Swim Class: No Breaths

First off, here was today's work out.

200 yds, then take 30 seconds rest

250 yds, 30 seconds rest

300 yds, 30 seconds rest

300 yds, 15 seconds rest

200 yds.

10 lengths of 25 yds, no breaths


It was not a bad work out until the end. We were supposed to try and make it the length of the pool without breathing. This was supposed to help lengthen our strokes or something. I don't really think it was necessary or effective. Torture, yes. I usually had to breathe once or twice. On two occasions I made it the whole way without breathing. I admit I was stoked when I did it. But I had to destroy my normal form to do it. I basically swam like I was being chased by an alligator, a shark or something else horrible. My arms were windmilling as fast as I could go. As far as elongating my stroke--not so much. Speeding up my normal stroke--hell yeah. Effectiveness in helping me to train for the 70.3 tri--not so much.

The rest of the work out was great though. By not having to meet a specific time during each segment I was able to concentrate on my stroke and breathing. My pace was probably what I would like to be able to hold during the Vikingman. What that pace was, I have no idea. Well, it was probably around 1:00/100yds. I don't think I slowed down during any of the lengths. So I swam 1250 with a total of 1:45 rest. I need to go swim when there is no class and see how I do swimming 1500 yards or so straight without stopping.

Misc. stuff.

I finished making changes to the Fuji Aloha CF2 today. I have only been working on it when I am on break at work or during lunch. So it took me over a week to get it done. I will post pics later this week. But in the mean time, I swapped out the integrated Vision Tech Trimax bar for a separate set up. I put on a Ritchey Pro stem with a 17 degree rise and then a Vision Tech TT base bar and then some Profile Design Carbon Stryke Aerobars. There was also a saddle swap and a brake swap. I am now running some Dura Ace brakes and a Profile tri saddle that I picked up on a special deal from the shop's manager. Love those type of deals. Sold the old integrated bar which paid for the new bar set up which is pretty nice. I think this new set up is actually lighter. It was crazy how heavy my original Vision Tech aluminum integrated unit was. But if I could have actually have gotten the old set up even close to fitting me I would not have gone through all this trouble. I think it is dialed now. I will see on Friday for sure.

The bike, with the carbon wheels weighs in at 17.3 lbs. Not bad for a TT bike.

Product Review: Performance Chamois Cream

I have to say that this is the worst chamois creme I have ever used. Not that I have used a bunch. This stuff is no better than hand lotion. It sure makes my skin nice and soft, as long as I am not riding a bike after applying it. After about 45 minutes of riding it is like I never put anything on. I would not have even purchased it except that it was recommended by a guy at work. I thought this guy actually rode a bike. Now I am questioning this. Maybe he just has someone else do the riding for him so his bike gets dirty. Either that or he has a chode of steel to be doing the type of rides he says he does with this crap. Totally a bogus product in my opinion. I will stick to the Chamois Butt'r thank you very much.

Flu Virus Benefits

Besides the fact that one gets to feel so miserable that trying to survive seems like a questionable endeavor, the flu has a positive side: It has accelerated my return to fighting weight. I was sitting at about 7 lbs heavier a couple of weeks ago. This is nice! I don't have as big of an appetite and I am trying not to increase that appetite by eating just enough to stave of crankiness that comes from my normal weight loss plans. Having the flu seems to have shrunk the size of my stomach. This is great! I could only eat half of a Muchos Gracias burrito for lunch, and prior to the flu I would have eaten the whole thing.

I would just like to lose about a pound a week for the next while. That would be sweet. Much more than that and I think I will pay for it during Vikingman, because I think I would lose strength.

