Jeff Y's Group - CLOSED (Page 5)

Sorry it's taken so long to reply to this.  I'm glad you already got a suggestion.  Let me start by just saying that triathlon has been the reason a lot of marriages have ended.  Of course, the same is true about golf, poker, football season...

And there are many a wife out there that feels neglected by her husband.  I personally believe that the problem lies in the fact that we are meant to strive and achieve.  Modern society has negated the need to do this in search of simple survival and tried to replace that need with leasure/entertainment.  Many of us find that unsatisfactory and fill that void with a challenging hobby.  So we are prone to becoming all consumed by the challenge and the satisfaction that comes from meeting that challenge. 

Give some thought to this now, and perhaps discuss it with your wife.  Come to a pre-agreed training quota and even agree on how those hours will be spread throughout the week.  Then she won't feel as though she's losing you to the hobby. 

Now on to the question.  How much should a beginner work out?  It depends on that beginner's starting or current condition, their ability to recover(tied to age and nutrtion and genetics), and their personal motivation or drive.

If you are barely feeling pushed, then you can handle more training load.  There are dozens of ways to get more training load.  The smartest way to add it can be complicated to determine, but adding anything is better than nothing (ie. faster pace, extra volume).

You don't need days off at all.  You can start each day (or most of the days) fully recovered if you didn't do too much the day before.  Note: I'm not suggesting you can't have a day off.  You can either extend some of the current training sessions or add additional sessions. 

Depends on when you can add more time to your routine and what other responsibilities you have in your weekly life.

Matt, how many days per week does your plan have you training?  I'm seeing only 2 or 3 days per week in your training log.

The first thing to do is fill at least 5 days.  I'm thinking your log may not be up to date.

I wish I could create a poll within a thread.  I'm wondering how everyone here counts laps.  I'm not a lifelong swimmer, but always figured a lap must constitute a round trip.  So the vernacular I've always used is that 1 lap = 2 lengths.  And there is universal agreement on my master's team too.  But I'm not sure that's the universal view among all swimmers.

Because there is ambiguity, I invariably qualify it every time I talk about it.  I will always say "10 laps, or 20 lengths" (or if the person is well versed in pool sizes I can just say 500).

I'd advice you to check the rules for your race.  Some races do not allow you to be shirtless.

x2, and x3, and x4.  This is great advice.  If you're as additive as some of us are, this tri thing can totally consume you, but that isn't really healthy given other priorities. 

Definitely sit down and discuss everything with your wife.  Race shcedule, expected workout requirements, $$$, etc.  I actually show my wife my weekly schedule and give her right of first refusal on the workouts.  For me, this is the year of the sprint because last year I did a 70.3 and the training was too much for the whole family to endure again this year.

As Jeff says, I know I will never reach my ultimate potential due to self-imposed constraints, but then the game becomes how to get the most out of the time you have!

Not to beat a dead horse (but the Hubs will tell you I do at times) I agree with your Coach!   Having been a former competitive swimmer, and I actually checked with former teammates and coaches, swimmers consider 1 lap = 1 length.  Having said that, I also understand where the ambiguity comes from because by definition a lap is considered traversing a course as in a race track.  However, it is also defined as one segment of a larger unit.  So....okay I'm done!  Sorry! 

While the horse is down, I'll add a hit to it.  I've seen threads on this topic going to 10+ pages on the main forum.  Seems like a hot topic! 

I've got a few quick questions. I bought a full lenght wetsuit but still haven't swam in it. How much should I train in it before a race? I currently swim about 3500+ yards a week in a pool. (thats 140 lengths, or 70 laps right?

My training plan I'm on I usually Run 4x a week, Bike 3x a week and Swim 2x a week. I've found that running is pretty hard on my body and don't go above time what my training plan prescribes. I figure its ok to go beyond in the bike and swim but I don't know exactly how much I should do to be competative. On the bike I train based on heart rate and cadence (no power meter yet). I did indoor rides up to 2.5 hours this winter and I have 2, 1 hour rides and a 1.5-2 hour ride during the week. I want to build the bike as my strength but this is the first full season owning a road bike so its a bit of a question mark. Also I plan on doing several monsterous mountian bike rides 20-30mile rides but those never look good on my training log. Does anybody know equivolent mtb to road bike miles?

Yeah my log is out of date.  I have been storing my workouts on an app on my phone called Ifitness.  I went back and caught up the BT log going back into March to give you an idea of the schedule.  January and February were along the same lines, just not as long. 

