Ted's Sprint Group (Beginner & Experienced Welcome) (Page 6)

Good morning
Jon- welcome there are many people with lots of experience. I would say get a plan of when you are going to work out and which workout you will do. I started the from very beginning last year for swimming(learning how to breathe)running, and cycling. Take it one day at a time, for me having a plan and knowing it is training helps a lot. I am competing against myself to see what I am made of. I also have children sometimes I have to do workouts in the morning before work or after work before dinner or after the children go to bed. That is also part of the challenge of it all. I learned that doing triathlons is swim, bike, run, mental. The mental can be the hardest part.
Welcome again.
Nicole
42 yr, South Carolina
Crawl, walk, run

Donto,
I will be at the Y today I hope you can make it as well. I look forward to hearing how your training goes.
Great job being creative with your run.
The hardest part is just moving.
Something is better than nothing at all. I don't know if you have long expectations for yourself on your training. Maybe that is keeping you from moving forward.
Good luck I will be thinking of you.
Nicole

Jon....welcome!!! You'll enjoy this adventure!!

Pretty good swim for me this morning; fewer yards than Monday but I increased my kick board time (without fins) just a bit; dis another set with board and fins; then some cramps set in; obviously my legs are still needing more work since I've just restarted using the kick board in my practices. Plan is to go to the gym this afternoon for a weight session....hope to get in a spin session on the trainer tomorrow morning.

Lunched with a friend/former co-worker yesterday; he's been doing Triathlons for a number of years; we plan to do some open water swims in the late spring or early summer; look forward to doing that.....open water swimming is something I need to just jump in and do!!!

My coach mentioned I should to an event in May that is open water. I haven't tried open water yet. I guess the normal scared of the unknown. I have swam in ponds and the ocean growing up but never any real distance or for any race.
Good luck getting your legs back in shape.
I was thinking is it normal that your legs are so tired when in the pool? I guess doing runs and bike sessions in the week then kicking in the pool. But do they ever just feel normal when you swim? Ok that sounds kind of crazy. Maybe it is just my body getting used to the work.
Nicole

I use my legs to maintain balance, not being a swimmer I don't count on it being a significant (any!) part of my propulsion.  There was a thread on the main forum yesterday about kicking.  I kick "harder" (i.e. increase kick beat) only at the start for a little bit, when I have to do a pass, or near the end of the swim leg.  I used short Finis fins to develop my kick technique when I started out as I was one that went backwards with a kickboard!  Once I understood the nature of my kick and learned the balance I don't over tax my legs on the swim. 

If you swam in any open water before you'll be fine.  Distance is not an issue as long as you have the fitness for it. 

Donto,
Thanks I was thinking I might be using my legs too much. I got in a bike workout on the trainer and my legs felt the swim and run from yesterday.

Bike today was
Intervals for the heart rate.
Long ride today

I need to schedule some outside rides. I miss riding outside with the scenery and the wind. It is easy more convenient to ride anytime inside.
Nicole

Good swim for me today; more time with the kick board (so slow with that thing!!)....right at an hour in the pool; most yards since last summer.....

Today marks the 3rd anniversary for my left knee replacement. So far so good with the artificial knee joint...only 1 instance of a problem since I recovered....that was about a year ago when I over trained with the trainer, treadmill, and weights; I was doing too many individual leg sessions on the weight machines and it caught up with me. Had to see the surgeon...not damage to the joint but I'd just put too much stress on it and it swelled big time. The steroids and rest took care of the problem......so Lesson Learned.... AGAIN....

Over training and over doing can set you back.....

Have a great weekend!!!

Made it too the pool today swam a warm up of 100 easy and 50 breast. Then completed a 500-600 M distance swim I lost count. Argh I need a better trick for this. I still end up breast stroking every once in a while for recovery my shouders hurt what could that be bad technique maybe. Then cooled down for another 100 m.

Most important thing is you made it to the pool. One trick I sometimes use when I don't feel like counting laps is to time myself for the first 100 and then do another check again after about 10 minutes of swimming. I know that I'm generally going to be around 1:50 to 2:00 minutes per 100, so I know if I swim around 20:00-22:00 minutes, I'm probably at about 1000.

As for the shoulders, are stretching a bit after the warm-up? That might help to keep things "loose" and present some of the shoulder soreness.

Ted

Got back at it today after almost a full two week break. This is the longest break I've had in over a year I would guess! Did an easy three mile run although my HR strap wasn't working and had my HR at something like 240 bpm. It felt good to run again after the long lay off. I'm hoping to get an easy training ride in tomorrow, perhaps during the first quarter of the super bowl. I feel like I should do something with all of the chicken wings, queso dip, etc. that I'll be eating while I cheer on the BRONCOS!

Back to the pool again today

Swam 100 and kicked 50 to warm up

Then swam 10 x 50 alternating between pull buoy and not
Then a 200 m swim
another 50 kick
50 breast
and another 100 to cool down

Alright on to my evening bike ride now

Good pool session!!! Congrats!

Taking a day off from training today; battling another cold...go figure 2 colds this winter highly unusual for me....had a good string of training days going but best to rest a bit now.

Trying to get back on track this week! It's been hard to get back into the gym after being sick for so long a few weeks ago! Last week I did a mini brick and biked 20/ran 10. Today I started running intervals. 15 min warm up, then 3, 2 minute intervals of faster/slower running, then 15 minute cool down. It actually wasn't too bad! Next week I do 4 intervals. I think I'm on track with running and biking but have fallen behind in the pool. I should be able to get into the pool twice this week so that is good.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping my shoulders/upper body relaxed while running? I seem to always get a cramp in my collar bone area. I think it is because I tense up!

This is me too! I had almost two weeks off and I've been struggling to get back into a routine. Managed about 30 minutes on the bike after work. It felt pretty good but I'm very tired now. I have uploaded a training plan to start in a few weeks that will carry me to my first race of the season. Between now and then the goal will be just to stay in the habit of working out. If you are having some should upper body tension while running you might try "shaking it out" or some upper body stretches after about 20 minutes of running. This will help a bit with staying loose and with tension.

Yeah. The colds/ sickness has been tough this year. Hope you feel better!

Thanks Ted!

Better today....easy session (40 minutes total).....20 each on trainer and treadmill. Left knee still stiff and grouchy after the swelling episode from last Saturday. Affected my biking session mostly....raised my seat a hint more....

Back to the pool tomorrow!

Glad you're able to get after it a bit. I went swimming this a.m. for the first time in about 3 weeks. Did an easy 800 just to get in the habit of going more than anything. Felt pretty good. I've decided to really ease back into training which means I'm working out only about every other day for the rest of the month. Psychologically, it's a bit of a challenge after all of the IM training last year (it makes me feel like a slacker). But work has been very busy and stressful so I'm feeling pretty lucky that I don't have that added stress as well.

All,

Give us an update on how things are going. Use this format:

1) What is your Saturday or Sunday training plan?

2) What is your "goal" or "focus" for the workout (I've found that setting a goal for each workout can really help maximize the training experience).

Here's an example:

1) Plan: I'm going to ride on the trainer for an hour doing an interval session.

2) Goal/ Focus: Pay attention to my cadence and try to avg. between 80-90 rpm during the session.

Here's my plan/ focus:

1. Plan: Run 6 miles on Saturday

2. Goal/ Focus: Run at a comfortable pace 9:00-9:30/ mile but include 3x800 at 7:30-8:00 during the run.

I have had a bit of time issues and had to skip workouts or shorten them this week. I have felt bad about it. Yesterday, I was able to get in a long swim, which felt good. 1050 yd, the arm drills are paying off. Thanks to everyone that has put in their words of wisdom, I realized I have been swimming more flat, been kicking and doing my arm strokes wrong(without an effective pull) and too quickly. It is no wonder I was tired and running out of breath. I have slowed down my stroke so that my arms go through the full motion before using the next arm. Then I use another drill that speeds it back up but my arms are in the right place. I took 2 strokes off of my swim for (each25yd). I got in some weights at the gym legs, shoulders, back, well almost all of it but left out my planks, push ups, lunges, and squats. I will get them today. I also got in a run. I did a 31 minute run and didn't think I would be able to get far because of everything else I had done but I got in a good run. I had to walk some but did 2 miles. It was faster than another time I ran outside.

Today I will ride work on short ride, do some spinning high cadence intervals up to 90's then over 100, back down to 80's.
I plan to get in an ab workout and some stretching time.
Saturday hour ride on the trainer with my husband. That will be more heart beat training and working harder. 80-90 cadence with higher gear intervals.
Weights training at home with squats, lunges, planks, push-ups, plus weights.
Sunday short swim with my boys 20 minutes fast broken ladders no fins, put together the work from the week.
Run 30 minutes see if I can improve my distance focus on form.

It is amazing how much I learn that I am doing wrong and the fact that I made it through my events before. I hope I never stop learning.
Happy Valentines Day everyone.
Nicole

. . and Done! 6.3 miles @ 8:47/ mile avg. for a total time of 55:35. 3x800's were actually a little closer to 7:00-7:30. Oh and it was warm here today. About 65-70 degrees F. A strong wind blowing too!

Nice Ted, it's sub zero here in NYC, it'll be 6 miles treadmill for me. roughly 80-85% pace. Excellent tempo ride on trainer last night

Edited by TJHammer 2016-02-13 5:36 PM

- 39 out here sounds like an indoor trainer ride today





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