Love Letters of Great Men

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

These letters were found in Beethoven's desk after he died. They were not addressed to anybody, so it is impossible to know who he was writing to.

7 Hills of Kirkland

Well they don't call it the 7 Hills of Kirkland because it is easy. This year I had the opportunity to do this ride. I must admit, I was a little intimidated about the ride since I had not done a lot of hill riding yet. The weather around here has not been so great, on 4 of my rides it rained. Of course, a little rain is no excuse but I dislike not having full brake capability in this somewhat hilly area I live in.

We started off in downtown Kirkland. After registering, I proceeded to the start where the first "Dan Henry" was marked on the road. Dan Henrys are the road markers that we follow during the ride. They are color circles that have arrows pointing you to where you are supposed to go. At the start line, I was lucky enough to see a group of 3 ladies. I introduced myself and asked them if I could join them. They were nice enough to let me. The first hill we hit was Market Hill and then second was Juanita Hill. These hills were not very hard, maybe it was because I had fresh legs though. However the next two hills #3 Seminary Hill and #4 Norway Hill were pretty tough. Long and windy they were. #5 was a nice hill climb on Kingsgate hill that was steady but not too bad. After our food break, we hit the infamous Windery Hill, holy smokes, I see what everyone was talking about, I had to go up on my saddle for that one 3 times. Luckily, this hill was staggered, so there were sections that were about 200 yards where you could recovery before hitting the next steep section. After that hill my left knee started to hurt a bit on the downstroke. The last hill was Rose Hill and I took that one slow and steady as my knee was starting to bother me more.

Right now, my knee feels alright. My hamstrings however are sore. The foam roller has been helping. I better rest up this week to recover.

Manifesto

Humble pie it's good for you...

A fellow friend and I were chatting one day about designer handbags. I told her I don't wear mine out anymore because I didn't want to appear "high maintenance." She said, that I should feel confident about the fact that I like nice high quality things. I do like nice things, but I value "different" nice things now, like snowboards, bikes and cars. So this got me thinking about what confidence really means. I started to think about where I stand with respect to confidence in myself.

God knows, when it comes to triathlon, I have eaten a lot of humble pie. I have pretty much come in the bottom quarter of several races. When I did the swim across lake Washington I came in like 3 last out of the water - but I was still really proud of myself for finishing it actually. And during those tris where I came in near the end when most people were finished, I still felt happy. Happy to just cross the finish line, maybe some day I will have a higher bar, but for now I am content with being able to do the sport and have fun. This leads back to my thoughts on confidence. I have the confidence to try my best no matter what the outcome. I have to confidence to cross the finish line in almost last place and be proud of how far I have come and all the work I have done to reach that far. These are my thoughts on confidence.

My 2011 Training Schedule

So I've joined the Pro Sports Club triathletes club again this year! This is May's training schedule. I have a few weeks done in April already too. Aiming to do my first Ironman 70.3 this year! Stay tuned!

My thoughts on confidence...

Ever have those days where you lose confidence or trust in your abilities? You know that you have practiced it over and over and yet someone or something says something that makes you second guess yourself?

I have friends that make remarks that make you feel small, not sure if they are aware of it. I am not going to name names but I have come to the conclusion that they are doing it to boast their ego. A confident person is always open to learning and does not focus on their weaknesses. They understand that we all start of as 1 out of 10, but with practice we easily achieve 5/10 and with more 7/10 or higher!

Olympic Triathlon completed

Don't have time for a complete race report right now as I am really swamped. Parents are in town now for 2 weeks. But I completed my race and beat my last time by 15 minutes! And it wasn't that smooth either. I had to pee while starting the second lap of my swim and held it for the entire bike. Then while I was transitioning from Bike to Run, I was a little confused since I didn't know where the run course was. I had to pee pee pants during my run as there was no porta-potties anywhere. At least I ran behind a bush to do my deed. I felt so much better after that...ha ha

Other new things include my new Subaru! Yes, my parents chipped in to help me purchase a new Subaru Impreza Hatchback. I'm ready for the mountains now!

