MJEWEN Summer 2013 Mentor Group - OPEN (Page 6)

I can read your race report, thanks for sharing!

Ken, that is cool that you are doing the Papio tri. It should be a good race. I am pretty sure I am going to do it too, just haven't put my money down, yet.
Sorry I keep replying to individual comments instead of all at once. I forget what I want to respond to!

Denise: A blog I read (to learn about races mostly) has pictures posted from your triathlon.... in case you haven't seen them: http://www.nendurance.com/2013/06/photos-from-todays-omaha-womens.h...

Emile: I used my new flippers for the first time today. Wow, if I could just wear those in a race I'd be set. Since the paddles seem to really be helping my stroke, I figured flippers might be good to develop a decent kick. I read that the kick for triathletes should be minimal but mine is so inefficient it leads to leg sinking issues. I think some drills with the flippers should help some. I went back to bilateral breathing today... I think its going to work out ok for me in the long run the best. I've been doing it enough that it feels pretty natural and as I keep getting a little better each time I think I'll get to where I can keep up with the breathing. I finished my training plan yesterday and feel good about it as a solid "first triathlon" plan. The Hanson's marathon plan actually ramps up sort of slow so even though it starts next week I'll be able to get all my runs in for it and just add in some biking and swimming. Will still be swimming three times per week all the way to the Papio try in about 6 weeks. I know its not quite the same as hitting the road, but due to time constraints I'll be doing 3 trainer sessions of about 40 minutes each. On a few weekends I'll be able to squeeze in a long bike ride and/or an OWS. I know I better get at *least* one OWS in even though schedule is really crazy these coming weeks (moving this weekend!). That's probably the thing I'll regret afterwards... not having enough of those under my belt. But plenty of triathlons in my future to get it figured out

Tom and Denise, wow... amazing reports. Tom, I agree that you should be racing competitively soon.... Denise, may I suggest that a little Phys Ed. be part of the tutoring program as you also become a Tri coach

Thanks for the photo's also, Denise.... I agree with Emile, the race to the finish photo is excellent.

Did everybody buy a gold detector?

I am considering it... this winter I was in my attic putting in an antenna for our TV (free of the cable company!) and my wedding ring flew off my hand. We have lots of insulation up there and its lost somewhere.

So a gold detector would be very handy since I'd like to find my ring before my house sells.

I'm afraid to click that link though since I generally like the computer(s) that I use and like to continue to be in control of them

haha! Good instincts on that one.

Denise - great race report, and congratulations again! Your photos are fantastic! I wish I looked half that good in my race pics, but I'll have to keep trying.

And that next tri for $40 dollars - that's an excellent price. And it looks like a shorter swim/longer bike combo would be perfect, too.

KenL - You aren't the only one who will have to get at least some of the bike training done indoors on the trainer. It's better than nothing. With a move coming up, too, that's great that you can keep your training schedule going like that.

I'm not familiar with Hanson's marathon plan. Is that what you used in the past?

Tom, I haven't checked out your race report yet, but will go do that next.

For me, I am just biking and running this week. The next sprint tri is on the 16th.

Ken, I think I did see those pictures, in fact some of the pictures I posted on my race report are from that photographer! Melani, that's why I look so good, a pro was taking the pics! haha!

It is funny some of you mentioned the picture about my race to the finish. That gal in the orange...I passed her at one point about a mile into the race and felt rather smug knowing she was 10 years younger while I was doing it. As I passed, she made a comment about wanting to try to keep up with me. I replied, "well, shouldn't be very hard, I don't run that fast." She remained about 15 feet behind me the entire way. I would glance back and holler back at her some encouraging words and just to let her know I knew she was still back there. Well, I'll be darn, about 50 yards to the finish I see her orange shirt out of the corner of my eye coming up beside me and I realize it is HER trying to pass me! I looked at her and said, "Oh no you don't! I'm not going to let you beat me now!" She took my challenge and we raced to the finish. We shook hands afterwards and she thanked me for encouraging her on. I was just glad she didn't try to pass me any earlier, as I was spent when we crossed the line! Not sure who was first to cross, but it doesn't really matter.

Ken, you asked about other Triathlons in the area. I did try to sign up for the Papillion, but it is closed. I heard they are considering adding more spots, so I am remaining hopeful. If not, oh well. I was looking around at local events and don't see much that works with my schedule. I guess the Plattsmouth Tri, which I've heard is pretty good, was cancelled this year. I did see one out in Superior, NE. It is kinda far for me to travel, but from Lincoln, it is a little closer. http://www.findaraceevent.com/re_117647/SuperiorTriathlon.html

Terry, I like your comment about adding some Phys. Ed. into my tutoring programs! That would be fun. I have friends tell me a lot that I should have been a trainer. I don't think I could do it, because I don't like to hear people make excuses for not working out! I have a friend that says she wants to be more physically active, asks me to help hold her accountable, and I offer all the time to help her, but she tends to just ignore me when i start to talk about it. Well, then don't ask for help, right?!

