Atl_runner's group - full for now. (Page 2)

Kimje,

I've just recently bought tbe book Workouts in a Binder: Swim Workouts for Triathletes and have been following the workouts from that.  No real specific focus or drills yet since I feel like I'm too new to know exactly what part of my swimming needs work.  I've been mainly focusing on endurance, and have posted the details of my recent swim workouts in my log if you want to look.  I'd love to hear any ideas/advice you have!

Gang, I'm excited about this group!  Looking forward to contributing to and learning from all of you.  Had a great metric century ride on a cold windy morning yesterday.  Shuffling workouts a bit today, supposed to do an hour on the bike and 30m plyometrics but the schedule is making that tough, so I'm going to do tomorrow's workout (swim and run) over lunch.

Gotta run, more later!

PMed them but as a wise man once said, you should always make your goals public (actually, I added some more comments to this version).

This monday, I'm running a 10k.  I'd like to use this to get a better grouping for Peachtree.  I'd like to get into the TIME GROUP 1A (42:00 through 49:59).  I ran a Sub 22 min 5k on a hilly leg of my sprint tri a few weeks ago so I believe sub 49:59 is doable as this 10k is on a flat course.  My last 10k was 56:51.

My typical training week looks like the following:

Swim - Usually, I get in 3 swims per week on Mon, Wed and Fri.  If I am intown and working from home, I will try to do Masters, otherwise, I do the time and yardage from whatever my Oly plan says from BT.  Occasionally I will throw in a straight yardage swim. I try to get a swim lesson in once per month.  I try to do 400 yards worth of drills on most swims (Masters or straight distance notwithstanding).

Bike - Try to do the time equivalent of what my Oly plan says from BT.  Mostly this has been 4 rides per week of about 5 hours total.  1 ride is usually a 2 hour ride and the other 3 are usually 1 hour each.  I have been known to throw in more riding that what the plan calls for if my weekend schedule permits.  I try to get in at least one z3/z4 ride and recently that has been a group ride on Thur evenings for 1.5-2 hours.  All other rides are z2.  The z2 rides are a mix of mostly road but sometimes trainer if my schedule is tight.  I try also to do 50% on my tri bike (solo and trainer rides) and 50% on my road bike (group rides).

Run - Right now I'm in a holding pattern doing 4 runs per week for 20 total miles.  Breakdown is 3-6-3 during the week and 8 on Sunday. I will maintain this mileage until mid-July when I start the rampup for the Chicago marathon.  The 3 mile runs are easy runs (zone 1).  The 8 mile run is a zone 2 run.  The 6 mile run can be anything from zone 2 to intervals (800 repeats at race pace/z4).

Hey.. hope everyone's monday went well. I did some much needed swim intervals. Every time I swim I am reminded that this is the most complicated and technical portion of the Triathlon. You can be fit to a bike, and easily adjust your running style, but can also get away with just putting one foot in front of the other.. of course, it's more than that, but what I am getting at is that swimming is 100 percent on you, and proper technique is not easy to learn over night. I found some videos online that are really quite good at conveying the right information. Check these out. The one I think is most important, is this one.. Proper Stroke cycle (complete).

http://community.transitiontimes.com/kickapps/service/displayMediaPlayPage.kickAction?mediaType=VIDEO&mediaId=30267&as=3069

Check it out, and let me know what you think. How well does it compare with what you are doing? Lil turtle.. is this good information for you? Do you think it will be useful?

There are an abundance of other videos there that you can search through and view what you feel is relevant. Share with us if you find one that stands out to you.

Interesting stuff....

I had a really great swim today!  It was a pretty easy workout, but I really surprised myself with how fast I could go.  It was all based on 100s at t-pace, and every set I was coming in at least 8 seconds faster than my t-pace!  I think it's time to retest!  It's funny because I had actually just been thinking this morning that I wonder how often you're supposed to retest.  My last test was almost a month ago, and that was when I had only done 1-2 pool workouts, so it was basically starting from scratch.  Apparently this last month of swimming has paid off.  Woohoo!   If I don't do the masters group on wednesday (still haven't decided for sure if i"m going to) then I think I'll do a new time trial.  At least now I know I'm a little closer to the suggested masters speed than I originally thought. 

Those videos are definitely interesting (and that guy's hair is freakin awesome! ) and really got me thinking about my own stroke.  I am looking forward to getting a lesson at some point because having someone watch my swim would help.  In the meantime I'm trying to pick just a few things to focus on because if I think about too many things then my stroke just totally falls apart and I can't get anywhere.  The same thing happens to me with skiing (and i've been doing that for 17 years now!)...I almost failed my instructor certification because my head was so full of stuff to remember and tips I'd gotten that I quite literally forgot how to ski.  It was pretty much pathetic!  So I guess that's just how my mind works.  I think if I pick just one thing at a time to focus on while swimming though that could be a big help.  But for now i'm just happy to see real, clear, improvement! 

kimje - 2007-05-22 5:18 AM It is a great feeling to go to work knowing that you have already done a 10 mile run or a 1:30 bike or swim. Gets me ready for the whole day.

You said it!!!!!  It's hard to beat starting the day with a good workout.  I also have to say how impressed I am with parents who do triathlons.  Your time management skill and dedication has to be through the roof!

Can I just say you're my hero??!!  I wake up at 6:30 and think I'm doin pretty darn well!  I can't imagine being done working out at that time!  I like my bed waaaaaay too much!  I agree with TriForrestTri....the dedication of parents who do tri's is really impressive!  I have enough trouble getting myself out to workout and I don't have to worry about dealing with little ones.   

I'll share the race stuff here too.  My next one is the Lake Mills sprint on 6/3.  I did this race last year and finished exactly in the middle of my AG.  How's that for MOP?  I have the green light from my coach to "race" this one rather than just "do" it (this year is dedicated first and foremost to training for IMWI and I will be just "doing" Elkhart Lake Oly the next weekend).

I am more fit and more experienced now than I was last year.  Mentally I did a poor job last year--part of it was starting the day flipping a bike off the roof rack breaking the back window on my car...  That resulted in at least a 30 minute delay and a cruel shock to my (obviously) not awake brain at 4:45 a.m.  This contributed to a swim which was much slower than I am capable of, but I picked it up from T1on.

Two goals for this race:

• Faster transitions than last year
• Faster splits in all three portions than last year

It doesn't matter how much faster to me.  But if I shave time off of each of the five segments I'll be very happy.  And then I'll head out for another 3.5 hours on the bike (that's gonna feel goooooood...).

If you are curious, here's my RR from last year.

ok, I know it doesn't matter, but why not try and guess:

for a total time of 1:11 flat.

What's your guess?

The training program looks good Tim!  Nice that you can see where you are progressing too weeks ahead.  I have been receiving two to three weeks at a time, and I always look beyond just this week so I know what the build up looks like.

Thanks for the huge vote of confidence guys.  I don't know that 1:11 is doable for me, but I sure will try.  And fine, I will make predictions.

S: 7:30
T1: 1:30--but depends on transition spot.  Last year was first come first served so plan on getting there early
B: 39:30--This is a flat course but last year was definately a solid ride!
T2: 1:00
R: 24:30--Running is the toughest of the three for me but I'm getting better.  This would be 7:53's.

That puts me at 1:14.  There it is.  My goal time. 

Alright buddy.  I may have to come to England to get that pizza and a good pint of whatever you recommend.  My mom is a Londoner but I haven't been to England since 1993.  That trip included seeing U2 at Wembley.  Awesome.

TriorNot--I hear ya!  This morning I didn't know what was going on when the alarm went off at 6:30!  Ended up going back to sleep rather than doing my bike workout in the a.m.

It's almost 11 p.m.  I should go to bed so I can get my run in tomorrow morning!

Thanks for the paddle post Kimje. Anyone else have experience with those that they can comment on?

I had a interesting workout last night.. Here in the Atlanta area, we had an huge concentration of smoke from the South Ga, forest fires settle over the city.. It looked like a heavy fog, and everything smelled like one large camp fire. It really never fully dispersed, so that added to the running fun. My legs were just dead. That's a rare feeling for me. Tells me something, but I can;t rest until after some more fun tonight.. 2.5 hours of a spin run spin class.. 1 hour spin, 4 mile run, 1 hour spin.. tonight I have the added bonus of wearing a pack with 7 percent of my body weight. Not too heavy, but the way these classes go, I fear for my soon to be broken body. This class is very intense.

No more sleeping in and missing workouts Greycat (and everyone else). That's not going to help you.. what will, is waking up when you don't feel like it, and hitting the gym, or whatever you have planned. Sleep is good, but you will function well on shorter hours for a long time. No need to get to bed early all the time either. Live your life, have fun, but get those workouts in. I promise, you will get used to it, and you will not collapse from exhaustion or anything like that. Get your sleep in when you can, but don't get caught up in things like.. 'I only got 6 hours of sleep last night'.  

ONLY 6 hours????  Ha! I consider that an exceptionally good night!  Actually I aim for 6.5 but most nights end up with about 5-5.5.  I would looooooove to consider 6 hours a short sleep! 

Sorry...stressed out college student heading in to finals over here....   I see dwindling sleep numbers in my future.....