Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

Thirsty (for Knowledge) Thursday: Swim Straighter in Open Water

>> Thursday, January 08, 2015

Adam recently tweeted this to me and Ray:

I hadn't heard of Iolite. But of COURSE techie Ray had already tested it. Iolite is a small set of color lights on your goggles that you see in your periphery to let you know if you're swimming in a straight line.

Photo from Ray's testing - inside the goggles.

You can either pre-program a swim route (like plotting where the buoys will be in a triathlon), or you can just swim straight (assuming you can) for 10 meters, and it will keep you on that line. Different colors light up if you're going straight (green), a little to one side (yellow), or WAY to one side (red).

Check out Ray's post about this, which is interesting purely from the "this is how prototyping works" standpoint.

Another shot of the prototype from Ray's post. The yellow "chunk" goes under your swim cap.

Here's about 5% of Ray's post, showing some of the data the Iolite gave him once he was done:

In my case, I was sometimes purposefully swimming a bit off-course to see if it would correct and how well it would do in getting me back on track. For example, look at this little section below (swimming from right to left). In this case I was mostly on track until I made a turn to the left. It warned me first with a less-critical alert, and then it went all critical on me. I then corrected slightly (the mid-point of the the turn), and then it got upset as I overcorrected, ultimately requiring me to re-correct again.

The folks behind the unit said that you do need to be a bit careful the first few times swimming that you don’t immediately overcorrect too much with the first yellow warning light, and that you shouldn’t be making major changes till you hit the red warning lights. Still, I found it pretty easy to follow along.

Again, Ray tested a prototype, but the Iolite site now has official models for sale for $199:

If you want to drop $199 to be able to swim a straighter line, then check out Iolite. Thanks for alerting me to it Adam, and thanks for the review post, Ray.

CLICK HERE for more "nerdy" posts tagged with "Thirsty Thursday."

1 Degree Run with Charlie

>> Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Yesterday morning, I Instagrammed this photo:

"The temps moved out of the negatives, so it was time for 4 miles with Charlie."

Yep, we're in the middle of a deep freeze. (If you don't want your kid to go to school today here in St. Paul, they won't be marked as absent.) But it's still possible to get out for a run. Charlie was thrilled to get bundled up as you can see by that big image above. Then I REALLY got him bundled up as we were about to head out the door:

Tucked in under his blanket and "toe warmer."

Totally strapped in outside, ready for a little snooze.

Three years ago when I was running with baby Henry, I could take all kinds of photos of him sleeping (see here, here, and here for examples) - once he was out in the stroller, he was OUT. But Charlie doesn't sleep as hard while running, so I don't reach in and snap photos like I did with Henry. So here's an "outside the stroller" shot of the sealed up stroller just over a mile into our run along River Road:

The good news about a 1 degree run? You OWN the trails.

He gave a peep just before mile 2, so I turned around right away. He crabbed for a bit, but then passed out again before we got home. I TRIED to get a photo of him asleep right as we got home, but my phone gave a "high temp warning" and wouldn't power up. I think it has it's temperatures mixed up. Here's a photo I grabbed of my phone when I got back into the house with it:

But my phone was fine a few minutes later as Charlie woke up:

In the house post-run.

Just under 4 miles was enough on such a cold day. With Henry, I remember that 20 degrees was the (loose) cut-off for "let's go long" vs "let's just get in a few miles." At 18 degrees, I'd just go stretch the legs, but at 22 degrees, I'd go 10-12 miles with no problem. (I ran over 500 miles with Henry in 2012!)

After a big, cold day with Daddy, it was time for a 2 dude bath last night:

Stay warm, everyone!

2014 in Review (Total Training Numbers)

>> Monday, January 05, 2015

- Swim: 142,339.98 yards (80.88 miles, 1.89 mph ave)
- Bike: 770.90 miles (18.69 mph ave)
- Run: 560.78 miles (7:18.0 / mile ave)
- Bike Trainer: 38 minutes (1 duathlon workout over the summer)
- Mountain Bike: 2 hours (in Israel last January)
- Spin Class: 4 hours, 28 minutes (all early in 2014)
- Strength / Core: 212 hours, 06 minutes
- Random: Elliptical: 7 mins. Stairclimber: 20 mins (2x10 min sessions).
- Weight: 159.0 start, 155.6 end, 165.6 high (April), 154.0 low (Oct), 159.97 average
- Body Fat: (monthly ave) 13.9% high (Feb), 11.4% low (April), 12.84% yearly average
(My monthly body weight ave was over 160 lbs from Jan-Aug, and then finally dropped down.)

SOME NOTES ON THOSE YEARLY NUMBERS:

- Swim: Just shy of my biggest year ever (2010: pre-kids). Almost 4x my total of 2012, and about 1.6x farther than last year. I didn't do a ton of swimming right after I sprained my ankle in April (because I couldn't kick without pain), and I cut back in Aug and Sept as I was running more (and as I could only go to the Y for 60 mins at a time because that's all the longer I could leave little Charlie in their Kids Care until he was 6 months old - that's the rules). But I've been swimming a lot since then. I've actually started to like swimming.

- Bike: HIGHEST mileage since 2010!! (Pre-kids.) I biked a lot in May to be ready for the Trinona Time Trial (and the showdown with the race founder), and then I biked a fair amount (for me) as Pharmie was home on maternity leave with Charlie. I also got better at biking EARLY in the morning where I don't have to bother my family. This was the first time in 5 years (since 2009) that my biking mileage was more than my running. I actually started to like biking more too! (But I haven't touched my bike since my last race in Sept...) I learned the obvious fact that you can get a lot better at something (like my swimming and biking) by just getting out and doing it MORE - it's not always about the "workout." It's just about "doing." (And only 18.45 of these miles were with Henry: 1 trip to the Y and back, and one to the State Fair and back.)

- Run: LOWEST mileage since 2006 (which was my first year of triathlons where I didn't even go 200 miles). I was coming back from my hip/sacrum injury from Aug/Sept 2013 through the first part of 2014, and then I got that bad sprained ankle in April. I didn't run again until July, and then I built miles quickly to be ready for the TC 10 Mile in October (39 miles in July, 68 in Aug, and 102 in Sept - see graph below). Then I took it easy after that, and now I'm just in "base" phase running only moderately - nothing too hard. (Oh, and just to keep track, I ran 9.26 of these miles with Henry in the stroller, 36.3 with Charlie, and 5.72 with BOTH of them during 1 run in Nov.)

- Strength / Core: MOST EVER. About 25% more than 2013, and 2013 was a big year. A lot of this is less intense physical therapy exercises for my weak quads, butt, and lower back. But I did a lot for upper body and core too.

- Weight: 2013 was the first year my overall average dropped - I'm used to getting fatter and fatter. In 2014, I spent the most of the year heavier than I've ever been (with a heavier average than ever before), but I can blame SOME of that on the extra strength work (muscle). My body fat percentage went slightly down in all 3 areas: lower "high," lower "low," and lower "average" than in 2013. Sweet.

Here's my training numbers from 2014 as a graph from BeginnerTriathlete:

Noteworthy: bad ankle sprain in April, quick build of running miles to the TC 10
in early Oct, then easing back on the running while swimming more.

RACE COUNT:

- Duathlons: 1 (individual)
- Triathlons: 7 - 3 individually and 4 as relays (all as the swimmer due to injuries)

- 1 Mile: 1 (as a "kitten mile")
- 5K: 2 - 1 as part of the Loony Challenge, and 1 WITH HENRY
- 10K: 1 - as part of the Loony Challenge
- 10 Mile: 1 - as part of the Loony Challenge

- 1 Swim Meet: 50, 100, and 500 yards
- 2 Time Trials

In 2012, I did 20 races. In 2013, I did 12 races (falling injured in the last half of that year). And in 2014, I "rebounded" a bit with 14 races. Hoping to race a bit more this year!

HIGHLIGHTS:
(There are 6 for 2014)

- ONE: Getting sent to Israel to race the Israman 70.3 Triathlon back in January. That was a once-in-a-lifetime event. What a trip! I swam (very poorly) as part of a relay with 2 awesome Israeli men:

Me, Rany, and Sharon.

Swimming with 1,000 of my best friends in the Red Sea.

Checking out the Red Sea the day before the race.

Here are a few links from my Israel trip: my Israman race report, more photos from the race, photos from other people found on Instagram from the race, and a collection of my Instagram photos from my Israel trip (this shows the overall trip really well).

- TWO: 4 triathlon relays! Relays are great, but I've been used to duathlon relays in the past. Being I was injured and not running much early in the year and early summer, I did 4 triathlon relays as the swimmer (normally my weakest leg).

Top: Israman and Trinona. Bottom: North Mankato and Waconia.

Jeremy, me, and Jenn winning at Trinona.

Pharmie, me, and Steph taking 2nd in N. Mankato (as "Team Pregnant, Post-Partum, and Injured").

Jeremy, Devon, and I winning in Waconia.

Related to that last pic: Devon just ranked me as his #1 best friend in his year in review post. Jeremy, our relay partner, was #2. And Devon himself was #3 because, in his words, he's "perhaps luckiest man alive to have #1 and #2 as his best friends." We'll see if the "best friends relay team" can make a comeback in 2015.

- THREE: Finishing 3rd overall at the Lake Marion Triathlon. This doesn't seem like too big of a deal, but racing at the front of this race was something I'll never forget. If you'll remember in my race report, I had a decent swim and then hit the bike. After a mile or so, I realized I could see the lead car just a few blocks in front of me. I biked most of the race in 3rd or 4th, and was the 2nd to cross the finish line (finishing 3rd overall because someone in the next wave finished faster than me). I've been able to race duathlons near or at the front before, but this was my first experience doing that in a tri, and it was awesome. AND it was my first big ass trophy.

- FOUR: Trying (and winning) the Loony Challenge. This was a blast. In 1 weekend, I ran a 10K at 7:30 a.m. and a 5K at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, and then ran a 10 Mile at 7 a.m. on Sunday.

4 of us after the first 2 races in the "Loony!"

Still smiling at mile 9.5 of the TC 10 Mile.

Here's my 10K and 5K race reports from the Loony, and here's my TC 10 Mile race report.

- FIVE: Winning with Henry! The weekend after the Loony, Henry and I took on a race around Lake Phalen, and we ran a 17:56 certified 5K together to take the win:

Looking like hell in the closing meters of the ALS SuperHero Dash.

- SIX: It was another year of placing pretty well at my races! Let's take out my 70.3 in Israel, my swim meet, and my TTs (which are all known "non-strengths" for me). I won the YWCA Indoor Triathlon in March. Then I had 3 sprint triathlon relays in June with 1st, 2nd, and 1st place finishes (see photos above). Then I wrapped up the summer finishing 8th overall (2nd in AG) and 3rd overall in my final 2 tris of the year, finished 7th overall (2nd in AG) in my only duathlon, won the "Loony Challenge," and won the ALS SuperHero Dash with Henry. No complaints there.

AS FOR 2015? As I say every year, I just hope to kick this injury this year and run/train relatively injury-free! I haven't registered for anything yet, but I'm hoping to have a good year at some duathlons. (Which means I need to start hitting my bike.) We'll see what the year holds in store. Happy 2015!

p.s. This doesn't count as an "athletic" highlight, but 2014 had another great moment when we got to welcome boy #2 (Charlie) into our life:

May 2014 (full birth story here)

Christmas morning just a few days ago!

New Years "Resolutionists?" Ugg...

>> Saturday, January 03, 2015

Your gym may be getting crowded. It's the New Year - it's bound to happen. Here are a few thoughts on that from one of the guys from BeginnerTriathlete.com (where I track my milage) that I posted here a couple of years ago:

We're endurance athletes. We train all year not only outside, but also at the gym and the pool. We can expect some serious crowding in both places for the next few weeks. It happens every year.

Suddenly we have to add 30 minutes to our scheduled gym time because of the "resolutionists". There are no parking places. When you do manage to find one and get to the locker room 10 minutes behind schedule, there aren't any lockers available and the door is blocked by someone trying to remember the way to the weight room. In there, the machines you need to use are all occupied by people in new track suits pushing too much weight with truly horrible form. The bubbler is blocked by someone who is trying hard not to look totally out of their element. You can't get in the pool because it's jammed with people using pull buoys on their arms and kickboards as flotation devices. Half the lanes have people with no goggles and baggy swim trunks down to their knees who can't swim an entire lap.

The whole freakin' place is filled with...with...

beginners.

It's one of my favorite sights. I've never been in a place more full of hope than a gym during the first week of January. It's a place full of people giving action to their dreams. People who for that day are making an effort to be fit, to improve themselves, to live a better quality of life. The effort and courage it takes them to get there that morning is huge. It certainly exceeds what it takes me. I know where everything is. I know the pool etiquette. I know what my workout is going to be and how to use the machines. I'm not the least bit embarrassed to take my shirt off in the locker room. This is routine for me. These new people will be showing a lot of courage and determination by going to the gym in the next few weeks and they'll deserve my respect. They'll get it.

It wasn't that long ago that I was one of them. During the next few weeks I'll be making an effort to help some of these people feel a little less uncomfortable. Maybe make eye contact with some of them, be ready to give a nod or say hello.

Once we're halfway into February, the crowds will be gone. Parking will be easy. Machines will be available again. The wait at the pool will go away. We know this. We're endurance athletes. We know the reward that comes from sticking through the hard parts.

And from helping others through them.

It's good to keep that all in mind.

And on that note, Adam (AKA "The Boring Runner") recently posted something along these lines on Facebook. He's a lot like me: a sassy, somewhat speedy Dad. He seems to be faster at the longer distances, I seem to be faster at the shorter, but I think we're similar overall. I probably have more body hair, but whatever - we can compare chests and asses if we ever meet. ANYWAY, he posted this, which I didn't know about him: