amiine's Group - FULL

Jorge - I would like to join your group, if possible.  I am 36 years old, married, with 3 kids.  I  was overweight and a buddy of mine convinced me to do a sprint triathlon this year.  I found this site, and it has helped me a ton.  I lost 30 pounds, and competed in my first sprint, and then followed that up with another sprint and an OLY.  Although, I have some events under my belt,  I have only been training for 10 months, and would love to learn so much more.

I am nursing a few injuries, currently, but am planning on doing an HIM and a marathon next year.  Would like the help in figuring out how to go longer.  Looking forward to this program!

Jorge,

I (Brad) would like to join your group.

My Story:
I am a 34 chemical engineer in Louisiana. I am married and have 2 kids, a 4 yr old daughter and 4 month old son.

I have always had some sporting activity since elementary school. Starting with baseball, then wrestling in high school, rugby in college, soccer until 2001, karate in 2003, and now I've decided to get into triathlons.

I tend to enjoy training and seeing myself improve. Part of my move out of rugby and soccer were because I wanted to train more than my recreational collegues. I like to have fun, but I don't just play to have fun, I play to compete and get better.

I weigh 210 pounds and would like to be less but I'm doing this for fitness first. I gage myself by body fat% more than raw weight.

Where am I now:
I started around the middle of November. I had never really biked or swam before. I've run in local 5k and less. My first swim experience was an eye-opener about how much work I would need. I only went 40yd before being out of breath. I was also limited on running to around 5k before tiring.

Since,

• I can swim 500 yds but still need to work distance(1) and speed(2). I've had some help from a swim coach, but following some forum postings I would like additional help here.
• I can now bike for 45 minutes at 90 rpm-- yet to determine road pace
• I have run 10k weekly and feel I could go further, but time usually is a factor.  I'm currently trying to work on form to get around 5:00 /km pace.

I’ll start: my A races will be Timberman 70.3 (Aug  19) and the 70.3 World Championship (Nov 10)

My A races for this year are the T-Gator Series Triathlon #2 (Sprint, May 20) and the T-Gator Series Triathlon #3 (Sprint, July 15).

I am also contemplating a Duathlon (Feb 25) of R:2mi B:15mi R:2mi and either the

T-Gator Series Triathlon #1 (Sprint, Mar 25)  OR Beginners-Only Triathlon (Mini, Apr 15)
Only problem is that if I do the Mar 25th race I am disqualified for the Apr 15th. I'd prefer to tackle the Mar 25 Sprint versus something I think I can already finish.

I've never competed in a triathlon before, so I'll need some help evaluating if I'm prepared enough. I can handle all of the distances individually, but it is the 3 back to back I'm unsure of.

Jorge...would like to join your group...actually a bit nervous w/ time commitments-oh well.

• 42-teacher/coach, married, 1 son(may want to do a tri in May w/me)
• have stayed active from HS to now, as coaching seasons allows
• totally new to tris(have completed mini-sprint)
• weakness is the swim
• injuries here and there have shortened training cycles

Goals:

• complete two more sprints( sub 1:10, at some point)
• jump into an OLY distance

My A races are as follows:

Spirit of Racine HIM (July 22nd) - First HIM

Chicago Marathon (Oct. 2nd) - First Marathon

OK, we have the group full and we are good to go!

A race???  Does it have to be a OLY/HIM, or does it matter..

Anything you want: sprint, oly, HIM or even a road race. The point is to have a goal and work towards it

Never raced tri's before. I've done mostly 5k's before, but without much thought to them. Part of my previous issues were not having tough goals and needing steps to get there. In early Nov. started self-training towards the beginner. Got some local help and at my current improvement pace, I think the beginner may be too easy with the date being over 16 weeks away. It is only 200m swim, 10k bike, and 2.5 k run.

We have:
Scott schmize  - first A race will be the Spirit of Racine HIM (July 22nd) – His First HIM!
Brad originalkid  - first A races will be the T-Gator Series sprint Triathlon (May 20) – Have you done any races before?
Doug dougdia - what’s your A race for the season and date?
Hernado (is this correct?) CoachH – what’s your A race for the season and date?
Jayson Jayson - first A race will be HIM (October)
Jorge - amiine - first A race will be the Timberman 70.3 (Aug 19)

Marcelo - CoachH - first A race, May, 6-mini sprint, CapTexTri sprint???  May 29th.

Brad - That's great, that base will help you out for sure for the training ahead.

