Matt Gilmartin's Group- CLOSED~ we're swimming! (Page 16)

Wendy- that is awesome!  I should try to get Lifetime to do something for me.  I'm a Brand Ambassador for Wheaties FUEL cereal and Denver Triathlon, I love the schwag and the accountability, too!

This sounds like a great workout! Impossible for me to do at the Y, but next warm day, I’m trying it! Thanks for sharing.

Wow, doing great guys and gals. Keep at it!!

I've had an old friend come back to haunt me. Everytime over the last 18years or so when I have stayed active for any great amount of time, meaning excercising reguarly my left hip area starts screaming at me. I was in a car accident that many years ago and had a softball size bruise in that spot, and assume I must have done some damage to it that I didnt know about at the time. It has been screaming at me the last two days, and without health insurance at the moment Iam in some pain. I took some aleave last night and it didnt even scrub the edge off. Same today, went and got some icyhot and called my mom to send me some pain patches that they have for their backs. Wife is headed to doctor (has insurance) to get some anti-inflamatory medicine so maybe that will help. She had to do the same thing when I got a chest cold and she had a sniffle. You can rub it and it feels like your rubbing a bruise thats how sore it is. Nevermind the pain shooting out of it like fireworks. Nerve?

Did a swim yesterday morning with the team. The coach decided to share a lane with me - VERY intimidating, but very good!

I then had a class with my cycling coach after work (he always tries to kill me). That workout was a killer!

After I got my bike loaded back in my car he asked if I would join him for a run. I knew that if I declined I would regret it later ( how many times do you get to run with the winner of a 140.6 distance event ) so even though I was beat, I sucked it up and went out for a short, slow run wih him and one of the other guys he coaches. Im glad I did it even though I got home late and missed swim practice this morning!

Today is a rest day!

Just completed my FIRST swim workout EVER!  I've gone and just swam lengths before without a plan.  That over the summer when the idea of doing a tri first struck me.  I swam for about a month and then stopped because of a bad ear infection and time constraints.

But today, much different story.  I went with a plan, did drills, and completed a real work out.  Okay, it was only 500 meter, but it was truly a workout for a non-swimmer. I discovered 3 things, 1) I'm a pull driven swimmer 2) I tend rotate my body a lot and 3) my wife is a faster swimmer than I am .

YAY!! How exciting! Congratulations and enjoy the sponsorship! What conditions do you have to meet for them in order to sponsor you? I used to do some speed skating and one of the kids was sponsored by his mom's bank. All he had to do was wear their t-shirt during warm-ups and put a sticker on his helmet. In turn, they paid for a lot of his gear and all his meet fees.

Hope you feel better soon! 

CONGRATULATIONS on your first swim workout! You'll be increasing your distance and speed in no time!

For those of you looking for some cheap tri clothes, here is a site with some great prices. Keep in mind, however, that some of their stuff may be out of order even though it shows up on their site. We received an e-mail saying that one of our items was out of order, but I was able to call them and get another similar product.

Enjoy!

Hope you feel better soon.  I'm no doctor, but I've hurt myself plenty of times, it does sound like a nerve issue.  If it only happens after exercising for a while, I would bet it's inflammation around the nerve pinching it.  A steady dose of NSAIDs should get you back up and running.  

Speaking of running, what kind of running shoes do you have?  Your hip could be out of alignment in your shoes, causing the irritation and inflammation.

Thanks, I'm planning on working hard in the pool, especially after my 1/2 Marathon and 15K in March.

Well it has been an interesting week. Doing swim drills with the paddles and tonight with the float was very interesting. Will have to continue to do this as I see it helping my swimming and potential improvement in my form.

The pull buoy will be your friend.  The thing about swimming is that you need to keep your hips flat, but you want a decent torso rotation when you are pulling yourself.  Try some combinations- like using the buoy with paddles too.  Also try to do some closed-fist drills, some catch-ups, and see how your body moves.  Get used to the way your body feels in the water.  Our bodies are naturally buoyant, and once you get "in tune" with that sense, the whole swimming thing gets easier.

Definitely get it checked out, there are so many things it could be.  A chiropractor could help if it's muscular-skelotal related.  I go to mine for anything on my body that doesn't require a prescription or surgery   I'm a big believer in the body's ability to heal itself with a little natural coaxing.  I'd hate to see you suffer unnecessarily, though... get it checked out before ramping up training!

Stumbled across this article about sighting during open water swims and thought others in the group might also be interested in reading it:

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/01/training/9-secrets-to-sighting_46124

Robin, thanks for sharing!  I'm glad they also included the very important note to PRACTICE in the POOL!!!  You wouldn't believe how many folks crank out laps, then are totally lost in open water because they don't know how to site.  I'm going to "borrow" the bottom portion of the article and post it here.  Definitely read the article though, competitor has some great stuff.

Sighting drills for the pool

Tarzan: Swim the entire length of the pool with your head out of the water. Use this drill to practice arching your back, kicking extra hard and maintaining a good body position.

Where’s Waldo?: Use good sighting technique to locate your coach on the pool deck while swimming a single lap.

3 Right/3 Left/6 Regular: Sight three times while taking a stroke with the right arm and then three times with the left. Take six regular strokes and then repeat.

Swim Blind: Find an empty lane at the pool and swim straight down the middle with your eyes closed. Based on which lane line you bump most often, you know which direction to compensate for in open water.

Hip is feeling lot better. Did some work yesterday, today Iam tired per my usual Friday afternoon sluff off. Plan on staying on the antiflames and also made an appointment with a chiropractor for a consultation to get my joints, etc checked out. Will be getting some new running shoes next weekend as the ones I have seem a tad small. Which in turn seems to shorten my stride, idk.. Cant be helping thats for sure.

If no rain or hip pain, I have a lengthy ride or run planned for saturday.. Thinking I might ride as its easier on my brittle joints, muscles..

Hows everyone coming along?

I'm back!  So my birthday week celebrations come to an end today so I am back in the brand new saddle... My folks bought me a bike for my birthday which will make the bike part of the triathlon easier.  I bought myself a pair of Zoomers (thanks for the advice Matt) and am just waiting for them to arrive (why does it take so long for things to reach Australia from the US?  Hurry up!  I want them now!)

I had to forgo some training this week due to the amount of alcohol I have consumed but hit the pool for a 1km session on Thursday night and going to take the bike for it's first ride today.

went for a 45 min endurance ride with the hubby today. He was kickin my for the first half of the ride. Then, he got TIRED. So, here's what I gleened from this experience. I may be a little slow out of the gate, but I can outlast the best of 'em. I'm going to keep working on my speed of course, but i'm focusing of endurance. On Tues I want for a ride and made it MAYBE 20 mins and i was toast. Today, I made it fine, and had enough left in me for a run. Impressive what happends during recovery phases!

Also, having some issues with my left foot. On top, toward the ankle between the pinkie toe and the one next to it. It bothers me something awful at night when I have no pressure on it. Thoughts?

I work for a newspaper, and the other day one of my reporters wrote a story about the first woman to lose a limb in Iraq. She lost her entire left leg in 2004, and now speaks to groups through the Wounded Warrior project.

One thing that came out in the interview was that she placed first in the 2010 Paratriathlon World Championships, and now she and a friend have formed a charity called dare2tri paratriathon (www.dare2trichicago.com) to get disabled athletes involved in the sport. Pretty cool, and really inspirational.

No complaining from me any time soon!

Hello All! 

Greetings from the icy and powerless Pacific NW - we've been huddling around our gas fireplace and watching the branches snap crackle and pop off the evergreens.  After 3 days, there was a small click and the electricity gods were smiling again.  Amazing!

Here's another question for you Matt - I have a heart rate monitor and have a good idea of my zones.  Training at Z1 and Z2 seems too easy!  I have read the books and I understand the concept, but it just seems like I should be working harder.  Help me understand this one, Sensei!

Thanks!  Melinda

Hey All- 

Sorry I've been offine again. My Grandfather passed on Thursday morning, so I've been busy planning wakes and funerals.  I'll check for questions tomorrow night.  Hope everyones having a great week!

Matt

Today we had a 5 mile "Polar Bear Race" through the local gym and hospital. It was an interesting run to say the least. I had to reset my Garmin to fix the problems I was having and in the process, set it for Kilometers. I started out running and couldn't figure out why my pace was reading 10.2. I realized it was kilometers and tried to do the math to figure my pace so I could stick with my race plan. Math on paper isn't my strong suit so math while running just wasn't happening. I switched over to my heart rate and just paced myself off of it. Two days ago I had ran 5 miles on the indoor track at about 82% of my max heart rate so I knew what my pace was at that effort. Long story short I ended up with a 9:31 average pace over the 5 miles, and my heart rate was pretty consistent at 152 or so. The only downside to all this was that I didn't know how much further to the finish and started picking up my pace a little late in the run.  All in all it was a great run and the weather here wasn't bad at all for the middle of January.