Swimmer's Group (Olympic Distance Animals) - OPEN (Page 11)

Ran on the hotel treadmill here in Denver this morning.  I'm used to running among the cotton fields in the Mississippi River delta not this air with no moisture and no oxygen.  I was really needing some air and hope the problem was due to the higher altitude and not a sudden drop in fitness.

This is a recovery week and it times well with my business trip which would have messed up my training during any other week.

Hey everyone ... had a ridiculously busy week at work and didn't get a chance to check in! Sleep was the most important thing in my life last week!! Just one of those weeks ... meals weren't planned like they should be and training just didn't happen.

Meh. It happens sometimes. Life gets in the way!

Felicity: I'd never heard of Parkrun ... but I just Googled it. There is apparently one in Launceston. About an hour away from me. One day I may make it up there for a run ... but probably not!! What a great concept though ... hopefully it makes it to my area! Sorry to hear your back's no good. I'd be getting that treated pronto, if you can. I came out of my 5km run with a minor injury ... really sore left leg. Luckily, I had my monthly massage booked for last week ... my massage therapist fixed me right up and I'm like a whole new girl!

Okay ... I want to share my plan for next week (just 'cause I can) ... hope you all don't mind. I've got two runs, two bikes and three weights sessions down on my schedule. All nice and easy. And very short. Easing into things. Hoping to do a couple of walks in the mornings too. I know it's very un-triathlete-like, but I love to start the day with a walk. They will serve as my warm-ups to the weights sessions.

I hope everyone had an ace weekend. I spent a great deal of time today on the laptop following IM Melbourne!!

Have a great week, everyone.

Em.

Did a sprint (super sprint?) yesterday in the cold rain; 300m pool swim-10.5 mile bike-3.1 mile run.  Final results have not been posted online and I suspect that the run was closer to 2.5 miles but have not seen any updates on this yet.

Came in second in my family as my daughter beat me again...

I don't think I pushed hard enough on the bike as I tried to figure out a proper effort level but my legs still didn't feel great on the run; it took about 15 minutes of running before I felt like I was starting to get any kind of a stride going.  I thought I would be moving towards the middle of the pack with my biking but I still fell towards (or at) the bottom of my age group.  Preliminary results that were posted on the board at the race had me FOP swimming, BOP biking, and MOP running (I think).  FOP swimming does little good in a 300M swim.  I had to slow and pass people in the pool as well; folks were not sticking to the race numbers which were assigned based on swim estimates.

Anyway, it was a good experience and training aid.  It tells me that in order to finish my Oly in May without having to walk, I will need to stay at a leisurely bike pace; maybe I will put some tassles on my handle bars.

haha the tread mill is soooo boring!! Jason I just can't get over the distances/time you put in for training!! I put in about 375 minutes last week and it was one of my best weeks! I can totally relate to the snow though!  We are FINALLY getting a little taste of spring here this week! We actually got above 0 celcius here yesterday and maybe double digits by the weekend! YAY!

David looks like you got off to a good start to the season! I am still hemming and hawing about which races to squeeze in yet this year. Turns out that one of the races I wanted to particpate in I had a previous engagement. So it has been back to the drawing board.

Felicity glad to see you taking it a little easier and letting your back heal up...that is so important!

Emily sounds like you have an ambitious week ahead...good luck with that!

Happy training all!       Howard

Jason, really enjoying the blog!! I had no idea that bike racing was a contact sport! I can't believe you kept your cool through that ordeal, I am sure I would have lost it! Way to fight back just the same!

Hey I looked at those You Tube vids and found them to be interesting but Bobby doesn't say, or at least I didn't hear him say, anything in regards to distance or time for any of his drills. How have you put that together or is there another vid where he explains that? 

Thanks,    Howard

The race fit in well with my goal of the Olympic Tri in May.  After getting some more information and updates on the results, I don't feel quite so bad about my times.  I wasn't completely down at the bottom of the bike leg and finished in the middle overall.  I have to remind myself that some of these racers have been doing this for a while and I am just a beginner.

Winter will not go away; we are running about 15F below normal outside this past week.  I need a little warmer weather in order to work some bike/run bricks into my training.  This is what I felt the most from Sunday's race; also changing shoes with numb fingers a little quicker and improving my transition times. 

My daughter and I both started tri training the middle of last summer and she had no biking or swimming experience but still usually finishes top one or two in her age group.  She missed out this race because she struggled with her clothes in the rain; even though she beat #2 and #3 in race times her transition times were longer and knocked her down to 4.  There are always one or two people that finish ahead of me due solely to transition times.

David

David I hear you! I have never trained like this in my life and am just into my second year. Us rookies have been on a steep learning curve since starting and tons more to learn yet! One training session, day and race at a time! Slow but sure it will come together!  Always nice to see the stats come out and see that you did better than you thought! That's sweet!      Howard 

Glad your enjoying the blog, I will try to keep updated at least once a week if not more. Especially now since there are a lot of races in the future. As far as the drills go, I've been trying to do maybe once a week or so and I usually don't do then for a long amount of time or distance. Maybe 15-20 yards at a time and 3-4x through each drill just to work on some muscle memory.

Keep up with the swimming and it will continue to get better. Before you know it you will be putting out 4000 meters in no time!

As for me rolled my ankle VERY bad yesterday morning while trying to bring in the trash. I was getting ready to go to the pool and part of our driveway drops off a  little and since it was pitch black. BAMM! Could have sworn I heard a snap and I am already sensitive to that ankle cause I have broken it before. I got up and limped around for a little but was able to walk on it. Went to the pool but it hurt when I would kick. I just swam through the pain and when I got to work made sure I put ice on it. First time I have rolled an ankle this bad where it actually hurt for so long. It was swelled but no bruising so I knew it wasn't to bad. Feels better today so we will see how it feels when I test it out at tonight training crit ride. I'm sure there will be a lot more riders out today which only means for a faster ride. Thinking of trying to establish a breakaway and see what happens.

Felicity,

Getting sick so often has to be frustrating.  I'm sure the kids are bringing stuff home all the time especially during school season.  I used to battle strep throat with my kids; seems like I'd get it and it would take extra time for me to get rid of it though it didn't bother me once I was on the anti-biotics; I'd just keep testing positive for it.  Do you think the regular exercise helps (as long as you don't get too fatigued)?  I think it helps keep me healthy but I don't know about Hashimoto's.

Training with my daughter is fun but occasionally it gets tough to fit out schedules.  We usually swim at the same time and bike outside together; we run together every once in a while.  We have one trainer that we share for biking indoors.

If that tri run is all on the sand they are nuts!  Maybe the biking is on the sand too!  June 2 is still a ways off if you can get some solid training time without too many interuptions; if not, nothing wrong with the sprint and you should be better prepared for it.  I definitely need more bike riding before May 19.

David

Anybody here done a triathlon where the swim was done in a pool? One of the bigger organizers of tri's here in Alberta has very recently switched one of their races to the facility I train in. It is mid May so earlier than I would like but thought I should be able to do the sprint distance okay. They are going to put 4 people in per lane and I wonder how that has worked with others, it seems a little crowded to me...to be able to pass or get passed etc. The bike and run are flat so I like that!  

Felicity good on ya, for working through your trials! Running in the sand???! That is just nasty, I hope that is not the case!

Jason to bad about the ankle! A little to close to your racing season to have something like that set you back, especially after all that training! So the running drills thing is that simple...cool! Thanks for that I wasn't sure how to proceed with those drills. I will give them a try here before long.

Well we have a long weekend coming up here and am looking forward to it! Happy training everyone!           Howard 

Howard,

The sprint I did on Sunday had the swim in a pool but was only 300 yards.  The race uses the timing chips so participants started about 10 seconds apart (was supposed to be 5 seconds apart).  The distance is limited based on the width/length of the pool and the number of lanes because the swim is up lane #1, cross under the rope and back down lane #2, cross under the next rope and up lane #3 and so forth in a zigzag fashion.

The race numbers are distributed based on the estimated swim times submitted by each particpant when they sign up for the race with the hope that the swimmers don't get too bunched up.  Passing swimmers can be difficult especially as you are approaching the wall.

What is the swimming distance for the pool swim?  Sharing the lanes sounds interesting; how do they keep count?

David

Interesting! So were you able to flip off the wall and scoot under the rope or did you have to stop/slow down to skip under the rope into the next lane? They say that it is a 'continuous feed' and when you are done in your lane another person starts.  So that doesn't make any sense to me??? especially when we have to do a full 750 metres. Unless when we empty out of our designated lane they fill the gap with another warm body. They also state that there are volunteers on hand to count your lengths and when you have two remaining they stick a flutter board in the water to indicate you have 2 lengths left. I guess that would be okay if we each wear a different coloured head covering. Other wise it could be a little tricky I would think. They do base your group on swim times so I guess you will be pretty much on par with others in your group. i am going to see if I can't email the organizer and get the specific details.

Howard,

Flip turns were allowed but when I was in the mix I didn't feel safe doing them not knowing what is behind me.  Also, there were a number of turns where I had to kinda wait for the person in front of me to get out of the way or I had to slip through an opening to jump around them.  I would get to the wall turn and push off hard at a slight angle to move into the other lane.  The problem with these setups is that the swim distance is limited.

I wonder if you will have numbers on your swim caps to help identify.  750 is a pretty good distance.  I hope you don't get a counter who misses a lap or two and makes you do extra!

David

Haven't heard from several members lately...

Katie the more the merrier!!! Welcome to the group! Hopefully the tendonitis gets better! Gives you a great opportunity to really put in some time into swimming and biking!