An Accidental Parade

I was in a parade this weekend.  It wasn't intentional.  But, you'll have to read on to get the details…


On Saturday, Katie and I ventured out to Hudson, Wisconsin.  Katie is doing the St. Croix Valley triathlon in 2 weeks, so she wanted to swim in the river a bit, then ride the bike course.  I offered to swim with her, and while she rode the bike course, I would get my 12 mile run in.

As we arrived at the park, we realized that we were at exchange #22 of the RAGNAR Relay*.  It seemed like the thing to do was to do the relay exchange, then walk down to the beach and look at the river.  We were actually going to swim in the river though.

The river was cold—surprisingly so since Katie said it was warm when she did Croixathlon in June just a mile downriver.  It was a good thing we had wetsuits, but we did warm up once we swam a bit.  The best way to describe the quality of the river is that it's like Root Beer, but without the fizz.

Katie swimming in the river.


Me swimming in the river.

I only did a little bit of swimming, and Katie did a bit more.  We decided to take a photo when we were done swimming:

Katie has a knack for getting unflattering photos of me.  Here are some examples from earlier events:

Swimming at Cleary Lake: "I can't hear you!"


Angry face while moving downward at the Red, White, and Boom!


Putting my wetsuit on at my first open water swim.

None of these compare to the one she got of me this weekend:

Yup, I look awful here.  Closed eyes and squinty face.

And, because that picture wasn't bad enough, she took one of me getting my wetsuit off:

Thanks Katie.

We changed out of our swimming gear, then got ready for the next activities:

I look like a dork cool person with my water belt.

Katie took off on the bike course.  I decided I would just run north on the main road through town for 6 miles, turn around, then come back.  (I don't use a GPS or anything, so I mapped it out beforehand and knew I had to turn around at a cemetery along the highway).  As I started running, I realized that I would be running along the RAGNAR course.  In some ways, this was cool—if I died along the course, I'm sure the RAGNAR people would have called the morgue or something.  But, it was also not cool because I was a little embarrassed when the water stop volunteers started cheering for me.  I told them I was just out for my morning run, and since they were just nice people, they still offered me water.

Heading up the road, I went through the town of North Hudson.  It looked like they were setting up for some street festival or something, and it was a little challenging to dodge the people.  I hoped this wouldn't be a problem on the way back...

When I got to the next RAGNAR exchange point, one girl (probably 14-15 years old), was excited to ask me how the run was.  I told her I wasn't in the relay, and she responded with a "Really??  Aw man…"  (Later, on my way back, this same girl would tell me with a smile to "have a great run!", so she was actually a really nice person.)

I reached the turnaround (it was a little early because I mistook a family graveyard for the cemetery I was supposed to turn around at, but alas…).  When I got back to North Hudson, a parade was in full swing.  Not just any parade, though.  It was the

North Hudson Pepper Festival Parade!!


Oh boy.  I successfully weaved through the millions thousands hundreds lining the sidewalks.  All was going well, and I though I was near the end of the parade, and all of a sudden…

I was IN the parade.


The parade route turned, and I ended up right in the middle of the parade.  I just wanted to cross the street, but the curb was lined with people, and there just wasn't a gap.  So, I ran in the parade for about 50 meters until I could find some lawn chairs to squeeze in-between.  At this point, I ended up in someone's backyard, and quickly got out of there to find my way back to the road.  Let's just say that I'm going to avoid the Pepper Festival in the future…

*The RAGNAR Relay is a 193 mile relay race from Winona, MN to Minneapolis.  Teams of 12 complete the legs over a period of about 2 days.  It looks like a blast, and I may consider doing it next year.

Getting Prepared for the Race

This whole experiment of trying a triathlon is about to come to an end.  The race is Saturday, and I don't have any more workouts planned until then.  This past week has been about preparing for the race, and it started back on Saturday with a trip down to Cleary Lake.  Katie, Ariel, David, and I met down there with the intent of swimming the swim course and biking the bike course.  (David isn't doing the triathlon, but he joined us for a number of workouts and he's coming to be a spectator on Saturday).

