WTC, the World Triathlon Corporation & owner of the Ironman races, is holding one of their eight IronKids events in Oklahoma City. The kids triathlon will be held at Lake Hefner on August 9, 2009. They have three age classes for kids between 6 and 15 years old. It costs $50 to enter - at least it's cheaper than other WTC races. My comment to the competitor.com announcement was that I expect rub-on K-dot tattoos. Links: http://www.ironkids.com/ http://www.irongirl.com/ http://www.ironman.com/ http://triathlon.competitor.com/events/world-triathlon-corporation-launc...

I had a couple of small breakthroughs in my swimming this week. Breakthrough #1 I finally figured out how to breathe out with my face in the water. That might have been last week, I can't remember. Suddenly I could swim 25 yards in something resembling a crawl! But I was too wild, and I couldn't concentrate on my stroke. It took me around 30 strokes to cross the pool. Breakthrough #2 I figured out how to start to pace myself. I wasn't good at it, but my distance doubled to 50 yards! I still couldn't concentrate on my stroke, but adding a little glide gave me some rest and got me across the pool in 18 strokes pretty consistently. My breathing improved quite a bit. Breakthrough #3 From a youtube video I got the idea to hold my breath and then exhale all at once as I start to turn to inhale. Wow - suddenly I was getting rid of the CO2 and my head was clear and I felt good in the water. I still couldn't balance well enough to do any fingertip or thumb drills. Breakthrough #4 I wasn't going to work on bilateral breathing until I smoothed out the recovery part of my stroke, but I tried it anyway. This was a big one - suddenly my balance fell into place and I could swim smooth enough to observe and control my recovery (pulling the arm out of the water & forward). I can now breath out either continuously or all at once and it doesn't matter too much. I can push some air out through my nose before blowing most of it out my mouth and it keeps my nose fairly clear. I swam 1,000 yards over 45 minutes in 25, 50, and 100-yard lengths. My kick is minimal, drifting between 2-beat and 6-beat. That's fine for me since I'm tri swimming. I'd prefer not to kick any more than necessary to save my legs. But I throw in a frog kick now and then. Hopefully I can break that habit before the race. At this point I need to work on 1. Power phase of the stroke - keeping my elbow high, keeping each hand on its respective side of the body, and letting my hand relax & my fingers come apart after entry. 2. Balanced timing between left and right strokes 3. Recovery - keeping my fingertips at water level, keeping my hand within a thumb of my body, and maybe a shark fin pause before my hand goes into the water. 4. Increased distance - I need to push my non-stop swimming to 200 yards by the end of the week, and probably increase the total distance per workout to 1300 yards. 5. Stabilized stroke-count & pace - with a long glide I cross the pool in 14 strokes. Adding the bilateral breathing felt great but it made my normal stroke count get a little wild - 17 to 24. So as I work on getting all the parts of the stroke smooth I think this will mellow out and hopefully end up around 16. 6. Relax - my goggles leak if I scrunch my face, so I'm trying to zen my way through this. I close my eyes a lot, too, a pre-goggle habit held over. I picked up a mantra from a tri forum and shortened it to "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" or "slow is fast". I think about this to calm down and relax and it seems to work.

I just did a trial run of the upcoming Spring Fever triathlon. I did everything in order but didn't rush through actual transitions. I changed out of my swim trunks in the locker room, then stopped for a drink before I got on the bike. I didn't check my splits, I just looked at the clock when I started & when I finished. Pre-Race I started with a bowl of plain instant oatmeal two hours before the race. One bite later I added honey and brown sugar. Then I had a banana, and an hour before I had a peanut butter Power Bar. I got to the YMCA and realized I was off an hour on their opening time, so I ate an apple and a package of smoked salmon. Somewhere along the way I ate another Power Bar and drank a bottle of Gatorade. The Swim The swim needs work. If I could crawl the entire distance I'd save several minutes. I made it through most of the first 50 meters and then I was gassed & started throwing in sidestrokes to catch my breath. I sure didn't negative split the swim. Around 200 meters I was really out of breath so I did most of the next 100 on my back until I caught my breath. I did concentrate on gliding and that helped a lot. My technique needs work. I should get a coach but I'll save that for after this race when I have time to concentrate on swimming for a while. The Bike I went a little short on the bike. I didn't check my odometer when I finished my loop but I think I cut off somewhere around a mile. I wore two pair of compression shorts on the bike (with no chamois or padding) and that was not uncomfortable. It was a little bit warm in places but the shorts slid against each other just like two pair of socks. I road from the YMCA up to Boomer Lake and did a couple of laps there. The wind, around 10-15mph, was slowing me down. I went around the lake clockwise, so that I was against the wind on the exposed side. I was averaging around 15-16 until I hit the wind, then I was down to 10. Of course a guy flew by me around 15-20 right when it was hurting the most. I remember that because he was wearing a t-shirt and running shorts, while I'm going half his speed in my lycra & spandex. I didn't have a proper water bottle. I refill a 16-ounce bottle that was either Gatorade or Vitamin Water. It fits my cage well, but it's a twist-off lid. So I need to start using a regular water bottle. There's another advantage of aerobars - an aerobar bottle with a straw. I wonder if I could just strap one of those aerobar bottles to my stem? The Run T2 goes pretty quick when you're wearing your running shoes in toe clips on the bike. I put the bike away & finished off my pint of Gatorade, then staggered off on jelly legs. The jelly feeling went away after just a few yards. I didn't pace myself well, I kept getting winded and I ended up walking a good portion of the two miles. My legs were doing fine, I was just out of breath. The last brick I did went the other way - my lungs & heart held out but I was having trouble pickup up my feet. I went from the Y across the OSU campus to the Colvin Center and back. I got a couple of smirks, one from a campus cop and one from a college girl in a Mustang. Just like getting passed on the bike, I only realize how much spandex I'm wearing when I'm walking. I'm young enough to suspect I look odd but old enough to not care. I went by enough glass-door building that I could concentrate on my running form. It's coming along well, I just need more aerobic capacity. Summary I did the whole activity in about 1:45. This would be a bottom-of-the-pack-but-not-disgraceful finish & if I can just work out my swimming difficulties and get my heart and lungs in a little better shape I'll be closing in on my goal of 1:30. I have five weeks.