Brian Shea's Group - CLOSED

Hi,

I just turned 46 yesterday. I've been wanting to junp into this sport since 2005 but as usual, my work kept me from doing it. (I'm the VP of a clothing retail chain in the Philippines). 18 months ago I was 192 lbs and now after my recent annual checkup, my cardiologist told me that I'm now 216 lbs....scary for someone only 5'9" in height. I want to drop 40 lbs and my doctor said that I'm in great shape by acing all my tests including excellent results from my treadmill stress test except of course for my being overweight. I was told that losing a maximum of 10 lbs a month is ok if I'm up to it.

I figured that training seriously for a triathlon might get me going to the change of lifestyle. Although I already go to the gym at least twice a week and spin away a thousand calories per 1-hour session aside from lifting weights on top of playing heavy tennis also at twice a week. So I'm technically not really a couch-to-sprint newbie and familiar with hard workouts. What I need to discipline myself with, is to shut my mouth from eating.

Anyway, I planned to do a sprint distance by late Feb 08 and so I downloaded a couch-to-sprint plan that should've started Dec 1. Unfortunately I've been sporadic in keeping up with it and blame my office everytime. I plan to catch up with what I missed on the training plan by putting it on top of what is required presently. A line needs to be drawn for me to pursue this and maybe a mentor would set me straight. So how about it?

Thanks,

Vince

Sorry for being so basic in question but I genuinely need some advice for a triathlon I am doing.
I am a 29 single male working in full time Christian/charity work in the great city (& hometown) of Derry, Northern Ireland.
Myself and 3 other brave guys from Northern Ireland, all from a military/physical training background are going to help raise money for a very worthy- currently underfunded local child development centre.

The triathlon is the last Saturday in May 2008 and the distances are:
40 x 25m swim(in pool)
20 miles cycle
5 miles run.

We are all fairly fit and can do all the individual disciplines well at present.

We now I seek expert advice on all aspects of triathlon including 20 week plan, nutrition, equipment, raceday planning/advice.

would you be willing to help me prepare for this so that we dont overtrain? We all have strong discipline and run the danger of overdoing it.

If any of you would like more information on this project pls ask.

Thanks in advance.

Vince,

Welcome aboard and happy to have someone dropping in from the other side of the globe. With that, a good friend of mine and fast triathlete (Arland Macasieb) actually races for the Philippines and is part of TeamTBB (IM Hawaii Chrissie Wellington's Team). He'll be there for a good part of the Winter. He'll be staying in Quezon City but will be based in Clark Air Base starting in Feb. According to Arland, the best training grounds for cycling are Tagatay, Batangas, Subic, Clark, Antipolo. I'm not sure of your exact location, but it would be great if you could cross paths with him over the coming months.

With regards to the Feb Sprint, we'll need to maybe take a better look at your training logs to see if that could still be on the table, but my preliminary though is to maybe put that on the back-burner for another month until you can get in a good 4-6 week cycle and have confidence that your ready to race.

Looking fwd to getting you there - & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Edited by BrianPBN 2007-12-31 6:31 AM

Brian, do you have any slots left in your group?

I am 31 yrs. old 6'1", 195lbs. ecto-mesomorphic.....State Police officer and Platoon Sergeant in the Army reserve (Military Police). I have an athletic background but have primarily lifted weights for the past eight years. I was intrigued by the idea of participating in a TRI last spring and decided to give it a shot. I started a program and did pretty well with it aiming for a May-June Sprint tri. However I was required to attend several training courses that required that I leave town for weeks at a time and it became difficult to maintain my training. Around May I was in great shape and I know I could have completed a sprint triathlon, maybe even have been somewhat competitive. I basically fell of the horse and my training came to a screeching halt. I never even met my goal of completing a tri in 2007...and it burns my ! So..in November I imported an Olympic maintenance program just to try to whip myself into shape through Oct/Nov and Dec and plan to hit it hard and official Jan 1st, 2008.

I am a pretty decent runner/biker. Swimming has been the biggest challenge for me. I kind of self taught myself last spring and after grinding through many bouts of extreme frustration I started to get it and I now have a better crawl. I have pretty good balance and can swim about 1000 meters without stopping if I really push myself.

