Sara's Learn To Swim Month 1 Workout #2

I just love these swim workouts: I feel as if someone analyzed my life -- swim experience and mentality and everything else -- and designed these personally for me!

Of course I actually believe that's what happened!

Here's the link again:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1945

I cut out this workout and placed it into a credit card sleeve so it's basically waterproof, and keep it poolside next to my water bottle. Also this time: MY WATERPROOF WATCH came it the mail and I used it for the first time today. This is a huge improvement for me, and provides so much more useful information. Especially since Sara's workouts include 30-sec and 60-sec breaks between laps/sets. I feel so efficient resting for the exact amount of time and pushing back into the water when the break is over (instead of guestimating!)

Workout #2  700 Total

• 150 warm up swim
  :60 seconds rest

• 4x50 swim
  with :30 seconds rest between each 50

• 8x25 swim
  -With :30 seconds rest between each 25
  -Count the number of strokes you take on #1
  -Try to take one less stroke on #2, one less on #3, one less on #4
  start over and repeat for #’s 5-8

• 150 cool down swim

I was all ready to start with the kickboard and pull buoy (my personal one didn't come in the mail yet), when I noticed that it's different: no kick and pull, just 50 yards (there and back) and then 25 yards.

At first I could not swim 50 yards (there and back) crawl. I fell apart in the second half and side-stroked to the end. This was very disconcerting. Also my goggle were filling with water and I couldn't freakin' see. I was too exhausted in my 30-sec break to figure out how to tighten the dang things and kept swimming with eyefuls of water -- if it could be called swimming, more like staggering. Since I couldn't make it for 50 yards, I decided to try slowing down, like I see these old ladies and old dudes swimming like a walk in the park, and it worked. I could actually get through the distance.

Then I had to to swim swimming 4 25-yard pool lengths with 30 seconds break, the first time I count my stokes. It came up to 13. I caught my breath and was able to adjust the goggles more tightly. The second length, I tried to do one less stroke. How to do that? I wondered as I swam.

Suddenly I noticed that I could see underwater! It was amazing! And, I realized that as I kicked a little harder and reached a little more dramatically, I cut it down to 12 strokes! It was such an epiphany! I hit 11 on the next one and not quite ten, and then repeated the set with the same results. It was an absolutely brilliant strategy, because I had an extremely effective way to improve my stroke in an immediate basis. Incredible! I felt so empowered and amazed.

Loved it! Came home nicely tired and truly exhilarated!

Fit Camp

Went to Bally's Monday morning for a 6:15am Fit Camp class, something I've never done before and may never do again !! 

Sidebar: I've been reflecting on Mary Salas (my original sprint tri hero/inspiration) saying she does Crossfit to strengthen overall body and feels it helps significantly, especially in building stamina while logging fewer miles: important for us senior types. 

Back to Fit Camp:

This crazy chick has us doing unbelievable things things with weight, lunges, kettleballs and steps for about 40 minutes! Each one of them I could barely finish the 30-second time period. Not quite sure how I survived, but it was exciting trying to remain conscious. 

Every single thing is sore today! Aptly took the day off: will swim tomorrow am, God wiling, second swim workout. Go you huskies!

Sunday Evening Double Brick

Sunday 11/24
Just getting ready to bottle our second batch of brew: found an hour to head out to Bally's

Note: having a gym for winter is very motivating. I never have to worry about the cold!

Planned to do a triple (or a Double Brick, as it were) and at race pace as much as possible.

Hit the pool quickly:

SWIM

11/24/2013

• DURATION:09m
• DISTANCE:300.00 yards
• PACE:03m /100 yards
• TIME:3:45 PM

I didn't try any crawl or anything special, just what I'm most comfortable with, back stroke and back crawl. Worked at swimming hard the entire six laps. Pretty good time! Need that waterproof watch that I ordered on Amazon for $4, should be here soon!

Next headed for the bike. The Spin Class is reaping dividends: I think it's hard to work hard on a dumb stationary bike with no change in scenery. The Spin Class gives you a way to work hard, as if you were completing an actual ride with a start, finish, and hills. Stationary bike is mind-numbing and de-inspiring. But thinking about the Spin Class paces, I worked hard on the bike for four miles, close to race pace.

BIKE

11/24/2013

• DURATION:11m
• DISTANCE:4.00 miles
• PACE:21.80 Mi/hr
• TIME:4:00 PM

When I went for the run, I aimed again at 10-minute miles, built up to speed as fast as possible. Treadmills are weird, so unnatural. I cranked quickly up to pace and then scrambled, struggled and gasped my way to 0.3 miles. Actually did it!

RUN

11/24/2013

• DURATION:03m
• DISTANCE:0.30 miles
• PACE:10m /Mi
• TIME:4:16 PM

I could NOT get into a rhythm: my breathing never settled into a groove with my arms and legs. The treadmill is awkward in that sense: if I was running on the ground, I could slow down until my breathing matched my movements. But yet I want to push up to race pace so I just kept at it. At this rate -- increasing a tenth of a mile per week -- how long will it get for me to run 3 miles at that pace? Best not to calculate that out. I do have plenty of time!

Got back in time to bottle brew! What fun we had!

http://instagram.com/p/hHoOG1teAj/

Talked with Miriam and Jaime about alternating sprints and distance workouts. Jaime says to run a 3-mile race you should aim your distance workout at 5 miles. I don't know if I'm being overprotective in vain or not: I don't want to run too much because I'm concerned about injuries and whatnot. I've had heel pain and such things before. Aiming to build up stamina and things like that with as few actual miles as possible. Is that possible? We'll just have to see...

Friday Morning Swim Session - New Strategy

Well I'm VERY EXCITED about my new trend (see last post) and have found a way to extend this into the swimming. I'm so excited to try each sport and to combine each sport that I can barely choose between possible workouts!

But since Friday morning has typically been my dedicated swim day, I decided to try a workout designed by
Sara McLarty, who has this brilliant How To Swim plan:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1945

on BeginnerTriathlete, which has become a veritable treasure trove of information, including my primary work-out logging app!

So here's what I did this morning:

SWIM

11/22/2013

• DURATION:40m
• DISTANCE:600.00 yards
• PACE:-----
• TIME:9:20 AM

So now I didn't calculate the pace, because it would look so lame! But here's what I actually did (Thanks Sara!)

WEEK #1

Workout #1  600 total

• 100 warm up swim
  :60 seconds rest

• 6 x 25 (2 kick, 2 pull, 2 swim) Kick: use a kickboard
                                                         Pull: use a pull-buoy
  with :30 seconds rest between each 25

• 100 swim
  :60 seconds rest

• 6 x 25 (2 kick, 2 pull, 2 swim)
  with :30 seconds rest between each 25

• 100 cool down swim

 This is great stuff! I think this would be excellent for anyone trying to swim for the first time since high school: it gave me short little segments to exert myself mightily and then recover (My "Race Pace" Strategy!)

And for the first time I actually put my FACE in the water (OK I've been doing backstroke and sidestroke all this time!) because for the kick, pull and swim segments I worked on crawl. See, I can barely do 25 yards in a crawl without gasping and choking for breath, but this workout helps me build the kicking -- by isolating it -- and then build the stroking, and then trying it for 25 yards with a break after. 

I think this would actually permit me to develop a killer crawl, which I really should have if I'm going to swim. Right? The only thing is that the Bally pool has kickboards lying around but no pull buoys, Now that I'm paying attention, I see that many swimmers bring their own little mesh bags with pull buoys. Who Knew? Time for Amazon.com 

Goes between your legs while you swim, isolating your arm stroke. 

Short Double Brick: Breakthrough!

This morning, also short of time, I planned to do 300-yard swim and a few miles on the bike at a fast pace.

I ended up jumping on the treadmill for a quarter mile and found that I performed each portion of the workout at a very fast pace. I think the shorter bricks and Spin class are reaping dividends!

SWIM

11/20/2013

• DURATION:10m
• DISTANCE:300.00 yards
• PACE:03m 18s /100 yards
• TIME:9:20 AM

Instead of being limited by my lungs, I pushed back. Since it was going to be a short distance, I used that to outsmart my limbs; instead of my typical routine of "fast out, slow back" which I had been using as a strategy to survive for the entire 1/2 mile, I pushed as hard as I could out and back for the few six laps I'd planned. Very effective.

