Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 37)

Thanks Dan.  Fixed it.

Dave,

First, thank you!

Next, to clarify, the plan is not a complete training plan.  It is only the base phase.  It will prepare you for the build and peak phases to follow (those should be up in the next couple of weeks.

If memory serves, you have been training with a masters team so the distance will likely not be challenging, at least not at first.  What will be different will be the pacing during the sets.  At your masters workouts you are likely anaerobic most of the time, these will be largely aerobic sets training different energy pathways.  I have a saying, "There are very few fast swimmers that are fast triathletes, but many fast triathletes are fast swimmers."  The seeming paradox of that statement explains the difference between training for a swim meet and training for a triathlon.  A fast anaerobic swimmer will not do well in a triathlon as he/she will be cooked before they get on the bike, while a fast aerobic swimmer will come out of the water ready for the bike and ultimately the run.

Just my two cents.

Thanks again.

Thank you Stu for the thoughtful comments and suggestions.  Yes, building and launching a website is a challenge.  Normally I am building sites for my clients so I don't have to deal with a lot of the little details but when it's my site, I can't really avoid it.

First, thanks for pointing out that there is no link to information about STP.  There is an article about it in the Knowledge Base and the  intent was to have a link at the top of the workout plan pages.  I will get that corrected.

We kind of rushed going live because I wanted to have workout plans up before people began base building.  I started getting calls and emails in the last couple weeks saying, "There is snow on the ground, it is time for me to start hitting the pool."  The immediate concern is cleaning up the workout plans and writing a text version that will include workout notes with much more detail on pacing, workout goals, etc.  I actually need to re-visit the plans themselves since they were done late at night in just a couple hours.

There are articles in the pipeline that cover pretty much all of the things you mentioned - plus dozens of other topics.  One of the goals is to really highlight the differences between competitive swimming and endurance/triathlon swimming - going through the fundamental differences between the two styles, the differences in training, in energy pathways, etc.  Another real focus is going to be on the importance of proper training - what that is, how to do it, how to plan it, etc.  The long term vision is that the site will answer any and all questions about triathlon swimming.

As to making money on the site.  Currently there is no e-commerce module on the site.  We'll see how it goes before I go to the trouble of coding the site to add an e-commerce capability.  The initial idea was to have a website that was a repository of endurance swimming information.  It was pretty far into the process before I even thought about trying to monetize the site.  The simple reality is that eyes on deck is far better than anything I can do for someone remotely.  I can help with information and plan workouts but if people aren't in So Cal then it makes any thing else a real challenge.

Thanks again for your insightful comments.  I will drop you a line privately once we have done some meaningful updates and maybe you can take a look if you have the time as I highly value your opinion.

Thanks Steve.  As much as we both travel, we just have to have our schedules cross up near Redding, CA.  That looks to be pretty close to half-way!  I am betting we could find a pool, a track, and maybe even someplace to take a short ride!

Oh no!  Please don't tell me that!  I am focusing on the run right now myself.  I haven't cut back on cycling and swimming, although I am not increasing them.  Just trying to maintain fitness while I try and get the run up where it needs to be for a serious Kona qualifying attempt late in 2015.

I am signed up for the Hollywood Half in April and then the San Diego Marathon at the end of May.  One way or another the run is going to become my friend!

As to the 1,500 not being pretty - it will come back.  You have swam enough in your life that technique is there, you just need to put some yards in to bring it back out.

Daniel,

Thanks for the kind words.

A staggering number of triathletes struggle with the swim. The REALLY sad thing is that many of them think they are decent swimmers. Yet, they continue to go and race, under-perform in the swim, and sabotage their entire race in the water long before they get to T1.  When I discovered BT a few years ago, it quickly became apparent to me that the problem wasn't a lack of desire on the athletes part, rather it was a shortage of accurate triathlon swimming information and training advice, here on BT or anywhere else (and that isn't a knock on BT.  Beginner Triathlete is perhaps the best resource for age-group triathletes.  But even BT is not an end-all resource).  A majority of triathletes don't seem to understand there is a difference between swimming and triathlon swimming.  There simply has been no real resource for people to go to and get ALL of their swimming and specifically triathlon swimming questions answered.  In the forums I have heard everything from absolutely ridiculous suggestions like, "do an hour of swimming a week and you will be ready for your Ironman," to "do what Michael Phelps does."  The answer I most frequently hear is, "Join a masters team."  Except the majority of Master's teams are not training for triathlon, they are training for a swim meet and those are COMPLETELY different animals.  That was the motivation to develop the website.  To educate, to offer training tips, and to maybe help new swimmers and/or triathletes to get pointed in the right direction.

There is no need to go through the my website for a consultation.  We are both in the same mentor group here on BT.  Assuming you follow us to the new forum location when we move in the coming days, we will continue to be in the same mentor group.  That is precisely what the mentor groups are for - to help each other.  I am more than happy to answer questions and help however I can so please don't be shy about asking.

One final thought.  I don't know specifically what your swim background is.  The Sprint Base Plan assumes a certain level of swim fitness going in.  One of the things that newer triathletes often neglect is a base fitness build - training to train.  People tend to just jump in, start working out more than they ever have in their life, and quickly find themselves burnt-out or worse, injured.  I would suggest, since we are in the off-season and have several months before any real build needs to start happening, that you start with the Novice Plan.  The Novice Plan is a specifically designed program that will allow you to "train to train.   It has detailed descriptions, ideal for the novice swimmer/triathlete, and it will properly prepare you for either the Sprint or Olympic base plans depending upon where your interests go.  The same applies to cycling and running.  You should start slow - train to train - and build a base level of fitness.  Your body and your "triathlon mental state" will thank you for it.

