What are you listening to?

I’m listeing to a random smatter from our new media server today …

Music takes me (us all) back to funny places – I needn’t cite specific cases, less this one which I think is so funny, so anti-type-A triathlete that it deserves a place in posterity.

I’m in crap shape. Not enough beer, too much racing pie, and dealt a solid hand of lingering illnesses and injuries that are really compromising my race-readiness. It really might just be a case of showing up this year and –trying– to finish. No PRs, no places, no racing with the big boys … gulp … no qualifiers.

Last year, after exiting the Wildflower Long Course swim, in the process of clawing back the stragglers (aka No PR, no placers, no racers) from previous age-group waves, I passed one guy with the tell-tale white iPod cord sneaking up into his helmet.

“Dude, that’s awesome”, I say.

“Oh I’m just out here for the fun of it”, he pleads, “I’m not in it to win”.

“Whatever”, I shrug. Doing my best to convince Dude, within the dynamic spatio-temporal window of a draft-legal pass, that I’m not a narc on wheels. Metres on, I look back to him down my top tube and ask …

“What are you listening to?” His reply follows me up the road and lingers still, as strong as the sense of speed ripping down that back stretch of Jollon Road towards the 101.

“Skynrd, man!”

3 months out … time will tell. Maybe I should find a way to integrate that $20 MP3 player from Canadian Tire, and a set of used Air Canada headphones into my aero helmet. Wouldn’t that be sweet?

Tie Me Up and Get me Wet

<from an email to my coach scott@f9tc.com / www.f9tc.com / http://scottkmcmillan.wordpress.com> 

 

Dude,

So here’s a neat road report. Feel free to blog this – I might actually use this on my own site or post to a travel training section on F9TC forum if you want to set one up … Here goes:

With great satisfaction, I beat the hotel pool blues last night – Without adapting to a random community centre’s family-swim schedule, without getting dizzy flip-turning every second stroke!

IN THEORY …

I constructed a rudimentary tether for in-place swimming using my high-tech pull-band (read 3” chunk of inner-tube found on-deck at SCP) and the draw-string from the gear bag I cart my swim stuff around in. Looped one end around the band, looped the other around a ladder (or lounger, or kid or *anchor*) popped the band around my ankles and went for it!

Specific to this ‘’single/bound foot” set-up, kicking and breast-stroke was out of the question, but crawl was certainly possible using my pull-buoys (optionally) for floatation.

Perked by the relative success of this endeavor, I later Googled ‘’swim tether” and came upon alternate (commercial) designs that connect to the body at either the waist, or at both feet (separately).

A waist tether, without some kind of mast (to lift the cord away from you), will just get caught up on your feet. The mast would make this design inherently less portable for the traveller.

Riptide (http://swimriptide.com/) offers a neat looking dual-foot connection that allows the feet to move enough to accomodate all major strokes. Jury’s out on how well kicks, alternate strokes (fly???) and drills would work with any of these set-ups, but I plan to buy / reconstruct a variation on this dual-foot rig and see what I can do.

Actually getting into a lap pool is still preferred, but this is definitely an acceptable alternative when time, convenience and facilities get in the way. I also prefer this to weights and the stretchy tubing dry land training cords too – although in hindsight, those substitutes might compensate for weaknesses with the swimming in place approach. Again what does a set of bands cost me vs. the ability to do more !?!

IN PRACTICE …

You give me workouts in metres … So I had to guess-timate my stroke count. Worked with 75 per 100m (from an internet poll of 18 per 25m rounded nicely to something I can keep track of even when numbers get high). I counted by 100 strokes (breathing at the same stroke helps you track too), and kept an eye on my watch at each 100 as well as when I inevitably lost count and had to ”reset the numbers” to something reasonable.

I found myself bouncing a bit – my tether wasn’t elastic at all. Something to figure into designs. (Surfboard leash ???)

Beware that most hotel pools will not have a clean, low draining edge. Waves bounce – Breathe high!

Invest between $0.01 and $2 on a marker to place at the bottom of the pool. It’s not that bad, but you will drift a bit. Just look down to that coin as a point of reference, and this will save you clobbering both stray children and the wall with your flailing arms. (Unless you’re an asshole and want take up the whole pool — I was only feeling 86% assholish last night).

I don’t know that I got my heart rate that high (~120) — it’s a new thing, and I was happier to concentrate on form and feeling my arms working than getting BPM up and making a huge spashing mess. To increase the amount of arm involved I will try to use my paddles next time (and see if/how that cranks up the old ticker).

There is no documented order for how to actually get going (strap in on the deck, in the water, under water, how do you jump in and initiate swimming ?) … That’s something you learn, not something you are told.

Word is bond! SFS

Zen and the Art of Early Vertical Forearm

I am an anti-social bastard … Part of what I like about training for endurance events is the long solitary hours you get on bikes and big runs in bad weather to test yourself, exise your demons, and chase down and sometimes catch that elusive dharma. What I really love about endurance training is that sometimes people like me get so damned lonely and bored you’ve got to mix it up, and actually get out there for a workout with someone! You bounce ideas off of each other, natural and friendly competition pushes me a bit more, friendships are solidified doing something you’re all passionate about – you’re in the good fight, and now someone’s got your back! My swimming has been going to kack recently – I know its 100% a mental block transitioning from a “splash-my-way-through-it” strategy to hoping that one day I might toe-up to a start line and think … “Ok Smith, out hard, find somewhere … get on someone’s feet and consolidate … find a good place in the water … concentrate on a lythe position and powerful stroke … the boogey-man will not eat you today … finish hard” … T1 already? My coach is great – Scooter is inspirational, informative, and a self-proclaimed hard-ass. He can’t and won’t do everything for me. I have to want to swim fast …

Effectively, I taught myself to swim. I have probably had <6 hours of swim instruction in my 33.5 years. That leaves 293454 hours to develop some pretty nasty habits. However, from an 11 year-old back-yard pool cannon-baller to semi-regular training in the pool, you can’t help but feel some initial improvement – even if you are doing it all wrong. “Cue the plateau …” – When you drop a HEMI in that Hyundai, it really is only going to go so fast (awesome motor-head analogy, eh) with so much elegance. Once you top-out what the Hyundai frame is capable of things will likely go to pot. You need to do what everyone’s favorite South Korean car manufacturer did. Scrap the Pony (and the Excel), and come out with an Elantra. Field testing my own personal mid-sized economy sedan, I’m doing all of Scooter’s great workouts plus some technical research, light weights / core-strength, and mellow swims in the evenings for extra credit. It’s new, it’s frustrating and it’s often very demoralizing, but it’s coming … My postition and stroke are feeling more efficient, and my times are improving and generally staying on pace throughout my swims.

Friends, riding solo, swim technique … Where the hell am I going with all of this? Yesterday morning Factor-9 co-athlete “Rookie” and I met at SCP for a dip … The company was a great change, and in watching someone I know swim (that way I don’t feel pervy staring at a lycra clad stranger’s butt) you get a demo of what you can and can’t do. I laid out some comments for Rookie in the following (since much revised) email. I want Rookie to think about these things for two reasons … a) Warm-fuzzy communal answer … “So she can incorporate them into her stroke …” b) Cold-hearted selfish bastard answer … “So she can watch and critique my stroke …”. Everyone wins … The rectus and the sinister.

Hey Rookie …

Great swim this morning!

Above all it was really nice to have company in the pool. Usually I am battling the regulars solo … They’re pretty good actually, it’s the Hairy Beast that irks me the most. He grabs! I kick … I’m CC’ing Scooter b/c I don’t want to pretend to know how to swim (I’ve ussually only got 1-2 good pushes in me and then it falls apart) but I know my habits (have corrected some of the bad ones) and noticed some of the same tendancies in you.

RULE 1) GET YOUR DAMNED HEAD DOWN! 

RULE 2) GET YOUR DAMNED HEAD DOWN FURTHER!

Look at the fast kids (yeah those 12-year olds in the next lane who kick faster than my hard sets). When they swim the waterline is on the crown of their heads and flowing nicely around their necks and shoulders. Scooter can expand technically, but practically I feel the benefits of this in a few places

It keeps you flatter in the water … head down = bum/legs up (you see-saw ~off of your pelvis) flatter in the water means you’re trying to get something like this ” –> ” through the water, not something like this “ –/ ” — You know what a down-rigger is right

I think it actually helps elongate me and keeps me pointed in a straight line … I feel a bit more stream-lined (head to toe) and as such less wiggly (side to side)

It helps me relax my shoulders/neck … Sit for five minutes with your head pulled up/back … not good eh … Now let it sit naturally … there you go … take tension out of your neck/shoulders and you’ll free up some movement for arm rotation (you will need to move those for swimming).Stare at the bottom of the pool (I try to get my face flat with the tiles) — but then I see bubbles, get distracted, worry about how far away the wall is and my head comes up – importantly as soon as I realize, back down she goes – hopefully habit will eventually be come nature. This gets a bit more complicated when you add two other things to the mix …

a) Breathing — there’s a lot of air to get in and not a lot of time to do it … especially with your face down there an extra 2-3 inches! When doing it consciously, I try to just let myself roll into the breath, not stick my face up and breath too much from the front. I’m not sure if this is good or bad … Am I over-rolling? Surely there is a balance somewhere that one’s own sense of efficiency will guage!?!

b) Pushing off the wall — Forget the F9TC visor, there’s your Christmas and B-day present rolled into one right there! ~3-5m in the water, fast with no swimming involved! My first inclination was to stick my head up then too … I’ve just done a flip turn, and the last time I felt sweet sweet (chlorinated) air in my lungs was about 5 strokes the wall – me, surface, now, gasp! But when you surface too fast, you kill that gift. Sooooo … take a nice deep breath as close to (soon after?) the T-line as possible, keep your head down, and stretch out that glide, dolphin kick a bit (makes you feel super-hardcore – “I WASTE NO OPPORTUNITY FOR SPEED” – like keeping your heart rate up on a gentle bike downhill, instead of faking a pedal out ) … I’m currently breathing every 3-5 strokes and am trying to get that down ~metronomically to 2 or 3 so I have enough accumulated O2 to stay under longer when I need to, and tire less towards the end of my sets.

2) EARLY VERTICAL FOREARM (ALONG WITH A WIDE ENTRY)

I found that after spending ~8 months getting my head to stay remotely down (i.e. once my body was closer to the right place to let me go fast) … I wanted to start going faster but couldn’t (the source of much frustration … many bad workouts (in and out of the pool), foul language in emails to you know who, and bad vibes in general – I am sorry to all who suffered the brunt of that). Watch Scooter swim … When he digs, he surges forward – It is poetry … I nearly pee’d myself the first time I saw it (and nearly did something else the first time I tried it, so be careful).

I’d just be aware of this as a future direction for your stroke and not try too hard to implement it without instruction, training and serious thought.

- Read this article - Try the motions, know what the horizon line is, know where your elbow is relative to it, answer the “Now doesn’t that feel whimpy?” question.

– http://www.h2oustonswims.org/articles/dreaded_dropped_elbow.html

- Watch these videos – Visualize yourself doing this – nice long reach, catch into EVF,  and then that huge pull with all the surface area of that finger-palm-wrist-formarm-elbow paddle …

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvtuHya40g

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6qIhkuzTx0&feature=related

I’m already looking forward to our next session!

Word is bond! Samo