Fullerton SCY Meet This Weekend! Get Registered!

We’ve got a meet at the Janet Evans Swim Complex coming up this weekend, I got myself registered today. I’m planning on swimming the 100 free/fly and the 50 free/fly. I think I swam the same events here last year so it will be a good comparison of times year over year. The one thing I don’t like about this pool is that it’s really shallow. If you dive deep like I do off your starts, start wrapping your mind around flatter starts for the weekend now!

If you want to preregister online you can do that here until Friday night. Deck entry is available but it’s going to cost you an extra $10.

I’m extra excited about this weekend because I’m going to make a mini vacation out of it! I’m staying in Irvine from Friday night until the meet. As an added bonus, Saturday afternoon I’m planning to get in the ocean with my friend Lynn and hopefully a few other folks will come join us!

February 16, 2010 | No Comments »

Why Can’t We Have Swimming in the Winter Olympics Too?

Bit Nippy - Winter Swimming at Hou Hai Lake

So I was watching the Winter Games last night and noticed that you get both Short Track and Long Track Speed Skating… it got me thinking… why not bring short course swimming to the Olympics?

I realize this idea may not be a hit with some people, but let’s think this out a little bit.

  • Swimming is one of the biggest Olympic sports and produces some of the biggest Olympic stars (Phelps and Spitz anybody?)
  • International Swimming comes in 2 flavors, Long Course Meters and Short Course Meters… although both courses involve the same strokes and distances they are very different and different swimmers are better in LCM and SCM
  • Swimming is a year round sport, hooray indoor pools
  • The Olympics make more money… the swim stars become more bankable because we see them every 2 years and let’s not forget this “movement” is really a business

Now I’m sure the biggest complaint would be there’s already too much swimming in the Olympics, it would be absurd to double up the events in the Summer Games! To which I would say yes, there is too much swimming in summer and that’s why short course swimming runs during the Winter Games.

Admittedly it’s a pretty radical idea considering we can’t even get 50m stroke races into the games, but personally I love the idea… I may be slightly biased towards swimming however! I realize this is highly unlikely but you have to admit it would be an interesting change, fantastic for the sport of swimming, and it would bring more countries into the mix for the Winter Games. If nothing else at least give me Summer Biathlon with open water and rifles :)

February 14, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Review: Pentax Optio W80 Waterproof Camera

I got the Pentax Optio W80 as a Christmas present and it took me a while to actually get it wet. I was kind of nervous that it wouldn’t work, generally electronics and water don’t go together so well. Once I got it into the pool I had to bring it everywhere with me… it’s so cool! I had picked out this particular camera thanks to a recommendation Glenn Mills from GoSwim had made in an interview I did with him last year. The W80 is a really easy camera to use, takes pretty decent pictures, and I would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a waterproof camera for personal use… if you’re a pro photo type I don’t think it’s going to cut it for you in the picture quality department.
According to Pentax the W80 is waterproof, shockproof, dustproof and cold proof. I’ve only tested 2 of those personally. Mine has spent plenty of time underwater and has been tossed around in my swim bag a lot. Technically it’s a 12 megapixel camera and takes really big pictures. When you get up close in detail they aren’t super sharp, but again for a regular person not a big deal. By virtue of being totally waterproof there is only optical zoom on this camera so zooming in from far away isn’t going to lead to great pictures.
I think the camera’s strong suit is underwater pictures and movies while the sun’s up. It takes gorgeous pictures while submerged in the sunshine. It’s functional in the dark but the picture quality isn’t going to be as good. The video works in the dark too, but it gets very grainy when you’re working with low light situations. While we’re talking video, the sound on the camera isn’t so hot. It works, but it’s not impressive. Another thing I’ve noticed is that sometimes it has a hard time focusing in video when the subject isn’t obvious. I’ve done some videos where I leave the camera in a stationary spot and swim past it. I think the camera ends up not focusing on anything because it can’t pick anything to focus on.
The camera retails for about $250 but you can find it on sale out in the internetz for closer to $180. My next project is to figure out how to tether this camera to me while swimming so that I can bring it into the ocean with me!
I’ve included a bunch of pictures and video that I’ve taken over the last few weeks in different situations to give you an idea of what this camera is capable of. To see full size pictures click on them to open them up.

no sun, poor focus

Submerged in full sunshine

Above water close to subject in full sunshine

Landscape during daytime

underwater in the dark with flash

outside in the dark

**UPDATE: After 9 months of incredibly heavy use… like probably 150 miles underwater with me… I finally killed this camera. The buttons broke down and I couldn’t use it anymore although the screen still worked. I’ve since replaced it with another camera that I don’t like nearly as much. My next camera after that is most likely going to be another Pentax Optio.

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The Zone… I Can’t Find it

Today was one of those days where I just couldn’t find my rhythm… I ground out 2000m but it didn’t feel so hot. I’m glad I got in the pool but it wasn’t a workout to write home about.

In more exciting news… I found a new open water swim that might get added to my summer schedule that intrigues me and scares the hell out of me at the same time. On June 5th there’s a swim from Aquatic Park in San Francisco around Alcatraz and back. I’ve always wanted to do an Alcatraz swim… why not do the hard core version right? If I can do this then it means back in the day I could have broken into and out of one of the most notorious prisons in the world :) I’m still thinking about it since it’s a hard swim and it’s like $385 to register. I’m thinking it might be a good birthday present to myself, I turn 29 on the 4th so I might as well commemorate it with something ridiculous like a 3.25 mile rough water cruise of the San Francisco Bay! If you want more info on the swim you can get it at WaterWorldSwim.com. If you have any personal experience with the swim please share in the comments!

I’m going to spend the rest of my evening soaking in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. For the most part the Winter Games don’t really push my buttons, but I always liked speed skating. I grew up in Milwaukee and there was an elite speed skating scene there. I always wanted to try it but it never happened… I figure once tech suits are banned from masters completely I can sell my old B70′s to a fat speed skater :) ha! ok… back to the games…

February 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Brave New Swim Blog World

Well it’s finally here! With a whole bunch of help from Steve at Serk the blog has been migrated to a new platform and a new host. A big thank you goes out to him for working with me on this, I highly recommend him! There may be some bugs left over by virtue of the site being between hosts, but all that should clear up shortly! I’m stoked to have it all done… I’ve been very apprehensive about having my blog under the knife, as it were. Hopefully you guys dig the slightly new look and the much improved functionality!

Today I went and burned off some of my nervous energy at the pool in Santa Maria. It was a really nice day out and there were 4 of us in the water doing the workout. It wasn’t a very intense workout, but it was solid and just what I needed.

800 mixer
8 x 100 kick w/ fins @ 2:00
400 pull
8 x 50 odds free, evens stroke descending @ :55
6 x 100 free IM @ 1:45

3000 yards total

Today I tooks some pictures for you! Check it out!

February 12, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Displaced to the Shallow End

Today it was total pandemonium down around the aquatic center in Santa Maria. There was a high school girls water polo tournament of some sort going on, plus there was something major going on over at the DMV across the street. I had to circle the block a few times just to find somewhere to park the truck. Once I got inside the building there was some sort of conference going on in the meeting area too!

Only one of my training buddies was at the pool today, at least one other drove in but gave up on the whole parking situation. We were relegated to the shallow end of the pool which was kind of weird, I’ve never been down there before. We made up our workout on the spot and cruised it at a moderate pace.

2 x 200 swim
8 x 50 kick

Repeat x 4
25
50
75
100

200 swim

2000 yards total

The site is still embroiled in a major overhaul. Some of you noticed an outage in the middle of the day which has since been fixed. We’ve got some issues with the web host that we’re trying to get fixed and hopefully everything will get ironed out by tomorrow! The version I’ve been playing with is pretty cool… now I just need to get it out into the world!

In the meantime… random pictures!

February 9, 2010 | No Comments »

Big Changes are Afoot on RobAquatics!

Thanks to some changes in Blogger I have to make some technical adjustments to the website. I’m moving the whole thing over to WordPress. Despite stressing me out, I think this is going to be a good thing… once it’s all done!

Tonight I went to swim at Kennedy in SLO to blow some steam off and hopefully catch up to the dude who passed me on GTD this weekend. I swam 4100 long course meters.

500 free, 200 kick
700 free, 200 kick
900 free, 200 kick
700 free, 200 kick
500 free

4100m

My mom has been clearing out some storage and brought me a picture that I used to have up in my room when I was in high school. I’m stoked… Beavis & Butthead in swim gear, what could be better right? :)

Beavis and Butthead Swim Poster

Rediscovered this and put it back up on the wall!

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Sure… Now it Stops Raining

After risking life and limb to spend hours outside in the rain at a swim meet I wake up to a clear dry day… naturally. After going out for a late breakfast and floating around town for a bit I made my way to the SLO Kennedy to get in a bit of a recovery swim. I made sure to time it to the Super Bowl so as to not have so many people around. The gym was a ghost town and there were twice as many lanes than people in the pool.

My swim was only 2000m… I just wanted to stretch out my muscles from yesterday’s meet and make sure I kept adding to my Go the Distance totals. Somebody passed me in my age group and I need to catch back up!

200 swim
200 kick
200 pull

2 x 500 swim

200 IM
200 swim

2000 meters total

February 8, 2010 | No Comments »

2010 Rose Bowl Masters Meet Wrap Up

Results for the meet are available here!


there was no shortage of water at the Rose Bowl today!

