swimming » The Running Brothers

Zeb’s New Years Resolution

Jan 072011

I know, I know. It’s January 7, how can I possibly be writing about my New Year’s Resolution. I’m a chronic procrastinator.

Hence, you might assume that my New Year’s Resolution would be to stop procrastinating. You are wrong. It’s a bunch of other things and here they are in no particular order.

Increase my running distance every week, until I am able to run 26 miles without stopping.
Increase my biking distance every week, until I am able to bike 112 miles without stopping.
Increase my swimming distance every week, until I am able to swim 2.4 miles without stopping.
To not drink any alcohol in 2011.

These goals are all measurable. Every Wednesday I plan on updating my process and every Wednesday for the entire year, I plan to improve my weekly distance for running, biking and swimming for 52 weeks out of the year. Check on my progress and hold me accountable. Most people don’t keep their New Year’s Resolution’s, do you think I am most people? Let’s see how long I can last.

I already posted my distances for the first week of the year, this past Wednesday, so if I am to keep my promise, I will need to swim more than 2.5 miles this week and run more than 9.8 miles.

Midnight Swim

Jan 022011

It was New Year’s Day and my resolution was to begin my training for the Ironman. I procrastinated. At 11:30 PM, I put on my swim trunks and headed for the gym. Just before midnight, I dipped my toes into the pool.

I wanted to see how long I could swim before my body gave out. The longest I have ever swam was when I did a sprint triathalon almost a year ago where I swam 100 meters. How long could I last? No stopping, just all out swimming, could I do the 2.4 miles? Could I do it under 2 hours and 20 minutes?

The pool was freezing, I snapped my swimming goggles into place and began. At the beginning, the hardest part for me was counting. One, two, three . . . (wait, did I just finish three or start three), I messed up counting already. The swimming part was easy, up until lap 27. When my goggles opened up and water began seeping in. Ahh, the annoyance of chlorine filled water seeping into my eyes, I had to take a quick stop to fix the problem.

In the end, my mind was the hardest thing to overcome. I kept telling myself that it was ok to stop short, people would understand, I had never done this before. Any number would be great, but I needed to know how long I could last so I prodded on, lap after lap after lap. My mind continued to whisper to me, “Give Up.”

On lap 55 my arms began to get heavy and my stroke was not fluid anymore, I kept slapping at the water like a seal who pounds it’s fin on the water’s surface. I had lost all sense of grace. On lap 60, my mind won, I knew I could not reach the 78 laps needed to complete 2.4 miles, my first training swim came to an end.

I swam 3,000 meters or 1.86411 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes, well above the pace required to complete the swimming portion of the Ironman race. Not to shabby considering my longest swim prior to this was 100 meters.

Ironman: Setting the Running Pace

Dec 122010

If you must c0mplete the bike ride in 10 hours and 30 minutes, that means they allow you to complete the run in 6 hours and 30 minutes. The run is 26.2 miles, so, in order to complete the ironman, I would have to run at just a little over 4 miles per hour. And would have to complete every mile in just under 15 minutes.

Fifteen minute miles? Piece of cake. When I was going to the gym, I could do a mile in under 7 minutes, so that’s getting about double the time. Of course, I would be doing about 26 of those and adding on a 112 mile bike ride and a 2.4 mile swim just before it, but hey, that’s not much.

This whole ironman thing sounds pretty easy, I mean who couldn’t run a mile in under 15 minutes? Right?

Today, I will be doing a little exercise. I have my weekly soccer game to play in a couple of hours, should be fun.

Ironman: Setting the Swimming Pace

Dec 102010

Today, I want to know what my pace would need to be in order to complete the swimming portion of an ironman event that way I know what pace I need to be at for the swim. Knowing this will help me keep a benchmark on how well I am doing time wise.

The cutoff time for the swim of 2.4 miles is 2 hours and 20 minutes. Which means I would have to swim at a pace slightly over 1 mile per hour. How fast is that in the pool? I swim in a pool that is a 25m pool. A 2.4 mile swim is the equivalent of 3862.425 meters. 3862.425 meters is 77.2485 laps in my gym’s pool (by laps I mean to the end of the pool and back). So, the average time per lap would nead to be about .551775 laps per minute or 33.1065 laps per hour.

I have never actually timed myself in the pool, but I do want to go out and try it without any training just to see how long I could last. I am not anticipating long, but who knows. Tomorrow, I will set the biking pace.

Establishing the Goal: 140.6 or Bust

Dec 092010

Zeb 140.6 miles. Wow! I once traveled cross-country and 140.6 miles per day was about all I could handle, and that was in a 2007 Toyota Tacoma.

According to Mitch Roberts (http://mitchr.sweat365.com/), I would be considered an Ironman if I complete any race that consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. The challenge is more direct, I will complete an Ironman event.

How long will it take?

To be honest, I have no idea what I am in for, nor do I know how long it will take. I have been fairly athletic my whole life, playing soccer at least once a week since I was 5, but I have never ran, swam or biked on a consistent basis. In fact, the most I think I have ever run in a single day was 3 miles. Who knows how long it will take to train. But, I do want to establish a time frame to accomplish this goal.

I am 29 years old, which I have heard many people say that 28 to 29 is when a male is in his athletic prime, so in order to give myself the best chance, I need to do it fairly soon. The commitment will be to complete 140.6 by my 35th birthday, which gives me a little over 5 years.

Hopefully, I won’t have to wait that long, but who knows how long it will take to get ready for something like this.

I am up for the challenge. If you see me on the side of the road holding up a sign that reads 140.6 or bust, don’t pick me up, just shout some words of encouragement as you drive by and I’ll see you at the finish line.

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