Product Review: Fuel Belt Helium 4

This thing is freaking awesome. I have run with all the bottles filled on it and I don't even notice it while running. The bottles are very secure and relatively ease to get out and back in without stopping. Getting the bottles located on the backside can be a bit of a bother without stopping, but it can be done pretty quick. This is the best accessory I have purchased--excepting my shoes--for running. It has 4 bottles and each hold 8oz of fluid. 32 oz total is great. During a tri there will be refuel stations so I will be able to refill once during the half marathon portion. If I can down about 20 to 24 oz per hour I should be in decent shape at the end. There is also a pouch that is big enough for about 3 or 4 gels. Perfect. Again, I love this thing and I wish I would have had it last year.

RAWROD

Yes, I like misery, but I prefer it involve some rubber, metal, dirt and other people along side me to share the joy.

I am announcing that I am politicking for an invite to next year's RAWROD; a private event down around Moab, Utah. 100 miles in the desert around White Rim. In one day. Thus, Ride Around White Rim in One Day--RAWROD. I have heard about this for the past 3 years and I am sick of it. I want in. What do I have to do here--grease some palms for an invite or what? Unlike in politics, here it would not be any sort of ethical violation--so if that is what I gotta do, well OK then.

Training update 4/28

Last week was hell. We all ended up getting the flu here, but at different times. First me, then the boys and then Bridget. And through it all I never felt 100% back to normal even after the main part of the illness was gone. If I ate anything I felt nauseous for an hour or two. No energy for much of anything. I had planned on getting out Friday, but that was when Bridget was having her time kneeling before porcelain and so there was no way I could get out and leave her with the boys. Saturday was the same, I was lucky to get off to work. Yesterday was too busy for me to get out. So it was a nice week off of training after all was said and done. Whatever, it is not like I was expecting to win Vikingman or anything. However, I would like to not die. I don't think that is asking too much. At least I hope not. [SIDEBAR: Which brings to my mind something my lovely wife said last night while we were having some one-on-one time after the boys went to bed. She was trying to cheer me up after I was feeling down at having a law degree that cost 6 figures and then even passing the bar, but no job other than the bike shop. I get angry and frustrated and feel useless at times. But I was mostly over that and she was cuddling up to me and told me that she never wanted to be without me. Initially this is a very nice sentiment, but then I started thinking that maybe I was going to die or something. I mean why would she be worrying that I am going to go anywhere. Is there something she knows that I don't? I figure I have at least another 40 years here on this planet--I hope. Anyway, I am apparently a half empty sort of person right now.]

Today I planned on going to swim class and then running at the rec center. Yeah, that was the plan. Not going to happen after swim class this morning. That kicked my butt. This was the work out:

-9 50's @ 1:20

-7 50's @ 1:15

-5 50's @ 1:10

-3 50's @ 1:05

-1 50 @ 1:00

-100 yards no freestyle

-150 yards breast stroke

I did all the the 50's in under a minute regardless of the amount of total time we had for each length. Those last 50's were hard though. I felt like I wasn't getting enough air at the end. Still, I made all the times, that wasn't the case for the guy in my lane that is faster than me. We start the workout one at a time. there are 4 people swimming in circles in our lane. We start 10 seconds apart. I start 2nd because I was the second fastest in our lane after the last timed 500. There is another lane with another 4 or 5 people that are all faster than us. Basically we are the Jr. Varsity team in the class. When it got to the three 50's @ 1:05 our lane's fastest swimmer wasn't able to start on time. He had been doing his laps starting 10 seconds ahead of me as stated previously. When we were at the end of the swim he actually ended up delaying me by a couple of seconds because he was gasping for air and had been delaying his start to catch his breath. There others in my lane as well, and they didn't make all of the times starting at the five 1:10's and so they got lapped. I was the only one to keep the pace except for those couple of seconds I was held up. Nice.

Anyway, I still worry about the open water swim. I worry that I will freak and not have enough in the tank to swim for 25 - 30 minutes straight with no break. It actually kept me up for a bit last night worrying about it, I don't know why. Mainly, I guess I don't feel prepared.

But, if I can get these last 5 or so weeks in with some good long runs and rides I think I will be ok...or at least survive.

