AMYMSA swim meet

Race: AMYMSA masters swim meet
Date: December 7, 2014
Location: Sewickley, PA
Results: http:

Two personal bests in 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. I came very close to setting two more personal bests in 50 freestyle (-0.16 seconds) and 200 IM (-0.56 seconds). This was the most fun I've had at a meet in a long time. I was relaxed...AND I swam well. I haven't been able to find that balance until now.

AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet

Race: AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet
Date: November 16, 2014
Location:
Results: http:

I swam in four events and did not set any personal bests. This is maybe only the second time this has ever happened in my short swimming career, and I'm fine with it. I was distracted by a few things before/during the meet, I did not warm-up, I was poorly hydrated, and my confidence was a notch lower due to discovering some problems with my butterfly on Friday, only two days before the meet. I knew all of this going in, and it helped me relax and have fun instead of worrying about setting a personal best.

100 IM: 1:14.12 was 0.26 seconds off my personal best.
50 Fly: 31.58 may be a mistake. If accurate, I beat my personal best by 0.74 seconds and beat Dan by 0.01 seconds.
50 Back: 37.23 was 0.69 seconds off my personal best.
200 Free: 2:38.16 was 5.06 seconds off my personal best. I went out too fast and got tired at the end. I also had lousy turns.

YMCA Cross-Country 5K masters division

Race: Greensburg YMCA Cross-Country Meet 5K Master's Division
Date: October 25, 2014
Location: Greensburg Salem High School
Time: 25:11
Overall Rank: 1 out of 2
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1
Results: http:

First run in about 14 days. I'd say I did excellent. The course was a mix of woods and flat grass and even some pavement, with scattered hilly spots. I was running with Shannan; we were the only two participants in the 5K! We started with the 4K heat of 13-14 year olds who looked at us like "what are you old people doing here?!" All of the kids rapidly got out ahead of me, but one girl was slowing way down and I could have caught up with by the 4K mark. I still had another kilometer to go, though, so I conserved energy and let her lead.

AMYMSA swim meet at Hollidaysburg

Race: AMYMSA master's swim meet
Date: October 19, 2014
Location: Hollidaysburg Senior High School
Results: http:

Most Master’s meets have between 60 and 120 swimmers. This one had around 40, for a variety of reasons, one being that it is on the eastern geographic edge of our league so a lot of people decide not to travel there. My usual carpool partners were absent, too, so I just drove myself and made it into a day trip that included a visit to the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark near Altoona and a hike on the Ghost Town Trail near…well, nothing (hence the name).

The swim meet was at the local senior high school instead of the YMCA, and this was an excellent choice. The facility was clean and recently renovated, I liked the huge bank of windows on the side, and we even had touch-pads at both pool ends so I can now examine my split times to get a better understanding of how I performed during the longer events.

EVENT #4: 200 Individual Medley (2:50.95)
I swam this 1.35 seconds better than my old personal record. This was probably all due to my butterfly, which felt effortless. I was a second ahead of Nick in the adjacent lane. I fell half a second behind Nick on the backstroke, but that’s actually good. I usually slow way down during the backstroke to recover from a too-fast butterfly. Today I continued to feel strong and negative-split my backstroke segment (second 25 yards was faster than my first 25 yards). I pulled ahead of Nick again during the breaststroke, with my 49.46 second segment solidly beating his 53.03 second segment. I negative split here, too. I was burned out by the end of the breaststroke and had a weak showing in the first 25 yards of freestyle. I found new energy at the end and negative split once again (23.18 seconds vs. 20.17). Nick beat me by around 5 seconds. It appears I am still inexperienced with pacing myself during longer races. I can also improve with my turns, as most were poor today.

Following the race I was dizzy and lightheaded. I wonder if I might have hyperventilated during the breaststroke; this would have caused the fatigue I felt during the freestyle.

EVENT #8: 100 Breaststroke (1:23.99)
I had plenty of time to recover from the 200 IM and gave a good showing with my breaststroke. I finished about half a second slower than my personal best. My dive and initial pullout were expertly executed and I had very consistent splits over the next 75 yards. I was finishing much slower than others in my heat, though, so I decided to increase my stroke rate considerably at the end. This led to a negative split of around 0.93 second in the last 25 yards.

EVENT #9: 25 Backstroke (16.91)
This was just for fun. I thought this was a personal best, but after reviewing my records I see I missed my best time by 0.41 seconds. Given the short distance of this swim, I wasn’t even close! But I beat everyone in my heat (in fact, all the other heats, too) and I felt quite full of testosterone.

EVENT #11: 100 Freestyle (1:09.46)
I swam 3.5 seconds slower than my personal best—not real good! But oh well. By the fourth event of a meet I am usually fatigued and don’t set a personal best. The meet director greeted me at the end of my swim and apologized for hitting the start buzzer before I was ready. He definitely rushed me, but it didn’t affect my time. Instead, I think I just got ahead of myself. I have been working with my coach over the last two weeks on a shoulder-driven freestyle technique that is used during short distance events. My brain switched immediately into this fast-but-inefficient stroke during the first 25 yards of my swim. I felt strong and it was fun to power through it. But I still had 75 yards to go, so I switched to hip-driven freestyle for the middle 50 yards and then tried to return to shoulder-driven strokes in the last 25 yards. My turns were still sloppy and just like last meet, I don’t remember thinking much about swimming during this race, so my mind wasn’t in it. That’s ok. I had a lot of fun today and swam very well.

Mario Lemieux Foundation 6.6K

Race: Mario Lemieux Foundation 6.6K
Date: October 5, 2014
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Time: 34:34
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: 56 out of 213
Results: http:

I did the Mario Lemieux Foundation 6.6K run this morning, along with 4,000 other people. I finished in 34:34 at a pace of 8:26 min/mile. This ranked me in the top 26% of my gender age group (56 out of 213). This is not a bad result for me but I am surprised on a couple levels why I was not faster. First, it was only 2 weeks ago that I did my half-ironman so I should still be in great condition. Second, I have run two 5K races this summer where I dropped below an 8:00 min/mile pace. It may be that I kept such a pace today until the last mile when I may have slowed. I pushed very hard for the first 2 miles of the race. Then I felt hungry. At mile 3 I lost some concentration. I did, however, remember to "hoot" in the long tunnel we ran through; as a tradition, I do that for every tunnel I enter when running or on my bike. Within view of the finishline I was not feeling well at all. Once over the line, I steered over to the side, just in case I was going to vomit. Thankfully I didn't, but it would not have been out of place to have done so. The nauseated feeling was a sign that I pushed myself as hard as I could and I am happy to have done so. My triathlon season may be over but I've still got a competitive spirit!

Mighty Moraine Man Half-Ironman

Race: Mighty Moraine Man Half-Ironman Triathlon
Date: September 21, 2014
Location: Moraine State Park
Time:
Overall Rank: X out of 60
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 7
Results: http:

SWIMMING
60 degrees. The water temperature of Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park where we did the swim. Earlier in the week it was 67 degrees but today the fishing website says 60. In any case, my wetsuit kept me comfortable. Air temperatures ranged from 66 to 79.

60% chance of rain. The forecast looked quite bad for a race, and things didn’t look good at the start. Dark clouds and a brief rain shower came in just as we were entering the water at 8:30am. Otherwise, we had no rain for the rest of the day.

6 buoys. The swim course was a giant triangle marked off by six large orange buoys. This would have been an adequate number of buoys on a clear day, but today the skies were dark and the water was gray. My newest pair of goggles is tinted gray, so I was not seeing well at all. Between the second and third buoy I got disoriented and swam 90 degrees off course for several strokes. I looked up, and seeing no buoy, stopped swimming. As I treaded water, I couldn’t find any buoy at all, and then I saw one 50-100 yards away. I was about to swim toward it when I saw a pack of swimmers moving past it to the left. Their direction of movement was not what I was expecting, and this is when I realized I was looking back toward a buoy I had already swum past. I turned around and picked out the proper buoy I should swim to, where I eventually joined that pack of swimmers. I would have been well ahead of them if I had stayed on course! (It’s my fault I got turned around, but this does suggest the race needed more kayakers and boats watching for wayward swimmers like me)

17th place. I finished my 1.2 mile swim in 36:38, which was the 17th fastest amongst 60 competitors. Dan was 2:02 ahead of me and came in 11th. Given that Dan was not that far ahead of me, I guess my getting lost during the swim did not set me back as far as I was thinking.

BIKING
16.0 mph. This is our average speed on the bike during the first of two 29.25 loops on the bike route. This number dropped to 15.2 mph by mile 40 and was 14.5 mph at mile 58. The bike course consisted of two loops along country roads in and near Moraine State Park. It was a challenging course with no flats at all. We were either descending fast or climbing slow.

39.6 mph. This is my maximum speed during the race. I tend to keep it under 40 for safety reasons. In this case, nearly every downhill segment ended with sharp curve or stop sign so I had to be conservative. I am very pleased that Dan and I arrived a day early and drove the route in his car so we could see what the hazards were going to be. Cyclists (and motorists, too) tend to treat Stop signs like Yield signs. This is especially true during a race. Today though, I had to stop for a couple cars at an intersection and both front and rear tires skidded as I stopped. I was headed downhill and the pavement was still wet from the earlier rain shower. Skidding on wet pavement is something to avoid, but I never lost control of the bike, so this episode did not diminish my fun.

4,367 feet. This is the total elevation climb of the course when all hills are added up together (according to MapMyRide.com). Dan and I were trying to figure out how this bike course compared to the first day of our MS150 ride back in June. On that day we rode 86 miles and climbed 4,758 feet at an average speed of 15.4 mph. If one compares the feet climbed/mile for each of the two rides, today’s race course was 26% harder than the MS150 ride. “Who chose this triathlon to do?” asked Dan during one of the six biggest hills. “I think it was you!” I said.

Three. This is the number of chipmunks that scurried across the road right in front of my bike. I would have lost control if any of them chosen the wrong way to go. I also avoided driving over a spotted newt, a frog, and countless caterpillars. In fact, it’s a good day when I don’t kill anything with my bicycle!

Three. This is also the number of Honey Stinger Waffles I ate while on the bike. I drank 42 ounces of water and 21 ounces of Gatorade. I have had varying levels of success staying hydrated and fueled during my previous triathlons, so I had to be careful not to drink or eat too little or too much. I think I found the right combination today. I was in good shape for the bike but was very hungry toward the end of the run. My hydration was perfect, though. We athletes are always paying attention to our urine. I visited the port-a-john in the transition zone at the end of the bike ride and it took me a full minute to empty my bladder. My urine was also light in color. This means I had good hydration and I wasn’t hydrolyzing much muscle protein, either. About 5 hours into the race, I was still feeling good.

40 miles. This is about where the aid station was on the bike course. Dan and I stopped to fill our water bottles. We asked for food, too, since it was announced there would be food at the aid stations (bananas and energy gels). The friendly volunteers had no food to give us, but they had food for themselves that would soon arrive. “That was the pizza guy; he’ll be here in one minute,” said one volunteer to the other as Dan and I pedaled off. Pizza would not have been a good food to serve athletes in a race, but it sure sounded good. Volunteers need to eat, but I craved a banana and didn’t get one. Dan was hungry, and so were two other athletes that passed us around that time.

51 miles (7.5 miles to go). This is the point in the bike segment where Dan started to lag far behind me. I stopped at the crest of a hill and waited about 30 seconds for him. He unclipped from his pedals so I knew he needed to rest. His hands were shaking as if he were shivering. I often shiver at swim meets so I joked “it’s your turn to shiver.” He wasn’t in the mood for a joke. He was tired. In fact, I was really concerned for my friend. I did not think he was having a medical emergency; he was simply exhausted and needed food. But there was no food, and there was no one else I could ask for food. Only one athlete passed us by during these minutes we were stopped, and she had no food and was hungry herself. Dan really wasn’t improving but somehow he found the motivation to get back on his bike. I decided to let him set the pace and I followed closely. I was worried that Dan would lose his ability to stay upright on the bike. And then what would I do?

53 miles (5.5 miles to go). This is where Dan was saved and I was surprised. Dan’s wife and cousins had been cheering for us the whole day, and this included driving to different places along the bike route to cheer us on. And there they were at mile 53. I was praying they had food they could give Dan, and sure enough, they got us some pretzels to eat. (This was one of three USAT rules that we broke, but to hell with that). As Danise was caring for Dan she said to me “Go ahead to that stop sign. You’ll be glad you did.” I didn’t know what to think but I wondered…could it be? And sure enough, it was. My girlfriend Shannan was standing there with a big grin. She had gotten up early and driven a few extra hours from Ohio to surprise me. It meant the world to me.

4:29:03. This is how long it took us to do the bike ride. Dan was determined to keep going, “even if they disqualify us [for taking too long].” How long would it take to walk 13 miles? A long time, but I would do it with him.

RUNNING
21 minutes. This is about how many minutes of walking we did during the 13.1 mile running route. Maybe it was more. Yes, probably it was more. But I only remember stopping to walk 6 times along the paved, shaded, and beautiful path along Lake Arthur. At the very start, Dan was recovering but still fatigued and he encouraged me to go ahead of him. He would walk and I would run. I refused, so within a couple minutes Dan decided he would try to run. That went well but his confidence was shaken—we still had at least 2 hours to go and we didn’t want to push him too hard. So at mile 2 we walked again. I watched the clock and got us running again after 3 minutes. At mile 3 we stopped and walked 3 more minutes, then started up again. We did the same at mile 4. There were actually a lot of athletes who were walking.

5 miles (8.1 miles to go). We did not stop at mile 5 to walk. Dan was doing quite well now, and it was me who was starting to lag behind his pace. I wasn’t concerned about myself at this point, and since Dan was doing fine, we just ran for a while. Between miles 6.5 and 8.5 I started to lose motivation. Little pains were springing up all over my body and I couldn’t distract myself from them. I stopped to walk briefly after every water station (every mile or so). Dan was having fun joking with the people at the aid stations. I appreciated that a lot, but was too tired to contribute. I told Dan that during the last 5K (3.1 miles) of the race I would not walk. I don’t remember why I broke that goal, but I remember we stopped to walk once during that last section (oh well). By the time we reached the finish line I think my walking stride would have been longer than my running stride. But it’s a run. Nobody walks across a finish line!

2:08:15. This is the time we took to run 13.1 miles. Dan and I crossed the finish line together, so we were puzzled when it was announced that I took 5th place in my age group. I guess there are no ties, so I got 5th place because compared to Dan, my last name comes first in the alphabet, or my race number (122) was less than his (123). I have never had my name announced as a winner. Cool! Of course, there were only 7 people in my age group so a 5th place is not really something to celebrate.

AMYMSA Masters Swim Meet

Race: Masters Swim Meet
Date: September 14, 2014

Overall, I feel great about this swim meet. My level of fitness is at its peak. I set one personal best today, and came very close in two other events. The fourth event...well, let's just not consider it, ok? Here are my results:

EVENT#2: 100-yard Individual Medley--
I swam this is 1:13.78, which was only two one-hundreths of a second off my personal best of 1:13.76. My dive was great and my butterfly seemed effortless. In fact, I was almost to the wall when I decided I should take a breath, even though I didn't need one. Note to self: skip it next time. I can breathe during backstroke. My backstroke was good, though my hips tended to sway too much. The breaststroke went well; I felt like I slowed down toward the end of the 25 yard length. Freestyle was fast, but I could have gone harder. I knew my next event would be in less than 5 minutes so I raced conservatively. Shannan says my hips were swaying here, too. This may be a chronic problem, but at least for this short event I can tone down the hip rotation and concentrate on a shoulder-driven stroke, and this will clean up my excessive swaying.

EVENT#3: 200-yard Breaststroke
I finished in 3:08.25, which was 2.5 seconds faster than my previous best time of 3:10.76. Shannan said I looked good, and it felt good. Earlier in the week, my coach told me breaststroke was my best stroke. I am not so sure, but it looks like his confidence gave me more confidence! I found today's swim to be relaxing, and I didn't feel tired until I got out of the pool. I got an early lead in my heat, and I admit to pausing at each wall longer than needed. I was scanning the pool to see where people were in the other lanes. The best thing about this swim was I didn't hurt my knee. Earlier in the week, it got very painful during practice. Once out of the pool, my quads and biceps were burning. It was very, very unpleasant. I wanted to sit down immediately and give them a rest but I waited for Shannan to finish her swim.

EVENT #7: 50-yard Backstroke--
I swam this in 36.75 seconds, which was just a fraction of a second slower than my personal best of 36.54. I had a sloppy start and a sloppy turn, but otherwise I am pleased with the swim. I once hurt my calf muscle on a backstroke start, and I couldn't risk that today, so I just kind of plowed into the water without much momentum. I was paying close attention to Dan in the adjacent lane. I have endeavored to beat Dan someday in something--anything--at a swim meet, and in past years I have come closest in backstroke events. He seemed slightly ahead at the halfway point so I sped up my cadence. I also, for the first time, had a perfect finish. By this I mean that I stopped my arm stroke well ahead of the wall and dove backwards with my right arm stretched toward the touchpad. I have never done this successfully before. I usually hit the pad with a bent elbow when I realize I am too close to the wall to do anything else. Anyway, Dan out-touched me by 0.25 seconds, so he remains my friendly nemesis.

EVENT #8: 200-yard Freestyle--
I finished in 2:41.56, much slower than I have in the past (2:33.10). I got off to a rough start because I was surprised by the start signal--I was not ready because the man in the first heat was not yet out of the water. But this isn't really why I had a poor swim here. My mind simply wasn't in it. After 100 yards I found myself thinking about next weekend's half-ironman race. And then I realized I had gotten far behind Dan in the next lane over, and there were several men watching the race from the pool deck (I was in lane 1, so they were basically standing over me), and I wondered if they had noticed how slow I was, and then I studied the way the stairs go into the water next to my lane, and Shannan was cheering for me and I smiled underwater because she seemed so supportive even though I was going slow. See what I mean? I can't tell you about my swimming during this event because I wasn't paying attention. I reached the end of the swim, and I was happy I was done. I didn't care if I was slow today. I know I have it in me to do it faster, and I had fun.