Swimmer's Group (Olympic Distance Animals) - OPEN (Page 9)

Amy, welcome to the group.

I felt like I was struggling way more than I expected when I got back into the pool after years of layoff. I was in decent condition but it was really frustrating. Don't be surprised if you have a rough go even though you are in good shape from running & biking. If it is a little tough do not worry because the swimming will come back quickly and you will see improvement after just a few visits to the pool. At least that was my experience; maybe you will feel fine on the first visit but if not, don't be discouraged.

David

Jason,

What were the key changes you made in your run technique?  I wonder how much ankle movement is proper (i.e. how much push to get from the ankle rotation using the calf muscle).  I feel like I sometimes run without much change in the angle between my foot and shin througout the entire stride but don't know what is best.

David

NAME: Kate (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia / Halifax, Nova Scotia)

STORY: Hey all!  It didn’t take me long to find a group or a mentor as this group seems perfectly suited to me.  I'm 29 and used to be a competitive swimmer in high school and then gained over 100lbs and got very out of shape.  Over the past 5 years, I’ve struggled to lose all the weight, and took up powerlifting in the process.  I’m very proud to say that I’m currently back to my high-school weight!

With weight-loss as my motivation for the past 5 years, I currently have no goal to keep me active, especially now that completing my Masters has taken priority over my life.  I moved to Saudi Arabia 2.5 years ago for work and have stayed fairly active with travelling, scuba diving, desert hiking and most recently joined the running club (Riyadh Road Runners).  With the season finishing up, I decided that it would be great to have a goal to get back into shape by training for the Triathlon season, with the Olympic Tri being in October, and potentially compete in the Abu Dhabi Tri next March.  Ultimately, I need the extra motivation to fit training back into my schedule. 

I love swimming and biking, and hate running with a passion.  Jason, I’m hoping you can give me tips to try and enjoy and improve my running technique, and also some workouts to improve my swim times would be appreciated. 

CURRENT TRAINING: While I’m attempting to follow the “Olympic 2x Balanced Routine”, I know my schedule will not always allow for this type of training.  So my goal is to do at least 1 session of swimming, biking and running and 2 weight-training sessions per week.

2013 RACES:  I’ve done a 10k and 7k with Riyadh Road Runners so far this year.  The Tri Club starts up mid-April, with my first ever (small) Triathlon being May 3^rd and the Olympic Tri October 4^th.  With many biathlons and dualthons in between, this gives me optimal time and opportunity to prepare for the big race. 

WEIGHTLOSS: Maintenance only!!! 

Kate, 

Welcome! keep up the work and feel free to ask questions here. You have time till your Olympic race to build a solid base and maybe put in some more time. Always start with the cake and then add the icing! 

Weather man today said 5-10 inches of snow. Mentally I had already prepared to not go into work. I wake up and rain! How is it these people can be SO WRONG yet still have a job! RIDICULOUSNESS! Hopefully I can come home early cause I plan on doing a ride on the training and run on the the dreadmill. We will see how that pans out.

Welcome Kate to the group.

This week for me I have been trying to do some longer outdoors runs and cycles.

Yesterday, I tried to tackle a very big hill, and was resoundly defeated! In fact I fell off my bike and then slide slightly because the clip in shoes are pretty slippery. It was not on a road, but some bike paths amoungst a park. I ended up with some bruises and a graze on my shin...which I will be calling war wounds.

I have a couple of events next weekend (a womens tri which is 300m/10Km/3km), and the following day I am doing the swim and run legs of an olympic. So need to do a least one brick session and practice the 10Km Run.  Not too concerned about the 1.5k swim as I am hoping the small tri will warm me up for it.

I am having lots of problems trying to fit the cycling in, and wondered if people have found commuting helps give you time on the wheels? I am considering this as I have a hybrid bike as well as my roadbike, which I use for triathlon. Riding the roadbike to work is not an option as I have to carry too much stuff, and I have had a few flat tires trying to do this.

Does this help with your fitness, and how does it compare to using the indoor trainer. The weather here is pretty ok most times of the year (apart from stinking hot days and rain of late) but usually the mornings it is 19C. 

Thanks,
Felicity

Hey Gang!! Welcome to the group Kate! Nice to have another Canuk on board!  Just thought I would check in...finished my recovery week and ended up getting a cold so lost the last couple of days for training as a result! Hoping to get to the pool Friday. Last weekend of basketball refereeing, have a Senior Girls tournament to do locally here. Be nice to get that out of the way and concentrate on training a bit more.  

Will definitely look at those videos Jason! As with all three events I will learn what I can to improve! I typically run on the "dreadmill" (I like that! lol!) at 1% incline as well, I read somewhere that it is supposed to simulate running outside. Felicity, the best I did last year on my 10 KM was 56:00 flat. I would really like to get that closer to 50:00 or less! Time will tell! To bad about the spill you took on your bike! I haven't had to bail off or ride out a crash yet...knock on wood!! I am sure my day will come!

Howard

WHOO HOOO! You go Jason!! Thanks for the inspiration!!     Howard

That's intense Jason, but likely just another weekend at the "office" for you!    Logged another swim this morning, and just finished a short 20 minute drill/speed session at the local middle school track.  Used some of the Bobby McGee drills.  The BT USAT coaches use very similar drills in my training plan.  They also have some videos posted on this site.  Anyway, I have a 2 hr ride planned for tomorrow at 7AM and am looking forward to that.

Train hard and push yourselves everyone!  I'm sure it will pay off for all of us come race day.  Have a great weekend!

-Nat

Felicity,

Sorry to hear all the bad news.   Seems like they come in bunches at times and these are big hits.  Take care of your family, take care of your pet (a lot of us in the group are pet owners so we know pets are family too), and take care of yourself.

My main advice is to be careful with the extra stress coupled with the interruption on sleep.  Make sure you clear your mind (easy to say) when you get your chances for sleep; worrying at bedtime gets nothing solved but will really strain your mind and body.  I have at times used what is maybe considered a form of self-hypnosis; I will imagine sitting near a waterfall, floating in clouds, etc.  I haven’t tried counting sheep but maybe that works too or playing a CD that has some calming sounds.  We have a CD that plays rain and gentle thunder that is really relaxing but we have a cat that can't stand thunder and this CD actually upsets him...

Back problems are absolutely frustrating.  Give it a chance to recover without doing more damage.  You will not lose any fitness by taking it easy for a few days and see where your back ends up.  It sounds like you have had to deal with the back issue before so maybe you will know in a couple of days whether you can go for it next weekend.  Hopefully you will make the upcoming races but remember that there are more to come and making the races in the short term is not the most important thing in the world.  You probably don’t feel that way though; believe me, I understand.

Hang in there teammate,

David

Felicity,

I second David's words of encouragement for you.  So sorry to hear about all the difficult situations hitting you and your loved ones all at once.  Hang in there.  We're pulling for you!

-Nat

Hi Jason,

I'd also like to join your group if I can. Although I'm by no means an Olympic Distance Animal! I'm yet to race an OD, but it is my goal for next season. I'm from Down Under, so I am currently basking in the glow of a superb summer ... trying to ignore the impending winter! I have had a year's break from triathlon. I haven't trained or raced at all.

If I get the all clear to join, I'll post a short bio and introduce myself.

Cheers,

Em

Em, welcome!!! Always happy to accept individuals whom will be more active in the group; asking questions, posting about your day, anything like that. Now get to training!!!!

As far as my day. Did the Sunday Worlds ride today with the guys and some of my teammates (Swashbuckler Brewery Cycling). Got in 66 miles and the ride itself is 30 miles @ an average of roughly 24-26 mph for the whole thing. Basically like a training bike race. People go off the front and you try to chase them down. With a sprint finish at the end. Very hard ride and put myself into the red on more than one occasion in order not to get dropped off the back (which happened to a couple individuals). Finished with the group as I was in no position to go for the sprint. 

Yay, thankyou!! G'Day from Down Under!!! Here's a little bit about me.

Name: emholli / Emily (but please call me Em)

Story: I'm 33 and I live in Tasmania, Australia (small, vaguely triangular-shaped island to the south of mainland Australia ... basically, next stop: Antarctica). I took up triathlon about 3 years ago, although I did not train/race this past summer season. So I classify myself as a beginning beginner (again). I'm also the slowest triathlete on Earth!!

Family: Married. I have one son (6 years old) and a Beagle-Spaniel X (10 years old).

Current training: Starting a very gentle base season of running, biking and weight-training. Swimming will be missing from my program for a while as the local pool is closed for major renovations. It won't reopen until November/December. For a "non-swimmer", I have a pretty good feel for the water and I'm very comfortable in the water, so it is the one thing that I improve on very quickly.  I can do nothing about the pool situation, so I intend to put all my effort into improving my bike and run over the winter months. I don't have a strong leg, but the bike is definitely my weak leg. I was getting smoked every week! Run endurance is also a weakness, so plenty of focus on that. Weight-training is something that I love, love, love. I intend to lift heavy things three times a week!

2013 races: 5km fun run on Sunday (for which I haven't trained ... so it will be a "start of base season performance measure"). Burnie Ten - A 10km race in October (A Race). Point To Pinnacle - a 21.4km uphill race (this will depend on how my running is going!).

Weightloss: I hope to lose a little bit of weight. Probably 5kg would do.

Two things I have to let everyone know: In reference to myself, I use the term "race" very loosely! And ... I'm sorry for all the metric measurements!!

Cheers guys! - Em

Weekends always look like a good opportunity to load up on some of the missed training sessions but then home repair, yard work, and visiting family interrupt the process.  I did manage to get an easier-than-planned bike ride along with a very short run brick while taking advantage of the 70+ degree temperatures on Saturday and got a decent run accomplished on Sunday before the rain hit.  It’s the first time I’ve been outside on the bike in a while and it is definitely easier on my bee-hiney when compared to using the trainer.

I decided to drop my half marathon plans for next week due to cost and logistics.  If I need a long run I can just do that on my own.  I feel like I am getting farther behind on my biking requirements so I’m planning to reduce my number of runs and work at getting 3 bike sessions in each week and to increase the duration; mostly on the trainer.  I think I’m a little ahead on my run training and about where I should be in building my swim.  Still working towards my Olympic Tri on May 19.

David

Welcome Em!! My youngest daughters name is Emily too, so I won't be forgetting yours any time soon! We are metric here as well so I can understand all your measurements! At least I won't have to be getting my calculator out to see what you are talking about! haha

Felicity sorry to hear about all the grief you have had to put up with lately, I imagine your little one is well on his way to being healed by now. The little ones tend to recover pretty quickly. That's a lot to deal with all at once. I definitely think you should find another warm body to do the run for you if the back is still giving you trouble.

David I totally hear what your saying about interruptions...they seem continuous some weeks and can be very frustrating at times! My basketball refereeing is done now for another year so that is one less commitment to take away from my training schedule! In fact I plan on doing a 2 hour ride on the trainer this Sat with our local tri group!

Jason that ride sounded intense! Even for you! Made me feel tired just reading your post!! :D

Well recovery week is over and its back to the grind! Got my spin class in this morning and will be hitting the pool and dreadmill later on in the week. We actually got in some decent weather this past weekend and melted a bunch of snow. So hopefully get to start playing outside soon...the indoor stuff is okay and necessary but nothing like doing it outside with some scenery!  Happy training all!      Howard

GROUP FOCUS: Olympic/Intermediate Distance

NAME: jlaye / Joshua 

STORY: I'm 24 years old and have been married for almost 5 years (this summer).  I am currently living in Vancouver, BC.  I got asked to do a triathlong with a buddy, and said "year right... no way I could do that."  However it turns out I did one anyways. I am looking to improve at all aspects of the tri, but I really need to find my cycling legs.

FAMILY STATUS: Married w/ no kids.

CURRENT TRAINING: My weekly training has been quite poor.  About two to three swims a week, I did not ride at all (weather related), and I went for maybe one run every two weeks.  Scheduling my training is a big issue for me.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: Just started training in 2012.  Very light training.

2013 RACES:  I just finished the UBC Triathlon - Olympic Distance, on March 10, 2013.  My results were acceptable being my first tri, but poor in comparison to what I would like ultimately.  I plan to complete the Kelowna Apple this August.     

 WEIGHTLOSSGAIN: My goal is to gain a few lbs and maintain that weight as I am a bit of a lightweight and have been all my life.  

Joshua Welcome! My advice to you would be to try very hard to find a consistent training schedule. I plan my training out in my excel spreadsheet at least 1 week out and normally more. I can see how much I have been doing and what I plan to do and can also account for anything that is coming up outside of triathlon.

NEW BLOG POST!! see my sig for the link! It is about moving to Ironman distance to early! let me know what you think!