Swbkrun mentor group - Closed (Page 13)

Marathon -New Glasgow, NS CAN

Iron distance - Dartmouth,NS CAN

Olympic Distance - Little Harbour, NS CAN

Next year 2014 if possible  add the Timberman in New Hampshire to the list.

Ok, my planned big races are in signature.  Yeah, I know sprints aren't "big" but they are to me as a a newbie.  lol With those races in mind, here are my goals for this year:

1.  Stay injury free

2. Keep balance between training and family

3. Be clipless and on a road bike for my last sprint

4. Be competative for the 8.5m run race (not just complete)

5. Be ready to step up the game distance wise for 2014

The 4th one will be measured by my training activity. I am not sure about the 5th. I know how to live the lifestyle but staying on track is the hard part.

all good!  keep firing the questions at us.  i'm sure others may have similar questions so post em' up here..  but if you need to,  fire off a pm to anyone of us for further clarification.

good luck racing peeps.  maybe a 5k here.  no idea on goals yet... i need to get on that.

I have been giving a lot of thought lately to how to make the miles count.  As a newbie I learn a lot from posts like this.  Thanks!  Currently I just put in the miles as I don't even know where to start to add more structure.  Biking is the worst structure wise.  I just go.  Running, my weekly mileage is too low to do much (14 miles per week).  I mostly follow BT's advice here with mostly slow sometimes fast.  If I feel up to it, I will push a bit harder and negative split my run.  I will be ramping up my run mileage to 20 miles per week in the next months.  Swimming is slow but I just learned to swim.  I have a bit of structure to my weekly workouts starting this week.  1 long swim for endurance, 1 swim with speed intervals (premature?), 1 swim with drills for form.  Not sure yet where to get good drills for form though.  Ugg.  Any further advice on how to add more structure?  Should I be adding more structure at this point?  Sorry this got so long.  Just want to be the best I can be!

There are a lot of people here that will give you great advice for swimming... My advice... NEVER try and sit on Kyla's feet and catch a draft!  It'll kill you for the rest of your workout.

As far as miles, structure etc... There is no clear answer on this.  You have a lot of different strengths, and a lot of different weaknesses... I think you need to find both.  Over the years I went from "survive," to going long slow distance, to know not much the distance as it is the effort.  If I am going to do a short workout I am going to push all out (most of the time).  I also like my recovery miles as well.  My body needs that.  My body also doesn't need to go out and do 4+ hr rides... I did 10-15% less miles training for my second Ironman than the 1st (and was 30 minutes faster).  I equate that doing have a strong base of mileage already built up over the years.  

I think the biggest mistake people make is not taking recovery serious, and ending up injured.... Please re-read and re-read... Injuries in this sport on LONG TERM "NAGGER'S!!!!"  They will put you out of commish.  Many can attest to some sort of PF or stress fracture that has left them sidelined for weeks/months... 

I was going to nail you for that comment, but I can that David has done it for me.  I think every race is a BIG DAMN DEAL regardless of the length.  If you re-read my bio, it took me a very long time to do my first super sprint...that was a whopping 200 yards of swimming and a little bike and little run.  I left that race on Cloud Nine thinking "WOW, I just did my first triathlon".  I treat every race with that same level of intention and awe regardless of the outcome.  You can set a goal for each one and amaze yourself.  The goal could be to nail nutrtition, run the whole 5K or whatever.  each of those accomplishments will make you happy!  And that is why we do this stuff.

If you ever want tips on how to get into clipless pedals sooner let me know.  I was scared to death to try them, practiced quite a bit using them on a hybrid before committing to my road bike.   Once you try them, you will not go back.  And yeah, you might fall every year at least once, but you get right back up and ride on sister.

So to paraphrase John....

He wasn't speaking to you directly, he was speaking about ME. My useless 14k on new years eve, done only to hit a milage amount!!

I am one of those nuts who USED to get injured post season. My number 1 goal going into any season now is to stay injury free. I couldn't run for 6 months one year due to a stress fracture and 3 months another year due to a hamstring injury.  It sucked.  Don't ride or run through significant ongoing pain.  It isn't worth it.  Dedicate some time to the off season to get the body balanced and strong.  It took me quite a while to do something other than SBR, but now I am committed and hooked on an alternative activity.  In my case that is TRX, but it could be yoga, crossfit, strength training, cross country skiing.....you get the drift. 

X a million David!!!

As a FYI, I just finished up my 10 week Learn to Run clinic that I was instructing. On NYE, they ran a 5k for the first time. One lady (62 years young) ran it in 35 min flat. When I saw her after she had finished, it was like she had won the Boston Marathon. She was estatic!!! I took so much out of that. There were ~1500 people out running the Resolution Run and you could tell there were alot of people completing the distance for the first time. Everyone's goal are so individualized. Whethers its 5 or 100k, it is so much more than what 90% of the population is doing.

Couldn't agree more with Suzy - most of my races are sprints.  We all have different strengths and weakness - my is running so 8.5mi race looks like Mt Everest to me.....

yeah! see what you just did there.. you put meaning into you're workouts.  you went from i'm going swim for this amount of yards/time to i'm going to swim for this amount of yards/time with the purpose of the workout being this. 

have a plan (structure) for the time you spending investing in yourself whether it is in the pool, on the bike, in the water or wrestling with a canadian.

maybe you're a bit new at something now, like swimming.   your plan or structure will be more greatly defined as you progress.  heck i don;t even think this has anything to do with being new.. we're all still progressing.  perhaps the curve is a bit steeper when you are newer to the sport.

and i'm not defining adding structure as adding intensity and/or duration.  lets be careful there.. read re-read steve and short stuff's post above again.  and again. and again (insert Highwayman)

lastly, i'm ducking out on your swimming questions because i suck at it (and biking and running too!!!).  deferring to the fish in this group slacker, hippie, lane kiffen fan, etc...

x million and one!!!!! 

