swimming – Page 2

February 16, 2016

IMWI 010 – Breaking Down Ironman Wisconsin Swim Course

I raced Ironman Wisconsin in 2013 and spectated (and made a tribute video) in 2014. Today, I break down the swim course with race video to show:

– How much time you need to get into the water pre-race
– The mysterious HELIX transition
– Sighting
– The energy of the crowd

Till this day the Ironman Wisconsin swim is probably one of the favorite memories of my three Ironman races. I loved the energy, the fan support, and the spectacle of a mass start.

This video also reveals the first guest in my upcoming podcast series and offers you a free t-shirt.

Follow Crushing Iron on Facebook and @crushingiron on Twitter for tons of Ironman training updates.

October 19, 2015

Images From Ironman Louisville Swim

Grabbing still shots from video can be a tricky proposition sometimes because of camera shake and interlacing, etc. but we love the view during the swim, so we thought we’d put a few of these out and see if it’s worth doing more? Let us know! [follow_me]

October 14, 2015

Ironman Louisville Swim Start 2015 (Video)

Here’s a glimpse of the scenery surrounding the Ironman Louisville swim start. Spectating an Ironman is almost as enjoyable (and painful) as doing one.

I have tons of stuff still on the way and hope you follow this blog by email or Crushing Iron on Facebook so you don’t miss them. And please feel free to share this stuff! Hope it brings back good memories.

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July 21, 2015

Music City Triathlon – Race Preview

I’ve had a lot of requests for a Music City Triathlon Course Preview so I thought I’d drive down to the river and take care of business. Now, I raced the old course, so my information might not be totally accurate, but really the only information you need is that it is supposed to be 100 degrees that day.

I’ve compiled three expertly crafted videos, one for each portion of the course: swim, bike, and run. Regarding the swim, I think you swim up about a 1/3, then a full length with the current, then 2/3rds back into the current… but please double check when you get there! The bike and run videos are about 5 minutes long, and I know that’s time consuming, but those minutes could save you seconds on this course!!

Please share with your friends who are racing. (That goes for you too Team Magic 🙂

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Music City Triathlon – Swim Course Preview

Music City Triathlon – Bike Course Preview

Music City Triathlon – Run Course Preview

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March 26, 2015

9 Things That Are Improving My Swim

Three years ago I could barely swim and vowed to get to respectable levels before IM Wisconsin. Last year, with Louisville a non-wetsuit race, I got even more serious. I put a lot of time, study, and reflection into swimming and this is a list of stuff that seems to be working.

1. It’s easy to forget how to swim. Before my 10-day vacation, I was dialed in pretty good, but this morning it was a flopping baby. After 1,000 or so meters, I “sorta” had it back, but why can’t it be just like riding a bike? When I’m not on vacation I swim shorter distances more more frequently.

2. Form isn’t everything. While form is definitely something, once you get it “close” upper body conditioning is the key, and that too seems to fade fast. Paddles really seem to help me relax and focus on using the strength of my lats, and I also use a pull buoy 80% of the time.

3. Flexibility matters. Today, there was a girl next to me with fins doing that crazy on-your-back thing up and down the pool. She looked like she was made out of rubber and when she turned around to swim freestyle, she was unbelievably smooth . . . and fast.

4. Work on your turnover. For the longest time I was all caught up in my reach and glide and thinking about all kinds of BS, but if you get decent extension and turn your arms faster (with comparable catch and pull) you will pick up several seconds in your 100. Of course, you need to build conditioning to do that.

5. Relaxing isn’t always easy, but . . . it is crucial. When you’re relaxed, your form and flexibility improve because you’re not thinking about it as much. So much of relaxation is repetition, but I often repeat mantras like, “breathe, relax,” on each stroke and it puts me in a better state.

6. Don’t hesitate. My left arm doesn’t have the same range of motion as my left (nor is it as coordinate) so I’m constantly telling myself to “let go” with my left arm. Just let it flow in a rotation that is perfectly timed with my right arm pull.

7. Clear the fog. I used to have problems with foggy goggles until I started letting them soak to adjust to the water temperature before I swim. I just lay the pull buoy on my strap and do arm circles or whatever for 5 minutes and my goggles are gold.

8. Pull yourself. A lot of people refer to it as pulling yourself over a barrel or a wall instead of pushing water backwards. When my hand enters the water, I try to find that pressure from my wrist to my elbow (the wall) and literally pull it back. The key here is pulling with your lats, but also using the other side extension as leverage.

