Swim to tri....

papamike

Hi everyone, I’ve decided to start a beginner triathlon training log here as motivation to eventually complete a sprint triathlon this summer after a couple of years making excuses and putting it off due to not being able to swim. I’ve been reading all the other blogs and have been enjoying them so any advice people can offer would be appreciated. I will do my best to keep it updated and maybe there are some other ‘newbies’ out there in a similar position.

A bit of background:
I am 32 years old, male, weigh about 78kg. I have a rugby background but had enough of cold winters standing around on the wing so gave it up 2 years ago. I took up some running after this to keep fit and to give an idea of where I am, some of my PB’s are:
Mile: 6:07
3k: 12:42
5k: 21:09
5 mile: 36:03
10k: 45:56
10 mile: 1:19:04 – first attempt at this distance, furthest ran before it was 8 miles.

Goals for 2009
1) Complete a sprint triathlon
2) Complete a half marathon – probably Cork relay in June
3) Be able to swim 1500m by end of July
4) Run PB’s for 5k, 5 mile 10k and 10 mile

I have completed a few duathlons and I have taken swiming lessons the past 3 winters but got totally disillusioned with lack of progress and gave up. This year however I am sticking with it and have noticed some improvements as a result of perserverance and some tips obtained from other swimmers on the Swimming forum. My current level of swimming would be 3 lengths (25m) front crawl before having to stop for a rest but could get through 20-25 lengths in a session with some breaks every 2 lengths.

Someone mentioned FEAR as being a great motiviation so I have entered the Portlaoise Triathlon on the 11th of April – approx 10 weeks to get to 750m non stop:eek: It’s pool based and when I complete this one the rest of the summer gets much brighter:D:D.

Anyway, weekly plan is for 3 swim sessions, 2 or 3 run sessions (due to half marathon training, will probably use Hal Higdon or McMillan for a plan) and one long cycle. Will have one complete rest day during the week. Have joined the local Tri club so that can only help.

I started this week so the log so far is:
Monday 26th January
Swim: First time in pool in nearly 5 weeks. Plan was to take it easy and focus on going slow, ensuring full stroke – thumb to thigh, and completing each length without stopping. The plan for the session was:
4 x 50m 20sec rest between each one
4x 25m 15 sec rest " " "
4 x 25m 10 sec rest " " "
Swim down 6 x 25m
Total: 550m

First three sets of 50 went fine. Struggled through the middle sets swallowing water and having to stop to cough up a lung a few times. Swim down was good, really focussed on rolling but stroke count still in the low 30’s!!!!

Tuesday 27th January
AM: Run. Ran 6.25k easy at 8:06/mile pace (31:30). Haven’t ran much in the last few weeks so was good to get that distance in without too much trouble. Good stretch after.

Swim session with tri club tomorrow.

papamike

Wed 28th January
Swim session:

200m warm up
4 x 100m – time first set and aim to be 10secs faster for next three sets
5x 50m for warm down

Total: 850m

First set of 100m in 2:35, then 2:27, 2:35; 2:40. Didn’t meet target for 3rd and 4th lengths but overall happy enough.

hunnymonster

hi papamike. welcome to the training logs. Good luck with the swimming. There are a few of us around here who learned as adults and it does get easier.

papamike

Thanks Hunnymonster, It's been from reading other peoples logs, experiences and the swimming forum that has encouraged me to stick with the swimming and I had that tired but happy buzz going home after last nights session:D:D....long may that continue

papamike

Thursday 29th January

Run session. Horrible conditions, strong wind and rain

4.5k warm up @8:06min/mile pace
3k Time Trial in 12:43 (6:49 min/mile pace) - 1 sec outside PB
2k warm down

Bit disappointed with not setting new PB but given conditions happy enough wiith time

papamike

Friday 30th January

Swim session:
Working on tips from Wed night session

200m warm up
12x25m stroke drills
Total 500m

A great tip I got was to try to use hips more to roll and start each stroke rather than shoulders. Took 2 lengths to get it but next 10 lengths I was hitting 27 strokes per length compared to the 32/33 I had been doing before:D:D

MCOS

good stuff on practicing what you are learning papamike, keep at the swimming and it will come. Your running is quite good so I reckon you will be finishing your Tri strong

papamike

Thanks MCOS. Hopefully with a bit of work I'm sure the swimming will come good.

Saturday 31st January

Wussed out of a planned cycle this morning due to the heavy rain and flooding locally.

Not all bad as went for a slow, easy 5.1 mile run this evening in 45:07 (8:51/mile pace). After all the rain it was a nice evening for a run. Plan on keeping the weekend slow runs to between 4 and 6 miles until half marathon training starts in March.

