Training for a shorter Tri

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  • As a swimmer i thought i would offer little tips for those who struggle counting  image

    One key thing is to do sets dont just swim up and down coz that is boring, hard to keep count and you wont work as hard. Do sets such as 16x25m, 8x50m, 4x100m, 2x200 & 1x400m.

    Its much easier counting in meters then lengths. Also for 200m + swims, i break it down in my head into 4 sections, so in a 200m i'll think 100m down, work hard for the next 50, and steady for the final 50m etc, etc.

    Breaking up the session and having pre-written sets are a much better way of keeping track of your meterage and keeping the concentration levels up.

    I'd be happy to send people some sets if they are lacking inspiration.

    Oh, and one final tip - DONT THINK! thinking or getting distracted is a sure fire way of losing count, again thats why i find shorter sets good as you dont have time to get bored and start thinking of other things.

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  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭

    Vicki - interesting on the thought processes of a swim pro! I tend to count each length and every stroke in my head is going "One... one... one.. one... one.. one..." !!! Even though a watch counts for me, I don't check it often so need to keep tabs a little bit. I think I'm going to go with sets of 200m and 300m for a while since 16 lengths is a lot in my head. I'll perhaps do 400m sets next month. I find on a pyramid section it's easier since I only have to count up to 5 or 6 tops...!

    Boots - good plan! I have a 10 mile race I might do on 20th Feb just to make sure I cover the distance more than anything else. I am on the reserve list for Windsor too, but I reckon I'll give that one a miss if they do have a spare place since I already have an Oly lined up for May. I'll perhaps do the distance in training that day though as my HIM will be four weeks away.... ERK!

    Might look into the September event you mentioned too. Whilst there are some road running races I quite fancy after July, the rest of the year is a bit of a void at the moment. Would be good to keep up the momentum to the end of the tri season...

  • Pyramids - are great too, i havent done those in ages! We used to do 1-8 lengths on freestyle then 8-1 on kick or another stroke...think im going to do that set when i am next in the pool!

    Had a questions/after some advice from people - i'd like to get a computer thing for the bike, not a fancy one but something that just tells me the speed. Looking for something fairly inexpensive - any recommendations?

  • VickiSMT I have a running watch which I also use on my bike, just keep on my wrist. Seems to work ok for me.
  • My swim is cancelled today I have an head cold now and really cheesed off after being I'll for most of Dec and Jan image

    Chilli keep us updated image hope it's nothing to serious xx imageimage
  • Vicki - in general, I might split it into sets, but I need to do 1500m in one go for this installment of winterswim. Also in the tri itself, it'll have to be in one go, obviously.

    So I will end up relying on my lap counter for the winterswim, no doubt. I meant to have a go today, but had a bit of an irritating swim, where a class was over-running, so the scheduled lanes weren't available when I got there, grrr. And then I realised that I really needed to have had some elevenses before swimming, as I was feeling weak and hungry, so probably just as well I'd binned the 1500m.

    The last installment of Winterswim will just be 400m, so I might try to tag a more structured session onto that, and then make more detailed swimming plans for phase two of the triathlon preparation.

    Hope your headcold b*ggers off soon, ST.

  • Bootsie - looks a great plan!

    Vicki - Sounds good too, thanks for sharing your tips. Jevans - i count the same way as you do.

    Well, the good news is it isn't broken! Yippee!!!image The shadow on the x-ray is left over from when i broke it when I was two. Although still horribly bruised it isn't as painful as yesterday. So I'm not training today and will see how I am before ParkRun in the morning. If the running doesn't jar it I will go. 

    Today was going to be a long bike ride. I just have one more week before half term. Having four kids off school, visitors coming to stay and a conference to attend I had pretty much ruled out any training more than 30mins. But then I only have one week before the duathlon and didn't want to do any long distances then either! Well, I've done enough to get round, but I reckon it won't be easy.

    Off to plan a little girl's birthday party - see you later!

  • Good news on the arm Chilibean.

    imageimageimage

  • Blimey, we are all in the wars - arms, jobs, houses, blood vessels. Strewth! I'm giving you a group hug right now!image Or should I say thread hug?

    Is it the time of year? Hard enough isn't it when the weathers crappy, dark evenings, still broke after Christmas, potholes and trying to train too. I'm a tired bunny. Making silly mistakes at work - put my home phone number on a letter to parents of my school instead of the school's number! What a f**kwit.image

    September is a definite no go for me for the Snowdon event - brutal would probably be OK if I set my sights now and trained for it - 30 miles a day is doable if we took our time, but I guess that's the problem - there's bound to be a cut off time! I'll be working in Dubai then - the term at the college I am working at starts on Sept 11th, and i'm going over there on Aug 22nd.

    Tips for training in 45 degrees C sun, anyone?image

  • IM training means I have to do long sets, such as 5 x 800m. Also, our tri club trainer puts together a diffferent set for every Tuesday session, it's always around 4km in total.

    Send Dubai Dave a PM, he's bound to have some helpful info for you.

  • Hi everyone how about this for thread outing we can choose the distance that suits then drink Yersinia pimm's imageimage www.chiltern-hundred.org.uk
  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭
    So...(I fear I may regret asking) how far beyond race distance should one be swimming in training...?
  • Oooo! ST that looks fun image I'll have to get permission to come out to play on a Sunday but I might manage the shortest route at a very slow pace. Would we enter as a team?
  • Chilibean

    M..eldy has a team for the Chiltern Hundred. Just sign up and put PSOF as the team. There is a Chiltern Hundred thread here and a sportive thread here.

