SBR Endurance Group - CLOSED (Page 15)

Thanks everyone for the encouragement, I'm still a nervous nellie, but at least I feel determined not to wimp out now. I know how proud of myself I'll be when I finish and that is the sole thought I'm keeping in my head. It is a week from this Saturday Marcia, so still a few days of training to go (and time for the sunburn to heal!). I'm thinking about doing light run and bike sessions on Monday-Tuesday and then a light swim on Weds to relax. I'll take Thursday and Friday completely off to recoup and heal any niggles. I've managed to download the entire Hawaii Ironman telecasts from 1991 to 2011 so I'm going to have an IM Kona marathon for inspiration!

Jan, hope you feel better soon. Hope everyone else is travelling well.

Jaelin good luck again for your race this weekend, hope you have recovered from your massive effort this week.

swam 3000 and only 500 was other then freestyle (if you didn't know all my swimming to this point had been breststroke) and it wasn't that bad. I did some pull, very little kick, and a fair amount of straight free (1mile+), tried flippers for a about 200 but it was too easy(2:40/100 w.o flippers 1:45/100 w. flippers) and i didn't want to get used to it. thats my #1 focus til sunday b/c right now my free is not as fast as my brest and I don't want to swim brest but I will if its faster

I was doing about 2:40/100 free which i find ok since it was day 1, day 1 of swimming brest was 3:40/100. But my brest now I can get to about 2:10/100 for long enough.

I find a hard time maintaining bilateral breathing for a lap and tend to switch to every other stroke about 3/4s of the way through when doing all out freestyle, on pulls i  have to remember to breathe every 3 because I would breathe less otherwise. any advice is appreciated for learning a stroke in 3days In all honesty though I think I will have it down to a desirable time and be comfortable with it for 400m by then

Also, (I'm writting a novel if you can't tell), my race has a staggered start based on expected swim time, my swim time is SLOW compared to my other times so I feel like I have a chance to be the first across the finish line :D which makes for a nice picture/store. ok i'm done, swim advice please c:

It is pool swim, and I can comfortablly swim as long as I want brest (i mean, ive only done 5000M but I don't see anything farther then that in my future) so tired isn't a problem. I just want the fastest time possible on my swim, not concerned about the bike/run I'm confident those times will be good.

oh yeah I know, after that self sufficiant ironman i did i told myself besides possibly this race on sunday I'm done with brest for good just gonna hold it in my back pocket for if i ever need it

I am definitely no expert on the subject Jaelin but I'll tell you what I did to help my freestyle, hopefully it will help you a little. I've always been reasonably comfortable swimming freestyle but I only ever breathed on the right. When I first started back swimming a few months ago I couldn't do bilateral breathing either I used to panic for air on the left side and end up swallowing copious amounts of water. I then read this article in an old Triathlon magazine that said that a lot of swimmers do not roll their body enough in the water which creates more drag. It said that learning to bilaterally breathe is better technique cause it encourages correct body roll and allows you to find the "sweet spot" where breathing is natural. I decided to put this into practice and found that even though I rolled correctly to right, I had virtually no roll to the left. I concentrated on rolling more to the left and driving from the hip first without the breathing and already I took a minute off my 400m time. I found I could reach further and pull through more and I was heaps more streamlined. Once I was comfortable with rolling right through on the left so that my mouth was close to the surface I then had a go at breathing bilaterally.. I did it really slowly at first and managed 50 metres twice fairly comfortably, its been about three weeks and now I can bilaterally breathe continuously in laps and it doesnt wear me out and I don't panic for air and I am much faster in the water with the same amount of speed and effort in my arms as before. Another thing that helped me was head position, a lot of people tend to look forward under water but this causes your hips to drop and again creates drag. This article said to look down and slightly forward, it keeps your body more buoyant and streamlined. The other thing I do where I read somewhere else is concentrate on touching my thumbs to my thighs, it stops you from lifting your elbow too soon which shortens your pull through...

so to summarise I think of this..

1. Roll

2. Head

3. Thumb to thigh

These three simple things really helped me, so I hope they can be of some use to you.

p.s. You'll know when you've got the roll down cause you'll actually feel less tired in the arms cause you engage your lats a lot more.

Hi everyone! New pic so you can see me better!

Jaelin, you are a machine with your times and workouts! I did not know how to swim 2 years ago, I was a runner only. I had a terrible time learning, esp coordinating breathing with freestyle. After finally learning how, then there was the idea of going faster, nothing I could learn how to do on my own. I hired a coach and that made all the difference in the world. That would be my suggestion.

Best wishes!

