wsm9363's group - Full (Page 2)

Hugh,
To answer your questons.  Most people do the crawl (freestyle) for the swim portion, there are some that will breast stroke, others side stroke, I have even heard of people doing the back stroke.  The biggest part of the swim is really getting through it.

In your training you should have sessons where you go at an easy pace, for as long as possible, and then other nights where you will go all out for parts of the workout.

Here is an example of my workouts for the past week.
Sat - 2000 yards easy swim - straight swim
Monday - 1200 Yards - Recovery 3 x 400
Wednesday - 1500 Yards - 300 WU then 6x50 golf MS 5x100 on 10 Seconds rest 4x50 kick then CD was 200 yards 50 pull, 50 Swim, 50 Pull, 50 Swim.

I have weeks where I am to swim at max effort, and others where I focus on form.

Chances are your form needs work.  There are some videos you can watch here on BT, I am not sure if they are open to free memberships, but if they are watch them.  It will show some drills that will help.  If nothing else watch the free stuff at total immersion's site.  That will give you some ideas that should help as well.  If I had to guess, I would guess you have your head too high inthe water, and you are dropping your hips.  That forces you to work harder.

I am sorry to hear you have been sick, I hope you recovery quickly.

Phil,
I can't say how they are yet, since I am still waiting on getting my DVD and cards.  However, the little I have learned from watching the free clips online, have helped my form and sped me up some.

I am looking forward to getting everything to see how it helps me improve my swimming.  Some part of it has been just swimming more.  But I know that form is the most critical aspect in swimming.  Learning how to correctly position yourself in the water will help you get out of the swim faster, and with less effort.

The stars are for the post count you have.  When you hit 25 posts you will get a little green star, at 100 you get a pink, at 500 a different color... up to 5000 posts.

veteran... is related to post count... there is a page that tells about that.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/statistics/user-listing.asp

That might make more sense.

I was just reading another mentor's section, and it got me thinking.  There was someone that asked for help setting long term (late 2007, 2008) goals.

When you are setting goals, long or short term.  You should ask your self, "what am I willing to give up to make this goal a reality?"  Or to think about it another way, if your goal is breakfast, are you going to be the chicken or the pig?

You see when you sit down to a Denny's big slam breakfast, the chicken and the pig both got involved with making that meal.  The chicken was only involved in making the breakfast, the pig was COMMITTED to making that breakfast.  The chicken can give her egg, and not allow that to interfer with the rest of her day.  The pig can't just be involved, he/she has to be committed to making that bacon, ham or sausage.  No half measures, you can't just give a leg, it is all or nothing.

What I am trying to say, is when setting your goals, think about what you are asking yourself to do.  Are you willing to make the committment to meeting that goal?

Jen,
I saw the inspires, I generally read her logs just to know what is being said and posted to her.  I am sure she enjoyed the inspires.  She works pretty hard, and gets pretty frustrated because her younger brother doesn't have to work that hard to be faster than she is at biking and running.  Now I think that will change shortly, but he has some pretty natural abilities.  She'll likely smoke him in the pool for a very long time.

Devin,
Looks like your wife will be racing the same weekend I am.  May 20 is my first tri for 2007.  So is your wife here on BT as well?  or is she just following your plans?

Phil,
That is actually a pig of a different kind.  Tris are not a LIFE, don't get me wrong.  The GOALS we set for ourselves, that is the chicken or pig.  TRI-ING is just a part of our life.

When you set your goals, what are you willing to do to meet those goals?  That is the real question.  I could set a goal to complete a HIM this year, and I could meet that goal, but what cost would that require of me?  Time with family, time from my church, time from my kids... To set that goal forces me to think about what I am willing to do to make the goal.

That is the real message I am wanting to state.  Set your goals - but think about what those goals will require.  I can set a goal of running a 6 minute mile, but what will it require to get there?  I think I could do it, but am I WILLING to pay that price?  Everything we do requires a price, it might be money, time, sweat, blood, job, family or self.  When we set a goal that we want to hit, sometimes we expect our family to help pay that price.  That may not be a problem, but there are a LOT of wives and husbands that are not willing to pay the price we ask of them.  That requires us to reconsider our goals.

I don't know that what I am saying makes sense.  I am all about the balance.  I try to balance family and training and work... sometimes it goes better than others.
I try to work out my goals taking into consideration the overriding priorities.
1. God
2. Wife
3. Kids
4. Job
5. Tri-ing

There are conflicts, but I do my best to balance everything.  And so that you understand, many times to "serve" God means taking care of my kids for my wife.  Or going to work to help meet the financial needs of the family.

Scott

I posted this whole article on a couple of your Blogs, but I want to post this little part of it specially.  I am doing this because I think the stretching portion of our workouts tends to get short shifted.  Please understand, proper stretching and nutrition will save you an AWFUL LOT of possible pain and frustration later.  The majority of injuries come from moving into your workout without proper warm up.  The majority of soreness and aches from a hard workout come from improper cool down.

Devon,
Sounds great, training with others is a great way to build friendships.  I have met a couple of folks from BT at various races.  I have like wise met one for OWS practice, it was a good time.

Looks like your race schedule is filling up.  I know I have several 5K races that are coming up in the next few months.  And I like wise have either 1 or 2 Half marathons in April and May.  I have not decided which way I am going with that.