27 August 2022 Olympic Distance Aquathlon (1500 m swim / 40km bike) Wasaga Beach, Ontario First off, I could not have asked for better company for my first bike race of any notable length - my daughter Monica and she brought along a friend couple from Toronto, Corentin who did the Olympic distance tri and Alice who did the sprint distance tri. My wife fed us well on Friday night with performance food from our old homeland in Arizona - chicken fajitas! Great conversation ove

22 August 2022 Following US Masters Long Course Nationals, I entered a period where swimming is taking a backseat to biking as I prepare for this weekend's Aquathlon in Wasaga Beach (1500 meter lake swim followed by 40KM bike), but even more interestingly, as I get my lower back, ass and legs into the mood for longer bike rides on a Trek Tour of Tuscany that my wife and I will do to celebrate our "Empty Nest" (third and last daughter heads to university this fall). I went a

21 August 2022 I just came back from the most idyllic camping experience I have ever had on Ontario's FlowerPot Island. Technically, this is "backcountry" camping (e.g., no potable water, no electricity), but with a waterfront campsite and crystalline water the likes of which I've only ever seen before in Hawaii, Greece or the Caribbean, I felt like I was in a wilderness resort: While the island does get quite busy during the day, with day-tripping tourists arriving around 9a

6 August 2022 I recall reading a story about how Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon reached the top of the World Championships podiums last month with essentially a dryland only warmup. Reflecting on the longer warmups (totalling 1,500 yards) I did ahead of my 400 yesterday and the close-to-zero warmup before my 200 back (150 yards), and the better result in the 200 back, I decided today to only do my normal dynamic stretching / activation routine on land and then a 250 yard warm

5 August 2022 The most exciting part of my racing on Friday was ... ... my warmups! I managed to nab two new pools in one day, starting with an 1,150 yard morning swim at a surprisingly nice, perfectly cool water pool (Pool #539) at a Gold's Gym near my parents' house in Midlothian... ... which I went to instead of the meet so I could come back and do a few hours of work calls before my first event, the 400 free. Back at the SwimRVA facility, between the warmups/cool-downs I

4 August 2022 When I entered US Masters Nationals, I wasn't sure if my work would actually allow me time to breakaway to compete on Thursday. With that in mind and the fact that I prefer to start a meet, whenever possible, with a "fun" and "no expectations" race, I just entered the 50 fly. While I did suit up with a tech suit, speed cap and my badass Magic5 purple mirrored goggles, I only clipped down, but did not fully shave down for that race. My intention was (and will

2 August 2022 I figured I would do about 1,500 yards today and just do efforts that seemed appropriate for where my body is and what amount of rest I felt like I needed. Based upon the warmup and the first few sets of 50s, I felt like I needed to go shorter and easier so only did the following: 1 x 400: IM kick, drill 10 x 50: done straight through as 3 x 50: free on 0:50, smooth descend with snorkel, was 35, 33, 31, but the 31 took more effort than I would have liked it to

1 August 2022 My wife and I got treated to dinner out with our second daughter this past Saturday night at a funky Jamaican-Chinese fusion place in Toronto. While they got exotic cocktails, I sipped a beautifully smooth coconut water right out of the thing itself. My goal with my quick taper is to feel that smooth by Friday morning for my 400 free. I wasn't quite there yet, 4 days out, but good enough: 1 x 400: IM kick-drill 12 x 50: 4 free descend with snorkel on 0:50 (35

31 July 2022 I do my Pulse Plot set fairly religiously about a week before a taper meet. It's not always perfectly timed and the conditions don't always fully align from one taper meet to the next, but I do it anyways ... and then try to read the tea leaves to see what it means. Given my peripatetic training locations and style since May, I'm not sure how much insight today's chart, compared most notable May 17th, about a week before Canadian Masters Short Course Meters nati