The best youtube channel out there... "Is Ketosis Dangerous?"

I plan to use several videos from What I've Learned in future posts to help elaborate on certain topics, but I wanted to put this one out there for anyone interested.  It is a pretty incredible breakdown on ketones for anyone curious.

Get the Benefits of Ketosis Without Severe Carb Restriction! 20% off code

Back to the keyboard...

The Viking will be reviving the blog in the near future, with my first goal being the addition of new chapters to the Viking Manifesto.  While I haven't been able to get back to training, I have still been able to explore the ketogenic diet in new ways and I have learned so much since I had to hang up my suits over three years ago.  The biggest development has come from reading the recent research into Exogenous Ketones and their benefits. 

I must say, I have been surprised what I have learned and it adds new dimensions to my hypothesis on how LCHF and the ketogenic state can not only improve athletic performance, but also the lives of everyone in the general population as well.  Right now I would do just about anything to be able to carve out time to train again as I think I would approach my Viking Method differently regarding nutrition, and exogenous ketones would certainly be a part of my routine.  Now that thorough studies have been done, the results seem to be very much in line with the original hypothesis I laid out in my manifesto, and exogenous ketone supplements would most likely enhance the results while also making the desired adaptations easier to achieve.

If you are curious, please tune in over the next few months as I lay out the details here at the blog, and on SwimSwam.

And if you would like to try exogenous ketones for yourself, you can order at https://realketones.com/#swimviking and get 20% off until Father's Day with the code DADSRULE at checkout.

The SwimViking RPT App has finally been released!

The Screaming Viking says: “A few years ago I started training USRPT myself and became a believer.  So, as a coach, I wanted to take what I had learned to try to implement with my team and ran into a lot of challenges.  So we made a game out of it:  we make an X/Y/Z score, the kids plug it into the app, and we get to see how they’ve progressed in any particular race they’re training, and now I don’t have to look up anybody’s target times– the kids can calculate that themselves.

If you use USRPT in any way, individually, as a part of your season, or if you are full-on USRPT, you are gonna love using our app: SwimViking RPT by Strive Swim.”

With the Swim Viking RPT app there now is a way to put race pace training and tracking in the hands of athletes and coaches, keeping them engaged and helping them to see their improvements with visuals that make sense.  Multiple athletes can be linked to a single coach, so that as an athlete logs their USRPT training progress, coaches can access it at any time.  By using the app, no matter to what extent you incorporate the app into your season plan, you will have an easy way to take ownership of your swimming. Whether you are an age group or college swimmer, a coach with a large group of athletes, or a masters athlete who wants to try something new, the Swim Viking RPT app by Strive will help you navigate your way to speed.

For more information or to schedule a demo, please click visit https://www.striveswim.com/viking.  Also, don’t forget to ask us about discounted team rates.

Founded in 2016, Strive “apps for excellence” are in use at USA Swimming clubs, YMCA clubs, USMS clubs, NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III programs, high school programs, the Team USA Olympic and Paralympic Training Center campus, national champion club teams, international teams on all six inhabited continents and by 2016 US Olympic Team and Team USA Olympic athlete’s coaches. Over 7 million swim practices have been written on Strive apps. Strive is partnered with ISCA, NISCA, WOWSA, ASA coaching and swimming organizations and has legendary coach Mark Bernardino and Olympic Gold Medalist Josh Davis as Strive expert partners. www.StriveSwim.com

“The Screaming Viking is considered by many to be a sophisticated renaissance man in the world of swimming.  He is an accomplished coach, swim dad, professional athlete, writer, diet advice guru, model, actor, poet, and legend in his own mind… if it has to do with swimming he has conquered it, and strives to help you to conquer these things in your life as well.”

The Viking Training Method Can Handle Speedbumps

In case you hadn't heard, the Viking swam pretty well at the KMSC Pro-Am in December.  I was actually only .11 away from my lifetime best from 1996 in the 100 breast with 57.13.  My 200 was also my best since college at 2:06.4, although that is still about 2.5 seconds away from my college PR of 2:03.8.  I made three A-finals and got to march out in my new costume so it was worth the trip to Texas for sure.  Yup, that's made from a full body mountain goat and a little bear.  The necklace has wolf teeth as well.  It don't get much more viking than that.

The meet director said "it looks downright satanic."

My swimming was a little spotty leading up to the meet, but honestly I just don't even pay much attention to that anymore.  Like I tell the kids, "it's all mental."

After the pro-am I made it a point to get back in the water as often as possible, which is always hard considering my insane work schedule.  This time though, I had a little help.  We recently started a Masters program through my club, and in an effort to promote it I offered a discount to a local triathlon group called Rufus Racing.  Rufus has a mileage contest that goes from January to March in which they have a spreadsheet set up online.  As you complete miles, you log them on the sheet to earn points for your team.  The entire Rufus crew is divided into several teams, with over 100 adults participating, and every biking mile is worth one point, compared to running miles at three points and swimming miles at ten points.  They have a lot of fun trash talking each other on the facebook and stuff, and it has really been a cool contest.

