GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 39)

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-23 8:15 PM

Steve,

The plan is a 16-week Oly distance plan from Matt Fitzgerald's "Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide". It's not specific to any discipline, but does allow for flexibility with regards to volume of workouts depending on your strengths. Like, there's different levels for each day of the week, and I've been doing Level 1 for running and biking and Level 2 for swimming, since I'm much better at swimming and can handle the longer distance/higher volume. Not so much for the bike or run.

I didn't see any time/pace specifics anywhere. I mean, different workouts will say to run/bike/swim at varying intensities, but no hard numbers for pace. For example, yesterday's run was a 35-min foundation run at moderate aerobic intensity and next week's will be a 30-min foundation run with 6x30-sec bursts at VO2 max/speed intensity. But nothing mentioning pace. I looked over some free BT plans and they also didn't seem to mention a pace (maybe I just didn't see it), which I thought was weird, but since neither of them had it, I thought that was the norm.

Does that clarify? You can also "Look inside" the book I'm using on Amazon's website if that'll help: http://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/...

Steve... I've been considering doing the Peterborough HIM which is early July.

Considering B2B would be my A race, would a better HIM choice be the Canadian which is closer to B2B (labour day weekend) and has a flat bike as opposed to Peterborough's hilly bike?

Also in trying to organize a workable training plan for my weird schedule I'm thinking the following:
 
Day 1 (12 hour work day) will be a short bike day
Day 2 (12 hour work day) is a short run day
Day 3 (12 hour work night) will be a swim/bike day
Day 4 (12 hour work night) is an off (sleep) day
Day 5 is a short run/swim day
Day 6 will be long bike day
Day 7 will be swim/run
Day 8 will be swim/bike
Day 9 will be long run

That makes every 9 day cycle includes 4 X swim, 4 X bike, 4 X run with one day of no training.  The long bike and long run are separated by a few days.  I could always switch day 8 & 9 depending on weather/life to make sure I don't miss the long run (I'm very much a fair weather athlete) and if I needed to drop a workout it could be either day 7 or 8's swim.
Does this look reasonable to you?




Edited by cathyd 2010-01-17 6:47 AM

I'm here, I'm here!

Sorry for the belated report! The swim workout went well. I admit that I didn't feel as strong as I had hoped, and I had to "cheat it", but I do like your approach better than what I was doing before. So I did the first three sets of 50m with 90", 85" and 75" of rest in between feeling decent. But then after the first 25m in the 4th set, I had to rest for about 20" at the other end of the pool. That was the case for set #s 5 through 8 too. But, I did stick to the decreasing rest times in between the full sets. (I just had to insert 20" - 30" of rest in the middle of the sets). On sets 9 and 10, I just pushed myself to do them without any rest between each 25m. (So I did set 9, rested 45", then set 10). I hope that all makes sense!

Those rests of less than 60 seconds go by fast.

I guess I was a little discouraged by having to do those "cheat" rests in the middle of the sets. But I do see that I'm getting just a teeny tiny bit stronger and having more and more endurance with time. It just seems to be going soooooo sloooowwwwwllllllyyyyy...

I'm going to stick to your training plan with the first goal of getting through it without the "cheat" rests. Then, when I can accomplish that, I'll work on shortening the rests between sets by 5" each week, eventually getting to a point where I'm doing the last few sets with no rests in between, and ultimately doing all sets together with no rest.

I wrote out this plan and if all goes well, I should be able to get to this point perhaps by the end of June. I need to somehow try to get to the pool more often too, I think.

Steve, another question for you: is rotary breathing really superior to one-sided breathing? I still struggle with feeling like I'm not getting enough air (I feel like I'm exhaling way more than I'm inhaling). I breathe on the right, mostly every 4th stroke. I do every other stroke when I feel that I need it, but it feels very "frantic" (for lack of a better term). I feel like my form is pretty good when I'm breathing every 4th, but when I breathe every other, I'm splashing all over the place. I wonder if I could maximize the oxygen I'm getting without compromising form by learning to rotary breathe.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!

