Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 18)

Nice work.  I did breastroke for my first Tri.  It gets better. 

Hrm temp is all the way up to 37F now and it stopped hailing, just raining now.....

I know that I am a triathlete because I bike more miles per week than I drive my car and run gets close to the car miles.  You know you are a triathlete when you time your transition from your 5am swim to getting into your work clothes.  When a Brick is not something that you build a house with.  When you get ready to go for a run and your dog runs.... away from you to go hide under your wife's chair shaking.  When you have a suntan in January and you haven't gone on a cruiz or to a salon. 

I do have some experience with P90x and it is pretty awesome... it just took a lot out of me when I attempted to combine certain aspects of it with the SBR routine.  However I still do the plyo, core syn and abs fairly regularly to attempt to keep my core strength up a bit.

Ceril - there are 6 different sets of core training here for your convinence. <http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=631>

Marcus

Bike fit is most important, seat too high or low will hurt your knees.  Cadence of 85-95 is ideal as this is your run turnover rate and is more efficient for a low horsepower engine to move faster (high rpm). 

So I just finished my first swim of the season and in short, I stink.  I *think* the pool is a 25 yard pool (a source online said 25 m, but I think 25 yards is more likely).  I'll ask next time I go.  I managed all of 14 laps in about 15 minutes, and 4 of those were breaststroke.  At any rate, my breaststroke is strong, graceful and sadly, as fast as my freestyle.  My freestyle is not graceful and slow and I had a really hard time breathing without getting some water and with getting enough breath.  I'd hoped to try breathing every third stroke but I wasn't getting enough air breathing on every second stroke.

My form probably also needs work, mostly because I was doing a combo of the newer form and the older form when I was feeling a bit panicked about being out of breath.  Ack.

If my first tri has a pool swim with 2 people/lane, is breaststroke going to be out of the question due to space issues?  I don't want to kick anyone.  And hopefully I'll get it together enough to be able to do the whole thing freestyle without the angst.

The good news is that I managed to get to the gym and sign up tonight.  It's a 5-minute ride (if that) from my house, so that will be my back-up when the weather is too bad to bike, and for all the swimming, of course.  It also has an indoor track (13 laps/mile, ugh!), but I'm seriously considering stopping there on Thursday to do my speedwork if we have the storms that they're forecasting because it would mean I could run on the track or treadmill before 10 pm.  (Our semester just ended and I decided to take Thursday as a day to commute downtown like I would if I were teaching, but do some other stuff instead.  If I do it quickly, I can squeeze the run in when I get back and still probably get home earlier than I would otherwise.)

Also ran 3 with the jogger this afternoon.

Hopefully your gym has swim classes.  It took me a good 2 months to get functional at freestyle.  Sometimes I wonder if I am functional yet... but I can swim far if not fast.  You may want to try breathing on the same side and go like Right, Right, Right, left left left or some such.  Right, right, left, left...  I am at altitude and have to breath every stroke. 

 Drills that will help are floating and kicking on your back... then kicking on your left side with your left arm out in front and then same on the right.  Then kick on your left side (right hand on your hip) and rotate to face down and then back up, then other side (do each for 1 length in the pool).  Then practice swim on left side, left arm out front bring your right arm up to eye level draging your fingers along the surface of the water and then put your finger tips down in the water near your eyes and then move arm back to hip and roll up to breath.... lots of drills like that, probably hit youtube TI drills to see them (total immersion).  Then it is just controlled drownding until you get the timing right.  If you have the patience to drill more you will drownd less... but hard for type As to do that.

We've had a little cold spell here which is not so much fun on the bike.  Yesterday I did only half, 37 minutes, of my planned bike ride.  It was supposed to be a brick session so when i got back I swapped my bike shoes for running shoes.  

Since I had loosened the laces, my right foot felt 'ok' with just a tad bit of soreness on the top from Saturday's long run.  The issue was the comeback of the outside knee pain on my right.  Hadn't felt it in 10 days, and never during a run.  Only after.  It stopped hurting once I stopped running and started to walk.  I decided not to chance anything and walked the 1.25 miles home.  I probably could have done the run, but at what cost?

So with a race on Saturday. and after looking at my training logs to realize I had trained for 11 days straight with no rest days, I'm putting myself on rest for the rest of the week.  8-10 hours sleep/night will do me some good also.  I also have reintroduced myself to my good friend Mr. Foam Roller.  I haven't used one in a while and man did it hurt.  Proof I need it right there.

Oh and realrellim(is it Karen or Lisa, I'm confused now), 700 yds in 15 minutes is good from where I stand.  Don't beat yourself up over it.  I would be posting in all caps if I could swim that fast.

Dennis, another race this weekend!  A bit of rest sounds like a good idea, but my bet is you won't last more than a day or two at it . 

Thanks Ken!  Actually not my first, but it is the first one with and OWS and longer distances in swim and bike so a first of sorts.

Samantha, you are a triathlete in training!!!  The videos that helped me get started swimming were Total Immersion.  Sorry, I've lost the links to the specific videos, but if you search Total Immersion swimming on youtube, betting you will find them.

Marcus, sounds like another vote for the P90X plyometrics, as well as the core stuff.  Good to know!

Lisa, you are making lots of progress.  The gym will provide much needed options for your busy schedule.  I think breast stroking is perfectly OK....no wrong way to get from A to B in the water, just some faster/less tiring than others .

Steve, glad the hail relented!  Funny, the swim drills you mentioned (on side...arm extended) were exactly what I did yesterday morning after happening onto a couple of videos about improving your swims in open water. 

Off soon for a hopefully longer ride with a new friend.  And my new insulin pump w/ continuous glucose monitor is set to arrive today.  Hopefully firing up the continuous monitor will help me get a better handle on blood sugar trends before/during/after workouts.  I've used one before, but they are kind of flaky/inaccurate and require a lot of "care and feeding" to callibrate well.  Also hard to keep the sensors attached while swimming, but I have a new product to hopefully help w/ that.

Carol, the CGM is great to have.  You really do need to be really careful on long rides/runs.  Be sure to calibrate when requested.  It is really easy to get use to the beeps and ignore them, but you really need to pay attention to it.  As an insulin dependent athlete you have obstacles that the rest of us really can not comprehend.  talking about getting your nutrition in check during a tri means nothing to you since you have to worry about that constantly.  I applaud your in your working to improve.  Remember exercising will help drive down that A1C. 

Another 5am swim today as I am going out of town tonight and won't get in until way late.  I will have to get my run/walk in before lunch as I am giving a presentation then before two other meetings and a 350 mile drive.  Then there was the 7pm meeting lastnight, sigh.  Could be a long day.

Anyway I got in 1000 yard sets at 2:00/100 and 1:58/100.  So that's another 4 second gain per 100 at the 1000 yard level which puts me 8 seconds faster in the past week!  Ya not fast yet, but any improvement in the swim is very cool.  As long as I kept my head down, my feet up (flat head to tail) kept the timing of the kick aligned to hip rotation and kicking from the hip to drive the arm thrusting forward into the water as I pulled back with the other arm, (good extension in front making sure to not raise the fingertips underwater) with a high elbow on the pull, slight cup to the hand on the catch, careful to not crossover the midlilne and push all they way through to the hip, I was able to maintain at the faster pace without a huge increase in effort.  I noticed that I am engaging the muscles on the outside of my armpits more (not lats, but not sure what they are called). 

Swimming is so much easier to learn than running where you just lean slightly forward at the ankle, angle your hips slightly forward and then make your feet move faster so you don't hit the pavement with your nose (sarcasm font engaged).  I have found that swimming 10,000 yards a week is helping (along with focus on form).

If only I could make gains on the bike!  All the swim work will take maybe 5 minutes off the IM swim time.  Bike gains give you 10s of minutes.  The bike is frustrating because I can't push anything due to leg issues, so it is just steady efforts. 

You know you are a triathlete when you shower 3 times a day, your bike costs more than your car, when someone says brick you think back to back bike/run workout not building material and as a guy you have more pairs of shoes than your wife.

Questions: what is a Bentos box, what is a Neverreach, what is an aero bottle, what is Infinit, do you know how to clean your bike chain and drivetrain, when do you stop pedaling when you are on your bike?            

Good swim last night. Did a total of 1600 yards. Focused on a correct stroke the entire time to try to improve my efficiency.

For all you folks that have a hard time with swimming, don't sweat it, just keep at it. Water isn't our natural element so of course it will take a while to become adjusted to it. A few tips from my side that might help. Try to relax in the water, forcing it or going to hard will usually backfire on you. Try to relax. Also come up with some fun ideas to do in the water that make you swim but swimming is not the prime focus. (Any kind of ball games, diving for stuff, jump diving whatever works). Ultimately you will be more comfortable in the water. I always make it a point to jump dive about 20 minutes after each workout. It's a good distraction and it trains my core.

Speaking of core training. While I haven't tried P90X myself I have a couple of friend that tried it and like it. What I can recommend if it's available in your area, join an adult gymnastics class. It will strenghten your core while you are having so much fun that you don't even know you are working out.

