BamaDC's mentor group is Closed! (Page 30)

Wow.  Those photos are awesome.

Damn, you guys are all fast as h$ll in the water!  That's my 1000yd time.  Is it just a matter of logging more laps?  Doing more intervals?  Or both?

Swimming is a lot like golf.  Develop the right swing and it gets a lot easier.  I used to swim competitively until I was fourteen or so, so I had the stroke mechanics.  From there it is just volume and intensity.  (To be fair of the three disciplines I am by far the fastest in the swim - I have a streak of 4 AG wins going there.  In other words, I constantly decelerate during a race).

Just to rub it in if I had my good suit on I would have cut another minute or more off of that.  Today is my ritual last workout - a short, fast swim.  I will attempt PRs in the 200 and 500.  I need to better 2:23 and 6:14 to get there.  That's gonna be tough.  I'm also gonna try and throw down a 1:05 100 during warmups.

I think the only way I could swim a 1:05 is off the blocks.  Even then its iffy. 

Do you swim in a LC or SC pool?

Yeah I don't swim anywhere neare that fast. I could prolly post a 24 or 25  minute 1500 if I had to. It'll be interesting to see my 1500 swim time this weekend in the oly I'm doing.
1. I don't sight worth a , so I'll be all over the lake.
2. My swim coach has really got me tweaking my pull right now. Its like the golf analogy, I know this suttle tweak will make me faster in the long run, but it's got me slicing like crazy right now, or slowing down.
Due to these 2 factors I expect 30:00 minutes in the water.

The key for me was starting to swim hard intervals! I got a lot faster when I stopped listening to triathletes and using the workouts on the BT programs. Triathletes seem to be hung up on long rest periods. Swim coaches, on the other hand, are all about swimming hard, and going off the wall on interval. I'm no speedster, but I can swim 1:10 to 1:20 if I have to.

There is some bad advice I see being posted on BT sometimes, but I'm no coach, so I keep my mouth shut. I'll giva ya an example. Someone asked on the TT forum about how to get their stroke count down. They specifically asked about how to extend their glide. Lots of people suggested swimming almost like doing the catch-up drill to extend the "glide". I didn't post, but I got news for ya folks, their is no such thing as "glide" in swimming. Most folks think they are gliding, when what they are actually doing, is sinking!! If you are not pulling yourself forward thru the water, you will start to sink. Catch-up drill has it's place, but it can also screw with your tempo to the point where you are pausing to breath. I'm guilty of this myself and am working hard to fix it now. CU drill will actually force you to swim around your breathing instead of breathing around your swim stroke if you let it.

OK, thats my sermon for today. Ya'll have a blessed day!

SC yards.  I typically don't go off the blocks.  If I were to attempt a Master's swim meet I'd work on that.  I also don't typically do flip turns.  I did 1:11 yesterday from a push start, open turns, with the drag suit (board shorts) on.  I hit 1:07 before the last tri pretty readily with the good suit on (it makes a big difference in times).

Off the blocks doing proper turns I think I have a shot at sub-1:00.  I need to actually do flip turns, though.  I can do them just fine, but am too lazy to put the work into integrating them as part of my workouts.  Winter work - lots of sprints, strength work, leg work, and technique stuff including turns.  I may well give a swim meet a shot next year.  I'm getting to the point that I wouldn't embarrass myself.

Edit:

1:05.5   100yd
2:21.5   200yd
6:17.5   500yd

Got my 100.  Set a PR in the 200.  Kid screwed up the first 200 (I was *really* moving on that one).  So I had 500yds of sprints by the time I hit the 500 and I think I petered out a bit.  Missed the PR there by 3 seconds.  Still a good day.

Edited by sand101 2010-09-09 8:19 PM

 

 

 

Edited by titeloops 2010-09-09 8:10 PM

I'm with Sand. Swimming is my strength. I love it.

I swam competitively into Jr.High but the schools didn't push swimming and there just wasn't much desire to stay swimming with the Y. And by the time I got out of college, I was too far behind to pick it back up.

Wish I could have though.

Titleloops - do you know your T-pace? Your /100yrd pace for 1000yrds?

One of our older workouts was to take that T-pace and swim 10x100 @ :05 less than the Tpace. Take 1min recovery. Do it again with :10 less than your T-pace. Take your 1min recovery. Keep going until you can't make the pace. You should get 2000 comfortably, and then each 1000 after should really hurt!

But, before you go killing yourself, make sure your form is correct. Otherwise, you'll be wasting time!

Nice Ladder Huh?

