Couldn't resist

This afternoon on the way home it was quite warm and I was thinking that I could hurry and get the kayak on the trailer and go out to Bountiful Lake. I did just that and Cathi and Jacob were my support crew.

When I got in, it was too warm. The thermometer said 85 degrees. OK. I'm not going there again in the evening. Early in the morning is warm enough. Anyhow I did two laps while Cathi and Jacob took their support boat responsibilities way easy and a few times they were clear on the other side of the lake.

I hit a couple of "turds" along the way and it kind of freaked me out. I sure hope those aren't human logs I'm hitting.

2 miles - 1 hour.

Swimming in Bountiful Lake with Josh Green

This morning I met with Josh Green and his brother at 6:10 am at Bountiful Lake.



At first I was a little nervous as the water wasn't very clear. Tasted like dirt and brushed the bottom once near the start, but after a couple minutes I got used to the taste, and the lack of visibility (only about 2-3 feet). The first lap was slow, and Josh's brother called it good. Josh and I did two more laps and they went faster and more relaxed.

Josh's stroke is nice and smooth with no splashing. Looking very clean and effortless. Nice stroke for distance swimming. I stopped at every "corner" of the lake to let Josh catch up a bit. Our speed is pretty close. He was only 100 yards or so behind each corner. I didn't start my stopwatch in time, but we started at around 6:15am and got out at 8:00.

Josh's GPS read 3.3 miles. So with that here are the stats:

Distance: 3.3 miles (@ 6000 yards)
Time: 1:45

I forgot to bring my thermometer, but I'd estimate the water to be 78 degrees. Almost too warm. We had such a good time, we're planning on doing it again next Wednesday morning.

Here's Josh's post on the experience including actual GPS data.

Short swim and 400 free medley relay World Championships in Rome

Yesterday afternoon I switched on my favorite channel KSL 5.2 Universal Sports and saw the US beat France again in the 2009 Swimming World Championships in Rome. Check out the video of the first and last leg here. It was another come from behind win in the last leg. It was awesome.

This morning's swim was cut short due to a lack of motivation and I wasn't going to force it since I had such a good swim on Saturday.

1000 Free bilateral breathing in 14:02
1000 - 5 x (100 breast easy, 100 free fast (under 1:06)) in 3:30
100 breast easy
1000 - 5 x 200's free pull bilateral on 3:00
100 cool down

3200 yards total

10K Swim in Pineview Reservoir

My Brother in law Steve Low and his wife Meg drove up from Draper early this morning and we drove up to Pineview together. We got there right as planned at 7:45 am. Got everything in the boat and started our swim at 8:10 am. I left a message a few times on John's phone but wasn't able to get a hold of him. I was worried that he was on his way and didn't have cell coverage. But decided to shove off anyway and get started.

I started out really slow and decided I was going to pace myself and not push it. When I swam for 28 minutes I stopped for some water even though I wasn't thirsty yet. Meg threw me out the water bottle and I asked Steve how far: 1.1 miles. Good time. So I started off again. I decided stopping every thirty minutes was the plan. I felt strong the whole time. My stroke was easy, long and efficient.

The goggles I picked up a couple days ago hoping that they would work well were Speedo Baja. They worked so good! They didn't fog up the slightest, and provided a great range of vision.

I was able to bilateral breath the entire course. Meg and Steve did a fantastic job with they spacing and boat position. I could tell that they weren't pushing it that hard staying with me. In fact they had to slow up for me several times. As the morning progressed I was pounded with more and more waves from nearby waterskiers. I didn't mind cause I kept thinking that it was something I would have to get used to when I swim the Channel. The waves also gave me a sensation of being like a ragdoll in the water. Completely relaxed and just keep my strokes nice and long and roll with the waves. Don't try to fight them. I just kept on with my bilateral breathing and had fun.

I told Steve to stop me at 3.12 miles and I ate the rest of the banana that I ate just before starting. Had a buzz bite and a few sips of gatorade. Heading back I tried picking it up a bit. I was trying to not go fast the first half so I wouldn't be dead at the turn around point. Problem was I had a ton left in the tank even when I finished. I think stopping every mile is unnecessary. Next time, I'll try to go 45 minutes or so between water breaks. That would be 2 less stops per 10K.


I did forget to shave this morning so I had a couple of good burning chaffing on my left and right shoulder. It was cloudy and the sun only came out in spurts behind the clouds. Wind was minimal and here's the real shocker for me today. The water temp according to the thermometer I had dangling behind the kayak showed 76 Degrees. The water was so warm! I would have died in a wetsuit. I was a little disappointed it was so warm.

