Beginner - doing the March 27 tri

Hey Thomas, sorry if i missed some of your other posts... but first off- do you have a history of back problems/injuries? How long have you been in training?

For the back [coming from someone trying to rehab a neck/back injury]-- i would do the touch your toes stretch. hold it there 10-12 seconds, come up SLOWLY, repeat a couple more times.

also, sitting down on a chair, try to rotate your neck/trunk and reach behind you with one hand. for example, if you're reaching with your right hand, your left elbow is leading the rotation to the left. do both sides.

hope this helps and is not too confusing.... try to do these 2-3 times a day.

Hello gr8brindle.

I don't necessisarily have a history of back problems, though I have certainly strained it before... As for how long have I been in training, that was what some of the postings were about. Currently I have both the running and biking base *seperately*, but was concerned about the swim first. I haven't done any training other than the running, cycling, k-boxing and weights of my normal workouts, 6 days a week. I wanted to see what experienced tri people thought about me doing a 1500m, 40k, 10k tri. I also weigh 255....

Thanks for the advice!

hmmm, do you know how to swim freestyle? or is it something that you have to learn?

if you don't know how [i just learned how to swim freestyle 3 years ago], i would totally take a class or join a masters group. Regardless, taking a class would help ease any stress or questions or confusions that you might have on proper form. many of the swim classes now are specifically geared towards triathlons. I think they're very beneficial- commorodity [sp?], team, individual coaching.

it sounds like you have a pretty solid base built..... do you think the back strain comes from lifting weights?

I am sort of cramming a lot of training in prep for my event, stepping above the 10% increase a week rule. I track my resting heartbeat when I get up to insure I am not overtraining. (I now use a heart beat monitor to keep me in line. It is really useful!) Also listen to the aches and pains of your body to make sure nothing is getting out of whack. When your first start there will be many. Just monitor that none are getting worse and work on technique to minimize injuries. Technique is everthing in the water and on the run. Make sure you get the best nutrition and plenty of rest. I suffer from lower back strains a few times a year, due to years of improper chair posture (desk job!) and tight hamstrings. When I first started swimming my lower back was tight also: 3-4 swims a week, a few weeks later and it is fine. Lots of stretching (2x day). The bike is really working me now. It took 3-4 times to get into the tuck in my spin class. And I still cannot ride more than 30 minutes on my road bike down on the aero bars before I feel my lower back. More stretching. I stopped pushing for a long stretch right after my workouts as I threw my back out on one of these after a long ride a couple of weeks ago. It really slowed my training. Now I try to stretch morning and night and don't overdo it. Keep it up, good luck.

Good luck tom

If you aren't doing flip turns in your swimming, I reccomend them - they allow you to stretch your back out every lap. the open turn is really a lot of strain on your back as well.

If you are comfortable with 1000m now, the extra 500 will not be hard to reach. Don't worry about craming in extra training, just be consistent. If you can get some open water practice in that would help. It is a little bit different. Also do a few bricks(bike and run). These are the best workouts. Have fun.