My First 5,000

 

5,000 Yards = 2.8 miles =  Farthest I've ever swam

It took me two hours, but I managed to complete my first 5,000 yard swim of the year. Great Chesapeake Bay Swim training is underway big time! I broke it up into sets of 500 to keep track of my laps, which helped. And I threw in an extra 100 yards at the end just in case I miscounted (because, you know, missing four laps out of 200 would just completely throw off my training!).

Two hours is a long time to be staring at the bottom of the pool but Priscilla, Tracey, and Nicolas helped break up the monotony. At one point, P popped over in my lane and announced that we were going to race! OMG, I was so out of breath just racing her a mere 25 yards! Then we raced back and I must have been in Zone 5 the whole way! Sheesh.

Afterward we hit the Mellow Mushroom for pizza, bringing back memories of IMAZ :).

Climbing Mont Ventoux

Menacing Mont Ventoux
Elevation 6,273 ft.

The legendary mountain in Provence is one of the most grueling climbs of the Tour de France. The road to the summit has an average gradient of  7 percent, but is as steep as 9 percent in some sections. Wind speeds regularly blow at about 55 mph and have been clocked as high as 200 mph at the summit; hence the name Mont Ventoux, which means Windy Mountain in French. In short, it's one big bad climb.

My trip up Mont Ventoux was courtesy of the Compu-WTF last weekend. Watching a video of the road you're climbing is pretty cool--it certainly beats spinning on the trainer in front of the TV. However.... I'm still trying to figure out how the whole compu-thing works.

Based on the FTP test I took the day before, my power level watts thing--or whatever you call it--is 95. Everyone else was in the triple-digit range -- most of them up in the 200's -- so my little 95 looked pretty pathetic next to everyone else's numbers!  (BTW, I'm not sure what FTP stands for yet, but the FTP test required 20 minutes of riding, much of it uphill. It was kind of like doing an extended VO2 Max test. In short, it kicked my butt.)

When we started up Mont Ventoux, I was trying to keep my power output at 95. Wrong! No wonder it was killing me. Instead, you're supposed to try to match your power output to the "load" number the compu-WTF is showing you. So while my load number was down in the 60's or 70's, I was busy trying to keep my power up at 95. (Hello, Sally? Perhaps you should learn how it works before your next class?!)

The woman next to me said something about how pedaling smoothly helps match the load and I was like, huh? I'm supposed to pay attention to the load number? Whaa?? Comically, I concluded that shifting to a harder gear to "increase" the load was the answer...but, um, no, no, and no. The compu-WTF actually controls the load, as I soon found out from the instructor, Pierre.You are supposed to spin harder or easier to make the two numbers match. Ding, ding, ding! Now I get it!

After 1 hour, 40 minutes of spinning we finally reached the summit. Here's what it looks like:

Pretty cool, huh? While I'd rather be standing atop Mont Ventoux in person, I guess this is a nice alternative when traveling there isn't an immediate option. Maybe some day...

Compu-WTF?

Had my first computrainer class today and it kicked my butt!!  I loved it though... and I'm hoping it'll be just the thing I need to get stronger and faster on the bike. However, I have a loooong way to go. By the end of the class I had averaged only 90 watts while everyone else was in the 200's. And while they averaged 20 mph, I averaged a paltry 15.3. Pathetic, I know.

But when you're this bad you have nowhere to go but up, right? So I hereby designate 2012 The Year I Will Conquer the Computrainer. It'll be interesting to see what my numbers are in December...

Great Chesapeake Bay Swim

Pic courtesy of robaquatics.com

I'm IN!

On June 10th, I'll be splashing into the Chesapeake Bay with hundreds of other swimmers (all of them faster than me) for a 4.4 mile swim across the bay. This picture shows what the view from the water will look like as we swim between the twin bridges from Sandy Point State Park to the other side. I hear the current can be tricky, but let's hope it's at least this calm--this doesn't look too bad.

The entry process started a couple of months ago and it's done by lottery. So you throw your name in and then wait and, in my case, wonder if you will actually qualify if your name is chosen. Oh the suspense. Everything checked out and so here I am.

Of course, swimming is not my thing....so what the hell am I doing in a 4 mile bay swim, you ask. Well....after a few marathons, a couple dozen triathlons, and an Ironman, what more is there to do? This swim falls into the "There's No Way I Can Do That But WTH Why Not Give It A Try" category. It takes me out of my comfort zone, which is a scary but interesting place to be. And who knows? Maybe I'll surprise myself. That would be nice but it's going to take a lot of work!

So here's to taking the plunge and making it happen in 2012. Let the endless hours of lap swimming begin!

Hello 2012!

Welcome to my new blog! This being the beginning of a new year, I guess this is where I'm supposed to write down my goals and such. But...well....I don't really have any big, fat, insane goals for 2012--at least not yet. We'll see what happens... And anything could happen... Cheers to 2012!