Tracey

ANNE:

Would you mind expanding a bit on what your coach told you about how to have the eyes looking forward? I'm intrigued by this and wonder if it might help me too.

My swim instructor drilled into me the idea of pushing the forehead down into the water, almost pretending that your trying to look down at your toes, in order to force the lower body up. I've finally mastered that I think: I can tell that my legs are at the surface of the water because when I kick I can feel my heels occasionally break the surface.

But now with this discussion I wonder if my head is too low. I also struggle with getting air so I'm wondering if I can improve by using this technique you talk about.

Thanks!

Tracey

Hello all.

Has anyone watched this DVD?

http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Freestyle-Swimming-Terry-Laughlin/dp/B00...

I just got it in the mail yesterday and am anxious to start watching it. Any thoughts on it?

Thanks!

Tracey

Great job Denise

Haven't watched it but just ordered it on Thursday!  Hope it's helpful.

Denise, congrats on your run and plunge!  Think I'd pass on the Polar part.

Have not gotten in my long run this weekend, not sure what is going on but I am not feeling well.  Think my body is fighing a cold/flu.  So far it has not gotten worse but I have no energy.  I am debating whether I try to run and do my strength workouts today, or just let it use its energy to fight this.  Will see how the day goes.

Great job on your swimming.   I think you really will be amazed at how quickly you will be able to reduce those rest intervals, and that is exactly how I was told to proceed when I started with a tri swim coach.   I'm sure my rests were like 2' between 50's when I started. 

Re the looking forward - I was doing the same thing as you - almost had my chin tucked.   I think our mentor Steve mentioned about looking foward a bit in one of his posts.    I just try and look as far forward without feeling that my head has 'lifted'.   You should be able to tell because you will feel tension in your neck if your head is tilting up too much.   Someone told me to practice just letting your head rest on the water like it was a pillow which helped me to relax and your head sort of finds its natural resting place.   It won't sink.  

You can try 80/20 breathing to help get your legs up.   Fill your lungs full and rather than totally depleting your lungs of air when you are breathing; just exhale 20% of the air out.  With the extra air in your lungs it helps keep you buoyant, and actually more controlled and relaxed.   This is a practice drill, swimming at a cruise/easy pace,  not meant for racing and hard interval training.    Instead of pushing your forehead down, try to get the feeling like you are pressing your chest down in the water and your legs will lift.    

The other thing that has helped me is following Steve's advice on Popeye breathing along with the looking forward.    Hope this sort of makes sense.      

For selfish reasons, I hope you do Peterborough.   It would be great to meet you.      I am going to do the aqua/bike.    The Canadian IS flat but I heard it is REALLY boring doing the same loop 7 or 8 times???   

TRACEY -

Woo-hoo! I think you did really well with that! You may say you had to "cheat it", but I'd recommend that you refer to what you did as "revising". And for the stuff we do with triathlon, the willingness and ability to revise is a critical skill. It happens during training sessions, as you found out, but it also happens in races. So, if one has some familiarity with the process while training, it is much less stressful when it happens during thr crunch of a race.

Looking at your results, the only revisions you made were at the 25 point of #4-8, but that you managed to keep the decreasoing rest times at the end of each of those. BUT THEN the really cool part comes, which is doing the last two without the midpoint rest! Were you psyched about that, or were you psyched about that? If I were you, I'd be psyched about that!

So, now you'vre got some numbers to play with, and a new way or two or threee or four to approach this workout next time. You mentioned a couple in your post, and I'll leave it at that rather than muddy the waters with other permutations. When are you pool-bound again? (I'm getting all tingly with vicarious excitement!)

And as for June to be there? Oh, I think it might be a bit before then!

Gotta post this, then I'll be back in a while about the breathing question.

Tracey
As you all can tell from my previous posts, I'm a TI devotee. I have this DVD and find it very useful. I'm a firm believer of his position that in swimming form/efficiency trumps power (at least for the recreational triathlete, which I am) since you still have to bike and run when you're done with the swim.
Mark

I've actually done the Canadian half once before as my first half... I also thought it would be super boring (bike is 6 loops, run is 2 loops) but it wasn't that bad... after the first couple you knew the landmarks and where you were on the course all the time.  If you had support people with you they could see you a lot at that race.  With that said I would never do the full distance race here... 12 bike loops, 4 run loops.  Or the one in Montreal that is multiple loops .

Hi Tracey.. just wanted to comment on your breathing issues. I struggle with bilateral breathing... breathing on my left always throws me off balance so I stick to right sided breathing.  I can breathe every 4th stroke for about 35 metres, after that I have to breathe every 2nd stroke to be able to stay relaxed.  If I tried to continue to breathe every 4th stroke I would be increasing my stroke turnover to fit the breathing... instead I breathe more often (every 2nd) I can keep my strokes slow and relaxed.   If that makes any sense.   I guess my point is to do what feels best for you as we are all different and what is best for me may not work as well for you.

TRACEY again -

In the coupla hours it took me to get back on here, you got another few responses about breathing. so there's even more for you to think about.

The big advantage to bilateral brreathing is that evens out, or balances, a stroke. That is, there is about the same body rotation happening to both sides in the course of breathing on both sides. And a balanced stroke is cited as a reason of REDUCED shoulder strain -- definitely a good thing.

The qualifier to all of the above is that unless the roatation is equally fluid, and the breathing as effective, than the desired balance will not occur. That's the case for me, mostly, and after a few lengths of bilateral I feel like a star swimmer when I revert back to right-side only. I work at it and work it, with some bilateral EVERY pool session, but my progress with this is as leisurely as the drifting of the continents. So, I mostly remain a right-side breather.

As for every second versus every fourth, I'm every second - that is, every time I can breathe to the right, I do so. BUT, I know that when I breathe every 4th stroke, that enables me to achieve a more balanced rotation overall, just because I am not having to rush the opposite side rotation so as to get back to the right side for the next breath. So, I am most comfortable with breathing every second stroke, but can make every fourth work quite well.

I think you might get a lot out of TI DVD --at least I hope so! Jumping ahead in their standard drill sequence, pay special attention to the "catch-up" drill, which I'm thinking might help your stroke to feel less "frantic" if you decide to work on breathing every second stroke. You're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place here --- in need of more air, but swimming in a frantic fashion when you try to breathe in the most air-maximizing way.

If Mark is following this, then he will have something to say about catch-up drills -- which I not only use as drills, but employ frequently in races. I modify it some in races, but my goal is to get full extention on my reach, which seems to encourage a more powerful pull.

Enjoy the DVD! There is tons of stuff there, and while the goal of TI is to make oit work as a whole, some people find it best to focus on very small segments to begin with. And actually, unless TI has changed some in the past few years, their drills are designed to be tackled one at a time, eventually building to a cohesive whole. But if you like what you see in the "catch-up" movement or any stuff further along, you can certainly give it a try whenever you are swimming.

Glub, glub!

CATHY and ANNE -

I'm looking seriously at Peterborough, too!

As for The Canadian, I've done the half 4 (3?) times and the full in the first year of it, '05. They have now changed the run to be three out-and-backs, but other than that the bike is the same -- six out-and-backs, with turnarounds at Hog's Back and Laurier bridge.

IT can be tediou, but not terribly so, Doing the 12 required for the full WAS tedious, but it could've been worse on one of the days when the wind really whips unpredictably alomg the length of the canal. But you're right, Cathy -- it is great for spectators, maybe the best one in that regard this side of Esprit (which I haven't done.)

Let's all keep thinking serioulsy about Peterborough!

