June Swimming!

[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! (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!

[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! (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!

[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 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'! 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!

[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. 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!


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.

Only 2.5 weeks until my HIM!!!

Susan

[colby]

Only 2.5 weeks until my HIM!!!

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!