Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 5)

I'd have to agree with those following a plan. I have a fairly decent cycling background so I've been working on my weak swim and shuffling run. I probably cycle too much, but oh well.

Latest sprint results here http://www.athleteguild.com/triathlon/la-joya-tx/2012-stanleys-sprint-triathlon/athlete/94739

Would like to do Tri-Rock Austin on labor day and am following a plan from Matt Fizgerald's book "Essential week by week training guide".

Had a good ride last night and a run at 5:30 this morning. (Thats as close to 5:30 as I'm going to get). MWF evenings are for the swim. Here we go.

That's very very smart, IMHO.  Too many people do the opposite -- no training when they are busy then try to cram in huge sessions when they have time.  That's generally a good way to get injured.

I've coached basketball in the past, and for the past four years I've coached girls' lacrosse. This was my last year though; I need more time outside of school. 

Here's a little table of our group, with links to everyone's logs.  I encourage you all to add one another as 'friends', which makes it easier to look in on one another and see how we're all doing.

I'm definitely not going to rack any miles up this week. The only consistent thing is the p90x. Having fun with the kids though. Well, most of the time. I've already had to inform them using my "mean mama" voice that I was not running a hotel. Sometimes think I should pull out my reffing jersey and whistle. We've had some red card offenses and kids have been sent to the showers early.

Jason: Enjoy your taper time. It's time to power up. Good luck with the marathon!

Training plans: I wish I had followed a training plan for the Xterra race. I will follow one for my next. It helped a lot while training for my marathon and my last half. We have a local coach, but time won't permit meeting up at this time.

Enjoy your evening!

Hello everyone-been on the road all day.  Flying with son to California tomorrow for a HS invitational track meet.  Never been to California before.  Weather is suppose to be great.  Hope to get some runs in while I'm there, see a few sights and hopefully watch my son have a good race Saturday night.  Regardless, its always good to have some 1 on 1 time with one of my children.  The race should be a great experience for him as some of the top HS runners in the country will be attending. This had not been on our calendar so all kind of came up iin the last week or so. Daughter (HS junior) is on spring break this week and she and my wife are taking a look at some colleges in Florida.  Divide and conquer! 

Randy 

Randy, exciting! Good luck to your son, and I'm sure you both will have a great time exploring.

I followed downloaded the free Oly plan last year. I found myself moving workouts around all the time or just skipping them altogether. Spring is a busy time of year in my household (soccer, lacrosse, two parents trying to cram workouts in, etc.).

Life gets in the way then suddenly it's May and my first tri is in three weeks. That's when I move from slow and steady build-up to Shock and Awe style training. No plan. Just try to get in as much as possible so I don't croak on race day.

This year has been much different. I am transitioning from a weightlifting-only schedule to one that incorporates shorter conditioning workouts with some longer interval and tempo workouts. It's been a challenge to arrange things so I have enough recovery time while still hitting all the sports.

What I have so far is Crossfit Endurance inspired. It includes strength days, metabolic conditioning and sport-specific workouts but, without all the randomness.

• SI = short interval (sprints)
• TT = time trial (all-out effort)
• Tempo = 75%-85% of TT pace (or, whatever I can manage. A 2-3 on Michael's RPE scale)

The less-than or greater-than 10min. denote short or long metabolic conditioning workouts. They will either be bodyweight-oriented or, if they contain lifts, they won't interfere with the day's s/b/r or the next strength workout. The endurance workout is done 3+ hours before or after the strength and conditioning workouts.

 For the strength workouts I'm following Wendler's 5/3/1 program because it's more conducive to adding conditioning. Starting Strength is a great weightlifting program and is what I followed from January until last week. I'll pick it up again in October or November.

The TT or Tempo workouts can also be swapped out for long intervals (like 2x800m runs). Whatever I feel I can handle. If I start getting burned out then I can scale back the program.

This is all an experiment and I am the guinea pig. I think this is an adequate plan for a sprint tri. Come June I'll have an idea if it's workable for the season.

Once I nail down the particulars I'll share my schedule with anyone who's interested.

-Mark

OK, I'd like to discuss swimming.  I notice some people do fairly high swimming volumes.  I was never a swimmer until I started doing tri's.  My IM swim times have been all over the map (MOP to BOP) from a personal best of 75 min all the way to 96 minutes as my slowest.  I have worked with a coach a bit this year and have made some improvements.  My overall swim volume has been low but I usually beef it up before my races.  My question has to do with gains in swimming measuring up against using this time for more biking and running.  Since I do long course races, endurance is really important, even more so than my ability to sprint.  So for example, if I have the option to do a swim vs a bike or run, I'm not sure what would be the best bang for the buck in my overall triathlon time.  As mentioned, I kind of follow the Fink plan but I modify it all the time for family, work reasons, and sometimes just because I don't want to lose focus with the primary reason I do Tri's -- to have fun. 

