nevergivin's group (Closed) (Page 18)

Getting new wheels today so rollers are going to have to wait for me. I am picking up some
30x's .

Met Ryan (bigr82) today and we did a swim workout at my local Y.  Pretty cool to be able to work out with a fellow BT'er from the same mentor group!  We chatted about training, tris, etc more than we swam!  It was great being able to talk about tris with someone that has the bug as bad as I do.  My friends tolerate me talking about it, but they just can't relate so I pretty much keep it to myself and listen to them talk about World of Warcraft. 

Thats so cool, soon enough you will be meeting BTers at races also !

Open Water Swimming or (OWS).

I love to open water swim, growing up thats all I did, the local pool was a rock quary converted into a swim pool where you could not see 1 foot in front of your face and it was not heated. What this helped me with was getting over any phobias that might be caused by cold water or the lack of sight, these do happen and will toy with your heart rate and breathing. My advice is to get familiar with your comfort zone and your limitations and get out there and swim, well, once the weather allows!
I will briefly cover the equipment and how it comes into play. There are two types of wetsuits for triathlons, sleeved and sleeveless. Sleeveless offer less restriction and less warmth, used mostly faster swimmers that generate allot of heat and spend less time in the water or when the water is in the warmer ranges of swimming tempatures. Practicing in your wetsuit is key, they are designed to fit snug and whan you make any movement you are actually stretching the suit to an extent, this creates resistance so train accordingly so you can be prepared.
Bodyglide is a form of wetsuit lubricator, it can prevent chaffing while rotating your neck to breath, I also use it for accelerating wetsuit removal, you want to be able to remove a wetsuit fast without ripping it to shreds, nothing more laborsome or demoralizing than having to fight a stuck wetsuit! For this reason I will apply it to my shins and ankles and wrists, more important I apply it to the outside of my wetsuit also, this eliminates rubber to rubber friction as you fold it inside out when it gets removed. Also keep it clean, everyone knows how to warm a wetsuit, so for this reason get some wetsuit cleaner and wash it in your shower after your race.
Neoprene boots, cap,booties offer extra warmth for cold water swims. During Oceanside 70.3 I used a neoprene cap when the water was 62 degrees and it helped allot!

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is positioning and starting, they start too far back and start too fast. Always ease into the start, establish a good rythm and increase your speed gradually, save your bursts for passing and turns so that you dont loose your breath. Starting up twards the front does have drawbacks in that the faster swimmers will have to go around you but it will pay off in that you will have to pass less people and you be assured a person to draft off, this is the key to the swim! Drafting is what its all about, zero in on someone thats just a bit faster or the same speed and get behind them and ride them to the finish, you can save up to 30% of your energy, this will allow you to swim at a faster pace than you normally do or allow you to save more energy for the bike and run, always try to do it! Drafting off the feet is the most common method by following someones feet or bubbles along with sighting, it will take practice. Another method is to swim next to someones hip, I find this very difficult so I don't do it much unless Im in a tight pack even if its more effective than following feet.
Sighting is also something that must be practiced, when practicing I will sight every ten strokes, when drafting off someone I will sight every 20-25 strokes depending on how straight they swim, if you are drafting and they cant swim straight, ditch-em fast and follow someone else. While I am looking for someone else to draft off I will sight every four strokes, it allows me to scan the water to find a swimmer that is maintaining a good pace and is going straight. When I sight I take a normal breath an lift my head so that its looking forward and then I look straight down, all in one smooth motion. Be aware that when you sight you drop your lower body causing resistance, so make every sight count. You goal is to swim the straightes line so you avoid zig zagging, if you want to swim twice the distance zig zagging is the way to do it, sight the bouys and swim straight to them while consistently checking until you get to them.
Always accelerate going through turns and stay to the outside, turns are where people tend to stop and slow down, get in and out so you dont get caught up in the whirlpool!
Practice removing your suit,  practice lake swimming, practice sighting, practice drafting, practice accelerating and you will master open water swimming!

that is super cool!  I know there is a big group here in BC  and even a few in kelowna that I have seen on the board.  Can't wait to start meeting more peeps

Thankfully I live 5 minute walk from Okanagan lake   as soon as it is warm enough to get in the water, I am there!

I am going to stick local swims this year... so no wet suit,  a road bike is top of the list   I am going to get a tri suit though

love the idea of drafting, as soon as I can get the bilateral breathing down that will be the next thing I practice!

Ideas how to estimate the distance you are swimming in open water?

"zero in on someone thats just a bit faster or the same speed and get behind them and ride them to the finish,"


Wow...now here's some info that I really need!

I had no idea that drafting would work in the swim!  Thanks for a GREAT read!  No kidding....this is good stuff!

