Brett's Group - All Full Up (Page 3)

Bad luck on the master's swim, that's always a great starting place.  I treat the swim workouts just like any other workout.  5-10 minutes of warm-up.  Then form drills for another 5-10 minutes.  And then you can do Intervals, Fartleks, or LSD.  Followed up with a cool-down of 2-300 yards.

Intevals in preparing for a 800M swim would be in the 1-400 M range. Say following drills you do 5x100 and then 3x200 as your primary set. 

Your LSD swims would be at or near the distance you'll be doing your race at.  Say 2x600 or 1x1000 for your situation.

Regarding wetsuits:

76-80 is on the very edge of even being wetsuit legal.  If the water temp is 78 degrees and up you can wear a wetsuit but are ineligible for awards (although that shouldn't really be your focus the first time out).  Most pools I swim in usually keep the water temp around 79-80ish degress on a daily basis.  If you're concerned about the expense, this should be a fairly low priority.

However, if you do want to make the investment... Yes, there are tri specific suits (I wear a Quintana Roo) and they are very different from diving or surfing suits.  They are designed around giving you maximum range of motion in your shoulders.  Sleeved/sleevless is a personal preference.  Obviously sleeved are much more effective to lower temps, however they are (IMHO) significantly more constrictive.  I wear a Full John (sleeveless with full legs) and I'd say in races with water temps above 70 degrees it's about 50/50 on sleeved vs. sleevless with maybe a slight edge to sleeveless.  In areas where the water temps are often sub 70 you'll see a lot more sleeved.

Oh, and if you're looking to check out a tri before you do one, I'll be doing the Heart of Texas race on August 5 in SA (because as we all know, everything in Texas is just a few hour drive away from everything else).

bts

Brett, could you give me some direction? I keep pushing along trying to increase my distance at everything, I am wondering if I should be doing more in the way of intervals or distance or could I be leaving something out, I am becoming frustrated not knowing what I should be focused on while training.The 20 week program I am on just gives durations to train so I have filled in the blanks from bits and pieces from other workouts as well as trying to listening to my body, although I am training within my HR zone as kind of a gauge for intensity, the day after I look back and wonder WTF am I doing right or wrong. I have close to 2 mos before first race and wanted your advice on goals to shoot for distance or specific timed intervals. Thanks!

 Stuart

Stu,

Based on the time you spend on the various sport, you can probably spend most of your key workouts doing invervals/fartleks and other higher intensity work.  Aside from the active recovery workouts, anything under 30-40 minutes and you should really be pushing it.  With every other day off you have plenty of recovery, so you can really ramp things up.  Change things up in terms of distances and times of your work sets (routine is the enemy in this case).  To make sure you don't rush things too much and get yourself injured I'd make one of the workouts each week a bit more toned down (alternate which sport it is each week).

Hope that helps,  

bts 

oops sorry

Woo hoo!! I am now a multi-sport-thlete.  Can't say triathlete yet, but I completed the swim and bike portion of the Philly Women's tri this weekend.  Had one of my friends run the last leg for me.... and I am pleasantly surprised with how not-nervous I was with the swim.  I definitely was much better than my first OWS experience (you may remember me freaking out earlier in this thread!!).  Transition was interesting....  I have NEVER 'transitioned' before so that was an experience.  There's nothing like trying to put bike gloves on when your pulse is at 140 - 150!!  shaky, shaky!   But, the ride was great around the Art Museum/Falls River Bridge loop.  I said 'Hi' to Rocky.  AND - I met someone from BT!! Miss Bethy was sporting a BT trisuit and was 2 spots away from me in the trans area, so I introduced myself.  Very cool. 

Overall, I got what I wanted out of this race - I got to experience a swim start, do a competitive OWS, and do a transition.  It re-affirmed why I am training - because there is such a positive energy with the whole racing world.  Everyone is supportive of the racers- I was out in the water and one of the kayak people was yelling 'you can do it!!' and it was well-timed for me (a moment of panic).  I loved the whole experience (OK, coulda lived without the 90F heat). 

Now, onto some more OWS training so I can NOT do the breaststroke the entire time for my first solo in Sept!! 

Oh, and here's a pic of 'team YiJiunJen' (I'm on the right, if you couldn't figure out that YiJiun was the Asian one!! :>  )

(team YJJ_1_1_1.JPG)

Awesome-O!  You're on your way.

bts

Thanks guys!! 

Gotta run, got some training to do 

Try focusing on relaxing your entire lower body, especially your calves.  Your lower legs should be more or less swinging like pendulums.  You're probably pushing off of the balls of your feet at the end of your stride.

It's not uncommon for your heart rate to be higher running than biking at the same perceived exertion.  Actually, it's more or less expected.

Mixing is exactly right.  Traditionally you'll see shorter workouts during the week with intervals, sprints, fartleks, etc mixed in there to up the intensity.  Then the weekends are your long slow runs where you run in the Z1/2 heartrate for much longer periods of time (long being relative to the event you're planning on doing).

Never been in a scuba suit, but based on the picture it should be okay.  As long as you're able to move freely and get out of it quickly you should be good to go.

If I missed anything or you need more detail, let me know.

bts

This really comes down to personal preference.  I know many very impressive weekend warrior types who go on a 3:1 or 5:2 schedule and I know many equally impressive ones who have a 6:1 schedule.  It comes down to listening to your body.  If it says it needs two days off, then give it two days off.  And a rest day doesn't necessarily mean zero activity.  You can thrown in a Z1 jog/ride/swim/whatever for 20-30 min.  This can, in some cases, be even more helpful because it pumps extra blood (and therefore extra nutrients) to the tired muscles and helps flush away waste without taxing them excessively.

bts

JOYJOY:I just found out there will be a trial swim and run at for my event. Are these things worth doing? I am leaning toward going if I can take off from work (it's on a Friday).

 Not sure if this is directed at me; but if so....  ABSOLUTELY.  It's really good to get in the water at the race site.  For me, I was able to go take a dip in the river about an hour before the race....  this was a confidence booster for me since the water felt fine (and not GROSS).  Maybe do part of the run, too?  I am thinking that you should just do a light workout before the race.... right?

Recovery question :  I did the 67-mile ACS ride on Sunday with some friends, averaged around 14mph.  It was a great ride with lots of water/food stops, I definitely wasn't dehydrated.  I certainly was tired at the end.....  slept 10 hours that night and woke up still completely tired (and cranky, to my co-workers dismay ;> ).  I rested all day yesterday and concentrated on drinking lots of water, and woke up today still a little tired (not nearly as much as yesterday).  But, it's kinda frustrating to still feel tired.  I swam today but took it easy since I was dragging a ilttle. 

So - is this normal?  I felt great during the ride, honestly.  I am just feeling like crap the following days.  It wasn't even a race....  just a 'bike-a-thon'.  Is this a reflection of fitness level (and something that'll improve with better fitness/body composition)?

That's about the score.  Even if it's not racing, going for that kind of a distance will do a number on your glycogen stores.  It will get better (and shorter) as you improve.

bts