Tri Ritter's Mentor Program "Smashin' it 2011" CLOSED (Page 9)

I am not sure on that one and have never heard that before, except in a clinical setting w/ high risk individuals. Maybe it is due to oxygen debt.  What is your breathing like?

I'll try to take some pics to send to your email.  In the meantime, are there some good videos on BT you recommend to watch? Thanks.

William, what are some good strength exercises (weight lifting, squats, etc) you can recommend that are good for building the running muscles? Thanks.

Good morning everyone -

Hope you all have had a good week of training.  I am pleased with my own training this week...still have a short run this evening, but that will not be too hard.  Looking forward to putting in some longer training this weekend.  I have a 90' bike and 1500 swim scheduled for Saturday and then a 10 run on Sunday.  After Sunday I start the taper for the HM that is a week from Sunday.

gear question.

I am slowly rounding out my tri gear and have been doing so on a pretty tight budget. One of the items on my list is a wetsuit. I see some deals on Ebay for a profile designs Bionik for about $100. I do know that you get what you pay for but at this point as a beginner I dont know that I should be spending $500 on a wetsuit or would see any real performance gains. (or would I) I was wondering if anyone has experience with entry level suits.

I thought about renting but if I can buy for $100 then I would be able to do some open water swim training.

thoughts?

Thanks Dave for the gear question because I'm in the same boat.  I look forward to the responses.

Looks like you have a nice weekend planned hippo.  Tomorrow I'm doing an early morning swim and I've asked the lifeguard to video tape me so I can get a look at my form.  I've been swimming for a year now and have seen great gains in my form and speed.  Sunday I'm running a 5 mile race as part of a Polar Bear series.  Sunday's High Temp:  0.  I'm afraid to even look at the windchill.

I managed to find a 100 dollar entry level QR suit for my first tri in september of 2009...it lasted all of 2010 and I'll continue to use it until it falls apart (or I destroy it).  I am not on a fine enough margin of awesomeness that the gains made from a super expensive suit will be worth the money.  What I like about having a "good enough" suit is that I have been able to use it long enough to know what I really want when I do replace it, without having spent a ton of money.  It's my "learning" suit.

I am sure there are reasons NOT to go cheap, but I'm happy I did.  It was one of my better "gear" decisions.  HTH 

I think running is the best way to improve. For running you need endurance over strength, not like in biking where you need power in the legs, or swimming where technique is king. I was thinking about the three sports the other night and the keys to each.

Swimming-technique, bike-power, running-endurance.

I'm from Florida, summer is just around the corner, maybe some of you TX people can relate, how do you keep bottles cold on the bike? Mine start out 90% ice and are hot water at the half way point. I have all sorts of bottles (polar, camelback, cheap plastic ones) none of them do any better than the other.

Off topic but do you know the name Thomas Berkery (my brother)? He played for the Frisco Roughriders a couple years ago. I've heard you mention Frisco a couple times.

The Roughrider's stadium is about 2 miles from my house!  I love to go to games there. 

The best I have found for keeping water cold is to fill my bottle a little over halfway and freeze it.  I fill the rest with water right before I leave.  I have insulated bottles that are supposed to stay cold.  The water is not cold at the end of the ride, but is not warm.  I usually refill halfway through the ride and there is still ice. 

all the BT vids I have seen, I do not object too. Swimming just takes a lot alot alot alot and more practice.

all the BT vids I have seen, I do not object too. Swimming just takes a lot alot alot alot and more practice.

DB single leg lunges (option: back leg on a stability ball)
Squats
DB Reverse lunges
Hip abductor/adductor and Flexion and Extension

Are you racing the Houston Half? Good luck!!

I will be supporting my girlfriend Jenn in Austin at the 3M Half Marathon.

It depends on your budget of course. More expensive ones are of course better and better quality. They have more rubber stuff in them, I think the max they can do is 5mm. I used to have a blueseventy Helix then it ripped the day before austin 70.3 lastyear and I borrowed a rocket science wetsuit and I could tell a big difference in that I had to work harder to keep my hips up. I am currently eyeing the Xterra Vendetta. I just picked up an indivdual sponsor so that should help some. I have known people to to buy profile design wetsuits.

Good luck tomorrow let us know how it goes!!

When time and recovery is limited like in triathlon, run.

i have one of those polar bottles and for me they are not all cracked up to be, espeically in the blazing summer here in Texas, when I am on 3-4hr morning rides. I think it's best to just get your gear ready the night before and freeze your bottles.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend, I am finishing out a "hard week" and next week is ez. Tonight me and Jenn are checking out the  movie Black Swann and tomorrow is a 3 hour bike.

Super bowl tri...
Its an easy one in my hometown of sarasota, going to register for it soon.
400 pool swim, 12 mile bike, 2.2 run.
They target the whole race to beginners so I figure its a good way to get my feet wet.

I got lucky and my doctor's appointment (just a routine check-up) got moved up to yesterday and he was able to look at my toe.  He said everything looks fine and he wouldn't have known anything was wrong if I hadn't mentioned it.  No need to see anyone else or get xrays and I'm good to start back as soon as there's no more pain.  So yay!  It's been 4 weeks so I'm optimistic that 2 weeks from now, at the latest, I should be able to go for a run.

So here's my swim quandry...If I keep my nose pointing at the pool floor my hips and legs stay at the surface of the water which lets me glide and swim much faster.  I just can't see anything in front of me.  If I begin to tilt my head forward everything starts dropping.  The greater the angle of my head the greater the degree my legs drop.

Am I supposed to be swimming blind?  Should I have to sight in order to see feet in front of me?  Will practice teach my body to keep the hips up regardless of my head position?

Yup, pretty much.. why do you think they paint black lines on the bottom of the pool?

-9F, feels like -24F according to the weathernetwork with the wind chill, which there is a warning for and I run near the lake. I should also mention its a 16km run which is as far as I have run so far

Should be fun?

Run was decent, took it slow because of slippery roads and the cold. Water bottle nozzle froze halfway through but thankfully I didnt.

Edited by DaveL 2011-01-23 11:39 AM

Yes, I will be running the Houston Half Marathon with Tif.  Good luck to your girlfriend in Austin.