Here we are before swimming:

Ok, well, David is a little tall.  Let's try that again:

Doh!  Now I've cut off his chin.  Here's my solution:

A little photo editing, and voila! 100% of everybody's faces are in the picture…more or less… (Sorry David)

We started with the swimming.  A problem we encountered (like the last time we were there) was the "beach curtain".  It's a floating curtain that separates the swimming area from the rest of the lake.  You can't swim under it either because it goes to the lakebed.  We weren't going to let it stop us though, and after some less than graceful flops (David and Ariel chose the see-saw method and I did the horse mount method—I don't remember what Katie did*) we made it into the lake.

*It's not that I didn't pay attention to Katie, it's just that her focus was not on the flops as much as it was on the weeds.


Speaking of weeds…Cleary Lake is full of them!  Katie wasn't happy with this.  At one point, I hit a patch of weeds so thick that it just stopped me in my tracks.  It just wasn't possible to swim through that patch of weeds, so we had to go around.  We ended up swimming most of the course (the buoys weren't out, so we guessed on how far to swim).

We then did a bit of transition practice, and there I realized that I'm not so efficient with the transitions.  I dropped my swim cap and goggles, my wetsuit got stuck a bit, and I didn't double-tie my shoes.  This is something I needed to practice more (ominous foreshadowing…).

Then we hopped on our bikes to ride the course.  I borrowed Katie's slicks and put them on my bike, an WOW, what a difference!  I can really notice a big difference in the amount of rolling resistance.

The ride itself was mostly uneventful (Ariel warned us of some roadkill, but it turned out to be a banana).  David even had a chance to take a photo (I'm stealing your photo for this blog, David).

David taking the photo—just in case you couldn't tell.  Ariel is very visible.

Truthfully, I had no idea David was taking photos.  I didn't know he did that until I was tagged in this on Facebook.  I think I was concerned with the rumble strips more than anything else.

Well, that was all fine and dandy.  We had fun, and I even had the adventure of trying to go to the bathroom in my tri suit.  Since it's a one piece suit, it's pretty much impossible to go to the bathroom while wearing it.  But, I still love the tri suit, and it's worked great so far.

Remember the ominous foreshadowing?  It's true—I needed to practice transitions, and I did just that.  Well, kinda.  I did a brick workout on Wednesday with a 25 minute bike ride followed by a run.  I could practice T2 pretty easily, and I was quick at it.  If the actual transition in the race includes opening and closing a garage door, I'm all set.

T1 is where I had my problems.  Wednesday night I decided I would look ridiculous in front of my neighbors practice T1 a few times out in the parking lot.  I suited up in my tri suit and wetsuit and went out to my garage.  There I set up a little transition spot:

Yes, that's a folding chair.  No, I don't plan on bringing it to the race—it was so I could put my wetsuit on.

I don't have a lake at my apartment complex.  So, I'll admit that someone wearing a wetsuit, swim cap, and goggles may look a bit out of place in the parking lot:

Here was my thinking: it's tough to take a wetsuit off when it's dry, but tough to put it on while wet.  If I could successfully take it off while dry, then I should have no trouble in the race when I'm wet.  And, since I was dry, I could practice this a few times.  It didn't work out that way, though.  I made a bit of a video to show you why:

Yup, it started raining.  So, I got wet enough where I couldn't get the suit back on, but it wasn't wet enough to help me in getting it off.  So, I fumbled through one T1 practice, and called it a night.  I'm hoping I'll have better luck on Saturday.

I'll post tomorrow with my thoughts on race strategy.

Swimming Progress

I'm not a natural swimmer.  I'm sure you know this.  Watch me in the pool, and the term that comes to mind is "sophisticated drowning".  Nonetheless, I've been working to improve my swimming.  I signed up to take private swimming lessons, and so far have completed 2 of the 3.  My coach, Kalli, is really knowledgeable, and finds ways to help me with my stroke.  She's given me some good drills to use, and I think I've sensed some improvement.

Still, I haven't been able to do much beyond short swims.  When the pool is set up in its 50 meter configuration, I barely make it one length.  I'm typically gasping for breath, and my form has gone to hell after about 30 meters.  Not a good sign if I want to swim ¼ mile in the triathlon.

This week, though, Kalli sent me some workouts for my own use.  There are 3 of them.  1 focuses on endurance, 1 on drills/technique, and 1 on speed.  Today, I picked the endurance one to work on.  Here it is:

• 200 yards flutter kick with board
• 200 yards pull with pull bouy
• 100 yards front crawl- fingertip drag drill
• 50 yards front crawl- sprint
• 100 yards front crawl- high elbow drill
• 300 yards front crawl- moderate pace, breathing every 4/5 strokes (every 2/3 strokes when you become tired)
• 150 yards front crawl- cool down (slow pace, breathing at your own comfort level)

See bullet point number 6?  Yup, 300 yards continuous.  I was not looking forward to that.  I knew it wasn't possible for me to swim 300 yards.  But, I started the workout.  And made it through the first 5 bullet points.

