Weekend Long Run

This morning I got up nice and early... ok... not quite so early.  I got up at 7 and was out the door to start my run by 8am.  This morning I chose the same route for my 13 miler as the last time I was on this island and I was inspired to run 13 miles for the first time.  When I was here last I planned to run 10 miles and then get coffee in town and walk the three miles back but it felt so good that I kept going and managed to run my first thirteen miler.  So it seemed appropriate that after many more miles and two marathons later that I should run that same 13 mile route.

So I set off along my way past the hayfields and through the center of town and around the roads that follow the coastline around the point and then back through town and back again.  I don't think there was more than about .5 miles of flat road in the entire run.  Whenever you go out to run or bike here your pretty much either going up or going down.  The island is covered in rolling hills.  There are only a few giant hills, but there are a whole lot of gradual ascent and descents and a bevy of rollers.  It made for a very challenging run.  I kept trying to push my pace to 8's but eventually I gave up and realized that holding an 8'30" average per mile was going to be the best I could do with all the rollers and my training volume escalating to its highest point this year.  Sometimes I forget that I used to run only 4 days a week for a total of about only 7 hours a week max.  And currently my training volume is twice that with all the other disciplines involved.  So running a bit slower on the long runs is quite ok.  Actually speaking of that...   I was looking at my Sport Tracks file which I started at the end of last August and I've run just under 1000 miles since I started keeping track.  And my average pace is 8'30" per mile over all those miles.  So apparently I like grooving that pace. 

All in all it was a good run today.  I felt strong today.  My right leg is a little stiff but not so bad, and nowhere near as bad as it can be at times.  So a successful day, especially considering I just ran a 9 miler a couple of days ago.

You know its kind of funny all the stuff you have to do before and after a workout.  When you add it all up its a considerable time investment.  First you have to get ready for the run, put on sunscreen, grab your watch, heartrate strap, foot cadence sensor, shoes, bodyglide, breakfast, fluids, emergency money and then finally you can walk out the door.  Then you do your workout, and then after that you have to stretch, a little massage with "The Stick", shower, change and get cleaned up.  And then after all that I have to grab my watch and update my training log with the details of the workout.  And then after all that is done I come here to update my blog.  Its a lot sometimes!

So I sat down on the couch here at my friends place and got to work on my laptop.  Then my new assistant came over and started to work on her computer too.  Between the two of us we got lots done!

So far the day is off to a good start!  Still left in the day is to fully plan my monster bike ride for tomorrow (I'm leaning towards a 70 mile ride tomorrow, but at least a 50), do some shopping in town, and then tonight we get to go and see both of my friend's kids in the local dance recital which should be good silly fun!  I'm looking forward to it.  And of course I would be being a bad guest if I didn't join the kids for some post show ice cream after the performance!

But before I go...   I think I should note that its no secret I want to start training for a half ironman next summer.  Probably the Providence one if it fits in my schedule.  With any luck I'll fit two in next season as a solid base towards training for a full ironman the year after that.  So thats why I'm trying to do 13 mile runs every weekend and long rides as well so I can start to acclimate myself to a HIM training schedule.  Even if I still haven't even completed my first sprint tri yet.  Much like my running though I don't really care about my performance time wise in sprint tri's.  I'm just not a short distance guy.  (unless your talking height!)  I'm a long hauler.  Its where I can shine and start to outperform some of the pack and find my place in what I suspect will be the top 20% of the pack.  So bring on the long stuff I say!  But first I need to continue to work on my swim (which I hope to lengthen to 2.4 mile swims by the end of winter) and keep working on the other disciplines along the way.  Anyway...   time for me to stop dreaming of the progression to completing my first full ironman and get back to enjoying the rest of my day.  I hope everyone else is having a great weekend of training and fun too!

Great Day!

Today was a great day!  It started with a swim and ended with some fantastic cheeseburgers made from local grass fed uber natural COW..    as in singular cow...  not hundreds of them blended together.  Yum!  But I digress....


