My Triathlon Adventure

So last night I came to a startling realization.  Swimming is my nemesis.  I know, sounds silly right?  But it’s not.   I feel like I make progress one day, and then fall apart the next.  In fact, at times it is even more bipolar than that.  I have a great length, then half way back to finish the lap I think, this is great I can go forever, but by the time I get back to the wall, I am out of gas.  Huh, what?  Where did that come from?

I know that this is a long journey, I keep telling myself it is a marathon and not a sprint, but come on, there has to be something going on here that is beyond swimming.  The pool is actively trying to mess with me.  Some days it pushes me along, feeding my ego, and the next day it steps on my chest with it’s watery foot.  So that’s where I stand, swimming hates me and wants me to fail.

Of course there’s nothing like a rivalry to get my juices flowing, so it it’s a fight the pool wants, it’s a fight that I will give it.  Mark my words, I will take you down pool.  I will swim endlessly, and you will see my power.  (OK is it gone now, gulp, omg I’m scared.)

I also ran last night, erm, that wasn’t much better.  My legs were stiff, and my shins started getting sore.  I need to figure out what I’m doing wrong to make my shins so sore.  I do enjoy running at night, but last night was a slogfest.

As the car pulled away the darkness pooled around my feet like the tide coming in before the storm.  The envelope of darkness surrounded me.  THUMP THUMP THUMP.  My heart raced as the last light from the car’s taillights rounded the corner and was swallowed up by the darkness.  THUMP THUMP THUMP.  I was there, alone in the darkness, and I could feel the anxiety building in my chest….wait, let me back up.

After missing my first scheduled run I decided there was no way I was going to let another runless day pass me by.  Work got in my way again, so I just couldn’t get the run in during lunch.  Tonight was going to be our swim day so I knew I didn’t want to miss that either.  My wife and I ended up driving together for the swim.

I decided to bring my running gear.  I had mapped out the spot on the way home that was 3 miles away.  I figured my wife could drop me off after swim and I would just run home.  No problem.  So after our swim, I showered, got in my running clothes, and got ready to run.  We drove to the three mile point, and I got out of the car.  It was night time and the car thermometer said it was 37F.  I got out of the car in a nice residential area, and my wife wished me luck.  This was more or less the point of no return.  She was headed home to relieve the babysitter.  Without a sitter I was going to be on my own to get home, one way or the other.

I started running, and my wife pulled away.  As she pulled off the light from the car gave way to complete darkness.  I couldn’t see the moon in the sky, and there were no street lights.  As she turned the corner up ahead my heart sunk.  I was anxious and afraid.  It didn’t make sense to me to feel that way, but I did none the less.  It was so dark that I couldn’t see the street.  There was no sidewalk so I ran in the middle of the street in order to avoid gutters and potholes.

The night was still and calm.  Once I settled my nerves I looked into the sky and stared at the stars.  The night was perfect for running.  Cold but clear.  I ran looking for landmarks.  I have driven along this road for years, so I searched out, anticipating the landmarks.  Every once in a while I would hear a car approaching and I would move over to the side of the road to enjoy the little moments of light that the headlights would provide me.  Once in a while I would come across a street light which provided me with an oasis from the deserted blackness of the night.

As I reached the half way point I realized that I hadn’t been taxing myself too badly.  I was keeping a 10 minute/mile pace.  I actually felt good.  The rest of the run was pretty normal.  I made it home wih a pace of 10:17.  I’m not winning any races, but this was also only my second run at this distance.

A couple of notes.

• I caught myself slowing down from time to time as my mind wandered.  I would pick up the pace at that point but I think I will have to work on keeping the pace up even when I lose focus.
• I also noticed that it was hard for me to go any faster, I just didn’t feel coordinated enough to pick up the cadence, I think it will take some practice.
• I also noticed that I seem to be landing mid foot naturally. This should help with my Pose Running which I hope to begin soon.
• Lastly, when I got home I did a good stretch, I started to feel my hamstring tighten up and decided that I should try an ice bath.  I didn’t have ice, but since my tap water must run through a glacier on the way to my house it was plenty cold on its own.  OMG the water was sooo cold.  I left my shirt on, and after a few minutes I went numb enough to not feel the cold.  When I got out my legs felt fresh and light.  I think this is the way to go after long runs (ok 5K is long for me, so what?)

Weather Wear

Temp: 38 Degrees

Wind: low

Gear: Layer 8 pants, Layer 8 Shirt

Note: I felt good, however my butt was a little cold.  I think it was because I was wearing cotton underwear which held onto the sweat.  I have some underwear made of technical fabric to try next time.

Downhill swimming is the holy grail.  In my search for swimming techniques I read that term hundreds of times.  I, on the other hand, mostly felt like I was swimming uphill, both ways.  There are a number of things that people have said you need to do to get that downhill feeling.  Almost all of them, however, are related to head position.

Keeping your head down is key, at least that’s what they say.  I have been working hard at keeping my head down, so hard in fact, that at times my whole body is underwater making it impossible to come up for air quickly.   That’s not going to work.  Well, near the end of my session last night, as always, (why do I always make breakthroughs at the end of the night) I got my first real experience with swimming downhill.

The sensation was incredible.  I would pull and push with one arm and my body would glide effortlessly as I started the recovery stroke.   It was magical.  Before I knew it I was at the end of the lane and heading back.  I couldn’t believe it.  So how did I accomplish this magical task?  Well it was a few things all coming together at once I think.  Most of these things I already had down, I added one new thing yesterday that sealed the deal.  Hopefully I can get that down so that it becomes the norm.  As it stands, I am not achieving it consistently.  So here are the things I have done to help me get to that great feeling:

1. Breathing correctly, I previously wrote a post on breathing while swimming that illustrates the important points.  In summary, don’t lift your head, and turn as little as possible to ensure that you are staying streamlined.
2. Head position.  Not too high, not too low, you want your head to be a straight extension of the spine and the water to be hitting you right on the crown of your head, not your forehead.  This keeps your body in one streamlined plane.
3. Patient lead arm.  You don’t want to swim like a windmill.  You want the arm that is extended in front of you to wait until your recovery arm swings out in front of your face.  This will allow you to stay streamlined and glide as soon as possible, and for as long as possible.
4. Arm extension.  This is the part that pulled it together for me.  I had been doing all of the above, at least to some extent, but this last one was the final key to getting that downhill feeling.  Timing here is everything.  As I pull with one hand, I simultaneously stretch the lead hand out in the water which forces my body to rotate a bit more.  It is really all one motion.  When I do this, the shoulder of my lead arm actually pushes in against my face.  If you sleep on your side that is kind of the same feeling you get.  This position makes a streamlined shape that leads from the tips of the fingers of your lead hand, over your head and then over your shoulder.

If you read carefully you will see a common theme emerge–ok, fine I highlighted it so you don’t have to read so carefully.  Downhill swimming has nothing to do with your body pointing down.  It has more to do with keeping your body as streamlined as possible to minimize friction in the water.  You take the shape of an arrow, or a rocket, and you glide through the water almost effortlessly.  That is where the money is!  OK fine, no money but at least the swimming will be fast and easy, that’s something right?

Last Thursday I had a group swim session for the triathlon training group at the Y.  The instructor told me that I was wasting energy lifting my right arm up.  Everything that I had heard until then was that I should be lifting the elbow high on recovery.  This swim coach had some very unorthodox ideas about swimming, but he was also pretty pragmatic.  He feels that swimming for a triathlon is all about energy conservation.  That is something that makes a lot of sense to me.  I gave it a try and it felt really good.

I focused on pushing my arm out in front of me to lengthen my stroke, and I focused on pulling from this longer position.  It was the end of the night for me, so I didn’t get to try it for more than just a lap or so.  I was anxious to try it again during my next swim session.

On Saturday I did the P90X chest and back workout.  I am really enjoying these workouts.  It is a dead basic but killer workout.  I have really been pushing myself lately and I can really notice a difference in the max reps and weight.

On Sunday I had my spin class.  It was tough but doable.  I did about 16 miles and felt pretty good.  I met my wife at the pool and tried my new stroke.  It felt like I was moving pretty slow, but at the same time it felt much more comfortable.  I timed a lap and it worked out to about 1 minute.  That wasn’t as fast as I had been swimming before, but it wasn’t that much slower either.  After a few warm up laps I decided to go for 11.  I noticed right away that I wasn’t as winded when I got to the end of a length or a lap.  I didn’t need much time to catch my breath.  I kept plugging away at it and eventually I finished the 11 laps.  I checked that time and it took me exactly 13:30 to do the 11 laps.  I couldn’t believe it.  I had shaved 3 minutes off of my best time ever!  I wasn’t even that tired.  I can’t tell if it was my new stroke or just an increase in fitness.  I actually had enough gas in the tank to sprint the last length, it felt great.  This despite the fact that I was sore from a killer chest and back workout the night before.  And, to top things off, when I got out of the pool my legs were fresh as daisies.  Note to self, find something more masculine to compare yourself to going forward.  Things are looking up, if not linguistically, at least athletically.

