Friday Funny 259: Tangled Christmas Lights

I'm pretty sure this is how it always goes:

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Masters Swim vs Swim Lessons

Here's an e-mail I got from someone named Amanda last week:

Hey Steve~

I've been reading your blog for awhile now and have a question. I've been a running for pretty much my whole life and my goal is to start doing triathlons this summer. The only thing that has held me back in the past is swimming. I can swim but I've never been able to figure out the breathing thing. I've had friends try to teach me but I end up getting frustrated after about 3 strokes because I'm gasping for air. So my question is, do you think I would be better off taking a Adult Swimming lesson class or do you think a few private sessions would be best? My form could definitely use a lot of work too. I'm just trying to keep the cost down, I don't want to waste my time in a swimming lesson class if the first few sessions are basic get used to the water stuff, ya know. Any suggestions you have would be great. I appreciate it! Also if you know of a great place to take lessons let me know.

Thanks!

Happy Holidays and Happy Training!!

Amanda

PS Henry's pretty damn cute!

First of all: Yes. Henry IS pretty damn cute. See?

Doing some light calisthenics and stretching...
it's how we start every morning.

Second, I'm MAYBE not the best person to ask for swimming advice. Sure, my name IS "Steve in a Speedo," but I've only swam twice in December for a total of 3200 yards. And in the last 4 months, I've swam... wait... really? Well, I guess I've swam twice for a total of 3200 yards. Since mid-August. Yep.

So swimming advice from me? No.

Baby-making advice? Come on over. I'll give you some pointers.

;)

But because you asked, here's my short answer: do both, but start with the private lesson.

I've had 3 private lessons from the swim coach at the Y in the last few years. They each cost $16. The first 2 were about a month apart in 2008 so I could do what Amanda is talking about: work on my breathing. I did my first 2 years of triathlons (including my first Half and Full Ironman) by rolling to my back every-other breath so I could breathe for longer. Really! Having those 2 lessons with the coach at the Y were GREAT! At the first lesson, she assessed where I was and what drills I could do to get better. At the second lesson, she confirmed that I was doing everything right, and then gave me a few more drills to take it one step farther.

Then I had my 3rd lesson about a year ago where I had her look at my kick. My kick sucks (like most age group triathletes), and it really could be improved. Again, she gave me some drills to work on making it better.

I've never taken a Masters class. I know it's about time I do. But it's intimidating! If you only really need to know freestyle, do you really need to take the time to learn 3 other strokes? (Which are commonly taught at Masters.) I've heard 2 different people talking at my Y after a Masters class that went something like this: "I was a swimmer in high school / college, but this is too much - I thought I'd give this a try, but I'm not ready for this."

But honestly, I think I SHOULD start taking Masters classes. They're free at my Y. Maybe they could help with my stroke. Maybe I'd push more in a group setting. I need the kick-in-the-pants. I'm about 3-4 seconds slower / 100 than I was last year. (Now I'm around 1:43 / 100 during a 1500 swim, and last year I was under 1:40 for a similar swim. If you're faster than me, you're thinking "that's no big deal." If you're slower than me, you're thinking "that's no big deal." If you swim very comparable times, you're thinking "yeah, that's a decent difference - get swimming, Steve!")

So my advice for Amanda is this: If you can find a Y or a gym that offers one-on-one classes, take one and schedule another for 6 weeks later. That person should be able to easily "find your flaws" and give you tips / drills to work on that. You should learn a lot. After that, consider a Masters class. But I'd recommend getting your stroke looked at first so you aren't just making it worse by pushing real hard in a Masters class.


In a sightly related story, the most recent "Swimsuit Issue" of Triathlete Magazine (the one with a Minnesotan on the cover) contained an article regarding training ALONE vs IN A CLASS. This ISN'T exactly what Amanda is asking about, but it's related. Here's a back-and-forth from pro triathlete / swimmer Sara McLarty and level 3 USAT-certified coach Greg Mueller:

Sara: I am a strong proponent of swimming with other people as often as possible. My Masters swim group trains with 4 to 5 people in each short-course lane, and the pools gets a lot choppier to simulate race-day conditions. People get to practice drafting, sighting, passing, and bumping other swimmers in the pool - I rarely have any athletes freak out when they do their first open-water swim.

Greg: I feel strongly that most triathletes need to be less overwhelmed in swimming preparation so that they can focus on their stroke. By jamming people into a lane, I see many newer swimmers getting lost in the mix. I also think that the drafting effect can give false fitness confidence.

Sara: The group dynamic of training is an easy way to work harder. There's nothing like taking a breath to the side and seeing the guy in the next lane ahead by half a body length. Even if athletes come to practice tired, when they jump in the water with their peers, all their excuses are left behind and they just work hard.

Greg: But anytime you put highly competitive athletes in close proximity to each other and "challenge" them, you get exactly what you described: hard swimming. Most triathletes lack simple aerobic fitness, bilateral breathing, bilateral strength, and pacing skills. I don't believe a group is the best atmosphere to foster proper swim development.

Sara: I strongly agree that technique is the most critical aspect of swim training for beginner triathletes. I work with countless swimmers in private sessions, clinics, etc. When they are ready to make the next step, I encourage them to attend group workouts. If it's organized correctly, the newer swimmers will be grouped with people of similar ability, where they have an opportunity to practice their skills but also get the hang of swim "practice" and not just swim "laps."

Triathlete Final Thoughts: Most people swim harder in a group, similar to speed work for running. But if your technique could use some work, make sure you get in "you" time to focus on your stroke without outside pressure to keep up.

So I guess I have 2 questions for you all:

1. What thoughts do you have for Amanda? Am I leading her in the right direction? Help her out!

2. What are your thoughts / experiences with 1-on-1 lessons vs Masters "group" classes? I haven't taken a Masters class before, so I KNOW I don't have all the info. Help ME out!

Good luck Amanda! Thanks everyone for your thoughts! I've got something else swim-related that I'll be posting next week, so check back.

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Three Winners of the 'Feed Zone Cookbook'

Last week, I asked people to comment on a certain post to be entered into a great cookbook giveaway:

Because it's my blog and I can do what I want with it, I decided to give the following 5 commenters an "extra entry" just because I liked their comments.

No way! Cereal 4 LIFE! :)


Thanks Kitzzy! Glad to hear that. I usually have a way where
people can earn EXTRA entries, but I (rarely) MAKE them
do anything. I like to avoid that.


This. Is. So. True. Anyone following me on twitter knows
how horribly (and violently) ill Pharmie and I were last week.


Yes! You DO get extra entries for sucking-up through my son! :)


Your WIFE needs this? I love that this just MIGHT be a bit sexist.
Are you telling your wife to "get back in the kitchen?" ;) Ha!

I had 147 comments on the entry post, and I added these 5 comments above into the mix an extra time as numbers 148-152. So that meant I had to pick a random number between 1 and 152.

I had to pick TWO winners, and here they are:

Number 92 corresponded to Robyn, who said "Looks pretty cool! Would love a copy!"

And number 142 corresponded to Irina S, who said "Pick me!"

Finally, I had a 3rd book to giveaway to 1 lucky random member of the Steve in a Speedo fan page on Facebook. Who was picked? Someone named Dan:

So Robyn, Irina, and Dan, follow the "Contact Steve" link at the top of the page to get in touch with me! Congrats!

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First Christmas and Henry's LONGEST Run!

On Saturday, Henry had his first "Stenzel Christmas!" We headed down to hang out with my folks and my sister's family. Here are 5 quick photos:

Henry and cousin Bree.


The 3 cousins!


Henry's onesie exploded with a full diaper after a nap!


Quick stopping off to see Pharmie's Mom on the way home!


ZONKED out after a long day.

Then yesterday, I just HAD to take Henry for a run. It was over 40 degrees in Minnesota the week before Christmas - how can a runner NOT take advantage of that!! Here's a photo from the trail on my run:

A brown Christmas - I'LL TAKE IT!!

In fact, the Mississippi was LESS ice-covered this week! Here's what it looked like from the Franklin Ave Bridge LAST week:

Dec 11, 2011

And here's what it looked like yesterday on my run - there's LESS ice!

Dec 18, 2011

Henry and I ran ALL over the place! I wanted to go on a long run, and I had hoped that Henry would cooperate. Here he is loaded-up at home as we got ready to go:

He only stayed awake for about 1.5 miles, and then he slept the rest of the way! Here he is at the end of the run:

And we had one heck-a-va run! It wasn't fast. My hammies felt weak. My feet were sore. But we ran for 100 minutes - all over Minneapolis! Here's a map of where we ran, and Pharmie laughed and said it looked like "Family Circus" when they show where the boy ran all over:

All. Over. The. Place.

This route had few of my "normal" mile-markers, so I had no idea how fast Henry and I were running. I was hoping that we covered about 13.1 miles, but mapping it out post-run, I found out we covered 14.29 miles! That made this Henry's longest run ever! (It was 14.29 miles in 1:40:51, or about 7:03 / mile pace - nothing fantastic, but just a good run with my son!) Thanks for tagging along, Henry!

Back with the announcement of the winners of the Feed Zone Cookbook tomorrow! Check back! Thanks everyone!

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I Feel Like a Lucky Lab Rat...