So from the beginning...  woke up at 7 and headed to the pool. I had taken a day off from the pool yesterday and I was hoping for a strong pool workout.  My first warmup lap was lackluster.  I felt tired after just 50 yards.  Not a good sign.  But I started in with my workout.  My plan was to do 18x50meter repeats with 30 seconds of rest between them max.  But I just wasn't feeling it.  Before long some of the 30 second gaps became one minute long gaps.  I felt tired and beatup.  It just wasn't going well.  My form was kind of crappy in the first few laps no matter how much I focused on it.  My legs were dragging and it wasn't pretty.  But I suffered through it.  After about 400 yards I wanted to give up and get out of the pool.  But I refused to let myself do it.  I was determined to swim at least 18 laps no matter how bad they were.  I'm really glad I toughed it out as towards the end my form started to improve.  I started to relax and the laps felt easier.  After 1000 yards I felt pretty good.  So I decided to try a 100 yard repeat.  I did the 100 yards and felt good.  So I said... I wonder if I can do 5 consecutive 100 yard repeats with 60 seconds of rest between them.  So I did that and it felt good!  And I felt relaxed and ok, instead of exhausted at the end.  So for my last group I did a 200 yard set.  I was psyched as I've never done a 200 in the pool before.  Maybe in open water, but not in the pool where the wall seems to make me want to stop.  So all in all I did 1600 yards today which is more than I've ever done in a pool session.  It took me close to an hour to do that, but I did it.  Sometimes I think I forget I only JUST switched to doing whole stroke from drill city.  I don't think I give myself enough credit for the progress I've made in the pool.  I'm always judging myself based on being able to swim a half mile nonstop, and not acknowledging the milestones along the way...    So yeah, today I'm really happy with my swimming progress.  Go me!

So then after a stop for coffee I went back to the house.  My friend Andrew and I decided to go kayaking.  So we loaded up the tandem kayak on the car and headed off to Griffen Bay.  We went kayking around the bay for a few hours.  It was nice!  It was really nice out today!  Enough to kayak around in just a pair of shorts which was nice.  My arms were killing me after the swim and kayking today though.  It was a nice paddle and we saw lots of harbor seals today which was fun.  Here's a shot of Andrew and I out on the kayak.

After kayaking we went back to the house and decided to clean up a bit and then head off to Lime Kiln Point to see if we could see some Orcas from shore.  If not we figured we would relax and read for a bit.  We had an AMAZING experience at the point.  We saw at least 30 or 40 different Orcas.  We timed it perfectly.  AND!!!!   A whole pod of them came within 100' of the shore!  It was amazing and I got some spectacular photos some of the best of which are below.  They were HUGE!  I was so excited when they got this close!  I've never seem them that close before.  I also managed to catch a few shots of them breaching (when they jump out of the water).  They were pretty far away but I still managed to grab the picture.  Which is not easy let me tell you!  But I was so excited to get such great shots...   here's a bunch of them below.

Sign at the walking path Entrance to Lime Kiln Point

Breaches!

Tug boat and large Male Orca

This is when they got really really close!

They looked amazing when they swam through the reflection from the sun

A seal trying really hard not to get eaten!

And as if the day could get any better...   Nick (Penelope's husband) made fresh burgers from the beef they get from a local farm.  So the burgers are grass fed with no antibiotics or hormones, and all of the meat comes from one cow and not hundreds of them.  They burgers were amazing!  So good!  That and a glass of wine was the perfect end to an absolutely incredible day.  I love this place.  The Orcas were really amazing today.  I felt so lucky to have been there when they were that close to shore.  Great great day!  Here's hoping tomorrow is half as good!  Tomorrow starts with a 13 mile run and Penelope and I are going to try and get an open water swim in on a local pond.  Not sure if we'll be able to though.  We'll see.

Pennance Run

With every night of indulgence follows a morning of guilt.  And what better way to fix guilt than with a hard workout.  So this morning I headed out for a run.  What would normally be a 5 miler, but I decided I owed myself at least an 8 to put a dent in all the extra calories I've been eating this week.  I know I've been training hard this week but I feel like I've been eating more than I should be.  But without a scale here I have no idea really.  But I would like to behave myself better for the second week of my trip.  So after a quick chat with my friend Penelope this morning I went for one of her favorite 8 mile loops.

