Tri-It-On Triathlon!!

A last minute sign up for the Brett Robinson Alabama Coastal Tri-It-On Triathlon in Gulf Shores turned out to be a good thing!  Initially my three other training partners and I were considering this race, but it turned out that only Lesley had signed up.  I was on the fence about this one.  Logistically it was a little difficult.  I wanted Bill to go with me, we haven't had any beach time since NC.  But we had Phoenix and Bogey to consider..  this meant finding a "Pet Friendly" hotel in Gulf  Shores.  Our plan was to spend Friday and Saturday nights so we could leave the boys in the room for the race and then take them to the beach afterwards. 

Phoenix!

We got to the hotel - it wasn't a very nice place.  A Days Inn with really bad customer service.  Change of plans...  one night and get the you know what out of Dodge. 

Bogey!

Lesley was racing the "Intermediate" distance race (this used to be known as an Olympic Distance, but not all of them are the same 1500, 40K, 10K so the name has been changed.)  She's getting ready for a Half Ironman distance race in Amelia Island in October. 

Lesley giving me a high five as she headed out on the 10K!

I'd raced Gator Bait a couple weeks before and didn't know how my knees would feel after that so I signed up for the super short Tri-It-On sprint distance race.  300yd swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run!  Oh fun... let's redline it for just under an hour.

Time trial start, I was the 17th in line of over 400 triathletes.  The line up was based on your predicted swim.  Had a great swim, it was straight out and back in the ocean with a run from the beach.  There was a little east to west current but I corrected for that.  On my way back in though, a girl on her way out had drifted into the oncoming returning swimmers and we ran into each other.  A quick run up to the beach to transition and it was off on the bike.

I had a bit of an issue on the bike when I was almost hit by a car.  A police officer waved a big black SUV onto the course and instead of moving along with traffic he drove diagonally from the intersection toward the condominium complex across the street - right in front of me.  I was screaming "STOP and NO!!!!" as loudly as I could but he kept moving.  I was braking but my bike just wasn't slowing fast enough.  I ended up in the parking lot for the condo complex when the SUV finally came to a stop right across the bike lane and his grill in the parking lot.  A little scary - my closest call with a vehicle on the bike.  Averaged 21.3 mph on the bike!

Made it back to transition only to find my towel soaked through. A lot of people had brought gallon jugs of water to rinse the sand off their feet and one apparently was up hill from me. Gross. On to the run - my plan here was to take it out gently and bring it back fast. It apparently worked - I negative split the run (a first for me in a race) and had a strong finish!  Really happy with my run - averaged 7:18 pace - I think this is a personal best for me.

I found Bill and we hung around and waited for results to be posted.  Had some breakfast that The Hangout provided and got my stuff out of transition.  Once they posted the results I found out that I finished first overall female!!!!  The next girl was almost 2 minutes back!  At the awards ceremony they called me and the men's winner over to say something to the crowd - can you say "mortified??"  Bill assured me that I didn't sound bad but I felt like a doofus!!

Breakfast!

Then we went back to the hotel, loaded up the boys and drove down to Morgantown - close to the Dauphin Island Ferry.  The beaches are dog friendly there!  We set up our umbrella and beach chairs and spent a couple hours playing in the ocean with Phoenix and Bogey.  They have figured out that they love to hang out on the boogie boards floating!  They were so excited to be back on the beach and swimming in the ocean!  We've got to take them again soon!!! 

Rain and Yoga

It's been raining for two days now with Tropical Storm Lee upon us.  I could have snuck in a run yesterday morning while it was just drizzling but I'd run 6 miles the day before and running two days in a row angers my knees. 

So yesterday I dug out my trainer and some Spinnerval DVDs to get in a workout.  I did on of the Time Trial ones and got in a good sweat fest in my living room.  By the end I was hating Troy Jacobson.

Today I decided to go in a different direction and went with Rodney Yee's, "Yoga Conditioning for Athletes".  And I'll tell you what - I have missed yoga.  This is by far my favorite of his DVDs and now my body is thanking me.

A perfect thing to do on a rainy afternoon.   Namaste.

Gator Bait Triathlon!!!!

It's been almost two years and a knee surgery since I've raced a triathlon with a run longer than a 5K.  I've been babying my poor knees and when I run 6 miles the left one likes to lock up (I think from internal swelling) and hurts like heck. 

