SBR Utopia - OPEN (Page 123)

whoppee kate..

we have a tiny masters program. About six ex college swimmers ...and two fit but no race history in swimming history (myself included) I basically swim  a w/o of 200's all by myself, since the other non-racer just had surgery. It was a lot more fun when i had a buddy : (

Looking forward to OWS season. lining up buds for that currently.

pool covers got taken off too early this season. skipped swim this morning...dont feel too guilty..i did a long run yesterday..and a long bike/run brick saturday.

awesome!  way to go!!!!!

Spent the weekend camping with fmaily, in Alva, Florida, a great way to spend the weekend

Get back after it today!

Great job Kate!

I had a pretty good week of training.  Was able to get back into the pool a couple times last week and excited about getting my groove back there.  Although, I am getting some skin removed on my shoulder that will require stitches on Tuesday.  So, not sure how that is going to affect things this week.

I have decided to just stick with short course this year, mainly doing Olympics and some running races.  I was doing HIM races last year on very little volume and not getting results I wanted so just being realistic.  I was able to race my Olympics very well last year so going to focus there.

In other news, went to Ralphie May (comedian) last night.  My face hurts from laughing!  Definitely recommended although not clean humor in the least.

Race week.  Always so much fun.

Thanks to coach, I had a fantastic last weekend of training (that sounds ominous) and am going into this race feeling stronger than any race I recall in the past.  Had a great OWS and may finally get that :30 HIM swim monkey off my back (don't worry coach, not chasing the time  )  Excited to see what the day brings.  Oh, and at least started the week at goal race weight.  Now just to be smart and stay generally in that area.

Also, sold an old frame sitting in the garage and bought a PM and disc cover, so I am sure I will have questions when I get that up and running.

Good stuff Chris!

X2 - I can only ever dream of a sub 30min 1/2 swim.  Congrats on the PM.  Small piece of advice = avoid playing with it until after your race unless you plan to race with it and hide the numbers.  The last thing you want is a new set of numbers messing with you on race day.

Awesome Chris!! Happy taper week. :=)

Great advice, thanks.  Fortunately (unfortunately?) I won't even have it until after the race.  Plan on using it for Wildflower and IM Canada.  Honestly, I am considering having *only* HR show up on the bike (every screen, so I can't even cheat and scroll) and HR and pace on the run.  Otherwise I get too caught up chasing a time

Awesome Chris, you are going to have a great race!

New toys are always fun!

Speaking of time, are you going in with any specific goal times for this race?  Or letting the chips fall where they may?

Here you go. Maybe this little guy will make your taper better.

I prefer OWS* to pool swimming, too. I take advantage of it when I can, but I don't have a lot of opportunities close by.

*All lake swims. I'm not too keen on trying an ocean swim.

eeeek!   Yanti you were right! [ffrom facebook]

Kim, a little of both.  I have time goals, but not sure I can meet them.  But I don't want to blow up chasing a time, I have done a lot of HIMs but they've mostly been about 30-50 pounds heavier and in worse shape, so I don't really know hot to properly pace these to achieve anything other than "finish." 

A power meter is going to help you a lot here.

You will slowly learn that if you cycle at X watts, you will run at HM+Y minutes.

As you improve your FTP you can either increase X or decrease Y or both.

Swim pacing question.  I've finally moved to swimming at the new gym so all my swims will now be 25M - they just take so much longer.  But this water must also be more dense cause I'm not swimming as fast I was at the 25yd pool - even when I factor in the increased distance.

Anyway, I swam a ladder set this morning. 100,200,300,400, and back down.  I basically held a 1:48 pace throughout, although my stroke count was increasing a bit near the end, and I was taking about :25-:35 sec rest.  Because I'm a wimp, and don't want to try a 1000 straight at the moment, I'm going to consider this my T-pace.

Based on this, what should I be swimming my sets as, and how much rest in between for say:

10x100
20x50
5x200

These would make up part of approximately a 2500M total set.  I don't think I can swim further at the moment based on the time I get to the pool - and my speed once in it.

Thanks, that looks perfect.  I will (carefully) add that to my stretching routine.

As someone who has battled chronic tendinosis of both hip flexors for over two years, I whole-heatedly agree with Chris' suggestion of the Pigeon Pose and would extend that to to include practicing yoga in general. I could manage it with regular trips to the PT and graston/ART, but since getting a little more serious with yoga last December I have been able to attack the root causes (tight hip flexors) which caused significant anterior pelvic tilt and led toward decreased hip extension and a shortened stride length. I have found yoga class to be great as an instructor can help you get in the proper position for each pose, but I think the most important part of each is to make sure your hips are squared off and level as they are supposed to be. As runners and cyclists the tendency is to let the legs do the work - when all of the poses are about hip flexibility/alignment. For example, the pigeon pose that Chris recommends is great, but I need to use a prop (a folded blanket in this case) to get my hips in proper alignment. Here are the basic ones I would try to do if nothing else:

Sun Salutation:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/249-How-to-Do-a-Basic-Sun-Salutation 

Pigeon Pose:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/247-How-to-Do-the-Pigeon-Pose

Warrior I:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/245-How-to-Do-the-Warrior-I-Pose

Warrior II:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/252-How-to-Do-the-Warrior-II-Pose 

Warrior III:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/238-How-to-Do-the-Warrior-III-Pose 

And the most important of all:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/459415-How-to-Handle-a-Fart-in-Yoga-Class 

Finally, a really great DVD if you cannot get to  a regular class is the "Flexible Warrior: Athletic Yoga for Triathletes" by Karen Dubbs. It is broken into 3 sessions that can be done individually (about 25 minutes each) or linked together for a full 1:15 class. If I remember correctly she has a pretty good youtube channel as well.

Depending on how good/bad your turns and pushoffs are, you do get slower overall the longer the pool gets (not 5-10s/100 or anything like that...)

I don't know if I can give you the "right" answer as I haven't done much work based specifically on T pace but I will give you an idea of how I normally do stuff like that.  My T pace is ~1:20 ish

- I did a set of 40x50 last week and it was on :45 with my times being in the 38/39 range and some faster ones thrown in (4 x every 4th, 4 x every 3rd, 4 x every 2nd, then 4x).  So my pace was just under T pace and 6-7s rest.  This focuses on solid steady pacing with short rest.

- I also did a set last week that had a mix of 50s and 100s but in this case the 50s were on :50 and the 100s on 1:40.  The difference was that the 50s were descended 1-4 and one of the 100s was fast.  So in this case, I get a little more rest but I'm working harder and focusing on more speed.

So, the answer is "it depends".  LOL

Try a few different things.  Do the 10x100 on 2:00 and try to hold the 1:48s or a tad under.  If you can easily hold 1:45 then do the set on 1:55 instead.  On another day, do them on 2:05 or 2:10 and try to get your time down closer to 1:40.

Wow, that's great, thanks!  I will have to check those out.

Only problem with all of this is that my wife is starting a yoga class today and I told her I wasn't interested at all....  Now I might have to eat crow.  

Yes, the "Eating Crow" pose is definitely one of the most difficult of all the yoga poses....

Do make sure she sees the last link before she attends class - it should be mandatory.