On Monday I did the P90X arms and shoulder workout.  That is a really great workout too.  I love how it makes my muscles burn and my arms feel tight right after the workout.  I know that I’m going to be feeling it for days.

I am ramping up for this weekend’s big race.  I’m really excited to bring it on Sunday.  My goal for the week is to get another swim workout in and do the P90X Yoga and stretch DVD’s just to get myself nice and loose.  After this Tri my wife and I are going to put together some training plans.  I would like to start working on my running.  I would really like to do a half marathon this year, but I know I can’t do that without some focused, and planned training.  I have been researching training techniques for some time and I plan to post some of the information that I’ve learned just to keep it all in one place.

You know, like that Mary Poppins song?  No?  Fine!  Tonight I had a nice swim session.  My goal was to try to get to 11 laps and see if I could actually do it.  I had met a friend for dinner and had a huge salad and soup so I was pretty stuffed before starting the swim.  My dinner hung in my stomach like a brick.  Ugh.

I started with a few laps just as a warm up.   About a month ago I could barely do a length, it’s kind of funny now to think that I could knock two laps off just to warm up.  At any rate, I then tried to do my laps.  I just couldn’t pull it together long enough to do more than 2 or 3 in a row.  It was disappointing.  After a while of thrashing it out, I decided that I should go to the bathroom.  Why do I always have to pee within 5 minutes of getting in the pool?

When I got back I felt better and ready to go, and go I did.  I started swimming and didn’t stop.  I pushed past 6 laps and thought “I can do 9.”  Then I got to 9 and thought, sheesh it’s only two more I can do this.  By the time I started lap 10 my arms were like lead.  They were somehow both numb and super-sensitive.  I can’t really explain it other than to say, I felt like they were cutting through the water like it was air, it felt like your mouth feels with novocaine, except that I had a heightened perception of the air bubbles running over my arms.  It was such a strange feeling.  I slugged it out though, and I got all 11 laps, 550 yards.  When I got out my legs were fresh and ready to go.  I think I have may figured this whole swim thing out.

I managed to hit the lap timer as I ended the 9th lap so I can compare my swim to the triathlon times from January.  Here they are:

9 laps:  January Tri – 17:53  || Today: 13:09

11 lap total:  16:18

That’s right, I shaved nearly 5 minutes off of my previous swim time, and finished the 11 laps a minute and a half faster than my 9 lap time.  I am certainly improving, but I have a long way to go before I can reach my goal of 9 laps in 9 minutes.

Tomorrow I have another swim session, but I think I will work on drills instead of going for distance.  I need to work on breathing every 4 strokes rather than every 2.  That will help me stay streamlined for longer.  By my next tri in April I want to be able to get to bilateral breathing, but I am not going to mess with my stroke so close to the next tri.

This weekend was supposed to be our 5K race, the Cupid Run, however that was canceled mid-week so we ended up with a downer for the weekend.  We were really looking forward to our first real race.  We decided to register for theO’Hartford 5K which really seems like it is going to be a lot of fun.

All I did on Saturday was my P90X workout.  It was Chest and Back and it was a bear.  Really tough workout for me.  Of course that was capped off by Ab Ripper FU.  I can’t believe how tough that ab workout is.  I can’t even imagine a day when I will be able to make it all the way through.  I did a bit better than last time, but that doesn’t say much.  Needless to say, my whole upper body was sore the next day.

Sunday morning I did spin.  I used my HR monitor and calculated a burn of 560 calories over 50 minutes.  I think my legs were still burning a little from the P90X leg and back workout earlier in the week.  It was a really great workout.

