Sdanaher's HIM or IM Group - CLOSED (Page 10)

That would make sense.. I run almost daily and the past month or so have upped my weekly totals. That is about when the knees started messing with me.

Congratulations - a baby!

Been a big training week for me which has been a struggle after the Oly Sunday.  Felt despondent after the swim last night but back to my bubbly self today!

I ran at lunchtime today - 10min warm up then 30mins with 20secs strides every 5mins.  Felt really strong and way faster than when I ran on Tuesday.

Tonight i'm back in the pool for squad - really going to try hard to do more sprints there too.

Indoor trainer Friday morning then it's the weekend which means a long ride and a long run.

Just got caught up on everyone's posts.  Sorry I was gone last week.  Triathlon camp was A BLAST!  16,500 feet of climbing over 5 days, a little under 300 miles, and some running and swimming as well.

I'm officially tired!  But just started training again (got back sunday) wednesday.

I've got my first season race 3/31/2012 here - just a local sprint I do every year even though i don't like short stuff.  Just so close to my house.

Looks like training is going well (and reproducing too... congrats!).

The 2 biggest things I took away from camp last week were:

• importance of a strong core
• mental stability for long sessions and races, never get too excited or too down on a long course.. it will change your plan too much

Welcome back!

Been a big training week for me.  3 swim squads - 2 in the pool and 1 in the open water.  I was really good in the pool - now to transfer that technique to the ocean on Wednesday. 

3 runs - today's was the long one - 30mins at RPE2 and 30mins at RPE4 (very hard for me to differentiate I have one speed, slow).  But I did do a negative split - I ran all the way at RPE2 but for RPE4 I reverted to my run/walk strategy which is surprisingly faster....weird but true (thanks to Jeff Galloway!)

2 indoor rides so far - outside tomorrow rain or shine 90mins required.  Scared.  I figure I'll go 6.30am then the only traffic will be other riders.  All the triathletes are the other side of town this weekend doing Olympic or Long distance (last big one before Melbourne IM)  I'm volunteering at the IM - at the start (want to get me the job of numbering some elite muscle men!)

Good weekend everyone - stay safe!

Jo

x

Great work! Those milestones are help keep your engaged.

Well done - that's a great achievement!

I achieved one of my New Year's Resolutions - I moved from lane 8 to lane 7 in swim squad - apparently the only way I'll get faster is to swim with faster people so I took the plunge.  I kept up last night with the other 5 people in the lane, in fact I wasn't the slowest.  3km done!(after a 45mins spin class)

On the downside Sunday's bike ride didn't happen - I don't mind a bit of rain but that was Noah style!

3k is not joke of a swim!  Especially when upping your speed!  You should be super proud.  Totally agree for swimming that a group helps.  Just like group bike rides.  Not the best training for a tri but sprinkling them in forces you to edge boundaries.

Jo, Dave,

congrats for your achievements. Keep them coming!

Shane,

glad you had a great time under the sun!. Could you please elaborate on your comment about bike group ride? Just curious as to what the drawback(s) would be.

Sean,

all the best for your new personal adventure.

As far as I am concerned, I did battle a cold, bummer to see the volume going down, but hope this week will be better.  

SWIMMING!!!!! Ya know, it's amazing, how this ONE SPORT, can prove to be soo challenging...Decent swim yesterday (had to cut it short as I ran out of time) but managed to get in 1550M in a 300m w/u 8x50, 4x125, 2x175 and was supposed to do another 2@175, 8@50 and 200 c/d....lesson learned DON'T TALK TO BUDDIES ON THE WAY IN TO THE GYM!!!!!

The frustrating part though is that I kept having these "break through" laps where I could feel everything just going right.  My body position was good, I had good rotation, good catch etc...I'd hit the wall and turn and the next lap was GARBAGE...This would be like the equivalent of tripping and falling every 1/2km when running.....Anyway, end rant...Hope everyone is having a good training week, I have a job change coming up next week so it will be interesting to reschedule all of my workouts and try to stay on track....

I thought I was the only one who had this issue!  I keep hoping that the break through laps will come more regularly than the garbage ones.  And I suppose with continued work, they will.  I am finding that the later I am in my swim workout, the more good laps I have.  Surprising, but I wonder if it is because when I start getting tired, I stop thinking so much and just swim.  Maybe my body knows more than my mind and I just need to relax in the pool. 

Had a couple good rides on the trainer yesterday and today and a good strides run yesterday.  Hope everyone else is having a good week.