Some of you have mentioned swim tools/equipment. I didn't use any extra equipment while training for this tri, mainly b/c I didn't want to spend money. Taking a poll and asking for input at same time:
1. do you use swim tools? If yes, what types, and why. Do you feel they help?
2. If you don't use them, why not?

Thanks!

I'm about sick of all the rain and thunderstorms we are having. It seems like almost every day for the last month it has been raining and lightening. Today I got run out of the pool before I finished my workout because of lightening which I don't understand that rule anyway. I looked it up and I found there has never been a recorded death due to lightening in a indoor pool yet they still make us all get out! Just venting a little bit. Although even though I'm upset about the weather deep down I do feel very fortunate my area of Oklahoma hasn't had it near as bad as the OKC area.

I hope everybody is having a good week!

That Superior tri looks interesting. I wish it were an OWS and its shorter than I'd like, but might be fun depending on how the Papio tri goes.

Denise I do use swim tools almost every session unless I'm just doing one continuous swim. One of my workouts that I'm currently doing looks something like this:

1x500
10x50 w/pull buoy, ankle strap, and snorkel
3-5x100
10x50 w/pull buoy

I've always used the pull buoy in short sets of 50meters. I struggle with my legs dragging and I really think the pull buoy helps me get a feel for what good body position in the water feels like. It works well for me because sets of regular swimming after using the pull buoy I can tell I have better body position and usually swim some of my fastest times.

I've just recently started using snorkel and ankle strap after watching some video's by Gerry Rodriquez's from Tower 26. I use the ankle strap because even though I didn't think I did I found out quickly when using the strap I do kick some with the pull buoy. When using the snorkel with the pull buoy and ankle strap I can concentrate on nothing but my catch and pool because you don't have to worry about breathing or kicking.

Denise, great story about your friendly competitive finish -

Personally, for me, I think the two most important swim tools are the pull buoy and the kick-board.
After that, I thinks fins and paddles are okay to incorporate, but be careful with the paddles because sometimes they are misused.
Fins are great because when you are doing those sets with them the heart rate greatly increases, the aerobic is quite evident and it really builds the core.

I don't use snorkels.

I have the same thought as you regarding coaching.....

Good Morning all.... no running this morning... we're in the midst of our first named tropical storm, Andrea. Even though it's in the Gulf of Mexico, it's still dumping much rain here on us all night and even now.

I'm going on day five of my detox fast and feeling really good. Last night I went to a hot yoga class...... wow. I've always liked yoga for the stretch and breathing and meditative presence, but had never been to a hot yoga session. It's where they have the temperature turned up to about 105 degrees. And I was dripping pretty much throughout the experience.... holy cow. I'm glad I brought water with me. I really liked the guy who led the class, i like his words throughout the session. I think I'll have to make this a part of my routine, it's so peaceful leaving the place. I have found myself becoming lazy with stretching and have been considering going back to my martial arts or doing yoga as part of my training regimen to incorporate more flexibility and body work other than SBR workouts.

Terry I feel your pain with the tropical storm for the last month here in Oklahoma we have seen nothing but rain. I would have to pass on the hot yoga class it sounds to much like a wrestling room to me and I spend Nov-Feb in a room with the heat cranked as high as it will go.

This morning I did a brick workout 45min on the bike followed by a short 15min run. Once I finished the run I did a 20min strength session.

I haven't done a race of any kind in 2013 yet. Although I think I've decided to do a 8mi time trial in a couple weeks. It's call The Dam Time Trial because it is done across Joe Pool lakes dam. I've never done a TT so this will be a learning experience. If anybody has done a TT and has some advice for me I'm all ears.

I was able to sneak in a 90 min ride yesterday between rain showers, I got sprinkled on to start but 10 min after perfecting my dismount (no near faceplant) it down poured. The weather seems to be an obstacle this year for out door training. Hopefully that will change. Part of me does miss those sweaty days on the trainer while outside temps are 0. As much as I miss it, I might wait until Nov/Dec to relive it.

Since I joined this mentor group, my logs have been updated, just by looking at them does it look like I have a decent routine or proper amounts of training. My race schedule only has a July 13th sprint distance (lifetime MPLS). I am looking at doing a race in Sept. (Square lake MN) to close out the year .5 mile swim/18 mile bike/5mile run. With my current level of training am on I track for a realistic training regiment or should I pick up intensities, volume or both?

Tom I looked at your logs and it was hard for me to tell much mainly because last week was a race week which usually means less training and you only have about 2 weeks recorded. Although this week looks pretty good so far IMO. Do you have a day designated for a long run and long ride? If it was me I would focus a lot of my attention on the bike. IMO that is the area that you can really shave off a lot of time. Also, I would work on transitions. Looking at your transition times it looks like you could easily shave off 1min combined. I bet 1 min would have moved you up quite a few spots in the overall rankings.

I think the bike yields the greatest time savings and i am focusing most on that while not neglecting the others. I travel for work so cycling is not possible all the time unless the hotel has a decent stationary bike. I try to save running for my time away from home since almost all hotels have a treadmill and I always have my running gear with.

