Dominion's Sprint/Oly Focus Group - OPEN

Welcome to the group Nate.  This group will focus on Sprint and Olympic distance training and racing.  These shorter races are what I know best and what I feel the most qualified to give advice and answer questions on.

I looked over your training logs and see a lot of consistency.  It looks like you are putting in some good work.

When you get a chance post up a bio and tell us a little about yourself and your goals involving multi-sport. 

Tony, welcome.  So you are in England?  That's awesome, my wife and I love England.  I've got the Union Jack on my bike. (So when you say you played football, you mean what we Americans call Soccer? Professional? That will keep you in shape for sure!)  

What kind of times are you running on your stand alone 10k's?

First open water swim, how do you feel about it?  Ready to crush it or apprehensive?  Water kind of water is it? Ocean? Lake? River?

Post up a little bio about yourself and your goals in multi-sport when you get a chance.

Also the training logs are optional, but I find they do help in giving me a good idea of where your training is and how I may be able to help.

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Cassandra, Welcome to the group. I'm happy to hear your feel good about your training for this first event.  I think you have the right idea as far as dialing it back and staying off the foot going into your race.  I usually taper down my training the week of a race.  I get a little paranoid and have that feeling like I should be doing more, but think of it as a reward for all the hard work you've already put in.  Relax and enjoy that last week, with just a couple of easy to moderate workouts and your body will be rested and strong on race morning.

Also good idea to practice with the wetsuit.  Make sure you know step by step exactly how you are going to get that thing off.  Will save time and frustration in T1.

Welcome Whitney.  

The fact that you were a HS swimmer gives you a huge advantage in this sport.  You say that it is coming back quickly..that is great. I'm sure technique and form will soon be like you never left, just maybe have to get the lung fitness up to speed.  Many triathletes struggle with the swim more than anything, so right off the bat you are ahead of the game as a former competitive swimmer.

I know what you mean about having trouble getting to the pool  I have the exact same problem.  I try to schedule 2 swims a week (which really I should be doing more) but sometimes only make it once due to work and family obligations or weather or the pool is closed, or some such other issue.

As for the Tri club, it can be intimidating entering a new "environment" where others are already established, but I have found the tri community to be overwhelmingly friendly and helpful.  I'm sure there are those there willing to help you and invite you into their group.  Remember everybody had to start somewhere.  The fast people now weren't always fast.  Take advantage of the opportunities there if you can.  I train mostly by myself but when I am in group situations it is almost always with guys faster than me.  They force me to push harder.  The best way to get faster is to train with those that are faster.

Looking forward to hearing more about your training and how that swim evolves.

Scott, welcome to the group.  I have a family with younger children too, so I understand the challenges there.  

Looks like you have an Olympic coming up quick!  Your running looks very solid.  You are doing some bricks and running that fast off the bike is strong.  

I don't see much swimming in your training logs.   What kind of swim is the race? Lake?  If you feel optimistic then you probably have it under control, just don't underestimate an open water swim, especially if conditions could be worse than what you have trained for.  Trust me I just went through a nightmare ocean swim in my race this weekend, but more on that later.   As for the wetsuit, good idea to make sure it fits and make sure you have a good range of motion and can actually swim in it.  Check for areas of chafing (again personal experience and more on that later as well.) or any other unexpected complications or issues.  And yeah, make sure you can get out of it quickly and without assistance.

Jenn, glad you made it over from the old thread!

I read your last post over there and so sorry to hear about your crash.  Hope you are on the mend and feeling better.  Just take it easy for a few extra days if you need to.  Luckily your race is 4 weeks out so you have a little time.  Don't rush it..plenty of time.

As for Jekyll Island, it was a great weekend!  The weather was fantastic, nice and cool with ocean breezes.  I literally did not feel myself sweating until maybe the last 2 miles of the run.  The weather was great but the swim was terrible.  The wind and currents were strong and directly opposing the swim direction.  The swells and chop got worse as the swim went on and took its toll on everyone.  Lots of people bailed on the swim and took DNF's or were DQ'd.  (I think the count was 30 something.) Anyway I'll talk more about it in the race report but this sums it up:   It was a standard point to point ocean swim of 1500 meters.  Last year's time for me was 25 minutes, this year 57 minutes!  And yes, 57 minutes was the #1 swim split in my 40-44 AG out of the 12 of us who completed the swim.  Horrible conditions!

But in the end a great weekend. I got to race with my brother and I won my AG!!!  My brother, Will won his too, 35-39!!!  And he got 7th overall!!  So we had a great time and a great weekend of racing.  Again blog entry with more details and pics coming soon!

I should have a race report up on my blog tonight or (more likely) by tomorrow night.   

Kteter, Welcome to our group.  I see you have a few races on the schedule for this year, what are the dates?  How do you feel about stepping up to that Olympic distance?  Feel free to share how your training is going and ask any questions.  

Kmstiq/Kim, welcome.

So your are racing in 2 weeks!! are you ready?

Where in GA are you?  I'm in Statesboro and may be able to recommend a later season Olympic if you haven't already picked one. Anyway tell us a little more about yourself and feel free to ask any questions or share your training or racing experiences.

Thanks for giving us a little more info Nate.  Looks like you are going to be busy with #3 on the way!

I hear ya on the weight loss.  Losing weight was not really a goal of mine when I decided to get back in shape, it was more of a byproduct.  I was around 225 in 2011 and am now at 190.  I'm tall so I didn't even really realize I was overweight, but I was carrying a  lot of extra body fat back then. My in-season race weight seems to stabilize around 185-190 and fluctuates up to around 195 over the winter.

As far as the cycling goes, working on the trainer can be very beneficial, but if you are not getting enough work in, it may be worth it to get your own bike for outdoor riding.  That way it's right there at home.  No having to go to the gym to ride.  Also a good bike that you like and fits your properly is always motivation to ride more.  You may want to just look around and find something used until you are ready and more familiar with the bikes out there to find what your really want.  I started on a $500 used road bike before I upgraded to my SHIV.  I still use the road bike for most of my training, but the SHIV is awesome to ride on race day!

Curious as to what the cutoff times are?