Sunday, June 28, 2009

Mama said knock you out!

My mom inspired me, when I went to visit her after the Key West swim. She has been taking spin classes and raving about how great they are. As something different, they have taken her out of her cardio comfort zone. While she still swims, by adding some new exercise she has lost a few pounds, developed some new muscles, and firmed up a tight little toushy. I took a couple of classes with her and saw what she was talking about. Yowza! You can blame it on the Florida humidity, but I hadn't sweat that much in a very long time.
















I liked the idea of mixing things up, but I wanted to find an activity with a little more punch. So I decided to join LA boxing.










I love the workout for a couple of reasons:
1) While I am a mild-mannered speech pathologist by day, I like sports that are a little aggressive. In open water races, I'd much rather swim in a tight pack of aggressive swimmers than swim by myself. And the best thing about punching bags is that they never hit back!
2) Boxing focuses on your arms and core, which directly benefits swimming.
3) My coordination on land is inversely related to my coordination in the water. On land, I run into things and fall down a lot. A little balance and agility work certainly is not going to kill me.


Boxing has been a lot of fun! After doing it for just a week, I'm already feeling stronger and leaner.

Catching up...

The past few weeks have been busy! With Key West, Disney, and a wedding in Boston, it seems like I have been doing more traveling than swimming. I tried to get back on track this week, but I conveniently forgot what time the pool closed on Sunday so I didn't get my long swim in. Oops!

Since I didn't take my swimming log with me when I traveled, I have also been slack about posting my weekly summaries on my blog. So here I am trying to catch up!

Week 25:
Mon: swim 3800 yds, 1 hr kickboxing
Tues: swim 5200, 1 hr boxing
Wed: swim 5700, run 3 mi, 1 hr kickboxing
Thurs: swim 5200, 1 hr kickboxing
Fri: swim 5200, 1 hr boxing
Sat: run 5 mi, walk 1 mi
Sun: swim 7,000 hike 2 mi, run 3 mi
Total: swim 32,100 yds, 5 hr boxing/kickboxing, run/walk 14 mi

Week 24:
Mon: Disney
Tues: Disney
Wed: swim 4200 yds
Thurs: swim 3800, 1 hr spin class
Fri: swim 4500, 1 hr spinning, 50 min kayak
Sat: Boston
Sun: Boston
Total: swim 12,500 yds, 2 hr spin class, 50 min kayak















Rob and Ellen's wedding

Week 23:
Mon: swim 3,000 yds, run 3 mi
Tues: walk 2 mi
Wed: swim 2700, walk 1 mi
Thurs: swim 1700 - rained out
Fri: rest
Sat: Swim Around Key West - about 20,000 yards
Sun: rest
Total: swim 27, 400 yds, walk/run 6 mi

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Swim Around Key West



Last weekend was the 12.5 mi Swim Around Key West, one of my favorite races despite the very hot water. This was my 4th time swimming the race - I did it twice in high school and also swam it last year. I was especially excited this year because several DAMA friends were swimming it as well. Matt Davis and Karen Fritchie did solo swims while Jason Mask, Joe Caruth, and Josh Eudaily did a party cruise, er, relay.



A couple of things were different about the swim this year. The swim started later than usual (8:30 am instead of 7:00 am) and it also started in a new location, a different point on the island:



I wasn't sure how these changes would affect the current-assisted swim, so I tried to set a reasonable goal. I finished the race last year in 4 hours, 37 min. Since I now had better endurance from all my channel training, I hoped to finish this year under 4:30.



The morning of the race was fraught with excitement. We ate our breakfasts, changed into our suits, and walked down to beach where the starting area was. Now for those of you who have never been there, Key West is a very colorful place. During our weekend stay, we were met with a variety of characters including several drag queens, a man in a Borat-style bathing suit, and a group dressed as the village people. Needless to say, this was not a place where Karen and I expected to draw much attention. After all, we are straight-laced young professionals who couldn't possibly match the level of weird that Key West is used to.


