Jonathan22's mentor group - CLOSED (Page 3)

"It's hard to describe in words but try it.  Here is the progression again:
1. Glide with left arm fully extended and right arm at side.  Kicking with fins is ok here.
2. Rotate body and head to breath to right.
3. Recover right arm (after done taking a breath).  
4. Begin pull with left arm only after right arm is fully recovered."

 Jonathan, thanks so much for your recommendations and advice. I did a 45 minute swim workout this evening with the misses. Something really seemed to click and I just started freestyle! I think maybe doing a lot of visualization about what I needed was part of it. I also found that I needed to go a lot faster than I was attempting to in practice. At speed, I spent a lot less time worrying about my legs sinking and more time about stroke and breathing. Just seemed to come naturally. Trying not to toot my horn but I kinda am because I've struggled so long to get the timing / breathing to work and not end up polo swimming. Anyway, a tiny victory tonight. Admittedly my stroke is far from perfect but at least I've now got a starting point!

The Krispy Kreme Challenge is Raliegh, starting on NC State's campus.    My wife saw something about it in runners world and is "making" me run!  Last year over 3500 people ran the race!  http://www.krispykremechallenge.com/

Looks like a total blast so we are signed up and making the 2.5 hour trip out there (I guess it would be about 6 hour from the ATL)!  Can't wait!

Any room left???

I'm Steve,  I did my first triathlon last year, a sprint. Ive done a couple of duathlons, a splash and dash, and a couple of 5k -4 mile races. Im always a back of the packer.

I'm married with 3 kids 9,7,6. (snip snip, no more) I have a 48 year old body, but I'm still 25 in my mind. I'm weighing in at 215 at 6'1".

My goals for this year are to lose those 15 lbs. Run a sub 30 min. 5k. and to finish in the top half of my age group in all races.

My training thus far is Swim 2 nights a week, and run 4 times a week. I bought a beautiful new road bike last fall and other than a quick ride around the block I haven't ridden since last Oct.

Races this year are still up in the air, (ya gotta fit it into the buget, these days)  except for a 1/2 marithon in November which will be my first.  I'll be sticking to the sprint distance, with maybe an Oly, 5 and 10k runs.

I'm looking for some accountablility  in my training, and to make some new cyberfriends.

Thanks

Steve

What are everyone's planned workouts for this week?  

Here are mine:

Mon - 4 mile easy run
Tue - Masters swm; Interval bike
Wed - 4 mile easy run
Thu - 4 mile easy run
Fri - Swim (2500 yards)
Sat - 20 mile easy ride
Sun - Callaway 1/2 Mary

I am in an small taper this week for a half marathon on Sunday.  

Mon: Just got back from my 3 mile run, Swim tonight. (MLK birthday so not sure if pool is open or not)

Tues: 2 mile run

Wed: Fine... I'll ride the trainer ;P  Swim in the evening

Thurs: 2 mile run

Fri: 3 mile run

Sat play with the kids, go for a walk.

Sunday: 4 mile run

Thanks for letting me in the group!

I've really got to focus on building some bike mileage up. The Callaway Century I'm planning leaves me 7 more weekends to build. I'm 90% sure I could get by with what I have now but I'd like to actually enjoy the ride for a change.

Mon = 1.5 hr spin AM, possible swim PM

Tue = 1.5 hr upper body strength AM, PT run (1-2 miles) AM,  swim lessons PM

Wed = 2 hr endurance spin AM, probably crash PM (not literal, exhaustion)

Thur = 1.5 hr lower & ab strength AM, ??? PM

Fri = 1 hr heavy interval AM (maybe an bike LT test instead), 1 hr swim PM

Sat = rest

Sun = long base ride (need 50+ miles)

I have to deviate from the "plan" workout just because of my schedule, but I'm going to try and stay consistent with the weekly volume.

Sunday (actualized):

• 85 pullups: wide grip
• Spin: 1hr - Intense with Ironman Beth (great motivator)
• Run:  30min - Did a brick workout.  5K in 29min after spin.  Pretty slow but good for me at this stage..

Monday

• Spin:  1hr - PM class because I'm off today.

Tuesday

• Swim: 45min
• Strength:  1hr - Chest/Tris/Legs/abs

Wednesday

• Swim: 45min
• Run: 45min

Thursday

• Spin: 5:45AM class for hr
• Strength:  Back - 100 pullups (Try to finish in 6 sets), Rows.  Shoulders - lat raises and some presses.
• Swim:  30min if I can still feel my arms.

