Entry Level to Ironman Fly Tri Racing (Tri Ritter's Group) OPEN (Page 2)

Wow if you did a marathon just  two weeks ago, you definitely need to take two weeks off from everything!  Don't rush back into it.  I'd spend the  majority of your training on the bike and learning the swim. Building your long run back up. Also you need to be dialing in your nutrition strategy!! 

Who is your local bike shop and I can see if they carry Cobb saddles  
In Georgia I recommend the following shops: All 3 Sports,  Podium Multi-sport,  Quality Bike Shop, Cannon Cyclery, Apalachee cycle (new dealer). 

Answer these questions and I can help you start with the right saddle? 

What do you not like about your Fizik? 
What distances are you training for? 
Are your bars higher, even, or lower, or much lower than your seat height? 
Height and weight? 
We also recommend you do not ride in a thick chamois shorts, this can cause chafing and saddles sores because you can't control where those thick chamois goes.  We recommend you ride in a tri short with a thin fleece like chamois. You don't want a seam down the middle. Cobb does also make tri shorts and they work exceptionally well especially with all of our saddles.  The ladies and men shorts are different with the stitching so it doesn't bunch up in the wrong places.

(Note I didn't get on here to sell stuff but this stuff does work and Cobb Cycling has over 40 years of research put into products).   

Pro Tip:   Elite athletes are super confident people and can be perceived as borderline cocky. I'm not saying you have to go around acting cocky and bragging about the paces you hit. The main point here is you might not be the best swimmer or runner but when you get the pool or head out for a run, before you start, repeat to yourself "you are a great swimmer, you are a great runner". " Fake it until you make it" does have some merit in sport. In the moment, this creates confidence and confidence leads to better performance. So keep faking it out there, so you make it!

Awesome, Thank you! 

Pro Tip: Do your strength training!! Strength training especially among the posterior like squats, lat pull-downs, etc. are really good for runners/tri as we are mostly quad dominate and have a weak posterior. Another note, squats are actually the best core training you can do as research says this gets the most core activation. The "core" technically runs from the bottom of the rib cage to the bottom of the hips. Also squats and the like are the best for these sports that require power like running and cycling. We want actual power transfer. You'll notice my strength training workouts are not super fancy, it just gets the work done.

Great stuff Camille! Welcome to the group and good luck at the Austin Marathon. I'm just a few hours north of you in Tyler. I love going to Austin such a fun and active town. Sounds like you have a full plate with everything you have going on.  

Yeah, swimming you gotta just take it just step or stroke at a time especially if you're just learning.  Coming into the fall last year I had two months off due to our son being born so coming back into the sport I was in no hurry to get back so all I did was refine my technique and still doing it somewhat, I came out swimming a little faster especially when I started to add some fitness back.  

Pro Tip: We as humans are negative thinking by nature. We always have to be conscious of our thoughts. How we think is how our body reacts!

If you have been going strong since the summer with no real breaks, I'd take a week off completely, maybe two weeks. The next 1-3 weeks would be simply choice, at recovery effort 30 minute sessions. 

There's nothing wrong with over lapping events and they can possibly help, just realize you won't be at your best and keep your main goal insight. For example in 2014 I did a couple of road cycling stage races.  Now I simply don't have time for everything so I've limited to mainly local run races and triathlons and half ironman distance.   Since your around in Texas, like me there are plenty of bigger fall events to target.  

Great question, tough question. I'll answer honestly. 

You sound like you  need a coach or a mentor who's not afraid to set you straight on a good path. 

The 70.3 is the main goal, so the marathon is out. All it's going to do is trash your legs and make you take more recovery time and you don't have to run a marathon to run well off the bike.  I'd say all the other races seem ok and would probably help. 

As far as a training plan vs coaching, a training plan is set and you'll have to think for yourself how to adjust if something comes up with work, family, or you get sick or injured. With a coach providing a plan, per se can help you adjust "on the fly" as needed and can cut to chase and help you make those decisions. Also a  coach provides extra knowledge and support. He can dial you back or turn it on when you need to (varying intensity levels). Since you would be considered a distant athlete you would have to be more proactive about sending in video, if I was your coach. 

Depending on when you're races are you have a few options. You can train right through it. You can take a full week of cutting volume (don't cut intensity so much), or a 1/2 week before and following, a bit easier for recovery, etc. You can do anywhere from a 1-3 week training block depending on how you recovery, with micro stuff inside that such as 2-1, 3-2, 3-1, 1-1 or a mix ec. 

If you go with a training plan you'll need be flexible and know how to make adjustments, be smart and listen to your body, which I know personally is easier said than done.  I am planning to extend you guys an offer later but feel free to talk to me about  it if you were interested in coaching, I'm reasonable, flexible, and professional.  Click on my links for more back ground info or you can consult with coaches near you.  

I hope this helped answer some questions.  

I don't have a pro tip today but check this blog out I'll be releasing every Friday/Saturday, I think it was a 4 or 5 part series.  

http://flytriracing.blogspot.com/2016/02/how-to-pr-by-run-technique-series-ii.html

Have a great weekend! Hope to hear from you all by Monday to see how your training went. 

I'm finishing out a recovery week but doing a 10k in Longview tomorrow followed by a bike rally maybe 100k. Temperatures in 30-40's with rain in the forecast.  

Hey Old Dawg,  welcome to the group! Glad to have you here. You got some big goals going straight to the 70.3 from getting back in shape since just September. I know all about how the hard the swim is as I've been working on it for 8 years. I wish I had started with similar ways I start with my athletes who need to work on their swim - which is most. Most people can only focus on one or two technique changes and work to transfer it over to your swim stroke.  I hope your coach is providing more interaction than a plan. Is he working virtually as your coach? If so, some coaches don't reach out unless you reach out to them first which I disagree with. 

The 50 miler in the summer should allow for plenty of recovery time and allow for some training time before your late season half iron. But I recommend just focusing on these two 70.3's as all of your races seem like a relatively big deal. 

Thanks for joining,

William 

How did your training go this weekend?  I did a low key 10k called Freeze your Fanny in Longview with 40 degrees and some light rain. It was a hilly course and finished 2nd overall in 36:14. Me and Tomas were going back and forth, I put a surge in on him just after halfway and he came back on me and opened a gap I couldn't close back up. Now were 2 (me) - 1 (him). It was a recovery week for me so I hardly ran all week and focused on trying to get more sleep as my baby boy has been recently sick and I had to wake up frequently in the middle of the night. By the end of last week I was whooped.  

Hey Christo! Welcome to the group from New York to Texas down here. Even though you did your first tri last year we were already experienced of two years training for one.  I know logistics can be tough putting on a triathlon in the bigger cities.  It also sounds like you are highly motivated with some big races coming up!  What brought  you on to this group? Any questions I can help out with? I look forward to hearing from you!!