However, as we walked down to the beach we were repeatedly subjected to pointing, giggling, and incredulous looks from passersby. One man stopped his car, pulled over to the curb, and pleaded with us to let him take our picture. How could this be?! How could Karen and I draw such attention to ourselves on an island of freaks?




Perhaps it had something to do with the entire pound and a half of zinc oxide that we applied to our bodies before the race. One man even asked Karen if she would do "mime moves" for him. She respectfully declined.





After an hour or so of camera dodging, the race finally started. The water was hotter than I remembered - upper 80s -and it felt like bath water, even from the start. My original plan was to stop and drink every 30 minutes, but I already started to feel dehydrated after the 1st hour, so I changed it to every 20 minutes. I usually drank Gatorade, but every third feeding I took chocolate milk instead, to give me a little bit of protein and to take a break from all the electrolytes (since I was already swallowing so much salt from the water).


I felt very strong for the first half of the race, but then things began to fizzle. The race is usually timed so that the current pushes most of the swimmers the entire way. The fastest swimmers might slightly out swim the tide and could end up swimming about a mile against the current. No big deal, right? Well, this year there was a serious error in the timing of start relative to the currents. We swam AGAINST the strong current for almost half of the race. This is not something that any of my team had trained for and it was exhausting. After the race, Matt told me that he didn't stop to drink for 2 whole hours because he didn't want the current to push him backward while he was treading water and drinking.


As my kayak support person, my mom tried very hard to steer me to slower moving water. However, in many places the water became very shallow, too shallow to take complete, full strokes. In several places, my mom had to decide whether to keep me in the extremely shallow water, or to move me out to deeper water where I would be swimming against a stronger current. It was a tricky tactical decision. She usually kept me in the shallow water, which seemed to be to my benefit.


Finally, my stop watch read 4 hours. Thank God! I was absolutely elated. According to my projected finish time, that meant I should only have about a mile to go. I asked my mom how much further we had and she said "You're doing great. You're almost at mile 9." Almost at mile 9?! In other words, I still had 4 miles to go? I couldn't believe it. I had mentally prepared myself to swim for only 4.5 hours but now it was clear that I would swim well over 5. My arms couldn't handle that! I had already bargained with them, told them that if they hung in there just a little longer, we'd be done soon. Now what was I going to tell them?

It was then that I understood the value of what English channel swimmers call "total body confusion" training. These swimmers go into their training swims with no plan of how far they will go or when they will stop. They might swim for 1 hour one day, 4 hours the next day, and two hours the day after that. They make spur of the moment decisions at the end of their swims to extend their training a few hours longer. On long swims, they don't look at the clock; it is their coaches who decide how far they will go and when they will get out. The idea is to get out of the habit of training yourself to swim for a certain amount of time. These time frames impose physical and mental limits that are difficult to overcome. If I train to do a 10 hour English Channel crossing, what happens if conditions are worse than expected and I need 12 hours to complete the swim? How would I make it through those last 2 "bonus" hours? By preparing myself to swim Key West in 4.5 hours, I had made swimming beyond this point extremely difficult.

Sure enough, by 4.5 hours I was thoroughly cooked. I made it through the rest of the swim by sheer power of will. I began to understand why some English Channel swimmers give up within a mile of reaching France. We all have a point that we reach where it feels like we can't swim another stroke, let alone another thirty minutes. Extremes in temperature - the heat of Key West or the cold of the channel - add to the fatigue. I made it to the finish buoy and got another surprise - the finish line had been moved to the beach! I had another 200 yards to swim and then would have to crawl out of the water before the clock would stop.


Muttering expletives that only the fishes would hear, I swam hard to the shore. When I got out, the race had one last surprise for me and this one was a good one. I was the overall solo winner! They only 2 people out of the water ahead of me were relay swimmers.


I left the beach to shower, remove as much of the zinc oxide as I could, and change into some dry clothes. When I went back to the beach to watch the others finish, I realized that everyone was having a hard time with the conditions this year. Times were all much slower than expected. Karen and Matt both finished strong, but the relay ran into some trouble. I found out that Joe started throwing up 8 miles into the race and had to be rescued by one of the safety boats. Jason and Josh finished for the team, both swimming more than they had prepared to.


A reporter from the Key West Citizen interviewed me and I was quoted in the paper:
http://keysnews.com/print/1437979


Awards for the race were Key West conch shells. Karen and Matt both placed in their age groups and the relay came in 2nd place out of the 3 person relays. We all won conchs!














Conch-erers!



















The next day, a group of us drove to Orlando for some "active recovery" at Disney.




















































































We had a blast! We all left much more broke than we had arrived, but such is the spirit of Disney.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Yogi's first swim

This weekend was the 2nd race in the Triangle Open Water Mile Series - the Jordan Lake Open Water Challenge. While wetsuits were allowed yet again (grumble, grumble), the "naked" DAMA swimmers put up an excellent showing. Out of the 125 swimmers, I was first overall female, Heidi Williams was 2nd overall female, Sarah Todd got 3rd in the 25-29 age group, Derek Parr got 2nd in the 35-39 age group, Matt Davis got 3rd in the 35-39 age group, and Gretchen Van de Carr got 3rd in the 50-54 age group!

The real hit was Yogi, who came along to go for his first swim.


Its awfully early for a field trip...



Sand! It's like dirt, only tastier



You get in first, dad.
I already swam today. You get in, Yogi.
No, I'm just a puppy. You get in.
Your brain is the size of a walnut. Therefore you have to listen to me. You get in.




I'd rather eat more sand

Yogi swim for a minute or so, before he got out and returned to his adoring fans on the beach.

For us swimmers, there are certain disadvantages to swims run by triathlon rules (wetsuit rules, extra fees for USAT insurance), but I am finding that there are advantages too. Namely, they are run more smoothly than a lot of swimmer-run races. With the help of chip timing, results were accurate, awards were prompt, and official results were posted online that very day!

Compare this to the Masters NC state open water championships, held last weekend. Nearly all of us had some gripe or another (or 2 or 3 gripes) with the results. As for me, a whopping 30 minutes was added to my 5K time when results were posted. Our coach Andrea is very organized and sent a list of our grumbles to the race directors. She sent the following:

1) Joseph Caruth was not registered, did not pay and did not swim in the 800m. He is currently listed as NS.

2) Heidi Williams age is listed as 46 but she is actually 40, her DOB is 03-21-69

3) The five minute delay was not yet subtracted from the results posted.

4) Matthew Davis (DAMA) 36 is listed as David Mathew in the results. He also swam in the 800m and finished the first Masters men but was not listed. His time was approx. 9:15, he paid 15$ and added this event at registration. He was the first male Master's and received a medal that day.

5)" DAMA" stands for Durham Area Masters Aquatics, in the team scores we are listed as Durham Aquatic Masters.

6) Roerden, Jeffrey is not on our team, yet is listed in the results as DAMA.

7) Tommerdahl, Kathy is not on our team either, yet is listed as DAMA.

8) Mary Anna Hovey 66 is actually on our team yet is listed as unattached.

9) Mark Medendorp 31 is also on our team yet is listed as unattached.

10) Our team relay was not included in the results yet we paid 20$ in cash to Andrea (short brown hair) and wrote our entry on a yellow legal pad with the names on it and gave it to her. There were no relay forms available for us to fill out.
Heidi Williams 5K
Mark Medendorp 3K
Kim Sarah Rice 2K
Matthew Davis 800m

11) Kim Sarah Rice finish time was 1:18 in the 5K yet is listed as 1:48. She was the first Masters female and received a medal after the race.
12) Erik Crankshaw finish time was 1:13 in the 5k yet is listed as 1:29:53. He was the first male Masters to finish and received a medal after the race.


13) Mark Savoldi 42 is on our team yet is listed as unattached.


Yes, even with his walnut brain, Yogi could have done a better job with these results! For a championship race, this is disappointing to say the least.

My suggestion to the Triangle OW series organizers - why not put in a bid to run the USMS championships next year? We know you would do a better job!!!

Week 22:
With the Swim Around Key West next week, I've been cutting down my yardage a bit. To not lose any aerobic fitness, I've been trying to walk and run more.

Mon: swim 3800 yds
Tues: swim 3700 walk 4 mi
Wed: stormed out of practice; run 5 mi
Thurs: swim 8,000
Fri: swim 3300
Sat: walk 5 mi
Sun: swim 3500, walk 3 mi
Total: swim 22,300; walk/run 17 mi

Not swimming related - but Yogi is just so damn cute. Here are more pics:






Monday, June 1, 2009

NC open water championships





This week was the NC state open water championships in Pinehurst.



They didn't offer a 10K this year, so I entered the 5K and decided to enter the 2K too, to get in some extra yardage. The 5K course was 4 laps around a 1.25km triangle - easy navigating! What I wanted to do more than anything was swim straight and not get lost. So concerned was I with knowing the course that I swam a practice lap before the race!

In order to keep the USMS and USA swimming races separate, we were started in waves. We old folks started 5 min behind the 19 and under boys, and 2 min behind the 19 and under girls. While weaving though packs of swimmers was a little time consuming, it did help with sighting - it's hard to get lost when there are always feet ahead of you! I'm happy to say that I stayed on course and swam relatively straight. I figured out that I tend to veer left when I swim. I made some minor course corrections, but nothing major. I swam hard, holding nothing back for the 2K and ended up getting first out of the masters women.

I cooled down, watched some of the 3K, then warmed up again for the 2K. For this, the course was different - 2 laps, out and back between 2 bouys. I was tired from the 5K, but did not want to swim the next day so I needed to do the extra yardage. Again, the masters started 5 min behind the 1st wave of kids. By the time we started, the kids were near the turn around buoy.

Trying to swim as straight as possible again, I sighted for the 2nd buoy right from the start. Soon, however, I ran into a little problem. The kids had rounded the first buoy and were headed back to the first - straight at us! We were trying to hold the same, straight paths but were going in opposite directions. My priorities shifted from trying to swim as fast as possible to trying to avoid a head-on collision. This was not a freestyle race - it was a head-up freestyle race! I got 2nd out of the masters women, but that's not as impressive as it sounds because there weren't many of us in the 2K.

Now on to more important things...

Meet Yogi - my future training buddy!





Yes, Daisy and Sneakers have a new little brother! Yogi is a Newfoundland, which makes him an excellent swimmer. According to K9 web, "the Newfoundland dog is physically well-suited to swimming, with its webbed feet, thick rudder-like tail, water-resistant double coat and its powerful build, strength and stamina." Welcome to the family Yogi!






Newfies in their natural element

As many of you know, Karen has been an excellent training buddy these past few months, not only keeping me company on long swims, but often pushing me to go farther and faster. Unfortunately, Key West is around the corner and I have been unable to trick Karen into signing up for something else extremely long. That's where Yogi comes in - open water champion of the future!

How do Karen and Yogi match up, you ask? Let's do a comparison:


Swimming fitness

Possesses webbed paws and a rudder-like tail; instinct for the water

Instinct for the water, but no tail of any sort. Shoulder and elbow joints allow for a rounder, more complete stroke

Location flexibility

Is not allowed in public swimming pools. Limited to open water and backyard pools

Enjoys free access to all public swimming areas

Cold water tolerance

Thick coat and extra blubber provide excellent cold water tolerance

Not hairy or blubbery. Better suited for warm climates

Bribeability

Will generally do what you ask in exchange for cookies

There’s a limit to what she will do for cookies. Often requires more complex, time-consuming persuasion techniques

Endurance

Easily distracted; requires frequent naps

Often prefers middle distance but does well during long swims too. Also a fan of naps

Personal hygiene

Frequent crotch sniffing, butt licking

Karen is the clear winner here


As you can see it's a toss-up! Time will tell how Yogi does as a swimming buddy, but he sure is cute and lovable. Welcome home, little bear!

Week 21:
Mon: rest - swim 16,000 yds
Tues: walk 3 mi
Wed: rest - swim 3800, run 3 mi
Thurs: swim 1100 - rained out
Fri: swim 2000
Sat: swim about 11,500
Sun: walk 5 mi
Total: swim 34,400; walk/run 11 mi