So we got into the pool a bit late due to traffic (30 minutes to be exact). While driving, I had a Banana-Strawberry GU gel packet. I never had that particular flavor, but it was pretty good. The cashier in REI referred to them as sport enhancing supplements today, so I laughed in my head. I looked at her and wanted to say, “my name isn’t Barry Bonds, why don’t you just call it by it’s name…GU, lol.” I started to think I was taking over the counter ‘roids or something. So I was fired up in the pool. We picked up where we left off from last week…the front breast stroke. I shared a lane with one of the guys, so it was cool to occasionally compare yourself and have a silent peer-review session.

My front stroke is getting stronger. I’m pivoting my head much more when coming up for air. The main part of it is, I’m calming down and just that alone is making me move faster in the water. I did the breast stroke back and based off of last week’s feedback, I slowly pivoted my neck upwards to inhale and stayed really calm. When I got to the start, I felt like the man:) Then my stomach started to rumble in the jungle and I thought, “I CAN NOT leave to go the bathroom and come back”…as I’m cursing the crap out of the GU, lol. The stomach cramps went away and I got in a zone. I rested less and I could feel my heart beating in my ears. It was a good night. I did 26 laps and I was late. Was it the GU? Was the anxiety? Regardless, I was challenging myself to be better this week. I would see my lane mate start, then I would start behind him. I would eventually pass him, get to the end, see him approach and then go before he rests. It’s not competition, it’s gearing up for game day!!! June will be here in no time, so it’s time to put in some extra swim time.

For you swimmers out there. When you front stroke, do you keep you hands open or cupped? I’m hearing mixed opinions, so wanted to get some feedback.

Goals accomplished this week: (1) front stroke inhale pivot is getting better; (2) calmed down tremendously; (3) GU makes you fart like a caged rabid animal; (4) during mid-swim, transitioned from front stroke, to back stroke, then to breast stroke.

Goals for next week: (1) Stay within 22-26 laps (which equals about 3/4 mile); (2) change lanes from the stair lane. It’s a little shorter because it’s in the way. Lisa pointed that out, so I’ll make the lane change next week.
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Week #1: 15 laps
Week #2: 26 laps
Week #3: 22 laps
Week #4: 22 laps
Week #5: 26 laps
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Thanks for following my journey everyone:) Any tips you may have, please share them (videos, books, etc.) I would appreciate it.

We’re in February and the snow we received within the last few weeks (20-30 inches), forced the college to cancel class the week before last. So once I got in the water, I was feeling like a kid with ADHD. I put the goggles on and I have a habit of putting my head in the water and just scanning the bottom. Not sure why, but I always have this thing about cloudy water. When my triathlon rolls around, not seeing the bottom will be interesting, but I hope the adrenaline rush chills me out. So, the water was kind of cloudy and the first thing I think of…”did someone crap in the water and poop remnants are messing it up?”. I know, I have a crazy imagination. But after scanning the water as if I lost my wedding ring, no poop was found, loll

We started with our normal routine, front stroke down and fundamental back stroke to the start. After about 10 laps, the old man said it was time to learn the breast stroke. So we went through the details, which was quite a change from the typical stroke. The breast stroke is all about resting, but since I have this aggressive stroke that sometimes gets in the way, I have to tone it down a bit. I actually like the breast stroke. I was getting feedback from the lifeguard on duty and decided to continue my laps. What makes me a bit nervous is transitioning from front stroke to breast, then flipping to the fundamental if I get tired. So I practiced the combination and it wasn’t bad at all.

I found this video of Jimmy Dshea going over the breast stroke. It’s much more than the instructors from the class, so I’ll definitely implement these fundamentals to make the stroke a power stroke if I ever want to mix it up during game day.

Goals accomplished this week: (1) learned the breast stroke; (2) the fear of deep water is pretty much gone; (3) tread water much longer.

Goals for next week: (1) Stay within 22-26 laps (which equals about 3/4 mile); (2) Work on stroke transitions; (3) work on not using the wall to push off. It’s almost like cheating and I don’t think there will be random walls in the middle of the lake during the tri.

Week #1: 15 laps

Week #2: 26 laps

Week #3: 22 laps

Week #4: 22 laps

Thanks for following my journey everyone:) Any tips you may have, please share them (videos, books, etc.) I would appreciate it.

