brick94513-GoGoGo Mentor Group - Closed For Now! (Page 30)

AOTD: Nutrition is probably a big weakness of mine. I have no idea what to do and usually don't think much about it. I only carry water on the bike. The 60 miler I did two weekends ago was just two bottles of water, a gu, and some other snacks (2 powerbars, pretzels). I know a carbohydrate drink (like HEED) makes a lot of sense, I've just never done it.

Last night was a short but speedy 4 mile run with a local run group. No knee pain at all so I'm more optimistic about my race Sunday. I bought "The Stick" and I'm already in love. I rolled it over my legs last night while watching some tube and it just might be the best $30 you can spend on tri gear.

Today is a rest day. I'm taking tonight to do some chores around the house and packing for the weekend. Tomorrow is a big swim day...I'll test out the wetsuit in the pool and practice getting out of it a time or two.

+1 For the past 3 years I've been so focussed on losing weight I was afraid to use some of these products and add extra calories.  Now that I've exceeded my weight loss goals I'd like to try some of these things to see if I actually perform better.  However, I'm sooooooooo scared of packing the lbs's back on, and have been so mindful of what I put in my body for soooooo long, I'm a little hesitant.

RE: running, I tend to stick to water and the occasional GU2o if im going to be out for more than an hour.  I've found that my stomach gets upset when I take in protein.  Biking, I will have to experiment and find what works.  I am trying to go more holistic so I will carry h2o and fruits to start w/ then tweak from there.  The key will be to find what works best for you.  Spend a few bucks, try some different supps, etc.  You will probably find that a good PRE-ride feeding will go a long way also.

Thanks for the reminder. I def don't need any holes in my suit. I'll be trimming the fingernails tonight too just to be safe. =)

OK, this may be a stupid question and I'm REALLY sorry for the ignorance.  I really just learned to swim last summer.  I've been doing simple drills so far and I know what kick/pull means and I know what 3x100 means etc.  But what is some of that other lingo?  I'm not sure what on the 1:30 or on the 45 means, or some of that other lingo means.  Would anybody care to educate a swim ingnorant foo! and explain one of those workouts?  Prefferably a shorter one?

thanks

Hey man, that's what your mentor group is for! Don't be shy!

Sooo, "on the 1:30" would be an interval, so every minute and a half, you're starting a new repetition of the set. If it's 3x100 on 1:30, you're doing 4 and a half minutes of swimming in the set...three 100's at a 1:30 interval each. That's a really fast interval by the way...especially if your pool is 25 meters instead of 25 yards. 

This still doesn't tell you how hard to push each rep. Let's say I'm doing 8x100's on the 1:50. I could push them really hard, and have more rest on the wall...or swim them slower, and have very little rest on the wall. 

For this reason, it's sometimes good to write sets out like this...8x100's L5 w/ 15" RI
L5 = Level 5 (on a 1-10 scale, L10 being fastest, L1 being slowest)
15" RI = 15 seconds rest interval, the time you spend on the wall between reps in a set

My old swim coach used these in workouts and warm-ups are done at L3, and sets usually don't go higher than L8. I can't tell you why...it doesn't really matter as long as you get a feel for effort levels.  If you're doing multiple sets in a workout, one at a L5, one at a L7, it just forces you to push the pace more on the second set. That's all.

If I was doing the 8x100 L5 15" RI set, it might be on a 1:50 interval, while someone else might need a 2:05 interval, so it's nice that you can tailor it to your own speed. The workouts on the website Tim sent have A/B/C groups where group A is doing faster intervals, and more yards/meters. If I were you, I'd pick a distance you're comfortable with, and modify the intervals if needed - it may take a while to learn what intervals are realistic for 50's, 100's, 200's, etc.

The website sets also have lots of good stuff in parenthesis. For example, it shows a set of 50's with (25 fast/25 easy) - that means the first lap is hard, and the second lap is recovery for each 50 in the set. (3/5/7 breathing) means you breathe on the 3rd stroke, then the 5th stroke, then the 7th stroke, and repeat until you've covered the distance. I'm not in love with this because I usually need a breath inside the flags before a flip turn and right when I come up after the turn. Another way to do this is if you're swimming 100's, breathe every 3rd stroke on laps 1 and 3. Lap 2 is every 5th stroke, lap 4 is every 7th stroke...that would be written as (3,5,3,7 breathing).

Hopefully all that makes sense. Let me/us know if you have more questions.

I write out my workouts and bring them with me to the pool in a plastic sleeve. It forces me to think about what I want to do with my swim before I get to the pool, and keeps me honest once I'm there.

10k run for me today.  was going to hop on bike too, but decided to do a few chores.  Wifey & kids are bugging me.  Got maintain family balance!!!

 

I have a bunch of swim workouts in word files that my old swim coach sent me. She designed them for her IronTeam so the distances are probably longer than necessary for most people but it may give you some ideas of what to do at the pool.

I'm not sure the best way to make these available to you all but let me know if you want me to email you the files.

Drinks...I don't overthink this.   Any run under 1 hour, water if HOT, or nothing.  Over an hour I might have Gatorade, depending on distance.  Usually pack a Gu or 2 in case.

Bike,  Under hour-ish, water or nil.  Over Hour...Gatorade & Gu.  If greater 2-3 hours, may take clif bar. 

That is my simplistic approach... 

PS  My Gu is Espresso Love...I have tried most but keep coming back to it.  Now that's all I get.  All the Gu Carbs & a blast of 40mg caffeine.  As you know caffeine has an analgesic effect on endurance sports.  Proven to go longer & faster.  I believe it...seems to work for me!

Edited by GoGoGo 2010-04-28 4:17 PM

that all makes a lot more sense now, thanks.  I guess, on the "whatever" for me now just means whatever I can do until I become fast enough and comfortable enough to find a pace.  Right now I'm still swimming 1:30 50m's so I guess I'll worry more about that stuff after I get that down to a minute flat.

My email is [email protected].  That'd be great if you can get me those.  Everything helps.  Thanks!

Thanks for taking on the explanation Dave.

I'll just add this.  When I swim intervals, I try to set my pace to give me no more than 15 seconds of rest at the wall.  So, if the workout calls for 100s on 2 minutes, then I know I get to cruise.  However, if I'm swimming 100s at 1:45, then I'll be trying to pace at about 1:30 per hundred go give me a little rest at the wall.  What I'm trying to say is I base my instensity on the duration of the interval.

OK, I know I really don't have to worry about this yet.  I just got to the point I can swim 1/2 mile in one shot.  It's all I can do to swim 1/4 miles at 10 minutes.  I'm sloooooooooow!!!  I don't know why I'm so slow.  My coach says my form is ok, and I really have exceptional upper body strength, which should help.  I was working on endurance over the past month so I would be sure to make it through my Xterra tri.  I suspect I'll be getting more into speedwork soon.

soooo...to be sure I got this straight.  I'm swimming 8x100's on the 3's.  I'd want to pace my 100's at 2:45, have 15 seconds on the wall, then swim the next 100 all out, right?

GU roctane pineapple is AWE-SOME.  check it out next time you need to resupply.

David, thx for the explanation of the swim terms also.  i didnt quite get all of it either.

With all the discussion recently on nutrition I wanted to ask this question... When you are in a "taper" week do you feel non-stop starving?  I mean seriously... for the past couple days I have been so dang hungry its just not funny!  I've eaten every piece of fruit, nuts and berries we've had in the house twice now as well as a crap load of protein and couple gallons of water.  I feel guilty as if I dont deserve it though because I'm just doing these light training routines.  Its just strange.

Oh yeah... at lunch I ran by TheTriathleteStore.com in Poway and picked up "The Stick".

I never really go all out. Ideally, you'll hit the wall at the same time every rep. In your example, maintain a consistent 2:45 pace 8 times straight. You'll find it gets harder to do that towards the end of the set so if you have to go all out to make 2:45, your interval is probably too fast.

Conversely, if you are consistently getting back to the wall with more than 15 seconds to spare, then it's time to speed up the interval.

No doubt! That's a nice problem to have of course. =)

My appetite is like that all the time! I tell myself I need the calories so I don't feel so guilty.

Tell us what you think of the stick!

ive definitely turned my diet around;  ive lost over 20lbs since xmas when i started training.  prior to that, i was completely inactive and weighed 204lbs.  whoops! haha

i do love fast food, and will eat it on occasion, but i feel like im burning so many calories day-to-day, and as long as i don't make a habit of it, i dont stress.  besides, being thinner than ive been in probably 10 years makes it somewhat ok to be bad once in a while and probably helps me in the long run continue to eat healthy.

As suspected, OWS cancelled due to rain tonight.  In it's place I did an run and Transition walk through.  Club has an OWS and Transition practice for this weekends races (Wildflower and Spring Sprint) tomorrow night at De Anza Cove.  Updating log now.

+1, I need to find foods that make me feel fuller.  Hard boiled eggs work, and whole wheat bagels with natural peanut butter spread, broccoli, snow peas, organic oatmeal, etc.  If I feel hungry late at night I lick on a spoonful of natural peanut butter instead of any kind of sugar or carbs