Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 5)

Sunday morning I got in the pool and did a 4,200 yard TT followed by a 56 mile ride.  It has taken a couple thousand miles but I am finally getting comfortable on my tri-bike and I am REALLY happy to report I was able to stay down in aero the entire ride.  58.4 miles in just under three hours.  Now if I could just get my run to a respectable pace . . .

Then had a family and friend BBQ in the afternoon to thoroughly negate all the calories burned in the morning!  The ribs were worth all the guilt.

Yep!  Unless someone lost 100+ pounds and worked out 1,000+ minutes since the last update!

Congrats Judi.  You certainly raised the bar on workout time!

Welcome back James!

At various times I have used a full wetsuit, a sleeveless, and what was known as a 'shorty' (don't know if they even still make those).  The shorty was a wetsuit made specifically for surfing - it was sleeveless and went down to mid-thigh.

My opinion is if it is cold enough for a wetsuit, it is cold enough for a FULL wetsuit.  A sleeveless, while you do have a bit more mobility in the arms, is a little slower for a couple reasons.  a) you have less buoyancy, and b) a sleeveless tends to allow water in and acts as a small parachute.

If I am using a wetsuit, I am using a full.  As to overheating, I would subtract 5 degrees from whatever minimum wetsuit allowed temp is set before I use a wetsuit (i.e. if the RD says wetsuits are legal below 70 I would not use one unless the water was below 65).  I would rather be a bit chilly then risk overheating.

I know!  Right?

Glad to see you back Wendy.

Steve,

I think we have had this discussion each of the past three "seasons."  My personal belief is that success in athletics is 90% mental and 10% physical.  That is not to say you don't have to put in the work - you do!  But doing the work is absolutely pointless if your mental attitude is not in the right place.  Case in point - back when I was swimming there was one pool where I ALWAYS had a great meet - Belmont Shores Olympic Swim Stadium in Long Beach, CA.  There was also one pool where I ALWAYS had bad days - East Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, CA.  They were both 50 meter pools, both had great lane lines and wonderful wave and wake control - both pools had gutters that you could quite literally climb in to.  On paper, East LA was actually the better pool as it was a bit deeper and was about 25 years newer.  My training volume and time was identical prior to meets at both pools.  There was one significant difference however, I believed I swam faster at Belmont than I did at East LA.  In the Belmont Shores pool I consistently PR'd when I swam, I won a CIF championship (high school), and  I was on an American Record setting 400 meter Medley Relay team, to name a couple things.  At East LA City College, I think I swam in 12 events and was disqualified in 8 of them for being stupid.  In the events I wasn't DQ'd in, I had terrible times.  My attitude and mental state before competition at those venues became a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Too say the least, that was a HUGE learning experience for me.

Mental state and attitude is EVERYTHING in athletics!

Wow!  Great time James.  I will say again, I will trade you some swim speed for some run speed!  Excellent race report!.

Hi Charlotte -

Consistency trumps distance.  You may want to consider writing your own plan with appropriate distances.  But regardless of what distances you do - consistency, consistency, consistency.  Missing one workout is really not that big a deal, missing two workouts over a couple weeks probably isn't that big a deal, but when you start regularly missing workouts, you are sabotaging your training.  Back when I was swimming, my coach use to tell us all the time, "If you miss one workout, it will take seven days of working out to get back to where you were."  Not improve, just get back to where you were before you missed a workout.  I am not sure if that directly applies to age group athletes, but the point is clear, missing workouts will cause a serious setback.  Better to create a plan that you KNOW you can stick to than have a plan that you HOPE you can stick to.

Just my humble two cents.

Hi Scott,

Glad to hear you went to the Doctor.  Now that you KNOW what is going on, I would follow the doctors instructions absolutely to the letter.  A couple years ago, I had a blood clot in my leg.  The doctor gave pretty specific instructions on returning to working out, etc.  Of course, I knew better and accelerated the program.  All I managed to do was add about 6 weeks to the recovery time.  Enough said about following doctors orders!

Yes, I strength train three times a week, all year long.  I do a full body workout however it is weighted toward core work.  I generally do low weights and high reps to avoid bulking up.  Doing strength work is a hot topic among triathletes.  There are those that say, "NO WAY do I do strength work, I only have time to do S/B/R."  And then there are those that argue strength training is good.  I think it comes down to this, how can being stronger NOT be beneficial?

Hey Dan,

113 degrees qualifies as hot!  That only served to remind me that summertime temperatures are looming over the horizon.  We typically get up to 105-110 during July and August and we always seem to have a week or two or ridiculous heat, up in the 112-115 range.  Oh how I wish it was October!