Ernesto Villarroel's Group - FULL (Page 18)

markz - 2011-03-14 8:01 PM Thank you for that Ernesto, I will try to follow it (and will probably stuff something up as well, but that's life). Actually, as exciting as it is, I can't wait to get this IM over done with and start 'normal' life without the pressure of an event of this size. But that will probably change once I do it - I will come up with another big one...

Also, you might not get more than two or three hours of sleep the night before, so try to sleep during that last week as much as possible. And yes, right after you cross the finish line in say, twelve hours, you'll be thinking "I can do my next one in eleven". That is just how it goes. This girl that trains with me said she would only do one (Cozumel) to "conquer" the beast and NEVER again. She's doing Arizona in November...

I'm a repeated offender myself too.

Today was pool day since it's the only time this week I can get there.  Tomorrow I'll do the run in my wet trisuit so I can see what that's like.

I did find out that I've been swimming on the meters side of the pool and it's 26.1 meters long.  So all of my distances are longer than I thought, yippee.

I had to guess at my swim time today when I registered.  I said 15 min for 300 yards, but I think that's probably a little slower than I will swim.  I would rather pass people than be passed in the pool.  So I'm guessing that will be okay.

My wetsuit came today and it fits!  We have 5 lakes where I live.  I can't wait to try the open water.  I just have to figure out if the Garmin under my swim cap will tell me how far I'm swimming.

I can't workout in the AM or nap until next week, the taper week.

Sometime I need you to define LONG.  Or you can define short and I can figure anything over that is long. 

Jackie,

Distance is relative to your experience so I would say is whatever FEELS long for you and whatever feels short for you is what you should do. If I told you to do the kind of long workouts that Mark is doing for example, you would probably take too long to recover because your body is not ready yet to absorb such long workouts.

It might sound simplistic when I tell you go long or go short and fast instead of giving you miles but truly, without knowing you that much it could mean a recipe for injury.

I'm glad you dropped the hammer on a race and signed up! I can't wait.

Alfredo,

For starters I will tell you that the best way to workout is before working or doing anything else, later in the day is not the same effect. During the weekdays keep it short, high intensity. During the weekends go long but change the order, always do the bike first (on Saturday) and run on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday keep it as it is (swim and run) but make the run shorter and put some speed to it. Wednesday do a ride and preferably intervals. Thursday another run and take Fridays off (so your body catches up and leaves you ready for the weekend). Try to stick a swim somewhere on Thursday or Wednesday.

Questions:

1) Do most people swim faster or slower in their first tri than what they have been practicing?

2) If my true swim time is probably 3 min faster than what I picked for registration and I have the opportunity to change it, should I and why or why not?

Jackie, you're definitely swimming faster and I don't see why you should change it, the shorter the time between the swim and the bike, the better.

Jackie, if I may, this is what I experienced:

1) The wetsuit and adrenaline will make you swim faster, crowded conditions and not swimming in a straight line (yes) will slow you down. Overall, most people are surprised by their short time, because also - the swim course is usually measured short (don't ask me why they do it in the age of GPS).

2) It most likely won't matter, after a few minutes the swimmers spread out, faster people overtake slower ones, the waves blend in.

Hope you have fun there!

I finally uploaded the garmin in to the training log, in case you have a chance to review them, I only loaded 2 runs for thiss week, I wasnt doing rides in the weekdays, but i'll start next week, question, is the garming water proof, can I do my swims with it? I havent done it cause I was a little afraid.

on regards to the HR, what should be my goals? I probably need to slow down like jakie for the long runs in order to get more distance..

Jakie, thanks allot on the advise for the garmin uploading process, this is better thatn the connect.

On your HR, keep your long stuff below your anaerobic threshold. To determine this number is easy, substract you age from 180 and that's it, you should not go past this number. If it yields a very slow pace, maybe even a walk, don't panic. If you stay faithful and keep working at it, your aerobic speed will come by itself.

Like I said, during the week, find a high school track or a flat trail and do some speedwork. A good workout as an example could be:

Warm up 4 laps very easy jog, 1/2 lap (200M) very hard, rest of the lap easy (you can even walk), repeat eight times and then warm down another four laps. If you do this one right, you'll be begging for a rest.

Your log doesn't say much, apparently you are missing out on something, I can't see your HR.

Do this: set your Garmin to do an autolap every mile or half mile, that way I'll be able to break it down and see your progress DURING the workout.

Good point.  I hadn't thought about that!

Thanks Mark!  Great advice for my second tri, the open water one. 

This one is a pool swim, just 300 yards.  I remember not too long ago I thought 300 yards was a long way!  I will definitely have fun.

Crazy week at work. So,

I ran tonight in the full moon starting at 10:45 pm.  It was nice and peaceful.  Only 10 more days.

OOOPS, sorry Jackie, I forgot it was a pool swim... I must be tired (or it's the age thing).

Ok, the time of the truth. Tomorrow my wave starts at 7:50AM EST. The weather is supposed to be delightful, but hot. I feel ready but tomorrow we'll see, I didn't get to preview the run course but I heard many times today that it is VERY challenging, the bike course is flat and fast but it could be a trap. I'm going to enjoy a beautiful day in the Caribbean.

You can follow at www.ironmanlive.com and my bib number is 1296.

Have a great race Ernesto.  I'll be watching and cheering!

Quite an example you set.  I guess since this is my first one, it will be a PR

Got off track this weekend.  Lost a bushing out of my chain, so didn't get to ride Friday.  Had a two day seminar in Houston, so no working out at all.  My body is crying for exercise.

Today I was planning to ride, since I haven't done that for a while.  What would you recommend for the rest of the week until race day?