That makes sense. I just put in miles and laps with really no purpose of improving. When i finally get a plaan together i will incorporate this. I think this will help me stay motivated during my training.

I'm a big believer in having a few key "thoughts for the day" when it comes to a workout.  For swimming, it's "don't drown" and "if you're in the lap pool, you can always stand up if you need to."  Like John, I'll let others speak to swimming...

But for the run and bike, I definitely try to structure my workouts around a specific goal.  I believe this helps you maintain focus as well as improve form.

Let's take the run, for example.  You can have physical/body-proprioceptive thoughts like "shoulders relaxed" or "no tension in the jaw" or "quick turnover".  Start at the top of your body and work your way down.  Is my head up or am I staring at the ground?  No tension in the jaw or neck, right?  Are my shoulders relaxed?  Is my chest up and forward?  Is my upper body "quiet", with a minimal amount of excess motion?  Watch a good runner at the gym or on the road and notice that regardless of the effort, their upper body tends to be somewhat still... no head bopping around or wasted effort.

Are my arms bent at 90 degrees and my fingertips relaxed?  If I were shooting a laser out of my belly button while I was running (stay with me through the weird visual image...), would that beam be swinging wildly back and forth, or is it a small arc like it should be?  Are my hips properly in line?  Are my feet falling in my stance line so I'm not overstriding?  Is my turnover nice and quick?

Pick a thought or two to concentrate on for your next run.  As you become more aware of how you're running and what it feels like to concentrate on form, it will slowly become second nature.  The key is to build that awareness so you know what feels correct and what happens when your focus slips.

Run down your mental checklist while you're running, once a mile or so.  I do it in my training runs and especially in my races.

That's the "what is my body doing" side of things.

There are lots of options for a power/speed/endurance training focus.  Maybe it's that you'd like to do some power work on the bike by really attacking the hills.  Or perhaps you want to see what it feel like to push yourself pretty hard for five minutes.  Try different cadences: see how it is to have super quick turnover while running or spin up a hill.  Don't be afraid to get "comfortably uncomfortable" (e.g. don't go crazy, but take a few small steps out of your usual routine and comfort zone): try pushing a bit harder for 30 seconds or a minute and see what happens.  Your body improves and builds when pushed.

That pushing requires time to adapt, however.  Recovery is key.  Do too much too fast and you'll find yourself with a series of little injuries.  I can't stress this enough.  Condition your body to respond to training load with recovery, active or otherwise... that's when you'll see improvements.

If you're new to the sport, just by "playing around" a little during your training you begin to build body awareness.  You'll find that if you can focus on a particular aspect of whatever you're doing, even if it's for 5 minutes, your effort will improve.  If you're SUPER new to triathlons, I wouldn't worry too much about heavily structured workouts: do 10 minutes of this, 3' off, 5 x 3 whatevers.  Swim, bike, and run, and build up consistency.  And as Birdy said, don't get injured. 

I gotta chime in here to say that I agree 100% with Fatty and others on needing a "purpose" for each workout.  That "purpose" may end up to be just putting in X number of base miles at X:XX pace but it still has a "purpose."  If you don't have a plan, my first suggestion would be to find either a maintenance/out-season plan or a race specific plan to follow before you do anything else.  There are some great plans right here under the programs tab for just about every level of athlete.  If you need to join BT at a specific level to get the plan you want, trust me, it will be the best investment you make in your triathlon life and you are supporting the guys that bring you this website everyday!  (there is some karma in sport ..... just sayin!)  

I also wanted to second the most recent distance discussions.  Distance is what you make of it.  I would much rather measure my workouts by the "Return on Investment" for each workout instead of how long or how far I went.  For example, most of my races are 45 to 60 minutes long, yet my training plan (YES... already penciled in for the entire year) currently has me set up for training for 9+ months again this year to be ready for the season next fall.  Yet, I stress that it is only penciled in because it is always subject to change based on life/work/etc.!    

Thats right, I agree with Fatty on 2 fronts.  It's gonna be a great 2013!  

Edited because I just saw and read what RP posted.... great advice from him also, as usual!  

let me have the honor of posting your bio.  and please log your workouts.. ha! 

edit.  wait... if i write dineen on my bike will it make me faster!?!  thinking S not D though!!!!

I'm having a hard time deciding what to focus on.  I still want to do my first HIM this year, but I also want to keep testing the waters in this ultra running scene.  So, I guess those are my goals and I'll work on the specifics soon :-)

Margo (and others), check out this website (Swim Plan) for some structured swim workouts.  I still don't understand all the "swim lingo", but I know there are people here who could explain it. 

1. Complete the 50lb weight loss journey that I started in 2013.

2. Compete in multiple triathlons (I've never even ran a non-competitive 5K, much less a multi-discipline activity like a tri).

3. Run a HM.

4. Maybe, just maybe, stretch to complete an end-of-season HIM.