Yanti & Lynn: Manatee Madness Mentor Group CLOSED (Page 20)

Didn't get my swim in yesterday as planned.  I'll probably get one in today at lunch.  Funny how now that I'm back to work I can get back on "schedule" again.  Wife at work, daughter at daycare with my 3 month old starting his first day with her today, leaves me at home alone (I tele-commute) with lunch hour all to myself!

No running yet though.  Still letting the knee recover a bit and will do some ITB stretches per my PT brother's instructions.  It's nice to have so many family members in healthcare.

As for recent work-outs, my wife convinced (more like coerced) me into doing Ab Ripper X from our P90X set yesterday.  OMGWTFBBQ!!!  My stomach feels like someone is constantly punching me in the gut.  As the wiseman Tony Horton once said, "I hate it, but I love it!"  Except I really do hate it. 

Extreme!!!!!!

Mornin' Manatees!

I am soooo dehydrated today and no water bottles in sight!! Sheesh. Today, I did my regular 5.5 with the running group.  Left my watch on the charger so not stats. Drat.  Maybe a swim and/or bike later.

I'm thinking about registering for a Half Iron Man thingy.  Is that too ambitious for my first real triathlon season.  I had really only planned to do a bunch of sprints and an oly as my big race, but now I'm thinking maybe a couple sprints, couple olys, and a half instead?  I wouldnt really attempt to be too competitive, mostly just to finish.  And it wouldnt be until the end of the summer. Bad idea?

Alexis

Not if you train up to it. Look at your schedule and see if you reasonably have 7-10 hours a week to train for 20 weeks. It's a long time and a big volume to carry consistently if you're not used to it.

Also, depending on which race you have your eye on, you may not have to register for it SO far in advance, and if it's too hard to keep up the training, all that extra volume can only be of help in building a base for the future AND make you much stronger at the short distances, too.

When is the HIM?  If it's in the fall and you train up for it, you'll be fine.

A lot of people will disagree with me here but I was advised to do a half marathon before I did a HIM and to do a full marathon before the IM.   No immediately before but to have that in my race history. 

For my first tri season:

• January, first ever half marathon
• February, half marathon
• April, first tri, an Oly
• August, second tri, an Oly
• September, sprint tri in the same channel that the HIM swim was taking place
• November, HIM

I had lots of 100ks and a few 100 mile bike rides throughout the year as well.

Ah, now I see your race schedule in your signature file -- half marathon in March and HIM in September. 

I guess I could convert one of my sprint tri's to an Oly and find another HM later in the summer just to keep my mileage up.  Hmmmm.  I just dont want to do too much, too soon and risk burnout (more emotional, but also physical).  I'm still pretty excited about tri's and its nice to have something to work toward.  I have no desire to ever do a full iron man.  I'm pretty sure I would have to quit my job.  Lol.

Thanks for the great replies! I'll probably see how far out I can push the registration and hopefully make a decision later in the season.

You might want to convert one of your sprints to an Oly.  I don't think that you need to add a half marathon though, your HIM build will take care of that, I think that the advice was as much about the mental aspects of running a half marathon as anything else.  

I'd suggest figuring out what your training plan will be and plugging it into a date calculator before selecting races leading up to the HIM.  For example, if you want to leave 12 weeks for HIM focused training (with no taper/recovery for other events), that backs you up all the way to June 23.  Once you have that figured out, you can plug in other events.

Is Savagaman your "local" HIM?  I did Beach2Battleship as my first because the logistics from Raleigh are super easy.  I figured that I had enough worries without adding bike transport to the the list!

I'd make a decision after your first tri (you said this is your first season right?) to see if you like the sport or not.  I've only done a couple of sprints but have plans for Oly's this season.  HIMs and IMs have no pull for me.  Still, I've discovered that even at this level there's still a large investment of time, resources and money.  I'd get your feet wet with one event first.  It usually just takes one tri to help you figure out if you just want to have a taste or if you become an addict.  At least that's how this newb sees it.

So I'm going to rile things up a bit with a contentious question.  Shave? Yes? No? 

Never really even crossed my mind as an option and the wife advised that it would not be acceptable when she realized I was commiting to the sport more deeply than a passing fancy.  Besides I'm bad about shaving my face an a regular basis so more work? no thanks.

This is supposed to be my 1st day of HIM training and I woke up nausus, of course on my day off, so I figured I'd skip the pool and not add to the biohazards .  Hope to get  a trainer ride in tonight though.

In the Seattle winter *I* hardly remember to...don't make me look bad! 

Hi Yanti and Lynn, I have been MIA from here for the last 3 months but have just started training again and hope to join you all again. I SO enjoyed this amazing mentor pod last year and I know it's late, but I promise to be a good manatee if you let me in .

I will try and catch up...already waaaaaay behind, I see. Hope all had a wonderful holiday season and best wishes for a fabulous new year. Will post more once I know if you have the rooooom.

Kisses,

Holly in Colorado.

Kisses were included...I feel like this is an automatic in. Well played! 

Holly dear. You get in under the "once a Manatee, always a Manatee" clause ... and the Pop-Tart secret handshake.

Of course as a well-seasoned Manatee you shall be responsible for much cheering and inspiring, especially since you were so good at it before.

My, what big ears your rat has ... for a dog. Min pin / mix? Joel, you're hilarious. I love your enthusiasm!

fabuloso! I've missed the melon presses and pop tarts. I will bio after I catch up on the reading...(am on page 4 only-wow!!!) thank goodness slow day at work... chuckle chuckle. Great group here-but I wouldn't have doubted you mystic manatees for a minute. Mwah-back soon-wish me happy reading

Got a lunchtime swim in today and felt pretty good throughout the swim but now I have a question.

When I started last February I couldn't even swim a length without feeling like I was going to die and die drowning.  Lot's of youtube videos and some swim lessons at the Y I went from 25yds to 50yds, 300, finally 500yds (just in time for my first race!), and now just swimming 1/2 hour to 45min continous at a time (that's all I have time for at lunch).  I'm getting anywhere from 1500yds to 1700yds per swim now.  Up until now all I do is swim.  My focus has just been building endurance and getting in touch with my inner Dori (just keeping swimming, just keeping swimming...).

So the question is (finally!), "Now what?"  Any suggested workouts I should look to start incorporating.  Just keep swimming long sets?  Drills (I've never done any)? What can I do in the limited time I have?

New Manatee table with Holly in it!

Also, one of our members sneakily changed her username ... although I recognized her anyway the same way I recognize everyone else ... what their dog looks like. Zelda-Riffic went and honey-badgered on us ... although the link in the old table will still work.

For best results, cut and paste a couple lines above and below. Those of you who wish to wait for the BT gods to grant us the ability to put a Manatee pic in the table ... well, feel free to keep right on waiting.

With a newborn it's a wonder you have any time at all! And congrats again on your fantastic swim progress. Kudos!

Time to start doing intervals. Do some kind of appropriate warm-up (2-300 yd) which can include drills*, a main set of 800-1000yd worth of intervals, and the rest for cool-down.

Intervals would be something like 10x100 or 5x200, with 5-15s rest in between (I use 5s rest per 50yd as a general guideline). The point is to do each one as quickly as possible without your form breaking down AND be able to do the rest of them just as quickly. This may take some trial and error but that in itself is valuable and will make you get through some good swim training. Once you figure out what your "highest repeatable" pace for 100yd is, then you can also do sets like 400/300/200/100.

There's not many drills I would blanket recommend without seeing your stroke, but a valuable one is the fist drill: swim freestyle as normal, but keep your hands in fists. This will force you to use your whole forearm as a paddle (and partially your upper arm as well), as you should.

Triathlon is but part of a life well lived--which enhances the former. Again, you have the coolest job in the whole universe. In fact ... hmmm ... I might just have to blend you into the protagonist of my novels ... she's busy killing people but needs a real "cover" job in the sequel, and since all the money from her hits goes to creating nature sanctuaries ...

I love snakes and it makes me happy to see them, too; I encounter them regularly both in the water and around my home/yards.

Agreed, sometimes the hardest and greatest decision is knowing when to stop. Take the pressure off yourself, have fun, join in what you want and keep with the vibe that whatever you do it should be fun! That includes being here!

Hey all--Wanted to suggest swimplan.com for some workouts as well. I think you have to register now, but it's free and you can get a workout a day or something like that. You can say you want freestyle and what your times are and level and it will suggest a workout for you. Just a thought. I keep a file of swim workouts and can send some your way if you'd like. After a while it does get easier to "think them up." I would suggest the side kicks and drills everytime you get in the water though. Really helps with getting the "feel."

You have one of the coolest jobs on the planet, I do believe. And, I too, like snakes...haven't always, but have come around in the last few years. Lizards are extremely cool characters, too.

I'm one of the lonely folks not on FB by choice, but sometimes lurk on my DH's account to see what my son is up to. Which, by the way ----GOT HIS DRIVER'S License today!!  Not sure if we need another teenage boy on the roads, but he's a pretty cautious kid. THose DMV peeps are sooooo serious.

I agree, super cool job...but snakes?!?!?! Eeeeeeeeeeeeks! 

It's funny because as a kiddo I had no problem with snakes. My dad and I would go "hunt" them (which meant lift rocks to find them) all the time. Nowadays I am a huge baby and get to the highest point possible if I see one. 

Haha, my mom was the same way, but then when I took in a wonderful snake who was about to be homeless, she slowly began coming around-she is still nervous, but a WHOLE LOT better than before...The snake in question was only a 6.5 foot long boa, but she had the BEST disposition--she actually just was taken in by our education dept. at the zoo and is the star of their stage shows! (though occasionally upstaged by the baby gator!)