PLMsbr (JD) Group - FULL (Page 9)

Hey guys...I have a little bit of a hard time talking about my breakthroughs because I'm afraid it will sound loke bragging. Some of you are so far ahead of me..so that makes it a little easier. It's just that when I tell my wife and kids they are not that impressed. I kept a very accurate count of my laps on Friday. I'm happy to report that Wed swim times were accurate also. I have my mile down to 48-50 minutes and 2400yds to about 65 min. It's pretty exciting after 10 weeks of swimming to show some progress.

JD...I'm also doing intervals (that's what you call them, right? When you sprint for a distance then slow down and repeat?) I don't like them but I know they will make me stronger!!!

Thanks for the advice JD. I understand about tweaking the plan to suit me.

Now that I know I can go the distance and am improving on my times, I will work more on technique, not worry so much about time, and I want to work also on some bilateral breathing. I'm pretty much a right sided breather. I've broke both my clavicles years ago and the left one is coming back a bit to haunt me. The aching I get is not so much in the shoulder but right along the bone itself. I'm going to see if i can get the bilat breathing down without getting too frustrated and see if that helps the aching.

How do you think my running is coming along? I'm planning on doing some longer runs, especially when I can get outside, and continue to work on those sprints. I thought I would do sprints/intervals 2x/week and a longer, steady run once a week for awhile. I'll be riding again in a week or so. Sure would like it to warm up a bit.....Tom

Just checking in.  I ended up just not trying anything but walking after the mary for 4 days.  I got in a couple 4-5 mile runs on Thursday and Friday with a 3000 yard swim on Friday.  I did a couple short bike trainer rides on Sunday and today and we shall see how the run and swim go today.  I am able to do the runs, but there are still a few muscle groups here and there that work fine, but I can feel them when I run/jog. 

On the positive side, I do not have to think about my walking anymore.  That sounds funny, but anyone who has done a HIM or Mary knows what I am talking about.  Effortless walking ahh.  I hope my lunchtime jog is the same.  I am making some big tweeks to my schedule to make it more am focused.  So 15 mile bike every am, 5-6 mile run every day at lunch and then fit in the rest in the evnings and weekends. 

Anyone have any races coming up? 

That "show previous weeks" feature doesn't work for the cheapos like me that aren't paying members   Seriously, I need to just plunk down for at least a basic membership if I'm gonna do this mentoring thing...

Your training logs are looking great. Don't sweat any particular workout or week where things don't go as planned (e.g. swimming); just make sure that none of those quietly sneak into patterns. For example, couple years ago I started looking back at my logs and noticed I was missing a swim workout here or there on an all-too consistent basis. Now that drinking thing... time and a place for everything... and it's not before bedtime before a big morning workout

Now as for those water aerobics classes; I keep trying to tell myself at least they are getting out and getting active (which is true); but you just don't see too many fit-looking people doing that, do you?

mtnbkr - this is the place to brag/celebrate/whine/complain... whatever! It's great that you are seeing big improvements already! I think we all probably understand exactly what you mean about family and friends not getting it or really understanding. My wife is really supportive, but when I start telling her that I dropped my 400 swim time by 8 seconds... well, she just looks at me and smiles and says "that's good".

Intervals can be done by sprinting for a while and slowing down. More common would be to actually stop in between. For example, doing 4 sets of 400 yds each; with 15-30 seconds of rest at the wall between sets. When you are just getting started, most important thing is just that you're out there swimming (although a little bit of coaching is important before you start getting bad habits engrained).

The bilateral breathing does help you get a little more balanced stroke. If you watch even very good swimmers, you'll notice they all have one side where they roll over a little bit more than the other. But don't make it such a big deal that it impacts your enjoyment of swimming. Plenty of folks out there that don't do it much at all.

Running is looking good, I like that you are pushing yourself in those intervals and getting used to running faster. At some point, you might want to fit a fourth run in there. Similar distance to the sprint/interval days; but something where you go for a fairly steady pace. Once you start on the plan that should all start coming together, though.

