Swimmer's Group (Olympic Distance Animals) - OPEN (Page 5)

My first "A" race is May 19th Columbia Tri; goal is to qualify for Hy-Vee Championship hoping for 1st or 2nd in Age Group. Obviously I have been putting in the miles on the bike and havent been swimming or running. Sunday started my "triathlon" training for the year. It give me roughly 20 weeks till race day. Gives me about 6 weeks of base training which will consist of mostly slower endurance runs and swims. My biking will be a mix of workouts as I race for a cycling team so I need to make sure come March I am in bike racing shape. If you start now that give you about 14 weeks till race day. Depending what your current fitness is I think this would be ample time to prepare yourself.

As far as some sort of training plan I feel everyone is different. A free basic plan from BT may be sufficient enough to deliver the results you are looking for. Are you looking for structured workouts on a daily basis? Or just how often should I SBR and when? For example I create my own training plan. I know my strengths and I know how far I can go and what needs to be done. If something doesnt feel right or doesnt work out I revisit and tweak. I do 75% of my training at easy-moderate pace and the other 25% or slightly more is a mix of speed work on the track, intervals, and tempo sessions. I have 5 key run sessions that I do and 3 key bike sessions I incorporate into my training. I typically do one track workout a week which will consist of one of the session (except tempo run). I give myself plenty of time to recover so that everytime I go into a track session I know I can give 100%. If my body aches I push the track session to another day. I wont gain anything from doing that type of workout at 85% all I will do is increase my chance of injury. I also tend to focus on swimming and biking. They are my strengths. I know I can be top 3 out of the water and I know in a 40K I can have one of the top 3 bike times. I am definitely an above average runner but I know i will never be a top 5 runner so I cut my losses and focus on my so that it is where it needs to be. I can hurt with the best of them, so chances are if you are trying to run me down during the run portion, you will have to work 10x harder to leave me behind. With a fast swim and fast bike I am normally out of sight and out of mind (works to the mental advantage). I can certainly copy in some detailed typical training weeks if that would interest you, but below are my key sessions...(remember Olympic Distance concentration)..

Did my first super spin class this morning it was fun and challenging, which is good because I need to be pushed! This particular class is all interval training. Training is coming together slow but sure. I am looking forward to hitting the pool tomorrow to do my drills that I learned over the weekend. Really excited about improving my technique in the water!!

Should an occasional swimming session consist of one long swim without stops for the entire session?

A lot of people that were interested in this group when it opened but only about 5 of us here, so I am opening it back up to see if we can get some more people in here!

2x20 this morning on the bike! SO glad it is Friday!!!

Getting in a lunch time swim today, and then planning a short run after work. (My first run in almost 2 weeks! Yikes!)  Got some long bike workouts planned for this weekend.

Jason, what kind of workout 2x20 is for the bike? Also, you mentioned earlier that you recommend we incorporate some strength training in our weekly routines.  Do you think it would be more beneficial to do a cardio-type workout like an Insanity video or to go lift actual weights?

2x20 workout is a staple for cyclists trying to improve, especially in a TT. The workout I do is typically 10 min warm up, then 20 min at 90-90% of your FTP. I dont have a power meter but you my HR and percieved effort. You should not be able to have a conversation during the workout. Work hard enough to breathe heaving and hurt but not to hard that you kill yourself. The whole 20 mins should be a sustained power. Then take a 5-10 min easy recovery and do it again for another 20 mins. You probably wont want to do it the 2nd time cause you know how much it sucked the first but it WILL make you a better cyclist. I try to do it 1x a week.

As Jason said - it wont improve your swim, I agree with that. However, I did a few longer swims 2000m in the pool to know that I could do it. While it may not have improved my performance it did tell me that I Could Do It and I felt a little better signing up for my first triathlon with included a 2000m swim. So I suppose from a confidence stand point its good but you arent going to see any real gains, athletically, from it. 

DAve, definitely agree from a confidence standpoint it can be a good thing!

Go ahead and shuffle all you want. I lay out my workouts but we live in the real world and things will come up and change. There are days I just dont want to run so I will bike and pick up with a run another day of the week. Unless your shifting causes two hard days back to back or on not enough rest then it is fine.

Got about 50 minutes into what was supposed to be a 75 minute run when I started feeling some pain in the top of my right foot.  I kept running for another 7 minutes, but it didn't really improve, so I cut the run short.  Didn't want to hurt myself.  I feel like a knucklehead now.  I think my laces were just too tight, and my feet were swelling a bit.  I was researching top of foot pain, and it can be a metatarsal stress fracture, a bone spur, or even shoes that are not wide enough or laces that are too tight.  It's not a stress fracture... pain is completely gone.  I'm not used to running longer distances (for me, that's anything over 3 miles), and apparently your feet swell on the longer runs.

Still having a reasonably good time training and learning rookie lessons!

Nat,

You would probably feel like a bigger knucklehead if you had kept going and it turned out to be something physically wrong going on.  Good news that there was no real issue.  I get a foot pain that comes in for a few minutes about 5 minutes after I start and then a two-minute knee pain at about the 45 minute mark.  Who needs a watch?