I was very pleased with my bilateral breathing, the lengths of my strokes, the fact that I didn't cramp up one bit. It was a great swim and makes me feel that the Deer Creek 10K won't be that tough. I'm really looking forward to it.

I found out when I got back that John had some form of food poisoning the last couple days and was feeling really ill. That was too bad. I'm just glad my support boaters Meg and Steve were able to come through for me. I couldn't have done it without them. They were so patient. My final time was 3:13:38. I wanted under 3:15 and I got that. But was really hoping for under 3 hours.

I had a fantastic time and would definitely do it again. The last mile was a little tough as my shoulders started to feel a little "dry" like an engine grinding lacking in oil, but that was the only strain. Nothing really that bad and it didn't damper my resolve or spirits.

Thanks Meg and Steve for the support! (And for committing to support me @ Deer Creek)

3 sets of 1 mile

Today I slept in a little. I was so tired. It was tough to get out of bed, but I ended up leaving at 6:45, so my swim started at 7:00.

5400 - 3 x 1800 yards free - Bilateral breathing. Nice long strokes, staying streamlined and efficient. No splashing. Last 100 of each set, sprint.

First mile = 25:48
Second mile = 26:11
Third mile = 27:24 (I might have gone an extra 50 or something)

I noticed alot of crap at the bottom of the pool. No, not real crap, just junk that people leave in the pool. The pool should be vacuumed out. I remember doing this once a week at Deseret gym, using the big robot vacuum that would turn around itself. That was a cool machine. I'm sure Surf N' Swim doesn't have that. They've got the ancient pole system with the vacuum hose on it. With it being an outdoor pool, they need to do it more often cause of all the leaves and debris that flies in.

Makes me wonder if they pool water is actually clean or not. Today I'm picking up a water thermometer to put on my kayak for open water swims. I think I'll pick up some pool water testing strips as well just to ease my mind every once in a while about the cleanliness of the pools I swim in. Here's a blog post on this topic ->
http://healthypools.org/is-your-community-pool-properly-treated/

Swimming four miles easy

A couple days ago I talked to John Quackenbush about his upcoming swim. We talked for a good 25 minutes. One of the things he said that really stuck out as a good piece of advice I need to keep always in mind: Swim "as far as possible as effortlessly as possible". It isn't about how fast you do it, but how much distance you can get with the least amount of energy as possible. Like deep space exploration you could say.

So today I focused on staying loose and going as streamlined and smooth as possible. I focused on NOT kicking and just letting my feet kick just enough to stay up.

3600 yards free
50 EZ - get a drink, rest 30 sec then go.
3600 yards free

7250 yards total - 1:52

I've got a plan now - getting tips

It seems like almost every time I swim somewhere, there's someone I've never seen before that swims in my lane or the lane over who gives me a compliment on my speed or stroke. I've usually just said thanks and floundered for something to say. So from now on I'll say, "OK my rule is that you now have to tell me something that I can improve on. What's a flaw in my stroke? I can't see what I'm doing so I need someone else to tell me what I can work on". This way I actually get some constructive criticism, and at the same time, don't sit there like a social retard.

Here's today's workout:

6000 - 2 x (1000 free bilateral, 2 x 500 kick, 5 x 200's free pull (bilateral)on 2:50)
100 - warmdown

6100 yards total - 3.5 miles

Last swim in Lake of the Woods

Tomorrow we leave for home and I wanted a good swim in today. I could only get one more group to spot me, but no adults. This time I got Hayden Buchi, Michael McConkie and Ryan Miggin to spot me in a boat. At first it took them a while to figure out how to work together and row hard. I was impressed with each lap that they were getting better about steering the boat and going in a straight line.

I wore the wetsuit again and the water was a little colder than last time. It was sunny yesterday, but today it was overcast. Today I did 8 laps (2 miles). On the last lap I wanted to give the boys a challenge and yelled out that if they could paddle faster than me on the last lap they'd each get a dollar. They didn't paddle the entire length, but I didn't care, I just wanted them to go fast. So I gave them each a dollar afterwards. Did the 8 laps in just under an hour.

Even less of an issue with the cold after getting out. Was back to normal by the time I got to the Trading Post at the lodge.

I'm really going to need to get some cold water training to get acclimatized to cold water. Next week I'll be doing 10K with John and Craig at Pineview. I'm looking forward to it.

