SWBKRUN Mentor Group-"Off Season?" What is that?!! (Page 182)

By doing 200 instead of 100!  lol.  I like the idea of switching it up a bit to a different team.  Really like Kim's idea of a tri coach.

I'm going to stick w/ the 200 sit-ups for now.  I did my test last night.. 30!  oh brother what a joke.

Tony, Like Reub, my 4 miler blew yesterday as well.  Don't harp on it man, this heat wasn't so bad 6 weeks ago but now it's really draining and I just want it to go away. 

Had a great swim this AM. This is my 2nd week of my 12 week olympic plan. I am no longer sore after my strength and core workouts. (Yeah!) Otherwise, I have not been sure that the program was helping (I know it is only 1.5 weeks so far) until this morning.

My swim times for each set were faster than my previous average speed by at least 4 seconds/100. Not only that but I got faster as the swim went along. I am stoked.

I doubts about swim golf, where you count your strokes and try to get them as low as possible. I have enought trouble tracking my laps. LOL. But this AM I tried. I noticed 2 things right away: I was swimming more smoothly and using my legs more, all to reduce my stroke count. It really works!

In my swim 2 days ago I did 6 easy/fast sets, where you swim 50 (or 25) yds esy and then 50 (or 25) fast. That also worked great and as a bonus the time flew by.

I am digging this. Only thing that I am concerned about is that I do not seem to be running as much as I think I should, but I believe that increases as the plan progresses.

Just wanted to share.

Doug

Hooray on the swim.

About the running - I've found that the tri plans really build the running slowly and it seems to be the least focused on sport of the 3.  I really noticed this w/ my HIM this spring.  I overlayed my half marathon plan on top and found I was running 2 or 3 times more than the tri planned called for.

Hi All

Can anyone tell me how to link their facebook page to BT?

Today is the start of a new chapter in my swim novel, drills and more drills with the goal of getting me back to more of a bilateral breathing pattern post HIM.  Like Doug, I am going in with a very open mind and hoping for the best.  I will do the workouts and LOVE THEM!

Make it a great day.

Suzy

Reuben,  I agree with the idea of switching swim venues.  Loose the familiar.  Also, do you follow a swim workout or are you just swimming laps?  I've found that using a swim workout with built in sets and rest periods helps re-program your body. For example.  warm up  with 200yds, 30seconds rest, then one arm drills of 5x25 with 25 seconds rest between sets.  Repeat with different form drills.  Just a thought but I've made big improvements in my swim distances and endurance this way b/c it takes the thinking out of it for you and breaks up the monotony (sp?)

Dannett - I've fallen into that trap of feeling great about my performance right after a race and then I start comparing myself to how others did and start to get down on myself.  The worse was during the run on my half iron.  Instead of thinking,"wow, I am 5 miles from completing a half ironman" I was focusing on the fact that I was walking and missing my time goal by so much.  It took a lot of encouragement from my husband to learn not to compare myself to others but to focus on my personal effort. If you feel like you did great, then you did great!  We all have different abilities and they don't make someone better or worse of an athlete because of it.  Wanting to improve is always a good thing but do it as a personal goal and not because you are judging yourself inferior to others based on their performance.   I think finding a tri group is a great idea. The support from TNT is wonderful but a new group will add knowledge and experience that will help.

Doug - stick with the core workouts.  It took longer than expected but I am finally seeing the benefits from my core work on my run.  Overall core work has made me feel more balanced and solid in all of my training.  Does that make sense? Before when I would tire it felt like I would crumble and the wind could knock me down. But now it is easier to pinpoint wihat is tired and therefore easier to work around it.  Keep up the hard work. It'll pay off.

BTW, I'm in for the situp challenge.  I'll do my test tonight.  Should be fun. Thanks for the idea John.

You Texans are hardcore! You have time for anything else? Why not try the 20 beer challenge? I'm sure you could get company with that!

I agree 900%. As most of us our competitive by nature(aren't we??) you always want to measure yourself against others. It is so hard not to. We all forget sometimes where we came from-- ie, 2 years ago there was no way I could run a mile. We discussed it a bit with Karen and her Oly here, but alot of us need to remember where we came from. For most of us the competition should be within ourselves.

lol!  With a couple miles to go I was thinking oh sh*t there goes 7:20.  not that that was a goal of mine or anything. ;-)

what kind of challenge is that?

I agree w/ Tracy about the core workouts.  I made it an important part of my marathon training after feeling my core literally crumble during my 1/2 marathon in March.  I was really pushing myself and my HR was zooming.  The last 2 miles was a fight to hold myself and form together.  I then realized how important it is to train that part of the bod for running.

Sit-Up (and push up if your nuts) Challenge

Can we all start or re-start this Monday (8/3) so we are all doing it together? 

i just hate them!  not sure why but i do. 

ditto

I'm passing on the sit up, push up, throw up challenge!  I promise to be a good cheerleader though.

Most of my swim went well.  Only the B4 stuff aimed to kill me!

Reuben--totally agree on the swim venue.  I have spent the past 15 days at a different pool since my new one hasn't opened yet and I have never swam better.  Very odd since the only difference is it is a lot shallower.  Hope I have the same karma at the new place!

Woo Hoo - I'm in for next Monday.  I love procrastinating.  ;-)

So John will you send a Monday reminder?