Give it a Tri - CLOSED (Page 4)

Wow, its been a while since I have been on here.  I guess this is my first actual report on my training to this group.  Unfortunately for me I came down with an ear infection a week prior to the official start of my training, but am now over that after a round of antibiotics.  I got to swim for the first time this week and found out its a lot different then I remember from high school (almost ten years ago).  I am excited to get back into the water next week and see if I have improved after watching some youtube videos on freestyle swimming form.  From the videos I know there was a lot of things I am doing wrong in my swim stoke.  If anyone knows good drills to improve your swim stoke it would be greatly appreciated.  In the next two weeks I hope to improve my stroke, so I can increase the distance in my swimming.  My goal is the sprint distance of 500 yds. 

Also, last weekend I finally got my bike together, a mt. bike with smooth tires and clipless petals, and had a few rides this past week.  Its exciting to get a break from just running, and now I am focusing on the two sports that I am not accustom to (swimming and biking).

I hope everyone else is enjoying there training.

Chris

Chris,

 Glad to see you've kicked everything off.  Starting can sometimes be the hardest part.

As for swimming, I would recommend single arm drills and a "catch up drill" that helps focus on arm strokes.  Catchup drill involves doing one arm at a time: after you complete one stroke your hand rejoins your other out in front of you (catches-up with the front) you pause and then do the other arm.  Kinda a "pull right-rest-pull left-rest" pattern.  Lets you concentrate on each arm one at a time.

Hope that helps.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply.

I have to accept that there is still a long way to go and that it is necessary to, well, keep the feet on the ground...

As you say, it would require increasing swim training quite a lot and therefore also necessary to have the priorities clear from the beginning. 

So, I guess I will stick to trying a sprint tri this summer and save the long-distance swim for maybe next year (Although when high on adrenaline, I have these visions of me finishing the olympic distance...)

Kind regards,

Lars

I completed my indoor sprint triathlon today. As expected, my run time was slow (but a good sign because I ran the entire length - something I could not do for the past couple months due to foot issues); swim and bike time was as expected for me.  I absolutely accept the fact that I am a slow endurance "athlete" but it's fun to train to get better.  

I used the tips you and Lars provided me a couple weeks ago and were helpful.  Thank you!!!  I found that concentrating on using my forearms (with a bent extension of the arms) to propel me in the water helped me swim faster (at least I feel like it).   Now, that I've completed this first one, I am going to try to concentrate on my right arm stroke.  I have noticed that my right arm is less strong than my left b/c it is not my dominant side. So i will start doing the one sided arm drills as suggested.  

I too, was thinking of doing a long course triathlon, but am somewhat worried since I know that swimming in the pool and open water is extremely different.  If I were to train for a tri in October, how would I go about training for the swim portion, 2 pool swims and 1 outdoor swim a week?  Also, the 6 mile run is also tricky, since I don't want to injure feet again.  I plan on going to a foot dr to see if I need to redo my orthotics or if there are shoe inserts that are better fitted to my feet.  

Thanks

Jasmine

Jasmine,

 Congrats on your Tri!

Don't overthink the swim.  While there is a difference between openwater and pool you don't need to kill yourself trying to find regular openwater training site.  Its good to do it at least once so you know what the difference feels like, but then you can do the rest of your training in the pool without any adverse effects. 

Don't be in a rush to increase your distance.  This goes for everyone as well.  Its hard not to want to run a longer race, but don't think a Sprint distance is just a beginners distance.  There are professional atheletes that only run Sprints.  Once you've done your Sprint, rather than try to ramp up your training to go longer, perhaps you ramp up to be faster at another Sprint.  This help you avoid any overuse injuries that come from getting cocky and increasing your running distance too fast.

Again congrats on your recent race! 

Hi All!

Good to be back Still have not sorted a road bike, and I think I might do one more with a mountain bike. Have started spinning in the gym now, with running straight after, so hopefully that will help me get the stamina to run my next 5K at the end. I found the spinning classes so much different to riding a bike though At the moment I have decided to just stay seated and do the climb seated and I take it steady, not resting my legs (slowing down). Any better approach to spinning classes? I will try and get out on my bike on the weekends to as well.

