Brian's group - FULL (Page 4)

Team,

Sorry for the silence on my end.  I've been pretty busy with work.  but I ave kept up with my training.  JUST finished updating my training log for Jan 2007.

As well, I've decided to get the following bike this week:

http://bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/aerott.htm

Welcome back ... nice set-up on the bike - especially the extras included: aerobars and not only include the clipless pedals, but also the cleats that fit onto your cycling shoes. 

Have you been to your local bike store to get measured for size?  Also, let them you know that you are buying a bike and inquire as to the price for a fitting (be sure to mention aerobars) ... it should be anywhere from $75-$125 - and while it may sound superfluous it is absolutely key to get done.

Another bike that is in that price point is the Giant OCR ($~549.00) ... but it does not come with the pedals/cleats and aerobars.  That said, you could finagle the fit and free adjustments/tune-ups into the price of the bike as well as ask for a discount on the pedals + aerobars.

Not trying to dissuade you from the Mercier - it would be a fine bike to train on and ride in a race - just letting you know now about costs that I found out about the hard way after I purchased my first road bike a year and a half ago.

Btw, shoes were another cost I did not anticipate.  I was really surprised to find out that the minimum price on these were ~$80.00 range at REI and Performance Bikes (this was in the middle of the season so nothing was on sale).  Be sure to check e-Bay for shoes as well as sales at your local bike shops, REI or Performance now during the dead cold of winter as they are closing out last year's inventory.

I picked up a pair of new Carnac TRS7's for $65.00 delivered  off of e-Bay a month or so ago -- and they are normally $189.00 in the stores. (Note: cycling shoes are in European measurements.)

Looks like a great set of workouts ... especially like the pull buoy b/c it will help with the muscle memory of having your hips high in the water. In other words, when you are swimming w/o the pull buoy, you should try to mimic the bdy position it gives you.

Did your swim instructor look at your stroke and prescribe drills that may help you on form? 

Bill ... wow - good words of wisdom there!  I "re-learned" how to swim using Total Immersion and it changed everything.  As TI is all about efficiency, glide and form, I no longer struggle against the water, but swim through it. (I know this sounds like a Zen-something, but it's not ... )

The warning about the evils of paddles is particulary apt ... it is probably best to stay away from those (I suspect their us/my misuse was a significant factor in straining my shoulder late December/early January).

A word of caution about relaxing your legs too much ... like I used to do.  I would not kick enough and would end up dragging my legs - which then caused my hips to sink ... which then caused my arms to fatigue early. 

I have since been corrected and have learned that kicking is fundamental to maintaining your ability to be 'long and tall' in the water as it keeps your heels near the water line and helps prevent your hips from sinking.  You still want to kick - just not so much that you blow your legs out  prior to the bike and run

brian - 2007-02-01 9:17 AM
Bill ... wow - good words of wisdom there!  I "re-learned" how to swim using Total Immersion and it changed everything.  As TI is all about efficiency, glide and form, I no longer struggle against the water, but swim through it. (I know this sounds like a Zen-something, but it's not ... )

A word of caution about relaxing your legs too much ... like I used to do.  I would not kick enough and would end up dragging my legs - which then caused my hips to sink ... which then caused my arms to fatigue early. 

I have since been corrected and have learned that kicking is fundamental to maintaining your ability to be 'long and tall' in the water as it keeps your heels near the water line and helps prevent your hips from sinking.  You still want to kick - just not so much that you blow your legs out  prior to the bike and run

Excellent tips Bill! Swimming on the 2:30 is a good idea. At master's practice, I was always too slow to swim on the 30 or whatever, so never paid attention to that part of the workout.

Ditto on the kicking. I learned to swim pretty using TI but always at the same slow constant speed. I had a few private coaching sessions last year where I learned that if you want to swim faster, you have to actually swim faster. Go figure!  Kicking correctly (with little knee action) along with kick sets and faster intervals made my overall swim stronger without compromising my legs too much for the bike and run.

Gwen, thanks for the workouts! And, be patient. One day soon, as you work with your coach, your swim will just "click". Doing the TI weekend was awesome for me. After two days of instruction, I could swim non-stop for what felt like forever! One the key phrases that I recall over and over again: Don't practice struggle. When I'm feeling overwhelmed, tired, or just swallowing too much water - I revert back to the basics (ahhh, sweet spot).

FWIW, I got a fluid trainer from Performance bikes - Travel Trac Millenium. Not top of the line, but it hasn't given me any problems yet.

John, congrats on meeting your goal body weight!! Also, I second the idea of checking the local shops. Usually, when you buy a new bike from a LBS they will include free tune-ups for a year along with making suitable adjustments anytime. As well, with a bike fit, the shop can easily swap out parts to ensure the pefect fit at no cost to you. The extra $ was well worth it for me, even though I moved 3000 miles away from my choice LBS a few months after getting my Felt.