From Scouts

Second time in Lake of the Woods

Today I had another set of two boats of three people spotting me. Wayne Golder and Jason Abbott and more boys. I had my wetsuit on so I went a little further - 6 laps (1.5 miles). Not as bad this time on hypothermia. Next time I'll do more.

From Scouts

Mile Swim at Lake of the Woods

Here is the map of the swim I did:


I did 5 laps - 1.25 miles in 33 minutes. No wetsuit. When I did the fifth lap I had some major cramping in my right hamstring. I had to go on my back and skull backwards from the dock to the shore. Then when I got out I put on my sweatshirt and jogging pants and walked back with Tom Topik, Kenny Kimball, Greg Sparrow and several other boys. I was so cold when I got out that I couldn't talk. My jaw hurt so bad and I was chattering. I got back to camp and stood next to the fire. I was shaking so badly it was embarrassing. It took me a good hour to get back to normal. I was ticked that I didn't take my thermometer, but I suspect it was below 60 degrees. Now that I've done the mile without the wetsuit, next time I'll use the wetsuit and go further.

From Scouts

Results of the 2009 Echo Olympic Distance Triathlon

Last night our family went to camp at the Holiday Hill RV Park in Echo. We got there at 4:00 pm and found a good camp site. We started up a fire and had tinfoil dinners, raspberry lemonade, and fig newtons. We played games and had a fun time. We all fit in the tent and had a good nights sleep.

I got to bed around 9:45 and got up at 5:30 am. Everyone was still asleep. I told Cathi to just stay at camp and have a fun time with the kids. They didn't allow cars on that road and there was no way she would be able to walk to the venue with the kids. So I biked to the venue, got the transition area all setup and got my body marking. I went to the waterfront and the water was so warm! I mean it was like swimming in a lap pool. So I decided not to use a wetsuit at all.

Man was I glad because after the first 10 seconds I could tell it would have been way too warm with a wetsuit. I had put some baby oil in my goggles per a recommendation by Teri Child. Problem was the fogginess wasn't any beter in fact it was worse! I coulden't see more than 10 feet in front of me. I stayed behind a couple of guys in the swim so that I could just look at their feet underwater to make sure I was going the right way. But soon I was passing them and I didn't have a way to see if I was heading the right way. When I lifted my head out of the water to look for the buoy up ahead I couldn't see it. My goggles were too foggy. After the second buoy I gave up using goggles and flipped them off my head. Now when I lifted my head out I could see clearly up ahead. I should have done that from the start. I was spending too much time correcting myself on the swim. I will have to research some decent goggles that don't fog or get some defogger or something.

When I got out my watch said 27:28. Then the transition to bike could have been better. I put my bike number on the front of my equmen shirt which was a mistake. It's already tight fitting, but with it going on wet it was rolling up behind my shoulders and I probably looked like a fat dude getting into a small shirt. I got it on in about 1 minute. The bike ride went well. It was hilly as expected. Here's the route and you can see there's a 600 foot climb between mile 6 and 10.
I passed more people than was passed so I had a net gain of two.

The transition to run was pretty quick and I started off. I'm sure any gains I got in the bike and swim were lost during the run. I was passed left and right, even though the passing was done by alot of sprint athletes. I did the 10K in 51:56. My overall time was 2:33:50. Taking 16th out of 35 in my age division. Pretty mediocre job. Oh well. I felt good about my effort and learned on my swim. Next time. Better goggles. The water temperature was awesome and it was overcast with no rain or wind. Couldn't ask for better weather conditions.

Here's my official results and as you can see my times aren't embarrasingly bad from the leader, except for the run.

Looking for Open Water Swimming events?

Here is a good website (http://usopenwaterswimming.org/)with a national calendar of events. I'll definitely be referring to this calendar over the next few years as I plan out my events.

Tapering.... This Friday is the Echo Olympic Distance Triathlon. Next week I'll be up at Camp Loll swimming in "Lake of the Woods" everyday getting in some open water training. I won't be online so I won't be posting my workouts until I get back and then it'll be a bunch of posts at once.

What a fun week!

2 x 1 mile sets

Went to Clearfield again. The pool was probably 84 degrees.

1800 yards free - 26:32
rest for 1 min
1800 yards free - 27:02

3600 yards total

I got in touch with John Quackenbush yesterday. He's an experienced Open Water swimmer who is planning to swim the length of Bear Lake on August 8th. He's agreed to let me volunteer for some part of his support team. He's also agreed to join me on July 25th up in Pineview for a 10K swim. That sure would be great if we could collaborate and meet for open water training. He told me of the great importance to swim efficiently and work on bilateral breathing. Which is what I did today. Out of the 2 miles I only breathed on the same side consecutively once! I also found that I breathe 7 times per 25 when bilateral breathing, but when I breathe every stroke it's 10 times.

My wheels have been turning. I'm thinking about building a small 4' x 8' x 4' pool with one of those wave generators so that I can swim in a constant flow of water in the back. The pool would be fully enclosed with fiberglass windows, and could be locked up. Would have a space heater and the ability to control water temperature. This way I could get better and more convenient open water training in the back. The coolest thing is that I would be able to control the temperature and also don't need to worry about following a line in the pool and doing flip turns. Plus I'm not limited to the schedule of the pool, I can do it at home at weird hours if needed. Plus I could use it year round, and get cold water acclimation in the spring, which would be impossible in open water (I'm sorry, jumping in to 40 degree water and doing laps is insane) Will need to start on this project probably early next year in order to hit my Swimming only training year 2011.

Official milestones and goals

2009 - Endurance Training Stage 1

1. Swim the Deer Creek Open Water 10K in under 3:00
2. Participate in 3 Olympic Distance Triathlons
3. Run 3 Half-Marathons
4. Bike from Pocatello to Syracuse (162 miles)

2010 - Endurance Training Stage 2

1. Swim the Deer Creek Open Water 10 Mile swim in under 5:15
2. Participate in 1 Olympic Distance Triathlon
3. Participate in Lotoja
4. June 12th - Participate in the Boise Half Ironman
5. Do the Ogden Valley Marathon in under 4:00
6. November - Ironman Arizona

2011 - NO MORE TRIATHLON TRAINING - SWIMMING ONLY

1. Jan - Swim 20K yards/week
2. Increase swimming yardage by 4K per week each month until May (36K/week in May)
3. Starting June drop M-F yardage down to 30K due to long Open Water Saturday Swim
4. Swim 7-12 miles in Bountiful Lake (1 lap = 1 mile) every Saturday during months of June, July, August (no wetsuit)
5. Swim the Deer Creek Open Water 10 Mile Swim - no wetsuit - under 4:46
6. September - Swim across Bear Lake (19 miles) in 60 degree water for English Channel Qualifying swim

2012 - SWIMMING ONLY - COLD WATER ACCLIMATION/ENDURANCE

1. Jan - Swim 34K yards/week
2. Increase swimming yardage by 4K per week each month through April (46K/week in April)
3. Starting May drop M-F yardage down to 35K due to long Open Water Saturday Swim
4. Swim 9-15 miles in Bountiful Lake (or any other open water location) every Saturday during months of May, June (no wetsuit)
5. June - Swim across Bear Lake (19 miles)
6. July - Take three weeks off work for ocean training in Oregon
7. 2nd week in August - English Channel

Logan Pond v.2

This afternoon I took the kids to the pond again. Steve and Meg met us there. Each of the kids got a turn riding in the kayak with either Austin or Jacob. They all had fun. Then Steve and Meg took me around the west circle of Logan pond a couple times, then they picked up Jacob and dropped Meg off and I did a few more laps. I was disappointed that I didn't get to do more laps, but everyone was antsy to go cause of the big Bar-b-que that was planned for 2:30. So I only got about a mile as I was in the water just over 20 minutes.

1800 yards

Colder than yesterday!

Swimming in Logan Pond

This afternoon I took Austin and Jacob to Logan Pond while we were staying at the cabin. It was sunny and warm, but the water was cold! I didn't get the water thermometer with me, but I'm willing to be money it was colder than 60 degrees. My face and hands stung at first in the water. I did about 6-7 big circle laps in the west side of the pond. I was in the water swimming for over 40 minutes. I'm guessing my distance (since I didn't have my GPS) was at least a mile and a half.

2700 Yards

Slept in, but still got my swim

Slept in a little. Even after getting to be before 10pm. Got up at 7. So I got 9 hours of sleep. Yahoo! Made it to the pool and didn't get my 5300 yards that I was hoping for due to time, but I did get 3600.

1000 - 1000 Free
500 - 500 kick
1000 - 10 x 100's free on 1:30 (get all under 1:18)
1000 - 5 x 200's pull
100 Breast

3600 Yards total

Looking forward to some open water swimming this Friday afternoon at Logan Canyon Pond. Taking the kayak up there to get the boys going on how to paddle. Hope to get in a couple miles there too. Last time there was alot of seaweed which was a little strange, but I need to get used to that!