Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners! (Page 15)

2009-03-01 1:51 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Master

2151

Johns Creek, Georgia

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Thanks Scott, I will try those two workouts you describe this week and report back!!! I think my body is used to running the same slow steady pace I have been doing for years, switching it up can only do it good right.

2009-03-01 3:17 PM

in reply to: #1989610

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

karen26.2 - 2009-03-01 11:51 AM

Thanks Scott, I will try those two workouts you describe this week and report back!!! I think my body is used to running the same slow steady pace I have been doing for years, switching it up can only do it good right.

You are absolutely right. Do you feel improvement through your workouts or do you feel your performance has peaked out a little?

2009-03-01 6:06 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Master

2151

Johns Creek, Georgia

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

I think my performance has improved the last couple of months, but I'd have to say it's mostly due to running with some of my faster friends, plus running more consistently. And I've been cross training more. Since January 1st I've been very consistent so that has to have helped. But I think adding in some tempo runs or short bursts will help too.

This group is awesome - everyone has good advice/support/info to share. Thanks all!

colewarren

2009-03-01 7:50 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Regular

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Running/working out with people who are faster, can certainly help a training program. However, I have personally benefitted by working out with people slower than me. I find that it is hard to slow down or give myself permission to have an easy work-out. If I plan a ride or run with people who aren't racers (more like joy exercisers) and I keep their pace, I actually benefit. I get faster the more I train with slower people. This seems counter-intuitive, but it works. I also get the benefit of being able to talk more (instead of gasping for air) with my friends.

Yes, there are people who are slower than we are!!! If you don't have any slow friends, you need to find some.

2009-03-02 12:45 AM

in reply to: #1983396

Veteran

134

Belleville

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

This zone discussion is great and informative. I don't have anything to add, but keep it up I am learning a lot.

Here's my weight loss for 70 days. Turn away now to avoid fat guy pics lol.

Edited by moves327 2009-03-02 12:47 AM

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jtdintaipei

2009-03-02 8:14 AM

in reply to: #1990751

Member

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Amazing, pictures tell your story, well done and keep going, look forward seeing the difference at the end of the year.

colewarren

2009-03-02 8:54 AM

in reply to: #1857812

Regular

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Impressive weight loss! You must be proud of yourself. It is hard to lose that much weight in any time frame. You have lost it in just a few months.

Justin,
Everyone has different criteria for choosing a new bike. I am picky about where I buy a bike...I have a favorite bike shop. Other than that, there are two very important factors that influence my choice. One is fit...Different manufacturers use different geometries that affect fit. Make sure that whatever you choose has the best geometry for your body. For instance, I am tall, but most of my height is in my legs. I am not as tall in my upper body, so I have to have stem and handlebar modifications to most bikes. (You need a good bike shop to be able to help you with this.) The second factor is good shifting components. I want my bike to shift quickly and smoothly whenever I press the lever.

spinepa

2009-03-02 7:17 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Regular

schuylkill haven, pa

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

congrats on the weight loss, we are very proud of you, keep up the good work, we are all behind you.

2009-03-03 7:35 AM

in reply to: #1857812

Veteran

134

Belleville

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Thanks everyone! I am doing the Corktown 4 miler on on St Patty's Day. Although with the beer drinking that will go on at the parade and after it will probably be more detrimental then good. I guess a little 3rd of the way celebration is in order though.

2009-03-03 8:59 AM

in reply to: #1993497

Master

2151

Johns Creek, Georgia

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

moves327 - 2009-03-03 8:35 AM

Thanks everyone! I am doing the Corktown 4 miler on on St Patty's Day. Although with the beer drinking that will go on at the parade and after it will probably be more detrimental then good. I guess a little 3rd of the way celebration is in order though.

That sounds like fun - let us know how it goes.

2009-03-04 5:52 AM

in reply to: #1857812

Veteran

134

Belleville

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

I need swim advice, keep in mind I am just now getting to the point where I can swim a yet to determind freestyle distance at a slow pace. Sometimes it seems I can breathe every 4th stroke and am fine other times it has to be every other to keep going. Any suggestions, am I not controlling my breathing properly?

2nd, I seem to do short exhales on the pull part of each stroke, I do. Is this normal, how do you breathe when you swim.

I can finally look at building speed now that I can manage 100's and distance. What would you recommend. What swim aids are worthwhile? I've read that some don't use any aids, and others swear by them for working on technique and such.