I headed out the door and it was fairly cool, grey, and misty this morning.  I felt a little slow and my legs felt kind of tired when I first started.  My first mile averaged 8:30 and I wanted to be doing 8's.  Fortunately though after I loosened up a bit I managed to get the average for the whole run down to 8:09s.  So I was pleased with that.  Especially as the route was quite challenging.  Although there were no giant hills per say the whole thing was full of rollers and slow inclines.  Seemed like I was always going up.  And I did manage to charge my way up a few small hills so that was good.  And I even managed to snap a quick pic.

This wasn't the most scenic part of the run, but it sure beats running through the city!  So nice to smell the grass and the trees and not be breathing in exhaust for the whole run! 

So as the run progressed I reached downtown Friday Harbor and knew I only had a few miles to go to get back.  Penelope had told me the loop was exactly 8 miles.  So when my garmin said you've reached 7 miles I decided to push as hard as I could for the last mile and see what I could do.  So I did my best to run as close to a 7 or 7:30 mile as possible.  Considering it was rather hilly on the way back that was about right.  However somewhere in the middle of that mile it occured to me there was no way I was within a half mile of the house.  I should be going up the last hill by now and I'm not.  Hmmm.....    So I slowed down back to 8's for the rest of the way.  Yep.  Sure enough... the entire route was exactly 9 miles...   not 8!  So in the end I did a 9 miler today.  Still it was a good run.  My legs feel a bit stiff now...  but thats ok.  I just need to keep an eye on them as the week progresses.  Tomorrow is a pool day so they'll be feeling better soon.  I just hope I can get in the hot tub afterwards.  Last time I tried to do that after my pool workout there were about 8 much older ladies in the small hot tub.  So I decided to pass.  Its a small town... and I didn't feel like getting quizzed by the elders.  But right now my legs could use it!

Next up today...   still to be determined.  Perpaps a kayak trip, or a picnic out at Lime Kiln park to watch for the Orcas again.  Or maybe I'll just find a nice spot to watch for the Orcas and bring some Tri books along to read and relax and enjoy the fresh air.  We'll see.  For now though I'm off to get coffee.

Oh in other news...    My Tri Club (http://www.tri-ne.com/) has just posted the Time Trial results from the one I just missed.  Way to go Nancy!  6th out of 20 and the highest ranked woman!  Nicely done!  And you beat my best time by 40 odd seconds.  Can't wait to race you on the course sometime!  And I promise to smile and take it like a champ when you beat me!  I also saw Luis set a new PR and lots of my other friends did well too.  Way to go everyone!  Wish I could have been there!

Cheap Date....

Ok...  so I'm going to preface this with an admission.  Today started with a crappy swim workout, had some awesome wildlife sightings in the middle and ended with me saying...   fuck it.  I'm on vacation and I'm going to have one "food amnesty" night.  So my friend Andrew and I stopped for two beers on a rooftop deck overlooking the harbor, and then went to dinner where we started with fried coconut prawns and ended with the alfredo pasta with chicken and insanely fatty cheesy sauce with a glass of wine with that.  Then we headed across the street for this....

A two scoop "rabbit tracks" (which is basically all kinds of chocolate and carmel and badness in vanilla ice cream in a cup with a waffle cone on top.  I've easily eaten 4000 calories today... and maybe burned about 300 if I'm lucky.  And I don't care.  Well I do... but the point is sometimes you just have to say screw it and reward yourself.  I've gotten down to 138lbs.  Which is as low as I should ever go.  Thats my ideal race weight.  So if I put on a pound or two here in SJI it wont be hard to shave it right back off when I get home.  But I'll bet I have those shaved before I even get back.  This is also when I should admit that I'm a cheap date.  And currently after a few drinks I'm quite loose lipped.  So who knows what might come out in this post.  So buckle up!

So...  the start of my day began with me driving to the pool to get my swim workout in.  Changing in the locker room and realizing I have no goggles...  so I get dressed again and get back in the truck and drive back to the house.  Still can't find my goggles so I grab the backup pair.  (See!  This is why I pack so much!)  Drive back to the pool and start my workout.  Hmmm...   I can see why these are the backup pair.  They kind of suck and they leak.  Ugh.  My swim workout today was in a word.  Crap.  I was tired, my shoulders hurt and the more I tried the more I felt like I was pushing too hard and it just wasn't going to come.  My balance and body position were way off.  I did the best I could and salvaged what I could by using a pull buoy and working on arm technique.  I doubt I managed 800 yards in total today.  Probably more like 600.  It sucked, and I was exhausted and it was the direct result of swimming three days in a row again.  When will I ever learn?  So I gave up and went home.

