MJEWEN Summer 2013 Mentor Group - OPEN (Page 4)

I did the Apple Duathlon on Saturday. 5K run - 30K bike - 5K run. This was a qualifier for World Duathlon race later this summer so there were more out of staters than normal. I had a real good race, finished 4th in my AG and did qualify for Worlds. Race report at link below.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

Lee - Great job on the race. One thing that helped me get better at transitions was practicing them at home.

Ken - the plan I'm using has me biking 3-4 times a week. 1. Long ride 2. Intervals 3. Zone 2 ride 4. high cadence Zone 1 ride.

Denise - Good luck this weekend. Sounds like your training is going great!

Melissa - My knee is hurting too. I was bragging about a week ago how great my knee was feeling and wham all of a sudden it has started hurting. I haven't missed any training time yet but if it doesn't start feeling better soon I might have to take some time off.

Tom - I put body glide on my wrists, ankles, and around armpits when putting on wetsuit. If I was going to use body glide for running I would apply the glide to your running shoes in the area you want it because it will take to much time in a sprint to apply in T2.

Mike - Congrats on the race. Nice bike split! That is my goal this year to get my biking up in the 20+mph range.

Got up this morning and got 1800m in at the pool and ran 3 very easy miles trying to take it easy on my knee.


This morning something funny/weird happened. A little prelude to the story. Last year I was driving to the pool to go swimming and a song came on the radio called Rock the Boat by Hues Corporation. It is definitely not my preferred genre of music I'm more of a 60's-70's classic rock with some 80's hair band thrown in but I couldn't get this song out of my head when I was swimming and had one of my best swims ever. So when I bought a swimming ipod this year I had to buy that song and put it on. So my ipod has Rock the Boat plus about 100 other songs on it.

At the pool this morning in the middle of my 500m warm up as usual I wanted to cut it short at about 200m. I don't know why this happens but I try and talk my self into cutting my warm up short every time. The song I was listening to just ended and I was approaching the wall and I told myself I'm stopping unless Rock the Boat comes on (1 in 100 shot) and I'll be damned if it didn't come on! So I finished the 500meter warm up and went on to maybe have my best swim of the year!

Edited by EKH 2013-05-29 9:52 AM

That's crazy!! That had to have you laughing and shaking your head.

My knee is doing a little bit better after a whole week of no running. I ran 3 today, very easy at the track. It was good, so I am encouraged and will continue on with my usual running plan after this.

For cold water swimming I put in silicon type ear plugs and they worked great, up to the point where I tried taking them out. It took a good 2 mins to get them both out. Do you race with ear plugs in for cold water and if so any special tips for removing them?

Ok. I'm in for the mentor group. I made the commitment to try triathlon with perhaps a whim of seriousness just a few weeks ago. I have done adventure races for the last 5 or so years. After being a semi couch potato since college, I decided to try out some adventure races - my husband made them sound so fun. I started with shorter races in the 2 hour range and have slowly moved up the endurance ladder and now do races up to 12 hours in length. I love the multi-sport and team aspect of those races. I have done 2 local Xterra sprint tri's in the past. And 2 weeks ago I did a 5150 sprint tri in Kansas with out much training. I've run a handful of half marathons but have to admit just running is very, very boring to me. As the result of a hard fall on the knee cap during a run just over a year ago I've had knee pain whenever my runs reach over 6 miles - so half marathon and HIMs are very likely out for me. Sprints and Oly's are my options.

This year I will focus on sprint tri's which is probably best because my swim needs a lot of work.

After competing in the 5150 two weeks ago, I found I had the drive to actually train for a tri and perhaps get on the podium at the next race. As of today I am now signed up for 2 more sprint tri's this summer and very likely another off road Xterra - where I feel more comfortable.

I have no swimming background, other than floundering around at the local pool in the summers as a kid in elementary school. But I did start swimming laps this spring twice a week. I always loose count of my laps and I like to take breaks quite often. Swimming wears me out! Just timed myself on some 50's this morning for the first time, ever, and I even did a flip turn (which I was told was pretty ugly).

I'm 39, I have 2 kids, work full time, and have been married for 13 years. I'm also from Nebraska (like LandMammal & Denise).

Hopefully I can find this mentor group again after I leave this page, and you all will allow me to join in.

Edited by crissy_jo 2013-05-29 8:03 PM

Welcome Crissy! Adventure races that last 12 hours? WOW! What exactly do you do in adventure races?

Melissa - Glad to hear your knee is feeling better. Mine is so-so. Sometimes I think it is better and then it starts aching again.

Tom - I experimented with earplugs last year because after long ows I would be dizzy coming out of the water and I was told earplugs might help (they didn't). Although the earplugs I used looked like little Christmas trees and they were very easy to pull out.

