Sharona1973's Group - FULL (Page 7)

Goofy, thanks for the great nutritional information...what about some specific breakfast ideas that are full of fiber and somewhat low in carbs? Is that possible? I have a huge problem with breaksfast...I never know what to eat. Oh and lunch too....I can cook dinner if I have prepped fresh ingredients..no problem there. But lunch....boy, I can't seem to get it in order. I work out of my car and so unless I get a sandwich or something, it's really hard for me to eat lunch. I either skip it or get unhealthy fast food. It's terrible. I know it's all about preparing ahead of time. I would love more suggestions though!

And thanks for the swim lessons ahead of time. I am going to get in the pool very soon and I need to work on swimming up to 1 mile....I'm mostly going to work on endurance, but didn't you say that drills really helped with even stamina as well?

Tierney, yes, triathlons can be an elitist type of sport when it comes to registration fees and tri clothes etc. It is not cheap at all...and that's where you can have to make your decision about which races you'll do etc. 5Ks are fun and I try to do them, but sometimes I just don't want to spend the money on the registration fees and I have enough t-shirts already!! I think it's crazy how expensive this sport can get sometimes...trust me....it can get worse if you try to keep up with the Joneses. But the nice thing is that once you buy clothes etc, you can wear them for at least a few years. I bought my tri club suit last year and plan to wear it until it falls off! LOL!!

Okay, I've been meaning to jot down some thoughts that I think might be helpful to you since we are getting into the swing of 2007. A lot of you are really getting into your programs and are seriously thinking about your upcoming races/triathlons. I have a few pearls of wisdom for you...but alas, I have been summoned off the computer....so I will entice you to come back in the next few days. I promise to get this down to you and we can have a discussion should any questions come up.

You ALL have been doing a FANTASTIC and magnificent job of keeping up with your workouts and goals. I am soooo proud of ALL of you.

Well Good Evening Dogged Packers:

Sharon had asked me about low(ish) carb, high fiber breakfasts, so.... A good rule is to start your morning with at least 6grams of fiber.  Adding wheat bran is always an easy way to achieve that.  Also, adding healthy fats (like nuts) can make you feel full longer and absorb nutrients from the meal better.  I mentioned before that i try to keep on hand some oatmeal to make at work if i'm in a hurry (just add hot water).  Then you can just toss in some pre sliced apples or whole raspberries (very high in fiber, to my surprise), sweeten with brown sugar and your all warmed up!  Some other easy/quick options: yogurt topped with wheat germ and blueberries or raisins (add nuts if you want), Lower fat cottage cheese and raspberries, Nature's path cereal is great and i believe they have a low carb Simple something version, Steel Cut Irish oats too.  Many things can be made...ahead of time, of course... with Flax seeds(breads/muffins, cereal, oats, egg stuff) and are high fiber -low carb.  Keep in mind, Whole Grain not refined grains is what you need.  I don't pay attention to my carb, but i think some of you may due to diabetes am i right?

As for the next meal: my morning snack is a life saver when i am at work.  I keep a little tupperware in my desk or in the office fridge full of goodies (oink oink): Mostly veggies and dip, or stoneground whole wheat crackers and dip, Stonyfield farm organic yogurt, and my favorite lately...sliced fresh fruit in a tiny tupperware-blueberries, grapes and strawberries! Mmmmmmm...sometimes i mix it up with sliced apples or kiwi instead of strawberries, or black instead of blueberries. The dip i make myself out of tofu and really good for you stuff.  I have recipes.

***It is REALLY super difficult to type with cat butt in your face*****

Swim drills:  If you are really worried about the endurance, do the drills for the first half of your pool time and then do some distance swimming.  You can see how the new technique improves your efficiency.  But i do have to emphasize: If you notice yourself drifting off or getting sloppy...you know, just trying to make it to that wall...then stop and refocus. It does you absolutely no good....none...to swim bad laps.  You will be fighting yourself and the water on top of reinforcing inefficient techniques...and ruining all of your hard work from the drills!!!!!!

