June 2018 update

June fitness totals: swimming 8 miles, cycling 233 miles, running 65 miles. I'm almost exactly where I need to be for my Ironman training. Compared to 2016 when I was doing similar training, I am 10 miles behind schedule, but that's negligible.

Professional Bike Fit

I had a professional bike fit today. It's been 7 years since my last one, so I figured it was time. The technician was Matt Tinkey, an athletic trainer at UPMC's Lemieux Sports Complex. He first changed the position of my bike cleats to better transfer force from my feet to the pedals. He also gave me inserts for my shoes to limit rolling of the foot inside the shoe with each pedal stroke. Next he had me try a variety of seats to use, as my current seat was worn and, as evidenced by video analysis, caused my pelvis to rock left and right as I pedaled. The new seat reduced the rocking. Extra movement like that leads to extra muscle contractions that unnecessarily burn fuel and tax the nervous system. In a 140-mile triathlon, I want to conserve as much energy as possible during the bike segment so that I can use it during the run.

 

So after deciding on a new seat, Matt measured my knee angle and found it satisfactory. Video analysis confirmed that my knees were bending at appropriate angles. The video also showed that I move my ankles too much during the pedal stroke. Sometimes my foot points up, sometimes down; it should really just point forward most of the time, varying only by 15 degrees or less. My ankles flex by more than 25 degrees, so this is something I will want to work on (there is no mechanical fix for this!).

 

Video analysis showed that my back posture on the bike is too rounded. What this does is increase my aerodynamics, but it comes at the expense of limiting quadriceps and hamstring contractions and prevents me from breathing deeply. Over the next 4-5 weeks I am supposed to train myself to sit straighter, and once I have done that, he will lower my handlebars to make me more aerodynamic while in the better posture.

 

Matt next changed the angle of my handlebars--specifically, the "hoods" where I rest my hands. The new angle takes pressure off the thumb and better distributes it across the rest of my palm. I didn't even know this was adjustable!

 

Lastly, Matt pushed my areobars forward and angled them upward so that when I rest my arms on them, my upper back and neck are more relaxed, and I'll be likely to hold the aero position longer when I'm relaxed.

 

Overall, I got the advice and adjustments that I was looking for, and I can't wait to test out the new cycling skills and bike position next week during a 64-mile ride I have planned

Kinderhook Mile 2018

Race: The Kinderhook Mile

Date: June 9, 2018

Location: Greensburg, PA    

Time: 6:19

Overall Rank: X out of XX 

Age Group Rank: X out of X 

Results: http:

 

 I ran a timed 1-mile race this morning (The Kinderhook Mile, on Maple Street in Greensburg, sponsored by the YMCA). I have never raced that distance before, so it was a mystery how I'd do. My finish time was 6:19. Shannan ran, too, and we waited around for awards. I thought I might get an award in my age group. But no, I got sixth in my age group. I would have had to run it in less than 5:37 in order to place. Wow, those men were fast! [BTW, this race course had a net elevation loss of 122 feet, so the downhill nature of the course is why the times were so fast.]

May 2018 update

In May I swam 4 miles (not much!) and biked 187 and ran 41 miles. The biking and running totals are more than I did in 2016, the last time I was preparing for an Ironman triathlon. My 2018 mileages are nearly equal to my mileages at this time in 2016, so I'm doing well with my training. Yay!

Idlewild 5K run

Race: Idlewild 5K

Date: May 28, 2018

Location: Ligonier, PA

Time: 23:58

Overall Rank: 31 out of 182

Age Group Rank: 5 out of 20

Results: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/46929/IndividualResult/QJqN?resultSetId=117898#U11570055

 

Dear Donna Banko: I just ran the 5K at Idlewild and guess who came in second place overall? Your son, Dean! Wow, tell him congrats for me, My run was very good, at least for me. It was my second-fastest 5K ever, with a time of 23:57.

April 2018 update

Ironman Maryland is 22 weeks away! I'll be ready. My April workout totals:Swimming 7 miles + Cycling 65 miles + Running 77 miles = 148 miles. What the?! I have never run so many miles in one month.

AMYMSA Championships 2018

I took my swimming league’s championship very seriously this year. Masters swimming is much less about beating other swimmers and teams, but instead, it is about setting personal goals and trying to beat them. My goal this year was to come as close as possible to repeating the performances I had last year when I achieved 6 personal bests out of 7 events. That was huge, so I didn’t think it would be realistic to perform quite as well this time. Instead of 6 personal bests, my goal was one. Good news! I beat that goal and set 2 new personal bests out of 7 events. Here’s a rundown:

 

SATURDAY

Event #3: 100-yard Freestyle

This would be my best opportunity for a personal best because I had not swum this at Spire before. The pool at Spire is state-of-the-art and due to design features, its waters are free of waves and turbulence that in other pools slow swimmers down. All I would have to do is lower my time by more than 1.5%, and I’d get a personal best. That seemed likely, given that in the past two years at Spire, I was able to lower my times by an average of 1.6%. On the starting block I pulled up my hips like Coach Josh had shown me a few days before, and I rocketed into the water at the starting beep. My dive felt fast, I kicked hard, and took no breaths in the first length. I almost missed the wall at the first turn, and that slowed me down a little, but I kept going and had a good turn the second time. Heading into the wall again at the opposite end, I flipped over too soon and only the tips of my toes brushed the wall for the push off. Danise said I came to a complete stop in the water. It’s hard to recover from that, but I tried. I finished the event in 1:03.88, which was 0.31 seconds slower than my personal best. This record could have been easily broken by 2 full seconds had it not been for that bad turn. Knowing this, I was optimistic about the rest of my swims at champs; this swim showed I was in peak condition.

 

Event #7: 50-yard Freestyle

I couldn’t imagine beating my personal best of 27.00 in this event, set at Spire last year. I do this swim every month at swim meets, and throughout 2017-18, I had never swum this faster than 28.50. I didn’t care. I would just go as fast as I could. I plunged into the water and pulled hard with my arms with each stroke. I had planned my breaths ahead of time: no breaths going out, and two breaths on the way back. This is where my personality gets in the way of things. On the way back, I didn’t really feel the need to breathe. But my plan said I should. The debate in my head caused me to take an awkward half-breath that didn’t do me much good. In fact, Shannan said I paused in my stroke when I took that breath. I finished in 27.26 seconds. That’s right; if I had skipped that (unneeded) breath entirely, I would have beaten my personal best!

 

Event #9: 50-yard Breaststroke

My personal best in this event was 37.34, set way back in 2013. My 2017-18 season’s best time was close, so in Spire’s awesome pool, I knew I had a chance to set a new record. The problem with breaststroke is that you can go fast in two different ways: (1) increase your stroke rate, or (2) increase the glide between strokes. I’m never sure which works best for me. For the last few years I have been doing the former. This year I planned to do the latter. I was talking to Gary about this as we lined up at the starting blocks. He gave me some pointers on what might make one’s breaststroke faster, and I appreciated that, but the moment before a race is never the time to experiment with a new technique. I don’t remember my dive or pullout, but what I do remember is the novel sensation of water rushing over my freshly shaven legs. I’ve never shaved my legs before, but for this one swim it was worth it. I concentrated on my kick, making it push as much water behind me as I could. I could feel every water molecule as I did it, and I savored the sensation. I finished in 37.15 seconds, a new personal best.

 

SUNDAY

Event #12: 500 –yard Freestyle

I felt less energy on Sunday morning than I did on Saturday, so I didn’t know what would happen with this long-distance race. I didn’t expect to lower my personal best set at Spire last year because in my training during the previous month I have been doing a lot of sprints and not practicing my longer distances. Anyway, I had two strategies this year. First, I wanted to quicken my pace after length 14, because that is when I typically slow down due to fatigue. To quicken my pace, I concentrated on reaching farther with my arms and pulling more water. Looking at my results, I see that this had no effect. I still got slower. I admit at this point I was thinking about my future swims and I didn’t want to go too fast. My second strategy was to stay with my nearest competitor in the water because he had a similar seed time. This didn’t work because I went too fast and got well ahead of him during the first half of my swim. He came charging past me midway through, and I didn’t have the energy to keep up at that point. Despite not improving in the ways that I wanted, I finished this swim in 6:50.65, just 0.41 seconds slower than my personal best. If only I had added one extra kick to length 11, or streamlined a little more on turn 6, or shaved the little hairs on my toes!! Missing my record by one tenth of one percent was the hardest thing to endure this weekend. The regret was sour! That’s ok, I can learn from this.

 

Event #16: 50-yard Butterfly

This swim was the longest-shot for obtaining a new personal best. My season’s best time had been 32.18 and my personal best was 30.06 seconds. I’d have to increase my speed by more than 7% to set a new record. Not likely, but I love the 50 Fly and I really wanted this one to be my best swim of the weekend. I’d been practicing it a lot, and doing a lot of weight training to help my upper body strength. I was confident enough that I asked Shannan to record it on video. Dan and I were in adjacent lanes, and that can sometimes cause me some subconscious stress as I try to beat my friend and competitor. Today, though, I paid Dan no attention when we were in the water. As he said, “In a 50-yard race, there is no time to look around.” I’m really happy with my swim. I planned to take 4 breaths but only took one or two. My turnover was fast, and I felt like I was just skimming the surface the whole time. I finished in 30.75 seconds. Percentage-wise, this was my second-worst performance of the weekend, but I don’t feel bad about it at all. I did everything I had trained to do, and I had fun.

 

Event #20: 50-yard Backstroke

This is the one swim I am disappointed with. I had been practicing my backstroke a lot, and I felt I had a decent shot at breaking a personal record. Alas, I couldn’t get my hips up. This is not a problem in practice, but when I go at race pace, I somehow lose my posture and create a lot of drag under the water. I finished in 37.30 seconds, much slower than my personal best of 36.02.

 

Event #21: 200-yard Freestyle

I had little time to rest before this next event, my last of the meet. Since it was my last swim, I didn’t have to save any energy for a later swim. The chance of a personal best was somewhat low, given my season’s best time was 3.2% slower than my record of 2:27.86. I concentrated on a good dive and long stroke length. I felt invigorated and powerful. I punched the wall at 2:27.45 and smiled wide.