Swim Fest '09

Smile and Wave...I got in the water for a 5 minute demonstration of all the drills/techniques I was teaching.

MASS START!

Open water in the pool!

Teaching efficient 'sighting' methods.

Our fancy open-water-course at The Woodland's pool. 6 huge balloons, 6 dive-bricks, 1 50-meter pool, and no lane ropes.

Coaches, swimmers, staff...after a long day at the pool.

Teaching open water drills to use during swim practice (with lanes and walls...it can't be perfect every time).

Instructing the swimmers, teaching the coaches, loosing my voice. All in a day's work:)

Me...and 6 'real' Masters coaches...at the 'round table' discussion on Friday night.

My Trip to The Woodlands

SwimFest’09 was an event put on by United States Masters Swimming, hosted by The Woodlands team in Texas, and attended by over 150 people. I was invited to be one of the seven ‘mentor coaches’ with my specialty being open water swimming. My friend Rob Butcher is the new CEO of USMS so he contacted me a few months ago about this event and I immediately agreed to attend.
I flew into Houston on Friday morning and met up with some of the other coaches and staff. We drove out to The Woodlands and met all the other coaches. A few drove in from other areas in Texas, like the amazing Whitney Hedgepeth, and we all got a quick tour of the facility we were going to be using during the weekend.
It was a sparkling brand-new indoor pool, opened in October of last year. They basically gave us free-reign to do what we wanted for each of our stations…except for the fact that I couldn’t use the lane-rope-free diving-well for my OW training because there would be a diving meet going on at the same time!! I begrudgingly accepted an area with lanes and decided I would have to make-do.
The evening concluded with a 2 hour ‘roundtable’ or ‘Q&A’ session with the seven coaches. We sat up at the front of the room and answered questions and gave our advice to the 45 attending other masters coaches. I was a bit out of my league…the average length of time the other six had been coaching was 15 years! The average number of swimmers they had on their team was 200! I laughed when I had to introduce myself as a 6-month coach with about 25 members on a great day…and that was before summer kicked in and everyone headed home to the north!
On Saturday we had six stations set up for the 90 participating athletes to rotate through. That meant I had to give my open water training spiel six different times…in a loud pool, with a diving meet going on, and with swimmers across four lanes. And this morning, we did the same rotation three more times to a completely new group of athletes! Fortunately, I do not have to speak to write my blog! I’m going to take a few days off from talking and let my throat recover!
I had a great time and enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the first USMS SwimFest. It was a great success for the coaches that got to shadow us at each station and for the athletes that got to participate and learn. I got to see the beautiful area of The Woodlands, TX and swim in a great new facility.
I’m on my way home at this moment, wishing that all the airlines would get with the program and install Wi-Fi on-board. Before I headed to Texas, it rained all week in Central Florida. I heard it continued all weekend and our namesake (the lakes of Lake County) are starting to look a little better. It’s times like these that I’m glad I chose a house on the top of a hill…I know it’ll still be there when I get home! Louie, on the other hand, I hope he’s still around and waiting to be let inside to sleep on his couch cushion.

Rowan & Gwyn

Photos of the Meyers twins...I got to visit Jess, Lucas, Rowan, and Gwyn on Thursday afternoon in Tulsa, OK. It was a short (and very straight) 75 minute drive between OK City and Tulsa. Took advantage of the race being so close...how often do I find myself in Oklahoma? Actually, that was my first, official, visit to the state. It was Green, Green, Green...and as I walked through the mud in Jess's back yard, I told her to stop hogging all the rain and send some to Florida!!

As I write this, the rain has been coming down in Central Florida for three days straight, we are under flood alerts, and I haven't trained outside for the last 6 workouts!!!

I Went For It!

Quick update after the Oklahoma ITU race on Saturday morning. I'm actually home in Clermont, got back on Sunday night...finally updating my blog.
The morning started off cool and overcast. A huge thunderstorm rolled in on Friday night and the roads were wet on race morning. The Juniors raced early so they got the coolest temps of the day.
I rolled out of the hotel in arm warmers, a vest, and all my warm gear. I didn't even put on sunscreen because the sky was completely gray. Of course, by the time we were lined up on the pontoon, awaiting the starters horn, the skies opened up and the bright midday (1:00pm) sun broke through! As a result...my back is lobster-red and very tender to the touch:)
Anyways, back to the race...
I was excited to be racing with Hayley Piersol for the first time. We raced each other back in college (UF vs. Auburn) and she just started triathlons! As a result, my 18 year streak of being the first woman out of the water in EVERY race is over. Hayley was so strong...I just drafted her the whole 1500 meter swim and we exited the water together with a 45+ second lead over the chase pack!
Out on the bike, with 20+ mph headwinds, our lead was quickly diminished and the chasers caught us at the 1/2-way point. Out on the third lap, there was a crash in our pack and Hayley was out of the race. On the fourth and final lap, there was another crash and Jill Peterson was out of the race. Going into T2, I was riding with Mary Beth Ellis and Jenna Shoemaker...we had about 30 seconds over the next group of women.
The run course was four laps, out and back, tail-wind then head-wind. I felt great off the bike and headed out strong. I was drafting Mary Beth for the first two laps and feeling strong. Unfortunately, I only had 5K of that pace...and the race was 10K! So, on the third lap, I dropped way back and then on the 4th lap, I had to pull out of the race before passing out.
Another trip to the medical tent was not how I wanted to finish this race...but, if I could do it again, I probably would have done the same thing! I'm a racer and that's what I do...I GO FOR it!!!!

Touring Oklahoma

I arrived in OKC mid-day yesterday. Had an uneventful flight from Orlando...other than the 4:45am alarm that went off in my house! But I'm getting used to this whole "wake up early to catch a flight" thing.
I booked a flight on Southwest Airlines for this trip. Usually, I would shy away from SW because I try to book as many United miles as I can (hey, I'm addicted to those Red Carpet Lounges!). Well, the ticket was cheaper, it was more direct, less layover time, etc. And then I get to the check-in desk with my bike box and two suitcases. Usually, I would be forking over something like $175 just to get my bike on the plane (which is sometimes more than my actual ticket). Southwest asked for $50!!!! NO WAY! I'm hooked...at least I don't feel like they are trying to keep their airline afloat by charging me to travel with my business equipment.
Stepping off my Soap Box now...
I saw some other USAT people at the airport baggage claim and rental car counters...but all I wanted was to load my gear into my cute black Escape and start driving across the OK countryside toward Tulsa. I took advantage of my early arrival and close proximity to visit Jessica & Lucas Meyers and their two adorable babies, Gwyn and Rowan! (I have to wait for Jess to send me photos so I can show you how cute and big they are!)
So, we hung out at the house, went grocery shopping, had lunch, went for a run, played on the trampoline, had dinner, met some other Tulsa athletes, and overall just had fun:) Jess is heading over to Tennessee for the Memphis in May race on Sunday so we wished each other luck and then I had to start trekking back to OKC. It was only an 80 minute drive...probably supposed to be 90 minutes according to the posted speed limit signs:)
It didn't matter how long the drive was because I was having fun with my newest electronic toy...I bought a Garmin on Wednesday! I've been 'jonesing' for one for a while now (I'm tired of having to call someone for directions when I'm lost or make a wrong turn...or remembering to print out Google directions before every trip) and I promised myself one after racing well in St. Anthony's. So I picked a basic and small one from Target and loaded it up in my luggage so I could use it in the rental car...I actually used it to get to the Orlando airport just to make sure it worked right:)
Now, I just relaxing in my hotel room. There is a large black box in the room that I need to open and get to work on building my bike...but procrastination is so much easier! Eventually, I will get moving and head outside to go check out the race course. I need to ride the bike loop a few times, check out the run loop, and meet at the river for my 2pm open water swim talk. The race is on Saturday afternoon...women start at 1pm and then men start at 4pm! Wish me luck!

Some Tongyeong Photos

Sun, Palms, Water...

Must be FLORIDA! That's me heading out onto the run course of St. Anthony's.

Worlds BEST Massage Chair

I'm sitting in it right now! I've never been in one this amazing...and the fact that I'm typing on my computer means I'm missing out on the fore-arm massage. But, since I've already been in this chair for 20 minutes, they've already had their fair share:)
It massages your feet, calves, hamstrings, IT bands, hips, spine, sides, back, neck, head, and forearms! Why aren't these on airplanes?
Speaking of airplane seats, I'm going to be pretty comfy on the way home...Business Class from Seoul to San Fran...that's like 12 hours of luxury:)
I don't know why I am excited about the upgrade for my flight home, I kinda feel like I should be in the cargo hold after my race on Saturday. Seriously, that was embarrassingly bad...especially after such a great result at St. Anthony's the weekend prior.
To sum up the Tongyeong World Champ Race...I felt average on the swim, dull on the bike, and flat on the run. I didn't think it could get any worse, but amazingly, it DID! Eventually, I made it across the finish line, as the last American and almost last athlete. On the lighter side of things, I managed to score myself 44 ITU points!! WOW...don't spend those all in one place:)
I'm looking forward to being home soon. It's going to be a long Monday...I started at 4:00am in Tongyeong and will finish at 11:00pm when I pull into my garage. And I will finally get to see LOUIE again!

Ready, Set...

I'm heading down to the race start in a few minutes. The sky has been overcast all day, with very strong gusty winds. But the sun has JUST started to peak out...so it might get a bit warmer.
I know it's the middle of the night at home...so I'll be making some early morning phone calls to my family and coaches afterwards:)
Go USA!!!