Jan

Just wanted to say thanks to Marcia for putting my portapotty question into perspective. The podium is nowhere near anything I am thinking about now, and that makes sense what my brother-in-law told me since he is an elite athlete. He is all out about the podium. Portapotties without guilt for me from now on.

Thanks, Simone for the inspires and good wishes. I am sending positive thoughts across the ocean!

And thanks to everyone for advice on fueling. I am taking all into account and thinking about changing things up with training and see how that goes.

Roger, is your club doing club nationals in Oklahoma in Sept? I have signed up, but for the OLY on Sunday. I plan to volunteer for Sat. and cheer on CMC but if any of your club members are going, if I can identify them, I will be screaming for them too.

Take care all, best ever workouts to everyone!

Jan

Just did my first ride on my new road bike. Wow I cannot believe the difference! I did a familiar ride of 16km, took the first 8 km really easy cause I was super paranoid about not being able to unclip fast enough in traffic, once I got my confidence I pushed a little bit harder but still pretty comfortable. Funny thing is I smashed my previous best on that ride (with the MB) without even trying. This is a BIG confidence boost for me, I'm really hanging out for my next ride tomorrow!

Jan loving the new avatar!

Jaelin,

How's your upper body strength?  Freestyle is all about the pull, in my opinion.  Well, it's actually everything (hydrodynamics, balance, body position, etc), but I feel like some of the technique based errors can be over come by a stronger pull.  I was never a swimmer before triathlon, but I've been in the front pack in every race I've been in.  I think it's because I have a pretty strong upper body (or at least I did ) and I really focus on a strong pull. Trying to save my legs, I would just power through the swim with my upper body, and try to save my legs for the bike and run.  

Also, get on someone's feet.  Drafting will greatly help your pace, but just make sure you continue to sight....

^^This is all very very good advice.  It's so easy to get distracted on the swim and not focus on form.  I'm always watching my elbows, using the thumb method.  I close my eye that comes out of the water and try to ensure the other is still under water - then I know I'm not actually lifting my head out to breath but rather focusing on the roll.  Arch my back and adjust my head so my hips stay a float.  Lately too really making sure I'm pulling with my lats vs. arms.  Even keeping my fingers together.  So many things to remember!!!

No problem!  Thanks for the inspire.  I tried to respond but your blog is marked private.  Really sweet comment.

AWESOME!  I've had some crazy spills as a result of being clipped in.  The worst one was 2.5 years ago.  I was kind of paused waiting to turn left and my tire slipped in to the street car tracks and I was clipped in and just tipped over.  I ended up fracturing my elbow, breaking a rib and my rib punctured my lung!! My helmet had to be thrown out as there were chunks of foam falling out.  Now I am VERY diligent about unclipping as I'm approaching a stop and I am always unclipped when not moving.  The other thing is to watch your balance - you can be unclipped on the right and for whatever reason lean left and tip.  It gets easier with time for sure!  I think last summer was the first one I made it through where I didn't take a spill woo hoo!

Yikes that is one nasty spill Marcia, not good for the confidence, kudos to you for getting back in the saddle! Today I made sure I was unclipped approaching every intersection, particularly the notorious ones where the cars just zoom through. I figured even if there was noone coming it was good practice. I'm definitely not going to be balancing with feet clipped in, ever! I admire those that can but it certainly wont be me. Like you I'd rather be cautious and unclip with plenty of time to stop if need be. Thankfully most of the roads I ride along are in the country and fairly quiet.

Nice about the bike, Simone! I always road a MB and when I got my road bike I could fly! What a difference. I had many spills learning to clip in and out-always had a bloody knee, nothing as bad as Marcia's spill, ouch!

I think I have made things public now, I thought I had but worked on it tonight so hopefully it is set to be seen now. I've got you in there now, Stuart. I had tried to put you in before and it took me awhile tonight, but then I realized I had to put the underscore between names and the 9 and it took it then!

Let's see, who is racing soon? Jaelin this weekend, Simone next weekend, am I right? Who else so we can encourage and inspire. I lose track.

After taking off some being sick, I  had the best run and swim in a long time. Guess giving my body some rest it did not want was the best thing I could have done. I was so happy and looking forward to my spin group last night, but had to see a cardiologist because of my low heart rate and they put a holter monitor on me! I have to wear it for 24 hours and no showers or baths or getting it wet until then. I asked about my spin group and running and the lady looked at me and asked "do you sweat?". Um, yes. So no bike group or run last night, no swim this morning. Oh, well. More rest.

My first tri is in 12 weeks and I have got to get in more runs and longer distances! More bricks!

Best to all, great workouts to everyone!

Jan

Welcome to the world of roadies, Simone.  I can still remember how amazed I was when I went from a mountain bike to a relatively sleek road bike.  Don't worry about tipping over in your clips - everyone does it and it usually happens several times until it becomes second nature to unclip as you approach a stop.

Good luck to everyone this weekend.  Looking forward to hearing about the results.  It's been 60* here in the midwest all week but, alas, I've been battling a doozy headcold so had to take 4 days off with absolutely no activity.  Finally got back into the pool yesterday, am about to get on the trainer in a few minutes and will run today at lunch.  Wouldn't you know it, the forecast calls for cold rain all weekend!

JRH

Jan, hope it all goes well with the cardiologist, thinking of you and sending positive vibes your way. 12 weeks is a good amount of time for you to build up your endurance, I think I remember you saying your first race was an Oly? I have no doubt you'll do awesome! I want to do an Oly this year too, but most of the races around here are sprints so I might have to venture to the "big city"! O.o

Joe, thanks for the "roadie" welcome I'm so in love with my new bike it is ridiculous, lol! I hope your head cold clears up soon, would love to swap you some of our heat for some of your cold rain.

Hope everyone else has a great weekend of training (or recovery).

Good luck for Sunday Jaelin, I'm sure you'll power your way through to a great time!

Anyone else racing this weekend??

Go Jaelin! Fill us in with the great details when you can.

Jan

I know what you mean about your bike, Simone. I have had my road bike now for about 3 years and I still get such a thrill from riding it. I am always saying I love my bike. I actually store it in the living room at my house-no garage for my bike. (right now it is in the basement of my friend's house for 3 weekly spin groups and I miss it in between)

Have fun on it!

Thanks, Simone for the positive thoughts about my cardiology visit. I really think they are going determine it is just that I am so active but I am following through.

I did order a heart monitor. I ordered an FT4 Polar.

Jan

I'm the same Jan, the new bike is in the living room and the MB is now in the storage room after a huge clean up. I actually found my old M21 Polar HR monitor too in the clean up, just have to get a new battery for the watch. Hopefully the battery in the transmitter is still okay cause it is built in. I actually didn't use it that much when I first bought it cause basically I didn't understand how to properly. So now I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can improve with it.

Let us know how you get on at the cardiologist.

aw cmon, just typed a whole detailed post of my race and i lost it so I have to retype it

the race had 2 age groups per gender along with 2 kids races for 6 and under and 7+ so it was an overall very friendly event. The swim was up one lane go under the lane line when you turn and down the next in an olympic sized pool so 400m meters from one end to the other. 10.8 Mile bike out and back thena  2.2 mile crosscountry run (i never do any offroad running, had some bad footing a few times). I swam like 12:30 for 400 because first i forgot to put on my nose plug (it was in my pocket) and i always practice with one and don't bother breathing out my nose, ill get over that one day, and I was having breathing troubles, 50m in stopped to put it on. Next 50m meters dropped it 2x b/c i put it on in a hurry so thats where the extra time came from. The swim was started in 10second intervals based on expected swim time for minimal passing.

Out of the water, 1 person passed me but I later passed him and 2 others. fast T1 probs like 1:00 had a bad bike placement but was ok. bikes on shoes and succesful flying mount :D. averaged 24.5 mph on the 10.8mile bike according to my computer, 24 according to time (caught 3 red lights). non stop, flying by people, screaming on your left. felt great about it, exactly how I wanted it to go. (A little extra details: went out averaging 23.0 thinking I had a bit of a tailwind, wrong, the tail was the other way avg 23 out so I avg 26 back)

Run, shoes stayed on bike, first try quick putting on my shoes, best bike position for the run so evened out. easily sub 30second T2. Started off way to slow, forgot it was a sprint and I'm supposed to feel winded. after maybe 3/4s of a mile realised I was gonna mess it up so I picked it up to what I would guess (didnt bother wearing garmin) was a 6:10-6:20 minute pace, (I've gotten alot faster since I've raced so my PRs aren't up to date), passed people whole run aswell except this one guy 21 (b/c of the starting method him passing me just means that he is less then 270 seconds behind me, soemone started every 10 seconds, I was #48) but my competitive nature made me pick it up and pace with him, he got away unfortunatly but not enough to get a 4:30 gap.

I got 2nd place overall missed first by 21 seconds, overall time was 56:37. Feels rough because I couldn't see the first place guy 21 seconds ahead of me, and I left time on the run/bike. But I'm still very pleased with my performance, especially for my first tri. Can't wait til I can swim 1:20/100 and smoke the course. The 3rd place guy was a Dick Hoyt wannabe, not saying it to be degrading its an amazing and wonderful thing he did, just feel its the easiest way to describe what he did, I can't believe he paced so fast especially rolling a stroller through the offroad run.

I caught the bug, whens the next tri :D