Pool Problems Persist

Since my last post I've switched up my swimming routine: I've started swimming after work. I get up at my regular time, eat my breakfast and head into work early. That allows me to leave before 4:30 and hit the 5PM lap session. It's been a remarkable difference from the mornings; instead of circle swimming with 2-4 others in a lane I now generally have my pick of lanes, in fact I sometimes have the pool all to myself. It's been like a little slice of heaven. Unfortunately, my visit to the promised land will be coming to an end. For the two weeks from August 9-23 my pool will be completely closed for its yearly maintenance, leaving me no good choices for swimming. Last year during this yearly maintenance I tried swimming at one of the outdoor pools after work: I was really looking forward using their 50m pool. Unfortunately, when I arrived I discovered that it was not possible to swim 50m laps because the pool was broken up into sections for general swim. The lap area consisted of lanes across the width of the pool, down at the end by the diving board. I ended up swimming lap, periodically being splashed by divers, and having to do turns next to the couple making out against the wall. I hated it. However, it looks like this or nothing. I guess I just need to HTFU and swim.

Where will they all fit?!?

For the last several week the pool has been a mess, with too many swimmers for the eight available lanes and nobody bothering to try to match their swimming speed to the others in their lane. I just looked at the summer schedule (starting June 13) and we'll be down to only 4 lap lanes for morning swims on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I just don't see how this will work at all. My only hope is that with the outdoor pools opening and school finishing on the 16th that some swimmers will disappear for vacation or find somewhere else to swim.

Last year I was able to flee to the pool near work where there are 16 lap lanes in the morning. However, that is not an option this year since that pool is closed through October for renovations.

I just don't know how it will work this year!

Caving to my Demons

In my last post I said "I'm now at a point where swimming feels really good and my swim confidence is at an all time high...if I have a poor swim at Sunday's tri I'll be very disappointed." Well, I am disappointed. I had some concern going in, mainly with wondering how I'd handle the water temperature. Last year I freaked when I put my face in the cold water and had an awful swim. I did well at my OWS practice so I thought I'd be OK, but this was still sitting there in the back of my mind. I was also concerned with forecast of high winds that could kick up swells on the lake. The winds ended up being quite mild and the lake was calm and the water temperature was a "balmy" 69 degrees and was not a factor. Still, I had a poor swim. So, what happened? I don't exactly know, but I just couldn't relax and kept feeling like I simply could not keep the effort up. I swam decently on the out leg but after making the first turn I gave in to my demons and started doing side stroke. I tried switching back to free style a few times but kept giving it up and going back to side stroke. When I made the second turn and was heading back towards shore I forced myself to stay with free style and finished up decently. Last year I did most of the swim side stroke, back stroke, and breast stroke, just trying to survive and get out of the water; the swim took 20 minutes for 750 meters. My goal this year was to do freestyle the whole way and to cut the swim time to around 16 minutes. My official time was 15:10. I should be ecstatic...but I'm not. Sure, I beat my time goal but I failed in my other goal, to give my best effort. I should probably cut myself some slack and go woohoo over my time improvement but I was hoping for something more. I've lost some of my confidence. Give me some time for the disappointment to fade and I'll be fine but right now they are my wounds and I want to lick them a while more.

Swimming by Numbers

I grew up on Long Island. I was in, or near, water pretty much all of my adolescent years. I took some swim lessons at various times but was never on a swim team or anything like that. I generally have no fear of water. Imagine my surprise when I started triathlon training and discovered that I was a really lousy swimmer! As soon as I tried lap swimming for the first time it was obvious that I needed help; my kick was terrible, I could barely turn to breathe, and it turns out that my stroke was completely old school (not sure when the stroke mechanics all changed).

I've always been good at learning things by reading and I've gotten a long way in triathlon by figuring out things by myself. Swimming is a big exception to this; I knew I was overmatched and needed help. I started doing private lessons with a coach at my pool and pretty much had to start from scratch. I definitely did not take to it like a fish to water. Gains came only through expert help and a lot of hard work at lap swimming. It took me from January through May to be able to swim 300 meters straight, the length of the swim in my first tri in July, and that took a mix of crawl and side stroke. I was able to do that first tri (a pool swim) all crawl, but the 1000m open water swim (OWS) for my August Iron Girl tri was a fairly ugly mix of crawl, side, and back stroke.

I made huge gains during the fall of 2007 and winter of 2008 because I was having knee issues and swim was just about all I was allowed to do. By then, I was swimming without a coach and figuring it all out on my own. My speed was decent (for a 48yo triathlete, sucky for a SWIMMER) but my body position in the water was not great and I was working at it harder than I should have been. In the game of "swim golf" (strokes needed to swim a 25m length) I was needing 28 strokes. Basically, if I wasn't stroking my heart out I was sinking.

This last January I joined the Mid Maryland Triathlon Club. Through them I took a one day swim clinic in March that included an underwater videotaping and stroke analysis. Before the videotaping we were put through various drills designed to teach us about balance in the water and help give us an awareness of our body position. I learned a lot just from this, but the swim analysis was eye opening. I learned that my body position and roll wasn't bad but that my stroke basically lacked any glide (as I said above it was stroke or sink), my hand entry was poor, and my catch was too far out to the side. I was taught how to do the catch up drill and other balance drills and then sent on my way.

The next few weeks were frustrating as I broke down my swim and tried to build it back up, always keeping in mind what I had seen in my stroke and what I was taught to correct it. I was slower than ever and felt uncoordinated and out of synch in the pool. I was sucking water.

I'm not sure when it happened but somewhere in mid to late April it all started coming together. It started to feel comfortable. I had glide. My stroke count was dropping (on Tuesday I had it down to 20!). I wasn't working as hard but my speed was increasing!

I'm now at a point where swimming feels really good and my swim confidence is at an all time high. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, but if I have a poor swim at Sunday's tri I'll be very disappointed.

I am a shark among minnows!

Is religion based on intolerance?

I may kick myself later for writing about religion and politics, but here goes!

Yesterday I posted this to my Facebook wall:

saw this in a Washington Post Article "DC protesters denounce gay marriage": by the organizing pastor to the protesters "I am appointing you to take the word far and wide and speak up for Jesus." So, he's got a pipeline to Jesus' opinions on same-sex marriage? Didn't Jesus espouse love and tolerance?

I got the typical, supportive responses I expected from friends and family, but I also got a response I wasn't expecting at all from a family friend. He said "all religion is based on intolerance." While that's certainly not stated out front in the bullet points, I suppose this statement is basically right. In its most basic form religion was invented to answer the question of why the world is the way it is. Most religions seem to take the stance that "we've got it right and you've got it wrong", with little room for accepting the differences or admission that maybe they're both wrong.

I came to the conclusion years ago that most of the world's ills were perpetrated in the name of religion and concluded that I didn't want any part of that. A religious person says that there is a god; an atheist says there is no god; an agnostic says he just doesn't know. I consider myself an apathist; I just don't care. A person doesn't need religion to have morals. When I'm forced to label myself I actually consider myself a secular humanist, holding the idea that reason, ethics, and justice can serve as the basis of moral reflection and decision-making.

A friend of mine liked to say that religion was invented by the devil as a way of dividing mankind. I believe that religion was a human invention, but it has achieved the same result.

The Yellow Days

It happens right about this time every year in the DC Metro area; the whole place becomes covered with a fine yellow dust. Know who's to blame? The trees! I've never lived any other place where the trees put out so much pollen! Right now it's the oak trees that are at high pollenation status and everything, especially the cars, are tinged greenish yellow; it certainly doesn't help that I park under an oak an night. The car washes must do extra good business right about now. If we get enough of a rain to wash off the cars then there will be yellow-stained rivers of runoff in the streets.

A year or two ago I accidentally left my car windows cracked when it started to rain and the dust got dripped into the car causing yellow stains on the seats and carpets. Even a stain remover didn't get rid of it all. Amazing, just amazing!

They're messing with our minds!

