Sesh's Group - FULL! (Page 33)

I'm telling you, it's going to be plastic bubbles for everyone!

Kids are great for bringing home germs.  But isn't it so sweet that they want to share with you?  Okay, not.

BeginnerMan - 2009-03-24 4:20 PM who's a HORRIBLE teammate? I am! WOOOOOOOOOOW, really sorry gang. I honestly got totally wrapped up in my training for my olympic race last sunday and then the subsequent week of nothing that followed.

So you are too busy training and racing to spend hours posting on BT?  Inconceivable.

Great job on the race!  You sound like you are having fun with it, too, which is really great.

I don't have anything scheduled until my tri in June, but I might be looking around for another 5K or two in the meantime.  Wondering if I could shave off alittle time in the next one. 

Hah... another hour and I'd have been perfectly maroon for the Bulldogs in the tourney.  Quite sad the way they played against Washington, though.  

Hi group -

I am back from the dead - I was tired after the half marathon then followed up with a giant dose of real life.  I was running (instead of resting) around Monday getting items ready for a kids consignment sale and food together for a huge open house at work.  For some reason I decided to volunteer for gathering food for a 150-200 person work function - all in the name of saving $.  What was I thinking.  But I got to bed at 9 last night after blowing off all workouts and got some sleep.

So today I feel fresh and ready to go.  I think it's the kids that need bubbles so they keep their germs to themselves.  We all need to sun to kill off the rest of the germs and get on w/ spring.

I had my first "OH **** this is really gonna happen" moment this morning.  New Orleans is next Sunday, and for the first time, I may be more concerned with the swim than anything else.  A group of us went out to the Ross Barnett Reservoir on Sunday to get in some practice and get used to the wetsuits.  I think I'm finally getting comfortable in it, but the water was choppier than any ocean swim I've ever done.  By far the toughest swim in my life.  Soooo, then I got to thinking, Pontchartrain is like ten times bigger and could easily be as rough.  Aggh!

Then I took a deep breath and remembered I should be worried about finding 13.1 miles in my legs after the bike.  Whew... back to normal.

Great job Lee on the Oly race.  Good luck w/ the rest of the year!

I am just getting into the meat of my spring.
Next up:
April - Cherry Blossom 10 miler, Oly tri and a Sprint tri
May - Century ride, Half Marathon, 1 mile swim race
June - the big one - Mooseman HIM (think sharks, think sharks, think sharks)  I'll need something to make me swim fast enough.

Rest of the year - 2 fun sprint tris, a few road races and OBX Marathon in Nov.  I really, really want sub 4 hrs. now and maybe even a BQ time but I may need more time to get down to 3:45 or another 3 yrs. so I can bump up an age group and get another 5 min.  LOL

Yikes!  Not training sounds rougher than getting ready for the races  

We had a bunch of rain last night, so all the pollen should be washed away.  We may be good on the 'feeling bleh' front for a while.

Don't worry Bill - you've done an awewome job on your training and your swim is strong.  It will be great fun and I can't wait to read the race report.  And as far as the run, you can always walk at that point. 

Ok last post before I start doing my real job LOL

Speaking of swimming - I have been desperately trying to get a little faster.  Nothing is working at this point but I was talking w/ my hubby and a friend this past weekend.  We are all non-swimmers in the sense that we had no formal training as kids, no swim team, blah, blah, blah.  We have picked it up as a way to get to the bike and run portions of a tri.

So everything we read and have been told is that swimming should feel effortless, easy, don't fight the water, keep your swim stroke smooth and so on.  So I've tried to do that which I think has turned into not swimming as hard as I need to in order to go faster.  Does that make sense?  I think I need to work harder and build up my endurance by swimming harder and pushing more water past my body and kicking harder (I barely kick) to get myself going faster.

I'm not sure if I am describing myself accurately but if there are any golfers out there I can only compare it having a smoth, effortless swing of a classically trained student to that of a self taught person.  I was self-taught at golf and if I tried a soft, mechanical swing - the results were terrible.  If I did my best John Daly and followed my power swing, I was good.

Ok so now I am rambling but I am panicking a little bit.  I have to get faster.  I've been swimming 3 days a week and this week in my plan is a swim focus week that has me in the pool for 6 days.  So I am going to try this idea and see how things are in 2 weeks.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions besides sending sharks after me in the water?

There are three things you can work on when swimming.

1. Form

2. Endurance

3. Speed

My typical swim, when I'm figuring them out on my own, would be a warm up, drills, and a main set.  So, every single day I swam, I worked on form.  Then, I'd either be working on endurance or speed. 

Form:  The drills were real basic stuff.  Kick drills, single arm, catch-up, etc.  Stuff you probably do in a masters class or are included in swim workouts you can find just about anywhere.  My endurance sets had a broad range.

Endurance:  These main sets included all sorts of stuff.  For a while, a favorite of mine was a 500 free followed by a 400 IM.  I'd reapeat that as many times as I felt like.  Sometimes I'd do ladders.  Maybe it was 500,400,300,200,100.  When I got ambitious, it was 2000, 1500, 1000, 500 (I only did that once).  You could do 8x200 or 5x300... whatever, as long as you swim longer sets at a nice relaxed pace.  And by relaxed, I don't necessarily mean easy.  It means a pace that you can hold for the entire time.  For example, if you're doing 4x400 and you're fastest (really hard effort) 100 time is 1:30, then you might want to hold a 1:45-1:50/100 pace for each 400 yard set.  I also work in sets with paddles in endurance swims.  Sometimes a 500, sometimes a few 200s.  Paddles are easily my favorite swim tool because they really can build your strength and endurance as well as point out a flaw in your pull.  They also make you feel like you just got done lifting weights.  LOVE THEM!

Speed:  You absolutely have to work on form and endurance to go fast, but you also have to swim fast on occasion to go fast.  My favorite/most grueling speed set is 20x50 sprints.  Pick any number of 50s you'd like to do, though.  It's also fun/painful to do any number of 100 or 25 sprints as well.  Descends are another great set to do.  Basically, you swim a 100 with the first 25 nice and easy, the second 25 a little faster, the third even faster, and the last 25 should be a sprint.  Do a few of those and you'll be feeling it 

Stuff like this is completely within your ability right now.  You're swimming over 1600 yards regularly, so there is ample yardage to work in some good stuff.  For a form/endurance example:

200 wu

6x50 drills (single arm, catch-up, fist, finger tip, kick, pull)

400, 300, 200, 100 ladder

100 cd

That is 1600 yards.  If you want to go bigger (and of course I suggest you do!, then start the ladder at 500.

A form speed example:

200 wu

6x50 drills (single arm, catch-up, fist, finger tip, kick, pull)

2x100 sprint

100 ez

8x50 sprint

100 ez

8x25 sprint

100 cd

That's a pretty good speed workout that will wear you out.

Basically, my advice to anyone is to find your comfort zone in the water.  Find a pace that you can hold, is comfortable and lets you feel like your stroke is clean and efficient.  That's your endurance swim pace.  Toss in some speed workouts for a few weeks (but keep doing those endurance swims!), then see if you can't bump that endurance pace up, or see if you can't bump that endurance yardage up (hold the same pace if you go up in distance).  It'll probably suck for a while, but when that becomes comfortable, repeat the process.

The fun part is, the faster you get, the more and more and more you have to do just to gain even a little bit of speed

Thanks Bill - that was great info to think about and how to build swim sets.  One question about the paddles?  I used them for the first time in my last master's swim and I am not sure of their purpose or what I should feel?

When I used them, I felt like it made me work harder esp. the second half of my swim stroke.  Like I was pushing more water past me and working harder to do it.  How do I know if it's correcting my stroke or just making me work harder or ? 

I'm so clueless in the pool.  My coach wasn't there Friday so I didn't have a chance to ask him.

Paddles are essentially strength training for the swim, and they can point out some flaws in your stroke as a bonus.  They should make it much more tiring because you are adding resistance (basically adding more surface area, thus more water to pull).  It's sort of like biking into a head wind. 

As for flaws, the first thing they do is point out what you're pulling with.  If your shoulders start burning, you know you aren't engaging the back muscles on your pull.  With paddles, you can slow the stroke down enough to feel where your pull is coming from.  It really allows you to pinpoint the power muscles (and hey, using those makes you go faster!).  Also, if they are wobbling all over the place under water when you pull, then that is a sure sign that you aren't getting an effective "catch" of the water.  Time to slow that stroke down and work on some pull drills.  I've used a pull buoy with the paddles in the past to really focus on it.

Awesome - I will start using those as often as I can with my swim workouts esp. the ones I do on my own. 

One good note - a few swims ago - I had sore back muscles the next day and I thought to myself - Hey I think I finally used the correct muscles.  There may be hope for me yet! 

The pool gods are conspiring against me.  Last night I went to the pool all ready to do my workout and pumped up w/ Bill's advice only to get 350m in then the whistle blows.  Some kid had barfed in the pool so everybody out - pool closed.  UGH!!!

This morning I go back to the pool and get there a little late since every child and animal in the house tried to wake me up at regular intervals through the night.  I try the same workout again and only get through 1000 of the 1600m to hurry home so my hubby and I can leave for work only to find him doing his best turtle impression.  ERRRRRRRRRR!

Ahhhh - deep slow breaths.  Ok thanks I feel much better now.  Tomorrow is master's class so hopefully I will get a good swim workout in.

How's everyone elses week going?  Mine feels like I've been on a hamster wheeel - running around really fast but not going anywhere.

The quarter is done and I have turned in everything that I am going to turn in.   Forget the rest...I have passed all my classes and resolved the incomplete from last quarter.

I am so happy...it is a huge relief to have a blank slate and no school pressure over spring break.

How should I celebrate?

Glad you got it all out of the way, Mel!  

The good side of me says celebrate with your bike.

The bad side of me says celebrate with beer.

I guess you could do both

You had to go and ask about running didn't you, Lee!  This post will be FAR shorter than anything I say about swimming

In fact, I think I'll just link some stuff and ask for some help with this one.  

All the BT articles on running

Hal Higdon

It really tore up a town about 40 miles south of me.  I'll actually be driving through it (Magee, MS) on my way to New Orleans.

40 miles really isn't that far.  I'm glad it missed you. 

(Oh, and I can post from work again!  Yay!  There goes my productivity.)

Thank goodness!  I missed you during the week when I trying to procrastinate at work.

BeginnerMan - 2009-03-26 9:03 AM sounds like everyone's got their plates full! Sesh- no worries man! keep it up, im sure your gonna kill that HIM, is it your first race in a wetsuit? if it is youll def. notice a difference, but your a swimmer anyways so have no fear man you will tear it up! SD-damn, your schedule is looking like mine, stay strong and keep it up! serendipity-i was thinking bout another 5 or 10k as well to try and get an actual 5K time. those are a ton of fun as well. definately get another one if you can ! Anyone have any good advice on recovery? with this marathon training and intermeidate olympic plan, im only 4 days in and i can't feel anything fromt he waist down...of course im exaggerating-but not really, past two days workouts have been me mentally working through the extreme soreness in my hips,quads,hams,calves, and pretty much everything else down there. I would love to BQ as well at my first marathon-but it will never eeeeeever happen not in my AG. i need to run a 3:00 marathon hahahahahahahaha, yea-ok. i dont see that happening first time out, but im from boston and thats been a "never gonna happen" goal for about my entire life as a fat kid.. long story short-fat kid, 11 years old, two days before the boston marathon they had a kid race that was a mile near heartbreak hill-one of the worst expeirences of my life, walked the entire thing basically(my mothers idea to sign me up) well-im looking to get back to that spot, and do some damage anyone got good advice bout running other than building my base, speedwork, and intervals? im allllll ears

I'm not sure how much you have been doing but it sounds like your body is asking you to back off a bit.  I know there are weeks/days in my plan when I am tired but no prolonged soreness.  I've heard others in our group comment about being tired but not necessarily sore.  Also make sure you have enough recovery workouts and days off in your plan.

As far as the marathon training - I start 16-20 weeks out from a race so unless you have a race that soon I would not worry about that now.  Your tri training will add base miles to your running so you will be ready for the plan when the time comes.  For adding speed at an endurance distance, I think it takes times especially of you are new to it.  I like do a running race at least once a month even if it's just a 5k.  This way I know how I am or am not improving on my pacing.  I love the Runner's World running plans - Smart Coach and McMillan's running calculator for paces - http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Good luck - I saw you are doing Miami Man HIM.  That seemed like a nice one to do.  I did the INternational last year.  The swim is nice - small lake and warm but wetsuit legal, the bike is flat but strong headwinds and crosswinds UGH on the out and back (not sure how that happens but it does), and the run is fun through the zoo.  They give lots of stuff but the after race food is not the best.

Hey guys, I hope that everyone is having a great weekend.  I am finally relaxing at home after spending the last three days with family in Chicago (end of my son's Spring Break).  My training suffered a little bit, but mostly because of the head cold and a slight pain in my right leg that I am hoping is not shin splints.  I will be back at running tomorrow and will see if there is any pain.

Hope you all had a great weekend and for those that had races, that you ran a PR in every event.