BREAKTHROUGH OWS!!!!

Finally nice swim conditions in the bay last night.  Weather 33 degrees which is 91F!!!  Water calm and chilly.

Warm up 480m to the big yellow stick.  Wasn't last, this is a good sign...100 people turned up for squad I could see those dollar signs in Coach's eyes!

Next up was a long race to the first set of rocks 1km.  We set off.  My focus was to stay straight and not get off course, and swim long and strong at a speed faster than my comfort zone.  Also try and get on some people's toes. 

So this all went very well, I did get on Pam's toes - unfortunately she's a non-kicker and goes off course all the time.  I abandoned her!  I found a few sets of toes but over 1km the pack spreads out pretty much.  However I stayed straight, and I felt my technique was good, I was also faster than usual - way off the BOP!!!  I would say I was at the back of MOP!

Once at the rocks it was turn around and do 150m sprint races.  This gets the heart going!  Coach Johnny sends the kayaker off 150m then says GO! and it's a free for all.  Over that short distance we don't get separated so I managed to draft off some fabulous swimmers and championship class triathletes.  Yes i got kicked and punched all over, but I hit back as hard!

We did these sets back to the stick then cooldown 480m back to the start.  I got a massive calf cramp 200m from shore, Coach straightened me out and I swam back without kicking.  It's still sore this morning.  All my own doing, didn't drink a sports drink beforehand (91 degrees I should know better) also hadn't had my banana and ate heaps of chocolate!

To sum up - it seems the three squad sessions in the pool last week improved my technique, strength and confidence.  Coupled with good conditions and a mixed standard of swimmers I had an awesome night!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

another big training week and still got a 60min run Saturday and a 2 hour ride Sunday to do!  Oh and swim squad Saturday afternoon.

So tonight after work beautiful evening so unhooked the bike and went out on the open road.  I had forgotten how absolutely HOPELESS I am at riding!

I have developed a phobia for stopping!  Seriously, there were two pedestrian crossings where the lights were still red (no pedestrians though) I cycled straight through - I know, terrible.

Anyway - gave myself a good talking too.  Alongside the road runs a good bike/footpath - I noticed lots of guys on their roadies on there - it was peak hour so the road was pretty busy.  So I hopped onto the path - that way I didn't have the fear of the traffic to deal with - nor any stopsigns or red lights.  I decided I would practice stopping - got quite good at it!

I was out about an hour and a half - I enjoyed it once on the path.  I am very fearful of traffic and I avoid the major intersections by hopping off and walking the bike across.  What a wimp!

Anyway it's done - I shall take the bike out Sunday if it's dry - the more I do it the less scared I shall be.  I seem to recall the first time I drove a car on my own - absolute terror and now it's second nature!

Ho hum.

Had a terrible swim this morning!  I sure hope there are kayaks every 25m out there on the open water, or I am in a lot of trouble! 

To explain:  I usually swim in a 25m pool.  I have recognized that getting to reach out and touch something every 25m is a bit of a mental handicap, so have been trying to turn without grabbing the wall.  Can't do flip turns, get a headache everytime--besides there are no flip turns in OWS.  So I have been wanted to get into the pool when it is set up at 50m to give it a go.  Today was that day.  Plan was to do a 500m warm up, then a 500m 'race', as per my training plan.  Well, I'm not sure what was happening, but it wasn't a race...  I'm sure it was mostly mental, but I just couldn't make it happen.  Even in the warm up, I was having trouble with my breathing.  I don't know if it had to do with it being twice as long to the wall or what, but it did not go well.  In my 'race', I ended up doing a lot of it breast stroke, because I couldn't catch my breath, then I get down on myself for being a wuss and not being able to do it, arghhhh!  What this tells me, is that I better be getting into the 50m pool a lot more often!  Frustration!

Oh my goodness - I know how it feels to have a bad swim day.  It can just be that you're fatigued.  I had one a couple of weeks back in the pool where i was last in the slow lane and still couldn't keep up - I was sooo frustrated.  Then last week I was up a lane and not last...for me it was swimming the day after a Sprint Triathlon. 

Some days your body is telling you stuff you just gotta listen!

I agree the 25m pool gives you a false sense of security - but it's a mental thing - once you're in the race with all the others you will be fine.  My tips are - jump in a bit early and warm up - get your heart rate up so you don't have the adrenaline rush to deal with.  Don't hang back - get in the middle and get on someone's toes - they will hate it and try to lose you but stick with it - you save 30% effort by efficient drafting.  Then just think technique, don't worry!  When I'm out there I take my mind off the panic feeling by counting - I count ten strokes then sight, ten then sight - occasionally I keep counting get to one hundred and start again.

There will be plenty of buoys out there (about 50m apart) and heaps of people in a lot worse shape than you.  I find giving them a bit of encouragement helps me too.  If I see someone looking panicky or breaststroking I give them a shout - come on you can do it.

The swim is daunting but it's the smallest part of the day - smile and you'll be fine!

 On the upside for me - had an awesome run this morning 70mins and every 5mins was strides - felt great.  A perfect morning too - not a ripple on the bay, no wind just overcast and warm.  Loved it - if only every race day was the same!

Happy day calls for happy font and colour!  Nt a breakthrough as such, but an awesome 40km ride, 1 hours 51.  I rode out 1 hour but took 51 mins coming back - more downhills I figure!  Avg speed 21kph (not fast but not snail pace) and a max of 43kph.

I'm off out for breakfast with my Ironman girlfriend.  Inspiration at its best.

Keep up the good work gang!  Another big training week ahead......

Oh and a swim race for me next Saturday 1.2km where I do my OWS training...should be fun!

Signing off - JO Jo

xx

Hi Jo--Saw your post about your bike in the other thread--tell you what: you can keep encouraging me on the swim, I've got your back on the bike!!  I appreciate the encouragement on my bad swim the other day; it was my first bad swim in awhile, so I'm sure it's a one off, but still frustrating.  There is a Triathlon Training Swim group restarting up in a couple weeks, so will be taking advantage of that.  Should be helpful.

Sounds like your bike went well this morning, good job.  I too started on the no traffic pathways to build confidence.  It didn't take long before I felt comfortable enough with traffic.  Re the clipless pedals: I practiced a ton leaning on my garage clipping in and out (I think I clipped in and out 50 times each side) before I went out on my short little street and practiced clipping out to stop for awhile before venturing out on the road.  I had been very lucky in that I had not oopsied until last week (I have had my bike/pedals since Nov)--when I unclipped left and leaned right and promptly landed on my a$$.  A minor scrape on my knee and a bruise on my hip (and my ego!) was the only damage.  Laughed my head off at  myself too, because I had just (literally 2 seconds before) been thinking how lucky I had been to not fall YET.  Karma !  You will do fine with practice, just keep at it.

Going for another swim tomorrow, will let you all know how it goes.

Great job, Sean.  Lots of ice on the knee over the next little bit. 

I had a better swim today.  Started off poor again, trouble breathing, lots of breast stroke.  I was in the 'fast' lane with one other guy.  I think I am worried about holding others up (but the medium lane is way too slow for me).  Anyway, this guy and I were on about the same pace, so shouldn't have been a worry.  I was just psyching myself out, telling myself I can't do it, not panicking exactly, but just not confident.  Usually, I am very mentally strong, can push through, but not on the swim yet.

I was doing a ladder (I think it's called that?)  200 WU, then 400, 600, 800, 600, 400 and 200 CD.  So the WU was mostly 1/2 breast stroke 1/2 free, no problem there, that's what I usually do.  400--some free, some breast--not intentional, just couldn't do it.  Towards the end started to make myself continue with free cause I knew it was all in my head.  600--realized about 50m in that I was really tense and feeling 'forced'.  So I made myself relax everything, my stroke, my kick, my breathing, and I was fine.  Did the full 800, other 600 and 400 all free.  I am trying to swim too fast, getting myself stressed, can't breath, tense, force, disaster!  So, note to self: RELAX!  If others are faster, they will pass [and in fact, this happened.  Another guy joined our lane, and he kicked both mine and the other guys butts.  We (me and the other slower guy) stopped at one point and chatted about how fast the dude was.  Maybe one day :-)]  I am not fast by any stretch of the imagination right now, 2:20 per 100m, but as long as I can complete the swim.  I still have a lot of time before my HIM at end of July, so I should stop worrying so much...

Also signing up for some Masters Triathlon Training, so that should help.  Hope everyone else has had a good weekend!

Kirsten

Good job Kirsten! 

I find as soon as I relax I swim faster!  Concentrate on long and strong, and deep with those relaxed hands.  Your kick should just come naturally - don't over kick or you'll increase your heartrate and get breathless.  I just concentrate on my arms and my grab and don't think about my feet - if I do I just say relax those ankles....