Masters Swimming Ontario Provincial Championships 2014

Last weekend John and I went to Windsor for the 2014 Masters Swimming Ontario Provincial Championship.

It was held at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Center, a brand new facility that really knocked my socks off. The pool was beautiful and there was a nice seating area above it with a lot of natural light. But, even more amazing, they also had this indoor water park in the next room:

 

I kind of wanted to ditch the meet and go hang out in there. If I were a kid in Windsor I would want to be there 24/7.

My first event, 100m free, was on Saturday morning. My time: 1:17:11. Faster than my seed time but basically the same as I swam two weeks ago at a time trial. It's hard to make big improvements in this distance in a period of weeks. Every second means a lot in the short distances so I was pleased that I was able to maintain the same time as the time trial. Over all, I've dropped over two and a half minutes in that event over the course of the year.

In the afternoon I also swam the 50m free in 34:08. That was a drop of more than 3 and a half minutes over the course of the season, but again, the same basic time I'd achieved a couple weeks prior. It's even harder to drop seconds in the 50m free and I'm happy that I maintained the same time. That race didn't go quite as I'd hoped. I only planned on taking one breath on the first length, but I got too much water in my mouth and had to take two more before the turn. But I did as well as I could.

50m start:

50m after the turn:

The final event on Saturday was the 400m free, which I entered sort of on a whim. I wanted to do about 4 events, mostly on Saturday, and it seemed like the lesser of the other evils. In high school, I only ever swam this event once, after which my coach and I agreed that it was just not the event for me. But things change. The shorter, faster distances seem to get harder to maintain as I get older. As my current coach, Alex, pointed out, our triathlon club training is geared more toward longer distances so it's no wonder that this distance is starting to agree with me.
In the fall, at a time trial held at practice, I swam the 400m in 7:30. About 3 weeks before Provincials, I swam it in 6:35 and I was shocked and thrilled with the huge drop. Then, about 2 weeks before, I swam 6:07 at a time trial, so I was hoping to come in around the same time (especially since the two other times had basically stayed the same). Instead, I came in at 6:00:07. Third place in my age group! They organized the heats for this event by seed time (instead of by age) so my 7:30 seed time put me in a very slow heat. I lapped the other people in the heat more than once, but I knew it wouldn't effect the over all place until all the 30-34 swimmers had finished. But after I learned that I got 3rd place, I went to the lobby to collect my medal.

I'm still shocked by the 400. It was never my event. I was never a distance person (and in a lot of ways I still prefer the mental aspect of the shorter races). But this one has changed my mind. In large part, I think the improvement comes from my coach, Alex, who gave me a new strategy for the 400. It goes like this:
150 "easy speed," just maintaining something fast but holding back a bit
100 build, increasing speed
150 everything you have left.

I think I can work on this to improve my time and go below the 6 minute mark. I think I'm still sandbagging a bit too much at the beginning (all the distance stuff still seems so new). But mentally this just makes it so much easier and I had enough left to really haul ass on the last 50 meters.

This picture is from just after I finished. If you expand the pic, you can probably see my name on the black and white screen up top. Only three times are listed because only three of us were done and mine has the (1) next to it. Woohoo!

My final event was the 100m IM on Sunday morning. I swam it in 1:30:04. That was probably less than a second slower than I swam it two weeks before, but I had to just let it go. Competing in short spurts with long stretches in between was much harder mentally than I'm used to right now. It's still a drop of almost 3 minutes over the course of the year and I have to feel good about that.


This year has been tough, mentally and physically.  Since my dissertation proposal was approved in May I've been writing as fast as possible and I've felt the pressure of the clock as I try to finish my degree. I also haven't made as much progress as I would have liked in terms of healing my stress fracture. After 6 months without running I went to the doctor, who really didn't have much more to say. I've had an MRI and I'm in physical therapy, and I just have to wait until it feels better. Not running has been hard in some ways - I missed doing the fall races and running in the beautiful fall weather (although I can't say I was sorry to miss running in the horrible Winter we've had). I'd still like to be able to run with the dog. But honestly, I'm kind of over it. I kind of don't care anymore if I get to run again. I'd just like it to not hurt while I'm walking around. My PT likes to hear that because it means I won't run again until I'm absolutely ready, but it feels more like apathy than patience.