Moving to Mississippi posed a little bit of a challenge for me to find enough races to fulfill my sponsor requirements - so I saw that Vicksburg had an Olympic distance race and went ahead and signed up.  The Gator Bait Triathlon - first year race - sounds like fun!  Love the name of the race.  My friend Deanna signed up too - another girl's road trip!!!  And then I talked our friend Judy into signing up for the 1500 meter Open Water Swim!  Deanna had a friend, Carla who is a photographer who wanted to come and see her race - we had a really fun road trip planned!

Carla, Deanna, Judy and me!

We loaded into Deanna's car on Friday afternoon and headed to Vicksburg.  Judy had decided that if the race organizers let her that she was going to go ahead and change from the open water swim to racing the triathlon.  It would be the longest race that both she and Deanna had ever done. 


Race morning came and we were happy with some cooler air temperatures!  Got everything set up in transition and went for a really quick jog just to see where the run started.  After my little run I grabbed my swim cap and goggles and made my way to the water to get in a warm up.  Saw Dave and Jim at the boat launch - two swimmers from USM.  I think this was going to be their longest triathlon ever too.  Dave is a super fast swimmer and ended up having the fastest swim split of the day!

There were only three swim waves - this was a small race with only about 100 competitors.  A far cry from my last race in Shreveport where there were 1100!  The women and relays went off in the third wave.  Funny that even with the small number of people in my wave that I had two people (men) swim across in front of me going left to right and one girl right on my shoulder with her arm swinging over my head.  Fortunately for me she didn't swim straight and moved off at an angle to the right.  The water was warm and the swim was long.  Judy swam into a dead fish and it freaked her out - she worried about alligators for the rest of the swim.  This was Deanna's longest open water swim and she was a little stressed by it but did just fine.  I ended up with the 10th fastest swim split of the day.  Judy had the 4th fastest time!  My speed suit rubbed a little place on the right side of my neck - should have used some Aquaphor before the swim!!

Garmin HR Avg: 170 / Max: 174

The bike course was flat and fast, just slightly downhill at the very beginning, I remember looking and seeing 23+ miles per hour.  It was an out and back course and the only complaint I have is that at the turn around there wasn't anything very visible to let you know it was coming.  Usually there is a traffic cone in the middle of the road.  There was a volunteer standing on the side of the road and once you got to it you could see a red line painted across the road.  A slight breeze and some shade from the trees on the way out was really nice!  My plan was to take two gels during the bike (I was trying something a little different today - usually I would just take one for a 40K). I took one just after I settled in on the bike after the swim and another at about mile 20. I'd also rubber banded my tic tac container of Recovery e21 onto my handle bars and transfered it to the pocket of my tri top so I'd have them for the run as well.  Took two e21 about a half hour into the ride. I passed Judy and one other girl who were both out of the water ahead of me and didn't see any other girls on the way back.  I was leading the women's race!!!! This has never happened to me before on the bike!  Deanna had the fastest women's bike split of the day - that girl can ride fast!

Garmin:  21.3 moving speed.  HR Avg: 162 / Max: 187

I'd read someone's post on BeginnerTriathlete.com who had run the course in training and he'd said to take it easy on the way out because on the way back the sun would be blaring in your face.  So I decided to heed the advice and ran what I like to refer to as "gently" on the way out.  My legs were a little stiff from the ride and they loosened up right away.  A guy passed me just before the mile mark and told me that there weren't any other women any where near me and to keep it up.  I checked my Garmin and was running 7:42-7:50 miles - this made me very happy.  It didn't feel like I was running a sub 8:00, everything felt smooth.  I had my e21 in my pocket and took two at about mile 2 on the run and another at mile 5.  I slowed down a little on the way back and didn't push the pace.  Right as I passed the 6 mile mark my right calf tried to cramp so I had to watch how I placed my feet.  Thinking back I know I didn't drink enough on the bike, or the run for that matter.   First place Overall Female!!  I'm pretty darned happy! 

Garmin Avg Moving Pace: 7:56.  HR Avg: 171 / Max 179

After I finished I jogged back out onto the course to cheer on my friends Judy and Deanna.  Deanna won her age group and Judy won the Masters Female catagory!!  And befitting a race called the Gator Bait Triathlon - the awards?  A real gator head on a plaque!  They're mailing us little personalized plates for our plaques! 

A great time with new friends!  I can't wait to race with them again! 

Hattiesburg Triathletes!
Jim, Dave, Judy, Deanna and me!

Three more triathlons for me this season!  I'm going to hate to see it end.

Oak Grove Running Festival 5K!!!

I made a last minute decision to run the Oak Grove 5K last Saturday.  Monday the 15th we moved from our corporate apartment where we'd been living for 2 months into a house.  It was an all day event watching the movers unload our belongings and checking off each box and piece of furniture off on a list.  My heart sunk as I saw more and more damaged things coming through the door.  It was expected though, when they loaded the truck in North Carolina it took them from 8:00 in the morning until 12:45 the next morning!!  I just knew that there was going to be carnage.  I wasn't disappointed and it was very stressful.

No training for me on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday I did a ride with the girls.  Thursday was a grueling track workout.  Friday another ride, this time tempo followed by a hard mile and then a cool down mile.  So I went to the race with tired legs. 

Earlier in the year I was contacted by a former Aquaphor teammate who still had some loose sample left over from a couple years ago when we were sent a giant box of 1100 samples.  Mine were all gone, and she asked if I was interested in the ones she had left!  Of course I said yes, and gladly paid for the shipping to get them!   A couple months ago when the race director and local triathlete asked if anyone had anything to donate for the race packets I anted up about 100 samples for the goody bags!  This got me a comped entry to the 5K!!  How could I say no??

The race was two loops through the Oak Grove High School campus and finished with a lap inside the football stadium. It was flat and guaranteed to be fast!  The girls that I train with - Deanna, Judy and Lesley were all going to be at the race.  This was going to be fun!  We all run the track together and I was excited to see how we'd do.  Lesley and I planned to run together and try to pace the run (yeah, right).

When I was picking up my race packet one of the cyclists that I ride with told me he wanted to introduce me to his wife.  I met Marisa and we started chatting, then she asked me what my ethnicity was and I told her half Japanese.  Her reply was "Me Too!!!"  So we spent a little time talking about our parents and how they met.  Now Marisa looks Hapa but she is probably 5'8 or 5'9' - lucky girl, her Dad is 6' tall!  Me... I stand just a smidge over 5' tall. 



Me, Lesley, Deanna and Judy!


We lined up and Lesley and I took off - my Garmin showed that we were going too fast and I commented that we needed to slow it down, but there was the shadow of a very tall girl with a long ponytail right with us.  Marisa ran with us for most of the run - I went out too fast and faded towards the end and she passed me with about a half mile left to go.  I kept thinking that when we got into the stadium I would be able to pick it up and close the gap.  But.... no go.  My legs were shot.  Marisa took 1st Overall Female, I placed 2nd winning the Grandmasters category (it still hurts to say that!).  Lesley was right behind me taking 3rd Overall and winning her age group.  Deanna was 4th Overall Female and won Masters, and Judy was right behind her placing 5th Overall Female and winning her age group!! 



The Triathlete Girls of Hattiesburg posted a great showing!!!!  I wish I had more pictures, but only got one of us with our awards (unfortunately it's a little blurry too).  Deanna's coach, Chris should be proud - we've all been gleaning off of her workouts!  My tired legs did me well!  I looked up my last 5K results from last October and I'm really pleased with my time.  It was a very hot and humid morning on race day and I was able to run a 23:59.  Back in North Carolina my last two 5Ks were 22:52 and 23:03 but the weather on those days was 50 and 55 degrees!!   Race start temperature on Saturday was right at 80 degrees!!

I'm pretty happy with my performance with all things considered!  This coming weekend is the Gator Bait Triathlon in Vicksburg, MS.  It's an Olympic distance race and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. It's been almost two years and a knee surgery since I've done anything longer than a sprint.  My knee gets very unhappy when I run anything more than 6 miles.  Send energy on Saturday morning!! 

OH!!  I also met fellow blogger Ginny who writes Happy Feet 26.2!  We've met through our blogs but never face to face until race day!!  While I was warming up I saw a couple girls also doing a warm up run and one of them said, "That is Ginger!"  We introduced ourselves before the race and Ginny ran with the four of us and Marissa on a cool down loop after the race!!!  I'm meeting some great people here in Hattiesburg!! 

River Cities Tri

The Sportspectrum River Cities Triathlon was yesterday!!  This race has been going on for 31 years and is my most favorite race that I've ever done.  This year was either my 15th or 16th time to race it - I've lost count of exactly how many times I've been there.  It's a sprint distance triathlon - 1/2 mile swim / 18.2 mile bike / 5K run. It's always hot and there is always some very fast triathletes there.  This year there were over 1100 athletes from 18 different states. 

The first time I did this race was back in 1987 or 1988, the race packet then was good and it just keeps getting better and better.  This year was no exception!  In our packet this year we got the famous River Cities bag - 2011's is a backpack with a ton of storage plus a padded laptop pocket, sweet!!  We also got a wind jacket embroidered with the race logo, a running hat, a tech t, a regular t-shirt and a pair of my favorite socks!  There was also a couple food goodies, a little Cliff Bar and a Myoplex protein drink.  In past years the packet has included things like Ironman Sunglasses, Nalgeen water bottles and running shorts.  It varies from year to year - it's part of what makes this race so fun!

I heard an announcement that this year when the race went online for registration it filled in 35 minutes!! When we found out that we were moving to Hattiesburg I went online and the race was full, I called a friend of mine from Dallas, who happens to be the race director's brother and asked what my chances were to get in on the waiting list.  I lucked out and got in!!  One of my friends, Deanna was also able to get into the race and so we had a Girls Road Trip!!  It's quite a drive from Hattiesburg to Shreveport, 4-5 hours and we had one issue with a traffic jam.  A hay truck had dumped two of those giant hay rolls on the highway and traffic stopped like a parking lot.  We were nervous that we'd miss packet pick up.  In the information it says if you're there after 5:30 they'll sell your spot to people who show up with bikes etc waiting to try and get into the race.  We made it with about 10 minutes to spare!!  Phew!

Shreveport, LA like Texas has been plagued this summer with a lot of 100+ degree temperatures and no rain.  The lake temperature was probably close to 90 degrees!  The high temperature for Sunday - 104!!  The race starts at 8:00am - it's in a State Park and it takes a long time to get 1100 people parked and set up.  My swim wave was number 10 and started at 8:38am.  The water didn't feel that warm when I was standing in it before the start but within the first 200 yards or so it felt like a bathtub.  I was out in front in my wave and felt someone on my feet, she then pulled up on my left side and proceeded to bump into me over and over and over again.  I finally stopped and said, "Geez... MOVE OVER".  It must have riled her up because she then swam away from me and I saw that she kept drifting left and having to correct her line.  I was glad that it wasn't me bumping her, especially after I yelled at her.  This morning I checked the online results and was happy to see that I had the 6th fastest age group women's swim (266 women)!! 
HR Max: 169 / HR Avg: 144.

On to the bike and immediately I could tell that it wasn't going to be a good day - my legs were FLAT!  They didn't respond at all.  I know what it was because it's happened to me before - any time I have a long drive to a race my legs are really heavy from sitting stagnant for so long.   My Garmin was set to Multisport mode and for the life of me I haven't been able to get it to show me speed and my heart rate when it's in this mode.  I need to call my friend Carol - I know she'll be able to help me. I decided right away to just ride within myself and see how it went.  Spun up the hills and tried to maintain a smooth pace.  One girl that I recognized from Crawfishman came by me on the bike (she didn't recognize me) and I passed her back and never saw her again.  I was dreading the run and it was coming up fast.  20.6 average. 
HR Max: 175 / HR Avg : 170.

Off the bike and onto the run.  By then my legs were feeling a little better - but still not normal.  I did the same thing on the run that I did on the bike - ran within myself and hoped for the best.  The girl from Crawfishman passed me on the run and I tried to rally a challenge and stay with her but nope, not today.  For the first time in a long, long time I actually walked a couple steps through one of the transitions to gulp down a whole cup of water.  It was so hot out there, and even though the run is mostly shaded I was overheating.  The finish line has you run down a grassy area and cross three strips of soft beach sand, my calves almost cramped on those sand sections!!  I took my Recovery e21 when I woke up and also right before the race started but that heat just sapped it out of me.  8:06 pace. 
HR Max: 183 / HR Avg: 177

I finished and jogged back out onto the course to cheer in my friend Deanna - didn't have to go far and I saw her with just before she made the turn onto the grass.  I found her at the finish line and we went to go shower over in the campground, came back to transition and just made it over to the awards presentation to hear them call my name for 2nd place Female Masters!!  The girl who beat me?  The same one that I yelled at in the swim and that beat me at Crawfishman, that'll teach me to keep my big mouth shut.  Maybe next time!

I finished 20th Overall Female / 2nd Masters / 1st Age Group.

Chi Running

I think I've mentioned that since we've moved to Hattiesburg that my knees are killing me!  I think it's the hillier terrain than I've been used to in Sunset Beach.  After having two knee surgeries I probably shouldn't be running at all, but I just can't give it up - not yet anyway. 

After the surgery on my left knee back in 2009 I was instructed to take 6 months off running.  When I started back I experimented with Chi Running in an attempt to make the move back into running less painful.  It did help, but after I was back for several weeks I forgot about it and was back to my old style of running.  I have a couple of triathlete friends in the Raleigh/Durham area who own K2 Fitness.  This is where I got the idea to give the Chi Running a try.  Thank you, Kari!!

About two weeks ago I was out on a run and my poor knees were hurting badly.  About halfway through a run I remembered the Chi Running and unbelievably the pain lessened immediately in both knees!  Now I don't know much at all about Chi Running.  I know just what I've read online and seen some videos online.  The basic premise that I keep in my mind is to run like a ball not a square.  This u-tube video explained it well to me (click the pic): 

From the Chi Running Website:
"Chi Running blends the powerful movement principles from T'ai Chi, with running, to create a revolutionary approach to effortless and injury-free running." 

"The cornerstones of Chi Running are postural alignment and relaxation because the combination of the two is the best way to run faster, farther and injury-free. Chi Running includes: landing with a midfoot strike, using a "gravity-assisted" forward lean and engaging core strength for propulsion rather than leg strength. This approach makes your running easier and healthier for your whole body."

Well - so far so good.  I even used it at two track workouts and was pretty much painless except for the cool down where we were running super easy.  I'm going to keep it up and hopefully some of my knee pain will go away! 

If any of you use Chi Running let me know how it's working for you!

At The Track

In my desire to train with people rather than solo I found myself at the track this morning with Deanna, Lesley and Chris (coaching) for a "nice" interval workout.  What the heck am I thinking!!!  I  haven't done a track workout since 1992 in Dallas when Chris Phelan organized his Tuesday Night Track workouts.  Somewhere in my file cabinet I still have a torn up little piece of paper with my splits on it from one of those workouts.

This morning we met at 8:00ish.... for a set of 2x200 / 2x400 / 2x600/ 2x400 / 2x200 with a mile warm up and half mile cool down.  The goal - even pacing.  Sub 5K pace. It is warm out 80 degrees with 82% humidity - feels like 98 according to AccuWeather.  I was thinking 7:00 minute pace would be good.  But.... it's the track... so what do we do???  Run fast.  Deanna, Lesley and I are like little Energizer Bunnies - wind us up and off we go! 

Here is what I downloaded from my Garmin after I got home.  (Missed a couple of the splits due to operator error - doh!)

Lap     Pace    HR Avg/Max
200     -
200     -          
400     5:54     159/179
400     5:54     160/179
600     6:20     165/175
600     6:12     168/179
400     5:59     165/178
400     6:02     166/179
200     -
200     4:40     159/175 

The best part?  Coffee at Starbucks afterwards with friends!  

Hope It's The Heat

It's really, really humid and hot here in Mississippi.  My training run pace and cycling speed is getting slower and slower and slower.  It is depressing.  I hope it's the heat! 

I'm ready for fall.

Sunfish Triathlon Race Report

Last Saturday was the Sunfish Triathlon in Meridian, Mississippi!  I'm not sure exactly when this race started but it's been around for a long time.  I raced it back in the 80's at a different venue - I think the new site at the Bonita Lakes Park has an easier run, but a tougher bike course.  I set my race goal to finish in the top 5 women. 

The Girls! My new friends!

My husband Bill was able to go with me again to the race!  Makes for a much better day for me to have him there.  I rarely see him during the race though - I think at the next race he can make it to we'll plan a place for him to be so I can look for him while I'm racing!  There were quite a few of us from Hattiesburg racing, I think 11 or 12 total that I knew and some others that I haven't met yet! 

Sunfish has a time trial start - pretty much my least favorite type of start.  They lined us up by age which meant I was WAY in the back.  This is my second race here in Mississippi and both had time trial starts.  I wonder if it's just a more utilized format here.  You never know how you've done until the results are posted. 



Race Face?

