What's wrong with me?

Today I swam 55 minutes straight. I got in 5 minutes late. I got in and just swam the whole time. No stopping. I felt like I was swimming strong, no loafing. I checked my watch at 1800 yards and it was 9:29 so I did that first mile under 25 minutes which is what I wanted. At 3600 yards it was 9:53 so I just did 400 yards more.

The thing that troubles me is that I am not getting winded at all! I need to step it up a level as far as speed goes cause aerobically it doesn't feel like I'm getting a workout. I feel like I'm walking. I could go for miles, I'm not breathing heavy or sweating. I still want to do long sets, but I want to do them at a pace that gets me winded. So I think I need to start timing them and taking split times so I can make sure I'm keeping a pace that gets me really working.

4000 Yards total

Strong Swim today

3000 - 3 x 1000's free on 15:30 (14:30)
500 - 5 x 100's free descending on 2:30 (1:30,`:15, :10, :08, :10) Cramped up last 25
100 EZ

3600 Yards total

Crashing head first again!

Today I took Austin with me to the pool. I got in a couple minutes before he did and when he joined me in the lane I assumed he would see me swimming "halfsies". But he wasn't paying much attention and bam! We collided headfirst in the middle of the lane. Wasn't as bad as a couple days ago with the grown man who made the same mistake, but it scared me a little.

I helped Austin with his technique a little. His main thing is getting his head a little deeper in the water so his legs come up more. I guess that's the main thing I take for granted. Being comfortable with my head underwater so that when I breathe my mouth barely comes out and I don't bring my head out at all.

Here's what I did:

1000 - Free (15:38) Including the time to collide and explain to Austin the swimming pattern.
1000 - 5 x 200's Pull on 3:00 (Did these on around 2:30-2:40)
1000 - Free fast (14:25)
200 - 2 x 100's IM

3200 Yards total

Coach Gridley

Today Cathi called me at work and told me that Darin Izatt and his son Michael wanted to join me at the pool this evening. Michael is trying out for the Clearfield swim team and wanted some last minute tips which might help him "make the team". I told him that he would for sure make the team. No swim coach is gonna cut somebody. Its usually the person trying out who "cut themselves".

His stroke looked pretty good, just a couple minor things to work on, but it looked fine. Some tips I gave which applies to any young man trying out for a swim team:

• Get a tight fitting swim suit, either a speedo or a jammer. I usually get mine from Penelope on ebay.


• Get the foam rimmed goggles. The plastic lipped goggles suck! They don't seal good at all.


• Get a short haircut or get used to a swim cap. I thought this topic would probably upset him so I didn't bring it up, but he'll figure this one out.


• Keep a swim log! You can't really notice your improvement if you don't record your workouts (distance and reps), or your times.


• Swimming is both an individual and a team sport - you informally compete against your teammates which helps you all get faster and motivates you.


• Learn to love flipturns. The coach will get upset if you avoid flipturns. You will swim hundreds of miles throughout your high school career. Don't procrastinate learning how to do flipturns and do them, even if they aren't perfect for the first few weeks.

Michael and Darin both swam around 500 yards. My swimming was cut short cause I felt guilty just swimming laps while they were working on technique. I felt a little obligated to stop and give feedback or answer questions. I didn't mind though. But I only did about 1200 yards total.

It felt good to be able to be of assistance today. Will have a normal distance workout tomorrow.

1200 yards

Bowel issues

Today I didn't eat lunch. I worked all through the day and then when I got home did a ton of yard work. At 8:00 I finally ate a great chicken salad that Cathi made. I was energized and ready to swim so we both went with Jacob.

I got in and swam the following:

2000 - 2 x 1000 Free - 13:58, 15:25

Some guy got in my lane when I was on the other end and he assumed I was circle swimming when in fact I was just swimming on the south side of the lane. Well halfway down I really nailed him with my left hand. We both apologized and I said that I would stay on the left side and we continued. My dark goggles are so scratched, plus with the low lighting there is no way I could see him in time. I was going to do two more 1000's, but just before starting my third set I felt like someone was stabbing me in the gut on the right side. I went into the John and I'll suffice with "wow!" I was still really crampy on the right side afterwards so I just hobbled to the steamroom and laid down till Cathi was done. No more going without lunch anymore! My stomach was retaliating and boy was it painful.