So the people at GU wanted to thank me for hosting the recent Roctane Drink Giveeaway. They SAID they were just going to send some of the drink to one of my lucky readers. But then THIS showed up for me a few days ago:

It's still not being commercially made, so that's how it looks right now! At some point, it will look like this:

I can't wait to try it out during a hard workout!

They also sent me some GUs, including some of the new Peanut Butter GU:

Thanks GU!

OK, I'm off to an early Christmas weekend with my family. Should be fun!

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Friday Funny 258: Two Great Christmas Cards

First a card from the guy who's wife just left him after a bitter fight:

And second, a card from the "tech-savvy" family:

Awesome.

If you haven't entered the Feed Zone Cookbook giveaway, make sure to scroll down a few posts (or click here) to enter!

Happy weekend!

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Friday Funny 257: Bearded-Dragon Gamer

After a minute, I'd be so confused and hungry:

http://youtu.be/WTpldq3myV0

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Friday Funny 256: A Lazy Christmas

The laziest Christmas lights ever


Oh wait, maybe this is the laziest Christmas lights ever


The laziest (but decent smelling) Christmas tree ever

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Boy Too Old For the Women's Locker Room

Oh wait... should I have started with "this is from The Onion"...? And should I have said "sorry if that last line is a little too saucy"...? Oops. Forgot.

Check out my last post for a great giveaway!

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Food for an Endurance Athlete (a GIVEAWAY!)

On Saturday, I mentioned some of the great books at Velo Press. They have awesome books for athletes, and they have a GREAT "Triathlon" category. (I have FIVE books from their Triathlon page that range from "how to," to inspirational, to simply funny.)

Well, Velo Press sent me a few copies of their newest book for me to giveaway to my readers! (It was just published last month.) Here it is:

Here's the book's description from Amazon.com:

When Dr. Allen Lim left the lab to work with pro cyclists, he found a peloton weary of food. For years the sport's elite athletes had been underperforming on bland fare and processed bars and gels. Science held few easy answers for nutrition in the real world, where hungry athletes must buy ingredients; make meals; and enjoy eating before, during, and after each workout, day after day.

So Lim set out to make eating delicious and practical. His journey began with his mom, took him inside the kitchens of the Tour de France, and delivered him to a dinner party where he met celebrated chef Biju Thomas.

Chef Biju and Dr. Lim vetted countless meals with the world's best endurance athletes in the most demanding test kitchens. In The Feed Zone Cookbook: Fast and Flavorful Food for Athletes, Thomas and Lim share their energy-packed, wholesome recipes to make meals easy to prepare, delicious to eat, and better for performance.

The Feed Zone Cookbook provides 150 delicious recipes that even the busiest athletes can prepare in less time than it takes to warm up for a workout. With simple recipes requiring just a handful of ingredients, Biju and Lim show how easy it is for athletes to prepare their own food, whether at home or on the go.

The Feed Zone Cookbook strikes the perfect balance between science and practice so that athletes will change the way they think about food, replacing highly processed food substitutes with real, nourishing foods that will satisfy every athlete's cravings.

The Feed Zone Cookbook includes:

- 150 delicious recipes illustrated with full-color photographs
- Allen Lim’s take on the science and practice of food
- Portable whole foods, including Lim's famous rice cakes and more
- Dozens of quick-prep meals for before and after workouts
- Shortcuts, substitutions, and techniques to save time in the kitchen

I have 4 of these books in my house right now, and I'm giving 3 of them away. (Pharmie's excited that we get to keep one!) Here's what I noticed about the book:

- It's over 300 pages, and has some GREAT looking recipes!
- Each recipe has a big color picture to go with it so you can see if it looks good to you.
- There's an ingredients index so you could say "I've got some ham... what can I do with this ham?"
- Each recipe has nutrition facts listed.
- Many of the recipes are gluten free which made Pharmie happy (she's basically gluten free right now due to some of Henry's food insensitivities that come through her breast milk).
- The first 28 pages are an intro that is very scientific regarding how we "use" food and what our body needs. I haven't made any of the recipes yet, but I have read many of the interesting points in the intro.

My copy of the book.

TO ENTER TO WIN THE FEED ZONE COOKBOOK:

JUST LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST!! Yep, that's it. Ba-da-bing: you're in the running to possibly win 1 of 2 copies of this cookbook. I'll randomly pick two comments to win.

I'm going to give the 3rd copy away to a random "Fan of Steve in a Speedo" on Facebook. I'll randomly pick someone from that group, so join the group if you'd like another chance to win the cookbook!

Then check back early next week (Dec 19th or 20th) to see if I draw your name as 1 of the 3 the winners!