After spin we went to the pool and did laps.  I started right out of the gate to try to get some laps in.  Before my wife even got to the pool from the locker room I had finished 4 laps in a row and felt good.  I tooled around a little more trying to help my wife with her form (like the blind leading the blind) and wrapped up the day with an attepmt to max out my laps.  My goal was to go for as many laps as I could before needing to stop.  I had cycles where I felt I couldn’t go any longer, but then I would get a rhythm and I would feel perfectly fine.  I got all the way to 6 laps and then I notice a couple of people trying to find a lane.  I stopped to let them in, but I think I could have squeaked out another lap or two.  I did the 6 laps in about 7:22.  That’s about 1:14 a lap. That isn’t quite at my goal of 1 minute per lap or better, but I have until May to get to that.  My early laps are all sub 1 minute, so I know I am slowing down as I get tired.

The first thing to go for me now is my arms and shoulders.  They just start getting fatigued.  That is a big difference from my last race where my legs nearly fell off and I couldn’t keep my heart rate and breath regulated.  I’m wondering too if the P90X chest and back workout isn’t causing some of the fatigue.  As silly as it sounds, I will probably taper before the next tri, at least by not doing the chest and back workout on the Saturday before the race.

Tonight I did the P90X arms and shoulders workout.  My arms and shoulders are really mad at me about it.  I gave it all I had and I don’t think I have ever felt my triceps as sore as they are right now.  Tomorrow will be another swim session, it won’t be pretty if my shoulders and arms feel anything like they feel right now.  Ouch!

Last night I did the legs and back workout.  It was a tough workout, just like all the rest of them.  This morning, however, I felt the workout in an area that I really wasn’t expecting.  I have just one question.  Mr. Tony Horton, what have you done to my butt?

I could barely sit down today.  When I did, I struggled to stand up.  Ouchy!  I muddled through the day, but man, that was unexpected!

I then went for a swim tonight.  I realized the last few times that I have been in the pool that I think I am getting winded because I am not fully exhaling underwater.  That is an issue because, if you don’t get all the air out, you can’t get enough fresh air in your lungs to help fuel your muscles.  Before long you are gasping for air.  So, tonight, I threw my form to the wind and focused exclusively on breathing.  I let my body do what it wanted, and just made sure to exhale out and get a good breath in.  I also focused on turning my head just enough.  I tried to make sure that I always left one goggle in the water.  Guess what happened?  Before I knew it I was at the other side of the pool and headed back.  I was trucking along like a well oiled machine.  Breathing like I was on dry land!  I finished the first lap, finished the second lap, and before I knew it I had finished 5 laps.  I didn’t time myself, but I’m pretty sure I was really trucking along!

I do have to make a slight disclaimer here.  When I say I go straight through, that isn’t exactly true.  I do cling to the edge of the pool, and take a few breaths, maybe 5 seconds worth, before heading back.  However, compared to my previous 30-60 seconds of standing stop, this is close enough for me to consider a non-stop lap.  Even with those pauses I am doing sub 1 minute laps.  I think that is fabulous, especially if I can get to the point where I am doing all of them like that.  I could get my 9 laps in 9 minutes which is my goal!!

All in all I’m proud of my progress.  I am hoping to continue concentrating on breathing until it becomes rote, and then go back to working on my form.

Breathing

A couple of things about breathing while swimming.  I think this is the most difficult part of learning how to swim.  It took me some time to figure out how to breathe at all while I swum.  It took tons and tons of research and effort to finally get to a point where I am more comfortable with it.  But like the rest of the swim, there are so many moving parts to think about that it can get overwhelming.

The first part to remember is that you need to stay balanced in the water.  If you raise your head to get air, your legs will fall back into the water causing you to kick to get back into balance.  That makes you inefficient, and in triathlon it also tires your legs before you get out of the pool.  Your goal in the water is to reserve your legs for later, so these are both trouble.

Therefore, the best way to  keep yourself balanced is to just turn your head as little as possible and let your body roll bring you up to the water.  There are a couple of tips for that.  One is to put your chin on the shoulder that is rolling up.  That way you can control how far your head turns and let your body do the work.  The other option is to put the back of your head against the shoulder of the opposite arm.  Same effect different focus.

This is how I started, and now I don’t even think about it.

The other issue that I have been working on lately is exhaling.  I have realized that I haven’t been exhaling completely underwater.  It seems counter-intuitive,  but that is really key.  If you don’t get all of the air out of your lungs, when you turn for air, you will either stay up too long, or not get enough air.  If you stay up too long your balance and efficiency is effected, if you don’t get enough air you get winded prematurely.

