Swim with Pedro and a Training Plan

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Well, well...the SF Chronicle article sure is a lot of fun. But life goes on even when you're a cover story so it's back to the routine here today.

I've been stalling and procrastinating making a training plan for the Santa Cruz Triathlon Olympic coming up on September 29th. As of today the race is only 8 weeks away! Enough with the stalling or I'm going to stall on the race course. I had considered joining an organized training group but because of my schedule I would have easily missed half of the training sessions. It just didn't make sense financially.

So late last night I finally took some time to create a training plan. It was complicated by life, of course, and by the various group swim/run/bike opportunities in the area. I've figured out my open water swim plan (more on that in a moment) and have some fun options for group rides and runs, including track workouts.

Week	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
1 (8/4 – 8/10)	Pedro Swim	Strength 5 m bike		Run? Strength?		Rest	4 m run
2 (8/11 – 8/17)	Pedro Swim	Strength 8 m bike	Rest	Run Strength	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	Rest
3 (8/18 – 8/24)	Rest	Strength 10 m bike	Strength Track? Rest?	Track Strength	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	Pool swim
4 (8/25 – 8/31)	6 mile run	Strength 15 m bike	Strength Track? Rest?	Run strength	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	Pool swim
5 (9/1 – 9/7)	7 mile run	Strength 10 m bike	Strength Track? Rest?	Run strength	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	5 m run
6 (9/8 – 9/14)	Pedro Swim	Strength 15 m bike	Strength Track? Rest?	Run strength	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	Swim?
7 (9/15 – 9/21)	8 mile run	Strength 18 m bike	Strength Track? Rest?	Track Strength	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	6 m run
8 (9/22 – 9/28)	Pedro Swim	Strength 20 m bike	Strength Track? Rest?	2 m run	Bike (mtn?) strength	Rest	Rest
9 (9/29 – 10/5)	Triathlon	Rest	Strength Track? Rest?
10 (10/6 – 10/12)	10 mile run
11 (10/13 – 10/19)	11 mile run
10/20	Half-Marathon

You'll notice a fair number of question marks...just means I have options or complicating factors that make it unclear how it will play out in real life. It's nice to have a plan, heck it's crucial because without it I was doing nothing, but it's good to keep in mind that it's a guide and not absolute. How my body responds and how it interfaces with my other obligations are factors I can't necessarily predict right now.

So you may have noticed that in today's box was Swim with Pedro. Who's Pedro? A pretty cool guy actually. He's been putting on these weekly SF bay swims for a long time and has done an amazing number of open water swims himself. Read this article to learn why he's one of those people that most folks would call "crazy". Anyway, one of his swims is every Sunday morning at 10am at Aquatic Park in San Francisco and being in need of some open water swim time, ideally with others, even more ideally with coaches, it's a perfect fit.

I arrived a bit early and before long I met a fellow triathlete, Shelly. She's also training for a triathlon, identified herself as a slow swimmer like me and also lives in the North Bay...nice! I'd forgotten my phone in the car so she took all of the pictures in this post - thanks Shelly! I was still so excited about the article that I had it with me and showed her. She suggested I have a t-shirt made with the cover screen printed on it. Not a bad idea, not bad at all.

The view of the water from our vantage point.

Before too long the business of a group swim was underway. I'd paid my $15 online the night before and brought my waiver as requested.

Getting the low-down from one of the (kilt wearing) coaches (Jake) before the swim.

My hands were marked with a number in case something goes really wrong (and I wore my new RoadID too) and I used wax earplugs for the first at the suggestion of the coaches.

Lucky #7 - not dying today!

We were also given bright green swim caps to wear so the coaches could identify us in the water. Aquatic Park is a popular place to swim so there's more than a few people out there at any given time. Anyway, I changed into my wetsuit and a little after 10am Pedro gave a preparation talk. He's one of those people with an easy-going, encouraging attitude that just puts you at ease. Though he urged safety precautions too and gave us the lowdown on the currents (the "flood" and "ebb" - new terms to me).

Pedro (in the blue shirt) getting us prepped. Notice the little swimmer girl, so cute!

There were probably 5 coaches (yellow caps) and they broke us into three groups. Group 1: newbies (I chose this group). We stayed with Pedro and got prep talks and small swim assignments, swimming back to shore several times for more tips. Group 2: Experienced but slow (this is the group I'll go with next time and also the group Shelly swam with). Group 3: Experienced and faster.

Ready to go! Made it easy to spot me :)

Group 2 swam along the perimeter of the pier on the right but swam back and forth on the inside, not dealing with the heavier currents on the outside. Group 3 swam around the pier, dealing with the heavier currents. They had coaches out on paddleboards and in the water. Pedro stayed on shore. And then we were off! Pedro had us newbies swim to certain bouys and back, each time sending us on a slightly longer swim, and each time talking to us briefly about currents and stroke when we got back.

One of the guys in our group panicked and was out of the water almost as quickly as he got in. Pedro must have given him a good pep talk because he got back in and was fine the rest of the swim. When we were done I asked him how he felt and he said, "fine, once I figured out I wasn't going to die." I love it! Oh, did I mention how warm the water was? An unusually warm 64 degrees! I wasn't complaining.

with Pedro!

The coaches accounted for all of us after the swim and I got changed to head back home. While changing I started feeling really cold. I got so excited when I saw my mug of hot coffee in my bag. I realized my feet were almost completely numb (and an odd yellowish color). Pedro said it was because I am not accustomed to it and that it will get better, plus, he added, "some people just have that problem." First time for me and hopefully it doesn't happen again. Walking back to the car I felt like I was walking on wooden blocks, but it went away once I was warmed up.

[update: here's my 2nd Swim with Pedro post if you want even more info]

The rest of the day was a whirlwind - picked the kids up at the soccer field, took them for frozen yogurt (and had some myself but skipped the toppings), then to a quick meeting with boot camp guy (what? yes, I might do some boot camps in the coming month, more on this in another post) and back to meet up with Miguel. He took the kids while I went for some me time - I had a late lunch of a kids' taco kit at Chipotle while I got a mani-pedi and then did some much needed bra shopping. I know it's probably TMI but most of my bras are too big. Found some cute ones and thought about how not-uncomfortable bras are when you're not overweight (and have small-ish breasts like I do now). Ok, this is getting too detailed. Moving on...

So the article is resulting in my private practice work going up and I took some time after the kids were in bed to prep for the coming week. I might get up for boot camp in the morning, though the fact that it's almost 11pm doesn't bode well for that. If I do, I promise to explain myself in my next post.

Before I close I have to thank you all for the showering of congratulations I received about the article both on my Facebook page and via messages. I am so lucky to have such an amazing group of people reading this blog. Thank you!! I hope you also had a great weekend and make the most of the coming week!

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I am a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice offering Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for weight loss and maintenance. I have an office in Marin County, CA and I'm also available to see clients via Skype. To learn more please visit my professional website at www.michellefunez.com