Observation

It seems like triathlons are the new chick sport. I can't tell you how many women are coming into the shop looking for their first road bike so they can do a triathlon. Probably 2 to 1 over men. Lots of moms and women 35+ it seems.

The Proverbial 2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Backward

I wa sick...for about the third time in 5 weeks. I just get back on track and then something happens. This time the flu. I am pretty much done with it now, but I have no energy. I wrote more about it here, but anyway something positive did result from this latest bout of illness. I lost 7.5 lbs in 36 hours. Now if only that would stay off. Much of it is probably water weight, but not all of it. For the past 18 hours I have been able to keep myself pretty well hydrated.

Anyway, I had planned on doing a 2 hour run on Tuesday, but that obviously did not occur. Hopefully I can get a long ride in on Friday. Anyway, being ill for 2 days is not the worst thing that can happen that is for sure, but it is frustrating.

Swimming update

I seem to have found my stroke. Or at least a better version of it. I can maintain it at least for a while. After a time it falls apart as I get tired. But on Monday I was doing consecutive 100's at about 1:50 to 1:55 with a 20 second rest in between. That is pretty good for me. I just get tired and go anaerobic about about 800 yards of doing it. It is not a secret, I pull with my arms better from the time they are stretched forward to the time that each arm leaves the water when my arm is down around my hip. So I am getting good full strokes and I have suddenly found I can rotate better to my non-breathing side. I am still trying to keep my legs from being too floppy at the knee, but I think that is getting better too. I can feel myself getting faster because the wall of the pool comes at me at a different time than I am used to--quicker and at a different part of my stroke. I almost hit my head on Monday.

I just don't have good endurance yet. My strokes--at least compared to others in the class--are long and slower. Most of those in the class are moving their arms faster than me. Not that they are all faster overall, I am faster than about 3 of the 7 others. But this means I don't take as many breaths compared to those who stroke faster than I. At 800 yards I seem to run out of air. I have to slow down for a bit to survive. I think this will improve though as I continue.

Swimming is so much about technique. Everyone says this. They are right. I have had a hard time getting the technique down. When I was recorded swimming by my swim coach about 2 months ago I thought I was swimming pretty well. At least until I finally got the video from him about a month later. Ugly stroke. I am curious as to what it looks like now. It has to be better. It seems like it should be easy to replicate the proper stroke, as seen in various books I have looked at. Um, not so much. Anyway, things are heading in the right direction here.

Music

Thanks to Fish's wife Cindy and her blog, I am putting some music on this blog. Why? I dunno, why not?

The songs are all currently on my iPod. Enjoy.

My secret to running on a treadmill + a bunch of nothing

I dislike running on a treadmill. It is boring.

Sometimes there are some interesting people to watch. One day there was this woman that was running near me and she was running at a 6.5 mph pace. She started just after me and I thought that judging by her weight (which had to be around 200 for a someone about 5'6") this pace would be short lived. um, no. She ran that pace for about 45 minutes (Rock on lady!). Last night there was a guy that was walking next to me--he was thinner than I, but only walking at 4 mph. He was sweating like a pig after about 10 minutes. Weird. Anyway, stuff like that can keep me interested for a little bit. For the most part, no matter what my intentions are when first stepping on to the treadmill, I have to mix it up a bit to stay sane.

Yesterday, I rode with DTP up to Skyline Drive. The original plan was to ride for 2.5 to 3 hours. When his cranks started coming loose I cut that down to just a ride on Skyline to Springville Road, west to Bethany, and then north on Cornell and on to the house. 90 minutes of riding that included a couple of minutes trying to fix DTP's bike and waiting for him a couple of times. This is not to say that DTP is slow, but well, perhaps there is a reason why the guys that we play cards with call him Slow Dave (The dude takes 3 times longer to play a card than anyone else). To make a short story longer, I wasn't too tired after the ride and btw yes, I really enjoy giving DTP a bunch of crap. We got back home in time for me to watch son #1 while Bridget went to a kindergym class with son #2. She would have put him in the daycare, so DTP's bike problem saved us some money.

