June Swimming!

[Susan Otcenas]

Thought I'd start a new swim thread, since we seem to have skipped May. :)

I had an AMAZING swim this morning. Which I really needed mentally because my last swim (just 3 days after my 600K) was absolutely terrible. No air, no energy, etc.

Well, I must be fully recovered because I had one of my best swims ever. 2600 meters and I felt like I could have done 2600 more. Everything just came together. Even during hard intervals, I never felt short on air (my most common problem) and felt like I was gliding really well.

Why or why can't they all be like that??? My usual swim mode is roughly akin to chopping my way through molasses. :o

Susan

[Selkie]

Susan---sounds like a swim to remember. If you did it once, you can do it again... :-)

The long weekend gave me the chance to spend some extra time in the pool. On Saturday, I swam my longest ever---5,000 yard in just over 2 hrs. Got in 4,500 yds on Monday and 4,000 Tuesday (took an extra day off from work). The pool was pleasantly uncrowded, which made it difficult to get out of the water! This is a trend that I hope continues, as the outdoor pools are now open. Surprisingly, I felt decently strong.

[Susan Otcenas]

Wow, mickchick, those are some serious distances!

Tonight I'm heading to Hagg Lake for my first OWS of the season. It's been soooooo cold and rainy here this year that I'm way behind schedule on getting outside. I have an Olympic Tri on Sunday (I'm doing the swim & bike on a relay, as I have an injured foot and don't want to run right now) and don't want my first OWS of the season to be at race pace!! :eek: That would surely provoke a panic response...

[GLC1968]

My swim last night was predominantly focused on improving distance per stroke and I was pleased with my results. I managed to do multiple 50's with 18 strokes per length and maintaining my best speeds (~0:54/50y). This is a HUGE improvement over when I started where I was doing at best 23 SPL and a time of ~1:05/50y! If I really pushed hard, I could drop it to 16 SPL, but speed suffered a bit AND I found that I couldn't maintain my bilateral breathing. I needed air sooner than my strokes would allow it at that pace. If I breathed every stroke (all on one side) I could easily do 16, but speed still suffered some and it wasn't as comfortable as 18 SPL.

Overall, 1300yd workout and some TIRED upper body muscles (which may have more to do with Tuesdays weight workout than the swim, but still...it felt good!).

Tonight I'm going to do my very first OWS in a wetsuit!! It should be interesting. I'm actually really, really looking forward to it. I miss swimming in freshwater lakes, even if it promises to be cold!

[GLC1968]

What, no update from Susan yet? ;)

We did our first OWS of the season last night. Air temp: 52F and lightly rainy. Water temp: 55F at the center (maybe near 60 where we were?).

Three of us swam for about 35 minutes. I have no idea about distance, but considering how slowly I was swimming, it couldn't have been far! Though, with all the zig-zagging I did, I might have traveled double the actual distance. :p

I had issues with breathing - first with the cold (I was in a sleeveless suit) but even once I warmed up I had problems. My suit was choking me. The more experienced wet suit swimmers tried to convince me that it's a normal feeling that I just need to get used to, but today my neck is really sore in front (to the touch)...so I think my suit was truly choking me! I have an abnormally long torso for a woman, so that might be why. Luckily, if I can survive Saturday's swim, I won't need it for a race again until September so I might be able to figure something out by then (like a 2 piece?). And of course, right before my first swim in it, I managed to punch a hole in the back of my leg! :mad:

Susan was more consistent than me overall and only slightly panicky in a few spots. For someone who really freaked out in OW early in the season last year, she did REALLY well. Plus, she's clearly a better swimmer than me. She at least managed to travel in a relatively straight line!

[colby]

55 degree water and you're in a sleeveless, that's cold. I did that once last year and my arms were pretty chilly. It was harder to focus on making straight lines. ;)

Last pool swim before they shut the pool down today. I did a 400wu, my 1000 T-pace test, and about 700 more yards (whatever got me to 45 minutes). I think my T-Pace number was something like 1:45/100. I felt tired and out of sorts, it's not the usual time when I swim, and my massage guy worked my shoulders last night so they were definitely trying to recover. That would come out to a 28 minute 1.5km swim and I know I'm capable of sub-25 minutes. I guess the T-Pace is something you can go 10-20 seconds faster than and 10-20 seconds slower than, sort of like LTHR and BPM, so maybe it is right, and my 1.5km race pace is more like 1:30/100.

Ah well, I haven't focused on swimming this season, but I plan to stick with it better after Ironman so I can chop some time off my sprint/Olympic races. I'm usually first or second out of the water and a fast cyclist, but they all catch up to me on the run, so if I can buy myself more time out of the water and on the bike, I can be a little more competitive ;)

[Susan Otcenas]

What, no update from Susan yet? ;)

We did our first OWS of the season last night. Air temp: 52F and lightly rainy. Water temp: 55F at the center (maybe near 60 where we were?).

Three of us swam for about 35 minutes. I have no idea about distance, but considering how slowly I was swimming, it couldn't have been far! Though, with all the zig-zagging I did, I might have traveled double the actual distance. :p

I had issues with breathing - first with the cold (I was in a sleeveless suit) but even once I warmed up I had problems. My suit was choking me. The more experienced wet suit swimmers tried to convince me that it's a normal feeling that I just need to get used to, but today my neck is really sore in front (to the touch)...so I think my suit was truly choking me! I have an abnormally long torso for a woman, so that might be why. Luckily, if I can survive Saturday's swim, I won't need it for a race again until September so I might be able to figure something out by then (like a 2 piece?). And of course, right before my first swim in it, I managed to punch a hole in the back of my leg! :mad:

Susan was more consistent than me overall and only slightly panicky in a few spots. For someone who really freaked out in OW early in the season last year, she did REALLY well. Plus, she's clearly a better swimmer than me. She at least managed to travel in a relatively straight line!

Definitely NOT 60 degrees. I've done races in 60 degree water and this was much colder. Low to mid-50s is more like it. The water in that lake (reservoir, actually) comes straight out of the coast range. Brrrrr. Even with swim socks and swim gloves, I lost all the feeling in my fingers and toes. Not good.

GLC is right - my first OWS of the season last year was an unmitigated disaster. I had a major panic attack and got bailed out by two friends. :o Yesterday was a HUGE improvement over that! I had a couple moments of feeling breathless, but got over it quickly. (I think most of the breathlessness was because the water was so d@mn cold that it was a shock each time I put my face back in! ) Plus, it helped that GLC and I stuck together, so neither of us felt alone, which definitely would have made me feel less comfortable.

I'm hoping for warmer water for this Sunday's Oly. The lake we'll be in is shallower, and tomorrow is supposed to be mostly sunny, so that ought to bring the temps up a little.

[HillSlugger]

My swim last night was predominantly focused on improving distance per stroke and I was pleased with my results. I managed to do multiple 50's with 18 strokes per length and maintaining my best speeds (~0:54/50y). This is a HUGE improvement over when I started where I was doing at best 23 SPL and a time of ~1:05/50y! If I really pushed hard, I could drop it to 16 SPL, but speed suffered a bit AND I found that I couldn't maintain my bilateral breathing. I needed air sooner than my strokes would allow it at that pace. If I breathed every stroke (all on one side) I could easily do 16, but speed still suffered some and it wasn't as comfortable as 18 SPL.

Overall, 1300yd workout and some TIRED upper body muscles (which may have more to do with Tuesdays weight workout than the swim, but still...it felt good!).

Tonight I'm going to do my very first OWS in a wetsuit!! It should be interesting. I'm actually really, really looking forward to it. I miss swimming in freshwater lakes, even if it promises to be cold!

When you say "50's with 18 strokes per length" do you mean 18 strokes/25?

[Selkie]

I can't imagine doing an OWS, particularly in cold temps! Does the wetsuit make you more buoyant (in addition to keeping you warmer)?

I broke down and ordered the lap counter that GLC recommended. :-)

[Susan Otcenas]

I can't imagine doing an OWS, particularly in cold temps! Does the wetsuit make you more buoyant (in addition to keeping you warmer)?


Yes, much more bouyant! Warmer too. Your body heat warms up the thin layer of water trapped in the jersey material on the inside of the suit. Works remarkably well.

[Susan Otcenas]

I'll do a full race report a bit late, but in the meantime....

I'm sooooooo happy to report that I had a kick@ss swim today! Official results aren't up on the race website yet, but I took about 3:30 off my Oly swim from last season. :):):) No panic attacks, no breathlessness. It was awesome. (I'm still slow, but I went from 37:00 to 33:30, so I'm a happy camper!)

I'm so glad I did the race, even though I couldn't run. It really gave me the confidence to know that I can manage the swim in the HIM in 3 weeks!

[GLC1968]

When you say "50's with 18 strokes per length" do you mean 18 strokes/25?

Yes, 18 per 25 (yards). I have some type of mental block that keeps me from being able to count after a turn...so I just count each length and keep track that way.

[GLC1968]

I did the Blue Lake sprint distance on Saturday and wow, what a difference! The water felt like bathwater in comparison to Hagg! ;) I seriously would have been overheating had I worn a full suit.

I sucked though. It was VERY bad. I just kept seeing the distances and thinking how 'hard' I felt like I was working and I worried that I'd be spent before I got to bike or run. So I scaled WAY back on my effort. Clearly my lack of experience hurt be pretty badly here. I actually side-stroked almost the whole way! I would swim freestyle for a bit - catch up to a group in front of me - swim side stroke for a bit - fall back to another group - switch to freestyle - catch up to the next group - swim side stroke....etc. When I rounded the last bouy, I told myself that I would swim NO MORE SIDESTROKE and that I'd be fine. Yeah, I was...and I wanted to kick myself for not doing it sooner in the race. Ugh.

Oh well, here's to a PR the next time! :p (and MUCH more OWS practice this summer!)

[colby]

I swam last night in the $8.48 per swim pool. It's a nice new pool with many lanes, starting blocks, and a deep end, but it's about 15 miles from home vs. my local pool which is a couple blocks down the street. We'll see how the local pool looks after the cleanup work.

I did as many 6 minute hard efforts as I could fit before the pool closed (about 45 minutes worth) after a 5-10 minute warm up with one 50 of arms only and one 50 of legs only inbetween each set.

Probably going to start OWS this week, even if I just go to the public beach and swim in the swim area - it's the same water and is close to shore so it'll be warmer and won't require a kayaker, but it will be like pool swimming in that the area is only so large so I have to do laps.

GLC, it gets easier every time, just stick with it. :) Congrats, Susan, on your super-huge improvement! :D

[salsabike]

I did the Blue Lake sprint distance on Saturday and wow, what a difference! The water felt like bathwater in comparison to Hagg! ;) I seriously would have been overheating had I worn a full suit.

I sucked though. It was VERY bad. I just kept seeing the distances and thinking how 'hard' I felt like I was working and I worried that I'd be spent before I got to bike or run. So I scaled WAY back on my effort. Clearly my lack of experience hurt be pretty badly here. I actually side-stroked almost the whole way! I would swim freestyle for a bit - catch up to a group in front of me - swim side stroke for a bit - fall back to another group - switch to freestyle - catch up to the next group - swim side stroke....etc. When I rounded the last bouy, I told myself that I would swim NO MORE SIDESTROKE and that I'd be fine. Yeah, I was...and I wanted to kick myself for not doing it sooner in the race. Ugh.

Oh well, here's to a PR the next time! :p (and MUCH more OWS practice this summer!)

First tri with an OWS, right? I did my first much the same way--freestyle, sidestroke. Pause to look around. Freestyle, sidestroke. Not to worry. You get more comfortable with it all over time. Good for you for getting it done!

[Alex]

Great job, Susan and GLC!

I don't know any other strokes besides freestyle, so I HAVE to swim FS the whole way. I keep thinking it would be good to learn another stroke!

[GLC1968]

Thanks guys. Salsa - yep, first OWS tri. Lesson learned!

What I didn't mention is that I signed up Athena and still ended up with a second place. :o I need to post my race report still. I was very BOP for my swim and my run, but my bike was 51/269 for the women and that was without aerobars! :D


So I swam last night (in a pool!) and had a really good one. I mean...REALLY good. It's amazing what perspective a crappy experince gives a person. I went in there planning on challenging myself, so I did a lot of drills and things that I've previously felt were 'hard' and I forced myself through it all. I reminded myself that none of it felt as hard as that swim did on Saturday and that kept me pushing through. I blew threw my 'wall' very quickly (less than 400y) and proceeded to swim with such regularity that I was stunned. I'm still a little stiff (my neck) from Saturday, so I wasn't expecting such a good swim.

I also did about 200y using flip turns. They weren't pretty and they weren't fast - but I think it's really good for me to not get that extra breath and to not be able to ever grab the side of the pool. My goal is to do all flip turns for endurance/long swims by the end of June. And of course, more OWS practice.

