Category Archives: Swimming Equipment

Second Issyk Kul Swim

(First day’s swim here.)

As promised, dear reader(s), here is an overview of my second swim workout in lake Issyk Kul. For this swim, I smartly got up early enough to avoid the crazy jet skiers, and apparently the strong currents and waves. Flat, beautiful water, 22C.

Issyk Kul from Karven pier
Issyk Kul from Karven pier

Isn’t that beautiful? I was very happy to see the water. Additionally, it being around 0815 or so when I started, the sun was low enough to not be too much of a burn risk. Although I had my wife slather me with sun screen anyway, just to be certain. The water was a beautiful temperature and I jumped in and started off to the eastern most red buoy. Once I got there, ready to start my watch, I realized I’d forgotten to start my Garmin, which was safely ensconced in my SaferSwimmer dry bag. So back to the pier I went to open the bag and start the watch. Took some doing, balancing on a ladder, but I was able to reseal my bag and start my swim, back at the start buoy.

Swim #2
Swim #2

 

Like before, you can see how slow I am. Unlike the previous day, I went out to the end of the red buoys (marking the territory of the resort we were staying at) on both sides, a distance of almost 500 yards. I experimented with straying farther from the buoy line, as you can see by the tracks. No, who am I kidding; I just can’t swim straight. The water was nice and flat, but those buoys were still tiny, and hard to see in the distance, from eye level. (I preached to my triathletes to get their eyes down to water level prior to the swim so they could see what the buoy would look like while they’re swimming…good advice!) My SaferSwimmer didn’t get bopped around as much as the previous day. Now here’s a close-up of the swim:

Swim #2 close-up
Swim #2 close-up

Again, went down one ladder and back up another. Isn’t that pier cool? Each one of those “flower buds” is like a huge patio that you can sit on all day and relax. Truly wonderful. We’re planning to go back at the end of August, when the Kyrgyz Olympian, Akhmed Anarbaev has his swim festival. Not sure if we’ll stay here again (quite expensive during peak season), but I’ll certainly get more swimming in! Next up, however, is Croatia!

Oh, and I have to add another picture of the wonderful views:

Issyk Kul pier
Issyk Kul pier

First Issyk Kul swim

Finally got my youngest off my home computer, where I can take screenshots of my Garmin tracks from my Issyk Kul swims. Have no idea why the tricks I read about online for taking screenshots on a Chromebook don’t work on mine. Anyway, here’s my first swim from Monday.

Swim #1
Swim #1

 

As you can see, the lake is at some serious altitude, 5253 feet to be exact. I am also slow. What you also see in the white areas in the blue strip is me stopping to try and get my bearings, and to just enjoy swimming in an alpine lake surrounded by mountains! Now here’s a close-up of the swim.

Close-up of swim #1
Close-up of swim #1

 

I walked down one ladder of the pier and up the other. I did several laps as you can see, along a line of buoys. Funny how lost you can get swimming. The first lap I swam out to the neighboring pier. Turning east to swim back to the starting pier, I thought I’d been swimming for a half hour. The current was east to west and a little rough on the way back to the starting pier. I really had to punch through the waves to get back, only to realize that first lap only took me 18:00, including lots of treading water looking around. I did shorter laps after that because of jet skis. The place I turned around each subsequent lap was the edge of a buoyed channel where jet ski drivers could enter and exit the beach. When I started this first swim, I saw a crazy jet skier out just on the south side of the buoys, jet skiing (motoring? swimming?) like a bat out of hell, so I decided to stay inside the buoys. After that first lap, I thought it would be wise to stay inside, on the northern side of these buoys. If the jet ski drivers are as reckless as Kyrgyz car drivers, then I don’t want to be anywhere near them.

So, first swim complete, with a lot of looking around. I mean really, can you blame me?

Look at those mountains!
Look at those mountains!

Those mountains, btw, are over 4000 meters tall and about 75-80 km away from the camera!

Swim #2 tomorrow.

Aqua Sphere Stationary Swimmer Review

Well, I’ve used the Aqua Sphere Stationary Swimmer for about three weeks now. I think it is time for a review.

Aqua Sphere Stationary Swimmer
Aqua Sphere Stationary Swimmer

For twenty bucks, you can’t lose. This device can be used pretty much anywhere, as long as you have about two feet + your height. My pool is 12m long, so there is plenty of room for me, and my kids can swim at the same time.

So let’s unpack the bag. Separate the cardboard from the plastic bag. Here’s the cord and velcro ankle thingys.

The cardboard topper gives you all the instruction you need to use the device.

