Helping Jacob with his swimming

This morning Jacob was insistent that we go earn his Mile Swim.  Jacob got tired quick and had to resort to backstroke after 200 yards.  Then he started straying from a straight line and got in other swimmers way who were sharing the lane so I called off his mile attempt so we could focus on technique.  We took this video at the end.  I don't mean to be overly critical, but here are some common mistakes that young kids make that are still learning.

Thing is.  I really need to have someone video me so I can SEE what things I'm doing wrong, cause I bet I have a ton too.  Video feedback is awesome!

I ended up swimming 1200 yards with him during this morning's lesson.  

20% of Lake Huron

So my quest to Swimming Lake Huron is 1/5th of the way complete after today.  I will have just over 50 miles logged since October 1st.  Here's the workout I swam this morning and then will swim again at SDRC this evening while the boys are playing Table Tennis at the club:

1000 Warm up Pull
1000 - 4 x (75 free on 1:30, 75 - (25 kick, 50 breast), 50 back, 25 kick)
2000 free using Tempo Timer set at :57.  Get under 30:00
1000 - 400 kick, 300 pull, 200 fast (got 2:32), 100 grandpa

6000 yards total

Times 2 for doing twice today....

12000 yards total for the day

Coach Smith's workout

Doubled this workout:

800 - 8x 100's odd free, even choice on 1:30/1:45
600 - 12 x 50's IM on 1:00
450 - 6 x 75's 25 kick then 50 free on 1:15
500 - 50/100/200/100/50 :10 ri
400 - 4 x 100's pull on 1:30

500 - 50/100/200/100/50 :10 ri 

400 - 4 x 100's kick w/fins on 2:00

300 - 4 x 75 IM drill on 1:10

400 - 2 x 200's free on 3:00

Now do the same workout going backwards.

8700 yards total


Felt great about the IM work. My fly is getting better.

Got my Lake Huron shirt yesterday, very cool.  I also practiced more on the bubble rings.  Did much better today.  Even though the best ring I did only lasted about 3 feet before it collapsed out of a ring formation.  More practice needed.  Fun stuff.

Todd's workout

Got this workout from "Todd":

500 - 5 x 100's free on 1:30
750 - 6 x 125's kick w/fins on 2:20
1200 - 6 x 200's pull on 2:45
1000 - 10 x 100's IM on 2:00

I added this set as an addition to get an 8150 total. Felt great about this set. was holding 1:25-1:28 on all of these

500 - 1 x 500 free on 7:30
800 - 2 x 400's free on 5:30
1800 - 2 x 3 x 300's free on 4:15

Triceps starting to fizzle out at this point

800 - 4 x 200's free on 2:50
500 - 5 x 100's free on 1:25
300 Warmdown

8150 Total

Saw this very cool video on Rob's blog:

All Strokes - Blowing Bubble Rings from Glenn Mills on Vimeo.

So I tried it myself. Not so easy. Notice the guy demonstrating has like zero body fat. With me when I laid on my back at the bottom of the pool, I was rising to the surface and not able to stay on the bottom. My bubbles didn't even resemble a ring at all. I'll have to practice....here's my very lame attempt:

Licorice

Got this modified workout from here.

1000 - 200 swim, kick, IM, pull, swim
500 - 5 x 100's kick on 2:10. 1,3,5 dolphin, 2,4 free
1800 - 2 x 100's on 1:30, 4 x 100's on 1:28, 6 x 100's on 1:25, 4 x 100's on 1:28, 2 x 100's on 1:30
1800 - 3 x 600's pull free descending on 9:00
1000 free get time

I wanted under 13:40, but got 13:52. But I wasn't too upset I was really working it.

800 - 4 x 200's drill 1 of each stroke
200 Easy

7100 yards total

My back is at about 95%. Still a little annoyance, but I was happy to be able to make the 100's times.

Feeling better

My back pain has moved to the side so that its now my right hip. Weird. Still not normal, but about 90%. Today's workout was extended beyond my planned 4000 cause I was expecting the worst, and ended up doing more:

1000 - 1000 free warmup
2000 - 4,3,2,1 free descending and then back up ascending
1000 - 5 x 200's free pull on 3:00
1500 - 5 x (150 free, 100 IM, 50 kick)

I did open turns on everything today, until I got to the last set, then I did flip turns. It felt good to get a good stretch on my hip as I extended my arm to the wall on the right side. I sure hope this issue goes away very soon! I'm eager to get back into my 7000 - 8000 yard per day plan to get the Lake Huron challenge going at a faster pace!

More Pain

Yesterday I lifted at lunch which seemed to really help, but again this morning after getting out of bed, the lower back pain is back. This morning's swim at SDRC was cut in half as a result, but at least it was longer than yesterday's workout:

1000 Free warmup
1200 - 8 x {75 free on 1:15 breaths on 5th stroke, 50 free on :50 breath on 7, 25 free on :30 no breath)
1200 - 6 x 200's pull on 3:00
500 - 5 x 100's free on 1:30
100 kick

4000 yards total

Pain

Yesterday I didn't swim cause I had some major problems with my lower back on the right side. I went to see the Chiropractor and while he showed me some good stretching exercises, his adjustments to my back didn't really do squat for my pain. I was still hurting all day and this morning. Every flip turn I did was painful, so I did them slowly. I was really hoping my workout today would stretch things out and make it better, but it didn't. I ended up only doing the warm up of my workout. Once I started the main set, I decided that I shouldn't aggravate my back if the warmup didn't really make it feel better.

I'm concerned about it. I need to get back to 100% soon! I can't afford to have an injury now!

1800 yards total

Detailed history of an open water legend in Utah - Orson Spencer

I received a treasure in the mail today!  Orson Spencer's grand-daughter sent me several newspaper articles as well as some personal journal entries from Orson's mother.  I've scanned these and put them in this photo album.

Here is the letter she sent me:

October 6, 2010

Dear Mr. Gridley,

I appreciate your interest in my father and his swimming accomplishments, as well as the Great Salt Lake Swimming events. I apologize for being so slow at getting this information to you.

I have copied a few of the articles we had in his personal history and typed an entry from his mother about his swimming that might be interesting. If I come across any more, I'll forward them on to you. I understand that many of Utah's newspapers are now online and can be viewed and copied. I found a list of many articles from the Ogden Standard Examiner. A list of dates of those articles is as follows:

9 Dec 1926, 22 Apr, 23 Apr, 9 Dec 1927, 8 Apr 1928, 25 Aug 1929, 16 Apr, 19 Apr 1930, 11 Apr, 28 Oct 1931, 31 Jan 1932, 27 Apr 1933, 20 Apr 1934, 29 Mar, 30 Mar 1935, 19 July, 5 Sept 1937, 15 Apr 1938, 29 Jan, 14 Apr, 7 Aug 1939, 6 Apr 1940, 26 Mar, 27 Mar 1941, 26 Mar 1943, 2 Apr 1947, 7 Apr 1960. I imagine that other newspapers on similar dates would have also had articles as well.

Entry written by his mother Hazel V. Spencer in his history:

"On July 20, 1941, Orson won a two mile race at Pine View lake (fresh water), Ogden. We were so thrilled to see him beat five of Utah's best swimmers so soon after breaking his arm. Then Aug 3, 1941, on his mother's birthday he won the race from Antelope Island to Blackrock. It was a terrible day, be he battled the high waves alone, when all other swimmers quit, just because he had promised his mother he would win. The man who followed him in the boat looked like he was made of salt; and he said, 'It would take one better than a fish to swim the lake today.'"

As to the reason the race stopped, my mother agrees with the Harbormaster of the GSL, that it was because of the war.

I was thrilled to see your blog on your swim and your mentioning my father, as well as seeing his name with yours on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame record. Thanks for your interest and efforts in bringing back the Antelope to Blackrock Race.

Sincerely,

Nancy S. Woodbury

Here are the many newspaper articles that she sent me which I have scanned and typed up below....