I think moving forward I'm going to lengthen the workout times given and see how that goes.  Adding the additional Bike time is a good possibility also.  I just need to figure out how to make myself a morning person. 

At the risk of sounding like a feminazi, let me just say that this is not strictly a female phenomenon! My first season of triathlon took place while I was on maternity leave (I'm in Canada - we get 52 weeks paid leave, and I did my first race when my daughter was 5mos old) and I was putting in daily workouts, often doubles, just to get out of the house after a day alone with two babies. My husband was SUPER supportive, but somewhere around late June or early July, it was obvious that it was getting to be really stressful for him. We had to find a balance that let me do something for myself but didn't leave him feeling like every evening and weekend was just another chance for me to train.

I think that if you are setting aside time to train, you should be setting aside time to "date" your spouse - whether you are a man or woman!

And it's almost never a good idea for the ladies. It would be nice to have that option sometimes too!!

I got my tempo run in tonight and it felt pretty good.  I increased my overall distance and my tempo distance by 1 mile each.  The run went to 7 miles and the tempo to 4 miles at a target of 7:10.  My miles were just a tad faster than planned but within any kind of tolerances.........7:11, 7:10, 7:05 and 7:05 with an avg HR for those miles of 160. 

This was a decent effort tonight but not all out by any means.  I hope to increase my tempo distance to about 6 miles and a similar pace by the first week in May to get ready for my first race.  I also would like to see my runs get to 30mpw before the race, but that should be less of a problem than the tempo runs.  I hate running tempos before I run but after it seems to feel so good to know how much it does for my speed.

Well if you ladies did run topless you would most likely finish closer to the front of the pack/podium ya know?  There would be a large crowd of men surrounding you and offering to hand your water to you.

About the wet suit; trained in mine 3-4 times before racing in it.  I did put mine on in a hurry and experienced the chaffing at the neck.  My swims were geared toward being able to get out of the suit in transition.  That can be a treat.

I did get to swim for the first time in a few weeks, work schedule would not allow it.  I do have a question about goggles.  I am using TYR adult size and have a hard time with fit over my cheek.  I have tried Speedo also.  The pressure on the cheek itself gives me a headache.  Anyone else have this issue?  Any suggestions on a different brand or style?  If I loosen them anymore they don't stay tight enough to keep the water out.

I struggled with this for a while. At first I bought one of those "people counters" and placed it in a zip lock bag. But that became a pain bc I would have to stop and press the counter and break my pace.

Then I stumbled onto this trick:

Instead of counting (1, 2, 3, etc.) I started using first and middle names. So lap 1 (down and back) would be "Jeremy." Lap 2 (middle name). Then I would go through my wife's name, kids names, dog's name. 

Once I got 10 laps down, I would restart the name counting.  

Take a look at Aqua Sphere they seem to work very well for me.  They have a softer seal that seems to require less pressure to maintain a water tight seal.  I use the Kaiman model but another one that I see more of are the Kayenne.  Sometimes I have a hard time finding these at a local sporting goods store, so ti may require some looking.

Geeze Jenna.  You're such a feminazi!  But seriously, you're right.  In my case I don't mind when my SO trains, but when you throw kids into the picture, I'm sure that tightens the schedule up real fast.  I have to keep myself in check as well.  Last year my SO was annoyed at several occassions at my need to train for several hours both days of the weekend.  I agree that you definitely need to set aside time to date your spouse.

Oh it does that.  Fortunately, I'm the only early riser in the household.  So on weekends I am able to get up to my long run on Saturday and my long bike on Sunday and be home before the wife and kiddo have been up for much longer than an hour or two.  I consider this a curse in the winter when it's cold and dark, but a blessing in the summer when it's already in the 80's-90's and 100% humidity at sunup.

Well said Jenna and I couldn't agree more!  My husband has been very supportive but I also see him roll his eyes a bit when he asks "what's the plan?" and I say I have to train before I do anything!  We've always been very active so it's not like it's that unusual but Im sort of thinking about it all the time now!  Is that normal???  LOL 

BTW - 52 weeks paid leave!?! How great is that!  I only took 4 months off and it wasn't all paid!

Sorry...I really really don't think the/my "girls" could take it!!  LOL

Matt, I'm right there with ya on the morning person issue.  I think I just need to roll out of bed and hit the floor that should wake me up real good!    Working out in the am is great and I love it after I'm actually doing it!