Needed Diversion: Crock Pot Indian Lamb and Spinach Curry

I love crock pot meals (despite never being quite as set-it-and-forget-it as advertised) and felt compelled to pull out my machine and try something new. Recent personal developments provided an opportunity to use some cooking as a needed diversion. I've made most other types of ethnic meals to some level of success but never attempted Indian until today. Curry fever is expanding in my life.

Servings: Serves 6–8

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 yellow onions , chopped
• 4 cloves garlic , peeled and minced
• 1 (2-inch) piece of ginger , peeled and grated
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 cups beef broth , preferably high quality
• 3 pounds boneless leg of lamb , cut into 1-inch cubes
• Salt
• 6 cups baby spinach
• 2 cups plain full-fat yogurt

Directions

Note: For an easy mint pilaf to serve with the curry, steam 2 cups basmati rice; just before serving, add about 3 tablespoons minced fresh mint. Fluff mint and rice together with a pair of forks.

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm oil. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. 

Stir in ginger, cumin, cayenne, and turmeric and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

 Pour in broth, raise heat to high, and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom. When broth comes to a boil, remove pan from heat.

Put lamb in a slow cooker, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt.

Add contents of frying pan. Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 4 hours or low-heat setting for 8 hours.

Add baby spinach to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in 1 1/3 cups yogurt.

  Season to taste with salt (like, a lot). Spoon into shallow bowls and serve, passing remaining yogurt to add as a garnish.

Et Voila.

To the curry I also made some rice in the rice cooker with a little bit of butter, olive oil, and fresh-chopped mint. They complimented each other well. The meal was pretty good but lacking something to make it really great. We'll see how the leftover taste and see if I can put my finger on it.

Per Oprah (http://www.oprah.com/food/For-the-Crock-Pot-Indian-Lamb-and-Spinach-Curry)

Restaurant Review: Le Grenier

Upon seeing news of a new French restaurant on H St. NE, I was eager to check it out. Le Grenier, at 502 was a good experience but they may need some tweeks. 

First off, the space is a little shabby-chic and reminded me of Granville Moore's but with more 'artistic' use of picture frames and mirrors. The front door opens into the main dining room and looking straight up, you see all the way the the ceiling rafters. Kind of a cool effect but it's gonna be a bitch to heat this place. 

Our party of four was promptly seated and one of the 'booths' along the wall. It wasn't exactly a booth in that the bench that made the wall-side part of the table was made from an old headboard, another nice touch. However, instead of cushions, pillows are piled up between the table and the headboard which made for a more involved seating than desired. 

We shared a bottle of wine and after a short view of the menu placed an order for escargot. When i think French I think escargot and foie gras so I had to get one of the two. The escargot arrived already shelled and  was seasoned to an overpowering degree.The garlic and pesto flavor stayed on our palate until well into the main course; I would have preferred it be a bit more subtle.

For the main, I ordered the veal roast with barley and got to taste the duck breast with risotto. The veal was tender and juicy and very flavorful. The al dente barley provided a good contrast to the meat and they complimented each other well and certainly fit the season. The duck was succulent but the risotto was a bit rich. The rest of the table ordered the hangar steak and a not-quite bouillabaise that they both enjoyed. 

In addition, the service was excellent. They need to finish building out their website as it states very little and the menu there does not match what was available in the restaurant. I'm certainly willing to give it another go.

Last PT

After 10 weeks of Physical Therapy, the Insurance has run out. They determined that I have gotten back to a functional level of ability. Although I am nowhere near where I was before the surgery, and cannot even try running yet, United Healthcare patted me on the ass and told me to get on out there.

I've come a long way in recovery and that's a good thing. Shira gave me a list of things that I will need to continue to work on in order to continue re-habbing the hip as well as in an attempt to better the mechanics of my legs to try and prevent injury. Here it is:

Hands and knees rocking 20x
Clam shells with band 20-30x
Sideways and backwards diagonal walking 2-3 laps
Single leg Terminal Knee Extensions (TKE) 2x15
Donkey Kicks (not punches) with weight 2x10 - 2x15
3-way step touches 6" step 15x
Hip 4-ways with band 20x
Ball hamstring curl and bridge, front plank knees to chest 2x10
Single leg balance and windmill (opposite side reach and touch) 10x
Straight-leg raises 2x10 - 2x20
Lunges forward and sideways
Adduction walk
Planks - walkout on ball

And once I get the green light from Dr. Parker to commence running, I was given this protocol:
Level 1: .1 mile walk / .1 mile jog; x 10
Level 2: .1 mile walk / .2 mile jog; 2 mile total
Level 3: .1 mile walk / .3 mile jog; 2 mile total
Level 4: .1 mile walk / .4 mile jog; 2 mile total
Level 5: Job full 2 miles
Level 6: Increase workout to 2.5 miles
Level 7: Increase workout to 3 miles
Level 8: Alternate running/jogging every .25 miles

2-day rest between workouts for the first two weeks
No more than 2 levels per week
2 days rest between levels 1,2, and 3
1 day rest between levels 4-8

If sore during warm-up, take 2 days off and drop 1 level
If sore during workout, take 1 day off and drop 1 level
If sore after workout, stay at same level

Recovery Progress Report

5.5 Weeks since surgery and things are looking up.

The first week after surgery, although most painful, also had the most noticeable day-to-day improvement. After that, there has been steady improvement, but barely discernible from a day-to-day standpoint. Here's what Shira has had me doing:

Week 1: Spinning on bike, no resistance, Lay prone 2 hour/s day, Laying heel pulls, Limit sitting at <=90 degrees leg to body angle, Two crutches, Leg in Constant Passive Motion (CPM) for 6 hours/day

Week 2 Allowed to swim with pull buoy, Iso abs flexes, Glut flexs, Quad flexes

Week 3 Same as 2

Week 4 Allowed to water walk, Down to one crutch, Terminal knee extension, Hip extension - unilateral support, Terminal knee extension (standing), Resisted hip abduction (on stomach), Standing abduction, Bent knee fall-outs, Hip int/ext rotators, can do curls and pull-ups but make sure not to kip.