I'm also thinking of signing up for one more sprint tri before I attempt Black Hills in September. I clearly need more race OWS experience.

[Susan Otcenas]

2400 meters this morning.

500 warmup
8 x 100 as 50hard/50easy 0:20RI
6 x 150 as 50 hard/100 easy 0:20RI
200 cooldown with fins and kickboard

Pool was mobbed when I got there at 5:15, but by 6am it had mostly cleared out. That seems to be the pattern at this pool. 6am-7am is a sweetspot. I had a 50meter lane entirely to myself for a while. :p

Only 2.5 weeks until my HIM!!! :eek:

Susan

[colby]

Only 2.5 weeks until my HIM!!! :eek:

I have a countdown clock hooked into my browser. I prefer to think of it as 19 days. It sounds longer. ;)

[Susan Otcenas]

I have a countdown clock hooked into my browser. I prefer to think of it as 19 days. It sounds longer. ;)

Where did you get the countdown clock app?

Is your event Saturday or Sunday of that weekend? I'm racing Saturday. I think I"ll schedule a massage for Sunday...

[colby]

Where did you get the countdown clock app?

Is your event Saturday or Sunday of that weekend? I'm racing Saturday. I think I"ll schedule a massage for Sunday...

It's a Firefox extension/add-on dealie: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/468/

Mine's Sunday - so that's 18 days for you ;)

I think last year my massage guy had me wait 2 days afterward to get a massage, and in the meantime to focus on the recovery steps and some "jiggling" of the muscles (no deep tissue) to keep the blood flowing and the bad stuff exiting. Basically, to wait for the body to flush everything out and figure out where the muscles needed to be addressed. However, I think I would gladly have a massage every day for the first week after racing, so I would surely encourage the pampering. ;) Not to mention that after all the long long rides you've done, you surely know what feels good! :D

[Selkie]

First, a big thanks to GLC for the lap counter recommendation she posted on another thread. I got the basic model and love it. No longer have to "mantra" my lap count and can either zone out, sing to myself, or really focus on my form. :) One of the best $25 purchases I've made for swimming gear.

I'm getting pretty close to the 200 mile mark for the year, thanks to some recent long swims on Saturdays/holidays/days off and consistently swimming 2300 yards/day Monday-Friday.

Due to sinus/face pain from my speedo goggles during my longer swims, I went ahead and got the TYR Nest goggles that TE just got in stock (got mine from the local swim store). I decided to switch to them during my long swims, once my regular goggles start getting uncomfortable. The Nests are different. At first, I was worried they wouldn't work with my face (the nose bridge isn't adjustable) but they fit fine. The eyepieces are wider and the silicone eyecups form a very watertight seal. No leaks. The straps are so much easier to adjust than the speedos, too.

They are comfortable (at least for the 10 minutes I wore them today). Softer than the Speedos. Since they don't sit where the speedos sit, they are a huge relief (plus they have a softer feel, being more pliable). I have the ones with the light blue lenses.

My only beefs are: 1) the lenses fit close to the face so my eyelashes were touching them. Kinda creepy at first but I quickly adjusted. 2) the lenses distort your vision just a tad. Not a big deal.

I don't plan on wearing them for regular use but I will switch to them during longer swims, when my speedos start making my sinuses scream!

[kacie tri-ing]

Ok--I've been swimming, just not posting again :p Today, I swam a 2800 set. I am doing the 5K open water swim I did last year next weekend. A little nervous about it! That is a long way!!!

Happy swimming!

[HillSlugger]

Every June our pool switches over to its summer schedule and every time things go all fubar. On most days, even with 8 lanes available, there will be the need for circle swimming or waiting for a lane. With 4 lanes now taken up by swim teams it's insane. Definitely time for me to switch back over to afternoon swims.

[GLC1968]

My OWS is improving.

Last night after work, Susan and I (and others) swam at Hagg Lake again. We are guestimating that we did about 1200 yards by swimming out to one bouy, and then swimming back and forth between that bouy and another one a couple of times before swimming back to the shore.