Edited by EKH 2013-05-29 8:44 PM

Adventure races are like triathlons on steroids. Sort of, but done together with a team the entire time, not as a solo athlete. It entails mountain biking, running, trekking, orienteering, canoeing/kayaking, and usually team challenges (could be anything from walking on stilts to balancing items on your head to filtering 5 gallons of water to make it potable, etc). You are self sustained - you must carry everything you need for the race, drink, food, first aid, spare tubes, emergency blanket, pumps, etc.

They have less intense urban races (I'm doing one in Omaha this Saturday), and more intense off road races where you get map UTM coordinates you have to plot and then figure out the best way to get to all those spots (called check points). First team to finish and has the most check points wins.

I've done it in 15°F w/ 8" of snow and 8" of mud in 100° heat.

Here is an older video that may help explain it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WLZ0Sb24-A&list=PL3CAE0B086A57BDB2

This one (eco challenge) is a little more extreme than the one's I've done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpD87gZAIQI&list=PL3CAE0B086A57BDB2

Crissy that sounds very cool! Although for someone who is directionally challenged like me it sounds like it could be a disasterous.

Crissy - welcome to the group! There is some way to sign up to get notification whenever someone posts to the thread, and that email has a direct link to it. I haven't set that up this time, and I forget how to do it. Maybe Mike will chime in and remind us?

Those races sound like a lot of fun! My husband was just telling me about something he had read about a similar style race, I think it was canoeing, running, orienteering... It really does sound like a great activity to do as a group.

Emile, that's a bummer that your knee has that nagging problem. Do you know what the underlying problem is?

Tom, were those earplugs silicone? My husband has some that are, and they warn against rolling them and putting them too far in the ear canal. I guess they can be pretty squishy and maybe can be inserted too far.

Mike - I enjoyed your race report! Congratulations on qualifying for Worlds, but it sounds like you won't be able to go because of the USAT nationals?

I have that long swim this Saturday, and I know a lot of people will be using earplugs. I won't, just because I haven't experimented with them before. I am feeling some butterflies, especially after our swim class yesterday. We had a Q&A session, and just hearing all of the details has me all freaked out that I will forget something important. I'm sure it will be fine, and the more I hear about the current, people say that a bucket can finish the 2.4 miles in under 2 hours.

Melissa - My knee bothers me from time to time due to an old high school football injury. I really think it is bothering me right know because since school has been out I've been wearing flip flops 24 hours a day and not in supportive shoes like I wear to work.

I'm really looking forward to hearing about your swim this weekend. You've put in a lot of hard work and your going to do awesome! Are you planning on doing freestyle the entire 2.4 miles?

Ah, yes, the flip-flop season is definitely here. I am guilty of that, too. They are just too easy and comfortable. School is out there already? We still have the rest of this week and 3 days next week. At the elementary level, it is just award ceremonies, parties and 5th grade graduation. In the high school, most kids exempt those last few days of the semester, so summer break begins this weekend for them.

I will be sure to check in and write up a report! After all, this group here is pretty much the only place to share all the stuff we go through. I, for one, know that my family gets a little tired of hearing all the boring details.

I do plan to do freestyle, but I am sure I will have some breaststroke breaks in there both to get a break and to get myself situated in a good line. From what I hear, it is really important to have a good line going under the bridge, because if you get too close to the pilings, you can really get pulled off course by the strange currents. One lady - one of the instructors of the class - had a close encounter with some barnacles on the concrete slabs around the pilings. Ouch - I definitely want to avoid that kind of thing!

Here is a map of the route (sorry it's so huge!):



Edited by melanfi 2013-05-30 11:59 AM






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Melissa - Thanks for the pic of the race course. It looks like a very cool swim! Is there going to be buoys or do you just follow the river bank? I know what you mean about your family getting tired of hearing about triathlon. My family could care less about tri but they do come to all of my races to support me.

Terry - How are you feeling? Have you gotten your energy back?

Ken - How is the swimming going?

Had a pretty good workout this morning hitting 50 laps again. Its still a struggle at the end, but getting easier. My breaks are getting shorter too. Took yesterday off due to feeling under the weather and cut my swim short the day before. I think the bike ride took more out of me than I was aware of. I'm used to more muscle soreness after a hard effort because that happens pretty often with running, so still getting used to how my body reacts to swim and bike.

Melissa.. looking at that map makes me try to fathom what it would be like to swim that far. Holy cow. I used to think running a marathon was a big challenge and try to fully grasp how far it is to run by relating it to distances between cities, etc. But, swimming that far seems much worse to me because on a marathon you get to stop at a port-a-potty or pretty much anywhere you want to at any time to take a break if you absolutely have to. If I stop swimming I kind of sink so that's an incredibly long distance in my mind

Ken sounds like you are making some real progress. Have you started lengthening your sets yet or are you still doing a ton of 25's concentrating on your form?

The breaks are getting really short, almost to the point where its like a 50 instead of a 25. I'll go 25 then take 2-3 big breaths and turn around then maybe about 15-30 seconds rest and then repeat another lap. I can do that for about 4 laps or so then take a bigger break.