Some people use map my tri to draw a line to estimate, this is one thing race directors continue to get wrong though, I just try to guess. After a while you kind of get a feel for the distance.

Drafting does three things for me, Helps me go faster, helps spend less energy, makes the swim go by fast. It is not as easy as it sounds though so practice up, getting on someones feet and staying on them takes skill.

Nice post about OWS.  This weekend at the pool, there were so many swimmers it was choppy.  There were three/four of us in two lanes with no divider.  I was in the middle and felt like I was drifting and taking in water.  Definitely made me more nervous about my OWS in May.  Good motivation to practice.

On a side note, picked up some Balega socks this weekend, based on Stuart's recommendation, very nice.

It appears everyone is training hard, I'm mostly racing for now, weather is projected to be clear for it so Im stoked! 
 The next few topics for discussion are focused on racing, so if I missed covering anything about training don't be afraid to ask! I will be covering everything from start to finish, before and after.

What kind of water bottles to use?

Finally getting my bike back friday and will be able to start pounding on it.  Trying to decide what waterbottles to get.  I will get one cage/bottle for the down tube either way, but looking at an aero bottle or wing for the seat.  Even though I will only be doing sprints for now, seems like an aero bottle would be really easy to use(is it over the top though?)  Still have almost 2 months before my first one, but the nerves are kicking in

I have been recovering hard

Back to serious training next week, confident my knee will be back up to speed by the end of next month

My doc who is a triathlete himself approved my training plan and helped with my HR zones, so just need to remain consistent and I am going to rock and roll come summer!

Hey Guys!

Questions for you all. I'm doing my first HIM in June.

For this distance, do you wear a tri suit and just suck up the discomfort in the saddle with less padding or do you change your clothes and put on proper bike shorts?

Also, although I'm aerobically fit enough to ride my bike on the trainer for hours, I'm still getting used to the technical skills and handling (didn't ride as a kid). For this reason, I'd prefer to NOT put clip-on aerobars on my bike until next year since I've heard they make the bike even more unstable. Is this unrealistic for a HIM? My arms just don't get tired riding in the drops, even if I'm sore from a hard swim.

Thanks!

Edited by PinkPrincess 2010-02-25 2:21 PM

Use what you are comfortable with, aero bottle allows you to stay tucked, bottles allow you to get up and stretch and get something to eat if needed, for olympics and sprints you will need one bottle, aero bottles do splash upon bumps.

I dont care for tri suits, if you like them do some bricks in it to get logistics down, I like tri shorts and tri top for bathroom breaks if needed as opposed to a one piece. Most people wear tri shorts on the bike, its a matter of conditioning wearing a thinner short pad, everyone gets used to it. I will ride two months prior to a race in tri shorts only, this is all it takes, if you need to go back and forth that's ok but you should be able to do a 3 hour bike ride in tri shorts. Bike shorts will hold too much water and for the first 2 hours you will be sliding off your seat.

I love riding in the drops, you can be just as comfortable and aero on a roadbike. While riding practice riding one handed for confidence, also practicing turning your hips as you turn, you will turn better.

Thanks! And yes, I definitely meant a two piece. And I'd never get bike shorts wet - I meant changing into bike shorts at T1. Good idea on biking in tri shorts to harden my sitting bones. Good to hear that riding in the drops is realistic - it's a hilly course anyway so I wouldn't be able to stay aero for much of it. I do plan on adding a tri bike to my collection after I get more comfortable on a bike since it's long distance triathlon that I plan on doing from now on.

Finally picked up my HRM.  Went with the Timex Ironman trainer.  Almost pulled the trigger on a Polar RS400 then I started looking at how much money all the races are going to cost so I wnet cheaper.  It looks like a normal watch so I can wear it all the time if I want. 

My long run this weekend should be a little (but not much) more fun with it. 

I need to dig out my HRM and up the intensity of my workouts, its time to get painful!

crazy question for you guys... 

working on drills last night, just learning to rotate. Every time I would try and rotate I would get water in my nose

do you use a nose plug when swimming?

I think until you get used to it either wear nose plugs or what I do is breath out both nose and mouth to make sure I completely expel all air before next breath, and doing it forcefully during flipturns. When I expel air, I will get the timing down and do it in conjuction with my pace, this helps me make sure all air is expelled during that stroke cycle.

Got my new bike yesterday, a Trek Hybrid 7200 http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/bike_path/hybrid/7200/.Its last years model so I got a nice discount on it from LBS. And of course, its snowing today, so no riding. Hopefully this weekend, I can get some riding in.

Very nice.  Congrats on your new toy!

I don't use nose plugs either.  I do take on some water doing drills but it is getting better.  I did start wearing ear plugs and like them a lot.