I started the 300 at an easy pace.  300 yards later, I finished.  I'll repeat:  I swam 300 yards continuously!  Now, it's not that exciting because the pool was in its 25yd setup and I pushed off the wall, but even at the end, I wasn't gasping for breath and felt like I could go on for a while.  In fact, I only rested for about 30 seconds before I tackled the 150 cool down without a problem.

I'm excited that I'm making noticeable progress now.  Unlike running, I really don't have a way to measure progress.  Even if I'm improving, it doesn't feel like it because swimming is just so unnatural.  Thus, being able to go a longer distance gives me some encouragement that I may be doing something right.

My First Open Water Swim

In truth, I have done open water swimming before.  I have swam in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico numerous time.  However, on those occasions, I just splashed around and rode the waves in on the raft.  There was only one time I have swam in open water with the purpose of locomotion.  Here is that story…

In the summer of 2003, I went to camp at Stony Lake Camp in New Era, MI.  Upon my arrival, they told us that if we wanted to swim in the lake, we had to do a swim test.  No problem, I thought.  So, I grabbed my trunks and meandered down to the lake.  The goal was simple: swim back and forth across the swim area once on your front, then once on your back.  I started out on my front, and while I probably didn't do the front crawl, I made it the full distance.  Then it was time to do the lap on my back.  If you've ever done backstroke, you know it's tough to keep going in a specific direction.  Well, take a look at this photo:

If you can imagine, the blue line is the desired back-and-forth route that I was supposed to swim.  The red line is what I actually swam (this is not an exaggeration!).  What would happen is that I would swim too far out and the lifeguard would whistle at me and tell me to turn.  So I did.  Then I would swim so close to the shore that I would hit bottom and have to turn again.  I then repeated this a number of times.  So, my first open water swim with the purpose of locomotion was not a success.  As it turns out, I didn't swim for the rest of my time at camp…

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

If you remember, Katie and I bought wetsuits a few weeks ago, so we we're eager to try them out.  We decided that Memorial Day weekend would be the first time out.  We looked at lakes, and decided to go to Square Lake just north of Stillwater.  This lake is well-known for being a very clear lake.  This was a plus (particularly for Katie).

We headed out to the lake and set up camp on a picnic table near the water.  Here we are in front of the lake on a beautiful Minnesota morning:

Yeah, I wasn't so good at taking photos this morning.

When we got there, there were maybe 3 or 4 boats on the lake, and a few fisherpeople on the dock, but for the most part the lake was empty.  We then began the process of getting our wetsuits on.  I ran into an issue right away—I ran out of Body Glide!  I managed to get most of my ankles and some on my neck, so I hoped that would be enough (it was).  Katie got hers on first, and struggled a bit getting everything adjusted.

See the pink flowers on the ankles?

Success!

Katie got hers on, but it wasn't quite right, so she went into the water to get everything adjusted properly.

While she was doing this, I was trying to get into my wetsuit.  Katie was not as generous as I was, and took some less than flattering pictures of me during the ordeal.  Here are a few of them:

Working the legs up.

What am I doing here?  I don't know, but probably grimacing because I'm so pale.  I apologize for my paleness—that's just how I am after the winter in Minnesota.

Fiddling with the pull tab.



I'm in.



Returning from the water after getting my suit adjusted properly.


Looking like a dork with my Creamsicle colored swim cap (the color is supposed to be unnatural so boats don't run you over, or Katie just wanted me to look silly).


Both of us, ready to go!  (Yes, another bad picture.  Blame it on the self-timer)

With our wetsuits on, we headed into the water.  Typically, at this time of year, lakes in Minnesota are rather chilly.  Because of the unseasonably warm weather we've had since, well, March, the lake was not cold at all.  Another swimmer told me the lake was already at 72°!  In May!  Not quite pool warmth, but there was not danger of being too cold.