I know my logs lack history since I just started but I will continue to update them.

I thought my transitions were good for my first event, however looking at the guys who finished above me, most all had quicker T times. I think running a bit faster with the bike will help. But I thought this transition area was quite large. I will continue to work on practicing transitions.

Thanks for the feedback and I am always looking for tips to gain speed on the bike.

How long should my long rides/runs be of I am focused on mostly sprint distances. My running mileage was up prior to mid May for a half marathon and since I have been adding more bike and less runs.

Hi everybody!

I totally agree that the bike is a great area to focus on in training. Terry is the best example of the impact that training has on results :-)

I'll hold off on giving any training advice since I have never done anything longer than a sprint myself. Not that I don't want to! I really do want to try to get an Olympic distance on my calendar, but one thing at a time.

Did I tell you guys yet.. no I don't think I did... that I got in to the NYC marathon? I am freaking out a little bit, because I also have some problems with my knee when the mileage starts to go up. I almost hate to plan for the marathon out of fear that something will go wrong. Still, it is so exciting to think that I might get to be there on Nov. 3! Now to break it to my husband...

We have had some very sad news in our running community this week. One of the pair of coaches I train with just lost his son on Tuesday, only 9 years old. It is devastating, sad, hard to deal with. The funeral is tomorrow. On one hand, this is such an amazing group of people here and everyone is really coming together at this time. On the other hand, I can't help asking why this has to happen.

Melissa so sorry to hear about your friends child. As a parent this is without a doubt my worst fear. There has been 2 occasions in my life when I thought something was terribly wrong with one of my children and it made me physically ill. I will put your friend in my prayers.

Melissa very exciting about the NYC marathon. I really don't have a desire to do another marathon right now but some day I would love to do NYC and Chicago marathons.

I don't look at it as giving advice in this mentor group I look at it as sharing ideas. I know I can get stagnant and set in my ways and I love hearing how others train. Like the old saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Looks like I'm not going to get to do the time trial. Found out yesterday the evening of the TT is the day we are leaving for vacation. O well there is a duathlon a couple weeks after we get back from vacation I might do 3k/24k/3k. I did this duathlon a couple of years ago and it is a well put on race.

Tom if it was me and I was training for sprints only I would look at my long runs around the 6-8mi range and long bike around 2 hours.

On your transition times I didn't mean you had bad times I was stating there was faster times. Transitions is one area of tri's that you can really shave off time no matter what kind of athlete you are. People buy $2000 wheels to shave off a couple of minutes and most people can shave off a couple of minutes by just being more efficient in the transitions.

I've got a good day of training in today. I got in 2000m at the pool. I've been doing about all my riding on the trainer and thought I would ride outside today to see if any progress has been made. I avg 20mph on a 22 mile ride today and that was with having to drive through town and stop at stop signs. This is the first time I have ever averaged 20mph on a ride outside! I'm pretty stoked. Last year during my 70.3 I averaged 18.6 on the bike and my goal is to average 20mph during this years 70.3 in September. I feel like all the hard work on the trainer is starting to payoff.

Melissa, My condolences. That is always hard to get through. But congrats on NYC

Emile, Glad your trainer time is paying off

For those of you up for a good laugh my near face plant is no set as my profile video! It is sideways and taken from a phone so the quality is not the best, but you get the idea

Edited by trying2swim 2013-06-07 6:14 PM

I'm so sorry Melissa. It's heart breaking.

thank you for the comment about the bike :-)

Tom, I agree with Emile as far as a sprint distance.... there is not much distance to increase speed. Bike would be the greatest place to make time improvements. Your other times seem to be very good.

I put a lot of time in the saddle and during those rides I'll do intervals and go through different gears at higher or lower cadence and try to maintain my speed- really just getting to know the bike and become one with it (zen and the art of bike, right ;-)). I've had a really aggressive race schedule this year, by design, so I haven't really planned many hill climbs or training, but everything will slow down for me now and I'll begin training for my A races and include many more hills. That ought to improve the time on my biking. Because it's our rainy season now, I'll probably also spend a few days of the week on the trainer (following Emile's plan). During my last race, I stood up on the pedals much more during the last 18 miles and really increased my speed- I was getting up to 20+ mph and then sat down and kept it going for a while, then did it again treating the ride as an extended training session.

But in a sprint-it's such a short race- I'm thinking that you could probably stand up on your pedals the whole race and that would also improve your times. That's my intention during my next sprint race- I'll let you know how it works out.

Tom - I just watched your video. You actually recovered very well. I think I would have bit the dust in that situation.

Ken - I have actually come to really like the trainer and IMHO it is tougher then riding outside because there is no coasting you have to always keep the pedals turning. The thing that keeps the trainer from being so boring is Netflix. I like to find a good tv series so I can watch the entire show from episode 1 to the finale that gives me hours and hours of entertainment. I'm currently watching Justified it's not bad but not an all time favorite.

I got in a 30min run this morning and plan on using the rest of the day to do yard work. After yard work is done I plan on enjoying a cold one while watching the kids swim.