On Swimming Fitness and Triathlon

There is a thread over on Slowtwitch that I’ve been following: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/QFT%3A_Paulo_Sousa_on_Swimming_P3698825/

To sum up the premise, there is an intricate link between swim technique and fitness, and that one needs to work on both, and that sometimes the answer to the question as to why the technique is poor is to swim more.

I remember back 2 years ago when I embarked on training for Ultraman Canada and would report in on how much I was swimming, and I received comments from several people that I was swimming “too much.”  I did not think so, based on the number of years I’d been swimming (10, mostly self-taught) or the amount of yardage I typically did (I was averaging about 9,000/week the year before).

Now for some people, perhaps younger women or men, swimming fitness might come along quite nicely on what I had been swimming in the past, but for whatever reason, I felt like I needed to do more, in order to be able to swim 10k THEN bike 90 miles THEN get up the next day and bike 170 miles THEN get up the next day and run 52.4 miles.  

When I first began picking up the yardage, I would experience rather gnarly upper back muscles—ask my massage therapist!  It was like the first year I trained for an Ironman where my body was beat all to hell because of what I was throwing at it.  But as I got used to more and more swimming (still nothing compared to a “swimmer”), my body got stronger and I have to believe I became a more “fit” swimmer, and while I still experience “aerobic fatigue” after really long swims, my muscles are just fine.  I’ve been told since that time that my stroke has improved, too, so based on my N=1 experiment and the fact that I was able to complete Ultraman and not feel too badly, I feel that I did the right thing for myself.

If I had begun swimming when I was a kid, or maybe if I had begun swimming even 20 years ago rather than just over 10, or maybe if I was in my 30’s or 40’s rather than 50’s (where I have to fight to maintain muscle mass), then perhaps I wouldn’t have needed to swim that much more for Ultraman.  All I know is that I did not want my biking ability to have suffered from being preceded by a 10k swim.  

Now even though I have increased my swimming, I haven’t increased it that much.   It’s not like I’m banging out 20,000+ yards per week—I only went up to about 12,000/week average.  I can’t prove this either, but it seems the increased swimming has made me a better biker and runner.  I’m not saying faster—rather my overall aerobic conditioning has improved and the longer stuff feels easier.

Have I become a faster swimmer?  No, but I can maintain my Ironman swim pace for really long distances now.  Now I am working on shorter, faster stuff in the pool, too, but I am more concerned with becoming a more fit swimmer, which to me might consist of increased speed at short distances, but also the ability to hold pace over longer and longer distances.  I’ve read that among the 3 sports that swimming speed declines the most rapidly as we age, and so I am just trying to stay ahead of the curve and not get any slower.  If it’s true that swimming is most impacted, it behooves me to work more on swimming, especially since it doesn’t have the cost of trashing my legs like biking and running do, and is much easier to recover from (at least when the swim is 2 hours or less!).  

I am lucky in that I live ½ mile from my pool, so I don’t incur much travel time, and I even like walking there and back in good weather.  If I get motivated again this summer, I’ll ride a bike to the outdoor pool that’s 5.5 miles away, because even that noodling around biking improves my bike fitness.  

What does all of this mean to someone training for an Ironman or longer in terms of how much swim training they do?  I think it depends on your swim background, time available to train, age and proximity to a pool.  People always talk about how you really need to bike A LOT to be a good cyclist and how it takes up the most of your training time, and also how you need to run A LOT to be a good runner but you need to be careful how much you run so you don’t get injured while also biking a lot, but then many people say swimming is “all technique.”  I call bullshit on this based on my N=1 experiment.  The more I swim, the more my brain seems to figure out what my body is doing in the water and has more of that kinesthetic sense (aka “feel for the water”) that eludes the less talented swimmer such as myself.   How do you measure your swim fitness?  I think a good test would be swimming a lot and then getting on your bike and seeing how much your power output deteriorates as compared to someone who is a “better” swimmer but equal cyclist.  

Everyone is obsessed with training producing more speed, which is logical, but in triathlon, if you can’t bike for shit, your run is going to suck; if you can’t swim for shit, your bike AND run are going to suck.  It all comes down to how much one is willing to sacrifice in one sport’s training at the expense of the others.  I don’t plan on setting a swim PR at Ironman Canada, but my hope is that some of my improved swim fitness will enable me to bike and run faster, even though I will be training those sports to not lose any speed and maybe even find some more.

