New Swim Coach

So during one of my pool swims last week I noticed a sign saying that the Tri-Swim class was starting up again with a new coach. Anne, who was one of the regulars from the class before asked me about it and we both were going to sign up again.

Today was the first day with the new coach Lindsey. She had sent us all an email over the weekend asking us for our swimming history and any issues we had. I of course mentioned the neck pain I was feeling.

So she watched me swim today and after class we chatted about my neck. She said that I was definitely “throwing my head”. Well, now that’s a term I have not heard before. Basically she noticed that my head is completely submerged when I am swimming and that I have to pick my head up and then turn it to breathe. I do this all in one motion which gives the appearance of “throwing my head.”

  

This confirms what I was thinking that my head is tucked too close to my chest. So I have indeed been focusing on the right things the last couple of swims. Letting my head relax more, untuck my chin and rotate my head with my body to breathe. I can do that pretty easily when I am swimming slow, it will be more difficult to train myself to do that when I am swimming fast/hard.

But with someone on the deck watching me it will be easier for her to remind me if I fall back into old habits.

Makes me wonder how I got into that habit in the first place. I wonder if it started with the open water swimming. Over compensating for looking forward to sight by tucking my chin more when I wasn't sighting. It truly started later in the summer. Anyway, now that I know what to look for and do, I will focus on it.

HR based runs

I have mentioned that my coach wants me to do more specific paced runs which I struggle with doing. I don't know how fast I am going. So on my run today I experimented with some HR based running. My coach had mentioned that on my runs he wanted me around 145bpm for my HR. So using my watch and HR monitor I did my run today running until I hit 150bpm, then walking until I hit 140bpm. Repeat for the whole run.

It worked great, mean short run segments, but actually a pace that I was pretty happy with. So we will continue with that. I gotta see if I can get my watch to give me an alarm so I am not always looking at it.

Swimming and Neck Pain

So at some point in the summer I started having some neck pain with my swimming. It started as some soreness after a swim, and it got worse the more I swam. I was swimming some longer distances and open water too so I just thought it might be some overuse injury.

After the season I took a couple of weeks off from swimming. I was actually kinda sick of it and needed a break. I also hoped that it would help my neck too.

Then when I swam last week in Las Vegas I noticed that my right shoulder had a irritated spot on it where my scruffy beard was rubbing. This made me think that perhaps I have a technique problem.

So now I am starting this week with 2x/week swimming again. I will have to see how things go.

Not in Vegas Anymore

An easy 30 minute run on the schedule today and I wake up to snow and wind! Sigh, I guess I am not in Vegas anymore. It wasn't slippery or too cold, so just threw on my thermals and off I went. The one thing I wish I had was glasses, the blowing snow made it difficult to see at times.

I guess this is what I have to look forward to now that winter is coming quickly.

Vegas "triathlon" Complete

So with the swim on Friday, a bike ride on Sunday (strength workout in between), today was time for a run. Weather is around 70 and windy. Nice. Locals in jackets and long pants, makes me laugh. I am in t-shirt and shorts.

I did a nice two loop run in Sunset Park. 3 miles exactly at a nice easy pace. Good to get out and get some exercise to burn off the calories I am eating here.

Spin Class

So before I left on this trip, I looked into potentially going to one of the cycling studios in Las Vegas. After a bit of research I found one that was in the strip mall adjacent to the resort I was staying at. So I went over and checked it out and signed up for a class.

I attended the 9:45am class today. 13 of us in the class, one other guy. Basically like 40 spin bikes in a dark room with loud music. Instructor was energetic and did a great job.

The bikes had a power meter and RPM display, and they had shoes to use that clipped into the pedals. I had no issues with my feet today during this ride.

The class was basically done around the beat of the music which for me is WAY TOO SLOW. I like my 80-90 rpm and much of this class was 70 rpm or less unless we were doing a "sprint."

They also did much of the class out of the saddle which is something else I just never do. So I did most of it in the saddle and stood up for the "hill climb" part of the class.

There was also a 5 minute part of the class where we were just pedaling on low resistance and using a weighted bar to do some arm exercises. That was tough after my strength workout yesterday.

My power meter was reading somewhere between 179-190 during the easy part and 220ish for the medium resistance and 270+ for the hill climb part.

I was a total puddle of sweat after this class.

I think it is a decent option to get an aerobic bike ride in while on vacation or something.

Afterwards they email you the stats for the class. Average rpm was 74, average power was 203, max of 387.

Most importantly, class rank #1!!!

:-)

Vegas Swim

I am in Las Vegas this weekend for a work convention for 3 days and then 3 days of vacation afterwards. While here, I have workouts scheduled every day. Today was a swim. They have a 2 lane lap pool here at the Green Valley Ranch Resort so I was able to get a good 2900 yard swim in today. I am not sure if it is a full 25 yard pool but it is close. Lucky to have it so close to my room.