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I swam yesterday for 1400 meters. It took me almost about 50 minutes. I can’t remember how long it took me in the beginning to do 1200 meters, probably more than an hour. Weekend was good, 27 mile bike on Saturday and also an 8 mile run on Sunday. Times are getting a little better. I am seeing more improvement on runs compared to bike. Swims are getting a little better as I am increasing distance on drilling and trying to swim farther.

I have been continuing my training since my triathlon. I average about 5-8 hours a week on training. Motivation is hard to keep up. Like yesterday, I was going to do a group workout with the tri club. But it had to start drizzling. I don’t know if it was June gloom. But I just brought my bike in for a tune up. I did go to the gym and did the bike machine. I don’t really like it but it works though. I did about 12 miles on it. My avg heart rate was about 144. Then I ran for 1 mile. That was my day!!

Well, what can I say? I did it yesterday. The swim was tough for me. I went into the water to do a warm up and I just freaked out for some reason. I didn’t know what to expect. I saw the seaweed, the fish and just deep water. I was glad that I had my wetsuit because it helped relieve my nerves in that I wasn’t working so hard. I was going to ask one of the swim buddies but didn’t but eventually one of them was there to help me out with my direction. I never knew how I swam in open water. I swim to the right. I had to take several breaks during the swim but I felt I was getting there. I knew that I was taking as many breaths as I could. I didn’t feel like I was doing well swimming. I think it all fell apart. When I finally got through the buoys I finally got to shore and I was tired. I used so much energy in the swim. As I came out to go to T1 transition to the bike I was tired. I couldn’t really run and I was confused and dazed but happy I was out of the water. I had issues trying to remove my wetsuit. I couldn’t get the zipper down but I finally did. When I got the zipper down I was halfway into the transition area making my way to my bike. I finally got there and I was able to get the wetsuit off pretty easily. My heart was racing. I got to my socks and it helped that I pre-rolled the socks so that they would roll on easily. I then tried to put on the bike shoes. They took long because they were regular bike shoes and I had issues with them because I couldn’t just velcro on all of the straps. When I finally got the shoes on, I put on my sunglasses and helmet and then started my way to the start of the bike. When I finally got to the point where I could pedal, it felt weird to just throw my legs over and to start pedaling but I couldn’t because I had to clip in the pedals and then start that way. When I finally got my shoes clipped in and off on the bike, I was relieved. I had got through my hardest part. I finally was making my way to fiesta island and was making it the best that I could. I did like that fiesta island wasn’t too hilly. I was checking my pulse and It looked like I was going at 165 bpm. I haven’t really done that on the bike. It was because of the swim. I felt that my body wasn’t getting used to this and I had to take a break somewhat on the bike. I was able to get some nutrition from my accelerade and it helped a little. I felt though that everyone was passing me by. I couldn’t really pass many up. There was one side of the island that was windy and it caused me to go slower. We had to do one big loop and then one small loop. It was ok. When I finally made my way back to the transition area for T2 transition. I was feeling better. When I finally got in the transition area, all I had to change was my shoes and my helmet to my hat. I was off and running. I told my brother that I had 30 minutes left. I also knew that I had to do two loops for the run. The run was a little different. It was partially in the dirt and off the dirt. It was only 3 miles though. I kinda started cramping halfway and it went away. I knew I just wanted to finish. When I finally got there I was happy. My brother caught it and that was all I needed. I am officially a triathlete…..

Wow, what a weekend. I learned so much at this workshop. Where do I begin? Anyhow, Gary Fahey and John Beaty were great coaches. They helped me tremendously, now its on my own to continue where they left off. I will continue to do the drills and try to improve on all aspects. I think some of my shortfalls are with my head position and body roll to breath. My kicking is a little frantic but I think my stroke form is not too bad. I wish I had another video to post, but maybe I can take my own videos soon. We went through all the Ti drills pretty quickly and we were even able to do some fist glove drills as well. It felt weird at first but I think it did help in the form and where the power is coming from. More updates to come….

Here it is my swim video! Post any comments!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZabpsuiM9tg

I have had my first swimming progress. I don’t know what it was but I thought of changing my swim routine. I have been working off of my tri coach Mike Plumb. But I thought of doing my breathing routine differently this time. My workout was supposed to be

4x 50m swim

4×50m kick

4×50m swim

4×50m kick

4×50m swim

I tried the first 50m with just my regular way of doing it. I felt like I never swam before like I was just starting again. I think I did it again after waiting about a minute or so. I then did it again thinking about my body position in the water and it might have helped a little bit. I then thought about what I was doing and then I tried to do less kicking and pushing in my chest and head. Then I figured that maybe its not my form at the moment and then I tried to do other things. By the time I was done with my first set of 4×50m I thought I confused myself anyhow. During the kick parts, I practiced the first couple drills of TI. I did the back drill, sweet spot, and sweet spot with arm extended. I finished that 4×50m kick. This is where it all began for my swimming progress. I decided to work on my breathing since I didn’t think I had a good breathing technique. Instead of doing every third breath, I changed it to everyother breath to concentrate on my technique of my head and spine alignment. The first 25m I would do every other on my right side and then the second 25m I would do strictly left. I think the first two 50m were ok but felt better. I did feel that I was getting better at it. My form was getting better with each breath that I was doing and I didn’t feel that my head and spine alignment was correct. I did have issues with breathing on my left, but I did feel better practicing it more. My breaks inbetween each set of 50 were down from 45s to 30s or so. I also tried to kick half as much knowing that the kicking would cause me to feel out of air at the end of a 50m swim. I left the gym feeling better than I could have. I just feel that now my swimming is progressing. The only thing now is to try to swim for as long as possible and see if I can do it.

Hey all,

Its been about a week since I updated. I still don’t think that my swimming is up to par. I have the TI workshop this weekend. I wanted to upload my video from my tri coach. I haven’t gotten it yet. I was sick yesterday also. I slept for like 12 hours. I think I overdid it over the weekend with all the activities I was doing. Kayaking 2 hours and biking for 1.5 hours on saturday. Then on sunday swimming for 1 hour and running for 5 miles. I tried also to help my brother with his swimming. I think he got a little out of it.