BamaDC's mentor group is Closed! (Page 3)

I think you should increase your volume.  Do you do drills regularly?  Do you swim any mixed strokes(back and breast)?

I certainly agree with increasing volume.  I would be concerned with him jumping to a weekly volume just about double his normal monthly volume.

Ok, ok, Drew let's make it 4000 weekly! The way you lay down the running mileage, you'll be killin the swim in no time

I do whatever drills we covered the previous week in my swim class but don't do any other strokes.  I know I should do drills but don't really know what to do.

What's the best way to go about increasing volume?  Obviously I need to get a to the pool more often.  Should I plan to go three days or four days a week?  Should I cut out a day of something else (running?) to make time to go to the pool?  While trying to increase volume does the same style of training that works for running apply to swimming (ie several short days and one long day)?

At this point you are only in the pool for a pretty short period.  You don't need to add a day yet.  Lengthen the sessions you already go to.  Do whatever sets and drills you want to to keep it fresh and interesting.  At this point volume, any volume, is a good thing.

Aim for getting volume up to 2500-3000 per session.  Then think about adding a day.

How was last week?

Bad weather during the week, combine with going out of town to see family over the weekend meant I didn't get on the bike at all...

This has been an interesting month. Had a good bike TT (won by :07), then a bike ride where I had my first blowout ever. Blowout was expensive - the tube not only blew out, but wrapped around the front axle of the bike.  Luckily I was only going 20 or so. Turns out I not only blew an expensive latex tube (I was lazy and didn't switch them out after the TT), but the tire got under the rim and I tore the sidewall and managed to gouge some of the top of my rim. So, ruined tire, ruined tube, and had to sit and file on the top of my rim to make sure it didn't torch another tube. Hopefully all blowouts aren't as bad.

That brings me to today. I get to the Y to watch my kid play soccer and do a run after. I step on the scale and it reads 178. F***. That pissed me off (I think the scale was off a few pounds comparing to my home scale). I was going to do an easy type run to recover from the hard 25 mile ride yesterday. But now I was pissed. I decide on a good tempo run to take out my frustrations. Once I got going I just kept going - a nice hard, sustainable effort. My splits:

7:34
7:12
7:35
7:32
7:39
7:18
1:17 (6:20 pace for .2)

Total: 46:07

So I PR'ed a 10k on a tempo run by 13 seconds. Not quite as hilly as my last 10k, but this track does have a rise to it (250' or so over 6.2 miles). And this wasn't race pace (except the last .2 which I kicked in). I am in a better mood now.

  I guess I'm missing something here.  Why is it better to increase volume before frequency?  With running and cycling I thought it was better to increase volume by increase frequency.

Drew, I would agree. I think you will be better served by increasing your number of swims per week, versus lengthening your workouts. Even if you only get 800-1000y in at a time. I've read somewhere that frequency is especially important when learning proper technique, because you are trying to create muscle memory.

As for me, a pretty average week last week:
S  4100Y  1:57
B  50.5 M   2:40
R  19M      2:00


This weekend I'm doing the White Lake Sprint. It's become a very popular race. There are actually 2 weekends with a HIM on Sat., and a sprint on Sun. Both weekends are sold out. I'm doing the sprint this Sunday. Sorta wish I was doing the half. The sprint will have about 500 people with an in water start. I've never done an in water start or a race with OWS. Gonna be interesting.
Whe I signed up for this race I had never done a tri. There was a novice division which said it was for people who had completed 3 raced or less. That looked perfect for me. so I signed up for the novice. However, now I've completed 2 races and finished top 20 in both. Not that i'm a stud or anything, but I'm feeling sort of guilty about being in the novice division, It does still apply to me, but looking at last years results, unless the field really improves, i should win the novice div. Is that sort of like being the tallest midget? (no offense meant to any little people) What do you guys think? Should I try and change to my AG?

Nice job!

I would.  I started running to get back in shape but now I've found that I really like racing.  I'm not interested in winning as much as I am in pushing myself.  Being in a more competitive group would help me do that.  But that's just me...

Is it easier to tack on 500 more yards per workout or make an extra trip to the pool.  That's why its easier to incease volume before frequency. Logistics.

Keep adding volume till you get to 1 hour or the 2500-3000 + range.  If your swimming that amount 3 times a week, your set for anything HIM or less. 

Nice run!  I debating signing up for a 10K this weekend.  BTW, I also run very well when pissed off.

I have been working on the bike for an upcoming TT two weeks out,  I keep cramping about 5 miles in on some training rides.  Only when I try to push full speed do the cramps start in my quads. 

any suggestions,  if I slow it down a bit I'm fine, but I dont want to slow. 

Straight from the John McEnroe School of Sports Psychology.

I knew I was faster now than when I did the Vulcan run (my favorite run that I have done - great course), but am pretty surprised at the apparent amount of progress.  I should smoke last year's time this autumn.

Dunno.  I've never had that one happen - I tend to get calf cramps, but never quads.  A quick search turned this up:  http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=256316

When you try to speed up are you mashing or do you keep your cadence pretty high?

trying to mash out the last 1.4 miles.  I have never had it happen either.

2 questions.

Have you had a bike fit? 

How are you pacing(HR, Power, RPE)?

Okay, at what % of your FTP are you riding.  Could post a file from your last TT?  How did you calculate your FTP?

What type of PM do you have?

Bama, see this:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=206087&start=1


do you agree with the advice I've been given? I know I need a big increase in volume considering I'm doing Full IM in Nov. But it appears that many people recommend more volume as the answer to everything. I would value your input.

Edited by titeloops 2010-05-03 9:32 AM

I'm sure Mark and others will chime in, but here's my two cents...

I think you do need to increase your run volume.  How much?  I'm not really sure.  But it looks like you're averaging around 15 miles/wk right now.  That seems pretty low.    I've heard/read that you don't need to put in the same running volume for an IM as you do for a standalone marathon.  Can't speak for that, but I can tell you that I got up to 30 mi/week when I was training for my marathon and in retrospect I think that was too low.

I liked you're question how to know if you have a base.  I've asked the same thing before and got the same (non-)answer.  I've found that people like to through terms like that around but the don't seem to know how to define them.  What I find really frustrating is that everyone says "don't do any speed work until you've got a good base!" but you can't find a definition of a "good base".  There definitely is something to be said for just running a lot.  I've seen a lot of improvement from doing just that over the last year. 

However, I don't see anything wrong with doing speed work as long as it's done relative to where you're currently at.  I've been reading "Daniels' Running Formula" and he gives recommendations for tempo runs and intervals as percentage of your total weekly volume.  I don't remember what the numbers are off the top of my head but I can look them up this evening if you'd like.  I think this makes a lot more sense then waiting until you achieve some magic "base" before ever doing a tempo run.  Personally, I think the problem people most people have when starting speed work is doing too much (overall) and doing it too hard (relative to their current fitness level).  They end up getting injured and decide they don't have the right base do speed work.  For example, someone who runs 2-3 times a week for total of 10 miles, doesn't have enough "base" to do a 30 minute tempo run.  But when you think about it, is that really much different then running 20 miles one week and then getting hurt trying to do 40 miles the next?

But like I said, just my two cents...

I like the advice Donskiman has given.  And at the worst you got the opportunity to have Sharyn hijack your thread to get her bidaily reaffirmation...

Mark would know much better than I what it takes to do the bike and run portions of the IM (which one, BTW?).  On the swim is it going to be wetsuit legal?  In Nov. I imagine yes?  I'd probably like to see you get in 10k/week at a minimum by the time November rolls around there.  If no wetsuit probably a bit more.   You want to finish the swim and feel like it was a good warm up.

The swim is the only leg I feel even remotely qualified to help you with.

BTW, isn't it a requirement that every person in the group give a rundown of their races?  I saw you just finished one (tap, tap, tap...).  It looked like a good all around effort.