One more question re. swimming. My next tri is in May and water temperatures will be around 20 deg. How can I prepare for that (or is that not really bad)?

Cheerio from sunny Australia

So then, signed up for the sprint in July.

Though I haven't trained a lot these last weeks due to some unpleasant incidents where I had to think more about others than me, I hope that I will be able to perform acceptably in 4 months.

I filled in a finishing time of 1:40 - 1:45, in the hope that it I could do something like:

Swim: 20 mins / Bike: 50 mins / Run: 30 mins

All the best,

Lars

Hi Everyone,

Just giving an update on my training and particularly the swimming aspect.

My current training schedule is as follows:

Sunday: 5k run minimum

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 20 min swim 

(My swimming is getting better. I used Mike's advice, but find I stall in the water if I don't have more speed.  This I am getting better at though, since I can tell that my back side is low in the water causing drag. Lifting my back side and keeping my head lower in the water is helping me.  Currently I can do 50 yds then I need a break, but am getting better ever time I go swimming.  The goal is 500 yds without stopping, since I can't do that in the middle of a lake.)

Wednesday: 7-8 mile bike ride (goal is 16 miles)(On rainy days I use the spin bikes at the gym for 25 mins)

Thursday: 20 min swim

Friday: rest

Saturday: 8.5 mile bike ride (This ride takes me around 40 mins, but I believe my current route has more hills then the race route.)

I feel I am on a good schedule between family, work, and training. Closer to the race I am planning on riding and running in combination.  The swimming is still by far my biggest concern.  I have found using a Strava app keeps the rides a little more exciting and I get to see if I have made any progress from the last time I rode a route.  For those of you that don't know Strava is a phone app that tracks your rides and shows how you compare to others who have ridden the same route/ hill climbs.

Wish everyone the best of luck in there training.

Chris

Hey all!

   My training has been progressing well.  We finally got my bike road ready (modified mountain bike for now) ans I can't believe how much my swimming has improved.

The best part is that I signed up for swimming class for triathletes.  Both coaches are triathletes and one just went pro.  I was in the beginner class the first week, and last week was moved into the intermediate class (much to my chagrin) - but I LOVED it!  In January, I really hated the swim and was struggling just to try to swim 25m without losing it in the water.  Today, I was supposed to do drills for about 30 minutes.  When I finally looked at the clock, 40 minutes had gone by and I had to get out of the water so I could go home and run. 

Every day I'm loving this more and more!  First race is in May - and the only thing I'm really worried about are the transitions. . . 

Karen

Hey gang, Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  A little bit of drama at this end.  Congrats to those of you who have posted updates.  I see some great progress there.  Remember that after a leap forward there will be a plateau where you might not feel you are progressing.  Don't get frustrated, just keep on plugging and another leap will occur.

I finally getting out of my funk, in part to your motivation and am looking for a race this summer (and looking for a new bike since I stripped down my old to make my wifes new bike).  My thanks to you in providing me the stimulation to get off my butt and back in the game.

Hello everyone! It's been good to read how everyone is progressing with training and races, and it's great to read all of the advice from Mike and the rest of you. Just a quick update on where I'm at:

I decided to go ahead and get membership at a gym where I can swim. I am VERY glad I did too - even though I'm in good running shape, it definitely didn't translate to the water! First couple times at the pool I could barely swim 120 feet without having to stop for a rest. That was about 1 1/2 months ago, and now I can swim well over a mile without rest. I've been swimming 2-3 times a week and reduced my running to about 15-20 miles per week, along with maybe 10-15 miles a week cycling. I plan on increasing my cycling when the weather starts to warm up.

All in all I feel pretty good about where I'm at. There's a sprint tri and olympic distance tri in May, and I have no doubt I can do the sprint, but I'm flirting with the idea of going all out for the olympic distance though. Either way, I'm going to ramp up my training miles and intensity to try to get the best time possible. Still need to find a road bike. Other than that I'm ready to go!

