Women's Locker Room

And many cyclists/triathletes would not last through 10 minutes of your swimming workouts. People adapt to their training. I don't cycle as much anymore (I'll try to start up again a little in the summer) but even in my cycling heyday, 5-6 hour rides were few and far between for me but 3-4 hour rides were not. I didn't consider them inherently more difficult than swim practices; you just have to make more allowances for hydration and fueling. The intensity is more important than the volume: I've had 1-hour rides and workouts that were absolutely exhausting. For me, the biggest drawback is the danger. I can't tell you how many triathletes I know who have had major accidents (concussions, broken limbs, etc.) during their rides. Last year, two blocks from my house, I was almost hit by an old lady in a gold Cadillac who was backing up out of her driveway at full speed. Since then, my racing bike sits in my garage and I stick to my stationary bike. Swimming is so much safer especially for those of us that are somewhat clumsy on land.

Hmmmm.... I'm gonna enjoy chicking Hulk in our zones gridge! If ya do, ya do. That just means you're a better swimmer. But then we arm wrestle. :-) Paul

we have 2 pugs sniggy and tater How cool! I'm a big pug-lover! Ours is Frappie (short for Frappuccino). He is also known as Mr. Pickles. He's the laziest family member BY FAR. His dog food is designer, organic and we joke that it's more expensive than my husband's lunches!

So true. For triathletes, a "rest day" is a swim-only day. Oh, and for them a 5-6 hour bike ride is not all that big a deal either (at least, no more than the kinds of workouts YOU do in the water). PLEASE don't tell me that my 2 hour workout yesterday is like a 6 hour bike ride! I think so NOT! I can't last more than 45 minutes on a bike! Today was stroke and turn day w/ the head coach (he just got back from the Toyota Grand Prix meet)! It was AWESOME!! We went through SDK off the walls and free flip turns w/ SDK step by step. I got tips I had NEVER heard of! I can actually make it out 10 meters now by just following his tips (an improvement from barely making it to the flags!). It's tiring granted - but I can at least get out far now!! Who knew!? Here I am off the wall now :bolt: Then after 10 minutes the ride would turn into a total hammerfest. (And they love to try to humiliate swimmers, too, for making them look like such tools in the water.) Totally. They hate swimmers!! I guess I know why now. They've even told me to my face. Some of them are rather nasty (not all mind you!) Oh well.

HA HA! This was ME about 4 years ago. I did a few Ironman races between 2001-2004 and the training was insane. Easily 20+ hours a week during the height of the season. I would say I probably averaged over 15 hours a week between the swim/bike/run/weights throughout the entire season. And really only swam about 9000 yards per week during those years. Being this far away from those years, I just don't know how I ever did it and don't have any desire to do it again. I love swimming and am exhausted from the swim training that I do now. Having said that, I am JUST as excited about Nationals as I was going into those IM races. Instead of 12 hours of racing during one day, you get 4 days and 6 events and each is it's own unique opportunity. If I completely suck at the 1650, then Friday will be a new day with new races! Very, very impressive Julie! I so agree with you on the training issues and on how great swim meets are in comparison to the tri races. (I never felt like puking or passing out after a swim race!) I tried some sprint tris and it was awful. Waay to hard. I love swimming as it really does seem ez and so much more FUN in comparison!

Isobel, My husband and I don't have kids. I think that automatically gives me somewhere around an extra 22 hours a day. :laugh2: Okay, I posted on the wrong thread. Hopefully, you will see this here.

ok puggy lovers..i have a 15 1/2 yr old pug (pugsley) . :oldman:he is demanding. always been a picky eater. 15.5 yrs? Isn't that like 108.5 years old? I HOPE my little guy will be around that long!! Mine is really demanding too!! He sleeps with us and is allowed on all the couches. Anywhere really. He barks at us to remind him when to feed him. He barks when he wants a specific toy. We feed him the fancy dog food (Halo Pet's Spots Stew) and it's supposed to be range chicken or lamb and fit for human consumption. When my mother takes care of him when hubby and I are out of town he gets his own soft boiled egg and pieces of fillet mignon. He also gets his teeth professionally cleaned at the vet. I am officially a dog owner FREAK!

Can you share those tips please for those of us that are mostly uncoached? Oh, saw this about neti pots today: www.washingtonpost.com/.../AR2008040403232.html (S)he, kids are a huge time drain. I'm looking at my calendar this week and freaking out with all the appointments, sports etc. I have a local zones meet at my home pool. Should me easy, no? Not. 3 day kids prelim/final swim meet, 2 track meets, one in another state, soccer game, birthday party ... Got an email from our coach advising us to "stay off our feet." Mr. Fort is gone until late Friday night. And my swim practice car pool is caput for this week. Plus, teenagers are mostly unpleasant and so self-centered it's ridiculous! The girls are drama queens and the boys can be surly know-it-alls. lol. No need to convince me not to have kids! Without getting too verbose, does this help? Focus Points on free flip turns w/ SDK and breakout 1. On last pull to wall: Drive downward w/ arm and hand and head; use head and abs to flip quickly (I NEVER knew to drive DOWN on last pull into the wall) 2. Flip STRAIGHT over (not at an angle as you lose velocity); I tend to flip sideways or at an angle 3. Streamline w/ arms AT and squeezing ears (not behind); I had arms way behind my ears as I thought this was better but it's not as it made for a sloppy streamline w/ an arched back 4. Take your time and push off ONLY - DO NOT start dolphin kick right away!!! Wait a brief moment! Then begin dolphin kicks. Who knew? I rushed this and always tried to dolphin as quickly as possible. 5. Take several dolphin kicks on your side, then rotate to stomach and continue dolphin kicks; Dolphin kick starts from mid-chest and goes downward to your toes. DO NOT try and move your head, neck and shoulders when dolphining. (I tried to do that.) 6. After dolphining on stomach, ascend and breakout with your flutter kick. TAKE YOUR TIME and breakout w/ flutter kick first, THEN start in with the arms; Think about ascending to the surface like a SUBMARINE. (I tried to flutter kick and move my arms at the same time. That is wrong). 7. Head looks directly down at pool bottom when on stomach. Do not attempt to move your head around and out of the streamline position or pull it up! Think neutral position. Get out to the 10 meter mark. Do a set of 8x50 @ 1:00 starting from the middle of the pool (to get in 2 flip turns per 50). Swim slow but execute perfect turns. I hope I explained this correctly. Take your time to work on each element. Don't rush it in order to have a :bolt: (speedy) turn. Sort of counterintuitive. . .

Thanks Julie. I actually work at the hospital next door to that pool. The pool is great and FAST but it can get cold. Brad Kale is an awesome coach. Unfortunately that team practices from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 a.m. which is WAY too late for me. I swim at 5 a.m. in Brentwood with the rival program and on my own. Because of my insane work schedule, I am drawing up the plans for a two lane, 25 yard pool in my back yard with an adjacent post-workout hot tub so if you come back to Nashville in a year or so you can come swim at my house! Heather, I too hope you feel better. I need some good 40s stories!! If you are having bad experiences in your 40s, I hate to see what I'm going to encounter. :toohurt: 5 AM is impressive. I am hurting from 5:30 AM practices this week (I'm used to the very late hour of 5:45 AM.) No wonder you are thinking about building a pool - how awesome is that to be able to do it!! If you add in one more lane, you could just about hold a swim meet there!! We joke in my family that we could actually put in an olympic size pool in our backyard as we have plenty of space. I always decline as I could see myself growing old just picking leaves out of that thing every day! ICK! Send us pics when it's done! Pugs rule!

Thank you! By some miracle, I think this is largely what I am doing. Except sometimes I do go a bit sideways on the free turns too. Trying to eradicate that completely. Glad it helped (and how great that you were already doing that!) It sounds obvious after writing it. But it was helpful for me to go through the whole process step by step with a coach. Turns out I was doing LOTS of things incorrectly. Makes sense based on my pitiful race turns!