Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 31)

Suzanne, congrats on the weight loss.  It's amazing when I hear athletes tell stories of their weight loss journey.  At Ironman LP they had a "biggest loser" contest and people that lost 100+ pounds were asked to stand up and we clapped/cheered for them.  You're on a great journey of taking care of yourself-enjoy it! =)

Mike, many of us (on BT in general, maybe not necessarily this group) have been right where you are.  Definitely go for the sleep.  It's harder to get through life when you're physically bogged down.  Sometimes when we keep pushing through "stuff" when we're tired we end up burned out.  I hear you on the weather.  It's been atrocious this year.  Our tri club has vowed to whack people senseless if they complain of the heat in July.

Darn good questions.  I've been working with triathletes for about 5 years and haven't figured out what's "proper" because the people that need to commit to swimming to improve are the ones least consistent in all three disciplines.  For a time crunched individual, I'd say absolute minimum is two days/week.  One long day to work on endurance at a reasonable pace.  One day to work on drills/form and speed/pacing.  I think Betsy's workouts are a very good example-she has a swim coach doing them and I think they do a great job of telling someone what to do to improve.  One thing I noticed they don't have is super challenging sets.  Sometimes you need to get your butt kicked in the pool.

Another way to fit in the swimming... use swim as your recovery following hard runs and hard rides.  Why?  You can go slow.  You can go slow and work on your form (I'd put money down that the vast majority of triathletes simply need to work on form to improve).  Then throw in legit swim workouts to build your swim fitness.

Johanne-

I wish I could keep up on the food log-I'll do great for about a week-then life gets in the way. Good for you!

Tracie

Sara-

I didn't write it down, but I looked it up the other day. The internet is amazing. My time was 44:50. I will have kids with me so pushing them might slow me down a tad, but they love to cheer me on. They incourage me and yell out hurry mommy pass that person! So it's lots of fun. They make me want to try harder.

Hey Tracie, Good news that things are looking up.  Did you write down what your time was two years ago?  How awesome will it be to see how you shatter that time?!

Tracie

Mike-

I know how you feel. The weather has been awful around here too. I've been fighting off, allergies, a sinus infection, and now a cold. Just take it easy and rest up. Your body will love you for it. Have a great nap!

Tracie

Duly noted. Would we look like dorks if we attached a plastic lined basket to our handlebars for a quick catch?

On that note, a few years ago I rode in the San Jose Holiday Parade with my drill team. We had to supply wheelbarrows and scoopers and of course the man power Dave and one of the other husbands volunteered/got coerced into doing it. They had so much fun and started doing poop scooping routines that they had more air time on TV then we did!

Silly BT - I typed a response to Sara and it's stolen it, lol

Sara - Love what happened at the Ironman with the "Biggest Loser comp." Oh and on looking at Betsey's log I found a possible reason for not having "super challenging sets" - the very top saids "We're having a baby boy" so having your butt kicked in that condition may not be exactly the right thing to do.

Tracie - I've only just started getting serious with the food log (only logging the actual food right now, I'll worry about everything else later) but I pretty much log it whenever I get the chance to come on here and try to remember what I've had if I've been out. Another way to do it which I've done a couple of times is to log the food before you eat it - i.e if you know you're going out for dinner or what you're having for dinner/lunch log it then eat or go so that you know it's in there already.  

Johanne - love the "poop scooping routines"

Me. Going for an LD walk this afternoon to explore a new trail BFF's Mum told me about. Should be 2.5 miles.

Didn't get this in but I did get a 25 min walk at 21:55 pace (1.14 miles) so I'm definitely getting faster. I'll be doing the my LD walk tomorrow.

Drove up to Auburn and picked up my race packet + timing chip--I'm as physically ready as possible at this moment, from here on out, its all mental....so I'll spend the next hour or so I'll get the rest of my stuff packed and set for tomorrow, eat some dinner, and just relax....

I did fit in an easy ride+run this morning (coaches orders...) which helped to get some of my nervous energy out...

Race report will be coming, prob'ly not til Monday though!

Did my 2.5 mile - 1:05:14.67 (26:06 pace) and didn't even feel like I'd gone the full distance when I got home. Thinking I may do a swim drill set tomorrow for recovery but we'll see. I want to start week 1 of the Beginner exercise program cycling this week too but I'm not sure where to fit it in - maybe I can do swimming AM and biking PM - not quite ready to ride to the pool yet as I know it'll wipe me out and hills aren't exactly my friends right now, lol - I pretty much have to go over 1 if I want to get anywhere in town.

Keep up the good work everyone - I look forward to reading all your race reports soon

Don't keep us waiting, get that report up some time today!!!!!!  Hope it goes well for you and we'll all definitely be looking forward to the report.

Moving is taxing enough! Good luck getting reorganized and I hope your life gets back to normal soon.

Where are those race reports? 

I had a long bike/short run brick yesterday and had some stomach cramping that I was able to ride through. I'm not sure what was going on. It kind of stayed the same all day. Today breakfast sat well. After church, I went out for my 1:15 hr run and back to the cramps again. I got my workout in but did a lot of walking. Hopefully it was just something I ate and I'll be good to go tomorrow. I just have a swim in the morning and I'll do that so early that I'll feel like I'm taking a day off!

An easy weekend here as well.  Did 10 x 100 yards in the pool this AM.

Big event was picking up a new used bike for my son.  It's a 2000 model Specialized Allez with a 105 group.  Mechanically 9/10 and cosmetically probably 8/10.  Had to drive an hour each way to get it, but only had to give $360 so it was worth the effort.  Fits him perfect and he's really excited.  He'll break it in this week and use it next Saturday in the tri with me.

And I agree on the race reports!

Mike - Glad you're moving back in. Enjoy the rest - you probably needed it

50andgettingfit - Hope the cramps are nothing serious

Curt - Yay for picking up your sons new bike. Does he actually do the tri with you or just ride alongside during the run/bike sections or something?

Me - hoping to get a swim and bike session in today. Probably drills and day 1 of the beginner exercise program

Suzie he'll be in the event -- and I would not bet against him winning!!!!  He's 16 and in incredible shape/and built for tris at 6'2" and 165 pounds.  Right now he tells me he swims about 1:15 for 100m (has swimming for PE this semester), he averaged 21 mph the other day for a 30 mile ride on the old bike (new bike should be worth about 2mph to him), he hit 35 mph on my bike when he took it out the other day (on a flat with a bit of wind behind him), and he's run sub 5 minutes this spring in the mile/went just under 16 minutes last fall in X-country.  He's starting to get really excited as the event is in the town where we used to live.  My only concern is that he keeps it all together -- having coached him since he was a little guy, he doesn't have a lot of "court sense" and is prone to goofy mistakes (like wiping out on the bike in the last corner during a tri last year where he had managed to get the lead after a staggered start / ran the 2nd fastes run split).

We'll see / I'll definitely be getting everyone a race report next Saturday after the event.

Curt - thanks for the clarification. When you said "new bike for son" I was picturing a child rather than a teen, lol. Oh well good luck to both of you in the race.

Just wanted to hop on and say congrats to Kate for finishing her race!!

I got in a 100 mile bike ride yesterday.  I only have a couple more weeks until my 148 mile ride.  I adjusted my seat and soooo much of the pain is gone.  A fellow BTer shared a NY Times article on hernias and females that I may share with a group just as an FYI if anyone is interested.  I developed a sports hernia just over a year ago and had a helluva time getting it diagnosed.

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

All right, all right! I just did a preliminary race report--unfortunately, I dont have my splits or overall rankings yet, so its not public yet--As soon as I get the results, I will upload them, I PROMISE!!!

Overall, I had a great time--I completed everything, and survived. I was also pretty much in last place...I know that finishing the race (especially a challenging one like this one) is the most important thing, but I am a bit more competitive than I should be. On the bright side--I was fifth in my age group--never mind that there was only 5 in my age group--it just sounds good.

I will continue to check for results, then I will post them...

Great work on the bike ride Sara

 Kate - great work on the race. Glad you survived everything - how did the swim go? Any panicking/breathlessness? I'll second Curt on the nice pic thing too

Me - got in a 300m workout today (had to get out of the water for nature reasons a few times but I kept getting back in to finish) Did Sara's Ultra beginner workout again with a couple additions. First the breathing, then the kick sets (breathing as per breath sets) - still don't feel like I'm moving much, 7 catch up (breathing as per breath sets but I had to swap back to 1 side breathing half way through the bi-lateral laps) plus 1 lap that started of as a catch up and turned in to a frog kick on my back half way through and 2 sets of frog kick on my front - started with my head up the whole time then experimented with breathing - got to the point where I could breath every 3 times I did the kick.  I also did a little bit of mucking around trying to see what one of the other guys was doing with his legs (he had his head up for a full lap and I was curious) sitting on the bottom of the pool and doing a handstand - I was actually trying to do a sumersault (sp?) but didn't quite get there. I also found I'm quite able to tread water (kick vertically more like) for around a minute as I needed both hands to secure the ribbon I'd put on my zip to pull it up/down - wound it round one of the shoulder straps so it wouldn't keep floating all over the place cos it was annoying me, lol

Also the weather behaved (eventually) so I got out for day 1 of the Beginner Exercise Program 20 min cycling and completed it with no rest. Next ride will be Wednesday, with possibly some hill work and may be split in two - I have an appointment at my job network (agency the government sends me to so they can help me look for work) at midday and I want to go swimming after so it's either ride there or get the ride in early then get dad to drive me to the appt (or bus it) and walk/bus it to the pool - not that the bus is really nescessary (sp? again, lol) to get the bus to the pool as its not that far - oh well I'll see what happens

Kate -- great job on the race. Finishing is what its all about. And Top 5 in your AG is awesome! I couldn't find the race report, though. Did BT eat it?

Sara -- great ride, and hope you're feeling good about the 148 upcoming! Just think of all the beer at the end. Maybe that will give you extra motivation when you're on the road? Glad to hear the seat adjustment helped.

Curt -- your son sounds like he's ready to just rip it up on the tri, and leave you far behind . Have a great time at the race this weekend. Hope the weather cooperates.

Anyone else race? Simon -- you doing IM Europe soon?  Had a blast on Saturday poking around the IMTX thread. So many BT'ers out there on the course. Well done, everyone!

I'm back in the swing of things this AM with a 45 min trainer ride. Will try to get in a run tonight. I'm starting to think about my first race upcoming in just 4 weeks, and at this point, I'm almost ready to concede the run may be a struggle. I can go out right now and do 5k, and have been doing a few bricks here and there without much of a problem. However, my run fitness is overall just garbage, and my workouts/plan have been a real mish-mash the past few weeks. Hopefully once things settle down at home this week, I'll be more of a consistent athlete. Except of course for the 2 long weekend trips I'm taking over the next 2 weekends. good bye long bike ride until mid June . 

I'm going to sign up this week for a few more races this year (2 sprints, and an Oly) and just have fun with them. I also plan to build the run back up and am shooting for an October half mary as well.