About 8 hours later, after consuming a Muchas Gracias taco, half-order of Nachos, a Skyline Burger, fries and salad, and a three pack of McDonald's chocolate chip cookies I got around to the treadmill.

As noted earlier, I cannot just be on the treadmill without some sort of disraction. Everyone who has ever run on a treadmill knows this to be true, unless you have the ability to go into some sort of mediative trance. I can't so I do the following:

Listen to my iPod--either Car Talk or Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on podcast or some music

(1) Wonder why in the hell I don't have the legal job of my dreams yet. I also like to berate myself regarding things that I should be doing but haven't for some reason. I talk down to myself in an effort to shame myself for my incompetence at getting a job. This usually does two things, takes my mind off of the boredom of running on the treadmill and angers me enough to keeping at a decent pace. Self-hate can be a powerful thing sometimes, and it can be used for good oddly enough.

(2) Wonder why I am still gaining weight even though I have been burning about 7000 calories a week working out. Then I remember the nachos, taco, hamburger, fries, cookies, and blue cheese dressing I consumed during the day I and figure it out. This doesn't usually take long.

But my real secret to running on the treadmill is to push myself in intervals.
-Run one mile warm up
-Start the timer on the treadmill again and run 5.5 mph
-At 5 minutes increase pace to 6.1 and run for 75 seconds.
-Return to 5.5 mph
-At 10 minutes increase pace to 6.2 and run for 80 seconds.
-Return to 5.5 mph
-At 15 minutes increase pace to 6.3 and run for 85 seconds. return to 5.5 mph afterwards.
-At 20 minutes 6.4 mph, run for 90 seconds. Return to 5.5 mph.
-At 25 minutes 6.5 mph, run for 95 seconds. Return to 5.5 mph.
-At 30 mintes 6.6 mph, run for 100 seconds. return to 5.5 mph.
This continues until I get to 7.0 mph and 120 seconds. I don't go beyond that. After the interval I head back down to 5.5 mph. After finishing 6 miles of this I then do a cool down--last night that was about 3/4 of a mile. Total mileage was around 7.7 miles. Anyway, that was last nights workout. Other days I do similar intevals, even if it is not this exact one.

My heart rate last night averaged 157 during the 80 minutes I ran. My max was 171. I burned something like 1320 calories. The only negative was that my lower back, near my hip was killing me again during the night. So I probably over did it a bit. Nevertheless, I felt great during the run. The change of pace keeps me interested, and the ever increasing speed during the faster parts are a challenge.

I still worry about the run portion of the Vikingman. My hip still pains me making running at all a concern. I am limiting my running to about twice a week. Hopefully that will be enough to survive. Survival is the only goal at this point.

Off Topic: Linking etiquette

So there are some blogs that I like generally, even though I don't know the people writing them personally. I don't necessarily like everything on them, nor do I read them religiously. But I hesitate to link to them out of making my loyal readers think there is a some sort of total endorsement of the blog, or that I know the person that writes the blog. Not a big deal, but so far I have only linked to blogs of people that I know well and my family (who I sometimes wonder if I know at all).

On the otherhand, there is a friend from law school that has a blog. It is often funny and sometimes crude. I hesitate to link becuase frankly, I don't want to link to anything that I would be afraid to put on my own blog. And about 20% of it would be too foul for me to put here so it stays off. I have thought about posting a link with a content warning on it, but that seems cheesy.

But then, why bother putting up links to these other blogs anyway. Well, the main reason is it is a convenient platform for me personally to jump to the blogs that I like. So what if the rest of you don't like them, I do. Am I cooler for having a huge list of blogs on my own blog? Does it imply that I have lots of friends with cool things to say? Meh.

