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8:15pm Update: After work I did about 15 minutes of core (abs) work. Mostly leg raises, "wipers", and stretching. I hope to do about 10-15 minutes each night to help strengthen and stretch my core. I'm motivated by the Hawaiian guy in the first video below.
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I headed to the pool today. The weather is getting better, which means spring is right around the corner. And spring means better training! Anyway, the 4 lane pool filled up right at 5:45am with two ladies, me and a regular guy. Actually, I've noticed one of the ladies there a lot too. So, I'm starting to see regulars there, which is comforting in a way (not sure why).
After 4 laps without the pull buoy (I think I won't use it anymore), my breathing was off. As I'm trying to sync my breathing, I get someone to share my lane. This 4 lane pool fills up fast, but is overwhelmingly NOT full most times. Sharing a lane is no big deal. It might seem tight at first, but even my big ass has no trouble staying on one half of the lane.
It took me about 10 laps to get my breathing right, which is unusual. Basically, I wasn't exhaling long enough and it was causing me to only take in short breaths. It had a mini hyperventilating effect on me. Longer strokes help me exhale fully, with breaths every other stroke. I was cruising once I got this back to normal and was able to swim 38 laps in 30 minutes, the last two being sprints. Talking to my lane partner and getting my breathing under control cost me a few minutes, but today was good. I tried a flip turn in the shallow end, got a nose full of water, and pushed off into the floor. I'm still working on that. The regular female next to me made flip turns look effortless, but they definitely take practice.
I found this video Sunday night and enjoy it. He's a beast, running up a mountain that overlooks the ocean and doing all sorts of core stuff (which I desperately need to do). I would like to get to a point where I could hang with this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swa8sVoDr7E
I forget if I've posted this last one on here or not. It's a great sprint finish at the Olympic triathlon distance. In triathlon there are all sorts of distances for the three sports, and even the three sports can change. The main distances are sprint, Olympic, half Iron, and Iron. The half Iron and Iron are the big ones: half is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, then 13.1 mile run (total of 70.3 miles)and a full Iron or "Iron" is double that (2.4, 112, and 26.2 for a total of 140.6). The sprint can vary some, but the sprint I'm doing in May is 700 meter swim (30 laps in pool), 20k bike (about 12.4 miles), and 5k run (3.1 miles). An Olympic is about double this and it's the distance they cover in the Olympics, hence the name. The sprint and Olympic triathletes are more like sprinters, and the half Iron and Iron guys are more endurance types like marathon runners. So, this video is the end of an Olympic distance triathlon championship. This video popped into my head on a recent run when I was setting a new personal best on a 5 mile route. It really pumps me up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo-nbnw8zSI
Bevan Docherty
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