Week 5 No more crutches, One-leg balance, Side-lying hip abduction, Terminal knee extension (standing), Hip extension - unilateral support, Supine terminal knee extension, Strengthening wall slides, Resisted hip abductor, Bridging, clam shells and reverse clam shells

I made it to the pool the day before my appointment to test out my hip while "lightly kicking" and it didn't feel great. I did one lap kicking and the rest with the pull buoy. I guess we'll work up to regular swimming.

Since I have loose and overly flexible joints, her approach has been to limit stretching exercises and focus on strength.She also wants to postpone any hip flexor work because she feels it will likely result in tendinitis.

Yesterday, however, I visited Dr. Parker. He was unable to see me at my initial post-surgical meeting and after meeting him for the 5-week meeting, I wish he had been there.

We reviewed the scope pics from my surgery and I was able to gain a much better understanding of what the  images actually showed. It turns out, I did not have two labral tears, which is good. There was damage to it due to the pinching between my hip and femur which he fixed. It was also interesting to see the scope pics taken after his work was done. He ground my bones down to the point where you can see marrow. Apparently, it takes about 3 months for the hard exterior of the bone to re-grow and that is the majority of the reason for running restrictions (avoiding a stress fracture). He did some strength and flexibility tests and said that I am ahead of schedule. Dr. Parker said I can resume any activities I want to the extent my hip will allow and probably only need another month or so of PT. Finally, he said I could probably try running again after three months instead of four, so that's great news as well. 

Things are good.

Hip Scope

Had my hip scope on 8/28 at Commonwealth  Medical Center in Herndon. Dr. Parker was in there for 2.5 hours and was able to grind out the bone piece that had lodged itself in my labrum, grind down my femoral neck, grind down my acetabula, and repair two labral tears. Not bad for a day's work.

In the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) I remember thinking that I would be able to remember everything and may have for all of two minutes before it faded into obscurity. I was given some Oxycontin prior to the surgery and the staff checked on me repeatedly to ensure they had the right person and correct leg on which to operate.

I got home and slept most of the rest of the day. The day afterward, I actually working for half the day and got to try out my awesome (/sarcasm) Constant Passive Motion machine. I was supposed to spend 6 hours per day in the device that aims to keep my legs moving to inhibit scarring from the surgery. I haven't quite been able to do that.

Day by day, the pain has gone down due, in part, to the local anesthetics that was injected into my leg at the end of the surgery and subsisted there for almost a week after the procedure. Against, Dr.'s orders, I've tried walking without crutches and although there is no pain, it was definitely awkward. The only issue has been one of the suture sites which is pretty sore and has been leaky. During the Post-Op yesterday they looked at it and it is apparently nothing to worry about. I'm only taking anti-infalmmatories now and have stopped the painkillers and never really needed the anti-nausea medication.

Today was my first PT session with Shira Greenburg at Professional Sports and Rehab. She conducted more measurements and gave me my assigned activities for the next week. Butt clinches. Quad flexes. Ab flexes. Laying heal pulls (to work hamstring). Incredibly boring.

Once the sutures healing supports it, I can water walk, swim with a pull buoy, or swim while lightly kicking. At least it's something. I can also do curls and pull-up (no piking) but no push-ups or sit-ups. Still three weeks with crutches and three weeks until I can ride a bike again. I read in the material that it will be 4 months from the surgery before I can run. Suck.

Colorado

Took a brief vacation to Colorado to visit friends Craig and Alison and to watch the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in its second year. Colorado was great!

After leaving the airport Andrea and I met up with them at Pinche Tacos and followed up with a beer at the Vine Street Pub. The next morning we drove out to Aspen, a 4-hour trek through the winding mountain roads. Our arrival time was perfect as we were able to see everything along the race course and visit all the tents prior to a large influx of other spectators. The Women's Crit race was pretty fun but it was great seeing the guys fly down the chute for their Stage 3 finish.

That night, C&A met back up with us for some dinner at Brunelleschi's for some good salad and pizza. Then, we went to Aspen Brewery for some shitty service and limited selection. Thursday morning Craig, Andrea and I (on our nice Giant Avail Carbon frame bikes rented from D&E Ski and Snowboard Shop) got up and started out ride up to Independence Pass from Aspen. The climb was long more than anything, no big climbs to speak of, just constant incline and altitude. I decided I hadn't worked hard enough so I went back down about two miles and did a "charge" back up the mountain. That did it for me and I was coughing and had what felt like a hole in my lungs for a while afterward. The temperature fluctuated wildly depending on the sun/clouds/rain so I bundled up as best I could. We waited and finally the race came through led by the eventual stage winner, Jens Voight of "Shut up, legs!" fame. We hung out in Aspen for the rest of the day and ate at Justice Snow's. Pretty, pretty good. For some brewed digestifs, we ambled in to Zane's Tavern and were greeted with another underwhelming service experience. We did indulge in some hot wings which were quite perfect. Finally, Friday morning we are breakfast at Poppycock's Cafe and ceded our boothed table to none other than Mr. Ken Burns and family.

Then, it was time for some hiking in the mountains. From the outset, we wanted to visit some hot springs and multiple people recommended Conundrum in the Maroon Bells region outside Aspen. We took about 4 hours to hike up and were able to get campsite #10. The highest one in the area but it had a great view and a relatively flat tent area. We dipped into the hot spring for a while and just barely beat a rainstorm we saw come up through the valley. After getting up, enjoying some breakfast and another dip in the hot spring, we headed back down to the car. We cut an hour off the ascent time and started the long drive back. After some deliberation, we decided not to visit fort Collins and instead cleaned up and went to dinner at Cheeky Monk's. Being a Belgian restaurant, naturally, we each had moules and Belgian beer.

The next morning we had coffee and some breakfast at DazBog's in Capital hill neighborhood. Good coffee and a very gay friendly atmosphere but very expensive to buy in bulk (~$!$/lb whole bean) so I declined. We bikeshared to the library downtown and once again checked out the scenery. Shortly before the final stage time trial began, we stopped by the United Healthcare tent and I jumped on the bike and trainer they had set up for, I assume, Training peaks. I blew my load too early and got crushed but then the computer crashed and as we were leaving I told the folks good luck. Apparently, that was the magic word as the guy gave us two tickets to the grandstand. Grandstand access was pretty nice, upgraded bathrooms and a vantage point right on the course 200M from the finish line.

The time trial was actually pretty exciting in that (thankfully) we got a start list and were able to time our breaks and interested depending on who was going out or coming in from the course. Started were staggered by 1:00 and then 2:00. Levi Leipheimer started the stage with a lead but ceded it to Christian Van de Velde and his great time trial.

Overall, great trip. We got to do everything we wanted and I got to be pretty active right before a prolonged period of relative inactivity.

This is either a really bad idea or a slightly dumb idea

In the midst of peer pressure and dozens of DC Tri Clubbers signing up for the inaugural DC Tri full distance triathlon, I have signed up for Lake Placid 2013. Yes, I've been injured all year. Yes, I need hip surgery. Yes, it's a long goddamn event. I know. But maybe it'll force me to recover more quickly because I have to. How's that for some faulty logic?

Aside from that, I finally had my appointment with Dr. Parker. While there, he took another Xray and the 1.6 cm bone piece that was clearly visible on my last Xray was now undetectable. This leaves me to believe that part of my body started healing and basically re-attached itself which doesn't really make me feel good. I also found out that I have not one, but two labral tears in my right hip. Come strong or not at all is what I say.

He also set quite a different expectation of recovery for me. One week using a Constant Passive Motion machine, 4 weeks on crutches and 4-9 months recovery. I asked him about the Ironman possibility and he said it would be tight but we'll give it a go. Date for surgery 8/28/2012. Also, there is a 25% chance I'll need surgery on my right hip as I have FAI there too and "deep sockets" in both hips. Yippee!

Maryland Swim for Life

Since the knee injury, and more recently, the hip injury, I've not really been able to schedule any triathlons not knowing when I'd be able to return to action. Since swimming is significantly less impact, I opted to enroll in the 5-Mile Edition of the Maryland Swim for Life.

The weekend prior I did a 4-mile swim in Wilson Pool and although it was a long time in the pool, it wasn't particularly difficult. The actual swim last Saturday was another beast entirely. The start was delayed by an hour due to storms in the area. This also meant that the 5-Miler would be cancelled and reduced to a 4-mile swim, to my chagrin.

Finally, though, the the kayaks were launched and the first wave entered the water.

Immediately, it was clear that this would be no stroll. The current was strong and it felt like every time I looked up to sight I was a little off course and barely moving forward. Then, around the first buoy at .5 miles, my feet and calves started cramping up. This only ever happens after more than a couple miles and usually only when I push off the wall after a flip turn in the pool. When my feet were cramping I couldn't use my legs at all and resorted to an upper body stroke. When they weren't cramping, I could only muster a very light kick to try and avoid the cramping. Add to that, for some reason my right hip was hurting whenever I kicked. Big suck-fest.

I continued to pick-off turnaround buoys and was excitedly arriving at my turn-around buoy 2 miles out. I reached it and started heading back to shore. And then, after about 5 minutes it happened. The tide started coming in. That hour delay created a hell of a penalty. Sonufabitch. The tide created a nice chop in the water further arresting progress and meaning I would essentially be swimming upstream both directions. My spirit sank a bit but I was resolute to continue.

I grabbed some water from a kayaker in hopes it would alleviate the cramps. It didn't. But I kept going. Little by little and finally reached shore. Garmin results here. Looking at the map, I didn't stray too far from the line but you can definitely see all my small corrections along the way.

I was also warned ahead of time that most of the people doing this swim were members of Masters and other swim teams and I shouldn't expect to come close to the top. Goddamn right. It was my worst performance ever as it relates to a starting wave of which I've been a member. But fuck it, I'm injured.

After finishing, I was completely gassed. It was like a 2+ hour power workout. The next day, I was sore everywhere. Shoulders, abs, lower back, triceps and my right shoulder joint really hurt. I'm sure everything will get better shortly but I may have to reconsider my swim of the English Channel. I'm signed up for the Nation's Triathlon Aquabike but it remains to be seen whether or not I will participate. Maybe I can get on a relay team instead. Shitty swim finishing pictures (oh, and not running and biking adds 10 pounds):

Bring the Pain

Went to see Shira Greenberg at Professional SportsCare & Rehab to check the box on Physical Therpy. She conducted her assessments and didn't see any weakness (naturally) that she could focus exercise on to alleviate my issues. She could give me stuff to do but ultimately, to get back to doing the things I want to do, I would need surgery. Despite that expected outcome I was anxious to start doing more.

So, I was feeling frisky on and June 16, decided to go for a long ride. Things seemed fine, my hip only announced itself a couple times during the ride and Sunday I was slightly sore. Monday however, I was ready to cut off my leg. I couldn't move it in any direction without excruciating pain. I almost cleared my medicine cabinet of analgesics and none were helping. I called my Doctor's office and was met with the unsympathetic response that the Doctor would get back to me when he could but he was busy all day and the one following so it might be a while. Not satisfied with the response, I continued calling until I got a return phone call. Finally, I was able to get a prescription for Relafin, a 750mg anti-inflammatory I was to take twice per day. Unfortunately, I only got the prescription on Wednesday and it took three days to kick in. Naturally, I pressed the Doctor on an MRI and scheduled another appointment.

Fortunately, I was able to get pre-authorization fro the MRI from United Healthcare. I scheduled an arthrogram as part of an MRI at Progressive Radiology. For those that don't know (or didn't want to click the link, lazy ass) an arthrogram includes the injection of a solution containing rare earth metals directly into the hip joint. They use a local anasthetic but it is still uncomfortable as you can feel the needle hitting the bone in the joint. In any event, I had the series of images taken and took a look and it was pretty clear that there was a tear, something mirrored by pretty much everyone that has made an assessment of it.

Back to Ochiai. He reviewed the MRI and original X-Ray and provided me my options.

