Ramblings of a Southern California Triathlete

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Fast Swimming

Since I'm now less than 3 days away from my first triathlon this year, I figured I'd perform my swim this morning in my new Xterra Vortex sleeveless wetsuit just to make sure I knew of any chafe points.  Just like my older full sleeve wetsuit, I still can't seem to zip them up on my own.  Nonetheless, after some support from my wife, I was in the pool and swimming.

Wow!  I mean WOW!  I could not believe how fast I was swimming in this thing.  I moved from end to end so quickly that I nearly ran into the side of the pool.  Can't wait to see how it performs Saturday in Galveston.

Train safe!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

More than tingling in my Calves

This past weekend required lots of long training.  It included a total of 90 miles of biking, 22 miles of running, and 2000 yards of swimming.

It started out on Saturday with a 16 mile run.  I enjoyed the run, keeping my heart rate in a solid zone 2 at about 138 bpm.  I then consumed some carbohydrates and a protein shake and proceeded to prepare to teach my spin class that I teach regularly at 9:15 am every Saturday morning, including plenty of Gatorade to be sure I wouldn't cramp up from lack of electrolytes.  Even though I had agreed with myself to go "easy" while teaching the class, I would say that my effort was more like moderate to moderately-hard.  In the last 10 minutes of the class, my calf muscles were showing signs of cramping.  These went away, though, after leading the class through a brief stretch.

Feeling OK, I decided I needed to get in 2000 yards of easy swimming in the pool.  The first 1800 yards went pretty well.  In the final 200 yards, my calves yet again started acting up.  I finished up trying desperately to kick as little as possible.  I then sat up on the edge of the pool, lifted my legs out of the water and sat there in amazement for a few minutes.  My calves were not just pulsing, but "wiggling" as if there was something moving about inside my legs.  Weird.

Train safe!