CELT race report: Team Triple Threat gets 3rd OA

Andy, our speedy hard working (and muddy) runner



Lorenzo, the stud biker who survived some very wet roads

Alas there were absolutely no pictures of swimmers taken!

The stats:
3rd relay OA
5th fastest swimmer OA
5th fastest runner OA (20:31)
12th fastest biker OA (39:13)

Yeah Team Triple Threat! The two relays ahead of us were all male corporate relays so I feel like we did pretty well.
My swim felt good ... until I got to the 200 yd mark and then I kind felt like I was losing steam big time.
My time for the 425 was 5:15. (race time to the transition area 5:34).
Splits
1:07 - 100yd
1:13 - 200yd
1:18 - 300 yd
1:20 - 400 yd
0:17 - last 25

I would have liked to keep all the 100's under 1:15, but given that I was pretty slacking in my workouts before the race I can't expect much. But overall I was happy that I had some semblance of pacing going on. Maybe the ocean swimming is helping!

I was excited to open the mail today and find Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen's video waiting for me. I watched it this afternoon and the general gist (set to some cheesy music, but hey what can you expect) is to swim as if you are paddling a surfboard (she is from Hawaii). Wide pull, with a pause after entry, straight pull, with power coming from a elbow bend -- wrists stay straight -- and look at the bottom of the pool, not ahead (makes the hips drop). My initial reaction is that this is going to be a helpful video. I am going to have to watch it a few more times and experiment in the pool.

I have no doubt, soon my kids will also be saying "No Mommy, not the swim lady again!"

Secrets....

Words of wisdom from Mary's 4 year old son (transcribed verbatim)....

Don't litter secrets,
don't litter food and
don't bring your secrets
to the beach ever again.
But if you come here put
your secrets in the trash
can.


A future poet for sure.

Watch out Arnold Schwarzenegger, here I come

Weights. Three times a week. For an hour each time.



Yeah, right!

How the heck am I supposed to fit this in?

I know all my tri friends out there are working out 14 hours a week or more, but I'm having trouble managing three 1-hour swim workouts. And I already do these at 5:30am.

So my coach advised me today that in fact I do not need more fancy pantsy stroke technique tweaking, with fun trips to Hawaii and autographed DVDs (yes it is in the mail to me right now!!), but rather good old fashioned weight lifting and core strengthening. I nodded, agreed and was generally compliant. But oh, weight lifting is soooo unsexy and boring. And, I might mention, impossible to accomplish with three screaming kids running circles around you and stealing your therabands and weights.

I will -- somehow -- find a way. Cause I know after all coach is right.

NEVERTHELESS....
Check ... purchased Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen's DVD and can't wait to watch it.
Check ... discovered she is having a swim clinic in Camden in December and another one in Andover, MA. Anyone going to join me?? hey they are not Hawaii, but until I have a spare $3000 it will have to do.

Sadly I will have to miss Hodding Carter's clinic this weekend. Maybe next time?

In other news.... I have a tri bike! Yikes. Don't know a thing about them. But this one needs a seat and I am quite sure a tune-up, which after Mary's blog entry today I am little scared to undertake. Is there such a thing as second hand bike seats??? And what is with this getting the right fit? How the heck does this work?

Much to learn. But it's kinda fun.

Dreaming of Hawaii

Well Masters officially began today. 5:30 felt very early but I rallied and it was great to be back in the pool with everyone. Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about what I want to do this season. I won't necessarily have more time but I will have more mental space to think about swimming as the my big exams I took in April and August, and that took up SO much time last winter studying, are behind me.

1. Make the most of my push offs and do all freestyle push offs with a strong butterfly kick. Do it in practice ALL the time.
2. Do some weight training, with weights and therabands. Build my core with situps.
3. Consider some changes to my stroke (a Shoulder Shift )?
Watch Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen's video.
4. Break 26 in the 50.
5. Break 58 in the 100.



And I have been dreaming of Hawaii... Kona, Hawaii.

No not the Ironman!

My dream is to go to Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen's training camp in Kona, Hawaii for a week and work on my technique. Her program sounds awesome. She currently holds over 50 FINA World Masters records in swimming and was just inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame -- my new hero. Oh and she is 46 years old! That is even older than my other hero Dara Torres. Anyways I am ready to make some changes in how I am training and swimming and this seems like a pretty good place to start.

I am also trying to do some things a little different nutritionally. I am drinking chocolate milk after every workout -- something about the carb to protein ratio is good for helping muscles recover after a workout. I don't understand the bio-physiology of it yet but maybe someone out there can enlighten me? So far it is working. I don't get headaches later in the day after working out. And hey it is also recommended by triathlete extraordinaire Ange so it has got to be good.

My other conclusion is that our team has to get an underwater camera. How else can I do all this stroke refinement and analysis?

Incessant barking

Feels like it sometimes....

Are we disorganized?

Well you be the judge.
We found a pair of my son's shoes at the park across the street today.
They were sitting neatly on a picnic table.
They had been missing for more than 3 weeks.
I really can't even believe we found them.
And then today I found 1 flip flop of a pair that
I thought were stolen in June at the pool.
Nope. They were in our house all along.
And one flip flop is still on the loose.

Can it get any worse?

Hanging up the wetsuit

I'm hanging up my wetsuit today... literally.. until next summer. SAD!! In more ways than one... But I found this great video on Alcatraz Sharkfest to get me psyched for next summer. This is going to be a great time. Are you ready Kathy?? (I know you are!)

check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4Qeiwc_IM&eurl=http://owswimrva.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/alcatraz-sharkfest-swim-2007/

In other news I realized I haven't read a single book all summer. Lots of the newspaper, lots of the New Yorker but not a single book. What is up with that I pondered? I always have a book going. Oh yeah, I have been blogging and addicted to reading the blogs of people I have never met. So I've started Hodding Carter's Off the Deep End. It is pretty funny and I can actually relate to this guy who is trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials at age 45 (with 3 kids) in swimming. Okay not that I have that kind of determination, but I understand his need to be fast and do what he used to do so well and effortlessly. His tale is a funny lighthearted read. BTW, he is from Maine too, how cool?




Next on the list is a book I read about in the New York Times last week. American Wife.... an imagined peek into the life of Laura and George, of course with different names, and lot of sex scenes. The kind of book I should have read this summer. A review reads... "Should a liberal First Lady sit in a corner reading Saul Bellow while her husband pushes a ruthlessly conservative agenda? Sittenfeld dramatizes the question with a forgivably contrived plot twist. And who knows how close she has come to understanding Laura's inner life? My guess: Not close. But it hardly matters. This is a novel, after all, and it's a terrific one. "

End of summer?

Well it has been one week since I have posted and I guess I am feeling very sad that summer is nearly over. I am relishing these last few days of sun and trying to get in as many ocean swims as I can. I managed a few last week. A gorgeous swim along Scarborough Beach on Labor Day with my friends Claire and Karen. It was so hot and the water was so cold! Interestingly, when I swam along Crescent on Wednesday and Thursday the water was much warmer, especially Thursday which I think was one of the warmest days for ocean water that I have felt all summer. Unfortunately I didn't get to swim for too long as it was quite choppy and just as I was getting in a boatful of teenage boys -- drinking something from cans....hmmmmm -- launched their boat and proceeded to do circles and then water ski along the beach. Even though the headed out towards Richmond I didn't feel too safe swimming due to the chop -- I could only see 3 feet in front of me!

Today may be one of my last swims of the summer, but I hope not.