Guys - I started this thread on the challenge section and posted a ‘basic’ guideline of the training format I am planning to start as of January 1^st and what’s what I’ll do in the mean time. Keep in mind I haven’t been active for the past 2 ½ months hence I’ll start from scratch pretty much. So this can give you an idea of where to start. Of course depending on your fitness level and how much training you have done in the past 3-6 months you might be able to modify the suggested guideline with more training time, more frequency or both. Or maybe you will need to modify it with less training time or session to accommodate your current situation. Since you are part of this mentoring group you are more than welcome to ask as many questions as you may have. I might not know all the answers but I’ll make sure to get the correct response out there for all of us to learn. I have access to great resources and I can always ask my coach The point is to encourage each other, learn and most important have fun!

We have:
Scott schmize  - first A race will be the Spirit of Racine HIM (July 22nd) – His First HIM!
Brad originalkid  - first A races will be the T-Gator Series sprint Triathlon (May 20) – Have you done any races before?
Doug dougdia - what’s your A race for the season and date?
Marcelo CoachH – first A race CapTexTri sprint (May 29)
Jayson Jayson - first A race will be HIM (October)
Jorge - amiine - first A race will be the Timberman 70.3 (Aug 19)

 

My Race Log

I'll start by writing out where I think I am and what I'm doing. Feel free guys to question and suggest...

1) Swim- I am a beginner, I'm working basically on relaxing, form and distance. Until I can go 1000 yd to 1500 yd at a go without stopping I will neglect speed. Afterwards, I plan on working speed and have some idea on how to do it. In this event, I have access to an OK coach and several ex-competative swimmers who can actually see me and comment. As this is my weakest event, I focus here. I can swim just about everyday at lunch and do; for learning to relax and form.

2) Bike- Other than what I did as a kid , a novice. I do know that I can go the distances required for sprint and olympic. I could use help on how to build speed here with endurance. I typically train on a trainer as I know of few safe areas to ride and the time available is early morning and late.

3) Run- After swimming, this is my biggest concern. I've picked up some tips from the forums and articles that have shaved 1:00 to 1:30 off my km times. I run several times a week and 5k and 10k distance has not proven to be a problem. Thanks to what I've learned, I control my heartrate and cadance. Problems-- I know that I'm slow here, but don't know good ways to build speed. Also don't have easy access to someone to watch me run and comment.

In summary: Swim - all about distance right now; Bike & Run - build speed.

BTW: I'm using the 13wk Original Sprint training plan as a guide, but it only gives times not what to do and I add to it as time permits. So it is usually the minimum that I do.

1) Swim- I am a beginner, I'm working basically on relaxing, form and distance. Until I can go 1000 yd to 1500 yd at a go without stopping I will neglect speed. Afterwards, I plan on working speed and have some idea on how to do it. In this event, I have access to an OK coach and several ex-competative swimmers who can actually see me and comment. As this is my weakest event, I focus here. I can swim just about everyday at lunch and do; for learning to relax and form.

Brad asked me a Q regarding the training outline posted over the "Train Smart, race Fast" challenge through a personal message, but I think this info might help everyone:

Q: How do I gauge if the week is too easy? If I keep my HR in zone, shouldn't 20min always be easy?
>>> If you complete all the sessions within a week and at the end you feel like it was too easy then you can move on and play by adding a bit more time to each session or even adding an extra sessions. One thing to keep in mind is that you always want to finish a session knowing you could have done more, in particular when training at easy pace, but that’s the point for this phase! In the other hand, if at the end of the week you feel wiped, then you might need to repeat the SAME sessions of the week for the next one.

And yes, 20 min will ‘usually’ feel easy most of the time, but if you increase your frequency and are running 5-6 times a week, you’ll notice those 20 min aren’t so easy all of the sudden

Plus we'll be increasing the duration, frequency or both for our sessions, and eventually the week with 4x run 20 min all done at easy pace will turn into 5x run week as: 3 run 30 min easy, 1 run 30 min Tempo and 1 long run 60-75 min steady.

Again, this phase is to lay the foundation for your body to be able to absorb greater workloads ahead. If you accomplish this even when you feel the training is somehow easy, you will be amaze how your body responds when the training gets harder…

So here is where I am at.

I got off the coach in February this year and started swimming.  I have an athletic background from high school days, and had been playing basketball 2-3 times a week.  I have 2 sprints and an OLY under my belt.  My first sprint was humorous in that I hadn't found this site, yet, and I had no idea what I was doing.    I, then found this site, followed the training plan for my OLY last year, and things are getting much better.  I then ran a 1/2 marathon to get ready for this years HIM and marathon.  All this is to get me ready for an IM in '08.

I joined this group to learn as much as possible, while getting the most out of my body.  I would like to be a mentor next year.  I also am thinking about getting a coach for next year, and maybe someday even coaching myself (way off, but you have to have goals).  With Jorge's experience and knowledge, this seems to be the group to help me meet my goals.  And for the real new beginners in the group, I hope I can help out, too.

Well, I just scheduled to get my knee scoped, so I will be out for at least a week or two.  But I will still be active on the site.  Listen to Jorge when he says to take it slow.  Although, the Dr. doesn't think my injury is of overuse (I had a bike accident that might be the culprit), you never know.  I followed the 10% rule, which is a good rule when increasing volume.

Overall, I am pretty decent in all events.  I am not great at any, but not horrible at any either.

Swimming:  I feel very comfortable in the water.  I am also getting faster, but will be looking for some good drills and workout sessions that have helped others.   I did my OLY in 1:42/100m, which put me in the top 5% of my age group.  I think I can go faster.  I do my 5X100m drills in the 1:20/1:25 area right now.

Biking:  I am improving here.  Its tough being in the midwest, but I have been doing some trainer rides.  Again, I am looking at philosophies and drills to get better on the bike.   When I look back, I did my first race on an old schwinn and tennis shoes.  I have learned a great deal here, but still need to really gain some speed and endurance on the bike.

Running:  In my OLY, I was around 50% in my age group.  This was (and still is) probably my biggest limiter.  After the OLY, I really concentrated on my running to get ready for a 1/2 marathon.  Really, just increased my volume (gradually), did the LSD run every weekend.  Went from 3X/week to 4X, then eventually 5X a week.  I didn't do any other speed work, other than a tempo run once a week.  I improved from a 8:34m/m in my OLY (yes, it was after a bike ride, but it was also 6.2 miles), to a 7:36m/m in my half marathon.  I continued to improve and did a 20:40 5K a month after the 1/2 marathon.  And trust me, at the beginning of the year, I could barely keep an 8:30 for three miles.   So, I think there is value in the Long Slow Distance Run.  I also did a TT to get my LT and that helped me to figure out the zones to do my runs in.  I think there is a great deal to be said about variety, etc.  I am hoping to learn a lot more about running (and avoiding injury) from the man....and Jorge is the man when it comes to running!!  (not trying to suck up to our mentor, but look at his times.....sheesh)!!!!

Oh, and I did do some of the sports rotation based on Mike Ricci's site.  I did 8 weeks of run, then 4 weeks of bike, and 4 weeks of swim.  I will be catching up w/ Jorge's challenge, once I get healthy.

So, Jorge, will this thread be our forum going forward?  I assume we can PM you with personal questions, etc.?  We will try to not overload you!   Maybe we can challenge the other mentor groups, somehow? (yes, I am very competitive).

Ok... Did the LTHR run per the testing plan

• warmed up 15 min with the last 5 min alternating 0:20 run and 0:20 walk
• started time and started recording distance
• at 10 min in, started heart rate monitor
• at 30 min in, recorded distance and average heart rate

Here are the results average HR = 173 and pace = 5:38 min/km (9:00 min/mi)

Scott - Great stuff! You have definitely achieved great things in such a short time. I am particularly impressed with your swim times and your improvements running. I also used this site as the main source of info for my 1^st racing season and now 3 seasons later I still enjoy it very much! A lot of knowledgeable coaches like Mike Ricci and great athletes like Dan (marvanett) around.

Anyway, will you be able to do some swimming after your knee procedure? You could focus on your swim until you are good to use your knee again! IMO doing a good base of swimming is also very important. Not necessarily to become a faster swimmer (which most likely you will) but to get a lot of aerobic exercise without the high impact of running, and it will make you fitter overall

Also you might be able to use your time off for strength training not necessarily weight lifting, but flexibility and balance.
Anyway, keep us posted and we can chat about ways to get you back to running in no time!

So, Jorge, will this thread be our forum going forward?  I assume we can PM you with personal questions, etc.?  We will try to not overload you!   Maybe we can challenge the other mentor groups, somehow? (yes, I am very competitive).
>>> Yes, feel free to use this thread to post questions, comments or share info with the rest. As you mentioned, hopefully we’ll all learn lots from this 3 months and get ourselves ready for a fun and healthy 2007! Regarding challenging other groups, I guess we could ask Ron. Any ideas? As long as it is something which will challenge BTers to become smarter with training and keep us motivated it could be fun.

Great! Based on that info we can calculate your HR training zones: