Wednesday I went out to the garage and spent an hour and a half on the trainer. Finally on Thursday, I did the entire 3100 yd. swim workout which equals roughly 1 and 3/4 miles. That is a little over the race distance so I am in shape for the swim portion of the tri.

Today or tomorrow I am going to head outside on my new $600 racing wheels. First time outside in a couple years I'm very nervous but it is supposedly a long path. I'm psyched.