April Numbers

The only interesting nugget (well interesting to ME any way) about my training is the increase in yardage that I've devoted to kicking and kick sets during my swims.  From December through today, I've amassed 13,450 yards of kicking.  During the same time frame, In 2010, I had 7700 and in 2012 I had 6050 (I didn't keep an accurate account of my kicking yardage in 2011).  In fact, I had a TOTAL of 12,800 yards of kicking in my 2012 IM training season.  This month, I totaled 5900 yards (new record) while my previous record came in at 4100 (February 2010).  Keep in mind, both the 2010 and 2012 seasons were for IM training while this season it's for my national championships.  The reason for the lower output in my IM years is do to the fact that, while kicking is important in a 2.4 mile swim, it is equally important to keep your legs fresh for the bike and run.  As a result, kicking sets were far less prominent.  In a 50 yard sprint, a strong kick could mean the difference between a podium spot and last place.  In a short sprint, everything needs to go perfect and firing on all cylinders for a successful race.  In a 2.4 or 1.2 mile swim, mistakes can be made up because of the distance traveled.  If I forget to kick in an IM, no big deal, I just start.  If I don't kick in a sprint, it's over before it started.

Interesting stuff, right?!?

APRIL 2010 TOTALS:  
SWIM = 25800 yards
BIKE = 644 miles  
RUN = 51.5 miles

APRIL 2011 TOTALS:
SWIM = 25678 yards  
BIKE = 437.72 miles  
RUN = 6.11 miles (3.1 on a treadmill)

APRIL2012 TOTALS:

SWIM = 30206 yards
BIKE = 135.79 miles
RUN = 18.1 miles

APRIL 2013 TOTALS:
SWIM = 44150 yards
BIKE = 58.96 miles
RUN = 0 miles 

160

That's the number of days that have gone by since Ironman Arizona 2012.  That is also the last time that I rode my tri bike.  It has been hanging in my garage the entire time with the only movement coming from when James borrowed my wheels for his bike leg of a Leadman relay on 04/14/2013.  In fact, here is what it has looked like this entire time:

Notice my race number sticker still firmly attached to the seat post!  I took this pic yesterday just before I put things back together for a ride this morning.  All of my rides since IMAZ (all FOUR of them) have been on my road bike.  I really started missing the aero position of my trusty Argon E-114, so I figured it was about time.  In fact, I've been recently toying with the idea of selling my BH G4 to buy a mountain bike, but that's a blog post for another time.

I recently discovered that a new neighbor down the street is a cyclist as well, so I took this opportunity to get to know him, get back on the road, and, more importantly, get back in the aero bars again.  We did the West Side Loop, that I've mentioned so many time before in blog, which totals exactly 30 miles.  We kept it on the easier side for several reasons.  First of all, I'm out of riding shape and didn't want to go out for a hammer fest.  Second, we didn't know each others skills/endurance/shape/etc, so keeping in comfy is the typical M.O. for 1st time rides with a new partner.  Finally, the ride was more of a "So, how many kids do you have?", "Where do you work?", "Hey, have I got a cycling story for you", or "What about Lance, wild huh?" kind of endeavor.

Ultimately, we ended up putting exactly 30 more miles on the tires in about 1:36 (18.6 average).  Boy, did it every feel good to be back!

Other elapsed figures since she came off the rack after IMAZ:

• 22 weeks, 6 days
• Approximately 3840 hours
• Roughly 230,400 minutes
• 13,824,000-ish seconds

A New Race Suit!

