Lanikai Triathlon 2012

So this was my second time doing this triathlon but first time doing the whole race. Last year, I did a relay due to a strained Achilles tendon. This year, feeling much better, I decided to sign up again.

Race morning pretty much sucked. Saturday morning was idea, sunny skies, light winds and dry roads. Sunday was the complete opposite. Heavy rain, wet roads and strong winds. Yeah, not my favorite weather. Despite being a swimmer for most of my life, being wet and cold isn't my favorite thing.
The swim was pretty choppy but still manageable. I've been in worse. Swim felt decent, not the greatest but not the worse. Rocked the SLS3 fobic speed suit. It's pretty much feels like I'm swimming shirtless. Taking if off was really simple and fast. Got to my bike in T1 one and noticed puddles in my bike shoes. The bike part was pretty much a suckfest. Every time someone would overtake me, I get a nice spray of water in my face. Thanks guys. The only hill in the race was pretty much a piece of cake. When you're around a 125lbs, hill climbing aint a thing. Going down was a different story. Wet brakes, wet road, road debis = not fun.
As you all know, the run is my weakness. People were passing me like I was standing still. It's pretty  demoralizing. The thing about this race is the last 1/4 mile or more is on the beach. It's pretty cool and all but you just gotta know where to run. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with my results. I'd like to blame the weather and all, but the reality is that I just need to train a lot harder.

 Swim -  38/347 - 9:24
 Bike - 96/347 - 33:18
 Run - 154/347 - 29:29
 Overall - 98/347 and 14/19 (M-25-29)  - 1:15:18

Here's some pics.

Start

 Swim finish

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Swimming Part 3

Here's the third and final part of my swim ramblings. Swim gear. This is just my personal preference so what may work for me, may not work for you. As triathletes, we have all sorta gadgets ranging from super useful to just hilarious. As a swimmer, a few things are essential when training, goggles, swim suit, and a cap for the ladies. 

Goggles 

My personal preference is to use Swedish goggles. I've been using these since I was a little kid and absolutely love them. It's basically two goggle lens, a nose piece (paper clips can be used in a pinch) and a rubber strap. The rubber strap can be replaced with a silicone strap or bungee cord since the rubber tends to break down. 

Swimwear 

 

I like to wear board shorts with a speedo/jammer under. Why?  I'm doing a swim workout, workouts should be hard. Why swim in speedos and make the workout easier? Shorts create drag, which makes it harder to swim, which makes you a stronger swimmer.

Anti-fog 

Foggy goggles suck. You can't see where you're going and you have to to defog them. Most of the time those expensive defogging solutions/wipes work for like 2min. Solution? Try baby shampoo. Just  dab a little in your goggles and rub till it's dry. However, the minute water gets in, you're screwed. 

Go ahead, give these things a shot. Let me know how it works for you. 

I don't have a Twitter account, but found these tweets by Swimmer Problems pretty funny.

"People always ask me if I listen to those mp3 players that you can swim with. what do they think I do? swim for fun? we don't use those."

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Why you should ride a black bike

Thought this was pretty funny. Taken from Slowtwitch.

"What are you thinking? Are you crazy? Black bikes have souls, lots of them, they sucked all the souls from ugly green, red, blue, and other clolr bikes. A black bike says don't f*ck with this guy. It's like having the worst of Satan and the best of Jesus in one bike. You suck the life from other rides and it goes into your legs, giving you more watts and taking watts from them. At Soma I rolled up on a guy on a blue bike that is from a highly esteemed maker. he said you are having a nice ride (I started 3 min behind him) I pointed at my Lucero - the badest badass bike out there and said "This bike gives me the power to crush you, take your energy and leave you twisting in the wind. You have nothing left for this race. BE GONE." He finished several minutes behind me. A black bike is so bad ass that no one, not one single person tried to pass me in my last 3 races during the bike, well one tried but only b/c his bike was black and blue but he son succumbed to the rolling fury that my bike is. This is the power a black bike brings. Sure you could ride something cute and covered with flowers, maybe a bell or streamers on the handlebars, some color coordinated handlebar tape and/or a seat. You could try to ride fast, the kind of fast a yugo gets when going down a hill with the parking brake on. You could try to pass someone "excuse me, but person in my AG could you please move right just a touch so I can squeeze around you, please?" Or you could ride death, something to strike fear into the hearts and minds of those around you. 18.1 pounds of rolling fury, the sound of the disc (black of course) rotating around exuding power combined with the sound of the H3C (black again) screaming down the road. The sound of a 1000 anguished souls coupled with the roar of the mightest creator laughing at the terror before you. Where a simple phrase "on your left" and the sound of fury and hell moves people over into the gutter. Or you can ride cute and polite. You choose, badass or ass bad."