Shoot, i need to get you ladies more swim drills....i am soooo bad!!  Since tomorrow is my swim day, i will most certainly have them for you before i leave for the pool.  No, really i'll try so hard to get them.

Off to fill in my training log.  I am really proud to be a part of this group.

I promised you cute puppies a fireside chat....so, I'm sitting here next to a roaring fire and pondering what would be helpful to you and this is what I've come up with.

Seeing as how most of you are shooting for your first triathlons, I thought I would share with you some of my thoughts. I know most of you have triathlon books, so this may already be covered, but this is coming from my personal experience and as a side note, I did not follow any specific training plans for my tris last year and I was able to complete 4 sprint triathlons and improved on my times on each one.

In no particular order:

• Triathlons are swim, bike run: make sure you can do all 3! Duh, pretty simple, right?
• Be sure that in your training, you train for that specific distance: for example, if your triathlon is a 500 yard swim/12 mile bike/3 mile run, make sure you can do each individual distance by itself
• Obviously as you are training, you'll find that you will overtrain your distance....as in, you'll probably swim more than 500 yards or bike more than 12 miles during a training session. I usually never ran more than the regular 3.1 miles when training last year...but that's because I hated running!! Overtraining the distance is just fine during your training. Most of my sprint tris had bike distances that were less than 20 miles, but since I ride with the bike club, we usually rode distances of 24 or more twice a week.
• Tri clubs and bike clubs: I find them every helpful...if nothing else, to have others to train with and real life folks to ask questions of. I obviously still use BT a lot....prior to this mentor group, it was to log my workouts and use it as a visual aide, but now, it's great that I have such a wonderful support group of friends!
• BRICKS!! No, it's not what you use to club someone over the head with....bricks are essential to tri training. So what's a brick? It's basically a back to back workout. Usually bike to run bricks are the most common (simply cuz it's easier to transition!)...thus BRick. Nothing like getting off the bike after a long ride and having to run 3 miles....so you have to practice.

Some of you will probably end up doing some mini-tris before you actually do an official sprint tri....if you can find a place, well, like your gym, you can do an indoor tri.....swim in the pool, hop on the stationary bike and then run on the treadmill. You can also start in the pool and then just get on your bike and ride around the neighborhood and then run. This will give you a good idea of what your body is going to be going through during your sprint tri.

It really depends on where you're training and what resources you have, which is why tri and bike clubs are a really good resource. You'll have places to train and routes to try out.

For example, I am a member of the local tri and bike clubs here. In the summer, we have organized workouts for whoever wants to come. We have a really big local tri event here in August called the RiverCities Triathlon....it fills up within 3 hours of the registration opening...and it has about 2000 participants. It's one of the most popular sprint tris in the south and the oldest I think.

Anyway, since it's a local tri, we train at the triathlon "site".....it's really neat to do our training together and we basically do a sprint tri every Saturday during the summer. We'll get in the lake, swim our 1/2 mile, get on the bike and ride the 18 mile course and then for those who want to, you can run the entire 3 mile course. I only managed about 1 - 1.5 miles last year in my Saturday trainings.

BTW, anyone interested in doing this tri? It's a great triathlon and has awesome swag.....one of the best around. You even get a finisher's medal, which not all tris give you. Anyone would be welcome to crash at my house!

Okay...so this is the end of Fireside Chat #1. Next topics will include what to wear, setting up/practicing transitions and anything else that comes up!

Be sure to ask questions!!

Hey E, (I like that. It reminds me of Elvis.)

I ran across this on our own BT a bit ago.  It might help combined with the experts in our own group.  Have a good night.  Laura

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=755

Anyone want to chat on MSN? I'm online right now!

Erin, the tri I was talking about was actually the RiverCities Triathlon in Shreveport, LA in August. It's a sprint tri and a great one. I was just thinking that if anyone was interested in making a road trip to come to my part of the country, you could do this tri with me and you would be welcome to crash at my house!