BTW: if I can celebrate my own success for a sec... I did a Duathlon this past weekend (5K/21mi/5K); and took seven minutes off my time from last year. Mostly due to dropping run times from 6:50/7:20 range to close to 6:30 for both 5K's. Not many 45-49's there, so that was good enough for first in my AG!

The cool part about that for me is that I didn't think that I would still be getting faster on my run at 46; so that's encouraging.

baowolf - that's actually a pretty good week coming off your first marathon! Just keep doing easy stuff and let your body recover. You'll be back in full-blown training mode soon enough

I know exactly what you're talking about with the walking thing. It's always nice the first day that you are able to take a step down without turning your body a bit sideways and cringing...

Looking back a bit, seems like we lost boston beginner, shawnawrites, and mker1251. Bummer...  I know bb is still out there plugging away. Shawna and Mike, if you see this, would love to hear from you.

BTW: anybody that has ideas, advice, criticism, etc. for me; please feel free to PM me at any time. I'm new to this mentoring thing, and hope to learn and get better; just as you guys are all trying to learn and get better at triathlon

PLMsbr - 2009-01-26 10:40 AM Tim - do you have any races that you are looking at for your first race this year? Or just in maintenance mode waiting to see how things play out? I love when I am in no particular training plan and just doing swim/bike/run as I feel like it   At least for a little while...

Congrats on the AG win at the du.  Nice pace on the runs.  One day I hope to be that fast.  I did as you suggested and upped my training pace for a couple of runs and it felt great.  I really need to get a race in or do a TT so I can reset my training paces maybe I'll do a TT at the end of this (rest and recovery) week. 

Still not sure how this season is going to pan out.  Right now all I have penciled in is a 5 or 10k on Feb. 14th and shooting for 1st sprint tri on Apr. 11th.  Neither will be an 'A' race so probably just a short 1-2 day taper for those.  I'm busy with church on Sundays so that only leaves Saturday and holiday races for me.  There aren't many in the early season but quite a few later in the season.

Hello everyone,

I have been in Philadelphia for a while, back in time to run my half Marathon yesterday.  I did pretty well, for me.  I did 1:47 - 8:12 per mile, so I am really happy.  Especially since I treated it as a training event and didn't taper for it, in fact I did a 2 1/2 hour ride the day before. 

Beowolf, congrats on your marathon time, that is amazing for your first one.  Heck, it's pretty good for any marathon.  JD, congrats to you as well on your age group victory, and improving 7 minutes.  That is great. 

This was my first HM, so I guess I set a PR. 

Good to be back from the cold, and to have access to the computer again.  I got thrown off my training last week, but I will be back on track going forward.

Talk to you all later.

Congrats on the HM Mike!  Great time too!  I hope all the fast runners in this mentor group rub off on me!  I can't even hit 8:12 for a 5k yet, let alone for 13.1 miles.

Grats on the DUA wow 6:30, I can't hold that for more than about a mile and certainly not after any kind of bike.  In a sad way I am looking forward to competing in the 45-50 age group because 40-44 can be just mean. 

Grats on that Half mary, my first half mary time last spring was like 1:52 or some such and my full mary was roughly double that with 7 months of training so.... you are looking at like a 3:35 if you want to hit the Full mary next.

Good run during lunch today, nearly back to snuff at an 8 min mile pace for 5 ish miles.  Last year at this time anything under 10 min per mile at that distance was good.  And the year before that well lets just say there wasn't a 5 mile run that year... or a 3 mile run.  Brr it was cold though, 30 F, but with a 15 mile wind from the north made it cold on the hands and ears.  (mental note bring gloves to work for noon run or sweatpants or something). 

Question? Base training, what is this?  I have just built for the past 15 months so I am not sure what this base training thing is.  I just went from sprint plan to oly plan to him plan to mary plan witch was basicaly a run focused HIM plan.  It is a bit early to start the IM plan, so I am not sure what "structured workouts or plan" I should be doing.  Ya I am gona bike 100, swim 6000 and run 25+ per week, but ... is there more to it than that? 

Whew...  I thought things were slowing down a little in this group.  We got back up to spped today.  Congrats to all of you!  That's a nice set of events for everyone.  Great motivation to see everyone's time's.  You're all quick.

What do you all do when you're out of sorts in the water?  Every week I have a day when I'm not balanced and I'm working twice as hard as I should be.  I don't have a drill to get back into the groove.  I hope I'm not the only one who gets into funks like this...  Does anyone have something you use to get yourself back into a managable stroke?

Will

I use TI swimming, so not sure I will be of help.  They have a zillion drills for ballence.  My swim last night wasn't steller, but I just slow it down and keep going, maybe rest a bit at the end of a lap to catch my breath and suck it up for a few more lengths.  The last 10 legnths lastnight was hard.  I rested on the ends (3000 total yards).  Was a long day though, 13 miles am bike, 5.5 miles lunch run (15 F windchill), 100 mile drive, 3000 yard swim, 100 mile drive and work in there somewhere 8). 

TI balence drills might be helpful, just start floating on your back with a slight kick, hands "in your pockets" meaning resting where your front pockets would be if you had pants on.  Then slowly move one arm out over your head and kick there for a bit, (read 1 lap or length per) then rotate so that you can still breath, but you are closer to your side.  Then hold roughly that position dip your face in the water and then out while roughly holding that position.  Do same for the other side.  Then rotate down and take 3 slow steady strokes, coast to a stop and then rotate up to back again.  There are 14 drills like that in TI all ballence related and really just make you slow down and do parts of the stroke.  Going fast tends to thrash my stroke for now so I mostly go steady.  There is a speed that feels really good that is faster than my basic speed and not my thrashing speed, but it tires me out faster.  Maybe some day that will be my regular pace.... maybe in 2012.  

JD...When you address "Tim" I think you're referring to me, "Tom"/MTNBKR. Here are the races I have planned so far:

Apr 4 Spring Sprint Tri (same day as a HM so will do the Tri), Apr 18 is the infamous Robie Creek HM which I did last year but this year I told my counter part at work he could do it and I will work, May 2 Wildman Oly Tri, May 16 The Great Potato HM with a 60 mile bike ride the day before, May 30 Camel Back Duathlon 5K-30K-5K, then I figure I'll be cutting back for the next 2 weeks before the Boise 70.3 IM June 13. Then I'll be trainig for the Death Ride on July 11 with a 2-day 150 mile ride in between (2 weeks after the HIM and 2 weeks before the Death Ride). We may ride from West Yellowstone thru Teton Park to Jackson, then from Jackson back to West Yellowstone over Teton Pass. Aug 8 Emmet's Most Excellent Oly Tri, HOPEFULLY Aug 22 Mesa Falls Marathon (my 1st), Sep 26 Hidden Springs Duathlon, Nov 7 Zeitgeist HM, with tons of Mtn Biking, my first love, between the Aug Mary and Nov HM. The Fall here is excellent trail riding time.       

Does that answer your question? Up until April I will just be training hard and following your guidance!!!

BTW...congrats to all on your recent races/accomplishments...you guys are awsome. Can't wait until i'm not a Triathlete Wannabe anymore!........"TOM" (not Tim)   

Thanks trinity - keep working on pushing the comfort zone and I'm sure you'll get plenty fast. Reason I was asking about races is so I can look at your training log and correlate the two. Hope you can find some good Saturday races, used to be more of those it seems to me.

Speaking of pushing things... I looked at my Garmin logs from the race and noticed that my HR stayed in a range that I rarely get to in training, even on interval days (other than sprinting uphill). About 10 bpm higher, on average. Races always remind me that I have a little more in me than I think, in terms of effort. Not that I should be training that hard all the time, but just a recognition that there might be another notch that I can hit on the days that are supposed to be hard.