BIKE

11/20/2013

• DURATION:05m
• DISTANCE:2.00 miles
• PACE:24.00 Mi/hr
• TIME:9:25 AM

For the bike, I also pushed much harder than I ever had -- I could hear the Spin teacher hollering into the microphone - "SPRINT!!!" and so I did! Came up with a 24-mph pace which got me thinking in a different way: When I did the Century run, my training consisted of intense hilly rides, so a 12-mph pace was reasonable. Yet the Sprint Tri is going to be around Pleasanton -- FLAT -- so I decided on a 24-mph race pace (Since I noticed that winners had a 30-minute time for the 12-mile ride). 

Run

11/20/2013

• duration:02m
• distance:0.25 miles
• pace:10m /Mi
• time:10:15 AM

Then I leapt onto the treadmill with about two minutes left and had planned to do a quarter mile at 12 mph, but when I was at 12 mph and noticed I was entering my workout on my device while doing that, I realized I could do a lot better than that! I cranked up to a 10-minute mile, which was frankly far outside of my expectations, but not unreasonable as a goal race pace! Why Not? I did that for 0.15 miles and was ready to quit: I focused on hitting the next number only, not imagining trying to get to 0.25. So it was 0.19 --  go for 0.20!  And 0.20 -- fight for 0.21! Little by little. Actually made it to 0.25 at that pace and was quite pleased with myself!

So my entire training strategy shifted today! I decided to set a goal race pace for each segment, and then perform a micro-section at that pace, and then expand. So today I did a quarter mile at 10 mph, next I'll try for a third or half! 

Swim: 2.5 min for 100 yards

Bike: 25 mph

Run: 9.5 minute-mile

Then according to my Kinesiologist, alternating is very importing; jogging then sprint, and 

CONFUSING THE MUSCLES is a strategy to develop  muscles, because they stop building once a routine is formed. I'm going to believe that for lungs, too! Alternating ! Keep them guessing!
And, she says, start with a short distance at race pace, then build longer distances gradually, maintaining that pace. Yes!

Second Tri at Spin Class Tuesday AM

11/19 Workout
Found myself ready to go to the gym for the 6am Spin Class.  Actually, at 5: 30am after Flavio left, I was seriously considering getting back into bed. But the heat was on! I cannot resist. It's not discipline: I'm driven by something out of my control.  How marvelous is that?

I actually have no idea about the miles, because the Spin bikes are resistance only. But I figured I was going at least 12 mph.

BIKE

11/19/2013

• DURATION:50m
• DISTANCE:10.00 miles
• PACE:12.00 Mi/hr
• TIME:6:00 AM

This time instead of survive the first 20 minutes, I actually stayed in the entire class and even followed the instructor's prompts. Her workouts are well-designed and I enjoyed the different paces and the music very much. I tried to exert myself at full capacity during the "Sprints" and "hills" but didn't quite have enough ooomph to make it through each song: however I was able to fit in with the rhythm of the class and finish!

I found a lot of improvement over last week and would like to do this regularly!

Sunday Evening Quick little brick

Workout 11/17

I slipped out before dinner for a little jaunt, and had intended to try to consecutive little bricks.

However I dilly-dallied so much that I only had time for one!
300 yard swim, 2 miles on the bike:

SWIM

11/17/2013

• DURATION:12m
• DISTANCE:300.00 yards
• PACE:04m /100 yards
• TIME:5:30 PM

BIKE

11/17/2013

• DURATION:05m
• DISTANCE:2.00 miles
• PACE:24.00 Mi/hr
• TIME:5:51 PM

Still I'm fairly certain it was worthwhile! I've been frustrated by my natural swim pace: I need to force it up a bit. When I first started swimming, I was working on finishing a half mile: now I am changing my focus, and need to figure out how to increase my wind and efficiency.

Double Brick - in my new Fake Tri Suit

So I felt really ridiculous trying this thing on even in the privacy of my bedroom! Ha! I was reminded of The Incredibles, when the guy squeezes his aging body into his new spandex superhero suit - I felt just like that! And I'm NOT going to post a picture of me in this suit, not yet, I'm hoping to have this improve a bit over time.

I felt funny thinking about going into Bally with this thing, but honestly, people wear some pretty funky stuff, and for the most part, I believe no one is really paying attention.

The main reason I tried on the fake tri suit "FTS"  (Fake cuz I got it for $24 from Korea) is because I've been swimming in my Expensive Cycle shorts, which work well -- but after reading that you shouldn't use your nice tri suits in chlorinated pools because it will break down the fabric -- I noticed that the fabric on these cherished shorts is actually breaking down! So out came the FTS.

Enrico, in his post on Bricks, suggested having your gym set up a stationary bike next to the pool for you. I wasn't ready to try that, but it got me thinking in different ways. Instead of going back into the locker room to change, I imagined a different routine, where I have my sneakers and a shirt and shorts next to the pool, jump out, change, and head straight into the work-out area through the other doors (instead of into the locker room). It seemed more like an actual Transition area scenario to me...

Also I actually got some goggles (Speedo - $9.99) and new swim cap ($3.00 on sale at Big Five) so I struggled into my superhero spandex which felt wonderful, like a second skin, and wasn't scandalous or offensive, I don't think, and headed off to the gym!

Worked on John 17:24b ὅτι ἠγάπησάς με πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Not hard because I already know πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου from Eph 1:4

500-yard swim, threw on sneakers, Nike shirt and shorts, and brick-stumbled into the gym. The two bikes nearest the pool doors seemed occupied, so I kept stumbling my way to the stationary bike section at the front of the gym when I realized there was a Spin Class in session! 9:30 -- it would be half-way over.

I decided to spin for twenty minutes, which wouldn't result in a mile reading, but at an average of 12 mph (what I averaged during my century training) should be about 4 miles, which was my goal.

Jumped on a spin bike in the dark and tried to catch up with the class momentum. I couldn't understand a single word the leader screamed: but people in the class seemed to change what they did when she shrieked out her unintelligible commands. Coming out of brick-brain-fog, I started to grasp some of it and tried to imitate. Still not sure what "Back to Push Point!" means... Either way, trying to follow her helped to distract from the tiredness, rising up to meet the "40-second Sprint GOOO!" and "Stand UP"" ultimately helped more than not. As with swimming, breathing is the biggest problem. Cannot get enough air into my lungs.

But after 20 minutes I slunk out, a good thing, because I was almost completely spent! I brick-staggered onto a treadmill and tried three times to get a quickstart before I succeeded. Had planned to do an itsy-bitsy quarter mile, just for the transition's sake.

Felt great! Cranked it up to a 12-minute mile, much faster than I can do a mile right now, but then again, I was only going for a quarter mile! Felt so good after a quarter mile that I decided to hang in until the half-mile mark. As I continued, the biggest challenge is trying to breath enough. I had a funny feeling while I was striding and fighting to breath enough; I believe I felt my lungs struggling, expanding. I felt I could hear the internal dialog, my lungs were saying, "WTF, is she going to keep coming up with this crap??? Fine!! Whatever!! We'll increase capacity (swearing under the breath) OK GUYS MORE AIR!!!

I had a vague memory of doing "wind sprints" in high school track. Instead of running the entire distance, short segments at fast pace, building up. It seemed right regardless.

I jumped off after a half-mile, quite out of time. Headed off the change and go to work, and the awesome endorphin rush, the sweet euphoria kicked right in and lasted a very long time!

SWIM

11/15/2013

• DURATION:15m
• DISTANCE:500.00 yards
• PACE:03m /100 yards
• TIME:9:12 AM

BIKE

11/15/2013

• DURATION:20m
• DISTANCE:4.00 miles
• PACE:12.00 Mi/hr
• TIME:9:31 AM

RUN

11/15/2013

• DURATION:06m 22s
• DISTANCE:0.50 miles
• PACE:12m 43s /Mi
• TIME:9:54 AM

Bally Spin Class

Although I'm dying to do some more bricks, I decided to do a dedicated cycle workout -- the most neglected by me of the three sports. 

Slipped out early (cuz The Lord shakes me out of sleep at 5:30am!!) and made it to the 6am Spin Class. I knew I was gonna get my butt kicked but I figured I gotta start somewhere!

Sure enough, this class was for hard core fanatics (the pansies, for the most part,  do not typically strap their feet in bike loops at 5:55am). I tried valiantly to keep up regardless. When I was ready to unstrap and die, the class suddenly ended. 

Or so I thought! Some people left at half-time: the majority sucked on their water bottles and waited for the games to re-start. I staggered out of the Spin Room and lay down on the floor a short distance away from the door. 

Can't wait to try it again!

Double Brick at Bally

Workout Nov 10

Sunday evening I suddenly found myself with time to slip out to the gym. Before I left, I was looking at BeginnerTriathlete.com, which hosts a terrific training log app that I use, and I saw a  blog on a first-time tri, and "What they would have done differently." She said she would have done more "bricks."

What the heck is a brick? Googled "triathlon brick" and came up with this marvelous article:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Enrico%20Contolini/Introduction_to_bricks.htm

Apparently, a brick is a workout where you combine two of the three events. This is critical for training because when you move swiftly from one sport to the other, the body has to perform a radical adjustment. Typically during the first moments of the switched-to sport, the body responds sluggishly and the limbs feel like "bricks," hence the term. 

Practicing switching from one to another helps the body learn to meet the demand. 

I was so excited because intuitively I was doing that already!

Enrico, in his marvelous above-mentioned article, suggested switching several times for max benefit, and I quote:

3 x (500 yards swim + 5 mile bike). I believe this is more useful and time efficient than doing a 1500 yards swim followed by a 15 miles bike, because you will switch sports 6 times instead of only once

Just thinking about Enrico's workout got my heart pounding! I couldn't wait to try it!

I even took it one step further - A DOUBLE BRICK!

SWIM

11/10/2013

• DURATION:18m
• DISTANCE:500.00 yards
• PACE:03m 36s /100 yards
• TIME:8:49 PM

BIKE

11/10/2013

• DURATION:13m
• DISTANCE:4.50 miles
• PACE:20.80 Mi/hr
• TIME:8:50 PM

RUN

11/10/2013

• DURATION:14m
• DISTANCE:1.00 miles
• PACE:14m /Mi
• TIME:8:50 PM

There were lots of complications with regards to getting on the machines and learning to quick-start, but the overall result was absolutely fabulous. I'm quite sure I won't do a single workout very much anymore!

Swim & Bike Combo at Bally #1

November 8

Got there Friday morning after getting Theresa off to school and gathering up all my stuff (still trying to figure out ideal gear combos). My intention was to swim and then jump onto a stationary bicycle, which I haven't done at all since gearing up for Sprint Tri.

Swam 12 laps / 600 yards in about 21 minutes, still a lame and lax pace -- for whatever reason I haven't felt very powerful in my swim for over a week. In truth, I was still extremely sore from my personal trainer work-out; could hardly move!

SWIM

11/8/2013

• DURATION:21m
• DISTANCE:600.00 yards
• PACE:03m 30s /100 yards
• TIME:8:45 AM

Then I changed as quickly as I could and scooted out the gym and tried to jump on the first bicycle I could find (trying to transition as quickly as possible).

BIKE

11/8/2013

• DURATION:15m
• DISTANCE:6.00 miles
• PACE:24.00 Mi/hr
• TIME:9:41 AM

I found it hard to figure out the arcane start-up functions, as I didn't want to perform some specialized hill workout but just ride 12 miles. The first bike I found was sort of a recumbent bike deal; it didn't feel like I was riding a bike at all. As I worked away at it,  I noticed that next to me is another section of stationary bikes that actually look like bikes! So after one mile in 3 minutes I leapt onto a different bike and struggled through its arcane start-up routine until I was actually peddling. Seemed like I couldn't get it to register how many miles I had rode: it showed how many kilowatts I was expending, my heart rate and about 15 other readings but I had the dang-est time trying to find a mileage reading! Finally I got in about 5 miles, which added up to a total of six - -my target for the first time.

Afterwards I felt so extremely wonderful! I spend a few minutes on a mat stretching out a little bit, but I was mostly carried away on a wave of exhilaration! For whatever reason, doing two different activities (so far I have only strung together two, not yet three) is so fantastically exciting for me! The swim runs I did at the Hayward Plunge and now this combo of swim bike just really wave my flag! Can't wait to do it again!