So that's what it feels like

I did the fastest 100 I've ever done today in the pool. Granted, I'm not a fast swimmer to begin with, but I guess that just gives me more room to improve. I've been doing 4 swims a week for about 6 or 7 weeks now, so I've been pretty consistent. Usually hitting around 9K yds in a week, which is a lot for me, especially when I've got a family and a job.

In any case, I had been hitting the 1:38 to 1:40 range on 100 repeats and doing in the 1:45 range for each 100 yds in a longer set (3x400, etc.) Then today, I did 4 times 5x50 on 0:57 followed by 3x100 on 1:53. In some of the 50s, I was actually doing 0:44 or 0:45 and in the set of 100s, I did 1:34, 1:35, and 1:33. 1:33 is the fastest I have ever gone for 100 yds, and that was the last 100 in the set! I actually felt like the water was gliding over me and started, just a little bit, understanding what it feels like to go faster in the water. While swimming, it was like a realization... ahhh... so that's what it feels like. Pretty exciting for a non-swimmer like me.

A month of PowerCranks

Well, it's been a month with the PowerCranks and things are progressing. I went on a 2-hour ride on the bike trail today and did alright. I am getting better at riding with my hands on the hoods, but that's still not comfortable for long periods of time. Perhaps the hardest thing is that I am not able to stand up yet, and frankly, I don't see how anybody could. An interesting side effect of that is more pressure on your butt for the whole ride. The only time you can take the pressure off your saddle is by standing out of the seat with both pedals at the bottom of the stroke, which is a tad weird. Nonetheless, I did some minor climbing (about 900 feet over 32 miles) and it wasn't that bad at all. I averaged about 16 miles an hour and 162 watts for the 2 hour ride, which I thought wasn't too bad.

I think I may be ready for my regular Malcom Dixon loop which has 1900 feet over 22 miles. Perhaps I'll try it in one of the next couple of weekends.

The down side?

So there is a down side to getting faster in the pool. My coach has made my swims harder this month! He cut my interval times down significantly so today I was working pretty hard to stay with them. In fact, it may have been one of the hardest sets of done... ever. Before I never really pushed that hard for speed. Now I suppose it does make more sense since I think my form is a little better and now I'm sure there is more to gain from more volume. Still getting used to an increased turnover and maintaining that for a while in the pool, but good progress thus far.

The PowerCranks are also going well, I think I may be ready to give my Malcom Dixon ride a shot although I'll probably wait another week or two just to make sure I can do it. It would be about 1900 feet of climbing over 22 miles. I haven't really done any hills yet, but I have done a couple of 45 minute rides out on the bike trail and can go for a while on the trainer now without stopping. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am also making good progress on the bike front.

I definitely feel like this off-season has more purpose thus far, which I think is a good thing.

Progress Already!?

So after only a week of the new swim drills and I think I've saved close to 7 or 8 seconds per 100 yds in the pool. No joke. The 2 tweaks that coach wanted me to make to my stroke have really made that much difference. Turns out, you really don't want to be doing most of your reach under the water. Duh. I mean water is way more resistant than air, so why not do most of your reach in the air. This has made a big difference. The other big difference is a more subtle change in my timing of the reach/pull. Instead of gliding too much and doing too much of a "catch up" stroke, I start my pull a little sooner and use a higher turnover. This keeps my speed up and in combination with the reach correcting some other things, has really got me going in the pool.

So last year I did a 37 minute swim for a half-iron distance; not particularly great compared to the pack, but good for me. The year prior, I did a 38 minute swim and a few years ago was doing >40 minute half-iron swims. 37 minutes is about a 1:45 per 100 yds. If I can hold a 1:38 per 100 yds, that gets me down to 34 minutes and change, nearly a 3 minute improvement already! And this is after a week of doing the "right" drills. I can't wait to see the video tape we made.

Making some progress on the PowerCranks, too. I did a 2 hour ride today and started it with 45 minutes straight! Not bad. Still very low cadence and I can't go with my hands on the hoods for very long, but I can at least keep things moving for a while now. And at the end of the 2 hours, I even took my bike off the trainer and rode around the block. Very weird. Especially as you come up over a hill and have to down shift and your cadence really jumps up high. I think I might be ready to try a short, flat road-ride now. I'll probably continue most of my riding on the trainer as I begin to try to go with higher and higher cadence, but I may try a ride out on the bike path this week. Not bad progress after just a week and a half, but I still have a lot of work to do!

