I paid that much for one of these, and I use it a ton, and I still think it’s a rip off. I wanted a water running buddy, but couldn’t bring myself to recommend an overpriced piece of custom-cut foam, so I got a little creative.

I used to do my water running without a belt, but I’m convinced that it is a less productive exercise that way. Sure, it’s much harder to water run without floatation, but the extra effort goes into downward thrusts, which really don’t simulate running as much as marching. With a belt you can still go just as hard, but you have to think about it, and you can really focus on form (like front to back movement and a high recovery.

Belt or no belt, however, water running is among the most boring forms of exercise. It’s great cross training, and wonderful for muscle balance and as a supplement to running or for injury rehab – but it’s slow, wet and lonely. Which is why I needed a second belt: to commiserate.

Courtenay has begun water running because it’s 100 degrees in Seattle and nobody has A//C here. She has been going alone in the afternoons because we only have one belt. Until today anyway. I made myself a new water running belt for next to nothing. Here’s how:

Step 1: get one of those awful lifejackets they made you wear in summer camp. They’re super cheap at any boating store, and the cheaper the better.

 

Step 2: cut the seam along the top of the jacket and pull out the foam from the head support.

 

Step 3: pull the strap out of the loop on the non-clipping side.

 

Step 4: sew or safety pin the two chest pieces together fairly close. Your making one linear piece (see picture) you want the foam to wrap around your hips, but have most of the floatation in the back.

 

 

Step 5: run the nylon strap through a safety pin in the back, and another one near what is now the front right of  the belt (used to be the bottom left). This is to keep the strap straight.

Step 6: put it on, adjust the strap so it feels a little “too” tight, then go (water) run.

I like the feel better than the $50 version. With the blue one I feel like I’m going to topple over backwards if I go too hard or really accentuate my stride. When that happens I tend to bend at the waist, which is horrible technique. I’ve adjusted this belt to lift more in the back, forcing me to use good powerful strides to stay upright.

Visiting Spencer Chiropractic has become among the most anticipated parts of my schedule, which already has an abundance of fun and interesting activities.  (Bear with me on this jarring subject transition). Today I swam the 100m butterfly at a pool in Federal Way, Washington (where Phil Spencer lives). Brian Davis was also swimming it, and this would be the long awaited final showdown of Ben vs. Brian in the 100 butterfly. The first duel, of course, was at the Seattle Open, where I was still doing one-legged flip turns to protect my tender hip. At the first wall I had a small lead, but in the second half Brian was able to pull me back and put a full second on me at the finish. This time, I swore, would be different.

The meet today was prelims and finals, and between sessions Brian and I two different  preparatory tactics. I went to Panera Bread and ate, then went to hang out with Phil, and finished off with an adjustment – including something called something like the “cervical awakening”. My neck cracked so loud I thought I might be dead, but instead I went from my morning feeling of sluggish and moody to feeling good, even hyper!

Courtenay doesn’t like it when I get hyper. Like during the tour when I’m talking nonsense and distracting her from watching Thor and Bradley in their sexy pants.

I got back to the pool and did a nice 1000 warm-up, went over to Issaquah Swim Team’s area and talked a decent amount of shit to Brian and his teammates, then headed back to Cascade Swim Club’s area to motivate my team. (did I mention the 100 fly was part of the 400 medley relay?) Brian’s relay had a combined age of 85, which is ancient in the world of age group swimming. My team, however, edged them out by two years at 87 (26, 25, 20, and 16). Plus, we had a guy named Thor doing the backstroke.

Phil and Courtenay were sitting in the stands making fun of people’s lack of fashion sense. She was anyway, I figure Phil probably just responded with a nervous laugh to try to hide the fact that he didn’t see anything wrong with walking around the pool deck in a full body Blue Seventy Nero suit with Uggs and mascara.

Let me set the scene for you: It’s 7:45 at night at the Wherehouser King County Aquatic Center, Issaquah Swim team is in the preferred lane four, Cascade in lane one. The sweat is dripping from the caps of the heat favorites from the east side, while the Seattle boys stand calm and ready, fearless of defeat. The fans are relentless in their lack of enthusiasm, and the quiet of the crowd seems eerie – it’s the quiet before the storm. The magnitude of this event weighs down the hearts of the onlookers, grasping them with suffocating anticipation.