In light of all that, returning to swimming and discovering the Triathlon Club have both been such blessings this year. I sacrifice much less for swimming than I did for running, in terms of injuries and time, and I get a lot more in return. It's so apparent that I'm a much better and more efficient swimmer than I ever was a runner. Swimming in meets has been fun, but I also get so much enjoyment and stress relief just by getting in the water. I'm grateful that I've been able to do that this year. Plus I've made new friends on the Triathlon Club and I've gotten to experience some multi-sport events as part of a relay team. If I can run in the fall, then I'll participate in those events as an individual, and that would be nice. But I can still enjoy masters swimming without all of the physical pain I had to endure to run long distances.

Swimming all the time has had a visible affect on my body. I'm not as lean as I was when I ran all the time and it's been hard to understand that as it's happened. In the past I had used my body weight to determine how healthy I was and I've been challenged to measure my health in other ways this year, while still trying to maintain a healthy weight. The Provincial meet was interesting on that front, too. Lots of the participants are older - I think the oldest woman was 88 and she swam the 200m free! - and you know old ladies are uninhibited in the locker room! I saw more naked old ladies than...I normally do. I also saw some women much closer to my age and even a few years younger who were clearly competitive swimmers all their lives and were built like tanks. Impressive, strong tanks built from pure muscle. They weren't thin, either. It occurred to me that they probably have trouble shopping for clothes, too. It was really encouraging to see these women who didn't fit the conventional feminine body type but who were absolutely killing it in the pool.

John and I were both way too impressed with Windsor in this way that makes me think it's time to leave London. Windsor seemed to draw more money from tourism, being a border town, and that meant more interesting restaurants and bars than we have in London (of course, if I lived there for a year I might change my mind). We ate at some fun restaurants: The Loose Goose (great happy hour specials), Carrots and Dates Cafe (perfect mid-day swim meet veg food), and Capri's Pizza. Sharing an excellent pizza and a bottle of wine while watching House Hunters was the perfect activity for Saturday night after a day of competition. John also enjoyed a trip to Salute Espresso in between the morning and afternoon events. We also had a great brunch at the Twisted Apron on Sunday before leaving town.

Just before dinner on Saturday we went to the tap room of the Walkerville Brewing Co. This picture obviously doesn't do this beer any justice, but I had the milk stout and it was pretty great. We were impressed with everything we tried. The only one I didn't get to try was the IPA, but the Kolsch, the lager, and the milk stout were all A+. The brewery is fairly new so they are still in the process of getting ready to distribute. They said they expect to have cans in the LCBO by this summer and I would definitely buy their beer.

The Provincial meet was the last big meet of the year for the masters swimming community. In the mean time, there's a more informal summer meet in London that I hope to do in July. And this weekend is the Western Triathln Club Spring Fling - 500m swim + 5K run or 750 swim +7K run, or a relay. I'm swimming in a relay and I'm thrilled that I get to participate. After I swim I'll be there to time other participants and help keep things running smoothly. I didn't know I was swimming in it until two days before and it may be hard to compete two weekends in a row. But the point is just to have fun and get more points for Western so I'm pretty excited!

Also, classes end for me on Monday which means I can finally write at home in my py-jams instead of coming into campus to teach. Hooray for "summer" break!

Abby's Dream Recap 2: "Epic Dream"

I had this dream back in 2009 or so and typed out the whole thing in an AIM conversation with John. He kept it so that he could put it on facebook and then I found it this week on my computer. So in this you can see John's reactions, too. We've always referred to it as my "crazy epic dream."

Abby: I had the most cracked out dream. Ok. I dreamt that there was a movie of the war requiem

John:  What?

Abby:  And that it took place in your house in Knoxville with your roommates, plus some more people. At one point this 3 year old (or younger?) kid, that was hanging around the house for some reason, turned out to be a demon and one of your roommates had to fight it, apocalypse style.

The baby sprouted these red and orange gigantic feathers, and the two of them started fighting to the death. But then they decided after a while that they shouldn't be enemies. Meanwhile, one of the bedrooms became consumed with fire.

John:  WHAT THE HELL, this is so epic!

 Abby:  Mysteriously, [actor] Carl Weathers had been beaten to death (not sure by who) and rolled up in a carpet and put in the room so people went in to get his body out. And you were all in the kitchen, gathering things to take with us when we fled and trying to decide what to do. Suddenly the house began to flood quickly. We were submerged in water. Then everyone was taken to safety in one of those motorized rafts, except for the demon baby and your pseudo roommate who had fought him.

They were unconscious in the house, underwater, but not yet dead. One of you knew that there were these giant slugs, more like fish, that could help rescue them because they would try to eat them but they wouldn't actually kill them.

Someone from the raft went down into the chimney, into the house (underwater). The slug fish had half-eaten the demon baby and your friend so he picked the fish up by their tails and dragged all of it to the surface in the end. My final image was of everyone having survived, and the demon baby and your roommate had the fish still attached to them at the waist, so they looked like mermaids.

And then I woke up and I was like, damn, I'm glad I slept for that entire dream.

Indianapolis Marathon and Half Marathon, 2013

Last weekend, John, Kira, and Kira's mom, Karen, ran the Indianapolis Marathon (and Half Marathon, for Karen) in Historic Fort Harrison. John wrote his own race report for the event, so I thought I would post that here. My version of the story is a lot more boring: I stood outside in the rain for 3 hours, waiting for them to finish and hoping that none of them had hypothermia. And I got a cold. Kira also had a huge PR that I hope she will write about at some point on her blog. The end. 

So heeeeere's Johnny!

I know I don't post much on the blog, but I wanted to write up a report for my first ever full Marathon. In September of 2012 Abby and I ran our first half marathon with friend of the blog Kira. Ever since then, the thought of a full seemed increasingly plausible. I trained for the half using the 10k plan out of Run Less, Run Faster. I know it sounds silly to use a 10k plan for a race that is twice that distance, but the 10k plan included long runs of ten miles at an aggressive pace. Knowing that I could run ten miles in about seventy-five minutes, I figured that I could at least finish the half and I even ran a 13 mile long run on my own to confirm this. After doing well in the half and loving the atmosphere a full seemed increasingly attractive. 

In February of 2013 I decided that I would attempt to train for a full marathon: the Indianapolis Marathon. I consulted friends such as Kira who had run a marathon, and I also decided on a few rules. If I was going to train for a full I had to: 1use the roller everyday, stretch for 10+ minutes after all workouts, and I had to avoid injury by strength training. There were certainly a few days when I forgot to roll, but I'm sure I averaged a good home roll at least 6 days a week, often more. Training for the marathon went well, and come October I felt strong and confident. 

The day of the race finally came, and I lined up on a cold and rainy Saturday morning in Lawrence, IN to run 26.2 miles. The previous Saturday had been spent in bed as I tried to get over a cold. It lingered all week, but by Friday, I was confident I could at least start. I had four tiers of goals: 1 Finish the marathon; 2 finish in under four hours; 3 finish with the 3:30 pace group; 4 finish under 3:30. I had trained for a 7:45 pace, but I didn't expect to be able to execute a 3:23 for my first run, and many experts advise against having time goals for your first marathon This turned out to be good advice. 

