Ken's Road to Kona

Location: Daytona Beach, Florida

I flew back to my home state to visit family for the weekend. Seems like whenever I have a long scheduled workout on a weekend something always comes up…such as family. It was actually a celebratory event as my mother was getting ordained as a pastor in the Methodist Church.

Ok, for all those who don’t live in Florida, here’s something you might know: Florida is HOT. Just walking down the street you perspire like crazy. Another thing about Florida which you might not have known: there are pools everywhere. I figured since I was going to be in town for a few days I would seek out a pool, and maybe even a swim coach.

I went to swimmersguide.com and found that the Daytona Beach Community College pool was less than 1 mile away. I picked up the phone and called them to inquire about their hours and a swimming lesson. After speaking with the coach about my triathlon swimming woes she agreed to meet with me for two lessons that weekend.

The things I learned:

While most people have head level issues, they tend to be because their head level is too high. However in my case, my head level was too low. Since I taught myself how to swim out of a book, I had learned that you should be looking directly down at the line; which to me meant that your chin should be touching your clavicle. Apparently, this is wrong. She used this torture device that was a snorkel-type of thing which only lets you breathe if your head is at the correct head level.

When my head level was fixed, all sorts of other things started happen. I could breathe easier on my left side without a problem even though I was still uncomfortable. I felt I had more effectiveness in my kick, and for the first time, I actually felt a certain kinetic range of movements that all connected with each other.

The first workout we mostly did drill work and also doing 50 yds on the minute with using technique in order to go faster. Lots of reaching drills, head position drills, and so forth. I performed a time trial of 500 meters at the end of the workout. Usually it takes me a little over/under or over 10 minutes. I did 8 min 32 seconds.

The next day, I did the time trial first thing when I jumped in the pool and swam a 9:08. I definitely hit it too hard in the beginning of that set. I then did a 1000m piece where I coasted for 500 and then went race pace for 500 just to teach me about shifting to a different “gear”; 21 minutes.

I know these aren’t Michael Phelps times, but for me, these were drastic improvements which actually has me excited going to the pool this week. The fact that I can go under 20 for 1000 meters and under 30 min for a 1500 meters, makes me believe I could go under 1:20 for Ironman UK. To think, I might actually get to T1 with a lot more bikes present.

So if you happen to be Daytona Beach, Florida and you need a pool or a coach please give the Daytona Beach Community College pool a call at (386) 506-4386 and ask for Coach Rebecca Thompson. You can also e-mail her a aquatic@DaytonaState.edu.