Lately I have been focusing exclusively on breathing.  I focus on exhaling while underwater, and then on rotating up leaving one goggle in the water.  I forget about form, and I focus on rhythm.  Almost automatically, my stroke began matching my breath.  Before I knew it I had finished a length, then a lap and then 5 laps.  Nice easy strokes with a focus on breathing.  It is really the key.

Once this becomes second nature I will focus on perfecting my form.  Until then, slow steady breathing.  Phew!

I did 16 miles in my spin class today.  It was incredibly hard…I have no idea why.   I’m not sure if the lack of fans was an issue, most of them were off today, or if I was beat, but I am putting my money on it just being a really tough class.

After spin I jumped in the pool.  My goal was to continue my forward progress on the contiguous laps.  I was hoping to get to 4!  I started out strong.  I felt like I had a groove going, and I got to the end of the 5th length and notice a large group of little girls and a swim instructor at the end of the lane looking down at me disapprovingly.  The instructor then proceeded to kicked me out of the lane so that she could have her swim class.  I had felt so good!!!

I moved over to share a lane with someone, but I just couldn’t get the groove going again.  I was beat from spin class so I just didn’t have it in me.  I gave up and went home.

Later that night, my wife and I decided to do our first P90X workout.  My wife thought it would be a good workout to incorporate into our training.  We haven’t been doing much strength training, and this seemed like a good product for that.  We just received it on Friday, so we thought it would be a good idea to give it a go.  We did the first workout in the plan Chest and Back X and all I have to say is WOW!

I absolutely got my butt kicked.  I had no idea there were so many different kinds of pushups, and had I known that there were that many, I would have had no idea that I could suck at them all.  Of course I did great on the pushups compared to the chin-ups.  I feel like such a wimp!

Once we got through the 1 hour chest and back workout, we had to do the ab workout called Ab Ripper X.  I couldn’t believe that workout.  It took me all of one minute to rename the workout Ab Ripper FU.  Absolutely brutal. I have to say that P90X is the epitome of no pain no gain.

I have a long way to go when it comes to swimming.  I am the first to admit that my form is sloppy, and I still struggle a little to time my breathing right.  But, I am making tremendous progress.  Today I did three consecutive laps.

The most important thing that I have learned in all of my training is that the mental aspect of the sport is key.   Tonight, for example, I decided that I would run two lap intervals again.  Each time I tried to do two laps, I would get to the end of the first lap and just be too tired to continue.  I would push off and then just not feel like I could finish the second lap.  This happened repeatedly.

I kept trying to justify my reasons for not doing two laps.  Oh I swallowed water I need to recover.  Oh the last time was a fluke, I just can’t do more than one lap.  Oh I’m moving too fast I need to be realistic.

But I didn’t want to leave without doing the two consecutive laps.  I just needed to do it.  I thought back on my first few times of spin class.  I was tired, panting and thought I couldn’t go on, but I did.  I told myself that this is no different.  I started my swim and took slow controlled strokes.  I made it one length without any trouble at all.  I took the turn and finished the lap, paused for a second or two to take a few breaths and then continued with lap two.  I made it all the way through the second lap!  I did that once more.  Each time I focused on my slow controlled stroke.  I focused on rotation and being streamlined, and just let my body glide forward with each stroke before taking the next one.

After the second two lap run, I decided to go for three.  I did the same thing as before.  Nice and easy strokes.  I focused on my breathing (more on breathing in a future post) as well and learned a little something in the process.  For the entire set I could feel my shoulders burning.  I could feel how hard it was to just lift my arm for the recovery stroke.  As I finished my third lap I stood up and felt this amazing surge of pride.  I realized that I really could do it!  Once again, I’m so proud of myself.  I’m not breaking any records for sure, but I am learning a ton about how to swim, how important the it is to be mentally strong, and I am hopefully getting ever closer to perfecting my form.

The good news about your brain is that the power it has over you to stop your progress is equal to the power it has to make you succeed.  If you can train yourself to only listen to the positive and motivational thoughts, you can and will do anything.  This is beyond the sport, this is how to approach life.  A positive mind will exude confidence, and that will change your life.  I have always felt that anyone can do anything.  These triathlon experiences are only proving me right!