Feb. 8 – Monday
Rest Day

Feb. 9 – Tuesday
Time: 20 minutes

Feb. 10 – Wednesday
Time: 36 minutes

Feb. 11- Thursday
Time: 25 minutes

Feb. 12 – Friday
Rest Day

Feb. 13 – Saturday
Time: 35 minutes

Feb. 14 – Sunday
Time: 24 minutes

This week I was on a mission to calm down a bit and really try to work on my front stroke. First off, we got to class late, so I already had self-applied pressure and some catching up to do. Got in the water, and did my first lap with my goggles too d@mn tight. I felt like my eyes looked like Bart Simpson, bulging out, so I readjusted immediately, lol.

This week I was doing some reading and had some adjustments planned. Instead of taking a breath with every stroke, I’ll take a breath every 3 strokes to help calm me down a little. That allowed me to take shorter exhales under water, pivot my head out calmly and take a deep exhale. It actually worked for me and I didn’t gulp too much water with this change. I did try to work on my endurance by NOT doing the fundamental backstroke, but by doing the front stroke back to the start. I caught some serious wind at one point, drank half the pool, and belched like I just had a keg to my head, but I survived:) I know the lifeguard must think I’m a looney tune!!

Last week I completed 26 laps in the 90 minutes and this week, I did 22 laps, but I actually paused more to work on my form. So not bad for less time in the pool and more time concentrating of being more efficient. Nadia and I didn’t share a lane this week. I had to be careful not to slap the goggles off of my lane partner by accident, but we worked well together. I did however introduce her to my best whale impersonation as I blew the living crap out of my nose because I was holding my breath too long when she was waiting at the deep end. She was silent…but had to be flipping me “the bird” inside. Oh well. Actually, it was more like an elephant with water in it’s tusk.

Goals accomplished this week: (1) I calmed down drastically; (2) I stayed in my lane and didn’t wander as much; (3) I worked on pivoting my head more and looking up in order to take a nice deep inhale, reducing the water intake in my mouth.

Goals for next week: (1) Stay within 22-26 laps (which equals about 3/4 mile); (2) work on my endurance outside of the pool with 25 yard sprints outdoors or tabata sprints on the the treadmill. I have to NOT get winded…eventhough it’s really taxing. But I’m feeling better for sure.

Week #1: 15 laps

Week #2: 26 laps

Week #3: 22 laps

Thanks for following my journey everyone:) Any tips you may have, please share them (videos, books, etc.) I would appreciate it.

Here is week #3. Perform each exercise for 60 seconds. Repeat the entire workout 2-3 times with a 60 second break in-between. Try to move fast and concentrate on using proper form.

There are some members of the team who are training for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in April. In order to get the body used to running for 10 miles and keeping a decent pace, it’s always great to have a training program. Fortunately, the Cherry Blossom Credit Union provided a free virtual training program (see below). This is to start on Monday, February 1st. If you don’t start tomorrow, you could start anytime. Just keep track of your progress and gauge your success. I will post training program for next week as well.

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Feb. 1 – Monday
Time: 30 minutes
Goal: Walk for 1 minute and then run for 2 minutes. Do this 10 times.
Tip: Always begin walking to warm up your legs. After a couple of minutes, begin walking faster and faster until you start jogging. The jogging portion should not be a sprint.

Feb. 2 – Tuesday
Time: 21 minutes
Goal: Walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes (a total of 7 times).
Tip: Find a running shoe specialty store to get properly fitted with a good pair of running shoes that will work for you. The kind of shoe you should use will depend upon the structure of your foot, your gait, size, etc. Do not try to train in cross trainers or a pair of running shoes that are more than 6 months old.

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Feb. 3 – Wednesday
Rest Day
Tip: Rest days are important to let your body recover from using different muscles. If you are used to other kinds of aerobic activities, you may want to consider cutting back during this training program, especially in the month of March.

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Feb. 4 – Thursday
Time: 32 minutes
Goal: Walk 1 minute, run 3 minutes (8 times).
Tip: The running portion of your workout should not be a sprint but instead a slow acceleration from your walk.

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Feb. 5 – Friday
Rest Day
Tip: You may want to think about doing light upper body weights as part of your preparation for Cherry Blossom.

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Feb. 6 – Saturday
Time: 24 minutes
Goal: Walk 1 minute, run 3 minutes (6 times).
Tip: You may be feeling stiff and sore after these first few days. There is nothing to be worried about. That is a normal feeling that will eventually go away as your muscles get used to running.

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Feb. 7 – Sunday
Time: 36 minutes.
Goal: Walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes (12 times).
Tip: When running in the cold, try to start running into the wind so that you will have the wind at your back at the end. It is very uncomfortable to have to head back into a cold wind after you have worked up a sweat running with a tailwind.

