Drewwhite's Mentoring Group - Closed

By the way, congrats on the breakthrough run Lynne.  Running has always been a love of mine.  I hope I can share the enthusiasm so that you learn to love it.

 Mike, the weight loss is excellent!  The weight that I lost represented two years of hard work in Spain eating pastries, so I definitely deserved the weight that I gained.  I sure don't miss it though.  I'm sure that you feel the same way huh?

Thanks Drew,

 I'm going to start in with my first question - As I stated before, swimming will be my weakest leg by far.  I have been looking into options for places to practice and possibly join a club.  If you could give me your opinion on which options seems best, I would really appreciate it.

 Great idea to have a little competition with your friends.  That's always a great was to keep up the motivation.  I personally don't follow a specific nutrition plan.  I just try to watch what I eat (i.e. eat the healthy crap), and I am very vigilant in eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day rather than 3 larger meals.   I have found that following the food pyramid has been the trick for me.

Jessica,

That's a really good question.  I think that the most important thing is to spend as much quality time in the pool as possible without tiring your muscles too much or burning out of the pool time.  Lots of people on this site have had similar success stories to Mike with Total Immersion Swimming.  That might be something to look into purchasing.

I'll share you a little story about Drew.  I am very athletic.  I have always picked up sports very quickly.  However, when I tried to pick up swimming, I was horrible.  I spent over a year in the pool 3-4 times a week on top of running trying to learn how to swim.  One day, I finally had a breakthrough and went from swimming 250m without resting to swimming 1200m straight.  The next time in the water I did a mile straight.  I have swam up to 3600m without stopping.  It just takes time in the water and focus on developing good form.  If you feel that you accomplish that without a coach or a team, go for it!  I never had a coach, which is probably why it took me so long.  I was just stubborn and wanted to do it "on my own"  In actuality, I was always speaking with others in the pool to get tips and watching them swim to mimic their motions.

I guess my answer to your question is, figure out what your priorities are (save money, have a coach, swim with others, location, schedule, etc...) and then evaluate the options and pick your best option.  I think that all of them are great options. 

 I have had a similar experience as Derek.  There's one specific guy that I share a lane with on occasion that swam in college.  He's 55 now but still swims circles around me. 

My priority in choosing a gym/club would be availability of the pool.  I'm a member of 24 Hour Fitness, which gives me constant access to the pool.

Ok, time to get down to business...

First, make sure to add each of the group members to your "Other Blogs" list.  This is a good way to track each other's progress as we prepare for our races.

Second, use the BT training log so that we can see how you're doing.  It's also a great way to motivate yourself.  I like to look back to see what my training was like in the past to see how I am progressing.

Finally, let me know what you specifically want to get out of this mentoring group.  You can do it on the board or via a personal message.  I just want to know how I can best help you guys achieve your goals this summer.

 Thanks!

Thank you all for your advice.  I am going to purchase the TI book and hope that helps me.  I have been reading the Triathlete's Training Bible by Joe Friel and that has helped me understand triathalons a bit more.  As far as my decision goes, I have taken all of your advice and decided which things are most important.  I think that I could over time teach myself to swim, maybe not well -but decent.  I think that I could benefit from a coach and others who are in the"same boat" as me.  I am a little on the shy side and pretty stubborn at times when it comes to asking for help.  So I'm not sure how much I would ask for advice from other random swimmers - something I am continually trying to work on.  While I like the flexability of the first option, the 3-month pass does not last the course of my training.  And while I hate the time for the second option, it's cheaper and comes with a coach.  So before I make my final decision I am going to go to a practice and talk to a coach.  I figure I can get a short run, or bike, or even a little bit of lifting in before I would go to a practice during the week -I'm just worried about tiring myself beforehand.

I'll keep you posted!

in the control panel, you can download your picture on the bottom left side. 

 ...I'm working on the training blogs