Pilgrim's Group - Full (Page 4)

Darren, I am doing the couch to sprint. There are days I can do the items in one workout. Other times I have to break it up due to time / family stuff. Sometimes I even have to switch my swim days just becuase they sometimes fall on days I can not get to the pool (gymnastics and soccer practice fall on the same days). I think the important thing is the get the time / mileage in.

Juls

Good morning group!

got a good run in yesterday and a nice short ride in this morning... felt good... I tweaked something in my foot yesterday during the run... Physical Therapist wife thinks its planter faceiatus (sp?) dug my birkenstock insoles out of some old shoes (sport 2-piece) and that helped me walk without as much pain this morning, so that is good... hope everyone had a good weekend of training and relaxing!

Hey everybody!

Saturday I chickened out of my outside ride because it was 32 degrees and sleeting, so I did a spin class, a moderate swim (800m) , and some core training. I've also modified my schedule so that Sunday is no longer a day off. So I did some more of the same from the previous day. While swimming, I focused on reaching out as far as I can and rolling from the hips. The rolling certainly made it easier to get a breathe. I think the reaching helped me as well, but my shoulders are a little sore. I'm not to the point where I am comfortable trying to drag my fingertips or a kick turn. . .yet.

I need to get a swim cap since it's required for the race. Hopefully, it will keep that water out of my ears. I also need a swim suit that has less of a parachute drag effect. :-) Do most people just swim, bike, and run in the same pair of shorts? Doesn't the dampness cause an issue? I think I could use some gear recommendations.

Mark E.

P.S. - Swam next to a guy wearing one of those bone-technology underwater mp3 players. He loved it, but spent more time fidgeting with it than swimming.

Josh, how was the ride Saturday, cold???? I hope to catch up with you one weekend in the Woodlands. Hope the foot feels better

Hi everyone! Hope everyone's training is going well... One thing that's really helped me stay loose is doing 15-20 min yoga in the evening. I'm not a natural born runner, so I tend to get pretty stiff after a run. I've found that doing some relaxing yoga especially for evenings really stretches the tightness out, and helps me keep going through the week. Helps me sleep better too! I'm a yoga person, but think it would really be beneficial for everyone, especially tri newbies like me.

Suggestions for good DVD's for beginners are Gaiam's am/pm yoga & Barbara Benagh's AM/PM Yoga. Both are on Amazon, if you're interested.

All the best to you!

Wow, I’m happy to see all the activity that has taken place in my absence! I’ll try to get to your logs today and see how things are going.

Here are a few things based on your recent posts.

Indeed a brick workout is typically one that includes bike to run one after the other. The purpose of this workout is to get you used to making that transition from bike to run, which can be a bit difficult at first. It is important that you try and make this transition within about 5 minutes or so otherwise you lose a bit of the effect that is experienced in a race. A brick is usually done on the same day as your long bike and the run is typically only 10 to 20 minutes though the longer your race the longer the run. Another transition workout you can do is to practice getting out of the water and jogging through transition. Just do your long swim and then hop out of the water as quickly as you can and jog a few feet. This will get you used to the wobbly and disoriented feeling most people have after swimming because you have been horizontal for a while and much of the blood has rushed to your upper body where all the work has been taking place. Some people suggest you can kick harder in the final 100 meters of the swim and that helps with the blood flow problem but I have never found this to be the case but it’s worth mentioning.

Oh, Juls is right about just doing your best to get in the time and miles. That is what will get you to the finish line comfortably.

Blisters…yes one way to deal with blisters is with a lubricant like body-glide (which by the way I don’t find particularly useful despite the fact that most triathletes pray to it like a god). One problem with lubricants and feet is that they have a tendency to make your feet sweat more and wet feet make for soft feet and soft feet are more likely to blister. The lubricant may also make cause your socks to bunch, which will also lead to blistering. Try foot powder instead, or try both but not at the same time. I use foot powder because dry feet are more resistant to blistering and the powder in your socks and shoes reduces friction. On long runs I also wear Injinji socks, they have toes. This also reduces skin-on-skin friction in the shoes.

