Swim
1 x 200- warm-up
5 x 100- IM
1 x 150- cool down
5 x 100- Build by 25s
25s- Stroke count/technique work
1 x 50- Cool down
Met a friend way to early this morning at the pool. She's still new to triathlon, through she's three in, and is much more a runner than a swimmer. So while we were swimming I was giving tips. And no, I didn't make her do the IM set. She got there just as I was finishing it. When you're feeling weak nothing makes you feel strong like a good IM set. Of course, the converse is also true.
Swimming with someone else doesn't always give me the best work out
when they aren't at the same or close to the same level, but it is
psychically nice to help another triathlete and get my own work in at
the same time. I go, she goes, I go at my pace, she goes at hers, I drop
a few knowledge bombs, and there's the swim.
Run/Swim Day
Run time- 45:18
distance- 4.91mi
Swim-
1 x 500 yds
8 x 25 dolphin kick (1 breath or less)
1 x 50 dolphin kick (underwater)
Yesterday was my first day off of school for Winter Break. (It's not Christmas break because there are actually people in this country who celebrate something other than Christmas, and its not Holiday Break because often those other holidays don't fall during the so-called Holiday Break. Living in Hawaii even calling it Winter Break is a stretch. Where was I?) As I've stated before in this space, having time off from work is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to working out. On one hand, I'm completely free to work out any time I'd like. On the other I have no set times when I must work out. Too much freedom! My training plan is based around get up before school/train again after school timing. To be able to just wake up whenever or go run whenever is troubling. Too much opportunity for "I can play another 30 minutes of Uncharted 3, then I'll head out." But I've started out strongly this time.
As I've gained endurance and confidence I've been trying to do more and more things Dirtbag-powered. If something is close enough to ride the bike to, I will try to do that. And now the gym is close enough to run to. Actually, its just as close as its always been, but that distance doesn't seem nearly so far anymore. So with a coaching session with Dirtbag the Grey planned for 2:30, I set out at 1 for the gym. I wore my zoomers under my running shorts, tucked my goggles and cap into the trunks, strapped on my heart rate monitor and Garmin, threw on my glasses and visor, tried not to think about how non-minimal I was being with all this crap, and set out. No water because Google Maps told me it would be just over five miles and that's not too bad and because Super Awesome Wife might have gotten me something to help for Christmas.
It was a decent enough run. According to the fanciness I averaged a 9:07 pace, which isn't too bad since I wasn't pumping at all. Not that there will be much pumping in the near future from my runs. I'm looking for strength still, not speed. Speed is so much less important to me right now.
And when I got to the pool the Grey hadn't arrived yet so, in an act of extreme trusting, I gathered all my stuff on a kickboard, put the kickboard on a chair, and put the chair right next to the lane I was swimming in so that I could see in on nearly every breath while I swam. Then I cruised a nice and easy 500 to stretch the muscles out. My core has been feeling a little weak in the water and that's the reason for the dolphin kick repeats. Nothing strengthens the core like a good dolphin kick set. And the anaerobic additions? Why not? It's only 25 yards (enter Sean laughing and arguing with me that its shorter) and that's an easy underwater to make. Hence the double at the end.
Race Update: In other Dirtbag-related news the Honolulu Triathlon is open for early resident registration. Since this will be the big tune-up race before the Honu I got in early. As of right now it's the only triathlon on my plate for the year aside from the Honu and I'm really looking forward to seeing my time drop since I'll be prepared for a much longer race and this should be shorter than many of my training sessions.
Completely Unrelated to Fitness Thing: Louis CK is hilarious. If you don't already know that you need to find it out right now this minute. Warning: SOOOOO NSFW.
If you did laugh your ass off at these (the story 2:00 into the second one is one of my favorite things ever) then you should support the man. And here is how-go to this website and buy his special, Live from the Beacon Theater. It's $5. So even if you hate it you only spent five bucks. He's being completely upfront and honest about where the money is going and how he's going to use it. He made it, literally, the easiest thing on the internet to steal. But why would you do that? Buy one. Buy one for a friend. You can! You can gift this thing for $5 from his website. And you can burn it to a DVD. You can, like I'm going to do, download it and move the file onto a different device, my Nook Color, to watch it on a plane. If enough people support him he'll keep doing stuff like this. Grantland.com has a great interview with him (BS Report links, 2 parts, you can't miss it). Ok, I'm done now. But seriously, Louis CK.
Friday I went straight from school to the gym for my swim. I was giving two lessons that afternoon and wanted to get a workout in myself before I started. I don't know how it is at your gyms, but the 24 Hour Fitness locker room is pretty nice. Plenty of space, TVs playing ESPN or Fox Sports constantly, all the good stuff.
When I got in to change there was one other dude in the section I was in. He looked like he was ready to work out but was sitting on the bench fiddling with his iPod so I ignored him. Rule #1 of the Men's Locker Room: You don't talk or make more than passing eye contact. It's like the Men's Room. Eye line high, get in, get it done, get out. I start to change. And right when I'm naked, literally between boxers and swim trunks, this dude looks up and shouts, "HERE IT COMES!!!"
To be clear- I could not be more naked at this moment. I'm in profile to this guy reaching into the locker to grab my suit. And he's shouting what now?
I froze. What the hell!?! I glance over at him and he's not looking at me, but up at the TV where the Ducks/Bruins game is about to begin. And he keeps talking excitedly and loudly. To me? To the TV? To no one? I don't know. But he's awfully pumped about this game and is going on and on about it. For myself, I'm not too proud to say I jumped into that swin suit as quick as possible. Of course, as always happens when one tries to dive feet-first into lycra, my feet got all tangled up in the suit and it took me twice as long as normal, pretending not to struggle and curse under my breath as brother continues to go on about HOW BIG THIS IS. And then my stupid lock doesn't lock right away because Hawaii makes things rust and today is the day it chooses to stick on me and I'm cool, I'm cool, it's alright, but what the hell, dude?
Was I wrong to be rattled? No. It wasn't a gay thing. And it wasn't a confidence thing. (Trust me, you don't know anymore with a higher level of body confidence than me. If there is a level above narcissism, it should be named Dirtbagism. When I become All High Grand Emperor of Earth and Beyond I shall decree it so.) It's simple- You do not yell at a naked man. I repeat- You Do Not Yell At a Naked Man.
I heroically shook it off and had a good, if short, swim. Not too fast but that's not where I'm at right now. And both lessons went well too. I'm looking forward to the growth the triathletes I'm working with will be showing soon. They are going to be shocked when their strokes really start coming together. Right now there's still a lot of, "Are you sure? This feels weird/hard/different." But swimming takes a long time to get right. Lots of laps, then more laps, then even more laps. But the returns are going to be awesome.
It has been a very quiet, unproductive few weeks here at Dirtbag Central. After a rubbish Ko'Olina Anniversary triathlon I was looking forward to having my racing revenge at the final sprint of the season, the North Shore Triathlon, planned for Nov. 6, which would have been my second repeat race. And the day after I sent in my check, because for some reason their online registration wasn't working so I had to result to something so Stone Age as the mail and an actual check, I got an email from an address I'd been emailing for three weeks for information on the race which had never gotten back to me telling me the race was canceled and had been for a month, but no one knew because they never updated either webpage with information about the race. (I apologize for the run-on-edness of the previous sentence. I've been watching a lot of Zero Punctuation in my non-training free time and it may have rubbed off. It might work better if you read it at warp speed in an Australian accent. No? Well, that's why Yahtzee gets paid for what he does and I don't. Anyway...) Needless to say, without a race to train for I became lazy and unmotivated. But I felt justified in it because frankly I've been busting my ass for most of the last 365 and wanted some time off. So I took it, mostly guilt-free. I've barely ridden and haven't even looked at my Bikilas except to wonder how they got from the living room to the closet (thanks, honey.).
Though I have been to the pool a few times. Not to workout, mind, but because I've accidentally become Dirtbag Stroke Doctor D.S.S. (Doctor of Swimming Strokes). My good friend and training partner who whoops my ass, Sean, recommended me to his wife as just the person she might need to help get her stroke together, since she isn't terribly happy with it and wants to make the cut-off for the Honu this year(fyi- the course is 1.2mi and they stop you if you're not out of the water after 75 minutes). So we met and I started helping her. She's happy with how the first lesson went and so is Sean, so he started telling other friends about my services (I'm working with another of his friends now, an ultra-runner) and now I'm telling you. Dirtbag Stroke Doctor D.S.S. is here for you, be you a triathlete or someone just wanting to get into shape, if you're on Oahu and you want someone to take your stroke apart and put it together mended, faster, and smoother, and at a much lower price than most Masters programs AND in a one-on-one setting then I'm your Dirtbag. Comment or email me and let's set something up.
Back to my laziness.
So I was unmotivated, tired, and school was hitting it hard with Parent/Teacher Conferences happening. By the way, and this is for the dads out there, Mom always goes to PTC. Always. If only one parent does show up mom is the safe bet. You should find time to go too. As a male teacher, I love seeing fathers involved. Meet the teacher, make small talk, and when he asks you to please please please have your child read aloud to you for fifteen minutes a night because it will be so good for their fluency and comprehension and because then you can ask intelligent questions about what they are reading please do it. Thanks. This has been a message from Mr. Robertson, the teaching alter-ego of your favorite Dirtbag.
All of this, plus the release of possibly the best video game I've ever played, Batman: Arkham City, led to me not really working out for a few weeks. And I've finally reached that point where I feel like a lazy lump on the couch. To paraphrase Al Bundy, if I get kidnapped and murdered the police can use my ass-print from the couch to identify the body. So I won't be going back to two-a-days yet, but I will be working on on a regular basis again. I'm stating it here so everyone on the internet can call me out if I don't. But I will, because even though the Honu is over half a year away and the start of my serious training for it is two months away, I am scared to death of the thought of starting big Half Ironman training from a crappy lazy-on-the-couch-watching-football-and-playing-video-games base.