I need to bike more

OK so this weekend, I joined Joyce to do a Cascade training ride around Lake Washington. It was 50 miles and I am not sore at all today which is surprising since I have not been biking much. This ride made me realize how weak I am on the hills. I need to really put in more miles if I am to do the Federal Escape olympic distance in 3 weeks. So here is my training plan for the next 3 weeks:

Saturday: Long bike 45 miles or more
Sunday: 4-6 mile run
Monday: Bike to work, go for a short run after work
Tuesday: Triathlon swim class
Wednesday: Bike to work, go for a short run after work
Thursday Triathlon swim class
Friday: Open water swim at Idylwood in the AM

I just realized there is no rest day here, but I think that Friday is restful enough since it will be only a 30 minute swim. Wish me luck!

Yuppie Triathlete is back in action....

Holy crap has it been this long since I've written something? OK, well I better update you all...whomever is still reading this blog of mine.

So I started the 2010 triathlon season with the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon the beginning of June. I completed the this tri in 1h35min. I had not really trained for this, but I knew I had a decent base level of fitness. You see, I broke my foot in February running - yup, stepped on a rock and my foot rolled. So I wasn't able to do much of anything for 3 months. I came back to running in May by participating in the Vancouver Sun Run 10k. There were 51,000 people running this! I know, pretty crazy huh? I completed this run in 1h 3min, not to shabby for a girl coming off a broken foot.

Just 2 weeks ago, I completed my first half marathon. The Seattle Rock'n Roll! It was amazing...28,000 people! I actually had not planned to run this as it was sold out. But I was able to pick up someones bib at the last moment. Thus I was "ghost running" for someone else (under their name). It took me 2h 12min to run the half and I was sore for 3 days because I didn't train for it.

So far my triathon training is going well, I am running really well right now and my swimming is improving...at least the fitness part of it as I think I am ready to be promoted to a faster swim lane. My next race will be at Federal Escape on July 31st and it will be my first olympic distance of the year. That's it for now!

Who you are is not what you do...

It's been a while since I've blogged. My feet are getting better, not 100% but I can run and swim. Now I need to kick it up so that I can bike. I think the reason why they have taken so long to heal is because I just don't know when to quit. I've always been a hard worker. I've worked since I was 15 years old. I have made salaries from all ranges. My first job was at McDonald's where I was paid $5.90 per hour. It's sad to think that minimum wage has not gone up much since then. The US minimum wage is $7.25. Because I worked at a young age and paid for most of my $60,000 education, I have a lot of respect for money.

Reflecting on where I started and where I am now, I've realized that who you are is not what you do. Who you are is how you treat people. I might have been making $5.90 an hour, but I still did a great job.

A little inspiration for today...

If you don't know me well, you wouldn't know that I am a serious coffee addict. I must, must start my day with a cup of Joe else I am a wreck. Last weekend, I went to San Diego to visit my famiily. I didn't realize that Starbucks cups have quotes on them and I just happen to read my cup that morning. Great quote for you to help you get inspired and believe in yourself:

The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any jobs; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no" - they may not be smart enough to say "yes."

Keith Olbermann

Lessons learned - 2009 Swim for Life Across Lake Washington

I did it! On Wednesday August 19th, 2009 I swam across Lake Washington for the first time. This was my longest and most difficult open water challenge and I felt that I had prepared the best that I could. There were many things that I learned on that swim and I thought that I would blog about it for next year.

1) Swimming 2.5 miles is way harder than 1.2 miles, what I mean to say is it was more than 2x more difficult because we never had to swim that much yardage in Masters class - not to mention all at once. After a certain point, your muscles start to fatigue then your form goes, which results in you swimming slower.

2) Make sure you consume enough calories and pee before you swim. I had to go to the bathroom towards the end of my swim and I actually did pee before hand. Also, make sure you eat a lot of carbs before your swim. I was totally feeling like bonking towards the end.



3) Sighting - this was challenging as the thing you aim for is over 2 miles away. At the triathlons that I have done, normally the buoys are no more than 300 yards apart, so it is easier to swim in a straight line. No so easy to swim straight when your destination is far. I did have a kayaker, but we got separated for a while and I was on my own. It might help next year to get your own personal kayaker and have them sight for you.

4) Choppy water conditions - this year was more choppy then previous years so it made getting into a rhythm hard and I found myself using up more energy. I only breathe from one side, so sometimes the water would splash into my face while I was getting air and I would get a mouthful. Lake Sammamish was where I had practiced up until the big swim, and it was always calm.

5) Consider a sleeveless wetsuit. If your wetsuit limits your arm mobility at all, I would consider borrowing a sleeveless wetsuit for this only because it was warm enough and swimming this distance with free arms is much easier. Be warmed, sleeveless wetsuits have the habit of leaving you with nasty tan lines on your back!

Overall, I am really proud of myself for sticking it to the end!

Swim for Life

This week I signed up to participate with a team of 4 friends for the Swim for Life, a 2.5 mile swim across the cold, murky waters of Lake Washington. Why on earth would anyone want to take on a challenge like this? I’m doing it for two very good reasons: 1) to prove that I can do it and 2) to raise funds for a new bloodmobile for Puget Sound Blood Center.

I've had feet injuries that have hampered my triathlon season, so being able to swim this would mean so much to me. I've been training over the past year, swimming regularly 3 times a week. These next two weeks I will be out practicing in Lake Sammamish to get comfortable with the long, long swim. I have never swam more than 1mile continually so this will be a great challenge for me. Yesturday I did 2 laps of the Idylwood buoy line, tomorrow morning I will do 4. 8 laps is equivalent to my swim on August 19th. Wish me luck!

Homeless blog

Today I had the most amazing swim class. Coach Justin invited a two time olympic medalist to coach our class this evening. Her name is Wendy Boglioli and she won the bronze and gold medal in the 70s. She still looks super fit and I'm sure can kick butt still. Great instructor as well as she help us with our free-style, back stroke and kicking off the wall.

Anyways off topic, sometimes when things are going well, we take things for granted. Then we turn on the TV or read an article on the internet and you remember how greatful you should be to be where you are. This is exactly what happened to me today - had a greatful moment. I call them greatful moments because it puts me back at an equalibrium.

As some of you know, I am an avid blog reader and here's a blog I have been reading about the homeless in LA.
LA's Homeless Blog

Bye Bye CRV...hello Z4

So over the past week, I've been seeing a new physical therapist for my foot. His name is Jason and he is one of the PTs at Corporo Sano. He and Eric looked at my feet and mentioned that there was a lot of atrophy (muscle loss) in my foot. That I need to strengthen my foot to get better. So I have been doing my exercises every night and paying a lot more attention to the way I walk and stand. To remember to tighten the muscles in my feet every step so that they start getting stronger. So far so good, I actually notice some improvements in a very short period of time. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to do the Kirkland triathlon this summer.

On a different note, well I don't know how to say this, but the Honda CRV is gone. It just wasn't fun to drive anymore. I traded it in for a slightly used convertible BMW Z4 :) Luckily Saris makes a bike rack that can fit on the trunk. Tomorrow I will bring it into BMW for regular maintenance.

Inner beauty is important, but is outter beauty better?

A group of old friends are out for a fun filled night in Seattle. Ben and Linh are getting married in 60 days. Both are trying to lose 10 pounds before the big day. I met Linh the same day that Ben did at a party. Over the years they have grown in love. And very recently have decided to spend the rest of their lives together.

Each time I am out with them, she is consciously avoiding carbs and so is he. So at a time where eternal happiness and love should be the focus, both of them are also focusing on their waistlines. These days, your marriage might not last forever (I'm sure theirs will), but your wedding photos will. So as much as inner beauty matters, when it comes down to it, is outter beauty more important? If your significant other put on a lot of weight, what would you do?

Anyways, on another note. Today I got a chance to go get a bra fitting. It turns out that I have been wearing the wrong size. I am now a 32B according to a lady at Victoria Secret. I am lean and mean from all that swimming. I got a chance to try on there new multi-bra and loved loved it! You can wear the straps 5 different ways and it is a push up!

