Tri-Z mentor group - Closed for Now (Page 2)

Welcome Hilde- It looks like you are going to be the swim leader in the group!  You rock!  What a huge accomplishment - Texas Senior Olympics and more importantly, your win against breast cancer.  You are an inspiration to me and many other people.   And btw - you are no senior!!!!  I have said it before that many people just dread the swim but this group seems to love it!  That is fantastic!

Congrats on your accomplishments so far and I can not wait to see what you come up with in 2009!  From reading your logs, it looks like you are ready for that sprint!

Ok - I am leaving tons of messages!

Here is a list of our group:

Jenny/ Tri-Z

Jen/ Jah 2212

Sara/ Pastorswife

Nadine/Nursenadine

Lindsay/PilatesTri 

Allison/Tallgirl

Hilde/Hildekq

Dawn/Sunrise

Jessica/JessicaCrouchert

Jennifer/Peakdogs

???/Trinocerous

???/CareyJenny

 I hope I included everybody!  If I left someone off, please let me know!  We have all different levels and it will be do great to encourage each other!  If you have not already, add each other as your friends.  Just go to Change Display, on the left side of your page, then go to friends. 

Also, there are some good plans on BT that you could look at.  I believe that Hilde said she is almost done with the couch to sprint plan.  That is a great training guide to get you prepared for the sprint.  Does anybody else have a plan that they are using?  If not, check out the plans on BT!

Have a great weekend! 

Jenny

Okay, I feel incredibly stupid, but I cannot find the "Change Display" you are talking about.  Is it possible that is not included in the free membership?  I know I have my log set on public, but is that enough?

Hilde

So, like, NEVER MIND... I found it somehow, buried in my control panel, you are all my brand new BFF's!! 

Hilde

Nadine -  you did great! When I first saw you log, I thought to myself, you basically did a sprint!  AWESOME job!  You should be proud.  You did an open water swim - what is the temp there in Germany?

If you log is marked public then we can all see them.  When you add your friends it is easier to go from sight to sight to check out what everybody else is doing too! 

Good job today!

I just through the comment about Germany in because I related to Hilde profile. That was 10 years ago when I was much more in shape. I now live in Sunny Florida where the high was about 70 degrees, and the springs were/are 72 year round. (Thats how most of my "exercise" has been walking around theme parks.) The area is a lot more hilly then most of the flatlands of Florida so I plan on going to the area where the actual sprint I want to do takes place so I can see what the terrain there will actually be. I'm hoping to be ready for a sprint on feb 14th but not sure if I will be able to do that one or not. It is the same as I did yesterday but the bike is 9 miles instead of 7.

Thanks Jenny for leading this group!

I want to thank you all for your very, extremely kind comments on my swimming, but I truly don't think I am all that fast (esp. when ladies in their 60's were kicking my butt at the Sr. Games!).  And let's face it... even if I'm fast in the swim, I don't think I will make up enough time to compensate for how slow I will probably be in the run and the bike!  One of you asked for 3 tips for getting faster, so here goes:

1.  Interval training:  I normally do a 400 yd warmup, freestyle, nice and easy, no push.  Then stretch.  If I want to time myself, next I will do a swim for time while I'm fresh.  Usually I have some drills for kicks and pulls, then a core set of intervals, something like 8 100's on 2:00 (leave every 2 minutes)... the faster you swim, the more rest you get.  OR, you can swim 8 100's with 20 seconds rest if you can't make the 2:00 time.  As an aside... longer rests help with speed, shorter rests help with endurance.  Finish with a 200 warmdown.

2.  Swim 25 yards as fast as you can... I try do do this every once in awhile, like 10-12 of them, with 15-20 seconds rest, more if you need it.  Because it is such a short distance you can really push yourself.  To help build lung capacity, try doing them with either NO breaths or just one or two. 

3.  Lift weights!  I bought a couple of Tri books and one suggested a set of weight exercises for both upper and lower body, and it's only 2 sets of 8 reps, but you do them with fairly heavy weights and very slow lifts.  I noticed a difference right away in how quickly I got stronger, my swim times started coming down and huge definition in my upper arms and quads!  Like, maybe even SEXY??!! 

Since swimming is my thing, I like to do it 5 days a week, but I'm afraid I am overtraining, so I am going to cut back to 3 days a week.  I have been doing 2400-2600 yards per workout, but for those of you that are weaker in the swim, I would shoot for 1800-2000 yards. 

I found a website that will make plans for you... after awhile they are kind of repetitive, but if you are unfamiliar with interval training, this is a great help.  It's called Swimplan.com.  You can make it as easy or hard as you want as far as what strokes, yardage, etc.  You have to do a couple of time trials so that they can personalize the plans for you.

I try to do a little of the other strokes (VERY little of fly!), just to work other muscles, but I mainly do freestyle.  I also swim at 5:30 in the morning before school, and I only have a banana about an hour beforehand, and a cup of coffee and that seems to be enough.  NOT like the Mexican breakfast I had before yesterday's run!!  UGH.

I am so looking forward to getting to know all of you and helping each other out with all this Tri stuff, I am psyched!  Or Psycho depending how you look at it!  I am going to enter a local duathlon March 8th.... 2 mile run-12 mile bike--2mile run...I figure those are the things I need help with and will give me some transition practice too!

Oh, I found out yesterday as I searched the internet that Trek has taken over the Danskin Tri's... TX is scheduled for May, but the date has not been posted yet.   You can find it through "Trek Women's Triathlon Series".

Sorry such a long post!!

Hilde

Thanks for the posts, Hilde!  It included some very useful information that I am sure the group will find valuable.  As for the weights - that has helped me too.  I notice a difference.

Just to help everybody with their accountablility, why don't we all post our goals for the week.  I'll start and just for the record I am getting over an IT Band injury. So probably will not bike much this week and will not run at all to help w/ recovery.

So here goes:  I hope to swim 4 times this week, weights 2 times, bike once, maybe twice.  No running...must not run (this is my favorite too so it is VERY hard for me not to do this) !!!

 Ok - whos next?????

Okay, I have 3 swims, 2 weights, 3 runs, 3+ bikes (hope to be outside, but if I can't will do the gym bike and want to do 3 10-15 milers and 2 shorties after my weights.  I'm feeling a weird pain right where my leg meets my torso, not exactly a pain, just feels weird, so I'm holding off my first run this week until Tuesday and hoping the weather will let me run outside, I really do NOT like the treadmill, too easy for me to stop short because I get bored, even with the iPod.

 I really want to finish this last running program week so that I can start working on some speed!  And keep working on the endurance.

 So Jenny, when should I run 2 days in a row?  So far I ALWAYS have at least one day of rest after a run... I am run/walking for about 3.3 miles, which takes a little less than 40 minutes.  I am up to 28 minutes of running which turns out to be something like 2.25 or 2.5 miles.  My goal is to get my 5K time under 30 minutes.  I just began running in October, did my first 5K in December (34:37 with no walking).  My plan is once I can run 30 minutes straight, to go up to 33, and hope I can do a whole 5K in that time, then start some fartleks??  Does that sound about right?  I know you're also supposed to do a longer run once a week or so, but I'm confused about how to do that when you are only supposed to increase your distance by 10%.

hilde, great swim post. much appreciated. i'd be the person who has to wait 20 seconds btw 100's b/c i'm JUST under 2:00/100 yard...meters...not even close. ha...but i'm working on it!!! and the weights thing...ah, yes...i must start doing this...major mental block for me there. ha.

goals: before 2:30pm today, they would have been swim 4x, bike 3-4x, no running until my achilles/calf issues get resolved. however, that all changed when i took a digger on my bike and sprained a ligament in my clavicle. the rest of the week is day by day now. hopefully i can ride my trainer comfortably by wednesday...not sure though...we shall see.

Hilde, if you are having a weird pain, I would definitely wait until at least Tuesday to do your run.  In fact, I would not run 3 times this week, maybe just 2 so you don't end up hurting yourself.  I would just skip that first run. Remember that the bike and swim are also helping with your endurance on the run. 

From your description, that pain sounds like your hip flexors.  Maybe use that time to do some stretches.  Here are some exercises I just found online that might help.  http://laurensfitness.com/2007/12/24/tight-hips-tips-to-loosen-your-hip-flexors/ 

As for increasing you runs, your plan sounds like a good one.  If you wanted to change it up a bit you could alternate the run and walk to increase your mileage.  Maybe run 5 minutes, then walk a minute and repeat.  That small break might allow your total run time to increase even though you did take some breaks and your speed might be a bit faster udring that run time.  Just a thought!

But....last thing you want to do is injury yourself, where you have to skip a lot more workouts! Good luck w/ it!  Have a great week! 

Nice goals Nadine!!!  Great strategy to focus on the other sports!

Poor Jen - she had a little spill on the bike this afternoon and lets hope for a speedy recovery!!!

