T3 Spring training 2013 - Closed (Page 8)

Awesome swim today.  1500m finally felt like I was balanced and gliding through the water, felt great.  Videoed a lap and found my head is still a bit high.  Can't wait to get back in the pool Tuesday.

guys it looks like a lot of training is happening.  Take the good days with the bad.  Not all days can be PBs.  

Firemedic,  I would work at the slower rate on your run.  Focus on the bike section and you will burn up some calories to drop some weight.   Then work your run back in.    for runs I would do some fast paced walks with short jog sections but keep the overall time realativly low.   This will elevate the heart rate and keep a bit of pounding on the legs for runs in the future. 

keep plugging away you guys are doing good.  

I put in a good full body weight session in today  and am happy with how training is going. 10 weeks to go and I think I am on track yahh. 

Wanted to post up a progress report and ask a question about bike training and interval work.

With a few extra night shifts added to my work schedule over the next 8 days, I am just going to try to get through the next 2 weeks holding steady with my current training volume then will try to start taking it up a notch to prepare for races.  I'd like to start hitting around 20-22 miles running and around 75 miles on the bike per week.  The swim will probably have to stay at 1 session/week for the next 2 months until warmer weather comes along.  I've been getting 2500 yards per session, may try to take that up to around 3000 by adding more speed work.  I think this volume will begin to prepare me for the Olympic distance races on my calendar. Thoughts?

Swim:  Very comfortable in the water right now.  Will add more speed work but have just been building muscle memory and working on form for longer sets thus far.  Worked up to a 1000yd set today and probably won't go any longer in the pool.  It was just under 2:00/100 pace but I was not fatigued in any way; feel I could have gone much longer at that pace.

Run:  Running is improving slowly but surely.  I've now gotten my 3 mile runs down to the 8m/mile pace and have upped my weekly longish run to 5 miles.  Ran an 8:39 pace today on the 5m; Felt great and could have gone longer/faster if I had needed to.  Will hold that through the end of the month then take the long run to 10k.  My middle-term goal is to get these times down to a 7min. pace.  All in all, I am still slow but happy with the progress I am making.

Bike:  Here's where the problems arise.  My biking sucks. No other way to put it.  I know I need more mileage and more time riding and will be working toward that goal.  I don't have a trainer or access to indoor cycle/spin classes so for now its all road work.  I've only been riding about 4 months so I know I am still in the very early stages of development and just need to keep working. Any advice or training tips much appreciated.

Now my question about interval training.  During swimming and running I sometimes try to work in short intervals.  These are not really planned, just when I am feeling strong I will try to push the pace for a short distance.  I do this a lot on the treadmill as I am constantly calculating my time and distance and will push the speed up for a minute or 2 minutes as necessary to get under my goal pace.  Often on the street running I will "push" a hill then settle back down to a sustainable workload.  On the bike however I have tried intervals and found them extremely difficult.  With my morning group ride, which is usually just me and either 2 or 3 other guys depending on who shows up, interval riding means "See ya" as I invariably get left huffing and puffing doing "my interval" at a much slower pace than "their interval."  I've read about such things as 20 minute bike intervals...this is almost incomprehensible to me.  I can usually last a minute or two at best before my legs give out.  My lungs/heart-rate elevate but are under control...its my leg endurance...its not there.  After my short/pathetic interval attempts I can drop back to my 17mph or so pace and recover nicely.  I then try again and burn out quickly again.  Just more time riding needed? Specific workouts or exercises I could be doing? Any help appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Have a great week of training everyone!

Dominion,   Great post,   OK I am not trying to beat you up on any bit of this post.    Your training volume is really good.   We need to redirect some of the volume to different areas.   

Your swim looks great.   The week volume is a heavy load and I would work on doing more varity.  on a speed day volume should be max of 1300 yds.   If you can swim more than that, go harder.  With your pace of 2min for the 1000, I would love you to swim a WU.   then swim a 250 at race pace.    then do 5x100 trying to swim about a 1:40 per 100.   then only allow 15 secs to recover for the next 100.    The short recovery is key to building speed and making the muscles hurt to get use to the pace.    Then a 3 - 5 minute recovery swim for cool down.  

On an endurance swim pace out the 2 min 100s and do 400 or 500 repeats.   4 or 5 sets with 1 minute recovery between.   

Run looks good.   Watch for injury with the miles.   I look to run about 40 miles a month and can make an oly distance pretty easy.  

Bike,   most of this comes from putting in miles.   Hill training will make the most differance.   they blow the legs to pieces and make you continue on.   On the intervals you are going to have to fight for the 2 minutes.   then force yourself to do it again.   the more you do the better they will get.    Also a big key is trying to set and maintain a pace for 25 to 30 minutes.   Setting a good tempo will be of great benifit.    Focus on the tempo now and add intervals down the road.   

Hope that helped and if it added more question just ask and I will give exact workouts to help.    

I have a question for anyone doing the total immersion swimming.

Swim today I focused on stroke count in a 50m pool.  I am 163cm tall so I am trying to get my count to 51 strokes, from what the TI pages say I should aim at.

I got to 51 on Sunday once.  Today I went from 53 - 60 strokes.  I kept trying to slow down the skating through the water and focused on twisting the body and lengthening my body with my head down.

Not sure if anyone can help without seeing my (un)style.  Thanks

Thanks for the quick reply, Dave. I will use this for my next swim workout. 

As for the bike, I did see a slight improvement this morning.  Went 20 miles on my usual route and managed to average 17.1 mph which is up from the 16.3-16.5 that I've been at.  I don't think I've gotten any stronger, just maybe pushed a little harder on some sections today.  That is probably half the battle..the mental game.

-Chris

I started with a road bike.  I found one used and the right size at a reasonable price.  I wasn't overly concerned with brand or having the top components.  (My bike has Tiagra).  I put on some profile aerobars and it is a solid bike for me to get some training on and get me through this first season.  The plan is to buy a tri-bike next year, then I will have one of each..

I can understand that Dominion.  If it makes a difference to those reading ... I dont plan on doing any cycling races and I probably wont do many group rides.  I am looking forward to the solitude of some long rides.

What ever I do I just dont want to waste money.  That is why I am leaning towards a tri. bike.  I am only doing sprints this year but next year I will be doing olympic length if the good lord helps me prevent injuries; and my third year into tri's I hope to do one half IM length.

^^^^^This. 

I just bought a tri-bike late last year.  I should add though that I kind of wished I bought my tri-bike first. Right now, I am mainly focused only on triathlons.  I don't do any group rides that require road bikes and I mainly train by myself or with very few people.  In the future I can see myself doing more road biking so it will get more use.  But for now my road bike is sitting on the trainer and I think I'll do a majority of my outdoor rides on the tri-bike.

Regardless, I'm a fan of having both.

I just saw your reply after I submitted mine   

It sounds like a tri-bike may be the route you should go.    

Yea I think my heart is set and I am just scared to drop the $$$. 

This is what I am seriously thinking about: http://www.feltbicycles.com/International/2013/TRI-TT/B-Series/B16.aspx

I will also have to buy shoes / helmet etc.. So I am hoping I can find a used model but they seem scarce not to mention you have to find one that fits you.

Thanks Firemedic i understand what you mean I have been trying to reach but probably not as much as I should.  Swim tomorrow concentrate on the long body.  Good luck with the bike sorry I am a novice so no advice here.

 Fire: Great choice for a bike.  It will be one that will last for a long time.   IF you are not doing road racing then I think it is a good decision.   

Run: The ideas on swimming look good.  I have to focus on getting long quite fequently.   Work on the reach and push the hand forward when you think you are ready.   Gliding drills are a good way to improve.   Also do a lap and work on as few strokes as possible.  

Runamrun:  On the TI swimming it is not all about the stroke count.   work on getting your form right and the stroke count will come down.  

Drill 1: work on a good finger tip drag across the water surface. 

Drill 2: allow your hand to enter the water just off the top of your head and reach trying to stretch to where you feel your shoulder on your ear.   Leave than hand out until the trail hand starts to enter the water.   You will have to glide for a second between strokes.  

Thanks Hammer great advice.  Was gonna swim today but put it off until tomorrow.  Gonna try these drills.

Happy training all.

I had a great swim and spin today.  I finally did a 200m sprint and my time was 5:05, 100m was 2:23, 50m x 3 avg. 59s.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

The most I have swam in a single session has been 1550m and that took about an hour.  I found this workout on a different site; do you think its to much for my current fittness level?  I dont see me doing it in one hour; it is under the "60 minute workouts" lol.

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/02/training/one-hour-workout-jacobs-ladder-swim-workout_70101

That is a really big swim.   I would cut it down a little but the workout is great.   I think you would get a lot out of doing 100 or 150 repeats.    allow about 30 to 45 seconds between.   4 to 6 sets. 

I had a great swim this morning hitting my race goal of a 400meter in 6:40 .