Slornow's and Wannabefaster's Summer Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 7)

Stuart-I need some clarification on the following statement:

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

By that do you mean you should be breathing more frequently or less?

My understanding is that you don't want to limit oxygen intake during the swim....in other words breathe as often as you need to. So, with increased effort you would breathe more frequently.

Thanks for all the swim tips! 

Saw this article this morning via twitter. First in a 2 part series but good information:

The Key to Speed-5 ways to build a strong, fast and injury free body. http://firstoffthebike.com/tri101/the-key-to-speed-5-things-to-do-today-to-build-a-strong-fast-injury-free-body/

Had a good run this morning everything felt pretty good except for some pain in my right foot, the funny thing is it hurts less while running than while walking.  my HR was higher than my previous workouts but I felt great I really need to do my LT field tests.  Hopefully next week.

-Mike

Melissa-Congrats! Quite an accomplishment.

Jason-enjoy your "rest" day. Suspect you will do alot of sitting and waiting today. Maybe knock out a set of core exercises in the waiting room!  

Congrats Melissa!! I just finished my 3rd year, but am celebrating all week with the class ahead of me! Such an accomplishment! What field are you going into?

Way to go Melissa! Awesome accomplishment!

Morning swim complete. Nice and really easy laps for about 25 minutes. My calves are still killing me from the race and I will visit the foam roller quite a bit today. 

Melissa - Congratulation on the accomplishment ... wow ... so many medical questions ... :-)

Nice and easy recovery spin for an hour on the bike this evening! What is everybody else doing?

Congratulations, what an accomplishment!

Randy it means less frequently actually.  It may seem counterintuitive I know.  However, when you breathe you break stroke. Keeping your head down that extra half stroke will increase your speed.  The balance is always getting sufficient air to maintain effort.

Try this in your warm-up.  While swimming slowly try to take the extra half stroke or even full stroke before breathing and you will see what I am talking about.

With respect to the overall plan, this is the least important, but very doable with practice.  If you want to layer the three actions in, do the increased kick first.  It is the easiest to do without breaking form.  A warning though, when you increase your kick there will be a natural inclination to increase your stroke speed.  That is why you only want to increase your kick slightly.

When I first started swimming I was breathing every stroke.  As I built up my cardio I moved up to every two strokes and that is where I practiced most of the time. But when I did this drill I moved up to every three strokes.  We would do this several times during the season but not within a week of an A meet.

So try the increased kick first and let me know how it goes.

Very impressive!  Congratulations!  Hope you can find a little down time to relish the accomplishment.

AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! Let her know she is in our thoughts and prayers.

Jason-glad things went well.

Swim workout done! Today's workout included a 200 yard TT (scy). My previous best at this distance was 2:41. Today was 2:40. Surprised I was even close to my previous best since my swim volume has been down and I have not felt great in the pool. Not sure it means anything in the realm of my triathlon performance but it gives my Coach something specific to use for putting together workout intervals.  Last week was 400TT.  I'm pleased with my improvement so far this year but these times are painfully slow when compared with real swimmers.

Melissa - congrats on getting through it!

Jason - I wish your wife a speedy recovery.

The results for yesterday's triathlon came out fairly late in the evening.  Race report is here.  The thing I'm most pleased about is my category position - 9/33.  I've never been any better than MOP, so this is a significant improvement for me.  I was also 5 min faster than last year, although the course was ever so slightly different, so difficult to compare directly.

"My wife says next time she is marrying an internist. Anesthesiologists are close to useless unless you need an airway or IV access. I'm happy to dispense bad medical advice any time, however. "

Jason - Lol! My wife says the same thing about me! Unless your gawd awfull sick in the ICU or you need surgery, I'm limited with the chronic illnesses and sometimes even the plain and simple.

Blanda – Glad to see you’re back. I’m really looking forward to see you perform in the Xtera race.

Melissa – Enjoy the moment. You deserve it. Completing medical school was certainly the hardest thing I have ever done. Now go have some fun with your training.

Jason – Good to hear your wife is doing well. Thank you for your PM note of encouragement.

Rachel – Sounds like your training is paying off! Good job.

Jamie – How’s the ankle going? I’d definitely take it easy the next few days. Ice is a good idea. The tendons in the ankle have a limited blood supply and are susceptible to overuse injuries. I’ve been dealing with posterior tibial tendinitis (opposite side of the ankle) and I’ve been keeping it under control with stretching, foam roller, paying close attention to running form, slowly increasing my volume, and being very attentive when doing any speed work. I occasionally use ibuprofen but I really try to avoid drugs in fear of masking symptoms.

Randy – Sounds like your issues with swimming are similar to mine so I relish every improvement I make, no matter how small. Good job.

Personal Daily Training – I’m still sore from Sunday and I fought with my right calf cramping during my swim today. I’m looking forward to some warmer weather this week.

Early morning (5:00 a.m.) swim for me today...my last swim lesson and I couldn't be happier with the progress I've made in the last month.  Amazing how swim technique changes from 1979 (which is when I learned to swim) and 2013!

This afternoon I owe the 'boys' (the three dogs) and especially long walk, so that's what we're going to do.  Hope everyone had a great day!

Oh...and I'm a teacher...only 13 more days of school (10 with 8th graders)!!!!!!!!!!!

Melissa - Congratulations!!!! I would definitely take the time and enjoy the achievement, there's always tomorrow to do everything else.

Jason - glad to hear your wife is well

2:40 swim 200 yds... only in my dreams...