On the initial swim out to the bouy, I felt that familiar feeling of "omg, this is so hard...I'll never make it!" but I told myself to shut up and keep swimming. It got better (of course!). I stopped a few times to 'bob' on the first length between the bouys. On the second length, I did the whole distance without stopping (I'm getting better at sighting, too). On the third length, I decided to breathe to the opposite side. I breathe bilaterally in a pool without thinking about it but I've been doing my OWS with breathing only to the left, for some reason. So I tried going to the right and while I was able to physically do it, I immediately noticed a ton of water going into my right ear. I tried to ignore it and keep going. About half way across the length, I had to stop, tread water, remove my goggles and just relax because I was so dizzy I was fearful I'd throw up. I was nervously laughing out loud at myself because I seriously felt like the lake was tipping over! Bed spins have nothing on 'lake spins'! :p After a few minutes, it stopped and I continued but went back to breathing on the left. I did the whole last length, again without stopping, breathing on my left with no dizzyness.

All in all, I'm pleased with my performance. I was able to notice the same feelings as at the race (albeit not as strong) and mentally over come them. I even remembered some stroke techniques and was somewhat relaxed for most of the swim.

I think the dizziness was from the cold water in my ear. I noticed yesterday that my left earbud no longer fits in my left ear (I have very tiny ear openings and use the smallest ear buds available) so that might be why there is less of a "cold water in the ear" problem on that side. I think I might need to give earplugs a try for OWS. I can't wear any of the ones that fit in the ear (none fit!) but I might be able to do the silicone plug version. I'd like the option of breating on both sides in a race but that dizziness was seriously a problem!

[Susan Otcenas]

This morning was my final pool swim before my HIM this weekend. I'll swim in the reservoir at the event location this Friday.

This morning's swim was short (4x200 @ faster than race pace, with 100 easy between each) but I felt great. My times came down with each interval, and I felt strong. Never felt like I was gasping, which is usually my problem when I go all out.

My goal for the 2000M swim is 45 minutes. Having swum a 33:40 at an Olympic 2 weeks ago, I think 45 minutes is within reach if I stay focused and don't tire at the end.

Thinking positive thoughts....
Susan

[GLC1968]

Good luck, Susan. I think you'll do great!


I swam in the pool last night for the first time in awhile. :o It went quite well. After a 300y warmup, I did a little pyramid (50-100-200-400-200-100-50). I was slow but I noticed that except for the last length on the 400, I was able to maintain bilateral breathing every third stroke without thinking about it. Usually that starts to break down over 200y for me. I almost cut the 400 to a 300 but then thought about how it feels to swim 880y continuously in a lake and decided that I needed to suck it up. ;) I then did a couple of hard effort 50's and then my cool down. I felt TIRED when I was done, so it was a good workout.

[divingbiker]

Good luck, Susan!

I went to a swimming lesson at a county pool last night. I think it was a mistake signing up for the lessons, because everyone else in the class can barely swim at all, and one could hardly put her face in the water. I just want to get faster.

But the coach is a competitive distance swimmer (and a friend of withm) so i know i can learn from him. He gave me advice and I swam laps while the others were getting their instruction.

Not sure it was wise to start changing my stroke 5 days before my first tri of the season, but I'll probably just revert back to my old slow stroke if it doesn't feel right.

[HillSlugger]

Good luck, Susan!

I went to a swimming lesson at a county pool last night. I think it was a mistake signing up for the lessons, because everyone else in the class can barely swim at all, and one could hardly put her face in the water. I just want to get faster.

But the coach is a competitive distance swimmer (and a friend of withm) so i know i can learn from him. He gave me advice and I swam laps while the others were getting their instruction.

Not sure it was wise to start changing my stroke 5 days before my first tri of the season, but I'll probably just revert back to my old slow stroke if it doesn't feel right.

No, this isn't the right time to mess with your stroke.

Swim times are posted for Sunday.

[divingbiker]

Swim times are posted for Sunday.

Hijack: Wow, I'm starting later than I had hoped. If you have a fast swimmer, you'll probably catch me on the bike.

[GLC1968]

I swam at the pool last night again. Did only 1000 yards because I was short on time. I knew it going in, so I picked a short workout. I did 6x100 where the 100's were 25y easy effort alternated with 25y hard effort. I 'rest' on the easy laps. It was great training for trying to calm my HR and breathing down while actively swimming, actually. And I pushed it pretty good.

Today my shoulders, lats and triceps are sore!

I don't think I'm going to get in another swim until next Monday though. I want to do some more OWS, but I won't swim alone and my H is not a strong enough swimmer to get to me from the shore should something happen. We need a canoe! Oh well...it should be a goregous weekend here so I'll gladly fill my training hours with biking instead! :D

Anyone taking advantage of the TE swim sale this week? I'm thinking about it....