Take 2

Second ride on the PowerCranks this morning... 15 minutes straight, then 1 minute rest, then another 15 minute interval. After the second rest minute, I could only muster to more 10 minute intervals for a total of 54 minutes with intervals of 15, 15, 10, and 10. After I got off, I couldn't get my shoe off without sitting down on my garage floor.

Technique and Form

I suppose in the offseason you should really be working on your form and technique in all 3 sports, right? (Perhaps some strength training, too!)

I got the PowerCranks set up this past week, thanks to Brad at Bicycles Plus, who generously let me watch over his shoulder, so I might actually learn how to do it myself next time. So yesterday, I took the first 20 minute ride just to see what it felt like. I made it 2 and a half minutes without having to stop pedaling. Yes, seriously, 2.5 minutes. I then proceeded to repeat my 2.5 minute intervals with 1 minute rests for the next 20 or so minutes. That was supposed to be my day off, but I was too antsy to give the new cranks a whirl...

So today, my plan was to go about as long as I could. I started with my 2.5 minute intervals again on the trainer, but then later in to the ride tried to stretch it out. I managed a couple of times to get to 6 or 7 minutes without stopping, which I considered pretty good progress for my 1st "real" session. I repeated for a little over an hour and then decided that my hip flexors had had enough. When I got off my bike, I could barely lift my leg up. Nonetheless, I put my running shoes on and headed out for my easy 30 minute run. I did one of my loops around the area that has a couple of pretty good hills. And I may be convincing this of myself or just plain making it up, but my legs did feel different than they normally would after an hour on the trainer. I felt fresher and my legs were not as heavy... perhaps this will really work out, but that will remain to be seen!

Then, after working on the PowerCranks trying to smooth out my pedal stroke, my wife and I went down to the pool to meet my coach for a video session in the pool! I have never done this before so I was really looking forward to it. Can't wait to see the video! In the meantime, I have some really good input and feedback to work on. As it turns out, I was way overemphasizing my body roll and my gliding and losing way too much speed in between strokes. According to my coach, I need to work on my timing and making sure my arm that is doing the pull starts moving quickly enough. I also really need to work on my reach and my turnover. My hand was entering the water too close to my head and allowing my to over-roatate too much and do some funny things with the angle of my palm. Should be interesting to try in the pool tomorrow in my normal session.

These last two week, between warmup runs and weight training, 4 sessions in the pool, 2 intense bike rides, etc., I put in over 10 hours in both weeks. Not bad for the "off" season!

1st Week

One week under my belt on the new "plan." So far, so good. The basics are: 4 swims a week preferable (minimum 3), 3 weight sessions a week, 2 quality cycling workouts a week, and extra running and spinning thrown in where I can, mostly as warmup for the weight sessions. It's more than I would be doing at this time of year if I had not hired a coach, but hey, that's the point, isn't it!? The swims are challenging, but not overwhelming, so that's been good. I'm trying to ease into the weights, so as not to be too sore. The focus is really on the legs and on exercises with multiple muscle groups involved. The first couple of cycling workouts have been good and the running is no big deal. The kicker for the week was the Tour de Tahoe, a ride around the lake. It is, as you might expect, a beautiful ride. It doesn't have as much climbing as some of the other rides around the foothills that I've done, but still challenging. 72 miles, ~3800' of climbing at ~6000 feet of elevation. I made it around in about 4 hours of ride time after riding a moderately hard pace (average watts = 165). And wouldn't you know, I wasn't smart enough to take a halfway decent picture!! Anyway, it was a great ride and a great weekend with the family in Tahoe.

The 2nd week is more of the same (minus the Tahoe ride). The biggest challenge will be to find a good rhythm and get all the swimming and weights in. 5 AM comes early, especially when it's every day. But spending time with the little kiddos makes those early mornings worthwhile. A 2-year old is just plain fun! The stuff they come up with...