So last week swimming was all new to me. I never went into the tub to practice, but I took a few minutes out of my day to get the breathing sequence together. The way you breathe for running is totally different, so practice for me was very important. I got into the water today feeling really good. I worked out hard this week, but laid low today because I wanted to give it my all. Based off of the goal that I set last week (complete 15 laps TODAY), that number kept resonating in my head, “15, 15, 15, 15.” But something clicked and that was it. The class is scheduled for 90 minutes and I got to 15 laps in 35 minutes (18 laps for a .50 mile distance). I was feeling good. I only drank 14 gallons this time (lol) and my stroke was improving. The old man was silent and you know what they say, “no news is good news”, so I kept on going. There was alot of water chatter in the other lanes, but I’m NOT here to socialize and talk about how wrinkled my thumbs are, I’M HERE TO SWIM!! To make a short story even shorter, I did 26 laps. So you are suppose to double that and it gave me a total of 52 completed lengths. I don’t think that’s too shabby for my second week.

Goals accomplished this week: (1) I wore goggles; (2) I kept my head down to exhale and kept my cheek on the water; (3) My right arm stroke is aggressive and that’s what is causing the water to find a home in my nostrils. So I need to calm that down; (4) I didn’t pee in the water…just kidding (hahahaha).

Goals for next week: (1) Maintain 26 laps; (2) Instead of doing the fundamental stroke back, I will do the forward crawl to build up my endurance; (3) Reduce the aggression on the right hand stroke…aka…calm down!!

Week #1: 15 laps

Week #2: 26 laps

Thanks for following my journey:)

Here it is. Week #2. Perform each exercise as outlined. Take a 30-60 second break in between each complete set. Once resting, repeat it again. Potential Challenge: (1) Time yourself and see how fast you complete it twice, (2) challenge someone else who is far from you. See who does it faster, (3) Do it with your spouse. There is nothing like some spousal competition. Have fun!!

Today was the first day of swimming class. As of today, there are 157 days until the Celebration Sprint Triathlon in Columbia, Maryland. This year I set a goal to not only do a triathlon, but learn how to swim. I know, a bit crazy and to top it off, that’s a 0.62 mile swim. The swim instructor said it would take about 22 laps to complete 0.50 mile swim, so I have some training to do.

When we got into the pool, I was psyched until he said, “Shawn, swim to the far end while doing a front stroke, then coming back, do a basic back stroke”. The machismo in me was like, “Yeah, I got this!!!”. So I perked up, put my chest high and went for it. If you were a bystander, you would have needed goggles just watching me (lol), but I made it. Then coming back, who told me to play Mister professional back stroke man? I’m in the water, alternating arms like I was in a Speedo commercial. I gulped about 2 gallons of water while coming back, but I made it. To make a long story short, I think the old man was on the verge of demoting a few of us to the beginners class, but he said he’ll work with us. That includes my lovely wife Nadia who hadn’t been in the water since the end of time as well.

So they showed us the basics and I took every mental note that I could. I practiced breathing, I relaxed and treaded more than I should have, in order to get over my, “I’m going to sink” fear. As the 1.5 hour class went on, I felt more confident and I was getting the “much better” head nod from old man. I ended the night doing 14 laps (28 lengths), which was a little under 1 mile. This was day 1, but truly an eye-opening experience. So my homework until next week is to fill up the tub and fit my big @ss in it and practice breathing:) This is going to be fun!!

Julie & Lisa were in the class after mine, so I’m curious to know how their experience was.

Goal for next week: Do 15 laps, relax more and stop swimming into the wall as if I were drunk.

When you run, your body looses fluids. To run optimally, you need to replace the fluids your body looses. Your personal sweat rate (PSW) will help you determine how much you need to drink and how often while you are running.

How to determine your sweat rate:

When well hydrated, do a short warm up and then weigh yourself naked. This weight will be called the pre-run weight.
Run for an hour in the conditions and intensity you expect to face in an upcoming training session or race.
Dry yourself thoroughly.
Weigh yourself naked. This weight will be called the post-run weight.
Subtract the post-run weight from the pre-run weight.
Multiply the number you calculated in step 5 by 16. [(pre-run weight - post-run weight) times 16]
If you drank during the 1 hour run, add the number of ounces you drank to the number you received in step 6,

Example:

Pre-Run weight: 160
Post-Run weight: 156
Pounds lost: 4
Drank 8 ounces of Water

(160-156) x 16 = 64

64 + 8 (ounces of water)

Total fluids lost = 72

**Try to replace 72 ounces of fluid each hour. When replacing fluids, It is best if you drink fluids every 15 to 20 minutes.

Where does the Fluid Go?

Your body looses fluid:

Urine
Sweat
Evaporation (other than sweat)
Water used inside the body and respiration