Struggling

Today I just didn't have the motivation or high level of energy to go out strong today. I worked from 8:30 am to almost 8 pm. Tough day but at least I got in the pool.

1000 - 1000 Free warmup in 14:28
500 - 20 x 25's on 1:00 (4 fly, 4 free, 6 fly, 6 free all sprints with lots of rest)
1000 - 1000 Free
100 Kick

2600 Yards total

Speedy big guy

Today Cathi and the boys stayed home to watch biggest loser. I went to swim:

3600 - 2 x 1800's free (25:38, 26:25)
100 - 50 Breast EZ, 50 Back EZ

3700 yards total

There was a guy in the next lane who was probably 260. Had a humongous belly, but man was he fast! Every third 50 I did he would swim right next to me and I had to make a concentrated effort to make full long strokes to pass him. He'd do 50 fast and then rest while I did another 25 and then he'd do 50 EZ, and then by the time I was on my third 50, he'd go fast again. It was good cause it made me focus on speed and then give me a little time to recover. I was impressed with how fast such a big guy could go. Imagine how fast he'd be if he dropped 80 pounds or so.

Back to late evening swims - Yeah!

Today was the first day this fall season with the Bubble up at Layton Surf N' Swim. Cathi reminded me that they may have late evening lap swim time again. I forgot about that! I called and confirmed. Right on! Now I can swim at night. I prefer that so much more. Cathi already exercised today and she didn't want two workouts in one day since she's tapering for this weekend's Top of Utah Marathon so I took Austin and Jacob. Austin needs to earn his swimming merit badge and needs to put some serious time in the pool. Here's what I did:

3000 - 3 x 1000's free on 16:00
400 - 4 x 100's kick IM order
100 - 100 free fast (cramping in right calf)
100 - 100 IM

3600 Yards total

Not bad for exactly one hour in the pool.

Timing concern at Ogden Valley Triathlon

When I saw the results posted after the event I thought there were some problems. Several girls swam the 1000 Meters under 12:00. What? That's dang fast. When I got home I looked it up online and sure enough, there were alot of ladies who swam fast.

I wrote a couple of responses to Milliseconds.com:

I was looking at my time on the swim and don't question the accuracy on my swim. I timed it manually with my watch and my swim time is correct. I am questioning the women's time though. There were several women who did it in 11 minutes? I highly doubt it.

But what really makes me question the accuracy is that my wife Cathi Gridley (Bib 1004) got a time 32 seconds faster than I did? Not in a million years. She told me she did backstroke the whole time. I was doing freestyle the whole time. There's no way she did it under 16:00 even. I was the first guy in my heat out of the water and passed my wife up the ramp out of the water. I just don't get it. Maybe the heat start time for the women's swim wasn't setup right.

I couldn't just let it rest there. I had to do more research. Which I sent to Milliseconds.com in another response:

I already sent in a note earlier, but in case you're thinking I'm full of hot air. I just looked up the results of the Elite category. And it shows that the Elite woman who came out of the water did it in 8:12. That's 49.3 seconds per 100 yards. That's a faster split time than the women's 100 M Free world record! (http://www.hickoksports.com/history/wswimrec.shtml#lwomen)

If 1000 M were an official timed event Jamie Lambert would have clearly broken the WORLD RECORD! The split times of the fastest women swimmers in the world don't even come under 1:00 per 100. So either Jamie Lambert is the fastest 1000 M swimmer in the world and should get credit for world record, or something is wrong with the the start time for the women. I hope this shows there might be human error on the women's swimming heat start.

