Lazy workout

This morning I couldn't quite get into the groove of things, but I stuck with it and did a fairly good workout:

1000 - 1000 Warmup
1000 - 5 x 200's free on 4:00 (Get all under 3:00)
500 - 5 x 100's drill (fingertip drag and touch and pulls) on 2:00
400 - 4 x 100's kick IM
100 EZ
400 - 8 x 50's free on 1:00
200 - 200 IM
100 Fly - Worked on butterfly with Cathi. She doesn't move her arms fast enough. With me, I'm probably moving my arms too fast. I need to have a fast momentum in order to get my arms out of the water. I don't rely much on my kick, just a fast upper with a slight dolphin kick. Not sure how the Layton coach would critique me on it, but honestly I don't care all that much as I don't do much fly anymore. But I would like to practice it more. I might want to try a 50 or 100 fly next year at the Utah Summer Games

3700 Yards total - 1:30 time spent so not too fast. Steve Roberts showed up again.

Late morning

Slept in a bit. Very very tired getting out of bed. Took a Buzz Bite since I was exhausted from yesterday's ride, plus sleepy still. By the time I got to the pool I was completely ready for a good swim:

1000 - 1000 Warm up
850 - Timed 825 (750 M - 10:57 NEW PERSONAL RECORD) + 25 ez
800 - 2 x 400's EZ
600 - 3 x 200's Free fast (2:25 - 2:27)
400 - 4 x 100's fast (1:14, 1:14, 1:12, 1:10)
250 - 5 x 50's free fast (35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
150 - 6 x 25's fly/free, fly/breast, fly/free

4050 yards total

Swimming with Steve Roberts

This morning we had a hard time getting out the door in time. We were 15 minutes later than planned, but at least we got out.

1000 - 1000 Warmup
1500 - 5 x (100 Touch and Pull Drill,
100 CrossOvers
100 Two-fingered free)
500 - 5 x 100's free descending on 2:00 (1:22, 1:22, 1:14, 1:06, 1:08)
200 - 200 IM EZ

3200 Yards total

When I got out I dried off and then went to get Cathi's water bottle and she was talking to some guy in the lane next to us. She said, "Look who's here!". It was Steve Roberts from our old Fruit Heights neighborhood. I didn't know he swam. Apparently he is a triathloner as well and big into biking. He rides with a bunch of his neighbors and is doing Lotoja this year. He offered to let Cathi use his road bike at the Ogden Valley which was really nice.

I also told him about the Deer Creek Open Water race and that we were going to be having Cathi practice the canoe this weekend and he offered a kayak which should be a ton easier for her to control. It isn't one of the narrow spin over type kayaks, its the short and wide one. I think we'll take him up on that. It was good to see him and makes me glad to have good friends (which we should be better at keeping in touch with).

Then I biked to work from Layton Surf N' Swim.

Swimming in Bear Lake

Today we went to Bear Lake on "Rendezvous Beach". I rented a canoe and got Brad and Jacob to paddle out 1.5 miles (using GPS) from the beach. There were a ton of boaters and jetskiers so I'm glad we used the canoe. I wouldn't have felt good about swimming out there without a boat next to me.

I jumped out and eyed the beach and started swimming. I had to deal with very choppy water. I swallowed alot of water as I got pounded by the choppy water. Brad and Jacob were zigzagging to shore and I'm thinking I swam 2 miles rather than 1.5 miles. We were 1.5 miles from the beach from a straight line. The water was very clear and didn't have a bad taste. It took us 30 minutes to get out there by boat and an hour to get back on the swim. The water wasn't terribly cold and the wetsuit didn't make me too hot. It was perfect. Except for the choppiness I would have said it was a perfect swim.

