bcagle25's Endurance Ninja's - Closed (Ninja school is in session) (Page 7)

Justen, I spent too much time swimming last year probably did something like a 40% bike, then 30/30% swim/run. I think that swimming fitness yields results across the board and can help your bike and run leg, IMO.

However, I feel that you could train for an IM and swim only once a week (2.5-4K) and still be alright for IM. Of course with this said, it would be better that you have some swim fitness, your stroke is fairly efficient and that you have done an IM before. Endurance Nation tells their athletes NOT to swim over the "out-season", while I do not agree with this, it has proven to work with all their athletes.

The general rule of thumb is that 10% of your training should be on the swim. I myself enjoy swimming a lot so I like to ramp that up a bit, maybe too much last year. Not everyone follows this, but if you are looking for general guidlines then this is what to follow.

One note about swimming that is often overlooked is how great it can be for recovery. It is zero impact in the body and can pay big dividends. In terms of recovery you don't even need to swim a long distance, 500 yards is plenty, but it gives your body a good chance for recovery. I like to do kick sets to loosen my legs and get them prepped after a long or hard run.

With swimming it is completely up to what your goals are in the broad scheme of things. Do you want to "just finish the swim" then swim less, if your struggle with swimming and want to cut your times then a greater effort will be required. If you want to cut off 15 minutes from your IM swim then I would focus on the swim a bit more then 10%, but you don't need to kill yourself for those 15 minutes. 15 minutes is a fair amount of time in the swim, but if you are still new to swimming then you may have a lot of "low-hanging fruit" still to pick.

Like I said before, and in my post to Jason, a big mistake a made last year was staying away from my run and focusing too much on the swim, so be careful of falling into this trap.

What is your swimming background? Knowing this can help decide the effort that you should put into swimming in 2012.

Ali, glad you got a chance to run on the "frozen tundra" although it probably wasn't too frozen when you ran.

Agree on what you say above, and it's great how you can just bounce back the next day right?

Moving into the middle of winter now and before we know it, spring will be shining upon us. Now is a grea time to get your bike into the shop and get a tune-up, also a great chance to learn more about the in's and out's of bikes, how to fix them, and maintain them as well. If any of your are weary about bikes and what a derailuer is I suggest giving this a go, every bike mechanic is very hands on and love to teach the public about proper bike care. Beat the masses to your local LBS!!! It gets crazy come spring and may take over a week!

Let's start thinking short term here...name a goal your are setting for yourself this week, that will help you prepare for next week and build into the oncoming season?

For myself I really need to get my butt back on the trainer 3-4x a week. I let my bike go over the fall and if I want to nail IMWI I better get myself prepped accordingly. I also start coaching in 2 weeks and I know it's going to get painful fast. So I want to hit 2 solid rides on the trainer this week.

5 mile tempo run today and I did it on the treadmill to play around with the incline %.  I definitely felt a difference even on the .5% - will do more of this from now on.  I do like the treadmill sometimes because I can force myself to run at different paces unlike when I run on my own around my neighborhood.

My half marathon goal in March is to beat my PR (3 years ago before I started getting injured) of 1:53.  My last half marathon time was 2:00.  I was just coming back from my honeymoon and hadn't trained as well as I liked for my last half so here's hoping better training = faster time!

As of now my tempo pace at 8:50/9 min mile pace, intervals are between 8:15-8:45 pace depending on the interval (400s, 800s, 1200s, 1600s).

I will need an avg of 8:33 min mile pace to break 1:53.  As of now, it seems a bit lofty but hopefully I'll train correctly and get it!

Jealous, gonna be about 5 degrees here tomorrow! Enjoy the trip this is the perfect time to go on a warm vacation. 

Is anyone here familiar with the US Master's postal swim? In short, the swim is a 1 hour TT effort. The goals is to see how far you can swim in a yard or metered pool, no breaks, just start and go til 60 minutes hit the clock. For anyone that is focusing on longer distance races this is an ideal, and "fun" swim to see where you stand. They always set it up in January and has become an annual tradition for many triathletes. I plan on swimming this a week from Saturday for the first time and watching my improvements over the years. If you are not up to that ability cut it down to 20-30 minutes, but make it long enough where it is both mentally and physically challenging on yourself. 

Google postal swim to read more about it and read athletes tales of their attempts!

Finally...here is my shameless self promotional plug for my latest blog entry: 7 weeks, 5 weddings, 1 Ironman

Jess, do you have a written plan for your HM? I am not sure if you mentioned that yet already or not, but I would highly suggest Hal Higdon's plans. Google his name he has some good stuff that worked well for me a couple years back, just some food for thought. 

Thanks, Ben, for the response on swimming.  My background is pretty limited; prior to about two years ago, I had not swam in about 20 years.  I actually enjoy the water a lot and find it to be the most relaxing of the three sports.  It is also where I have had the most improvement; I have periodically been a runner and biker and thus am always trying to get back to those PRs, if you will.  Swimming has been a blank slate.  When I started a couple years ago, I could barely swim a 2:40 100.  Now I average about 2 to 2:10 on long swims, and my fastest 100 is a 1:29.  Keep in mind that I have no idea how to kick turn!  I myself try slightly over emphasize swimming a bit, because of the zero impact and I feel the results a lot quicker in terms of my body getting leaner.  My goal for this year with the swim is to average below 2:00/per 100 in an Oly, and swim 2-3x per week to get more consistent.  

I will say this:  a consistent problem I do have is cramping after the swim in the bike.  It drives me nuts, if anyone has any thoughts!

Thanks to all of you cold weather northerners I got my swim in last night. My gym's pool is outside. so when it is 30-40's outside that means it is a bit chilly getting in and out to say the least. I didn't want to go but thought of you guys running outside in freezing temp!

It amazes me when you start out from 0 base how quick you can build up tolerance in a few weeks. I look back at my logs from beginning of last year and went from 25 yards to 800yds pretty quick. So hopefully I will be there in another week or so.

Once I get some what of a base, I am going to have to try that swim workout.

I do and still can't get it uploaded on here. I do a mix of Higdon's works with the FIRST plan.  I really like the concept of the FIRST 3 days a week plan - a tempo, interval, and long run.  I use Higdon's actual workouts mixed into the weeks.

I have a loose 12 week plan for the HM that fits into the HIM plan.  I already had a base of 20-30 miles a week with long runs anywhere from 10-16 miles for my long runs.

Jess, are these your planned long runs? If so they check out well, factoring in travel (can you run when you are out of town?). What pace do you plan on running these runs at compared to your planned race pace?

Ahhh, that would make sense 

Yep those are my long runs.  I run them anywhere from a 9:40 - 10ish pace, depending who I run with.

My goal race pace is 8:30ish, albeit a lofty goal right now.  My tempo runs are between 8:50-9 min mile and my intervals are at a 8:20-8:30 pace as of now.  I hope to slowly increase a bit over the next 8 weeks.

As for running when I'm out of town, it's possible but not likely.  I'm traveling out of town for a baby shower with a bunch of girl friends I haven't seen in a long time, a skiing trip with my in-laws, and a bachelorette party so I don't want to count on something I can't follow through on.  If I do end up running, it would likely be 5 miles or less.  I'd rather than just take a break.

Are you coming down with something or just haven't taken a workout break in a while.  Sometimes, we all just need a few days to recharge.  Hope you feel better soon!