Early bird: 8,500 yards sucka!!

I wanted to get in one last big swim for July, so I got up SUPER early this morning for a long swim in the pool. The weather forecast showed a possibility for rain at Pineview, so I didn't want to risk it. That meant I had to get up even earlier, because the lap swim hours at the rec center go from 5-9 a.m. I took a half-dose of a sleep aid to help me fall asleep early and I was up at 6 a.m. sharp.

The clock in my car just as I left the house. Yuck...

I was in the pool by 6:30 and it was surprisingly busy. The lifeguard said it's usually pretty crowded in the early-morning hours. I'm glad I'm not a morning person. Anyway, I was able to snag a half-lane and got to work. I stretched a bunch after warming up my arms before taking off and it helped, because I settled in quickly. Normally, my arms don't loosen up until about 1,000 yards, but I was good to go after 500. I brought some treats (Cliff GuChomps and a PowerBar Energy Gel) to feed on every 45 minutes, trying to down them quickly, so I could simulate open-water feeding.

After the first 45 minutes, I was going strong, just over 1.5 miles. By the second feeding, I slowed down a bit, but only about 2 minutes off my earlier pace, so I was happy with that. By the time the third and final stop came around, my shoulders were getting tired and starting to hurt. Usually, my bad shoulder is the only one that starts to hurt, but both were by this point. I was almost at 4.5 miles, so I slowed down my pace and eventually switched into breaststroke for the final 500 yards or so, not wanting to injure myself. When lap swim ended at 9 a.m., my watch read 2:32.07 and I didn't quite reach five miles, but I came close. It's still my high for 2012 by far.

Note the suction lines around my eyes. And I look sort
of cross-eyed staring into the little camera on my phone. Ha!

I'm glad I got up early and did it, but my eye sockets are hurting. That's a lot of suction on the skin. I look super racoonish today. I am ordering some new goggles this week for open water swimming, which hopefully, will be more comfortable. The ones I have are great and have served me well, but they are meant more for pool training and hurt after a while in longer distances. Gords (who is just about set to swim the English Channel) recommends a few different pairs, and they are both reasonably priced, so I'll probably order one today.

P.S.: I barely eclipsed the 20-mile mark for this month, making up for a crappy June.

Total distance: 8,500 yards (4.86 miles)

Kicks galore

I was supposed to get up early and swim at Pineview with Kelly this morning, but despite icing last night, when I woke up, my shoulder was throbbing in pain. I've been able to keep it at bay, for the most part, with a vigilant regimen of icing during the past few weeks, but for some reason it didn't help this time.
I didn't want to skip today, so I figured I'd work on my legs a bit, although I hardly kick at all when I swim. I went to the Roy Rec Center to see how much kick work I could manage in the one-hour window.

I felt like this little kid when using a kickboard.
Although she's probably better at it than me.
I'm a total amateur at it.

Here's what I pulled off
300 free kick with fins
200 breast kick
300 free kick with fins
200 breast kick
150 free kick (this was brutal)
150 free kick with fins
200 breast kick easy (cool down)

Holy crap, was I hurting! My legs aren't used to getting that much work and I was feeling it on the first lap. I was hoping to swim a mile of kicks in the hour, but I simply couldn't do it. My fitness level below the waist is not at all where it should be. I was also surprised as to how exhausting it was in the cardio department. I think I will definitely start working more kicking sets into my swims after open water season is over. I'm sure that will help some of my pool times immensely.

Total distance: 1,500 yards

Longest open-water swim yet

I got up very early this morning (by my standards, since I work swing shifts) at about 7:30. Kelly and I wanted to get to Pineview Reservoir nice and early, so we could get a good swim in on calm water. We took Kelly's kayak, because he wasn't interested in logging the same kind of distance I had planned.

Passing the dam on my first lap.

When we got in, the lake was completely empty, short of a few paddle boarders and some jumping fish. I wanted to do two dam routes, which is about 2.2 miles per lap. Kelly paddled next to me for the entire first lap, snapping a few photos before his camera died. Sorry Kelly, no pics of you today... I felt good for the most part, taking a feeding after about 50 minutes. Kelly said it looked like I was starting to run out of gas during the last half mile and he was right, I simply wasn't feeling it and my arms were getting tired. Once we finished the lap, we carried the kayak back to the car.

I quickly ate another jelly-cube thingy, drank some water and got back in the water with Kelly. Instead of doing another full dam route, we did a slightly modified version of it, which is about one mile shorter. To my surprise, the feeding and quick break boosted my energy and I felt great for the whole second lap, even sprinting my last few hundred yards or so to the beach. I stretched my muscles as good as I could, while Kelly finished up his lap. It gave me a little more confidence for Bear Lake, knowing that if I take my feedings regularly, maybe every mile or so, then I should be just fine if I train hard for these next couple of weeks.

Empty lake, just asking for me to jump in it.

On a funny and kind of gross side note, I got attacked by a fish early in my swim. Well, not attacked exactly. Sometimes, when I'm swimming long distances, my nose starts to run. It occasionally runs in big elongated boogers that hang out of my nostril until they eventually detach (didn't want to interrupt my stroke to take care of it). Haha. I don't know if this ever happens to other swimmers, or perhaps I'm just a mutant. Anyway, seemingly out of nowhere, a fish was right in my face and took a snap at my nose. At first I thought it bit me, but then I realized it was going for that booger. And he got it... Scared the living shit out of me and Kelly just laughed his ass off when I immediately panicked. Yes, a fish ate a booger right out of my nose.

New open-water long today. I haven't swam that far since the Deer Creek race last year (3.1 miles). I have finished a 5-mile swim once, but it was in a pool.

Total distance: 3.4 miles

Two-mile pool swim

I only had an hour to swim today, so I made it count. I pushed it hard, knowing I'd have to if I wanted to get at least two miles in. After the first mile, I looked at my watch and it read 31:01. I gave it a little more and settled my stroke down a bit and improved my second mile, finishing both in 60:08.

It was geared a little more toward
female swimmers, but I still enjoyed it.

I was counting my strokes every half-mile. The first half, I was at 17 strokes per length, the second at 19, the third at 17 again and the fourth at 16. I must have been tightening up a bit during the tail end of the first mile, but improved in the finish.

I'm really trying to increase my weekly mileage, so my arms don't fail on me at Bear Lake. I just finished reading Lynn Sherr's "Swim: Why we love the water" and I really enjoyed it. She talks about her experiences while training for the Hellespont Swim from Europe to Asia, which is about four miles. It gave me a little extra motivation to really give then next few weeks my all.

Kelly and I are going for another long open water swim on Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to it. Hoping for at least four miles.

Total distance: 3,500 yards

The Pineview Mirror

Kelly and I hit Pineview Reservoir for an open water swim today and we couldn't have asked for better conditions. There were a few clouds out, but the water was as still as glass. Looking out over the lake, it was like one big mirror.

Mmmm ... mmm ... toasty!

When we got in, we chatted with a triathlete who was just finishing up his swim for a little while then finally went out. I did a buoy lap to start, then turned back around and did a half buoy lap. Kelly was doing his own thing, swimming out to a buoy and back and he left a gel pack and drink on the beach for me for when I returned, since we probably wouldn't cross paths for a while.

After sucking those down, I did a big lap around the little bay, not quite going all the way down into the damn. Based off my watch (1:29.10) I estimated I swam just about 3 miles, perhaps a little less. That would have been a very fast three miles for me. I usually do it in around 1:35.00-ish. But when I went and looked at the map online to get a better calculation, it says I only did 2.4 miles. I'm certain it was more than that, so I'm going to conservatively say I came just short of three miles. I did feel like I was moving quickly in the glassy water and my shoulder felt OK.


We went to Quiznos after. We were starving, and it was so damn good....


Total distance: 2.7 miles

One with the water

I went to the Roy Rec Center today for an easy swim, just to add a few yards to this week's total. I plan on a long open water swim tomorrow, so I didn't want to push it too hard.

It was hard not to, though, because for some reason I felt particularly good in the water. Most swimmers will tell you there is something about the water that makes athletes feel more involved in their particular sport. More so than running or cycling. Unlike those sports, your body is literally 100 percent involved and 100 percent stimulated by the water. You can feel it all around you, because it is covering your skin. And some days, like today, you just feel one with the water. It almost seems like you are moving through it effortlessly and your stroke feels (although I'm sure it isn't) perfect. Sorry to get all zen about it, but I felt very relaxed and was enjoying my laps a great deal.

That was until it started to get crowded. There were three or four people to a lane and it didn't help that a very attractive gal jumped into my lane. She wasn't a very good swimmer, but it was difficult to concentrate on my stroke every time we passed. I only lasted about 500 yards or so once she got in, and then I decided to call it. I had already done more yards than I wanted to anyway.

Total distance: 2,150 yards

Wannabe Michael Phelps set...

I went to the Roy Rec Center this morning to get a decent swim in to start off the week. I know I'm going to have to focus on open water for the next few weeks before Bear Lake, but today was a nice kick start.

I only had a bit over an hour, so I tried to get in as many yards as possible. I just finished reading Michael Phelps' book "No Limits," and I came across a perfect pool set to train for Bear Lake. He said whenever his coach Bob Bowman was pissed at him, he'd make Phelps do this set.

This surprisingly, turned out to be a very
good read. He's a very good writer and not
entirely full of himself.

