A Slow Swim Is Better Than No Swim

2,500 yards in 54:35 at lunch today.  Not super fast, but a solid effort and I didn't even get dizzy despite no Meclizine.

The first three sets were normal freestyle (preparing for the season's upcoming Olympic distance tris with their 1,500 meter swim legs), the next set was breaststroke only (prep for Navy Seal Fitness Challenge) and the final set was of alternating 50-yard laps of freestyle and breaststroke. My splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:38
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:49
• 3nd 500 yds: 10:54
  
• Water/AccelGel break: 0:36.5
• 4th 500 yds: 10:23
  
• Water/AccelGel break: 0:36.5
  
• 5th 500 yds: 10:38

Overall, a solid effort.  I am happy.

Iron Gym Pull Up Bar

I picked up the "Iron Gym" pull-up bar from Target on Friday for around $30 + tax. Despite the cheesy packaging (and extremely annoying web site), it looks like a solid product (and it got good reviews on Amazon.com)

I have it attached to the door frame of my laundry room. It's one of the few doors in the house that seldom gets closed. It doesn't look like it should hold "up to 300 pounds" but it actually works.


Here's a view of the back side. The z-shaped metal clip in the middle of the bar (wedged between the door frame molding and drywall) is there just so that the bar doesn't accidentally come down when not in use. When I (or anyone else) hang on it, the weight is distributed across the top and sides of the door frame and it feels safe and stable.

Overall, a worthy addition to my fitness gear collection. Now, I just have to USE IT. Less than 3 weeks until the Navy Seal Fitness Challenge on May 9!

2009 Sam's Club MS-150 - Please Help Support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Hi Everyone,

It’s almost time again for the annual MS150 bike rally from Frisco to Ft. Worth. On Saturday, May 2nd I’ll ride 86 miles and stop at Texas Motor Speedway, and on Sunday the 3rd ride 74 more to the finish on the cobblestones of Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth! With still two weeks to go, nearly 3,000 people have already registered to ride this year to support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s efforts to fund research, advocate for change and help people with MS and their families lead powerful lives! I’m trained and ready to go – over the past month, I have logged over 300 miles of cycling, so bring it on!

I know I do a lot of races and events during the year, but this one is for a great cause. If you’d like to support our ride by making a donation, I’d truly appreciate it. Any amount ($5, $25, $100) is welcome. All donations go to the National MS Society.

HOW TO DONATE:

You can use a credit or debit card to make your tax-deductible donation - just follow the link below to access my online donation page.
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=4687176&pg=personal&fr_id=10662

Thanks for your help!

Best,
-Andy

2008 USAT Ranking

By way of some semi-random web surfing last week, I came upon the USA Triathlon Rankings web site.  After playing fairly close attention to the rankings in 2007, I had all but forgotten about/given up on them last year because USAT had (and acknowledged) some ("technical") problems getting the rankings published in a timely manner.

Anyway, here are my tri results from 2008:

Not bad at all.  My overall score of 71.78625 gave me 4,674th place out of 11,382 in the men 35-39 age group (41st percentile).  And much improved from 2007's score of 65.30078 (5,125th out of 8,150 = 63rd percentile). 

Let's see if I can keep it up in 2009!

SEAL Swimming (x 2)

Some swimming to get ready for the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge - one session planned, the other unplanned -but both were good.

Monday: My first long swim since mid-February. 2,000 yards. Yay!

• First 500 yds - breaststroke - 10:05 (a bit slower than last Tuesday, but not too bad considering that I raced yesterday)
  
• Second 500 yds - freestyle - 10:51 (slow ... ouch!)
  
• 1 1/2 minute water break.
  
• Third 500 yds - alternating between 50 yds of freestyle and 50 yds of breaststroke - 10:37 (better)
  
• 1 minute water break
  
• Final 500 yds - same thing, alternating freestyle/breaststroke - 10:20 (good)
  

A lot of work to do, but a good start.

Tuesday: Normally, a spin-class day but ... I FORGOT MY SHOES. Oops! So had to settle for the only gym workout possible with no footwear: more swimming. Kicked it up a notch with a total of 2,500 yards today. Similar format to yesterday's session:

• First 500 yds - breaststroke only - 9:44 (fastest time yet)
  
• 1 minute water break
• Second 500 yds - freestyle only - 10:08 (not bad!)
  
• 1 minute water break.
  
• Third 500 yds - alternating between 50 yds of freestyle and 50 yds of breaststroke - 9:59
  
• 1 minute water break
  
• Fourth 500 yds - more freestyle/breaststroke - 9:55
• 1 minute water break
• Final 500 yds - another breaststroke set - 9:47.5

The pool is my friend.

After the swim, I rested for about 5 minutes and then tried some push-ups. Big mistake. I could only do ten in 29 seconds (you get 2 minutes in the SEAL Challenge) before complete muscle failure. A short rest and then another attempt - only six more. Sigh ... oh well - lots of room for improvement. Next up: sit-ups ... a little better - 37 completed in the 2-minute time limit.
I guess I just have to work harder and get better. A little over a month to go ...

2009 Fast & Furious F1 Duathlon

I participated in the 8th Annual Fast & Furious F1 Windfest ... er, Duathlon this morning at Lynn Creek Park on the shores of Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie, TX.  I believe the "F1" refers to the race format of 2 mile run, 11 mile bike, another 2 mile run, another 11 mile and then a sprint to the finish line (with your bike helmet and cleats)!  With a 24+ MPH average windspeed this morning, biking across the dam (especially on the return trips) was challenging at best and a little unnerving at worst.

Here are the stats from my Garmin Forerunner 305 (click to expand):

and these were very close to my official splits:

• Run 1: 16:11.9 (a solid 7:52/mi pace to start off; Roberto, along with the other speedier runners, passed me early on, but that was expected so I didn't try to go too fast and blow up)
  
• T1:  1:20.8 (a little slow; decided to shed my gloves and then had a little trouble getting on my bike shoes and my helmet and sunglasses had blown over; also took my normal extra time to down a SaltStick and AccelGel)
  
• Bike 1: 30:46.8 (20.2 MPH is more than 1 MPH slower than my time for the Texas Motor Speedway Du, but not too bad considering the stiff wind during nearly of the ride).
  
• T2: 0:53.6 (missed my bike rack - but just by a few rows - so overall a passable bike-to-run transition)
  
• Run 2: 16:43.7 (still an 8:05/mi pace - not much a drop from Run 1; I'm very happy about that!; Lee passed me just before entering transition - darn, I'm now officially 4 minutes behind him)
  
• T3: 0:59.0 (much faster than T1 even though I again took a salt pill and gel)
  
• Bike 2: 31:41.8 (30 seconds slower than bike 1 - getting tired, wind picked up, or both!  Passed Lee about 1/4 mile into the bike - gotta try to get some of that time back ...)
  
• T4/Finish: 0:19.6 (rack bike and then sprint to the finish line - just outside the transition area -- while still donning helmet and bike shoes!  I finished just behind the 1.4 seconds behind the guy in front of me - who placed second in the Clydesdale [men over 200 pounds] division - no wonder he was pushing so hard at the end. :-P)
  
• Total Time: 1:38:57.4

I placed 42nd out of 150 finishers and 7th out of 18 in my age group.  Lee took 28th place overall (about 2 1/2 minutes faster than me) and got an award for 3rd place in his age group.  I believe this is his first multi-sport award.  Way to go! Roberto was there with his friend Nick(?) and ran a solid race (top third) as well.

After the finish, we grabbed a (rather Spartan) post-race breakfast of Gatorade, bagels and bananas (Ironhead Jack said that the caterer didn't show up - not sure if that was a joke :-P) and waited near the beach at Lynn Creek Park for the awards ceremony.  Overall, it was a good event and a great course.  And the F1 format is interesting (and I heard that it used to include a third 2-mile run leg at the end).  I look forward to doing this race again in the future (especially if it is without the wind).

Full results at http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1725091

SEAL-Worthy?

In other news, last Friday, Lee and I signed up for the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge. The event is on May 9th at the Keller ISD Natatorium (same venue as the St. Patty's/Monster Tri) and consists of:

• 500 yd swim – Sidestroke or breaststroke only
  
• [10 minute rest]
  
• Push-ups – Max you can do in 2 minutes
  
• Sit-ups – Max you can do in 2 minutes
  
• Pull-ups – As many as you can do (not timed)
  
• [4 minute rest]
  
• 1.5 mile run
  

I've been doing so much (too much?) "swim, bike, run" so this looked like a good goal to work towards for increasing my pathetic upper-body strength. The web site notes that the standards that must be achieved to enter the SEAL training program (BUD/S) include the following:

• 500-yard swim (using sidestroke or breaststroke) under 12 ½ minutes
  
• 42 Push-Ups (in 2 minutes)
  
• 50 Sit-Ups (in 2 minutes)
  
• 6 Pull-Ups (no time limit)
  
• 1.5 Mile Run under 11 minutes
  

Furthermore, the elevated SEAL standards for the PST, which statistically gives the candidate a much greater chance of completing BUD/S, include the following:

• 500-yard swim (using sidestroke or breaststroke) under 10 minutes
  
• 80 Push-Ups (in 2 minutes)
  
• 80 Sit-Ups (in 2 minutes)
  
• 11 Pull-Ups (no time limit)
  
• 1.5 Mile Run under 10 minutes
  

I think I can handle the swim and run segments (though the necessary sub-6:40/mi run pace for the elevated SEAL standards will be a stretch), but my weakness will be in the push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups.  So, I'm going to start focusing on these areas (and practice my breaststroke) during my workouts in the weeks ahead.

Tuesday:  I got to LA Fitness before spin class and started with 20 push-ups.  That was about all I could do (maybe 5 more may have been eeked out, but whatever).  Next up: the pull-up station - which is not a true pull-up bar (has a "gap" between where you hang on).  I did 5 pull-ups, but I'm not sure if there were actually full/legal ones - I need to find a real pull-up bar.  Then, 17 more push-ups and about 40 sit-ups (I lost count :-P) and then 2 pull-ups before running to spin class.  After that, a solid 50 minute spin class (average heart rate of 156 bpm).  I finish the workout with a 500 yard swim (breakstroke only) in 9:57.  Pretty good (and probably would be even faster if I wasn't wearing baggy swim trunks).  After exiting the pool, some push-ups.  Not a very good performance - the session went something like: 3 push-ups, break, 2 push-ups, break, 2 push-ups, longer break, 5 push-ups .... probably 16-20 total.

Wednesday: Baseline run: 1.5 miles on the treadmill (no incline)  in 10:34 (7:03/mi pace). Not bad, but it will be tough to shave another 34 seconds off the time. After the run, I alternated between push-ups and sit-ups: 3-5 push-ups and then 10 sit-ups. Approximate totals: 15 push-ups and 30 sit-ups.  Finally, a 60-minute spin class (avg hr of 152 bpm) for some more cardio work (gotta prepare for this weekend's Fast & Furious Duathlon)

Thursday/Today: A little more cycling in the form of a 45-minute spin class (avg hr of 152 bpm).  Afterwards, about 500 yds of swimming - mix of freestyle and breaststroke and little sidestroke (which seems slow and inefficient compared to breaststroke). My watch died on me so no splits - time for a new battery! A set of push-ups after getting out of the pool ... 9 total. Uggh, I'm going backwards!  My arms still sore from Tuesday & Wednesday.  I think I'll take a break from the arm/chest work for a few days and try it again next week.

Overall, I still have a long ways to go with my push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups ... but at least it's a start and I have a baseline from which to work.  Hopefully, I'll make a lot of progress in the next five weeks.