Swimmer's Group (Olympic Distance Animals) - OPEN (Page 12)

Was very interesting. I was looking back at the first couple pages and all the people who wanted to join but over half of them have never posted!!! Should make a rule next time, if you want to join my group you much engage in some light conversation at least! haha This group can become comical and also I feel we have had some great questions and insight into training and the sport!

Jason,

How is the hoof?  I can't believe you don't make your wife bring in the trash; you are no longer my hero!  (My wife doesn't know where the outside trash is...oops, here she comes...)

My running shoes were wet so I ran in new ones (slightly different model) and found out that they don't quite fit correctly.  I'm now nursing a couple of blisters but I think I can work around them.  Why do shoe companies change models every 6 months?  Is it to discourage online purchases?  I really don't know but I can't believe that a decent shoe has to be upgraded so often.

David

Felicity I am glad! I will admit having others to talk to in this group keeps me motivated as well. It's nice to hear that other people can benefit from my knowledge and also to see other beginners getting into the sport and have passion for it! Almost all my training is done by myself, not because I want to, but because it is just tough to sometimes find others to train with cause everyone is on a different schedule! But it is always nice to speak with other and see what you all are up to and what life struggles you have. We are all the same in some ways. We all have other lives and it is going to be a struggle to sometimes fit in extra activities, but having each other in this group can help to talk about things going on in life and how others deal with it! 

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter! Some of you have probably already had Easter, here in the US it's only Sunday! 

Yes, this mentor program has been very valuable for me.  Happy Easter!

Last week was a pretty good training week.  One "rest" day in that the legs got a rest but I still swam on that day.  Today is a complete rest and recovery day for legs, feet, and entire body.  I plan to crank back up with a run Monday morning and swim in the afternoon.

Just a heads up I'm in the middle of writing a blog post in regards to expensive and new technology related equipment in triathlons; what is necessary to have and what whether or not you should be content with your own equipment. Look for it probably by tomorrow, but I will post the link to let you know. 

Now I am seeking advice from my mentee's!!! Saturday I did a 2 hour ride at just below Oly pace followed by a 45 minute transition run. I had no issues or pain during the run but a couple hours later I developed pain in the outside of my right foot. Pain seems to be outside mid foot. Pain is even when walking now, but I didn't feel a thing when running. Anyone else have an experience with this. I read something about peroneal insertional tendonitis and it could be something like that or possibly stress fracture, but it is not bruised or discolored. Thanks

New Blog post..check it out if you think you need to buy top of the line equipment to be fast! Cause you don't!

http://swimbikerundrink.blogspot.com/

Hey Jason,

I think I have the same problem as you with my left foot.  I've been sorta ignoring it for a while.  The pain goes away when I'm actually training but may come back after I cool down.  Also, if its a little more irritated, I will feel it during the day when I get up and walk after sitting for a spell.

I should try to ice it after working out but most of the time I'm doing stuff so don't end up icing it.  I haven't taken anti-inflammatories in a long time but found an old celebrex capsule left over from a back issue and when I took it the pain totally went away.  I'm leary of Celebrex but it is a miracle drug for me.  In the long run, I suspect that calcium deposits can build up?

I also feel it more after I play racquetball.  I try to stretch the calf and foot/heel areas more and I have less issues with it now than a couple of months ago.  I may go to the doctor if the pain continues after May but it seems to be improving so we'll see.

I think a lot of these types of issues work against themselves as the area becomes inflamed then there is constant irritation so a couple of days of a good oral anti-inflammatory (maybe even Aleve) may knock it out.  I had a similar issue with tennis elbow a few years ago.  Letting it rest and keeping it immobile with a brace did not work but after I got a cortizone shot the pain never came back.

Next Subject:  I dig the new blog.  The one negative aspect with triathlons is that some speed can be purchased so it is not entirely "mano-a-mano" but the law of dimensioning returns kicks in fairly quickly.  It can get crazy and like you said, it is the engine that drives it all.  I bought a nice used road bike that is still way more bike than I need or should have spent money on.  It was nice to replace my gigantic, mid-80's Raliegh Marathon steel bike though.

David,

Just be careful. After doing a lot of reading about the tendonitis, if you keep pushing and aggrevating it, it can turn into tendonosis, which can result in the tendon splitting like string cheese which can result in surgery (not good). I've decided to take an unplanned recovery week. No running or biking for me, just swimming with lots of ice, stretching and rest. I have a bike race this saturday so hoping I am mostly recovered by them. I know I won't lose any fitness and hopefully can ease back into running to be ready for tri on April 14th to test my fitness for my 'A' race. Just from icing at work and stretching it already feels better so I would rather take more precaution than injury myself this early in the season.

Hi Jason,

love this blog post, perhaps you should put it up on BT as an article (although you might need a glossary, as I never knew most of the brands that you were talking about). I agree that the equipment thing can get out of control.  There are some that say you don't really need a TT bike. I bought my first (and likely to be my last road bike) last year...it is a very nice Fuji Carbon thingy, but the gearing isn't flash (shimano ultegra) and the wheels and tyres are stock standard. I had a budget of approx $2K and that is what we spent.

 Last year  I went to a camp for women, targetted at beginners and they agreed that you don't need top of the line but the essentials were a road bike with clip in shoes, and a trisuit (or equiv). The next level would be a wetsuit.

As a BOP finisher, I prefer looking like I have no idea....then others don't have expectations of me.

Cheers Felicity

Ahh yes with the lingering foot injury and taking off from running and biking this week, I am forced to make it up with my arch nemisis....the pool! 2 hours this morning of staring at that damn black line on the bottom of the pool....6700 yards here was the workout

900 warm up (200 swim/50 kick/50 drill)
5x300 @ 4:40 (50 kick/100 swim, repeat)
50 easy recovery
4x250 pull @ 3:30 (descend time 1-4)
50 easy recovery
12x100 swim (3 @ 1:15, 1 @ 1:40, repeat)
12x25 Skull, Drill, Swim (IM Order) @ :40
16x75 Pull @ 1:10 Rotate fast 25 follow by 75 hard
500 cool down (50 choice/100 swim, repeat)

Ouch on tendonosis; I'm going to be careful.  No pain for a while now so we'll see.

Speaking of being a jerk with you race partner...   When I ride with my daughter I tell her I don't want to go too fast for her so she should take the lead and I'll tuck in behind her.  When we get home and she speaks about some awful headwind I'll nod in agreement, "Oh yeah, that was bad"...  I just wish she was larger.

hahaha everybody take a "comic course" over the weekend??! Got quite a few laughs out of the posts over the weekend!  Jason haven't had a chance to read the blog yet but sounds interesting! 6700 yards??!! Are you kidding me! That is psychotic! Sure hope the foot heals for the weekend.

Me...had a good weekend or not good depending on your perspective...regardless I must say I am feeling a little guilty about it! I did no exercising and ate way to much food...I refused to step on the scale this morning for fear that my binging is going to cost me many hours of extra training this week! You know what they say about payback....! ARRGHHH!

Have a good one everybody!     Howard

Almost forgot to mention, hence the "edit", that I weight trained the 'ole legs on Thursday last week. I hadn't worked them in the past few weeks as I was having some lower back issues, nothing serious but wanted to get it right before hitting the legs again. Anyhoo come Friday you would have thought that I had done zero exercising for the past few months! I was in pain! Every trace of lactic acid found it way into my lower extremities and it took till Sunday to be able to function semi normally! Feel good today but sure wasn't expecting that kind of soreness!!

Hey Howard,

A couple day's break is sometimes a good thing.  I'm sure you will feel like all is right with the world a few minutes into your workout.

My muscles are terrible when it comes to getting back to the weights.  After I've had a layoff I force myself to use embarrassingly light weights and no more than two sets for any given exercise and I still get pretty sore.  Any more than that and it hurts to move the next two days.

David

Jason,

Can't wait to read the race report.

Here is mine for now; I can update if anyone really wants to know more.

My daughter and I ran in a 5k yesterday.  You don't need to know whether it was a very large race or if it was a tiny local race sponsored by my church and maybe 4 other 5k's were being run in town at the same time.  You don't need to know my actual race time.   What you need to know is that I won my age division...whoo-hoo!

Oh yeah...and you don't need to know whether I beat my daughter or not either.

I did knock about 2:40 minutes off of my 5k last September and almost 4 minutes off of the 5k I did at the start of last summer which was the first one I ran in about 20 years.  I definitely felt some improvement.

Is it too late to join this group?  I don't really know the etiquette of these groups since I'm a newbie and I've never been in an online group before.

But I am training for an oly and swimming is definitely my weakness....

Ok- I took my time to read every post in the 15 pages so that I am caught up with the group;

Now, my intro post:

NAME: themissj1981/ Jacki 

STORY: I am a 31 year old female living in Oregon, USA.  I used to be competitive in extreme sports (snowboarding/skateboarding)  Now I'm past my prime and just do those things for fun.  Basically, I need a goal, event or some kind of deadline to motivate me to stay active.  I nearly drowned 6 summers ago and have had a mild to moderate swim phobia ever since.  I've long meant to learn to swim...

Hence: triathlons!  I began to learn to swim in August 2012 from basically no skills (back floating and treading water probably don't count).  I enjoy cycling and have almost decent performance on my terrible $200 bike.  I feel neutral toward running, but tend to have OK performance.  Like so many others I am extremely limited on time.  I work long days (usually 11-12 hour shifts) and have a lot of other hobbies and social commitments competing for my time. 

FAMILY STATUS: Married with a 4 year old son 1 pitbull, 1 cat, 10 chickens and 1 beehive.

CURRENT TRAINING: I just finished the "sprint swim focused 20 week free plan" offered on this site and am ready to move on.  I am in week 2 of the "20 week olympic distance swim focused free plan". So, basically I am doing 3 swim, 2 bike, 2 run workouts per week.  I usually also do 2 calisthenic workouts which is basically just crunches + pushups.  In addition to that I often commute to work (8 miles 1 way) weather permitting (which is about 1 day per week this time of year)

2012 RACES: one 5k run,  and one 5k "boot camp" style obstacle course.

2013 RACES:  I put in my 2012 Christmas Letter for all to read that I plan on doing the Coeur d' Alene Olympic Triathlon in August 2013 (that is my home town).  

on 3-30-2013 I completed a Sprint distance Triathlon 300 yd /16.5mile/ 5k.  

I am signed up for 800 yd/ 12mi/ 5k Sprint on 6-9-2013.  

I am volunteering all day (15 hours) for Ironman Coeur d' Alene 6-23-2013.  

And if all goes well I am planning to race Coeur d' Alene Olympic Tri on 8-10-2013 which is 1500m/40k/10k  (too ambitious?)

WEIGHTLOSS: Not a major focus.  I am 5'5" 135 lbs.  I know I can look good at this weight, the weight distribution is a problem (you'd think I've got a flotation device around my mid section to help me swim, but it doesn't really help- go figure!).

edit to add: I have no real food/diet vices except BEER!!!! I am a life long vegetarian who lacks a sweet tooth.  But I am a home beer brewer and I live in Portland, OR home of the most micro-breweries per capita in the world!!

Hi Jacki,

welcome to the group! Hope you get as much out of it as I am getting.

This week I have had a great week, after being pretty much out of action for a month due to the strained back and then a viral Respiratory illness. I knew I had a 10k fun run, and had deconditioned so took it easy at the gym after having my PErsonal trainer session. No swimming due to the cold/sinus. On Thursday I did 5ks on the treadmill and felt knackered, so had low expectations. On Sat did the 5k newyparkrun with my 11yo daughter. this being her third ever run, I let her set the pace so I did not push too hard the day before my 10k. She did a pb at 32.22, so we were both pleased.

On Sunday, My aim was to run/jog the entire distance no walking at all, to have no pressure about the time, just do the distance. Have to say, I did this for the first.time.ever. and I was stoked! I paced myself beautifully, and even sprinted down the finishing chute. Still waiting on the officlal time, but I think it might be around 65mins, which would be great. I will put up a race report for all to see when the times are released.....so now going to get back into it, will do some more weights, and one long run a week, so hoping to be ok to get around at Cairns in June.

Jacki, I am impressed. You read all 15 pages?!?!? You are either very dedicated or very bored haha You automatically get a thumbs up from me for having a pitbull! Time is very critical for most of us. Best thing to do is not let triathlons consume your life, it can be a very selfish sport and not mention expensive! You already have an upper hand in the fact you live in Oregon, which provides great training opportunities I am actually very jealous. Swimming will come, just keep up the hard work that it sounds like you are putting in. It takes time to develop and is really all about technique to swim efficiently. Problem is you don't want to think about it to much while swimming. Lots of drills will help and even having someone video tape you will help, this will allow you to see yourself from outside the water and make any corrections that you didn't even know you were doing wrong!

As far as your race plan I think it looks very good and definitely not to ambitious. I am not familiar with any of the courses you are racing but if you haven't already I highly recommend getting comfortable with open water swimming, especially with a mild swim phobia. Grab some friends, find some open water and swim as closely to each other as possible, even if that mean hitting each other while swimming.

Felicity, AWESOME! Congrats! It is sometimes the small victories that we need to recognize. Also congrats to your daughter on her PB! Keep up the work and easing back into the running and swimming!

OK, well I actually skimmed over some of the posts, but I stopped to fully read anything that contained questions, advice, problems, solutions, coaching etc.

I have my "long swim" coming up tonight which is supposed to be 44 mins.  How should I break that up?  I have a tough time maintaining decent form for more than 100-150 meters.  Then I usually need an 8-10 breath rest....typically my muscles aren't too tired, I'm just breathless.

Usually I have been doing:

100 warm up swim

100 kick w/ board

100 x 2 swim with fins (working on pull and breathing)

100 x 2 swim

100 kick w/ board

100x 2 swim with fins

100 swim (cool down)

As I get tired/breathless I do half a length or so in backstroke or breaststroke.

-Jacki

Jackie--Welcome to the group even though you don't have a sweet tooth.

I have taken close to the same route as you regarding tri training.  I basically followed the free sprint program through my sprint tri in October.  I mixed up my training between October and the end of December with more time spent on running.  I started the 20-week 3xbalanced free plan on December 31 with the goal of an Olympic tri on May 19.  I don't always get all 9 workouts in each week but I get close.

I am in my 16th week of the plan and feel pretty good but know that I'm behind on biking.  The times and distances I am doing now looked impossible to me a couple of months ago.  Jason has provided good information and answers to our questions throughout this mentor program so ask him anything and we may all learn from it.  This group has been very helpful when my motivation starts to drop.

Felicity--Great news on the 10K.  I'm glad to hear you are getting back into the groove and hope you will stay healthy.

David

Uggghhhh.....DEFEAT

possibly my worst ever swim workout tonight.  Not exactly because I performed badly (I did) but because I lost the mental game with myself and let myself get vibed out of the pool.  I was supposed to swim for 44 minutes and gave up at 16 minutes because I was afraid I'd cry if anything else bad happened. 

The weird thing is my LAST swim workout just yesterday was probably one of my BEST ever.  I think possibly I had too high of expectations for myself combined with an unusually hectic and crowded lap session.  Simply put, I'm just not good enough to keep up with the "real" lap swimmers.  

I have nowhere I belong at our community pool...they won't let me swim with the kids and youth lessons (I asked) and I cannot keep up with adult swim, they have private lessons but they are only offered during times I am working...basically I am left with water aerobics and adult lap swim as my 2 pool choices.  Most nights it is about half as busy as it was tonight...I wonder if it is a fluke, or a seasonal or weather thing?

So here's what I did:

2x50 warmup

1x100 swim

then....I started getting run over and created traffic jams-different swimmers were giving me different directions for where to go and what to do... so I abandoned my planned workout and put on my fins in hopes of just being able to "keep up" and log some laps and "overcome" the mental and emotional barrier of fitting in with the real swimmers...I knew this would be more about "standing my ground" than actually training but I didn't know what else to do besides give up after 5 mins and forfeit my $3...

after 10 minutes of swimming with my fins and just not really finding a "groove" I gave up.  I doubt I've ever felt so disappointed and frustrated after any kind of workout before (I came close in my first few swims back in August, before I had any lessons....but that was more exhaustion and fear)

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but maybe I'll workout since I didn't really today. I'm wondering if I should hit the pool again and hope it's less crowded, or if I should do a bike or run instead?

-Jacki