First Group Open Water Swim

Activating the core before the swim.

Yes I did mention that Triathlon training was pretty much over for the year however since I'm a regular volunteer with the TAG Tri-Group I have to do what they're doing:)...well to a point, I refuse to go into the pool. Today was the groups first open water swim and since most of these guys are newbs, most of them had never been in open water let alone the bay. Most of these guys are using their suits for the first time. Needless to say there was a lot of anxiety, hyper ventilating and zigzaging (not sighting properly). Sighting...how do I explain this, it's the practice of raising one's head and looking to make sure you're going where you need to be going. Easier said than done....you open water swimmers know. It was a fun morning. I swam out to the turnaround buoy and stayed there for the duration of the swim. They were doing loops, round and round, more instruction at the beach then round and round again. It was fun keeping an eye on them. My job was to spot those who might be having too much trouble and see if I can help them through the exercise. On my first open water swim I was one of those guys who hyper ventilated, could not put his head down in the water long enough to chain together a few good strokes and kept bumping into people because I was zigzagging through the course. It was in lake and while the group did 3-4 loops around the swimming area, I completed 1/2 of one loop before calling it a day. Fortunately none of these guys were as terrible as I was but there were several folks who were having a bit of a hard time relaxing in the water. Did my best to calm them down but ultimately they just need to keep hitting the bay until they feel more comfortable.

This was followed by an hour run where I chatted with the mid and back of the pack folks. The lead group was gone, fast suckers. These guys are great, nice easy going people and what's exciting is that they've started to gel as a group. New friendships have formed and some of them have started to hang out outside the workouts. Sweet, they are learning new skills, getting fit and making new friends. It's been great for me too. A good balance to the long solo miles of ultramarathon training.

After the workout a group of us went out for lunch and talked about things non-triathlon. A nice time.

Simply Amazing

Just got back from my usual 9+ route. Posting yet another slow time, so'kay, had great track workouts during the week which slowed me down tonight. Anyway the ultra email list community has been following the progress of Scott Jurek at Sparthalon. An ultra marathon from Athens to Sparta for a total of 246km....that's what 153.75 miles. Scott wins it with a time of 22:42:18. He's only the second person to break 23 hours and the first American to win the race. Just plain awesome.

Website link here.

Scott is also the 7 time champion and course record holder of Western States 100 and the reigning 2 time champion and course record holder for Badwater. In 2005 he amazed a lot folks by winning his last Western States and 2 weeks later setting the record for Badwater.

Guy is just amazing. An inspiration. Nice guy too, humble and easy going.

Little Red Riding Boots

Future Pacer/Crew...maybe

Kind of random I know. My cousin Rose's kid. Makes me want to fly home for a visit. Too bad I don't have relatives here in San Francisco. I'd put them to work. This year I utilized pacers and crew for the first time and I loved it. There are ultrarunners out there who feel you shouldn't have them. Some valid points on that camp but I personally do these events for fun and if having pacers and crew makes it more fun I'm all for it. But I digress...

Olga at RdL

Olga, day two and 92+ miles into the Rio del Lago 100-mile race.

For Olga's race report, click here

Made the mistake of falling asleep soon as I got home from RdL this afternoon, now I'm awake! Anyway it was a good time. Drove up there Saturday afternoon. Met up with George soon as I got there and with Olga 2.5 hours later at the 67 mile mark. At 10PM Olga and I left Cavitt Middle School, home base for the race, for the second and last part of the run - a 33 mile loop on the American River bike paths and trails. It was amazing out, not too cold, no wind and lot's of stars.

I was hungry all day and I ate tons out on the course. Since I wasn't the one racing I pretty much ate what I wanted, a good thing because the GU's that I brought with me I ended up giving up to Olga - they were the caffeinated type. Much thanks to all the aid stations, especially the one at the turnaround, they served butternut squash soup and chicken flavored crackers to go with it. Great stuff.

As for Olga, she had a fight on her hands. Everything was coming loose as she went. She's tough though and never stopped moving forward. Big congratulations to her.