Hippy swim and centered shooting

After some holiday errands I finally made it to the pool around 4:00pm. With no nap (and still feeling a little under the weather) I could tell in my first lap that this wasn't going to be a high intensity workout. So I set out to practice some skills that I recently read about in the Total Immersion book I've been reading...namely hip rotation. Whoa! With a little hip twist I was able to get my strokes across the pool down to 12 strokes (I even hit 10 on one length), 14 strokes at full speed. Not bad considering I was generally doing it in 16-18 strokes. My time didn't improve at all, but I did the same time with 4 fewer strokes. Nice!

I did another 4 rounds of shooting in the evening. Did pretty average on the first two targets on the third I tried on of Bill's drills in which you cut the center out of the target and try to get all your shots through the whole. I got all but 4 shots through, which was pretty good, but even better was my next target. I got all but two shots in the black target area. WOOO HOOO! So my highest score is now 69. Still hoping to get into the 80's by the time I switch up to my Steyr.

The Salmon Bay Sunday swim

I survived another Salmon Bay Sunday swim. These workouts are an hour and a half and I definitely feel it in my shoulders by the end of it. We had about a 20 minute workout followed by 10 minutes of on/off kicking that was pretty intense. The workout consisted of a series of 400s, 200s and 50 sprints. I do pretty well on the freestyle, but I still lag behind on the other strokes...a lot of room to improve here. Made tentative plans to meet up with Ed again this week for some coaching. Went home and took a long winter's nap.

Quick swim between holiday hoopla

Had a bunch of holiday shopping to do in the morning and the Tacoma Polo Club holiday party in the evening, so did a quick swim during the afternoon. The swim was OK, nothing all that great, but nothing bad either. My times were pretty consistent. I do need to bump up to a full hour soon though and switch my workout around, maybe add some more other strokes. We'll see what Ed has to say after my next private lesson. I also have to think about adding some time to my weekly schedule to do the small weights, biometrics and ab work that Ed wants me to do.

Yoga time and first Friday swim with Salmon Bay

Did my Friday night yoga class at the fencing salle again. I'm starting to get a little better at everything...breathing, strength and flexibility. Still can't do the head or hand stands yet though.

The swim tonight with Salmon Bay went pretty well. I got a dehydration headache at one point, but I just sat out during a 200 and everything seemed to be OK after that. I'm still in lane 5 for now and usually lead the group in the sets. Probably be bumped up another lane soon though. We did a long warm up, 600 followed by a couple 100 descending sets. The workout was a 400, 300, 200, 100 freestyle with a kick in between each set starting with a 50 then 100, 150 and 200. Afterward, I went to a holiday party and had some tasty treats...swimming makes me even hungrier than rowing ever did.

The Monday blues

I was all pumped up for the swim session today and didn't do that poorly. But, it certainly wasn't the great times that I saw about two weeks ago. I've decided that I wasn't to go back to the workout I was doing on my own, at least once a week. I was seeing progress and even though its good to deconstruct and look at my stroke in detail, I also want to keep some progress going.

The run later in the evening didn't go as well as I would have like either, but I think I know why considering the variables involved. I had eaten only an hour before, didn't stretch beforehand and hadn't run in quite a few days. I actually had to stop at one point for a bit and stretch my lower back. I really need to make sure I do a full stretch and warm up, even before these short runs.

Fencing too was acceptable, but my point control just wasn't there. I won two bouts and lost two bouts. I got some amazing shots, but missed a lot more of them. I'll be glad when I finally get all my new uniform and other equipment so I can focus in on making progress.

Faster swim, first treadmill

I did my 200yd about 10 seconds faster today which shows how much time I really have to make up...if you can take a full 10 seconds off your time, you've got a long way to go. The swim felt pretty good considering that I had just had a much of Mint Milano cookies after lunch.

The true test would come after swimming though. I did my first workout on a treadmill. It was really cold outside and I had wanted to try a treadmill for pace purposes anyway for a while now. The run itself went OK. I ran 20 minutes at a 7.5 mile pace. The treadmill control panel was pretty wet by the time I was done...I was sweating pretty hard. When I stepped off, I was a little dizzy, more from the end of the new motion than working too hard. My legs felt like they were 'buzzing' too, kind of like after you've used a power tool. I plan on doing a treadmill workout once a week, mainly to work on pace.

Good swim, FAST run and fencing beats

Nothing too spectacular about the swim today, other than I felt really good the whole way through, I was able to get my number of strokes across the pool down to 13 once, but still usually get 14 or 15.

The run, on the other hand, went really well. I ran Portage Bay and came in at 9:08...my fastest time ever (beat my previous time vy 20 seconds). I did have to push pretty hard and my legs got a little lactic towards the end, but I'm just psyched that I not only finished it, but finished it with a great time.

In Fencing tonight, we worked a lot with beat attacks. I still have a long way to go to get my bad habit of 'guessing' opponents moves. I need to work better on making assumptions and responding to what they do rather than just guessing. Allen has me doing some great drills that make me focus on this.

My first Salmon Bay Sunday swim

I did it! I finally made it to a Salmon Bay workout. I chose to start out in lane 2, the second slowest. In time I'm sure I'll move up a lane or two, but for now this was just right. I ended up being pretty fast for the lane in the freestyle, but behind on everything else so it worked out well. The warm up was 600yds freestyle with every fourth length being a stroke of your choice besides freestyle. The workout was a ladder fast up, slow down: 2 x 200yd swim, 3 x 100 yd swim, 4 x 50 kick then 4 x 50 swim, 3 x 100 swim 2 x 200 swim. After this we did 4 x 75 descending on the 2nd and 4th (descending refers to time, so faster...I kept messing up on this since in rowing it is the opposite, descending is slower). The whole workout lasted an hour and a half but seemed to go by very quickly. It actually reminded a lot of rowing, you just get in, do what your coach tells you to do and go. Kind of brainless compared to my YMCA workouts in which I'm always wondering what I'll do next. Overall, a good swim experience. I'll enjoy it for now, becuase I'm sure coach Ed will be pushing me up some lanes soon.

Saturday shoot, a super swim and a long slow run

After sleeping in until 11:00am (felt great!), I made my way to the Kenmore Range for my second shooting session at the range. I felt much more confident this time. My arm was a little stronger so my sights weren't moving all over the place and I felt more relaxed. Best of all, it showed in my shooting. My shots were more centered around the black area and I even got a 10 along with 2 nines. Going forward, I will be practicing shooting twice a week at home and shooting at the range on Saturdays. The air pistol league starts in April, so after a few months shooting with my Daisy, I hope to be up and running with Steyr by then.

I had a great swim this afternoon. I took another second off my 2 x 100yd times. I still haven't come close to my fastest time since I started getting coaching, but I'm happy to see the times coming down again. Once again, I kept my energy level up through the end of the workout. I'm feeling much more comfortable with the backstroke finally, which is good since I'm sure I'll need it for the practice tomorrow with Salmon Bay.

I did my long run around Lake Union this evening. It was a clear, cool night...perfect for a nice long, slow run. No problems at at all to report, my legs and feet felt great the whole time and I felt like I could go for another spin around the lake.

A little more swim

I added two more 200s to my swim today, trying to get up to the workout the Salmon Bay group is doing. Felt pretty good and I could have done more, but I wanted to stick with my original goal. The butterfly and backstroke are getting a little better too, but could still use a lot of coaching.

I went to a lecture on the International Snow Leopard Trust tonight, so didn't do my run or fencing tonight.

Fast swim, fast run, not so slow yoga

I had another great swim this afternoon. My times for the 100yd were pertty much the same, but my energy level stayed with me the whole workout. My pushoffs continue to improve as well.

In the run around Portage Bay, I bettered my time by 15 seconds. Still not my fastest time around Portage Bay, but I'm only 15 seconds away. Since my legs were a bit sore form riding which I hadn't done in a week and I had just finished swimming, I was pretty pleased with this time.

Finally, I went to the yoga for athletes class again tonight. I was much tighter starting off tonight that I usually am and many of my motions were faster than I would have liked. I seemed to be wanting to do the positions too much rather than just focusing on doing what I could do. But by the end of the class I did feel a little looser and more able to control my muscles.

Faster swim, slower run, shorter fence

My swim today felt really great. I decreased my 100yd time by two seconds on two consecutive attempts. My push turns are feeling great and my backstroke continues to improve (at on the times that I have a free lane to do it, I'm still a little too chicken to try it with someone else in the lane).

I ran Portage Bay this evening. I came in under 20 minutes - which is good - but came in 20 seconds behind my fastest time - which isn't so good. But I was pretty pleased overall. My shoes were a little tight which stopped my from completely relaxing my feet. I still feel like I'm coming back from a week ago when my back was sore.

Had a short fencing night tonight. Most of the fencers were getting ready for a tournament in Ontario, CA. Since my weapon broke a last week I've been fencing with a club weapon which started having some problems tonight. With few fencers and a bum weapon, I decided to head home a little early. I did get in four good bouts though, so had a respectable night.

A swim, only a swim, but a faster swim

My legs were still a little tweaked from my long run yesterday and my fencing coach took the night off, so I only did a swim today. But it was a good swim. I was a little faster on my 100yd than my last couple efforts. I'm starting to get my turns down finally too. I even did two full laps of backstroke that actually felt pretty good.

First shooting session and a good swim

With my new Daisy in hand I did my first full on shooting training session up at the Kenmore range. Bill, the range master that day, gave me a few pointers and I was on my way. I got about 15 of 40 shots in black area. Not very good at all, but not so bad for my first time either. My arm got tired pretty quickly, which was very evident in my last targets. But I has some really good shots as well. I made a couple corrections along the way, but really need to get some private lessons soon...probably after my San Antonio trip. The swim this afternoon went pretty well. I did my old workout, so it was nice to get back to something I was familiar and comfortable with. I did really try hard to do the push turns correctly though, which took a little time off my sprints. I'm still not back to my fastest times yet, but feeling much better about getting closer...at least until my next lesson when we do some more stroke deconstruction.

Catch up and first triple in a while

Whoops, its been a while since I updated my journal. With housesitting and all, I've been pretty busy.

I've had some OK workouts here and there over the past week or so, nothing spectacular. I just started back up running and swimming since my back had been giving me some problems for a while. Both fencing and swimming have been down a notch since I started in on lessons, but that was to be expected. Still not Daisy airgun yet. Finally, didn't do any riding during the Thanksgiving week. But now I'm back on track and focused as ever to try and get ready for the pentathlon clinic/camp I'll be attending in late December in San Antonio.

I did have my first triple in a while today. The swim actually felt pretty good...finally. I'm getting better at the turns Ed had me work on, just push turns for now. Getting a little better at the butterfly and back stroke too, but nothing to brag about yet. I hope to hook up with Ed once a week or so.

I did a little better in fencing tonight compared to most of last week. I do think it is mostly due to the club epee I'm using since my blade snapped last week. The club epee doesn't record my touches very well and the tip is bent in a weird way. I also discovered tonight that the blade is a lot more flexible than what I'm used to which is probably why my point control is not what it used to be.

Finally, I did a half hour interval run on the shores of Lk. Washington where I'm housesitting for the Robbins. Its has been a week or so since I did a full on run, so it will take a few runs to get back up to where I was before. But my new shoes feel pretty good so far.

First coached swim, new running shoes and fencing push

I finally hooked up with Ed from Salmon Bay swim club this afternoon. He liked my stroke overall - especially my hip motion - but started the long path of working on the details of my stroke and strategy. He corrected a small issue with my hand entry right away then we started work on my turns. We did push-offs at this point with the intent of getting the push right, then we'll start the flip turn later. By the end of the lesson I added about four feet to my push off and probably took about 4 seconds off my time. I still need to streamline a little better off the wall, but that's just a flexibility issue more than anything...getting my big rower's body to do really squeeze in off the wall. It will happen though.

After the swim I went up to the The Foot Zone to get my next running shoe. I think my eight month old shoes were part of the back and foot problems I've been having. The Foot Zone is one of the best places in Seattle to find outdoor and athletic shoes and clothing. I was really impressed with their video setup...they video tape you running on a machine to figure out which shoe is best for you depending on your running style. I got the Saucony Grid Web and some new active orthotics. It felt great, I can't wait to really put the new shoes to the test. Dick and Bonnie Robbins are sponsoring my running shoes, so a BIG thanks to them.

Finally, another fencing lesson. This time Allen had me work on pushing the blade. I still am trying to muscle the blade more than finesse it. By the end of the lesson I was doning OK, not overdoing it both in strength and motion, but it took a while to get there.

A short but good swim

Finally made it back to the pool today after giving my back a rest for a few days. I don't think swimming would have bothered it that much, but I didn't want to take any chances. It felt really good to get in the water and get stretched out again. I only swam for about 45 minutes or so and did my old workout. I wasn't swimming as fast as would have liked, but it was good enough for now.

More yoga, more Salmon watching

My back still felt a little tweaked so, after a visit to the chiropractor, I decided not to do my long run this afternoon. Instead, I took a nap and looked forward to my yoga class tonight which would either prove difficult because of my back or feel really good...it felt really good. Breathing, opening up the rib cage, stretching, etc. all felt really great.

After yoga, I scooted over to the Queen Anne pool to hang out with the Salmon Bay swim club again. I'm still not swimming with them due to space-in-the-pool reasons, but I did get some more pointers and got the workout to do later. Once again, Ed gave me some really good pointers. We're going to try and meet up on Tuesday for my initial private lesson to get me started with the club.

More Salmon watching, a wet run and another good swim

I started the day by watching another Salmon Bay swim practice. I wanted to catch up with Ed to set a time to get some private training, as well as get their workout so that I could try it later on. Hopefully Ed and I will meet up on Thursday and I put the workout into practice later this afternoon, but not before my long run.

I did my long run (which I was supposed to do on Friday) today right before lunch. Nothing too spectacular about the run, it was at a medium pace with the intent only to run for an hour. It did start pouring rain in the last ten minutes though. Yuk. I came in about a minute and a half before my full 60 minutes. I felt good the whole run so will probably start adding a little more time each run going forward. Back to speed workouts on Monday.

Had a really good swim today. I got almost all of the way through the Salmon Bay workout. The warm up was a 600 swim, a 3x 100 kick and a 4 x 75 IM. The IM was slow and pretty sloppy, but I did it (with the one handed version of the butterfly). The workout consisted of 10 x 200s, one as a pull, the next as a hard swim and so on. I did five of these. I think I could have done all ten, but I wanted to get to the shoe store in time to try on some shoes. Turned out they were already closed. Regardless, I was pretty happy with the swim. I even did a little better at the backstroke.

The good swim

I didn't end up swimming with Salmon Bay on Friday since I hadn't had a chance to meet up with Ed yet for some personal training, I wasn't in any rush to get in and make a fool of myself on the backstroke and butterfly. I did have a great swim today though. I was able to do about three quarters of the Salmon Bay workout...finally. Still working up to their full workout though. I did some attempts at butterfly that felt pretty good (just a one armed version with kick).