Stroke and Stride

The great thing about living in Boulder County is that you can almost always find a race, even on weekdays. I've been wanting to participate in the Stroke and Stride series at the Boulder Reservoir all season, but due to t-ball practices and games it just hasn't worked out. This week, due to the holiday, there were no games or practices so I jumped at the opportunity to participate. Boulder Stroke and Stride consists of a 750m or 1500m swim followed by a 5k, where I selected the longer swim distance to simulate the Boulder Peak swim in just over two weeks. Prior to the swim and after setting up my transition area I spotted Gail and Roger from Adrenaline Tri-Sport in Niwot, CO selling their FamilyFanClub t-shirts. Stop by and see them for all of your triathlon and race day support gear!

Swim:
I positioned myself in the front of the middle tier of swimmers for the start. I moved a bit closer to the front compared with the sprint in attempt to find the right spot with minimal waiting and hitting. The position worked out great and I really wasn't slowed, kicked or touched from behind, so I felt like I had the perfect spot. Another thing I'm finding is that I like to swim on the left side of the pack, where I can keep all the swimmers and buoys on my right. The wetsuit terrors seemed to have passed with the wetsuit tip I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. When I start feeling uncomfortable, I just pull the collar forward on my wetsuit to let the cool water in and everything is good.

The first lap of the swim was uneventful, came out of the water in 13:05 which I'm pretty happy with. I'm by no means sprinting, just taking a nice calm and even pace. For the swimmers doing 1500m, you have to get out of the water and jog on the beach for 100m before starting the second lap. The second lap with 100m jog/walk/catch your breath was just over 15 minutes. I'm very happy with swim time under 28 minutes. I was targeting under 30, so feeling good about the swim.

Run:
Oh the run. Transition from the swim to run is very casual, very much unlike race day. Friends and family can be in the transition area, not at all like race day. I took my time for a 3+ minute transition to my running gear, which is about normal on race day, but seemed particularly slow today. I started off on the run at my normal pace, feeling pretty good initially, but then I started to cramp up and just couldn't shake the cramps. I walked a bit and ended in 32 minutes, so by no means a stellar running performance.

The nice thing about today's run was that we had friends (Jason, Tammy and kids Kaleb and Aspen) visiting from Nebraska for the holiday. Jason is a physician's assistant, certified strength & conditioning (formerly trained special forces, pro baseball, college football and college hockey) and a bunch of other credentials. He gave me some tips on my running stride which was helpful, now I need to practice and build up some endurance with my new stride. He also has a blog and website you should checkout.

Anyway, another great time at the reservoir with family and friends. Feeling good about the swim, but the run, which will be a 10k on race day, has me a bit concerned.

First Open Water Swim of 2008

I figured with less than a week before my 1st Triathlon with an open water swim (5430 Sprint), that I'd actually go out and do at least one open water training session at Union Res, about 10 minutes from my house. Makes sense right? In addition to my first open water swim of the season, it's also my first swim in my new AquaMan wetsuit!

When I got there, it looked like everyone had a similar idea, because there were 30+ people ready to go swimming, typically there's 5 or 6. Normally I'm very comfortable in the water, no problems, but something about being trapped in neoprene leads to hysteria, usually at the farthest point from shore. I think it's just a matter of acclimation, it's just not a normal feeling. At this point, I can't imagine spending more than 15 minutes swimming in the suit and I even started to contemplate not wearing one for the next race, which is 1500 meters. I'll keep practicing, would hate to not wear the wetsuit, I think I just need to get used to it.

I did four laps of the 400 yard course and it felt very good, very comfortable, averaging about 6:30 per lap, which should translate to a 14/15 minute swim this week at the 5430 Sprint. The big difference I noticed for the first swim of the year is how straight I swam. Last year I was all over the course, left, right, way right. This year I noticed that when I maintained a steady kick, I seemed to stay on course. When I got lazy and stopped kicking, off the to the right I went. I'll think of my feet as my rudder until I otherwise disprove that theory and keep kicking. Another challenge is sighing the bouys. I wear glasses and although I'm not blind, I have a hard time picking up the bouys sometimes. I found today that I almost have to stop, sight in on the bouy and repeat as necessary to stay on course. I'm sure that sighting method won't endear me to those swimming behind me, but I've got to do what I've got to do right?

This is one of my favorite videos. I've only done one mass open water swim start and I escaped without a scratch, but everyone has been telling me how aggressive Boulder area swimmers are, so we'll see. My training swim last night didn't get to this level, but maybe next week?