login
Hello from a 39 year old beginner!
-
No new posts
 2018-02-01 12:56 PM |
 3 |  Subject: Hello from a 39 year old beginner!Hey everyone, Turned 39 a few months ago and am in a place in life where I can dedicate some time to a fitness goal I've always had, a sprint tri. Been running and biking for about 8 years, haven't swam since I was a kid. Only run a few races a year, mainly 5k-4mi just for fun. Never really timed my bike rides, but I'll go out for 12-15 miles a few times a week when the weather is nice. I'll run a 5k, again when the weather is nice, three days a week. Run pace is around 8:30 for a 5k. I currently do a weight workout three days a week. I'm 6'1, about 160lbs, been thin my whole life. Would love to compete in a tri this year but need a swim coach first and some serious training. I'm "good" for about 500M right now but I'm stopping after each 50M, sometimes even after 25M. My 50s are around 1:00-1:20 but my rests are around 10-30 seconds. I had a swim lesson/evaluation last month and plan to start up formal coaching/lessons soon because I don't want to practice bad technique. So to you experienced people, how long did it take you to go from being gassed after a 50M to being able to swim continuously? I can swim 4-5 days a week right now for about 30-40 minutes at a time. Thank you! Best, Craig Edited by qsjcraig 2018-02-01 1:05 PM |
| 2018-02-05 10:16 PM in reply to: #5236857 |
| 2 | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! Hi. My profile the same as you. Gas after 50. I however start training with wetsuite and this change my endurance and less gas. I work on my head still and water strike and frequent locking. This reduce my lower body drag and help me to swim 100 to 150 before I need a breather |
| 2018-02-06 12:02 AM in reply to: qsjcraig |
Extreme Veteran 1704    Penticton, BC | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! Hi Craig, Welcome to BT. Check at your local swimming pool. There should be classes with coaching available (for instance - a Masters swimming group) and any of the life guards should know who can give you some coaching to get started. Don't try to cheap out on a coach it will pay big dividends in the long run. It's hard to tell you what to expect in your progress because everyone is different. On the plus side you are young and you sound like you have a reasonable base fitness so you should pick it up pretty quickly. For me - I started swimming in 2012 at 61. I couldn't swim 50m without hanging on the wall gasping for air for a few minutes. I kept at it though. Swam 3 times per week and my technique was awful. Then in June (6 months) one day I was swimming with 3 other slow people in my lane and I was stuck behind a lady that was a bit slow and for some reason I decided to stay behind her rather than pass and soon I realized we were up to 300m and still going. We wound up swimming 750m without pause. Swimming 4 or more times per week and 45 minutes or so is a good way to get your swimming up to speed. Have fun with it. |
| 2018-02-06 9:13 AM in reply to: 0 |
265 | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! Originally posted by wenceslasz Hi Craig, Welcome to BT. For me - I started swimming in 2012 at 61. I couldn't swim 50m without hanging on the wall gasping for air for a few minutes. I kept at it though. Swam 3 times per week and my technique was awful. Then in June (6 months) one day I was swimming with 3 other slow people in my lane and I was stuck behind a lady that was a bit slow and for some reason I decided to stay behind her rather than pass and soon I realized we were up to 300m and still going. We wound up swimming 750m without pause. Swimming 4 or more times per week and 45 minutes or so is a good way to get your swimming up to speed. Have fun with it. I could have written the post above. Swam my first sprint triathlon at age 60 breast stroking. It was only 400 yards. Second triathlon at age 61 was a half Ironman the following year. I went from not being able to swim 50 yards doing the crawl to regularly swimming 1500-2200 yards. Key component was slowing down! After taking a year off to focus on work (I'm retired now) I am getting ready for another 70.3 this June. Will probably get some swim coaching to fine tune the form and try to make my swimming more efficient, picking up speed if I can without gassing myself out every time I try to do so. Edited by HaydenHunter 2018-02-06 9:13 AM |
| 2018-04-09 6:51 PM in reply to: HaydenHunter |
| 3 | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! Well, I took two weeks off, not for any particular reason just couldn't get there...got back in the pool and swam 500 yards a few days ago. I had to stop twice, for about 30 second each time, but completed the 500 in 12:10. Now I know that 12 minutes isn't a great time...two days later, my time went up to 12:58 but again, only stopped twice. Today, went back and did 500 yards again, this time only stopped once, but time went up to 13:38. So it's a win for the distance without stopping, now to do it without stopping at all! To anyone in the beginning stages, trust the process. My coach told me that something would just click and she was right (despite my 100% confidence that I couldn't do it) Now to start working on form. |
| 2018-04-12 10:06 AM in reply to: qsjcraig |
| 701 | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! Welcome to BT fellow late onset triathlonner. I'm mainly here to bump some posts over the spammers this forum got hit with. But welcome anyway. I can say this about swimming...in the beginning of this adventure....I think it's the one discipline you can make the most dramatic advances on in the quickest manner. For most of us....whoop de doo, we averaged xx.6 mph instead of xx.4 over a 20 mile ride. Or we PR'd our 5k by 10 seconds. Of course, this is assuming you're NOT a swimmer, or you weren't a swim team kid in high school. But swimming....as you said within two weeks from stopping every 50 or even 25 to doing 500 with only stopping once! That's dramatic, no? Welcome to the obsessive fun of triathlon. |
| 2018-04-14 12:07 PM in reply to: qsjcraig |
Champion 7553  Albuquerque, New Mexico | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! Originally posted by qsjcraig Well, I took two weeks off, not for any particular reason just couldn't get there...got back in the pool and swam 500 yards a few days ago. I had to stop twice, for about 30 second each time, but completed the 500 in 12:10. Now I know that 12 minutes isn't a great time...two days later, my time went up to 12:58 but again, only stopped twice. Today, went back and did 500 yards again, this time only stopped once, but time went up to 13:38. So it's a win for the distance without stopping, now to do it without stopping at all! To anyone in the beginning stages, trust the process. My coach told me that something would just click and she was right (despite my 100% confidence that I couldn't do it) Now to start working on form. Get form first, and focus on 50-100-200 yard distances where you can maintain form the entire time rather than slog through 500 yards, 100 of which are good and 400 bad. |
| 2018-06-23 4:56 PM in reply to: McFuzz |
| 3 | Subject: RE: Hello from a 39 year old beginner! So my first tri is coming up in about 8 weeks and I'm feeling a bit frustrated (as I'm sure most of you did before your first race?) I'm still getting very air hungry after just 75m but can muscle through to around 250m before I need to stop for a break. After a 30 second stop, I'm good for a few 50s but that's it. Also swam in the ocean for the first time in my life, made it about 50 yards before the "holy s**t I'm swimming in the ocean!!" kicked in, looked up to sight and realized I was swimming towards Spain. I'm started to get a bit down on myself because anyone I talk to about the race, including people that have done tris tell me, "500 yards? That's nothing, you'll be fine, anyone can do that." |
|
|
|
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK