Rob Schwartz Group - OPEN (Page 4)

I will do that. I am Kali Tom in Zwift. I plan to do the FTP ramp test tonight in Zwift to hopefully get my power dialed in and then do about an hour ride in Zwift on Saturday morning. I have 3 Zwift workouts in the 2020 Tri (on the bottom of the list) menu that I was liking before the previous trainer died. Got signed up for swim lessons starting the 23rd as well. Things seem to be falling into place now after last weeks hiccup's, now it's just up to me to show up.

I am signed up for a sprint tri in May. I was thinking of wearing a pair of tri shorts and a short sleeved compression shirt for the entire race. Do you see any issues with wearing a typical compression shirt during the swim? I have heard that cycling jersey's can create drag if swam in and I definitely don't want any additional drag.

I'd try it out before the race to see how you like it. I'd consider going shirtless in the swim and throwing on the compression shirt in transition. Will probably only take 10 seconds or so.
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Happy Monday morning and happy President's Day. I had my biggest week of training ever with about 11 hours, including a 54 mile bike on Saturday and an open water swim yesterday. It felt great to be out in the SF Bay, even if it was 55 degrees. The upside is that it was calmer than usual with very little chop. I love open water swimming and it was great to get back at it - plus, I was 10 sec per 100 faster than my last OW swim about 6 months ago.

Sometimes progress is incremental and sometimes there are spikes. Would be interested in knowing what progress you've made in the last 6 weeks - whether incremental or spikey.

I think I may end up waiting till open water starts up in my neck of the woods. Got another e-mail this morning that the pool will be closed longer than expected. Got a good run in this last weekend. I think I am going to start plugging some strength workouts into my scheduled swim times until the pool opens up again.

Laying down a better base running than I have since surgery last Fall. Went for a 10k distance yesterday morning. Felt great.

I may be late to the party; looks like your group started in January. I am completely new to triathlon-- although I have biked distance but not for 15 years. Coming off a martial arts and lifting regimen with eye doctor telling me one eye can't take another impact injury. So I have that going for me. Lifting regimen has been basic bodybuilding/strength lifting. Just received clearance (or I will by Wednesday) to resume training and looking at doing first triathlon in June. Advice and insights?

Hi JM, welcome to the group! It sounds like you're coming in with an athletic background - so that's good. My first question is how is your swim? That's where a majority of people struggle. You can always slow down on the bike & run, but if your swimming is off- you sabotage your entire race. My second question is what type of racing are you considering- Sprint or Long Distance? BT (Beginner Triathlete) has some free training plans. Lastly, start slow and build up and just ask lots of questions.

Good Luck Training, Turner 100 (Rob)

Hi Guys, I finally recovered from 2 1/2 weeks of Bronchitis and had a good week of training!

I've read that it's important to write down your goals and be accountable so I'm going to start posting every Sunday. I'm 29 weeks out from Ironman Wisconsin.My focus will be to build for the first 15 weeks, lose 2 lbs./week and then add swimming in around week 16. Once it gets to summer, I'll start throwing in some fun workouts!

Race Goal- 11 Hours - this will be an 83 minute PR!
Weight Loss- Drop 40 lbs. with a starting weight 210 lbs.

Week 1 -
Monday 75 Minute Row
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday 90 Minute Bike
Thursday 45 Minute Run
Friday 90 Minute Bike
Saturday 90 Minute Run & 5 Mile Hike
Sunday 120 Minute Bike

Totals Row 75 Minutes, Bike 300 Minutes, Run 135 Minutes - Total 8.5 Hours
Weight Loss - 5 lbs. down to 205

General thought, I've got to remember to fuel when I go longer than an hour as I was wiped out after my long run on Saturday.

Thanks Turner 100 (Rob)

Hi Rob, good week of training and I'm jealous of your California weather. All of the inland lakes in Wisconsin are frozen and Lake Michigan is in the low 50's- too cold to swim for me! My first workout back was Monday- and I was still a little weak from my Bronchitis but got stronger as the week went on- overall, feeling pretty good for Week 1.

Turner100 (Rob)

Sorry all for the lack of communication - between kids, work, and training, I don't seem to have as much time as I need (I know, we're all in the same boat).

The last two weeks have been my biggest training blocks ever with over 11 hours including big bikes and runs on the weekends and no rest days for 16 days straight. Today is a rest day and this week is a much lighter 6. I'm just 5 weeks out from Oceanside 70.3 and almost feeling ready for PR's at each discipline. If I can finish off the training as planned and have a good taper, I'll put myself in a good position.

