What a year! 2018

It’s been over a year since my triathlon retirement as well as my last blog post. I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening.

We moved from Tuscaloosa to Covington, Louisiana about this time last year. The actual move was quite a fiasco with our household belongings not getting delivered for weeks after we moved into the house we bought. We lived with a couple stadium chairs and a blow-up air mattress. Colonial Movers and Alvarez Moving subcontractors were a nightmare. Buyer beware.

I started working at Varsity Sports in Mandeville just after the first of the year. Varsity Sports is a running specialty store, so I am right at home selling and fitting running shoes. Fitting in to the staff took a little bit of adjustment but now it feels like family.

In February we said goodbye to our Golden Retriever, Phoenix. We miss that sweet soul every day. This will be the first Christmas without our boy, and his presence is truly missed. His stocking is hung, and the red birds visit us daily to say hi. We had a cardinal build a nest and hatch an egg in a hanging fern on our front porch in the spring, another sign that Phoenix is still here. Bogey is 10 now and lively as ever! Someday soon we want to get another puppy, hopefully also from Halo Goldens (where Phoenix and Bogey were born.)

In the spring I started coaching Master’s swim at the Pelican Athletic Club. The group was very receptive to my practices, which I run more like age group workouts. Lots of intervals and new lingo for many of the swimmers/triathletes to learn. I’ve had a couple Challenge swims, one was a 5,000 yard Saturday workout. And we did a two-day 10,000 yard challenge with 4,000 on Friday and followed up the next day with a 6,000 yard workout! I love how they have embraced the challenges. In December we are having another one – it will be another 5k swim based on the 12 Days of Christmas! I have really enjoyed working with some of the swimmers in the program. They work hard and appreciate the technique corrections and pointers and are good people too. Bonus!

I’ve done a few races, even though I haven’t been running this year very much. I was pleased with the results!

Crescent City Classic 10K

Crescent City Classic 10K is one of the oldest races in the country. Originating in 1979, it has been going on for 40 years! It draws over 20,000 people every year. I placed 5th in my age group and averaged 8:08 miles – nothing to complain about there! Top 500 men and women get a commemorative CCC poster, I was running for a poster for sure!

Varsity Sports Mandeville group at The Power Mile!

Power Mile Trophy!!

Then came The Power Mile. This race was entered also at the last minute. I had a bad cold which may have been walking pneumonia for a month and had a total of 22 miles of running in the month prior to the race. “The Power Mile Road Race is the 2018 RRCA Louisiana One Mile State Championship, a chip-timed road race on a USATF certified course in Lakeview, New Orleans.” The award for the Power Mile is one of the most coveted awards in NOLA, this cool metal gorilla that you literally could use to kill someone, that thing is solid. I ran a 7:07, won Grand Masters Female and took one of them home! 

After that was the Pelican Athletic Club Masters Swim Meet. I swam 6 events in this quick running morning meet. I remember getting up on the blocks for the 100 free after just have swum the 50 fly. My arms were still shaking, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a great swim. But I had a good time at the meet. I did add time to everything except the 100 back. I’ve changed my stroke after reading some good tips and it resulted in almost a 2 second cut in time.

Turkey Trot!

Fun Pom Pom hat instead of a tshirt!

I did one more race in 2018, another last-minute decision. The Tammany Turkey Trot here on the North Shore (vs. The South Shore, a.k.a. New Orleans) held its inaugural race this year. There was a 5 mile and a 5k. I chose the 5 mile and again without very many miles under my belt ran a pretty decent race. The course was a little short, but I managed 8:09 miles and placed 2nd in the Masters Female category. Not to shabby for almost 58 years old! The race benefited the Northshore Food Bank and runners were encouraged to bring donations – over 1300 pounds of food was donated! Nice success and a great turnout for a first-time race.

I've missed this girl! #menteementor

My Mentee Margaret and Averi came to New Orleans a couple months ago. The three of us did IM Florida together last year. Averi was racing the NOLA 70.3 and they came to see me at Varsity and I went over, and Margaret and I cheered her on in her race! I miss those girls and my Tuscaloosa friends. I’ve met a couple of quality women here and hope to do some more cycling with them next year. I’ve missed being on the bike and hope to get out and ride more next year. 