Last, Any tricks for tracking laps any type of counter I can wear or solution that isn't a lot of money. I am making my first big purchase a Garmin 305, but I have toruble with counting laps in the pool.

2009-03-04 4:46 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Master

2151

Johns Creek, Georgia

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Great questions - I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

I can tell you that I am not the example to follow, but I have found that no matter what sport I do, I just do what feels natural. For swimming, I try to do the breathe every 3rd stroke meaning alternating left side to right side. But it's more natural for me to breathe on the right side. Which probably means I should focus on the left side more. Everytime I get in the pool I do try to breathe fewer times, and start by alternating sides, but as I get tired I end up breathing on the right side every time. In races that's what I do anyway. I've noticed I can go longer alternating sides than I used to because I have tried to practice each time.

I do not do flip turns, I read somewhere that for tri training you should just touch the end and turn around since you won't be doing flip turns in a race. Not sure if that's good for everyone but I prefer not to do flip turns so I liked what I read.

Counting is always a struggle. I had a little finger counter thing but the battery died and I felt like it slowed me down using it anyway. I have started bringing a water bottle with me, and what I do is leave my watch next to it on the left hand side. I will decided ahead of time how many lengths I want to swim, and take that number divided by 4. If it's 120 lengths, after 30 lengths I will move my watch to the right side of the water bottle. Swim another 30, move it to the left. Kind of silly, but unless I have my husband to count for me (last year I dragged him to the neighborhood pool to count laps for me) I lost track very easy.

That's about all I can contribute. Can't wait to hear from others.

2009-03-04 6:14 PM

in reply to: #1995863

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

moves327 - 2009-03-04 3:52 AM

2nd, I seem to do short exhales on the pull part of each stroke, I do. Is this normal, how do you breathe when you swim.

First congrats on the weight loss. You have to feel like a new man. Amazing.

This winter when I worked on my swimming I have found a couple of things to be true for me. I hope they work for you as well. As far as breathing, I breath on my right side every time my arm goes around. I have a very difficult time breathing on the left for some reason and should probably work on that but haven't taken the time yet. Also I figure that my body cannot manufacture energy unless I breathe a lot so I figure breathing every stroke works for me.

Another thing I have found is that working on technique has helped me on my speed more than working on my speed. This may sound dumb but I equate swimming to laying on my belly and chasing a clam in the sand at the beach. You have a long trench and you can just reach the bottom with your fingers and take a scoop of sand the length of the trench. Reach and pull. I try to really reach, not just get my hand in front of me. And when I move my hand and arm through the water I try to really pull (this is where your weight training will come in handy) The first times I focused on really pulling myself through the water my arms and shoulders ached a lot but after a week or two, my times started to drop.

If you want to start working on the speed aspect more I would say make sure your technique is strong then start with small increments. If you want to go faster over 100m then work on sets of 25m Eventually you can do sets that are 50m long then 100m.

As far as lap counting for me I know that 100 meters at race pace is about 2 minutes, so if I swim for 10 minutes then I have swam 500 meters. This is a pretty easy way and the more you swim the more you will start to see consistent times.

Good for you for getting in the pool. It is the weak place for a lot of us and this is a good way to take a lot of time off your finish.

2009-03-04 6:21 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Hello everyone,
I had a thought I wanted to share as far as the heart rate, anaerobic vs aerobic etc etc and just another reason it is important.

Your body produces energy called ATP. During aerobic respiration that rate is 36-38 per unit (Don't worry about that detail) . When you go anaerobic your energy production goes to 2 per unit. This is a huge and significant drop in energy production. This is just another reason why it is important to know your zones and why knowing where the anaerobic threshold (Also known as the lactate threshold) is. Crossing it greatly shortens your ability to maintain performance. Hope this makes sense. Better yet I hope it helps.

Have a great day.

P.S. I just got back from a run. Last week on this same run when I first tried the new cadence/potato chip method my HR was in a high zone 3 and low zone 4. Today I ran the same pace to the same spot on the trail and my hr averaged 147 (low zone 2). Amazing how quickly the body adapts to new things. So in zone three now I should be able to go farther right???

2009-03-05 6:38 AM

in reply to: #1997807

Veteran

134

Belleville

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

holt1997 - 2009-03-04 7:14 PM

moves327 - 2009-03-04 3:52 AM

2nd, I seem to do short exhales on the pull part of each stroke, I do. Is this normal, how do you breathe when you swim.