Hi All,

good to see you back Mike Hope the drama is well over and dealt with and you can re-focus.

@mmclain: I share your view on gym with pool, working well for me also, especially now as it is getting darker + soon cooler in the morning. I don't feel like getting up early morning and get out in the dark. Well done on the swimming, I still find it amazing how fast one can progress in the pool, I struggled to breathe properly last August and swam 25m at a time, on Friday I swam 3.2k and went to work afterwards...

Question to all: how do you deal with training when travelling? On my regular short trips I try to rearrange my training to suit the 1 or 2 day trips, but I am also going to Europe for 2 weeks soon and I work on a trade fair there, have conferences and try to cram in visiting family and friends as well, so trying to make time to train is going to be difficult. On top I'll be severely jetlagged, have heaps of evening functions and only about 4 weeks after I return before my next tri. Any ideas?

Have a great week!

Leila,

 Thanks and as for exercise while traveling:  Thats a hard one and requires you to be both creative and compromising.  The most obvious thing that gets lost when traveling is swim workouts.  Its tough to find an appropriate sized pool to get a good workout in.  I've tried to do a workout in the little hotel pools and while you can do sprint intervals (alot of intervals) its hard to do anything other than that.  Biking also suffers, but you can at least keep yourself partially sustained by use of stationary bikes.  Not ideal, but better than nothing.  Maybe mix it up between hoping back and forth between a stationary bike and a treadmill; practice those Bricks.   Running is the easiest and actually can be the most fun, as you can explore new areas.  You need to probably sacrifice any particular set run profile if you don't know the terrain you'll see, but it can be fun to explore at a good easy pace.

In short, its very hard to improve ones fitness while on travel but with some creativity you can sustain your current fitness.

Hi Everyone!

I have been "lurking" for quite awhile now so I thought it was time I made a post.

I'm about halfway through my 16 week plan (first race is 5/18) and I'm starting to think that I have a fighting chance.  At first I was struggling mightily with the swim (50yds was all I could muster), but after swimming twice a week, watching lots of YouTube swimming videos and getting a short lesson I am now swimming about 1000 yds per workout, and am easily able to make 100yd intervals. It is defiantly winter here still, so my running and biking has been confined to the treadmill and my trainer, but I'm feeling OK there too.  I'm really enjoying this website, and the motivation it provides.  Thanks to everyone!

So, on to a question....

Mike, with the progress I'm making I'm starting to think about what lies beyond the first Sprint race on 5/18 (probably a huge mistake, but I can't help it).  In researching other races throughout the summer it seems there are two that fit my schedule in September (perfectly set 16 weeks after my first race).  Both are open water swims, one is a Sprint the other an Olympic distance.  I'm tempted to aim high and go for the Olympic, but that might be too much.  What do you recommend, should I stick to another Sprint, or go for the Olympic?  If I did the Olympic, I'd probably want to find another Sprint with an open water swim to do before September.  Thoughts?

Thanks again everyone!

Steve

Steve, Congrats on your progress in training.  My recommendation to you and everyone is to do three Sprints before you up the distance.  My reasons are as follows:

1. The first sprint is just meant to survive and to cross the finish line.  Forget times, efficiency and speed.  Just experience the event and get an appreciation for the flow and what it takes to cross.

2. Second sprint is to optimize the little things.  Confusion in T1 and T2, goggles that fit, a bike that doesn't have streamer and a bell on it.

3. Third sprint, now you are actually competing against the others in your age group.  You know what to expect and are trying to beat your previous times as well as chase down others you target in your age group and fitness level.  Now, I would call  you a "real triathlete" because you are competing for time against the course, not just trying to survive.

Making these improvements from race 1 to 2 to 3 is complicated enough without also increasing your distance.  There is a fundamental difference in strategy between a sprint and a Oly or HIM; concern of perserving leg energy, fueling on the course, etc.  In my opinion you will have a very unsatisfactory Oly if its your 2nd race and you risk injury by upping your training distances from Sprint to Oly without really being ready.

r/

Mike

Thanks Mike - good advice.  One follow-up.  Do you have any thoughts on how much time to leave between each race for recovery and additional training?