The gun sounds and the backstrokers leap from the wall, Issaquah edges away over the first 100m and Cascade starts the breaststroke with a 1-second deficit. On breaststroke it’s a battle between 29 year old Peter and 25 year old Andy, but youth shows its virtues and Andy reels in the Issy boys so Brian dives off a mere three tenths of a second ahead of me. I bury myself into the most powerful butterfly I’ve done since I actually trained for this type of event. At the turn I can see the embodiment of evil still half a body length ahead. I put my whole body into an undulating frenzy of aerial churned cream. My arms begin to tighten, I can feel my stroke shortening, by 75 meters my mind is consumed with visualizations of hitting the pad before my nemesis.

20 meters left – I try kicking harder

10 meters – my shoulders are paralyzed

5 meters – just touch the wall

My timing is perfect, my last stroke is neither too long nor too short. I look at the clock, we are less than a second down – there is no time to think about my split vs. Brian’s, and I cheer for our freestyler, who is holding even with his evil counterpart in lane four.

In the end we were 4:07 something, about 8 tenths behind Issaquah. It was a righteous battle, and hopefully not our last. Brian split a 58 something, and I was a 59 something, meaning our loss was my personal responsibility.  The disgrace has me with no choice but to perform seppuku. Had I worn a Blue Seventy skin suit, I may not have let my team down.

Where to start? I had to go look at my website to remember what I wrote about last time, and it was very disappointing. So I’ll start with the funny stuff. I raced on a relay team with Raise the Bar yesterday at the Seafair Triathlon. I had the fastest bike split, but Chris Tremonte won the regular race, and when he went up to receive his award, the announcer reminded him that, yet again, he didn’t break my course record. It’s good to feel loved, but he’s the one walking away with prize money. Courtenay raced too, and her swimming looks WAY faster (thanks to a few pointful lessons I’ve given her). Then after the race, Courtenay ripped Chris’ towel off while he was changing in the middle of transition. The money should help Chris feel better about being picked on, right?

I’ve been running through Lincoln Park in West Seattle. It’s really beautiful and there are a bunch of trails (well, a couple trails) with good surfaces. There are also day camps for little kids in the park, and a few days ago a little girl told me that a plastic bottle filled with dirt was her “baby” and that “he’s hungry" (As she shoved more dirt down the top). Are all little kids weird like that, or is it just the ones that walk up to sweaty strangers in short shorts?

My dog died. That’s not a funny update, but it’s true. She was 15 years old plus a couple months, was blind, deaf, had heart disease and arthritis, and was a great dog. I didn’t even mind so much when she pooped in my lap last week. I just told her she was a good dog (which she couldn’t hear) and gave her a bath.

The last month my training volume was quite a bit lower than before my leg bone decided it no longer wanted to be quite so attached to the hip bone. Now that I’m back on my feet and getting back into the swing of things, it’s becoming obvious that my fun level will have to decrease in order to make time for the life consuming training regimen that I have chosen as a lifestyle.

For instance, tonight after dinner I decided the wind was perfect for an evening sail with Courtenay. The wind was steady and strong enough to blow us around the lake a few times. Now, however, it’s 9:15 and I still need to stretch, self-massage, and do the rest of my pre-bed routine.

The road to health is sort of like a vacation, only with more productivity. I had a birthday party last Saturday (I turned twenty-something), built a bike for my mom out of the frame that I broke in a Thursday night crit last year (which in the meantime I had a friend “repair”), cleaned two boats, coached a 6 week long triathlon clinic (put on by Seafair and Raise The Bar) and swam in a swim meet. The real time drain is all the physical therapy appointments. I’m going to this guy, Neal O’Neal, who beats the crap out of me in a good way, but he has very few appointment times at his main office in Redmond (fairly close) which forces me to drive to Kent (not close at all). I’m thinking I need to find a PT that can torture me so methodically in a nearby place. Or maybe I need to hire a personal PT to live here with me (wait, isn’t Aaron a PT? Why did I let him move out?)

All in all, I don’t think I lost that much fitness. It will take a couple long rides to get back some of my endurance, but the water running has kept my leg strength up, and I seem to be adjusting quickly to a regular training routine.

Last Thursday and Friday I worked at the Garmin booth in the Rock N Roll Seattle Marathon expo. We sold a lot of the new Garmin Forerunner 310XT watches, which are (in short) a replacement for the Forerunner 305 only way cooler. The new watch is  more comfortable, with a slimmer design, and less hard plastic against your wrist. Courtenay bought one, but it’s not delivered yet. Also:

• ant+ wireless technology lets workouts transfer wirelessly to Garmin Connect when you get close to your computer.
• The battery life is rated for 20 hours (the 305 was only ten)
• It supports wireless power meters, like the Quarq Cinqo.
• Is waterproof and actually swimable (unfortunately the distances have 50-100% error when swimming, and digital signals like HR don’t transmit under water)
• Will ship with a new soft, waterproof chest strap for HR (also works with the old Garmin straps)

There’s also a new non-GPS watch called the Garmin FR60, which is ant+ enabled, waterproof, and has the smallest foot pod on the market. I’ll probably start using this watch for races and track workouts because it’s really light weight and comfortable.

 

At the expo I got a bunch of questions about the Forerunner 405 (still my favorite running computer). Here’s a few of the FAQs:

Q: My battery doesn’t last very long, even though I turn off the GPS antenna. How can I make it last longer?

A: you don’t need to turn off the GPS between workouts. Rather, make sure you stop the workout (hit the stop button, and make sure it’s stopped by resetting the workout), then switch to the clock mode and lock the bezel. When the watch is in standby it shows the time, and will last for a long time without a charge. If, however, the bezel is unlocked, the light can come on by accident (a wet towel will make the light turn on and off continuously until the battery dies). If the watch is in standby and the bezel is locked, the battery will last a while.

Q: How can I keep the watch from going crazy when I get sweaty?

A: the bezel doesn’t like being touched by wet clothes, and wet fingers make it hard to control the bezel. unfortunately, the bezel is what allows the 405 to be smaller than the other watches. The best option is to lock the bezel on the screen you look at most, or set your displays to autoscroll if you want to see multiple display screens.

Q: Can I swim with the 405? The product specs say that it can be in water for up to 30 minutes, so does that mean I can swim for 30 minutes with it?

A: Short answer is no, but I’m not good at being short. I swam with my 405 at races all last year and this year. I coated it with silicone lubricant (spray bottle for electronics), and would put Vaseline around all the places that water was likely to get into the case. It worked really well until the warm-up for Oaklahoma City last month when it filled with water and stopped working. Garmin’s 1-year warrantee is really good about replacing products, but they weren’t too happy when I told them I had ignored their warnings not to swim with the forerunner 405. The watch is meant for running, and it will work in the rain, and if you accidentally wear it in the shower, it’s not a big deal. But save the swimming for the 310xt and FR60.

Q: My wrist is really small, and sometimes the 405 can slip around and hurt, can you fix that?

A: yup. The new Forerunner 405cx comes with a velcro wrist strap that is a lot more comfortable. For people who already have a 405, the strap is available as an accessory from Garmin.com.

Q: I’m from Florida and…

A: Lock the bezel. it won’t fix the fact that you live in hell, but it will keep the watch from flipping out. (It’s only trying to suggest that you move someplace nicer…No offense to my family and friends that live in the humidity capitol of the world – I’m sure your part of Florida is great!).

Today I lost my phone, which coincidentally, was seven days after I told a friend that I “feel way too dependent on my cell phone, especially now that I get email and Facebook on it.” This whole situation is just like that movie The Ring. Only instead of some crazy lady coming out of a TV and killing me.

Also, I cleaned two boats, planned a party, postponed the party because of bad weather, and I started swimming out-doors as often as in-.

Oh, and aqua jogging is far more equipment intensive than one might imagine.

Today is two weeks since my doc told me to be on crutches for two weeks, so I started walking. No pain! So I’m getting back on the horse, and in a few weeks I should be rockin’ out with the big boys again.

It’s also two weeks since I brewed some tea and started it fermenting with the kombucha mother I bought off Craigslist. I bottled about three quarts this morning, and added another gallon of tea to the mother and her new baby (which, due to the large diameter of my tea crock, is about four times the size of its mother).

If you haven’t tried kombucha, it’s available at most health stores for about 4 bucks a pint. Brewing it myself it costs about $2 a gallon (for organic tea). Basically, a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria grows a giant mushroom on top of brewed sweet tea, and it feeds off the caffeine and sugar to make a product that’s almost free of sugar and caffeine. My first batch I used an old bag of Chinese black tea, thinking that it wouldn’t matter if the tea was a little stale; I was wrong. This time I’m using fresh Trader Joe’s Organic Green Tea. The next batch I’m going to start experimenting with adding some herbal flavors, like ginger or raspberry.