Nice goals Nadine!!!  Great strategy to focus on the other sports!

Poor Jen - she had a little spill on the bike this afternoon and lets hope for a speedy recovery!!!

Jen, so sorry to hear about the bike spill, that sucks!  Get better soon... So far I've been lucky, although I fell off mine in my front yard when the front wheel got hung up on the sidewalk... there was traffic going by, how embarrassing!

Jen, I don't think my weird pain is hip flexor.... it's more toward the center of my body, kind of in my bikini line, if that makes sense, and it just feels like maybe my leg will give out on me.  Feels a little better after this morning's swim, but I'm going to put off the run till I feel an improvement.  Still planning on a bike ride this afternoon, I really think it's just the run that sparked it.

Hi all, I was busy with life this weekend and didn't check in.  I'll try to be better at this.

 I'm coming off a tough few years in the personal department.  I got divorced in August and am beginning recovery from a health problem.  Working out had been put on the way back burner.  Read: didn't work out.  I'm 45 and have always been somewhat athletic and in good shape, but not very competitive.  I started playing hockey four years ago, played for 2 years, but didn't play last season or this season.  That's a GREAT workout, even though the games are just 50 minutes and you're only on the ice for a couple of minutes at a time.  I hope to play the spring season.  I really, really want to get back into shape and while my BMI is low, I really want to lose a bit more than 10 pounds.  We're starting this weight loss challenge at work this week, and it's motivated me!

I'm in Michigan, and we got a goodly amount of snow over the weekend, so my exercise was shoveling (3 times) and walking my Newfie in the snow, which I must say is quite a workout when the roads and sidewalks are not plowed!  I know it sounds lame compared to everyone else's "real" workouts, but it's significant to me that I'm just getting some exercise right now.

I'm starting way slow in my goals.  My goal this week is just to try to set aside a block of time at least 4 days to walk the dog.  My kids are with me this week, and I often use that as an excuse to not exercise.  So, if I can fit that block of time into my schedule this week, then next week I'll start the "couch to sprint" workout.  I know I'll need to then move to fitting biking and swimming in, but I truly want this to work, so I'm trying to go slow and develop good habits and not discourage myself.

Thanks for the swimming tips, Hilde.  That's going to be my weakness.  While I've always been a swimmer for fun, I've never really been taught the strokes, and I've never trained.  So, it's going to be my biggest challenge.

Thanks for mentoring, Tri-Z.  I'll need all the guidance and encouragement I can get and am receptive to any hints you all can give.

Thanks everyone, and have a great day!

 dawn

p.s.: I'm not a morning person by nature, but I guess I'm one by necessity!  I was just born at sunrise, so my folks named me "Dawn" instead of "Leslie." 

Hey Jessica,

 I was like you about being a little afraid to ride my bike at first.  I also don't like riding alone,  but I do it.  I just had a hitch put on my Mini Cooper so that I can put my bike on it and drive to somewhere where there is no traffic.  Once I get out in the open evrything is okay.  I had one bike ride where dogs kept coming at me and I went out and bought pepper spray which I now have mounted to my handlebars just in case... or in case some moron rednecks show up while I'm out there all alone.

I do the gym bike when the weather doesn't let me get outside, but I don't like it much, it's not the same, but I figure at least I'm using some muscles so it can't hurt.  I like it much better when I can shift to make it easier!

 Good times on your swims!!  Wish we could swim together so we could push each other harder!

You have a soulmate(s).

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=144019&posts=33&start=1

Dawn - I think that is a perfect goal to walk this week and get exercise back into your routine.  Maybe even involve your kids!  I think they say that after 5 times, it is a habit - a good habit too!  I think shoveling snow is a real work out just not using weights!  Here in Texas, we have no idea what it is like to shovel snow!

 Jessica - your goals for this week are great.  I am not sure about that pain - hopefully it will go away soon!    As for the bike, have you ever tried a spin class?   You control the intensity on your bike and can go at YOUR LEVEL!  Is there an area you could drive to that does not have any traffic? I did that for awhile.   It took me a couple months before I was able to ride on my own so I understand your fear.  It does goes away though.  Continue those group workouts and you are getting some benefits from the stationary bike but it is more beneficial to ride your own bike outside.  If you do the stationary one, ride the old fashion one ( I can't think of the name for it) - the one where you sit high and the pedals are low, not the one that you sit down and your legs go forward.  I'll explain more if you need me too!

Lets all try to log our workouts this week! Good luck with your goals!!!!