swimming

A few months ago, I started swimming with a couple of friends. We wanted to get 2 times per week but due to various reasons, I only managed once a week with them and only one time with the Saturday morning group. Yesterday, after three, maybe four weeks of missing Tuesday/Thursday swims, I got wet. Jeff and I started out and got 400m in before Eric got in. We did pulls of 200m each then took a minute or so rest and by the time we finished, I had 2200m in. I think I hurt Jeff and Eric on my last pull or at least the last 100m. We went from 1:55/100m to 1:40/100m and after we were done, they were rubbing their shoulders and trying to catch their breath. I might have a new patient out of the deal too!! It was fun and I am looking forward to getting back to my routine of 2-3 swims/week. I have been trying to get Stacey to commit to training for an event with me and once we have that goal, I think we can get ourselves up early or training later after the boys go to bed.

Tomorrow is turkey day and if all goes well, Kelton and I should be up running a 5K tomorrow at 7am. Since he has been getting up at 6am lately, I dont think it should be difficult to get there.

Riding in the rain

Saturday I hooked up with a bunch of people at Athlete's Lounge for a wet ride. Some people had fenders, others had none but even the fendered bikes threw up a ton of spray (after the ride, I took my bike down to Bike Central and asked them to put flaps on each fender). Before the ride, one of my new team mates came in the store and said he forgot his shoes. Luckily, someone in the store had a pair of shoes and I had a pair of pedals with me so he was able to ride. He also had a gift for me from Coach Scott at Factor 9 Triathlon Coaching in the form of a new visor with his logo on it. Pretty cool way to start the ride. We went out in a group of about 15 or so and ended up splitting the group about an hour into it. I rode for about 1:40 or so, not sure of the distance as my cheapo computer had died. It was a flat to rolling ride which was great for me as I had only been able to ride once in the past week. My HR Ave was 146 and overall my legs felt great and I wasnt sore at all afterwards. Aside from the spray, the rain hit us on the last 15 minutes of the ride but we were already wet. Athlete's Lounge, one of the sponsors of Ironheads, was a great host and had great facilities including a shower if you needed it. Some people are going to ride on turkey day at 9am and another group is trying to ride at 630am. I think it will be in the low 30s on Thursday so I am not sure I want to ride my bike in that, more for saftey reasons than the cold and Kelton and I are already planning to run/walk the Turkey Trot at Lacamas Swim/Sport at 7am. Who knows, I might see if its OK that I ride afterwards. It is afterall, the time of the year when most people gain weight, I might as well not add to that number. Ciao for now,
DS

San Diego Triathlon Challenge 2007

This year on November 1 was the five year anniversary of my injury. A lot has happened in five years. My most proud accomplishments have been the completion of three half iron distance triathlons and an Ironman. Two of the half iron distance events were in La Jolla for the SDTC. This year I was going to do a relay and just do the swim portion of the event so I could enjoy the expo but mother nature and apparently some criminals prevented that. The event was cancelled three days prior to the scheduled date due to the wildfires that damaged Southern California.

I was a little disappointed in one way as I was really looking forward to the inspiration I always got from watching challenged athletes compete. I am a PC athlete myself but I have all my limbs and I dont use a wheelchair so I am in awe of those less fortunate than I when it comes to injury. On the other hand, I was happy to not add to the chaos that was happening in the San Diego area.

My swim training was not what it could have been but I know I would have been able to pull off a 35 minute swim even with the limited pool time I had. I am lucky to be able to swim well without too much effort but for the 2008 season, I plan on working towards a sub 30 min swim time in the half IM distance. I thought about joining the local Masters club but I don't know if I can make the swim times. At the same time, I like the coach Bert, and think he can help me attain my goal time. I have been swimming with a wetsuit or pull buoy for so long, I will need to really work hard to be able to swim without either one so I can be more efficient when I have to wear my suit.

Tomorrow Im swimming with a couple of friends something I hope to be able to do regularly. I am much faster than they are which makes it easy for me to transition to swimming device free.