Wearing a wetsuit in the water is rather odd initially because you notice the added buoyancy right away.  I was so light in the water.  It's also a little alarming when you get deep enough so the water reaches the zipper, and a cool water flows in rather quickly.  We swam a bit just to get used to the water and the wetsuits, and ventured outside the swim area a bit.

My suit has arms, but I didn't feel any restriction in my shoulders, so I'm confident in my suit purchase.  I also enjoyed being able to flip to my back and float when I got tired.  The buoyancy of the suit helps out tremendously.

As I already mentioned, the lake is very clear.  This is helpful for Katie because she isn't a fan of open water swimming.  The combination of not seeing things, and the weeds, and the fish make her uneasy.  Since this lake is so clear, she can see what's under the water, and she felt much better than in her other swims.  Go Katie!

There were also a few other swimmers there.  One guy got in the water when we did, then swam around the whole lake.  I don't know how far that is, but I'll guess he went almost 2 miles in the water.  2 other guys showed up and stayed pretty much right by us.  It was their first time in wetsuits too, so we all got to experience the new things together.

Unlike a pool, the lake isn't marked for distance.  We swam back and forth just inside the ropes 2 times, and halfway once.  I also created a triangular lap between 3 buoys just outside the ropes and did that twice.

My swimming actually went quite well (no doubt assisted by the wetsuit).  The wetsuit acts a lot like a pull buoy (in fact, my suit has a feature called a "virtual pull buoy",  which means it has thicker material around my thighs).  I thought it worked better than a pull buoy because I got the buoyancy effect, but could still kick.  With the ability to kick, I could work on that a bit, without having to always try and keep my lower half high in the water.  I was able to slow my kick down a lot and just work on form.  It was great.

Overall, I had a great time swimming in the lake.  I enjoyed it 10 times better than swimming in the pool, and didn't really want to stop swimming.  There's something about being in nature on a beautiful day that just draws me in (much like the difference between running on a treadmill and running outdoors).  If I could do every swim in the lake, I would.

We did quit at some point, though, and headed out of the water.  Katie stripped her suit off right away, and had a little trouble on the beach doing a fancy dance.  I didn't get a picture of this, but here she is rinsing her suit off:

We snapped another photo:

Katie's swim cap turned from pink to green in the water.  (Not really, but wouldn't that be cool?)

I showered with my suit on first to get any grime off the outside, then I stripped and rinsed some more:

Seriously, I look awkward in so many of these pictures.  It looks like I'm talking to my suit in a very stern voice.

We packed up, then hopped in the car and headed back to St. Paul.  Great swim, and I hope we do it again soon!

My Shoulders are Sore

Running is primarily a lower body activity.  Sure, it's very important to have good core strength to keep up the running form, but it's still focused on the legs.

Well, swimming is not a lower body activity.  Even though I kick in a frantic and haphazard manner, my arms still do most of the work.  So, here are my workouts from the past 3 days:

Monday Morning: My first "swim"*.

Tuesday Morning: 4 mile run at 7'54" pace.  I'll admit that this was a faster than I had intended, but I felt good, so I kept the pace going.

Tuesday Afternoon: Another swim, 50 yards longer than my first.

This Morning: 7x400 on the track.  With a new race under my belt, I was able to calculate a new interval pace, so these were faster than the last set of 400s that I did.  So, these 400s hurt.

Now, you would think that my legs should be in rough shape after 2 tough runs in a row, right?  Nope, my legs feel fine and my shoulders are quite sore.  It's a weird feeling to have my upper body this tired.  I had been doing strength training over the past few months, but that just doesn't compare to the workout I apparently got while "swimming".

* At this point, when I say "swimming", I mean that I do something that roughly approximates what other people call swimming.  Maybe someday I can lose the scare-quotes.

Born to Swim: Do You Like Iron Man?

After yesterday's disaster in the pool, I went for run this morning.  It was a great run, and I felt really good even after a tough swim.  I decided it would be a good idea to go to the pool this afternoon and see if I could run in the morning and then swim that same day.  This was all pretty much on a whim—I didn't even have my contacts with me!  Pretty much blind, I went to the pool and worked on breathing.  It was still frustrating, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.  I still have a long way to go, but it wasn't as completely demoralizing as yesterday's swim was.  I also went 50 yards farther than yesterday, and my rests were considerably shorter.  Then, of course, I was really excited to use the centrifuge.