1 x 800
2 x 700
3 x 600
4 x 500
5 x 400
6 x 300
7 x 200
8 x 100

That comes out to 12,000 yards, or roughly 6.8 miles, which is dang close to my 7-mile crossing. I decided to see how much of it I could do in about 65 minutes, giving myself 30-second rests between sets. Here's what I pulled off.

1 x 800
2 x 700
2 x 600
1 x 400

I wasn't able to finish the third and final 600 because I ran out of time, so I had to settle for only a 400. It's nowhere near what I need to be at, but I figure if I get up early one of these days and hit the pool where I have plenty of time to swim, I can try and finish this set at least once before the big swim.

Total distance: 3,800 yards

P.S.: I'm so effing excited for the Olympics to start next week, I can't stop thinking about it. Watching the swim competitions is easily my favorite sporting event during the games.

Quick gym workout

Jen and I were in a hurry today, because we are going camping with her family for a few days. I wanted to get one last workout in, just in case I don't end up doing anything while we are up there. The good thing is, it's near Causey Reservoir, so perhaps on Saturday when we leave, I can get a nice long swim in.

I just did the bike and some light weightlifting today. I ended up working particularly hard on my legs, trying to strengthen that damn knee.

Total distance: 13.3 miles cycling

Return to Causey

Wes came to my house bright and early this morning so we could go up to Causey Reservoir. The weather was supposed to be beautiful and he wanted to do some fishing, so I figured I could get a good swim in while he was doing that in the kayak.

The water level was really low, making for some big jumps off
the cliffs. Note the previous water line above me.

Just as predicted, the weather was perfect and I set out on the same course I did on Saturday with Kelly. We hit the first cliffs after about a half mile and did a few jumps. We then swam (well, I swam while Wes kayaked) to the other cliffs and did the bigger jumps. I had to kind of coax Wes into it, but after a while, he finally jumped off the big one. He then did some fishing while I swam back and forth across the reservoir a few times to increase my yardage a bit.

Swam back to the car, strapped the kayak on my roof and hauled ass to get home so I could shower and make it to work on time.

Total distance: About 1.5 miles

Fun swim at Causey Reservoir

Today Kelly and I took a little trip up to Causey Reservoir for a swim. I had a terrible week in the exercise department, only working out once before today, so I had no excuses and needed to swim. Plus, the weather was great.

This isn't a photo of us, but it is of the same "smaller" rocks we jumped off. The bigger one was probably only 15-20 feet higher.

When we got there, we immediately realized we forgot to bring a camera. Oh well. We got in and just went for it, swimming a little over a half mile out to some rocks were a bunch of people were cliff jumping into the water. The biggest jump was at least 70 feet up and pretty intimidating, but I took my safe swimmer off, stowed it on a rock and climbed right up. Everyone was just standing there daring each other to jump, with nobody really doing anything, so I just went for it. Kelly told me after that he was a little stunned I just went up and jumped without even thinking about it.

We then swam back across the reservoir to another area of cliff jumping and this one was a little smaller, so Kelly and I both went up and jumped off those a few times. We could see some dark clouds a ways off and decided it would be best to put our goggles back on and swim back. It was perfect timing, because just as we got out of the water, the wind started to pick up and rain began to trickle.

All in all, the weather and the lake itself were both beautiful and it was a very fun swim, even though my shoulder is very mad at me for it. Totally worth it...

Total distance: About 1.5 miles

Intense cardio after long rest

I took the last four days off from exercise in order to give my body a break. I'm no doctor, but that seemed like the logical thing to do given how bad my knee and shoulder were feeling. It seemed to work ... well, for my knee anyway. The pain went away, like it usually does after a week or so once it flares up, but unfortunately, despite doing absolutely nothing for four days, my shoulder hurts worse than ever. I'm almost certain there is serious damage in there.

Unlike before, I'm not just going to stop swimming for several months and hope it gets better. That obviously didn't work last time, so I'm going to swim as much as my shoulder can tolerate until I can afford to get an MRI done. More and more, though, it's looking like Bear Lake might not happen. I'm unsure if I'll have enough time to prepare myself for it. An athlete's worst mistake is underestimating a task that big. We will see. I don't want to count myself out just yet.

Anyway, I still would like to do the Layton Triathlon, so I figured I'd do some dry land cardio again. I knew running would just agitate my knee again, so I stuck to the bike for 40 minutes and then hit the treadmill, walking briskly on a heavy incline, which usually seems to kick my ass worse than running anyway. I did that for 30 minutes and then hit the weights. I made the mistake of trying some push-ups, which really made my shoulder scream at me, so I stopped right away.

Let's see what tomorrow has in store. One day at a time ...

Total distance: 11.7 miles cycling, 1.66 miles treadmill