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.