And there’s even instructions for my friend Niek!

You attach the velcro straps to your ankles, loop the stretchy part around a fixed point, then jump into the pool and swim. Thusly.

Swimming treadmill
Swimming treadmill

I’ve tried the Aqua Sphere in two places in my pool. The picture above is from the west end of the pool, with the cord wrapped around fence. After about a week, I noticed the nylon black covering over the surgical tubing started to rub off. The cord was rubbing on the pool deck edge, and I was afraid of the rubbing to start getting down to the tubing, and then one day I’d end up hitting my head on the east end of the pool!

So I switched to the east end, which also helped with my breathing (here is where I diverge from the review). I’m a right side breather, almost exclusively. I can breath bilaterally, when I want. But for the most part, I stick to the right side. When I was swimming West Side, I’d have to breath into the sun. Now however, I can breath to the north, where, also, there are more trees, and I can see the entrance to the pool and sauna, and therefore keep track of my kids.

On the east end I looped the cord around the opening of the skimmer basket, with the cord going through the skimmer into the pool, and the other end looping up and over. Using that method, one of my feet was higher than the other, the one whose cord end was above the skimmer basket. That tended to make me feel like I was rolling over to the lower-cord side. I needed a new way of doing this. And this would result in me starting to swim to the right or left, for no apparent reason.

So I got a nylon strap. And a carabiner. And now the cords are level. And I’m swimming better. But still drifting left or right. So it must be my stroke.

Anyway, here’s my current set-up.

IronMike’s Swimming Treadmill

The straps do not rub any skin off my feet or ankles. I did notice that my feet slightly ride low. I didn’t know what to do, so I just kept swimming for weeks. Then I thought about how I attached the velcro to my feet. The strap coming from my feet would run along the bottom of my foot. So in freestyle form, the straps from the Aqua Sphere would “push” my feet down. So today I did an experiment.

On the left is how I normally wrap the velcro around my feet. See how the strap comes from under my feet? Today I set it up like my right foot above. Kinda annoying, to be honest. My toes kept getting caught in the strap. I finally managed to get it over to the outside of my foot, which was fine. But I felt like the straps were holding my feet up, almost like I was swimming with a pull buoy. I got through my 90 minutes, but I’ll probably not set them up like that again.

So now I’m set. I jump in every day or two, swim for an hour or 90 minutes, alternating breathing or doing “sprints” by increasing my stroke count for 100 strokes, then slow down for 100, then fast for 90, slow down for 90, and so on. Better than nothing.

Jamming while jamming

I’ve swum with music for a while now. When I’ve remembered to charge the player. And when I’ve had the right player. And when I haven’t dropped the player on concrete and broken it. But I don’t wear my players in open water. Or coached workouts of course.

People have asked me how I can train with music, then go do a 2-4 hour marathon swim without the music. Aren’t I harming my training by not also swimming without the music player? Won’t I psychologically be handicapped without the music during the marathon.

Simple answer: No. I get into such a groove out in open water. Listening to the waves. The seagulls. Watching the trees go by. Hearing the sounds of motorboats (hopefully) not too close. Enjoying the water. Running into the occasional small log.

I get none of this swimming laps or swimming on the tether in pools. Long tedious laps forever, with only the infrequent thrill of sociological wonder that is the Kyrgyz and water jets.

What I do get swimming laps or on the tether is a nice workout for my shoulders, and time horizontal for my back. I get time to listen to tunes chosen randomly by the binary digits of my Neptune. The surprise of the next song. The feeling of just one more song till I can hit the sauna. The unknowns of putting on the gas when the fast song comes on. (Who can ignore kicking into high gear when The Immigrant Song begins?)

All of these things makes laps or swimming in place more palatable, more enjoyable. Trust me, if I could somehow create a pair of VR goggles that showed me the sides of the Tennessee river as I turned to take a breath, I’d dump the music player in a heartbeat. Alas, that is still some time off.

The Joys of Your Own Pool

So I’ve decided I could get used to having my own pool. It is so nice to be able to simply throw on my trunks and jump in. Better, get out and jump into the sauna. All while walking around half naked in my own yard. Oh, to be independently wealthy.

This morning I woke early, around 0545, well rested and thought, “Hey, I could go swim!” By six a.m. I was plodding along strung up by my ankles, enjoying the morning. It was slightly cloudy with the sun starting to peak around the mountains. An enjoyable hour swimming nowhere.

Here’s some observations from having my own pool and using those straps:

  • The straps, depending upon how I attach them to the pool, tend to pull me one way or the other. I’ve strung them through the skimmer basket hole, so one side of the strap is higher than the other. When I bilateral breath, I feel like I’m rolling to one side.
  • The straps, no matter where I attach, rub along the pool side. Already the nylon covering over the stretchy part has rubbed away. I’m researching alternatives like nylon rope strung through the skimmer hole, then a carabiner, then the stretchy straps.
  • Whirlpool affect. My pool is about 12m x 4m. The two skimmer baskets are on one of the 4m sides. So when I “hook up,” and start swimming, I create a whirlpool effect. I see bugs passing by me about a foot below me every few minutes. And that raft of bugs that I forgot to scoop up passes by me every few minutes, freaking me out at least once per swim session.
  • Speaking of bugs, the pump for my pool is not very strong. When I take the cover off the skimmer basket area, I see a bunch of bugs in there. But the pump is so weak that as soon as I start swimming, those bugs come out of the skimmer area and greet me mid-swim. I’m okay with that, until that spider comes to visit. She may look dead, but I’m pretty sure she’s faking.
  • Yes, I know my pool is not the ocean. But boy oh boy did I ever think some creature of some sort came for a visit just the other day. I was swimming as usual, creating my whirlpool, when all of a sudden out of the side of my left eye I saw something red quickly approach my head. I jumped so high…to see my floating thermometer approaching me with malice.

I am lucky enough to have a sauna on the property here. I tend to set it before I jump in the pool, so it is nice and toasty when I’m done. A couple days ago, about 45 minutes into the swim, I smelled one of the neighbors burning trash, which is like a hobby here. The smoke smell drifted over the walls and hung out on top of the pool. So annoying.

Then when I finished my hour, I went into the sauna only to discover that it was filled with smoke. Great! I’m going to burn the owner’s sauna down. I turned it off, then got my wife. Of course. She’s the voice of reason. She’ll help me figure out what the hell I did.

Well, it was nothing I did. Somehow a piece of wood got stuck in the hot rocks that heat up the sauna. It was glowing red, about to “flame on.” So I tossed a bunch of water all over it and the rocks, until I was able to take the wood out. Yep, black as charcoal on one side.

I left the doors open, and today the sauna was perfect. Oh how I’m going to miss this place when we leave.

Swimming in place

My winterized outdoor pool
My winterized outdoor pool

Remember this? This was my pool during the Kyrgyz winter. This is what I paid…what? $20 for? If you don’t remember, I’ll tell you. Those are empty soda bottles, filled with a few rocks each, strung along the diagonal of my little 12m-long pool. Theory being that when the ice expands, the bottles squish, taking up the space, thus saving tiles from breaking.

Well, now the pool is full of something else entirely, but still filled with a bunch of empty space.

Swimming treadmill
Swimming treadmill

Yep, that’s yours truly, enjoying the benefits of the Aqua Sphere Stationary Swimmer. I bought this thing last year, but never got to use it. It takes a bit of practice, and if you’re drowning-phobic like me (don’t ask me about lifeguard training when I was 15…eek!), the fact you can’t stand up with these things on…well, that kinda freaked me out at first. But thankfully I learned how to extricate myself from the straps quickly.

I have mine wrapped around the pool fence, which as you can see gives me plenty of space so I can swim without hitting my toes on the wall. When I first tried them out (in a 63F pool…brrr), I had a constant feeling of swimming against current, so I unconsciously put on the gas and got wore out quite quickly. My shoulders and triceps the next day were feeling it. The second day I decided to just take it easy, spend 30 minutes swimming at a nice slow pace, and it was much better. In fact, the biggest problem I have is keeping on a straight line.

I’ll notice after a while that I’m getting closer to one of the walls, despite winding the straps through the middle of the fence. So then I try to correct myself, and that for some reason is just such a pain in the butt, and really pretty difficult. In fact, at some points, it feels like my upper half is swimming higher in the water than if I wasn’t strapped in.

So, I’m still learning how to use these things. But I’m happy. I can swim! I’ve even managed to do “workouts” while strapped in. For instance, today I swam for 40 minutes (still working back up to my hour+), and decided that starting with song #3 I’d swim bilateral every odd song. (Oh, didn’t I mention? I’m swimming with my Finis Neptune.) It was a good workout, since I’m a shit bilateral breather. And in this tiny pool, I get pretty rowdy waves going, and I suck at breathing to the left, so it is a real challenge for me. And it minimizes the boredom of swimming in place.

I’ve also discovered that if I stop swimming, and angle my toes down, that’ll shoot me backwards into the wall. Then when I hit the wall, I can push off and really swim hard, like I’m doing intervals. I might try this more once I get my lungs back.