Edited by titeloops 2010-09-10 7:46 AM






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Sorry for the crackberry pic, couldn't find my camera.

So I have an issue with the new wheelset already. Probably the only thing I didn't take into consideration (why would I) when picking the new wheels, was the stem size for the tube. The HED can accomodate a 48 or 60mm stem with a crackpipe adapter on my pump. However, the Zipp 404, needs a 70 or 80mm stem. That means I need to carry 2 different spare tubes, or, I've been told there is an adapter that you can add to a stem to add length. Anyone have any experience with this?

Some good swimming lessons are on my list for this winter.  I need to improve my form, as something just isn't right yet.  I can do pretty good, but I think working on form will get me a lot faster (which means down to a 1:45, instead of a 2:00 100 on my tri swims).
If you Birmingham guys have any suggestions on a swim coach, let me know.


Which brings me to my next question:

I've pretty much started my off season from tri.  My last couple of weeks have lacked motivation, but I think i'm ready to pick it back up a bit.  I want to accomplish the following over the winter:

1) improve my swim stroke (not necessarily put in a lot of pool time, but work on technique)
2) improve my bike time (get faster, who doesn't)
3) significantly improve on my run times (definitely my weakest link).  I would be happy with under 10 min miles by spring for my easy runs.

I'm training for my first HM in December, and will follow that up with another in March.  I may throw in the Mercedes in my hometown in February.  I'm hoping this will help improve my run, by just putting in the miles, with some limited speed work during the HM training.

What should my off season training program look like to accomplish my goals?  Should I just pick a winter plan on BT, how many times a week should I be S/B/R to improve over the winter?  More volume, or more targeted workouts to improve speed for the bike/run?  I want to develop a good plan for the offseason.

My first A race next year will probably be in May.  Probably will look at the Memphis in May OLY.

Nice bike.  Looks great!!!

Yes the make valve stem adapters.  Below is a link to some.

http://www.all3sports.com/product_info.php?pName=zipp-valve-extensions

Dude, wash your hands. 

I'm still undecided on the Mercedes Marathon, yes cold feet.  If I race this, I can kiss 4-6 weeks of triathlon training goodbye.

My off season rough plan.

Now till the Huntsville Half Marathon(11-13), will be a run focus.  I'll try to swim 6-9K in the pool(not this week though), bike 2-3 hours and build my run up to 45 - 50 miles a week.  I'll run 2-3 5Ks, 1-2 10Ks and a Half Marathon.


Starting December, I'm going to do one of Jorge's winter cycling plans. I'll keep my runs at 3 times per week and try to get in 6-9K in the pool.

By March I'll be into my focused build for my first A race in May.  Which will be GCT, Rev 3 HIM or Rev 3 OLY.  I'll be shooting for a sub 5 HIM or a sub 2:15 Oly.

Is anyone else trying to drop some weight?

I could stand to lose 10-15 lbs.  I've gotten to about 187 and stalled out.

I'd like to drop 15-20.  That would put me at 190 which I would be very happy with and I think would be sustainable.  I'm starting to think about my off season plan.  You guys have some good idea.  My first oly is on Sunday and it's my last real race of the year.  As soon as that's over I'll start thinking more about offseason and would like some help putting together a rough plan.  I feel like I've made a lot of progress this year so I want to maintain that through the winter.  However, my body is screamin for a break.

I'm having trouble looking at it.  Every time I do it feels like the fabric of the universe is coming apart!

What do you guys have on the schedule today?

2 hour bike ride Finished! 
30 minute run before the Bama game.
Alot of time in front of the TV!

I think we're all trying to lose weight

I've been competing at the 165-172# range this season and for whatever reason, am finally seeing some loss. Yesterday I was 160.

I would be extatic to get to the 150-155# mark. I have noticed that I've pulled my belt one notch tighter and will probably be buying new pants soon....

As for the off season, I'm in it now.

I have a 10k in Nov, a couple of 5ks, and then a Half Marathon in Feb. From there, we start over.

I'm planning on keeping the swimming up (12000yrd/wk) since the brother in law is getting interested and he's a swimmer. I'm going to see if I can add in Jorge's winter cycling plan when I get home from work (Oct. 22), and of course, work the running up into the 25-30mpw range.

If I have to scrap a swim to do it, I guess I will, though I don't want to. We'll just have to see how it plays out.

1st oly today. Don't have splits yet, but went 2:55:56 total. Happy with thr bike and run, but the swim sucked. Was really choppy. Race report when splits are posted.

Pick up my race packet and rack my bike!