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Swimming Part 2

 The past two weeks I've was feeling a little under the weather and just didn't have any energy to write. I'm feeling a lot better despite my 3 pack a day smoker cough and inability to get a good nights sleep. Anyways.

So you finally got your ass into the pool and you're swimming or doing something that looks like swimming. Good job, getting in is a big issue for some. Here's a few drills that can help make you a better swimmer.

Chest Press - Improves body position and kicking technique.Swim face down with your arms at your side and kick. Turn your head to breathe, exhale when your head is down. Main emphasis is to "push" your chest down so your hips and legs are high toward the surface.

Side Kicking - For prompting proper technique and rotation. Swim on one side with the your lower arm extended straight forward, while the upper arm rests on your upper side. Rest your head on your shoulder like your head is on a pillow. Kick. Exhale into the water and rotate your head to breathe.

Catch-Up Freestyle - Promotes better rotation arm-stroke mechanics. Begin kicking face down, bring your arms above your head. Imagine holding on to a railing while a tornado is about to suck you in. Take one stroke with one arm, kick for a few seconds and repeat with the other side.

Count Strokes - Helps improve overall stroke efficiency. Just count the number of strokes while swimming one lap of the pool. Try to lower the amount of strokes taken in the following laps.

Fingertip Drag  - Promotes complete arm extension and proper hand position in the release. Swim freestyle as you normally do but drag your fingertips across the surface of the water during the recovery phase.

Fist - Purpose is to teach you to rotate your shoulder and bend your elbow in the catch portion of the arm cycle to promote a better pull. If you're doing this correctly, you should only notice a small difference between this and when your hands are open. Swim freestyle but with a closed fist. 

Bilateral Breathing - Learn it. Why? If you're swimming in an ocean/lake there will be waves, would really suck to be breathing on the side that the waves are coming in on. What about the sun? Sucks to look into the sun for a whole 1.2 miles. How it's done? Easy. Breathe on the other side, every third stroke. Do it until breathing on both sides becomes the standard procedure. Almost like flip turns. 

Now you have no excuses for not knowing how to do drills. Get out their and swim! 

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Swimming

Growing up a competitive swimmer, I'm no stranger to swim workouts and the what it takes to become a better/faster swimmer. Those who never swum competitively or are new to swimming, often don't see or understand that just swimming for 30min or 1hr is good enough. Sure, swimming 500-1650yds great for pacing but it won't make you any faster anytime soon. The list of excuses from non-swimmers could go on and on ("no walls in triathlons, so why flip turn?" to "the chlorine makes me itchy"). Seriously. I'm no expert in running so correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to do some interval training to become a faster runner?

What is interval training? 

A workout routine which alternates a high intensity effort followed by a low intensity one. For example, 10x100 on 2:00. Say you swim the 100 on 1:35, you rest till the clock hits 2:00. 

Why add intervals into your swim workout? 

1. Improve your cardiovascular system

2. Gain strength

3. Builds endurance

Here are a few swim workout descriptions:

Warm-Up Set (WU)

Basically a easy swim, at a easy pace, just enough to get the blood flowing but not your heart rate up. 

Drill Set (DS)

Technique drills to improve swimming. Better technique = efficient/faster swimming. 

Main Set

Like the title says, this is the main part of the swim workout, there are six types of main set: base intervals, swim time trials, speed intervals, lactate intervals, threshold intervals, and fartlek intervals. 

