QuincyF and Oriolepwr's Magical Mys-tri Tour for Newbies Has Begun (CLOSED) (Page 9)

HA!   Marathon thoughts.....    DON"T POOP YOUR PANTS!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsMw10KVVCk

This is great-  swim techniques would be very welcome.  I have always thought I was a good swimmer, but just reading what I have read here, and analyzing what I have been doing in the water I realized that I am mostly one of the guys who gets by on brute force, and not so much with technique.  I checked that website, and found out that I am doing it all wrong, or perhaps not so much all wrong as more all not right.  I can't wait and I already love that website.

Mark W.

I'll share my own swim issue that I would like some help with .

I have done many tri's  mass start,  high waves, deep water.  I have gotten kicked, punched, had my goggles kicked off my face.     None of that bothers me at all.  

In the pool however and this may be the key.    I cannot do fast swim drills.   If I go all out effort in the pool,   I will get to a panic attack situation.  Or anxiety.   It has something to do with a scenario of being in the water, and being in oxygen debt.  There is lots of humidity which helps create that oxygen debt,   BUT  when I get that feeling, I literally feel like I have to climb out of the pool.   Weird huh    I'm guessing maybe asthma??  (my doc doe snot think so)

Now if I go to say 80% level efforts  no problem.   it has to be a scenario in a pool where I'm really moving.       SO my issue on getting faster is that I feel like I cannot do fast swim drills, that will help me get faster.

Tha... awesome and too funny.

OMG. My heart is stabbing my lungs. Bwaaahaaa.

Since we have so many questions about triathlon swim, here's a video about the start...train like you race...

Yes, the 7600 is a hybrid.  I thought I might hear that it would not be best, so I'm not surprised, but yes it does suck!  Any input on a good beginner bike would be helpful.

I did ride a good portion of the Elroy-Sparta trail last summer.  The tunnels are very cool.  I kind of want to get a train whistle and a big flashlight and turn them on about half way through.  Even though the tracks are gone I'm sure the oncoming people would do a double take!

I do swim 1.5 miles at one time now - twice per week.  I know dealing with waves has me a bit nervous.   I usually breathe on my left.  I have tried breathing on my right, but it doesn't feel "natural" and I end up laboring more.  THANKS for the heads up on Racine swim course - I will begin forcing myself to breathe on the right now!  I just bought a used Xterra Vector Pro X2 wetsuit on ebay - should receive it any day now.  I do have a lake nearby, so once I can get out into it I will practice with the waves an all. 

Thanks

Second day of "running", or as I prefer, walk'n.  But I did get upto about 5 minutes of running.  The most was about a 45 second jog.  I guess I'm doing this right. 

Today I did about 5 minutes warm up on my nordic trak (NT) cross skier, then went for the jog, and then cooled down 5 minutes on the NT again. Tomorrow I will do my bike.

AWESOME!!!  I'm sure I get my former boy scouts to beat their "old" scoutmaster. 

Great job...

The one way that I deal with my water issue (ok I will admit it: my anxiety) is to mentally get myself to another place.  It is a trick that someone told me about to help me with flying.  As funny as it sounds, I have to keep my mind occupied or the thoughts go right to the Pacific Ocean and the bad time there.  Works like a charm for me.

OK everyone...no more panicking!  Maybe we should stop telling our panic stories.  We're freaking each other out! 

Hey, Matt (and any others experiencing panic in the water),

I had this weird thing happen in the pool tonight while doing my swim that made me think about your surfboard story and Jacki's story about panicking in the water.   

I went to the pool with the intention of practicing some of the exercises I found on the Swim Smooth site Dave posted earlier today (Here's the link again: http://www.swimsmooth.com/  They have a great video (Mr. Swim) that shows exactly what your stroke should look like, and fantastic information about how to improve your swim by exhaling. Thanks for sending the link, Dave!!)
I got in the pool and did this sinking exercise they suggest (exhale and sink to the bottom of the pool); no problem.  Then, I decided to use a kickboard and just do some breathing so I could focus on the exhale; again, no problem.  So, I start to do the crawl with the focus on exhaling.  Suddenly, I'm visualizing what this must be like in open water with all these other swimmers around, and I start panicking. . . ALL BY MYSELF IN 4 FEET OF WATER!!  The mere thought of being in that situation was enough for me to panic.  I can totally understand why some of you panicked in the ACTUAL situation!  I stopped swimming, and just stood and breathed for a moment to calm myself down after which I was able to resume, but it did freak me out!  I've NEVER had this happen before!! I was actually able to finish my swim and saw much improvement in my exhaling, breathing, and stroke if I really slowed down, so that was great.  But the panicking really took me for a loop.

As I drove home, I thought about your surfboard story.  Suddenly, I remembered that when \I was tubing with friends a few years ago, and the captain of the boat was trying desperately to flip me out of the tube, but to no avail (I'm stubborn and have pretty good upper body strength ).  He finally got the boat in a donut and drove the tube right into the wake with such force that when I flipped out, hitting the water was like hitting a brick wall.  After that, I was under water completely disoriented and panicking because I didn't know which way was up.  More importantly, under this kind of stress, I'm absolutely sure I was holding my breath. 

