ultrahip_00's Mentor Group - Closed Again!

Mike - how are we logging our training for our group to see?  Today, I went back-to-back with swim and MTB.  750m swim and 20 mile cycle.  Swim was my best yet, but did see my SPL increase and form break down toward the end.

my name is Albert, I am nineteen years old and come from Austria.

I have just started my triathlon training 2 weeks ago from being a couch potato for about 1 year and only doing relatively little since the age of 15. I am actually a very sporty person but I had to concentrate on school during my graduation year and there was not much time for anything else.

Before the age of 15 I was a swimmer for about 4 years in which I built up my skill and stamina to quite a high level. I have won many state and regional titles in my age group as well as the overall rating. My best style was back stroke (100M and 200M) as well as middle distance freestyle (100, 200 and 400M freestyle). Unfortunately at the age of 15 I was diagnosed with a disorder which was caused by unsymmetrical growth of the shoulder joint and the strain on it because of training (6-7 times a week in the water + 3 times strength training) damaged the shoulder greatly. As I guess many of you can imagine that was quite a setback. I actually never went to the pool for about 1,5 years and didn’t go to any competitions to watch my sister who was as good a  swimmer as I was because I couldn’t cope with not being allowed to swim myself.

 I was in pain constantly for the duration of about 1 year and had to take medication. During this period I experienced problems with my blood circulation and blood pressure. Unfortunately this is what happens when an athletes heart gets deprived of its beloved sport… harm is done physically and emotionally.

Now I have decided that its enough with the lazyness and I want to challenge my body again. Maybe I will not reach the level of achievement I did when I was a swimmer but that doesn’t matter to me anymore. This time around its not me against others but its me against myself.

 My ultimate aim is to complete a full iron man! This year I will start with a short distance (700M / 20KM / 5KM) triathlon together with a friend. Since I know quite a lot about swimming training and sports nutrition I will not be joining a club for now but want to do these first steps on my own.

 My first improvements are coming along relatively quickly. These are small steps but I am happy about every little one of them. If you want to know more then please check my training log.

My biggest worry is that my shoulder cannot handle the training. This is why for the beginning I will be spending a lot of time on a bike or running more than swimming while slowly building up the muscles in the shoulder and arms to ensure that the joint is more stable. Plus I don’t think that the swimming will be the hard part of the triathlon for me. I think the toughest for me will be the biking that’s why I will be concentrating on that slightly more than the other sports.

 Im sorry, that turned into quite an essay but I hope you will take me into your group and I’d love to share my experiences with other people and receive guidance from those that have gone the same path that I have set my eyes on now.

Maybe I can even help a little with the swimming workouts since that is my specialty.

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Hi Mike, I would like to join if its ok with you.

NAME: nevergivin-Stuart

STORY: I am a 42 year old who has been doing triathlons for 3 years. During races often I start off good only to have the field pass me by the time I finish.  I started training after quiting smoking, I smoked for almost 24 years. Now I'm trying to make up for all of those years. I love to swim and was competitive on summer and winter teams for almost 8 years. I do not have a history in training for running or biking. 

FAMILY STATUS: I am married and have one kindergarten daughter that I try to expose to all my training. They are cool with all of my training,they just can't stand to get up early for my races!

CURRENT TRAINING: I am self coached with mixed results, however I belong to a bike,run,swim & a tri club.  The swim leg I enjoy, despite freestyle being my slowest of all competitive strokes. I belong to a masters swim program and also compete in meets with good results. I have struggled with my run training and common related runner injuries such as runners knee,lower back,ITB. I joined a local run club and found I get very little help regarding form or training, but I do enjoy the company when I can join in on longer runs. I started to make great progress running in my latest off season just pushing really hard, only to get injured upon starting this years 1/2 im training program. I do like to bike also with a bike club I belong to, just not nearly as fast as most of the people I race, I have spent allot of time doing hill training, for me it still has not translated into increased speed ,although I am a much better climber now. For Biking and running I do not do much interval or speed training, for running I try to maintain form and get my milage in, for biking I do my training route or get in a group ride.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I have a 1/2 im in two weeks and a full in 11, with a bunch misc individual stuff between and after.

WEIGHTLOSS: This is not a priority, although I have lost 45 pounds in the three years doing tris, I am more concerned about eating better foods that will help more with training and recovery. 

I am looking for a mentor group with athletes that can run and can help me understand what I should be looking for in a structured training program, how to track results, how to look for improvements and how to properly tweak a program. Most importantly I do enjoy the comraderie,discussion and motivation. Thanks, Stuart.

Masters swim tonight for around 3000yrds, its equipment day so I will be doing lots of timed pull and kick sets.

I have done a half (Oceanside 70.3), it was a struggle for me because I had to eliminate my run training to heal my IT band twards the middle of my tri program, then try to build it back up again , I ran out of time building back up and my longest run was only 4 miles, I did the race anyway.

Wildflower is an awesome race, I have continued to build milage since my half three weeks ago at a moderate pace. I have lost much speed also, but my runs are pain free.

I have to wear fins doing kick drills, my body will not move one inch without them. I am getting ready to do an experiment and will probably submit another BT article on foot flexibility and how it relates to a better freestyle kick and improved times. I will post up pics of my feet and you will see how aweful my flexibility is, where it needs to be, and updates as I start to use the rack I just purchased, yes it is a torture tool, but I know three coaches that swear by it and I am determined to improve my kick.

Thanks Albert,  I am trying to improve my kick for my backstroke and freestyle and butterfly. When I swim a triathlon I use a 2 beat kick if that only to anchor my rotation, and because my kick is minimal I do not focus on too much leg strength drills other than wearing my fins for added resistance, races are not my concern or are kicking drills. My problem is when I do not wear fins, I can kick for days only to go about 5 feet. While propulsion may be low for freestyle, fast swimmers at my pool have an awesome kick and I will get lapped in everything except breastroke. I do not lack the leg strength, I lack the flexibility I need for forward propulsion, I am trying to become finless. This is what I am trying to achieve.

 Right now I am not even close to this, my foot is almost the opposite, when I was younger this was me and I could zipp down the pool.

Mike , I'm interested in what type of interval training you do on the bike, your bike speed is impressive also!

I asked because I read an article yesterday and it explained the key things about interval training for speed, what I took from it is that rest period is just as important as interval for consistant effort. Are you doing intervals within a workout, or is the entire workout intervals?

I do a heart rate test monthly, I cheat and use my spinerval DVD, it walks me through everything so that I can focus on intensity and readings. I am planning on a decent speed gain this year as I plan to up my milage to 150-200 a month for my IM this year.The article I read also discussed power and speed intervals(big gear vs. High cad/speed), does your coach have you mix the two or do one month/week doing one and switch or does it just depend on when your race is(more speed or race pace as you get closer to a race,etc.)?

I am setting up my IM program next week while I'm on vacation, it looks as though my goals will be increase bike speed(bike course at vineman is fairly flat), increase run milage, strength train and yoga twice weekly(injury prevention and recovery). Swim 4 times a week(avg 13000yrds), train for heat. I start May 11 and I should have it all written in my planned log by then so you can check it out.