I was down in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Masters meet and it’s fair to say that there was a little bit of rain today! Oh man! The drive down from Thousand Oaks was pretty treacherous and there was a lot of standing water on the freeways. Unfortunately the mix of the rain and the roads discouraged a lot of people from showing up today. We still had a decent number of swimmers floating around considering the circumstances, but there were a lot that must have just hit snooze and slept through their morning instead.

The first order of business was finding shelter on the pool deck. The meet hosts had plenty of pop up tents out that you could hide under, there were also heaters on deck and the always popular hot tub was in full effect. There were 3 of us from CVMM today at the meet and we piled up under a pop up on the side of the pool, we had a great view of all the action and we actually stayed kinda sorta dry.

My first event of the day was the 500 free. I’m yet to have done this event as an adult so it was a bit of a learning experience. It all actually went pretty well. I didn’t feel so hot in the middle but my splits were pretty consistent once you throw out that first 100. I was seeded right next to Ahelee who is one of my coaches and I held her off for the first 250 but she pulled ahead of me around the midway point. I almost caught up at the end of the race, but she beat me by a little bit. We may need to work out a rematch in the near future here :) I finished in 5:44.81 and split it roughly like this – 1:02, 1:10, 1:12, 1:12, 1:08. There’s a lot of room for improvement there, but I’m glad that I can swim it under 6 minutes at least!


swimming the 1000 free

The 1000 free was a first time, possibly ever, for me- I don’t think I even did it as a kid. I was a little apprehensive about the event, but I figured I needed to swim it like the 500… just a touch slower. I started out pretty good and got myself into a solid rhythm, it didn’t hurt that the dude in the next lane was going the exact same pace. Part way through the rain really turned up and I even felt like the wind pushed me across the pool a bit! Just like in the 500 I was really consistent with my splits in the middle of the race. From the 2nd 100 to the 7th 100 I swam between 1:15 and 1:16, the other 3 100′s on the ends were faster than that. I finished at 12:19 which I don’t really know if it’s good or bad, but it came in under my seed time (that I pulled out of my ass) so I’m cool with that.


Me and Ahelee after the 1000, she beat me… again

My last race of the day was the 200 free and I was smoked! The good news is I took 2 seconds off of last years time, the bad news is I gassed out… bad! I went out in :59 and finished with a 2:07, whoops. Up on the blocks I had Bob Strand, who is an all star breaststroker, feigning ignorance when it came to this whole freestyle thing… he assured me I should beat him just fine. I didn’t particularly believe him, but based on my first 100 it seemed like it might happen. He was a little too far behind me which made me suspicious. About 125 yards deep the proverbial piano fell on my back. I’m pretty sure I considered an open turn at the 150 mark! Anyways, Bob caught me… then passed me… I almost caught back up in the last 25 but he got me by .2 seconds. Afterwards he made sure to make fun of me mercilessly and point out that he’s 36 years my senior… he did also go ahead and give me some pro tips on how to handle the 200 so I guess it all evens out :)


me with Bob Strand after he out touched me in the 200 free

The upside to today is that every thing was a best time and they’re all team records (yay brand new team)! A big thank you to Patrick and Helene who counted for me out in the pouring rain; I can hardly count up to a 200 in SCY so your services were highly appreciated! Also thanks to Becky and Ahelee who took some pictures for me today!


more of the 1000, check out that rain!



Done with the 1000


me and James from Kennedy in SLO


Becky from CVMM launching off the blocks!


best part of the meet, hot tub!

For more pictures check out the Rob Aquatics Facebook Page

February 7, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Friday Night in the Rain with CVMM

Got out of work a little bit early today to get to Thousand Oaks in time to get in a quick workout before my meet tomorrow. I was still a bit sore from that workout in Santa Maria yesterday so I needed to get wet and stretch it out today. I decided to do the majority of the workout but I did skip about half of the 50′s towards the end, I didn’t want to over do it.

200 swim
200 kick/swim
200 drill

4 x 50 @:50 descending

32 x 25 IM order @ :30

8 x 50 @ 1:15 alternating slow/fast by 50 (16 for eveyone else… I have a meet tomorrow)

8 x 25 warm down

2200 yards total

If you want to see parts of the Rose Bowl meet tomorrow check out the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center’s web cam, it updates every minute. Not exactly live streaming but it’ll do! There’s also a site to follow along with splits and things like that as they happen over here. Bear in mind that this is in beta and may not be perfect just yet!

Here’s a couple of pictures from tonight! I have some video too but you’ll have to wait for that… I’m crashing at my coach’s place tonight and I didn’t bring my laptop to edit it.

February 6, 2010 | 2 Comments »
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