Friday

• Spin:  5:00AM class for 1hr
• Strength:  Few sets of chest

Saturday

• Run:  Pending but would like to just do a slow 1hr LDR if I can. 

Overall:

• Swim: I just ordered the open water version total immersion book and the accompanying DVD.  I'm hoping to get better at swimming quickly these first few weeks due to the total newbie improvement factor.  My plan calls for 120mins this week and that is 100mins more than I've ever swam in a week .  I'm going to see if I can get it done but may taper it down in the back to back days.
• Bike: I've been getting alot of biking in so not too worried.  Right now I think I'm a little over the plan minutes.
• Running:  I haven't really done any stand alone runs.  It is always in the form of a brick the past month or so or after a 1hr strength session.  Plan only calls for 50mins this week which is easy enough.
• Stength:  Not worried.  If anything I need to starve a little muscle in the upper body to get faster but just make sure my endurance is still there.  I've changed from the 6-10 rep into the 10-15 rep range for everything the past couple weeks.

Side note:  I've been meeting alot of people around here who are into Triathlons just the past week.  My wife got excited about it and wants to do the sprint with me and my father in law wants to do it too now.  It's great to have the support and everyone excited.  I'm think I'm definitely targeting an olympic distance in late summer after the June 7th sprint.

whats going on all?  I have been modifying my plans for training and all as we speak.  But I currently do not have a HRM to train with.  I was looking at getting the forerunner 305, even though it is a massive watch.  I have a Mac though and it is not compatible.  Anyone find a way around this? Any third party programs?  Or should I go with a Timex or something else?

This weekend I did some spinning with my local YMCA Wellness Coordinator...turns out she was training for a full ironman this year.  Find it great to have someone I see 5 days a week to bounce tri questions off of.

Hi,

Is there still room in your group?  I've read through all the messages and it seems like most of the members in this group are similar to me in experience and age, and somewhat close in geography.

I'm 41 years old, weigh about 175 and have 3 kids (21, 17, 15).  I have time to train now that the kids are older.

My name is Rick and I'm truly just beginning in the triathlon world.  I have been a runner for most of the last 4 or 5 years, with a few layoffs for injuries or laziness.  I ran very consistently during 2006, then had a stress fracture in 2007 that took me out for nearly a year.  I got back to running in early 2008 and have been going pretty strong since.  I like running, it's definitely going to be my strong suit in triathlon.  I've done 15 or so 5k's and races in distance all the way up the Charlotte marathon in Dec 2006.

I've always had a goal of doing triathlons, but never learned how to swim.  While I was out with my stress fracture I took swim lessons but never practiced it much and now 2 years later I'm trying to get back into the pool and figure it out.  I expect I will need professional instruction as I just can't seem to get the hang of it.  I can breast stroke just fine, but that crawl stroke just doesn't work for me.  

I bought a used tri bike last week (a 2000 Cannondale 2000, love the symmetry of that!).  I have a friend that is huge into biking and he verified all is good and it will work with the goals I've laid out for myself.  It should be sufficient for a beginner to be sure.

That covers my physical abilities.  I work out in some fashion usually 5 or 6 days a week. I was running 5 days a week but have cut back to 3 days (15ish miles).  Taking spin class 1 or 2 days a week and/or riding the bike on the trainer.  Getting in the pool to "swim" 2-3 days per week.

Planning to do the following events:

3/7 - Corporate Cup 1/2 Marathon - Charlotte
5/17 - Green Bay 1/2 Marathon or Marathon - Green Bay
8/1 - MS Best Dam Bike Tour - Wisconsin (150 miles in 2 days)
8/29 - Lake Lure Triathlon - Lake Lure, NC
10/4 - Take Flight Marathon - Charlotte, NC

I'm sure I will scatter in a number of 5k's and such, but those are the big ones on my calendar.  The 2 tri's are pretty far out and have short swims so I can hopefully get good enough to do them.

I guess that's about it.  Hoping to learn a lot here, and definitely enjoy having some people to talk to.

 Yael,

I've done the BFL program a couple of times when I needed to drop weight and can definitely also vouch for it as Jonathan has. When I'm very strict, I could count on between 2-3 pounds loss per week. I personally recommend not totally deleting the strength workouts in favor of cardio as the additional muscle mass which hopefully results will help burn off more fat in the long run. What I really like about the program is you are not starving yourself and so will still have plenty of energy to do your training and you get a cheat day so you won't go totally crazy by depriving yourself of ever having splurges. Do also be aware the cardio workouts are designed as interval sessions and so you would need to either substitute some or add additional base workouts.