So, I was in a better mood leaving the Rec because of my better than awful swim.  As I was walking, an undergrad carrying flyers came up to me and asked: "Do you like Ironman?"  My mind thought she was asking about this:

I thought that was a very timely question since I'm starting to swim and may someday be an Ironman*.  So, I responded with: "Well, I'd sure like to be one someday!"  She then gave me a very confused look.  I then realized that she really asked "Do you like Iron Man?":

Sheepishly, I responded: "Oh, the movie.  Never seen it."  I then chuckled to myself and walked back to my office.

*An Ironman Triathlon is the "holy grail" of triathlons.  It consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run.  Someday, maybe someday...

Born to Run, Not to Swim

I'm going to have more on the Falls Duathlon in the coming days when the official results get worked out.  They're posted, but some people ran the 3 mile run in 3 minutes or so.  If you believe that someone did that, then I've got some oceanfront property in Nebraska to sell you.  Watch for more soon.


If you remember, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to attempt a triathlon this summer.  The biggest impediment to this, though, is my swimming—or rather, the lack thereof.  Well, I figured it was time to remedy this.  So, I got a real swimsuit and goggles, and headed to the pool this morning.  I got in the water, and felt like this:

I didn't have a tweed swimsuit.  (I actually think my new jammer is quite stylish, but I digress…)  I did feel horribly out of place though, because, well, this is the first time I've ever gone to the pool with the intent of swimming laps.  Maybe it was an omen that the lifeguard was late, so we were standing outside the door to the pool for a few minutes wondering if we'll be able to get in.

I didn't have any particular goals (other than staying alive), but figured that I would try and swim for half an hour.  Katie was there, and has provided valuable advice all along, and I was grateful that she was in the lane next to me so I could ask her the dumb questions like "how do you work the pull buoy?"

I was also grateful that the pool was fairly empty, so I had a lane all to myself.  (This was good, because I wasn't swimming in a straight line at all.  In fact, at one point, my lower half crossed over into Katie's lane.  How?  I don't know.  But it happened.)  I just started swimming, trying to remember things from the youtube videos I watched.  My biggest problem was breathing.  I couldn't quite coordinate myself to turn my head and breathe.  On certain occasions, I got confused and exhaled above water and inhaled underwater (it doesn't work, btw).  After 2 laps, I told myself I would do 4 laps and call it a day (4 laps being half the distance I'll need to do in the triathlon).

Most of the time, I used the pull buoy.  I kick a lot, and this keeps me from focusing on breathing, so I figured that I should get breathing down first.  The pull buoy helped even though I still tried to kick with it.  It did feel like I was starting to get the hang of breathing, but I still have a long way to go.

I finished 4 laps, and was ready to leave, but decided that I should do 8 laps.  I've been focusing a lot on mental toughness lately with my running, so I tried to apply some of that to swimming.  (On a related note, Katie and I had a discussion this weekend on the vomit threshold, but I'll regale you with that some other time.)

Well, I finished all 8 laps.  I had to stop and rest every 25 yards, so I've still got a long way to go before I can swim the ¼ mile for the triathlon, but its 3 months away.  Here are some random thoughts on my swimming now that I can reflect on my first swim

• Unlike running, swimming is not a natural act for humans.  People can just run.  They may not enjoy it, but the principle of running is fairly simple.  This is not the case with swimming.  Every time I would try and focus on a particular part of my form (breathing, arms, legs, etc), everything I wasn't focusing on would just go to hell.
• I am not exceptionally buoyant.  Even with kicking, the lower half of my body has a strong tendency to drop in the water.  My kicking probably isn't any good—I feel like I'm kicking like mad, but my body still drops.  They say that for open water swimming, a wetsuit provides a great deal of buoyancy, so that my help in this department, but I still need to get my form correct before relying on tools like that.
• Right now, a half hour of swimming for me is akin to probably 90 to 120 minutes of running.  What I mean is that I feel as tired right now after the short swim as I would running 12 − 15 miles. I must improve on this.  I know I have the cardio endurance, but I'm wasting so much of it with my bad form.
• I'm going to take swim lessons.  I'm glad the U doesn't classify the adults with fish categories because I don't want to be stuck as a guppy again.
• The best part about the swim: using a centrifuge.  (aka, the "suit spinner" in the locker room)
• Swimming is tough!

Was it pleasant?  Not really.  But, I'll be back in the pool on Thursday, then Monday, then Thursday...