SUNGOD

hi papamike best of luck with your training and log

papamike

Monday 2nd February

Work got in the way of the planned lunchtime swim, herself was heading out in the evening so enforced rest day. Mo

Tuesday 3rd February

Lunchtime swim. Just got in to the pool and swam. No major plan other than to cover 750m in the session. 250m warm up followed by 10x50m sets. These sets were fine, quite slow but feel that the break between each set is shortening. Must start timing these to make sure.

Strangely I felt more relaxed for the last 5 lengths more than any other lengths, breathing was easier although stroke count was about the same.

Due to rest day yesterday, a run session has been sacrificed this week as I think it's too early for me for double training sessions in one day. Any opinions on when people generally start double sessions?

papamike

Wednesday 4th February

Club swim session. Coach concentrated on us beginners tonight and all I heard for the 45 minutes was 'relax, relax, relax'!!! I am too tense in my stroke and need to totally relax in the water, hold my reach for a second or so before pulling.

He brought us down to the deep end then for some treading exercises and threw a few spanners in and made us dive for them...all about building confidence in the water: confdidence in water = confident swimmers!!

Enjoyed the session. Swan the full warm up of 200m non stop which was furthest I've ever swam non stop:D After that it was just length after length at our own pace while coach observed. Total session covered 600m.

papamike

Thursday 5th February

Run session with club. 2 x 2 mile runs (2 mile = 5 and a bit laps of running area)

Just under 2 mile warm up @ ~8min/mile pace

1st 2 miler in 13:45 @ 6:53min/mile pace

2nd 2 miler in 14:46 @ 7:23 min.mile pace

Very happy with first run as very evenly paced. Got a stitch about half a mile into lap 2 of 2nd 2 miler, impacted on my time but these seem to be good endurance sessions.

papamike

Saturday 7th February

Long slow run of 5 miles in 44:30 (8:54 min/mile) It was a fantasic morning for a run.

Sunday 8th February

Rest day

papamike

Very poor training over the last week. Haven't been in the pool in a week:eek:

Saturday 14th February
Easy spin on the bike Cycled 45k in 1:40, average speed of 26km/hr. Nothing to write home about bit good to get back on the bike. May need to change cycle shorts...still a bit tender today!

Fitness test tomorrow - VO2, RMR, Lactate Threshold etc. Aim is to use the data to train smarter. Will be interesting to see the figures as compared to where I've been training the past year or so.

papamike

Finally got control of the laptop:D Been hard to keep this log updated lately.

Anyway on Tuesday I underwent a full fitness test - VO2, Resting Metabolic Rate and body composition analysis. There were a number of reasons for wanting to do this - I felt with my running last year my heart rate was too high on most runs and for the amount of running I was doing I wasn't seeing great improvements, so I want to train smarter. Also I am a bit of a geek for the science and the numbers:D.

Results: (note this test was done on the bike so need to add ~10bpm to heart rates for running)
Body Fat: 11.4%:D:D
RMR: 1,374 Kcal (Avg for my build would be ~1,750):(
Respiratory Quotient: 0.78 (RQ <80 predominantly fat burner)
Lactate Threshold: 152bpm
Anaeroboc Threshold: 158bpm
VO2max: 50.1

So what did I make of these? Very happy with the body fat and my VO2 max is not the worst in the world so there is plenty of potential there. I now have accurate heart rates for which to do my tempo runs in and my interval training in. My RMR is surprisingly low, even the sports scientist doing the test said before hand he'd expect a person of my build to be about the 1700 mark!!! What that means is that I am quite good at burning fat, so I need to change my training slightly to further improve this. That means plenty of slow runs over the next few months, keeping the heart rate down around 135 -140 to build up aerobic endurance which I don't really have. What the low RMR also means is that I will have to keep training as if I stop I'd be quite prone to putting on weight. Incentive if there ever was one;)

papamike

Wednesday 18th February
Swim session with club.

350m warm up
11x50m with 5-10sec rest between each one, working on technique and coaches comments during these.
100m warm down
Total 1km

Was wrecked after this session, but felt I was making progress. Stroke count still way too high ~30/31. Still not relaxed enough in the water, asked the coach and he said it will all come with confidence.
I'm still getting very out of breath after each 50 but my recovery is improving.

Thursday 19th February
First of my new slow runs to build up aerobic endurance. Did this on treadmill in the gym and ran 5km in 31:30 mins (10min/mile pace). Found this pace quite hard to keep to but will persevere. Aim was to keep HR below 140. Had to reduce the speed of treadmill to 8km/hr towards the end to keep hr down. AHR 137.

