Race report: Great Salt Lake swim 2012

It's strange when you train for something for so long. The event comes and then goes just like that. You spend so many hours preparing for something that seems to last for only a few minutes. That's how today's race was.

The waves didn't really seem so bad until you got out in the open.

The weather at the Great Salt Lake marina wasn't as rough as originally expected, although there were decent-sized waves from the wind. Apparently, a few support boat volunteers ditched Josh, so he had to square that away, forcing us to get off to a bit of a late start. 

By the time the race started, I was already a bit psyched out. Just swimming out to the starting buoy proved to be a challenge in the 3-to-4 foot swells. The first 700 yards or so were the toughest. Although I wasn't having as difficult of a time sighting as last year, the waves made it very hard to see Black Rock and the finish line. However, a giant red arch above the finish line in the distance saved me from getting too far off the course. The same waves kept me from getting any real rhythm and breathing was hellish with waves crashing into your face with the stinging salt. At the pace, I was going, I thought for sure I'd have a disappointing finish time.

Heading out to the starting buoy

However, something clicked a little over half-way through and I started getting into a nice groove. I passed a handful of swimmers that darted out ahead of me earlier, and for once, it seemed like my few ounces of open water experience paid off. By the time I reached the beach (which seemed to appear in front of me out of nowhere) , I took my time standing up and trotting to the finish line. Last year I almost vomited from getting up too fast, and fortunately, all was well this time. 

Just before the start. BRING THE PAIN!

Jen was waiting there for me with some mouthwash after I received my medal. Then, I realized I forgot to stop my timer. I'm not sure how much time ticked off after I finished, but when I stopped it, the clock read 31:10. I'm almost certain the real time was at least 15-20 seconds faster, but either way, I still topped last year's time by over 2 1/2 minutes despite much more challenging conditions. I didn't get under 30 minutes, like I wanted to, but I'm certain if the weather was better, I certainly would have. I haven't seen the official results, but Jen says I was the sixth swimmer out of the water and the fourth male. I'll certainly take that considering there were about 35 swimmers.

We took off pretty fast after the race, and I didn't get to see Rachel finish, but I'm sure she did just fine. She was a bit nervous about the swim, even though she did the same route earlier this week in 8-FOOT swells. I also got to chat with Chad for a few minutes, which was nice. He finished just before me. Blast!

I'm the dude on the far left.

P.S: Here's a shout out to Josh, who once again, organized a heckuva race, despite having to adjust to a few speed bumps. Nice work!

Total distance: Around 2,250 yards

UPDATE: I just got the official results and I finished 10th out of 28 swimmers (4th out of 11 males) with a time of 31:01.

8-mile swim next year?

Josh is all smiles after organizing another successful swim

One more day

I seriously can't take my mind off Saturday's race. I've been having a hard time focusing on anything else during the past few days and today Gords told me about some crappy news. A nasty wind storm is forecasted for Saturday morning and winds could reach 40+ miles per hour. Gords and Josh were forced to cancel the 8-mile race and bump the 1-mile race up to 9 a.m. instead of noon. I feel really bad for all of those who were training for the 8-mile race. Few non-swimmers don't really understand how much work and how many hours go into training for something like that and I'm sure it was a devastating blow for the 15 athletes who were registered for it.

I was already nervous the weather would negatively impact my ability to top my time from last year and I'm trying to stay positive. I figure if I can beat my time in stormy water conditions, perhaps it will feel more rewarding, even if it is only by one second.

Anyway, I went to the gym to get some work in on the stationary bike, but it was in use, so instead, I used the treadmill. I set it to a slow 3.5 miles per hour, but cranked up the incline every two minutes. That made me work up a serious sweat after about 10-15 minutes and it was just as intense as a good hike. I called it at exactly 30 minutes. My calves were certainly feeling the burn. After that, I did some light ab work, but no weights. I'm trying to give my upper body a break.

Tonight will consist of ice, ibuprofen and more ice. Tomorrow will consist of more of the same along with rest, hydration and carbohydrate loading. My goal is to drink an entire gallon of water at my desk while at work tomorrow night and load up on fruits and veggies.

Total distance: 1.6 miles (running, or hiking, or walking or whatever you wanna call it)

Double dip with a little salt

Today was such a wonderful day for swimming. First, I hit the pool for a nice easy mile early this afternoon. I actually did it, to make sure I was getting a decent amount of yardage in, just in case I didn't do to much in the Great Salt Lake open water clinic in the evening.

View from the top of the boat ramp before I jumped in.

I was stunned to see how many people were at the marina when I arrived around 5:45. Josh and Gords have really done a great job with these and more and more people seem to be interested in open water because of these two guys. They did a nice little talk, going over some of the basics of open water and then we all jumped in.

I kind of felt like an overeager fool at first, because after the "lesson" I was the first one in the water. I was pretty amped and immediately took off before the rest of the group. I finally purchased a Safe Swimmer from Josh and I was excited to try it out, so I set out for a buoy Josh told me about a little earlier. I seemed to hit the buoy in no time and flipped around to head back up to the boat ramp. I passed the group on my way back and it seemed like they were heading out to the same white buoy.

I'm so happy I bought one of these. I was pleasantly surprised with it today.

The salt wasn't bothering me nearly as much as it did last year, and it was nice to be able to stop once I reached the buoy and pull my bottle of water out of the Safe Swimmer to rinse out my mouth a bit. I did the same thing once I returned to the boat ramp. I was feeling good, so I went right back out and once I swam out of the marina, I saw Josh and Chad by a different buoy (green one this time) and swam to meet them. It was nice to finally meet Chad and chat with the two of them for 30 minutes or so, floating lazily in the warm Great Salt Lake water, while we waited for the rest of the swimmers to all finish up and return to the ramp. I'm not positive how many yards I swam, but Josh gave me some rough calculations based off his GPS, so I think I guessed fairly accurate.

The lake was so calm and the weather was perfect. I didn't think I'd be so excited for next week's race, especially after the experience I had last year, but thanks to today, I feel much more confident about it.

P.S.: I really need to invest in a waterproof camera, so I can take some good shots during swims, now that my open water season has officially began.

Total distance: 4,200 yards (sum of both swims)

Sluggish one-mile test

I was determined to set a new one-mile pool best today. However, three things didn't bode in my favor. First, I stayed up way too late, playing video games with Kelly, Zack and Wes, so I woke up with only an hour of lap-swim time remaining. Second, while in the pool, stupid kids were messing around in my lane during lap swim, which was really distracting, when I got kicked in the face twice. The Roy Rec Center is usually pretty good about keeping them out, but hey, at least I got some open-water "combat swimming" experience. Haha! And third, my shoulder is still effing sore. I think I did too many bloody push-ups earlier this week and it hasn't fully recovered.

Anyway, I still felt relatively good during my swim. I gave it everything I had and for the first time in a long while, I honestly thought I might puke once I finished. I was encouraged until I looked at my watch and it read 28:51. Crap!! I didn't even beat my best mark for 2012 (28:47), let alone my all-time high (28:36). I'm sure I didn't lose count this time, and its frustrating to see that you only missed a mark by just 15 seconds over the time span of almost a half-hour. That's less than a half-second per lap difference.

Oh well. When I left, they had another 50-mile swim certificate waiting for me at the front desk. That's the third one I've earned and call me a 7-year-old child, but I took it home and slapped it on the fridge. Yes!!!

On a side note, Gordon showed me the design for the GSL marathon swim medals yesterday, and I thought it was pretty dang cool. I love the local "brine shrimp" tribute. That's only one of many reasons GSL is unique, so I think the design was particularly cool.

Total distance: 2,850 yards

Double-down Monday

Having missed a swim late last week, I wanted to make sure I made up for it this week. I got in the pool nice and early and did a big ladder set.

Warm up
200 free
Core
250 free
500 free
1,000 free
2,000 free
Cool down
300 kick
200 breast

I felt great, and it seemed like the ladders -- which I doubled every new set -- got easier as the distances increased (as odd as that sounds). I was only resting for 30 seconds between sets, and by the end of my 2,000, I felt like my stroke was smoother than ever and I was moving faster than when I did the first 250. I have just under three weeks until the Salt Lake swim and I am confident if I push hard for the next two weeks, I'll be able to destroy last year's mark.

Very encouraging day...

Total distance: 4,450 yards (new 2012 high)

Empty pool and disappointment

Getting a late start to the pool always seems to burn me. It usually gets busiest at the Roy Rec Center during the late hours of lap swim. However, when I got there today, it was completely empty. It might be the first time this year I've had an entire pool to myself. With nobody around except a lifeguard, I decided to test my mile swim again.

The empty pool just after I finished my swim. Note the ripples still in the water.

Warm up

200 free

Core

1,750 free (hard)

Cool down

1,000 free (alternating 150 free easy and 50 breast)

It felt like I pushed it very hard and I was pretty gassed by about 1,000 yards. The last 250 yards were very tough to muscle through, but I still went hard to finish the set. When I looked at my watch, I was shocked to see 28:56. I swam it nine seconds faster during my last mile test and I felt like I went much faster and harder this time around. I'm about 75% sure I did an extra lap, because I recall losing count for a minute there right around 1,200 yards. Because I can't know for sure, I can't bring myself to knock off 45 seconds or so and count it as my new best mile time. It's a shame, but it just wouldn't feel right. I'll have to make sure I don't lose count next time and really smash my old record.

I did a nice and easy 1,000-yard swim as an extended cool down. I was hoping to go to the Salt Lake Marina and join Gords, Josh, Goody and others for an open-water swim, but once again, I couldn't make it. I have to cover a prep soccer game this afternoon. Hopefully I'll get in a nice nap after, because Jen surprised me with midnight showing tickets for The Avengers tonight. Should be fun...

Total distance: 2,950 yards

Speed sets kicking my a$$

A week ago, I received the newest issue of Swimmer in the mail. There was a fun little article about developing a sense of pace and getting better at negative splitting long sets. With only five weeks left until the Great Salt Lake swim, I figured it's probably time to work on my speed a little more, now that my distances are on the rise. Doing one mile is no sweat now. I'm actually almost back up to three miles again. But I want to smash my time from last year's GSL 1-mile swim, so I'm going to focus on speed a little more, at least for the next month or so.

The newest edition of Swimmer.

A few days ago, Gordon blogged about Brandon Slaugh, who won the GSL swim with a time of 26:17 last year. That's pretty dang fast and the dude did it backstroking the whole way. I finished in 33:39 (13th out of 23, and 8th out of 15 non-wet suit swimmers). I'd love to be able to get around 28 minutes this time, perhaps finishing in the top 10 overall and top 5 in the non-wet suit category..

Warm up
200 free
Core
10 x 100 free (on 1:30, rest 20 seconds)
4 x 200 free (on 3:15, rest 20 seconds)
250 sprint
Cool down
300 breast and free (alternating every 50)

The sets were seriously tough. There's a huge difference between being able to go long distances at a leisurely pace and being able to do those same long distances quick and getting faster as you go. Today was a big wake-up call. Just the 100 free sets were difficult to keep my time. Twice I ascending to 1:31, which isn't good, but once I descended down to 2:49. I kept the rest of them consistent, though. However, I was able to negative split the 200s, doing 3:16, 3:15, 3:15 and 3:13. Still, that's only 1800 yards (about a mile) and I had 20-second breathers between them. I need to be able to drop those times a bit and slowly eliminate the breathers.

Total distance: 2,550 yards

March Madness

I did my last swim of March this morning at the Roy Rec Center. I wanted to take it easy, given how many yards I've been piling up over the past two weeks, so I considered everything today to be bonus yards. March was a great month for my fitness, home life and overall health.

I started losing weight again after a two-month stalemate, where I leveled out and couldn't drop any more pounds. At least I wasn't gaining. I only dropped three pounds this month, but it was still a pleasant surprise. Only two more pounds and I will have dropped 40 since beginning this exercise campaign a little over a year ago. I also started a new job two weeks ago which looks promising so far. It's already given me better hours so I can spend a few more hours with Jen every day, compared to my last job where we only saw each other in passing in the mornings, late at night and on my days off.

My shoulder injury is also seeing vast improvement. It seemingly came out of nowhere after little-to-no progress at all during the past three to four months. I'm certain it has to do with me improving my stroke and my breathing, which is helping strengthen my shoulder, rather than weakening it, like it was doing before. I've had almost zero pain during the past two weeks, with only the occasional soreness, which I think is simply the normal aches you get when you push yourself by increasing yardage. It's sore, not injured, if that makes any sense. It's a totally different thing.

Anyway, here's what I did today.

Warm up
200 free
Core
1,750 free
Cool down
100 breast

I wanted to see how fast I could do a mile, although my expectations were low. I pushed it hard and finished in 30.02 and was flabbergasted when I saw that I was only two seconds shy of a 30-minute mile. That's not great, but still much better than expected. I have plenty of time to knock a few minutes off that before the GSL swim in June. I'm also feeling more confident about going for the 10k at Deer Creek and the 7-mile Bear Lake Crossing in August. Those two would be difficult, but obtainable goals for me in the coming months.

This puts March in perspective.
January: 1.73 miles
February: 3.15 miles
March: 14.89 miles

It surely has been a mad March!

Total distance: 2,050 yards

February swim Round 3

With a recent bout of knee pain from my run on Monday, my mind was off my shoulder and I was glad to get in the water today for my weekly swim. As usual, I did some cycling first, so I could get a complete cardiovascular workout and then I hobbled down the stairs to the pool. Here's today's swim.

My two best friends for short swims

Warm up
100 free
Core
5 X 300 alternating 100 free, 50 breast (30 seconds rest between sets)
50 fly (Barely managed it. Haha)
Cool down
100 breast

So far, my injury hasn't been hurting during my swims, but I'm still having a difficult time, because I'm simply out of shape. Missing so much time in the pool has set me back to square one and teaching myself to bilateral breath when I swim has been a challenge. I seriously saps my energy twice as fast compared to the way I used to swim. I used to be able to go thousands of yards without stopping and now I am gassed after 100 yards of bilateral breathing. And I still have to start incorporating flip turns. Ugh...

After one more session of doing my sets with legs of 100 free, I'm going to try doing 150 free followed by the 50 breast for a few weeks and then slowly increase the legs. The same goes for the number of swims I'm doing. For February it was once a week and for March it will be twice a week. I'd like to be back to my normal three times per week by April. Hopefully, I can get myself back into good enough swim-shape to be ready for the GSL one-miler in June.

Total distance: 13.2 miles cycling, 1,750 yards swimming