At this point in time I wonder if I am fit enough to train for an Olympic event or if I should just start with a Sprint.

I can run 50-60 minutes and longer right now...swim about 1,200 yards with a few short breaks.....biking I really have not focused on but I didn't really find any difficulty with it last spring.

I have a two year old and a two month old so time management is very tough. I don't want to take too much time a away from my girls while I am off work. So any insight in regard to your time management strategies would be appreciated as well. Thanks..

Well it looks like we've got a great group....and I must say I am surprised by the world-wide representation!

To hit on some of your questions/comments:

Norm: 1st off congrats on using a charity as the catalyst for racing. I had the opportunity to work w/ an autism charity this Summer and it was one of the most rewarding athletic endeavors and I'm sure you will find the same. The May race, which may seem like an eternity away at the moment, will creep up before you know it.

As you mention, it's rare triathletes need motivation to do more and my role as a coach is typically to get my athletes to pull back, go easier and often do less. Being that you have a specific date in mind will help with the periodized planning of your program and get you there in fine shape over the next 5mo.

Jon: We share a few things in common:

1. I am also coming off of an injury - honestly my 1st 'bad' injury in 20yrs of endurance sports.

2. Traveling for work: I too find myself on the road sometimes more often than not which is really not that big of a deal if you plan for it. Before virtually any trip (if I don't already have the place scoped out), I'll drop a few posts on the forums or connect w/ friends in the area to find local places to swim and run. Typically I'll schedule my rides for when I am back home unless I am going to be at that location for an extended period.

Also, if you're going to have a weakness in triathlon - I'd always pick the swim. There are MANY top triathletes who have a relatively weak swim, but can hammer the bike and run and more than make up for it. If you're a great swimmer you can put a few seconds on your competitors....conversely, if you're a good cyclist or runner, you can put on MINUTES.

With that, the focus for now (being it is January and still months away from your 'A' race, is to make sure that ITB issue is ancient history before getting into any training which may aggravate it. The last thing we want to do is still be talking about this in June.

Dennis: 1st off, if we're going to get along you're going to have to use a larger font so I'm not squinting to read your posts ;o) Trust me, regardless of the # of years you put into this sport, you'll never fully get that 'newbie' feel out of your system. The thing w/ triathlon is your essentially trying to perfect 3 very different sports and 12yrs after racing my 1st sprint, I still learn something new everyday.

An interesting addition to this point is every yr I have the luxury of being on the coaching panel for a # of triathlon camps throughout the country. About 4yrs ago I was participating in a camp in Clermont and Heather Gollnick (IMAZ & KY Champ) was also on the panel. Heather sat in on my lecture on nutrition and honestly had as many questions as anyone in the group. Over that weekend I learned a lot from Heather and would like to think she learned a lot from me.....and we continue to do so as I've been participating in her Winter training camps in Sarasota every yr since (not a bad place to escape NJ in February). I expect we'll do the same with this BT Mentoring group as well.

Jim: Very glad to have you aboard....offline we can discuss our splits from taking the kids out of the tub >> drying >> pj's >> bed (I am continuing to improve everyday). I also have (2) little ones at home (my son will be 3 in Feb and my daughter 2 in May) and can appreciate the time/commitment that it takes out of you. I have opted to put off my IM racing for a few yrs so my kids can see their Dad on the weekends vs seeing an empty space in the garage where my bike would be! Some people can train for IM w/ kids, job, etc....but I know for me, the hours I need to get in the IM shape of yrs past add up to 25+hrs /week, so we'll have to wait another yr for that.

With that, kids create an additional time element that you simply need to schedule around to get your workouts in. I schedule my workouts into my weekly calendar no different than I schedule a phone call or meeting. If it's not on the calendar, it's probably not going to happen and I would strongly suggest you start to do the same. We can dig into some of your specific scheduling issues as time goes on and figure out how to work around them.

I look fwd to getting to know each of you better so never hesitate to drop a post or if it's something you don't feel comfortable posting publicly, shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]).

Speak with you all very soon!