3600 Yards total

Big Ladder

Today I was off work because we're going to the Low Family reunion latter this afternoon so I decided to do a big long workout today and break my PR on distance:

1000 - 1 x 1000 warmup
1600 - 2 x 800's free under 11:00 (10:58, 10:50)
50 - EZ
1800 - 3 x 600's, 2nd one kicking
1600 - 4 x 400's pulling
1000 - 5 x 200's free on 3:30
600 - 6 x 100's free fast on 1:45 (Got under 1:20 on all of them)
350 - 7 x 50's free on 1:00 (one 36, rest under :35)
200 - 8 x 25's IM order

8200 Yards total in 2:30

Felt some slight lower back tightness near the end. Nothing major, just annoying.

Buzz Bites

In the past when I have an event that requires some quick energy that enhances my performance in a swim or long distance bike ride I took a 200 mg tablet of caffeine. The problem with that was that it would sometimes lift me up too much.

I found a better solution. Buzz Bites is a chocolate energy chew that contains only half of a caffeine pill. It contains 100 mg of caffeine. It tastes like a dark chocolate tootsie roll. It was delicious and gave me the proper amount of lift I needed. The caffeine pill is too expensive and doesn't contain any vitamins which Buzz Bites offers. Buzz Bites is now on my inventory checklist for important races, or long distance rides.

Just don't think of them as candy as I think they could become addictive, just like any caffeinated product. It's definitely for special performance enhancement scenarios. Check out their website for more information and for ordering!

Xango Echo Triathlon

Distance/Times: Swim 750 M, Bike 20K (12.4 miles), Run 5K (3.1 miles)
Cathi - Total: 1:42:10.95, Swim: 15:41, Bike: 54:26, Run: 26:09
Gords - Just the swim (Relay): 11:28

Details:
Roceil watched the kids for us so Cathi and I could check in the Best Western in Coalville, UT. We went over and got Cathi's packet and did the triathlon walk through. The guide told us of the transition and paths to take which made our experience more comfortable. It was very well organized and laid out. There were lots of signs to make the participants morons if they messed up. And if they still couldn't see the big signs there were lots of volunteers to point the proper direction.

In the morning we got up at 4:45 am and got ready to ride over. We biked over from the hotel which was probably only 2 miles. It was very cold and when we got there the rest of Team Tomax arrived within 30 minutes and we got our packet, timing chip and visited until our start time at 7:50 (for Cathi) and 8:00 (for me).

When I got in the water I noticed that it was hardly muddy and that the water wasn't that cold. They started us and I swam quite easily to the first marker which was easy to see. I rotated my head out of the water every 6 strokes or so and I was usually right on course, so no major lopsidedness going on. When I rounded the first corner I was what I felt like first place for my wave. I was now hitting women who were from the wave before mine. I even ran right into a very slow moving woman and instead of climbing over here, I stopped cold and went around her. I said "Sorry" and started my forward movement back up.

When I rounded the second marker I headed for the get out point. It was right in line with the sun so I couldn't see the marker or the beach at all, just a huge sun. I was noticing the direction of the other swimmers when breathing to the side and saw that they were going parallel to me so I just went with that hoping that it was the right way and that the whole other group was going the right way. That was a good strategy even though I was paranoid that everyone else was doing the same thing and going the wrong way.

But not before long I could see the shadow of trees which meant I was nearing the finish. I was too far to the right as I started running into reeds so I veered left and swam another 25 yards or so before hitting the bottom and running out. I heard the beep as I crossed the sensor pad with my left ankle's timing chip. As I ran up the slope on the green turf I saw Cathi and said "Good Job Cathi!" I found my shoes and hurried to slip them on and run to the transition area which was about 200 yards. I think I was the first team relay swimmer out of the water. Jason was pleased and hurried to get the timing chip on and took off. My time in the swim was 11:28. I was aiming for 11:30 so I met my goal. I was disappointed that I did the relay. I had plenty of energy left and wished I could have done the bike and run.

I saw Cathi start her bike portion and waited for Jason to arrive so Heather could go. I didn't use my stop watch at all so I didn't know how we were doing during the race.

I saw Heather start off and then as she finished. I then saw Cathi finish.
Team Tomax came in first place in the coed sprint relay division. We did it. Great job team. And great job Cathi!


