Wednesday, December 18, 2013

We're back to base training as the water is cooling down in the Gulf of Mexico and in Tampa Bay.  Here are pictures and the set list from today's training at North Shore Pool in St. Petersburg, Florida:

Typical Wednesday Morning Workout

North Shore Pool, St. Petersburg, FL


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Catalina Channel Do-Over To Achieve The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming

Finished in 10 hours, 5 minutes on September 10, 2013 

Swimmers who complete three famous marathon swims are added to a list for completing the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Believe it or not, it's become wildly popular to swim the 21 miles (33.7 km) across the English Channel between England and France, the 20.2 miles (33 km) across the Catalina Channel in Southern California, USA, and the 28.5 miles (45.8 km) around Manhattan Island in New York, USA.

The list has almost doubled since I came within 2 miles of becoming the 40th person to complete the three swims of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. Hypothermia ended that September 2010 swim after enduring about 9 hours of unseasonably cold water in the Catalina Channel. I've lived in Florida for more than 1/2 of my 51 years, so things went wrong when the 60F temperatures were too much to handle. On September 10th, 2013, I encountered warmer waters and had added 15% to my body weight to provide insulation. I didn't even visit the barber shop for over a year, just in case the extra hair may provide more warmth underneath my swim cap. The most difficult challenge for a swimmer based in Florida, is the acclimatization to the chilly waters of the three Triple Crown marathon swims. I feel very humbled, and fortunate that, on September 10th, 2013, the Catalina Channel allowed me to add myself to the list of swimmers who have achieved the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
 
I can only begin to thank everyone involved in making this dream a reality. My crew was amazing, and the whole operation worked like a Swiss watch. But many others that were not on the water that day were very much involved, including my previous crew from 2010, my training friends at home, my wife, and especially all of the other marathon swimmers from all over the world. Many of you, I've never met in person, but I still consider you to be some of my closest friends.

Monday, August 19, 2013

12345 Workout and the 123s of Nutrition

Catalina is about 3 weeks away, so I am still doing over-distance workouts.  This one included a cool down that made the total distance 12345 yards.

10 x 100 on 1:30 warmup

200, 150, 100, 50  }    3x desc. 1:30 to 1:20
5 x 100                 }     

12 x 75 kick on 1:20

5 x 300 Pull on 4:00

4 x 500  on 8:00 neg split, rest :10 at 250

30 x 100 on (6 on 1:35, 1:30, 1:25, 1:30, 1:35)

6 x 100 easy on 1:40

345 cool down

12,345 scy  Total


When asked about his feedings during the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, Mark Smitherman said, "I believe that Carbo-Pro and Maxim are the same. The liquid we used was about 8 oz Gatorade plus 12 oz water. In that 20 oz, add 2 scoops of Carbo-Pro and drink 10 oz every 30 min. I also did 1 power gel every hour. I alternated no caffeine/ with caffeine. All of these calories are from carbs. (to get a little more complicated, I did use an amino acid mix about every 2 hours, but I don’t know if that is voodoo or not). 

Anyway, using the above liquid mix + I power gel per hr. would give you 360 cal. Per hour…all from carbs. I think that it is unlikely your body can absorb any more calories than this. My only “beef” with this regimen is that it is fairly high in sodium. 3100 mg sodium for a 10 hr swim. (but, remember, a very low sodium diet for a cardiac patient is 2000mg or less, so the ave American is probably getting 4000mg or more of sodium daily). Note that the carbo-pro has no sodium, so all the sodium comes from Gatorade and power gels. Other gels may have less sodium."

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

A Longer Workout



I enjoyed swimming in Lake Tahoe recently on a relay team.  What an awesome backdrop for an open water swim!

A Longer Workout

We did this longer workout last Saturday, gearing up for Catalina.  I trained with Dr. Mark Smitherman, who is ramping up for a 12 miler he's doing this September in South Carolina.


1 x 300 on 4:30            )
2 x 150 on 2:15, -5      )   x 6,  shorten by -5 each time
3 x 100 on 1:35, -5      )


3 x 400 k on 4:30
3 x 400 p on 4:00

50 on 1:00      )
100 on 1:30    )
150 on 2:15    )    x 5

300 on 4:30    )

10 x 75 on 1:20

450 cool down

12,000 scy

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Typical Tuesday

Typical Tuesday

5 x 200 warm up on 3:00
5 x 200 kick on 3:40
28 x 25 on :25
8 x 75 on 1:15    }
200 easy on 3:30}    x 3

Total 5100 scy


Saturday, February 23, 2013

Saturday Grind
Since we were in the open water last Saturday, today we did a long workout that was supposed to be for a total of 15,000 short course yards.  Imagine our disappointment to see that our pool wasn't set up for scy, but instead was set up for short course meters.  We adjusted the intervals, and did it all, anyway. 

10 x 150 warmup on 2:05

10 x 100 kick on 1:50

10 x 100 on 1:37 }
10 x 100 on 1:32 }
60 x 100 on 1:28 }  No rest between sets, for
10 x 100 on 1:32 }      a total of 100 x 100s
10 x 100 on 1:37 }

20 x 75 on 1:20 drill

8 x 75 on 1:15 fast

4 x 100 cool down

15,000 scm

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

10 x 125 warm up on 1:45
10 x 75 drill swim drill on 1:15
15 x 100 on 1:40  1 fast, 2 easy
6 x 150 kick on 2:45
12 x 25 fast, easy on :40
150 cool down
Total 4850 scy

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Overdistance Workout II

1x100    Warm up  on 1:30
1x200    Warm up    on 3:00
1x300    Warm up    on 4:30
1x400    Warm up    on 6:00
1x300    Warm up    on 4:30
1x200    Warm up    on 3:00
1x100    Warm up    on 1:30
                      
12x75    Kick    on 1:30
                      
30x100    Swim    on 1:20
                  
12x75    Drill    on 1:20
                      
30x100    Swim    on 1:20
                      
12x75    Backstroke on 1:20
                      
30x100    Swim    on 1:20
                  
8x25    Fast Swim    on :30
                      
6x100    Warm Down on  1:30


Total 14,105 SCY

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Overdistance Workout

Today's workout was written by my teammate and emerging marathon swimmer Chris Burke.  He's been training like a mad man for the last couple of years, and he's ready to take on the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, Manhattan, Catalina, and the English Channel.  A group of us met today and did his workout, emphasizing quantity over quality, until he blew us away at the end holding 1:10s on the set of 20 x 100s.   He held a similar pace just 2 days ago, when he completed 5070 yards for the USMS Hour Swim National Championship.  

10 x 150 Warm up 2:15
1 x 400 Swim on 6:00   }
2 x 200 Swim on 3:00   }
4 x 100 Swim on 1:30   }     2 x's through
8 x 50 Kick on 1:00       }
12 x 300 Pull on 4:00
10 x 100 Kick on 1:50
12 x 75 Drill on 1:20
20 x 100 Swim on 1:20
3 x 100 Warm Down on 1:30
TOTAL 12,500 SCY

Food for thought:  To complete a marathon, a swimmer may need to swim more than 40,000 yards, battling wind, waves and cold water.   

Friday, January 11, 2013

Visiting college and high school teams train at our pool during the holidays, so we swim long course meters when we're not relegated to the auxiliary pool. Today was a pretty typical workout, with an emphasis on longer rest intervals because we are gearing up for the Hour Swim later this month.

3 x 300 warmup on 4:30
12 x 100 kick on 1:50
16 x 50 drill, hypoxic, or speedplay on 1:00
8 x 100 50 fly, 50 free on 1:50
8 x 100 free on 1:50
200 cool down
4700 LCM TOTAL