The Masters

 
My training is as challenging currently as is this continued stretch of bad weather.  It seems that the whole eastern 2/3rds of the US is stuck in a late winter pattern rather than any hint of spring.  I am continuing to do most of my workouts inside due to this fact.  I can tell you that it is really killing my spirit as my mileages and intensities are being increased and my ability to do them outside is next to zero.  The reality is I am 2 1/2 weeks out from my first sprint triathlon.  Where as my base and cardio is estabilshed and well suited for this race the frustration of little time outside especially on the bike is troubling me for putting in a top effort.   Enough with the weather, as I type this I just finished packing for our family vacation to Florida for springbreak.  For myself I intend to use it as spring training.  I plan to capture much time in the pool and open water ocean swims, doing some good ocean view runs, and cranking out pleasantly flat rides on Florida roads.
The highlight to last week was a swim meet.  It was the state masters swim meet. For all intense and purposes this is the state championship for swimming for the masters (18 and over) group in Indiana.  Leading up to this I had been prodded by my fellow masters teammates and coach to do it.  It was more of a case of participation and having social fun than necessarily highly competitive races.  I decided to go ahead an do it as I was scheduled for a work out any way and might as well do this.  Plus I was kinda curious to see what it was like.  I can tell you I had a blast.  It had been a long time since I was playing on a team and competing like this.    Therefore the juices got flowing and the competitiveness came alive.  These meets are pretty much standard styled swim meet that involves a series of distances, over two days, where you competed by age group(in 5 year segments) for yourself and your team.  I entered all freestyle events.  I am not anywhere capable on the rest of the strokes nor have I spent any time working on them.  I entered into the 1650(mile) free, 50 free, 100 free, 1000 free and the 500 free.  I was fairly pleased with my performance overall as I cut time and I was able to contribute points to our team which finished 4th. This was really our 1st season as a team so we were all happy.  In the 1650, it was my first time swimming a mile in a pool continuously and I placed 4th out of sixth in my age group with a time of 27 mins. It was a good confidence booster and a time I felt good about as I really had no expectation as all my other long swims have been open water at a much slower pace.  The 50 and 100 sprints were OK. I got my best times and came home 9th and a 10th out of 15 in each.  There was some eye opening speed that I had expected but it was still a wow.  Lastly in the mid and long distance 500 and 1000, I place third and second respectfully.  There was 5 swimmers in each so again not too shabby but I am not ready to go full time into swim competition.
Getting back to the original purpose of the meet which was to do something socially fun, it did exceed on all fronts.  It was a great opportunity to support those I have been swimming with for months. It was also great to just spend some time poolside and later at a dinner gathering to share the fun of the meet and competing.  I like being on teams and this is a really good group of people I enjoy being around.  It was just fun to be in an environment where people are competing but doing so for many reasons and at many different levels.  There were swimmers there that were past Olympian hopefuls and recent division 1 swimmers up to swimmers almost 80 years old and still diving off the blocks for their starts.  There is not may competitions that you get this mix of competitors all at the same event that are all enjoying each others company and cheering on all performances. 
I go away as technically the state runner up in the 1000.  Ha ha. In all seriousness, I went away with so much more.  Masters swimming is a really great program and one I would encourage anyone to do.  Its good for you, its good people, and its something that can feed that need for competition for many more years than really any other sport.  As and added bonus its pretty good people watching.  18-80 year olds plus swim suits always becomes interesting.

Running with the dead.

Global warming is not getting it done this year.  Our predicted high today of 33  is 50 degrees colder than a year ago.  Granted, last year's winter and spring was crazy mild, but this year we continue to be stuck in a proverbial ice age.  Another bit of pleasure that comes with this weather is illness.  Last week, Wednesday, I got that sinking feeling that a cold was on its way.  By that evening I was in full onset of respiratory distress.  As luck would also have it, I had two days of out-of-town business travel to do.  So I packed up my traveling pharmacy and headed southward for my business trip to western Tennessee.
The solitude and mind numbingly long drive gave some respite to my conditions.  Therefore, when I arrived, between the milder temps in the upper 60's and a hotel treadmill that was older than me, I decided to take my scheduled run outside.  Now my locale was not exactly a posh urban oasis.  It was actually a rather small and quite rural Tennessee town that I was not familiar with at all.  The hotel sat on the main stretch of highway so my roads were rather limited for running.  Therefore, I changed to quickly my running clothes and jumped back in the car for a little recognisance on the area to locate a good running area.  No to my surprised, options were rather limited. I did come across a pseudo park/baseball complex that gave as much promise as anywhere.  So I hit the paths in and around the park.  As I progressed along I came across a rather substantial cemetery that was adjoining.  Hmmmm, nice paved paths almost too numerous to count, and little to no traffic, we had a bingo. I had found it a rather interesting running oasis with good visual distractions. As I ran amongst the headstones, you had interesting names, dates, monument configurations, and families plots to distract my from my efforts. I would not suggest this be the new fad but if your ever in a pinch to find good running locale try where they are all "laid" out.
Where as my run was good my health was not.  Shortly after getting back to the hotel and for the entire Friday I felt just destroyed.  Saturday was to be my first organized running race of the year.  It was the Shamrock Shuffle 10k in Carmel, IN.  Both my wife and I were to race.  I had not mentioned that we were sharing the same ailments.  We went to bed Friday with full anticipation that we were going to be a no show for the race. Much to both our surprises we awoke feeling not too shabby.  We would give it a go.  At the start of the race it was rather pleasant with conditions of 50 degrees, sunny and no wind. Shortly into the race I felt surprisingly very good and comfortable while clipping along at a great pace.  Strangely, by the second 5k lap the weather had turned much cooler, cloudy and windy.  It was serious foreshadowing.  I finished the race well by placing 10th overall. Despite the preexisting conditions we were both really pleased with our performances.  The turn in the weather made us bolt for the car quickly.  Reality set back in quickly and my pleasantries quickly turned to utter distress as I proceeded to try and hack up a lung the rest of the weekend.  We both ended up fully in firmed in the house for the St. Paddy's weekend. 
My bronchial issues were severe enough that after conferring with my coach we decided it best to take a couple extra rest days to try and bounce back healthy rather than to continue to train and extend the illness.  I missed two scheduled workouts.  My first misses since I began training.  As of today, I am now back to my program and closing in on 90% healed.
So from running amongst the dead to feeling like a dead man running my journey continues here in the ice age.