I would also recommend is to go to a good runners shoe store. Find a local running club and ask their opinion. Regular sporting good stores or general shoe stores are complete junk if you are an athlete…yes, you have all graduated from the realm of regular stores into the specialty store niche. Have your shoes properly fitted by an expert runner, most of the people who work in specialty stores are either current or former elite or professional athletes. You may find that you need to go with a larger shoe than normal because your feet swell over longer distances. You also need to stay on top of your hydration and electrolytes because imbalances can also lead to swelling but don’t worry too much about that in a short race.

USAT rules – you probably will not get disqualified for running in a triathlon with headphones but if you get caught you will receive a time penalty. The thing is if you happen to have gotten two other penalties then you will be disqualified. The other thing is that in the culture of triathlon, even in the little small races, there is a strong belief in adherence to the rules. Also, in the world of running it is more and more the case that headphones on the course are illegal though it is very hard to enforce in giant races like P.F. Chang’s.

Finally, the 10X100’s in the pool are a great way to build speed. It is hard to get the speed increase down correctly and I am not able to do it accurately either. However, the main point is to learn to tolerate swimming at anaerobic threshold where you are fastest and where many people start to panic. You also become a more efficient swimmer when you practice going fast but when you feel your form starting to deteriorate then you should back off and just re-focus on swimming nice and easy and smooth.

I finished my ultramarathon this weekend and have posted a race report on my blog site. I had a good time and set a new PR.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Agh! You guys are so busy on the board that there are three new posts during the time it has taken me to write this! Good Job!

Don’t worry about flip turns in the pool until you are comfortable in the water, a flip turn is almost never used in a triathlon unless you have a pool swim and usually, unless you are a very experienced swimmer, it is slower and you loose more energy doing flip turns.

The shoulder issue may be due to a modified stroke leading to muscle fatigue, you should get stronger and this won’t be an issue.

Most people do wear the same thing from beginning to end in a triathlon and you wear special clothing that dries very fast and it will not be an issue. For small races I really suggest you get a trisuit. It is kind of an expensive piece of clothing but they are awesome and they do fit tight so are good for swimming.

Trisport is great and so is Nytro and OneTri and All Three Sports. You can get a lot of discount items at sports basement.

Ok, I hope I got it all.

Brighton - I don't know much about yoga. Will it also help improve flexibility? I just had a body age assessment done and my flexibility truly needs improvement.

Thanks!
Juls

Pilgrim you are soooo good! Caught up on the scoop and did an ultramarathon, yikes! Okay, any funny stories from this one? In case I haven't said it before - thanks for your great support, encouragment and laughter!

Have a great week!
Juls

Well, I guess the only funny part is the fact that I was staying about 20 miles from the start line and was not paying attention to the time so I waited too long and ended up driving like a mad man trying to get to the race before it started. I got there with 5 whole minutes to spare. There were also a couple other “skills” that I developed this time that are rather indelicate but very good to have in the world of ultramarathon.

I was good and left the tunes at home. I figured with the music the bands provided, I wouldnt need it. I Really Really feel better running when I have music. During practice espically on a treadmill it is a lifesaver.

If you attempt flip turns make sure you have a little air to exhale thru your nose, it prevents the water from entering, which prevents chocking.

I am not a marine but when I start my second lap on the long hill run:

YES MASTER SERGENT!!!!! HOO-YA!!!!!

I heard it in a movie and I say it instead of thinking oh my God annother lap? I gotta do this again?

IT HELPS!!!

Trust in your training!

Olympic distance here I come!!!!

Hi Juls!

Yoga will improve your flexibility, to be sure! That's one of the main reasons I try and work it in to my training schedule. It stretches out tight muscles (really helpful for me after a run day), loosens up joints, and improves flexibility. If you're looking to improve flexibility, I would definitely recommend it. Just make sure you stick with more of a beginner routine to avoid straining too-tight muscles.

On another note, can I just say how much all this multi-discipline training is helping my core? I consider myself a fairly fit person-- I exercise every day, lift weights, eat pretty well, etc... But wow I've really noticed a change in my core, just in the last two weeks I've been training for the tri. Very, very nice for the post-two baby body!!!

Cheers, everyone!

Brian,
Glad I made the cut. Looks like this group is not-only rather full, but it's very active with people.

I was in the Marine Corps for 8 years. Just left this last July. I decided I'd like to see my Son (10 months old) and now a daughter (on the way in may) grow up and be around for them. The deployments were fun for me, but it was quite hard on the wife. Now I build wind-farms.
Since I left the Corps, I've been gaining weight, not really working-out with the same intensity, so I figured I'd bust the rust off my bike, buy a new set of shoes and give triathlons a tri (pun intended).