Friday 20th February
Swim. Struggled through 20 lengths (500m), was a rubbish session. Swallowing water, stroke count of 35 on some lengths. After Wed night thought I was making good progress and then this crap...quite pissed off this evening...Looking forward to cycle in the morning

papamike

Saturday 21st February

Enforced rest day due to our youngest's 1st birthday party. Damn you rice crispie buns:D:D

Sunday 22nd February

5 mile slow run in 52:30 (10:30 min/mile) AHR 133 MHR 139.

papamike

Tuesday 24th February

Lunchtime swim. 10x50m. Nothing spectacular but seems like the break needed between 50's is dropping. Strokes/length still around 30, finding it very hard to drop this.

papamike

Wednesday 25th February
Swim session with club. Got promoted into the next lane after a review by the coach:D:D

150m warm up
8x25m steady pace 10sec rest between each
3x100m steady pace 20sec rest between each. Found these tough.
100m warm down
Total: 750m

Feel that the swimming is improving but it is slow. Currently would struggle to do 150m non stop. 6 weeks to get up to 750 for first tri.

Thursday 27th February
Easy 4 mile run 10:21 min/mile pace; AHR 137

papamike

Very poor weekends training as both kids were sick, up all night very little sleep so weekend a write off from training point if view.

Got out for a 3 mile run on Sunday evening (9:42 min/mile pace, AHR 137). Still aiming to keep the HR below 140 for another few weeks before uping intensity.

Hopefully training back to normal tomorrow

MCOS

Hey papmike. 11% BF is great! How do you feel about moving into a faster lane? I found that was working hard to keep up in my 'promoted' lane at first but I progressed to finding the pace comfortable Great to swim with a group. Got to love those rice krispie buns

papamike

Cheers MCOS, Happy with the body fat result but unfortunately most of it appears to be on the gut:rolleyes:. Sports scientist reckons I can't afford to lose much more so will see how the half marathon training impacts on it. On the swimming, moving into the next lane was tough. Last night I demoted myself as there was some good coaching available in the beginners lane so I availed of that. Got some good tips too so felt it was worth the step back...one step back, two forward and all that...

Wednesday 4th March
Swim session with club. Availed of some good tips from the coach re my hand entry and head position, will work on these over next few sessions.

8x25m warm up
10x 50m
Total 700m

Plan on Friday is to swim 750m to get an idea of my time for the distance

Thursday 5th March
3 mile run @ 8:57 min/mile pace AHR 137. There appears to be something in this running at low HR's but will leave it a couple of more weeks before drawing any conclusions.

papamike

It was the variety in the training that attracted me to triathlon but the variety of emotion after the last few training sessions have been so up and down it is hard to believe!!

Friday 6th March
Swim: Decided to time myself for a straight 750m to see where I stood on my progress to date and to give an idea as to how I would fare out at my first tri in 5 weeks....27:19 later and I realise that I am in a spot of bother:eek::eek: Going through my head was do they have cut off times for pool swims, will I be let finish my swim? How hard will I have to go on the bike and run? I checked out some results of some pool tris and vast majority of people were finished by 20 minutes!!

I broke the swim down into 3 x 250's. Splits were 7:48 (0:45 rest), 8:59 (0:46 rest), 8:59. I think is how I will approach the swim in 5 weeks as I don't think I'll be up for 750m non stop by then but will still work at it.

Saturday 7th March
Bike: After yesterdays wake up call, nothing better than a 3 hr spin up some local hills for the first time to sort myself out. I really enjoyed this spin even though I found the hills tough and it was the longest spin I've been on to date ~60km in 2:52. Hope to repeat this spin every 2 weeks if possible, great training.

Sunday 8th March
Rest day

Monday 9th March
Run: 4 mile slow run on the treadmill. I hate treadmills, find them boring and it gets too hot in the gym, also seem to be able to run faster outdoors.
4 miles 8:59 min/mile pace AHR 140. Another week of slow aerobic runs and am then going to include one tempo or fartlek run per week.

Tuesday 10th March
Swim session working on some technique.

8x25m warm up easy
12x25m technique work. Was able to reduce stroke count to 25/26 on all these 12 lengths which I was happy with, Has been 30/31 for the past few weeks. Worked on hand entry, head position and rolling hips throughout the stroke. A lot happier leaving pool today compared to last Friday:D

500m total

papamike

Wednesday 11th March
Swim with club.
8x25m warm up.
Followed by 22x25m work with swim coach focussing on long stroke, hand entry and s-sweep. Was hitting 25/26 strokes per length on most of these which I was happpy with. Found the s-sweep tricky to get used to on left side but will have to work on this.
Total 750m

Thursday 12th March
Swim: Timed myself for another straight 750m. Got it done in 25:02 which
knocked just over 2 minutes off my time for last week which was 27:19:D. Again I broke it down into 3 x 250's with splits of 7:19 (rest 48 sec), 8:22 (40 sec rest) and 7:53. Was quicker through all splits with similar rest periods so happy with that imprevement.