 My swim went off just fine.  I tried to keep my stroke long and stay relaxed.  My friend Chris gave me a little pep talk just before the swim and said that I should be able to swim the same as him.  I guess it worked too well because when all was said and done he beat me by 4 seconds!   The Masters Swim practice is working!  I had the 6th fastest swim split women.  HR:  Max 171 / Avg 135.


The bike course was really tough with a lot of challenging hills.  I was able to push the pace on the downhills but climbing was slow.  I had to shift down to my small front chain ring a lot!  I've had my new bike for about 5 weeks now and I need to get it in to have it adjusted.  Cables always stretch when they're new and I had a lot of issues shifting during the race.  I know better than this but just didn't make the time to get my bike to the shop.  We were lucky that during the bike there was a cloud cover for most of the time but unfortunately that disappeared for the run.  6th fastest bike split women.  HR:  Max 177 / Avg 167.

The run went up and over a dam then around a little "lake".  There was some shade on one part on the out and back but on the back half of the lake the trees blocked any breeze and it was hot as blue blazes.  When I climbed back up onto the dam for the return I thought I could have moved faster walking.  We did get a down hill finish - I saw a lot of people just hauling you know what down that hill to the finish line!!  12 fastest run split women.  I do think I could have pushed the run a little bit more but was a mental wimp with the heat and humidity and ran within myself.  HR:  Max 185 / Avg 176.

When the results were posted on the timing van I saw that I'd finished..... 5th Overall Female!!  Sweet!  Okay... let's do some math here though...    6th in the Swim - 6th on the Bike - 12th on the Run - do you know what that means?  Remember my post on transitions and Free Speed??  Fast Transitions can have a huge impact on race times.  Take 10 or 15 seconds off a transition? - not so tough with a little planning and practice.  Take 10 or 15 seconds off your 5K?  You'd better be prepared to get to the track and do some interval work!  I'll take Free Speed any day (actually I should go to the track too)!   Included in my first transition (:41) is also taking off my Speed Suit that I wear over my tri suit.  And included in T2 (:37) is putting on socks!  

After the race I changed and spent some time handing out Aquaphor Samples!  A couple people recognized Team Aquaphor knew other teammates from other parts of the country! 



Some of my new training partners - Lesley, Judy, Chris and Deanna! 








Re "Learning" to Swim

So we've been in Hattiesburg for right at a month now.  I've had 4 weeks of 3x week of swimming at USM with the Masters Swim and Coach Steve Panzram.  My freestyle stroke has been changed quite a lot, I almost would go as far as saying changed completely by the coach.  And.... the results are showing in a BIG WAY!!  In all the years that I've been swimming (age group  and 3 different Masters groups before this one) I haven't had such constructive and postitve coaching!

When I left North Carolina I was in the pool usually twice a week.  I always swam a workout with intervals but also always swam by myself.   Typically if I was swimming 100's - I would repeat them on 1:45 and bring them in on the 1:30, sometimes just under and sometimes 5+ seconds over.  The last time I remember feeling really good swimming was back in 2007 getting ready for IM Lousiville.  I did a set of 22 x 100 on 1:45 and brought them all in under 1:30. 

A week or so ago I got challenged and swam some 100's on a 1:30 interval and was able to just bring them all in under the wire.  About 5 seconds rest - maybe.

Friday we did a set which included a bunch of 100's on 1:45 and I brought them all in anywhere from 1:20-1:23 and the Last One Fast One.... a 1:18!!!  (I haven't seen that time since long, long ago - I think High School).

So... you ask... just what did he change on my stroke???  One - my left arm recovery was good but at the last second I'd let my forearm enter pretty flat into the water - kind of slapping it down.   Two - slowing my stroke turnover.  When I first started swimming with the group I wasn't in very good swim shape (I'd been a little lazy about swimming in NC) and when I was pushing hard I think Coach counted 28 strokes per length (that is A LOT).  Now... pretty consistently I hit 19.  Sometimes up to 21 when I'm tired and quite a few 18's!   10 seconds per hundred improvement is huge!! 

There is also nothing like swimming with a group. (and I really like the people that I swim with - they've welcomed me to their group like I'm an old friend!).  The pressure to make the interval, not let the person behind you catch you, not look like a slug in the water... all these things help me swim faster and try harder.

I'm pretty excited about seeing my times drop.  And I'm not finished yet!! 

Race Of Grace - 2nd fastest Female Swim!!
6th fastest Overall Swim split!  Woot!