For about 2 years worth of lap swimming the goal was just acclimatization so I just wore swim trunks. Yes, they even had a pocket on the back. You could feel it dragging like sticking your hand out the car window on the freeway.
Since I'll be wearing tri-shorts in the event, I wanted to practice in something similar. Jammers are essentially the same, but OK for repeated use in chlorinated pools. Got some. Tried them. Liked 'em fine. Can definitely feel the difference.
Ran and then swam tonight. Did call the gym first to make sure they hadn't had yet another emergency pool closure. The woman who answered actually laughed when I asked. The pool has been closed more than it has been open the last 2 weeks I think.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Another day, another swim.
Managed about 1/3 of the workout breathing on the right. Every breath is an adventure still. Just barely getting enough rotation to that side to be able to get my mouth clear of the water.
The upside of this is that my far from perfect left side technique is feeling more and more comfortable.
The upside of this is that my far from perfect left side technique is feeling more and more comfortable.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Double workout day
Gonna have these a plenty between now and tri day. 400 yard swim isn't really a workout to write home about. I just want to work on daily reinforcement of anything good I've learned.
It was 3 to a lane today because they were giving half the pool for kids swim lessons. (I'm guessing it was the same group that fouled the water yesterday and closed the pool for 18 hours, starting just as I was presenting my ID to go inside.)
I had to spot the guys in my lane a half-length lead or I'd catch them. So apparently I am ranked higher than third worst swimmer in the world at least. It was hard to get in a continuous steady effort. After I got in my distance I put in a few laps trying to breathe on the right side. The "superman" type drill (left arm straight forward, right arm by side, kick only, breathe on right when necessary by rotating) I could not do at all! I could only get my mouth above the water with my arms moving and generating some extra push. So I just did that and managed a length breathing on the right, every other stroke. Progress.
It was so much harder to do than breathing on the left it was comical. I realized that I was actually squinting because I was concentrating so hard, and the squint was making it impossible for the goggles to seal. Something else to look out for later. Keep that face relaxed.
Had a good, low-perceived effort run after I got home from the gym. Fast enough that the dog was heeling well by mile 2, and has been sleeping hard since we got home.
It was 3 to a lane today because they were giving half the pool for kids swim lessons. (I'm guessing it was the same group that fouled the water yesterday and closed the pool for 18 hours, starting just as I was presenting my ID to go inside.)
I had to spot the guys in my lane a half-length lead or I'd catch them. So apparently I am ranked higher than third worst swimmer in the world at least. It was hard to get in a continuous steady effort. After I got in my distance I put in a few laps trying to breathe on the right side. The "superman" type drill (left arm straight forward, right arm by side, kick only, breathe on right when necessary by rotating) I could not do at all! I could only get my mouth above the water with my arms moving and generating some extra push. So I just did that and managed a length breathing on the right, every other stroke. Progress.
It was so much harder to do than breathing on the left it was comical. I realized that I was actually squinting because I was concentrating so hard, and the squint was making it impossible for the goggles to seal. Something else to look out for later. Keep that face relaxed.
Had a good, low-perceived effort run after I got home from the gym. Fast enough that the dog was heeling well by mile 2, and has been sleeping hard since we got home.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Last night's WOJ shop ride
We've done this route before. Tunnel is probably my favorite way up the hill. Unless someone decides to put in a big acceleration about 4.5 miles into it, spiking my heart rate. Moving speed was 14.2, which probably explains why the stop time was a bit higher than usual.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
CO2 inflators
Just did a test to see whether I should carry one or two cylinders.
Each one added about 70 psi to a 700x25c tire. So, one will get you home, but two is what you want if you want to keep riding with normal pace and effort. And you need a gauge or you will be riding with 140 psi in your tire, or you'll be guessing at how much air to let out.
Each one added about 70 psi to a 700x25c tire. So, one will get you home, but two is what you want if you want to keep riding with normal pace and effort. And you need a gauge or you will be riding with 140 psi in your tire, or you'll be guessing at how much air to let out.
Yikes. In open water I swim in circles. Small ones. Hrm.
Went to the lake today. Figured it would be a good idea to get acclimated. Um, yeah. Good idea that.
It was hot (85) which it will not be on race morning. The sand burned your bare feet. Definitely didn't expect that. Reminded me of family vacations as a kid. The water seemed a bit cold at first but a quick plunge took care of that.
It took like 4 tries to get the goggles to seat properly which I attributed to be a bit more distracted than in the pool where I am somewhat at home now. There are lifeguards there that closely monitor the boundary line where the water gets deep enough that people can't stand on the bottom. The lap swim lane is about 20 yards out past that. When I inquired about the lane they said "overhand stroke or we'll call you back in" which seemed reasonable.
Sighting on the bottom of the lake was pretty useless. I thought I'd be able to get the rope on my left and parallel it but I kept turning into it. My trajectory would bounce off it every 4 or 5 strokes. Definitely need some work on that. Bilateral breathing is probably the best solution as I think the turning is a result of me overdoing something related to breathing.
I was also going too fast, again probably because the visual cues from the pool that let me check my speed are all gone. Maybe in a mass start I can just follow someone's feet. If they know where they are going, that would be nice.
It was hot (85) which it will not be on race morning. The sand burned your bare feet. Definitely didn't expect that. Reminded me of family vacations as a kid. The water seemed a bit cold at first but a quick plunge took care of that.
It took like 4 tries to get the goggles to seat properly which I attributed to be a bit more distracted than in the pool where I am somewhat at home now. There are lifeguards there that closely monitor the boundary line where the water gets deep enough that people can't stand on the bottom. The lap swim lane is about 20 yards out past that. When I inquired about the lane they said "overhand stroke or we'll call you back in" which seemed reasonable.
Sighting on the bottom of the lake was pretty useless. I thought I'd be able to get the rope on my left and parallel it but I kept turning into it. My trajectory would bounce off it every 4 or 5 strokes. Definitely need some work on that. Bilateral breathing is probably the best solution as I think the turning is a result of me overdoing something related to breathing.
I was also going too fast, again probably because the visual cues from the pool that let me check my speed are all gone. Maybe in a mass start I can just follow someone's feet. If they know where they are going, that would be nice.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Yikes. I think I can swim.
Did 400 yards at the pool tonight without having to stop to catch my breath at the ends along the way. Didn't think I'd leap straight to full distance from only being able to manage 50 yards a couple of days ago. Got into a good rhythm fairly quickly and got it under control the few times I started to speed up and run short of air.
It was even possible to spare a little focus for thinking about whether I could improve my form a bit here or there. It was nice to get in some success in the pool as tomorrow I'm heading to the lake where they hold the sprint tri to get some exposure to the open water conditions.
It took 10 minutes which is not fast at all, but should be just enough to avoid getting overrun by the next wave. They start the waves 5 minutes apart so it would take a nearly world record effort (~4 minutes) for someone in the next wave to catch a 10 minute slowpoke in the preceding wave.
I still have 4 weeks to improve and maybe if there's a draft effect in the mass start I may even do a respectable time.
Goals remaining:
Do 400 straight sans speeders (fins).
Be able to breathe on the right.
Nice to do but not required:
Be able to switch off sides on 3rd stroke instead of sticking to a side and breathing every 2nd stroke.
It was even possible to spare a little focus for thinking about whether I could improve my form a bit here or there. It was nice to get in some success in the pool as tomorrow I'm heading to the lake where they hold the sprint tri to get some exposure to the open water conditions.
It took 10 minutes which is not fast at all, but should be just enough to avoid getting overrun by the next wave. They start the waves 5 minutes apart so it would take a nearly world record effort (~4 minutes) for someone in the next wave to catch a 10 minute slowpoke in the preceding wave.
I still have 4 weeks to improve and maybe if there's a draft effect in the mass start I may even do a respectable time.
Goals remaining:
Do 400 straight sans speeders (fins).
Be able to breathe on the right.
Nice to do but not required:
Be able to switch off sides on 3rd stroke instead of sticking to a side and breathing every 2nd stroke.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
So I went on slowtwitch.com and searched on "swim panic"
Spent several evenings reading the threads that turned up as a result of that search. Quite useful. The main things I took away from it were to a) try and breathe out more completely with my face in the water and b) maybe experiment with how I am rotating my body.
Knowing my breathing was not working well, was not timed well, and was not providing me with as much oxygen as I needed was obvious. Having an idea for how to improve that is not hard. Actually putting that into action was iffy though. Perhaps I got lucky though because I stumbled on something that worked well enough for me.
Old:
1. Throw head up to the left while pulling left arm back.
2. Gulp air as left arm comes over.
3. Left hand enters, head faces straight down and locks there.
4. Hold breath (mostly) until blasting it out just prior to step 1.
New:
1. Turn head left and keep chin close to left shoulder and rotate body until mouth comes out of the water by the time left hand is farthest back.