On that same note, there is another great sprint tri in the Dallas area that Laura and I are going to do (and probably T also, if she's still in TX at the time). It's the IronGirl sprint tri on July 22, 2007. It was my second tri last year and it was a great triathlon. It's a woman's triathlon, a bit different, but still challenging and fun. You can read my race report on it.

I would definitely love to have EVERYONE come down for that! Wouldn't that be fun?

Here's the link: http://www.irongirltexas.com/07irving/index-irving.html 

Registration is actually open right now I think.

Well, as your mentor in residence, I should be saying....BE GOOD! But I know what Laura is trying to say....and on that note, rest is as important as training. As you know, as you train (and specifically with weight training), you break down your muscles and you need rest to build it back up. Same thing with endurance training, you need your rest (and tapers when appropriate before a race).

You guys have been awesome and really gung ho and I'm proud of all your hard work, but don't be afraid to take some time out for yourself....only you know if you're cheating or really taking a rest you deserve (me included).

That's your friendly mentor message for the day!

T, I hope that you can fit IronGirl in...if not the actual race, that we can see you at least that weekend! You can be a jockstrap along with C and J!

I knew there was a reason i was late with your weekly swim drills: to enable me to procrastinate studying.

Time Trials: I forgot to explain exactly how to do a pace test last time.  So, say your goal is to do a race that includes a 500yd swim.  Your pace test should be for 500yds.  You want to determine your average pace per 100yds.  During your time trial, it is important to swim at a speed that you can maintain the entire time.  You don't want to poop out during the last 200yds!  Still, you want to give it all you have, because this is what you are going to use to create your workouts.  This is what i recommend (and you can modify it for your distance):

Warm up/3-4 50s on 10 second rest/500yd pace test/Cool down

So, you swam a 15:00.00 500yd pace test.  This means your swim pace is 3:00.00 per 100yds.  **If i did my math correctly, that is 3:17.00 per 100m + 12:45.00 per 1/4 mi*** Anyway, 3:00 is your "T-pace".  You can create your workouts based on this T-pace.  I will show you how on Sunday.  No, really, i will.

Stomach kick (for poor body position): I have a bad kick.  At some point during competition swimming, i was so annoyed by kicking, that i just stopped.  I would just drag my legs behind me.  Somehow, i still managed to kick with my left foot every 3rd stroke (noticed it on a video years ago).  Anyway, i can only imagine how much faster i would have been if i had addressed the problem then.  I have only just begun to fix it. 

I do not use a kickboard anymore, because i want to train with the same body position that i would be racing with.  I cannot do this with a kickboard.  Swim on your stomach with your arms extended in front of you.  Keep your head in position as if you were swimming the full stroke.  Point your toes.  The big thing here is to remember that you are not practicing this kick for power (that's later).  This is for poor body position.  Take it easy and focus on doing this properly.  Time and distance do not matter.  Important: breathe to the side by slowly turning your head/shoulder.  That way, you maintain body position...unlike lifting your head which lowers your legs.  Master this, then move to side kicks, then to power.

Eek: What specifically did you want to know with regards to lap swim etiquette?

I forgot:

Instead of studying, i found another race!!!  Tell me what you guys think.  It's on my 32nd birthday, but it's an Oly.  Everyone in New England (BT-ers) raves about it, and they all make it a point to get to the race.  Supposed to be beautiful.  Oh, it's the Cranberry Country Tri...must be near some Cranberry farms.  Or bogs.  Whatever.  August 27th, which will be warm for this area.  6.2mi run, 24.9mi bike, 0.8mi swim (1287.48m). 

Sharon?

Okay, time to go workout.

Hey Goofy, for the poor body positioning swim, do you breathe to the side with your arms still in the extended position and you just roll over and breathe to the side and keep kicking even while turned? I need a video!!!!

As for your question about readiness for your first oly...that is going to depend on you. I'm not sure what your full background is fitness wise. From what I know of you and your obvious swimming skills and work background, I would say that the swim would be a piece of cake for you, which would be a great advantage.