I look forward to watching you progress to your first triathlon!

Karl,

Happy to hear you went to the doc.  Those pesky doctors can be an absolute pain in the arse, but they do serve a purpose - especially as we get older.  More than once I have been told things by a doctor that I really didn't want to hear.  However, countering that are the many times a doctor has helped me through something and gotten me back to training, sooner and healthier than if I had tried to do it myself.

I imagine Steve has a whole drawer full of doctor stories after his crash last year.  There are simply times when it is best to go to the doctor.

Glad your on the road to recovery.  Now the REALLY hard thing is following the doctors orders.  It was always at this point that I would turn to "Dr. Scott," seek his advice, and go back to training before I was supposed to - BAD choice!

Hey Daniel,

That will be really cool, having your son training with you. Just remember you're a gray guy and recovery takes longer than it will for you son. Right now, you should be concerned with building fitness and secondarily building strength. Competition with you son will be great and will certainly help you through difficult days at the start, but try not to let that same competition push you to places you probably would be better to avoid, at least for now. A really good general guide at this stage is when you get done with your workout, you should feel like you could immediately repeat the same workout. If you don't feel like you could, then your probably went to hard or did to much (just for the record, when you get to late spring that will not be the case, come May, if you feel like you could repeat the workout you didn't go hard enough - something to look forward to). Again, just a general guide, but the point right now is to build fitness, not qualify for the Olympics.

When specifically is the June Sprint you are looking at?

As to timing for a June Sprint. It is the first week of December now, we had talked about you starting with the Freestyle-From the Beginning article. I think realistically that will take you a week, then maybe another week to begin to get comfortable with actually swimming freestyle. That takes us right up to XMAS. Realistically, I figure we can start the Novice Plan around Jan 1. My thinking at this point is have you do through week 8 of the Novice Plan then we will have you move over and pick up the Sprint Base Plan at week 5. That effectively gives you a recovery week at the start of the sprint plan and puts you into the sprint base plan just in time to start doing some intermediate endurance work.  That combines to 16 weeks which goes up to the end of April. Ideally we would then go in to 4-6 weeks of peak work - working on speed - and then a 1-2 week taper. So that would potentially take us all the way to the end of June. We can jiggle the training a bit depending upon when the race is. Bottom line, yes there is more than sufficient time to train for a June sprint.

Remember as we talk about all of this that you need to also be building a run and cycling base.  Sadly, your swim base is not your run base is not your cycling base.  If all you do is run, when you get in the pool you will be gasping for breath.  If all you do is swim, when you go to run your legs will feel like concrete pillars.  You should be building base in all three disciplines.  We had talked about a couch-2-5K program to get you running.  That is a great way if you have zero run experience or it has been a long time since you ran.  If you have a run background then you probably have some idea how to get started.  We had also talked about you doing one or two spin classes per week.  Not sure how you are set for a bike, what you are planning to ride in the sprint.  You may want to start giving that some thought.  ANY bike will do.  Literally, I have seen people on beach cruisers, mountain bikes, road bikes, expensive road bikes, tri-bikes and EXPENSIVE tri-bikes.  At any rate, if you already have a road bike and happen to have a trainer, riding your own bike would be preferable to a spin bike.  If not, spin classes are fine as they will get some pedal time in your legs and with the right instructor will build fitness that will transfer to cycling. 

The goal at this point is to HAVE FUN, start building fitness, and train to train.

Hey Stu,

How many times in our athletic careers have we heard the word "Consistency."  I know I have heard it since my early teens - a really long time ago.  Yet, we all do it, this or that comes up, we miss a workout or two . . . or three, and we pay the price.  I remember my swim coach back in the day saying the top three attributes of a good training plan, in order, were: 1) Consistency, 2) Quality, 3) Volume.  That was proven to us when one of our team members literally broke his neck.  Thank goodness he wasn't paralyzed.  He was placed in a rather cumbersome neck brace, and was told he couldn't swim for two months.  Jim, our coach said, "No, no, no,"  as this particular athlete was VERY fast and the National Championships were only 3-months away.  Missing two months of training would mean no chance of being competitive.  Jim and the doctors came up with a way for this swimmer to get in the water every day and kick; which he did morning and night, seven days a week.  Consistently, EVERYDAY,  for the two months until he was able to swim again one month before Nationals.  At Nationals, he won the 400M Individual Medley.  Yeah, consistency matters.

Sorry Stu, not picking on you, just a good opportunity to highlight the importance of regular workouts.

Daniel,

Yes, open your eyes.  The point of that is that someday, your goggles are going to come off, your going to lose them, there going to fill up with water, something will happen.  Not might happen, WILL happen.  I like to expose new swimmers to that at the very beginning.  I take that a step further and encourage people to swim a rep or two of the main set without goggles once or twice a week.  Say you have a set of 10 x 100.  Do a couple of them without goggles.  To my way of thinking, workouts are about more than just swimming laps.  Workouts are about training for a race.  If you can simulate race conditions or things that may happen in a race, then when they actually happen on race day, you will have already experienced it and can get through it.  Similar to riding or running in the rain.  Race day won't always be a picture perfect postcard type of day..

It occurs to me, now that you have aged up, you are the "youngster in the group!  All of us older guys are easy pickens for all you younger guys!