Then I noticed that in the reporting of the swim times, they show the time for the average 100 yards. But that value is incorrect as well. I sent another response:

Sorry to knit pick - but I noticed that the results time shows the average 100 yard time for the swim. It showed that I did 1000 Meter swim in 15:39 with the average 100 yard time being 1:33.9

That would be correct if it were a 1000 yard swim, but this is meters. 1000 Meters = 1094 yards (http://benefitslink.com/cgi/fiberlinkmanager/measurement_converter.cgi) So the value displayed is wrong. My average 100 yard would have been 1:25.8 not 1:33.9. You either need to show that it is average per 100 Meter with the value that is currently showing, or have a converted 100 yard value.

Pretty close, but not exactly right. Sorry to be so fanatical.

Am I a nerd, or what? I'll post any responses I get back from them. But I don't really have a very good first impression.

Ogden Valley Triathlon Results

Well - the long awaited day has come. Eric came over to our house with Stacey and tried putting his bike on my bike rack, but it wouldn't fit with the other bike's handlebars taking up so much room so we drove up separate. He went up Ogden Canyon and I went up through Mountain Green. He beat us up there by probably 10 minutes. Oh well, nice experiment.

When we got there they had the buoys setup and I was like "There is no way that is 1000 M." Eric was like "It is, it just looks close together cause we're so far back." I was still doubtful. When it was about 45 minutes to start time, a boat went around and moved each of the three to probably double the distance apart. Eric was gone to the bathroom and when he came back, he said "Holy Crap!" I laughed. 1000 M is a long way.

This race was setup with alot of heats. It was supposed to be timed out so that the age group male and females compete against each other with the difference in heat start times. Sounds like a good idea. When my heat started I was on the front line and timed with my watch just as the gun went off for my heat. I was dealing with alot of splashing but quickly took the lead for my heat. By the time I broke away I was running into white capped ladies from the heat ahead of me. I came upon a woman who must have been treading water as I clothes lined her with my left arm. I stopped to look to make sure she was OK and say sorry. But then I went back on. I was passing people from the previous heat and coming into people from two heads ahead. I definitely was the first one out of the water in my heat. They had all the heats separated by cap color and I was the first red cap out of the water.

I didn't have any cramping issues with all the potassium pills I've been taking, the banana's and the salt pretzel's I've been loading up on! When I got out of the water I saw Cathi struggling to get off her wetsuit. I tapped her on the head and said, "Good job Cathi!" and ran to the transition area to take my wetsuit off.

When I got there the suit came off fast and I was able to start my bike part pretty quickly. I wasn't very fast getting my shoes on. I probably was about 15 seconds slower than I could have been had I been smarter.

Now the biking portion is where I'm just a little better than average, but that's it. When I got the point where I could mount my bike I stopped and a lady next to me tried mounting on her bike, but she went too fast and slipped and fell. She was OK, but made me glad I wasn't going too fast. During the ride I had gatorade splashing out of my aerodrink bottle all over me and my bike. Duane Ralphs told me about that mistake, but I guess I didn't listen well enough cause man that was a bad move! I passed probably 25 women on the bike portion, but I got passed by probably 15 guys so there was no way I was gonna place in my division. My average speed according to my GPS was about 21 miles per hour. I didn't have it on when I started so I didn't get an accurate start reading, but got the gyst. I'll have to rely on milliseconds to report my times.

When I started the run I popped a Buzz bite in my mouth. I already took one about 15 minutes before the swim and thought a second one would be good since I already spent alot of energy. But after 10 minutes I couldn't take the flavor anymore. Don't get me wrong, they're yummy, but when running and you're thirsty, they're just too rich. I spit the rest of it out. They had water stations every mile. When I got to mile 1 I took water and ran and drank at the same time. When I got mile two, I wanted two drinks so I walked so I could down the first cup, get another and then move on. But at mile two we started our way back and it was on a hiking trail that was only about 24 inches wide in some areas, which winded around and up and down hills. It was a nightmare. I was passed by around 30 people on the run, but I passed 3 unfortunate souls. I got killed on the run! But I ran the whole time except for the half way point where I walked for about 15 seconds.

I was very happy with my performance. My times aren't anywhere near where I wanted, but this is my first Sprint(PLUS) tri. The distance on this tri was:

Swim - 1000 Meters (1094 yards)
Bike - 15.3431 Miles
Run - 4 Miles (Which I think is low. If you look at the map, it doesn't follow the trail exactly. But its pretty close) They should have had someone run it with a GPS to make sure.

