Off to DC...

Just me and the 3 kids. I always love a good road trip. But with the way my kids have been bickering lately I just hope we won't end up like this. Wish me luck!

Bowdoin swim clinic: Waltzing through the water

Apparently I never knew. Swimming is kind of like waltzing through the water. We swam to a 1-2 underwater metronome at the Bowdoin Clinic. At first he had us swimming at 20 cycles per minute- very slow. Hard to even move continuously. 30 per minute was more my pace. After a lengthy lecture on how to go fast on a bike (a description that flew completely over my head and was geared for all the triathletes in the audience), the analogy to swimming was made.

To go fast -- the only way -- is either to increase cycles per minute (cadence or tempo) OR distance per stroke. That's it.

All that fancy stuff -- be it suits, new techniques, weights, cords -- only make you faster if they affect tempo or distance per stroke.

And to think all I did before was just decide to "go fast". Intuitively I knew this but had never thought about it. So for that alone I think the clinic was helpful.

We also got to swim on video several times to look at our body position and technique. Coach Brad said I need to pull in my core more and tighten my butt muslces (do I have any?) and lengthen my stroke. He also said I was an "advanced" swimmer... Zach was jealous...haha.

But really the best part was swimming in a different pool with Deb, Kathy, Adrian, John, John G., Zach, & Son and just having fun with it all. That's what it's all about.

Here's what I want to try next..... getting towed.

Endurance workout

Today was different, which is why I love having a coach on deck telling me what to do.

Swim as far as you can for each time period BUT increase your distance each time.

12:30 rest 2:30
11:50 rest 3:30
11:10 rest 4:30
10:30 the end

I'm a terrible counter but I think this is how far I went... I'm positive on the last set b/c I counted (a hard skill for a sprinter).

750
775
775
850 yds

It felt good!

First Tri workout

Today was a nice break from the same old same old. Coach had us mix it up a bit. We started out with a few hundred warm up and then a super set -- 10 x 100 @ 1:25. We really should have been doing 1:20 but we all wimped out. Deb hasn't been in the water for 3 weeks, me for a week and well we probably could have made 5 or so on 1:20... we'll do it next month (we do them on the first monday of the month and try to drop 5 seconds each month). Well after that nice set we got out and went to the track behind the pool. I did a mile (which is a lot considering I haven't run in 5 years or more). Katie passed me twice --ha ha! Time to get my bike on the road I think...

400 Free Relay

One more picture from the 400 free relay on Friday night
(L to R) Zach, Sean, Jess, me; time 3:34.14