This may sound dumb but I equate swimming to laying on my belly and chasing a clam in the sand at the beach. You have a long trench and you can just reach the bottom with your fingers and take a scoop of sand the length of the trench. Reach and pull. I try to really reach, not just get my hand in front of me. And when I move my hand and arm through the water I try to really pull (this is where your weight training will come in handy) The first times I focused on really pulling myself through the water my arms and shoulders ached a lot but after a week or two, my times started to drop. If you want to start working on the speed aspect more I would say make sure your technique is strong then start with small increments.

This was a good analogy gave me a good laugh. I have noticed that I am really extending well with my arms. This creates a great amount of hip shift/rotation which I think is "recommended". Is this what you experience? I have to be careful with this though as I find myself losing control when I overextend and wind up all over the lane. Thank god my pool is slow when I swim and I usually have a lane to myself.

colewarren

2009-03-06 3:17 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Regular

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Chuck has a tri (his first?) in a week. I thought that we should give him our best advice for training in the last week before his race. I have 2 things that I would suggest:

1. Practice your race day nutrition BEFORE race day. We don't always train at the same time we race. Make sure you know what and how much to eat before the race. I personally have to eat a couple of hours before the race; I can't handle food on my stomach when I am working as hard as I do when I race. I also need to have plenty of time to drink my coffee to make sure that I don't get a headache halfway through the race. Also remember that race day nutrition starts the day before the race. That also applies to race day hydration.

2.Practice transitions. I used transitions to catch my breath and drink water...not the most efficient use of time. My transition times were very slow. If you practice transitions, you can pick up some time on your competitors. Since you don't need to have hard workouts the week before your event, you can use your workouts to practice your transitions.

Don't work too hard this week. Save your energy for raceday.

2009-03-07 9:48 AM

in reply to: #2002655

Master

2151

Johns Creek, Georgia

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

colewarren - 2009-03-06 4:17 PM Chuck has a tri (his first?) in a week. I thought that we should give him our best advice for training in the last week before his race. I have 2 things that I would suggest: 1. Practice your race day nutrition BEFORE race day. We don't always train at the same time we race. Make sure you know what and how much to eat before the race. I personally have to eat a couple of hours before the race; I can't handle food on my stomach when I am working as hard as I do when I race. I also need to have plenty of time to drink my coffee to make sure that I don't get a headache halfway through the race. Also remember that race day nutrition starts the day before the race. That also applies to race day hydration. 2.Practice transitions. I used transitions to catch my breath and drink water...not the most efficient use of time. My transition times were very slow. If you practice transitions, you can pick up some time on your competitors. Since you don't need to have hard workouts the week before your event, you can use your workouts to practice your transitions. Don't work too hard this week. Save your energy for raceday.

Great advice Cole! Nutrition is so important and there's nothing worse than having a bad race from trying something different while racing. I think it's also a good idea to know ahead of time what hydration the race will be offering. I did a marathon several years ago and they had Ultima instead of gatorade. I had never had Ultima, and my stomach had serious issues with it. If I had planned ahead I could have worn my fuel belt with gatorade and would have been much better off.

2009-03-07 7:21 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Hello group and Chuck,

I hope you are enjoying the excitement and nerves that come before your first race. Well a couple of ideas would be:

As hard as it is do taper this week. Sometimes it feels like your just sitting around after training like you have but it does help to relax a bit.

I would also recommend visualizing as much of the race as you can. How are you going to do the swim, bike and run? How will you approach and climb hills? How will you pace the swim? Just take time to look at the details in your head before the race. plan for unexpected things (flat tire?) so when they happen they are no longer unexpected.

1 more: Enjoy yourself!. You have worked hard to get to where you are so breathe it all in and enjoy yourself. You have won before you even start.

atostig

2009-03-07 8:41 PM

in reply to: #2002655

Regular

134

Goldsboro, NC

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Hey guys, thanks so much for the advise...I welcome all of it! I am very excited and a little nervous...this is my first tri...so I want it to be a good, fun experience.

I think I am mostly worried about two things...the wind during the bike part (I have had bad experiences with the wind...we aren't friends!)...and then, just the logistics of everything...transitions, bike placement, what to have in my bag...all the things like that...it's just all so new to me, I don't know what to expect!

Thanks again for ALL the support you guys give...this site and you guys are great...absolutely essential to my training!

2009-03-07 9:56 PM

in reply to: #2004218

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

atostig - 2009-03-07 6:41 PM

Hey guys, thanks so much for the advise...I welcome all of it! I am very excited and a little nervous...this is my first tri...so I want it to be a good, fun experience.

Thanks again for ALL the support you guys give...this site and you guys are great...absolutely essential to my training!

I have my race day check list. want a copy? You are going to be great. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

spinepa

2009-03-08 9:31 AM

in reply to: #1857812

Regular

schuylkill haven, pa

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Scott, I would like to see your check list, my first tri is next month, and every bit of info is great.

Chuck, good luck, we are all behind you.

Jeff

2009-03-08 8:12 PM

in reply to: #1857812

Master

2151

Johns Creek, Georgia

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

Question for anyone who has ridden a road bike for years and made the switch to a tri bike.

How long does it take to get used to not having the gear shifters and brakes in the same place?

How long does it take to be able to ride in a straight line?

How long does it take to feel confident riding?

How long does it take to be able to ride faster?

I got on my new bike yesterday for short ride, thinking I could surely do 12 miles. Nope - I quit shortly after 7 miles. I finally started to get used to the aero position and wasn't as wobbly towards the end. But I felt so unsure of myself, very nervous that I wouldn't be able to get my hand on the brakes in time. And the worst part - that saddle was not comfortable at all!

Any thoughts or words of encouragement that it will get easier. I almost hugged my road bike when I got home yesterday.

2009-03-10 5:39 PM

in reply to: #2004619

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

spinepa - 2009-03-08 7:31 AM

Scott, I would like to see your check list, my first tri is next month, and every bit of info is great.

Chuck, good luck, we are all behind you.

Jeff

Hey everyone, sorry I have been hit and miss but finals week is next week and it seems all of my profs want to test all this week and next. Ugh!

The following is a decent checklist for events:

General:
USAT card
Photo ID
Registration confirmation
Money
Race uniform
Race numbers and timing chip (usually given at the race)
Gels/energy bars/drinks etc (Bring your own water to mix powders)
sunscreen
Sunglasses
Water bottles
Anti chafing product
Extra clothes
Directions to event
Course map
Hotel info

Swim gear:
Wetsuit
goggles
swim cap (again usually provided)

Bike gear:
Bike
Helmet
Bike shoes
Socks
Bike gloves
tire pump
Spare tubes and tire
CO2 cartridges
tools

Run gear;
Running shoes
Hat/visor
race number belt
socks

Transition gear:
towel
rinse water

Anything else.

This was taken right off the back of a USAT membercard. If you get into longer events there are things to add but this is a good start.

2009-03-10 5:48 PM

in reply to: #2005303

Extreme Veteran

608

Ellensburg, WA

Subject: RE: Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners!

karen26.2 - 2009-03-08 6:12 PM

Question for anyone who has ridden a road bike for years and made the switch to a tri bike.

How long does it take to get used to not having the gear shifters and brakes in the same place?

How long does it take to be able to ride in a straight line?

How long does it take to feel confident riding?

How long does it take to be able to ride faster?

Any thoughts or words of encouragement that it will get easier. I almost hugged my road bike when I got home yesterday.

KAREN GOT A BIKE!!!!! Yeah. How fun for you. What kind?

As far as the comfort issue the first thing I would do is take it right in and get fit by an experienced tri bike shop (if you didn't already) This is huge for comfort. Tell them you are new to triathlons because that affects the set up as well. They should have your aero bars open a bit to open your chest area so you can move more air (breathe easier). You also do not want to be stretched out. When aero your body and upper arm should make a 90 degree angle. What kind of saddle did you get? Since you do lay forward on the bike the sensation on your sit bones is different and takes some getting used to. The aero bars (brakes and shifter) take some getting used to as well. For starting out I wouldn't try to stay aero the whole time. Start with short increments and build up. Also when you are in the aero position remember to relax. This is also your time to rest after the swim and rest before the run. Granted you need to pedal too but the more relaxed the better. As I am getting used to the brakes sometimes I leave one hand aero and put one on the brake if I just need to scrub off some speed. Make sure though that you are grabbing the back brake and not the front. Like your workouts the muscles will develop (and rather quickly) for a tri bike.

Really cool, I am excited for you.