Dominion's Sprint/Oly Focus Group - OPEN (Page 2)

Originally posted by scottjjmtri99

Originally posted by Dominion

I agree my swim log is lacking. My ability to get to the pool is quite limited. Only have relatively easy access to an endless pool during the week for 30 minutes and my time slot is filled this week . A lap pool is about 45 minutes away and just can't make it happen during the week. Although that might change if I can pull a few strings. I'm hitting the lake this weekend and will know for sure coming out of this weekend if I can go 1500m or if I'll be forced to move down to a sprint. ( I don't foresee it being a problem, but I suppose water temp could still be an issue for me) Will definitely practice with the suit. I have one triathlon that is "open" water and takes place in Lake Huron, all my others start in small inland lakes that don't have too much issues with choppy waters and are capped at 400 participants spread out over 5 different waves. (Men and women, and Du) I'm not a big fan of the water start, but will make do with it. I like the beach starts. With this being my first Oly I'm looking to survive the swim and finish the race. Learn from the experience and improve over time.

There is no way I could drive 45 minutes to swim.  My pool is 10-15 minutes away and I struggle to make it over 2x/week.  At least you have the endless pool to get some work in.  How do you like that by the way?  I've never swam in one.  I've always wondered if it "felt" the same.  Pro's / Con's?  

I read somewhere that someone said "If you can run a mile, you can swim a mile."  I'm not sure I believed it when I first started swimming, but now I do.  With your run fitness, you should be able to make that swim.  Just take it nice and easy and keep your breathing and HR under control.  Think of it as just a nice easy jog.  Go out slow and push harder on the back half if you feel good, if you are tired at the halfway point just keep the steady slow pace.  It really is much like running.  The wetsuit buoyancy will help too.  The first time I swam in a wetsuit I couldn't believe the difference.

There is a saying, "It doesn't get easier, you just get faster."

Looking through your logs, I can tell you have been putting in a lot of work.  Hopefully you are seeing some progress, especially in your swimming and biking.  Try to keep the big picture in mind too.  2 months really isn't that long of a time period for the adaptations you are asking your body to make.  Stick with it.  It's about consistency over the long haul.  That being said, if you are feeling beat up, then listen to your body and take 2 or 3 days off.  I mean do nothing training related or physical in nature if possible.  Give yourself an opportunity to rest your body and mind.  You won't lose any fitness in that time frame and you might be amazed at how good you feel and how motivated you are to get back into it. 

It's good that you are a strong swimmer and comfortable in the water.  Like I mentioned to Whitney, that is a huge advantage you have.  You won't need to put in the time "learning" to swim like so many. 

I've never done either of those races, but I know GA Multi-sports puts on a good race and I've heard good things about the Tri-the-Parks series as well.  Another option would be the Set-up Events race at Clarks Hill in early September.  Did that one last year and will return.  They have an Olympic on Sat and a sprint on Sun.  http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=2612

I haven't heard of too many Olympics with time cut-offs. 

My brother and I had the chance to race the Jekyll Island, GA Olympic distance race on Saturday.  I finally got my race report up on my blog link below.  It was quite a day with a crazy swim, but lots of fun.  Check out my report if you get the chance.  Jekyll Island is a great place to visit and a great place to have a race!

Scott and Nate,

I've never experienced numbness in my hands but have had it in my feet while riding believe it or not.  Aside from the numbness, do you feel comfortable with your bike fit in general?  Also are you guys riding standard road bars or on aero bars when this is happening?  I would start by tweaking your fit a little bit, maybe raise or lower your seat a tad or adjust your stem.  You basically want to try to get to a position where you can keep your hands and wrist straight.  Bending your wrists or putting downward pressure (road bars) can cause the nerves to pinch or a restriction of blood flow.  If you don't have aero bars on your bike, I would get some clip-on ones (profile design) and try to get comfortable riding in that position and see if that helps.

So you're racing in Hyde Park?!?  That is awesome!  I'm so jealous. 

How long is the swim?  I assume you have been doing some pool swims even if you won't have the chance to practice open water.  If you are unsure of yourself, the key to open water is just to stay calm, control your breathing and take it easy off the start.  Don't get caught up in the mad dash for the front and get yourself winded too early.  Just relax and start slow.  Remember it's a long race.  If you get tired or feel in trouble in any way, just flip over and back stroke for a minute or two until you catch your breath. 

I started on an old Raleigh too (well not that old

Are you trying to ride on those little clip on bars that are sticking up?  Those look like something you would typically see on the bar ends of a mountain bike. I could see that causing a pretty severe wrist/hand alignment issue.  Not sure why a clip on aero bar wouldn't fit by looking at the picture.  I know that the aero bars by far made the biggest difference in comfort and performance on the road bike I started with.  I would take those bar end clips off and see about mounting an aero bar on there.  They are easy to install and easy to transfer over to another bike if you need to when you upgrade. 

This isn't the greatest picture but you can kind of see how the aero bar just clamps around the existing handlebar.  I think I got mine from Nashbar, Performance bike also sells them.  Should be some Memorial Day sales coming up too.

(aero.jpg)

The OWS takes a little getting used to.  In the pool everything is relative to that one pool length.  You know you have the wall coming up and that you will be able to make the turn and grab that "extra" breath.  Also it bothered me at first swimming face down in open water because in the pool that water is nice and clear and you can see the bottom and lane lines.   In a lake or river or ocean, it's usually just blackness (or sometimes green).  Surprisingly I found that a little unsettling until I got used to it.  

Don't worry too much about the wet suit.  It should break in a little the more you wear it.  And although you say it slowed you down, the buoyancy it provides should really help out in the long run.

(and thanks for reading the blog!)

Running to the HS, running the bleachers, then continuing on sounds like a good workout to me.

For Interval training I usually integrate it into a run.  Not every run, but once a week I do an interval run.  I usually do 3 miles and I do it on a treadmill to be sure I maintain my pace during the interval.  The treadmill also allows me to run my intervals for a precise distance.  For example a .3 mile interval followed by a .4 mile recovery.  You can do your interval based on a distance like that or based on time, say a 2 minute interval followed by a 3 minute recovery.  So a treadmill really isn't necessary if you do your intervals based on time, or you could just pick out landmarks on your run, say from "the light pole to the 3rd mailbox" etc is the first interval.  (you get what I'm saying).  Anyway, back to my treadmill example,  run the first .4 slow as a warm-up, then your first interval is from .4 to .7 miles, then back to a slower recovery pace from .7 to 1.1, then interval again from 1.1 to 1.4.  continue on and your 4th interval will be from 2.5 to 2.8, then the last .2 is a cool-down.  As far as your pacing, you want the interval part to be on the verge of all you can handle.  Don't push to the point of injury, but by the end of the interval, you want to be just "hanging on" and then slow it back to the recovery jog to prepare for the next interval.  You can shorten the run to do fewer intervals, lengthen it to do more, or change the interval/recovery ratio..whatever works best for you, but that is a basic outline to follow,

Now, I'm not saying this is the only way to do it, you can go to the track and just run 100 yard sprints if you want to.   But I find this is a hard workout and the 3 miles flies by before you know it.  Hope this helps.