I admit I like having my blog link to, although it has only happened, well, never for this one. Our family's blog, which I am pretty much the sole author, has been linked by my family and a couple of friends. This blog is the black sheep I guess. However, I admit that I like writing this one more, becuase I can sort of say what I want about a subject that I often obsess over. I let this one be a bit more PG or PG-13 than the family blog which I try to keep G-rated.

I am not sure how many people read this blog. I know my wife does occassionally, and probably some of my siblings, Fish and Brian seem to be regulars as well. I think that is about it. So I guess the fact that I don't have any links is fine. I have an occasional comment from folks that must come upon it after a Google search for something that I have written about. I was glad that someone found my review about the Fuji Aloha CF2 and swapping it over from tri to road (here and here) and also to those I don't know that have written comments of support a couple of times. I like that sort of thing. Anyway, I welcome comments always as well as links to my little corner of the internet. I don't care if you know me or not.

DTP and his bike

DTP's bike is quite nice. At least on paper. If anyone needs a lesson in how not to treat a bike, look to him. His crank was starting to come off during out ride this morning so we cut it short. Both arms needed to be tightened over a full rotation, maybe two. His crank arm came off last year during a triathlon and he didn't finish the race. Plus his shifting, especially on the front derailleur is all other the place--including off the rings. When he is pedalling behind me I can hear a constant creaking from somewhere in his bike. When I don't hear it I know that he is lagging. If it were my bike I could not ride it. It would be torture to have a ride a bike that noisy and out of tune. Like nails on a chalkboard...

So he has the nicest POS I can think of. Dura Ace and Ultegra with a custom Curtlo steel frame and Easton EC90 SLX fork and Ritchey Protocol wheels. Nothing is more than 9-10 months old. It probably rode well for about two months of that time.

I feel sorry for the bike, not so much the rider.

At least DTP is out riding. We did have to cut short today's ride because of the crank arm issue, but other than that he will usually ride despite the crappy condition of his bike. He is good company for the most part and helps me by realizing that it could be worse--I could be on his bike. Thanks, man!

Day Off

I feel a bit guilty, but I am taking the day off. I should go for a ride, but I left my wheels at work. I don't have any other road wheels built up right now that aren't either carbon tubulars, or cyclocross tubulars. I don't feel like using either for a training ride, even a short one. I don't feel like wearing out the tires on the cross wheelsets (each costs about 70 bucks a tire) and I don't want to mess up my carbon wheelset on some of the crappy roads around here. It is strictly a race day wheelset.

I am also still a bit sore from my 90 minute run. Mainly the pain is in my lower back. So, maybe it is good in the long run to take it easy after such a run. The main thing is that I get used to prolonged efforts even if I am slow. I was hoping to go on a 2 hour run next week. I just picked up a new Fuelbelt Helium. It has 4 8-oz bottles to go along with a little zipper bag that should fit 2 or 3 gels. I haven't run with it yet, but it does seem pretty comfy.

Yesterday, I swapped the Fuji back to TT mode. Joel at work helped get me fit to the bike. We got the saddle (actually a new saddle, the old stock TT saddle was killing one particular area while in the aero position) in a good spot for both power and comfort, but I am going to have to get a different handlebar. My current bar a one-piece stem/bar/clamp-on deal by Vision has absolutely no adjustability. I have stacked the steerer tube with as many spacers as I can and I still can't get the bar up to a proper position for me. My riding position is too low and so my neck is tweaking in order to be able to see down the road. No wonder I was having pain issues last year during my initial 3 months of riding on the bike before I put a road drop bar and shifters on it instead of the stock TT set-up.

So while the stock Vision Tech Trimax Plus Integrated bar set up was cool, it won't work when combined with me and the short headtube of the bike. So I am getting a separate stem with somewhere between a 7 and 10 degree rise and then a simple Vision Tech Alloy base bar and then some sort of clamp on aero bar. Not as clean looking as the integrated bars, but it will work.