Then the good part of the day started.  My friends and I went for a driving tour of the island where we saw all kinds of amazing wildlife today...   starting with foxes, deer, bald eagles, and ending with my favorite...  Orcas!  Lots and lots of Orcas!  We stopped at a few different parks today to watch the pods of Orcas swimming around the western side of the island.  All of the photos below are taken from shore.  They actually get quite close.  Its amazing how beautifull these creatures are.  I love them so much.  It really does bring insane amounts of joy to my heart to see them in the wild.  I can't explain it (and certainly not in my current state of drunken sugar buzz), but they really are the world's most magestic animals.  They have a stronger sense of family than even we do, and children stay with their mothers for life except when they leave to mate.  They travel in large family units called Pods and we saw two different pods today.  All I can say further is that seeing them brings such joy to me.  I feel like a kid on Christmas morning when the first dorsal fin clears the water and you see them for the first time.  The sound of them breathing as they swim by has to be heard to be understood, but it brings such a sense of wonder and amazement to me.  So here are some pics of today's sightings.  I have a TON of Orca pics so here are just a few highlights...  these haven't been edited yet...   but its a quick look.

Here are a couple of shots of the resident fox population that lives near one of the island's beaches.

And here's a shot of a bald eagle that flew overhead while we were waiting for the Orcas to swim by.

We got really lucky today... we were in the right place at the right time.  We must have seen at least two pods of Orcas today, both with lots of individual Orcas in them.  It was very exciting and it was fun to try and catch it on camera.  Below are some of the better shots from today.  These are all taken from shore with a zoom lens.

I feel like every time I see these guys in the wild its a gift.  I've also been told I have the best luck in seeing wildlife on this island.  It all seems to show up when I do for whatever reason.  Many of the locals tell me that its tricky to spot them from shore and you have to try several times before you catch them.  Personally I've seen them from shore every single time I've gone looking for them.  Sometimes I think I have a special connection with them...   or maybe thats just the alcohol talking...

So...  after running aroung the island looking for Orcas we headed back to the house around 4pm.  Which is when I should have headed out to do an hour of strength training.  But my shoulders hurt and my hammy is a bit tight, and I'm tired.  So I took the rest of the day off.  And then as I said already I then declared a one night only vacation food amnesty.  Which I'll regret tomorrow I'm sure, but right now I'm pretty happy about it.  In fact I'm quite happy about it.

So what can I talk about that I wouldn't otherwise under different circumstances?  Hmmm....    how I want to change careers and my job around so I can train more and not have to travel all the time?  Nah... thats boring.  True... but not very entertaining.  Or perhaps I should talk about how I think I'm essentially undateable unless I can find another athlete willing to put up with my travel schedule.  I'm pretty sure theres nobody out there that is going to be willing to put up with my work travel and all my training, and all my uber healthy eating habits (tonight's amnest excluded of course).  So I had better at least find someone who understands about the training.  Although I must admit after years of "serial monogomy" as my friends have called it (going from relationship to relationship pretty much since I was 15), its nice to be single again.  Not that I've been interested in anything but training and work....   but its nice to have a bit of a break.  But I tell you...    riding the long miles here out west by myself as I train it makes me long to share it with someone.  Anyone really...   a friend, a training partner, and yes... it would be really special to share it all with someone special to me.  Even better if they were to get the same thrill I got today when watching the Orcas in their natural habitat from the shoreline.  But perhaps thats asking too much...   I dunno.  I'd still like to think its possible.  But to connect this to the work situation I wonder if its going to require a move to make it all work.  Maybe I need to move to one of those communities full of athletes where everyone gets it.  Where not drinking, and eating healthy, and training all the time is normal.  Wow...   I'm really rambling now.  I should probably stop now...     I guess I'm just having one of those days full of ups and downs.  And somehow even the super big UP of seeing the Orcas today is being a bit overshadowed by my crazy life and the price I pay to live it.  Not to worry though...   I'm find.  I'm just a bit drunkenly pensive.  Time for me to go drink lots and lots of water, head to bed, and look forward to a long slow quiet hungover run tomorrow morning where I can dream of better things on the horizon.

Tri Tuesday

Tuesday's for me usually consist of a swim in the morning and then riding the Providence Bicycle Time Trial / Brick Run that evening.  Since I like to try and keep my training schedule as consistent as possible I did something similar here out on SJI.  The only difference being I did everything this morning.  So heres how my day went....

I was at the pool at 7am to get some laps in.  I had a productive session today.  I did 20x50 meter repeats with a strict no more than 30 seconds rest between laps.  Actually really I did 18 repeats and then a 1x100 meter.  For a total of 20 laps.  Which is just over the half mile I'll need to be able to swim for the tri.  I think I should ideally get that up to a total of 1500 meters per swim and then try and start to reduce the resting intervals at the same time I try and change as many of the 50's to 100's as I can.  So I think thats my strategy going forwards.  I had to share a lane today in the pool which in the past had made me a bit nervous I'd smack into the person but I did really well today and kept to my half of the lane I'm happy to say.  Here's a shot of the small fitness center on the island. 

After my swim I made a quick stop for coffee and then headed back to the house to go and get changed.  Which is precisely the point when it started to rain.  So I got all prepped for my bike/run brick workout and then waited a bit to see if the rain would stop.  Not so much because I didn't want to ride in it, but mostly as I didn't want to have to deal with getting my freshly cleaned and lubed bike all wet again.  I gave it a half hour and the rain let up to a drizzle so I headed out to brave the elements.  It was cold, windy, and wet!  Lovely.  I headed out towards the less populated side of the island today thinking that there would be less traffic and no intersections to deal with so I could ride as fast as I wanted to.  And I chose a great route.  The problem with the route however is that within about two miles into it it started to rain much heavier.  And there were a lot of descents.  Many of which I could see the whole length of, but due to the rain, the rough pavement here, and the fact I don't feel like injuring myself uneccesarily I took no risks today and kept my speed on the descents to 25 max.  I felt safer that way.  Had it been dry and had I have ridden the course before I would have been braver, but today I played it safe.  There were a lot of descents on the way out, which means there were going to be a lot of climbs on the way back!  I hit the 7 mile mark fairly quickly and then turned back towards the hills.  I went as hard and fast as I could on the hills.  They were tough!  Granny gear standing on the pedals the whole way up some of them tough.  But I fought my way back up them and managed a fairly speedy transition into my running gear that I was pretty pleased with.  I rode 14.5 miles on the bike, and I managed a 17.5 mph average for that.  Considering the reduced speed descents and the large amount of hills on the way back (way worse than the TT course) I was pleased with that.

Then I started out on the run.  The run was a route that I have run here the last time I came to visit.  That particular run was one of the runs I went on where I really fell in love with this place.  Its a pretty magical route that has about .5 miles of pavement, and then about 2 miles of trails through the woods, and the rest is on a gravel road/trail that goes arounda  small marsh/pond thats surrounded by small farms.  The only way I can describe it is it's like running through a forrest and then coming out in the Shire from the Hobbit.  Its so beautifull and the farms are so small with a few horses here and there, and its so quiet and the birds are singing and there is tall grass and flowers and lillypads on the pond and its all so beautifull.  It makes the miles fly by with a smile on your face.  Even when its cold and raining.  All in all the run was 5 hilly miles long.  I managed an average of 7'40s for the 5 miler which I was also happy with.  So it was a good brick day.  Actually really it was sort of a rehearsal for the larger of the two tri's I'm doing.  I may try and do the same thing next week and figure out a way to do the whole thing as a race rehearsal with both transitions in it.  We'll see logistically how that works now.  Oh I'll try and get some pictures of this running route.  I'll probably walk it again later this week with a camera.

Speaking of logistics...   my friend Andrew is now here as well.  So we have all sorts of touristy outings planned.  So now I'll need to juggle that and my training as well.  Which I can do, I'm just going to have to be smart about it.  For instance tomorrow morning is a swim day.  Technically its also supposed to be a strength training day.  But I don't know if I can fit that in as well as once I get back from the swim we'll probably head out to go and do stuff.  So I'm not sure if I'll have time to get back to the gym and I can't swim and go right into strength training.  My shoulders will fall off.  So I'll have to play that one by ear.  I guess if I skip the strength work for a week or two it won't kill me, but I'm really enjoying it and its benefits so I'd like to keep it going.