So...I've just gone and looked at my event for March 18th for rules on what is permitted to wear.  And i didn't see anything that clearly stated ANYTHING.  So, I went to the USAT site and came away with the same thing.  So, I'm now coming to you all and asking about the following:

-Can I wear my watch?

-Is there any rule on the type of bottoms and top that I decide to wear?

-anything else that I cannot think of (lol)?

 less than 6 weeks out.  I am definitely excited.

Brian talked to me about starting the mini-challenges, but I see that he's on travel this week. Maybe we can get going next week. Any votes for which discipline to start out with: swim (gets my vote), bike or run?

Jon, this time of year, I might assume that it's a pool swim? (I'm not sure which part of the country you're at). Unless you have bought a tri-suit (one-piece or top & bottom), you could easily wear jammer swim trunks and then slip on a wicking shirt in T1 (men can go topless in the water). I made the mistake once of wearing a typical wicking shirt under my wetsuit - it sucked up the water like a diaper. For the same reason, nay on swimming in bike shorts. If you want your upper body covered during the swim, it's best to invest in a tri-top.

Other things?
- How often are you doing brick workouts? If not yet, then now is the time to start!
- Have you laid out your transition area and run through what you will need/want on race day? There are some checklists out there that can help.
- If you can, it's probably a good idea to get your bike tuned-up or at least just checked a week or so before race-day.
- Attend the pre-race meeting. They sometimes have a special session for newbies.

Here's the USAT rule on wetsuits:
Each age group participant shall be permitted to wear a wet suit without penalty in any event sanctioned by USA Triathlon up to and including a water temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water temperature is greater than 78 degrees, but less than 84 degrees Fahrenheit, age group participants may wear a wet suit at their own discretion, provided however that participants who wear a wet suit within this temperature range shall not be eligible for prizes or awards. Age group participants shall not wear wet suits in water temperatures equal to or greater than 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The wetsuit policy for elite athletes shall be determined by the USAT Athletes Advisory Council.

USAT rule on Indecent Exposure:
Public nudity at any time during the event is prohibited. Any violation of this Section shall result in a variable time penalty.

When I get overwhelmed I just get out of the way and float on my back to catch my breath. Since I'm not particulary fast, I also avoid lining up at the front of the group. If it is a beach start, I don't run into the water as fast as I can, only to dive in with an elevated HR and a cold water head freeze. I walk in to keep my HR calm so that I can get into the swim without being out of breath before I even start. I find that calmly making it through the swim has me ready to hammer on the bike and run...and to pass many of those that started the swim too fast! One thing though that helps keep me the game with respect to racing: "Be a racer, not a spectator".

Mini-Challenges:
The ironman is a neat idea, but we're all at various stage of training and working towards different race distance so I don't think that it would too fair. Instead, I propose that we do a personal goal based challenge like the many BT challenges: Everyone comes up with their goal, either time or distance, for the next two weeks or month or whatever. Winner is the one who comes closest to, meets or exceeds their planned goal. We can measure progress as a percent of completed length over goal length.

I propose 2 to 3 weeks as a good length to start out with. And, I propose starting with swim since it's winter and everyone certainly has access to a pool. Besides, I need the motivation to get to the pool .

And, how about a personal health/well-being sort of challenge that would include goals like making healthy food choices, getting enough protein, sleeping enough, drinking enough, core/strength training, resting enough, or just thinking positively. Set a goal and then we can use a scale (1-3 to make it simple) to measure how well we did each day of the challenge. Person with the highest score wins!

Hey all ... I am back!

Marina:

Think that is an excellent idea ... we have two choices for our mini-challenge: make the challenge central to one discipline e.g. the one you need the most motivation to accomplish (swimming for me) or to make it based upon meeting your whole schedule (for some folks it is fitting in a work out, period ... not necessarily any one discipline).

Let's make this one centered on fulfilling our workout schedules for the next two weeks, beginning Monday.  Don't have a schedule yet and are instead floating from work-out to work-out based upon feel? ... well, then, this is the time to nail one down.

When I first started, I got into a rhythym of doing certain workouts each day (Monday = swim, Tuesday = bike, Wednesday = run, etc.) but did not really have a plan that dictated amounts to perform each day, that would cumulate into a weekly total, etc.  I just did what I felt like that day.

While I still made some improvements, the workouts really were not that productive.  That is what led me to this site.  Since following a plan - complete with gradual and fixed increases - I have seen improvements I did not think possible ... and have escaped any significant injury. (In fact, the only time I have been injured has been when I did not follow the plan and tried to do work-outs that deviated from the 10% rule.) 

So ... the practical part of the challenge is to make sure that we all have a plan.  The "sporting" part of the challenge is to make sure that we are following it!  

Let's post our workouts for the week in our blog - say by Sunday evening and have the challenge begin Monday, continuing for two solid weeks.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, ideas?