Choppy water

Yesterday, I said that I needed to get my swim done today; no excuses. Well, I was awoken today by a massive windstorm. It lasted for hours, and I was nearly knocked off my feet at one point. It finally died down, and I had about an hour and a half until I needed to be on a zoom meeting for work. I told myself "no excuses". I went to the beach, and I saw how choppy the water was. I got in anyway. I've never felt more confident in the water. I reached 50 strokes frontcrawl like it was nothing. I only got 650 meters or so today, but I'm confident that a lot of that is because I intentionally swam against the current most of the time. I caught a mouthful of water several times, but I saw it as more of an inconvenience than a cause for concern. The bike back was 3 miles of driving rain, with a detour for construction. I felt fantastic.

The rest of the day was full; meeting, coffee, biking, volunteering at the flu clinic, etc. I sometimes think that just getting up and moving early sets you up to accomplish more during the day. It establishes a momentum.

I was about to type "hoping for more momentum tomorrow". But hope isn't what makes the momentum happen.

Today went well

I'm well above 3,500 calories already today.

I ran my brick, as planned. I biked to deer island; yet another opportunity to learn not to trust google maps. It seems blissfully ignorant of the concept of "roads that exist but are not publicly accessible". The run went particularly well; 9:11 to run a mile carrying the bike.

I had my intake DPC appointment today. Turns out I'm at 13.6% body fat; at the bottom of the "fitness" bracket, and nearly at the level of "athlete". So that's encouraging. In theory, if I cut fat down to the point of 180-183 pounds, I'd be at about 10%.

Tomorrow is a swim day. The day after that is a rest day; part of a "recovery week". So I really need to make this swim count. I need to get to the beach, get in my wetsuit, and make the swim count. 750 meters, no excuses. If I can get to the point of running an olympic every weekday, an the adage holds true that you can "do in a day what you do in a week", I'd be ironman-ready constantly.

Today went poorly

This is the first day I've missed a triathlon workout. It was supposed to be a brick, with a bike tomorrow. I'm going to do a brick tomorrow, but lengthen the bike portion to be the same as the plan says the bike alone for tomorrow should be. I also missed my stretches and strength training; at least I managed to get my steps in.

I have my direct primary care provider appointment tomorrow. I'll find out what percentage body fat I am. It will be good to finally know.

I've been thinking for some time about a principle. I'm sure someone else has already thought of it, maybe given it q clever name, but I've yet to hear of it. It's the idea that, given a choice, there is usually a choice that almost no one would object to, and you should go with that. Vegan versus omnivore? Almost no one is going to say it's wrong to be vegan. Smoking versus nonsmoking? No one will get mad at you for not smoking. That sort of thing.

Wetsuit day

Today, I bought my first wetsuit.

I hit 55 consecutive reps on all strength exercises for the third day in a row. I think I'll try to hold that for two more days; Sunday is a rest day. I'll try 60 on Monday. I went for the fifth run in my triathlon training program (except brick runs); just over 3 miles, at a 9:58/mile pace. That's the first non-brick run where I've broken 10 minutes a mile while carrying a bike.

Then I borrowed a friend's car and drove for an hour to buy my first wetsuit. Lightly used, in solid condition, $25. On the way home, I found a triathlon-specific store and got some earplugs and two individual packs of lube for longer runs. At home, I tried on the wetsuit (yes, I checked the manufacturer's website before buying to make sure it's my size). Conclusion; wetsuits are uncomfortable. But I think I'll try it tomorrow. The only serious issue is that there may not be a place at the beach to change. But if there is...buoyancy city. Maybe I need to get a swim robe, for warmth and as a place to change.

Success with 55

55 repetitions of each of my strength training exercises. Situps were, predictably, the hardest, but I managed 55 in a row with no rest. I heard a bit of a talk by Pavel Tsatsouline about strength training and how simple progression was not effective, or at least not as effective as other methods. However, he's dealing with people on a far higher level. So for now, anyway, I'm going to continue with progressions.

It's getting colder. I was almost uncomfortable when I started out on my 15 mile ride this morning (it was mid-40s), but I heated up in short order. Last year, I found myself being okay in a t-shirt and shorts down to 32F while running, but biking is not the same thing. I may have to start adding a long sleeved shirt at 42 or so.

I finally got around to donating a bunch of stuff to Borders today; I nearly filled my bike trailer and had a very slow ride over there, averaging just under 10 MPH moving speed. As an experience, it just made it even more clear to me how unfriendly this town really is to bikes; in more than a few places, the bike path wasn't even wide enough for the trailer.

I've shopped around a bit more for wetsuits. I don't anticipate needing one tomorrow; the water should be around 67F again, and the air nearly 60F by the time I arrive. I still think rental is a good idea, at least until I get my body composition analyzed next week. There is a HUGE span of body fat percentages I have, according to different calculations, ranging from borderline professional athlete to borderline overweight. I imagine it's somewhere in the middle. But I want to be sure so I have a healthy target body weight before I go investing in something as expensive and size-dependent as a wetsuit.

My new swim float has not arrived, so tomorrow's swim will not be structured as directed in my original triathlon training plan. Mostly, it will be much like my last one; stay out as long as I can hack it, practice sighting, and work on form. It's only a matter of time before they shut off the showers there: it may have happened already. Which means I risk getting salt residue on my bike. Really, my entire approach to swim training as the weather gets colder needs to be clearer. Biking to and from may become unworkable. And it's only a matter of time before the drawbridge gets lifted on my way back; if I'm not prepared to stay warm, I could be in real trouble.

A day of accomplishments

I was up at 2:30 today (yes, AM; 2:30 PM is 14:30). Stretches, strength training, brick workout, stop at home for breakfast, bike to work, supervise core refueling, silicon unload, silicon load, and bike home.

I feel confident in my 50 reps apiece for my strength training exercises. Tomorrow, I'll increase to 55 each. Tomorrow is also my bike-only day for the week; 1 hour and 15 minutes of moderate pace, which is around 15 miles for me, given the roads around here. I'm tempted to wait and make that my commute in, but I shouldn't. I should just get it done in the morning and make my commute extra. I did something akin to that today, and I'm at around 3,600 calories. With the hours left in the day, I may go over 4,000.

I plan to get a wetsuit so that I can keep swimming open water. Yes, some people swim in incredibly frigid water. But tend to A. do so for very short periods or  B. be on the edge of death when they exit. Since I don't plan on hiring a medical team twice a week, and I want to get some tri-applicable benefit from my swimming, a wetsuit is really the only option besides heading indoors. A few manufacturers are making wetsuits out of more environmentally friendly materials than neoprene; Henderson and Patagonia. Both brands are in the $400 range, new, for the sort of thing I'd want. Sizing is also an issue. I'm strongly considering renting a few suits to see what works best for me.

End of the first full calendar week

Of triathlon training.

I've done four swims so far. The last one was very rewarding. I got to the beach, and it turns out that they remove the swim markers at the end of the swim season. So I had no markers to rest at or to tell me how far  swam. It was supposed to be a 900 meter day, mostly broken up into various 50 meter chunks. After checking with a parks department employee who happened to be there that swimming was still allowed, I decided not to take the easy excuse. I left my pull buoy, water bottle, and mask several feet from the waterline and got in.

800 meters later, I got out. I knew I had been doing a poor job sighting; later review of the GPS data revealed it was worse than I thought. But it was the first time I had ever swam any significant distance open water, so I'll take it. But more importantly, it was continuous. And it was in 67 degree water; far warmer than it gets later in the year, but no hot tub either. Big downside? The tide came in much faster than anticipated, and took the swim float away. I ordered a different one from Aqua Sphere and a second pair of tinted goggles.

Today was another run carrying the bike. I really need to work out a better way to lash it to the frame; it keeps shifting and chafing my back. My running form is very different; I have to be very upright to keep the bike away from my back, but an extra 30 pounds of steel naturally shifts my center of gravity. So I end up swinging my arms farther forward than I normally would.

Made it to 50 situps in a row with no rest the day before yesterday; 41 yesterday, then 50 today. I think I need to eat more protein.