Getting rid of the junk...in my garage

This week is starting off really well. I actually had time to clean out my garage. I still have some empty boxes and paper to recycle which will be done by the end of this week. I filled my trash and recycle bins to capacity so there is a queue of remaining items left in my garage. My deck is all clean and I've gotten rid of those really old wooden beach chairs that were flaking paint everywhere.

Admittedly, I like my home to be very organized. Lately I've come to the conclusion that I have way too much stuff, so I started to declutter. Old magazines, empty boxes that I have kept around, old dishes and utensils. I have some stuff I still need to give away or donate like an old CRT monitor, printer and old computer desk. I've also thought about moving to a single family home next year. Which means I will need to start putting things away in boxes and do any small fixer-upper type things before my current place goes on the market.

Anyways, back to my week. My healthy eating has been alright. I had some pizza on Friday but at least it was vegetarian, piled high with vegetables and not oily. I had some cake as well since I went to a birthday. Yesturday night I had a great weight session, today and Thursday I have triathlon swim class, wednesday is another weight session, Friday I will be going out for an open water swim. Then this weekend we plan on going for a hike. So if things go according to plan...man I love plans. Taking care of yourself, eating healthy, staying fit is a good example of how you treat yourself, and it shows.

Are you eating too many carbs?

So I was curious what the recommended amount of carbs a person should consume a day. Now, of course there is not magic number that fits everyone. Your intake will depend on how much activity you do, your age, genetics. But they say a ball park number is about 45% of your calories a day should come from carbs. So if you have a 2000 calorie diet then that would be 900 calories from carbs. Now if you are an endurance athlete you really want to consume foods with more glycogen (anything fiber like fruit, veggies) and take in more fat. You need to avoid the "white stuff" because they will make you glycemic (raise your blood sugar levels) - this is especially important if you want to lose weight. Foods that are glycemic don't hold your appetite and you will want to eat more often.

This is day 2 of my low carb plan. I will refrain from using diet, since diets end and I do wish this to be more of a lifestyle. I've been pretty good at avoiding the Krispy Kreme donuts that run-eth so freely in our hallways at work. So far so good...and I am blogging about this to stay accountable. Summer is just around the corner you know.

No more heels...

I am back on my healthy eating bandwagon. This weekend, I spent hours scrubbing my deck. It was back breaking work as I had to get down on all fours to scrub off all the mold. All the wet days in Seattle make it really hard to keep the stuff from growing on my deck. I know that having a clean deck will make we want to grill my dinner more often. So the past few days that was what I have been doing - cooking at home BBQ style.

This month I have signed up for Triathlon swim class with my tri coach Michael. Unfortunately, this is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings which means I am typically too tired to also attend Master Swim class in the evening. I wish we had a Monday and Wednesday class as well.

Anyways, since I am injured still there's not much to write about. All I can do is sit on the sidelines to watch my friends race. It's tough because I really want to be out there to participate as well. Getting through injuries is so hard for me. I have obviously not made the right choices the past few months. Over exerting myself on many occasions, not icing or stretching every night and wearing high heel shoes. This has GOT to change...starting now.

Too busy partying, no time to workout

Last weekend was my birthday a bunch of us celebrated all weekend. There was a club thing on Saturday night, then a Beach party with volleyball on Sunday. Needless to say, my workout schedule sucked because I was too busy partying. On Thursday we went to see Jerry Seinfeld, Friday went to a party, tonight we went clubbing. Tomorrow we're going to Skagitt Valley to see the tulips. I will make it up later in the evening, I swear!

Anyways, today I went shopping. I purched a new pair of Cole Haan Nike Air sling backs on sale from $275 to under $90. My biggest purchase was a BCBG dress for my friend and cousin's wedding later this year. Here is a picture of it, it is super cute.

Adamo Peloton

So last year I purchased an Adamo ISM Road Saddle for my Cervelo. This saddle is quite unique as it alleviates pressure from your groin area while riding. I've been spinning on my tri bike indoors and riding on occasion on my road bike outdoors. I really notice a lot more discomfort when using the more conventional saddle on my road bike. So I've decided that I need to upgrade my road bike saddle to an Adamo ISM saddle as well. Looking at their website, they seem to have some new models this year that I would be interested in. The Adamo Peloton is very attractive to me as it is narrower than my current one and a little lighter.

