Swim Meet

Today we had a masters swim meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. I was nervous and excited. I like going to swim meets, I feel no pressure other than what I put on myself and I get to chat with a bunch of people that I only see at swim meets. Today I was scheduled to swim both the 500 and the 1000. I had not done this in a meet before. In fact, I swam the 200 a year ago and thought I was going to die because it was "so far."

Well it turned out to be a fun meet and I am pleased with my results. For the first time swimming the 500 and the 1000, I went in unsure that I could do it all with flip turns (I did), and whether I could maintain a pace all the way through the 1000 (I did) and beat the goal times that I had (I did). So a very successful meet in that regard.

Maybe it was the Swedish fish that one of my coworkers suggested I eat before the swim.

High School Running Track

So the new high school that is a mile from my house has a walking track that runs on the upper level around their gym. It is advertised at 8 laps per mile so I thought I would give it a try rather than do the treadmill thing.

Now either I am suddenly able to run 6 minute miles easily, or it is actually a lot shorter than that.

Trinity mentioned that her gym teacher said it is either 11 or 12 laps per mile which makes WAY more sense.

Hamstring

I have gone several days without even knowing my hamstring exists. No pain at all. Then suddenly I wake up this morning and the pain is back. Ugh! I did work it pretty hard with a strength routine last night that I added some hamstring strengthening exercises to.

I think we are moving in the right direction with it, but man this is frustrating.

Outside Run

Well with my new shorter stride, my watch thinks I go a lot faster and further than I really do, so I needed to get outside for a run to recalibrate my watch. Today was the day. I headed downtown to the lakewalk which is generally pretty well cleared of snow and such.

It wasn't nearly as nice as it was in San Diego but it was above freezing which for January in Duluth is a nice treat. The path was pretty good, but there were several large puddles of snow/ice/water that I had to run around. I managed to do 45 minutes of run/walk which was about 3.3 miles. The leg felt pretty good, and my watch seems to have recalibrated to my new pace.

Gait Test

So when I was last in to see the doctor about my hamstring, he offered to have one of his physical therapists do a gait analysis to see what my run form was like and how I might want to change it to prevent injury. So before Christmas I called and made an appointment for today.

I saw Robin the physical therapist. We first went over my history, then she did a basic exam looking at flexibility, range of motion, how I stand and how I walk. Then we went upstairs to hop on a treadmill. First we did some dynamic stretching exercises to help loosen up. She taught me some new things there. Then it was time for the treadmill.

I got on and walked for a little bit to further loosen up, then I sped up the treadmill to a running pace. Robin looked at me from all angles and then we stopped the belt. She told me that my stride was too long. She wanted me to have a much shorter stride and to lean forward when I run. The shorter stride will definitely help prevent the hamstring stretching.

So back on the belt I went to practice that shorter stride. OMG that felt soooo weird. I felt like I was taking baby steps. She left me with some paperwork, and some running routines if I wanted to follow them.

So I will be giving this a try over the next few run/walks I do.

TI Swim Camp Day 2

This is the practice pool we used for our class. We were in the building to the right for our dry land exercises and to watch the videos. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but still way nicer than back home in Duluth!

It was crazy, although I was tired Saturday night after the first day of camp, I had trouble sleeping just due to not being able to turn my brain off with all the things we had just learned. Sunday morning we started early at 730am. We spent some time going over our videos, critiquing ourselves and each other. We of course get very critical, but the change from Saturday morning was pretty drastic. Then we got back in the pool and we all looked TERRIBLE. So we went back through the progression of drills. One length, one swim thought, one drill. Then going back a different one. Focusing only on one thing helped a bunch. After about 20 minutes of that, we were back to where we were at the end of the day on Saturday and everyone felt better. 

A bunch more drills and practice. This time pairing up with someone else in the class to watch our technique and give us pointers. Another quick video session then back in the classroom for a while. A bit more dry land, some discussion and video analysis, and then back in the pool for another solid 2 hours. Lots of full stroke work, again focusing on single things with each length. Then 3 lengths at the end with the instructor videoing and talking over it to give us pointers. 

So while I had a good swim stroke, I had some significant fundamental issues. The biggest of which was my hand entry. I was reaching really far forward before entering the water. The video shows my elbow entering well before my hand. I also tend to push my hand towards the centerline rather than staying out wide. Those two things were causing my hips to drop and increasing my drag. By the end of the weekend I was doing that much better and I could really feel it. However I will need to practice it significantly because it is not natural yet.

So how do I know I got better? Two things come to mind.

First, in my masters swim class, we have done drills where we try to swim a length of the pool taking 3 breaths, then 2 breaths, then 1, then none. I have always struggled with this. I end up doing it in 1 breath, but I power through it and my heart is racing when I am done.  On Sunday morning, I was regularly swimming a 25 yard length of the pool without taking a breath and it was EASY. Almost like I could do that all day.

The second is my stroke count. I am always a 17 strokes per length person. That hasn't changed in the last year or so that I have actually counted it. Yesterday I was doing length after length after length at 13. Easy. We did a tempo drill and I got it to 12 strokes! I was shocked.

So I am anxious to get back in the pool at home and put some of this stuff into practice.

Not all work

A couple of years ago, we took a family vacation to San Diego for spring break. We did the zoo, and museums and the USS Midway, but one of our favorite spots was not a tourist attraction, but rather an ice cream store.

Moo Time Creamery is located on Coronado, and we drove there more than once on our San Diego trip for dessert after dinner. I couldn't possibly pass up having some dessert there in the evenings after dinner.