1. Do Nothing
2. Physical Therapy
3. Hip Arthroscopy
4. Fix/Secure the bone fragment to my hip via screws

Meaning that my only real option is to get my hip scoped. He suggested removal of the 1.66cm bone chip, re-shaping of the acetabula, and repair of the labral tear resulting in 2.5-4 hours of out-patient surgery. Surprisingly, he said the day after surgery I could spin with no resistance but it would take about 3 months to determine if the surgery was successful. "Success" as determined by a noticeable improvement or the ability to say knowing what I know now, would I do it again? The procedure has a 93% success rate, 5-6 percent of failure is attributed to a 'no' answer to the aforementioned question. 1-2% of failure due to infection or other complications. Naturally, I opted for surgery.

I was ready to schedule the procedure ASAP but Back to the drawing board; Ochiai is out of network for me. I contacted the other hip arthroscopy specialist in the area, Dr. Anthony Parker. Due to the dearth of specialists in this area (geographic and medical) the earliest I could get in with him for a consult is 8/10. The waiting game begins anew. I just want to get this done and get better.

Just Wait, It Gets Worse!

Bad news, injured again. It started 5/20 after a short run and a pool workout. During the evening my left hip felt a little out of sorts - like it was misaligned or slightly dislocated. It had been a minor annoyance initially but developed into something that was impacting my ability to sleep at night. The following weekend, I went to Deep Creek Lake and put in some good miles of hills. During that time, there was still some issue but I thought it possible that it was a soft tissue problem that was maybe referring pain to my hip. On 5/31, things seems to have improved a bit and I went for another short run (2-2.25 miles). The following two days were full of immense pain and I considered going to an Urgent Care clinic to have things looked at. I got on the calendar for Dr. Bennett and Dr. Johnson although the earliest they could get me in were 6/12 and 6/22, respectively. During the interim, I loaded up on painkillers and arranged an appointment with Dr. Shrefler at Shrefler Chiropractic on 6/5. For the low, low fee of $198 he performed a 40-minute evaluation of me an determined that there wasn't anything he could do as my pain was not a result of a soft tissue problem. He suspected that I might have a labral tear and would need an MRI and then referred me to a couple hip specialists in the area. I appreciated his admission of an inability to help but things were getting very frustrating.

I was able to get on the schedule for Dr.Ochiai at Nirschl Orthopedic for Monday, 6/11. Then, a weird thing happened. I was out with some friends on Saturday night, 6/9 and got into a cab. Somewhere during the course of the cab ride, my hip pain disappeared. I tested it by running a few times on short bursts and miraculously, no pain. Slept fine and felt 100% through Sunday as well. I still attended my appointment on Monday just to confirm that I could return to training, et. al. After a 1 hour wait, Dr. Ochiai saw me and performed some tests on my flexibility and movement, whether or not I felt pain. nothing showed up. He was about to dismiss me but decided to order an X-Ray just to be sure. I am somewhat suspicious of orders I feel may be necessary but since this issue was so bizarre, I didn't object. I got the film taken and it automatically popped up on the computer screen in the examination room. Naturally, I looked at the issue was immediately clear, there was some irregularity near the ball joint of my left hip. Dr. Ochiai came in and identified the same thing. He wanted a better look focusing on the area in question so I returned to get another X-Ray. Results:

He diagnosed me with femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI) syndrome, with a broken acetabula which has, in all likelihood, torn my labrum. At least I know what it is now.

He suggested an attempt at resolving the issue with physical therapy in an effort to avoid surgery. I agreed to try the PT and after getting a PT script mailed to me, contacted recommended physical therapists via the DC Tri Club. I asked what their experience with FAI is in order to determine the practice I want to go to. The hips was feeling a bit better so on Thursday, I went to Hains Point for some laps with sprints. No harm afterwards so I decided to queue up a long bike ride for Saturday. I went pretty long for my current level of fitness and I barely noticed my hip while on the road. Then, the pain came. Sunday hurt pretty bad, sometimes constantly, other times when moving outside a specific range of motion.

I managed to play through the pain and bought a new city bike after selling my 1960's Sturmey Archer internally geared hub bike. I was vacillating between a Scwhinn off of Amazon, the Fuji Absolute from Big Wheel Bikes or some other option. I was looking for something that was not too expensive due to the possibility that it might be stolen so my original budget was $200-400. Naturally, I settled on a $479 Trek from Revolution Cycles and purchased a $55 set of fenders to go with it. Budget schmudget. I test rode the Fuji Absolute 2.0 at the Big wheel in Georgetown and it felt great. Unfortunately, they did not have a black Absolute 4.0 there but did at their store in Clarendon. Since we were in the area, we stopped in at Revolution in Georgetown and spoke with Santi, who was great. Unfortunately, we had a similar issue there in that the specific bike I wanted was not available in that store. Tried the Absolute 4.0, hated the grip shifters and felt stretched out so went to Revolution and tried the Trek 7.1. The sales guy sucked a bit, immediately trying to upsell me. When I finally pulled the trigger, they refused to provide a free install of my current rack on the brand new bike I just bought. I was almost shocked that they wouldn't comp a $15 service fee after buying a full-price (albeit entry-level) bike and a relatively expensive accessory. Fortunately, another co-worked overruled the decision and they will install the rack when the fenders come in. I love the new bike, unfortunately, I cannot ride it right now. The bike/fender purchase in addition to the new lock, bell and lights made for a rather expensive Sunday.

So, this week I will try a PT session, go see Dr. Johnson on Friday and see what's what. I'm fairly certain, however, that I will need surgery based on the pain I am constantly experiencing. Sucks.

Big Training Weekend

Just getting back into the swing of things after a long weekend in Virginia and Deep Creek, MD. Sorry, this a not a post of brevity.

I finally got to enjoy "Extreme Driving + Weapons Training = The Ultimate Adrenaline Rush" as described by DC's own LivingSocial. And dag, was it. Hands down, the most fun I've had in years. It was a long drive down from DC (~3 hours) and after committing to Deep Creek, I knew that would only make the outbound drive longer but having Bailey picked up by a friend and taken to Deep Creek the day before probably saved me two hours of driving time.

In any event, I arrived at the facility more or less on time after stopping by the grocery for some last-minute lodge items. A group of participants was already assembled with Living Social folks coordinating waivers and emergency contacts. But really, what could go wrong with aggressive tactical driving and dozens of amateurs firing live ammo?