Thanks again.

Steve,

 Much will depend on how sore you are from your races.  For example, my adrenaline or competitive ego will let me work at 150% effort on a race but leaves me sore and crushed for a week or two after.  The fastest I've ever tried was 3 weeks between two sprint races.  I was slower on the 2nd, so 3 weeks was too fast for me.  Based on that I'd recommend at least a month.  I think you can hedge that a little between race 1 and 2 (based on my previous theory) because you are changing technique more than fitness.  However between 2 and 3 I'd wait at least a month, if not 6 weeks, in order to allow rest/recovery and make noticable improvements. 

r/

Mike

Hey gang,

 I'm back in the game and have a Sprint of my own in June. 

 Jeez, this training stuff is hard! 

Hope everyone is doing well and have had an opportunity to get outdoors.  I know the weather isn't cooperating but maybe, just maybe, we've finally turned the corner into spring.  Keeping fingers crossed!

Hey gang,

 The sun is out, the birds are singing and the air is right for training.  I'm going to go ahead and say that Spring is finally here.  Time to unclip the bike from the trainer and detangle the xbox controller cable from the handlebars. (thats the secret to making long rides on the trainer bearable by the way...).

How's everyone's training coming along?

Cheers Mike!  Spring is starting to show her face here too.  I've had a few short (and cold) rides outside already, and looking forward to more soon.

With about 5 weeks to go before my first race, I'm feeling as good as can be expected.  At this point I have little doubt that I'll finish, now its just a matter of how gracefully.  The swim continues to be a challenge, but I am still seeing improvements.

My travel schedule will be picking up in the next few weeks, so I'll have to start to get creative with training on the road.  So if anyone has a magical solution to that, please speak up!

Happy training!

Steve

As to how the training is getting along overhere, I must say that I am quite satisfied. Although these last weeks have been rather hectic, I have been able to maintain an acceptable training volume.

This afternoon we had - at last - a little sunshine and a tolerable temperature so I took my bike and did a 22 K hilly ride (well, here in Andorra everything is, by definition, hilly) and then went to the pool to do 1100 m. All in all quite relaxing.

I am satisfied wth my swimming but I am as slow as always. When it comes to running, I would know what to do in order to become faster, but in the pool I am a little lost. Any advice?

Then I also bought an Aqua MP3 - actually quite nice with a little music in the pool.

All the best

Lars

Lars,

Ah, music to swim by.  I found that immensely helpful when doing long pool swims.  Actually I found an audiobook was even better than music (as long as I could get lost in an interesting book).

How to get faster in a pool?  Two things make up a good swim stroke:  technique and strength behind the pull.  Technique comes with practice and the gains you'll see are from making yourself more hydrodynamic (more efficient and less drag).  The part most then don't pick up is putting force into their pull in the water.  Many people can rotate their arms but if you look, you'll see that their hand just kinda floats by their body from front to back.  You need to put effort and actually pull/push through the underwater phase, all the way down past your hips.  This will hurt triceps and lats at first but is necessary to ensure you are getting the propulsion you need.  Speed will come when you get better at making this pull/push as effective as possible.  The only way to do it, is to do it.  This'll sound cliche, but the only way to get faster swimming is to swim faster.  Do sprint intervals and do single arm drills/sprints.

r/

Mike

Thanks for your advice.

I think I am not very hydrodynamic. Especially when I am breathing to my right side I feel I slow down and my left arm sinks down almost vertically. I definitely have to work on that.

And as to force in the pull phase, I have to accept that I also need more muscle.

This week I'll start trying with intervals; time has come to challenge myself more in the pool - so far it has been a little too comfortable I guess. 

Still, I am very satisfied all in all. Not long ago swimming 1500 m non-stop was something I only dreamt about.

Kind regards,

Lars

P.S. Good idea with the audiobooks; I hadn't even thought of that.