Swimmer's Group (Olympic Distance Animals) - OPEN (Page 3)

I did the sprint last year.  It was a grade A event. Extremely well organized and well run.  The Bike course is mostly on the open road with a left turn.  The traffic cops do an amazing job regulating the traffic at that left turn and coming up to it is like watching a ballet of cars and bikes. 

That sounds like one awesome swim.  How cold was the water? 

Yay! Another woman! Yahoo!

So the training this week has stunk the big one. I have family in from out of town all week, so yeah. Not much is happening for me. HOWEVER! I did pick up a copy of Inside Traithlete (I think) and there is a good pre-tri workout plan in there that I will add to my occassional swim bike runs. It targets muscles... And I can always target my muscles. Plus it forces me to roll out on my Trigger Point.. Which I never do. So this weekend in an easy one, but the last easy one for a while.

AND! I found a swim coach! Whoo-freakin-hoo! She does half ironmans and is only charging the cost of babysitting for her kids. My husband politlely declined the opportunity to spend an hour in the park on a Saturday with 4 children who aren't his. Go figure. :-)

Happy Friday, everyone!

On a side note, I may do a Sprint in July (I Swam the Dam) here in a very little place called Magrath. It is an open water swim, which I have no problem with as that is how I learned to swim and got my Lifegaurd on that type of water. HOWEVER, it requires a wetsuit.

I know nothing about wetsuits... Thoughts anyone?

For wetsuits you want one that is going to be snug fitting all over. If it is loose it will bunch up and could fill with water and then your are out of luck. If you can look for a place where you can try them on before buying. You also have the option of sleeveless or sleeved. There is a lot of discussion about with it better, but truthfully it comes down to preference. I have both and depending on the swim and condition that is how I choose, typically though I race in my full sleeved BlueSeventy Helix

Great work getting into 30 mins. It is always a big goal. I have only just managed to get under 30mins this year, and that has taken about 18months from never running before!

Cheers

Felicity.

Just finished swim.  They changed the lanes from 25yd to 50yd lanes.   That sure did mess up my rythm....   30 minutes just working form...    

Running speed work this afternoon.   Very motivated today... Must be saturday.

Anyone racing this weekend?  if so, we need a report....

So right mate!! Well actually it is the 19th but yeah already getting butterflies so I try not to think about it much! Yeah I am here Felicity, glad you found your way back here too! Going to be my longest (time wise) training week this past week. Just wanted to get in some extra workouts before my taper/recovery this coming week. I am feeling good and strong! Nice feeling! I have focused so much on my swim these past few months that I feel like my run will be my weak link now! haha Stroke count is coming down but I may have to get some further coaching to get it below 20. Going to hit the bike today and a run Sunday to top the week off. Going to be so interesting/exciting reading race reports from the group, already looking forward to it!

Welcome Wes, Marcus and Drew! Would be nice, for me at least, if everybody signed off their posts with their first names so I can keep track of all the new bodies in the group!  Irene I wore a wetsuit for my sprint last year and it was a rental, I forget the brand name but the suit was labelled "nineteen" (maybe that is the brand name??). The rubber was quite thick and I found it really restricted movement in my chest area and so I didn't enjoy wearing it. I was anxious as it was and the restrictive feeling just added to the anxiety. This past winter our club was invited to try the new HUUB suits and I purchased the Aerious. It fit really well and the rubber/neoprene is distributed differently throughout the suit instead of a constant layer throughout. Cost me $425 CAD. Fit is everything I think and this company makes one specifically for women. You can check it out online.

Happy training everyone!     Howard

Just more training for me.  Swam 1000m yesterday in the pool.  Raceing doens't start here for another month.

Jeremy

PS> Also fought a house fire after my swim, I never sweated so much in my life after taking if gear my shirt and the straps for my bunker gear was soaked and not form water.

Awesome!  As a pilot (private - not as a job), I would LOVE to do that!  Must have been a very cool venue, plus the route isn't tree-lined, as many crits here are (and that wigs me out, no end - the thought of getting bumped into an Oak rather than just augering into the dirt).

Bummer about not catching the break - crit results are so dependent on all the little things…  Sounds like a fun one, at any rate.

On to the weekend training for me.  12 mile run this morning, which I followed with a 30 or so minute recovery spin on the bike.  I have a hard swim on the books for this afternoon.  Tomorrow is a 90' - 2hr Z2-3 ride followed by a 15' transition run.  Caps off a big week, as this was the first on Friel's "Best" Oly program.  Holy smokes, it's a lot of volume, but so far so good.

Have a great weekend all!

Matt

Had a good swim yesterday morning and a light ride on the trainer in the afternoon.  Wanted to run today but the grass needed cutting before I go out of town and won't be back until Thursday night.  The grass would be a jungle if I put it off.

Limited workouts coming up next week due to being stuck in a downtown New Orleans hotel and also being a taper week.  I'll see what the hotel has to offer for workouts when I get there this evening.  Plan to eat some beignets for breakfast.

Divemedic--I sweat like crazy if I do anything after a swim or a shower for that matter.

David

<admission - I copied a good bit of the below from a post I made to a HIM group, but the update and questions are really for the Oly distance, as that's my priority for the first half of, and maybe the entire, season.  Just happened to check in there first, as it happened.    Thanks!>

Got a good weekend of training in, to top off a relatively high volume and intensity week (for me).  This week is a bit dodgy, as I'm traveling tomorrow through Wednesday.  I'll likely be able to run tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday morning, so I moved my hard swim set from tomorrow to this morning and will move Wednesday's hard bike to Thursday (with Thursday's run on Wednesday) and and and... ARGH, my head's going to explode (but that's the fun part).

Also decided to go with a 3:1 week training:rest&test schedule.  I wasn't sure if I should do the 2:1 approach, and do one shorter cycle through "build 1" and 2 shorter through "build 2," or just do 4 weeks of 1 and 4 weeks of 2 on the way to my "A" Oly on July 21.

Went with the latter.  Found a perfect Oly in VT at the end of the second block (awesome place for a test race), right before the 3 weeks of peak and taper (and am going with the family for a long weekend there before going to the beach here in MA for balance of the July 4th week).  So, happy with all that and looking forward to it.

Question for the group, which is of increasing interest as I age-on-up... and up... and up:

- Are your training "meso-cycles" 2/1, 3/1 or some other ratio of work/rest weeks?

Thanks!
Matt

Moody1775 - 2013-05-12 2:24 PM Hi I hope there is still room, I am a beginner in every way! I am a runner, not a strong swimmer and haven't ridden a bike in years! Sounds impossible but I am training to compleat an oly distance June 29 in Lubbock Texas, I have a new bike and first few sessions have gone well so with training I think I can survive the bike section, my issue is swimming when I first started 4 weeks ago I could not swim more than 50m now after using a pull bouie (sp?) I have improved so I can swim 200m (without the bouie) before I need a rest, but having a hard time getting past that. I am swimimming 1600m in a workout with 30-60 second breaks every 200m any suggestions? About me I am 27 year old single mom, I run 5k and 10 races for fun when ever I can and mud runs whenever I can!

Hi right back at ya'!

Congrats on getting into the sport - it's addictive... so watch out. 

It's an aggressive goal to finish an Oly with 6 or so weeks of training, but it sounds like you might have a decent run fitness base to work off, so that will definitely help.  Completing the race sounds like the right first goal, then see how it goes and work from there.

As for the swim, I'm no fish - so disclaimer there.  But, as I've gone from a recreational swimmer (as in, I can get to shore no problem when the raft sinks at the beach) to trying to swim in a race environment, I've been shocked, and ultimately pleased, with how much form matters.  Shocked because I thought it would be more about pure fitness, but it's a LOT about form.  Pleased, because this gives me something to work on that has led to better times than improvements in fitness alone would have (over the past 8 months or so).

So, advice?  In general: all I can offer is what I did (although I could swim for a reasonable distance even when I started).  I read both the Total Immersion books and the Taormina Swim Speed Secrets book (and some of her other stuff).  Then I watched a ton of videos on both online (ask the Google - TONS of free stuff out there) while thinking about them during my swims.  Then I practiced the drills, which I initially completely blew off (note: having your kids video what you think is such pretty form is an eye opener - hence, the drills!!).  All in, it's worked well for me.  Next step is a couple sessions with a coach, so I don't engrain too many terrible "new" habits...

To get from 200m to 900m in 6 weeks, in specific:  frequency will help.  Swim as often as you can, and try to push through to 250 for at least one set.  Then for a couple.  Then another day go for 300 and so on - much as you've already done.  The other thing you could do, for this goal, is to add in another stroke that feels easier for you - say do 50m of breast, side or back stroke - and then return to freestyle, all while lengthening your total distance.

The goal is to finish for this one, right?  No one said you need to swim freestyle the whole way.  Once you get comfortable getting through this distance and finishing this race, you can go back and work to extend how long you can go freestyle.

OK, just my tuppence and, given our mentor's handle, probably about to be completely discredited!  In other words, let's see what others have to say, too! 

Good luck!
Matt

Matt,

I am not anywhere near that advanced yet to do meso-cycles, so I am following the beginner oly plan as laid out by Mr. Joe Friel. I start into the plan in a week or 2 (May 27th). I am allowing myself a day of rest of Sundays, although, I may still do a long ride or something. Maybe in a later atempt to target specific areas of my swim/bike/ride, I will look into meso-cycles. Not very helpful to you, I realize. The plan does take advantage of a phase approach to the strength training thing, though. Week 1 and 2 are build, 3 through 10 are endurance, and 11 and 12 are maintanence. Likewise with the training program itself, there is a build phase, a endurance phase, and then a taper phase.

I doubt this anwsers your question, but it's my two bits worth :-)

Irene

Matt don't think I can give you a great answer since I am not quite up there in age with you, but I'm either 4:1 or 3:1. I have been experimenting with both and depending on workouts tend to go back and forth. Really trying to listen to my body more than in the past.

Moody1775 - 2013-05-12 2:24 PM Hi I hope there is still room, I am a beginner in every way! I am a runner, not a strong swimmer and haven't ridden a bike in years! Sounds impossible but I am training to compleat an oly distance June 29 in Lubbock Texas, I have a new bike and first few sessions have gone well so with training I think I can survive the bike section, my issue is swimming when I first started 4 weeks ago I could not swim more than 50m now after using a pull bouie (sp?) I have improved so I can swim 200m (without the bouie) before I need a rest, but having a hard time getting past that. I am swimimming 1600m in a workout with 30-60 second breaks every 200m any suggestions? About me I am 27 year old single mom, I run 5k and 10 races for fun when ever I can and mud runs whenever I can!

Welcome to the group. The best advice I can give you is probably to get a coach or take some lessons. Swimming is all about technique and endurance, but you can't get the endurance portion if you don't have the technique to get there. You can watch all the videos online you want and practice drills left, right and center, but chances are no matter how badly you think you are doing it correctly, chances are you are not. Swimming is one of those things where you need an outside eye to analyze your stroke and give you the necessary pointers to fix it. Having someone take a video of you so you can watch is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't hurt to seek out someone who knows what they are doing. Once that is taken care of you need to swim, swim some more, then go back to the pool and swim again! Muscular endurance is what is going to help you with swimming. If you don't do a strength program already than you should think about starting one. Strength training is crucial for triathletes, yet many of them neglect it because they don't think it is important. Ideally you should strength train 3x a week, but 2x would be sufficient. You will want to focus on a full body routine and isolate key muscle groups that are essential to swim, bike and run. Also do not forget your core! If your feet are dragging and feel like they sink while you swim, chances are you have a weak core and back. You would be suprised how significant a strong core is to swimming because it is the driver of your stroke and where everything initiates from. If you haven't already check out a website called swimsmooth.com. There you can find some video analysis of proper freestyle technique to point you in the right direction. Stand in front of the mirror in your bathroom and slowly move your arms like you are swimming, this will allow you to see if you elbows are high enough and that you are not pulling across your body. Also as Matt has mentioned, do not be afraid to add in breaststroke and backstroke into your swim sessions. It is perfectly fine during a race to swim breast for a little or flip onto your back for some relief.

Jason

Hey Matt,

I am doing a 2/1 cycle.  I was doing the 3/1 cycle last year and started this year the same way.  I find that by the 3rd week my body starts begging for mercy.  So I thought I would slow things down and follow a 2/1 cycle and see how it goes.  So far so good.  My body still wants that recovery week starting the 3rd week, but at least now it is a recovery week. 

 Just an edit to clarify I am speaking about building/recovery. 

--Marcus