The first 13.1 miles really whizzed by. I know that sounds crazy to anybody who's never run that far, but after training on my own for 15 mile, 18 mile, and 20 mile long runs, having people to run with and fans to cheer us on felt amazing. I posted a 1:44:18 for the half, right on schedule for my third tier goal! This, however, was to prove the end of my 3:30 dreams. Soon after 13.1, I started to feel tired and tight in three danger zones: my glutes, hip flexors, and ham strings. Previous experience had taught me that combined stress in these areas indicated fatigue. Under similar circumstances in a few training runs, I had ended early because of such feelings. At around 15.5 miles I attempted to stretch my hamstrings, only to find them especially tight. I knew I was in trouble. 

For the remaining 11 or so miles, my pace became erratic and I battled leg cramps. The worst stretch was from 15.5 to 20 miles. During this stretch, I was not at all convinced I could finish the race. I knew that if the pain increased, I would have to drop out. Furthermore, I had ditched my shirt, as planned, but the stopping and starting contributed to a lower than planned core temperature. Basically, the race was far from over, I experiencing new pain, and I was running shirtless in 45 degree weather. Not ideal. 

I basically just kept running. at a little turn around, I saw my 3:30 pace friends, one of whom yelled "Enjoy it!" I took his advice, focused on my first tier goal of finishing, and set about moving in bursts. Once my watch read 32KM (20 miles), I knew I would be able to finish. It was still difficult. At one point I had to ask a volunteer to help me tie my shoe because I had to remove a pebble. My hands were too cold to tie them back on. I just kept going, and attempted to enjoy myself. I had never run farther than 20 miles, so every new mile was an accomplishment. I clung to such thoughts like an emotional life preserver as I kept moving, and other runners kept passing me. 

I was just short of 25 miles when I stopped again. Another runner who had been with me for some time encouraged me to continue, saying "Oh, come on!" He said this in a good way, as in "you're so close, don't stop now." I started running again. About .75 miles to the finish, I saw Matt, the 3:30 pacer appeared and ran toward me. He matched my pace (something like an 11 minute mile) and started pouring encouragement into me. 
"This is your first marathon," he said. "You're already faster than most everybody who runs a marathon," he said. "Do you have someone waiting for you at the finish with a jacket?" 
I probably could have finished without Matt, but when he appeared and started running with me, I felt like I could be proud of what I had done. I will never forget seeing him and the unconditional support he offered. With less than half a mile to go, he asked if I could make it on my own. I said I could and he left to go run with others. I don't think I sped up, but I kept running, even passing a few people before the final turn. Once in the finishing chute, I saw and heard Abby. As usual she was angrily screaming at me to run faster and finish. I heard my name called out, and then heard the beep as the mats registered my chip. Total time: 3:51:12. 

All in all, it was and continues to be an amazing experience. I keep remembering that I actually ran a full marathon. I don't know for sure what happened with my legs. I usually do some dynamic stretches at about 2-3 miles, but I skipped that. It was also a bit colder than I had been training, and it rained a lot. I also stopped to pee twice during the first half and ran hard to catch the group (a serious tactical error). Whatever the cause of my troubles, I still managed to finish (and I trounced that lying son of a bitch Paul Ryan, a goal that helped keep me moving). I think the training plan I used worked wonderfully, and I love how I only had to do three runs a week (plus cross training and strength. I loved having Abby there to catch me at the end and to think for me when I was too exhausted to remember to put my pants on. And I can't wait to do it again. 

Pre-race photos:

Lining up in the corrals: 

Abby, warming her gloves by the fire, during the race:

Awesome race sign:

Post-race photos:

Birthday Part 2: Ipperwash Beach

Continuing the dog-themed birthday weekend I've been having so far, today we went to Ipperwash Beach (Lake Huron) with Bo to swim and have a picnic dinner. Like usual, we went a bit later in the day so John could avoid the sun, and all of us were able to avoid the crowds. It's nice to pull up to the parking lot just as families with kids are heading home.

Bo was a champ in the car. She's either interested in looking around, or she settles down right away and enjoys the ride. This bodes well for our upcoming drive to Indiana.

Like most things, the beach made her a little nervous at first. So much noise! There were boats and kids and other dogs, and she was consumed with watching the seagulls fly around.

Several people complimented us on how beautiful she is - this happens everywhere we go. Obviously.

