Breathing

Last weekend in Mariposa I went on a ride with a varsity distance swimmer, whose kid was in the same bike race Alistair was in. Inevitably we discussed triathlon and my poor swim results. I braced myself for another onslaught of the swim technique and body position speech, but to my surprise he did not go there. Rather he said, swimming is all about breathing.

It is something I have remarked on before and I immediately sensed that this guy might have some useful hints. He was also prepared to listen and he started out by asking how often I took a breath and whether or not I was breathing bilaterally. Then he asked if I kicked and how much I kicked. He recommended I kick slowly and only enough to keep my legs up. That is something someone told me years ago when I asked about freestyle (and before I knew how to swim freestyle).

He told me buoyancy was key and I needed to control my buoyancy with my lung volume and with a slow and steady kick. He recommended that I breathe only every third stroke and told me if I could not keep that up I was working too hard. He also said I should be able to swim a pool length (25m) without breathing. Ironically enough I can do that and I always start out my swims that way. I also noticed that this first lap is really my fastest lap of the day.

He advised me to learn to breathe bilaterally so I would develop equal amounts of strength in both arms, and so I would go straight naturally instead of doing so by making subtle corrections with my one arm (and wasting energy in the process). He also said breathing slows you down and when you breathe out completely you sink, which is not good.

Since that day I have gone to the pool twice and tried to follow his recommendations. It is not easy. I can't seem to get into a good rhythm and I never get enough air. So far, I totally fail at breathing on the left side and I run out of air quickly, plus it appears my legs sink deeply every time I try to breathe on that side. I realize this will take time, but so far the experience has been a dismal failure.

Monday, a one hour swim, mostly focused on "technique," i.e. breathing on the left and swimming while breathing every third stroke. Not a great success.

Tuesday, a 10.5 mi hilly run.

Wednesday, a 30 mi bike ride to the top of Redwood Rd.

Today (Thu), another hour of thrashing around in the pool trying to breathe on both sides and/or to breathe every other stroke (I decided to take it one step at a time and even that is not going so well).

More swimming

Yesterday I swam two miles, all freestyle, non-stop. Not the fastest swim but a decent pace. Yesterday was another record setting day, although it was getting cooler than the week before. Today started overcast, with slight showers in the afternoon. It is definitely cooler now and we won't be setting any records today.

I took the kids to the pool and swam 1.5 miles non-stop but at a pretty fast pace. Although I did not time myself, I definitely swam harder and faster than yesterday. I mostly kept up with Alistair who is a faster swimmer than I am. (Once again) I feel like I am getting faster. I can surely swim faster over shorter distances, but the improvements never show at longer distances. Maybe this time it will be for real and hold up at Ironman distances.

I appear to have gained some weight over the holidays. Fewer hours and shorter rides do make a difference, and all the "partying" and lounging around at the JPMorgan meeting surely did not help.

Storm clouds

Yesterday it threatened to rain all day, but it never did. At least not until late in the evening. I rode my Griffen on the road for the first time in a long while. First, I did not feel like a long ride and I was debating whether to take the short loop through Orinda and up Wildcat, when dark clouds gathered over Grizzly. So I decided better go South to Redwood.

It was pretty cold, especially on the Redwood descent. Once again, I thought of going short and returning on Pinehurst, but then at the bottom I went straight. At least to Bort Meadow I kept saying to myself. Then to the first top and finally I ended up on the very top. I turned around and got home well before the rains started. Several times it looked quite ominous and even at the top of Marlborough I thought I was going to get drenched in the short remaining stretch. 30 miles in all.

Today I went to the pool and swam 1.75 miles, all freestyle without a break. It took a little over 1 hour so I was swimming at "race" pace. My race pace that is. There was nobody at the pool, and even though it was overcast, the air was plenty warm. The water too was quite hot. Especially in one spot right down the middle of the pool. This time around I dreaded going through the hot river on every lap.

I am not sure what gets into these people that run the club. At times they keep everything overheated, the exercise room, the pool, everything is way too hot. I had expected the opposite as they will be closed tomorrow and the day after. You'd think they would drop the temperature a bit to save money since it will be sitting out there in the open, but no. Let's turn up the heat.

Mirror Image

Today was a mirror image of yesterday. It started out wet and rainy and it got better as the day went on. By mid-afternoon it was nice and sunny. And warmer too.

Today I went to the pool again and made another attempt at swimming 1.5 miles freestyle non-stop. Today I succeeded although by the end my left shoulder was quite painful. Not sure why and I have never had a problem with that shoulder. My AC separation is on the right, but the right was fine.

It took me slightly less than one hour to swim the distance. Although the pool is rather short, 20 yrds, and short pools result in faster swims, I almost always swim faster in open water than in the pool. I am not sure why that is, but maybe my inefficient turns take too much time. 

Suffice it to say I never conquered the flip turn. Furthermore, in our pool, unlike all other pools I know of, one is supposed to swim in between the black lines. I guess that gives them one more lane, but it also makes calibration for flip turns difficult. One female swimmer -who is better than me- insists she needs to swim on the line, lest she gets a brain injury from missing her flip turn. I can understand why people want to swim on the line, but this "medical justification" is hogwash in my opinion.

Whatever the reason, my swim speed -if this can be called speed- is below par. Long distance swimmers, such as those conquering the English Channel swim a good 24 miles in less than 10 hours. That is 10 consecutive ironman swims, all completed in less than one hour each. As a matter of fact, it is much better than that, because in real life, hardly anyone swims "only" 22 miles. Some have been known to swim over 35 miles to make it across. Not to mention the cold, the wind, and the currents they had to fight. Clearly, swimming is not my cup of tea.

Cold and colder

The weather has taken a turn for the worse. Now it is getting cold. As in freezing or near freezing. The cold weather has made it so the pool stays closed for a few more days. Apparently it will take longer than expected to bring it up to temperature. The club people also blame a "chemical imbalance" whatever that may be. Emptying and refilling such a huge pool is no trivial matter. Not to mention the enormous waste of water. Those valves better be worth it.

It is also too cold to ride outside. With temperatures near 35-6 and constant rain or drizzle, this is not the time to go for a nice ride. If I did, I would probably return blue and hypothermic. I am keeping Alistair at home too. 

So I am stuck with my 45/30 routine at the club -my treadmill broke so no running in the garage either. 45 minutes on the stationary bike, which reads 1,000 calories by the end-I don't believe it, I have to work a whole lot harder to burn 1,000 on my Griffen and there I am measuring my actual power, hence energy use; 30 minutes on the treadmill, because my right calf is still hurting and tense. I run anywhere from 3 to 3.5 miles in that half hour, nothing to write home about, but usually enough to make me aware of the problem in my leg. Actually I spend the first 3-5 minutes walking just to make sure my muscle is warmed up properly.