August 15th, 1938:

Spencer Wins Salt Water Swim
Paddles 8 Miles in 4 Hrs. 36 Minutes

Choppy water, which makes swimming in Great Salt Lake a constant battle to avoid strangulation, failed to keep Orson Spencer from successfully defending his Antelope to Black Rock marathon swim championship yesterday.

He negotiated the 8 miles of turbulent brine in 4 hours and 12 minutes to finish far ahead of Ken Lyman whose second place time was 4 hours and 36 minutes. The time was 22 minutes slower than his record of 3 hours and 40 minutes last year.

Bill Armour won a spirited race from R. L. Rigby, Magna mill worker, to finish third in 5 hours and 12 minutes. The other three starters failed to finish.

Crowd Cheers
Lyman matched Spencer stroke for stroke half way, but thereafter fell steadily behind. The winner received an ovation from a large crosed assembled at Black Rock Beach to witness the finish.

Will Receive Trophies
The Black Rock Beach Company will present tropies to all who finished the race. George Knepp, deputy sheriff, supervised boating the swimmers. The race was supervised by Dr. Munn Q. Cannon, chairman of the Intermountain A.A.U. swimming committee which annually promotes the swim.

August 4th, 1941:

Orson Spencer Alone At Finish Of Black Rock Swim

Conditions Worst in History of Race

At the start of the annual Antelope Island-Black Rock Beach swim yesterday, Orson Spencer was just a convalescing ex-champion whose complete recovery from injuries received in an automobile accident was so doubtful as to make his part in competition a distinct question mark.

When the 8.12 mile swim - through the worst conditions encountered in the history of the race - was over, Orson was not only the winner, but the iron man of the gruelling swim, so completely recovered that his strength and stamina was notably ahead of anyone else's and his position in local swimming circles restored.

Swimming the course through mountainous waves that often kept the contestants out of touch with their boats, Orson required five hours, seven hours and 22 seconds - an hour and one-half slower than his own record for the course - but could have taken twice as long and still won, for he was the only man in a starting field of six who finished.

WIND MAKES BIG WAVES

At the start of the race, the water was calm and the going smooth, but it was not long before a heavy wind came up to whip the surface into mountainous waves and made the going both difficult and perilous. Ned Winder of Granger was the first to drop out of the race, and shortly afterwards Ed Watson, who won the race two years ago under highly adverse weather conditions, was taken sick and he had to be hauled into his boat.

Key Lyman, defending champion, was battling with Spencer for the lead in the race, but when the waves got bigger and bigger he gave up the attempt, leaving Spencer, Peter Leavitt and Wayne Christensen in the water. Leavitt was the next to be taken out of the turbulent water, sick and shortly afterwards Christensen swallowed a mouthful of brine and was all through, leaving Spencer in the water alone with nearly two miles to go.

REFUSES TO STOP

Officials urged Orson to call it off and accept a "victory by elimination" but the swimmer kept grimly on under his own power until he reached the finish line unaided.

"It's Mother's birthday, and she's my trainer and coach: I have to giver her a real win for a birthday present." he said when urged to quit the swim before the end of the course.

It was Spencer's sixth win of the gruelling race. He holds both the three-hour-40-minute-52-second record for the present course, set in 1937, and the record for the old Antelope Island to Saltair course, two hours and two minutes.

July 22nd, 1956

Veteran Swimmer Gives Distance Race Slants

Great Salt Lake is a unique body of water - and distance swimming in it is a unique sport.

And if you're going to enter this season's Antelope Island-to-Saltair swim, you'd better start with the fundamentals-such as breathing.

That's the advce for this season's candidates from Orson D. Spencer, the greatest distance swimmer the Intermountain Area has produced, and one of the best in the sprints as well.

Spencer's career is almost a unique one, from his 1919 memories of the first "race" over the course by veteran instructor C. S. "Prof" Leaf, to Orson's final appearance in 1941 freshwater swim at Pineview Dam.

Prospective entrants for the July 23 race this season would do well to listen to the six-time winner of the Antelope classic, whose still-perfect condition, carries him through a program with the Wasatch Mountain Club, and plenty of skiing activity at Alta in the winter.

The swimmer in the Great Salt Lake is of a different breed.

He has no rhythmical breathing as does the ordinary swimmer - he must "breath with the waves" - if they are choppy, his breathing must be choppy; if they are big and slow - then he'd better breathe big and slow.

Because a mouth full of salt brings a definite choking sensation; and two or three mouthfuls take away all sensation, in short order.

And the stroke also is governed by the waves - the freestyle goes over the wave, so that the splash is back of the face, away from the eyes and mouth. Goggles are good only for a short time, beacuse they get covered with salt.

Spencer also learned that most of the work is done with the arms - the legs are so high because of the buoyancy that they are kicked only to maintain circulation.

Stories of Spencer's remarkable condition are legend, but perhaps the two best are these:

THE FIRST, concerns the time when, at 15 years of age, Orson hiked from Saltair north and then along the shoreline to Antelope Island, a distance of about 10 miles, and then swam the five miles back that afternoon and evening - all by himself. Orson wants this story to be forgotten, for it violates every rule of safety he has stressed for so many years since, such as requiring an accompanying boat for every swimer.

The other story concerns the time, a few year later, when he and Paul Swain rowed over to the island in 2 hours and 30 minutes - and Orson swam back in exactly the same time, that afternoon.

Highlights from Orson's career: He still holds the prep 220 free record of 2:32.2. He set a number of other prep marks, but they have since been bettered... He still holds the 150 backstroke record for colleges, at 1:45... He also holds the 300 AAU medley record of 4:04... As he recalls the Antelope swim development: "Prof" Leaf swam the distance in '19 as a dare... Chuck Mitchell won the first AAU race in '26... and Orson won in '30, '31, '32, '37, '38 and '41...

Orson sounds like a must for the Intermountain Area's sports hall of fame.

December 5th, 1962"

Swimming Now a Weighty C..."

Orson Spencer, in his day good enough to represent Utah in the nationals in the backstroke, couldn't make the prep traveling squad today, unless he shaved 10 seconds off his best time.

As a star swimmer for LDS High and the University of Utah, Spencer dominated the local scene for almost two decades and at the age of 32, he finally called it quits. Under today's stepped up swim program, Spencer would be a rarity because of his longevity, but his records would have to improve to merit consideration.

"I swam the backstroke in 1:07 and went to the nationals, where the event was won in 1:07.4" Orson laughed as he visited the Ute workout.

"Now, the high school record for the distance is 54.5 seconds."

There's a reason for this tremendous youth surge in swimming, and Orson is the first to admit it.

"Coach Don Reddish has his Ute swimmers going a mile in the morning, two miles in the afternoon and winding up with 1 1/2 hours of calisthenics in the afternoon. When we were swimming, we were lucky to get in two swims a day, total of maybe a half mile" Orson added.

The age factor is a difference now.

"When I was 15, I wanted to enter the Great Salt Lake swim to Antelope Island, but my dad believed I was too young and I was 20 before I had the chance," Spencer continued.

What a pioneer he was! I am truly blessed to have been able to contact his family who had these wonderful records to share. I truly hope that his love for the sport, and his successes can be appreciated by fellow Utah swimmers and that the Great Salt Lake gets more attention like it once did as a highly respectable open water swimming challenge and adventure.

Evening workout at SDRC

Workout taken from here. Swam this while Austin and Jacob were playing Table Tennis. The pool was relatively empty and I didn't have to compete for a lane. It was nice. I always swim great on Friday nights!

1000 - 5 x 200's (free, kick w/fins, IM, Pull, Swim)
1000 - 5 x 200's free on 2:45
1000 - 4 x 250's free pull hypoxy breath 3,5,7,5,3 by 50's on 3:30

I really liked these! It was tough, but the sets went by fast when I focused on my breathing.

1000 - 10 x 100's free on 1:30 (get each one under 1:18)
1000 - 4 x 200's kick (fly, free, back flutter, back dolphin), 200 IM
1000 - 10 x 100's free (get each one under 1:16) on 1:30
1000 - 1000 pull strong effort
100 Easy

7100 yards total

Great workout. Felt strong and didn't have any soreness or pains.