Sunday, October 11, 2009

I want to hear from you

As I head into the off season, my last race of the season complete and in the books, I have been thinking about what I'm going to do over the next few months. Having specific race goals for the next season, I strongly believe, is the biggest factor in how we triathletes plan our winters.

With this in mind, I'm considering an early season half-iron distance race, but definitely either doing the Cedar Point Rev3 half or even pushing for the full at the end of next season. So, for me, I have to start getting much faster in the pool.

Now, I completely understand that tris aren't won or lost in the pool, but when you're such a slow swimmer you can barely make that cut-off time, being stronger on the bike and run becomes moot.

Here's a stat to back me up: In my last tri, a 1,000 yard swim, my pace was 2:48/100 yards. If I could knock 30 seconds off of that I would be happy. If I could knock off one minute, I'd do cartwheels in my front yard.

So, as I think about my own winter plans, I was curious to see what everyone else is doing. At the top, right part of this blog, you'll find a poll. Please take a second to vote, then drop me a line to let me know what you think. If you clicked "Other", let us know what that is.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, Lora. I think I'm going to focus on my biking since that is where I think I can make the biggest improvement. I will still be swimming and running lots thought (as soon as I can run again!). So exciting to see you considering a full next year!!

Ski Dad said...

Hi there, next year I am changing focus, Up until now I was focused on distance and endurance as oppossed to speed. Now that I did IM Lake Placid, next year I am switching gears and doing sprint distance only. Which means training for more speed than endurance. More strength training. To that end I am training to PR on my 10k running time in a race in December.

Anonymous said...

A full!!! This winter I am definitely going to be working on biking. I know I need to get faster on it. I'll still be swimming and trying to make improvements in the water as well. As for running I am going to back off a bit (but will maintain a few runs a week with a long run tossed in)and focus on the other two events.

ciro foster said...

Hi there, have you ever wonder about marathon or other running events in this months?
I'm going to convince myself to make the Florence marathon and then go on with 70.3 during spring.
Whath's matter about my poor swim?

tri_al said...

off season is perfect time to focus on those weaknesses; and a great plan if it's swimming which needs work (assuming you have a local indoor pool!) i've just set my winter goals (including two races on my weakness next month!)

teacherwoman said...

off season... perfect time for me to start focusing on strengthening my body, especially my knees, and slowly get back into running. There are a lot of events I want to do next spring/summer!

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

You know, for us Mountaineers (or Thundering Herd as the case may be), using words like "moot" is really pushing the vocabulary list(at least to non West Virginians).

Seriously, if your goal is Iron racing, here is my soon to be two time finisher advise. You are correct, you need to make the swim finish. Practice to the level that will get you to T1 in 2 hours. This gives you some cushion just in case.

Next, it is all about the bike. Reasoning: Your out of the water on the swim at 9am. You have until 5:30 to finish the bike. That's roughly 14 mph (if you throw in some transition time). With solid practice, you should be able to become a 17 mph (or better) biker. At 17mph you finish around 4pm leaving yourself 8 hours to do the marathon. That's a walk, (even to people with really short legs). Also, if you are a great biker, you don't push the bike, leaving reasonable legs for the run/walk.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Sara Cox Landolt said...

Hey there. I'm trying to avoid gaining winter weight while hopefully shedding fat. I'm also trying to build strength/power in my hips/legs/butt. I'm also going to do my first indoor tri.

Corky said...

Hi Lora
I am also trying to get my swim times down some . I ran across a few really cool things that are helping me do this . First , there is a web site www.swimsmooth.com that gives you " Mr Smooth " it's really cool .
And second , I am trying to learn that idea of swimming with your hips .
You flip your hips to start your rotation . LOL, its sort of like skating down the pool .
Let me know how this works for you .

Jennifer said...

I put "other" in the poll. I am doing my first marathon in February 2010 so I am concentrating on my running and doing my swim and biking as cross training to keep me well rounded. I am still trying to decide if I actually like tri racing. I love the training, but the jury is still out on the competition part. The irony of it is that I probably need to do some more races before I can really decide!

Trishie said...

Ha, love the IMCOZ choice :)

have you ever had a swim coach? A couple sessions with a good coach - to work on form - will make a big difference in your swimming. (oh, and my plan for the off season is to get knocked up :))

Beth said...

I would work on swim form and general strength training. Being stronger will make you a faster swimmer and less prone to injury in all of the diciplines. Good luck with your off season planning.

Unknown said...

Hey Lora! I voted "other" as well since I'm going to back off in terms of length of workouts, but try to increase my speed. Since I'm not doing an Ironman next year, I'd like to drop 10 minutes or so in my olympic distance.

Just some advice from an IM finisher... do a half before you sign up for a full. There is a BIG difference between an Olympic, a HIM and an IM. The training alone can do a lot of people in. You can definitely do it, but test the waters with a full and see how you feel after that. :)

Best of luck! Enjoy the off season!

Unknown said...

Opps I meant to put "test the waters with a half and see how you feel after that". :)

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I am working on my weakest leg the run, adding strength training, while maintaining the bike and swim. And sprinkling a whole lot of fun other exercises to keep me from getting burned out.

Velma said...

I am doing strength training and biking as these are my weaknesses. Have fun and relax a bit are also in the plans :) Good luck with the pool!

ShirleyPerly said...

Without a doubt, I will be focusing on my swimming during my off season. One of the things I've found when training for long races (halfs and full irons) is that there is not much time to work on technique. And with swimming, everyone who's good at it tells me technique is the key to getting faster (not really more volume, strength or endurance as is often the case for getting faster running or cycling).

Good luck with your off season plans!

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

HI Lora - good luck with your swimming! Study other peoples technique and try to mimmick it...
I put other too - I was going to do IM COZ, and although I've paid my registration and my room/board with EST, I had to back out - no money for the airfare and bike transport.
Sad, but it just is what it is. Maybe next year I'll get back to IM.
What I'm doing this off season (which starts after my last 50 miler in a couple weeks) is x/c skiing.
BTW, my ancestors are from WV... did I read you are West Virginian?

Barbara Bueno said...

Florence Marathon?
There is an interesting article from a blogger here: http://bit.ly/3ZEtwJ

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