...and then God made Pull Buoys

According to Wikipedia:

"A pull buoy is a figure-eight shaped piece of closed-cell foam used in swim workouts. Swimmers place the buoy between the legs in the crotch area to provide support to the body without kicking the legs; this allows the swimmer to focus on training only their arms."


They are @!$!@@!$ great!!!!

I can actually swim for a while with these things. As I've mentioned, I have a hard time keeping my hips up. The pull buoy allows me not to worry about my lower body and just concentrate on my stroke. Whew!!!

I was turned on to this cool little tool from the guy swimming next to me. He not only told me about the buoy, but he also gave me a bunch of tips. What a great guy!!

This morning, I found a plan that will get me swimming a mile in six weeks. At least that's what it claims. We'll see. I'm going to start it next week.

In running news, it's time for Steph and I to invest in some new shoes. I wear Saucony Omni Pro Grid. She wears Brooks. We're headed up to our local running shop on Saturday to lay down some cash for some new ones. I always love getting new shoes. Actually, I think I love visiting the store more than the shoes. I always like looking at all the other stuff they have.

Next week, I'm kicking it up a notch in terms of my training. I've scheduled out my swimming, lifting, biking, and running workouts. We'll see how it goes and how tired I am. The training for the Marine Corps Marathon starts on June 1 for me. These next few weeks will be a test to see how well I can hold up under the stress of that training as well the other stuff I've added recently. Wish me luck :)

I got in 3 miles running and about 500 yards swimming today. Tomorrow is weight training only.

Later!

~Jason

Weight: 155lbs

My own little triathlon

Yesterday turned into my own little personal triathlon. Granted, I didn't do all the events at one time (and my swim was pretty short), but hey, whaddaya want from me!?!?!

I ran 3 miles and swam in the morning. Later, when Steph got home from work, she went for her 5 miles and I went out for a 12.39 mile bike ride (51 minutes). So the inaugural Jason tri was a 250 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run.

And, guess what?? I won. Ha!!

Today, I weight trained and swam again. The swim was about the same as yesterday. I have to concentrate on relaxing. Once I do that, I'm pretty good. I'll probably go for another bike ride today.

Also, I found a way to track my workouts. Buckeyoutdoors.com. It works great. You can see it there on the right. I'm not going to to go back and enter all my historical workout data, but from here on out, I'll be using that to track everything....bye bye paper workout tracker book :)

~Jason

Weight: 155lbs

Relax to Swim

So relaxation is the key to swimming. Today, I swam like 5-6 laps (woohoo for me). One of those laps, I did without stopping. I found that when I relax, I do MUCH better. I still have problems, but, man, I feel relieved that I'm making some progress. In fact, I'm surprised how much progress I've made.

I'll be back in the pool tomorrow or Thursday. There is a Master's class that's starting up here on campus and I'll be participating in that as soon as I hear back from the coordinator.

I also ran 3 miles today. My legs are a little stiff from the Flying Pig, but they felt good after the run. I'll run again tomorrow and weight train.

I have a question though. Do you guys use any training tools online to track your workouts? Any suggestions for ones to try out? I'm in the process of working up my training schedule and I'd like to start tracking my workouts online. With three sports (and races along the way) it gets a little hectic.

Later!!

Weight: 155lbs

Workout: Swimming 10 x 25, Running 3 miles, Bike 12.4 miles