Finally, the bus that ferried people from DC arrived (~30 minutes late) and we were split into two groups: one that started on the range portion and one that started driving. My group started on the range and that group was further divided into two groups for the gun range and the tactical house infiltration. I started with the tactical house infiltration and being a single, was placed with a group. We were given a brief on how to enter a house and stay out of the doorway or "Fatal Funnel," "Stacking," and a few other things like "don't keep shooting the bad guy after he's on the ground." We could hear the actual flash bangs being used in the simulation and they seemed really loud. Finally, it was my groups turn to go and we were each provided an airsoft pistol with 20 rounds and a paintball-esque mask. Then outside for another brief on how to hold the pistol and some intelligence that there were an unknown number of combatants inside and we would need to rescue a diplomat held hostage.

With that, an instructor used a ram to breach the door, tossed in a flash bang, and after it went off we entered. Three people stacked on the first door in the building and a girl and I stacked on the next one. We were given the order to enter and I went in, identified a target and dropped three rounds in him. After declaring the room clear, we followed an instructor though a couple empty rooms, entering in same fashion and ensuring they were clear. Eventually we arrived at the door of another room and were given the order to enter. Inside, a "terrorist" held the diplomat hostage with one arm while holding a gun to his head. I strafed left in an attempt to flank and not risk hitting the hostage if I went for a head shot and finally the "terrorist" let go of the hostage creating some space and I dropped three more rounds, eliminating the threat. Room cleared, I escorted the hostage to safety. I tend to keep a clear head in intense situation but I must admit that  it really got my heart thumping. As we were walking back to the prep house, one of the girls in my group lamented that I killed everybody. All I could tell her was that I got excited. In reality, I wanted to take control and act like it was real, although my communication sucked during the exercise.

In our abbreviated debriefing, one of the instructors complimented me on my use of the "sool" (sp?) technic for holding the pistol in this situation. I think I played everything off pretty well as to seem like I knew what I was doing.

Next up: gun range. We queued up to take turns shooting a Glock 17 (9mm), MP5 (9mm), and an M4 Carbine (5.56 NATO). The M4 had electronic optical sight mounted on it and geez, do they make shooting a target easy. Wherever the dot is, the shot is. And wow, 20 rounds sure go quickly. I took out some of the small round targets and the concentrated on hitting the "head" of some of the other steel targets; fairly satisfied with my performance. Next up: MP5. We were able to pick out one of four models, one with the same electronic sights as the M4 but I wanted to go with steel sights. After reviewing the options, I picked a two-toned beige and black model. The instructor joked that it looked like I was trying to pick a cigar. I told him I just needed something that fit my personality. With that, I was ready. The MP5 was incredibly easy and accurate to shoot. I quickly acquired and nailed a series of horizontal targets before moving right and quickly sniping a series of vertical ones. In the 20-round magazine, I may have only missed 2-3 shots. After exhausting my ammo (and resisting the urge to flick the switch to full-auto) the instructor complimented me assuming I must have done this before and gave me props for my Rudy Project glasses, the same brand he was wearing. We bonded. Finally, the Glock 17. Never been a fan of Glocks and prefer my S&W M&P 9mm so it took me a few rounds to sort things out but was able to quickly aim and fire with accuracy. Overall, pretty fun.

Next up: Extreme Driving.
After a bit of a wait, we were ferried over to the driving area and waited for the first group to complete their training. Finally, three large SUVs rolled up, decked out in roll cages and took us to out first evolution, J-turns. there were two Volvos set up and an instructor in each car took the wheel with 3 students riding along. He briefly reviewed the basics: right arm over passenger headrest, get to speed, swing the wheel, shift, and floor it. Then he did it. It's crazy how quickly the world spins when the car in which you're riding turns 180 degrees in a fraction of a second. And just as quickly he asked, "who's up?" Naturally, I jumped at the chance after practicing the moves in the air in an effort to try and instill some muscle memory. The instructor got out to direct activities via walkie-talkie and I took the wheel. Next thing I hear is "Gas, gas, gas, gas, WHIP IT!" as I follow along with physical action. Immediately, I swing the car around in a cloud of bluish rubber smoke, hammer down the gear shift and floor the car before bringing it to a stop in front of a little yellow traffic cone. Next thing I know, I'm doing it again in the direction from which I came. I roll to a stop, and the next student takes over. After we all take out turns, we leave the vehicle for the next group and get to watch the action. Also of note: a layer of burnt rubber resting on my arms from the maneuvers. Pretty cool.

PIT Maneuver. I first learned of the PIT maneuver watching COPS as it was a tactic to get a car to spin out. Like the first time, the instructor showed us once (one time getting spun out, the other time performing the PIT) and it was our turn. I again offered myself up first. After getting up to 25-30 mph, I saw the chase car come up, make contact and spin me out. I used the momentum and floored the gas to whip the car around and get into position behind what was now my object car. I got up to it, although it is incredibly unnatural to drive that close to another car. Once in position, I gently turned into the object car breaking their friction and floored it, watching them spin out of the way. Success and so much fun!

Next was how to crash through a car barricade in order to get away from a serious threat. Once again, instructor gives one example and we're ready to try it ourselves. This time, it was only two students at a time and an instructor would be on either side of the car giving instructions and then pull a gun. When it was my turn, I wasn't sure if he was giving instruction or starting the scenario so I balked at the "threat" when it was presented. I recovered and floored the car, hitting the right side of the car in the middle of the wheel with the driver-side headlight eliciting a healthy, deep crunch to a sufficient degree that it spun the car out of the way and allowed me to floor it the bring the car around for the next student's attempts. Again, I left with souvenirs from the exercise in the form of minute metal shavings on my arm.

The last evolution was the Backing drill. The course included an upside-down U-shaped course. The instructor showed us the plan, drive forward and turn right twice around each curve of the U until progress is blocked by an assailant. Throw it is reverse, turn around both turns in reverse, floor it and J-turn to escape. I let most people go before me and I saw that they were barely getting the the second turn before being caught. I took that as a challenge to get as far up the second corridor as possible before being stopped. In order to do so, at my turn I floored the car up and around both turns. Upon meeting the aggressor car, I threw it in reverse and shipped the car in reverse around the two corners and down the initial entry corridor. I had some good speed going and initiated my J-turn to escape the situation. Upon returning to the starting position, the instructor told me I "got a little close to the wall, but overall, pretty good." I also got a nice golf clap from one of the next participants, assured, in my head at least, that I had the best time of everyone in my group.

We had one last "scenario." An instructor and three students piled into a car for a "real-life scenario." When everything was ready, the instructor floored it, tearing up across the old airstrip with the car bounding minor curbs at what seemed like 100 mph but was more likely around 80. We entered the backing course where a  person was shooting at the car with a shotgun. We sped past him the the far side of the U when another person opened up on us with an M4. Next, a car entered to block out way requiring us to back out of the course and attempt to evade. It was no use and our car tapped the brakes to get our pursuer ahead of us enough to PIT them out and deliver us safely to the BBQ provided by Smokey Joe's.

Overall, LivingSocial and G4S did a great job with this "Adventure." They structured the cost in tiers at $179, $300, and $600. Fortunately, I paid the lowest tier but I would have paid twice that. Best time ever. Here's a small taste of the day.

Weekend: Part Two
Drove about five hours up to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland for an outdoorsy training weekend. I arrived late Saturday planning to ride the Savageman Half Course on Sunday morning. I rode it last year and attempted the 31% Grade Westernport Wall unsuccessfully, failing in the last 20 feet. I was determined to conquer it this year and on the road immediately before, I took a couple turns to gain momentum and pulled to start my ascent. The road is extremely steep and crappy (potholes, slippery) but I made it, leading up the next three riders (2 successful). Unfortunately, I forgot to start my Garmin at one point but it was a relatively leisurely ride (as much as some of these crazy climbs can be) with lots of re-grouping stops. Sunday night was a fun Shrimp-boil hosted by the Yosts, the organizers of SavageMan and the Garrett County Gran Fondo followed by a fire with whiskey and s'mores.

Monday, I planned to do my long swim in the North Glade cove of Deep Creek Lake. Andrea graciously piloted the lead canoe with Bailey as a first mate. I did two laps along the docks and was shocked when my Garmin reported that I had completed the planned four-mile swim. I was skeptical and that was not unfounded as I used Google Pedometer and it figured the total course to be only 1.2 miles roundtrip meaning I only swam about 2.8 miles. I guess it still counts because it was the first time I've been in open water this year. That night, Andrea and I biked out to Mountain State Brewing Company with a couple friends for some brews and dinner. We ordered three pizzas but only one was something I would get again: the Fire on the Mountain. in addition, I tried the beer sampler and they were all bad. I went for bottles for the rest of the cornhole-filled evening. Called it a night after solidifying plans to ride the SavageMan Oly Course the next morning.

Not far into the ride and before leaving the park, I decided I wanted to push the pace and dropped my group. It's a beautiful course with only two major climbs, and I hit 50+ mph! Upon return to the lodge, I turned it into a Brick and ripped off a couple hilly miles. Finally, Andrea, Bailey and I finished off the night with a nice canoe trip. The weather was terrific: low humidity, moderate temperature and a calm lake. Perfect way to finish off the weekend.

tl;dr - performed car stunts, shot guns, and did triathlon training in the western Maryland mountains.

Return to Running and My Beautiful Disaster

The past month or so has been pretty uneventful, I've continued swimming about three time per week and steadily increased distance via "long swims" on the weekends. Since I'm still not ready to sign up for a triathlon, I found something else moderately aggressive to train towards: the Maryland Swim for Life. I elected to do the 5 mile swim which I estimate will take me at least 2.5 hours to complete. So far, I've swum up to 5k at Wilson. Boring? Yes. But it's something. Being that the swim is a fundraiser for HIV/AIDS-related charities, if anyone reading feels so inclined, I would certainly appreciate any donations ($2-5 per mile) which can be transacted through this site. 

Last week made a little more than 4 months since my knee injury. Wanting to closely follow Dr.'s instructions, I waited until Tuesday, May 1st to attempt my first run. Starting with an overwhelming .25 miles, I tried to ensure good running form. No problems with the .25, .50, and .75 miles I've done thus far but the knee did start feeling odd during the last lap of the .75 on the track. I probably need to move a little more slowly although I've just been going on feel and not worn my Garmin for any of these runs yet. Today should be 1 mile, so hopefully that goes well.

I've also added in some bike rides with mixed results. The knee feels awkward but the discomfort isn't necessarily painful and doesn't increase over time. I was hoping to jump right back in to cycling where I left off. That hasn't really happened. I definitely have some catching up to do.

-- Intermission --

With the arrival of May comes the annual celebration of all things Jessica McNiece. The theme for this year, in honor of the Russian Washington Capitals and Cinco de Mayo was "Cinco de Moscow." Establishing some overly ambitious and foolhardy goals is an occasional vocation of mine so I decided to undertake a themed cake for the occasion. To match the Russian theme, I settled on red Velvet Cake with buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese dressing. I thought cream cheese fosting would be more susceptible to heat/humidity and buttercream would be more resilient. the reality was much different. (Recipes at the end)

Thankfully, Jessica allowed me use for her Kitchenaid and I started working pretty much as soon as I got out of bed and walked the dog. The plan was to mix and bake the cake and then go for a run and swim while the cake(s) cooled. Originally, I planned to use cupcakes to compose the onion domes but was never really confident in that approach. Fortunately, another option came to mind.

Being predominantly a cook and not a baker, I did not have any cake pans and opted instead to use a couple Pyrex dishes. After application of some cooking spray and flour brushed around the glassware with a basting brush, I was ready to pour in the cake batter. Since I was using glassware, I reduced the baking temperature by 25 degrees and I feel it made a significant difference in cooking time. It should have only taken 30 minutes but actually took over an hour for both to be completely cooked (as determined by a toothpick in the center).

The cakes after baking. Off to Wilson High School for .75 mile run and 5k swim.