Like I said, I get that people think they will get a better payoff by swimming less and biking and/or running more.  Depending on your swimming background, age and experience in the sport, that may be the best tactic.  For me, I plan to keep on swimming.  If for nothing else than as I get older and possibly become unable to run and/or bike, I hope to be able to swim well into my 80’s.

What say you?

Don't Try This at Home

Last week I noticed a flyer at my Y that said "free fitness testing 12/26-12/30."  Since I like tests, I headed downstairs to the training desk to ask just what would be done.  I was told they might do a body fat measurement with calipers, and I think they mentioned a VO2Max test.  In 1999, I had a pretty good workup done of body fat, VO2Max, strength, flexibility and maybe some other things.  I have the printout someplace.  I found out that the person conducting the test would be John, the son of one of the Directors at the Y, and I've spoken to John numerous time.  He's majoring in Exercise Physiology in college, and he runs track for his school and is quite good.  He qualified for Boston at his first marathon, and I don't remember just how we met, but I think he flagged me down one day when I was on a treadmill for at least a couple of hours.

Two days ago, John called me to schedule my test, so I decided on yesterday morning at 7AM.  I would have started earlier, but since he was just going into the Y to do these tests, I figured I'd let a college kid sleep in.  I arrived a few minutes early and John a few minutes late, and he had to go find the key to the training room, so while he did that, I wandered around, went up and down the stairs a few times, and just chilled.

First they (another trainer, Shawn, was working with John) measured my height, then they put me on the Tanita scale for weight and body fat measurement.  I hadn’t weighed myself in a few months and wasn’t looking forward to this, but it was just fine.  113.  Tanita said my body fat is 21%, but we know it’s wrong.  I feel like I am around 15%, maybe a tad lower, based on how visible my abs are, but I could be wrong.  Blood pressure was taken, and was a bit off since I’d been awake since 3AM and had had coffee.  Resting pulse 56.  They asked me what my true resting HR is and I think last time I checked something below 45.  Next we headed to the cardio room for the VO2Max test.

I was asked to warm up on the treadmill for maybe 5 minutes or so, and then we began the test.  They would record my RPE and HR.  Obviously this isn’t the most accurate test protocol, but it’s sufficient.  For the first interval, I reported an RPE of negative 6!  John thought the test would take a long time for me, but I told him I’m bradycardic, and that we’d see a quick jump in my HR at some point.  Plus I hadn’t done any high HR stuff in almost a full year!  Plus I was still recovering from Saturday’s workout.  At any rate, predictably at whatever the highest incline they had me at and speed, my HR jumped, we held that for a bit, and then the test was over.  After the calculations were done, my VO2Max estimate was 57.  This made sense, since I’d had it measured in 1999 at 58.  Even allowing for standard deviation, that’s a good number for someone my age.  Now, I don’t live up to the charts for predicted 5K time based on VO2Max, but I believe that my combination of bradycardia and high VO2Max is what makes me good at the long distance stuff.

After the VO2Max test, they measured my hamstring flexibility (very high as expected) and my waist to hip ratio (.71—they were laughing when they did this).  Shawn commented that I should be put into a lab and studied, and I would be happy to do this.  I once tried to get into the Gatorade Institute which is not too far from me.  But I am sure that many of my long distance friends are also blessed with hefty VO2Max numbers.  I am happy that effectively I haven’t “lost” any VO2Max points in 12 years.  Now back in 1999 when I had it measured, I had just quit smoking 3 months prior, and I’d been running all of one year.  What does this tell me?  My VO2Max is somewhat genetic.  So all I can say is that I am trying my best to live up to it!

When we were all done, I headed to the track to knock out a couple of miles.  There was a woman running that looked to be doing an easy pace, so I just glued myself to her.  I don’t know if this bothered her or not—I wasn’t trying to give an impression that I was faster than her for sure, especially since I had some nice lactate in my legs.  I made myself run right with her, figuring she was running just below 9mpm, and I was right.  She abruptly stopped after ¾ mile, and I kept going, and picked up my pace a bit.  Then I headed to the assisted pullup machine and knocked out a bunch of pull-ups and triceps dips, then it was home to work.

Just before noon, I did a 1:15 trainer ride that wasn’t too pleasant, but it was short, so I can’t complain, and then later in the afternoon I did a :45 strength session.

It feels good now that I’m in a full bike and run taper for next week’s running festival, and I’m looking forward to my 15k swim on Saturday, or however far I get in 5 hours.  I am also looking forward to 2 weeks from now doing some higher intensity running and biking, now that I reminded my heart that it can beat a whole lot faster when I need it to!

Happy impending New Year!

Goal 1 of Ultraman "Test" Training Complete

Since Ride 'n Tie on 11/20, I've been building up some serious training in order to prepare for some big training events.  Looking back, I have no idea when or why I decided to string all of these together, except that I did 2 out of 3 2 years ago since I was formally preparing for Ultraman Canada.

#1 is complete.  Yesterday I did an 8300 yard swim in 2:49 followed by 100 miles on the trainer in 5:02.  2 years ago I did a similar workout only I swam 9100 and biked 90.  Per my previous post, I was feeling pretty fit.  Aside from some hard bike workouts not sucking so much, I could visibly see that I was losing some fat around my midsection (more to go--still haven't weighed myself in a few months, but clothes fit just fine).  Another indicator of high fitness that I didn't mention was that I was sleeping less.  For about the last 2 weeks, I've been waking up at 3:30-4:00AM.  While that left me a bit tired a few times, it came in handy yesterday when I had to get up at 3:45.

I slept really well and woke up with the alarm going off.  I felt well-rested, and needing to do something like a race.  I had a hard-boiled egg and one of my homemade muffins, and at about 4:15 I downed 400 calories of Ultrafuel.  Yum--the taste of a big workout!  I'd fixed 8 bottles of Infinit, packed 3 into my swim bag, and got to the Y just before 5AM when it opens.  Of course they don't open the doors until 5, so I can't actually begin swimming right at 5, and I'd need to be done by 8AM when Masters takes over.

I was on deck and with all my crap ready to go and began swimming at 5:08.  Already I knew this would mean I probably wouldn't get in 9,000 yards.  But that was OK.  The water was warm.  Maybe 85.  That combined with there only being 1 hour from when I ate breakfast and maybe :45 since I'd drunk the Ultrafuel conspired to force me out for a potty break after 1,000 yards.  If this were an actual race, I would have woken up before 3AM and had all the calories in before 3:30.  Oh well.  It does suck getting out of the pool and using the bathroom all wet!

Got back into the pool and was swimming just relaxed and easy--no need to be a hero today.  With about 2000 more I had time to do, a guy that I've swum next to before got in at the shallow end.  What goes through my head when people enter the pool in the shallow end is what the hell, why would you do that?  The blocks are on the deep end, of course, and you can just jump in and avoid the whole get used to the water a little at a time thing.  Anyway, I strapped on my Tyr paddles and started in and about 500 in, this guy clips me on the left hand.  Well really he got a nice crack from the paddle.  It wasn't my fault--I was totally hugging the lane rope, but after that all I could think was that he needs to practice taking up less room.  I did watch him a bit, and he doesn't rotate enough and that conspires to have his strokes go wide.  I really wanted to stop and point this out to him, but that would cost me additional yards, so I let go of it.  And still the guy hogged the lane!  At the walls, even though he wasn't doing flip turns, he would somehow gravitate toward the cross.  To punish him for his poor technique and hoggishness, I swam faster so he could enjoy being chicked.

When they started moving a lane rope for the stupid aqua aerobics, I still had my lane if I wanted, and could have swam another 700 to get up to 9,000, but it just didn't seem necessary, and I wanted to get on the bike and finish this workout at a reasonable hour.

Because I'd dumped in about 700 calories right before I swam, I only drank 2 bottles of Infinit, but that was just fine.  I showered and did my post-swim stretches in the sauna.  Even though the pool was warm, I was plenty chilled and wanted to try and raise my body temperature a tiny bit before heading out into the cold.

I got home, lubed up the bike shorts with Chamois Buttr, suited up, grabbed a fresh bottle of Infinit from the fridge and headed downstairs to get on the bike.  I decided to watch some old Ironman videos.  I started with 1991, and still get a kick out of the styles of clothing they were wearing then.  1991 was my warmup.  I rode in the small chainring for an hour, spinning madly at about 100rpm, and got in just shy of 18 miles for that first hour.  I noticed that my upper body didn't feel too bad, even though I'd swum 3500 yards with paddles on!