And while were on the subject of logistics...   heres a pic of the floor of my bedroom all laid out with all the gak I had to pack to train for three sports at once while on vacation.  Amazing how quickly it all adds up!

And here's a shot of the view out my bedroom window.

Most mornings and evenings I can see several deer out back grazing on the grass.  Speaking of which the wildlife out here is amazing.  I've already seen foxes, deer, bald eagles, and soon I'm sure I'll add some Orcas, Seals, and Minke Wales to that list too.  Oh and incidentally...  this picture was taken at 9pm.  Yep.  Its that light out here at 9pm.  Sunset is pretty late around here this time of year, probably around 10 or 11pm, and sunrise is around 3am.  Not a lot of darkness to be had!  But fortunately for me all this training keeps me pretty damn tired so I'm sleeping like a rock.  Speaking of which...  its time for me to go to bed!

I Suck at Rest / Off days

So as I said earlier today was supposed to be an off day.  And after my swim this morning I spent the afternoon chatting with my friends and laying on the couch reading a book called "First Triathlons" which is a collection of stories about people completing their first tri.  And I kept snacking on those little mini cliff bars.  And it wasn't long before I'd eaten way too many of them.  They are so bitsize though.  But before you know it you've eaten 1000 calories.  Ooops.  So I'd better do something about it.  Plus its way too nice out to stay inside.  Penelope was headed to her Tae Kwon Do class at 530 and was going to ride her bike there.  So I said I'd ride over with her and then go for a long recovery ride while she was in class and then ride back with her.  So I suited up to ride and we left about 530.  Penlope's bike is actually one of those electric assist bikes with a kiddie transport trailer on the back of it.  So she's riding up front in her workout clothes and I'm behind on my road bike in a cycling jersey.  We probably looked pretty silly.  Oh and I didn't actually know her bike had a motor in it which was pretty funny.  We were pedalling along and chatting and we came towards the first hill.  I hear this wirring sound and then she shoots off up the hill.  I had to stand on the pedals and gear up to catch up to her and keep up.  I was think WTF?  why am I struggling to match her pace considering her bike probably weighs 20lbs more than mine does?  Yeah...  thats when I realized it had a motor in it!  But to her credit she only used it on the uphills and only on the way to class so she didn't burn out her legs before her primary workout.

Anyway... we split off at that point and I went off for my ride around the island.  I picked a direction and rode with the general plan of following the coastline till 6:45 and then turning around to meet P when her class let out at 7:30 for the ride back to the house.  The ride was really pretty.  I went at a very relaxed pace as I just wanted to enjoy the scenery, recover from my hard effort yesterday and save some energy for my planned brick workout tomorrow.  So today's ride was just to loosen up the legs and enjoy myself.  It was a little on the cool side when I started but not too bad.  Probably around 60 degrees, but that quickly lowered as the ride progressed, and it was quickly made to feel much much cooler when the wind really picked up.  The crosswinds and headwinds at times were nuts.  I was getting blown all over the road and the headwinds were turning descents into hard efforts.  Somehow they never seemed to turn into tailwinds though.  Which was annoying!  Especially as descending into all those headwinds I felt like I would be rewarded when I climbed those hills on the way back with a tailwind.  Nope.  Somehow the wind kepts shifting about.

The scenery out here is amazing.  It was such a beautifull ride.  So nice to ride down roads with tall trees on either side of them or giant rolling fields, or a view of the ocean, and rocky beaches covered in driftwood.  Its really quite spectacular out here.  I did stop for a couple of quick pics...  so here's some snapshots of my views today...

So at around 6:45 I figured I had better turn around if I wanted to be back at the TKD place by 7:30 to ride back with P.  This was also about the time I realized that I'd done an awful lot of descending during the first part of the ride and that I'd have to do a LOT of climbing to get back there and I'd better be quick about it!  So much for a relaxing ride!  So I rode fairly hard the whole way back.  It was made worse by the fact the wind had really picked up even more.  The climbs into the strong headwind were no fun!  But good training.  I rolled into the TKD parking lot at 7:30 exactly but P wasn't there.  I had told her not to wait for me.  Turns out she had headed out a little earlier knowing that I was much faster than her and I'd catch up.  So partly because I thought it would be fun I raced as hard as I could to catch her.  Which I did about a mile later.  So we rode the last couple of miles back to the house together.  Including climbing a good sized hill where she turned the motor on and I had to race to stay with her.  Any time a car would drive by she would pretend to be pedalling.  I'm sure people were like why is she barely pedalling and he looks like he's working really really hard to keep up and he's on the fancy bike and she's on an older bike with a trailer in tow?  Well for the record.  She was cheating!  Thats why!  That motor really goes at quite a clip!

So another great day here out on SJI.  Next up is a swim session in the lap pool first thing in the morning followed by a bike/run brick.  And then a little nap perhaps and some reading and then my friend Andrew is coming in on the ferry as well so we'll add another person to the mix for the rest of the time I'm out here.  I'm looking forward to it!  Andrew has also said he's willing to rent a bike and go island hopping with me on the bikes/ferry.  Should be good fun!

Monday / Off Day

Monday's are technically my "off" day.  I tend not to take them off though...   I woke up this morning and spent the morning chatting with my friends.  Both of the girls are feeling better this morning so that was good to hear.  Oh and speaking of the girls...   their 8 year old daughter is quite the character.  Lately she's really into the Titanic.  (I know odd for an 8 year old eh?, but they have been studying it in school).  So an hour or so after I walked in the door I was handed a custom written test on facts about the titanic and was asked to take the test.  I got about 50% correct and was told I need to do better next time.  I've asked her to give me some lessons first before I have to take another test.  Good silly fun.

Anyway...   back to Monday.  So this morning was spent drinking lots of coffee and chit chatting.  Around 11am my friend Penelope and I headed off to the local pool/gym to get a swim in and get me situated.  Turns out they have a special this week so I was able to buy 12 guest passes for the price of ten.  So we headed off to our locker rooms, got dressed for the pool just in time to watch them pull the lane dividers out and let the old folks in for their water aerobics.  doh! So we got dressed again and went for a walk around downtown for an hour.  Then back into the pool.

Penelope teaches swimming lessons.  So we used our time in the pool to work on my form a little bit which was great!  She watched me from the side as well as from underwater and offered some great tips.  For instance I wasn't reaching as far with my left arm as I was with my right which I promptly fixed.  Then we mucked around with something called a swim tether.  Which is basically a giant bungee cord you attach to the wall and then wrap a belt around your waist that makes it so you swim in place without moving.  Sort of like a treadmill for the water.  Only instead of the water moving like in one of those indoor mini pools, the water stays still and the bungee stops you from moving.  I have to say I didn't care for it.  The resistance of it lowers your postion in the water a bit so when you go to breath you have to rotate more.  It felt odd.  But it was good practice and it allowed Penelope to critique my form without having to follow me up and down the pool which was great.  So we tweaked a few things and then we put in some laps. 

The form tips I got from Penelope were great...  my laps in the pool were not so great.  I was back to that feeling of being winded every 50 meters and its all because of my kicking.  I'm kicking way too much and its tiring me out.  And the kicking is coming from my body position.  And my poor body position is coming from too much open water time in a wetsuit last week.  As much as I love the wetsuit its not fixing my form at all.  So I think I may have to limit open water time to once or twice a week, or do it without the wetsuit on.  Once I started to focus on form I was able to lower the entry angle of my arms and get my legs back up where they should be and restore my balance which was good.  At least on the last lap or two, but it still needs work and as soon as I take the wetsuit off I start kicking too much.  So I need to work on reducing my kick when I'm not wearing a wetsuit.

I also took advantage of the fact Penelope was there to use my phone to shoot some video of my form.  Which you can see here:



Feel free to offer tips and advice on my form and suggestions for kicking less.  I need all the help I can get!

Next up...   I'll be back in the pool tomorrow morning for a 1/2 mile swim with as few breaks as possible and then not too long after that a brick bike/run workout.  I haven't decided what length to do.  At least 14 mile ride 5K run, but probably twice that.  We'll see though.