Slornow's and Wannabefaster's Summer Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 6)

Good point!!

Jamie - RICE, RICE, RICE ... I do that for a few days with plenty of rest and only easy spinning on the bike if I have any problems with my legs. If that doesn't help I consult my chiropractor/sports doc ... 

Nate - Seems like a fit issue. You are saying it feels tight around the shoulders. It should feel snug but not too tight. 

Like this group pretty chatty bunch!

Here goes my bio

Name: Tay 

Location: Northern Ireland

Story: I swam as a kid until I was about 12 and after that only got involved in sports here and there but nothing with long term commitment - I played soccer when in Uni and every so often would join a gym, go for a couple of months and then give up. Fast forward a few years, married, hugely overweight (220lbs) and whilst I was pregnant with my second child I was asked to run a leg (4 miles) of the team relay of the Belfast marathon the following year for charity and I agreed. My first attempt at running after the baby was born I could only run for  30secs, and it took me 5 minutes to recover. I built it upon my own to the 4 miles and swore I would never do anything like that again once the race was over. But the day was just so amazing, the sense of achievement... and I was hooked. I never worried about speed and built a group of friends who were as slow as me to train together. I lost a lot of weight (still have quite a bit to go) and just kept going.

I ran the Dublin marathon that same year (2011), then London the following April (2012) and then Dublin again last October - which was my PB of 4:45 - at that training cycle my peak week was 56 miles! After that I was talking to a friend about how taxing the training for a marathon was on my body and how I wanted a different challenge and she mentioned tris. I spent the whole of December reading about it and getting more and more excited, the whole swimming bit also appealed to me because of my childhood, bike was the only issue. I joined a tri club and the swimming sessions convinced me that's what I was supposed to be doing. Signed up for a sprint (which was yesterday) and after posting a thread here on BT am thinking I can possibly complete an oly by August (still haven't signed up to it, but am training for it).

Family: Married to a very supportive and proud husband with two beautiful kids (5yo girl and 3yo boy). They love the medals and trophies, those are theirs, the T-shirts mine

Training: I'm a member of a tri club and go to their swimming sessions but can't really join the bike and run sessions because of the kids (plus they are all so so so much faster that I would be embarrassed to hold people back). I've been following the BT plan for an oly, I'm on week 3/4 but haven't managed to get the bike to that time yet again because of work constraints (and I always seem to favour a run as I always have company for it and it's easier to do it when you're travelling for work)

2013 Season: I've planned a mixture of tris and run races. Done the sprint tri yesterday and a leg of the Belfast marathon today. Next weekend I have a 14k run (which I'm doing to support a friend who's a much slower runner-if that's at all possible ).

10k run mid June, sprint tri mid July, oly tri early Aug, sprint tri early Sept (but doing relay, only doing the swim, I think), half marathon mid September. And if I'm still mad by then possibly the Dublin marathon at the end of October.

Weight loss: I am now 158lbs which is 10lbs heavier than my lowest. Really, really, really want to lose at least 15-20lbs but just can't seem to control my eating at all.

What will make me a good mentee?: I am really keen to learn. And I will need A LOT of help. Especially with the bike. But since I'm generally slow at every discipline I might as well get all the help I can for everything :D

Team, 

One of the old mentors of this group a few months back shared a few documents he wrote. His name is Michael/Experior. 

He wrote a document titled consistency and it has been the most important information that I have received from the BT community to this date. I wanted to share that with you. I will attach it to this post ... 

Yep, rubber on rubber provides excellent traction.  I really work the wetsuit legs so the crotch is all the way snug against mine and I do the same thing to the arms to get them pulled up as far as possible.  The botton of the sleeve is well above my wrist. Gives me more room.  I am short, but broad through the shoulders so need to really get that area to feel like I can move freely.

I'd second everything people have said.  Wetsuits need to be snug, but that makes it much more important that you make sure it's pulled up properly.  I've rushed putting my wetsuit on for training a few times and always find that my shoulders get very tired from pulling against it.  When I take the time to get it on right (which can take 5min or so of carefully working it up) it makes a massive difference.

It's also worth making sure you've filled the wetsuit with water when you get in.  It relaxes it a bit more and makes it feel less constricting.

I wish I could do OWS somewhere that's not wetsuit legal!  It's just too cold here to consider swimming outside without a wetsuit.

Tay-welcome to the group. Enjoyed the bio. Sounds like you have made excellent progress.

Nate-I like swimming in my sleeveless better than the full sleeved. The FS seems to cause some fatigue during a longer swim. I bought a used DeSoto off of Slowtwitch earlier this year. It actually has 3 pieces. A bib john which is like a pair of overalls. A FS top and also what they call a Speedvest or Speedtube....something like that.....it is sleevless and allows the wetsuit to be used with sleeveless or fullsleeve.

Today is an easy day for me. Did an easy 2000 swim mix at the pool and have a 30 minute easy run this evening. All at essentially an active recovery pace. I need it as I still feel pretty shelled from the weekend workouts.

Michael/d3-thanks for linking that information. No doubt consistency is key. Always good information to review.

Here are a couple of tips with wetsuits.

1. Two days before the race completely soak the wetsuit.  I put a few inches of water in the tub and let it soak for several hours.  Make sure the water is inside and out.