9. Drink. I never used to have a water bottle at the pool, but now it’s mandatory. It definitely keeps my energy level a little higher and, maybe more importantly, lowers risk of dehydration/exhaustion, which I always used to battle after long swims. I typically put a scoop of some kind of electrolyte powder with the water because it’s easier on my stomach.

I have fallen in love with swimming because it used to scare the crap out of me but it’s morphed into a fun challenge I chip away at every day. For the record my IM Wisconsin swim was 1:20, IM Louisville was 1:06, and I fully expect the Chattanooga current to whisk me under an hour.

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January 30, 2015

Creative Workouts For Triathlon

Our coaching staff is continually thinking about ways to make training more effective and enjoyable, so Crushing Iron will now be adding creative workout ideas if you feel like breaking up the monotony. We only have a couple now, but hope to add one or two a week for each discipline. They can be found under the “Workouts” tab at the top and broken out by sport. Here’s an example for the pool:

Band On The Swim

Warm Up
200 easy cruise
100 kick with board hard

Main set:
400 pull/paddles high tempo
3 x 100 BAND around ankles
200 t-shirt swim AND clenched fists high tempo
100 SPRINT

: 45 rest throughout

2 rounds – Beginner swimmer
3- rounds- intermediate swimmer
4 rounds total – advanced swimmer

200 Warm Down

July 22, 2014

My Swim Coach Tied Me Up

I recently wrote about how I’m becoming a better swimmer, but apparently I have a ways to go.

After our warm up swim, my coach walked toward me shaking his head and said, “I’ve gotta get you to stop your hips from shifting around so much, and your head is coming too far out of the water when you breathe.”

Then he through me a race belt.

“Tie that around your ankles.”

Uhh…. okay.

So I wrapped the elastic band around my ankles, then hopped back into the water and started swimming. My legs immediately sank straight below me and I was cranking my arms at ridiculous speed to stay afloat.

I was in a mild state of panic, and of course, that is the last thing you want to experience as a swimmer. I struggled out to the buoy and held on for dear life before sucking it up to swim back in.

Not gonna lie, it wasn’t easy, but by the time I got close to shore I was much more relaxed. My stroke was longer and felt more powerful, which subsequently kept my legs and feet higher in the water.

Coach also told me that one eye should still be under the water when you breathe, which took me a while, but eventually I “sorta” got it down. I was also swallowing less water . . . which was nice.

In summary, this is a great way to work on body position and keeping yourself higher in the water. In fact, I loved it so much I’m thinking about trying it with a potato sack down at the YMCA.

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July 10, 2014

6 Ways I've Improved My Swim

I am not a fast swimmer, but I think I have finally figured out ways to make swimming easier. Over the last few weeks I have been focusing on things I can control and not obsessing over the intricate and often overwhelming details of form. I think our bodies instinctively want to figure out the most efficient way to move and it’s up to us to create the right environment, then get out of the way. Here are 6 things I’ve been working on, that I really believe are paying off in confidence and less exertion in the water.

1. I take warm up seriously. Whether it’s circling my arms on the side of the pool or taking a long time (500 meters) to ease into my workout, I do not underestimate the power of warming up. It’s like reminding my muscles what they’re in for and allowing them time to wake up. I re-establish the fundamentals and, as the swim unfolds, “my best form” becomes instinct.

2. I’ve relaxed my water entry. For the longest time I was “coming out of my body” with aggressive attacks that sent my hand too deep and created more drag by taking my shoulder with it. It was also much harder to pull back through the water from that depth. It felt like I was working harder, and I was. Now I “let” my elbow stay higher and it keeps me more under control.

3. I sight less. I’ve gone around and around on sighting, and while it is obviously key, I also think it’s important not to be all consumed with a landmark. Lately I’ve been swimming to a general area. I sight, then mentally concentrate on the target (without looking) while I swim. It’s amazing how your body will guide you in the right direction. Sighting too often interrupts my momentum and there is nothing worse than slowing down or losing cadence.

4. I focus on rhythm. I literally think in terms of swimming as a dance and swing my hips to an imaginary beat. I’m also thinking about the cadence of my strokes and imagining the sound of my arms hitting the water right on time, over and over. The dynamics of the song and tempo may vary, but my overall goal is to stay in the pocket of the current groove.

5. I engage my lats. There’s a reason you can dead lift or bench press more than you can curl, and this is important to think about when you’re swimming. It’s all about consciously engaging the core and the lats. It not only saves your shoulders, it pulls the synergy of your stroke together.

6. I refuse to believe it’s hard. Most people probably can’t swim one hard lap in a pool without sucking wind. I was one of those people not too long ago. There’s an anxiety trigger that flips when you’re in a body of water and your flight response goes into overdrive. But once you can learn to relax and glide, you realize that swimming is a lot like running or biking. In all three sports you can find that pace where you are simply churning and it feels like you can go forever. Trust the flow and truly believe you are a strong swimmer.

For more stories like this and others that border on ridiculous, please follow me on Twitter @miketarrolly

October 15, 2013

Swim The Suck Race Report – Guest Blog

Swimming has quickly become the most fascinating event of triathlon for me, and this story blows off the roof. It’s written by my coach, Robbie Bruce, and is just another example of how he pushes the limit and inspires me to do the same. Most people train all year for something like this, but Robbie signed up on a whim 5 days before the race. His longest swim of the year was 2.4 miles. On this day, he would swim 10.

How a simple “Retweet” led to me swimming 10 miles: Swim the Suck Race Report

Robbie Bruce – October 14, 2013

Almost at this exact time last Monday I had finished my first official “rest week” trying to recover from a year-long achilles injury that had me either sidelined from training or racing all together. At the most, it was allowing me to rack up not just my first DNF ever but also my second, third, and FOURTH of my career. A slight intervention from basically everyone I know had convinced me to shelve my bike and run training and just rest and prepare for 2014. So I did and just decided to swim a bit. Thats when I came across a “Retweet” from my good friend Mike. It was from Blue Seventy offering up a slot to the prestigious “Swim the Suck” 10 mile OWS race in Chattanooga if you could be the first one to answer a question: Below is a summary of how that retweet turned in to me swimming 10 miles 5 days later. (Feel free to skip down to the bottom of the page and just read about the “race” if you like)

Mon-Tue-

I answered BlueSeventy’s contest hoping I would win. 50% because as my sister can attest I NEVER win anything. Kind of a running joke in our family. The other 50% me thought it would be pretty sweet to win and what an awesome experience it would be to be able to participate in such an incredible event. I actually thought I had a legit chance to win bc A. I was the 3rd person to respond. B. Who would be stupid enough to do something that crazy on 5 days notice C. I live in Nashville so my travel costs, logistics, etc would be minimal compared to pretty much anyone. A few hours went by and I checked, checked and rechecked the BlueSeventy twitter feed to see if an announcement had been made. Nothing. At least I still had a chance. The afternoon came around and as I was sitting in my office I got the following message:

My first thoughts were “I can’t believe I won! This is going to be so sweet!” Then it turned into “S#*t. What have I gotten myself into. How am I going to do this” I made a few phone calls to let some people know before I responded to BlueSeventy so they could check my sanity but I had already decided I was doing it anyway. https://crushingiron.com/2013/10/07/two-tweets-lead-to-a-10-mile-swim/.

You cant enter a contest like this and win and then not do it. That would be bush-league. I called the guys at BlueSeventy and then got ball started rolling. I swapped emails with Blue Seventy and Karah. I spent a majority of Monday evening and Tuesday morning memorizing the Swim the Suck website. There were a lot of logistics to figure out. My first and most important issue was to find a pilot. I posted on my athletes FB page asking if anyone would be willing to pilot for me. As luck would have it (as if I had not had enough already) Ed Rusk, who lives in Chattanooga said he would do it. We swapped a few messages and he was committed to devoting his Friday night and Saturday to pilot me. We were both entering uncharted territory. I was already heading up to Chattanooga on Wednesday to participate in the Snail Dart 1 miler and we agreed we could meet there and chat for a bit. I seriously debated doing a long OWS on Tuesday as a confidence builder. My longest swim since Ironman Louisville was 4200 meters the week before. I opted for rest and figured just do the 1miler then rest again for Saturday.

Snail Dart 1 Miler

I made it up to Chattanooga for the 1miler. Before winning the entry I was determined to go up and sprint it as hard as I could. I had never done an open water race so I was excited. Plus knowing some of the COWS members I knew it would be at least a great event and a good time after. One of my junior athletes actually invited me to the swim so my real goal was not to get beaten by a 12yr old:). About an hour or 2 before the race I decided sprinting it was not the best option as I would likely still be sore on Saturday morning. 75-80% was my best bet so that was the plan I was sticking too. I hopped in the water with Addison who is probably 25lbs soaking wet. She had to sprint upstream just to stay behind the start line. I thought to myself “Please sweet baby Jesus let it be like this on Saturday.” The race started and was over in a blink. I felt ok in the water but it was far from a confidence builder. Even the ridiculous time I put down thanks to the current did not erase any doubts I had about Saturday. Bottom line. I suck at short races. I have always said- The most painful part for me is the first 500-1000 meters. After that it just feels the same. I also got dusted by Addison:). On a happier note she took home a sweet trophy featured below.

After the race I made it over the the Springhill Suites to hang out with some of the COWS and hopefully meet some new people that would give me some advice on how not to totally drown and embarrass myself on Saturday. I have to say. I was incredibly surprised at how welcoming and outgoing the group was. I am usually surrounded by triathletes at such events and they can be “a bit less friendly” to put it mildly. Everyone I met was so nice and I basically sat for an hour like a sponge trying to get as much info as I could. Ed and I sat together and discussed a little it of “strategy” but lets be honest. We were incredibly clueless. My main objective at this point in the week was “respect.” Respect the distance. Respect the opportunity. Respect the people. Respect their views. Most of these people had been training for months and spent a good deal of money to do this race. It would be incredibly disrespectful of me to take this lightly and basically undermine the experience and opportunity afforded to me. Coming from an endurance background I always know to respect the distance. I went to bed Wed night feeling much more informed and a bit relieved from a logistics standpoint. As far as covering the distance… Not so much. I can’t thank everyone for all the advice they gave me. It was truly invaluable. You guys rock.

Thur-Fri

Thursday was more and more “planning.” My biggest fear was nutrition. How in the hell was I going to fuel for this. Outside of the distance. I knew nutrition would be my biggest obstacle. I had no idea how long I would be swimming, what my effort would be or how many calories I should take in and when. I let Ed know my “loose” nutrition plan but I figured it would change. Friday rolled around and I woke up more anxious than I have the day before any race I have ever done. I will readily admit that I was fearful. I cant remember the last time I entered a race just “hoping” to finish. I packed up my truck and headed to Chattanooga. Registration was at 5 and then the pasta dinner and mandatory meeting at 6. I usually skip both of these at races because it is usually just bad food and nervous energy. But as one of my friends put it , “Its a good thing you are going. This is more a “life or death” kind of meeting.” I totally agreed. I also thought it would be disrespectful to just grab my packet and jet. Ed and I both checked in and we were lucky enough to sit at a table with not only some familiar faces and friends but some Swim the Suck veterans. I can come off a bit “chill” sometimes but the longer I sat there, the more I felt like an impostor. Karah rattled off a list of names with swimming resumes that seemed like fairy tale. I felt totally out of my element. On the plus side, the food was wonderful and the company was great. If it hadnt had been for that I probably would have just driven back to Nashville. The meeting and dinner concluded and it was time to get some rest and prepare for the day. I made it back to Ed’s house and got settled in. The last thing I thought before I closed my eyes was, “If someone dropped you in the middle of the ocean and you HAD to make it 10 miles to shore. Could you do it?” The answer was “yes.”

Race Morning-

“Fear.” That was my first thought when I opened my eyes. My heart was racing and I was incredibly anxious. I barely ate anything. I was too nervous. I piddled around quietly in the kitchen while Ed was totally under control. He had done probably a years worth of research in 3 days. Turns out Ed and I think a lot of like but in different ways if that makes sense. I hopped in my truck to follow Ed the the start line. I was still fearful and questioning myself. I spent the next 20mins trying to distract myself with my nutrition strategy. That didnt work. As we rounded a corner close to the start I saw this:

My fear was gone. My anxiety disappeared. I have always felt more at home in the water than on land. I looked at the landscape that awaited me and thought, “How can this be scary.” It was beautiful. I was in amazement. I knew at that moment I would finish. I just had to swim. What an incredible opportunity at an amazing venue. I felt incredibly lucky and blessed. I parked my truck and Ed and I met to scope out and grab our vessel for the day. Ed had made a sweet “08” fin for the back of our kayak. Here was Ed’s home and my escort for over 4:00.

After I got body marked I just meandered around. Talked with some friends. Met some new people and just tried to stay as warm as possible.