Rob - the CA weather is amazing. I do not take that for granted. Looks like you have a great plan going forward for this week and beyond. Your IM time is pretty impressive. My goal, should I decide to do one would be to finish by any means necessary.

JMGrossman - welcome to the group. I agree with Rob that you should take it slow and build up. I'd also encourage you to sign up for a local spring and just go for it. With your base of fitness, as long as you can swim a bit, you'll be able to finish it and it is a fun goal to train towards. If you don't swim, I'd start and either find.a coach or a group to swim with or check out Total Immersion, Triathlon Taren, or Tower 26 for a great foundation of instruction and drills online.

eea - keep it up and start layering in the other aspects of triathlon when you're ready.

RockHead - can't believe the pool still isn't open. Strength work would be a great use of the time. It has been a game change for me.

I hope I didn't miss anyone. I'll be posting all this week and hope you will be too.

How are folks doing this week? The place I swim at just hired a new multi-sport coach. I've done a few swim workouts with her with another tonight. It's great having someone with expertise. She's already given me helpful swim tips and I really enjoy the group workouts more than masters. I don't have to worry about modifying the workouts because there is too much butterfly or breaststroke.

Do you guys normally train in groups or alone?

Hey Guys, been super busy with work. Sorry for the lack of accountability on my part. This week is going good. The local pool finally opened on Wednesday and I plan to get back into the swimming tomorrow morning. I plan to put in a nice long bike and run on Saturday and another swim and some weights on Sunday. Next week is my recovery week and am looking forward to that (though I feel guilty with practically no swim during the first 3 weeks).

I have really been bonking during my longer workouts lately. Do you guys have any healthy, easy to grab, high calorie meals that you could recommend. I have added an additional lunch, which puts me around 3000 calories per day. We will see how that works.

I have been trying to practice eating gels and mixed nuts cereal bars while riding on the bike. That is going to take some time and practice.

Work calls again. I will report back over the weekend. Keep pounding away at it gang!

Great to hear that training is pickling up. A couple of things in response to your post:

1. On rest weeks, it's ok to keep the swimming effort hard. The low impact nature of swimming allows for it and the real recovery you need is in your legs. Avoid big kick sets, but definitely keep the overall effort up on the swim.
2. On nutrition, a few thoughts. (a) Are you fueling right after workouts? Make sure you're getting a healthy-ish snack and/or meal 30-45 minutes after a workout. My go-to easy thing is an almond butter, banana sandwich on whole grain bread. Fueling right after eating curbs cravings throughout the day and sets you up for proper recovery (b) Eat early on your longer workouts - within the first 45 minutes of the session. Do not wait until you are hungry or its too late. I've failed on this in almost all of my 70.3's and hoping to correct it next month. (c) Bring your favorite candy for the final fueling of a long session. I do this every once in a while and on race day. Reese's Pieces is my go to. In this way, even when i don't feel like eating but know I should, I have that chocolate/PB goodness to enjoy.

Thank you! Today I picked up a breakfast sandwich in between the bike and run on my workout. That definitely worked and thinking back I don't think I have been doing a good job on recharging after workouts. I'm not in a weight loss mode anymore so I probably need to develop a plan for that.

Had my first swim lesson today in about 38 years. I think I will happy I made the decision to sign up for them. I learned 4 keys things to work on: 1. I was swimming with pointy toes, I really did not realize this. I try to focus on my kick while swimming and thought I had everything as it should be, but obviously not. 2. I was grabbing the water with a claw rather than a scoop. I knew I did this, but didn't realize it made as a big a difference as it does. 3. I was kind of windmilling with the end of my arm stroke and not keeping it tight against my body through the entire stroke. This is probably providing resistance on the end of my stroke. 4. I haven't been using my swim snorkel recently, but I learned that the snorkel is good to train your muscles to run on lower oxygen, but does little to nothing to get your lungs in shape for the large dumps of oxygen they need during swimming.

Lot's to work on for the coming week. Keep at it gang!

Swimming is a never-ending set of little things you can do to make you faster. The thing that really helped improve my swim - time in the water. I did 4-5 times a week of 4 months, up to 90 minutes a session. Still haven't caught up to most of the guys who swam growing up, but pretty good for an adult-onset swimmer.

I swam in the Bay again today and did 2400 yards and then a 4 mile easy run. 5 weeks and counting to Oceanside 70.3.

Hope everyone has a great week of training.

Hi Guys, I had an OK Training Week- but am really looking forward to some nice weather!

Rockhead, my rule of thumb is to take on nutrition if my workout is longer than 1 hour, I take on nutrition. The challenge is that once you go into a deficit and start to bonk- it's hard to recover. For me, I try to take 300 calories/hour- so that's 1 GU every 30 Minutes and Gatorade Endurance Formula- drink every 15 minutes or so.

Last weeks workout

Week 2
Monday Rest
Tuesday 40 Minute Row (HIIT), 36 Minute Run
Wednesday 90 Minute Bike
Thursday 40 Minute Row (HIIT), 26 Minute Run
Friday 90 Minute Bike
Saturday 100 Minute Row
Sunday 90 Minute Run

Totals Row 180 Minutes, Bike 180 Minutes, Run 163 Minutes - Total 8.7 Hours
Weight Loss - 2 lbs. down to 203

As an aside, Molly Seidel from Wisconsin just qualified for the Olympics in the Marathon.She ran against my daughters in HS, and she was the best athlete I have ever seen in person. She won State in the Mile, 2 Mile & CC all 4 years in HS, Nationals as a Senior and 3 NCAA titles at Notre Dame. I told her that she would be in the Olympics back in 2011- and she just laughed - oh, and the Olympic Trials was the first time she ran a Marathon!!!

Good Training,

Turner 100 (Rob)

Edited by Turner100 2020-03-02 11:08 AM

Hey Rob - loved the Molly Seidel story line at the trials. First marathon ever and she's going to the Olympics.

Nice work with training and getting into the flow. Do you see rowing as beneficial for the swim or just general cardio fitness?

How is everyone else doing early in the week? Getting it done?

Hey Rob, I’m really excited to see Molly in the Olympics- just an incredible athlete.

In regard to rowing, I’m a huge fan. There is a Coach in California (Jack Nunn), who trained for his Ironman with 80% rowing. If you google him, he has some good articles. Basically, it’s a whole body workout, and I feel that I’m training for my swim & bike at the same time. Then, when I throw in some Interval Training, I get a great cardio workout. It also helps that I have my own Concept 2 Rower, so it’s easy to throw in a workout.

This is week 3 for me, so far so good!

Thanks Turner100 (Rob)



QUOTE]Originally posted by rmschwartz418

Hey Rob - loved the Molly Seidel story line at the trials. First marathon ever and she's going to the Olympics.

Nice work with training and getting into the flow. Do you see rowing as beneficial for the swim or just general cardio fitness?

How is everyone else doing early in the week? Getting it done?

Happy Monday, everyone. Had a brisk swim in the Bay yesterday (51), followed by an 8m run - it all felt really good. I felt so good I ran 5m this morning instead of a rest day, which was kind of arbitrary to begin with. I wanted to feel want it was like to run on tired legs.

Who's still with me?

With you coach! I was out of town on Saturday and didn't get anything done. I did complete another swim lesson on Sunday. My kick needs some serious attention. I will be adding 200 yards of kickboard drills to my swims every week now.

Hoping to ramp up some workouts this week and possibly get outside this coming weekend with a ride or a run!

Hey group,
I haven't been on in awhile. I have decided to forego a tri this year and concentrate on my running. I a, running in a half marathon in two weeks then will start training for my full in November. I will still continue to monitor and read this group. I am on strava if anybody wants
to follow my running.

Great that we still have a couple of active folks in the group. I recognize that we often sign up for things and either they don't turn out to be what we thought they would be or life gets in the way.

Scoty - I'd encourage you to do some cross training with swim or bike, even if it is just once a week. It will keep you fresher and provide for an easier onramp for when you do ultimately do a tri.

Rock - Are you using a training plan or just taking it day by day?

Hi Guys, traveling for work but I had a good week of training last week with a 10 mile run on Saturday and 2 hours on the trainer on Sunday.

Scoty, I second the cross training- even if it’s just biking and no swimming. Marathons are really hard on your body and it helps to add in some low impact work.

On a serious note, my wife and I were supposed to travel to Prague on Saturday- this has now been canceled and I am really sad. Not about missing the trip (which would have been great) but the global impact this pandemic is having. I’m concerned about people getting sick, but even more concerned on how this going to impact people who depend on travelers (airlines, hotels, restaurants). People are going to be hurting everywhere.

So, today I skipped my workout and gave blood - they’re running low, and I wanted to help. Just really wanted to do something.

Good Training Everyone, and stay Healthy!

Turner100/Rob

I will continue to ride and work on my swimming throughout the next year.I will still be on here form time to to time learning and encouraging.