HTFU

By the time I was finally standing in line to board my flight back home from Oakland this afternoon, I was tired and annoyed.  I was tired because I raced yesterday and then had to get up this morning at 5:00 to catch the flight north.  I was annoyed because generally speaking, airports annoy me.  Add this to the fact that I had just endured 2 people in front of me in the gift shop line who insisted on paying for their purchases in exact change.  I've always felt that paying with exact change always takes longer than the generally accepted cash register time allowance per customer.  In fact, it's almost as bad as people who still write checks at the supermarket.  Plus, both of them were digging deep and counting out pennies and nickels.  I always pay with bills.  The change goes to Ian - Stanford is expensive.

While waiting for the gate agent to call for passengers with "B" boarding passes (that's Southwest Airlines code for a best case window or aisle seat in the back of the plane), my iPhone beeped.  It was an email from XLMIC asking if I was going to be posting a Metrosexual Triathlete Tip Of The Week tonight.  I emailed back saying no, probably not.  In fact, I was most likely going to blow off my swim workout and just go home instead.  I was tired.  And I was annoyed.

When I got to my seat, my iPhone beeped again.  It was another email from XLMIC which simply read:

"HTFU"

I sat down and right away started feeling guilty.  She was right - there was NO REASON that the Metrosexual Triathlete Tip Of The Week post should be delayed.  So I decided right then and there to man up, get home and write the post.  As the plane taxied to the runway, I closed my eyes to take a nap.  I was going to need some rest if I was going to write the post.  But as I was drifting off to sleep, it occurred to me that XLMIC might have been referring to the swim.

When we landed, I got off the plane and made straight for my car.  When I got to the freeway, I headed south towards the gym instead of north towards home.  I was going to get that swim in.

It turns out that swimming was a good call.  The gym near the airport has a better pool than the gym near my house.  What makes it better?  No one ever uses it - I had a lane to myself the entire time.

The workout:

800 free warm-up
400 w/ paddles and pull buoy
4 x 50 over/under
200 kick
900 pyramid; 1-2-3-2-1 on :20

Though I like the sentiment, I must admit that I am not a fan of the term "HTFU".  This is because it's got too much of a "tough guy/mixed martial arts" vibe for my taste.  Don't get me wrong, I most definitely have the mouth of a trucker.  But I like my cussin' to have a certain refined irony attached to it.  And I'm quite sure that the original framers of the term "HTFU" were not the ironic types.

But you take what you can get, and I needed a good HTFU shoved in my face this evening.  Thanks XLMIC for getting my butt to the pool.

And Then Hell Froze Over

You can find anything on the Internet

I don't know if it's the extra intake of spinach.  I don't know if it's the single yoga session.  And I don't know if it's because since visualizing that I was dolphin wasn't working, I tried visualizing that I was a swimming unicorn instead.  Or maybe I was inspired by Kovas' vague promise to try and come race Oceanside with me next year.  Whatever it was, there is no doubt that some sort of magic descended upon me this evening when I swam back-to-back 8:07 440's, which translates to about 1:50 per 100 yards.  After I did it the first time I naturally assumed it was the current.  But when I got the same time going back (AND passed another swimmer) I nearly drowned due to the shock.

Unfortunately, the 3rd and 4th intervals dropped back down to nine minutes plus.  But whatevs, I'll take the first 2 for now.

(Note/disclaimer:  If this is the first time you are reading my blog and are wondering why I am giving myself high fives for swimming 1:50 per 100 yards, you should know that I normally suck at swimming.  I thought I should clear that up.  Thanks.)

Swim Baseline

Bayshore Drive Beach

On Sunday's post, I talked about my goal to go sub one hour at the Solana Beach Sprint Triathlon in July.  Though by no means a foregone conclusion, it is theoretically possible as long as my swim improves.  I figure I need to complete the 1/4 mile (440 yard) swim in just under 9 minutes, or at a pace of 2 minutes per one hundred yards.  Many of you could swim this pace with one arm tied behind your back, but as I've said a zillion times, swimming is my achilles heel.

Last night I had a swim workout on the schedule, so I headed down to the Bayshore Drive Beach in Belmont Shore.  The Beach runs along a portion of Alamitos Bay, which is a small bay primarily used as a port for pleasure craft.  Belmont Shore is not only a straight-up awesome section of Long Beach, it's also a great place to open water to swim when you are alone because it's calm and there's always plenty of kayakers and windsurfers around.  There also happens to be a buoy line which conveniently is exactly a 1/4 mile long.