  • Hmm. Much more affordable than your first suggestion, and some good birding on offer, too, though that could really slow me downimage.

    Certainly not up for the gran, but the medio or corto might be possible.

  • Thought we could enter a Chilli team, yes the price is good and medio looks good image
  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭
    Ah, can't do early June. Husband's birthday and hopefully there will be a holiday involved.

    Chili - hope the arm was ok this morning. Did you manage a Parkrun? So pleased it isn't broken, and hope it's ok on the bike.

    Did a swim last night using the 200m and rest approach. Did a nice 400m warm up (sub-9 minutes) and then a few 200m sets resting for about a minute in between. I had a couple of sets struggling with my goggles, but the rest were good. I finished off with 250m and a pullbuoy, raising myself out of the water at the end of each length for a bit of a tricep burn set. I think because of the float though it was very easy lifting myself out, but I was just trying it out...
    Anyway, 2.5k done in not much more than an hour and compared to my how-far-can-I-swim-in-an-hour session which is when I last swam 2.5k, I felt much more in control and less exhausted. Hooray for resting!!!

    And this morning was a bike ride to make the most of the sunshine. I was supposed to catch a train up to the top of a trail, but the train was just pulling off as I got to the station so instead I cycled half way up the train and back. 25 miles done with some short climbs too. Didn't coast for too much of it either, and with my cycle to work this week too, I'm on 40+ miles on the bike this week! Shocker!

    But I keep looking at this little bit of paper telling me how far I need to cycle in an HIM... and then run a half marathon afterwards... wibbling a little bit!
  • I went for a 5 mile run this morning and it felt dreadful, the time was surprisingly good but my legs felt soooo heavy image

    I seriously need to work alot more on my running, as its my weakest im slightly concerned that i'll be going backwards on that leg in a tri lol!

  • Hi everyone

    Jevans - that sounds really good going! Very impressed.

    Ahh, Vicki we all have days like that.

    My arm is a lovely mixture of green and purple, but doesn't hurt as long as I don't lift anything heavy. So my big girl and I made ParkRun this morning image

    On the way home I called into Sports Direct (not been in there before cos I don't do shopping) and got some Karrimor cycling tights for £8 (full price £35) and shorts for £6 image. Am very pleased, but I've never worn padded tights before and they feel like a nappy!

    The Chiltern bike race is the end of half term holiday which we were taking off as holidays this year so I can do the bike race if others can. Otherwise I might join the pirate team. That will certainly given me an incentive to improve my bike fitness.

  • Hi Chilli I'm happy to join Pirate team if that's what everyone else is doing image which distance you looking at?

    Vicki I've tried running for past 2 years some days I feel great and others not so great today I struggled with 4 miles image but last week felt good and strong doing 10 miles image I did did couple off road Duathlons and my second run felt better than my first???

    Couldn't do park run this week image cause of work and working next week to image going swimming Sunday with Tri club and off work Monday so hoping for a LSR 12 miles is the plan cause got half coming up 5th March, was hoping for sub 2hrs but after all illness just hoping to get round lol

    Chilli start fitness is a good web site for kit there own brand is good value to MORE MILES image
  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭
    Talking of new gear... I popped into Halfords to look at their bike lights and ended up buying a multiway headscarf thing for under my helmet to keep warm for a fiver and a little Tribag to attach on the front of the bike frame for all the little essentials - I'm thinking snacks when on the bike - £13. A bit impulsive, but i think I'll use both things a lot.
  • Hmm. Just realised that the Chiltern Hundreds weekend is not a good date for me. Shame, because it's a nice area, not too far to get to, and a do-able distance.
  • Yersinia your so difficult to please imageimage lol you just don't want to part with your Pimm's image
  • JE - great buy,  that scarf thingy is a buff, many of us pirates have two, a lightweight summer one and a winter one with a fleece lining. They are wonderful.

  • You're right on More Mile stuff from startfitness - good kit and ace prices. I've got long and short sleeve tops, shorts and a tri top from them - dead good!

    Bought some trainers from Sports Direct too - I was surprised at how big a range they had when I first went in. First pair of Nike's i've had, just breaking them in now! Lunarswifts in Grey/Fluoro Yellow, £20 cheaper than i'd seen elsewhere. Top!

    Very stiff today - went out on bike yesterday morning, managed 48k in 1h40m, but went out too fast  - only noticed the brisk tail wind until I turned round to come home! Blew completely by 40k and limped home. Oops! Could hardly stand up when I got home. Silly boy. image

    Thanks to Dubai Dave too for the tips on running in hot places!

  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭
    So...(I fear I may regret asking) how far beyond race distance should one be swimming in training...?
  •  It really depends on how far your race distance will be - if you are going to be swimming 500m on race day you don't need to train too much more than that and you don't need to do it in one go every time you swim. You should do some short sprints too, sort of what you would do in run training, some steady runs, some speed work. At tri club we rarely swim more than 1000m in one go, although most of us race at Oly, HIM and IM. Our sessions are up to 4km in total, but it's always a mix of technique work and short fast sprints. Even my OH  who's a long distance swimmer never does more than 9km max when training for a 12km open water race.
  • For a sprint tri I was recommended swimming the distance twice in a training session - warm up 100m, then race distance first time, break, then 200m steady pace, break, then race distance again. Doing the race distance when tired really helped! Couldn't recommend for a long swim though - you'd be there all day!
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