My goals/actual were:
Swim - Goal = 14:00. Actual = 15:39.08 (1:26/100 yard average)
Bike - Goal = 47:00. Actual = 43:38 (21.09 mph average!)
Run - Goal = 33:00. Actual = 37:41 Boo! Hiss!
Transition 1 - Goal = < 3:00. Actual = 2:30.5 Yes!
Transition 2 - Goal = < 1:45. Actual = 1:45.5 Whoah close!
Overall - Goal = 1:38:45. Actual = 1:41:14.49

I did the best I could given the route that I faced. The run was way hillier than I thought and the bike wasn't exactly flat. My goal on the swim with 14:00 obviously not very realistic for me. That would have been 1:19/100 yards average and that is booking for open water.

I'll have Cathi report her results separately. Overall the event was very well organized, the booths were awesome, the shirt was average and the watering stations were the perfect distance apart and well staffed. Excellent job overall, except for a couple things on the timing which was done by milliseconds.com, but that's another post.

Here are my official results. But I'm not sure how accurate it is due to the timing problems I noted.

Eric has improved!

Met Eric at SDRC at 6:15 this morning so he could try my wetsuit. Man he is faster and stronger. Last time I swam with him he only did 400 yards in 25 yard increments and he was breathing after each 25 like he just ran a mile. Now he's doing 1000 straight, and he's doing it rather fast considering he's only been doing laps for a few months. I'm amazed actually at how far he's come so fast. I bet he'll be surprised at how well he does at the triathlon. His worries about the swim are justified, but unwarranted given what I saw in the pool today.

I did the same things as yesterday except I did a 100 IM at the end instead of 100 free sprint:

4400 - 4 x (1000 free, 100 breast)
100 IM

4500 Yards total

Tired today. Definitely need to taper now for Saturday. No more biking or swimming the rest of this week (which is a real drag). But after this Saturday, my yardage is going to go sky high cause of the October 4th Pocatello ride.

Swimming at SDRC

Biked in early to SDRC for this morning's swim. This will probably be the only swim I get in this week except for the Ogden Valley Tri. Layton is putting the bubble on the pool and the pool is closed all week. Convenient since I'm tapering anyway.

4400 - 4 x (1000 free, 100 Breast)
100 - 100 free sprint (1:05)

4500 Yards total

Long swim thanks to Meg and Steve

Today is a day off from work cause Meg and Steve get married today and I get to attend their marriage, luncheon and Reception. But it isn't until later today so I got up early this morning and went over to Surf N' Swim and put in a long workout:

7700 - 7 x (1000 Free, 100 Breast)
100 IM

7800 Yards

Did this much because I wanted to lose two pounds. I weighed 191 when I woke up and wanted to be under 190 to meet my goal before 9/4/08 at the wedding. When I got home afterwards, I weighed in at 189.4 Right on!

Michael Phelps was a champion from the beginning

Brrr.....

Cathi suggested that we wear our wetsuits this morning. I agreed thinking mainly of training in them. But man was it cold this morning! The wind chill along with the low temp probably took it into the 40's. It was freezing! Makes me not look forward to the Ogden Valley with how cold it is going to be.

2000 - 2000 warmup free
400 - 4 x 100's One Arm Fly, Breast, Back, Free
100 - Grandpa swimming
1100 - 1100 Free

3600 Yards Total

Felt burned out and low on energy. Overwhelming thinking about doing the English Channel in 5 years. Biked 26 miles in to work aftewards.

Rainy Evening

Last night it rained really bad and this morning I'm sure Layton was closed so I drove to SDRC to swim:

2000 - Warm up
400 - 4 x 100's IM Kick
1000 - 10 x 100's Free Pulling on 2:00
200 - 200 EZ
1000 - 10 x 100's Alternate between IM and free, First 3 on 2:00, 3 on 1:45, 4 on 1:30
200 - 200 kick
200 - Grandpa swimming

5000 Yards