Ryan and Mike's beginner group - CLOSED (Page 17)

Sorry for being MIA, had to be out of town for work, then out of town for the wife's work, and just caught an employee stealing FUN!!!

I also look at everyone's logs, that has added me as a friend

Bummer! I hope you find someone to replace them soon. My husband has a hard time finding good workers, so I figure what you are going through with that must suck.

At my swim class last night the lady that was helping really wanted us to breathe bilaterally. I breathe to the right and have been finding it pretty difficult to breathe bilaterally. I have a hard time keeping it up very long.

What do you think is the most important thing for me to focus on as a new swimmer? I have about another month before my sprint tri and I'm not sure what would benefit me the most as far as form goes. If breathing bilaterally is the most important, I'll work at that, but I am wondering if I should fix the other aspects of my form first, like rotation and the pull and then look at  bilateral breathing as something to practice as I learn to swim better.

I agree with Ryan.  That said, I would do a length or two breathing only from the other side during each swim session.  That hardly takes any time and by the time you are happy with the other aspects of your swim, you'll have a head on bi-lateral breathing.

I second this - try to work on becoming comfortable breathing on both sides individually first before you try to get comfortable breathing every 3 or 5 strokes (bi-laterally).  I do this almost every time I swim (swim 100 only breathing to one side, then 100 only swimming to the other).  Trying to breath on both sides at the same time really just makes you think too much about it if you're not comfortable with that side to begin with, and will likely wear you out enough to make you breath every other stroke on your comfortable side.  At that point, you've lost everything you were hoping to gain by swimming/breathing bi-laterally anyway, so what's the point.  Trust me, you don't want to poop out on the swim, because your whole race will suffer as a result.  Just focus on comfort, technique, and time in the pool - the more you do it, the easier it will get and speed will come.  Breathing bi-laterally is all about speed and controlled breathing (it more closely resembles normal labored breathing at 3 strokes for me).   If you breath every other stroke (same side every time your right arm comes up), you really are slowing yourself down (technique and form-wise) and if you breath every 4 strokes (same side), it's a much more efficient swim and is more effective than trying to get the optimum 3 stroke breathing pattern when you're not comfortable with it.  Your body will be tense, your mind will be racing, and your overall stroke and endurance will suffer.  Just my two cents.......

I loosely followed this plan for my first HM.  http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm  It worked well for me.  The key is to build up slowly.  Also, don't worry if you can't run very long in a row.  When I started, I would jog until tired, walk until I felt I could jog again, jog until tired, repeat until I hit X minutes.  The key is to get out there 3-5x per week.  Ease of jogging will come quick enough.

That is what I was going to say, find a plan and stick to doing that. Jog and walk is how I started running. I added to the distance I ran over time.

One thing you can do to make running easier is find someone to run with. (I only say that half jokingly... that's my plea every Friday on facebook... "please run with me on Saturday!")

I wanted to say thank you to those of you that sent me inspires. I dont know how to reply to them nor do I know how to add friends on here. Can someone help me?

Side note: I swam the furthest I ever have today (2400 yds). This surprised me since it took everything I had to get up and get out there. My body does not like me right now since I am pushing more than I ever have. No pain no gain, right?

Congrats on the swim!  That is fantastic!

To add friends, go to Settings -> Training Blog Customization -> Friends and add people.  If you want to respond to an inspire, click "reply" then type your response instead of just typing it in the empty space below the inspire you received.  If you click reply, it will post in the other person's inspire list.  If you hit post, your response will show up in your own inspire list.  If that doesn't make sense, let me know.

Another way to Add friends- Go to your Training Log - on the left side it says Friends- Click on the + sign- type in there name

that's been the best plan for me - have found that running doesn't suck so much when I have company! I've loved the training groups with our local road runners club. we're put into pace groups so have a fairly large group of folks to hang with who are all at the same pace, and that's made it (almost!) fun...or at least I'm really looking forward to getting back with them....

Hey still here but stopped training because of back pain.  

Thanks for checking in.  What is your plan to deal with back pain?

congrats on the swim - that's awesome! now just to maintain the distance while reducing the pain, right?!

Core/strength training

This will be a short post because I'm terrible about getting core or strength training done.  This is a "do as I say, not as I do" post :-).  I do believe core training will help take you to the next level of fitness, but I rationalize not doing it because I'm still building endurance.  It is a lame excuse.

If you are doing core and/or strength training, that's good.  Please share your thoughts and routine with the group.  If you aren't, check out this article http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=631 .  It is what I will do once I start in earnest.

Hey still here but stopped training because of back pain.  

Thanks for checking in.  What is your plan to deal with back pain?

I do a Group Power class twice a week on Monday and Friday. If you have never heard of that, it's a full body weight lifting class that is put to music and you follow the instructor. We use a light bar and plate weights for most of the exercises.

I really like to lift weights, and I prefer to lift as heavy as I can, but I wanted to be sure my form was right before I started doing it on my own again. My main objective was to not cause any injury that would keep me from running.

My group power instructor told me that if I kept at it I would see an improvement in running speed and I have. I don't know if the credit should go to lifting weights or the cross training of swimming and biking. (Before all I did was run 6x a week.)

We do core at the end of each class and there are a lot of push ups in the track we are currently on. I did not know how much core strength it takes to do push ups until this track started!

The other thing I have been doing that seems unrelated, but isn't, is jump rope and assisted pull ups on a pull up bar. Both use your core. I do these randomly when I feel like it at home.

Thanks for posting the link. I may try to incorporate some more on my swim day... or not. LOL Hard to say!

what she said!

of all the training that i do, strength training's about the most fun, and what i think was so key in helping me to fare respectably in my 1st sprint race last year, not 3 1/2 months after starting biking & running. that said, haven't done much lately (so maybe 1-2 times/week on my own, vs. 1-2 times weekly + hour with trainer), and after an hour of strength training last week i could feel the absence!

core strength is so important in biking & swimming especially, i've also not done as much of that lately. have 30 minute dedicated core class on sundays - lots of variations on crunches, planks - and sorry to say not keeping up with it more than once/week, and feel that too. need to get back on that wagon!
marla

Core and Strength.  Okay.  I will start Monday!  
Core and Strength.  
Core and Strength.  
Core and Strength.  

lol!

i keep thinking that ok, just a few crunches & pushups every morning would help, and wouldn't take so much time, so how hard can that be??

then reality of 6am sets in, when i'm squeezing in a few more seconds of rest, and trying to wake up as slowly & painlessly as possible as i stumble to the shower, and my good intentions go down the drain.

that's the advantage - to me at least - of going to organized classes at the gym; then all i have to do is walk in the door and follow directions.

I know Jaime is racing in two weeks.  Anyone else racing in March?

Does anyone have any questions or topics you would like to discuss?

So I broke down and bought a new bike today. After riding my mountain bike along side a friend on a road bike I realized mountain bikes suck. I tried out a friends Tri bike to test that one and see if I could use it instead but that didnt work out, so I decided to go get fitted and buy one. I can't believe what a difference it makes. Excited for the tri less than 2 weeks!