I've got the free 16 week 3x week BT training plan, but I'm quick to change plans on a given day based on... well, just about anything. If I've got a swim planned for the pool, but the weather is awesome and I want to run, I will probably skip the swim and head outside. 

That said, my main priority is building a good base in all three sports, so I'm not worried (yet) about real specific goals for each workout as far as building speed and strength.  

Good question. I have not done IM distance but if I were doing a race at that distance alot of my preparation for the swim would depend on whether it was wetsuit legal.  I would probably not train as much if it were wetsuit legal as I feel that my level of comfort/competency in the water would be OK.  If it were non-wetsuit I would probably devote more time so I could have a more comfortable swim that would allow me to be fresh coming out of the water. I think my improvement with more work in a wetsuit would be marginal but I would need to put in extra time in a non-wetsuit swim to help with my confidence that I could complete the distance.

Classic dilemma is how to balance investment of time in training. Where is the biggest return? Much depends on what a person's individual strengths are.  Swimming and strength are not mentioned in the same sentence when describing my triathlon abilities  

Randy

Hey Jim.  A couple of quick thoughts (I'm slammed by work tonight) -- I might try to chime in again later.

1.  Even if overall time gains might be less (per hour invested training) in the swim versus the other disciplines, there is another very important factor to consider:  how much will an improved swim make the rest of your day easier?  Strong swimmers not only get out of the water before weaker swimmers, but also get out of the water feeling better than weaker swimmers.  This is one of the main benefits that I'm hoping for as a result of (I hope...) improving my swim.

2.  If (and this is an 'if' that will not apply to everybody) you think of yourself as competing with others (whatever you take that competition to be), you will (I think) come to the conclusion that at some point, becoming a good swimmer is crucial.  I will use myself as an example, but it translates to anybody who has a target population with which they wish to compete.  ('People I want to beat'!)  I'm not competing as well as I want with my target competition because most (the vast majority) of them swim better than I do.  So I'm playing catch-up on the bike and run, having worked harder to swim slower.  Not a winning combination!

Good luck with the ear!  Have you had trouble with that before?  I have terrible problems sometimes with what they call TMJ, which feels like an ear infection but isn't.

Good luck, too, with the diet.  I'll be mostly fasting for the next few days, so that'll make working out, um, interesting.  But on the other hand, I'll be in the mountains (I leave after work tomorrow), where biking (in mountains!) and running (on trails, in mountains!) is so attractive that it cannot be missed.

My internet access is sketchy when I'm in the mountains, but I'll check in when I can.  Have a great weekend everyone, especially those who are racing!

Jim-Michael makes an excellent point about competing. Ultimately, if someone is competing in a race, whether its for a specific time goal/age group or overall placement, you have to be well balanced in swim/bike/run.  You cannot afford to give anyone a head start and hope to catch up later in the race.  I have become a mediocre swimmer but rarely give up much to my competition in the swim in local races.  However, when moving to a larger regional race I typically give up 1-2 minutes in a sprint and up to 5 minutes in an olympic to the top AG guys out of the water.  That's alot of catching up to do.

Jen-ultimately enjoyment of the sport has to come first.  Hard to head inside to the pool on a beautiful Spring day.  You can make huge gains in fitness by consistently developing your base.  Incorporating too much speedwork too early typically results injury.  None of us make a living doing this so enjoyment/satisfaction has to be the top priority.

Heading out to the airport.  Will check in when I get to California.  Should be knarley...later dudes  

Randy     

I did a BT training plan for my first Sprint last year.  This year I'm planning on my own by making a spreadsheet for the whole year with my planned races, then filled in training to meet the race.  So far its working for me.

-Steve

"If (and this is an 'if' that will not apply to everybody) you think of yourself as competing with others (whatever you take that competition to be), you will (I think) come to the conclusion that at some point, becoming a good swimmer is crucial"

Agreed 100%.  At first my triathlon goal was to finish, next it became to improve upon my own times aka "competing against myself".  Now after seeing more gains I have worked my way from BOP to MOP.  This year I would love to be near the top of MOP.  My biggest limitation is lack of time to train (definitely not lack of motivation).  I've often wondered what my true potential would be if I could have a year off work and have the right coaching and time to devote to this wonderful sport.  Maybe in another life.......

This is my motto for the year - base, base ,base.

-Steve

I'm really prone to these, so I always wear earplugs when I do my swim. I hope you don't have one!

Jamie, I'll take a wild guess and say you are a fan of Lonesome Dove.

What other sources of information do you guys use? Podcasts, Newsgroups,. ... share your sources if you don't mind ...

I usually listen to the Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast ....