Scott's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 5)

Good morning muscles   Hope they enjoyed the gym!

I am checking out Matt's book from my library.  If it looks like something I'll dip into time after time, then I'd say it's worth buying!  Same with a membership here - seeing how things go for now, giving it a test run, then may want to dive a little deeper into their resources.

You're absolutely correct about quinoa, Scott.  What's worth pointing out about quinoa offering the full range of amino acids, is it's the only non-meat source of Omega-3s. 

Roger, I do not eat protein supplements and, personally, do not find them necessary.  All the protein one needs is available through diet (e.g. as Scott mentioned quinoa, legumes, other whole grains like millet, etc).  Now, I do say this as non-elite athlete and, like anything, there are exceptions.  However, since you say your energy levels feel good and if you look at Scott and his vegan-based diet while competing, it doesn't sound to me as if you'd need supplementation.

Every single food we eat has protein in varying levels.  There is an almost non-existent protein deficit in the US, hence, why there is no recommended amount of protein on American food labels; there's no need for it.

I'm sure Kate has her 2 cents too. 

http://tri-fyt.com/IMAGES/Swim%20Workout%20Descriptions.pdf

I came across this little nugget today.  It is a basic description of swim workouts and sets.   I was curious how everyone is doing with their swimming.  What do your workouts look like?  

Thanks for this!  I haven't started the swimming yet - waiting for the goggles to come in; and wasn't quite sure where to start.  So this will help! 

My logs are up to date and contain a breakdown of each swim workout I do. I essentially just do as much of the workout that the coach puts together for that day as I can within an hour.

When I started 3 months ago, I was stopping constantly and resorting to my "comfort stroke" which is a not-very-good breast stroke. I'd put in as much of the workout as I could, usually approaching 1600yds in an hour.

Last night I completed all but 2 150yd for a cool down and completed 2550 yds. I still don't keep up with the others when we do sets scheduled to start on a certain mark, but I'm closer and I at least am now using the clock to work each set. I usually have to take one extra break in the midst of the set that the others don't have to take.

I'm pleased with where I've come in 3 months and look forward to finding out where I'll be at the end of this 3 month session that just began.

My kicking is still really holding me back, and I know my inflexible ankles are providing a lot of drag.

I don't have a strong left hand breathe, so I practice that with each warm up set I do. Once I'm into the meat of the workouts, I tend to breathe only on my right. But the left is improving. I still don't have a very good concept of "rhythm". I haven't reached that point where I can just "cruise" for a long time in the pool like I can for a run.

But I'll keep at it. 

I hear you.  I practice my left side breath for warm ups and drills, but when it's go time I invariably resort to right side breathing.  It's worked so far.  At least I know that if I had to breath on my left, I could.  

Hope everyone is well-

i checked out the link and it was very helpful.  I will try to do some more drills in every workout and some more intervals.  I usually do a warmup of maybe 100 meters, then a main set of 12 x 100 meters with 15 second rest, or do 6 x 200 with a little more rest; then a hundred meters to cool down.  One of the things that i remember when I was learning to swim in a masters group was the use of fins and kickboard.  The coach would have me use fins and a kickboard for recovery between sets.  I have gotten away from fins and the kickboard for recovery  now that i have more arm strength.  I should probably go back to some kicking drills since that is definitely my weakness (or the biggest one).  For people just starting out swimming, I used to use fins alot, so don't be afraid to use them.  they help build leg strength and help your arms when you start to tire.

I am following a 16 week Olympic program that I found on this site so I did 48 mins on the bike.  It was done indoors on a Lifecycle stationary bike mostly at high RPMs (about 95 average) and low resistance.  I have never used one of those bike trainer machines, can anyone explain the pros and cons of them? My hear rate (according to the cycle) was pretty low so I guess i am just building a base now.

I hope to do a half marathon in March or April.  Any problem with me beefing up the runs a little bit to prepare for both (olympic tri and half marathon)?

thanks

Pete R

 The bike trainer attaches to your bike and provides resistance to the rear tire.  The main pro is that it allows you to train on what you will be racing on.  I have not come across any con for a bike trainer.

No problems at all.  As long as you feel good and strong and progress smartly.

Scott,

This couldn't have come at a better time.  I've never trained for a tri before but have included swimming in my exercise routine on and off for several years.  I usually just go for 40 minutes without stopping and get about 1500 to 1800 yards in. 

I swam at lunch today (1750y in 40m8s) and was thinking that since I can fairly comfortably complete the required Oly distance that I should figure out a way to start increasing my speed.  Got back from the swim and found your link.  Later today I'm going to check some books out at the library including the one by Matt Fitzgerald and see if I can come up with a plan to add some sets and intervals.

