16 months, still suck! (Page 2)

All this..how's that famous quote go?   Something like, the definition of insanity is constantly repeating the same thing and expecting a different result.  

I can't afford a coach, but over the past 2 years, I slowly chipped away at my times following internet training programs.  For my last half I read Joe Friels book and learned HOW a training program is created. I knew my run was weak, so I spent all off season run training.  About 16 weeks out I built my own training program from what I learned and what I knew of myself.  The result was a massive improvement from my previous best time.  

Point being, in a way I changed my coach. Instead of following a generic plan built for the many, I created one for myself based on my own strengths and weaknesses.  I went from generic everybody coach, to myself.  

If your coach isn't changing things, you need to change the coach.  If I were a coach and a client were not showing signs of improvement I would change things.  

I'm a lot less impressed with someone's race time/results no matter how speedy as I am with dedication to train 10-13hrs per week even if you're still somewhere near the back. Kudos for keeping with it - that's great stuff. 

It's easy to motivate and train a lot when you're up front and getting positive reinforcement for it. It's a lot harder in the back, and that's where you show where you're made of. 

Oh btw - you'll also move up quickly. I guarantee it.

There are two reasons I won't give up my 2 hours of strength a week.  First, I think that it helps prevent injury and keeps bones strong.

Second, and most important, I have a labral tear in my left shoulder (pre-tri training).  I could't hold grocery bags in that arm, I couldn't open doors, I couldn't turn the wheel of the car sometimes or open the car door without tons of pain.  The surgeon said to postpone surgery until pain was unbearable.  And if I didn't use the arm, it didn't hurt.

After strength training with my coach, I barely even think about it because it doesn't hurt 99% of the time, I can carry tons of bags with that arm now, open doors, drive, etc.  The huge improvement in quality of life strength training has given me is unbelievable.

My coach has people that have won tris and are pretty speedy, so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.  There's someone who started with me, we did both halves together, and CDA will be first full for us both (it was her first and second half also), and she kicked butt and had HUGE improvements.

Deb, nice to see you training and enjoying the tri lifestyle.

On one hand you say you are happy and enjoying things but on the other hand you say in 16 months you still suck.

Many knowledgeable BTers and some tri coaches have given you ideas on what you could do differently and get faster. If you are unwilling to make changes why ask.

Just because someone is fast or wins triathlons does not mean they understand training or are qualified to be a tri coach. Some Pros don't understand they whys to training.

Questions only you can answer:
1. Why do you ask this type of question here on BT when you have a coach?
2.  What reason does your coach give you why you are not getting faster? What is his/her plan to help you get faster?
3. Why are you only running 2x a week?
4. If what you are doing isn't making you faster, why do you think continuing the same type of training will get you faster?
5. What is your goal....have fun? finish? make cut offs? improve? whatever they are? How does your experience the last 16 months stack up to those goals?

With your recent HIM times you may not make the IM cut offs unless you get faster. From being around BT a long time most folks are in the 7 hour range in HIM to finish an IM by midnight. Those in the 7-7:30 range it is tougher to make the cut offs depending on fitness, weather and difference in course.

If I were in your shoes and my goal was to finish IMCdA, I'd change the way I train and work on getting faster.

But that is only my opinion you need to decide what to do and have a frank talk with your coach.

If you haven't already, I'd definitely consider discussing this with your coach.  Let your coach know that you're enjoying training and racing, but you're starting to feel a little stuck....like you're not making the progress you'd like to be making.  If your coach understands that you're "content, but not happy" with where you are, maybe they'll have an idea of what changes need to be made to push you to the next level.

I recall an old post that you made where you were disappointed with the progress (or lack of progress) you'd made in your swimming.  Almost everyone said that you should consider finding a new coach....you made it very clear that you did not want to change coaches.  And that's okay (probably)....but your coach needs to be aware that you aren't happy with where you are and that changes need to be made.

If your coach is willing to work with you and figure out what needs to be done to push you in the right direction (and any coach who is worth paying should be willing to do this), then it's up to you to let them know that a) you want to stick with them and b) you want to get better.

A few things struck me.

First, you say: "I haven't taken any time off since I started and I don't plan to nor do I want to.  This is what I do to keep fit now, and it is fun for me."

So, even if you probably need a break--given that you've averaged almost 14 hours a week--in order to ultimately gain speed, you won't do it because you're doing this for fitness and fun.  So accept that you might compromise increases in speed if you're putting other factors first.

Second, you've only been doing this little over a year.  It often takes people longer than that to figure out what works for them to achieve PR's and what doesn't.  Like Left Brain said, whatever you're doing isn't working as far as your speed goals are concerned so if you don't change it up, you can't expect different results.

Third, not everyone who puts in the effort will yield the same results; conversely, many people I know put in very little effort and achieve incredible results.  You can read about everyone else's positive results on these boards all day long but not everyone's body is capable of the same things even under the same training circumstances.  To some extent we all have to accept that.

Lastly, you end the post by asking: "Why do I keep doing this?"

Look just a little further up your post and you've answered your own question: "During the Half the one thought that kept going through my mind was, this is really fun, this is what I want to do, and I am really enjoying this."  

Keep up the good work!  You've come far in and of itself. Look at it this way, there are approximately 331 MILLION peoipel in the US, more or less depending on if you count illegals or not.  At that given moment you finished 99th out of 331 MILION.  YOU ARE A WINNER, despite where you finished,  there is no way you can measure the good you are doing to your health. You know, you feel better, can do things you once would have never thought of doing, better self esteem and confidence, how can you measure that?  I too was morbidly obese, January 2012 I weighed over 350 pounds taking a handfull of pills every morning just to keep my heart from exploding out of my chest before I decided something had to be done. That's when I decided to do a TRI.  Most of my friends and family thought it was a joke, but I did it.   Today I weigh 165 pounds, and have never felt better in my life! I  ran my third triathlon last sunday, finishing 67 out of 102 and 15 out of 16 in my age group (55-59).   

Keep up the good work, people are watching and if what you've done encourages even one person to make a lifestyle change for the better, it's all worth it.

Someone already posted about your seemingly low bike cadence, but I just wanted to ask again - why is your cadence so low?  I noticed that the last bike training session you posted in your log had a cadence of 51, which I assume is average for the session.  That seems really low for an average.  What does your coach say about that?  Maybe you need a different chainring or maybe a triple up front so you can keep spinging in the 80s when going into a wind or uphill?

As others have said, it seems like your bike is the area where you can make the most significant (and maybe easiest) gains in your goal of beating the IM cutoff.

^^^ Give this a thinker...

Some thoughts:

1. if you want to get faster you have to focus on speed. You said it, you can't focus on speed and endurance at the same time. 

2. There is another periodization to training apart from the 3/1 week you follow. This is a longer period over months: base/endurance, speed, taper, race, recover. You build a base over maybe 3-4 months, then you reduce distance and shift focus towards speed. When race day get nearer you begin your taper. Have a good race, then recover. Repeat.

3. I looked at your logs, and what I see are a lot of long workouts. Swim, bike or run, maybe I looked at the wrong months. There's no point of a 90min swim workout if the last half hour is crap. It may in fact be counter productive as your form breaks down. Maybe you don't feel that, but take a camera and record something from the first half hour and from the last half and see. Same goes for run and bike. 

And the long workouts are very long, I doubt you have enough time to restitute well before your next workout. Do more frequent but shorter workouts. Keep run and swim under 1hr, but run 4x week and swim 3. Bike, just 2-3hs. 

4. Hows the fourth discipline, recovery? You're not a lifetime athlete so you should expect more time to recover. If you don't see progress over an extended period of time it's sign that you're overtrained, or maybe you have a nutrition problem. You've lost a lot of weight and I fully understand if you're afraid of regaining, but that means that you may be deprived of nutrients needed. You may get enough protein, but beware of the essential amino acids, missing some and it doesn't matter that you have excess of the other.

You can set aside the same time for training and get improvements if you're willing to rethink how you're training. You've shown the will power to finish so I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

BR

First off, congrats on how far you've come.  You should be proud of yourself for that.

I think you were the poster a few month's ago that was asking about improving your swim times.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think you were saying you were stuck at ~2:30/100.  In that thread, you were given lots of advice that ranged from different drills, workouts, changing coaches, etc.  If I remember, you were very resistant to most of the suggestions.

That leads me to your most recent post...again saying you want to improve, etc.  So my first question would be what did you change from your last post?  Did you do anything that was suggested to you?

It sounds like you still have the same coach, you're still training the same way you were, and to be blunt, are still slow.  So the good news is that you know what you have to do to improve...stop doing what you are doing, get a new perspective (i.e. coach/training program), and embrace change.  

Finally, I'll echo what other have said about how they feel during a race.  I hate races while I'm doing them.  I hurt and suffer.  At no times, am I thinking about how much fun this is and how much I enjoy it.  But, I'm trying hard to get faster and improve, so I'll accept the hurt and suffer to do that.  When I'm content with where I am, I'll try to enjoy the ride at that time.

The one thing most triathletes neglect is the core work. Since my last HIM in September I made it a point of emphasis to get my core strong. The intensity of my workouts has overall gone up as has my speed in all three disciplines without feeling as beat up as I used to. A stead diet of hanging leg lifts, planks, side planks, balance running drills, band side raises, bridge, crab, warrior balance pose...........has really helped me.

Give it a shot.

One more thing:

5. If you often find yourself grinding the lowest gear with a low cadence then maybe you should talk with your LBS and have the casette changed to something that suits you better.