It was quite chilly. I spent a lot of time just standing around alone looking around. It was a pretty cool scene. I had told myself I would take this as slow as possible. It was uncharted territory and failing was not an option. As the start time drew nearer my competitive side came out and I started to look at it as more of a “race”. If anything it would be a race of attrition against myself. I thought to myself, “do not let this opportunity go to waste.” We all lined up as the kayaks seemingly colored the water like a bag of skittles:

We all stripped down and got in line. It was straight up freezing. Rebecca grabbed this shot of me standing in line (very sneaky by the way) preparing to get in the water. I was not focused on the race right here I was merely focused on not shivering:

We finally hit the water to prepare for the start. Thank GOD!! It felt like a warm bath compared to the chilly air I had been standing in half naked for 10 mins. I took a few strokes to warm up and positioned myself at the very very back. I would let everyone else get out in front so I could just chill. I figured it would be easier to find Ed that way and also keep me from getting caught up in starting to fast. The countdown started at 1:00…..

The Race-

“Everyone has a plan till they get hit in the mouth.” That is one my favorite quotes. Funny thing is that I had no plan when the gun went off. I actually thought that was an advantage. I would not know if anything was going wrong or off. I started off VERY slow. I wanted to pace myself very slowly the first 2ish miles I thought and just get in a slow “lets just finish” groove. I only had one thing on my watch, that was average pace. I did not want to know time or distance. Just swim until it was done. The only instructions I gave Ed was to let me know when 30mins was up so I could decide to feed or not. I went about 500 yards, took a breath and spotted Ed. I yelled out at him and kept swimming until he found me. I was taking it very slowly. He let me know when 30mins was up and I turned over and called out what I wanted as I backstroked. Rolled back over and kept swimming until he came up with my nutrition. I went for some Perform drink and gel. Lets just say my first feeding was a total debacle. I tried to drink, spit it out. Tried to take in my gel spit it out. Then I peed. So basically my first feeding was a net calorie loss:). I looked to my right (towards the start), into the sun and could not see anyone. I thought, “dude. Your are in last place….”. So I went on. I began to pick up the pace around what I thought was about an hour in. I felt pretty good but was scared to pick it up to quick. The current was going strong so I thought just go slow and let the current do the work because if the current stops or slows and the wind picks up I will need the energy to just finish. Every so often Ed would pull up and point to his watch and I would either let him now the fuel I wanted or shake him off like a pitcher to a catcher and keep swimming. I packed solids, gels, and liquid for the swim. I ended up only taking in Perform, gel and coke. No solids and did not take in near as much as I thought. All in all I think I nailed my nutrition. I swam for about what I though was 2.5hrs. I popped up for a feeding and finally looked at my watch “1:09” You have GOT to be kidding me!! Ive only been swimming for a freaking hour and nine minutes. Ahhhhh. This is average pace. Thank the lord. Ed informed me we were a little over half way through. That was a big relief. I knew then I would finish. I looked ahead and saw what look like a fleet of kayaks and then back and saw about he same amount. I asked if I was about the middle of the pack and Ed said yes. I told him to aim for that pack in front and I would try to catch as many as I could. Now it was a race. My arms, chest and shoulders were on fire but I knew it could not hurt any worse than it already was so lets just get it over with already. I pushed very hard for the next hour and began to pass people up until I think mile 7-7.5. I could tell the current had slowed and the water began to get fairly choppy. I shook off Ed for a feeding bc I was trying to stay even or pass the guy next to me. Plus the water was choppy and feeding would be hard anyway. The chop died a bit and I stopped for some more coke. Thats when Ed said “Yea. The current died.” I knew the last 2.5 miles would be grueling. He told me my time and I knew I had a chance to break 4hrs which was my goal. I put my head down and just swam. Then I began to feel incredibly lonely. Breathe right. No Ed. Breathe left. No Ed. Backstroke and look behind…. No Ed. I thought well, he has either bailed on me to watch the Kona coverage or mother nature had called. Luckily enough I had a guy right in front of me with green kayak and bright green life vest so I followed him until Ed returned. I felt I was getting pretty close and kept chasing the kayaks/balloons in front. Let me just say. I love and hate those balloons. It gave you something to chase but they always seemed about 200 meters closer than they actually were. I rolled over on my back and called for what would be my last feeding. I was gassed. Totally. I almost didn’t stop in fear I would not be able to get going again. I snagged some coke and thats when Ed informed me “The finish is just right there.” Music to my freaking ears. I asked for time and he said 3:30. I decided to sprint all I had to the finish. I was determined to crack 4:00. Ed guided me on a perfect line towards the finishing buoy. 400. 300. 200. I could see the orange clearly. I was still trying to catch the balloon in front of me. Every time I took a breath and I would see Eds face. I could not tell if he was smiling or laughing at my futile attempt to catch the kayak in front of me. 100 meters.

Done. It took every bit of energy just to get my arm out of the water to slap the buoy. 3:46. I did it. I was absolutely toast. I looked on land to see all the finishers before me and thought, “All of you people are freaks of nature. Crazy and ridiculously athletic. ” By far the most difficult race I have ever done. Anyone that does that race regardless of time is an absolute stud. It is physically and mentally incredibly challenging. Finally made it out of the water to towel off and get warm. Sat around for about an hour. I cant thank Ed enough for volunteering his time to help me out. Ed. You are the man.

Cheered on fellow swimmers and talked about the experience while admiring the beautiful landscape. Here is the view from where we finished.

My Take:

One of the best sporting experiences of my life. The backdrop was incredible. The people were amazing. The course was majestic and the event itself was run perfectly. I told myself before the race this would either make me want to do more races like this or never do another one. Doing this race only once in the manner in which I lucked out this year would be like an inexperienced poker player sitting down at a high stakes poker table, playing one hand, getting lucky, then getting up and cashing out big. Thats the definition of bush-league. So having said that, I will be back next year to race for sure. Hopefully with a full deck of cards.

HUGE thank you to BlueSeventy for the entry and all the free gear. Thank you to Karah and everyone who put on Swim the Suck and all the COWS who made me feel right at home and gave me so much great advice! Last but not least Ed Rusk for piloting me!

August 13, 2013

A Painful Cramp

More than ever, my body has been looking me deep in the eyes and asking, “WTF?”

Here I am approaching 50, putting on mileage I’ve never dreamed possible, and clearly that doesn’t come without complications. Last night’s 3,000 meter swim was a great example.The workout included a warm up, followed by 40 x 50 meter combined set and a cool down. I felt fairly strong as I cooled down for 400 meters, but when I got to the end and jumped out of the pool, I was nearly brought to tears by a piercing cramp in my left calf.

As I was leaning against the wall screaming bloody murder in front of the lifeguard and festive aqua-bikers, the guy in my lane asked if I was ok. I said, “Yeah, I’m just cramping.” He calmly replied, “I used to get them all the time when I swam with the pull buoy.”

Aha!

Yes, I remember Robbie telling me that when I was dealing with MUCH smaller cramps in the pool. The logic is that when you immobilize your legs with the buoy, the blood circulation to your lower body slows and quick movements can launch a cramp attack. I did know and understand this, but how quickly we forget.

I’m not gonna lie, my night was filled with a bit of panic. I was having a hard time walking and the calf was very sore. I tried to imagine running and it did not go well. Could all of this training be derailed by a freak incident?

I vowed to get back in the water as quickly to start the mental healing process, and though I was 45 minutes late, I showed up at Open Water Swim to knock out 30 minutes in the lake. I took the usual ridicule about being late, then swam up and down the orange boom for 32 minutes without stopping. No pull buoy, no cramps, but tired arms.

Robbie and I talked for a bit after the swim (as we watched the next Pele run line drills in the sand) and he suggested the other reason for cramps in the pool can be from pushing off the wall. This makes a ton of sense, especially when blood flow to your legs is low, and you’re exploding off the balls of your feet which targets the calf muscles.

Aside from the pull buoy, I suspected there was another major reason for the cramping: dehydration.

I am just shocked by how much I am sweating these days, and I’m assured that’s a good thing, but I have certainly not been compensating like I should with hydration. I used to drink a lot of Coke (thankfully that habit has gone away) and my rule was always one glass of water immediately following a soda. Now I drink coffee, and on some days too much. It is painstakingly clear that, as mileage rises, I have to be careful and add more liquids.

I guess a third culprit could be sodium loss and last night, along with drinking a ton of water, I pulled out my homemade Gatorade recipe of 1/2 water, 1/2 orange juice, and a little bit of sea salt. It tasted like ass, but I’m doing what I can.

So, I sit here less than a month away with a very sore calf and hope I can get this under control. Any suggestions would be appreciated.