CATHY -

Having said what I just did about thinking seriously about Peterborough, I have to admit that if you only did one HIM this season, it should probably be The Canadian. This is just because of the timing, as P-borough is so far out from B2B. On the other hand, T.C. is pretty far out from it as well -- 8 or 9 weeks, would it be? (Actually, that's not all too far.)

The other way to do things is to do peterborough just as a reminder of what a HIM feels like, and then keep your long distances as training only from July all the way to B2B. Another advantage to P-boro is that 90 hillyish miles on the bike is a bit more demanding than what you'd find at TC, so you'll hget a sense of what it feels like to work slightly harder on the bike.

Another option is Muskoka 70.3, on Sept. 12 or 13, where the bike is both hilly AND over-long (94km instead of 90). But it is at leadst twice the cost of either PB or TC, so thta might not appeal a whole lot. And accommodations up there will be more pricey than either PB or TC.

So, there's no clear advantage I can see to choosing one over the other. And if you're near Kingston, the distances must be about the same for you.

How about doing both??

DARREN -

Man, I've never done one like the Triple Brick you posted! (You mention a third bike part, so you might want to edit the post to include it as part of the listed format.) Yeah, you sure would learn a lot about yourself with that one, as well as building mega-confidence. It's not for the faint of heart, however!

At some point I will post the protocol for "Icks", which is similar to yours in that it has multiple segements, but differs in that it is done at high Z3 and into Z4 for all but the first and last runs. (In general, "Icks" has three other runs in the middle, sandwiched between bikes.) While the intensity is very high, the distances are relatievly short -- short enough for it to make sense to just-about red-line the whole thing.

So, what's worse -- the sadist who invents these things, or the masochists who attempt them?

ANNE -

How is Mama Malady treating you today? Feeling any better, even slightly?

DIANE -

And sorry that you're not feeling well, also. There seems to be a lot of this going around!

I think we should blame Steve, who was the first one of us to report feeling illish earlier in the week. He's our very own Patient Zero!

And speaking of STEVE...........


IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!!!!

I think he said he's turning 39 -- but who's counting. (Well, he is, as that will get one year closer to aging-up to 40-44!)



STEVE A -- BIRTHDAY -- JANUARY 18 -- TOMORROW.

You've been forewarned!

Yeah, the Amazon "look inside" version is missing many key pages, so it's kind of annoying. Hope you find it! If all else fails, you can buy it for pretty cheap on there.

I'm staying away from you all, just in case you are contagious!!! Hope everyone gets to feeling better today.

If I remember correctly (ha ... it's been a long time since I've been in the pool), I'm a right sided breather, every 4th stroke.  I've tried to practice breathing to the left but really flounder (it's on my list of things to practice). I think in a perfect world, I would breath bilaterally, every 3rd stroke.

Had a 5K race this morning, and felt really good.  Perfect 42 degrees at the start. Still waiting for the official results but, by my time, I had another PR ... cutting off just over 2' from my fastest 5K time.  I guess my legs/body liked taking the entire week off.  I don't think I've taken an entire week off for over a year.  With that said, I'm headed to the library to look for a new plan ... nothing available at my library.  Monday, I've got to get back in the pool and on the bike ... of course, might have to rethink that as Monday is typically my rest day.

LISA -

You may be wanting to stay away from some of us due to ragin' contagion, but we all might want to get close to you -- you certainly are on a hot streak these days! Congrats on the PR 5km today, and let us know the sweet details when the results get officialized.

HOWEVER ----

I am very sorry I didn't "prop" this one! I figure (but haven't checked yet) it was in your list of races that I requested a few days ago, but I haven't compiled them yet* so wasn't aware that you had this one scheduled. I mean, the whole point of asking for lists was to be able to make them into "marquee" events here, highly-hyped and everything, but if you listed it them I missed it. Bad me!


*A terrible thing for a former teacher to do, akin to having a firm deadline for papers to be handed in ------ and then taking days and days and days to mark them. Double-bad me!