Goals:
Long Term: Marine Corps Marathon 26 October 2008.
Shorter Term:
-Sunrise/Sunset Relay across Florida (14.5 miles per person)
-Coconut Creek Sprint Tri (400M/10mi/2.5mi) First tri
-3 other sprint tris and one international distance tri

Experience:
Swim: most confident. I'm usually one of the fastest people in the pool. I was a lifeguard for 7 years and I'm a Rescue Diver.
Bike: middle. I'd be more confident if my bike fit. I bought a bike (that was too big for too much) about 10 years ago. Now I need to run about 3 triathlons to justify a new bike.
Running: I'm a clopper. Last PFT ran a 23:00 3 miles. Just Saturday, I ran a 5K race and it took me 28 minutes. I think losing some weight will help with more speed.

Weight: Starting: 249 Goal: 203

Funny thing about deciding to run a Marathon, all other distances seem so short. I just figured Triathlons would be a better way to train to that point. Glad to be in the group.

Couple of Questions for the group:

-What clips do you use for your bike shoes? I have LOOKs, because that's what I had on the bike I bought, but I'm open to changing if someone can give me a good reason to do so.

-Got any good ideas for keeping count of swim laps? I figured I'd try putting some ranger-beads on the edge of the pool and count after each 100M. I just start letting my mind wander and I lose count.

-What rest interval were you using for the 10 x 100M swims?

I want to offer to the person who asked about doing the exercises in a brick or spread-out through the day. I've noticed that when I brick my workouts, it's good for training, when I space them out over the day, I get better weightloss results. I think your metabolism restarts when you work-out and the more times you can get your heartrate going, the better for weight loss. I used to cut a lot of weight for wrestling and learned how to do it right after about 4 years of doing it wrong.

Building wind farms, how cool is that?!

The Marine Corps Marathon is one of my goal races too but I'm still looking for a spot in my schedule.

I think that three or four sprint triathlons and one international distance is a very achievable goal. Much of deciding how many races to do in a season depends upon your goals and life circumstances. You will of course need the time and money to do increasing numbers of events but it is also worth remembering that the more events you do the lower your expectations should be for top performance in each event.

Some people do not like the idea of not performing to their fullest potential in any given race so they race less and spend time training and tapering for each individual event no matter what the distance. Other people will use key short races as a hard effort brick to prepare for a longer goal race but their expectation is that the small race is a training day so they do little or no taper and just expect to do as well as they do. Using races as training days is were you get the idea of scheduling A races which are your most important races of the year and you want to do your best, B races where you want to do well but it is not that important and it is somewhat of a training day and C races in which you don't really care how you do because the entire purpose is to practice race strategies, pacing, nutrition or to try out relatively new gear or give your bike a good shakedown before an important event. A final category of triathlete is really in the sport for the social and fitness aspects of the sport and they really never care what place they may come in. This person can race often given an appropriate base of fitness.

I tend to fall into the second and third categories. I have done as many as 25 triathlons in a year, almost all sprints, pretty much one every weekend throughout the season and I had a blast. However, sometimes I will get serious and identify a race that I want to be particularly ready for. In this instance I will cut back on racing, focus more no training and identify at least one race at the next shorter distance to use as a hard training day to test my nutrition, pacing and equipment.

Yes, weight loss is free speed. Somewhere out there might be some concrete figures but for some reason 1 minute per 10 pounds lost off your 10K comes to mind. That figure is close for me. My first 10K PR was about 51 minutes when I weighed around 225 and it is now 47 minutes at about 200 pounds. Of course I also had two additional years or training which also counts for a lot.

I ride Shimano Dura Ace pedals and my wife rides Shimano Ultegra. The only reason I got the Dura Ace is because they came on my bike. The Dura Ace and Ultegra is the same design but the Dura Ace are about twice the cost. Here is something you might like to know, Look is the company who first came up with that particular pedal design and Shimano just copied the design. Many cyclists in particular still refer to that style of pedal, no matter who makes it, as "Looks." I would not change your Looks out for anything else. In fact, if you end up buying a new bike you should know, if you don't already, that most new racing bikes do not come with pedals so you can just pull your Looks and put them on the new bike and save yourself some cash.