Look at that view!
Look at that view!

Announcing the World Release of Iron Mike’s Dry Land Swimming Program

A select few of you dear reader(s) know what I’ve been working on the past year or so. To you all, I thank you for maintaining the secret. I knew you were the ones to trust. And without further ado, let’s get on with the announcement!

Today I am pleased to announce the world release of Iron Mike’s Dry Land Swimming Program(), also known as IMDLSP! IMDLSP is an innovative program to improve your open water swimming performance when you don’t have access to a traditional swimming area. Stuck in a land-locked country with unclean water? IMDLSP! Deployed to the Middle East and stuck in your forward-operating base? IMDLSP-Fobbit version! Just too tired to leave the house? IMDLSP with Equipment!

For too long, swimmers were stuck to certain geographical areas of the world, slaves to the elements. IMDLSP opens up the world to swimmers. No longer will you be stuck to living in over-priced beach-side villas, or in the ‘burbs with the accompanying pool and recreation center. No longer do you have to worry about others swimming in your lane (unless you want…more on this aspect of IMDLSP in a moment)! No longer will annoying kids or noodling grandmas take over the only swim lane in  your crappy little 20 yard neighborhood pool. You have been set free! Sure you could just do dry land training, but how many of us have dumbbells lying around?

IMDLSP‘s key is its use in any location. All you need is a DVD player or computer and about two square meters of space. And after you’ve used the DVD program a few times, you don’t even need the disc! (But we’ll give you reasons why you’ll want to keep the DVD for future practices; see below.) The DVD is the basic component of the program, but we here at Iron Mike Products have options in case you want to advance your open water swimming to the next level! But first, let’s talk about the DVD.

The DVD is region-free, meaning anyone, anywhere can use the IMDLSP! Here’s a look at the chapters in the DVD:

  • Introduction
  • Improve your freestyle for open water!
  • The start
  • Swimming in groups
  • Feeding and nutrition
  • Mistakes to avoid

But I’m sure you want to see what you’ll get for your money! So here are some actual screenshots from the DVD.

Screenshot from the chapter Improve your freestyle
Screenshot from the chapter Improve your freestyle
group1
Screenshot from chapter on Swimming in groups

 

Screenshot from chapter on Feeding
Screenshot from chapter on Feeding
Bonus! Chapter on unique problems in long open water swims, like changing out of your wetsuit
Bonus! Chapter on unique problems in long open water swims, like changing out of your wetsuit

How about that, right?!  Wow! You probably want to order the IMDLSP now, but wait, don’t rush to the bottom of this post. There’s more!

If you act right now (the computer knows when you’ve gotten to this point, so you have only 10 seconds to comply), we’ll throw in one dry land swimming table like you see in the screenshots!

So, to review: You are getting a DVD complete with open water training that can be completed anywhere, anytime! But there’s more. Included in the IMDLSP is one throw, knitted by my grandma, just like in the screenshots.*

And I didn’t want to mention this yet, but I will. Very soon IMDLSP 2 will be available! For the real crazy open water swimmers out there. If you’re planning a 24+ hour-long open water swim, you’ll need to consider things like logistics, advanced feeding, extended exposure to salt water, social media, compiling a team of sycophants, acting, dealing with the media, and turning your swim into an off-Broadway play.

Here’s the best part. Buyers of IMDLSP will get first notice of the release of IMDLSP 2 as well as a 10% coupon! You cannot beat that deal!

So, hesitate no longer! Call today:  +996 01 555 7IM DLSP. Have your credit card ready (we only take Diner’s Card). We’ll tell you the price when you call. Don’t worry, you can claim the expense as part of your crew costs!

*Restrictions apply. Grandma only made one. It may already be sold when you call. Or thrown up on by the cat.

Mr. Garmin’s problem with small pools

I swim at an outdoor pool on Bolling Air Force Base.  The pool is weirdly shaped; not SC or LC. Depending upon which lifeguard you ask, the length is either 30 meters or 35 yards. I walked it, as I know my pace count (5 feet every right foot), and came up with 115 feet, so about 35 meters. But I thought for sure, I should check Mr Garmin. After all, he uses satellites in outer space! He’s gotta know how far a length of my pool is!

Oh, and I also used Google Maps and tools to mensurate* the pool. I came up with 31.5 meters.  bolling pool according to googleSee?! Confusing.

So, Wednesday morning I took the Garmin to the pool and walked the length of the pool. Six meters. That’s how long the little orange monster said my pool is.

bolling pool according to garmin walkingInteresting seeing how I started the Garmin when I started walking from the edge of the pool. Yet, the watch didn’t start recognizing the mensuration until I was a couple of meters into it.

So, obviously, the solution is to put Garmin under my cap, like I do at the lake, and just do 10 laps. I figured from 10 laps I’d get something along the lines of 600 meters. Probably a smidge more than 600. Dear reader(s), do you agree?  Good! I’m glad.

Because you’re WRONG! As was I.

bolling pool according to garminSee my squiggly swimming? If that were in the OW, I’d say Garmin got me down pat. But seeing how I was swimming between two lane lines, I’d say Garmin had a little problem with keeping track of me. Oh! And in case you’re wondering, 0.06 miles is 96.5 meters. That’s more than a smidge different from 600 meters.

So, in the future, I’ll keep Mr Garmin at home, unless I’m going to the lake.

*Fancy word for to measure

First swim with the Garmin

Well, this morning I had my first swim with my Garmin. Long story short: I thought I’d only swum a little over a mile in more than an hour when in fact I swam 4K!

OK, so I finally bought one of these GPS toys. I chose the Garmin Forerunner 310XT due to the rave reviews from people on the marathon swimmers forum and an excellent review by DC Rainmaker. This device is like an over-sized watch that we marathon swimmers will tuck under our swim caps. This allows the unit to have a constant view of the sky; most GPS watches worn on the wrist will lose connection to the satellites during the underwater portion of the swim stroke cycle.

(As an aside, I must mention that today I also conducted an experiment with feed. I drank about 8oz of Perpetuem. No stomach upset, not bonking, although I didn’t expect that from so short of a swim.)

I got the watch, read the weeny little owners manual, and then set off early this morning to try it out. I went to Mason Neck State Park again like last week. Less crowded this time, just me and four kayak-fishermen. I put my goggles on and tucked the Garmin strap under the goggle strap, putting the device on the pate of my head. I covered this carefully with my red swim cap, colorful enough for boaters to see me. The tide was in, and the lake a bit colder than last week, but certainly in the 70s. It was harder to see the bottom so walking out past the forest of underwater vines and trees was a bit more difficult. Once I got to where I thought the forest ended, I pressed the start button and headed off.

I wasn’t completely through the foliage. I had to untangle myself and my watch a couple times, but within about 30 seconds I was in clear water and headed out across the lake. I had set the watch up to beep at me every 500m, so I was looking forward to a beep at a very conservative 10:00. I swam easily, loosening up my shoulders. I got closer and closer to the far bank. I got closer. Still no beep. I started to wonder. I stopped quickly to look at my watch. 15 minutes had passed. Surely I’m not that slow. That’s only 2K per hour. Not too impressive, Mike.

I just put my head down and swam. I most have screwed up the Auto-Lap function on the Garmin. Certainly. I got as close to the far bank as I wanted and then took a left and started heading toward a very clear tip of land, something very easy to see with a quick look. I needed to work on navigation anyway, so I concentrated on barely raising my head up, instead looking down the lake a la alligator. (You can see on my map below, the long NNE-SSW stretch, pretty darn straight!) About 10 minutes into that leg of the swim, the Garmin shook and made noise like it was about to explode. (“Your mission, IronMike, should you choose to accept it…”) Oh crap. Seriously? Only 500m! I must have been swimming something like 40 minutes by that point and I’ve only done half a K? Maybe I messed up. Wasn’t the default auto-lap half a mile? Even so, half a mile in 40 minutes? What the hell is my problem?

Oh well, just put my head down and swim. I’m a loser. North Dakota is going to kill me. Swim I did, trying to figure out why I was so slow. Things I’d swum away from got increasingly smaller. Certainly, I’m swimming more than 10 laps of a short pool every half hour! I guess this is why I’ve got this thing tucked under my cap. I can deconstruct it when I get home. I turned for the final leg back. A bit into that leg the damn machine started its shaking and fussing again. Holy crap, I’m a slow swimmer.

I pulled up to the forest, avoiding some fishermen on the way in. When I got to the tangling vines, I stood up. The fishermen looked at me and asked, “Where’d you swim from?” I gave them the route I did. They wanted to know how far I’d swum, so I pulled the Garmin out, pressed Stop, and looky looky! 3.98KM! I am not a loser! I can swim!  1:19.56 is right about my typical 20:00 per K. This includes me stopping more than I should, wondering what the hell is wrong with me. As you can see below, I was only in movement for 1:09, so not too bad for just about 4K!

9Jun13 mason neckNot too shabby I think. Tomorrow, if the weather holds, I will try and go out for a two-hour swim.