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David Nesom's Micro Thread

dnesomdnesom
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Hey Coach, I am in my first week post trial and starting in week 4 of the Beginner SC plan. I'm new to triathlon and am getting re-acquainted to swimming after sever decades. Thus, I'm working with a one-on-one coach on improving my swimming technique and hopefully endurance will follow (currently I manage about 100 meters and need to rest and recover before I can go on--if I had gills this might be as easy running). 

My question: Are there any issues with me just adding on top of the existing plan 3 more hours of swimming drills? Right now the plan has me swimming on Monday and Friday and I will add Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in while keeping everything else the same. 

Thanks,

Dave

Comments

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Dave - good called the some coaches that will help you really speed up your progression. That said, something five days a week is a Fastrack to really starting to hate swimming. And chlorine. And lifeguards. And kickboards.

    Given where your swim fitness is that right now, I think the drill sessions trump actual workout sessions. If you need me to help you adjust your week based on that teaching schedule please let me know. Great to have you here!
  • dnesomdnesom

    Okay. Point taken. hating swimming might hinder my progress. I'm only working with the one to one coach 2 days a week (monday and Wednesday) for a half hour. I've been working on improving my swim now for about 4 weeks on my own with some, but not much, success. I'm getting a bit a anxious that I'm going to putter out on a lousy 600 meters  (in reality, I'll breast stroke or dog paddle if I have to.) 

    How 'bout I add one additional day of swimming instead of three then and you tell me how I should work that in and whether I should drop something else? I'll have faith that my technique will improve sufficiently in the next 6 weeks so that I'll finish without embarrassing myself. 

    Best,

    Dave

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Dave, Thanks for understanding. I think a Monday / Wednesday / Friday plan is great. You should have a "test" set of 6 x 100 on 20 seconds rest after each one. We want you to be able to swim the same speed for all of them. It will be a good weekly (Friday?) benchmark. If you want another day, then you can pick Tues or Thurs that works for you....
  • dnesomdnesom
    Solid! I'll do it. This week I'll do mon, thurs, Fri (I couldn't get a lane this morning). Next week I'll plan Mon, wed, fri.

    Thanks.
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Great! Keep me posted!
  • dnesomdnesom

    Hey Coach, I'm in week 19 of my HIM plan getting ready for Eagleman on the 14th of June. After discussion of my race plan (HERE) it looks like a good idea to change my fueling strategy on the run--decrease gels and increase water intake by about 8 oz per mile according to Al's suggestion. This weeks long run calls for 60 minutes. Is it okay to make this a two hour run instead (12ish miles) to test this out? Other suggestions???

    Thanks,

    Dave

  • dnesomdnesom

    Coach?, Any advice on this?

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Dave, sorry I missed this.

    NO IT IS NOT OKAY TO RUN TWO HOURS THIS WEEK. That would be a disaster.

    It's a lot to adjust to, but you can:

    1) Make sure your bike hydration is awesome so you pee at least 1x on the bike. You have to exit bike without having lost fluid weight...that sets you up for the run.

    2) Wear arm coolers on bike / run that you get wet each aid station. Wear a hat to get wet / put ice in each aid station (or the ziploc bag to carry ice with you).

    3) Run a steady HR on the run....any variablity will cost you.

    All of ^that^ is nothing new in terms of ingestion, which is good...it just takes planning (and perhaps some shopping).

    I don't know if you'll be able to drink THAT MUCH on race day. Literally you are talking about drinking three full cups of fluid every mile - sound like fraternity hazing, not a race. I'd like to believe you maybe had chips / salsa / beer the night before the test and were just retaining water???? My guess is at some point, because you haven't practiced for weeks, that your body will push back. If so, you'll just have to follow 1-3 as best you can.

    But, NO LONG RUN like that. If you do it, won't matter what you drink, you'll be exhausted.
  • dnesomdnesom
    Got it. I'll stick to the plan. BTW, I did another sweat trial yesterday just cause the numbers seemed so unreal. Came up about the same with a loss of 4.8 lbs over an hour. Nonetheless, gonna go with what I've been doing already as you suggest and add the ice and arm coolers, etc... I've no doubt I'll finish fine--will reset my expectations on goal timing for the run.

    Since this is my first HIM just finishing guarantees a PR. image

    Thanks!
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    DN, you are _so far ahead_ of Non-EN You that it's all good... image We can continue to work on it...every race you'll get better!
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