I’ve been thinking about my race calendar for 2019, and I think I might just have to dust off the tribike and race the Crawfishman triathlon! I’ve done a lot of swimming this year, now just need to amp up the run and get on the bike!

Cheers to 2019!

Cheers to a decent 2018, and hope for an even better 2019! I am planning on racing on January 1st at the Iceman Dip & Dash at Franco's! It's a 2 mile run, a 110 yard swim across the Tchefuncte River, and a 2 mile run back to Francos... yes I must be crazy! I've wanted to get involved in the Swim/Run Otillo endurance events, I guess this will be a way to try it out in a very small scale!

I got accepted as an ambassador for Headsweats (my favorite hats and visors), and I think I will get to represent SBRSports, Inc again also!!

Girls Ride!

Swimmer Girls at the Turkey Trot!

USMS Open Water National Championships

Earlier in the year when I was planning my race calendar I came across this open water swim in Chattanooga. This year it was the USMS Open Water National Championships. There was a 1 mile fun swim on Friday, a 2.4 mile on Saturday, and the Ultra 9 mile swim on Sunday. You could do the trifecta or choose any of the above. Since 2.4 is the Ironman distance swim I thought it would be fun. I set my goal to go sub 60 minutes. At Ironman Louisville in 2007 I swam 1:05 – that was with a partial up river swim and the majority down river, so I felt that if I could break an hour I would be happy. Little did I know that the river was moving at a force of 46K current on race day! I finished the swim in 38:40 – a sub one minute per 100 yard average! HAAHAHA!! Only in my wildest dreams could I ever swim just one 100 in that time!

The swim is held in the Tennessee river, pretty close to the same swim that is used for the Ironman that takes place there, except on the north shore of the river. The swimmers are taken upriver on a riverboat then we jump off and swim over to a 100-foot-long floating dock. The gun goes off one minute after the last swimmer is in the water.

Bill, Phoenix, Bogey, and I left for Chattanooga on Friday, hit the race venue for packet pick up, and then took the boys for a walk across Coolidge Park to check out the river. We saw some people on paddleboards going upstream and thought it didn’t look like they were having any issues, so that the current must not be very strong.

Sweet Phoenix almost 14 years old!

I was a little anxious the next morning, not because of the swim or the distance but because of all the logistics and timing for the event. There was a detailed timeline on the website outlining when to check in, when to board the boat, etc.

Hurry up and wait!

2.4 Mile
Saturday, June 3 at 8:30 a.m.
6:45 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.
Swimmer check-in (packet pick up, athlete marking) at Outdoor Chattanooga.
6:45 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.
Pilot check-in at Outdoor Chattanooga. Kayakers who have their own boats will need to drop them off at GPS boat dock prior to the 7:30. Staff will be at the boat dock to watch your boats.
7:00 a.m. – 7:20 a.m.
A warm up area will be available for athletes along the North Shore from the finish under the Market Street bridge to the Blue Rhino Kayak Steps and back.
7:20 a.m. – 7:50 a.m.
Swimmers board Southern Belle Riverboat under Market Street bridge, next to finish line. There are multiple restrooms on the boat.
7:30 a.m.
Pre-Race Safety Briefing for Officials and Pilots at Outdoor Chattanooga – mandatory for officials, timers, boat support (motorized and non-motorized), and safety personnel.
7:40 a.m. (or immediately following the pre-race meeting)
Pilots will board one of two microbuses and be taken to either GPS boat dock or a private residence. Kayakers who have their own boats will need to drop them off at GPS boat dock prior to the 7:30 a.m. meeting. Staff will be at the boat dock to watch your boats.
7:50 a.m. or 8:00 a.m.
Pilots enter the water from the GPS boat dock (7:50 a.m.) and the boat dock from a private residence (8:00 a.m.).
7:55 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
Boat ride from Market Street bridge to race start. During the boat ride to the start, we will check swimmers off the master roster and hold a safety briefing. Swimmers should leave bags on the boat, and they will be unloaded at race finish. There are restrooms on the boat.
8:30 a.m.
RACE START CHAMPIONSHIP HEAT 1
8:35 a.m.
RACE START CHAMPIONSHIP HEAT 2
9:20 a.m.
First finishers expected at finish line. A warm down area will be available along the North Shore from the finish under the Market Street bridge to the Blue Rhino Kayak steps and back.
9:30 a.m.
Lunch available for swimmers and pilots at Outdoor Chattanooga.
11:30 a.m. or 15 minutes after the last finisher
Awards ceremony at Outdoor Chattanooga.

From the looks of this it seems like someone was VERY organized. But that is about as far as that went. The race didn't start until 9:30.

At 7:30 the boat still hadn’t left the other side of the river and Bill headed up to the walking bridge over the river so he could get some photographs of the boat as it headed out. It turns out he could have stayed with me for almost another hour.

Bill's view from the bridge!

I’m not sure where the breakdown in communication happened. Before the start the riverboat was anchored downriver a little ways and on the opposite shore. The boat didn’t even start making its way over to us until after 8:00 am. It took them 3-4 tries to get the “gangplank” over to the boat launch ramp so we could board. I don’t know if it was because of the current, or operator error.

I met an interesting man as we were waiting for the boat. Jonathan Ezer was one of the original people invited to do the very first Ironman in Hawaii. Back when it was just some guys seeing if they could do the course distances of the Waikiki Rough Water Swim, the ride around the island, and the Honolulu marathon. He lived in Hawaii at the time and was the race director for the Waikiki Rough Water Swim. He didn’t do it that year because the winds changed and the jellies came out in abundance, and he was allergic to the stings. They held off the race one day hoping that the winds would change, but they didn’t so he wasn’t able to do the race.

Waving at Bill on the bridge. (the guy in white is Ezra)

On the boat I handed out a few samples of Foggies to the people around me, and one of them was from Jackson, Mississippi. I found out the he knew most of my triathlete friends from there, too! Small world stuff.

We all finally got on the boat and headed upriver. Once we got to the starting point another lengthy maneuvering began. The pilot turned the boat around too close to the start buoys, and too far out into the river. The current, which we thought didn’t look that intense was apparently very strong. I heard the race director below us tell him he needed to get closer to the floating dock, or move more upstream so we could swim down river to the dock. After some back and forth it finally got close enough and we jumped off one at time and swam diagonally to the dock. We were allowed to either just hang on to it until the start or climb up onto it. I dove in and started swimming at the angle to intercept the corner of the dock on the up river side. I was in a good line, but as I got closer I could feel the current pulling me down stream, so I angled hard to change course. Held on and felt my legs pulled hard downriver. This was going to be ONE FAST SWIM!

I watched as three ladies were trying to swim to the dock, the hadn’t angled in soon enough and were almost to the start buoys but swimming upstream and not making any progress. One of them had to finally be rescued by a kayak and brought over to the dock. People had to drag her up out of the water.  It was like Ironman Louisville when I watched people warming up, they looked like they were swimming in an endless pool. Going nowhere.

We had been instructed to keep the orange buoys on our left and stay between them and the shore. The race started and I found clear water almost immediately. I did get scratched on my shoulder once, and hit in the leg one time too, but other than that there was hardly anyone around me. That’s because the majority of the swimmers were on the opposite side of the buoys, toward the middle of the river where the current was stronger. Okay…I have to say it. I hate cheaters. It wasn’t difficult to stay inside the buoys, there wasn’t anything pulling you to the middle of the river. These people knew what they were doing. Bill said he saw the kayakers trying to get them to move back inside. And this was at the end of the swim where he could finally see us finishing. UGH…… A USMS National Championship.

Buoys on your left!

Back to the swim. The water felt amazing! The temperature was perfect! I had no idea how fast or slow I was swimming. There were some electrical wires overhead at about the half way point, and when I saw them I knew we were moving fast. I glanced at my watch and saw that my sub one hour would not be a problem!