Base Intervals (BI)

Freestyle swim intervals performed at moderate intensity and separated by short recoveries (ex. 6x100 with 5 seconds rest). BI's improve aerobic fitness, endurance, and efficiency.

Swim Time Trials (STT)

Swim a give distance at race pace. The main purpose is to help prepare you for race day and to guage your current swim performance level. This can be done at the pool or at a open water swim location.

Speed Intervals (SI)

Short intervals swum at speed intensity for the whole set. SI's will increase your maximum swim speed, your efficiency, and your ability to quickly recover from hard swimming. 

Lactate Intervals (LT)

LT's are middle-length intervals swum at max speed. LT's will maximize your swim-specific aerobic capacity and improve your ability to sustain faster swim speeds.

Threshold Intervals (TI)

TI's are longer intervals swum at threshold intensity. TI's will significantly increase your intensive endurance, or the time you are able to maintain a fast swim speed. 

Fartlek Intervals (FI)

FI's comprise alternating segments of easy and hard swimming. 

Kick Sets (KS)

Kick sets are basically using a kick board or not. The idea of this is to develop a more powerful and efficient kick. 

Cool-down Sets (CD)

Few easy laps at the end of each swim workout. Usually done at recovery intensity. 

How do you put this all together?

This is how I would structure my swim workout for the week.

Monday

WU (500)

DS (4x50)

BI (6x100 with 5sec rest)

LI (9x75 with 45sec rest)

SI (6x25 with 20sec rest)

DS (4x50) *

KS (4x50)

CD (300) 

Wednesday

WU (500)

DS (4x50)

TI (5x200 20sec rest)

SI (4x50 20sec rest)

DS (4x50) *

KS (4x50)

CD (300)

Friday

WU (400)

TT (1650)

CD (300) 

*It's good to force yourself to work on form while tired)

This is just an example of what I would do. The distance may seem a bit excessive, so it can be toned down to your individual needs.

 

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Granola

Sure, I've been called "Granola" occasionally and a hippie a few times but what does it actually mean? According to Urban Dictionary definition #3, Granola refers to  "A person who dresses like a hippy, eats natural foods (granola), and is usually a Liberal, but in all other ways is a typical middle class white person, and is likely to revert back to being straight when they finish college."

Middle class and white? Far from it but hey, if it gets me free stuff. 

Since I bought way too much oatmeal at the store this past weekend (never shop before dinner) I needed to do something with the excess amount. Granola it was. 

Granola adapted from Perry's Plate

1. 3C rolled oats

2. 1C sliced almonds 

3. 2 1/2T (packed) brown sugar

4. 1T flaxseed

5. 1/2c shelled sunflower seeds

6. 3/4t ground cinnamon

7. 1/2t ground ginger 

8. 1/4t salt

9. 1/3c honey

10. 3T olive oil

11. 1/2t vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 300 deg F. 

Using a mixer or by hand, mix ingredients 1-8 in a large bowl. Using a microwave safe bowl, combine 9-11 and heat for 30sec or until everything is mixed well. 

Add liquid to dry mix and mix till everything is coated. 

Line a cookie tray with parchment paper, evenly spread half of the mixture on the pan. Bake until golden, be sure to stir every 10 min to so the oats don't burn. About 20-30min. Remove and let cool on rack. Stir in any dried fruit if needed.

Granola will not be crunchy when taken out of oven, but will become crunchy once cooled. 

Enjoy!

 

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Wednesday Web Randoms

Since it's the second week of the build phase of my 1/2 Ironman training plan, I've been pretty tired and lazy to cook some new stuff. Here's some randoms from around the web. Also, if you have any questions, about anything, feel free to ask and I'll post up the replies in a week or so, 

Wednesday Web Randoms

Motivational #1

Motivational #2

Motivational #3

My wife said "she'd leave me if I wore those"

Ryan Hall

Pre-game music

Best tag that came on my shorts.

                                              Good read Can exercise help prevent cancer?

Slowtwitch!! 

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