Gaarryy's Group now Closed for Business (Page 2)

Is there still room in your group Gaarryy? 

In real life I'm Dan.

This is my second year of training/racing.  Previous to tri's the last organized sporting activity I was in was soccer in middle school.

I finished 7 races last year, with one DNF due to more flat tires than spare tubes.  Breakdown was 6 sprints and 1 Oly.  I would like to race at least as much this year, with 4 races already planned.  Would like to do at least two Olympics, and make a push for a HIM, but I don't know if I can really elevate my running to that level before the end of the summer. 

Looking for some creative ways to train in the cold weather and some motivation to get an early start to the season.

Hello Kimberly...
That is a busy schedule and I think you hit it correctly on just getting something in to be constistant.  I've worked at some pretty big teaching hospitals,  (walter reed, cleveland clinic) and while I'm not a doctor I completely understand what you are talking about with your scheduling. It has to be tough to have a great month training then getting hammered with work for the next 4 weeks.. But you have already overcome feet issue's, so I'm sure you will find a way. 

Temple is about half way between Dallas and Austin correct??  I think the Cap Tex is at the end of May, usually memorial day weekend so I 'm not sure if that one would fit into your schedule of a sprint around June.

Dan... Your in...    Flats suck !!!!!!!  More useless info to follow....

Thanks, Gary. Given my training lapse after the surgery I'm essentially starting over. I also need to do a few sprints before tackling another Oly to get some confidence in my swims. My only temptation to overreach is Xterra Memphis on 4/18. I would love to try to make that. There is a sprint at Natchez Trace on 3/22 I could use as a confidence builder. After that I am looking at Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon on 5/17.

Overall, my goal for the season is to focus on sprints & olys and to get a handle on the swim (training & racing). Any suggestions?

well the best confidence builder for the swim is swimming more,, if you are doing a 500 meter sprint, then you should be doing way over that in training so it's an easy distance for you. 

Are you starting out too fast then getting winded?? or starting slower and building?  Do  you start up front with the faster people then get bumped as they pass or being closer to the middle or back of the back??   is it  the congestion of the start  with the excitement of the race starting shoot your HR up?? when you do swim training are you just swimming for "X" minutes or doing a workout of sets?   the masters swimming website has lots of free workouts posted, i'll find that site.

Happy New Year... any training resolutions for any one.. My biggest one is weight loss or better put proper eating..  I had a few sessions with a local dietitian and I know my calorie intake should be 2600 for the day, so I'm going to start logging what I eat..

But what about anyone else.. does a small challenge amoung us sound good??  it could be something as logging workouts, doing at least 20 min a day of something for "X" consectutive days, a weight loss challange, or anything all of you can dream up  

Yeah, I've got to start watching what I eat.  I've not gained much weight since the end of last season, but I can definitely see/feel what I've gained.  I'd be up for a challenge.

When I first went to the pool to get ready for the oly last year I would just do sets of the longest distance I was comfortable/able to do. For example my first workout was 16x40 and 1x80...the next week I was up to 10x80 with :30 second rests....the next week 5x50 1x200 and then 30 minutes slow when I reached 1000 meters for the first time, etc. 

It's hard to say what happened exactly: nervousness/race anxiety combined with starting too fast made my breathing out-of-whack followed by a bit of panic with an rx of recovery side stroke. Miserable experiences both times.

 In regards to the challenges I am up for anything.

I"m right with you on this one... I walk into work with a 12 pk of dt dew,, it's gone by 3 pm usually...

maybe we can do some sort of combo challenge where we pick which one we need to focus on and go by percentage of success to stay motivated... hmm not sure how to do that exactly.. I'm all for a constistant training challenge just to keep us all moving for this month... plus I think it would be easier to actually do.

Ok group, signing up for races and wanted to see if anyone would have a recommendation.  I've already got 3 races from last year (minimum) that I'm going to race again this year.  1 in April, 1 in May, 1 at the end of Sept, plus, in all likelihood one in July.  I've also got a new race somewhere in May (but not the same weekend as the other race). 

In June there are 3 races I want to do.  If they were all Sprints, I'd probably do all three.  But the last race is an Olympic distance.  The other two races are sprints.  One at the beginning of the month, the other is the weekend before the Olympic dist.  The one at the beginning of the month is supposed to be a really cool race about 1.5hrs from where I live.  The one that's the weekend before the Olympic is in town, and is one that some of my friends will do.

 So right now I'm trying to decide which (probably 2/3) of these to do:

1.) Pigman Sprint June 7

2.) Quad Cities Triathlon June 20

3.) Hy-Vee Olympic Dist. June 28

I'd love to do all three, but I would also like to make sure that I survive the month.

Advice?

Well you look really young in your photo.. so I"m going with doing all three.  hoping that you recover pretty quickly from an all out sprint effort.   If you train as if you are doing the Oly at the month end, then you should be fine for the others.. it's  just like the "train for one, race two" therory when events are consectutive weekends.  

what is it about the last one being an Oly that has you thinking about only doing two out of three.  Training, travel, cost's, recovery time??  

Yeah, I'm 26...probably could have said that earlier. I was recovering pretty well by the end of the season last year, was a bit rough after my first two.  I did sprints in back to back weekends last year and did better the second weekend than the first.  Just lacking some confidence right now.

I'm not ready to give up caffeine yet either!  Being my first year, I am all for baby steps:  first - get some consistent training in; second - work on changing diet to less meals out; third - work on improving times.

Since I am working on building a good base over the winter, I would be up for a Consistent Training challenge.

I'm all for a challenge but I think for me it would make more sense to have a consistency challenge, although losing 5 or 10 lbs would be ok but not part of my goals at the moment.    I usually don't drink sodas at all with the exception of a sarsparilla every now and then but coffee/caffeine is a different story.  I gotta have some coffee in the morning!

All I can say is wow. I got a chance to finally take a look at everyone's logs...impressive. I just logged for the first time...ever. So, forgive me if the info is a bit one dimensional right now but I'm trying!

 Keith

Okay...the new guy has another question: are heart rate monitors useful for biking? If not, how do I determine effort levels (other than the "Pain Index") when planning my training.

This is all part of my 2009 Goal to actually train all year & not kill myself getting ready for a race that is too much, too fast. Last year my bike rides were 1-2 hour torture sessions where I would say my effort level was a 4 on a 1-5 scale.

Thanks Grady. Did you establish your lactate threshold with a formula or with a TT session?

 No - under the performance thread there is a new way of calculating your heart rate - not the 220 minus your age - I did the same way last year and you will have a different heart rate for your run and ride - then break it down for you, by looking at it each year you will see some differences. 

 http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25734&posts=1&start=1

 (Sorry - you will have to cut and paste) 

I believe that the planned training feature comes with some of the training plans, and the only way I can think of to bring up this thread when you log on to BT is to bookmark it and use the bookmark.

Thanks Dan.

Grady, apparently my membership is too low budget to let me look at that info. Are you getting a commission off upgrades?