Also got out on the road bike yesterday.  13mi in 53 min including a 500 foot elevation climb.

What are your thoughts on adding aero bars to a standard road bike?  Mine is a borrowed Cannondale R400.

Thanks a million.

If you are fit properly on your bike it can make you faster while giving you another position to ride in.  I had short aero bars on my road bike until I bought a TT bike.  Some people use a "forward facing" seat post.  This will mimic a TT position.  Others, like myself, don't bother with that.  

My logs are also up to date with most workouts detailed enough to include a breakdown of the various sets. I was working with a swim coach this past fall and will say was the best thing I ever did to improve my swimming. The one major issue for me is improving my kicking. Similar to what Troy had said. I find that if I am kicking correctly my hips are up and my stroke is efficient. The key to maintaing my kick is endurance which is something that I am still working on. My workouts designed by my coach were geared towards improving my kick with various drills and building up my endurance which basically amounted to torturous hard efforts with very little recovery time. My swimming has been on hiatus this past week because I use our local high schools pool which has been closed for winter recess. I will get back into the swing of things soon. 

I've found that this is a critical component to improving endurance in the pool. I'm used to an active recovery jog in between intervals on the track, but the necessary brief recovery time in the pool is brutal. I do find that these are a significant contributor to getting my endurance up.

***************

Today: Good morning, peeps!

Ran an early 6 this morning ... still feeling sluggish with my paces, but I attribute it to Sunday's race and not having raced at all this past fall. I'll swim for an hour after work tonight.

Enjoy your workouts today!!

Troy

Good morning everyone!  What do you all have planned for today?  I have a bike trainer session tonight.  It will be about 55 min. long and looks like this:

10 min. warm up 70% effort

2 x 15 min @85% 5 min rest @70%

10 cool down

What are you doing to get stronger, faster and healthier?

I went and swam for about 30 minutes with a few rests. I am training in a 25 yard pool. My first sprint race is a 400 yd swim so I am going to work towards that as my first goal. I lost track of how many laps I did so I need to focus on that next time. I am going to take 8 pennies and line them up. After each lap, I move one over.

I am going to do a run/walk today. I haven't ran in quite a few years so I don't want to hurt myself. I am also going to go the library and try get fitzgerald's book. The race I am shooting for is 11 weeks away and I am doing at least a 2x program. I will sprinkle some additional sessions in each week. I want to do a light weight lifting program as well. I don't want to bulk up but could be a lilttle leaner...

Have a great day, everyone!

Today is my long bike day.  I plan to ride 80 minutes.  Work permitting I’d love to ride the road bike this afternoon as the weather is sunny and perfect here in CA (sorry cold weather people).  If I can’t get out of work in time it’ll have to be on the indoor bike.  Perhaps if I spent less time on this site researching and learning about this sport I’d get my work done faster.

Have a great and productive day.

Tonight, I'm swimming 800 yards. Not working on stronger and faster this week but I'm trying to get back on track after a couple of bad weeks. So far, so good. I haven't missed a workout yet this week!

Today I got in the pool for the first time in ages.  I just wanted to enjoy and remind my body of how to swim.  So, it was an embarassingly slow 33 minutes for 750m.  I know some of that was because I was messing with my goggles every lap or two for a while, until I could finally find a semi-comfortable fitting for them... but mostly it was because I'd have to stop and pant!  And I did some very slow laps just to take the time to notice how my form was (not good - much to work on!)

But it's my start!

Good morning, everybody!

Yesterday I ran/walked 2.51 miles in 30 min and swam 400m.  And, hiked a bit. 

Today I'm riding the bike. 

First, I'm looking for Matt Fitzgerald's book.  I'd like to get my hands on his training plans and see which would work for me.  I'm absolutely amazed, as a relatively fit person, how difficult I'm finding the swim.  I'm going to look at all the info you shared, Scott, (including that new link about the swim workout which is SUPER helpful to me) along with Fitzgerald's book.

As far as getting faster, stronger, this week and probably next are going to be getting myself adapted to being on schedule; making all three of these things a part of my regular life, while scheduling my first cooking events and finalizing things with my company.  I'm not going to push yet.  I want to learn all I can about how I should be pushing correctly so that when I've got this whole swim/run/bike thing on a Swiss clock and I can improve efficiently and with skill. 

Have a killer day, guys!

Olivia

Hear, hear, Kate!  When I lick this swim, it's going to be sweet, sweet triumph indeed.

I think I spoke too soon. My car broke down and by the time it gets fixed lap time will be over. There's no lap time tomorrow except when I'm at work. I'm hoping I can make up my swim on saturday...

Nicole,  Sorry about your car.  How bout a run?

Awww, bummer   Hope it gets fixed up and you enjoy a great swim on Saturday!!