Hokies 1st Timer's Group - FULL (Page 13)

Vdeo taping your swim is great.  My masters coach video tapes my swim about once a month.  Funny how there is always something to fix....hahaha 

Hey Amanda,

Ahh confidence.  I think I shared a link with the group to Joe Friel's Blog where he wrote about confidence.  Anyway, the 1st two sentences of the article are:  "I believe that the most important thing an athlete takes to the start line on race day is confidence. It may even be more important than fitness or form."  I certainly agree.  I know in my training at the Sprint, Olympic and HIM distances I proved to myself in training that I could do the distances before I attempted to race them. 

I don't know about the rest of the group, but here in Florida there seems to be some type of triathlon race going on within driving distance almost 12 months of the year.  Up north it's a little different but I gotta believe there are numerous opportunities to sign up for races.  So if you have a target race and it turns out your not ready its not like the end of the world if you skip it.  Believe me, there will be others.  And..... don't take risks.  My 2nd sprint distances was an OWS where the swim conditions were awful (i.e.. the swim should of been cancelled).  It was not a pleasant experience.

So Amanda, I think your stategy of waiting until you feel a little more comfortable is a sound one.  I sense that you are a very methodical person.  That approach will serve you very well especially if you decide to "go long" in triathlon.  The good news for you is that over the last 10 years you built a strong endurance base with your running.  So you have a huge head start on the rest of us!!

Hey Melissa,

Anytime you can eliminate stress from your life that is a good thing.  Training Stress -> by not drilling your workouts with intensity everytime you walk out the door.  General Life Stress -> by figuring out a schedule that allows you to do your workouts without compromising your responsibilities as a mother, wife, teacher, etc...

Regarding biking safety, I'm with ya.  I don't like riding anywhere where there are cars.  I don't trust them so I'm extra cautious while on the roads.  I assume you are referring to the Legacy Trail.  I do almost 100% of my bike training there.  Fortunately for me I live about 3 miles from the Legacy.  So I only have a 1 mile stretch on Honore where is there is no bike lane.  Even with that short of a distance I still head out early in the morning to avoid traffic. 

For everybody in the group - be careful on your bike at all times but especially when your fatigued.  After I long ride and I'm tired often I won't come unclipped or come to a complete stop when I should.  Be safe.

Especially with swimming were everything is about technique!!

Gang,

Good article to read for you swimmers.  Don't worry about the beginning of the article where the workout is described.  Pay attention to the part of the article where he talks about things to focus on while swimming.  Great tips to help with your technique: 

http://www.endurancecorner.com/library/swimming/building_swim_endurance

From Jeff's linked article.....the hips provide the cadence for the stroke.  I'm going to have to try that to understand it.  
Christi 

Melissa,

I read in your training log that you had some issues with a run after donating blood.  I'm interested in knowing how your training goes for the next couple weeks.  The reason I ask is that last year about 8 weeks into an HIM Specific Prep. Plan I donated blood.  I did it on one of my off days thinking that I would have a day to recover.  It ended up severely effecting my training for over 2 weeks after the donation.  I could not finish my workouts.  I was drained/exhausted.  I realize it was summer and the plan was not easy but I was bonking on every workout.  It didn't matter if it was a S/B/ or R.

I'm all for donating blood.  It's a great thing to do and I'll continue doing it.  However, from now on it will be in my off season.

Thanks Mel, this is exactly how I feel. I am pretty self-motivated without the races, and for now am enjoying learning how to swim and spending time in the saddle. I think once the weather warms up and there is more daylight I will feel more confident about a race because I will be able to ride outside. The Total Immersion swimming program is coming along, but very slowly. Luckily I can swim 3 mornings per week now that the University pool is back on regular semester hours.

I have a trail race this Sunday so I am done runing for the week to make sure my IT band doesn't freak out, but will ride and swim again tonight and tomorrow.

Amanda

I'm trying to find Jeff's post about how to reply to an 'Inspire' because I think I have been doing this wrong. But I can't find it. Anybody remember what I'm talking about?

Christi,

Another point that helped me was .... Breath from the Hips.  Thinking about this helped keep my head down (i.e.. keeps you from lifting my head which causing you to swim uphill).  I sent this link out earlier but take a look a the girl swimmer in the video.... look at her hips...  see how they rotate... that's what you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYt8x_7uL48

I wanted to share this article that USAT posted today via Facebook:

6 Corrective Exercises Triathletes Should Do Everyday

http://www.usatriathlon.org/resources/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/6-corrective-exercises-triathletes-should-do-everyday

Amanda,

Here is what I said about responding to inspires you get (look about 5 or 6 posts down):

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=236914&start=181

Or you can "Jump to Page" 10 in our thread then look down about 5 or 6 posts.

If you want to give someone an inspire just go to that persons training blog, select the day and then hit "Inspire".

Thanks for the link Amanda.  I was very religious about doing this stuff about 6 months ago and I have dropped the ball.  Thanks for reminding me of the importance of doing this.

For you new swimmers in the group I got this from Amanda's training log (I hope she doesn't mind that I posted it here but it is important):

"Learned an important lesson today - just like running, you can go a lot farther before taking breaks if you just slow down and take the swim easy."

Furthermore, via an inspire to Christi I wrote the following:

"When I 1st started with the swim it was extremely frustrating. I'm not kidding when I say that often it felt like I was going backwards with my progress in the water. I'm being honest when I say it took me 6 months of swimming 3 times a week before I felt comfortable in the water.