So, in my April 6th, 2013 entry (I Am the AZ State/SW Zone CHAMPION!) I discussed how I thought that our ONE Masters swim suits were nothing more than practice suits and that I wore my older Nike jammer for the race.  That got me thinking about the fact that I don't have a new, and tight, race suit for Nationals.  If I'm going to do this, and I am, I'm definitely going to require a new suit.  I remembered that Frank as a HUGE discount with Finis, so I jumped on their website to see what they had to offer.  It's always a difficult process for me to purchase new gear, whether it's a new bike, new cycling shoes, new swim suit, or even new goggles.  Part of me wants the cheapest available item that still performs well.  The other part of me would argue that if I'm racing, why not get the maximum advantage that the "Best/Pricier" items offer?  I go back and forth about some things aren't the best just because they are expensive, or the time savings they offer would be fractions of a second, and thusly, not worth the extra jack.  Back and forth I go before I (A) leave the store with nothing or (B) settle the argument in my mind and purchase whatever side wins.  Seriously, when I bought those new race goggles, I probably spent 30 minutes in the swim section trying on the various "performance" models that the different companies offered.  I narrowed it down to a pair of Speedos and a pair of TYRs.  They were essentially identical, but the Speedos were something like $8 or $10 more.  Why are they more?  Do they offer some advantage the TYRs don't?  Back and forth I went.  Tried them both on multiple times while staring at myself in the small mirror provided on the rack.  Ultimately, my saner side won and reminded me that the $8 - $10 more was probably for the word "Speedo" on the side.  TYR it was.  Funny thing now is that I look at every other swimmer on deck, at an event, on TV, or in a magazine to see if they are wearing my TYRs as if I need some kind of validation.  Truly bizarre, I know.  OK, back to the suit.  I fired this email off to Frank:

"So, I'm perusing the Finis site for a new RACE suit and need some guidance....hopefully you can help.  I need to pick up a pair of jammers for racing only and they have them from $37.99 to $379.99.  Seriously?!?!  $379.99?  We can throw that one out on price alone.  We can also throw out the $199.99 and $129.99 jammers too.  I am eyeballing the $69.99 Male Hydrospeed 2 Jammer, but wanted your opinion.  How much different is that from their regular $37.99 jammer?  Is it worth the extra $30?!?  Any advantage to racing in a brief?"

So, right there, you can see the thought process and virtual mental struggle I described above.  Over the course of a few days, Frank would do some research and we would talk back and forth.  Ultimately, what he did next absolutely BLEW ME AWAY!  He texts me to tell me that, if I'm OK with the $69.99 Hydrospeed 2 Jammers, he (Sole Swim Solutions) would love to purchase them for me.  Say what?!?!  I immediately called him to let him know that it was completely unnecessary and that I'd buy them myself.  He told me to sleep on it, but he would be "honored" to do it.  Well, I didn't need to sleep on it and told him that I would gladly accept.  How cool is that?!?  The only thing that could possibly be cooler is when he texted me that my $129.99 Hydrospeed Flux jammers arrived.  "No client of mine will be swimming in the Nationals with a $69.99 suit" he said.  WHOA!  Speechless.  I mean, really?  Dude is a serious class act, a phenomenal coach, and more importantly, a true friend.  

Here is the link to my suit:
Hydrospeed Flux Jammer 

Here is a link to his swim studio (I've posted it before, but here it is again):

Sole Swim Solutions

Beta-Alanine (Without Kre-Alkalyn) Update

I've been back on the Beta-Alanine for 17 days now and I can honestly say that I first felt it's effect at my weekly swim workout, with Frank, two days ago.  Here is what we did on Wednesday:

• W/U-800S, 800P  
• M/S-4x100S (2:00SI), 8x50 (1:00SI), 200S, 4x50S (:55SI), 200S (3:20SI), 4x50S (:55SI), 200S (3:20SI), 4x50S (:55SI), 200S (3:20SI) 
• C/D-50S

I first noticed it during that first 200 in the main set and the for the rest of the workout.  For those 200s, I was staying comfortable while coming in around 2:20.  I can't say that I really noticed too much for the 50s though.  They were on the :55 and I was coming in around 28-30 seconds or so....fairly easy pace.

I noticed it again this morning when I did a 2500 continuous swim at the YMCA.  I wasn't going extremely fast, or breaking any records, but after I loosened up, I felt fabulous.  I was comfortable and probably could have continued on for another 2500.  It just felt different.

The difference between my regimen now and during IMAZ 2012 training is that I'm not "stacking" it with Kre-Alkalyn and I'm not using the Optygen.  The ONLY reason why I'm not using either of those is simple.  For the Kre-Alkalyn, I was out and haven't remembered to swing by the store to pick up more.  As for the Optygen, I just don't want to shell out the $70 for the bottle.  As I said in a previous blog entry, I am a HUGE believer in this cocktail and would invest in it, in it's entirety, for another Ironman.  For now, it seems as though just the Beta-Alanine is giving me satisfactory results by itself.  I did, however, increase the dosage to 3 1/2 tsp daily from just 2 last season.

If you want to read up on my previous blog entries about these supplements, you can click here Introducing Beta-Alanine & Kre-Alkalyn, here Optygen, or here Beta-Alanine Part II  

I Am the AZ State/SW Zone CHAMPION!

Today was an extremely busy and long day, but it was also awesomely awesome too!  Warm-ups for the state championship, in Tucson, started at 8AM, so that meant that I would have to leave the house no later than 6AM to get there on time.  Even though, by my calculations, my first event wouldn't start until around 10AM, I had to stake out some real estate for the massive ONE Multisport tent that I was bringing.  After the meet, I had to head straight back to Phoenix to coach my son's flag football team at 6PM.  Are you ready for this?  Hang on, cause here we go!

The alarm went of around 5:30 and I immediately started to gather a few odds and ends for my meet.  The nice thing about only having about a minute and thirty seconds of competition is that I didn't need to get up at a ridiculous hour to fuel my body. No need for a regimented breakfast (I had a few cinnamon rolls and some coffee) , no hydration drinks, no pre-race gels, and really no urgency to use the bathroom.  Yes, I still get nervous before my swims, but it is a different kind of nervous.  It's hard to explain, but I try to visualize good starts and good turns and that's when I feel it the most.  If I don't execute those perfectly, my race is probably done.  The butterflies don't really linger around, they kind of creep in as I'm waiting behind the blocks for my heat.  IM butterflies, for me, start the night before as I worry about what I'm eating for dinner and stay with me until about the time I put on my wetsuit or jump in the water to start the swim.  I have the constant urge to have to use the bathroom, even though physically I don't need too, as I sweat every detail leading up to the start.  OK, enough about that and back onto the events of the day.

I arrive at the venue just as the meet director is announcing that the pool is officially open for warm-ups.  I make several trips, from my car, to the prime real estate on the grass just east of the event pool before trying to set up the monster that is our ONE Multisport tent.  Even though Mike Sanders was going to be there to help me out, I foolishly thought that I could get it up myself.  I must've looked like a clown to the dozens of other people that had already set up their tents and were relaxing in the cool shade.  I'd get one side extended only to have the opposite side slip down.  I'd get three sides extended, but then it would tip in a position such that I couldn't get the final leg down.  Ultimately, I gave up and decided to wait for Mike's assistance.  Once he arrived, we made quick work of it and were soon relaxing with the other athletes in the area:

Me and boyhood chum, Mike Sanders.  Who would have thought, 30+ years ago that we'd be back at the pool swimming in competitions together?

After a while of just sitting under our fortress, I started to get a bit stir crazy and decided that I was going to jump in and start warming up.  It was a bit early, but I didn't really know what else to do.  

Here is a pic of the venue.  The competition lanes are in the distance while the warm-up lanes are closer.  There were 20 in all:

After about a 1000 yards, I got out and started to walk back to our spot.  I see that my mom showed up and so did Mike's parents.  I haven't seen them in at least 20 years and my mom hasn't seen them for probably 25.  It was great catching up with them, but it was especially neat to see my mom making conversation just like they did when we were 10 years old and swimming on the Highland Vista Swim Team.  So many memories and so many names from the past!  Now that I've set up the scene, I need to discuss my gear before moving on to the race report.

Earlier this year, I ordered some custom ONE Masters suits for the team.  Ever since we received them, I immediately knew that they were NOT race suits.  Their heavy texture and odd fit (they have small legs) pointed to nothing more than a solid workout suit.  I did, however, wear this suit for that Sprinters Spectacular back in March and received sub-optimal results.  Now, can I blame those results ENTIRELY on the suit?  I'm not sure.  Maybe a better start or a faster turn could have made a difference too, but I have my reasons to think that the suit was a big factor.  At any rate, I decided to don my older Speedo jammer that I trained in for most of last season and raced in back on 08/02/2012 (Phoenix Pentathlon Swim Meet).  It is a little stretched, but it definitely fit the profile of a "race suit" much better.  I used my TYR Tracer mirrored goggles (bought them just before the Sprinters Spectacular meet on 03/03/2013), and a silicone cap that TYR gave me for free when I ordered our team goggles.  In the past, I've only used latex caps, but the thicker, slicker, better fitting silicone cap seemed like a good choice.  They say that you should never use new gear on race day, but it's a swim cap, what's the worst that could happen?!?  I just realized that I didn't post a pic of my new race goggles when I bought them back in late February/early March, so here they are:

The first event was the 50 fly.  According to the psych sheet, I was ranked 10th overall (that includes all ages) with my seed (fastest) time being 26.95.  As I was standing behind the blocks waiting, I happened to ask the guy next to me what heat was stepping up to race.  He responded with, "nine."  What?!? That was MY heat!!  Good thing I was ready as I quickly stepped up and onto the block!  My start felt solid and strong.  I quickly got into a good streamline and started my dolphin kicks.  My kicks felt extremely strong too.  I surfaced and immediately started to get to work.  My pulls also felt strong and I was grabbing water really well.  The only glitch of the swim was on my turn.  I stopped my stroke a bit early and had to glide/kick into the wall more than I should have.  The actual turn itself, however, was quick and I was back on track within less than a second.  I probably could have gone a bit deeper as I felt my kick slightly breaking the surface while I was still underwater.  My stroke on the way back, along with my finish, were both very strong as well.  Let's compare my previous 2 fly times with what I obtained today:

• 26.95 on 11/04/2012
• 27.54 on 03/03/2013
• 25.54 today

A whole 2 seconds faster than my last meet and almost a second and a half faster than my original best time!  If you go back to my 03/03/2013 race report, I had this to say about my fly time, "I was hoping to shave about a half a second off of my time from November (26.95)"  That would have had me going in the area of 26.45 and I crushed that too!  Ultimately my time of 25.54 meant that I was the state runner up in the 50 fly!

My next event was the 50 free.  Again, just like my butterfly start, I felt solid off the blocks and had strong dolphin kicks.  My turn was probably average, but I did have good form and was in and out fairly quickly.  I noticed that I was "grabbing" more water and had more propulsion than the last meet.  I didn't have quite as high turnover either.  It was a great feeling!  Here are my 2 previous times along with today's:

• 24.15 on 11/04/2012
• 24.12 on 03/03/2013
• 23.70 today

Looking back at the same blog entry as mentioned above, I had this to say about my free time, "My goal here was to shave off about half a second to one full second from my last timed 50 in November (24.15).  I wanted to be around 23.75 with a stretch goal of 23.15."  How's that for the power of thought?!?  23.70 was just .05 seconds better than my goal and was good enough for me to be the state runner-up!

My last event was the 50 back.  I was in the last heat (the fastest), but the slowest seed of the 10 seeds.  That meant that I was in the dreaded outside lane, lane 8.  As with my previous two events, I had another great start and and awesomely strong dolphin kicks.  Fortunately, just before this event, I remembered that I hadn't counted my strokes to the wall in this pool.  While the distance from the flags to the wall should be universal, every pool is slightly different.  Up until this point, I've always counted 4 strokes before I had to flip over for my turn and push off the wall.  After getting back into the warm-up lanes, I discovered that this pool had me going 5 strokes.  I executed those 5 strokes, turned over, and blasted off the wall.  More solid kicks had me surfacing about mid way through the lane.  Five more stokes at the end and I hit pay dirt.  Here are my previous times and today's:

• 29.18 on 11/04/2012
• 29.75 on 03/03/2013
• 27.62 today

Holy cow!  Really?  Over TWO seconds than my last meet and a second and a half better than my previous PR?  Simply awesome.  You know what's "awesomer" than that?!?!  How about being STATE CHAMPION!  That's right, my time was good enough to earn me that title in the 40-44 age group.

When I try to break down the reasons why I had such good success today, I see that there are too many variables to pinpoint any one.  Let me list said variables:

• Frank's Friday strength training
• Increased fitness
• More efficient turns do to more practicing
• Starting Beta-Alanine again
• Reverting back to my old "race suit" in lieu of the new ONE "training suit"
• Silicone cap

At the end of the day, I'd have to say that a combination of all of the above played a factor in today's success.  Hopefully we can keep it up through Nationals in May!

Oh, in case you were wondering, I did make it back to coach my son's game.  He scored a running TD and an extra point.  We won.