Summer 2010 Triathlon Training Part 2: Swim

If I can ever swim a 1500m under 20 minutes (I know, big “IF”) than I think I may have a shot at being a semi-Pro.

That is what I wrote in my “About” page when I created this website in the Spring of 2009. Later that summer, while preparing for my first Olympic distance triathlon, I swam a 1650 yard (1509 meters) time trial in the pool in 25:55, setting a beginning benchmark. I really had no idea what I was doing: I had never competed as a swimmer before triathlons and I had no idea how to structure a swim workout. With my running background, I started throwing in some intervals — 100s, 200s and 300s — but with way too much rest. I successfully completed the triathlon with just the 56th best swim.

After the triathlon I quickly transitioned to run-focus and dropped the swimming and biking. A self-proclaimed “breakout” cross country season kept me out of the pool — thanks to 100-mile weeks. Then in December, my battle with Plica in my left knee began, leaving a void in my training. I took to the pool and conveniently, around that time, my coach received an email from Barb Lindquist with the USAT Collegiate Recruitment Program, whose goal is to recruit collegiate swimmers and runners into considering triathlons as their next athletic endeavor after graduation. Knowing that I was interested in triathlons, Coach Heins forwarded me her contact. Since then I have been receiving weekly swim workouts from Barb. I began swimming workouts that were 2500 yards and worked my way up until this summer when I began swimming three 5000 yard workouts three times each week (plus another easy 3000 once a week). With this increased commitment to swimming I have seen my swim times improve nearly week to week.

One way Barb uses to judge swim ability is a 200/800 test. An athlete swims an all-out 200, takes 1 minute recovery, and then swims an 800 all out. Barb told me that the general range she is looking for from runners is 2:15/10:00. In January I swam the test in 2:27/11:15. The road ahead seemed daunting, but I was able to chip away while my knee was recovering. In June I swam the test again, this time in 2:19/10:26. The hard work was paying off. This last Thursday I took to the pool for my last swim test of the summer and was stunned with a 2:13/10:10 performance.

These swim tests, along with a 4+ minute PR in the 1650 yard of  21:44, have confirmed that I can swim faster with focus. Still, I have a long road ahead and will need to further increase my commitment to the sport. As I look beyond my final cross country and track seasons, I think there are several very high intensity, high volume weeks of swimming await.

Strawberry Fields Triathlon

On Sunday I competed in my third and final triathlon of the year at the Strawberry Fields Triathlon in Oxnard. After winning the Breath of Life race three weeks prior, my goal heading into this one was to back that up with another win. Unlike Breath of Life, Strawberry Fields had an elite field and I was lucky enough to start in the same wave with them — giving me a great opportunity to compete against my competitors as opposed to time trialing against the clock (which, to be honest, seems rather silly considering every course is a slightly different length, especially the swim leg).

I started the day at 5:05 AM (because 5:05 sounds a lot better than 5:00) and had the usual breakfast — oatmeal with dried cranberries and some brown sugar, a whole wheat bagel with butter, and a banana — but added a SaltStick in hopes of combating the cramping I battled last time on the run. I was out of the house by 5:30 accompanied by my mom and dad. I made my way to the transition area just before 6:30. Each person had their own space in transition marked for them, which meant no fighting for the perfect spot. I set things up, got a 5 minute jog in, and then took the ~0.75 mile journey to the swim start.

The start was a little messy

Swim
19th 23:35, 4:56 off fastest

I have done two beach starts before this one, but never with much surf. On a normal day at the beach these waves would be unremarkable, but racing in 2-3′ waves is a different story. If you watch the video, you can see that I need to work on getting off the line. This should be a SPRINT to the water, and I am treating it like it is the beginning of a 6 mile tempo run.  Even with my timid start I still managed to go down in a 2′ deep trench. I was quick to get up, but a gap to the front had already formed. I made it through the rest of the surf without too much trouble and swam the rest of the way more or less alone.

Coming out of the swim I had my work cut out for me

T1
37th 1:11, :30 off fastest

There was a long run to T1. I was thinking, “8th row on the left” as I came into the transition area so I could find my bike and be on my way quickly. Then I tripped. Yep, fall #2 came in transition of all places. The transition area was on grass so the only thing that I hurt was my ego. Of course after I quickly stumbled back to my feet I had lost count of which row I was at. I wasted another 5-10″ looking around. Finally spotted my bike and ran out of an all-too-eventful T1, putting an exclamation mark on it with a terrible mount.

Bike
5th 54:15, 1:40 off fastest

A couple weeks ago a family friend, Dave Willard, offered to let me borrow his TT bike for the race. He rode an ironman a few years ago on a 2003 Quintana Roo Ti-Phoon. I took the bike out for a couple rides before the race and it felt much faster. I slowly got my feet into my shoes and charged on. The course was two laps and advertised as 23.2 miles total. With sprinters starting before the Olympic distance races it was difficult to tell if I was passing people that mattered. The bike computer stopped working the day before the race and I screwed up my splits on my Garmin so I wasn’t too sure how fast I was going. In the end it turned out to be a great bike split with the 5th fastest of the day. If the course was accurately measured, that works out to 25.7 mph, 2 mph faster than my last two races!

T2
19th :45, :15 off fastest

T2 was better than T1. I was still 15″ behind the fastest split, but I was right in the mix with most of the top guys. Racked the bike, changed the shoes, clipped on the race belt and out I went.

Run
1st 32:15, 2:44 ahead of 2nd

Out I went ready to chase down the front runners. My parents and friends told me I was about three of minutes behind 1st place — that’s doable. The course was two pancake-flat loops with three 180° turns which allowed me to measure how much time off the leader I was. At each turnaround I chipped away and finally made the pass at around 4 miles. I felt pretty good, but was slightly worried about the cramps that I battled with last time. “I’m in the lead, so why not just enjoy the last couple miles?” I cruised in to the finish and was greeted with a lively crowd and the cheers of my friends. I’m not sure on the distance, but if it was a true 10k that would work out to 5:09s.

Heading out for the 2nd loop

Overall
2nd 1:52:06, :06 off fastest

After the race I went to the transition area with my friends to collect my things. As I made my way back to the finish line area, my dad told me the posted the results and I was actually 2nd place! Because I started in the first wave with the elites I had forgotten about the other waves, thinking the fastest would be with the elites. In actuality,  Andrew Haberkorn started in the 2nd wave and ended up beating me by 6 seconds! Boy did I feel dumb. I took the win for granted and should have gone all out to the line. This race will serve as a lesson that I won’t soon forget.

In my never-ending quest for knowledge and statistics, I looked up Andrew Haberkorn and was happy to find that he is a pretty damn good triathlete. Last year he finished 11th place at the ITU Age Group World Championships in Austrailia. This year he finished 4th at the competitive Wildflower Olympic distance in May.

Results | Photos (coming soon)

Summer 2010 Triathlon Training Part 1

Two hours/day

That’s what I told my friend and NAU teammate, Tim “Rube” Freriks, that my training plan would look like while recovering from knee surgery in March. It’s kind of like one of those clichés — “An apple a day keep the doctor away.” Since I already love apples and eat my fair share of fruit each day, my mantra to getting healthy and back to what I consider normal was, to be specific, “two hours of aerobic activity each day”. . . or about 14 hours/week.

After reading about my recent successes in triathlons, and sharing that I had been been pushing well beyond that 14-hour level, Tim asked that I elaborate on what my training has looked like this summer. Because I like to get specific, I have decided to make a 4-part series on what my summer triathlon training has consisted of. This post, Part 1, will serve as an overview of my recovery from surgery, beginning full time training and what a typical week looks like. Parts 2-4 will focus on swim/bike/run specifically.

Recovery

First and foremost, I have no doubts that surgery was the right answer. I suffered with knee pain from December until March, and was often limited to five or ten minutes of running at a time. Rehab began just one day after surgery with quad strengthening exercises. In the coming days rehab included range of motion exercises, massage, and eventually squats and lunges.

As I was promised by the doctor, I was able to resume running within a couple weeks of surgery, but at a much lower volume than I had anticipated. Still today I am running quite a bit less than my normal volume from before the knee pain began.

Full Time Training

Since my surgery, my training volume has slowly increased. It began with 20 minutes on the elliptical and peaked a couple of weeks ago at 19 hours, well above my 14-hour target. Below is a chart of my progression this summer.

Typical Week

When reading about professional athletes, one of my favorite insights into their lives is how they structure their days and weeks. Now that I am getting involved in triathlons, I have learned that balancing all three sports with appropriate recovery is no small feat. I, of course, am no professional and don’t have a coach, so I have done my best to create a schedule that I think meets my needs. This is an ideal week, and consists of about 18,000 yards swimming, 110-130 miles biking, and 60 miles running for a total of 17-19 hours:

• Monday – For the second consecutive summer I am working as an Intern at ITT Aerospace Controls in Valencia. I get up around 6:30, eat breakfast and make my lunch, and arrive at work around 7:30. I get off about 4 and head straight to the gym to get in a swim workout — usually 5000 yards. Then it is home, dinner, and on the bike trainer for about an hour.
• Tuesday – Go to work until 4. After work I do a 10-11 mile running workout.
• Wednesday – TGIF; last day of work for the week. Regular run of about 9-10 miles and an unstructured swim of about 3000 yards after dinner.
• Thursday – 8am: 8-10 mile run in the morning followed by a large breakfast. noonish: 5000 yard swim. 4pm: 20-25 mile bike ride.
• Friday – similar schedule to Thursday.
• Saturday – Long run in the morning, 14-15 miles.
• Sunday – Long bike, 50-60+ miles. After the ride I refuel and rest for a little while and then run 6-7 miles.

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I am glad Tim gave me the idea to do this as I know I will be delighted to read these posts in the future months, as I finish my collegiate running career, and years, as I continue as an aspiring triathlete. Expect the next three parts in the next week.

Breath of Life Video

Thanks to my Dad’s great photography, my Mom’s steady video camera work and Weezer’s great music, I have put together a little video of my race at the Breath of Life triathlon last week in Ventura. Hope you like it!

I’m dreamin’…