So you have been at it for 30 days. Much, much too early to expect a ton of progress. Patience Grasshopper (you probably to young to remember that TV show!!). Your goals at this point should be:

1) NOT worrying about how far you are swimming.
2) NOT, NOT, NOT worrying about how FAST you are swimming.
3) Your number ONE GOAL should be to RELAX in the water by developing a RELAXED breathing pattern. If I ask you to go out and SPRINT as fast as you can you are not likely to run very far (me either for that matter). If I ask you to go and WALK I'll bet you can go a long distance. It's a similar concept in the water.
4) Once relaxed, work on improving your swim technique by focusing on those items that I sent you in the article. Swim 25 meters just focused on one of those items (don't think about all 5 of them at the same time).

BTW: You are showing improvement if your rest intervals are shorter. So focus on the positive. Keep at it and you will slowly eliminate some of the rest intervals. I'm certain of it. "




Edited by junthank 2011-02-04 10:49 AM

Amanda and Jeff.....both good links, thanks for sharing.  Really liked the info on the core muscles and how to prevent injuries.  I'll be working these into my routines.

Christi 

Sorry guys, I am so behind in the forum, been under the pump trying to get everything together for next week and living my during office hours so i am not sure if this question has been answered before but what should i bring to the race on race day?

J

Good to hear from you again James.   All of us in the group are looking forward to hearing about your race.

There is a nice little tool on this website that I use to make sure I pack everything for the race.  It's called the "Race Checklist".  On your training log there is a button you can hit called "Race Checklist".  It's on the right hand side of the screen under "planned races", above "goals". 
Hit that and there will be multipe buttons (Run, Swim, Bike, General, Travel) that have items for each category.  I print each one of these out and check them off as I pack.  Obviously, I don't take all the items on the lists but it serves as a great reminder.

For swim I take:
Googles, Wetsuit (if needed), Race Cap

For Bike:
Bike, Helmet, Water Bootles (full), Cycling shoes, Sunglasses, Socks, CO2 Inflator, CO2, Pump, Tools

For Run:
Shoes, Hat, Fuelbelt (with bottles full)

Gereral:
Tri Suit, HRM (Garmin with chest strap), Race Bag (if I checked into before the morning of the race - it has your race number, etc..), Watch, RoadID, Phone, Money, Towel, Race Day Nutrition

Travel:
Direction to Race

When you get into the transition area after your swim and bike remember to take everything with you that you planned to use during the next leg.  For example, in my 1st race I forgot to put on my sunglasses before I headed out on the bike.  It was a little cold that morning and my eyes are very sensitive so without the sunglasses my eyes started to water (I was crying!!) for almost the entire ride.  It's amazing when your HR gets high how you can lose your thought patterns.




Edited by junthank 2011-02-05 7:18 AM

Hey Gang,

Hope everyone gets an opportunity to get out and do some training this weekend prior to the Superbowl on Sunday.  Long swim today followed by bike/run on Sunday for me. 

Good quote from Joe Friel:

"Does it seem hard? The best athletes I’ve coached have been patient, disciplined and dedicated. It’s never easy for anyone. "

Happy Training.

Great day of training in the books!!!  Now it's....  Let's go Packers!!

Well gang, I think I'm not going to complete my swimming challenge this year....just not enough time to cross train and I need more work in the other areas.  Swimming is kinda a no brainer.  Feels weird not finishing this challenge...but gotta look at the big picture.  Only so much time in a week.

Hey Rob,

I think it's a smart decision if one of your goals for the year is triathlon.  I know I have mentioned this to the group but we should all focus on our limiters in our training.  For me, swimming is probably my biggest limiter (from both an endurance and pace basis).  One of things I'm trying to focus on in the water (other than technique) is the ability to change speeds in the water.  By that I mean the ability to switch from going Steady to Mod-Hard then Fast and then being able to recover back at Steady.  I'm having a tough time with it now. 

For you I think if you continue doing the same swim workouts your currently doing 3 times a week you will be just fine for both Olympic & HIM distance races.  Good luck with trying to figure out the right mix of training.

Hey Gang,

Hope everybody enjoyed the Superbowl and all the festivities that go along with it.  Things got a little quiet on the thread this weekend. 

James has got a BIG event coming up this weekend - his 1st TRI.  James, I'll be there with ya in spirit and can't wait to read about your race. 

Fellow mentormates - don't forget to give a "shout-out" to James.

Edited by junthank 2011-02-07 6:48 PM

James, good luck to you this weekend! I can't wait to hear about your experience both during the race and reflecting back to your training and preparation.

~Amanda

Yes, the thread was quiet this weekend. I had a ton of stuff to do around the house on Saturday, and had a trail race on Sunday. Still recovering from my ITBS so took it really slow and walked the hills. I learned my lesson the hard way in races last fall that speed seems to aggravate things. My hamstring and calf were a bit tight last night (1 leg only), but it settled down and I felt great as soon as I got out of bed.

And Go Packers! I am a huge Falcons fan, but played GB fan for the day because my boyfriend is from Wisconsin. I'm very happy for his win, even though the Falcons got clobbered by the Pack in the playoffs (I was at that game, ugh...). Now I wait for baseball to start.

~Amanda