2. Then hang it and let it 'dry' out.  It will most likely not be completely dry which is what I want.

3. Put the suit on early and move a lot.  Big arm swings and adjust everything until it feels good with NO restriction.

4. If possible swim a bit before you start.  It puts water in the suit where it will and gets you acclimated to the water.  My preference is 200 yards minimum.  If the water is particularly cold 500 yards is better.

I hope this helps.

It will still be a few months before they know if sufficient blood flow was restored to save the hip.  If so, I am starting to train again.  If not, they replace the hip and I start all over again.

We had a prolonged conversation about continuing to do triathlons.  If the surgery was successful then I should be good to go albeit a year behind where I should be.

If I have to have the hip replaced the issue will be the run and what that does to the artificial hip.  I should have no problems with the swim or bike.  The doctor had researched ways to run to minimize the impact on the hip.  Even so, less is better.  Given my goal is to finish an IM I figure I can do the swim & bike in 7:30 or better based on IMAZ results for my age group. That would leave me plenty of time to complete a walk/run and finish before they close the course.

I may need to push the target out a year but IM is still the goal.  Man's gotta dream.

Here is my visual answer to what is a color run?  I am the  one in the middle looking like I even have color in my teeth!!  And everywhere else! 

The picture won't load, says it has to be under 200 something and it is 206.  Anybody know how to decrease the size of a picture?

Didn't expect it to be difficult to put a picture up!!  User issue probably!!!

What a fun afternoon ride, 15 MPH constant wind gusts to 25, and trying to rain the whole time.  I struggled through it but couldn't ever find a groove, oh well masters tonight hope that goes a little better.

-Mike

The weather gods were on my side when I got out of work this afternoon, so I hopped on the bike as soon as I got the boys (the dogs) situated.  Nice 16 very hilly miles in my new saddle (I've been having some pretty painful issues--after riding for 2 months to make sure it just wasn't a 'you're totally new to the saddle, so your body will hurt for awhile--and we made a few adjustments to my fit as well.  SO happy to be pain free...spent 1/3 of my time on the aerobars, and riding more forward wasn't painful either.  Here's hoping it stays that way!  A painful hoo-ha is no fun at all. 

Got 'the boys' (the three dogs) out for a brisk 30 minute walk afterwards, so everybody in the house is now happy.

Jaime: Maybe just something that a little bit of rest could fix.

Randy: Watching kids race is pure joy. Loved that most of the 5-8 year old kids ran with their helmets on, and some of them had the cutest running forms that they were sure was going to make them win. It included some karate chopping of air, and making the heels hit the butt. My son raced with a big ol' smile the whole time.

My 2500m swim last night was tiring. I got t-boned by a school of fish twice. They were about the size of my hands, so was kinda squeamish about it. The little tiny ones, I don't mind. A couple snorkelers helped me practice my sighting by weaving in and out of my path, lol!

Oh, swimming. I was supposed to be doing 15x100 sprints, but husband said it didn't look like I was sprinting, and I didn't feel like I was moving very fast if I really tried to sprint. He said I looked like I was covering more ground on my cool down where I concentrated on my form, reaching, and pulling myself through the water. I cannot keep my warm up and cool down form at a faster pace. I end up all scrunched up and feel like it's me vs the water in an MMA match.

Today is biking the Xterra course. Getting better at the technical parts, but I've heard from many that Maui's course isn't very technical, but hilly. I need to work on my hills. They always, always make me feel like my heart going to hammer out of my chest.

Hi, everyone! I promise to get my bio up a little later. Nice to meet you, and happy training!

Blanda

Blanda if I may offer some advice here.  This came up in the last group but bears repeating.  What happens is people equate swim sprints with highly accelerated activity.  For those who were not in the group last time this is for you, for those who were, please forgive the repetition.  The only thing you get by muscling through a swim is tired.

Form and rhythm are everything, even in sprints.  Try this.  Swim the first 50 as you normally do, concentrating on form and swimming strong.  Once you body is in rhythm pick up you pace in three ways.

(1) Pick up your stroke count by just ONE stroke per 25.  Think about what you are doing and know it takes very little increased speed in turnover to pick up that one stroke. Be careful that you DO NOT chop your stroke.

(2) Pick up the speed of your kick SLIGHTLY.  Concentrate on shallow kicks but do not break the surface of the water, i.e. NO splash.

(3) Lengthen your breathing by 1/2 stroke.  So if you are breathing every 2 stroke, breathe every 2.5 strokes.

Because you started in a good form the first half of the sprint, you are more likely to maintain it.  The specific steps above, if you think about what you are doing, will increase your speed without denigrating your form. 

You can employ this strategy at any distance.  The key is to put the additional effort at the back end of the swim and really concentrate on the steps.  Try it a few times and let me know how it works.

Wow, this group is so active!

Congrats to all the great races this weekend!

Some great advice being thrown around already.

Hope everyone had a good monday- just finished moving, now get to sit and study for a month for step 2 of my boards- so lots of forum and training time as "study breaks!"

This is great advice.  Much like Blanda, I tend to move my arms a whole lot faster and get nowhere when I see the word "sprint".  Going to try some of these ideas.