Anyhow, prep has been going well. The 5km will be just another good workout, but the change to get fueled by some race excitement. I’ve been doing some solid workouts with 2008 Olympian Colin Jenkins (it’s still cool to say). We have a good time smacking each other around on the waddling dog. He got attacked by a bee last time around, which was funny (for me).
Other than that, lots of swims in the lake. I love swimming in the open water. It’s hard, and I get my ass handed to me a lot. A LOT. But it’s still fun. I feel like I’m swimming better in the open water as a general trend, which is nice. Still in the wetsuits as it hasn’t warmed up a ton, but it’s start to get warmer tomorrow. But I don’t know that I’ll get to swim no wetsuit open water before LTF. Swimming in the pool is good. Colin made me lead the lane. Coach Joel has been on me more about technique lately. I don’t have the swim background of the rest of the crew, so Joel has been working his magic, making sure I don’t get short, which is the killer for me stroke. I shorten up the back end, then shorten the front, and then the wheels fall off. It helps to swim next to someone with a good long stroke, so if I can stay next to someone, I try to match their stroke length. Forces me to stick to my rotation and long glide. Then I just focus on holding on through the back end.
Running has been going well. Smashed two loops of Elk Lake, which then smashed me back for the rest of the weekend. But I seem to have bounced back nicely. I’ve ben trying some new shoes that Mr. Q gave me, and I like them a lot. Not sure which I’ll choose for the races. It’s between the Saucony A2 and the Nike Katana Rac3r (as in Racer 3, which I think is clever).
Regular icing in the evening. Brrr. But it’s good for you. Had a massage earlier in the week, which was also awesome. Some ART on the lats tonight to help with that swimming. Keep those loose to make sure I can get my length.
So that’s the typical flow around here. I fill the rest of the day yelling at Colin, interwebbing (yes, that is a word), sleeping, and fiddling with my bikes. Yes, sameness is good.
Eat. Sleep. Train. Swim. Bike. Run. Repeat…
Jordan Rapp 
Great post. What is ‘ART’ the lats mean to keep your swim stroke long?Thanks and good luck.-k
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Hi!I’d really like your opinion on the difference between the Katana Racer and the A2. I use the Katana’s for all distances up to Marathon. But I didn’t like them for hot weather racing (Hawaii) as they held onto a lot of water. How do the A2’s compare? I can’t find a local retailer with them. San Diego go figure. I’m hoping they are similar but handle water management better. (ALA Zoot, but with a lower heel height). thanks!
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@AnonymousART = Active Release Therapy. Think of it as REALLY deep tissue massage. A google search will give you a lot more info. But basically it’s a form of very specific, very localized soft tissue therapy. So the idea is to “actively” (as in through manual force) “release” (break up adhesions in the muscle) muscle/fascia/etc.
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@PaulI’m always a bit confused by this question, since where is all this water coming from that you need to drain. The A2 has a lot of holes that run the full length of the sole (and the insole is perforated as well), but the Katana Rac3r has a ton of holes on the upper, so I can’t see how water would pool. Both shoes have relatively minimalist uppers, so I don’t see that either of them would hold a lot of water. The upper on the KR3 is different than on the KR or KR2. So you might like it a lot better. I can’t imagine that the A2 would be a lot better than the KR for hot weather, but then again, both shoes seem like they’d be ideal for hot weather racing. If you like the KR, check out the new KR3. You can also probably find the A2 from somewhere like Zappos that has free shipping and easy returns. Then again, finding good shoes is always a worthwhile pursuit, so I certainly like the A2s enough that I’d recommend trying them.
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