Hopefully in another week or so I can skip the break @ 25 entirely. If I try to do it now, I find my form gets too bad on the home stretch of the 50.

Swimming is so humbling. As I'm doing my "workout" I'm often passed by elderly folks who don't take breaks. I swim at a reasonable pace except for the breaks.

I'm pretty proud of my bilateral breathing though I've got that down and usually don't end up with a lungful of chlorine.

Ken sounds like you are doing great! After reading your post a tip came to mind which was passed on to me by a pretty good swimmer. He told me not to bi-lateral breath. He said if your going to ows it is nice to be able to breath on both sides but you want to breath every other stroke. He suggested switching sides each length so on the way down the pool breath on your right and on your way back breath on your left or switch sides every 100meters or so on. The reasoning he told me was you want to get as much air as you can when you are swimming and you are supplying your body a lot more air when breathing every 2 strokes instead of 3. As I was watching the Olympics last summer I watched the swimming and noticed besides the sprints pretty much everybody was breathing every 2 strokes.

Question for everyone. Does anybody incorperate other strokes beside freestyle into your swim workouts and if so why?

From reading the swim smooth book, I'm sold on the benefits of bilateral breathing, especially for OWS. But I think it could help me quite a bit to breath every two strokes so I'll give it a try to see if it helps me go longer distances. I think if I swim some bilateral and some on the left and some on the right, it should help me in the long run quite a bit.

I'm a firm believer in learning to bilateral breathe. It really helps your swim stroke get more symmetrical and with proper body rotation. You must rotate properly to breath, I think that is why we struggle with it initially. Once I focused on rotating my body breathing on my weak side got so much easier. Suddenly I could breath and not worry about swallowing water. My normal breathing pattern in both training and races is 3-2-3-2. This is not quite switching sides every breath and not quite breathing every 2 strokes so on the same side all the time. The ability to breathe off of either side is vitally important in choppy water. I do mix it up in training but my normal hard sets are the 2-3-2-3 pattern.

Another thing to concentrate on during breathing regardless of how you are breathing is to keep your head in the water and only rotate far enough to breathe. Many people over rotate which causes snaking and scissor kicks or lift their head out of the water which causes the feet and legs to drop. Really try to focus on keeping the weak side goggle in the water when you breath.

Welcome Crissy! Adventure racing sounds like a blast. I've considered doing a canoe, run, bike race but it's never worked out. The team concept would make it interesting.

Mike- congrats on the world qualifying.

Crissy, adventure racing sounds like fun - welcome to our group.

Melissa - your 2.4 mile swim is inspiring.

Ken. Bi-lateral breathing is essential. One drill I do to improve lung capacity is to breath every 3-5-7-9-7-5-3 strokes. i.e. 50 yds -3 strokes and breath, 50 yds - 5 strokes and breathe etc.... the breath on odd stokes causes you to breath on opposite sides. as you progress with your distance, you are also reducing the amount of oxygen you take in. It's quite an exercise.

Emile. Yes, feeling better. I've been sleeping quite a bit and well. Getting ready mentally for tomorrow's HIM. We've had rain every day here for the past week and are expecting 60% chance tomorrow and it's supposed to be very windy.

When I do my swims, I often do breast and back strokes. There are also one arm and no arm drills, that are somewhat like a side stroke, i would guess. Those are to practice balance in the water. A portion of my swims is to kick.... I use alot of dolphin kicks for that

I'll update more on Sunday after the race....I've just been really busy at work the past few weeks....oh- I'm getting used to the new site format- I do like the workout upload for my Garmin......

How's everybody's day going?

I got in 1 hour on the trainer doing intervals, swam in my pool using the tethering system, and substituted 15min of running with aqua jogging to give my knee a little break.

The day went well for me. Got up to West Palm Beach for the packet pick up about 2:00pm.... checked my bike in, talked to some friends at a vendors booth. drove home....... a little restless this evening....... I have to be on the road at 4:00am to get up and place all transition items out and get a timing chip and body markings..... This is a first Saturday race for me... it seems somewhat awkward..... usually there is Saturday to get all prepared and take an easy day to get set up and ready for Sunday.... this is definitely different planning.

Emile... how is it swimming with a tethering system? any suggestions?

Terry - the tethering system is ok. It's endless swimming in my backyard pool with no wall to have to stop and turn around. It feels a little different than normal swimming I've tried to figure it out and I can't put my finger on it. I think one thing that is different is I don't think you are creating much of a bow wave because you are swimming in one place so you have to tilt your head a little higher than normal to get a breath. My goal is to try and get to the pool twice a week this summer and swim either with the tether system or in the lake once a week. Although it is also a good fall back like today was my day to go to the pool but due to other obligations I couldn't make it so I just stepped into my backyard and got a swim workout in. If interested the one I bought was Aqua Sphere Stationary swimmer for $16.95 at Swimoutlet.com.

Good luck tomorrow! Look forward to hearing how you do.