Much happier this week, long may the improvemnts continue. Cut off for the swim in first tri is 30mins so I should be ok for that.

Weekend off as heading to Edinburgh for some relaxation and a quiet beer or 10;).

papamike

Its been a while since I updated this.

Friday 13th March
Made it out for a 4 mile run prior to the weekend in Edinburgh. On the road at 06:50, first early morning run this year and it felt great although not sure the legs were fully awake. 4 miles in 37:57 - 9:30 min/mile pace AHR 138.

Tuesday 17th March
Another 4 mile run and decided to step it up a small bit and threw in 1 quick mile for mile 3 (6:53) and it felt ok but a bit tough. Run completed in 32:46 - 8:12 min/mile AHR 154

Wednesday 18th March
Swim session with club.
10x25m warm up
15x50m working on technique. Stroke count still around 26 but it is feeling much easier to do the lengths. Another tip was that I wasn't completing a full stroke so need to work on that.
Total 1km:D

Thursday 19th March
Time to step the running up with the tri only a few weeks away. 3.7 mile tempo run. 3 miles hard and 0.7 mile warm down, just happens to be a route around home. 3 miles completed in 7:15 min/mile pace although the splits were varied - 7:35, 6:59, 7:12 so need to work on pacing. I think this a little too fast as MacMillan recommends a pace of 7:35-7:40 for such a run for my recent 3k time of 12:42 but it felt ok but will keep an eye on it as don't want to get injured.

MCOS

papamike wrote: »

Another tip was that I wasn't completing a full stroke so need to work on that.
Total 1km:D
.

Its these little things combined with the work ethic that will get you your results! When I was concentrating on getting one part of a stroke right I was swimming well (for me that is!) and making loads of progress. Lately I've just been doing sets of dog work and I feel I am getting very sloppy and slower :eek:

papamike

Nothing much to report as have been sick over the last few days, bit of an infection that has been lingering for the past few months apparently :eek: Blood test for something else picked it up. Hadn't noticed anything other than a few sore throats and sniffles now and again so it was a strange one. On penicillen now for a few weeks so will probably have to take training a bit easy for a while but will see how I feel.

Friday 20th March
750m swim TT in 25:23. Just a little slower than previous week but didn't feel right from the start of the swim. 250m splits were 7:52; 8:11 and 7:55 with 42 sec rest between each.

papamike

Took the last week training off with a bit of a bad chest infection, no point risking anything with only two weeks to go to my first tri.

With only 2 weeks to go I decided that my first training session back should be a 'brick' session:eek:

This was something I had always planned on doing around now but the infection threw me out by a week.

Anyway did a nice handy 10k on the bike (21:27; AHR 149 - I blame the gale force wind on the way back for the high AHR) and followed this with a 3k run (16:27 AHR 159). Didn't feel up to any more.

So how did I find this. In a word, wobbly....I did a few duathlons a couple of years ago but forgot what the jelly legs sensations felt like. It took about 2k to get the normal feel in my legs back and the run was slower than I anticipated...maybe the infection didn't help. Anyway glad I did this now rather than on race day.Will do 2 or 3 more of these in next 2 weeks

Back to the pool tomorrow.

papamike

30th March
Headed to the pool at lunch. Bit of a nothing session. Got through 500m.

31st March
Found a nice 3.3 mile run from the office at lunch. Felt good so I turned a planned easy run into a bit of a tempo run. Got around in 26:16 (7:58min/mile pace AHR 157)

1st April
Pool session with club. Got through a good bit tonight and was happy but quite tired leaving the pool.

200m warm up
13x50m (tried to watch the time for each 50, was hitting 1:10-1:15 consistently for all 13). About 20sec rest between each.
Total 850m

2nd April
Ran the same loop at Tuesday. Legs were like lead. Got around the 3.3 miles in 30:16 (9:11 min/mile pace, felt slower, a real slog, AHR 145).

Back to the pool tomorrow for another 750 TT

papamike

Friday 3rd April
750TT in 24:58. Slight improvement on last TT but still unable to do full 750 straight.

Tuesday 7th April
Swim at lunch time. An easy session of 10x 50 in 1:15-1:20 per 50. 500m in total.

