Tenosynovitis

It finally happened. I was sitting on the couch, softly complaining about how it hurts too much to run, when Super Awesome Wife turned to me and said, "Here. Here is your primary care doctor's number. Call it. Now. Tell them.""But, I..."
"It's hurt since the Honu." This was not a question.
"Well...yeah."
"You've been resting it and doing all the rehab things you know how to do." Also, not a question.
"...yeah."
"It still hurts."
"...yeah..."
"Here. Call."
I called and the guy on the phone said the next open appointment with my doc was July 16. Exsqeeze me? I turned to Super Awesome Wife. She said, "Stop downplaying it. You need to tell them how it feels or they are going to run you around." I should mention we are insured through Tri Care, the military medical, because Super Awesome Wife was once upon a time Super Awesome Specialist in Intelligence until the Army gave her the Anthrax vaccine, which gave her pneumonia and asthma, which gave her medical retirement and insurance hook-up for life. She knows how to deal with these people. And she was right, I may not have been properly expressing how much the tendons behind me knee hurt when I try to run, and when I ride for too long. I tried again. They told me to go in to the Urgent Care on base and they might be able to tell me something, and they would order a Physical Therapy consult.
For some reason the waiting room at Schofield Urgent Care is always on the Disney channel. We spent an hour trying not to watch Jesse. I'm old, because I spent the entire time wondering why all these children were hanging out in a giant penthouse with a slightly older child and a butler. Where are their parents? How did they get into this situation? Why are the Indian kid and the little black girl such HUUUGE stereotypes?

Seriously, mini-black girl stereotype

 Anyway, we finally got called back, the doctor did some voodoo, and decided that in her opinion I have a case of tenosynovitis. From the link:
The synovium is a lining of the protective sheath that covers tendons. Tenosynovitis is inflammation of this sheath. The cause of the inflammation may be unknown, or it may result from:

• Infection
• Injury
• Overuse
• Strain

 Since it started right after the 70.3, I think we can all guess which if the four caused it. The frustrating part is I've been resting. I spent two weeks not doing anything strenuous, and since then haven't worked out at full speed at all. I rested properly. I've been icing. I've been stretching. I want to get back out on the road, damnit!
Anyway, she suggested compression, so we went out and got a neoprene knee wrap which I'll be wearing most of the time. She also put in a consult for the Physical Therapy people, so I'm waiting for a call from them. This is very frustrating because I was in fine shape going into the race. I need to relax, keep doing rehab things, and hope it gets better. I'd like to do the Tinman tri at the end of July, but if I can't run 500m without pain, 6.2mi is probably asking a lot. At least it doesn't hurt in the water.

Sporting my new knee wrap

On the plus side, right now I get to watch the X-Games, the Tour de France, and the Olympic Trials! (And the Dodgers but they have started to suck really hard for some reason so I'm clinging to the other three for now). I love the Trials, but I think I'll save a uber-gushy post for when the Games actually start.

Swimtastic Weekend Part 2- Aloha State Games Swim Meet

The last time I participated in a swim meet was probably the year 2000. I swam freshman year at the University of the Pacific (Go Tigers!), traveled to one meet at UC Davis, had a terrible race, went to Hawaii (first time here) for a training trip, and then quit the team. I didn't quit because I was slow, I quit because I wasn't having any fun and because out of the entire team I was faster than exactly two girls. I'm not Rudy* and I had no delusions about coming in on a relay and saving the meet. I remember one morning after weights, the one thing I was better than most of my teammates at, coach sat me down and said, "Doug, you're working hard, but I want you to realize that I can only travel so many swimmers. You're not going to be in that number. So you can swim with us, but you won't be traveling to any meets." Yeah, I wasn't long for the team after that.

 Jump to some time last week. I knew the Aloha State Games were coming up, I knew there was a swim meet, I decided that if the price was right I'd roll the dice. Hell, I'm still a swimmer at heart. Before quitting in 2000 I'd been competitively swimming since the early '90s. That doesn't go away. I'm still fit. I'm fitter than I was in high school or college. I just finished a half Ironman. Bring on a swim meet. I checked out the events, signed up for the longest freestyle available, 200m, because if there is something I have been training for its distance racing, saw the 100m free and figured that would be fun, and then, before my brain could catch my fingers, registered for the 200m IM and 100m butterfly. Those were my races in high school. I was the jerk at practice asking to swim fly when we were given options. Butterfly is for the Tough.
Oh yeah, butterfly also huuuuurts when you are trained up. And the 200m IM is long enough to remind you that you're kind of stupid for asking for this. Still, those were mine, and real swimmers swim the IM. IM, by the way, stands for Individual Medley. So you swim, in this case, a 50m lap of fly, then back, then breast, then free finishes it off. Normally IMers are strong breaststrokers. We'll get to that.
The meet started at 10am, with check-in at 9. How freaking awesome if this to a triathlete used to getting up at 3:30am for a 6am race start? TOO FREAKING COOL! I got to eat breakfast and have some coffee before we left the house. You've no idea how badass that is.
Super Awesome Wife didn't really know what to expect and I wasn't clear. A swim meet is a lot of sitting around, then you watch who you came to see for a minute or two, then you sit around some more. Yay! At least she's used to waiting for me to come through transition.
I wrote my event number/heat number/lane number on my hand so I wouldn't forget and then got to warming up. I didn't have much time because I was in event 4, the 200m free. My biggest concern, aside from the fly and IM, was my goggles. I hadn't dove off blocks in forever and I was worried the were going to come off, blinding me and, if I was really lucky, covering my mouth. A couple of successful test starts later had me feeling better.

Event/Heat/Lane

The race directors tried to seed each event slow to fast, which meant that the slowest swimmers would be grouped in heat 1, then faster as the heats grew. I submitted no time (NT)  because I had no idea what to expect, which put me always in heat one. This came out good and bad. Interestingly, they also grouped the old people 18-49. So I was racing against 18 year olds and 49 year olds in my heats. They awarded medals by real age groups, 30-34 in my case, but those were too small to justify their own events. Full pool is better than one or two guys swimming alone.
I got myself psyched for my 200m free but had no nerves waiting behind the blocks. I rarely got nervey by the end of my racing career. It's not a long enough race to be worried about, and I had no performance anxiety because I had no baseline. I was going to crank, period. In fact, my biggest worry was miscounting my laps. I swim in a 25 yard pool, eight laps to a 200. The was an Olympic distance 50m pool, long course we call it. Four laps to 200. So what I kept repeating while I waited was, "Four laps. Four laps. Don't forget. Four. Laps."
Step up, take my mark...BEEP!

Stretch that leg out

Off faster than the guy next to me at least

I love starting off blocks. I'm almost positive my start is slower than it needs to be, but I really try and jump up and out, traveling through the air as far as I can before I hit the water. Further you dive, less you have to swim, right?
I immediately noticed I was pulling away from the swimmers in the other lanes. I didn't feel like I was going out too hard, part of the key to a good short distance race is to trust your training and really hammer out and know you won't fade down the stretch, so I kept the pedal down. Good turn, knew I had them, felt strong, but this is where you bring it back a point or two to conserve for the final 50. Also, there was a heat two, and winning my heat wouldn't matter if they were faster than I was. Cranked hard, hit the wall at the 150m and put my head down to go for it. Finished with a strong 2:33.07. If I'm reading the page right my 100m splits were 1:11 and 1:21, so that's a sad ten second fade, but who cares? It felt like a great swim and a solid time. I watched heat two go and the winner there finished fast but the field was all around 2:30-somethings. I think I could have found another second or two if I'd been racing. See, good and bad. Still, I came in second in my age group. Boo yeah! (There might have only been three guys in my age group. Yes, you and every single one of my friends has also made that joke.)

Lookit that lead!

I cooled off and then it was time to chill. You see, after event 4, my next time in the water was the 100 free, event 52. Which was a long way off. So Super Awesome Wife and I kicked back and tried to get comfortable on the bleachers until we realized there was better shade and comfort to be had on the grass on the other side of the pool. I worked on my sunburn too.

A little shade

Constant Umbrella Fail lead to moving to tree shade

There isn't much to do at a swim meet when you aren't swimming, but I love watching races so I filled Super Awesome Wife's ears with hoots and hollers at swimmers I've never met, cheering them on while they race. Especially the tiny people. I love tiny people swimmers, they are so freaking cute. They are also so small it isn't worth taking their caps off between events since putting it back on is such a huge pain in the ass, so they walk around all day with rubber heads. So uncomfortable! So adorable. I think there might be a swimmer in there.
My next event was the 100 free, before which I had a very serious conversation with my brain during warm-up.
"Brain," I said, "I need to to do me a favor for this race."
"What's up?" said my Brain, "Listen, I've got all kind of great ideas for swimming this!"
"No. I need you to leave me alone."
Brain was stunned. "What do you mean? You need me!"
"No, not for two laps of freestyle. We've done this a thousand times. There is no strategy, no plan. Remember?"
"Yeah, but...but....come on."
I shook my head, "Brain, you know this is right. I need you to stay out of this race. Trust me."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. But if you mess this up I'm taking over during the 100m fly!"
So I got out of my head and got to it. A 100m long course race is normally a good start, accelerate to the wall, good turn, and crank it to 11 on the way back. It's more involved that the 50 free, which is the dumbest event in all of creation. One lap? As Second Favorite Wife (the original- Best Friend's, not the Grey's) texted me, "Ohhh, tough guy can swim for 25 whole seconds. Wow!" A 100 is at least more difficult.
Again, I won my heat, and solidly. Came in third in my age group with a 1:06.92. There may have been a second in there, but I don't know. I swam hard.
The last two events were the 100 fly, event 64, and the 200 IM, event 70. So I went from a ton of rest to race race race. Had enough time between the 100 free and 100 fly to go back to Super Awesome Wife and chat, then back behind the blocks.
The fly was my jam, and I was excited about this. I knew somewhere around 75m everything would come apart because I hadn't swum this stroke nearly at all since 2000, but muscle memory is a beautiful thing and I let my body go.

My dive has not changed At All

It felt great. So strong, so solid, almost like old times. Fly, more than any other stroke, feels so wonderful when you're doing it right. The flow of your body through the water, the rhythm innate to the stroke is fantastic. I'm not saying that was how I felt at the meet, but I have felt that before. This felt close for about 30-35m, then it started to hurt, turn, and hold it together until the wall. Still, proud I did it. I will do the 100 fly at every meet I do from now until forever. It's my baby. Won my heat.
Came in second in my age group with a 1:13.39.

Getting some out in front!

Meh, should have more extension and hips

WHERE'S THE WALL!?!

 But this race butted right up against the 200 IM. How much? I got out of my lane, got into the cool down/warm up lane, did 100m easy free, got back out, and got behind the blocks for the IM. Whew, good thing these aren't to two hardest events of my day back-to-back. Oh wait.
I actually got talked to by the race announcer after we got on the blocks because I was stretching my arms, holding the sides of the blocks and bending down, and didn't notice everyone else step up. Whoops! He kidded me about giving me an extra two minutes of rest. Then, to check and be sure everyone was were they should be, he called out each of our names and our lane. Each guy raised his hand or waved or something as they were called. Only time during the meet he did that pre-race. So what else could I do? When he got to e I thrust my arms into the air and bellowed, "YEEEAAAAAHHH!!!!" This is supposed to be fun and I was trying to get adrenaline going.
We got down to start, I found my happy place, and BEEP, we were off. My usual IM went something like this- gain as much ground as possible in the fly, the field catches back up on the back, they pass me and put a few seconds in to me on the breast, I catch back up in the free. I'm not a backstroker or a breaststroker. I'm not a real IMer. But I love it and, as I think I've mentioned, real swimmers swim the IM. Proves you can put it all together. Hmmm, wonder if that has anything to do with my triathlon future?a
This race went strong fly, passed on the back, passed more on the breast, and there was no way I was making up ground on the free. I was blown out. It was the only heat of the day I didn't win. Still, win my age group with a 3:06.69. Ain't going to complain about a gold. 
As a special treat, Super Awesome Wife recorded the IM and I present it here, in all its low quality glory. I'm in one of the lanes closer to the top, you'll see me out in front on the fly.

One of the other older guys had spent the last half hour trying to pull together an impromptu relay team and of course I was in. How would I turn that down? More swimming, hell yeah! Of course, the relay was the event right after the IM, so I got out, we found two more guys, and we got ready. 200m Medley. I, of course, swam fly. I asked for it. We had fun, I had a decent start and an terrible finish, but I only had to swim one 50m lap so it was fine. We came in second, but it was an unofficial race so no medals. Not important, not why I did it.
I loved doing this meet and I want to do another one. I almost forgot how much fun swim meets were. It didn't hurt that I got to swim for two and a half minutes and then rest for a while. Love not having to get on the bike afterwards.
I went home with three of my four medals. For some reason they didn't grab enough golds, so I'm waiting for my 200 IM gold in the mail at some point.

Let's play Name That Wrestler!

*Rudy is a stupid sports movie. The guy struggles and sucks for his entire college career, wasting any talent he might have being terrible, but hard working, just to stand on the sidelines at Notre Dame? And then he finally gets to go in for two meaningless plays at the end of a game completely that is already completely out of hand? So he sacks the quarterback, the play doesn't matter. We are supposed to learn that if you work hard some day you might be able to get a pity play? It's a bad message and not a sports movie.

Swimtastic Weekend Part 1- NSSS Summer Sprint

 

 Open water racing is unlike any other type of swimming. Swimmers and race directors have very little control over anything, including the distance of the event. Sure, the race director tries to control the distance with buoys and lifeguards, but no one swims the exact same length race. It's impossible, the ocean is too big and the margin of error too wide. Even if I were to track right behind someone else, drafting and just missing their feet, eventually one of us would be swept to the side by a random current, a cresting wave. When I first started doing open water events, this was the hardest adjustment for me, coming from the uber-controlled swim meet environment. Now it is one of my favorite parts of racing. The Grey compares it to trail running vs road running. Yeah, you're faster on the road, but the trails are more fun. They also require a higher level of technical skill. 

And there's a chance you end up stuck on a rock.

I haven't been riding the bike nearly enough since the 70.3 so I decided that Super Awesome Wife would meet me down at the finish in the car and I would ride. That way I would be able to choose to ride home on the bike or in the car. It was fun to be able to ride to an event, the late-for-Hawaii start times of the North Shore Swim Series are great in that respect. Actually, in all respects. My back of knee pain was low level with occasional spikes for the ride, but nothing awful. And I wasn't worried about ruining my swim by burning energy with the ride because it's only about 15 miles from where we are staying to the swim, and a part of that is down Pineapple Hill. So if that wears me out then I've lost way more fitness that I thought. Especially because this was only a mile swim, which  shouldn't be hard. But it didn't because I'm Dirtbag Tough. Booyah and whatnot. It also poured for the last four miles. That sucks. 

I'd missed early registration so had to check in at the race, which made my comfortable time bubble pop, but I wasn't in any danger of missing the start. Even got to get in and warm-up. Warming up, by the way, just as the race director was calling everyone into the beach for the pre-race briefing. Whoops! Lemme guess, he said, "Swim thatta way. Obey the lifeguards. Turn at the buoy." Right? Right.

Gotta get the cap ready

Dirtbag Action Figure- Series 2

 For some reason, which I won't complain about, they started us in a men's wave and then five minutes later a women's wave. I don't know why, but I'm not going to ask because that makes the starting area so much more open. A more open starting area means a lower chance of getting kicked in the Dirtbag Handsomeness, which I'm all for. So all the men swam out to between two buoys and tread, waiting for the go. No countdown. One second you pop your head up to check position relative to the beach, buoys, and other swimmers and thenAIRHORN! "Oh, we're off then!"

We had a cheering section for the off

Like I said, this was a very wide open start. It might have been the first time I didn't worry at all about the washing machine. Instead I was trying to get a little more outside the break. The race went from two famous surf sports, Pipeline and Sunset Beach. Famous for their good break. Great for surfing, kind of not so much for the swimming. There was a lot of lateral movement, and plenty of up-the-wave-down-the-wave. Fun. Weeee!

I like going this direction, south down the coast, because the current works with you. I'm sure we were all getting really good pushes. I stayed fairly shallow the whole time, and the water here is so nice that you get a good view of the bottom while you're swimming. This means that when you catch a good current the sea floor goes wooosh by you. Please not that in a few swims, probably the Chun's to Waimea, I'll be complaining about looking at the exact same spot on the bottom for hours because we fight the current in that direction. 

I didn't rally pace this, nor did I waste much time looking around. There were four buoys. Two marking the start, two marking the finish turn. Nothing to look for. Breath to the left, keep the beach as far away as you feel comfortable, and go for it. Nothing else to it. And look for feet to draft off. 

Once, coming to the end, I got hit by a wave that broke a second before it got to me, which didn't tumble me but did surround me with white water for a few second. So I drift in streamline, enjoy the feeling, and wait to break the surface to I can get back at it. 

Waves were pounding at the finish, right on to the beach. I wanted to sprint past the guy right in front of me, but when I tried I also caught a wave and got dropped right onto his foot, so he inadvertently kicked me in the stomach. Well, let's be honest, in the rock hard Dirtbag abs. Grrrrr. Needless to say, I didn't get by him.

The next wave, which I tried to bodysurf in, crashed earlier and steeper than I wanted. Which meant instead of a smooth transfer from swimming to running up the beach I went up and then faceplant into the sand, getting dragged a few feet up the beach. Weeeee? I'm not saying it hurt, but it certainly wasn't a fast finish. 

I sprinted to the line, but fell just behind a group I couldn't catch. Damn.

RUN!!!

My official finishing time was 25:46.7, which put my in ninth for my age group. Not to complain, but I was only 25 seconds off fifth place. Which makes me happy. The dudes who won the whole thing did it in 17 minutes. Wow! Yes, dudes, because there was a sprint to the finish for first.

No, I didn't ride home. It was raining and Super Awesome Wife wanted to stop at Waialua Bakery for cookies. Who am I to argue?

Much thanks to Background Profiles, without whom I probably wouldn't have registered for this event so late. They rock. 

Stay tuned for Swimtastic Weekend Part 2- Aloha State Games

Friends Make Things Better

There has been some working out going on here, Dirtbag friends. But for reasons known only to me (hint- summer break makes me lazy) I haven't been updating my blog on a regular basis. I know this upsets my regular reader, so I'm trying to play catch up now. This weekend was also the Dirtbag Swimtacular Weekend of Swimmingness, which means there is a double race report in our near future.
Last week I ran to the gym for a swim and ran home. The total run distance is just over three miles. But I'm positive I messed up my right hamstring/calf area during the Honu 70.3 because running freaking hurts. And not in a good way. In a Ok, I Need To Stop And Walk way. I don't know what my problem is when it comes to running. I'll improve for a while, feel good, feel confident, and then something will get injured. And I think I'm being careful. You couldn't rest your leg more than I've been doing on a regular basis the last two weeks. So there has been lots of stretching and massaging and talking nicely to the muscles. It feels like a bad strain and contracting hurts. Hope it gets better soon. I bet that my foam roller would help, but it got packed in storage and that might as well be packed like this for as easy as it would be to find the roller.

Exaggeration for comedic effect...but only just

While running hurts almost too much to run, riding hurts, but not enough to not. At least, as long as I don't go far. So I met up with the Grey for an easy ride last week, just 30 miles down Pineapple and back. When you're away from riding for any amount of time getting back to it hurts. Climbing is never fun. We stopped once or twice so I could stretch it out and I stretched more when I got home. It wasn't as bad the next day as it was after the runs, where I was limping around the whole day, but it wasn't great. Feels better as I sit here, so maybe a little activity is what the muscles needed. Yeah, let's go with that.
I had a big fun swim last week too. A friend from 100 years ago, now called Smashlete by her local tri club and so here as well, that I swam with on my club team when I was just a little Dirtbag, and then swam against in high school when I was an Ego Dirtbag (more so than now), visited the island. It was awesome to see her. We've been keeping up on Facebook, yay interwebs, but hadn't actually seen each other for ten years at least. So it was great to get back together. Super Awesome Wife and I met with Smashlete and her husband a bunch of times while they were here. She recently got into the tri scene as well, doing local sprint tris in the Northern New York state area. She's also kept up on her swimming and every few weeks I'd get an email from her. "We can go for an open water swim while I'm there, right?" Yes, yes we can. Few weeks later, "You're still going to take me somewhere for a nice open water swim?" Yes. As bad luck would have it, she landed the day after the Flat Island swim and left two days before the start of the North Shore Swim Series and the Aloha Salads Summer Sprint. So instead we went to Waimea and I took her around the bay, swimmer-style. It isn't the prettiest swim on the island, I know. But it is one of the easier ones to get to, to keep track of, and to control. We could have swum down the coast somewhere, but we left Super Awesome Wife, her husband, and a friend on the beach. Still, you can't complain about swimming in Waimea. It was good fun, and not a bad workout. I hope I get to see her again before another ten years has gone by.

Dirtbag and Smashlete (I forgot to tell her we were being tough)

Registration Sensation- North Shore Swim Series Edition

Short registration update-
I was browsing the Facebook today when a message popped up from the North Shore Swim Series. We are friends, you see. Yes, I'm friends with a Series. I don't know how it types. The message talked about the race this weekend.
THIS WEEKEND!?! Holy crap! I just registered for the Aloha State Games Swim Meet this weekend! I registered for the wrong swim thing! (Yes, I'm so deep into triathlon I'd rather do an open water swim than a meet. It was kind of a surprise to me too.) But wait, what's that silver lining? The Summer Sprint is Saturday? The Aloha Games Meet is Sunday?
SWIMFEST WEEKEND EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!
The only bummer thing is I missed the registration date for this race, so I've got to register day of. Hopefully I sill get a t-shirt. I don't do it for the t-shirt, but swag is nice to have. Missing regular registration also means a higher fee. Which brings me to thanking my wonderful, fantastic sponsor, Background Profiles! They are truly funding this race and its panic registration. Much thanks to them!
I'll be back to regular workout posts soon.

Rx for EgoCheck- Swim Edition

 
I'm slowly getting back into training, but gently. Not too gently, since I did a race last weekend, but I think you know what I mean. My rides have been short, mostly flat, and low intensity. The first time I ran was today, and we'll get to that. And my swims were going easy.
But now I've registered for the Great Aloha Games Swim Meet. Their website is awful so here is the link to the home page. And here is the link to my specific event (which does not itself link to the active.com registration page). While registering for this I forgot two very important things. 1) Never let Ego dictate event choice. 2) The only thing that makes you better at swimming is swimming.
My alter swim-ego, The Tattooed Wake, signed up for the 100 free, 200 free, 100 butterfly, and 200 IM.  The Tattooed Wake is kind of a jackass.
100 years ago, when I was a pure swimmer, the fly and IM were my specialties. I did them all the time. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, butterfly is that really hard one where both arms come out and around at the same time and you kick like a dolphin, and the IM stands for Individual Medley, so I swim all four strokes in one race- butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, in that order. Real swimmers, I used to joke, swim the IM. Because you have to be able to handle everything. It's the triathlon of swimming. A quadathlon...

 Anyway, after filling out the forms and sending them my $25 I thought to myself, "Dirtbag, when was the last time you did 100 yards of butterfly?"
I don't know.
"Don't sweat it!" the Tattooed Wake called, "You have a huge engine right now. You just did a half ironman. You can handle 100 yards of anything!"
"Oh yeah," I said, "Thanks, man. That makes me feel better." And it did. Until this morning.
I got up and ran to the pool. We live a mile and a half from 24 Hour Fitness right now, so there is no reason to drive, and I haven't run since the race so I figured it was about time. Oof. I think I strained something out on that golf course. Every morning my right foot had felt a little sore, but it stops after a while, and right after the race my right hamstring, directly behind the knee, got super tight. But it's been what, two weeks? I should be fine. Meh, not really. Hamstring was in various stages of complaint the whole run, and my foot eventually felt better, but not enough that I want to go on any longer runs right now. It isn't the problem from right before the race, it feels like a arch muscle issue. I don't know. It's always something right now.
I hit the water, warmed up, and then tried to crank 100 yards of free. Oh yeah, I haven't been working fast twitch at all for months, have I? I don't have a higher gear right now, do I? Nope, not really. It was about then I started thinking about the mistake I may have made. Then I cranked 2 x 200 IM. It kind of sucked. It isn't fast, I feel like I'm sucking wind by the time I get to breaststroke. The real issue is that I'm not swimmer fit right now. I'm triathlon fit. It's way different. The only way to get good at swimming is to swim! Having an engine isn't enough. Those muscles, especially the fly ones, aren't really there.
Ohhhh, fly. How I used to love thee. I was the ass in practice who would ask for fly sets. I killed butterfly in my own little swim-world (Water World? Mr. Costner, you're needed on the set.). But I forgot how much work it too to get that. I did two 100s of fly. By the 75 I was hurting. The last 25 yards had to be ugly as hell. I'm dragging my hips, my triceps and failing so I'm not finishing the stroke, my lats don't want to give me a clean out-and-flat-and-long recovery/reach. It's...bad.
I know I should go into this with no expectations and just have fun with it, and I think I will. I'm not going to be stressing or sweating any of these events. I'm going to go do something I haven't done since freshman year of college (Christ....1999? 2000?*  13 years!!!) and I'm going to suck at it. And it will be good as long as I keep a positive attitude. There was no 500 free, or I would have signed up for that. I'm betting it will be a small meet, with how poor the advertisement seems to be, which might play in my favor as far as medals go, assuming I cared about medals, but will totally play against me if there aren't very many heats between each of my events. Assuming I swim as hard as I can each time out, and why wouldn't I, I'm going to need a breather. At least I didn't sign up for the 50 free. That event is for tossers.

Popoi'a Swim Race Report '12

Popoi'a Flat Island Race Report

I had no plans to swim this. Do a 1.4mi race the weekend after a Half Ironman? Why would I do that? Shouldn't I be tired and resting?
Well, I wasn't too tired, and I'd spent the whole last week sitting on my couch alternating Skyrim with Super Awesome Wife, we'd earned a long session on the couch, and swimming for me isn't all that tough. I wouldn't have entered a foot race and probably wouldn't have spent money on a bike event, but I like swimming. It's worth it. Plus, I placed third in my age group last year so I had to defend. And my ego may have been whispering that if I managed to place last year...and I should be in better distance swimming shape this year...maybe...Not that I would ever register for a race simply because I might place well. I'm not the Grey.
Super Awesome Wife had no interest in getting up that early, or maybe it was Dirtbag Fetus who didn't, but either way I did this one by my lonesome, which is fine. I showed up, registered there, grabbed my fancy white t-shirt, way better that last year's shaky blue one, and killed time in the truck waiting to warm-up and getting mentally prepared.

Love me a new cap

 If this race was going to be anything like last year, it was going to be tough. Last year I remember thinking that if I was prone to sea sickness while swimming, it would have happened. The water out on the Kailua side of the island, especially when swimming around the tiny flat island, it brutally rough. Last year was a very hard swim and I fully expected more of the same. Embrace the waves.
Warm-up went well, I felt surprisingly strong considering I hadn't been in the water for a week, since my short swim with Greg Bennett. I decided to place no expectations on myself. I was going to go out, go hard, and whatever will be will be. Recovery Race.
Well, it was rough out there. This is, and I've said this before, the hardest swim on the island. The current and winds make for very choppy going and there were plenty of times where I would go for a breath only to have to knocked back by a wave. I decided to try and be as hydrodynamic as possible, trying to keep a tight core through the washing machine that I might cut through the water better.
This race uses smaller red buoys than many of the other open water swims on the island, which use huge yellow pyramids. The little buoys, plus the high chop, make sighting very difficult. You pop your read up, try and get a bead on either the flat island, a buoy, or a bright orange cap and head that way. If it's a cap then you're also playing I Hope They Ain't Lost Too, a game familiar to everyone who's ever done an open water swim. I track fairly straight, so as long as I can see where I'm supposed to be heading I stay on course, but it is unnerving to look, sight, swim, sight, and nothing seems closer. There is also quite a bit of accidental contact even later in the swim because of the ocean's push pull. You're swimming on someone's hip, drafting or just finding a good line, and suddenly you're grabbing feet or getting kicking in the face or getting a little touchy-feely on their waist. Sorry, dude. It was the ocean, I swear. ...what are you doing later?
The way back is awesome because there is some body surfing going on to make up for all the rolling fighting earlier in the swim. I found a group and hung out, determined not to get left and trying to make a climb up into them. Open water swimming is strange because it is very hard to know where you are in relation to the other racers. You can't tell from brief glances at feet who is in your age group or even if that's a guy or girl sometimes. You really need to swim your own swim, overtake whomever you can, and hope the people in front of you are in some other age group.
Triathlon has given me an advantage over the pure swimmer in one aspect- the finish. The clock doesn't stop when you hit the beach, it stops 200 yards later, after the run up the beach and across the timing mat. One guy I was chasing for 500 yards or so finished swimming ahead of me, but cruised his way up the beach. No way I'm letting him get away with that, so I was up and running hard as soon as I could get my feet clear of the water, passing him in the last five feet. Suck it, you should do the whole race. Turns out he wasn't even in my age group, but I don't care. Maybe he learned something about going hard all the way.
Result? I won my age group! I won it by a big, strong margin. Admittedly, the turn-out for this even is a fraction of what the North Shore Series events will be, my AG only had 10 swimmers, but I don't care. I'm proud of my time and my effort.
Finish Time- 42.53
First in the Men's 30-35 AG. 38th overall.
Because this event is put on by the Kailua Masters Swim Club they get prizes donated, which leads to going home with strange thing. Last year I took home a few pairs of really good cycling socks. This year- two gift certificates to Kailua-side establishments (cool, but 45 minutes away from me at best), AND...you ready for this...you sure...A NAPA HAT!

YES! A blue Napa Auto Parts hat. That I, ummm, I'm so happy, uh, to have won a....hat. Woo!
There should also be official event pictures on here at some point, but they haven't posted them yet.
I don't know what the next Dirtbag Event will be yet. Things are very up in the air right now for the Dirtbag Family as far as where we will be when. If we are here I'll probably do as many of the North Shore Swim Series races as I can. I'm looking into the Aloha State Games to see what that is all about. And I know there are a few triathlon's coming up that I'll want to do. Right now I'm still in the Take It Easy phase of recovery. I swim, I bike, I run, but nothing hard or long.
Hey- completely unrelated Dirtbag Contest- You can win a FREE Napa hat if you see me anywhere and ask me if you can have a Napa hat and I happen to have a Napa hat with me. Good luck!
Thanks to my sponsor Background Profiles for continuing to help fund all this foolishness and good times.