We made sandwiches and brought chips for our picnic, and I enjoyed a peanut butter and chocolate cupcake from Hey, Cupcake! Few things are better than sitting on the beach with your dog and eating a cupcake on your almost-birthday. 

Once my stomach was full of sandwiches, chips, and cupcake, Bo and I took a walk around the beach, and then a short run in the water. It went like this; I would coax her to jump and run a bit, and she was trot for a few steps, then try to shoot past me. When she couldn't keep going, she would do this horizontal flip in the air (a characteristic greyhound feat). I'm sure it didn't seem like real running to her, but she had a great time. Once she relaxed and had her dinner, she really enjoyed the lake. And bonus, my stress fractured foot didn't hurt at all! I think we'll be able to run together a bit this fall.

Bo rarely wags her tail or even raises it to show her mood. But once we got in the water, her tail curled right up to show she was having a good time. So far she only does that when she's swimming, meeting another dog, or staring at herself in the mirror.

I tried to take a family photo before we left. 

After Pawlooza and the beach this weekend, next weekend is going to seem awfully boring.

All the running and mental stimulation of the beach really tired her out and she slept like a baby the whole way home.

Bo's First Week

As of today, Bo has been with us for one week. And what a week it's been! Everything is new. Everything is startling. Everything is worth licking to see if it tastes good. 

She watched TV for the first time and found it puzzling. That's her standing directly in front of the TV.

We heard that greyhounds will stare at themselves in the mirror for long periods of time. Bo doesn't just stare - she thinks there's another dog, and it's the only time she seems remotely excited. The other night she was standing in the kitchen, making a soft growing sound and looking intently near the oven. John and I both panicked, thinking she saw a mouse (something I always dread but that's never happened). Then we realized she was looking at her reflection in the oven door. Sigh. 

We've met up with another greyhound family in town for a joint walk and she seemed ok with that. Based on her reaction to her reflection, I thought she'd be stoked, but she was just relaxed. 

She's taken to the car well, since the car usually means a trip to the park. Even when we took her to the vet for an initial visit, we sandwiched the vet with walks in the park and a trip to PetSmart.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to mind strangers asking to pet her, or other dogs, big or small. 

We also went to Gibbons Park, where she walked into the river like was nothing at all. I'm so happy she likes the water! And now I CANNOT WAIT to take her to Lake Huron! It's nice and shallow there so I think she'll like it.

The first few days, she basically refused to eat. The vet suggested some wet food to mix with her food and she's been snarfing that up, so I think we're in the clear food-wise. She also LOVES a Kong frozen with pumpkin inside, baked sweet potatoes, and peanut butter...All foods I also enjoy. The Kong makes a great treat delivery device, and it keeps her occupied, so we love it, too.

Every day brings a new, small success that shows us she really does have a personality, and that she's gradually coming out of her shell. It's hard to imagine, but she likely spent an average of 20 hours per day in a crate with little interaction, and without a ton of affection. From her behavior and her willingness to be handled, we don't think she was abused. Just left alone a lot. She's started to behave like other greys we've heard of, in that she's started to "steal" things. For instance: in this picture, she's laying on top of an old SEM conference bag. She took it from the handle of the front door and brought it back to her living room cushion. She doesn't shred it, doesn't chew on it or destroy it. Just likes to take it. It's like she's going to build a nest out of soft, found items.

Today she also exhibited a little more normal dog behavior: she retrieved her mole toy (bottom right of the photo above). Greyhounds aren't big into fetch, as a rule, but she actually played fetch with me for a few minutes before getting too confused. Fetch with Bo isn't like fetch with a retriever or terrier. John says it's more like fetch with an old man - she walks so slowly it's almost like she's ashamed. We've read that this is typical of greyhounds, since they aren't raised with a concept of "play."

Lots of things still freak her out, like cars, any kind of sharp sound like a hammer on a neighbor's roof, or my pitch pipe. It's sort of like we adopted an alien, or a robot dog whose mind was wiped. John says it's like she was in solitary confinement and now she's forced to be around people again - an apt analogy, since she was alone a lot, and we've been watching Orange is the New Black. But still, every day she lets us see a new part of her, and she lets us know a little bit more that she's cool with us. 

Honeymooning in Asheville Part 4

During the first couple of rainy days in Asheville, I would look at the forecast for Saturday and think yes. Saturday will be my day. My voice will be back and it's not supposed to rain. And later on I figured I wouldn't be (as) motion sick by then. So we planned a long hike in the Blue Ridge mountains. Our first stop was the Visitor's Center in the Blue Ridge Parkway, a sort of national park highway that extends through several states with various scenic spots and places to hike and be outdoorsy along the way. I was impressed with the resources and quality of the visitor's center, shown below.

A park ranger steered us toward a trail that led to a waterfall, and after consulting the map, we were on our way. Unfortunately, the Blue Ridge Parkway winds quite a bit, and we determined after a few minutes that we should abandon our original idea and try a different path. It wasn't a hard decision to make, since we saw plenty of places along the road with parked cars and trailheads. We decided to try one of the trails along the road and hoped it led somewhere interesting. It was marked with white paint on the trees per usual, but we never saw anything indicating how far we'd gone, or where we were going. 

Most of the trail was wide and clear enough that we could have run on it, but it was also a pretty steep grade. We hiked for over an hour in one direction and then turned back. Based on the tree line and all the climbing we kept thinking that the top MUST be close. But we never came to any kind of look out point or clearing. The path just seemed to keep going. We veered off on a smaller path near the top to see if there was a view. The only thing we came upon was an abandoned camp site that didn't look too old to me and the whole thing kind of gave me the creeps. So back down the mountain we went, setting a timer on my phone to remind us to drink from our fuel belts every 15 minutes.

We bought sandwiches at City Bakery before heading out and ate them when we returned to the car. We were both hungry and tired by that point, and those sandwiches were pretty much the best thing I'd ever eaten.

Before leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway we stopped at the Folk Art Museum. 

First we looked at funny things in the gift shop, like these 3" musical instruments. 

I jokingly suggested that we buy one of these hand carved wooden hats for our future dog and John pointed out that they cost about $95.

Then we saw exhibits of folksy art, like cornhusks made into dolls and other figurines.

Large moose statue.

Then it was time to drive a little further to Black Mountain, NC to taste beer at Pisgah Brewing. 

Their bourbon barrel stout was also delicious, and I was happy that it came in 4 oz pours. This might have been John's favorite brewery, but it's hard to choose a favorite in a place like this. Like a lot of the breweries we visited, Pisgah is basically a giant warehouse with the garage door open. Across the parking lot they had a music venue with a little hippie festival set up. Those tents had booths with people selling soap and petitioning to legalize marijuana. You know, the usual. 

John knew of another brewery in Black Mountain so we left Pisgah to try to look around the little town, and we took turns sitting in this rocking chair at the visitor's center.

I know you're thinking, "Black Mountain? Like, the Black Mountain?"

And the answer is yes, it's the same place where John Cage and his friends started Black Mountain college. We saw a historical marker about it in the downtown area. 

We walked around and found a bakery where John got a pastry. 

I offered to keep driving if he wanted to taste more beer, but I think Pisgah did him in. John was officially out done by the breweries of North Carolina. 

Once we had returned to Asheville and washed the mud off, we went to Salsa's for dinner. We hemmed and hawed for a while before choosing this place, and we were so glad we did. It's like you can throw a dart at a map of Asheville and find a good restaurant. We both had an enchilada dish that was out of this world. 

The next morning we had one final southern breakfast at Mayfel's, a New Orlean's style place that had some of the best vegan sausage I've ever tried and heavenly grits. It was a great end to our stay in Asheville. 

And so our trip to NC came to a close. We both feel like we just scratched the surface in terms of food, beer, and hiking in the area. I hope we can go back!