Slornow's and Wannabefaster's Summer Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 21)

Originally posted by SSMinnow How about a question for the group before everyone gets obsessed with the upcoming weekend? What are some things you do or tell yourself when one of your disciplines is lagging in progress? how do you keep going? I tell myself every time I go to the pool, today's the day I am going to follow the workout to a T and really work hard on technique. I often find that i have so many things to work on from instructor that I get frustrated and start messing with the workout itself. I've tried focusing on one issue at a time, but even that doesn't work. I would never think to do this with running or biking where I am more proficient. HELP! We're heading to our Lake House today in Northern Wisconsin to kick off the Summer. Highly doubt I will get to do any OWS quite yet with the H20 temps in the mid to upper 40s (brrrr), but I do have a couple of rides on the plan. One of my routes takes me by an area where I typically see black bear so almost as good as a sea turtle in beautiful waters.

Suzy-the swim is my nemesis as well. I find that I do best when I have a specific workout laid out for my swim sessions. If I go to the pool with the plan being to just swim I tend to do what is easiest. Since  I began working with my current coach in Nov. there are 2 specific things that I attribute to improved times in the pool. 1) increased volume and 2) lots of hard sets in the pool. Its not easy and I often dread the swim workouts but there has been improvement. Interestingly, I do almost no drills.....other than a set of 6X50 swimming with an ankle band during my warm up.

Saw a good quote today that kind of sums up my approach to swim workouts. "Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body"

There is a great series of videos by Gerry Rodrigues of Tower 26 swimming that goes through what he feels are the most important factors in triathlon swim training. The series is long but I did a blog post summarizing the points I found most helpful. Here is the link to the post that contains links to the video series.

http://thesagetriathlete.blogspot.com/2013/01/swimming-will-it-ever-get-better.html

Hope this helps. Gains in swimming are so small and hard to make I often wonder if it is worth the time I spend in the pool but ultimately its part of triathlon so I'll keep at it.

I'm aiming for 2 days.       

Oh... you probably meant the HM itself, not the recovery...  

I'd like to beat 2:15.   That's pretty close to my McMillan prediction based on a recent 10K training run.   And the HM course is flat as a pancake (unlike my hilly neighboorhod).    The race has a 2:15 pace bunny so I'm hoping that'll help.

Scott.

Originally posted by SSMinnow How about a question for the group before everyone gets obsessed with the upcoming weekend? What are some things you do or tell yourself when one of your disciplines is lagging in progress? how do you keep going?

Good question Suzy.  Come to think of it -- I can clearly remember bad training sessions, but I can't ever remember two or three in a row (in the same discipline).  So I guess the thing I do is -- ignore it -- it'll come back!

Scott.

Scott-good luck at the race.  Following a pace group can be a good idea. In races its hard not to go faster than planned given the excitement and adrenaline. Unfortunately, as the race progresses you pay for those fast miles. Stick to your plan, have fun and finish strong.

Anyone else racing this weekend?

Mary-I agree with Jason on the taper. You difinitely want to feel rested but not flat. Doing too little in the days before the race leaves me feeling flat and sluggish. Keeping some "intensity" leading up to the race reminds the body what its like to push a bit.  A few harder swim laps, a few minutes at race pace on the bike and run should do it.

Today was a swim that I was dreading. Just was not sure that I would be able to make the intervals and complete the workout. It was 25 X 100 on a pretty short rest interval. I hate doing 25 of anything much less swim intervals. Surprisingly I felt good throughout the whole set and had no problem completing it and finishing petty strong. This was clearly one of those "mental" workouts for me. Its hard to get your mind around doing 25 of something when you are on the 2nd...3rd...4th...etc. interval. Completing this type of workout gives me confidence heading into a HIM swim. Knowing I can do the distance, under control, at what will hopefully be a good pace. BUT, stay tuned. Another swim is on the schedule tomorrow and it is rare for me to have 2 good swim workouts in a row....tomorrow I'll likely be on here questioning whether I will ever figure out swimming. SO, I'll take the good days when they come and call it progress!  

Jim-our children are getting older. We are not! We've had back to back HS graduations the last 2 years and will have an empty nest next Fall. Hard to believe. Congrats!

Finished a hard bike session this evening. Tomorrow is an easy run and another swim before I head into a big training weekend.

Rachel-HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Hope that everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend.

Early run on the treadmill done and a swim scheduled for lunch. Weekend has 3.5-4 hour bike with lots of long interval work then 30 minute brick run on Saturday. Sunday is an hour on the bike at moderate effort immediately followed by 1 hour 40 minute run that includes 8 X 1 mile intervals at HIM pace.  By the time its all over this may be one of my biggest training weeks ever. Its nothing for you IM types but its alot for this old man.