Thanks, and good to have you back online   That half mary time after the long bike the day before seems like great training and should give you confidence for your half IM in April!

Thanks baowolf... It wasn't too long ago that I was doing those treadmill intervals and hanging on for dear life doing 1 mile at 6:30. It's funny, because I think there is a part of some people (myself definitely included) that is almost afraid to realize how fast they can really go. Once you know you are capable of running at a certain speed, then it becomes a matter of do you want to keep doing it, even though it might hurt quite a lot more than you like. I remember meeting Siri Lindley (amazingly successful pro triathlete); and she said for most of us there were more mental blocks we had to get past than physical.

That said, you must be willing to push yourself pretty hard given the improvements you are making! Just don't get yourself injured, remember that part about listening to your body. Running in 30 degree windy weather, swim/bike/run in one day combined with 100 miles driving ONE DIRECTION!!! Wow... I hereby nominate you for the HTFU award.

Base training normally refers to a phase where you are primarily just trying to build up your mileage and prepare the body for what is to come. So, you build the distances up to your maximums (slowly), but you don't worry so much about the speed (at least on the long days). The next phase would be the Build phase, where you drop mileage back a little, but now you start upping the intensity of the workouts. That's the short version, anyway

Keep up the great work!

Try the catch-up drill and see if that helps. Basically, keep your leading hand out in front until the recovery hand touches it (or just as it comes close); then pull through, leaving the other hand out in front now, etc. It's a good one for focusing on a little more of a calm glide and paying attention to each arm.

Hi Tom/mtnbkr; my "Tim" reference was for trinity; but I'll make sure that I watch that closely so I don't mess that up.  Thanks for the detail race info - I actually keep a little spreadsheet so I can track what everybody's doing, what their concerns are etc.; so that's very helpful.

Here's to a great year of triathlons, running, biking... and all the rest!

Hi all...I am still going strong. I am a little frustrated due to being snowed in and when the schools close so does the YMCA...not that it matters...I can't get out of the driveway anyhow.

 I run for 20 mins now...I know for this caliber of runners it's very novice. My swimming is faster, and I signed up for a cycling class that ironically started today. I guess the class is sooo full that I have to get my name on ...I was the first one on the list this week. I hope next week I can get on also. I am still doing the elliptical and I am looking for little beginner races for March. I am hoping this is a doable goal. I also made a bunch of dr appts to make sure I am up to par lol. I tend to not do the doc thing. 

 There is a muskrat run down the street from me...but, NO WAY...I am not only too novice but my word how do you people run in this freezing weather. It has been -19, 19, and 28 being a warm day. My son has started winter cross country ...so far it's indoors...but, if he  goes outdoors does anyone recommend gear?

BTW...I was feeling like I hogged the boards so I tried to keep my updates to a minimum lol. 

Hi All,

I was reading JD's post about running speed, and I think I am one of those people that could go faster.  On the treadmill, I do intervals of 4 minutes at 6:30 pace, and when I really think about it, I am working harder, but I can handle it.  I am more used to running slower, and the first event I ever did as a runner was a marathon so I kind of trained my mind and body that slow is good.

Anyway, I am going to try picking up the pace more, as I know I can handle a faster pace, at least on shorter runs. 

I have a 2 hour run planned for Saturday, and I am thinking of pushing the second half under 8 the whole way. 

As for Race schedule for the rest of the year, I have two major events that I am working towards.

California Ironman 70.3 April 4th and Irnoman Canada August 30th.

I will likely do a couple of sprints in there, and I may even do a marathon in the summer leading up to the Canada, but these will not be the focus of my year.  I will add them to my race log once I have the "other" races planned out.

Happy Training to you all, tomorrow is my rest day, and I finished today's training already, so I am off until Friday.