Favorites/Swim

SWIM

I decided to dedicate my next few blog posts to some of my favs for each discipline: swim bike and run including my favorite workouts,  stretch/and or exercise tip,  gear, training venue or whatever to make it more fun, faster or better in some way.   I am certainly not an expert by any means at any of the 3 or…. all 3 put together. But I have raced for (hmmm ++ years!) and I manage to fit it in training around a whole gob of life, work professionally to treat the injured in our sport,  and I'm married to someone who is always up with the latest and greatest and …sometimes I listen!

So we start with the swim. My weakest of the 3. Do I have anything favorite about the swim? Not much other than a cute suit addiction, or maybe the cool down. 

Lately I do 90% of my swims at 5:00 a.m. at  Delnor,  our local health club.  The water quality is bad, and I smell like Delnor the rest of the day,  but they have good locker rooms, and  M-F Kelly Perry is always there with a great swim set. This has been good enough to pull me out of my swim rut, just a smidge. The outdoor pools are opening soon which means outdoor swimming and maybe an extra hour of sleep!

post swim sunrise!

FAVS:

Training suit: Betty Designs of course. Absolutely a must because crawling out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to go swim needs a little extra motivation. Not only are they super cute, but they actually do last much longer than most. (or maybe that is because I don't swim enough) I do have several suits and switch them up for variety, type of workout etc. Plus rotating suits makes them last longer!

newest Betty!

Wetsuit/speedsuit:   I of course prefer wetsuit swims, and thankfully I have BlueSeventy helping me make the swim portion go smoother. If its too warm the Blue Seventy PZ3XT is the way to go. I wore this in Vegas 70.3 World Champs last year and it fit like a glove and helped me glide through that water murky warm water, and surely saved me seconds with the lack of swimming  I did going into such a big race. But the new Helix recently arrived and not only does it look fast ...it is! I took it for its first swim today (mostly to make sure it fit!) and also to get the feel for it before my next race. It was amazing! I was gliding through the water and felt almost as fast as the fasties I was trying to keep up with! PLEASE be a wetsuit swim at Leon's so I can wear my HELIX!

HELIX rocks

Workout: (is there such thing as a fav swim workout?) I like swim workouts that keep me moving; keep me focused, and make me work, otherwise I will think of million others things to do like get out of the water and go have coffee. I can keep my focus on the bike and run no matter what the workout, but swimming solo, bad news for me.  My favorite main set for a swim looks a little like this:  (400 pull, 2 x 200  build by 50,  4 x 100 t pace) x 2 ( each 400 having an increased effort), maybe even some IM in there the 2nd time through.  Yes I can swim the other strokes (sort of), and mixing it up keeps it interesting and increases swim strength.

Place to Swim: 

Local: Otters Cove St Charles outdoor pool. Lap lanes always open,water slides if kids are in tow and its outside. Yesterday was opening day, but they were closed because it is still winter here.

Cool places: Univ of Arizona outdoor pools!

Open water: not a huge fan, but Kona Pier would have to do

Swim venue for a race: Hayes Lake,  Queenstown NZ Worlds, dock start where everyone had 1 hand on the dock ITU style,  in a beautiful lake with turquoise water and amazing  mountains all around with a long killer steep uphill run to transition to tire out the non-runners.

Swim Stretch: Posterior shoulder stretch; all those hours hanging out in aero bars tighten the posterior shoulder, which can eventually lead to shoulder pain and impingement while swimming. 

How: put elbows, forearms and hands together just above shoulder height on a wall; then squat down a little until you feel a stretch in your lats or back of shoulder. NO cheating by letting your elbows come apart! This is great to help increase shoulder mobility help reach and pull.

Best swim performance:  I guess for me it would be  AG Worlds in SUI. Swim was in Lake Geneva, the real one, not the Wisconsin one. I came out of the water with the main pack (not the lead pack with those first few uber swimmers). Back then to get ready for this race I swam twice a day some, and put in some weeks of a whole lot of yards, it gained me a whopping 40 sec. I don't have that kind of time now for an entire :40 sec so, I like 70.3s better these days.

And when the swim is done, its time to bike!

The Mom in Me

The mom in me can sound like a nagging b+*&;.  I tell my kids to turn out the lights when they leave the room, put a new toilet paper roll on if it runs out, pick their clothes up off the floor and put them away. I tell them to rinse their food down the drain instead of just leaving it soggy in the sink (hate that its gross). I repeat myself daily saying don't talk to strangers, come straight home from school and to wash your hands before dinner. The mom in me sounds like my mom.  

The kids going crazy because it was nice 1 day

The mom in me tells them try their best and to have fun. I tell them they can do anything if they believe they can and work hard. The mom in me still loves to go watch the school musical, to see whatever artwork comes home and watch whatever sport is in season. These days the mom in me is on the lacrosse sidelines, which I must admit is kind of fun.  I'm still learning the rules, but its more entertaining than baseball was.

confused at lacrosse

he is number 5, it took me a whole quarter to realize it was him since he's gotten so big

But, the mom in me loves to swim bike, run and race a cyclocross bike. Unlike a lot of moms, I like pushing myself until it hurts, riding my bike with boys, or through mud. 

CX.....since it triathlon season

I still love having goals for myself that challenge me. I admit it adds to the craziness of a busy house, sometimes stresses me out, but I'd be bored otherwise. Plus having a goal and something of your own teaches the kids, its not all about them all the time. The mom in me cracked at work on Monday. I cried and I never cry in front of people, especially work people. This mom is usually tough as nails, but fatigue, an overloaded week and weather in May that feels like November pushed me over the edge. But I recovered quickly from my meltdown and even though Tuesday this week felt like Friday, I managed to go to work, plus an extra meeting, fit in a work out, go back to work for CPR recertification to come home and record the TBC podcast about  If you haven't heard it check it out. Adam and Scott, interviewing 3 women......priceless.

The mom in me still likes to put on girly clothes and high heels, blow dry my hair go on a date with my awesome husband and do something not related to triathlon or kids. What mom wouldn't want to lose the pony tail and sweat pants for a night out!

1 of my favorites, mtn biking in day, cirque de soleil at night

The mom in me is even published in the book Tri-Mom..Swimming Biking and Running through Motherhood.  Several other crazy moms who also have an endurance habit sat still long enough to put real stories down on paper to make  to this fun book about working training and being a mom. 


 The mom in me still has mom guilt, at times and is always fighting hard to keep the balance of not letting work racing and training overtake life. The mom in me gets more stressed about how to fit workouts in vs doing the workout itself and I admit to skipping a workout if something important comes up for the kids and my usual plan gets derailed. 

The mom in me might swim bike run, ride a bike through dirt in mud, run around in spandex or workout clothes with sweaty wet pony tails, but I also love  to make waffles for kids on the weekend mornings,  see them walk in the door after school excited about the day, try new sports, and at the end of the day tuck them in and hear them say I love you mom, you're the best mom ever.