My advice for all triathlons is that you must be able to do all the distances individually first. I'm not sure of your bike and run endurance/skills/experience. But knowing you to be a good athlete, you would probably be able to finish the tri and I checked out the website and there was no mention of a cutoff time, so you'll have all the time you need to finish as well. If you can do all the distances and want to take on the challenge, then I say go for it. You can make it a B or C race....as in, doing it to finish and complete it, not so much getting a PR time, although your first Oly distance would be a PR no matter what!

I hope I helped!!

BTW, the IronGirl Triathlon in July is just outside of Dallas....on the west side. It's a bit far from Galveston. Although there are tris in Galveston as well. We would love to have you too if you could make it!!

Breathing: I know different people have different problems with water, esp. w/breathing.  So, obviously do what works best for you...even if you have to try different things.  I recommend pulling with the Right (or left if that's your thing) arm, so that you are almost doing a Left Side Kick drill.  Your Left arm is still extended, palm down.  Your belly is pointing at the side of the pool.  Take your breath, maintaining normal swim head position.  Roll back into position.  This is all done slowly....way more so than you would if you were swimming a full Freestyle stroke.  I wish i had a video for you.  Don't worry, this drill is only temporary.  Once you master it, you move on to side kicks and then the fun stuff.

Thanks for the Oly/race advice.  I feel confident enough that by summer i will be able to complete all of those distances alone.  I hadn't "lettered" any of my races.  Maybe i will. What's the difference between B and C? 

Work starts again tomorrow, so i guess i'll fill in my Log and get rolling......

I know, I know, it's like my 100th post of the week....but it's important....

ONE WEEK REMAINING IN THE 30 DAY CHALLENGE!!!!!

Goofy, here's a great explanation of A, B, C races....

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=61150&posts=8&highlight=B%20race&highlightmode=2#M615729

Most of my races last year were B's....I think this year I'll have more C races...I think I have more AB type races since I'm so new to this...everything I do these days is like a new PR since I'm still improving.

Hi guys - I wrote to Sharon privately but I wanted you all to know that I have to regretably step away from the group. My job has become much more demanding and I just can't spend as much time on the computer doing personal stuff and it's not fair to all of you that are posting your workouts and encouraging each other. I know you'll all accomplish great things in 2007 especially with such a great mentor and great group of people! I wish you all the best of luck in your tris.

Annie

Annie, I am so sorry to hear this. Please know that even if you're not formally a part of the group, that I'm still keeping you on my friend's list. Stay with BT and we can still check with you.

I hope that work doesn't get too stressful and that family life is good and that you have time for that as well outside of your job.

Best wishes to you!

Well, i vanished for a couple of days but i just couldn't wait to get back and see how each of you were doing! 

Annie:  sorry to hear that you have to take a break, but we'll all be here if you ever need anything.

Bike people: I've been feeling really good about my weekly bike workouts.  My last one, on Thursday?, was 18mph with out the 2min warmup.  It felt great.  I was barely tired afterwards, but still felt satisfied with my accomplishment.  I even increased the rpms on some of my 5min segments, because i just felt like i should.  My question is: is 18mph a good pace?  It feels good, and i know with consistent workouts it will get better.  And 9miles in 30 minutes sounds good to me....but i really have nothing to gauge that against, you know?  My first bike event is the Du in May, and it's 12mi after a 2mi run.  After completing the 9mi, i feel like i will be able to complete it comfortably in the Du.  Or is the Stationary an entirely different thing?  I know with running, you have to add incline (i have a chart) to get the road running equivalent.  Is this also true with biking?  Is that what the Levels are?  I'm comfortable with Level 2, but it's still a workout.  Level 3 gets me sweating and tired fast, but it's getting easier.  Any thoughts?  Oh, and Laura, i need more distraction techniques for the Stationary.  I'm not desperate yet, but i don't want to get there.

Hey Goofy, re: the stationary bike. I really don't know how that equates to road riding. I personally cannot ride the stationary bike at the gym. I would rather spin or get on my trainer with my bike. Having said that, I am perhaps not the most knowledgeable on this subject. However, since you have the chart equivalents for the treadmill, is there a similar resource for the stationary bike?