We were supposed to touch a pad above the finish line and hold our hand on it for 3 seconds at the end, so they could get a picture of our number. The pads were WAY above the surface of the water. I kicked really hard and was able to “High Five” the pad, but that was about it. I heard a guy shout “what is your number?” and I called it out to him. I wanted to get in a little warm down but with the swift current only did a little and then got out.

See how high those touch pads are!

We had a bag drop on the boat and they were going to bring the bags to the swim exit. We apparently beat the bags back. Finally, one truck arrived, but no bag for me. It was on the next truck which arrived almost an hour after I finished. It was crazy! When the first truck arrived full of bags, everyone crowded around it looking for their bags. Some snagged theirs, others started trying to dig in the giant pile. I started grabbing bags and laying them out on the sidewalk, my bag didn't show until the 2nd truck.

We asked about the timing for awards, and were told 15 minutes, so decided to wait around. Time went on and nothing, and then finally they started awards. They were all messed up, so they said it would be another 30 minutes. Apparently the timer grouped both the Championship wave, and the non-championship wave. (On the table where the timers were, there was a opened box of TRISWIM bodywash/lotion samples. We got a sample of the shampoo in our swag but not the bodywash…apparently someone didn’t include them during bag stuffing. Hmmm…. SBR Sports Inc. is a sponsor of the race. Not good on the race organization part.

I prepped a bunch of packets of TRISWIM and Foggies to hand out pre race!

We had plans to go sightseeing so we left and headed to the hotel to take care of the babies and get on with our day!! Did the tourist thing and went to see Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain, and ride the Incline railway! When Bill was 6 years old, their family took their first big vacation there and we wanted to see the change! I never saw Ruby Falls, we were on the extremely commercial (and annoying) tour and saw that it was going to take forever… and I started thinking about claustrophobia. We had to stop and wait a lot, and with the low ceilings I almost had a freak out. A group headed out passed coming from the opposite direction so we hopped on and blazed out of there. Yikes!!

Chattanooga was really fun! Would I do the event again if it was held here? Probably not. I actually wanted the swim to take longer, and wanted to see my time for the distance.

Of course I must pose by the turtle!

His tail indicates the speed of the current!!

Always smile at your husband!

Met  Facebook friend Kelly Randall! A fellow COBB CYCLING fan!!!
We've got to get her on THE COBB MOBB next year!!

The End

Swim Challenge Complete!! VENI, VIDI, VICI!!

33,000 YARDS DONE and DONE!!

Last week I took on “The Bat Cap Challenge”! A Swim Challenge Week of some mega yardage; more distance than I’ve ever swam before in a week. Why you ask? Oh, I don’t know…who doesn’t like a challenge? We’re triathletes after all, we LOVE challenges! 33,000 yards is double that of any other week I've ever swam! By the end of the week I was certainly tired, but very happy and felt really good!

I don’t know very many other people who would agree to do something like this with me. It seems like one of those things that people would say, “Heck yeah, I’ll do it with you!” but then find excuses and no show. Margaret enthusiastically agreed, and was there for all six days of the challenge, even if it took me picking her up on the way to the pool! I was thankful she hung in there! Margaret is a sophomore at the University of Alabama, and a member of the triathlon team, but she swam age group swimming growing up, coaches little kids in summer league, and understands swimming! More than once I was so appreciative that she understood swim workout lingo. To someone who doesn’t do a lot of typical sets it can look like hieroglyphics!

Posing, but not POSERS! We did the yards!

I posted our daily workouts on the last post I made so if you want to see them you can find them here. 

Just a brief recap of the yardage:

Day 1: 5000 (we did 5100)
I felt great this day, and the main set of fast 200’s and 500’s was Margaret’s favorite of the week. I came home and ran 4.4 miles and had a good pace! Pretty happy!

Day 2:  5100 (we did 5100)
6 x 100 at Max effort in the main set took its toll. I rode 23 miles after, even though I wanted to go home and take a nap. That afternoon I felt like dirt! How was I going to do 4 more big swims? Took some Recover-Ease, and the next morning was back to new!!

Day 3:  4500 (we did 5000)
I don’t remember much about this day, we hit all the intervals and even shortened the interval on the pulling. This was supposed to be a shorter day, because tomorrow was the big day. No running or cycling after this day.

Day 4: 6400 (we did 6800)
Why you ask on the biggest day of the week would we add 400 yards? Margaret pointed out that if we did 6800 we would be at 21,000 for the week. Of course being over-achievers, we did it. Our main set today was 10x400 on a 6:30 interval. The goal was to hold pace. In other words, try and hit the same time for all 10. I thought about it the night before and decided I needed to hit 5:40-5:45 on all of them. I put on my Tempo Trainer, and concentrated on keeping my stroke long. I went 5:44 on #1 and #10. 5:40 on #2,3,4,7. And 5:41-5:43 on the rest. I was incredibly happy! Great day! Came home and did a ton of housework and felt fine!

Day 5:  4000 (we did 6000)
Again here we go into the Over Achievers Club! Good main set today (this was one of the workouts that I took from Krista’s challenge week). This day included something that we did a COSST called a Locomotor. 25/25, 50/50, 75/75, 100/100, 75/75, 50/50, 25/25 – it’s a continuous swim going fast/easy, we wore fins. Makes an 800 go by very quickly and keeps you thinking! Ran 3 miles when I got home, and again was trashed that afternoon. Only one more day!

Day 6: 5000 (we did 5000)
The pool doesn’t open until 7:30 on Saturday, so we got a later start than usual. We were planning on riding at 9:30 with the Alabama Triathlon Team so we needed to get done. Rode another 23 miles after, and I felt like I was bonking at the end of the ride. I don’t eat breakfast before we swim at 6:00, and if I run or ride after that an energy bar usually does the trick. I think the reason I felt bad this day was because of the later than usual swim start time. I should have had more to eat on the way to the ride. Lesson learned.

Still smiling after 6800 yards! TRISWIM to the rescue!

We asked someone to take some pictures of us when we finished to commemorate our Challenge, unfortunately she seemed afraid to get too close to the water and the pictures are a little blurry. Margaret is officially a TRISWIM fan now! We would be smelling like a bottle of Clorox had it not been for the shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, and lotion!! Use the discount code: "AMBFRND17" for a 10% discount code at SBR Sports, Inc.

UA Triathletes are powered by Honey Stinger, too! #stingorbestung #HShive

The girl in the front, in the red helmet is Jessica, the president of the UA Tri Club! She qualified for KONA at IM Florida last year!! Warren, the owner of VELO City Pro Cycle and I have offered to give her a bike fit to help her positioning on the bike! Also known as a Cobb Cycling BIKE FIT!!

Why I Became A Swim Coach

Why did I become a swimming coach? That's an easy one, Coach Steve Panzram.

Coach Steve with his
Crawfish Aquatics Team.

I grew up swimming in our back yard pool in southern California, trying to imitate my Dad. He swam when he was in high school, back in 1944 or 1945. I remember seeing the 8mm film of us in the pool, my Dad swimming laps, breathing to the side, swimming breaststroke and backstroke. I wish I still had those films.

I joined a swim team way back in 1978 when I was a junior in high school. My school didn't have a year round team, but 11 miles away in Ocean Springs, MS there was a YMCA team - the OSY Sea Serpents. There was a co-worker of my Dad whose kids swam on the team, and we thought it would be something I might like. The team was on their 2 week break after State, so I went to the pool every day until practice started back. The coach told me to try and work up to swimming 20 lengths - a 500. I did that and remember very clearly my first practice, the coach told us to warm up with a 400 IM. That's a 400 individual medley - or 100 of each stroke - fly, backstroke, breastroke, and freestyle. I'd never done one stroke of butterfly in my life but I got in the lane and did my best.

Throughout the two years that I swam with the team the coach never once gave me any technique pointers, or told me what I was doing right, or wrong. I learned by watching the other swimmers in the lane next to me, and tried to copy the faster people. I made it to state my first year, swam on two relays and the 100 backstroke, and 100 breastroke, all by learning on my own.

When I got older and started racing triathlons I joined masters swim practices. In Jackson, it was just a group of us that would get together and swim. In Baton Rouge I joined Crawfish Masters, coached by Scott Rabalais. Still no one ever helped me. Just swimming what they said and trying to keep up.

