Tri with Seren - CLOSED! (Page 6)

I am taking swim lessons and my instructor taught me the butterfly.  She said in open water if I get out of breath or anxious and need to gather myself to do the butterfly stroke.  I have also read to flip on your back and do the back stroke to catch your breath.

Does anyone have a opnion on this?

Thanks!

That is surprising.  I find the butterfly hard to do.  It is fast, but exhausting.

I have seen a lot of things that say to flip on your back if you need to calm down or just catch your breath.  When I was growing up, my friends and I would race across lakes, and it was just natural for me to switch to the back stroke if I needed to.  I was planning on doing that in a race.

Of course, I have never done a triathlon, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Shood, what size are your tires?  If they are 25 mm, 120 is probably too high, and you might find the bike rides better at 110.  My LBS pumps all 25 mm to 100 psi, but I like the responsiveness of 110 better.  23 mm will run higher.  To your question, do you have the same brand and model of tire on the front and back?  Something like a Gatorskin will not have much give, but a racing slick will feel softer.

Out of curiosity what do y'all use if anything to track your strength and non run/bike/swim workout stats?   I've been looking for something that will help me keep better track of it, but I'm coming up short.   I've looked at a few products, the Mio Alpha, the Mio Active, the Polar FT80, but nothing seems to really stand out.  The FT80 does seem to have a strength based program, but I'm not sure if it's worth it.  A while back before I decided to go down the Tri road I picked up a Bodymedia Fit, but it only does but so much.

Right now for tracking my swim workouts I have a Garmin Swim, for my bike workouts I have a Garmin Edge 500, and for my running workouts I have a Garmin FR410.  Each of these do very well at tracking all the various stuff I like to see as a tech geek.

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but any insight would be great.

I don't bother.  What's the point?

I do the breast stroke to rest.  It's a lot easier for me than the butterfly.  You could flip on your back but in a race when there's all though bodies around and you can't see where you're going, it could be hazardous.

Speedo has a center faced snorkel that people use for training to get their body movement right.  That would probably be better than the regular ones if you're considering a snorkel.

I have a question about swimming speed.  When people say that they swim 100m in 1:45, does that mean that over the course of a workout they average 1:45 or does it mean that if they go all out for 100 m, their time is 1:45? 

I average 3 min/100 m for a 2000m swim, and that seems much slower than people are reporting.  However, that would give me a time of 45 min in an Oly tri, which is fairly midpack according to the race results I have looked up.

Yeah I have the Finis Swimmer's Snorkel.

I would take that as the average.  After my swim workout I put in my distance and time and it automatically works out the rest.

As for the flip turn . . .

I do them when I swim, but I've done them since I was in high school (that was a long time ago) and it feels ackward now to not do them.  But since you can't do them in open water, it seems like a waste to try to learn it now to only use in triathlons.  I would just work on your strokes instead.

How do you like it?  I'm considering getting one because my technique needs a lot of work.  Are they worth it?

I like it, and it helped me a lot.  My right shoulder was extremely weak due to a couple accidents.  With the swim snorkel I was able to work on my stroke and build my shoulder up a little without having to concentrating on learning to breath properly.  I got myself to the point where my shoulder was strong enough I felt comfortable trying to learn to breath.  I'm going to work on that for now and once I get comfy with that I'll probably mix the snorkel back in when I want to really focus on my technique.  They have a "dry" snorkel attachment for that one I linked, and also a freestyle specific snorkel as well.  

 I read an article from USAT a few years back  that said they were legal.   As long as it doesn't give you propulsion your good.  Although I have never seen anyone use one on race day.   

THats a new one on me.  I learned to do the breast stroke and back stroke and side stroke  if you want to take a break, but never the butterfly! The butterfly is a good stroke to mix things up but its not meant for any long distance.   After 3 years, I have YET to learn the butterfly.

I used to track my strength workouts just on here but after awhile I gave up because I'm not a strength athlete anymore.  I'm not looking to squeeze every ounce of ...whatever...out of a strength workout.   As a tiathlete, I just stick to the primary movers and  be done with it.  Since I'm not tracking a million little isolation exercises I am able to recall what wekght I was using in the last workout.   But to answer you question....no, I never found anything good to track weight lifting other than a paper journal

I use my Garmin as my timer and I put the time and distance into the log here and it gives me the average - whicih includes any resting between sets I do.  However, on my 1st 100 I look at the clock to see what my time is....just outta curiosity.

 I have to agree with you!  I used to do them just to keep the continuity of my pacing but I find that there's not a huge difference if you don't.   I too would just concentrate on the strokes. 

Good article!  You didn't mention the extremities and the face.  What kind of gloves do you recommend for the cold?  My cheeks get numb.  What do you do to protect your face?  I have used a partial ski mask which helps.

Pen and paper.

What?  Not the answer you were looking for?

Feel better Matt!