What I do know is this. My experience with the treadmill (and mind you, this is my personal experience and some may experience something drastically different), is that I always end up running FASTER on the road compared to what I do on the treadmill and that is with 0% incline. I almost never run on an incline on the treadmill. Why? Don't know, guess I just get lazy with pushing the button. So....does this mean that you'll go faster on a road bike than on your stationary bike if you use my above illustration? Honestly? You won't know until you actually get on a bike on the road.

Also remember that USAT rules stipulate that there is no drafting allowed during a triathlon or a duathlon (since they also abide by USAT rules).

I would suggest that the only way you're going to know how you're really doing is to get on the road and go the distance.

Personally I would KILL to  be able to go 18mph during a race. I have yet to break that speed barrier. I can almost do it when I'm in a paceline. Guess I need to work on losing a bit more weight!

I'll be anxious to see how your speed translates from the stationary bike to outdoor riding.

I'll tell you this, I've been told that good runners are good riders and well, it's true!!! All the cyclists out there that are super fast? Are super fast runners as well. With your athletic background, I have no doubt you'll smoke 'em during the du and tris!

Good morning ladies! Okay, it's almost the end of the month and so far you guys have done a SUPER job in keeping up with your personal goals and up with the 30/30 challenge. I am so psyched that everyone is attaining what they set out to accomplish. Brava!!!!

February is almost on us and we need a new challenge!!! I have a couple of ideas. Instead of the 30/30 challenge continuing, I was thinking about starting a challenge I'd seen on other blogs. Basically we would come up with a minutes challenge for each event of a triathlon. Will each of you tell me what your individual planned workouts are for each event? I know some of you are following training plans. For example...for me, I'm shooting for swimming 2x/wk @ 30 minutes.

My thought is that using that formula, I might set a challenge of 240 minutes for swimming for the month of February. Does that make sense?

Also, there is something called the 24 hour triathlon. This is where you do all 3 events in 24 hours. So, you could run one day and then the next day you could swim and bike....you would have done a triathlon in 24 hours. We could set a 24 hour triathlon challenge or just see how many 24 hour triathlons we can do.

Just some thoughts I wanted to throw out at you.

Have a great day everyone!!

Good Morning Everyone!!!
I hope everyone is doing well. I think we are all doing a wonderful job contending with our training goals while life keeps jumping in our way.  I am starting to think the most difficult aspect of this triathlon will not be the actual event but rather the preparation.  I'm a planner and plotter by nature and this is certainly one of my biggest "plots" to date.  I appreciate all of your inspires, and I love all of the friendly banter.  Now, in regards to some earlier messages:
 

Goofy talked of the stationary bike and the road, etc.
I can't really speak to the running or swimming portion as well as the others; however, I will share a bit about the bike.  Nothing compares to the open road.  Spin class is an excellent workout, but there is so much more that goes into a road race/tour.   If you are on a stationary bike, you can decide when you want to "climb the hill."  On the road that hill is there, and there is only one way over.  In addition, it's good to be familiar with all your gears and how your body reacts to each one.   On the stationary bike you can equate your levels with incline on the dreadmill.   Nine miles is awesome in 30 minutes, look at that one like you just sprinted on a straight-away all the way in.  And, of course, you won!!! Yeah!!  So I don’t get bored on the stationary, I’ll actually take a minute to write out a “race” of sorts. 

Examples from my 75 Minute Ride, so I didn’t get bored:
0-10 min.:  Easy level 2…………just coming out after the swim, get my legs
10-15:  First hill coming up, level 4 keeping rpm consistent
All the way to……..
43-46 min:  cute spectator on the left, go aero and look good. LOL
 

Sharon’s Questions on Challenges:
Hmm…Honestly I’d have to really take a few minutes with my training plans to figure out a sport-minute challenge for the month.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the 24 hour triathlon challenge.  I’ll do either though but you know the one I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.
I don’t know if any of my rambling helped, but it’s there for the taking.  Great days to everyone.