Since January 1st I have not had a single day without some kind of exercise.  Normally it is an awesome week if I get in a third workout.  This streak is by far the longest I have consistently got work in, even though some of it is pretty low quality just to log the points for Rufus.  I have been running with my wife to help her get past IT band issues, and some of the days are easy runs rather than swims.  I have also not been able to do as much USRPT as I would like, partly due to time constraints since if I only have 15 minutes I sometimes just jump in and do a warm up so I don't have a zero day on the Rufus spreadsheet.  The lack of USRPT is also due to the broken hand.  Some of you might have seen my tweet.  For reals-- I duct taped it and went a 59.7 and 2:09.0 breaststrokes unshaved.  Gotta set a good example for the kids, right?

The worst part about having a finger that plays dead like this is that it becomes a lot harder to cut into a steak.

My hand is still swollen after almost two weeks, the finger still hangs limp, and it is still really sore. It kind of flaps around when I swim so I sometimes tape it if I think I am gonna try to swim with any intensity at all.  It is hard to concentrate on technique when you have a rogue finger.  The x-rays made it look like I chipped a small piece from my knuckle, but I am starting to think I partially severed a tendon since it doesn't seem to be getting any better.  I thought I got off free with no surgery or cast, but that may change if I make a follow-up appointment.  I am debating waiting until after spring break but that may be too long depending on the true nature of the injury.

Breaking my hand finishing a relay lead-off 50 free is a great way to transition my team through the name change from Jasper County Killer Whales to BERZERKER Swimming.  You can't get more 'berserkergang' than that.

Blair Bish is Trying Something New to Get Race Ready

it somestimes goes straight to his butt, which helps keep his hips up.. haha.

Meet Carri Cook from TYR

In my last post I gushed about the TYR Avictor and now I want to gush a little more about the girl who let me give it a try.  Carri Cook covers a large part of the USA for TYR and hopefully after getting to know her a little in this interview you will want to seek her out to see what TYR can do for you and your team.

I Prayed to Odin. He Sent TYR to help.

The Norse God of Warriors knows how to make a suit.

It is July 15 and I am at the first day of the Mizzou Sectional. My only athlete who was scheduled to swim today had to scratch so I ended up being the only race for my team. I have hardly been able to fit in much swimming, only getting in four very short swims since June 24th.  I had absolutely no reason to expect to swim well, but lately I have the mindset to never back out. I have surprised myself enough times that it is always worth racing to see what may happen. I shaved legs today but left the hair on my face, chest, and belly, which is a pretty significant furry layer at this age. I may shave more for Futures in West Lafayette but I am not sure. 

After warm ups, I decided it was time to look into finding a deal on a tech suit. I caught the TYR rep on deck and told her about my AP-12's being stolen. I was hoping she had one to sell for cheap since they are rumored to be discontinued. We talked a little about potentially signing my team with TYR since we have never committed to a brand, and then she offered to let me try on the Avictor. HELL YEAH!

I warmed up a little more in the suit and then raced the prelim 200 breast with it. In my opinion, it is a fantastic suit. So many tech suits catch water at the waist and are hard to tie tight enough. That was one of the things I loved about the AP-12: the waist never caught water, even without the high waist model. The Avictor had a better string that didn't slip as much when trying to get it tight, and also had rubber at the waist which is something that has become more common in tech that the AP-12 didn't have.  The fabric on the Avictor also seemed to be a lot thinner but it didn't feel like they sacrificed any strength.

The fit on the Avictor was the same, but the compression was very different. I have tried a lot of suits, and there are many varying degrees of compression across the thighs and hips on the market. The Avictor had excellent compression at the hips but I worried that it felt less tight at the lower thighs than what I was used to. After racing the 200 breast though, I can understand why they changed the design. My kick felt much more free. It was like the best of both worlds, with effective stability and compression, but the freedom of movement that allowed me to get the most from my range of motion. I felt like my kick was less restricted and more efficient than with other compression suits I have tried.

My race went really well.  Even after the huge roadblock in my training this summer I was able to drop two more seconds from my best time with a 2:29.9.  Even better, my last 50 was by far the best split I have turned in at 38.8.  I had much less fade today than ever. As a matter of fact, the entire amount of time I improved over last summer's shave meet is covered by the difference in that last split. It is kind of mind-blowing when you consider that I was trying my best to overcome what should have been a lack of fitness due to my crazy schedule over the last three weeks.

These might be my best race splits ever for the LCM 200 breast.

The best part: I met one of my short term goals. The time I turned in officially lands me on the FINA Masters all-time top ten list for my age group. Take a look here... 2:29.94 lands me at the 8th fastest in history for age 40-44. Not bad for a guy who is just squeezing in short workouts in on the fly and didn't bother to shave anything higher than the knees. I turn 41 next week so I am really anxious to see if I can carve out enough training time over the next three years to move up on that list.  I wish I could get off work to go to Masters Nats!