2014 Rookies - CLOSED (Page 7)

Anyone have any favorite workouts to do on the trainer and in the pool?  Favorite can include fun to do, and not so fun to do but very beneficial.

Oops, sorry about that!  List above (and in my training blog) is fixed.

I took a look through everyone's training logs this morning, it looks like a great start to the New Year for lots of you, nice work!

In the pool, a main set as follows

40 x 50
16 with every 4th fast
12 with every 3rd fast
8 with every 2nd fast
4 fast

Do them on a repeat time that gives you 5-10 seconds rest for the non fast ones.  For example if you can do a 50 in 47 seconds at a moderate effort then you would start each 50 every 55 seconds.  Your fast ones might be more like 42 seconds giving you a little more rest after those.  It's a great exercise in pacing control, if you start out too fast or set your repeat time too fast you will have a very hard time completing all 40.

Sorry, yes.  A warm-up, then that as a main set then a cool down.  If that is too long you can adjust it to something like

12 with every 4th fast
9 with every 3rd fast
6 with every 2nd fast
3 fast

That brings it down to 30 x 50.  

Really you can adjust just about anything to suit your abilities and/or the amount of time you have available.  How long are your swims typically (from the time you get in until you get out) and how much distance do you do in that time?

Here is what I would suggest.  For that 25 minute swim I would do short, intense work.  Basically, just a short warmup - maybe 200 at most and then do some fast 25s and 50s and follow it up with a short cooldown.  

Maybe something like this - I am just guessing at what repeat times you can do based on the 2:15/100 that you posted.  You may have to adjust up or down.

150-200 warmup - 5:00
9 x 50 on 1:15 (11:15)
50 ez
8 x 25 on 35-40 seconds (~5:00)
cooldown with whatever time is left

For the 50s, you could descend the pace 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9.  What that means is you go a bit faster (descend time) each 50 in groups of 3.  As an example, the first one takes you 1:05, next is 1:02, 3rd is :59 and then go back to the 1:05 etc.

For the 25s, I would do them all at a strong quick pace.  Not a sprint but a strong effort that by the last one you are tired.

There are lots of variations you can do but I would avoid just doing the continuous swim.  If your time is very limited (like the 25 min session) then do short intense work.  If you have a little more time then do longer (but not long) less intense intervals.  

That's great to hear!  For those of you who log your training, keep it up!  For those who don't log training, consider starting.  It's a great way to stay motivated and to see how far you've come....and a great way to analyze how you felt your training was in relation to how your race went.  If your race went great, you can look back at what kinds of volumes and intensities you did to help plan your next race.  If your race went poorly, you can look back and see where you were lacking and what kinds of things you might want to change to make your next race a success.

In addition to training logs, BT will also allow you to log your races.  This, in addition to your training logs, gives you a GREAT reference for when you look back at how you did when things are maybe not fresh in your mind.  Plus, if you publish your race report, you can share your results with others, get feedback, and allow people to search it in the future if they're considering that race.

So on that note, I raced yesterday and wrote up a quick race report.  I hope you will do the same later on after your races

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=508447&posts=1#M4922296

Kelly, distance on an indoor bike (your bike on a trainer or a spin bike or a stationary bike at the gym) really doesn't mean a whole lot, imo.  When I do trainer rides, I only log the time (and HR, power metrics, what kind of workout I did, and how I felt).  As you noted, there isn't a particularly good way to know the tension, so if the tension is low, your distance may be really high, even if your effort level wasn't that high.

Log your time and keep notes of your effort (RPE) and/or HR, as well as what you did -- did you spin easy for one hour, or did you do a bunch of 30 second sprints over an hour, or any other combination of things?

Ha!  You will know you have done it just right when the guards are looking worried but haven't actually gone so far as to check on you yet.  

When you first try something like that, start out a little easier than you think you need to and see how it goes.  You'll get a good idea of how hard to go the next time around.

Just registered for my first sprint.  I guess technically it will be my second sprint of the season, but it is the first I have registered for.  Things just got real.  

I also wanted to tout the wonders of coupon codes - I saved 14% just by doing a quick google search, though part of this was due to dumb luck as the code is only good for a couple of days.

Sorry for throwing out the swimmer lingo without explanation, I'll try to be more descriptive so it makes more sense.  If you ever have a question about it though, just ask.  

As for what the best thing to do is, generally speaking just doing continuous laps isn't going to be the best use of your time.  Usually a workout would be broken down into sets of some sort of intervals (like I described earlier today) after a warmup and followed by a cooldown.  During those intervals you would be pushing yourself a little bit harder than you would if you were just doing a continuous swim and take a short rest in between.  It's amazing what a 5 or 10 second rest at the wall can do for recovery.

There are countless workouts that can be done and usually you wouldn't swim more than 200 meters/yards straight.  I suspect the training plans here on BT have many examples and I can provide more if you like.  You can also look through my training log as I keep fairly detailed descriptions of what I do in the pool (it's full of swimmer lingo though).

Nice!  I never think to look for coupon codes when signing up for races.

Question - What do you do for motivation when you don't want to get a workout done because you are feeling lazy (or some other lame excuse)?  I think there's a difference between not wanting to because I'm feeling lazy (or some other lame excuse) and feeling unnecessarily exhausted (or some other clue my body is giving me I need to take a break to stay healthy).  How do you go about telling a difference between the two?