Thursday, January 17, 2013

A more efficient swimming stroke

Day 9 - Personal Training begins

Today was my first session with Emily, the personal trainer at my work gym.  I'm really fortunate to have her services available at very reasonable cost.  Sessions are $20 for 30mins but my employer refunds half of this back (up to a limit) so it works out at $10 per session.  Emily kicks my butt and I ache for two days afterwards.  Today was back, shoulders and arms mostly.  I'll be training with her mostly on Tuesdays and Fridays and this is most of the strength/sculpting training that I do.  If time allows I get my running done before the work out sessions.

Day 10 - Improving my swimming

One thing that's been bothering me is a lack of improvement in my swimming.  Throughout last year and this, I've struggled to be able to swim for much distance using freestyle and had to revert to breaststroke for a distance to recover.  Even at my fittest last year, going off too hard during my third race resulted in reverting to breaststroke after only a few laps of the pool and a resulting disappointing swim time.

I've considered my weakness to be an inefficient stroke. While I was a competitive swimmer as a child my stroke of choice was always backstroke so I never received a lot of training in freestyle/front crawl for longer events.  Sure, I could sprint a couple of laps fast enough but clearly that stroke doesn't translate well.

Finally yesterday I took another look at You Tube videos demonstrating "Total Immersion" freestyle.  Search  for that or 'effortless freestyle' and you will find plenty of videos demonstrating the easy, relaxed stroke.  I had tried it before but clearly hadn't 'got it'.

I tried again while swim training.  And finally got an 'ah-ha!' moment.  It appears as though I have been 'pulling' with my front hand too early, so my other hand wasn't entering the water to thrust forward until my pull was already half way through.  I was still thrusting a hand forward while my pull had mostly finished and clearly this was generating 'negative thrust' in part of the stroke.

In the 'Total Immersion' videos there is a clear demonstration that the front hand is still outstretched fully after the other hand has already entered the water.  So the pull starts with one hand while the thrust forward has already begun with the other.  Ah! As soon as I consciously changed my stroke timing to do this my effort level dropped.  Six laps straight off all freestyle and no breaststroke, and I finished without being out of breath.  Six more after 45 sec rest, and then again.  18 lengths of freestyle without having to resort to any breaststroke.  

I'm not saying I have it perfected yet.  But suddenly the swim doesn't seem so daunting.  I will definitely be watching plenty more videos on You Tube on this technique.

Day 11 - First Day of Dukan Cruise Phase

Weigh-in: 224.2lbs

Today I commence the Cruise phase of the Dukan diet, which means as much of the recommended list of vegetables are added to my diet every other day.  My 10-day Attack phase delivered 8.8lbs of weight loss - a fantastic start and 23.8% of my targeted weight loss.  As I expected, this leaves me a target of 2lbs per week weight loss to reach my targeted race weight of 196lbs.

I'm due for cycling training today (60 mins) but I'm also doing a road ride on Saturday so I'll probably cut today's session shorter and finish off the second 30 minutes of the Sufferfest video  that I purchased earlier in the week.



Monday, January 14, 2013

First week completed ...

Day 5

Didn't get to do my cycling session on Thursday but plan to do a 29 mile group ride on Saturday instead.  Ran 1.9 miles quite hard (for me) at lunchtime and clocked a time of 20:31 (10:43/mi pace).  Running is easily my worst discipline.  Even running that pace my legs ached (mostly around my hips).  I know I'll get faster and it will get easier on my joints the more weight I lose.

Day 6

Theoretically, Saturday is my rest day but having missed cycling on Thursday I joined the Richardson Bike Mart Tour de Plano group ride.  29 miles at 16+mph but the leader (Coach Sam) kept the pace up at 18-21mph most of the way.  I took my turn at the front of the pack for around 8 miles of the ride.

Day 7

I find Sundays a difficult day to train just because of the stuff we do as a family.  I didn't go swimming but went to bed early and set my alarm an hour earlier and resolved to go Monday morning.

Day 8

Got up early and completed my 1000yds swim.  

Weigh-in after one week on Dukan Diet Attack Phase: 226.4lbs (weight loss 6.6lbs).  Because of the need to drop my weight rapidly if I'm going to get anywhere near my target race weight of sub-200lb I'm doing the maximum 10 day on the Attack phase.  I expect another couple of pounds by Thursday and then need to lose at least 2lb per week for the next 14 weeks which will all be done on the Cruise Phase of Dukan.  

Friday, January 11, 2013

Visit to Tri Shop in Plano

Visit to Tri Shop, Plano

Paid a first visit to Tri  Shop in Plano.  This is a dedicated store for triathlon gear and services.  First impressions are that they stock everything you might need with many of the triathlon brands.  I particularly like the endless pool spa they have so you can try out wetsuits before you buy.  My next tri is my first lake swim so at some point in the next three months I'm going to have to tackle the wetsuit issue (note to self - need to line up some training lake swims).  They also offer training and group rides which I might look into more at a later date, but the far side of Plano is a little far from where I live to go to go three days a week.

Best bargain found was all their winter gear was 40% off.  Normal prices are right at MSRPs which is not unusual for this type of independent store.  So I picked up a pair of Louis Garneau knee warmers for $17.39+tax.  I'm not a huge fan of piling on layer after layer of winter clothing (see Rule #5) but I have suffered some occasional pain in my aging knees on recent group rides, so an extra layer of insulation probably won't go amiss there.  They had a selection of winter clothing too also 40% but selection was a little limited for me.

I'm still trying to get used to the price of tri and cycling gear - I suffer regular sticker-shock at the price of seemingly uncomplicated garments.  I tore my 2XU trisuit during my last race so I'm on the lookout for a new outfit.  In the Tri Shop they had a nice looking collection of red/white Tri Shop-branded Louis Garneau gear but around $100 each for tri shorts and singlets made me think I'd rather spend that kind of money and not have to compete looking like a Tri Shop bill board.  At Richardson Bike Mart I get store team-branded Louis Garneau gear at a significant discount (approx $120 for cycling shorts and short-sleeve top) plus a decent 10% discount plus support at bike races by being part of the RBM Matrix team - a good benefit in return for promoting the store when I race.  So I baulk at paying such prices for store-branded gear especially when a quick scan online showed all LG tri gear at cheaper prices.

I also picked up a new TYR swim cap for $10 - my cheap Speedo one finally disintegrated after a year.  I also had a look at some new Speedo budgie-smugglers (my swimwear of choice for training) - but $38? Ouch.

Anyway - despite all my complaining at the price of tri and cycling gear, it is important to support your local bike shop (and tri shop too!) so I will definitely be returning regularly.

Day 4

Missed my planned bike training session today due to fun and games trying to get Windows 8 onto my daughters laptop.  More the fault of the laptop configuration than Windows 8 software which eventually went on very easily and got a reaction of "coooooooooool" from my 10 year old daughter this morning.  $40 on the upgrade hopefully will breathe life into an aging laptop for her.  In a few days she will also be showing me all the cool things in Windows 8.

I will be replacing the Thursday 45 mins cycling with a group road-ride on Saturday.

Day 5

Weigh-in: 228.8lbs

Stuck to the Attack Phase of the Dukan Diet all week and weight has come off in small steady amounts each day.  Eaten lots of chicken, crab sticks and steak. Baked turkey meatballs spiced with Indian spices and served with a sauce made from reduced stock, chilli sauce and soy sauce was awesome.


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Introduction and first few days

Introduction

This blog will follow my progress training for my first Olympic distance triathlon this year, while also following the Dukan Diet to rapidly lose weight at the same time.  I also compete in mountain bike racing so there will probably be a few posts about that to - as I treat it as part of my triathlon exercise program.

My target triathlon is Spring Fall Classic Triathon at Lake Tawakoni on Sunday April 28th 2013.

Day 0 (January 6 2013)

Prior to starting the training program and diet, I weighed myself.  233lbs.  I didn't get much training in during the holidays and ate and drank pretty much what I wanted.  So no surprise I added a few pounds but that should come off during the Attack phase.

Day 1

No weigh-in today.

Completed 60 minutes on my tri bike on the indoor trainer, though the session was disrupted by me adjusting my new Profile Design Tri Stryke saddle. I still struggle with getting in the aero position on my Cervelo P1 tri bike but otherwise this bike is excellent.  Cervelo only make carbon framed tri bikes now (on my wish list after I can't lose any more weight) so I was lucky to get one of the last P1s and only paid $1300 for it from Richardson Bike Mart.  Other recent changes to the bike are new fizik bar tape identical to what was originally on the bike, a SaltStick dispenser and finally I can mount my Garmin Forerunner 305 to my aerobars using the Garmin Bike Mount Kit in combination with a Profile Design Universal Aerobar Computer Mount.

My training program is from the Tri Trainer app.  I used JammyCo's 1stTimeTri app last year for my first ever sprint triathlons (I completed three) and it worked very well for me.

Food: oatbran, baked chicken breast, greek yogurt, crabsticks + fat free mayo, two thin steaks for dinner, sliced turkey for snack.

Day 2

Weigh-in: 229.6lbs

3.4lbs lost in first day on Dukan Diet Attack Phase.  This is normal from my past experience - mostly water loss.

Exercise: 15 minute run at lunch in cool 43F temperature and drizzle.  Cold air got to my chest (I have asthma) about half way so finished a bit wheezy.  Must remember to take my inhalers.