first triathlonites 2006-07

[HappyAnika]

Awesome! Congratulations!!! You must have done great if you want to do it again. I like that: "No runner left behind"!

This reminds me that even if its only 35 degrees outside this weekend I need to go running.

[Kimmyt]

I have a new foe: 'Phonebook IMs'.

As per swim class last night... we did 4 of them. In which the coach randomly picks a phone number from the yellowpages and uses the last 4 digits to determine how many laps of each stroke we do.



9 laps of breast-stroke take FOREVER.

And don't even get me started on the fly.... but I do have to say, after doing other strokes for some time, it feels exceedingly restful to go into a nice freestyle. I felt so strong when I finally got to do a few laps of FS, like my body was telling me, "Now this... this I could do all night".

[light_sabe_r]

Ahhh.... I'm back after Tri 2! YAY Next ones either february or April... Haven't decided yet but I'm ENJOYING it. ^_^ So after Christmas I'll be back in training. Even thinking of entering the ELITIST category next time cause the distances are only SLIGHTLY above what I did this time... 400m swim, 15km ride, 4km run. ^_^ Oh well it's a NEW goal to work to in the new year. Thanks you inspirationals!!!

Guess I'm not really a FIRST anymore... ;_; But Yeah You guys are such GREAT support!!!!

KimmyT that sounds like hell. I hate breastroke at the best of times (gives me nightmares about swim squad when I was 8 or something) Gimme backstroke anyday.


ECLECTIC! Well done woman!!! Keep it up eh!

[eclectic]

Guess I'm not really a FIRST anymore... ;_; But Yeah You guys are such GREAT support!!!!

KimmyT that sounds like hell. I hate breastroke at the best of times (gives me nightmares about swim squad when I was 8 or something) Gimme backstroke anyday.

GREAT GOING LIGHT_SABE_R ! ! ! ! 2 under your belt already!

give us a report on what it was like especially comparing the first one to the second.

Hmmmmmm that does bring up another question - how many tri's until we aren't "new" anymore. Oh well it doesn't really matter because you will transform from "newbie to "mentor" and help us Northern Hemisphere people who will be starting in another 6 months!

I was always posting under the new rider strand and thought - when do I move out of that category? I now feel after this summer, 2 tours, 2045 miles in one year and both a metric and imperial century I can now officially not call myself a "new rider" anymore. I just haven't changed a flat tire in the rain yet

[light_sabe_r]

Comparing the first to the second???

Well... the big difference between the two was I was a lot fitter this time. ^_^ I accomplished my goals of (almost) swimming the whole thing freestyle and running the whole way (i didn't walk a single bit!) I was a lot slower in transition though

PLUS I did the second one on my roadie...

The second tri the OTHER competitors were FAR more aggressive!!! I mean BF saw one lady in my category get SMASHED into the ramp because the woman behind her wanted to overtake her ON THE RAMP to go faster... She had gotten out just before I did!

I got beaten up in the water as well. Just people swimming in a straight line swim STRAIGHT over the top of you!!!



So my advice is PLAY NICE IN YOUR TRIS. I KNOW it's a race, but that's NEVER an excuse to push, shove and BEAT UP your fellow competitors.

Show your fellow athletes the same courtesy you'd show them on the bike. Keep a STRAIGHT line and they can go round if they're that desperate to pass you!

[beetle]

Hi all, it's taken me 3 days to get though this thread butt what a great and motivating read.

I did one tri about 4 years ago and loved it but have spent the last few years concentrating on my long distance swimming so cycling and running have been off the books for ages. Now that I have a 14month old I find it more tricky to get swimming in so I'm going to work towards my longtime goal of completing an IM.

I'm like a few on here and come to tri with a good swim but poor cycling and running skill/speed. However having found this (and with the help of a local tri club and LBS) I'm sure I can get the necessary advice and help to work on my ride and run.

I won't be able to compete in any tris until May as I'm pregnant again but I think I will do a swim race or two over the summer (I'm another Aussie).

Anyway can't wait to share my training experiences with you all and looking forward to reading about how everyone goes.

Light_sabe_r: How did your GREAT bike go Have you got a photo? Have you put tri bars on?

Bilateral breathing: Though this was discussed ages ago, I just wanted too say that from experience if you can teach yourself to bilat breath it will improve your swimming over longer diistances. I breathed every 2nd to my right for about 20 years quite happily but 2 yrs ago decided to teach myself to bilat breath (with the help of my coach). I took a whole season, my swimming even regressed a bit in the process but I can now easily breath to either side and it has really helped balance my stroke. So it can be done if you work really hard at it and are committed. Incidentally I always still breath every 2nd to the right in sprints up to 200m.

[Offthegrid]

So many accomplishments here.

LightS: Way to go! That's amazing. I'm so proud.

Eclectic: Congrats on the 5K! That's an amazing achievement.

As for me -- only five more days until I can start jogging intervals! Whoopie! I'm so excited. I'm curious to see with the fitness I've built how long it'll take to be able to jog a 5K nonstop. I'm thinking maybe 8-12 weeks, but not sure.

[tygab]

Hi all,

I haven't posted on this thread in ages. Early December was tough. I just did not feel motivated to do much, and I had a few bad workouts mixed in but, at least I did keep going. I took most of one week off, and felt a little guilty about it, but... no more. This week, I have felt focused and ready again.
I did a brick Monday and again today (spin class + treadmill).

Well, on Monday's run I ran for 38 mins, and ran 3.4 miles. Today I ran 39 minutes, got up to 5.7 and held it most of the run. My 5k time was 33:18 (coming up to speed over a few minutes), and my total distance was 3.6 miles.
In september, 39 minutes *was* my 5k. I have shaved almost 6 minutes off my time in approximately 4 months. I don't know if that's good, but if I can continue the trend I will get to my near term goal of running a 5k in less than 30 mins soon! (that's the goal for going into the season, but hey anything better is good too). I felt pretty good on the run too, though my calves are slightly sore now.
My goal is to just go out and run around 45 minutes and try to keep inching up my speed as well.

Come January, I want to be on some kind of a more formal program. And I need to start swimming as well as get more consistent with doing weights.

How will I fit this all in? Right now I go to the gym 3x a week and usually get 1 weekend workout in as well (those haven't been as frequent the last few weeks). I spend usually 2 hrs each time I go (spin class + run, or spin + weights etc). I don't think I can go every day. I do still have a job and house stuff to do.

Also, one more question. I am most often in the 180s (low to mid) during my runs. This is at my upper HR zone if you do the math, and I have read this shouldn't be where I spend most my training time (I do not feel like I am about to keel over ever, but talking would be a challenge). However, if I slow down to a lesser HR pace, I am running really slow. So, should I purposefully run slow? This would seem to contradict my desire to get faster....

Thoughts on the above appreciated.