Beth and Yanti's Newest Manatees - FULL (Page 57)

Good luck Sharie!! Have fun.

Art -- I'm sure Beth will have great words of wisdom here, but when I asked the same question to others last year I got -- join a masters group. Get some coaching to make sure your technique is dialed in. Swim faster sets in your workouts. There was a great series of articles on active triathlete, I believe, about swimming faster and it included several workouts most of which consisted of repeated 50's and 100's. Just found the article I'm referring to:

http://www.active.com/swimming/Articles/Swim_Fast_to_Get_Fast__The_50s.htm

Maybe it will help. Glad to hear work is going all right for you.

Have a great weekend Manatee friends and flippers.

Lynn

Art, I definitely agree with Lynn and TR - lessons are a great help.  if you can join masters group that would be great as well.  i'm not sure exactly where you are at on your swim level, so it's hard to say if lessons or a masters group is the right place to start

There are three things I would emphasize

1.  time in the pool - try and swim at least 3 times a week
2.  focus on technique, not on speed - if you get the technique down, the speed will follow naturally
3.  incorporate drills into your workouts - don't do entire workouts of drills, but try and incorporate drills into every workout - i'm  a big believer in drills

a couple of common mistakes i see people make when they are trying to swim faster are:

Stroke:  Speeding up the stroke and taking more strokes in an effort to go faster.  Increasing the number of strokes you take, can actually slow you down – (analysis of the swim stroke shows that efficiency matters most.).  Increasing the stroke count and the churn just tires you out and doesn’t move you through the water any faster.  Make more ease and flow, less noise and splash, your primary goal – increases in efficiency will follow. (drills that help you understand and reduce your stroke count are invaluable)

Kick:  Often when people are trying to increase their speed they have a tendency make their kick bigger – when you bend your leg to create a bigger kick, it causes the upper leg to move down and creates drag.  This drag can create such resistance that it cancels out the propulsion from your foot, which will slow you down

let me know if there are any specific questions you have -  if i don't know the answer, i can most likely find it

YANTI!!! It's so good to "see" you again!

I am so glad that we have such a kind and supportive group here. Sorry I haven't chimed in much lately--I've been here, lurking, and everyone else seems to have the same responses I do, so I've just kept quiet.

*sigh* I like quiet right now, though. Did I mention that the construction crew is supposed to finish the work on the basement this week? YAY. Then I can sleep do my chores in peace and quiet.

I have a question for you guys: how do you get enough fruits and veggies, and protein into your diets? I have never been a fan of veggies--I'm better now, but still uber picky about both my fruits and veggies. And I've never really learned to cook. I can do pretty much anything in a box, of course, but my energy levels definitely suffer...finding easy/yummy things to do that are healthy, and figuring out how to pick the produce, and prepare/cook the food...ugh. I suck. So, here I am, fall is bearing down on me and I have lost ALL motivation to plan meals lately. I am trying, but I could use some help. Anybody out there want to teach me how to plan/prepare decent meals?  :-\ Oh, and the power to my deep freezer was somehow cut off a few days ago, so I now have a good excuse to go stock up on everything and anything at costco. Help.

Woohoo, Sharie!!!! Great job! Congratulations. 

Oh my gosh!! Two tris and two medals. You're amazing. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Speaking of positive energy, please send some my way, as well. Tomorrow I will be doing what should have been my first OWS tri. The open water part has been cancelled due to a roundworm "infestation". (7 out of 14 samples from the lake/beaches were positive, with 3 cases of worms in people). Instead, the RD elected to move the swim to a 3 lane wide, 25 yard pool that is in the area. So, I will be swimming 75 yards, running about a mile to transition, then doing the original 11-ish mile bike and 5k run around the lake as planned. While I like that I am not exposing myself to the worms, I am worried about the run right before the bike. My bike and I are not the best of friends, and this ride is mostly uphill until the turnaround point. Add to that the fact that I have the slowest T1 and T2 times anyway, and I will now be changing shoes 2 times instead of once... I will be fine. Right? Right. I am headed to bed. Soon. As soon as I pack. The race is alongside Oquirrh Lake in South Jordan, Utah. I should be in the water around 830/9-ish AM, and done by about 2 hours later. I'll be thinking of you guys!