Knuiman, P., M.T.E. Hopman, and M. Mensink. 2015. Glycogen availability and skeletal muscle adaptations with endurance and resistance exercise. Nutrition and Metabolism 12:59.
There isn't anything special about this article by Pim Knuiman and collaborators, but at some point I printed out a copy and read it because I thought it would be useful. It's a review article. It starts with background on what effect starting exercise with low amounts of stored glycogen (while fasting, weight loss diets, or just many hours since a meal) had on muscle adaptations following the exercise. In endurance exercise, studies have shown that mitochondrial biogenesis increases to a greater degree in this condition, but only when glycogen is only mildly depleated.
Also in the background material I found some interesting facts about the distribution of glycogen within muscle. There is glycogen stored within the sarcomeres (5-15%), within the myofibrils (5-15%), and between the myofibrils (75%). Each location uses the glycogen to fuel different molecular processes.
I learned that in general, moderate intensity endurance exercise (30-65% VO2 peak) is predominantly fueled by fat, whereas exercise exceeding that degree of intensity is fueled more by carbohydrate. I had heard that before, but somehow in my mind I reversed it until reading it again here. An interesting note is that this is just a general rule, and that well-trained individuals will have different abilities to use fat and carbs at different levels; they have "greater metabolic flexibility."
The article later addressed resistance exercise and confirmed the general rule that exercise + protein ingestion = muscle hypertrophy. This is not as true for endurance exercise, only because the protein gain (which is real) is simply replacing the protein lost during the exercise (known as the "interference effect"). In any case, protein consumption with a small amount of carbohydrate is important following exercise of all kinds, either to increase or simply maintain muscle mass, strength, and efficiency.
There is a general understanding that when one does both endurance and resistance exercises in one day, the endurance exercise should be conducted in the morning at a somewhat depleted glycogen state, and the resistance exercise should take place in the afternoon (since depletion wasn't shown to be important), followed by a high-protein meal.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Second Marathon
Race: Air Force Marathon
Date: September 21, 2019
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 4:55:54
Overall Rank: 567 out of 1331
Age Group Rank: 39 out of 81
Results: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=69832#racetop
"This was probably my last full-length marathon apart from the one that comes at the end of Ironman Lake Placid next year." My reasoning is that my body is getting older and in training there is always some joint or muscle issue that keeps me from doing enough training. At least, this is what I told my friend Dan and wife Shannan the day after the marathon. Today is different, though. I dream of a marathon where I am running for the vast majority of miles, even at the end of the race. I didn't have that kind of day here, and if I can keep my body healthy enough, maybe I will try a marathon again.
I didn't do poorly this year. In fact, I was well into the run and going at a good pace when my body rather quickly bonked.
Miles 0-10: I ran with the 4:20 pace group. It felt easy with a pace in the upper 9s and some scattered conversations to listen to, though I was expecting more from my pacer in that regard. The 4:20 pace group was a little faster than my desired pace of 4:30, but there wasn't a choice for 4:30 finish time. I had to choose 4:20 or 4:35 so I stuck with the faster group, maybe to my eventual detriment.
Miles 11-17: The pace started to seem fast to me, though my watch denied it. My pacer said several times "we're running a minute or two ahead," and I began to get frustrated that not only was I running with a group that was a bit faster than my choice, my pacer was running faster than the group's choice, too. Looking at my heart rate output, at mile 12 my heart rate abruptly jumped from 145 bpm to 165 bpm and stayed there. This section of the route was at least more scenic, as it winded its way through the neighborhood. Around mile 15 is when we started running through downtown Fairborn. There were lots of spectators with signs and noisemakers and even some bands playing. My pacer swept through the crowd, trying to high-five as many people as he could. His energy was contagious; I did my best to follow his lead, but I was starting to feel unwell. I felt thirsty. I also had to urinate. I started to think about walking when I got to the next water station. The water station came too soon, though, and I didn't want to start walking while still downtown with all the crowds. So I ran on, promising myself that I'd take a walking break at the next porta-potty.
Mile 17: I finally got to an aid station with a porta-potty. My watch tells me I only took 1 minute to use it, and then, as a reward for getting to this point, I planned to walk for a minute before starting up again. But a minute came and went, and I couldn't get myself started again. My head wasn't right. I was sort of woozy. I delayed for another 3 minutes, and then delayed again until my watch hit a certain time, and then I told myself I'd start running at the next bend in the road. After 9.5 minutes I was finally able to get started.
At this point I wasn't panicking. I had been at this place before on my training runs. I started up a 5-min run + 1-min walk strategy that could be adjusted depending on my condition. For instance, the first 5 minutes of running went by, and I didn't feel like I needed to stop, so I committed to another 3 minutes, and then another 1.5 minutes. I then walked for a minute. But I couldn't start up again, so my walking interval turned out to be 5 minutes. I was starting to do math in my head. I knew that i could take 1-minute walking breaks and still beat my goal time of 4:30, but more 5-minute walking breaks would not be helpful toward that goal.
I ran another 5+3=8 minutes and stopped to walk again. I walked 5 minutes again. Ugggh, I still thought now that I would still finish around 4:30, and even if it was later, I would still beat my personal best of 4:54.
I ran another 5 minutes, which was followed by a 12-minute walk. I don't remember when the back cramps started up, but at this point I probably had them. I remembered that this had happened before at Ironman Maryland during the run; I started to get cramps, starting with my back and diaphragm, and then my legs. Indeed, now at this point in my marathon, my calves were starting to feel crampy and I was afraid they would lock up. I did a few spurts of running to see if the feeling would go away, and it didn't. My running pace at this point was in the 11s. I reasoned that a run-walk of 11-14 min/mile pacing could still get me over the finish line with time to spare, but I noticed that even my walking pace was slowing. I covered my last couple miles at a 15 min/mile pace, which still seemed ok, because I knew that I'd run the last half mile at the end.
Finally, I saw Shannan and her dad Jim at the half-mile point. I started to run, and of course I did get one last spurt of energy and motivation to do it. I was watching my watch the whole time, because I thought maybe I would beat my personal best time after all...and I did, according to my watch. However, my watch was telling me the duration of actual time spend in motion. It shut off when I was in the porta-potty, and I didn't think of that until it was too late. My official finish time was 4:55.54, just a minute slower than in 2015 when I ran it in 4:54.47.
I really wanted to beat that old time, so I spent some time last night exploring whether the new route used in 2019 was easier or harder than the old route used in 2015. The race site seems to suggest it is easier now because they took out some hills. However, when i compare my finish time against my 40-44 age male peers, I actually did slightly better in 2019 than in 2015 despite the slower time. So, either the competitive field was greater in 2015, or I was more competitive in 2019. By a smidgen. Jim, why do you care??? Statistically speaking, you tied.
Anyway, I really have to figure out how to prevent the bonk during my long runs. The most obvious solution is to do MORE long runs prior to the event. This allows me to tweak my nutrition and hydration strategies. I simply didn't do enough this summer to prepare for this marathon. My longest run was 18 miles, and some of that included walking. Research shows that men need to run 20+ miles in preparation for a marathon to limit the chance of "hitting the wall." (Rapoport 2010). I might also learn to supercompensate my glycogen stores in leg muscles by doing an exhaustive workout and then delaying carbohydrate consumption afterward (Rapoport 2010).
Indeed, for this race, I don't think I consumed enough sugar. I'll have to do some computations here, but I think maybe in total I had 10 Dixie cups of Gatorade, one cup of cola, one Gu packet, and one half-banana during the race. I consumed plenty of fluid and took supplemental salt licks 4-5 times.
After my race was finished, I almost immediately felt nauseous, I was pale, and I think I was overheated. Uncharacteristically, I insisted on laying on the ground for 15 minutes and pouring water on my head. Even after I got up and started walking, my vision was over-sensitive to bright light. My pupils must have been inappropriately dilated for the sunny conditions. I've looked into the vision issue and it seems that low blood glucose can cause that (but not dehydration), so this also points to insufficient fueling.
So let's calculate my carbs now. One Gu packet is 100 calories. One half banana is 45 calories. There are 50 calories in each 8 ounce serving of Gatorade and most cups given to me were only half full, so that's 25 calories x 10 cups = 250 calories. A half serving of cola is 52 calories. In sum, I consumed 447 calories during my marathon. Meanwhile, my Garmin says I burned 3,387 during the event (around 675 calories per hour). A rough estimate of calories stored by the liver glycogen is 2,000 plus whatever I had stored in my leg muscles. Actually, I'm finding different values for liver storage, and of course I can't know how much glycogen was stored in my leg muscles, nor whether or not my stores were full at the time I started the race. Plus, there is data that show that muscles don't give up their entire storage of glycogen. All this is to say there are too many variables to get an accurate calorie count, but it looks like I was fueled for only about 4 hours of exercise and not 5. At the 4-hour mark of my race, I had covered 23 miles, so had I properly fueled, I could have run at least another 6 miles than I did. Duh. Why didn't I pay more attention to caloric intake? Rookie mistake that I seem to keep making.
...bonk continues, runny nose, vision weird.
Date: September 21, 2019
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 4:55:54
Overall Rank: 567 out of 1331
Age Group Rank: 39 out of 81
Results: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=69832#racetop
"This was probably my last full-length marathon apart from the one that comes at the end of Ironman Lake Placid next year." My reasoning is that my body is getting older and in training there is always some joint or muscle issue that keeps me from doing enough training. At least, this is what I told my friend Dan and wife Shannan the day after the marathon. Today is different, though. I dream of a marathon where I am running for the vast majority of miles, even at the end of the race. I didn't have that kind of day here, and if I can keep my body healthy enough, maybe I will try a marathon again.
I didn't do poorly this year. In fact, I was well into the run and going at a good pace when my body rather quickly bonked.
Miles 0-10: I ran with the 4:20 pace group. It felt easy with a pace in the upper 9s and some scattered conversations to listen to, though I was expecting more from my pacer in that regard. The 4:20 pace group was a little faster than my desired pace of 4:30, but there wasn't a choice for 4:30 finish time. I had to choose 4:20 or 4:35 so I stuck with the faster group, maybe to my eventual detriment.
Miles 11-17: The pace started to seem fast to me, though my watch denied it. My pacer said several times "we're running a minute or two ahead," and I began to get frustrated that not only was I running with a group that was a bit faster than my choice, my pacer was running faster than the group's choice, too. Looking at my heart rate output, at mile 12 my heart rate abruptly jumped from 145 bpm to 165 bpm and stayed there. This section of the route was at least more scenic, as it winded its way through the neighborhood. Around mile 15 is when we started running through downtown Fairborn. There were lots of spectators with signs and noisemakers and even some bands playing. My pacer swept through the crowd, trying to high-five as many people as he could. His energy was contagious; I did my best to follow his lead, but I was starting to feel unwell. I felt thirsty. I also had to urinate. I started to think about walking when I got to the next water station. The water station came too soon, though, and I didn't want to start walking while still downtown with all the crowds. So I ran on, promising myself that I'd take a walking break at the next porta-potty.
Mile 17: I finally got to an aid station with a porta-potty. My watch tells me I only took 1 minute to use it, and then, as a reward for getting to this point, I planned to walk for a minute before starting up again. But a minute came and went, and I couldn't get myself started again. My head wasn't right. I was sort of woozy. I delayed for another 3 minutes, and then delayed again until my watch hit a certain time, and then I told myself I'd start running at the next bend in the road. After 9.5 minutes I was finally able to get started.
At this point I wasn't panicking. I had been at this place before on my training runs. I started up a 5-min run + 1-min walk strategy that could be adjusted depending on my condition. For instance, the first 5 minutes of running went by, and I didn't feel like I needed to stop, so I committed to another 3 minutes, and then another 1.5 minutes. I then walked for a minute. But I couldn't start up again, so my walking interval turned out to be 5 minutes. I was starting to do math in my head. I knew that i could take 1-minute walking breaks and still beat my goal time of 4:30, but more 5-minute walking breaks would not be helpful toward that goal.
I ran another 5+3=8 minutes and stopped to walk again. I walked 5 minutes again. Ugggh, I still thought now that I would still finish around 4:30, and even if it was later, I would still beat my personal best of 4:54.
I ran another 5 minutes, which was followed by a 12-minute walk. I don't remember when the back cramps started up, but at this point I probably had them. I remembered that this had happened before at Ironman Maryland during the run; I started to get cramps, starting with my back and diaphragm, and then my legs. Indeed, now at this point in my marathon, my calves were starting to feel crampy and I was afraid they would lock up. I did a few spurts of running to see if the feeling would go away, and it didn't. My running pace at this point was in the 11s. I reasoned that a run-walk of 11-14 min/mile pacing could still get me over the finish line with time to spare, but I noticed that even my walking pace was slowing. I covered my last couple miles at a 15 min/mile pace, which still seemed ok, because I knew that I'd run the last half mile at the end.
Finally, I saw Shannan and her dad Jim at the half-mile point. I started to run, and of course I did get one last spurt of energy and motivation to do it. I was watching my watch the whole time, because I thought maybe I would beat my personal best time after all...and I did, according to my watch. However, my watch was telling me the duration of actual time spend in motion. It shut off when I was in the porta-potty, and I didn't think of that until it was too late. My official finish time was 4:55.54, just a minute slower than in 2015 when I ran it in 4:54.47.
I really wanted to beat that old time, so I spent some time last night exploring whether the new route used in 2019 was easier or harder than the old route used in 2015. The race site seems to suggest it is easier now because they took out some hills. However, when i compare my finish time against my 40-44 age male peers, I actually did slightly better in 2019 than in 2015 despite the slower time. So, either the competitive field was greater in 2015, or I was more competitive in 2019. By a smidgen. Jim, why do you care??? Statistically speaking, you tied.
Anyway, I really have to figure out how to prevent the bonk during my long runs. The most obvious solution is to do MORE long runs prior to the event. This allows me to tweak my nutrition and hydration strategies. I simply didn't do enough this summer to prepare for this marathon. My longest run was 18 miles, and some of that included walking. Research shows that men need to run 20+ miles in preparation for a marathon to limit the chance of "hitting the wall." (Rapoport 2010). I might also learn to supercompensate my glycogen stores in leg muscles by doing an exhaustive workout and then delaying carbohydrate consumption afterward (Rapoport 2010).
Indeed, for this race, I don't think I consumed enough sugar. I'll have to do some computations here, but I think maybe in total I had 10 Dixie cups of Gatorade, one cup of cola, one Gu packet, and one half-banana during the race. I consumed plenty of fluid and took supplemental salt licks 4-5 times.
After my race was finished, I almost immediately felt nauseous, I was pale, and I think I was overheated. Uncharacteristically, I insisted on laying on the ground for 15 minutes and pouring water on my head. Even after I got up and started walking, my vision was over-sensitive to bright light. My pupils must have been inappropriately dilated for the sunny conditions. I've looked into the vision issue and it seems that low blood glucose can cause that (but not dehydration), so this also points to insufficient fueling.
So let's calculate my carbs now. One Gu packet is 100 calories. One half banana is 45 calories. There are 50 calories in each 8 ounce serving of Gatorade and most cups given to me were only half full, so that's 25 calories x 10 cups = 250 calories. A half serving of cola is 52 calories. In sum, I consumed 447 calories during my marathon. Meanwhile, my Garmin says I burned 3,387 during the event (around 675 calories per hour). A rough estimate of calories stored by the liver glycogen is 2,000 plus whatever I had stored in my leg muscles. Actually, I'm finding different values for liver storage, and of course I can't know how much glycogen was stored in my leg muscles, nor whether or not my stores were full at the time I started the race. Plus, there is data that show that muscles don't give up their entire storage of glycogen. All this is to say there are too many variables to get an accurate calorie count, but it looks like I was fueled for only about 4 hours of exercise and not 5. At the 4-hour mark of my race, I had covered 23 miles, so had I properly fueled, I could have run at least another 6 miles than I did. Duh. Why didn't I pay more attention to caloric intake? Rookie mistake that I seem to keep making.
...bonk continues, runny nose, vision weird.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
AMYMSA Edinboro
Race:
Date: September 15, 2019
Location: Edinboro University
The start of swim season! I've been concentrating on my running, plus work has been busy, plus I had a cut on my finger (squirrel bite), so I haven't been swimming much. That's pretty much what everyone else at Masters said, so I fit right in. No pressure today.
100-yard freestyle: I didn't beat my seed time, but was close. My turns were not explosive at all; my legs are tired from a 12-mile run yesterday.
25-yard backstroke: It took almost the whole length to get my legs up and finally get into a good rhythm. I feel like I might be kicking too hard at first, causing some kind of drag on my legs.
50-yard freestyle: I beat my seed time by almost a second, coming in at 29.18 seconds. This is not bad at all for the start of the season. It felt good; I concentrated on NOT fishtailing the whole way and took limited breaths.
25-yard butterfly: Felt good, but not fast at all!
Overall, a good time. I have just recently signed up for Ironman Lake Placid (July 2020) so I'm going to take my swimming more seriously this year. And my biking. And my running. And my protein intake. And my lifting. And my blogging! It's going to be my last full-length triathlon so I want to get the most out of it. We'll talk soon.
Date: September 15, 2019
Location: Edinboro University
The start of swim season! I've been concentrating on my running, plus work has been busy, plus I had a cut on my finger (squirrel bite), so I haven't been swimming much. That's pretty much what everyone else at Masters said, so I fit right in. No pressure today.
100-yard freestyle: I didn't beat my seed time, but was close. My turns were not explosive at all; my legs are tired from a 12-mile run yesterday.
25-yard backstroke: It took almost the whole length to get my legs up and finally get into a good rhythm. I feel like I might be kicking too hard at first, causing some kind of drag on my legs.
50-yard freestyle: I beat my seed time by almost a second, coming in at 29.18 seconds. This is not bad at all for the start of the season. It felt good; I concentrated on NOT fishtailing the whole way and took limited breaths.
25-yard butterfly: Felt good, but not fast at all!
Overall, a good time. I have just recently signed up for Ironman Lake Placid (July 2020) so I'm going to take my swimming more seriously this year. And my biking. And my running. And my protein intake. And my lifting. And my blogging! It's going to be my last full-length triathlon so I want to get the most out of it. We'll talk soon.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Saint Vincent Alumni 5K in 2019--add to runs and add presque isle too
Race: Saint Vincent Alumni 5K
Date: August 24, 2019
Location: Latrobe, PA
Time: 25:54
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:
Shannan and I ran the Saint Vincent Alumni 5K race on campus this morning. I pushed myself fairly hard and finished in 25:54. I felt pretty good about this result until I looked up my previous times doing this race. I finished in 24:49 in 2016 and 25:19 in 2015. Well, crap. I'm getting slower with age. I knew it would happen sooner or later.
The same pattern was revealed a few weeks ago when I completed the Presque Isle sprint triathlon. I felt really good about my performance until I looked up my previous times. My 2018 race was faster than my 2019 race by a 1:01 for the bike segment and 0:26 for the run segment.
The number one issue that keeps me from going faster is my tolerance of discomfort. For example, today my average heart rate was 155 bpm (max = 206 bpm on the hill!). It should be sustainable and safe for me to run with an average heart rate of 167 bpm, so I clearly didn't run at my top level of effort, even though I felt I was. Does getting older lead to an increasingly false perception of effort?
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Boston Trail 5K
Race:
5k
Date: April 20, 2019
Location: Boston, Pa
Time: 26:46
Overall Rank: 32 out of 213
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 7
Results: http: http://runhigh.com/2019RESULTS/R042019DC.html
Date: April 20, 2019
Location: Boston, Pa
Time: 26:46
Overall Rank: 32 out of 213
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 7
Results: http: http://runhigh.com/2019RESULTS/R042019DC.html
Chase the Wolf Obstacle Course
Race: 5k with obstacles
Date: June 1, 2019
Location: Youngwood, Pa
Time: 41:14.8
Overall Rank: 23 out of 29
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 4
Results: http: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/58624/#resultSetId-157270;page:3;perpage:10
Date: June 1, 2019
Location: Youngwood, Pa
Time: 41:14.8
Overall Rank: 23 out of 29
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 4
Results: http: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/58624/#resultSetId-157270;page:3;perpage:10
Oakmont 5K
Race: 5k
Date: June 15, 2019
Location: Oakmont, PA
Time: 26:27
Overall Rank: 74 out of 159
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 4
Results: http: http://runhigh.com/2019RESULTS/R061519BC.html
Date: June 15, 2019
Location: Oakmont, PA
Time: 26:27
Overall Rank: 74 out of 159
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 4
Results: http: http://runhigh.com/2019RESULTS/R061519BC.html
All-out Ostrich Uproar 5K
Race: 5K
Date: June 27, 2019
Location: Anchorage, AK
Time: 26:52.90
Overall Rank: 36 out of 53
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:
Date: June 27, 2019
Location: Anchorage, AK
Time: 26:52.90
Overall Rank: 36 out of 53
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:
Monday, June 10, 2019
Fourth MS150 bike ride
My friend Dan and I participated this weekend in the MS150 "Escape to the Lake" bike ride from Moraine State Park in western Pennsylvania to the shore of Lake Erie in Conneaut, Ohio. We rode 64 miles on Saturday and 62 miles Sunday with an overnight stay at Allegheny College in between. There were about 500 riders on the route with us, with plenty of support from volunteers. Rest stops were placed along the route every 12-15 miles. It appears I actually gained about a pound of body weight because I ate more snacks at the rest stops than burned calories!
This was Dan's and my 4th time doing this charity ride and the weather was best this year, with only gusty winds to complain about. It was indeed brutal riding in that wind at times, but it was still better than the year when we had to ride through a thunderstorm!
I did not train for this ride. Before this weekend, I had logged just 21 miles on my bike since January 1. I have been having a hard time staying motivated to do workouts since my 2018 Ironman in September, and this has concerned me. However, the bike ride was fun and I am happy I still have cycling legs even if they've been inactive for many months. As they say, "it's just like riding a bike," and my body knew what to do. It's not just the mileage but also the handling skills. It felt really natural. So this was a great ride for several reasons: (1) raised funds for needed research on a disease that affects millions, (2) strengthened the bond between good friends, and (3) helped me break through a fitness slump. Please pray for me that I can follow through and enjoy being an athlete again.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Masters Swim Champs 2019
I’ve had trouble with motivation the last 6 months, so my running, biking, weight-training, and swim training have all been less than normal. I started the weekend knowing I was not in top condition, but I still had hope for some good swims because I started taking my swim training more seriously in the last month. I did a lot of sprints to get my body used to swimming fast. Based on my results, it seems that even if I did wait until the last minute (figuratively) to get into shape, it worked! I am lucky. Here’s the rundown:
SATURDAY
Event #4, 100-yard Individual Medley
I had not swum this event in competition since Oct 2017, and I can’t remember the last time I actually practiced it. I had no expectation for this swim, so I told myself it was just for fun. However, I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I decided to practice it three times about 90 minutes before my start. It didn’t feel good. My arms felt tired. Anyway, during the actual race I think my dive was fine but I forgot to streamline underwater before starting the butterfly stroke. Then on backstroke, my legs sank for half the pool length. By the time I got to the freestyle segment I was finally hitting my stride, and I powered to the finish. My finish time was 1:15.23, which was 5% slower than my personal best. I was pleased with this, as I had predicted a slower swim.
Event #6, 50-yard Butterfly
I always try to visualize my performance on the starting block before the starting beep. I had planned to concentrate on three things in this swim: a good dive, limiting myself to just 2 breaths, and stretching out my arms with each stroke. Unfortunately, I was distracted on the starting bock by the fact that I grabbed the wrong pair of goggles. I had on my older pair, and while there is nothing wrong with them, the inadvertent change in plans caused me to lose concentration. I dove well, surfaced, and then skimmed across the water. I was thinking about when I should take my first breath and then suddenly I was at the wall. I just wasn’t thinking ahead and because my goggles were fogged up, I didn’t see the black warning markers at the bottom of the pool. In mid-stroke at the last possible moment, I saw the wall and made a very awkward turn. My finish time was 32.35 seconds, my season’s best time, but 8% slower than my historical best time. Besides the poor turn, I totally forgot to increase my arm reach with each stroke, so that’s how I can improve next time.
Event #11, 200-yard Freestyle
I was fairly optimistic about this swim. I had practiced it at the YMCA all month, working on my flip turns, contracting my abs to keep a better streamline, and pacing myself so as not to tire out before the end. I had Coach Josh give me some pointers on my start and turns, and I think that helped. My dive was great and I felt strong with my stroke. However, I had two turns that were pretty bad. I turned too soon and didn’t have enough foot contact with the wall to push off with much momentum. Even so, I saw that my nearest competitors were well behind me. At my finish, I looked around and saw I had won my heat, having swum more than 11 seconds faster than I expected. I set a new personal best at 2:26.30, which was 1.15 seconds faster than the record I set a year ago at Spire. I know I have an even faster time in me. I could probably have gone a second faster with better turns, and after looking at photos that Arianne took of me during this swim, I see that my head comes out of the water a little too much during my breaths.
Event #12, 25-yard Breaststroke
This was actually my best shot at setting a new personal best because I’ve never swam this event at Spire before. The pool at Spire is state-of-the-art and helps swimmers achieve their best times. Anyway, I had a mediocre swim, finishing in 17.46 seconds, 3% slower than my personal best. I used to have a strong kick, but it didn’t feel that way today.
SUNDAY
Event #17, 100-yard Freestyle
Based on my swim season this year, I thought maybe I could set a personal best time today because my season’s best (1:06.23) was only 4% slower than my personal best time (1:03.57). At a pool like Spire, improving by 4% or more is certainly possible. My plan was to start with a great dive by pulling my hips up high on the block and taking full advantage of the angled wedge of the block; not to breathe until after the first turn; and kick rapidly during the last 50 yards. I carried this plan out to the letter. I finished in 1:01.59, setting a new personal best and coming in 7% faster than I had all season long. I was elated. Before today I would never have thought the 1:00 threshold could be broken (by me). But now I’m really close. Maybe I’ll do it next year!
Event #21, 50-yard Freestyle
Going into today, my season’s best time was 28.73 seconds, more than 6% slower than my personal best set at Spire in 2017 (27.00). Before this meet, I really did expect something around 28.00 seconds, but I thought 27.00 was out of reach. This expectation was reinforced just before my race when Shannan told me that during my 100-yard freestyle, my first split had been 28-point-something. “Yeah, that seems about right,” I thought. So on the block I thought about all the things I would have to do perfectly in order to beat 27.00 seconds, and the list just seemed too long. A short-distance race like this one is unforgiving if one makes an error like a dive that’s too deep, a bad turn, an extra breath, or a lazy punch of the pad at the end. At the beep, I plunged in and went as fast as I could. Everything seemed to go well. At the end, I knew I had done my best. I looked timidly at the timing board to see my result. It read 27.08 seconds. I smiled. I was happy with that. I didn’t deserve anything faster. But next year, maybe I will with more regular training.
Event #23, 50-yard Breaststroke
The last swim of a meet is rarely my best, and the relatively poor showing in my 25-yard Breaststroke the day before didn’t help my mood. Nevertheless, I feel good about my start and turns during this swim. It’s just the strokes in between that didn’t seem to have a lot of power and glide. Midway through, I attempted to improve my arm pull because it seemed my arms weren’t grabbing the water as much as they could. But the good kick I sometimes have just didn’t materialize. I finished in 38.86 seconds, an improvement of 1.47 seconds from my season’s best time, but still more than 4.5% slower than my all-time personal best of 37.15 swum at Spire last year.
It took 2.5 hours to drive home today, and that’s plenty of time to think about things. I set more personal bests this year than I thought, and it has inspired me to improve some more. That’s why I do these athletic events. I see what’s possible and then try to beat it. If I can do that at age 44 (and I am!), that’s something to really celebrate. I’ve got a marathon coming up in September. I think I’m going to beat my old time, and if I don’t, it will be fun trying.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Barbell weight
Well,
darn. I was showing Arianne how to bench press and I discovered that my
bar was only 10 pounds and not 20. I am officially weaker than I
thought I was.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Yearly totals for 2018
2018 fitness totals: 103 miles of swimming (2% higher than my yearly average), 503 miles of running (52% higher than my yearly average), and 1,740 miles of biking (44% higher than my yearly average). You know, Ironman training does that. My plans for 2019 include my Masters Swim meets, a half-marathon in May, a 150-mile bike ride in June, a sprint triathlon in August, and a full marathon in September.
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