Markus

1. what is a Bentos box? A little box (6x1x1 approx) that attaches to your bike frame used normally for storing nutrition bars. I use mine for cell phone and garage door opener if I'm wearing my tri suit for a brick
2. what is a Neverreach? Had to look this one up.
3. what is an aero bottle?  A water bottle that mounts between your aero bars for easy drinking.  Has an open top with a sponge at the top to make refilling quick, just pour over the sponge, and it will keep liquids from spilling out.  You just drink while in aero without grabbing the bottle
4. what is Infinit? I think it is a nutrition product like gu, powerbar, clif, etc.
5. do you know how to clean your bike chain and drivetrain? I did have my LBS teach me the basics.
6. when do you stop pedaling when you are on your bike? When I'm approaching intersections and making some sharp turns.  Besides that, it's 85-95 rpm for me.

Now a question for you tat goes along with #5, what type of lube do you recommend for the drivetrain?  Wax, teflon, wet?

Interesting.  I don't consider Denver to be high altitude (that's the mountains), but it might explain the breathing stuff because I don't remember struggling to breathe as a kid.  In hindsight, I think I might need to concentrate on swimming slower (easier said than done, but maybe if I take breaths every stroke I can slow down and focus on form). 

The gym doesn't offer classes, but I don't think I could handle a class.  I'm still scarred from years of swim classes as a kid.  Hated them.  I wouldn't mind working with someone in a private lesson, but that's it.  For now, I'll watch some more videos, get a better pair of goggles, practice and go from there.

Dennis--it was half that distance:  350 yards in 15 minutes. (Bleh!)

No forward motion yet, though I'll probably get on the TM tonight and fit in 2. (Edited:  calling it a rest day.  One of my legs is still sore anyhow, and I could really use a "down" night after several nights of interrupted sleep [see below].)

It's been a fun day:  took daughter #1 to the doctor for suspected ear infection (don't ask me why, but her ears don't hurt when she has an ear infection.  I'd guessed it was the cause of the runny nose and cough though, and was right).  Daughter #2 seems to have developed pink eye (probably from #1 who may have caught that on Monday).  Both are now on eye drops and #1 is on antibiotics.  In the meantime, we had a nice hailstorm and tornado warning.  My sinuses are stuff, probably from whatever cold caused the rest of #1's problems.  Oh well.  Hopefully the abx will do the trick, #1 (and 2? please?) will have the first restful night she's had in oh, three nights, and we'll all feel much better tomorrow.

 Life's been hectic and training has been sporadic at best. I'm guessin I am one of Steve's lost sheep he mentioned a while back. Been running with the new shoes and my shin splint problem is no longer an issue. Sorry for the lack of posts and participation but it's mostly all family stuff seeing kiddos so it's been a good thing. During this last visit to see my son I got to ride a $5000 carbon fiber recumbant bike. His grandpa does the Amputees Across America ride every summer and it was a bike a potential sponsor donated to him. Cool ride with my 8 year old son.

I definitely have been reading everyones' posts and am checking everyones' race results. You all are such an inspiration. As I get closer to my race date I'll be a lot better about staying consistent with my training and keeping up with my logs. Yeah...I'm a slacker.

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Hey BigT - glad you got the shoe situation straightened out and had some good family time!  Now, about waiting until you are closer to the race to really train....ummmmm....why not start today?  Just sayin!

1. what is a Bentos box? - what dennis said
2. what is a Neverreach? - no clue
3. what is an aero bottle?  - what dennis said, but don't have aero bars
4. do you know how to clean your bike chain and drivetrain? - no, need to learn though
5. when do you stop pedaling when you are on your bike? - to pee  (kidding ;  when you're out of gears on a downhill and it makes no difference; seems like I also read it's good to stand up briefly on each leg before you get to the 2nd transition to get your legs more ready to run

Steve, I'm not sure exactly what/how much biking to be doing other than MORE.  Any suggestions?  Rode 26 miles yesterday (kinda slow and broken up with trafficky areas).  But I think is the longest I've ridden and felt fine.  The pace of the group rides around here are too much for me (slow ones avg 16-17 mph for 30ish miles), but I'd love to get to the point of trying one in the next couple months.  This week and next, trying to up my bike and run volume a bit on my own/with friends.  Then off on vacation, where I'll be bikeless, but can continue to work on the running, and hopefully gain a bit of open water confidence since the beach where we are staying is supposed to be good for swimming.  Next race is a 10K in mid June that I'd like to do in under an hour, then another tri in mid July w/ a shorter swim (500/17.2/3.1) where I'd like to do better than last time.  Longer term goal: OLY on 10/2/11.

No races this weekend, although have to play catch up from missing a lot this week.  Next week is Chicago's Corporate Challenge 3.5 miler and Soldier field 10 miler (both are runs).  not going for any PRs, just there for the experience, practice and social aspects. 

Good picture at about mile 11 in the WI half