Waterproof Garmin

Garmin is releasing a new GPS watch...and it's waterproof! Geez, I just bought the 305 less than half a year ago. I shoulda known that they were on clearance for a reason. Anyways, luckily I bought it at Costco, so if I want to shell out another $200 I can return my 305 and upgrade to the 310xt.

Anyways, today Jill and I exchanged some email and she mentioned that she had plantar faciitis not too long ago and it "KILLED, KILLED, KILLED" her when she got up in the morning. She instructed me to use the TriggerPoint kit and dig my calves into the block with the ball. She said she spent couple of hours a night massaging her calves.

Anyone want counterfeit luggage?

So it has been 3 weeks since I got back from my Asia trip and I have finally found some time to put things away. I had luggage all over the place. It was then that I remembered a carry on I bought since I had purchased one too many things on my trip. It's China right? Things are cheap so you wanna buy because there's no way you would find such a deal in the USA. Well, you get what you pay for...quite literally. My carry on luggage said "Samsomite" on it and I didn't realize this when I bought it. Luckily I didn't pay "Samsonite" prices for it. So anyone want any counterfeit luggage?

Anyways, my "forever" plantar fasciitis is still not healed yet. So all I have been able to do is weight training and pulling in the pool. Easy spinning for a short period of time. I don't feel comfortable doing anything else. It seems like if I stay off them for a while, the the pain will go away, but my feet remain volatile so it comes back after moderate activity. So to keep myself busy when I cannot train, I have been hanging out with my friends and working on my other hobbies. Here's a photo I took at Chapel this weekend. I cannot wait until my 35mm 1.8 arrives!

Back to reality

Hello I am back from vacation. Well, technically I got back last Sunday, but I was inflicted with a serious case of jetlag as Tokyo is 16 hours ahead. I went into the office on Monday morning after my 6am swim and my manager greeted me with some work that she wanted to be priority 1...AKA look at it ASAP and report back to me by noon which is how I interpreted it. I only surived until 1pm that day as I had not slept the night before. Pretty much the entire rest of the week I had really strange hours. I would either come in really late and work until 11pm or come in really early and leave a little early. Since we are on some deadlines right now, it was really hectic and stressful. Anyways, enough about work, let's talk about my two favorite hobbies: triathlon and photography. Since I was gone the past 3 weeks, here is some photography for your enjoyment.

Here I am standing in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing

Here I am at the Summer Palace in Beijing

Great Wall of China

Inside the WaterCube where Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals

Shanghai's famous skyline at night

The famous district in Toyko called Shibuya at night
I also went to Tokyo disney and the Tsukiji fish market where I watched the blue fin tuna auction. It was an amazing trip!

Busy bee...

So I tested out my feet on the bike trainer last weekend..OK, "tested" is probably not the correct, does 3 hours of spinning sound like "testing" to you? Well, my feet despite going on a very easy gear were sore. So back to chilling with swimming and aqua jogging. Luckily, I've been busy planning my trip to Asia and getting all my Beta 1 deliverables done to feel sad about my physical condition. Last night, I worked until midnight.

Tonight Lily, James and I went to see The Watchmen. Let me just say that it is definitely not suitable for kids, there is a lot of violence, sex and a big blue radioactive penis. But it was good entertainment, a perfect way to end a stressful and busy week. This weekend I have 2 birthdays, both starting around noon. I need to figure out how to fit my workouts around them.

So, more details about my trip to Asia. First city will be Beijing, there we will stay at my friend David's place. The big sites we plan to visit there are the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Wa Fu Jing market, the Central Square and some Olympic sites. From Beijing we will take the over night train to Shanghai where we will stay in a nice hotel in the Bund district. We will be meeting up with Roland, a former coworker. In Shanghai we plan to see some gardens, temples and night markets. Finally, we hit Tokyo where we will stay at a hotel across the street from the Shinjuku station. There are many things to do in Tokyo, including the famous fish market, electronics district, Shibuya and Shinjuku. While I am there, I will be doing a great deal of walking, but no swimming or cycling, so my feet should get good amount of rest as I won't be pounding them as hard.