Need a clothesline......

The past week finally brought some appetizers of spring along with the reality that its definitely not here yet.  I did all I could to force every workout outside where at all possible.  I did 3 runs and got on my bike outside for the first time in months.  Friday was just an easy ride with a group I have ridden for the past few years.  The Saturday ride was an add on to this group with nearly 30 riders taking part.  We all commiserated on the long winter and lack of time on the bike. I ended the 30 mile ride with a brick run to take full advantage of the milder surroundings. Sunday brought an outside run in 65 degree weather.  It was our warmest day since early December.  Albeit it was a bit breezy it was a good 4.5 mile recovery run I completed with my wife. 
I have come to learn something. I need a clothesline.  Unfortunately, the neighborhood association would quickly initiate a letter of reprimand if I chose to do so.  Additionally, with all our cool wet weather of late, drying would take months.  I do soak a lot of clothes and towels. I layer for cooler temps.  This can double or triple those sweat burdened clothes. Just the pure volume of perspiration from the intense workouts completely soaks both my cloths and my towel used  for perspiration relief.  Frequent two-a-day workouts means doubling the load again.  Swimming is pretty self explanatory as to its drying needs.  This litany of garb and gear all has to be dried prior to going to the dirty cloths pile or before they can be worn again.  So much so that my wife is a bit perturbed that every door knob, towel rack in the bath, and creative hanging point I can find in our bedroom is littered with my moistened clothing and accessories. I have not gone to the ceiling fan yet, but I will admit it has crossed my mind.  Part of the hanging process is my ritual of the dawn and dusk changing of the garb ceremony.  This is where I rotate the dry and less dry, send the fully fowled to the wash, pack those suitable and necessary for the next activity, or wear if acceptable as I head out the door to a workout.  Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to this ritual.  The saving grace is that with warmer temps, less layers will decrease the volumes slightly and the patio can become a quick dry location.

The beat goes on

As I type this we sit under another winter storm warning....... enough already.



All we need now is for Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel to be broadcasting live.

My frustration with the constant cold and my schedule of going from one inside training session to another at the same times has caused me to jumble it up a bit.  I forced in two runs outside in the past few days.  I also changed my regular workout hours some.  All just to try and break up the monotony and maybe this streak of cruddy weather. 

The outside runs were fairly enjoyable but once again a bit forced with air temps still in the mid 30's with some seriously cool winds.  Oh what I would give for a nice warm run.  Oh well, my first run was in some new surroundings.  Due to a rather full schedule on Sunday I chose to break away a bit early from a great family get together for my grandmother's 99th birthday celebration.  I ran the Pensey trail in Greenfield. This is another example of converting old railways in to paved paths that are wonderful to run on.  I ran the entire western leg of the trail for a very enjoyable 8 mile run.  I found it to be a great chance to reflect on the family get together as well as chance to enjoy the scenery and memories of Greenfield. I guess one benefit of the late winter run was the visibility from the trail was uninhibited and gave a scenic symphony of small town Indiana. 

In addition to, I have swum at lunch, at night and got off the bike a bit to hit some spin classes.  The changes have been somewhat refreshing and a welcomed relief.  Now we sit with a forecast of 53 for Saturday.  I am crossing my fingers that I will be on the open road for a ride with a brick run to follow.  But as Cantore loves to say... stay tuned........

P.S.  In a follow up to one of my recent posts about my daughter and her swims, she just came off of a fantastic meet in which she cut serious times across the board and earned a podium in the mile.  Her mother and I are so proud of her efforts and accomplishments this swim season. The winter season is over for her.  I will miss my morning swim buddy.  

Interesting Article

Its a little early for another post but I wanted to go ahead and share. If you are interested. The link takes you to Active Life Guide. This is a local magazine for fitness and the promotion of healthy living.  This months feature article and cover page is about the owner of the cycle studio I go to.  She is also a friend and will be a fellow competitor at the Ironman.  Good to see good people getting recognized for their contributions.



http://www.activelifeguide.com/featured-cover-story.html