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

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)

Already excited for open water season

Yesterday, I got the latest issue of Swimmer Magazine in the mail. Almost the entire issue is dedicated to open water swimming. It has articles discussing feeding, safety devices, the top open water swims in the world and even a story on people having heart attacks during cold-water swims. Just thumbing through it was getting me amped for my first full open water season.

Gordon Gridley introduced me to the sport a few months into last season, so I didn't get to experience it from start to finish. This year, I already own a kayak, which technically isn't mine, but the owners live overseas now, so until they return, it's safe to assume it's mine. The real challenges will be getting my shoulder back into ship-shape for open water marathons and talking Jen into paddling for me during the weekends.

Gords, Josh Green, and Goody Tyler have been doing a ton of distance stuff in preparation for their big open water swims this year and I'm super jealous. Gords is swimming the English Channel, Josh is swimming the full length of Bear Lake and Goody is tackling the Catalina Channel. All three are monster swims of 20 miles or longer. I'll be fortunate to pull off my first 10k swim at Deer Creek in August. Hopefully, when my swimming and stamina have improved, I'll be able to meet up with those guys more often.

Anyway, I hit the pool for my second swim of the week today. I got there a little late, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to do a ton of yards, so I got in as many as I could before they kicked me out.

Here's what I did.

Warm up
100 free
Core
500 free (bilateral breathing)
4 X 200 alternating 150 free, 50 breast
Cool down
100 breast

It was all I could manage in just under 25 minutes, before the pool closed, but I was super stoked to swim a full 500 yards with bilateral breathing. I'd been having a hard time with just 150 yards in multiple sets, but I found that after about 250, I got into a bit of a rhythm and it got much easier. Distance swimming is nice like that. It really isn't that much compared to the thousands of yards I used to swim consecutively before, but this bilateral breathing thing is a whole different beast. I'm excited to try a longer one next week.

Total distance: 1,500 yards

Recapping my big 2011

It's crazy to think 2011 is almost over. I know everyone says that about every year, but this year was of particular significance to me. For those of you who don't know, I went and got my yearly check-up with the doctor in February. I knew I had gained a lot of weight since graduating from high school and even more so after I got married. But the doctor told me I was at a dangerous juncture in my life where I could really start to let myself go if I don't makes some changes my lifestyle now. I weighed in at 215, which was technically in the obese category and my blood work showed I had slightly elevated cholesterol, which shouldn't ever be a problem for a 24-year-old.

So, on Valentine's Day, I made a promise to Jen that I'd lose some weight and stop eating take-out so much. The fast food is a problem we've both had since getting hitched. I probably hadn't been to the gym in over a year, so I went and bought one of those "Biggest Loser" living-room workout videos. I was embarrassed to buy it, at first and I was even more embarrassed when I first started doing the 30-minute workouts. I was in such terrible shape and the first day almost killed me (I'm not exaggerating. I almost called in sick to work.). But after a while, doing the video six days a week, it started to get easier. I did those for about six weeks, and immediately dropped 10 pounds.

In April, I started mixing in a little bit of running. I started doing 1-mile runs around the neighborhood once a week, and by the first day of May, I pulled off my first 5k run at the Roy High track on a Sunday afternoon. I honestly almost broke down in tears, I was so excited, but I held them back, because Jen was with me and probably would think I was being over dramatic. Haha.

Also, during May, I wanted to see how I'd fare in a swimming pool. I probably hadn't swam laps in almost two years. It was hard at first, doing only a few hundred yards at a time, but I quickly realized how much I had forgotten about its benefits. I wrote about my exercise exploits on my work blog for the Standard-Examiner and about my renewed love for swimming and a local swimmer named Gordon Gridley (or Gords for those who know him) commented on it, recommending I try swimming in the 1st-annual Great Salt Lake open water marathon, which he was organizing in June. I was on the fence at first, but my friend Kelly wanted to start swimming again, as well, so we decided that would be a fun thing to try out.

Kelly and I registered as U.S. Masters Swimming members, so we could track our exercise progress and get ready for the big 1-mile race. By race day, I was down to 198 pounds and it was pretty fun, so we signed up for August's Deer Creek open water marathon. I met Josh Green, another local swimmer, who organized the 1-mile portion at the GSL race and I got a lot of good swim advice from him and Gordon over the next few months. Open water swimming was entirely new to me, given I swam in the safe confines of a lap pool in high school and the two of them have been a great source of inspiration to me this year.

Kelly and I trained pretty hard for our 5k swim at Deer Creek and that's when my shoulder pain first arrived. It was pretty bad at first, but I got some medication which helped me keep up my training regimen until the race. The race was awesome and my weight was down to 188 by then. I set my sights on the 5-mile race at Lake Mead's Slam the Dam, which was slated for October and I kept pushing through the pain. Unfortunately, a scheduling issue at work wouldn't allow me to take my vacation time and compete in the race. I was so disappointed, I decided to stage a 5-mile swim of my own, since I trained for the damn thing after all. So on Sept. 26, I went to the Roy Recreation Center bright and early, set out some Gatorade and Gel packs on the pool deck and went for it. And to my surprise, it was cake. I did it in just over 2 1/2 hours, but my joy didn't last long, for my shoulder was hurting worse than ever in the weeks that followed.

In late August, I had started supplementing my running and swimming with some work on the stationary bike. I hoped if I took it easy on the swimming and did more biking instead, my shoulder would heal. Unfortunately, it didn't and my doctor told me I needed an MRI to see if it requires surgery. I ignored him, because I couldn't afford it on my health insurance until the new year started (reset my deductible) and I kept swimming until mid November. I participated in the South Davis Masters swim meet, and a week later I did my first sprint triathlon at Weber State with Kelly and Jessica. Both events were a blast, but I finally had to throw in the towel, because it became too painful to swim more than a few hundred yards.

In the past six weeks, I've amped up my running and cycling and I'm training for my first 10k run, which is next week. Unfortunately, I'm now battling foot and knee pain, but that's life, I guess. I did a few light swims this month, but nothing major. My weight loss has slowed significantly, but I'm still losing, not gaining. I now weigh about 180 (35-pound loss so far) and I can see major changes in my body from the weight training I added to my routine about two months ago. I want to start swimming seriously again as soon as possible, but January still may be out of the question. I have an appointment with the doctor on Jan. 5, so I can finally fork out the money and start the process of rehabbing my shoulder. I'm still in the process of setting goals for 2012, so I'll have those ready to post by Saturday.

Thanks again to Gordon, Josh, Kelly, Jessica and most-of-all, Jen for all your support through this long process. It's been a helluva year, and outside of my injuries, which come with the territory, I'm now healthier than I've been in almost seven years. I still have a long way to go, but I'm looking forward to it.

South Davis Masters success!

Today was the big day. I got just enough sleep and was able to get up at a reasonable hour and eat a good breakfast before Jen, Jessica, Kelly and I drove down to Bountiful for the South Davis Masters meet. Right off the bat I was a bit stunned as to how many swimmers were there. I was a little intimidated at first, but settled down after my first event.


Me coming into the wall during the 500-free

 I swam the 50-free first, the event I specialized in during high school, but I was realistic with my seed time, aiming for less than 30 seconds. I felt good, got a good start and when I hit the wall, I had no idea what place I was in. I looked up at the board and saw I finished with a time of 28.41, second in my heat, losing to another swimmer by one-hundredth of a second. Yes, you read right. ONE HUNDREDTH OF A SECOND! Sheesh. It was still, a personal best since I took up swimming again, but nowhere near the time I pulled off when I was 16.

The second event was the 100-IM. I was particularly excited for this one, because I had been practicing it a lot. I was in the third of four heats and got off to an OK start on my butterfly. I kind of had tunnel vision and didn't pay attention to any of the other swimmers around me until I pushed off the wall during the freestyle leg and saw I was out front by an arm-length or so, so I really turned it on and ended up winning my heat with a personal-best time of 1:13.91. My previous personal best was about 1:18.00. Not too shabby. Here's a video of me holding on for the win.

By the time the 500-free came around, I was feeling a bit tired. My shoulder was killing me by this point, despite being loaded up with ibuprofen. Kelly and I had a nice long break between events, so we ate a bagel and warmed up again. We ended up being in the same heat for the first and only time during the meet, so that was fun. However, he was in Lane 2 and I was in Lane 8, so we werent' exactly able to compete neck-and-neck. I was already hurting by about my fourth lap and I feared I pushed it too hard right out of the block. I gutted it out though, and ended up smashing my previous best (7:51.00) with a time of 7:09.64. I was completely shocked.

My last event was the 200-free. Being fairly satisfied with my first three swims, I was just swimming this one to get my money's worth, because my shoulder was shot after the 500. Kelly, Josh and I were going to swim in the 200-free relay to finish the meet, but couldn't find a fourth swimmer, so this ended up being my last event. I tried keeping up with a very fast swimmer from Utah State during my first 100 and I paid for it, running out of gas on my last 50, but I still beat my seed time (2:30.00) with a time of 2:28.85. I count it as a personal best only because I have never swam the 200 before and simply guessed my seed time. And I barely beat it.

Kelly and I after finishing the 500-free. I was spent.

Whew... What a meet. Kelly and I were both pretty happy with our results and we met a lot of good swimmers from around the area. Jessica and Jen were great supporters, even though the meet kind of dragged on down the stretch when we had less events. I hear there is another Masters meet in St. George in January and I'm tempted to sign up. We shall see.

Next up, the Weber State Turkey Triathlon next Saturday...

Total distance: 1,050 yards

Polar bear swim and tri training

I haven't hit the pool all week until today. Partly because I'm trying to taper for my swim meet on Saturday, but mostly because my shoulder pain has returned. It came out of nowhere over the weekend, which baffles me, because I haven't been logging a ton of yards.


I was scared to death of the 46 degree water.

 

Anyway, I finally hit the pool again today, but took it easy on my shoulder and simply worked on my turns and starts. I haven't been slacking off in the cardio department, though. Kelly and I ran the 5k course for our sprint triathlon on Monday and then we ran the same course on top of doing the 10 bike course yesterday. I did another easy 4 miles on the stationary bike today along with some light weight training before going down to the pool.

Also, I participated in my first polar bear swim with Josh, Gordon and Jake later in the evening at Bountiful Lake. The sun was almost set and I was pretty nervous. Josh measured the water at about 46 degrees and Gordon measured it at about 43. It didn't end up being much of a swim, for I jumped in and simply couldn't bear the cold and I got right out. Not Gordon though. He just dove in and went for it, swimming the 200 yards from the dock to the boat ramp. Yeah I know, I'm a sissy. It was nice to get to meet Gordon and Josh for the first time in person though, although it was under chilly circumstances.

On a negative note, I had my goggles on top of my cap when I jumped in. I must have been too caught up in worrying about the cold that I forgot to strap them over my eyes. I couldn't find them afterward and looked at a video Jen recorded, revealing that I lost them when I took the plunge. I loved those goggles, but they now rest at the bottom of the lake. Sad day....

Total distance: 600 yards