Guyo's Mentor Group - Closed and starting the year with a Bang !!! (Page 4)

Thanks Guy and Good Saturday morning to you.  I will look in the training plans.  Is that an increase of 5-10% in mileage?

Thanks Guy, I hope to register for some 5k's in the spring so I would say that I am training to rehab, and to try for a 5K.  I will  look at those plans. 

Thanks Mauro.  I agree that that is a good way to go, and have heard alot of people mention it.  I know the question was silly, but probably better asked as how do I monitor for a slower pace? Some people have suggested that I only run at 60-70% of my max HR, and eventually I will have to work harder to maintain that 60-70% HR, therefore getting faster.  I think I will institute that after I get to the 3 mile point, and increasing 10% per week from there.

I am beginning to enjoy running more, so that is a plus! 

I have a nike ipod plus, and I love it, I find it to be very accurate (I know some people find that is not the case).  I do monitor my run as I go along, but I am very inconsistent in my pace.  I will slow down sometimes to a comfortable pace only to find myself running faster shortly thereafter, and vice versa.  I guess with experience I will begin to learn what my pace feels like.  I know when I am in the pool I can keep a certain pace depending if I am sprinting or doing LD.  I am sure I will eventually learn it for the run.

I also monitor my HR with a Polar watch.  This I have a great deal of troubling holding steady, but I do seem to be learning the feeling of a high heart rate, vs a lower one.  So again probably with experience I will be able to tell what level my heart is at.

Thanks for all the input, it has made me consider and reconsider a lot of things.  I think I am formulating a better plan because of it. 

notarunnr...... but a swmmr?

I'm curious as to your thoughts on training when it comes to swimming.  When I started training 15 months ago I was 3 months into training before I could swim 1500 meters.  My time was 38 minutes.  I've since brought that down to 30 minutes, but seem to have tapered off.  My goal is 28 minutes.  When I shared my goal with my coach, she rolled her eyes, which didn't instill a lot of confidence in my ability to meet my goal.  Of course, she might be right.

I train one day each week and my training consists of an 8 length warm up, then distance swim of mostly 1500 meters.  We then either focus on leg, arm or form.  We don't do speed work.  I'm not sure why we don't, but I do see others that focus primarily on speed work vs distance swimming.  Not coming from a swimming background, and recognizing that my swim coach is not versed in swim training, I'm considering providing her with some sort of discipline that will be sure to enhance my speed, but right now, I'm no smarter than she is when it comes to what plan I should follow.  Hoping you can help with this.

Is 28 minutes insurmountable?

I have swum, swam, been in the water competitively since I think before I could walk, so I know my way around the pool a little bit. I teach swim classes, but as a disclaimer I have never coached a competitive swimmer.

28 minutes is absolutely doable, but I honestly don't think you can do it by just throwing yards in the pool. It sounds like you do some form work and then just swim a solid 1500M? Your work outs should consist of a warm up, drills, core workout, and then a cool down.

The warm up can be as simple as 4x100 any stroke at an easy pace. You should then do some drill work, such as the catch up drill, push and glide, thumb drag, 6 kick drill, one arm swim, etc. The drills are where you practice on form. I vary these drills each day, but put a heavy emphasis on my stroke as it can be inefficient at times.

The core workout should consist of sets on a defined period, such as 6 - 200's with 30 second rest in between each one, or 10 - 100's on 1:30 (meaning you have a minute and a half for each 100, any extra time is rest time before you start your next 100).  This is where you are going to build your endurance and speed, however you won't build speed with out some interval work. You should try to imprint what you practiced in drills to your core workout..... Tough I know when your tired.

Then an easy cool down such 8x50's with a 20 second rest.

I think you should mix up the swim workouts. Sometimes do the interval work 10x100's, and them sometimes do the long endurance work. There is a good site for recording your stats (stroke count, times) and getting swim plans tailored to your level. Check it out swimplan.com. You might want to compare some of their workouts to your coaches, but I believe you really need some of that interval work to increase your speed.

If you want help with any of the drills or a swim workout let me know I would be happy to help. I love swimming and love to get people comfortable with it.

Happy Swimming! 

Happy moving! Where are you going to? 

Thanks Yianni! I have heard people talk about base before but never knew what it was. I hope to get up to running 5 miles (with that 10% increase thing) before I start doing intervals, does that make sense? My goal is to run some 5k's in the spring. Thanks for the website, I will check it out. That type of training makes sense to me.

Running and talking?...at the same time? I probably could swim and talk easier than I could run and talk!

Holly check out this link, they are probably easier to view than describe.

http://video.about.com/swimming/Learn-How-to-Swim-Faster-.htm

They have different names than what I call them: 6 kick drill = 10x10 drill and fingertip drag=thumb drag.

I will try to describe The push and glide drill. As you are stroking through the water in freestyle, before you recover your arm out of the water hold the streamline position, which would be one arm straight in front of you and the other at your side just before recovery. Hold this position for a few seconds, complete your recovery and hold the glide position with the arms switched. I hope that makes sense. It is a great drill to make sure you are completing one stroke before beginning the next one. It also helps a swimmer get very long and lean in the water.

I hope it helps.

Thanks

The 10x10 drill is so called because of the 10 kicks each side, but you can also do it with 8,6, or 4, depending on your kicking style, and your comfort.