I have difficulty keeping track of laps too and your idea sounds like a good one. What I have found helps me is to break my workout into ladders (100 – 200 – 300 – 400 – 400 – 300 – 200 – 100) or whatever distance you are doing…I can focus on the shorter distances. I may also break it up into something like 200 kick, 200 paddles, 200 pull buoy, 200 straight swim…anything to break down the distance into something more manageable. The other thing I will do for really long swims is to just swim by time. I know I can maintain about a 2 minute per 100 meter pace for at least 4,000 or 5,000 meters so I will just swim for an hour and a half or so and call it good.

A common rest for 10X100s is 30 seconds.

I also left out something, I kind of slammed on Body Glide but didn't say why or tell you what I use. I have found that Body Glide is not particularly long lasting. I have felt like it wears off too quickly and the stick runs out too quickly. I use something called Sportslick. This stuff is a bit hard to squeeze out of the tube but it simply will not wear off as far as I can tell. I purchased one tube, ONE, and have used it for about two years and have just bought a new tube because my wife started using it as well. That one tube took me through something like 4 marathons, 4 ironmans, 4 half irons and two ultra marathons and many more short distance races. I am not stingy with it either but it comes out very thick and spreads nicely.

Here's a link just in case: http://www.sportslick.com/

I love seeing all this activity, you all are doing great in supporting each other!

Oh, one other thing I thought about. Earlier I mentioned that you consider a trisuit as a race clothing option. I failed to mention that brands like Zoot and Louis Garneau are sized according to European/Canadian style and so for most Americans the posted sizes will be too small. Both those brands should have size charts but you can not say "Well, I normally wear a large" and then expect it to fit…check a size chart first.

Tyr brand suits are built to American size standards. I do not have personal experience with any other brand.

Just for information I have two Tyr trisuits, two Louis Garneau tri suits and two pair of Zoot tri shorts and I love them all.

I think you're right about the A/B/C race thoughts because my thought on the first tri (Feb 10) is just to get a race under my belt where I can see how everything works.

I think I'll run it and just try to stay out of the way of the serious people and just observe as I go along. I'll push during the phases, but just take my time and observe during the transitions.

The serious season for me starts in May with a series of 3 races all held on the same course, the only change is with the current direction changing the swim.

I say this with fear of great retribution from the group, but one of the nice things about south FL is that I can ride and run outside, and swim all-year in the ocean, and the worst thing you face really is a thunderstorm (or hurricane).

It was 85 last weekend for the Race for the Cure 5K and I really cooked in the heat because the temp was hotter than at my early-morning training times. Basically, it's nice to train year-round for whatever race I want and I can do so now without fear of being deployed again right-before my race like has happened 3 times now.

FYI Brian, the MC Marathon sign-up is April 30th starting at noon. You really have to be on-the-ball too because I think it fills up in the first 24 hrs. It's supposed to be the best beginner-marathon from what I've heard.

Brian,

Thanks for the info on the tri-suits. I hope to make my choice soon so I can get accustomed to it and settle into training.

Also, I like the thought of reducing the risk of injury and possibly speeding up recovery by doing yoga. My wife and I are going to give it a whirl tomorrow. I imagine she'll have a good laugh at my expense.

Mark E.

Hi,

I count my laps using the alphbet and call it alpha- laps.

Begginers: every length is a tetter.
Intermediate: Every lap or two lengths is a letter.
Advanced: 100 meters or 4 lengths is a letter.

85 degree weather sounds wonderful!!!! and here I am running with nails in my old shoes in the snow and ice, YUCK. I am Sooo ready for spring!!!!!

Thank you both for sharing what you use to prevent blisters. They are healing nicely and when they are healed I will try both.

I use the pedals that come with the bike, I will have to check tommorow what the names are. WOW No kick stands on regular every day bikes now. They want to charge 15 dollars for them to the general public. I say keep the darn things I always lock my bike to something and hardly ever use them anyways. This is not the 1950's when you just left your bike on the sidewalk.
There was a huge article about it in the transportation section in the Trib on Sunday.

Train hard, Train Fun!!!!

I am trying my first yoga session Thursday night Should be a sight!!!

Okay, I need some suggestions on breathing better for my swim. How often should I be breathing? I worked hard today on paying attention to my breathing. I noticed it is not consistent by any means, the only consistent is that I tend to breathe left. Help!!!

Thanks!
Juls

Juls,

I hope this can help with your breathing. This is really the kind of thing I wish I could show you in person because it sounds more complicated than it is.

I don't know about open-water or triathlon-race swimming (because you have to look where you're going), but when I breathe, I tuck my chin to the shoulder that I'm getting ready to leave the water with, then as my shoulder comes out of the water, my chin is right next-to-it. I usually do a Right-Left-Right-Breathe-Left-Right-Left-Breathe 3-stroke for longer swims, a 4 stroke and only breathe on the right side for speed. When I open-water-swim, I usually swing about every 3 or 4 cycles with my right arm and bring my head up with the arm to see where I'm going.

Breathe out while you're face is underwater so all you're doing when you're taking your breath is breathing-in and don't try to take too much air as that puts pressure on your lung muscles and can tire them out. Try breathing to the max of your lung capacity on-dry-land and you'll get faint-headed after a few minutes. Take-in only the air to get a neutral-air volume to your lungs. That's what I try to do.

Weather Report- 70 degrees when I got on my bike to ride to the pool this morning. Pool was about same temp. Sorry... You'll be laughing at me when I'm dying in the 100 degree March runs and you're out in the 65 degree perfect running weather.

Jeanette,

That's actually a great idea. I spend so long counting while I'm swimming that I get lost as to what my count is on what. I keep a stroke-count for breaths, a lap-count, gotta remember what time I left the wall. Alphabet definitely keeps it separate. Thanks for the tip.

Matt.

Matt - thanks for the breathing tips, I will try them this week. I honestly do not know if I am breathing out all of my air under water or not but that truly makes sense. I will also concentrate on my chin. Anything can help at this point!

Thanks again
Juls

Yep, the biggest mistake made by most beginning swimmers is that they do not breathe out enough when their face is under water so when you breathe in you get less new air and eventually your lungs are full of stale air.

No kickstand is a good thing, adds too much weight. Racing is all about lightweight gear.

That makes me wonder, what kinds of bikes are you folks riding?

As beginners I contend that it doesn't matter what kind of bike you have just so long as it has two wheels, a drive train, handlebars and preferably some breaks. However, there are some thing that you might do to your bike to make it a bit easier to ride in a race, things like removing kick stands, fenders, pretty much anything that doesn't make the bike go and putting slicks on mountain bikes.

I ride a 1997 model Bianchi with Champagnolo brakes and gears (the kind of gears you can hear for miles if you stop pedaling).

I have aero bars, but I just don't feel comfortable in the tuck yet because my bike is about 3-4 inches too big which means I'm leaning forward an awful lot to get to the bars.

I have standard wheels but the tires are a little rough.

I think I might take it to the local bike shop (J-Town Bikes) for service. They said it was $25 and that they would disassemble the whole thing and lube and bust rust and re-wrap the bars and that the only things you pay additional for are the handlebar tape, brake/gear cables and new tubes (I already have new tires).

Does that sound like a good deal?

Yeah, $25 for a service sounds good. Consider getting new tires and have the bike shop see if there is anything they can do to lessen the impact of having a top tube that is too long (referring to your big bike/over reach to the aero bars). A couple of tricks for effectively shortening the top tube is to see if you can get a shorter stem, reverse the seat post and run the seat as far forward on the rails as possible. That will also put the bike into a better triathlon geometry, which has a steeper angle on the down tube and shorter top tube resulting in the athletes' hips being almost directly over the cranks.

Speaking of aero bars, you should not be stretched out or have to reach out for your aero bars. When you are in them your elbows should be bent at a 90 degree angle and your shoulders should be flat across the back and square to the front. It is weird riding in the aero position at first but it becomes natural pretty quickly.

Oh, just incase, triathletes don't usually take turns while still aero, especially not tight ones, so if you are trying that and can't do it then stop trying and don't worry, it is very unstable. The Aero position is basically for going straight ahead.

Sorry, I'm free associating here. If you are going fast down hill and your bike starts to wobble or feels unstable just try pressing the inner thigh of one of your legs against your top tube and the ride should smooth out. When you are bombing down a hill, assuming you are not still pedaling, your feet in the pedals should be at 3 and 9 o-clock, parallel to the pavement, and you should be crouched as low as possible.