brick94513-GoGoGo Mentor Group - Closed For Now! (Page 54)

Now that I've done an OWS, I actually have more questions.....
1. Do you guys sacrifice form and tilt your head so you can see the person in front of you?
2. How often do you practice sighting in the pool?
3. Are there any drills in the pool you do to improve OWS'ing?

1. No.  I just read a post from Gary Hall Sr. about this.  You need to keep your head down.  Drag is your #1 enemy in terms of efficiency, form, and speed.  Try a few different positions in the pool with your eyes looking forward, looking down at the black line, and one with your chin tucked to your chest.  You will feel varying degrees of drag.

Most people end up looking forward after they've been kicked a few times.  Its hard not to.  This is why I prefer to draft to the side of another swimmer instead of to the rear.

2. This varys for me.  However, if I'm doing 500s or greater, I will swim every 4th lap (100) with sight breathing.  This not only helps me with the technique, but also makes counting 100s easier for me.

3. Besides sight breathing, the only other drill I do is "heads up."  Swimming with your head out of the water.  I find this helpful for when having to spot in difficult conditions (sun, chop, surf, etc.)  I will do something like 10 x 50 as 25 heads up, then 25 swim.

Almost forgot, less frequently, I will swim with my eyes closed until I bump the lane line.  This will give you a feel for how straight you swim and how often you should be sight breathing.

The most important thing though is to keep practicing in the open water.  Unfortunately, this isn't always that wasy for us.

Edited by brick94513 2010-05-25 2:44 PM

1.  My form sucks, so I try not to do that.
2.  Pretty much...never.  I need to start.
3.  Not OW specific, no.  Except maybe making myself take a breath when someone swims by to simulate a little bit of chop.  Probably not really improving anything w/ this though.

1. I try to avoid swimming directly behind anyone. I like clean water in front of me. Yes, if you lift your head to watch the feet in front of you...form will suffer. Try lifting your head only when you sight. Beware - it may result in a collision if the person in front stops.
2. Not often. I've done it before but sighting in OW seems much different for some reason. In the pool you usually sight off something at the end of your lane - much closer than whatever you would sight off of during an OWS. Still, it's probably helpful to practice quickly raising your head, and getting back into your rhythm.
3. I think we've mentioned the drill where you close your eyes while swimming (so you can't see the black line) and open them when you sight. You can count your strokes to see how long it takes to bump into a lane line, etc. I'm not sure there's much else you can do in the pool to mimic OWS.

Making it a 6 day weekend with Th, Fr, and Tu off.  No big plans -- just a couple of trips to visit with the relatives.  Will likely try and get in a few rounds on the links and keep up with the training

AOTD: DOH!  I had no idea it was even a Holiday weekend.  No real big plans for us other than Sea World to catch the debut of the new Dolphin show.  It's totally revamped and like a Cirque de Solei production.  A friend of ours is one of the high-dive acrobats.  Other than that just squeeze in a swim/bike/run between beach & pool time with the family... Oh' and drink B E E R too.

There's a local 10k running race, and they will also have a bunch of kids races on a track afterwards.  It's supposed to be real flat and super fast, could be a fun challenge.  Seems I'm turning into more of a runner than an actual triathlete lately, may as well embrace it...

Hey guys - thought I'd check in and see how everyone's training is going. Hope everyone is having fun and staying injury-free. 

I ran my first mile in three weeks using my custom orthodics today. No pain during or after, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and my toes crossed).

I got two awesome OWS in this past weekend at the lake. My speed wasn't what I was hoping for, but I'm not used to swimming OW so I'm not complaining. My second swim was better time-wise than my first, so that's a good sign.

After swimming in the lake, I came home and Dr. Oz (some crazy doc that Oprah apparently loves so much she got him his own show) had a special about parasites today. I typically don't watch TV while I'm working, but I just so happened to walk through my living room on the way to my office when he said something about "Swimmer's Itch." Naturally, I had to sit down and watch - turns out there are parasites that during ocean/lake swims can burrow through your skin and infest your body making your very sick pretty quickly, then years or even decades down the line. Swimmer's Itch just looks yucky and gives me the creeps, and I swallowed a lot of water this past weekend. So now I'm looking for some natural anti-parasitical potion that I can take to kill anything lurking in my body. Ew.

Going on a 30 mile ride this weekend in a beautiful part of Oklahoma near Ft. Sill called the "Tour de Meers." Mountains, prairie grass with bison, elk and longhorn cattle wandering around. Can't wait!

Edited by kickitinok 2010-05-25 10:40 PM

Things are great here Trina. Thanks for asking! I'm glad your healing well.

Hey Tim. I'm trying to work out more Xterra's. Torn Shirt is a 5 hour drive!!!! I have a wedding that weekend anyhow. Xterra Illinois Wilds is the same weekend as the Palos Meltdown. The meltdow is an MTB race basically in my back yard. I hate to miss that one, but still a maybe.

Story of my life!  It's so hard to schedule XTERRAs in the first place, then everything seems to fall on the same weekend.  I might be doing some traveling this year.  I'm thinking about driving to Portland, OR and might fly to Lake Placid, NY.  Wife gave my the OK for NY as long as I take her to do some tourist things while we are there.

Edited by brick94513 2010-05-26 11:16 AM

It's cool, I already have 2 MTB races and an Xterra under my belt this year. Last year I did my first 2 MTB races and an indoor tri. So I'm already ahead of the game. I just officially signed up for the Naperville sprint tri. I'll also have a few more MTB races to do over the summer. I've got no shortage of races this year. I'd like to do some more Xterra's but if it doesn't happen there's always next year. My big dilema is whether or not to do the Matoon HIM. It fits my schedule, I'm not so sure I'm ready for the HIM though yet. I'm not sure when to make that judgement.

Sounds like an incredible ride! Congrats on the OWSs. Hopefully your orthotics do the trick for you. I know how hard it is to have an injury hold you back. Very frustrating! Hang in there.

My training is really solid right now. Everything is getting better at the moment. I feel like I have more power on the bike. My run distance is increasing without sacrificing much speed. My swim is slowly getting faster as evidenced by my 2000m time trial last night. I did it in 32:05 - 51 seconds faster than my last one in March, and a full 3 minutes faster than the one in January. My average 100m split was 1:36.

I have lots of weekend obligations coming up, some of which are out of town. It will be a challenge to keep up with the training plan but I'll do my best.

For those struggling with swimming:

The articles on this site are amazing and helped me out a lot. www.swimsmoot.com

There are some good videos of drills and proper form here. www.goswim.com

Just thought I'd share

Swim smooth has some good content.  There is a lot of good information in their blog too.

What a day... worked till late last night then up early for the Firefighters Emerald Society board meeting followed by a meeting with San Diego City Firefighters Local 145.  On the way home I swung by the beach for a nice swim & run.  Got home cleaned up and was about to sit down with a nice salad when my City pager went off for a fricken-fracken veggie-fire in Poway.  The rub is Poway is only 3 miles from my house but I had to drive all the way back downtown to drive the Command Unit all the way back to Poway.  Fortunatley my son relieved me and will drive the rig back to the station.  I am smoked... but at least I got my OWS in.

Congrats on seeing improvement in your training. That HAS to feel great! And your swim splits - sweet!! 3 minutes faster than in January is great! Keep it up!!

Now to me and my Charlie Brown luck: Finally able to run in my orthodics again yesterday. No pain - yippie. So today I go for a bike ride and crash, hurting my knee. Now I'm sitting here with ice on it - it's swollen and hurts. It sometimes pops when I bend it after it's sat straight for a while.

My husband used to be a trainer for the Univ. of Oklahoma football team - he looked at it and said I should continue on with my training tomorrow. I told him that I don't think that would be wise, that it is swollen and I should stay off it. We ended-up in an argument over my knee. *Sigh*

What do you guys think? Is it ever wise to ignore the pain and swelling that comes with a new injury and continue training, or should I go see my orthopedist ASAP and get his opinion? (Don't worry - I won't mention your answers to my husband  

Here's my medical opinion, but remember I'm just a lowly firefighter-paramedic.  Don't exercise on it if you are having sharp pain.  Stiffness and dull pain are acceptable; sharp pain should be avoided.  If this is the case, then rest, ice, compression, and elevation should be your course of action.  Anti-inflammatories at your discretion.

I wouldn't suspect ligament damage unless you fell in some awkward, angulated position.  Most likely the swelling is from the soft-tissue damage and the stiffness is secondary to the swelling.  I would only consider the clicking a concern if it is painful.  My knees click all the time during various movement from old meniscus injuries.

If the pain persists more than several days or you feel unsteady on your leg, such as walking on ice, then proceeding to the doctor would be appropriate.

Well, my plans for the weekend fell through.  Looks like I'll be working around the house this weekend instead.  I need to get some things done before leaving on vacation next week.

Looks like I'm going to do an Olympic distance next weekend for practice.  David (norcalshad) are still going to the TRI for Real at Rancho Seco on Sunday?

I wanted to ask you guys about recovery drinks. Currently, I just it a cliff bar after workouts. Would I see a significant benefit from a recovery drink?
What are you guys using?
Are there options out there for us natural/organic freeks?
Do you use them after every workout, or just hard efforts?

There's nothing lowly about firefighters/paramedics. You guys rock!!! I've worked in ERs and I know you guys have a tough job! 

I've decided to do the sprint on Saturday instead of the Oly on sunday.  My daughter (8yo) is doing the kids tri (along with a cousin, I think) on Sunday, so I'll be there Sunday also for sure.  We are staying in a motel in Galt, about 10 minutes or so from the race site.  Is that the race you are thinking of doing?  If so, we definately have to hook up!

I've once again sabbotaged myself by doing no biking in the weeks leading up to the race, but my run fitness is better than any point in my life so we'll see...  I plan to swim balls out, take it easy on the bike, then hammer the run so hard I either bonk and walk, or puke right after the line.  How's that for a race plan?