11 weeks to go and a miracle fix

Race Report from Jack's Generic is coming soon. For now here are the last three days of workouts and news.
   I have 11 weeks to go until my 1/2 Ironman race. October 17th is the target date. All of the hard work leading up till now for the last 7 months was just preparation for the final 11 weeks. Everything is going to get harder and workouts are going to go longer and longer. But don't worry, I can do this and I have help.
  Monday was a 5 mile run with Oskar around Town Lake. I am going to start to ramp up all of my workouts especially the runs. I don't necessarily have a weak sport in the triathlon. I am pretty good at all three. My running is just not where I want it to be. I came into this with a pretty solid running background and have been resting on my laurels as far as the run is concerned. So more and more difficult is going to be the key.
  After the run I met my friend/swim coach/body fixer at Mabel Davis for some swimming. Before we got into the pool however he had a fix for me. Let me now give you a little background on my friend Barton. He is a licensed massage therapist who specializes in working on athletes. I believe he is en route to becoming a full fledged physical therapist as well. He grew up a swimmer and he also coached a swim team for a while. Swimming is 90 percent technique and you have to have somebody evaluate your stroke who can help you make adjustments. I believe Bartons professional training mixed with his swimming background gives him a very unique perspective in analyzing and critiquing my swim stroke. He knows of specific muscles and what they do and how they relate to why I swim a particular way. Some of it can be corrected through sheer will and repitition on my part but sometimes I need a little extra help. Enter Kinesiotaping:

 To fix a reoccurring problem I have had with my stroke he put this hot pink tape on my back. I have seen athletes on TV wearing it and didn't know what it was. Now I know and I know that it works. It works really really well in fact. Basically, these two strips of tape inhibit the muscles from firing. This in turn allows my hips to relax and for my swimming it allows them to float to the surface and not drag the lower half of my body underwater. The effect of the tape is almost instantaneous. I was a little skeptical at first but when I got into the pool I could feel the difference immediately. My stroke was so much more effortless. I didn't half to drag my legs through the water. I got the kickboard out and my kick alone felt 200 percent better. The tape lasts for 3-5 days and I think once it comes off the effect will last. I am teaching my muscles to fire and act in a way. I am correcting 34 years of bad posture and muscle over and under development. The tape can be used for a variety of fixes for athletes and non athletes alike. If you are interested and live in the austin area go to Barton's facebook page and get in touch with him. For now there doesn't seem to be any Kinesio taping cure for Oskar and his antics but I am hoping.
   Tuesday I met Mark at his house out near Bee Cave's road and 360 for some hill repeats. We biked on 360 down to the bridge over Lake Austin and turned around to climb back uphill at the boat docks. These were repeats so we went uphill and back down for a total of 4 repeats. These were good quality climbs that I could stay in the saddle and I felt in control. After the repeats we rode back to his house and this included 2 more massive hills bigger and meaner than the ones we did the repeats on. I could feel it in my legs for sure. I went home, cleaned up took a nap and the headed out for a swim at Barton Springs. I jumped in and swam a mile without any breaks. I felt like I could go double the distance. I did it in 38 minutes which is a good 4 or 5 minutes faster than I have ever done it before. It also felt effortless. I wasn't tired or out of breath when I finished. Score a few more points in the Kinesio Tape column.
  Today I got up, loaded the bike in the blazer and headed out to Zilker for a brick workout. I parked at Barton Springs and rode a hard 12 mile loop out Lake Austin Blvd., up and around Scenic and Pecos, up Mt Bonnell, down Balcones, and back over Exposition to Lake Austin Blvd. and then to my car. I locked my bike down quickly and headed out for a fast hot 4 miles around Town Lake. My run pace for the 4 miles was about 8 minute miles. If I can hold that pace for my next race then I will be really stoked. I finished my run with a cold water dip into Barking Springs sans Oskar. I got home and showered as fast as I could so he couldn't smell all the fun I just had.
  Go check out Barton on facebook and see if Kinesio Taping might help you out. Trust me. Race report coming tomorrow. For now read my friend Tanner's race report. He is kicking ass in his races. I am glad I am not in his age group.