Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 9)

For any of you folks just getting into the sport and looking for a wetsuit I have a Xterra sleeveless, size M, I will sell for $50 shipped. It is maybe 4 years old but I only used it 5-6 times (not too many wetsuit legal races down here).  I think it was their base model back when I bought it.

Short run, easy bike and making up a swim workout from earlier in the week. So, I have my own "mini" triathlon to complete today. Swim and run done at lunch and bike this evening.  My coach never schedules all 3 for the same day other than maybe the day before a race to stay loose.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Karl/KWDreamun-you doing Red Hills this year? I know that is in your neck of the woods. I have done it the last 2 years and am registered for this year. 

Hey Stuart,

I'm somewhat proficient in Excel, but my no means a power-user.  Thank you for the offer.  I have the spreadsheet made for the weight loss/workout challenge.  I put a couple nested IF functions in and I always seem to have to take a couple swings at getting the syntac right but I have it working now.

If I need another spreadsheet done, you're my guy and I will take you up on the offer.

Hi Donna,

You mentioned two things here and I suspect that both may also be contributing to your problem.

Total Immersion swimmers tend to take front quadrant timing to an extreme and generally have low turnover rates with quite a lot of glide.  In short, they often have a dead spot in their stroke.  Obviously I haven't seen you swim yet, but if history is any guide, that is part of the problem - and yes, that would constitute a technique flaw in my opinion.

The other problem may be the way your are training.  I take what you said - "I usually swim 1500 yards one day and 1 mile in the lake on another when I am training," to mean that you are doing straight swims?  If all you are doing is long swims, that is going to train you to swim slow for a really long time.  At this point in the season, you want to be doing repetitions at approximately your threshold pace plus 10 seconds per 100 with 30-45 seconds rest between repetitions - I would suggest 200's one day and 100's the next..  That will work on building your aerobic base.  When you get about 20 weeks out from your race, begin to change over to repetitions at threshold pace plus 3-5 seconds per 100 and lower the rest to 20 seconds.That will raise your threshold speed, which is what matters to a triathlete. 

I am sure we will delve in to the subject of how to properly train for an endurance swimming event at some point in the coming weeks.  For now, suffice to say that there is a specific way an athlete should train for a triathlon swim.  While the volume is different for the different race distances, the methodology is the same.  Swimming long swims doesn't help raise your threshold pace and in fact, doesn't really do much of anything.  Swimming anaerobically with a swim team helps you swim faster, but you aren't going to be swimming anaerobically in a triathlon if you have designs on finishing.  This is the biggest mistake that I see age group triathletes make - they don't fully understand the swim and they often don't know how to properly train for the swim.

Hopefully we can clear up some of the confusion in the coming weeks.

Hi Dave,

The "coach" mentioned two different things, so let's look at them separately starting with the so-called endurance issue first.

The coach said, "I see a lot of muscular work on the recovery phase, because he's so tight it takes significant effort to bring the arm to the front, and I think that's the endurance issue right there." The coach seems to be implying that your endurance is suffering because poor shoulder flexibility is effecting you recovery.   This doesn't make sense to me, let's drill down a bit and see why.  If your shoulders are as tight as the coach seems to think they are, that is going to effect shoulder motion in general, not just in one direction.  Water is approximately 800 times more resistant than air so you are expending FAR more energy during the pull than you are during the recovery.  Even though I have never seen you swim, I can safely say that your recovery, by itself, is not the root cause of any endurance issue you may have.  That is not to say you have good shoulder flexibility nor is it saying you have a good recovery.  Again, I haven't seen you swim.  I am sure you have heard me say that I consider freestyle to be a circular stroke; you can't have a good recovery without a good release, you can't have a good release without a good pull, you can't have a good pull without a good catch, you can't have a good catch without a good entry, and you can't have a good entry without a good recovery.  If there is a hitch in the giddy-up anywhere in the stroke cycle it is going to manifest itself as reduced speed and reduced endurance.

What is the basis for saying there is an endurance issue?  If there is indeed an endurance issue, it is more likely a result of improper training methods, a technique issue, or a combination of the two.  If someone can shoot some video at one of these clinics I will be happy to offer a second opinion.

As to shoulder flexibility exercises.  The coach says, "I recommend a GENTLE (really! No injuries allowed!) daily routine of rotator cuff stretching with an elastic pull cord. It can't hurt and I believe it will help keep away the shoulder rotator cuff tears that are common with men."  I have a bit of an issue here because the coach says, "It can't hurt and I believe it will help keep away the shoulder rotator cuff tears that are common with men."  Is he recommending the exercise because he thinks you need to improve flexibility or is he recommending the exercise to prevent an injury?  That isn't really clear to me.  It is also worth mention that specific rotator cuff exercises are normally used only in physical therapy following a rotator cuff tear.  I have never heard of a stretch involving an elastic pull cord.  If you are looking to increase flexibility, a good exercise to increase shoulder flexibility is shoulder pull throughs.  I do absolutely agree with the GENTLE recommendation.

Pull Throughs - Start in a standing position holding a light stick by your waist. You can use a broom stick, without the broom head or any stick around 4 - 6 ft long. Hold the stick very wide, WELL beyond shoulder width, and slowly pull the stick up towards your chest.  Keep the stick as close to your body as possible and when you reach a point that you can’t pull it up any higher, externally rotate your shoulders and push the stick overhead until your arms are full extended. Make sure to bring the stick slightly behind your head. Bring the stick down to your waist and repeat 6-8 reps.  If the exercise is difficult to complete, move the stick several inches in front of your body.  If you experience any pain, immediately stop the exercise.

I have worked with swimmers that had decreased shoulder flexibility.  Normally decreased shoulder flexibility makes it more difficult to achieve a high elbow recovery.  If that is the case, we simply make a couple of minor changes in technique to account for the decreased flexibility and move on.  We would gradually move back to proper technique as flexibility improves.  Generally, pull throughs for a couple weeks and just putting in sufficient training volume with a focus on proper technique will increase shoulder flexibility and improve technique with a commensurate increase in endurance.

Hope that helps and answers the question.

Hello all. Anyone have big plans for the weekend? Cold here through tomorrow and rainy on Sunday. Plan is for a bike and run both days. Tired of riding in the garage.....ready to get outside.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Stuart,

The challenge week goes Monday - Sunday with minutes and weight change posted on Sunday evening or Monday sometime.  I don't suppose it really matters what your workout week is, so long as you consistently use the same days.  For example, my workout plan is Sun - Sat so that is what I will continue to use and I will just report the week on Sunday afternoon.  There isn't going to be workout or weight police checking so whatever works and is the easiest.

Nothing special.  My normal Saturday is an hour or so on the bike and then an hour or so running.  Suppose to rain tomorrow though so the bike may be on the trainer and the run will be one of those runs where people point at you and say, "What an idiot!"

Dave,

Or you could take a look at the warm-up I recommend, it does exactly what you mentioned and turns casual warm-up time into productive workout time.

Nah, now that the spreadsheet is done it will only take a couple minutes to update the numbers.

I had a pretty decent swim today.  At least it felt pretty good with some speed work which I really enjoy (I'm not fast but I like to pretend).  I worked hard on keeping my elbow high and I'd like to think I was a bit faster.  While swimming I found a quarter on the bottom of the pool.  That makes 95 cents over the last few months.

On the way home from the pool I saw a woman out on her road bike.  We don't see that too often in January.

For the weekend, I usually take a day off on Sunday but tomorrow I've got 1:30 on the bike and I am supposed to run an hour of hill work (on the trainer).  In the afternoon I'm getting together with a group of training friends for an extended coffee break.  As soon as our sidewalks and roads are clear of ice and slush I want to move outside for running.