2017 Mileage

I kept up with a baseline level of fitness in 2017, but I logged the least amount of mileage in biking, running, and swimming since 2011. This will change significantly as I prepare for IRONMAN Maryland in 2018.

AMYMSA Greensburg

Race: masters swim meet
Date: November 19, 2017
Location: Greensburg, Pa

I always skimp on a warmup at the Greensburg meet. First, we go to church so we arrive late and there is less time to fit in a warmup. Second, I sing the national anthem and my singing voice is negatively affected by all the chlorine I inhale during a warmup. So, I did two 25-yard sprints off the block and counted that as my warmup. Then I spent 10 minutes in the hot tub to warm my body in a different way. Ha!

I sang the national anthem with Shannan and Arianne and I think we sounded great. Then I swam in heat 2 of the first event so I had to get ready right away. The first event was the 100 Freestyle. I had a good race, finishing in 1:04.52, less than a second slower than my personal best of 1:03.57. Ben approached me later and scolded me for having lousy turns. "Be sure to tuck your head," he said, because it slows you down. "You were ahead of Dan most of the race but he beat you to the wall because you has a bad turn." Dan was three lanes away, so I had no idea where he was in the race. I just know that I was feeling pretty strong, I limited my breathing, and I kicked pretty hard. I was giving it everything I had, and I was surprised because I didn't think today would be a good meet. I swam only once in the last 7 days. My work life has been so busy.

My 100-yard breaststroke was pretty lousy. I was 5 seconds slower than my personal best. My kick didn't seem to be very strong, and I was still kind of out of breath from the 100 free, even though it was more than 15 minutes earlier. Maybe the air quality was poor?

The 50-freestyle was the very next event, so I had no time for rest. I felt pretty good while swimming, so I was surprised to see that I was 2.45 seconds off my fastest time! Part of this was a dive that was too deep. My underwater swimming isn't very fast.

I had mixed feelings about my 200IM at the start. I didn't feel like doing it, but another part of me wanted to work hard. I started with the butterfly and this went well enough. I didn't tire out or get out of breath..until near the end of the stroke where waves of water poured into my mouth on a couple of the strokes. I had good rhythm and I am happy that my knee didn't hurt, as that kept me from practicing the stroke for more than a week. I had a bad turn starting the backstroke (I was out of breath there, having swallowed water), but I am happy that I was able to keep my hips up. I liked my backstroke turn at the opposite wall, but my back-to-breast turn was nasty. My breaststroke was very sluggish. I didn't seem to have a lot of arm strength at this point, and my legs were not much better. I also swallowed more water. By the freestyle section I was just happy to be finishing up and I knew it was going to be a slow swim for me. I was more than 13 seconds slower than my fastest time. Ha! I had quite the leisurely time in the pool. I remained in a good mood, though. Swimming makes me feel young--an important feeling on a birthday weekend!

Decision time

I registered for Ironman Maryland today.

Penguins 6.6k

Race: Penguins 6.6k run
Date: October 15, 2017
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
Time: 33:40
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: 38 out of 201
Results: http:

This went very well. I had an 8:13 min/mile pace, which is pretty fast for me, and it was faster than 81% of men in my age group. I ranked 38 out of 201. I have run this race twice before. In 2014, the most recent year, I finished in 34:34, so today I finished almost a minute faster. I am still in good shape, despite not having done a lot of workouts this year. Mile 1 was easy. By Mile 2, I had passed the 8:30 pace runner. I knew if I was staying ahead of her, it would be a good (enough) race for me. By Mile 3, I wanted the race to be over, but we were running what seemed like forever along the river and I knew the hardest part was still to come. The last mile was a lot of steady uphill, including the tunnel. When i was within sight of the finish line I started sprinting and it took a lot out of me. I pushed myself today and it was a struggle. Good thing I was rewarded with a good finish time!

AMYMSA Allegheny Valley

Race: masters swim meet
Date: October 1, 2017
Location:

Event #1: 100 IM. My fly was good, but the backstroke--oh boy--do I need to work on that. My legs sank, despite my head being in a good position and my efforts to contract my buttocks during my kicking. Shannan says I need to concentrate on raising my hips, so I will work on that. My finish time was 1:16.49, which was 0.9 seconds slower than Dan, and about 4.7 seconds (6%) slower than my personal best. My quads were burning a little after this race, so I know I put an appropriate amount of effort into it.

Event #4: 50 Fly. Dan and I were in the same heat and we talked about strategy. I said my speed would depend on whether or not I took a breath during this swim. I did, in fact, go without a breath for the first 25 yards and I took about 3 breaths on the return. If I had skipped just one of those breaths I would have beat Dan, since he beat me by 0.01 seconds. My finish time was 32.18, which was 2.1 seconds (7%) slower than my personal best. Danise says Dan was well ahead of me at the turn and I just about caught up with him in the last 25. I wasn't aware of any of that, but I know that my rhythm felt better during the last half of my swim. I concentrated more on my kick during that time, and less on my arms.

Event #9: 200 Free. There was lots of talk before this race about what a difficult race it is. You can't sprint the whole time, but it's not a long distance, either. I went fairly confident that I would pace myself well. I have a long history with this distance--I've done it a lot at meets--and I do a lot of these distances in practice. I was in heat 1, lane 6. This made it hard to judge my pace because the people next to me were much faster. Anyway, I finished in 2:32.52, which was 4.7 seconds (12%) slower than my personal best. Given this result, it appears I went slower than I could have. I am not surprised. I was not extraordinarily tired or winded when I got out of the water. I did feel some lactic acid circulating through my body (a queasy stomach feeling), but it didn't last long and was probably just from sprinting the last 25 yards. I had more fuel in the tank and I should have burned it.

Event #10: 25 Breast. I had a good race until I swallowed water during one of my strokes. It is terribly hard to get air after that because with each successive breath my timing was off and I kept getting more water in my mouth. Oh well. My result was 17.16 seconds, which was 0.18 seconds (1%) slower than my personal best. This record will definitely fall sometime this season.

Event #11: Mixed Medley 200 Relay: I had the freestyle segment. There were no splits so I don't know how I did. I felt really good, though, at least after a lousy dive.

September update

In Sept 2016, I swam, biked, and ran 248 miles. In 2017 this month, the total is 54. #RestYear #EndsNow #IronmanOct2018

Air Force Half-marathon

Race: half-marathon
Date: September 16, 2017
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 1:56:11
Overall Rank: 519 out of 4176
Age Group Rank: 44 out of 243
Results: http: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=59806#racetop

My goal for this race was to finish in two hours. But don't we always have a secret goal, one we don't share for fear that we don't make it? My secret goal was to beat 1:54:59, because that is my fastest half-marathon time. It is true that the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon--where I set my personal best--is a hillier course than the Air Force Half-Marathon, but when I ran in Pittsburgh I had a running partner (thanks, Dan), and a race always goes easier when you have a partner to keep you motivated and distracted. So, hills+friend = no hills + no friend. Anyway, I didn't set a personal best today because I didn't deserve to. I didn't prepare for this race like I should have. I only did two "long" runs this summer: a 7-mile run and a 9-mile run. I've had some motivation issues, I guess. But not today. I pushed myself harder than I had planned to. The weather was good and my body felt good. The race results show that I maintained a 8:02 pace for the first 5 miles. I did this by keeping up with the professional pacer running with the "1:50" sign. I started getting tired soon after the 5 mile mark, and I let the pacer get ahead of me. My legs felt good but my head felt weird so I started getting Gatorade at each aid station. The addition of sugary fluid gave me a tangible burst of energy each time, but it didn't last more than a tenth of a mile after each aid station. The energy was probably just a psychological response, rather than a physiological response. By mile 9, I had slowed to an 8:38 pace, and my hips were feeling stiff. I knew I was going farther now than I had done in my training runs, so I was wondering how long I could go. I figured I would at least keep running to mile 11. And so I did. But then I had to decide whether or not I would start walking a little bit. Noting the race clock, I saw that I was still on pace to better my goal of 2 hours, and a personal best was still within reach. I kept running, but my strides were getting shorter and shorter and I was not having fun anymore. With less than half a mile to go, I saw Shannan cheering for me, and her smile is so warm that I got the motivation I needed to keep going to the end. I am really pleased with my performance, and I am proud of myself for pushing through the last miles. I wonder, though, what would it have taken to run this race just 5.5 seconds per mile faster? That would have gotten me a personal best. I think the lesson I have learned is to (1) train better, but also (2) verbalize those secret goals and that might just motivate me enough to reach them!

AMYMSA at Baierl

Race: masters swim meet
Date: September 10, 2017
Location:
I started with 100 freestyle, finishing about 3 seconds slower than my personal best. That will be pretty easy to lower as my season progresses.

My second event was the 50 freestyle. I swam it in 28.50, exactly 1.5 seconds slower than my personal best. Again, I am happy with that. Dan and I were in adjacent lanes and while he beat me quite solidly, I think that happened at the turn where he got ahead. Otherwise, my strategy to do the swim without breathing really helped me keep up.

My third event was the 50-breast. Dan and I again were in the same heat but in opposite sides of the pool. My stroke felt really strong, so I employed more glide with a slower stroke rate. This led me to finish 0.63 seconds slower than my personal best. This has to be taken with a grain of salt because this meet was relying on stopwatch timers and not electronic touch pads. But if my time was accurate, that's a big deal. I can easily improve over the next few months and finally break a personal record set in 2013.

The 200 IM was the next event so I didn't have much time to rest. I didn't care. I knew I had not practiced this event in months, so I had low expectations. I decided to swim it for fun. My time was 3:03.16, much worse than my 2:48.62 personal best. I was considerably out of breath when I finished, so I know i didn't totally slack on that race, but my muscles didn't feel tired or sore, so I also know I didn't work very hard. One good thing about this swim was my legs didn't sink during the backstroke, which has been a recent challenge.

Presque Isle Duathlon

Race: Presque Isle Duathlon
Date: August 26, 2017
Location: Presque Isle, Pa
Time:
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:

The triathlon turned into a duathlon due to poor water quality. This was my first run-bike-run race and I would do another. I started out with the 2-mile run and based on my competition, I ran fairly slow. However, my pace was 8:18, which is pretty good for me. I'm not sure I could have gone faster; I was breathing hard. Dan was able to do better (8:09 pace), and Geoff, well, he's in a league of his own (7:32). Geoff went on ahead but Dan and I stuck together for a mile or so. I appreciate his effort to run with me in the beginning and keep up the conversation. Note to self: warm up before a race. The second run, 3.5 miles, was at a similar pace (8:20). I did not feel overly tired and felt pretty good through the whole thing. I kept pace with those around me; it was rare for me to pass anyone.

I'm always disappointed in my bike segment at Presque Isle. Dan and Geoff both beat me by 1-2 minutes. I can't speak to their level of training, but for me, I train on the hills around my neighborhood. That makes me good at hills. However, the race course at Presque Isle is flat, and I apparently don't have the muscle endurance to maintain high speeds for extended periods of time. I stayed in aero position for most of this race, with the exception of a rough patch of pavement, where I cycled more upright. I watched my speedometer and saw that in an upright position I was actually able to go faster. This is very curious. Perhaps I was using different muscles and got a burst of speed from them.

Deciding on my next big race

Will I be an IRONMAN at Cambridge, Maryland (Oct 7, 2018) or an IRONMAN Louisville (Oct 15, 2018)? I've narrowed my next big race down to those two. The Maryland course would be easier but it is flood-prone and could get cancelled. It takes place within a wildlife reserve, so it would be a beautiful ride. I'd be able to visit my aunt and uncle, and it's an hour less each way in terms of getting there by car. I'd have to take two days off from work. There are no hotels near the race site, so getting there on race morning would mean an even earlier wake-up time. The Louisville race would be a little more physically challenging, it would not involve visiting family, the route is more urban (not so pretty, but maybe less boring), take a little more time in the car to get there, but only require one day off from work instead of two.

Trooper Iwaniac 10K

Race: Trooper Iwaniac 10K
Date: April 22, 2017
Location: Latrobe, Pa.
Time: 52:25
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: 2 out of X
Results: http:

This is a new race for me, and I think it may be only my second 10K. My first one was Pittsburgh's Great Race in 2012 and my time was 52:19. I have no memory of the course from back then, so I don't know which one was harder. In any case, I am satisfied with my time. In fact, I won second place in my age group and got to stand on a podium with my friend Jym Walters, who got first place. Somehow my friends always beat me by one place. I guess I just surround myself with good athletes.

Rabbit 5K

Race: Rabbit 5K run
Date: April 15, 2017
Location: Latrobe, PA
Time: 24:17
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:
This wasn't too bad for not running in a while. However, it wasn't my fastest by a long shot. Last year I did this same race in 23:38. That's a big difference! I am still feeling awesome because of my amazing swim meet last weekend, so who cares!!!

Split times of 500 Free at Spire

These split times represent the time it takes for me to swim each successive 50-yard lap during a 500-yard race. The lower the line, the faster I am swimming. The best strategy is to go at a consistent speed for the whole race. However, my recent swims show I am still slowing down toward the end of the race (the lines increase at the right side of graph). I set a personal best last week, and this was accomplished by swimming faster throughout the whole distance. Meanwhile, I am still tired out at the end, and I could improve my overall finish time by keeping a consistent speed.

AMYMSA Champs at Spire

Race: Masters swim meet, championship
Date: April 8-9, 2017
Location: Geneva, OH

This past weekend was my Master’s Swim Association Championship Meet at the Spire Institute near Geneva, Ohio. I had a good feeling going into the meet; I thought I was going to do well because I felt prepared and strong. I even posted to Facebook the day before we left, saying “I’m going to kick butt at champs!” This ended up being completely and undisputedly true.

Event#3: 100-yard Individual Medley
I swam this in 1:11.78, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in February 2014. I kicked this old record good, lowering my time by 1.98 seconds, a decrease of 2.7%. My friends report I was first in my heat at the halfway mark but my competitors caught up during my breaststroke. This is ironic because I had made plans about my butterfly (“use a smaller kick and faster stroke rate”), backstroke (“kick fast and keep my hips up”), and freestyle (“take fewer breaths”), but I didn’t have a strategy for my breaststroke. I thank Arianne Winkleblech for helping me improve my backstroke kick in practices last month.

Event #5: 50-yard Butterfly
I swam this in 30.06, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in November 2014. I kicked this old record good, too, lowering my time by 1.52 seconds, a decrease of 4.8%. I have reinvented my butterfly stroke this winter, making my kick smaller and increasing my arm stroke rate. I could do this consistently during the first 25 yards in practice, but I had had limited success at the 50-yard distance. Today I did the new stroke the whole distance. I actually placed 2nd in my age group, beating out the reliable powerhouses of Daniel Pruzinsky and Ben Mayhew. Ben was gracious and supportive, while also expressing great surprise. Me too, Ben. Me too.

Event #8: 100-yard Butterfly
I swam this in 1:12.50, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in January 2013. I thought this would be an easy record to beat because I had never swum in this event since I set that old record. Surely I have improved in 4 years! I lowered my time by a whopping 7.74 seconds, a drop of 9.6%. I have more I can improve upon; I noted a bad turn at the 50-yard mark, and I started taking too many breaths during the last length.

Event #10: 200-yard Freestyle
I swam this in 2:27.86, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set in February 2016. The improvement was 0.59 seconds or 0.4%. My dive felt great and I felt very powerful until I got to the 100 yard mark. Then, I nearly missed the wall. My toe barely brushed across the touchpad and I lost all momentum. Daniel Pruzinsky and I were in adjacent lanes and while at first he and I were neck-to-neck, this poor turn caused me to drop well back from him. Not only did a bad turn slow me down, but the next 25 yards of swimming were spent thinking about the mistake and wondering if I would get disqualified (the officials at this meet were actually giving out DQs), rather than what I could do to minimize its impacts. I thank Josh Gurekovich working with me this past week on my dives.

To sum up my first day of Champs, I set new personal bests in all four events. Three of these were substantial improvements resulting from changes I made to my butterfly stroke. I did some other things differently in the last few weeks of training that may have also made a difference. I will list these later in this post.

When I was a new swimmer in 2010, it was commonplace to set new personal bests, but it has been harder to set them now that my stroke techniques have matured and the small inefficiencies that developed early in my career have become ingrained and harder to squelch. Swimming is a highly technical sport, and tiny adjustments in body placement significantly impact speed. Somehow at this Championship meet, I made a few adjustments that made a difference. My great success from Saturday continued into Sunday.

Event #13: 500-yard Freestyle
I swam this in 6:50.24, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set last year at Spire in April 2016. I kicked this old record good, lowering my time by 14.12 seconds, a decrease of 3.3%. My goals were to keep my pace steady from lap to lap, concentrate on having streamlined turns, and to stay ahead of all my competitors in adjacent lanes, since all had similar seed times as me. During the race I saw that I was leading my heat from the start, and I tried to slow down just a little so I wouldn’t burn out. I didn’t need to do this. I had practiced this swim over and over during my practices in the preceding month so I would probably have been fine going a little faster. I felt strong throughout, and I was not breathing hard, which helped me stay under the water longer at each turn. I smiled underwater when I saw the official standing over my lane, ringing the bell. This was a signal to everyone that the fastest swimmer of the heat had one more lap. Guess who that was? It was me! And I promptly got distracted by my giddiness and screwed up my last turn, right under the official’s nose. I thank Shannan for counting my laps and cheering me on.

Event #19: 50-yard Freestyle
I swam this event in 27.00 seconds, which was a new personal best, breaking my old record set last year at Spire in April 2016. I lowered my time by 1.38 seconds or 4.9%. This magnitude of improvement rarely happens in a 50-yard race; there is simply too little distance over which small changes in technique can have a cumulative effect. I really couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked at the timing board and saw 27.00. How did I do it? I had a great dive, strong arm pull, and I took only two breaths.

Event #21: 50-yard Breaststroke
I swam this event in 37.56 seconds, which ended up being 0.20 seconds slower than my personal best, set in November 2015. It’s too bad I couldn’t go 7 for 7 in terms of setting records, but the way I am looking at it now is that I’m leaving an easy record for me to beat next time. I went into the race with some mixed emotions, so my failure to swim it fast was probably a result of psychological factors instead of physical factors. Coach Josh thinks my breaststroke is my best stroke out of the four (breast, back, free, and fly). However, others whom I trust saw an issue with my head movement that could be improved. I learned about this on the day of my race, so during warm-ups I practiced the breaststroke with less head movement, and a fellow swimmer walking by my lane actually complimented me on how “smooth” my stroke was. I had not sought out this feedback, so I thought I must have fixed the problem. I think I probably did, but it was not enough to set a personal best. I don’t care. With so many fallen records in this meet, I am content.

In sum, I set 6 personal bests out of 7 events. My average improvement was 3.6%. I cannot wait to compete again to see if I can keep lowering my times. To do so, I have to figure out what I did this year that could have resulted in such success. Here is a list of things I think could have made a difference:

1. I wrote up a list of things ahead of time to concentrate on during each event. This helped me focus. Many athletes forget how important it is to mentally prepare for a race.

2. I shaved my chest and wore a swim cap. There isn’t a lot of data out there on whether or not this produces a measureable effect; it may reduce drag in the water, or it may be the placebo effect. In any case, the effect is estimated to be 1-2%, so this could account for only part of my success.

3. I asked my coach to work with me on my dives the week before my swim meet. This likely helped a lot on my 50- and 100-yard events, where the dive accounts for a significant part of the swim.

4. I sought out advice on my backstroke and freestyle kicks from Arianne a couple weeks before my swim meet. This helped my 100-yard IM.

5. I did extra weight lifting for more than a month in advance of champs. I think this accounts for a lot of success, especially in my butterfly stroke.

6. I practiced the actual events I would swim over and over during my practice sessions, even if they were not at race pace. I’m not sure I have done this in past years. My practices are usually more geared to freestyle. I know I did not change my practice volume (I did about 10 miles per month in the three months preceding champs).

7. My body weight is about the same as it was last year at this time, but I have more fat now (12% instead of 7%) and less muscle mass (42% instead of 44%). I was training for my Ironman last year; the numbers don’t lie!

8. I did longer warm-ups on Saturday before the afternoon session (500 yards); I also swam 300 yards to warm-up on Sunday morning, and another 300 yards before the afternoon session. I timed these much more carefully than usual to be within 30 minutes of my actual races.

9. I have been running long distances (5-7 miles) once a week since February. My overall mileage is no different from last year, so I can’t think of why that would make a difference in my swimming performance. Still, it’s a change of pace that is worth noting.

AMYMSA Oil City

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: March 5, 2017
Location: Oil City, Pa

After a 400 yard warm up, I did four events: (1) 100 IM, (2) 50 Fly, (3) 100 Back, and (4) 200 free. The 100IM was probably my best swim of the meet, since I came within a third of a second of my personal best and unexpectedly beat Ben. There is a pattern when I do these IMs that the backstroke segment leads to my legs sinking and I've tried to correct it to no avail. However, today I got the idea to just kick harder, and surprise, it worked! (why didn't I think of this earlier?). My 50-fly was fine, though I still want to clean up the pause I make between arm strokes. My 100-backstroke was a disappointment. I haven't swam that event in a couple years so I was expecting a large improvement. However, I did not pace myself appropriately. I went way too slow on the first 50. My 200-free was also a bit of a disappointment because I had some bad turns, and I think that prevented me from attaining a personal best time. I am really looking forward to Spire next month. I plan to do a lot of practices between now and then, and get into great shape.

Split times of the 500 free at AMYMSA Franklin

I had a master's swim meet yesterday and had a great time. In my first event, the 100-yard freestyle, I broke my old personal best by 2.02 seconds, lowering it to 1:03.57. That was an awesome feeling! My other events went well, too, including the 500-yard freestyle, which I finished just 2.4 seconds shy of my personal best. However, I wasn't necessarily wanting to set a record in that event. Instead, I have been working on my pacing. I tend to go too fast in the beginning and then tire out at the end. This is apparent in the graph below, with a steep increase in the time it takes each successive 50-yard lap in the pool (10x50=500 yards). I have plotted three of my swims from the 2016-17 season. In each swim I have slightly improved my pacing so that the line is not as steep. My faster and more experienced friend Daniel Pruzinsky has better pacing, as evidenced by the fourth, flatter line in the middle. I want to be like him, so there is more work for me to do.

AMYMSA Franklin

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: February 5, 2017
Location: Franklin, Pa.

I enjoyed this meet a lot. My mood was certainly buoyed by my first event of the day, the 100 freestyle. I swam it in record time, 1:03.57. This shattered my old personal best of 1:05.59. Part of my success (maybe) was that "fast man" Dan was right beside me and I use him to pace myself. The other part of this success was simply that I have not swam this event recently, making a large improvement more likely. The last time I swam the 100 freestyle was in January 2016 when I swam it in 1:05.64. I have to go all the way back to December of 2014 to find that 1:05.59 record that I broke. Note to self: swim this event more often!

My second event was the 100-yard breaststroke. I have now swam it 3 times this season and today's swim was the fastest at 1:23.00. However, this is only an improvement of 0.58 seconds from October 2016, and it is 3.14 seconds slower than my personal best of 1:19.86 set last year at Spire. Dan was in my heat again, but one lane over, and I didn't look for him. Note to self: practice breaststroke more.

My third event was the 50-yard freestyle. I swam it in 28.84 seconds, which is 0.46 seconds slower than my personal best of 28.38, set at Spire last year. I am confident I can lower this again at Spire at the end of this season.

My last event was the 500-yard freestyle. I swam it in 7:06.76. This was 2.4 seconds slower than my personal best, set last year at Spire. I have swam this event three times this season with the goal of improving my pacing. I have been mildly successful. The STDEV of my split times today was 2.48 seconds, compared to the 4.04 seconds calculated from split times in October. The goal is to get this as low as possible, so I'm heading in the right direction.

AMYMSA Duquesne

Race: Masters swim meet
Date: January 22, 2017
Location: Duquesne, Pa

100 IM:
3 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 1:13.79
35.21 38.58
This was just 0.03 seconds slower than my best time, so I am happy with it. Dan beat me by 0.04 seconds, so it was a good match.

50 Butterfly:
2 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 32.25
This was 0.67 seconds slower than my personal best. I had a good swim. I never got tired but as I headed into the wall at the end I felt my stroke got short. I tried to lengthen it by adding some bigger kicks that probably didn't help me in the end.

200 Freestyle:
4 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 2:30.13
34.59 37.03 39.05 39.46
This is 1.68 seconds slower than my personal best. I'm kind of in a funk with this event. I am concentrating on maintaining a consistent pace (not tiring out at the end). I did this a little bit today but I still need improvement.

25-breast:
2 JIM KELLAM 42 M GRBG 17.35
I missed a personal best by 0.37 seconds, which is a lot. Perhaps I was distracted by the false start the guy next to me did.

2017 Goals

I think I finally have a goal for my training in 2017. I've been lazy so far this year so I needed to make some goals. Please ask me how my training is going so I have some motivation to actually do it. Nothing fancy this year; just two half-marathons and several sprint/olympic distance triathlons.