Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Group version 3-CLOSED (Page 45)

Blanda-that's a great picture. That is a really big tricycle.

Suzy-I think Rene is considering doing AG Nats as well. Milwaukee did a great job with the races last year.

Easy swim at lunch. That's it for me today....I feel almost guilty not having a workout in the evening....plenty to do around the house.

Hi, everyone.  Just finished up my largest training week ever last week, and now I add to it a bit this week.  Base building has been going well...limited aches and pains <fingers crossed>.  Today was a morning Bikram Yoga session that was just awful and then a 90' Z2 ride on the drainer at lunch. 

Still trying to get caught up with the goings on here...more later. 

Stuart, yes Half Moon Bay sounds like a great location for a triathlon and I'm signed up for it! It should be a lot of fun. I haven't yet signed up for the Morgan Hill Triathlon, but I've done it the past three years. I'm waiting to see the new location first.

Nice work! Good job building. Keep it up and you will have a great season.

Originally posted by jonD81

Originally posted by mtnbikerchk I dragged my butt to the pool even though the DOG got me up to go outside at 3:18AM! IT's a good thing she's so cute!! I went to the pool with NO plan so I decided to do a little time trial. I did a 300 yard warmup and then just swam 2,000 yards straight. I'm trying to get a sense of where I am for my HIM (swim only) in June. I did 2,000 yards in 44 minutes (probably less than RACE PACE) so I figure 46 minutes for 1.2miles. What do you think - how does that translate to open water? It's a lake so no ocean variables to contend with and it's a wave start (and aren't the relays usually last?) So I'm assuming low key with a low "kick to the face" factor. In other news.....oh wait, I have no other news. BACK TO WORK!! Have a good day!

I have such a hard time figuring pool to OWS time. I don't do flip turns so I feel like when I get to the end of the lane that I'm losing major time/energy by doing an open turn. I've started to get better at them and make it more seamless, but when I've done OWS practice I tend to be quicker if my sighting is on because I'm not stopping every 25 yards and I can get into a good groove.

That's the key, though, huh?  My OWS problem is that I pretty much swim in circles, negating any time benefits from not stopping at the wall.  :-)

Randee-nice job on the swim. Its really hard to compare pool times to OWS. The swim distance in races is rarely accurate so don't get too hung up on a specific time goal....yeah, I know...easier said than done for all of us. Certainly you can push harder in the swim since its a relay but there are so many more factors that can influence speed in an OWS. Weather, other swimmers and sighting are 3 that come to mind quickly. I'm much more comfortable in OWS than I use to be but know that my sighting is sometimes poor.  Maybe work on sighting every few strokes....maybe twice each length or somethin like that. You don't have to do it for your entire workout but maybe incorporate it into some easy-moderate sets.  Sighting causes a change in your body position and working on it will allow you to do it better on race day and also get a better feel for how it effects your body position/stroke.

Another thing I would encourage you to do is to break up your long swims. Certainly there is value in knowing that you can swim 2000 yards straight but breaking that up into five 400 yard moderate to hard efforts will give you a better feel for swimming longer distances at race pace. In the beginning, after warming up, look at a main set of 3X400 on 30 seconds rest building to 5X500 on :20 seconds rest as you get close to race day. This breaks it up a bit and allows you a short recovery break but you should be able to maintain a harder effort.   Just my thoughts. Even when training for HIM distance my coach never had me doing more than 500 yard intervals.  The tough thing in any race is the first 100-300 yards when your heart rate goes up. After that we settle down and it gets easier....at least for me. "Easier" being relative to swimming which to me is still not easy   

Stuart-current is rarely an issue in a lake swim but can be a huge factor in a river or tidal body of water like the Gulf or the ocean. Swimming with or against the current is pretty straight forward. Kind of like riding with or against the wind. I have done several swims in the Gulf where the current was moving parallel to the shore. With a beach start it would be important to take the current into account when choosing your line to the turn buoy. Also, in turning at the buoy to return to the beach the current could push you down the beach and away from the exit point if you didn't adjust your line. I will typically try to sight by lining up a structure on the beach for Gulf swims. For lake and river swims that's not always possible.

I think the sighting problem is more an issue for those of us that don't have a swimming background. Our strokes may not be balanced and we have a tendency to pull to the right or left. If I don't periodically take a quick sighting stroke I will eventually wander off course and end up swimming further resulting in a slower swim split..

I think there is value in a long straight swim to give you the confidence of being able to do the distance.  Certainly a great active recovery workout.   

Randee- Or just race as an Aqua Biker like I had to last year. USAT rankings are up for 2013. I ended up ranked #8 in the country in Aqua Bike for my AG. Which is pretty funny considering that my swim times are slower than death.

Let me know if you figure out the swim. I'm still working on that portion of the race. May end up switching over to duathlons if something doesn't turn around soon.

No!  You're too strong of an athlete to throw in the towel.  I'm not giving up my goal of becoming a mid packer.  A girl has got to hold onto the dream.

I'm off to Chicago to see my coach for a LT run test (hoping for 4+ pin pricks) this time around.  Then hitting the pool for a little swim work.  Have a great Wednesday people!