Ken Nail's Group -- Closed (Page 2)

A question about swim training from someone who is very new to swimming; meaning until this year I have never swam unless I was trying to get back to the boat or trying to get out of the deep end of the swimming pool.

What kind of swimming volume should I be attempting at this point?  The tri I am shooting for in July is only a 300m pool swim and the longest one I am looking at in September is 800m.  Some of the training programs I am looking over call for swims of 15-30 min pretty early in the program.  Is this total swim time without stopping, total swim time including rest breaks, or some type of combination of freestyle and some other easier way of swimming?  Right now I would be pushing it to swim for about 3.5 to 4 minutes without a break.  Even doing 100m intervals is not easy to me at this point.

What would some of you more experienced swimmers consider an example of a good swim workout for a person at my level?  I come from a long running background and also feel like I am doing o.k. for now on the bike (although all of it until this point has been on the stationary bike) so I consider myself to be in decent shape.  I'm just not sure if I am doing what I need to do to get my swimming to a level where I can do well in this summer's events.

Thanks for the input.---Wendall 

Hi Wendall,

I was in the same boat when I starting swim workouts. I could only go about 100 yards before tatally gassing. In just a short time I am doing as much as 2000 yards, that is doing a warm up then intervals of 6x50 yards or 10x 100 yards with a short rest.  Some of my workouts call for only 15 sec. rest between sets but I usually do not hit that , I will be at 30 sec to 1 min. but it has made a huge difference to my non stop swim time.  I would read about other athletes doing a lot of yards and wonder how they could do the distances and I wondered if I would ever be at their level. Well, I'm not there yet but I am closer now. It just takes time in the water. I did get the Total Immersion DVD since I was a beginner. It has helped. Hope this helps you.

Jim

Ken,

Ok, It sounds like long term i would go sleeveless on the wetsuit, my end goal at this point is the Half (70.3) so i'm looking for comfort and ease of fit more than buoyancy. Another question with this is how thick of a skin am i looking for?  I will give the bricking you suggested a try, so if the race is 22 miles how far should my long bike be for the week? My last time out was 26mi with intervals along the way. Thanks  

Hi Wendell,

A site i am learning from is called swimsmooth.com. I couldn't agree more that a swim lesson is a really good beginning point. I got a couple of lessons to start with. Swim smooth is a good supplement to doing it the right way. 

Hey Group,

What do you folks do about pain while riding your bike?  I've noticed two types of pain.  The first is where the sits bones rest on the seat.  The second is where the hamstrings attach to the sits bones.  Usually I go for a while pain-free, but around the 30 minute mark I start to get uncomfortable. I'm finding that my tolerance for the discomfort around the seat is limiting my rides more than fatigue/ache in the muscles driving the bike.

I've started using padded bike shorts, which have helped, but haven't quite gotten rid of the problem.  Is this something that gets better with time?  Should I look for a different bike seat (harder, softer, different geometry)?  Should I be doing some stretches?

Thanks,
Nick 

Thanks guys for the swimming information.  This is a good example of why groups like this can be helpful in our training.  I took the advice and looked at Ken's link to swim workouts and also took a look at the swimsmooth website.  Both had some good helpful information. 

I have not had anyone critique me but I am sure that my swim form is not very good.  I am taking a look around the gym to see if there is anyone there that could watch me swim and give me some help in this area.  As I'm sure is the case with most beginners correct breathing is the most difficult to learn.  However, I took the advice from the swimsmooth website and concentrated tonight on simply exhaling underwater.  As I was going through the workout I kept repeating to myself "if your face is in the water you should be exhaling".  It actually helped, so when I get comfortable with this step I will move on to the next.

Used the link provided by Ken and found a good 700m workout that I followed tonight and felt afterward like I had made some progress.  It helped a great deal to have a specific workout to follow instead of just getting in the pool and swimming whatever I felt like swimming.

On call at the hospital from Friday through Monday morning so my workouts for this week could very well be finished.  I still feel like I "owe" myself another 3-4 mile run so hopefully I can get it in but I can't count on it.  If it happens it happens, if it doesn't then Monday starts another week.

Thanks again for all the great advice--Wendall

Ken,

Hope you did well with your triathlon this weekend.  

Well, Paris Marathon is over (I finished).  Big lessons learned; I let my injury (PF) become an excuse for not properly training (longest run in prep for this race was only about 13-14 miles and only did 3 of them), and it came back to bite me during the race.  Bottom line, listen to my body; and if I decide not to, then I need to ignore it all the way and continue with the training plan (though the former choice would be better).

I was doing well the first half (hit the half-way at 1:47), but it really started crumbling just short of the 30km point.  Not really in the lungs, heart, stamina piece, but my foot just started screaming and the cramps (leg) his HARD.  It took me over an hr to finish the last 7km (less than 5 miles).  Well, back to the drawing board.

Tomorrow will be an easy (30-45min) swim with Tuesday being my second time back on a bike in over a year.  This week will focus on processes (transitions and riding) and stay FAR AWAY from running.

I hope everyone else had a good weekend and were able to "blow some steam" out on the roads or in the pools.  Back to the office for the week ...

Rich

Rich,

PF is tough, no doubt about it.  It's great that you were able to pull off a marathon regardless!  Says a lot about your determination.  Having myself been plagued by foot and shin problems, I understand the urge to get out and try to push through it... only to regret it when I'm done. I found taking a break from running to focus on biking and swimming to be helpful (at least I could channel my energy into activities that didn't re-injure things).  Here's to injury free training as you get into triathlon mode.

Grats again on your marathon!

Ran yesterday after work and I can tell that my run is suffering a little because I have been bringing biking and swimming into the mix this year.  On my runs I can definitely feel that my quads and upper body are stronger, but I am still a bit heavier than I like to be this time of year and runs have been slower than previous years where I have been just running and nothing else.  Anyone else encounter similar situations?

I am going to concentrate on bringing more volume of runs into my weekly training because chances are I will do some running only events this year and there is no chance that i will do any biking or swimming only events. 

On another note I was thinking of trying a practice indoor triathlon this Saturday.  Something on my own at the gym.  Nothing high intensity but just to see what covering the distance will feel like.  I feel like I can complete the workout because I'm looking at less than 1.5 hours total time.  Any thoughts on this, is it too early (tri is 11 weeks away), or would it be a good idea to go ahead and give it a shot? --Wendall