Here are the results of the Coed Division:

Swimming at Camp Bartlett

At 3:00 pm Austin finished his Leatherwork class and we had two hours to kill before dinner so we went swimming with Jeffrey Davis and Hayden Buchi. Since I hadn't been passed off at camp, I had to do a swim check (75 Free, 25 Back and then backfloat) I jumped in and started swimming hard. There wasn't any moss to deal with like the last open swim I did last week. The water was surprisingly warm.

Did several laps. Then I had Jeffrey Davis time a couple of 50's. I did 36 and 37 second 50's. I then took the wetsuit off as I was getting to hot with it on. Hayden was goofing around and wanted me to bet him he could beat me in a race if he got a head start. I said, "How about you just swim to the other end and I have to swim down and back. Instead of betting money, the loser has to do 50 pushups before the day is over." He agreed.

So we had Jeffrey and Austin start us. Go! I swam hard and was kicking well, keeping my head in and did a flip turn down at the end. When I got back to where I started I looked back and there was Hayden resting at the other end smiling at me. I knew it would be close, but not where he would beat me. There were lots of other scout and leader spectators so I said, "Good Job Hayden! I knew it would be tough." Then Jeffrey and Austin both gave me evil smiles like I was just duped. I said "What?" They said he swam over to the dock about 5 feet away, jumped out and ran to the end and jumped back in.

Dang! So I made him do 50 pushups which he did in sets of 10s and 20s before going to bed that night. Felt plenty worked out for this Saturday's race at Echo.

800 yards total

Swimming at Pocatello Community Center

Tonight I went over and swam the following at the Community Center:

1000 Warm up - Time the first 825 yards (750 M) at 11:06 and 175 EZ
1000 - 5 x (100 Sprint (All under 1:10), 50 Breast, 50 One Arm Fly)
200 - 2 x (25 no breath free, 25 breast EZ, 25 free EZ, 25 underwater no breath)

2200 Total

It was tough only swimming this amount, but need to start tapering. Felt great on the 750 M time and on the 100 sprints.

Swimming in Logan Pond

Today after meeting Bill and Roceil at the Golden Corral in Logan, Cathi and I went to the Logan Pond and tried on our wetsuits and went swimming. We swam for about 25 minutes and probably 800 yards. It was very cold and gross with the moss to deal with when we were swimming.

Cathi screamed when she felt how cold the water was. It was probably in the high 50's. I was grossed out with the pond bottom. Lots of moss and sticks in the water. A little freaky. But mostly very cold. My arms and face were numb.

Around 900 yards total

Swimming with swim team

After Racquetball this morning I went swimming down where there were probably nearly 70 swimmers. There was a lane left open for non swim-team people and there were already 4 people in it. 2 Kids and 2 women. So I circled with them:

3000 - 3 x 1000's (Time the first 825 and then do 175 ez)

3000 Total. All of the timed 825's were between 11:45 - 12:30.

Make-up workout

This morning I was feeling lazy. I went with Cathi to the pool, but wasn't feeling well. Sam threw up last night while in our bed and I suspected that I got the bug. I went straight to work today and worked 12 hours straight. On the way home I realized I had my swim suits still so I stopped at the SDRC and swam the following:

6000 - 6 x 1000's (Time first 825 and then do 175 EZ)

6000 total

Met Kevin at the start of my 6000 and also saw Craig Barnes from Tomax (who left several years ago). Had to deal with stupid kids getting in my lane. I would just swim normal and I think they got sick of getting splashed or kicked when I did my flip turns.

Tomorrow we are going to the cabin. Cathi and I are taking our wetsuits aznd plan to swim in the pond down at the base of Logan Canyon.

Pick it up - one week left

Only one more week left before the swim leg for team Tomax. Today I decided to step up the yards a bit:

4000 - 4 x 1000's (Timed 825 yd (12:20, 12:02, 11:46, 11:38), then 175 EZ)

4000 yards total in 1:20