2. Breathe in and recover left arm.
3. Breathe out through nose moderately as right arm pulls back and left arm enters.
4. Pause exhale at mid stroke.
5. Breathe out through nose moderately as left arm pulls. Head begins turning left again.
The big change is almost continuous exhale starting as soon as a new breath was taken in. Also the head is almost constantly in motion. Before I was trying to keep eyes on the bottom of the pool too much.
Right now I'm breathing every stroke, and only on the left. I tried applying what I learned to the right side, but I need to start from scratch there. Just wasn't getting my face out of the water enough.
This is enough that I can swim more than 25 yards at a time now. More practice will help reinforce the good stuff. Once I'm getting enough air and it is fairly automatic I can start working on other technique. Right now it is still iffy enough that if I divide my attention it falls apart really fast.
Knowing my breathing was not working well, was not timed well, and was not providing me with as much oxygen as I needed was obvious. Having an idea for how to improve that is not hard. Actually putting that into action was iffy though. Perhaps I got lucky though because I stumbled on something that worked well enough for me.
Old:
1. Throw head up to the left while pulling left arm back.
2. Gulp air as left arm comes over.
3. Left hand enters, head faces straight down and locks there.
4. Hold breath (mostly) until blasting it out just prior to step 1.
New:
1. Turn head left and keep chin close to left shoulder and rotate body until mouth comes out of the water by the time left hand is farthest back.
2. Breathe in and recover left arm.
3. Breathe out through nose moderately as right arm pulls back and left arm enters.
4. Pause exhale at mid stroke.
5. Breathe out through nose moderately as left arm pulls. Head begins turning left again.
The big change is almost continuous exhale starting as soon as a new breath was taken in. Also the head is almost constantly in motion. Before I was trying to keep eyes on the bottom of the pool too much.
Right now I'm breathing every stroke, and only on the left. I tried applying what I learned to the right side, but I need to start from scratch there. Just wasn't getting my face out of the water enough.
This is enough that I can swim more than 25 yards at a time now. More practice will help reinforce the good stuff. Once I'm getting enough air and it is fairly automatic I can start working on other technique. Right now it is still iffy enough that if I divide my attention it falls apart really fast.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tonight's run profile
7 miles
average cadence 83
pace 9:42/mi
climb/decend 660 ft (including one 1/3 mile climb at 10%)
Nothing earth shattering in the above, except that for me 9:40 is a great pace on a hilly trail and my max heart rate on this run was 170. Most of it was in the 160s. Percieved effort was very low. Legs felt like they had good spring in them and were nice and loose. It was definitely cooler out than it has been lately.
Very interesting comparing to other runs of this route in my log book. There were a few other examples I could find of similar (good, for me) times, but they were usually when I was deep into training for a marathon. Even then, although perceived effort was also low then, the measured effort (heart rate) was usually a bit higher on average, and peak was noticeably higher (5-10 bpm).
average cadence 83
pace 9:42/mi
climb/decend 660 ft (including one 1/3 mile climb at 10%)
Nothing earth shattering in the above, except that for me 9:40 is a great pace on a hilly trail and my max heart rate on this run was 170. Most of it was in the 160s. Percieved effort was very low. Legs felt like they had good spring in them and were nice and loose. It was definitely cooler out than it has been lately.
Very interesting comparing to other runs of this route in my log book. There were a few other examples I could find of similar (good, for me) times, but they were usually when I was deep into training for a marathon. Even then, although perceived effort was also low then, the measured effort (heart rate) was usually a bit higher on average, and peak was noticeably higher (5-10 bpm).
Monday, July 20, 2009
Panic is bad
Why is it that the more short of breath I get in the pool, the faster I turn over? Thereby working harder and needing to breathe more. Gah. I really need to practice that out of me.
At least I can successfully get my goggles to seal and stay sealed within the first few laps now. Never could do that as a kid and that was a big part of a lifelong aversion to sticking my face in the water.
I may have to head out to the lake at the Shadow Cliffs park this week and swim in it to see what it is like. The pool is extremely chlorinated and the chlorine burn in the nose is definitely one thing that triggers irrational reactions. Maybe the lake will be nicer and an easier place to relax. It'll also be good to not have to turn at a wall every 25 yards.
At least I can successfully get my goggles to seal and stay sealed within the first few laps now. Never could do that as a kid and that was a big part of a lifelong aversion to sticking my face in the water.
I may have to head out to the lake at the Shadow Cliffs park this week and swim in it to see what it is like. The pool is extremely chlorinated and the chlorine burn in the nose is definitely one thing that triggers irrational reactions. Maybe the lake will be nicer and an easier place to relax. It'll also be good to not have to turn at a wall every 25 yards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