Splish makes a Splash

As some of your know, I've been working with Jill to design new swim suit for the team. I went a little overboard and started designing a whole bunch of suits for me and the team. I really like them and would love to order all of them. I swim a lot, but not enough to get 5 new swim suits. Here's what I came up with, which one should I get? I think my favourite non team suit is the one with the Canada flag or the shark.

A lesson to be learned

After taking a break from cycling and swimming, I attempted to swim last night without the pull buoy and today my feet are archy. So no more kicking for me...dammit, this is so disappointing. This evening, I went to Masters class, luckily there were only 2 people in my lane...me and Lilia. So we split the lane and I pulled the entire time, and worked on my breast stroke with coach Justin. "Pull, Kick, Glide!" I got the pull and the kick, but not the glide.

As I am writing this, I noticed that I don't have much to blog about since I have not been able to train. I really messed up my feet and now it is taking forever to heal. I appologize to all my readers. I wonder if there is a lesson to be learned here? It would probably be something like, don't push yourself too hard and listen to your body. Focus on healing first...triathlons will always be around.

JFT swim suit

I've been playing around with Splish.com to help the team design a new swim suit. Here is what I came up with:


Bikini versions:

Crash landing

The Yuppie Triathlete has crash landed. After seeing a specialist in active release technique, Dr Neno about my feet, he said that I needed to stop all my activities that are aggrevating it, which means no cycling, running or swimming. My feet are actually getting worse.

He said that he has a Masters in orthodics and doesn't like them. He suggested that I not wear mine....come to think about it, my feet have gotten worse since wearing them. I took them out of my shoes today and they actually feel more comfortable since the arch part is not poking into my plantar fascia.

So this weekend, I got creative and modified my workouts. On Saturday, I did weights, swim with pull buoy and aqua jogged in the deep water pool. Today, I swam again with the pull buoy and jogged in the deep water pool. To make sure I stay nice and fit, I will be eating healthy.

I'll be heading to China in 1 month, so I'd better get these feet under control.

Water cube here I come!

So big news, my coworker Eric and I are headed to China and Japan next month for vacation! Yeah! Does anyone have a bong I could borrow? I found us the cheapest flights ever! Seattle --> Beijing --> Shanghai --> Tokyo back to Seattle for $1075! W00t! Between us, we now have a mountain of guide books to sort through. I also just bought myself a netbook, the Lenovo S10. I can't live without internet and I needed a place to upload my photos during the trip. Getting a netbook made a lot of sense, they are very affordable computers, not to mention really tiny...perfect for backpacking around Asia.

Anyways, after my swim yesturday morning it left my feet feeling really sore - even with duct tape. So I decided to stop swimming (pulling is OK) for a couple of weeks and seek treatment called ART (Active Release Technique). I just realized that the root of my plantar fasciitis is tight calves. Thus, I have been stretching and rolling out of my foam roller. I've contacted Jill to see if she has an extra TriggerPoint kit for me so that I can use it after my workouts. TriggerPoint is a great way to release tension and improve blood flow to your muscles. At work I now have a water bottle in the freezer at work that I use to roll out my foot while I sit at my desk. I am determined to get better now. Also, I wear this Strassburg sock at night.

Tonight in swim class we focused on power. Luckily I was able to do the drills with the pull buoy so that I didn't have to kick. We discussed the mechanics of the pull and catch. All your power comes from your upper body. You drive with your hips in combination with your catch to give you more power. If you're doing it right, you will see your elbows pop out and feel that snap as you are moving through the water. Kim suggested that before we do our swim that we need to adjust our body to the water. So start with floating - head down in the water, arms like a "Y" above your head. If you are doing it correctly, your legs will be right on the surface of the water...the key to this is head position. If your head is sticking out, your legs will sink. Next is a modified doggie paddle drill...the difference being that you are stretched out a little more and extending with your arms while not lifting your shoulders. This technique will work your core and engage those muscles.