2009-06-30
Fast Times in the Cool Pines
This is a great event and attracts swimmers from all over the state. The folks at Northern Arizona Masters are great hosts too and will show you a good time while you are in Flagstaff. Special thanks to Liz Hobbs for putting this event together. So come on up to swim some fast times in the cool pines!
2009-06-29
2000M Postal
We have another postal swim going on right now that is geared for all you triathletes and distance swimmers. The name of the event is the Bonded Logic 2000M Half Iron Postal Swim. The premise is simple, swim 2000M in a long course (meters) pool, have a witness write down your times, enter the event online, and watch for the results after the event is over. You have between now and September 30th to be a part of this event.Why is this such a good event? 2000M is a half Ironman distance event, which many triathlons offer. If you participate in this event, you will get experience swimming that distance in controlled conditions. That will help you get physically and mentally ready for your next race. For swimmers, this event is longer than the standard distance pool events. This should be a great challenge for distance specialists who want to take on something new.
Everything is online for this event, simply go to www.2kpostal.com and enter. If you are not a member of US Masters Swimming, you can purchase a One Event Membership for $10, otherwise the meet entry fee is only $8. Medals will be awarded for 1-3 place and everybody can buy an event t-shirt if they want to.
So make your plans to swim this event today. Looking forward to seeing your results. Good luck everybody!
2009-06-25
Sam Perry in the (Texas) News
2009-06-24
Fitness Logs Available for Members
U.S. Masters Swimming has released a new online service that is available exclusively for our members. Members may now track their swimming and other fitness activities via our new online Fitness Logs (FLOGs) tool. With this exciting new online service, you can log a wide variety of fitness activities such as swim workouts, running, weights and yoga on your flog calendar and track your weekly, monthly and annual totals online.
Members who are participating in the popular "Go The Distance" fitness event will also enjoy the convenience of having the data from their flog automatically included in the monthly event reports
How to Set Up Your FLOG
1) Your login to the My USMS area is controlled by an account that you can create from our Discussion Forums. If you do not already have a Discussion Forums account, you'll first need to create one. This account is how we identify you in any usms.org service that requires a login. It's free for anyone to create, but you'll need to create it yourself (it's not automatic with your USMS membership).
2) Once you have set up your Discussion Forums account, go to the My USMS area and log in using that account information. If this is your first visit to My USMS, you will also need to enter your current membership information in order to link your login account to your membership.
3) From the main My USMS page, follow the link to My Fitness Log. If this is your first visit to your FLOG, you'll be prompted to set up some details about how you'd like to view your flog and whether you'd like to allow others to view your flog. Don't worry - you can always come back to this page later via the Preferences link on the left if you change your mind about some settings.
4) That's It! You are now ready to flog! You should now see your monthly or weekly calendar (depending on your preferences). To add an entry, click on the day number in any calendar day shown. You'll be asked to provide the type of flog entry you want to log and then will be brought to a form where you can enter the details for that type of entry. You may enter any level of detail you want to provide in the details box. For instance, you may wish to enter your entire workout details or how you felt in this workout for a swim workout that you are flogging. Of course, if you're not interested in logging all that detail, you can just leave the details block empty.
5) It's that easy! All entries that you have flogged will appear on your calendar. You can always edit an existing entry by clicking on it in your calendar view, and you can use the calendar navigation links to view prior weeks or months activities.
6) The ability to view other member's flog entries is coming soon. Your entries will only be viewable to others if you have opted to allow this in your preferences.
If you are currently participating in the Go The Distance fitness event or have participated at any time in the past 3 years of the event, your monthly totals for your swim distance up through May of 2009 are already entered in your flog. They are entered as a single flog entry on the 1st of each month. Feel free to update that data if you like by deleting the single large entry and entering your details for each day of the month instead if you are so inclined. If you have a lot of detailed daily workout data from the past available in spreadsheet format and would like to get that data into your flog, contact webmaster Jim Matysek to see if we can work that out for you.If you are not yet participating in the Go The Distance event, why not join the fun? Just follow the Events link on the left side of any flog page and click to join the event. You can withdraw from the event at any time also if you choose to do so.
2009-06-22
Et Tu, Brute!
16 "Brutes" completed 3 of the most grueling events in pool swimming yesterday at the umpteenth annual Brute Squad meet at the beautiful long course pool in Oro Valley north west of Tucson. It was an apt beginning to the longest day of the year. The meet began on time at 8 a.m. with the 200 Fly. As we dragged our soggy carcasses out of the water after the last event just before Noon, meet director Judy Gillies presented each of us with the coveted towel award.
Notable among the Brutes this year was Edie Gruender, age 81, who continues to inspire us all, including her daughter, Mitzi, age 53, who is following in her mother's footsteps as a perennial Brute. Then there was Simon Goldstein, 72, who completed the 1500 M event all Fly...one full hour of butterfly! He told me for practice he does it once a week at the JCC pool in Tucson. Of course, distance King Patrick Brundage, 42, of Sun Devil Masters was the man to beat in all three events. The guy is unbeatable. (He also snuck in the 50 Back and 50 Breast, for good measure.)
I'm a first-time Brute, myself, and quite proud of it, too. I had never before competed in a 200 Fly or a 400 IM. I figured it would be great training. I was right. One thing I learned is that practicing butterfly really does pay off. This is where having a coach comes in handy. Who in their right mind would do large amounts of butterfly on their own? Well, besides Simon Goldstein, that is.
I guess "right mind" and Brute Squad really don't go hand in hand. Why would anyone do this? The only appropriate answer is Why not? If you're looking for a new way to challenge yourself, I recommend you do this event next year. If I can do it, so can you. So, go ahead, be a Brute! I dare you.
2009-06-07
Results Posted
Pleasant Swim June 6
A great crowd turned out for Event #2 of the Arizona Open Water Series yesterday and I was so happy to be there. I didn't get the final count, but I'm going to guess we had very close to 200 swimmers, mostly Masters, making it the largest Masters event in our state to date this year. There were an additional 180 triathletes there doing the Tribal sprint triathlon, so it was a very good overall showing at Lake Pleasant northwest of Phoenix.The setting and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We lit out of Tucson at 4:45 a.m. to arrive lakeside at 7:20 for the 8:00 start. It was overcast and about 80 degrees out. As we made our final approach to the lake, we passed the last of the cyclists riding at us, and the first of the runners heading our same direction back toward the lake. It was fun to watch the fastest triathletes cross the finish line as we were checking in for the swim.
We got in to warm up about 15 minutes before the start of the 4K. The water was PERFECT. Someone said about 77 degrees. Not even the slightest chill to it. It was clear and clean and calm...the kind of water that makes you want to swim forever.
Why anyone would wear a wetsuit in those conditions is beyond me, but once again I'd say the field was divided about evenly between wetsuits and skins, 4K and 2K.
The course was counterclockwise around 5 bright yellow buoys, twice for the 4K, with in-water start and finish. I had no body contact the whole time, except once around a buoy when an arm dropped onto me. It was just a nice, long swim. The wetsuit division, which left 5 minutes before us, allowed me to engage my passing gear off and on the whole way, which made for a rather nice work out. There were no currents and the water remained pretty flat until the last 20 minutes or so, when the wind created a small amount of chop for the final stretch.
Afterward, we were offered bananas and muffins and lots of great raffle prizes were awarded, including wetsuits, beach cruisers, and other stuff. The event was well run and the venue was superb. I've done races in different parts of this lake before and I preferred this one by far. The boat ramp made entry and exit very easy.
Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed this event. And for those of you who missed it...you have three more opportunities in 2009, thanks to the folks at DCB Extreme Adventures. The series continues on September 19 back at Saguaro Lake. Give it a try! For more information, visit www.dcbadventures.com.
Labels: arizona, masters swimming, open water
