Birthday Swim

Today is Cathi's Birthday. I was able to get up to the alarm this morning which was surprising cause I got to bed pretty late. Our neighbors got a rooster about 3 weeks ago and it sure is loud at 6:00 am. With the kids starting school, and me trying to get off early on Friday we needed to get out of the pool at 7:00 so today's swim was a short one:

1500 - 1500 yards free straight. I saw Kyle Kofoed in the locker rooms as well as the fast old guy from a couple weeks ago. There was still one other guy in the pool was pretty fast. I was only able to lap him every 300 yards or so.

1500 Yards total.

Tired

This weekend has been weird for me. I haven't been really starving myself, just watching it. But whenever I stand up from sitting down, I have been getting really light headed and dizzy for about 20 seconds. I haven't passed out, but if this continues, I wouldn't be surprised if I did.

This morning I was lazy and slow getting out the door and my attitude wasn't very energetic. My workout reflected this:

1000 - 1000 Warmup (825 yard split = 11:27, 1000 done at 13:50) Not very fast.
1000 - 10 x 100's (alternate between 100 IM and 100 Free) on 2:00

2000 yards total

Friday morning swim

This morning when I got in the water was warmer than the air outside so that was nice. I was about to start my warmup when one of the ladies who was "Grandma swimming" a couple lanes over said "Hi Gordon". I recognized it as Carly Felter's voice. I couldn't see very well with my fogged up dark goggles. First time seeing her at the pool. I said "Hello" and started my warmup:

2000 - 2000 straight Free
400 - 200 Flutter Kick, 100 Breaststroke kick, 50 Butterfly kick, 25 back kick, 25 Grandpa swimming
1000 - 2 x 500's Free (no rest between sets) 6:48 first set, 6:59 second set
100 - Grandpa swimming
100 - 2 x 50's fast (Fly/Free) on 1:15 (< :35 on both)

3600 Yards total

Happy Anniversary swim

Today is my anniversary. Cathi was so tired this morning, I asked her if she wanted to swim, but she didn't budge. She was so tired. She has a big job watching after the kids, and she also runs alot so she is tired. Last Saturday she ran over four hours. So I didn't get on her case. I let her sleep while I went to swim:

1000 - Warmup
800 - 2 x 400 IM's First 400 kick IM, second normal
200 - 200 Free Drill (100 fingertip drag, 100 touch and pull)
1000 - Free (500 split = 6:47, 825 split = 11:17, 1000 = 13:38)
600 - 6 x 100's free descending on 2:00 (1:30, 1:20, 1:17, 1:12, 1:07, 1:10)

3600 Yards Total

Putting more time in the pool

Swimming 2-3 times a week is weak. So I'm gonna try and hit 4-5 times a week, starting today:

1000 - Free Warmup - I should have timed this cause I went fast and felt strong.
1000 - 5 x 100 IM's on 2:30, 5 x 100's free descending on 2:00 (1:20, 1:17, 1:15, 1:12, 1:05)
200 Breast
1000 - 5 x 200's free pulling on 3:00 (all 2:20 - 2:30)
200 - 2 x 50's fly/free, 2 x 50's back/breast
200 Free fast

3600 Yards total - :55

I have a theory. I didn't cramp up at all today. My theory is that in a pool when you push off the wall it uses the muscles on the arch of your foot, as well as your calves. So that stretch/push helps to keep those muscles warm. When you're open water swimming you aren't pushing off any walls and those muscles go mainly unused and it puts a strain on them to be stretched out so long. Just an idea. So I think I need to do more open water swimming practice, not just pool swimming. Mainly for practice letting my calves and arches of my feet get used to swimming without getting that good power push every 25 yards.

Deer Creek Open Water Marathon 2008 Results

It was very windy going up Emigration Canyon to Park City at 6:00 am. I picked up Russell at his house since I needed him to be my kayaker. When we arrived it was 7:00 am and it was freezing outside! I was afraid that it would be very cold in the water. I stretch my legs out especially my calves. Usually I start cramping in the arches of my feet and then in my calves.

We filled out the waiver and met for the safety meeting. I took a Buzz Bite knowing that I needed something to power me through this 5K race. The race started at 8:10 or so. When they started the race I started my stopwatch. It was all bunched together and I couldn't see Russ for quite a while. I knew he was behind me somewhere, so I just followed the others that I could see on my right side.

When I hit the 1 mile mark it seemed to be longer than that. I wasn't tired, but it seemed to take longer than 24 minutes. About 30 minutes into the race I started getting some serious cramping going in both of my calf muscles. I would kick with my feet flexed, and then when it got bad would do about 10 seconds of breast stroke. Then when they cramped fast like lightening I would stop and go underwater, then grab my toes and stretch out the calf muscle. A couple times I got cramps in my quads and then I'd do breaststroke for about 10 seconds.

I was swimming hard. Good long strokes, my breathing was good, the water wasn't cold, dirty or funny tasting. It was the perfect swim except for that damn calf cramping! I wasn't tired, or winded. If I could have gone cramp free I would have cut probably 2 minutes off my time. When I neared the finish buoy, I sprinted for about 100 yards. I went so fast into the buoy that I jammed my thumb. I stopped my watch: 1:23:16


Dang! I was going for under 1:20. I was disappointed. I was about 2 minutes behind Brad from the Bountiful Masters, who also beat me in the 1500 M at the Summer Games. I was hoping for 1:17 or so. Not even close. I took 4th overall in the 5K (out of probably 12 or so), and the 2nd and 3rd place guys didn't even get under 1:20 so I wasn't feeling too bad. The official results will probably be posted in a couple weeks. I had a great time and am looking forward to breaking the first official time of 1:23:16! Here's a link to the final results for all the events.

My last tapering day before the Deer Creek Open Water 5K

Yesterday evening while watching the Olympics they showed Michael Phelps daily schedule, which included 8300 M of swimming. That's his tapering?

My gosh that's over 5 miles! That's more yardage than my all time daily high of 8200 yards! Man he's a machine!

Here's what I did today:

250 - 5 x 50's fast on 1:30 (all under 30 seconds)
250 - 5 x (25 fly fast, 25 free easy) on 1:30

500 yards total

Tapering...

Found this cool video about this Saturday's swim online:



This morning I planned on only swimming 1000 yards or so. It was tough to hold back:

200 Free warmup
800 - 2 x (4 x 100's descending (1:20, 1:15, 1:10, 1:07) on 2:00
100 breast

1100 Yards total

Getting really excited for this Saturday's swim!

The Greatest Relay Ever Swam

"Napolean, like anyone can even know that."

Last night I saw the greatest relay swim ever! I kept hearing the doubt and negativity of the commentator saying that no matter how he put the numbers together before the race, the French would win. And then he said he didn't think Jason Lezak could catch up. I hope he gave him an apology. I get goosebumps every time I watch this video.

That shows that you really can overcome huge odds and come back from behind so quickly! I'm very inspired by these guys, their talent, but especially their heart!

Setting new records again!

Got back from the Father's and Son's Outing this morning and thought that instead of biking out to SDRC and swimming, I would swim this morning at Layton instead. So I got there one hour before they close lap swim time. So the pressure was on to get in 3600 yards (2 miles) under that time. Here are the split times I took:

825 Yards (750 M) - 10:52 (New Personal Record)
1650 Yards (1500 M) - 21:32 (New Personal Record)
1800 Yards (1 Mile) - 23:40 (New Personal Record, but only for the next 23 minutes cause the second mile was even faster!)
3600 Yards (2 Miles) - 47:08 (New Personal Record) The last mile split was even better! 23:27!

Kicked some major butt today! At this rate, if I train hard and work, I will be able to break 20:00 in the 1500 M next year at the summer games. That would be a total dream.

2 Miles - fast!

Today I just swam 3600 yards straight. Here are the split times I took:

500 yards - 6:49
900 yards (1/2 mile) - 12:25
1650 yards (1500 M) - 23:00
1800 yards - 25:07.60
3600 yards - 49:42.33 (24:34.73 on the 2nd mile!)

That's a new PR for the 2 mile - 49:42

Did 100 warm down with Cathi

3700 Yards total - Great workout

New Fastest Mile Record

This morning I wanted to try beating my best 1 mile swim so I pushed it:

1800 - 900 split (12:12), 1650 split (which equals 1500 Meters - 22:44 New Record!), 1800 yards total time = 24:05

1 Mile in 24:05. That beat my best time ever by one minute. I was totally pushing it the whole time. My mouth was so dry my throat hurt. I wanted a drink so bad that when I accidentally got water in my mouth, I swallowed. Felt great about that time.

1200 - 6 x 200's alternating between 200 IM and 200 Free
400 - 4 x 100's free descending (1:25, 1:21, 1:16, 1:11) on 2:00
Rest 1 minute
100 Free Sprint (1:06)
100 Breast EZ

3600 Yards total

Long morning swim (New PRs)

Todd Frehse this week asked me what I'm doing specifically to train for the Deercreek Open Water Swim. It made me realize that I'm not really doing anything specific for that event, so I decided this week to swim 3 miles straight with no stopping. Just flip turn after flip turn, counting 50's up to 5300 yards. So that's what I did.

There was an older guy there who I asked to share a lane with. He didn't look like he was going fast, but apparently he was. Every 500 yards he lapped me. He had a very strong and long stroke, with little to no kick. I was very impressed. He looked like he was in his late 40's/early 50's, but he was fast! I think it was the same guy who was there several months back on a Saturday morning. Here's my post on that day.

Here's what I timed:

1800 Yards - 25:10
3600 Yards - 53:20
5300 Yards - 1:17:53
5600 Yards total - 1:23:13

So at that pace I should be able to do the 5K (5470 yards) in 1:20. That's my goal to beat. So today I made two new records.

1. Fastest 3 Mile swim (1:17:53)


2. Longest swim without stopping (in pool): 5600 Yards

I could have gone much longer, but I promised Cathi I'd be back by 9:00 and I was already late. I wish I could have stayed longer and broken my longest swim in one day record.

I was very mindful of keeping track of my yards. There were only a couple of parts where I wasn't totally sure and in that case I would be conservative and went low with where I was sure I was and if I was mistaken would end up setting my yardage too low. So I'm confident I actually swam 5600 yards, and if not maybe a 100 more. I was happy with that time because its a pace that puts me at my best!

Good day!