willie05's Group - Closed (Page 2)

St Anthony's and NYC will be fantastic races!  I'd love to go and see all the pros.  It sounds like you have a good plan of doing a Sprint first.  If you don't have a race in mind yet, have a look here on the BT site, or go to trifind.com, or active.com to find a race near you.  That will be great experience for the Olympics - especially the start of the swim and learning how to get through transitions - and you get to have fun finishing the race that soon in the season.

For the plans, you have them all available to you, but with the travel this month, maybe start with one of the 16 Week Olympic plans.  The timing is perfect for St. Anthony's.  The 2x/week may be a good starting point, and if you are able to do more than that, or maybe when you're past the travel, maybe try the 3x/week.  These plans are based on minutes only, and don't get into heart rates or specific types of workouts.  I think they're great to start with.

You then have a big 3 month gap until NYC.  You could try the 12 week silver/gold plans that will deal more with specific workouts for all 3 disciplines, such as interval training and long-slow-distance training (LSD).  These are geared towards folks with experience, which you'll have then, and work to improve speed.  If you have the opportunity during that time, you could also have a look to do another sprint.

When I travel, I always take my running shoes with me.  If I can't get out, hopefully the hotel will at least have a treadmill.  It definitely helps rather than not being able to do anything.  If I'm real adventurous, I'll also take my wetsuit or swimsuit!

Have fun at Hannah Montana! You're braver than I am. I got my 8 year old daughter tickets to the show in Albany on the 9th for Christmas but I also roped my 25 year old sister in law into taking her! So did you have to sell one of your kidneys to get the tickets too?

My biggest obstacle is time. I need to figure out a plan and stick with it. Like you, evenings are completely out. So I guess I need to get up early and that's going to take some getting used to. Being a complete beginner do you suggest a couch to 5k plan?

I actually got the tickets through Ticketmaster!  I did it right when they went on sale just to get the best seats, and I had no idea about how fast it was going to sell out, or the scalp prices.  Seats in my section that I bought for $45 are going for $250 each on ebay!  We thought about selling them, but kept them in the end.

The Couch to 5k plan is for running only.  It is a good plan to get yourself up and moving since it starts with a lot of walking, and gradually shifts the walk/run balance to more running.

However, if you want to do a triathlon, this isn't really a good plan since there is no biking or swimming.  You would be better off with Michael Pate's Total Sprint (this plan is also free).  It starts with minimal swimming and walking instead of running, then also gradually builds up the running.  As far as the biking goes, you can do that on a stationary bike.

The other option is to start with the Couch to 5k plan, then as you start to feel good about how that's going, switch over to the Total Sprint plan to work in the biking and swimming.

Good luck with it!

Have a great night!  Anyone have any good plans??

We're having a couple neighbors over, but otherwise it will be a quiet evening for us.

Hey Snowrider, sounds like an awesome day!  That's an excellent speed for that long of a ride -   That's the kind of stuff that keeps you coming back for more!

Squishy - I'm not sure how to import a different plan other than just typing it in one day at a time.  You could send a note to Marmadaddy here at BT to see if that's possible.  Good luck!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

As I sit here sipping a bottle of Dasani (cleverly packaged, expensive tap water), I thought I would remind everyone of the importance of drinking water - and a lot of it!  There is no doubt it helps with losing weight, and you need it for recovery before, during and after any training.

Other than during training, I drink it with breakfast (during my drive to work), sometime mid-morning, at lunch, sometime mid-afternoon, during dinner, and sometime in the evening.

Now's the time to get in the habit of drinking a lot.  As you start to crank up training over the coming months, your body is going to depend on it, and it will make your recovery and ability to bounce back far easier!

Actually, why I was responding again was about the plans.  When I was looking up the plans that are free for you, I didn't see the Beginners Exercise Program in the listing.  I forgot that was because this program is just in the articles, not in the programs.

This is what I used last year, and I think it's a great way to start.  It's all stationary bike to begin with as well as lifting.  It's a great combination, and she also gives good stretching and nutritional advice.  It eases you into the training and builds up your endurance quickly.

I was very dedicated to that program for two months.  By the 3rd month, I started adding in more training (including running), and then by the 4th month, I went into a more advanced plan.   So I didn't follow it for all 8 months, but there is not doubt that this is what got me going.

I also did a copy and paste of the plan from each article into Word so that I could print a little at a time, add dates, and go directly to it on my pc instead of searching for it here.  I've attached the 1st month to this post.

Good luck!

Hey Everyone - Have you picked a race yet?

If not, now's a great time to find one to make your goal for your first race!  There's nothing that motivates me more than having a race to plan on.  Even though it will likely be months away, it gives you a target to shoot for.

After you have that set, then look at maybe doing a running race or two along the way.  This helps you see what it's like to run in a crowd and get used to the whole atmosphere.  It may even give you practice of grabbing a cup of water on the run!

My calendar says my first one will be 6/15 way over in Toledo.  But I'm looking at doing one the weekend before instead that will be closer.

You may also catch a break on registration fees by signing up now.  The Pittsburgh Triathlon isn't until the middle of July, and the fee is $85 right now, but it goes up to $100 on 2/1.  That's just a $15 difference, but that savings adds up if you're signing up for a number of races.

Hey Squishy,

You hit the nail on the head.  You want to be able to come out of the water with your legs fresh and ready to go. 

That was definitely a problem I had last year when I started up the training.  I looked back at my logs from last Feb/Mar, and I couldn't really do 50 yds of freestyle then.  I would go freestyle one way, and breastroke coming back.  My average time was over 3 mins/100 yds.

After this went on for a little bit, I stopped what I was doing and started using the Total Immersion book.  Basically it took me back to basics, and I relearned a new stroke.  Once I got past the drills and doing the stroke, I couldn't believe the difference.  My legs weren't tired, and I had plenty of energy, all while swimming significantly faster.  By the end of the year, I did 2000-2500 yds straight a couple of times just for the fun of it!

Don't worry about lack of open water swimming.  The vast majority of folks do all their training in pools.  Being in a pool is much better for training anyway while your building up your endurance and doing drills.

Squishy, 

    I was in the same position you are in now. Like Bob when I started swimming I could hardly couldn't swim the length of the pool.  Yes it was a 25 yrd pool! I was horrible in the water.  I bought a Total Immersion book and DVD and it has made all the difference. I read the book in all of my spare time. And every time I went to the pool I worked on the drills that are in the book. I was swimming 4 to 5 times a week. During last winter swimming was all that I did. I ran very little and didn't bike at all. Swimming was my only focus. I'm still not a excellent swimmer but my swim times are now respectable.

    I think with Total Immersion and a lot of hard work you will see improvements in your swim before you know it!

Completely agree with that DVD - it definitely helps to see the drills to learn them.  Keep in mind, the Total Immersion book & dvd is virtually all technique.  There's not much there on drills to increase distance and speed.  For that I like the drills that Kevin Koskella has posted here on the BT site.

Back to Nutrition for a second - What did everyone have for breakfast today?  As long as the answer isn't "Nothing" or "A couple of Donuts" you're doing good!

I heard on the radio over the holidays that people who skip breakfast eat on average 100 more calories per day than people who have breakfast!  But it's worse than just that.  To make up for the hunger pangs in the morning, the "makeup" food tends to be junk food, which then leads to more junk food later on.

So eat a nutritious bowl of cereal in the mornings, and save the chips for just occasional times - such as cheering on the Steelers Saturday night!