I moved to Dallas and joined DAM, Dallas Aquatic Masters. This is Jim Montgomery's program. Here I finally had a coach tell me something. Bobby Patten told me, "Ginger, we don't swim looking forward anymore, look a the bottom of the pool and let the water hit you in the middle of the top of your head." And one of the other coaches told me... "When you take your first pull off the wall, use the hand that is on the bottom."

That's it. That was the extent of the coaching I received in 30 years of swimming.

Then in 2010 we moved to Hattiesburg, MS, and I started swimming with the HubFin Masters. I was told that I would like Coach Steve. I think it was either the first or second practise that he told me, "I'm going to completely change your freestyle." During the year or so that Steve coached me he did completely change my stroke, he focuses on technique. I went from 24 strokes per length to 17. Got much faster, and did it using a lot less energy, learned a ton of drills, and why they improve your swimming. I finally got to experience really being coached. Someone that wanted me to get better, get faster. A coach that cared.

Swimming in the Mississippi State Games.

A time came when he needed a new assistant coach, he asked if I would be interested. Of course! An opportunity to work with an amazing Head Coach, and learn from one of the best coaches out there. Unfortunately Steve left shortly after I joined the staff for Nevada, but I will never be able to thank him enough for the opportunity. To this day, I stay in contact with him, mostly to ask questions about swimming, he responds immediately.

Last Day with the HubFins

If you haven't noticed by now I have an incredible passion for swimming. When we moved from Hattiesburg to Shreveport, Steve reached out to Butch Jordan, the Head Coach of COSST - The City of Shreveport Swim Team.

At COSST I got to work with JV1 and JV2,  the 11 and unders. I had the best experience there, the kids soaked up the information I gave them. Every single one of them will never be forgotten. I have memories that will last a lifetime. I got to work with a coaching staff that all have the same goals, we were all on the same page, it was a dream job.

COSST Coaches

I've told others before that being a swim coach is the only part time job that feels like a serious career. As a swim coach, or any coach for that matter, you're not just helping them to athletes to be better in their sport, you have an opportunity to teach them so much more. Teach them about respect, and integrity. Teach them about hard work, and the pay off they get from their efforts. Teach them about teamwork, and about being a team.

I'm not coaching here in Tuscaloosa, it just didn't work out with the local team. I miss it daily. I miss the kids.

Hot Water Swimming

The pool at UA has been closed for 10 days for Spring Break. I went to one of the Para pools in town on Monday to get in some yardage. It was a nice pool but super warm. There is a time clock on the wall but the second hand is missing... ugh. There is a regular little clock on the wall with a second hand so I squinted and used it to time the intervals.

I wasn't planning to go back, but then Mary Jo messaged me and asked if I was swimming on Wednesday, so I agreed to swim again at the same pool. This time the water was even hotter! We ended up getting in 2500 yards, mostly by a big set of 50's doing IM change, then a kick set so we could keep our faces out of the water.

It got me thinking about racing in the summer in the South. The temperature of the water we race in is sometimes in the upper 80's. It never occurred to me until that morning about my slower swim times in those races.... hello..... Anyone else ever thought about that? I have always contributed my slower times at some races to poor navigation. But now I have a real excuse! Haha!

I know there is a chart for running that I've seen that tells you how much your times suffer with different air and humidity temperatures. I wonder if there is something like this for open water racing?

At any rate, I didn't go back on Friday to cook myself in that pool. Tomorrow the pool at the Aquatic Center on campus is back open! 

The University of Alabama triathletes are putting on a tri on April 10th. The BAMA TRI. It's a 400 meter pool swim (bleh), 12.4 mile bike, 5K run. I recruited a couple people that I've met here in Tuscaloosa to do a relay with me! Charlie Wolbach, one of the guys who rides with the Druid City Bike Club is going to be the cyclist, he is an fast cyclist and will be using my ITU clip on aerobars. Ann Besanceney, who I used to work with at the running store will be running - Ann was an All-American runner from Michigan State. This should be fun! My first relay - will let you know how it goes!