Wednesday 8th April
Swim session with club.

100m warm up
8x50m
4x100m
50m swim down (time up)
Total 950m

With my first Tri this weekend I will just do an easy 3-4 mile run tomorrow and rest on Friday. Am a bit nervous over the swim and also how I will feel getting out on the bike as I haven't practised this yet - got dizzy after a swim a few weeks ago but learned to kick my legs hard the last 25 to get the blood flowing to the legs.

The bike has been gathering dust the last few weeks so not sure how that will go and I should be ok the run.

Looking forward to it now after the last few months training:)

MCOS

Best of luck in your Tri tomorrow!

papamike

MCOS wrote: »

Best of luck in your Tri tomorrow!

Cheers MCOS, Registered earlier and just getting all the gear ready now. Half afraid I'll forget something:D

papamike

Well I completed my first triathlon on Saturday:D:D so better put a bit of a summary onto this log.

As mentioned here a few times I was quite concerned over the swim. My PB for 750m before the tri was 24:58 which I set a couple of weeks ago. Well I blew that out of the water with a sub 21 minute swim which I was very impressed with. Still a long way to go before I am competitive on the swim but at least now I have a decent benchmark to improve on.

As a result of that swim I was obviously a good bit behind the rest of my wave so ended up cycling pretty much on my own although I did pass a few of the quicker swimmers in transition and kept ahead of them on the bike which was good. Only manage to catch one cyclist about 3km from the finish.

Felt surprisingly good on the run after the expected wobbly 1st km and I think I passed about 7 or 8 on the run which was great. Managed 5min/km pace for the first 4km before slowing slightly on the last km as fatigue set in.

Major plus was not being passed on the bike or the run although I was probably about 5 minutes behind most of my wave after the swim so that mightn't be a great plus but I was happy with that. I was quick enough through T2 and legs were not as wobbly as I expected.

Main negative was the poor swim time obviously but I will work on that. I was quite slow through T1 getting the gear on but that is something easily rectified. I faded a bit through the middle section of the bike where it was a little hilly and into the wind so need more bike time.

So I did it, first Tri done and a PB:D Next Tri is TriAthy - open water swim so another challenge. Might enter a few more Sprints later in the summer for the craic.

I think that's more or less it for this log. Concentrating on the running for the remainder of the summer with my first half marathon in September. Might challenge myself to some ambitious PBs on the running front - sub 20min 5km sounds great (current PB 21:09) But I will still try for 2 swim sessions a week to keep that up.

I hope this log was of interest to some of the newbies out there as it was very beneficial for me to document the training over the last few months, especially on the swimming front.Thanks to anyone who offered advice either here or on the beginner thread on the main page, much appreciated.

cozie00

Hey i was just wondering where you did your lab testing for threshold and Vo2? I cant seem to find anywhere worthwhile. I know that the sports clinic in santry do cardiovascular testing but not sure to what extent.

Seres

papamike , i know it was a couple of weeks ago but well done on your first tri.

papamike

cozie00 wrote: »

Hey i was just wondering where you did your lab testing for threshold and Vo2? I cant seem to find anywhere worthwhile. I know that the sports clinic in santry do cardiovascular testing but not sure to what extent.

Hi Cozie00, I had mine done in the Leinster Sports Clinic in Portlaoise as I am midlands based. Found them very informative and took plenty of time explaining the results.

They conduct the VO2 test on a bike though which you need to take into account as your relevant heart rates for LT etc will be that bit lower (~10-15bpm) on the bike conpared to running. Something to do with gravity and the level of cardiac output due to the angle of your body on the bike compared to being fully upright when running. I think that's the rough non-scientific explanation.

The performance Labs in Trinity and DCU also do it as far as I know.

papamike

Seres wrote: »

papamike , i know it was a couple of weeks ago but well done on your first tri.

Thanks Seres, Glad to have the first one out of the way. TriAthy next but running for the rest of the summer.

cozie00

papamike wrote: »

Hi Cozie00, I had mine done in the Leinster Sports Clinic in Portlaoise as I am midlands based. Found them very informative and took plenty of time explaining the results.

They conduct the VO2 test on a bike though which you need to take into account as your relevant heart rates for LT etc will be that bit lower (~10-15bpm) on the bike conpared to running. Something to do with gravity and the level of cardiac output due to the angle of your body on the bike compared to being fully upright when running. I think that's the rough non-scientific explanation.

The performance Labs in Trinity and DCU also do it as far as I know.

Thanks papamike, really appreciate it. Good luck in TriAthy, ill see you there.
Ill start cheering "papamike"