Edited by BrianPBN 2008-01-02 12:00 PM

Hi Brian,
Happy New Year too. Arland is a known name in the tri circle in the Philippines and I'm familiar with the bike training locations that he mentioned and I also live in Quezon City. I've gone up and down the hills of Tagaytay and Antipolo but not Subic or Clark. I'll be honored to hook up with him but training with him might not be possible yet for his level is up there already. I 'll have to update my logs before you assess it for I have a tendency of not logging it on the web but I do have it on my training logbook. I really want to do the late Feb sprint for the March race would conflict with my trip to San Francisco CA. Anyway, I'll just listen to your assessment.
Thanks and warm regards form Manila.
Vince

I take Pharmanex multi-vitamins and supplements like: LifePak, CordyMax, & Overdrive

John,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you as it's been a few very busy days getting back into the swing of things. I'll be sure to check in on Weds morning, check out everyone's training logs and give you some specific answers to your questions.

Hi Brian
I took your advise and shelved the Feb sprint and opted for the March sprint. I really need to get comfortable in my swimming. I feel I'm trying too hard. I logged long distances in swim training but there were a lot of stops in between. Can't seem to get the groove on swimming longer distances. Longest I did non-stop is only 300 meters and I'm out of breath like crazy but my HR is only in the 130's. Been training the last 3 weeks in open water with bilateral breathing. At one point I swam about 5 kilometers but always stopped to stand or pause in the water every 100 to 300 meters to catch my breath. Is it my breathing? I seem to be okay with biking and running where I breath out of my mouth as to swimming where I breath out of my nose. How do I adjust to do at least 1K non-stop?
Thanks
Vince

Jon,

With regards to your questions:

What sorts of supplements are you currently using?
I'd be happy to dig into this deeper for you if you like as this is what I do day in/out, but I would prioritize your supplementation as follows (Most >> Least Critical): Multivitamin >> During Workout Nurition (i.e. Cytomax, Accelerade, etc...) >> Recovery Nutrition (i.e. Endurox R4, Ultragen, etc...) >> Ergogenic Aids (i.e. Optygen, Enduxox Excel, Vantage, etc....). In the business I am in, I am often asked, what nutritional products do I 'need'? I believe everyone needs a multi, during workout formula and recovery product with the other ergogenic supplements falling into the same category of disc wheels and aero helmets. Does an athlete hoping to finish their 1st triathlon need a disc wheel and aero helmet? Does Macca need a disc wheel and aero helmet? 2 of the same questions, but different answers for different athletes.

Is anyone incorporating periodization into their training currently?
Knowingly or not, everyone should be doing some sort of periodization. Regardless of how painfully slow it may feel, there is no substitute for an adequate base and in my opinion no need to incorporate heart rate bursting intensity sessions until you stop seeing progress with base building. This is a really good article which I don't follow every tenet of, but I believe does a decent job of illustrating the benefits of building a base:

Want Speed? Slow Down!

What sorts of strength training routines are you all carrying out currently?
By strength training I believe you are defining this by weight room? I am of the belief that as a triathlete you don't need a lot (if any) weight room strength work for your lower body if you are in good health. With that, I am in PT right now rehabbing patellar chondromalacia, but otherwise would not be doing such exercises in the gym. I am a strong proponent of strength work such as swimming w/ paddles, BIG ring work on the bike and hill running, all which build strength and all are incorporated when appropriate in a periodized training plan.

For upper body, year round I recommend having a good core program (abs/low back) as well as a general upper body program of compound movements (i.e. bench press, dips, pull-ups, etc...).

I hope this helps answer some of your questions, but please continue to drop posts!

Vince,

If you're out of breath even at a slower pace in all likelihood you're not properly balanced in the water. Have you incorporated any types of balance drills into your training? This would include things like swimming on your side, hands at your sides and face in the water. Drills such as this will help you get into a much more balanced position and when you actually start to swim will be much easier.

With the beginners I work with, I do not have them do a SINGLE STROKE OF FREESTYLE until they can maintain that proper balanced position in the water. Something to think about next time you hop in the water as you may not swim a single stroke - but will be better off by time March rolls around!