There is a very interesting article in today's Washington Post that talks about the effect of food and eating on the brain. Whereas most research investigates the link between eating and physiology this researcher, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, says that food composition affects brain chemistry, making us crave particular foods. He focuses on sugar, fat, and salt saying that they compel us to over eat rather than satisfying hunger.

" "Highly palatable" foods -- those containing fat, sugar and salt -- stimulate the brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center, he found. In time, the brain gets wired so that dopamine pathways light up at the mere suggestion of the food, such as driving past a fast-food restaurant, and the urge to eat the food grows insistent. Once the food is eaten, the brain releases opioids, which bring emotional relief. Together, dopamine and opioids create a pathway that can activate every time a person is reminded about the particular food. This happens regardless of whether the person is hungry."

As you might expect, restaurants and food producers know all this and manipulate the content of their products to exploit it. What we need to do is become aware of this problem and make better food choices so that we can minimize the effects and take control of our dietary health.

Two weeks to go til Tri

My first tri of the season will be the Kinetic Sprint Tri on May 10 at Lake Anna, VA. With two weeks to go I am trying to figure out what would be the best use of my training time. I have this next week to go at it hard but then I'll need to do some tapering during the week before the race. So far this spring I've only done one bike/run brick and think it might be a good idea to do one more. That would have to be next weekend. I also have the opportunity to do an open water swim (OWS) in Sunday May 3. I should probably definitely do this. The water is guaranteed to be cold but I know that it will also be cold on race day so this would be especially good practice. Of course, if it doesn't go well I'll be worrying that much more about the race swim.

I used this weekend for a hard bike ride yesterday and a long but lower intensity run today. It was unseasonably hot here so it was all a bit harder than usual. I think I was a bit dehydrated when I started the ride so that didn't help at all.

Last year this race took place in a cool, pouring rain. I certainly didn't need to worry about overheating but I'm definitely hoping for better, dryer weather this year.

Go Confidently

I just discovered the blog of professional triathlete Elizabeth Waterstraat. Her post about Facebook groups is quite amusing, but her post Confidence Is Not A Naughty Word is brilliant! Her main point is that the mind sets us up for success or failure and the way to be successful is to think about being successful. All the hard work, all the training will leave us short of our goals if race day comes and you start telling yourself that you can't do it, you're not ready, you shouldn't be there, etc.

I'm not a gifted athlete but I trust in myself and I trust that my training will have me ready for the race. I set goals, ones that will push me hard but that are realistic, and then go for it. Sometimes I make it and sometimes I don't but if I've given it my best then I was successful. At Saturday's 5K I felt that I could do a 9 min/mile pace and figured this would give me a good shot at a top 3 place in my age group. I managed to run an 8:38 pace but ended up more than :30 off the podium. The effort was a personal best and was a huge success for me, even without placing where I thought I might.

I have my first tri of the season coming up in two weeks. Biking has always been my strongest event so I always figure that it will go well. In the past the swim was about nothing more than survival and the run was about using up whatever I have left to give. This year I am feeling so much more confident with my swimming that my focus will be on going at it with a great effort; no more mere survival. The main variable with this first race will be the water temperature. Last year the water temperature was in the low 60's for this race and it took my breathe away as soon as my face hit the water; my swim fell apart and I ended up doing a lot of side stroke and other survival swimming. This year my goal is to hold it together, free style the whole thing, and do a 2min/100m pace. Sure, I may miss these goals but if the effort is there it will be a success regardless. I am a shark among minnows!

The Nose Knows

Ever since running my race on Saturday my sinuses have been killing me. I started with sneezing and a runny nose soon after the race was over and it hasn't really stopped yet. Red eyes, sinus headache, and throw in some body aches this morning, too. I must have literally sucked in a ton of pollen on Saturday! I was supposed to swim this morning but I knew that would be difficult or impossible if I couldn't breathe so I decided I'd do Pilates instead. WHen this morning started I didn't even have the energy for that. I ended up down some leg stretches and yoga that focused on opening up the hips. Hopefully I'll be OK for a swim or run tomorrow!

Race day: 5K

I'm in my third year of triathlon. I train all year long with very little down time/off season. Right now I'm three weeks out from my first tri of the season but I was getting a bit bored with the training. So, I decided to do a 5K race yesterday; nothing like a little competition to add spice to my training! On a good day I can do a 9:30min/mile training pace but a few weeks ago I did an all out run and got it down to about 9:15. So, for this race I was hoping to put down around 9:00. I exceeded my expectations and did 8:38! Wow! Having looked at last year's results I knew that a 9m/m pace would give me a good shot at placing in my age group, so I was really hopeful with my 8:38. Still, somehow, I finished out of the top three :( They have not yet posted the official results so I don't know how far off I was. An 8:38 was great and I'm really pleased, but someday, someday, it would be really nice to make the top three!

New Yankee Stadium

I grew up on Long Island as a New York Yankees fan, taking after my father (and his father before that.) I first went to Yankee Stadium in 1967, right at the conclusion of Mickey Mantle's career. I think I was at Reggie's first game as a Yankee. I loved Thurman Munson and cried when I heard that he had died in a plane crash. I was at the Stadium the day before Dave Righetti threw his no hitter. Don Mattingly (same age as me by the way) was my hero and I still regret that injuries kept him from putting up the final stats needed for election into the Hall of Fame. I took my son to the Stadium for his first baseball game.

I have mixed feelings about a New Yankees Stadium. I understand that Yankee Stadium was old and lacking amenities, but it was historic. You can move the name to the new stadium, you can keep the facade, and you can keep the same field dimensions but it will never be the same. Now, it's just another new stadium, but one with a famous name. I think something special has died.

Bike commuting

Yesterday I bike commuted to work; the trip is just short of 10 miles each way. It takes me about 40 minutes of pedaling and about an hour overall with stop lights, etc. As I was thinking about this I realized that there is little logical reason to do this. It doesn't save me time (2 hours total vs ~60 minutes total to drive) and it doesn't truly save me money (even at $4 a gallon for gas I'd need 200 commutes to equal the value of my commuter bike). So, what it comes down to for me is how it makes me feel. I love to bike and I need to get to work anyway, so this is a win-win sort of thing. As far as my general fitness and my bike fitness it's also a win. There's also the fact that I arrive at work in a more positive (and alert) state of mind when I ride. My mood remains positive, even after I've been annoyed by cars that insist on honking at me. (For the life of me I can't understand why they feel a need to do this. Are they actually in a rush to get to work? They actually feel that they really own the road and have exclusive use of it?) I also feel like I'm doing something positive for the environment; last year I replaced 500 miles of driving with bike commuting. So, while this may not make logical sense it still makes lots of sense to me. Bike on!

What's a Hill Slug?

If you are here then no doubt you've read the blog title "HillSlug Musings" but you may be wondering what the heck a "hillslug" is. I'm a hill slug, someone who is slow (like a slug) at climbing hills on their bike. In all honesty I'm a better hill climber than many riders out there but back in 2006 when I needed to choose a username for a forum or two I was pitiful. I was new to cycling (after 20+ years off the bike), riding a 35 pound hybrid bike, and frequently found myself pushing it up the steeper hills. "HillSlug" just seemed to fit. Now that I'm no longer so sluggish on hills I've kept the name as a reminder of where I started and how far I've come since.

A place to start

Mediocre: adjective: of no exceptional quality or ability

My name is Nicole and triathlon dominates my life <Hi Nicole>. OK, that’s out in the open! Whew!

As an athlete and a triathlete I have some ability, but nothing that I’d call exceptional. I get through on hard work, determination, and the modest athletic talent that nature has provided to me. For the most part I’m what’s called “Middle of the Pack” (MOP). Given the right day and the right circumstance (i.e., the race of my life and a small turnout) I have an outside chance of placing third in my age group; it’s something I aspire to.

I plan to use this blog to report and muse on whatever seems significant to me at a given moment. I expect that it will largely center on triathlon and my triathlon training but I also expect that there will be many other things that I’ll want to rant write about. I hope you enjoy the trip.

Nicole