So, Matt and Jacki, I can totally relate to what you've described as panic.  I'm not sure if overcoming the panic is more psychological or physical, but I have to say that practicing the exhaling seemed to help calm me down, especially because I could actually inhale more smoothly (now if I can just learn not swallow water every now and then!).  I also tried to concentrate on the rhythm of the movement.  I could also see improvement, but it took a lot of concentration.

Maybe our guest swim strategiest will suggest some skills so we can swim successfully!!

I love that Clif Bar commercial.   I crack up every time I see it.    

Thanks Matt!  I'll try that.   Yes when I'm going all out in the pool, that IS a situation where I'm only thinking about breathing, form, and what I'm trying to do.    So perhaps this could help.  

Does anyone have some insight into whether it's worth paying for a training plan that is more detailed with distances/heart rate zones, etc. or do you think a basic one with just minutes is good enough? I'm doing a sprint in March but by September I hope to be able to do one of the longer distance tris and want to get a good plan in place.

Yvonne

You really have your groove on re: Racine   That is "The Awesome"      

LOL!  yeah get a train whistle and a big flashlight...   I like the way you think!       I do also have a hybrid that I set up to run the river trail that is near where I live.    I ought to take it up and ride that trail with you.     

See that's it right there.  Your 7600 is good for what it does, and you can enjoy it for that.     For sure for now, a roadie is perfect.  I've mentioned this before,   by farrrrrrrrrrrrrr   the best bang for your buck is a used bike.    First you need to know the size you need.   Then start looking around.   The NEXT bike you get after this one  is the KEEPER! 

I hear you about the breathing on your weak side not feeling "natural"      Wasn't for me either.     Many people find success by just trying to do lengths using ONLY your weak side.   Again that's probably not a surprise to hear either.  But there it is.     sometimes the answer is  "start liking it"     Thing is you are already a very good swimmer (you swim 1.5 miles)    so the thing is  of course the better you get on your dominate side  the weirder its going to feel on your weak side. 

Wetsuit- PLEASE  whatever you do,  make plans to do the  OWS (=Open water swim)     Do NOT do what I did.     Literally my first OWS  was at my first 70.3      IM-Kansas      OMG    talk about a lot to take in all at once.      Be smarter than I was. 

I would not spend money on a sprint plan...just picking any plan and following it for your first would be sufficient. For longer efforts I would consider a pay for plan...

Plans with mileage vs. just minutes...I actually prefer time only plans...there is a danger in becoming a mileage junkie when you are trying to complete x amount of miles/yards every day. Plus, time based plans are SO easy to schedule into your day. 

I think just picking a plan and sticking with it is the more important aspect...

Oh this conversation reminds me of something I wanted to bring up...

All of you who are new to swimming...just starting out...practice breathing on both sides from the get go. You don't have any habits ingrained, so start yourself off breathing to both sides. I did that when I started training for swimming and I can switch up at will and I'm so glad I can...

Reasons why you want to be able to breathe to both sides:

1. Makes sighting easier.

2. Keeps stroke balanced.

3. Less likely to swim off course.

4. Can avoid sun/waves coming from one side.

5. Can avoid getting splashed/whacked by someone on your left/right.

6. You can participate in the monster bi-lateral breathing threads that show up every few months on BT

Did I miss any? Mark, you're a good swimmer, what do you think???

Yvonne on the Iron Girl website if you click on the Atlanta link there is a training link. Click that and it will give you a couple of different options for training plans. I used the beginner one for my first sprint tri and thought it was great. The advanced one seems pretty decent as well but I can't say from experience on that one. I found tons of resources on that site though so it's worth a look around.

Shelly

It's amazing what this recession has done to my pocket book!  I'm only considering the free plans.  I know I'm new at this, but I feel that the minutes are enough for now.  I have a target and a goal.  How I get there is up to me and my body.  As I drive a from home I will track mileage and mentally start to think I can do that.  ie, the county college with the pool is 10 miles from home.  So this spring I plan to bike down, swim, bike home.  And then when I really get CRAZY, I may even run down, no wait, what am I thinking - aaahhhhhh 

Second star to the right, straight on 'til morning

I found Run-Log.com and added the app to my android and take it with me on my runs, well really walks (LOL).  Anyway, it seems to be really accurate and I like it.

Tom

Thanks for the suggestions, I will start looking for a training plan this weekend.  Right now I've just been trying to put in the time/miles for a base, but I better get cracking on an actual plan. Probably have more questions about this once I start looking...

I'm looking to get into 2-3 races before Racing - one for sure being an olympic.  I will check out the Wisconsin triathlon board too.

It sounds like I'll be hunting Ebay for a road bike.  How do I know what size to get? 

Get your wife/SO/best buddy and a dressmaker's tape...take all measurements in bike shorts and bare feet. This explains how to do it and has a calculator you can plug in your measurements...take each measurement 3 times and average them out...

I'm 5'6" and I ride between a 51 and a 54. My husband is 5'9" and he rides a 56.