After the first hour, I switched into the big chainring, and instead of watching my speed (or the videos for that matter--I find it hard to pay attention to TV while on the bike), I just looked at my speed average, wanting to bump it up and up.  1991 was over in 1:15, so next I watched 1992.  Again, funky fashions and haircuts.  They made some of the interviewed pros look like they were gearing up for a porn shoot with their dreamy eyes and soft lighting.  Hilarious!

1992 ended with me being 2:45 into my ride.  By that time I think my average speed was just over 19.  My legs were hurting with the effort since the week before I'd only gone 3:30 on the bike, and I've been doing a lot of running to gear up for something in 2 weeks.  But since I knew I didn't have to run off the bike or do anything the day after, I just kept pushing.

The next year of Ironman I watched was 2004, the year I did the race.  As soon as they showed Nina Kraft, I immediately thought "cheater."  I flashed back to my own race and how ungodly windy it was that year (I understand it has not been that windy since for the race), and tried to focus on knowing where the racers were on the course, since 2004 is the last time I was in Kona.  Average speed continued to rise.

After 2004 ended, I put on 2005, and promptly declared this the year everything turned PINK!  At least on the women.  I like the color pink myself, but I am glad I never got a pink bike.  I still remember when I got fitted for Skull Kingdom that many people thought I'd get a pink bike.  Glad I didn't go there!

Once my average speed got to 19.8mph, I figured that was "good enough," and I began trying to do math as to when I'd hit 90 miles.  Originally that had been my goal--90 miles or 5 hours, whichever comes first--but since I was clipping along quite nicely, I decided to go for 100 miles, since someone I know had done a 100-mile trainer ride the day before.  It always entertains me when I decide to take up math during a workout--I can become confused between time arithmetic (e.g., adding up 1:30 and 2:45 expressed as hours:minutes) and regular decimal arithmetic.  Throw in mph and you get some real math fun!

Anyway, being at 19.8 meant I'd hit 100 miles in just over 5 hours, so I just made an effort to not drop below that.  When I was 3:30 in, my stomach couldn't handle any more Infinit, so I took a :30 minute break from taking in anything, then I switched to Gatorade.  Besides, this would taper me off the caffeine so maybe I could sleep later on!  The Gatorade tasted good, and that last hour seemed to go by in slow motion.  Now I was watching my total mileage and deciding how long to stay in a particular gear--would I go by time or my mileage?  I was all over the place, and didn't get excited until I had only 10 miles to go.  At that point, I completely ignored the TV, someone on it was probably running, and I thought about pros who used to race Ironman who are now completely out of the picture.

When the computer turned over to 100, then I looked at the elapsed time and 5:02, so all good!  While this effort is not that big in relation to the many ultra-athletes I know who have done much crazier stuff, I felt pretty good getting this done on basically a 3-day crash taper.

I had to wait a few minutes for my stomach to settle down, and although I had a 1+ lb. slice of my homemade pizza ready to heat up, I decided I'd eat that later and instead just have my normal lunch of a Lean Cuisine and some Endurox R4.  In the shower, as I washed down, I could feel the sensitivity in my arms and legs, and knew I'd need to load up on clear water as well.  What I really wanted was beer to begin killing some of the pain and soreness, but waited until after I'd eaten a normal lunch, then I did a good stretching session while sipping a beer.

Today I will do no workouts, and formally begin a run taper for my 60-mile week which starts 1/2.  In between, though, event #2 is a really long swim.  A year ago I did 13,500, and want to bump that up to 15,000 this time.  I really haven't swum enough long swims for 15k, but still I think I can do it.  Or at least I'll try!  My Y will have lap swim pretty much all day on NY eve, so I will just bring along plenty of calories and try and get it done.

On a good note, today I slept until 6:15!  I am predictably tired and hungry, as I know I didn't make up all my calories yesterday, but I planned ahead and am treating myself later on to my version of nachos.  If I get motivated, I plan on going to a movie.  If not, I expect I'll be laying around doing some reading.  I finished 1Q84 on Thursday, and I have to say it's the best fiction I've read in a long, long time. 

It's a snowless Christmas here, but the sun is shining so maybe I'll take a short walk and contemplate all the blessings I have in my life!