Legal junk:
- Just like in all of my giveaways, Velo Press has only given me these books; they have not asked or told me to say anything else. All of these thoughts are my own.
- When you leave a comment, please "sign" your name if you don't have a blogger account, otherwise it will be hard to figure out who you are if you're one of the winners. For example, say something like "It's Steve S. from St. Paul. Gimme that cookbook!!"
- I'll assign all entries a number (for both the blog comments and fans on FB) and then use random.org (or other random number generating scheme) to pick a winner at random.
- If I can't get a hold of the winner(s) in 3 days, I'll re-draw for a new winner(s). So make sure to CHECK BACK early next week!

I'll ship anywhere, so if you can read this, you can enter! So comment now! Right here! And join the "Steve in a Speedo" FB page to have another chance to win! Do it before Sunday the 18th!

Thanks everyone! And thanks Velo Press!!

(Seriously, check out Velo Press' "Triathlon" category for some awesome books! Great for stuffing those stockings of your tri-minded loved ones!)

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11 Miles with a Post-Barfy Henry

I don't have much to post today. I hope there will be another giveaway shortly, but I'm awaiting the package in the mail. And I didn't have time to write up much else because:

1. Pharmie worked this weekend, so I spent all weekend hangin' with Henry
2. Henry was barfing all Saturday night, so I'm POOPED (even though it was Pharmie who took care of him over the night)
3. I had a ton of grading to do before finals week this past weekend

BUT, Henry and I got in an 11 mile run yesterday! So I'll write about that.

It was NOT a fast run. I'm sticking true to my goal of "just be fit" this winter; I'm afraid that if I go too fast on limited miles, I'll injury myself. So I took it slightly easier throughout.

Backing up to yesterday morning, Henry woke up pretty "normally" after being up and barfing with Pharmie from 11 pm - 1 am Saturday night. Here he is once I got him and pulled him into my bed to feed him yesterday morning:

Waking up!

Because he barfed all over himself (and Pharmie), I gave him a bath soon after he woke up. Here we are on our way to "bath time:"

BUUNNNSSS! Note the "naked" crib on the left
and the "barfy" sheets ready to be washed on the right.

He had such a "normal" day with me, that being it was 35 degrees yesterday afternoon, I figured we'd go on a run together! I threw on my shorts (yes southerners, I wore shorts for my 35 degree run - and a thin, long-sleeve, tech shirt), got Henry bundled up, and we headed out for HOPEFULLY about 12 miles:

All cozy early in our run.


Almost lost a mitten a mile into our run! I had to back-track
a block to find it! (Note the naked hand on the left.)


Passed out on the U of M campus after about 3 miles.

I was going to run my normal "10 mile loop" along the river, but I was going to add in a 2 mile out-and-back a few miles in. However, "Cranky Hank" woke up and wasn't happy when I was nearing the farthest point from home on my run.

"Nearing the farthest point from home..." Of course.

I instantly turned around and started heading back towards home. I stopped with him after about a mile to give him part of a bottle (he wasn't really hungry, but it did calm him down a bit). Here's a map of what I ran:

You can see the mini out-and-back at the very north end before crossing the Franklin Ave Bridge, and you can see I was JUST unable to complete the loop at the southern end at mile 8 - that's where I turned back instead of being able to make it to Ford and cross the bridge there. (Oh, and you want to work in some speed on a long run? Just have your kid start screaming. I was running about 7:00 miles with Henry, but then when he got pissed, I ran just over a 6:00 mile to get to a good spot to stop and feed him.)

It was not a very "consistent" run: I had to stop quite often to take care of Henry's hat or mittens. But, like I said, I didn't care. I was just getting in 75 minutes of running... NOT a hard training run where I had to WU for X miles, run the middle X miles at a descending pace ending up at X:XX / mile, and then CD for X miles.

And you know what? Running like that is a nice change. I don't want to run like this forever, but right now... I'll take it. :)

p.s. Happy 6-month birthday to Henry!

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Winner of the New "Roctane Drink"

Yesterday, I tallied the entries in the Roctane Drink Giveaway. There were 150+ comments, and being some of those commenters earned extra entries by tweeting, there were 225 "numbers in the hat" once they were all accounted for:

Printed out and numbered.

So I entered "1-225" on random.org, and it gave me this as a result:

Who was #103? It was someone named Rob who left a great comment to be entered into the giveaway:

Feed me! I need the energy for my 1.5 year old daughter.

Nice. Glad to have helped, Rob! Please contact me via the link at the top of my blog so I can put you in contact with the Gu Roctane Drink people so they can send you your winnings! Please contact me by Wednesday, or I'll have to draw a different winner. And I don't want to do that because I really want to help out you and your "energy needs" with your little one around! :) Ha!

Thanks for entering, everyone! And big thanks to Gu for the giveaway!

Check back for a NEW giveaway in the next few days! Now I'm off to watch a football game....

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