A little off the top to make for a flatter top. turns out the very center of the larger cake was not completely baked through so I had to excise a section and replace it with some of the cake removed from the top.

As you can see, instead of cupcake onion domes, I mixed up a batch of rice crispy treats. While warm, they are extremely malleable and proved an easy medium with which to work. At this point, I was shocked that everything had developed without a hitch. Thinking back, I blame myself for not immediately knocking on wood after having this thought.

Crumb layer with buttercream frosting. Then into the fridge to harden up. While chilling, I mixed my palette of frosting colors - red, brown, green, yellow, gold, and blue. This is the large rectangular cake after being sliced in two (the layers, obviously).

I frosted the individual cakes on their boards in order to preserve the look and limit any frosting that might have fallen onto my foil-covered presentation board. This approach also helped when connecting the base of the cathedral to the main part of the cake. As you can see by the beer bottle, some time has passed.

Here is where things turned south. I made sure to frost everything light to dark to try and limit the presence of any darker colors that might remain in the bag after a frosting although it was never really an issue. My vision and reality diverged significantly at this point. 


My Vision: 

My Reality:

The frosting was just incredibly difficult to work with. It wasn't particularly hot in my apartment but it was warm enough that the frosting melted pretty quickly and wasn't near as turgid as I had hoped it would be. I abandoned any attempt at making a more realistic decoration of the domes and instead maintained the color scheme and left it at that. I also planned to use the frosting as a kind of cement to keep the domes on the ice creams cones I used. I made cut outs in the bottoms of the domes so that they would sit down on the cones but I should have made them deeper so that they sat down on the widest part of the cones. 


To finish it off, I frosted a note on the white section of the cake:
To my #1 fan
Happy J-Day
Love (in Russian)
A Semin #28

Not 20 seconds after leaving my house did the first of the domes come crashing down onto the cake and my person. Thankfully, I was able to save it from certain doom on the ground. The cake was pretty damn heavy and I didn't care to risk colored frosting on my still relatively-new car so I put it on the floor of the car and made my way to the host's house.


You never realize how bumpy seemingly flat road surfaces are until you watch a cake you spent 8 hours on bob, undulate, shake and generally threaten abject disaster until you gingerly drive 2.5 miles down the road. I finally arrived at the party and made some quick fixes with Stephanie Wade's help and managed to make some room in the refrigerator. I then bounded back up north to change clothes and bike back down to the party. 


In the end, it was extremely well-received. I just need to learn to take some baby steps instead of plunging myself into cake boss-level projects.


Red Velvet Cake 

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pans
• 3 cups cake flour (sift before measuring)
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch-round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper; butter the parchment. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Beat the granulated sugar, 12 tablespoons butter and the vegetable oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour, until just combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes on racks, then turn the cakes out onto the racks to cool completely. Using a long serrated knife, carefully slice each cake in half horizontally to make 2 even layers.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.
• 3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Instructions

1. Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

Rice Krispy Treats

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 package (10 oz.) regular marshmallows
• 1 package (10 oz.) Rice Krispies cereal

Instructions

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. 
2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Swimming Lesson

Since I'm an invalid as it relates to running and cycling right now (and I've gained at least ten pounds since the beginning of the year) I have been forced to change the things I'm doing to try and stay in shape. Thus, I've been making more trips to the pool of late; thankfully my work-at-home schedule allows me to take advantage of non-peak times at the Wilson Pool.

Due to the increased swim training volume, I figured it would be beneficial to drop a little cash ($70) and have a swim coach take a look at my swim stroke and recommend some improvements. I was referred to Kirsten Grigor by a friend and we met at Wilson on a Sunday (3/18) and shared the far (extra-wide by diving boards) lane in the 25-yard orientation.

She had me swim a few lengths and took some notes on what she saw. She also got in the pool and swam to the side and front of me to get a better idea of what I was doing. From there, we discussed her findings and she suggested drills to address each of the concerns. We worked together through each of the drills to make sure I was doing Most made sense but some were difficult to consistently implement immediately. Like anything, it takes some work. The main things I need to work on are the mild crossover in my stroke, extending the length of my stroke, relaxing my recovery, and improving my "catch" or "scull." I spent some of the post-analysis time incorporating the lessons and trying to get used to the new techniques.

Wanting to work again while the lessons were fresh in my mind, I went back on Monday (3/19) to practice. Arriving at Wilson at 1:00pm, the pool was basically empty-a great time to visit! I didn't write down the drills Kirsten gave me but in comparing my memory to her write up (below), it looks like I was able to cover everything. I did a very brief 100m time trial at a medium pace and I cut 10 seconds off my lap time. Talk about immediate results! I'll continue to incorporate the drills into my workouts and hopefully I'll get to the point that I look natural in the "Fast" lanes.

Kirsten's Write Up:

Summary

Overall you have a very good stroke. You have good high body position in the water and a good underwater pull. You bilaterally breathe which is especially important for open water swimming. The things you can work on are: not crossing over, loosening your recovery (and your stroke in general), increase efficiency by relaxing your fingers, working on extending catch at the top of your pull and finishing passed your hips, increasing rotation, not breathing “backwards”, loosening your ankles on your kick, and not breathing into your flip turn. The two areas where you should focus most of your attention first are not crossing over and relaxing your recovery.

General points

Efficiency: A good stroke is an efficient stroke. Any movement should be moving you in a straight path forward. Think about swimming through a tube: reach directly out in front to catch the water, move it passed your body and push it directly behind you. Keep your legs in line with your body and rotating around an imaginary centerline – no lateral movement. Enter fingers first (not thumb) and breathe “forward”.

Speed: One important thing to note is when it comes to speed in swimming, you should think of speed as power and efficiency. Do not try to “muscle” through your fast swim. That approach tends to cause a tight stroke, which is far less efficient than a fluid stroke with powerful and efficient underwater pull. So, from now on when you swim fast think powerful underwater pull with smooth and fluid recovery and relaxed body position.

Crossover

You have a slight crossover in your stroke (your hands cross the center line of your body). This is the first thing you should work on. We did wide entry drill to correct this issue. Think about entering with your hands towards the far corners of your lane. Generally for people who tend to crossover, if you feel as though you’re entering very wide, you’re probably about where you want to be. Enter and extend your hand forward which will also increase your rotation and set you up for a good catch (more to come on this).

           

Tight Recovery

Your over-water recovery is tight. Think about your over-water recovery as your split second chance to relax before your have to start another powerful underwater pull. You want to get your hand from finish to entry as quickly and easily as possible. The drill we worked on to achieve this is fingertip drag drill. At the end of your stroke, gently drag your fingertips along the surface of the water. Be sure you are rotating enough so that your fingers are just skimming the water in a straight line from finish to entry (along your side) and your elbow should be nice and high. If you feel tension in your trapezius, try increasing your rotation slightly – there should be no tension anywhere on the recovery. Be sure to enter with your fingertips first (not thumbs) so you are set up to immediately catch water and start your next underwater pull. Be careful you do not go back to crossing over. You may want to do fingertip drag in combination with wide entry drill to be sure you maintain both techniques. In order to do this, start by doing about a 100 or so of wide entry then add the fingertip drag drill. Generally you want to focus on one thing at a time but this is a case where, once you get a good feel of each drill, you can combine them to reinforce both habits.

Tight hands

When you first swam, I noticed you had your fingers tightly squeezed together with your thumb out at about 90 degrees from your fingers. You want your hands to be relaxed with a bit of space (~1/8 of inch) between each finger. This maximizes your pulling surface area and, by not squeezing your fingers, you’re conserving some energy (a small amount but every bit goes towards a more efficient stroke!). You seemed to correct this pretty easily once I pointed it out. Just check in periodically to make sure your hands are relaxed but not spread too far. By focusing on relaxed hands, smooth entry and strong catch, you’ll also notice you start to pull less air bubbles through the water – a sign of an efficient pull (since you’re only pulling water, not air).

Short Finish

Be sure to finish your stroke completely passed your hips. This maximizes each pull and puts you in a good position to start your over-water recovery. The drill we worked on for this was finish drill. With each stroke, focus on completely extending your arm to finish passed your hips. Then flip the water off the tips of your fingers. Another way to check that you are finishing each stroke fully is to brush your thumb on the outside of your thigh. The only thing to watch out for with that is, be sure you are not extending your thumb away from your hand to brush – with your rotation, your entire hand should be close enough to your hip for your thumb to brush. It is especially important to focus on a strong finish as you get more tired toward the end of a workout as the finish tends to be one of the first things to go!

Catch

I think one of the most important parts of the underwater pull is the catch at the top of the stroke. You can extend this reach and catch more. The extension comes from more rotation (see section below) the catch can be achieved by getting the feel of skulling. By reaching out and catching water at the top of your stroke, you are maximizing the length of your underwater pull as well as catching a lot of water to start moving passed your body. The drill we worked on was skull drill. With minimal kick, extend your arms out in front of you with your face a little bit in the water or a little bit out of the water (whichever is most comfortable). Sweep your hands in and out in a small quick motion over and over again. This is very similar to treading water (NOT little breast stroke pulls). You caught onto this drill pretty quickly. Just remember it is a VERY slow drill. This is a great drill to do with some swimming – it really gives you the feel in your swim of what you’re trying to accomplish. Do about 10 yards of skull, then switch to swim. You should feel the extra power in your catch. Repeat for a few more 25s

Rotation:

Your body position is good (high in the water) but it’s a bit tight. This goes along with your tight recovery and as you worked on loosening your recovery, it also made the rest of your body more relaxed too. So I think the body position will work itself out with the recovery. The one thing you can work on when it comes to body position is increasing your rotation. You should focus on getting more rotation from your hips. Your core controls this movement and it’s your core that helps your hips snap from one side to the other.  We used a pull buoy to get the feel of engaging your core. With your ankles squeezed together (or squeeze towards each other if they don’t actually touch) do pull and rotate until you get the sense you are going to “fall over”. At that point, engage your core and rotate back to the other side. Make sure you don’t fish tail – if you find your legs going side to side instead of rotating directly behind your body, don’t rotate quite so far. As we worked on this, I noticed you have great rotation onto your ride side (right side towards bottom of pool). Try to increase rotation onto left side (left hip/side towards bottom of pool).

“Backwards” Breathing

Remember all motion should be sending you forward. You also want to breathe slightly forward. Right now, you breathe slightly backwards which pulls your body from side-to-side. When you take a breath, think about just letting your head rotate with your body. You should be looking directly to the side and even slightly forward. If you were swimming on a clock, you would want to look between 2 and 3 on the right side and 9 and 10 when you breathe to the left.

           

Flip Turn

Try to eliminate your breath into the flip turn. When you pick your head up to breath, it makes your legs drop. Then you have to get your legs back up and over your head. Work towards taking a breath to the side, then another stroke before flipping.

Kick

The key to a good kick is loose ankles. Your feet should be like flippers: loose ankle, then snap the water off the end of your toes.

             

Additional Points:

Underwater pull: We talked about pulling straight along the bottom of the pool or doing a “key hole” motion with your hand. It is sort of both and depends upon if you are talking in relation to the pool (straight along the pool bottom) or in relation to your body (slight sweep out, in, and out again).

Paddles: Remove the wrist strap from your paddles. The wrist straps hold the paddles artificially in place and when you remove the strap, they become a self-correcting tool. If there is any wobble in the paddle, it means you’re not pulling directly against the water. If you find you are pushing with the tips of your fingers, try to focus on pushing with the joint where your fingers meet your palm.

Body position and head position: body position is not something that is easily taught. The thing that I find helps body position the most (especially for people who don’t naturally have good body position) is rotation. Rotation helps with keeping the legs afloat. Rotation and body position come from core, not from head position. Your head should be comfortably down and slightly forward – think open airway. This also sets you up for good head position when you breath as you just let your head rotate with your body and there is not any extra movement in your neck.

Conclusion:

Your stroke is very good. The issues are mainly small tweaks and you seemed to pick up all of the drills relatively easily. If you have any questions about what I outlined above or as you start working on things, please let me know. Also, let me know how your races go.

Thanks and good luck!