Allison and Ryan's Beginner Mentor Group - FULL (Page 15)

Ok was just curious on the mileage and it being a speed bike instead of the workhorses I'm used to.  My wife goes to Yoga regularly I guess I should try it but haven't yet it's usually one of those gym trips where we walk in and meet up an hour later.

So I should have expected it but using the tri shorts for the makeup swim cut about 30 sec off of my 500 time to right around 8:40 instead of the board shorts I had been wearing the past 5 months or so which is definitely a confidence boost

I know I didn't rest after my last race, but my tri is 6 weeks away.  I did take 8 days off in May, so I am good.  I want to work hard for a few weeks, have a recovery week, work hard for a week and start lightening up the workouts.  I feel I need to power through a few weeks.  I don't care about my speed.  I just want to get the distance in for the swim and bike.  I tend to be a healthy eater and definitely get enough sleep.  My intervals felt great tonight when I finally got around to doing them.  It is the best my runs have felt in a couple weeks.  I know my problem.  It has been a long year and I can't wait until summer.  Due to the military I don't live with my husband right now and I am tired of this craziness.  I haven't lived in the same house with him since Jan 2010, and he is indeed a wonderful man.   So powering through workouts is good for me. 

Yes thanks for asking, I'm pretty sure it was just the heat and not getting enough calories in during the day my stomach was already rumbling before I even got into the  pool.  I wouldn't worry too much about that section of the Potomac my high school still does their crew practices there.  Y'all doing the nations tri?  Just saw it the other day was thinking for next year

I hope I am I just rolled over 2500 miles on my odometer on my work bike this past week and I only put it on there in August.  You will get there just requires time in saddle and I'm lucky enough to do it for a living

I found mine at Barnes & Noble. It's scaring me because it's mostly about getting the most out of your short time, so the workouts are INTENSE, basically pushing your Lactate Threshold to build endurance.  One of the tri-club guys here said that it's a good method, but he recommended building a base (about 6 months worth of mixed workouts, 2 each discipline per week, plus one cross-training workout)..  Once you have a base, then you can focus on intervals and pushing the envelope to build the endurance quickly.

It's a well-written book though.  I'm enjoying the science behind all of it.

Question for everyone:

I used to swim years ago on a swim club team, and was a sprinter, and never did long distance.  I'm very fast for short burst, but have difficulty holding a rhythm on long distances (over 100 yards).  That's not my question, however. 

I've been watching some swim videos that they have on this site and some recommended swim videos for triathletes and have been attempting to model the technique, which I would define as a pull strong and glide method, using a 2-kick rhythm.  When I do sprint intervals, I revert back to quick flutter kick, more body rotation, and a pull down the side of my body and not out in front.  I've been swimming with the tri-club guys, and the lead/organizer guy gave me some pointers for my long distance swimming, which contradicts the swim videos.  He said my swimming style, minus the rotation for the sprint intervals was close to perfect, but my long distance stroke (the one I've modeled off of the videos) needs some changes. He recommended a continuous kick, a shorter, higher stroke (plunge style instead of reach), and less body rotation.  I can neither swim far or fast using this method. 

I don't want to him off because he's given me some other very good pointers, and has been very supportive of what I'm doing.  It's a nice group of guys (haven't met any of the females yet, which is weird, but at least I have some people to try to keep up with.. HaHa..)

Last night I had the pool by myself, so I went back to the video style (pull & glide) and seemed to finally catch my rhythm, only to be cut short by cramps.  I had eaten two bananas about an hour before the workout and was drinking electrolyte replacement drink during the long swim portion.

I should be farther in my swimming, because of my past.  My cycling is very solid and my running is slowly (very slowly) starting to come together.  I'm beginning to think that swimming might be my weak link and starting out, the running was..  I need a coach that has coached long distance swimmers, but there aren't any that I know of and the closest Masters team is 70 miles away..

Help!

YogaX (P90X) is awesome, but I can only do about 40% of what they do. My daughter loves Yoga and has 5 different Yoga videos, and she likes that one the best. 

What kind of Scott bike do you have?  I bought one two years ago and love it so far (Scott Speedster S30).  I am resisting the urge to not upgrade more haha. It felt so good to start riding a road bike over a hybrid and then slowly adding modifications such as clipless pedals and tri shoes.

I do the P90X Yoga DVD from time to time but Steve Ross used to have a show called Inhale on the Oxygen channel. Then they canceled booo anyway there is a big support group trying to bring his show back. So I had DVR'd a bunch of the Steve Ross shows so I mostly do those. And I will throw in the Yoga X from time to time when I have 1 1/2 hours to spare for it.

Just completed 3 mile run. YAY my left hamstring soreness seems to be gone. Only complaints I had this morning is the humidity is already getting bad and that makes for a hot nasty run. Good luck to everyone today!

Dave I would suggest that you do what feels most natural and gives you the best rhythm which will translate to the fastest speed over distance.  Swimming is one of those finnicky areas where every one has an opinnion and each is different...  If you were training for a HIM or IM distance it would be a different story but for sprints and olys I'd just go with what you feel is your fastest way to get that distance in provided that it plays out in time trials, do a 500 one way and then a 500 the other see what is faster.

I've noticed some interesting swimming advice on here and other Tri websites at least from a strong swimming point of view; you have to remember that for a lot of triathletes swimming is the weakest and sometimes newest and scariest discipline so it is more advice on how to just get through the swim instead of crush it

My opinion in the swim is to master the distance, regardless of speed, before getting into form and technique issues.  It's one thing to fix a flawed stroke that is preventing someone from completing a full lap but another to try tweaking a stroke that is already doing the job.  Not to mention that fixing one problem can cause another to worsen.  For instance, I tried to change my reach to be more efficient, but because I hadn't fixed my pull (which I didn't realize was a problem) I ended up being slower even though I was closer to correct form.  Once I fixed my pull AND my reach I saw significant gains. 

While a master's swim class/group is a great thing, it sounds like you have a helpful group of swimmers around you already.  Try finding a coach or swim instructor that will give you one session of instruction and teach you how to do some drills to help your trouble areas.  For some people that's all they need to get on the right track and keep making progress on their own.  You may find that you want to keep working with someone but you could probably work it out so that it's a once a month session if it's a long drive.

You could also ask someone at the pool to record you swimming so that you can compare your technique to others with better form and faster times.  Sometimes just seeing yourself is enough to give you an idea of what you need to work on.

I spent my first tri off-season busting my butt in spin classes to improve my bike time.  I was spinning for an hour 2-3x a week for months.  In the spring I upgraded to a road bike from my hybrid which I could ride at 13mph on a good day the following year.  I figured I'd be flying now.  I barely hit 15mph.  It was crushing.  A year later and I'm annoyed if I don't average at least 17.5mph for hour long rides.

It comes with time in the saddle.  The more miles you ride the faster you'll get.  I'm hoping to be averaging closer to 19mph for my shorter rides by the end of the season and planning to be even faster again next year.

BTW, I have an xterra wetsuit and other than it looking ridiculous I've had no problems with it.  The sleeves end 4-5 inches above my wrists and the legs only make it halfway down my calf.  Ironic that my wetsuit looks like it's trying to avoid a flood.

Went for a long (for me) run this morning.  Of the three sports I think I dread running the most.  While I'm somewhat pleased with the progress I've made in these last 3 months the actual task of running is still an anathema to me.  Unfortunately my understanding is that the only way to improve at it is just to do more of it.  Ah well.  I'll put my violin away now.

Lessons learned today:

Long run, followed by a PB sandwich, followed by a swim work-out = Keye needs to fuel more.

I'm wiped.

So what's on tap for everyone today?

I've got a short ride today (plan to do my long over the weekend) that I may turn into a short brick depending on how I'm feeling.

I'm going to wait for my nused clip-on aerobars to come in the mail though.  They're supposed to get here today! Woohoo!

Also may drop by the LBS to see about trying out the Adamo ISM Road saddle.  I've been experience a bit of numbness...uhm..."down there" on my rides lately and seeing as how I treasure "da boyz" it's probably wise for me to look into it.  Probably TMI for an early Thursday morning but, well, there you go.

Anybody ever ride on one of these saddles? Experiences?

Hey Jeannie, I realized that I never responded to this though I wanted to.  First off, thanks for you and your husbands service.  Are you both in the military?  I know the separation can be tough but it's just a season that you two can get through.  My wife was deployed last year, though only for 6months.  Still that 6 months was the longest and most fatiguing 6 months of my life.  I am certainly happy to have her home. Trust when I say that I can appreciate the sacrifices you guys are making. 

Glad to see you getting in your workouts though and good luck on your upcoming DC Tri.  I'm kind of jealous as I grew up in Rockville, MD and my family still lives there.  In fact, my youngest brother is training for the Nations Tri in September.  I'd travel up there to do it with him but #2 is due to arrive in September so I'm staying put!

Hey Wushunut, I too had problems on long rides and I as well got an Adamo ISM Road saddle and I got to say I love it.

As far as my training today, I ran 2.5 miles and I am suppose to get an 11 mile bike ride in but not sure my bike is ready to be picked up from LBS just yet. Good luck everyone training today!

Just got back from my training and well I might have overdone it a bit...  I had planned to do all three disciplines today, 18 swim 35 bike 18 run, but my trainer called and had to reschedule to today since she just had a baby about 3 weeks ago and then I forgot that today is Florence Nightingale's birthday and Nurses appreciation week.  My wife's hospital does a birthday cake competition for the best Florence Nightingale bday cake so she stayed after her shift to finish setting up/decorating.

All this means that I ended up doing a 7.4 mile "warm-up" ride to the gym, 19.4 mph pace, then worked out with the trainer for 1/2 hour and then got to the planned workout.  I ended up swimming 1000 yards in 18 minutes, biked 10.9 miles (ended up being in 33 minutes), and ran 2 miles in 18 minutes.  My total time from swim to ending the run was 1:20, with having to go through the locker room and unlock the bike etc.  So I am wiped but definitely sure that I can sub 1:20 next weekend and gave me a chance to experiment with the GUs

Had time between jobs yesterday for my swim (800 yds) but not enough for some elliptical. Plan on a bike ride (barring storms) and some elliptical tonight. Really want to get back running but trying to hold off and transition back slowly. It's been 3 weeks. 

Seats (and what goes on them) are so individual that I think you just have try different ones until you find the one that works for your "individual need". I tried 4 or 5 before I found a Selle that did the trick......when it's right, you will forget it's there.

6 weeks Saturday to my first tri!!!