Thursday, April 13, 2017
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.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
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.
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.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
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.
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.
Monday, February 6, 2017
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.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
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.
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.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
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.
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.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
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.
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