My original plan was to swim the buoy line 6 times or 3 round trips.  I did the first round trip and then  half of the second.  But then my mind started wandering and I decided to go exploring.  So I kept on swimming past the buoys and towards a small marina.  Since there were no more markers in the water to use for navigation, I just sighted off the mast of the biggest sailboat in the marina.  When I got to the boat, I turned around and swam back.  The side trip ended up being about 4/10th's of a mile.  Once back to the buoy line, I hit the lap button on my watch again and timed the final 440 yards of the day.

My times were as follows (in order):

10:07
10:10
10:19
10:29

Here's the bad news.  Obviously, I'm slow.  And I'm a little concerned that my splits degraded as much as the did from interval to interval.  I only swam 1.4 miles in total, and slowing down that much during the course of the swim suggests a lack of swimming fitness.  This is an issue that needs to be addressed by the Santa Cruz 70.3 for sure.

Here's the good news.  At Solana Beach, I'll only have to do a 1/4 mile once and I will be doing  it fresh, so I think it's fair to use a combination of my first two splits as a baseline.  This means I have to cut just over 20 seconds off of my 100 pace.  This is very good to know - I now have a quantifiable goal.

So now I just have to figure out how to shave the time off.  My sense is that this will be less of a stroke turnover thing and more of a body position thing.  That said, I'm not going to assume it's that simple so I'll keep up the intervals at the pool in attempt to pick up some speed.  And I'll definitely keep sets with paddles and a pull buoy in my workouts for strength conditioning.  It also makes sense to get someone to take a video of me swimming so I can do some analysis.  Maybe I'll post it on the blog so some of you genius swimmers out there can give me a few pointers.

And unexpectedly, I think I have stumbled upon next week's Metrosexual Triathlete - Tip Of The Week post.  Look at those lines around my eyes - I swear they are usually not there.  My goggles must be reeking absolute havoc on my skin.  I'll need to look into this. 

Spring = Open Water Swimming

It's the same thing I've said about swimming a million times - Put me in a swimming pool and I don't love it, but put me in the open water, and I do.

As far as I'm concerned, a pool is to swimming as a treadmill is to running or a trainer is to cycling.  I have a lot of trouble getting excited about working my ass off while moving...nowhere.  And believe me, I don't say this with any form of purist defiance.  There are plenty of times where the ability to make the most of these workouts would come in handy.  But I rarely, if ever, can bring myself to get into a cardio session at the gym.  I think the last time I ran on a treadmill was last August in Las Vegas.  Because the one thing that's worse than a treadmill is 110 degree heat.

Actually, pools aren't THAT bad.  I've been doing a lot of 50 and 100 yard intervals lately and I've caught myself enjoying them.  It's just that swimming in the open water is fun. 

I've been hitting the beach for a couple weeks now.  The water is still a bit chilly and takes about 5 minutes to get over the face freeze, but then it's fine.  I've been swimming in Alamitos Bay in Belmont Shore.  I'm not sure this was intentional or not, but there is a buoy line that is EXACTLY a 1/4 mile long.  So it's really easy to track distance.  I've tried doing sets of 440 yard intervals, but with the currents it's nearly impossible to hold pace.  So I mostly just swim 440 repeats and am a bit more casual about rest times.

Though there is no doubt that better swimming comes from structured workouts, I also think it's important to train like you race.  So there will be a lot of open water swim training throughout the coming season.

Alamitos Bay, Belmont Shore

When I was working out the distance of the buoy line, I used mapmyride.com to double check the distance against my Garmin.  And while I was plotting it out I couldn't help but notice the swimmable loop around Naples Island.  So I measured that too.  It's about 2.6 miles.  I'm going to have to find someone to spot me on a kayak or paddle board one of these days and do that swim.

Training Spots - Belmont Shore

Belmont Shore, which is part of Long Beach, is a trendy enclave situated on the coast at the south end of the city.  I've been doing an open water swim here at least once a week along a buoy line in Alamitos Bay.  It's a great place to swim - the water is calm and the buoy line is no more than 50 feet off the beach.  So it's relatively safe when I'm swimming alone.

Though parking around here is notoriously tough, here's a trick.  During the summer, Bayshore Drive (which conveniently is the street next to the beach) is closed until 5 PM to all motor traffic.  So I show up just after five, and I am golden with parking.

 Unfortunately, I don't get light like this at 5PM, but here's a section of the buoy line...

I usually go Saturday or Sunday afternoon and swim for about 45 minutes.  A couple weeks ago, it occurred to me that I should be going for a run afterward.  The ocean is less than a half mile away and from there you can pick up the Strand (beach path).

Of course, it's now September and getting dark by 7 PM.  So it would have been nice to have thought of a swim/run brick earlier in the summer.  But I've still got a few weeks to fit it in before it gets dark, and then worst case I can just come earlier and fight for a parking spot.

 There's an excellent chance I'll get to see this while running in the next few weeks...

My plan is to open water swim through the winter, even if that means I need to get a neoprene cap and booties.  My swimming is the one discipline that needs the most work and I'd rather not let up on the gas.  And I know myself - if I'm banished to the pool all winter, there is a good chance my swimming will suffer.

Anyway, this is turning into one of my favorite work-out sessions.  I've always enjoyed swimming in the Bay, and I'm discovering that the Strand around here is pretty sweet too.  Running after a swim is refreshing.  I just come out of the water, walk over to my truck, strip off my wetsuit, put on a shirt and some shorts over my jammers, lace up my shoes, queue up the Ipod and go.

Today I did just over a mile in the water and then knocked off a 5 mile run.  Belmont Shores is about a 30 minute drive from my house, and I was home by 7:20.

I know I have a few readers from Long Beach. You guys have a great spot here.

Something you might want to avoid

Since I'm a little paranoid about creatures of the deep, more than once I've been freaked out by my wetsuit zipper strap when manages to sneak around from the back and float into my arm or head. 

I wear a sleeveless, so yesterday I tried to keep it out of the way by feeding it into my sleeve at the shoulder and snaking it down down my chest just inside the sleeve opening as illustrated in figure "A"

 Figure "A"

This was a mistake.  I didn't feel anything while swimming, but when I took my wetsuit off, I discovered that the strap had created quite an abrasion (see figure "B").  And as luck would have it, this is EXACTLY where my bike bibs sit on my shoulders and it hurt (bad) pretty much through an entire ride today.

Figure "B"

Avoid this at all costs.

Just ride (or swim, or run)

When I was alpine climbing I got used to long slogs up snowfields just to reach the crest and find another long slog up another snowfield lay ahead.  Mountains where designed to play tricks climbers - it's common that routes have one or more "false summits" before you actually reach the top.

 Mt. Shasta, California.  False summits?  Look at that cruel ridge up the center of the picture.

Climbing a mountain is not unlike riding a bike or running.  Your legs and lungs burn.  This can go on for hours.  It takes physical strength to climb for sure.  But it takes mental strength too.

In the years between climbing and triathlons I lost a lot of that "mental strength".  A year ago a 10 mile bike ride was pure torture.  And I would make it worse by counting the miles down while obsessing about the distance ahead.  But I wouldn't necessarily finish the ride physically wasted.  I was letting my brain trick me into unnecessary drama.

I've been working on getting my mental game back.  Yesterday I rode south down PCH.  I had a tail wind and was flying - the computer showed a max speed of 27.8 MPH at one point.  This is a thrilling feeling for sure.  But I couldn't keep a little dread from sneaking it's way into the bliss.  Eventually I would have to turn around and ride home.

Soon enough that tail wind was a head wind.  And it was brutal.  But really, what where my choices?  I had to get home.  So I decided that for the 11 miles back I would not worry about speed and just spin it out as best I could.  I also decided I wouldn't look at the computer either.  I would just ride.

So I settled into aero and started pedaling.  I made up a dumb song that I can't remember just to keep a cadence.  I didn't obsess on any landmarks in the distance.  And I didn't look look at the computer until I got home.

And you know what?  I was pretty fast.  Not 27 MPH fast, but I averaged about 20 MPH back.  I managed to avoid the head games.  It was a bit of a "light-bulb over the head" moment.

Tonight was the Thursday night swim at Corona Del Mar.  I've been going to the pool every week to work with a swim coach and there is no doubt that my stroke is getting better.   But CDM had a rare 3 + foot swell on the go and after 100 yards I realized that tonight was not going to be the night where my pool work was going to get a fair test in the open water. 

 Add a 3 foot swell to this picture and that would be CDM today.

So I made up another dumb song I can't remember and kept swimming.  I'd get 6, maybe 8 decent strokes in and then I'd rise up on the crest of a wave and my form would go out the window.  But I refused to stress about it and kept going until I was done.

When I came out of the water I literally felt sea sick.  But when I looked at my watch, guess what?  I didn't loose any time due to the conditions.  I was surprised, but pleased that I found enough of something from somewhere to get it done.

Maybe I was a little slow on the uptake, but it's nice to be able to bring a old piece of the puzzle back into the mix.  Though it's early days with putting the mental stuff back in for triathlon, it was undoubtedly an essential part of climbing.

For me, it comes down to putting myself completely into the task at hand.  I have to remember that I love what I am doing, because otherwise I wouldn't being doing it.  And I have to trust that my hours of training will be there when I need them.  With luck it gets easier over time.

What techniques do you use?

Dear Google...

 

Dear Google,

How's it going?  It's Patrick Mahoney here.  I'm a 40 year old male.  I live in Huntington Beach, CA.  I use Mac OS-X, version 10.5.8.  I mostly use Firefox to browse the web, but have been known to fire up Opera when I'm feeling a bit crazy.  The sites I visit the most are beginnertriathlete.com, ampmerch.com, and bbc.co.uk.

But you already know this.

You also know know that I use many of your products, including Blogger, Google Analytics, and GMail.  I am a publisher with Google AdSense, and you currently owe me $2.18.

I've always been uncomfortable with you knowing so much.  But I'm not interested in living in a bubble, so I use your services.  Since you know so much about me, I'm sure you already know how I feel about Microsoft.  But all that does is make you the least worst.

I watched with some interest when you starting catching flack for invasion of privacy after launching Google Maps, especially with the street view feature.  Whether they where true or just urban legends, I thought the stories of people being caught by your image capturing vans in compromising situations where darkly humorous.  I was in London when a story broke about how your satellites discovered the word "cock" laid out in bricks on the roof of a Surrey school, left years ago by students long gone.  The Brits have a knack for making the most of an oddball news story, so I got a chuckle when I read the newspaper that day.  However, as innocuous or immaterial these stories where, the undertone of Google as "big brother" was a little scary.  But it didn't directly affect me, so I didn't worry too much.

Maybe I should have.  Because recently I found this:

  

Figure "A"

 

Figure "B"

Figure "A" is a shot of Corona Del Mar Beach in Newport, CA.  Please note the jetty on the right side of the picture.  The jetty offers a fair bit of protection to the beach.  Thus the waves are typically small which makes this beach a favorite spot for open water swimming.  You'll also note that I have boxed out an area of the photograph and designated it as the "Area Of Detail".

Figure "B" is the Area Of Detail.  You will notice two things. First, there are two swimmers heading in to shore.  Both swimmers are leaving a fair amount of wake, suggesting strong forward motion.  Their position relative to the buoy (the white dot roughly in the center of the photograph) shows that a well executed turn towards shore had just been made.  I have marked these swimmers as "My Companions".

Secondly, there is another swimmer to the right of the buoy.  This swimmer is making no wake, suggesting little or no forward motion.  The swimmer's angle relative to the buoy is roughly 10 degrees to the left of the ideal line.  In fact it's not clear exactly what direction this swimmer is headed.  I have marked this swimmer as "Me".

I realize that your first question will be how I am so sure that you have captured me in your satellite imagery.  My answer is as follows:

1.  I swim at Corona Del Mar all the time.

2.  I frequently swim with two other people.

3.  My two companions are equally matched swimmers.  Both are much faster than I am.

4.  I can't swim in a straight line.

Though I admit that the above is not irrefutable proof, the circumstantial evidence is strong enough for me to make this conclusion.  I know most of the people who swim here and each and every one of them are capable of both creating wake and swimming straight.  I am using simple logic - when you are able to eliminate all other possibilities, those that remain are the answers.

What does this mean for me?  There is now visual proof on the web that I am a terrible swimmer.  No longer will I be able to talk smack or put on my game face before the start of a triathlon.  Because anyone with Internet access can now plainly see that I have no game.

Thanks Google, and good looking out.  I hope the winds change in Washington, someone gets a stick up their butt about you guys, and the Department of Justice goes all antitrust on your ass.

Warmest Regards,

Patrick Mahoney

New Open Water Swim Spot

Well it doesn't look like I am going to be able to go out and fine my own canyon to explore this weekend. I *forgot* that I am in the middle of remodeling the living room, and I spent most of the day installing lighting fixtures and prepping the walls and ceiling.

But I did manage to try out a new open water spot down in Belmont Shore today. I've known about it - It's actually closer to me than Corona Del Mar. But I'd never been there. For some reason, I tend to head south to go do things. Belmont Shore is north. I know this sounds a little weird, but I'm not sure what to tell you.

Belmont Shore from the air. I swam along the beach running left to right in the upper mid left of the photo.

Belmont Shore is a really nice place. Though it's part of Long Beach, it definitely has it's own community vibe. The beach I swam at is at the south end of 2nd Street, which reminds me of Rodeo Drive with a beach community vibe. No Prada or Gucci shops, but there are a number of high end "California Couture" boutiques, and plenty of great restaurants.

The swimming spot is in Alamitos Bay on a little strip of beach parallel to Bay Shore Drive. Since it's in the Bay, the water completely calm and I dare say the water is a few degrees warmer than the ocean at the moment. There is a quarter mile buoy line along the beach. What is cool about it is that the buoys are never more than 50 feet from the shore, so I felt OK about swimming by myself. In contrast, you need to swim a couple hundred yards off shore to hit the buoys at Corona Del Mar. That's a little creepy when you are alone.

The buoy line.

I swam a mile. Part of me wanted to go longer, but I could feel that my stroke mechanics where breaking down. And since I've been working pretty hard with a coach on stroke lately, I didn't want to fall back into bad habits just for the sake of yardage. Plus I forgot to bring Body Glide, so my wetsuit was wreaking havoc with my neck.

You can barely see it, but I either just got back from the prom or I had a run in with my wetsuit. I assure you it's the latter and I promise you it hurts worse than it looks.

I liked it. Though I prefer Corona Del Mar due to more "open water" swimming conditions, it's good to know that I've got a back up, especially (or actually whenever) I need to swim alone.

From there I drove home in the Holiday traffic. As I predicted, the inland folks are back.

My world until Labor Day.

Corona Del Mar

Here's a view of the beach from the bluff. The jetty to the right is part of the entrance to Newport Harbor. My guess is that the jetties have something to do with keeping the waves down. It's $8 to park below. It's not worth it, especially this time of year. There is plenty of parking on the streets behind me.

When I was younger and living back east, "Southern California" meant Los Angeles and specifically Hollywood. That is where I would go when I came to California. I think it was John Taylor from Duran Duran who once jokingly remarked that it took him 2 or 3 visits to LA to find out what lay beyond Sunset Strip between the Hyatt Hotel and The Whiskey Club. I know the feeling, on my first trip here I stayed at the Hyatt and hung out at the Whiskey. I couldn't give a crap about the beaches to the west or the mountains to the east. I was more interested in running into one of the dudes in Motley Crue. Well, maybe not Motley Crue, but I definitely wasn't giving the beach much consideration.

I'm pretty sure John Taylor spends most of his time in Ibiza now. And even though I live nearby, I don't get up to Hollywood too often. Maybe once a month and always for business. I guess the allure of Hollywood has worn out for the both of us.

I spend most of my time in Orange County. You can say what you want about "The OC", and I probably wouldn't argue your points. But we have a good life here. We have our spots and our activities. For the most part, we are able to avoid what you see on the reality shows.

And the training opportunities here are awesome. I've talked about running in Bolsa Chica. I've talked about biking on Pacific Coast Highway and through Santiago Canyon. And now I am all about open water swimming at Corona Del Mar.

Here's a shot from the beach back up the bluff to the neighborhood. Yep, this is typical a California view. And I'm sure there is a hot housewife in a Juicy Couture sweatsuit driving a white Mercedes close by. I guess I just don't see it anymore.

Corona Del Mar is a coastal enclave of Newport Beach. Like most beach communities in the area, CDM is a network of narrow streets and a mixture of new construction and older cottages. I've never quite figured out why people tear down the cottages to build the stucco tri-level houses, but the do. It's expensive of course, but it doesn't feel as stuffy as similar neighborhoods in the area.

The beach is the local go-to place for open water swimming. It's relatively calm, which is funny, because one of the best surf spots around is less than a mile to the north. And there is a network of buoys in place. The 5 buoys are laid out in an "L" shape. As I understand it, it's 200 yards out and then 300 yards south parallel to the shore. Or something close to that. The typical swim is usually out, and then back and forth along the shore until you are ready to come back in the way you swam out.

I know they are hard to see in the photo, but if you look closely, there a 4 white buoys visible. I'm not sure where the fifth one is, I guess out of frame to the left. Note the wimpy waves. Don't worry, within a mile you can typically find chest to head high surf on a pretty consistent basis.

I started coming here about a month ago after it became clear that my pool swims had no chance of translating into anything close to a meaningful race swim. I am always the slowest one, but this is where I have learned to at least get the job done.

I have not been back to the pool since.

And though there is no denying I wish I was a little more speedy, it doesn't really matter that much. Because being out in the open water is thrilling. You just find a rhythm and....go.

That's what I like about swimming, biking and running. The rhythm. The races may have a more urgent undertone, but it's all about a groove and syncopation. I love it. Perhaps it's the musician in me. When I was a kid and played football, I hated practice. Not anymore. It's all rolled into one. No more finish lines.

So as I have ended all my training/travelogue posts, if you are ever in the area and want to go for a swim, hit me up.