Barqhead's Group - FULL (Page 10)

Is it normal to feel like I'm sitting on a baseball today, after an inaugural ride yesterday?

Checked in the bathroom mirror this morning and see no bruising - glad no one walked in on me

Just rambling on right now, trying to inject some humor into an otherwise slow and monotonous day at work here ...

It will be dark when I get home from work, so probably no biking again until the weekend ... but before then I'll try to get a trainer ... if not then I'll ride that be-damned stationary bike at the YMCA ... I think my main workout tonight will be a swim... maybe some weights first, swim, then stationary bike....

I had the exact same question as well ....

Chris, when you touch and go, do you kick-off or push from the wall at all ... or just tag it, rotate your body around and start pulling with your arms again?  I tend to tag the way, rotate, but then still push off with my legs ... and I'm worndering by doing this if I'm not really training to "swim" the full distance...

Since my last few swim sessions I've been doing interval training, I push off.  I do it then because I'm not working on my overall distance, I'm working on anaerobic endurance.  When I am swimming for distance or time, I am working aerobically and do not.  (Anaerobically= High HR, Aerobically=Low HR).

I don't want to have any excuse when I do an OWS since there are no walls.  I guess the best way to put it is - I try not to push to gain an advantage, if that makes sense.  Occasionally I will push myself up to the top of the water, but rarely do I push out.  

I don't know if that is right or wrong.  It is just what I do.  I guess we can find out from Pam.  

Now the question is..........  to push or not push since I am going to swim!!!!!!!!

Pam,

Your answer to Chris's pushing off the wall in a pool swim was really helpful ... I'm glad he brought it up ... thanks!

And about the biking ... I know you said "bottom" and maybe that is just your polite way of saying it ... but specifically it was not my glutes at all - they actually felt great, not like they did when using the stationary bike.

The area I'm sore at is the area in between where I go "do number 2 at the potty" and where I go "do number 1 at the potty."

I started a thread on the TT forum titled "Where am I supposed to sit on the Saddle?" and got some responses ... and I followed their advice, went on my ride yesterday ... and now it feels like I have a baseball caught in the bottom of my briefs and I'm sitting on it.

You mentioned that I should get some new biking shorts ... uh ... what if I haven't been using bike shorts?   I was thinking about asking about this but never did.  I've always just used my tri shorts to bike in ...

...is it okay to ride and train in bike shorts and then switch to tri shorts the day of the race?  I was worried that if I got accustomed to bike shorts and then switched to my tri shorts the day of the race that the difference in padding would be so noticable that I would have a hard time finishing the bike segment.

Got my swim in tonight, but missed getting on the Stationary Bike ... ran out of time cause I miscounted my laps  ... and since I was working on kicking my legs during my main swim and I ended up swimming 1200 yds. vs. 600 yds ... my calves were cramped up as well.

I usually end up posting late because I don't get home from the YMCA until some time between 10:15pm and 10:30pm ... then I usually have to eat something for dinner (trying to work on not eating so late ...) ... and then I get a chance to post my workout.

Thanks for the info on the saddle Pam!!

I'll keep biking a few more times to see if the saddle gets more comfortable.  If not, I'm liking some of the reviews I hear about the Adamo saddle.

I think I will get some bike shorts just so I can go ahead and get in some miles early on ... and then gradually start using them less and less.

One other bike question - What part of your arm exactly should rest on the pads of the aerobar?  The elbows, just above the elbows, the middle or end of the forearms?

And does it matter one way or the other as to how close the pads are - meaning I have mine pretty far apart thinking it would be more comfortable for wider shoulders ... but should I try to keep them close together and squeeze my arms in close together?

I really should try to get the bike up on a trainer to get some pics taken ... I'll try to work on getting some pics of me in various riding positions.

barqhead - 2009-01-13 9:13 AM My forearms, just below the elbow, rest on the pads (see my avatar ) I think you are wise in starting with a wider position on the bars. Before I got my tri bike, I had clip-ons on my roadie. Because of the handlebars set up, I had to position my clip ons quite wide. I had no issues with steering or stability on these. So imagine my shock when I scared the crap out of myself trying to stabilize the narrow bar position on my tri bike. I couldn't hold a straight line. Shucks, I could barely hold it steady enough to stay on the correct side of the road! Your bike is far more stable with wider bars, but you are less aerodynamic. As your handling skills and confidence increases, then you can look at positioning your aerobars in a more narrow, aggressive stance.

Ah, just the info I was looking for.  So, I already feel a little shakey with the handling when in aero so I should leave it for now.

I had told the LBS when setting me up that I would like to be more in the non-aggressive side of things and as I get used to riding aero and the tri bike that I would get it adjusted more aggressively as I progressed ... this may also be why he left the seat post normal and not turned around and not have moved the seat way forward ....

I probably am setup closer to a road bike than a tri bike ... or at least closer to road than what most folks get their tri bikes setup at.

He measure my knee angle at both the 9 o'clock and top dead bottom positions ... measuredf my back angle while I was in aero and said it was a 30 degree angle ... don't know if that is good or bad.

When I rode Sunday I rode at least 75-80 percent of the time in aero ... I only came upright going up some hills, around sharp turns, once when I thought I was going too fast and might lose control, and then once or twice to rest a little and I lefted myself up off the seat a little ... but I stayed in aero most of the time ...

I thought my triceps were getting a little tired and remember reading someone else's thread about that and it was because his seat wasn't far enough forward and his arms was not at a 90 degree angle ... I started thinking about while I was riding and this is when I started experimenting with what part of my arm/elbom to place on the pads ... as to what was the correct way ... but my triceps didn't get too awful tired ...

...other than my bottom side .. the thing that is/was the most stiff and sore the next day was my neck ... from being down in aero but then looking up so I could see ahead of me ...

... hope to get home soon so I can at least ride for a few minutes... and can't wait to get my trainer and/or for the daylight hours to get longer. ..

..

I've have already posted this in another thread I have going on the main TT forum ...

... but thought I would get your ideas as well ... I'm thinking maybe I'm sitting on the wrong part of my body ... and that maybe the seat needs to move forward because I'm having to stretch forward too much ??? and maybe this is making most of my weight be supported by this area of my body ... vs. the area under the Sits Bones??

(Bike_Seat_Pain.JPG)

Oh, okay ... maybe I am sitting on the correct area ... to be more clear ... I'm NOT sitting on the area under the Sits Bones (which is where just about every article about biking I can find says to sit ... but then that is normal biking and I'm supposing tri biking and aero position might require to sit on a different part of the anatomy ...

... so in otherwwords ... I'm sitting down on the piece of flash that is forward of the rectum ... not on top of or behind the rectum ....

... so maybe I just need to get used to it .... guys??

Thanks for the info!!

During my research of the Sits Bone and how to sit on a saddle, I also came across good reviews of the Adamo and the Specialized saddle.  I might try to find a Specialized dealer nearby because I think most of them acutally use that pad you sit on, and from the depressions made into from your Sits bones, they measure it and get you the exact width seat that you need.

I definitely see how the cutout wold help a lot ...

... I guess my total lack of knowledge on how to sit on a bike saddle, especially a tri bike saddle, really had me confused.

So, let me see if I have this right ... on a normal bike ... you should try to sit down directly over the Sits Bones and area ...

... on a tri bike or if you are leaning down into an aero position ... I guess you still try to sit in that Sits Bone area some .... but because you are leaning forward then much of your is now being supported by the area that is forward of this ... and I guess for us guys we have to be careful to move the junk out of the way or something ...  is that correct?

You have it exactly right.  The two advantages they pointed out to me were:

1.  Cut out in the seat to relieve pressure

2.  More gel towards the front tip of the saddle for comfort.  I can tell my current Selle San Marco does not have near the cushion of one of these saddle considering it is a road saddle.

Here is a link to the Adamo at a good price:

 http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=817

After remembering your post in the TT forum, I have never heard anybody once say anything about the two side pushing together.  Only positives from that one.  Look at the polls too.  I think it came in second to a $200 saddle.

Forgot to add, that if your LBS is a Specialized Dealer, they do use the pad and fit you.  That was how I was introduced to a Specialized.

"I've have already posted this in another thread I have going on the main TT forum ...

... but thought I would get your ideas as well ... I'm thinking maybe I'm sitting on the wrong part of my body ... and that maybe the seat needs to move forward because I'm having to stretch forward too much ??? and maybe this is making most of my weight be supported by this area of my body ... vs. the area under the Sits Bones??"

Kevin, according to what I have been told you should have your rear all the way back on the seat so that your cheeks are on the widest part of the seat.  This will take some of the pressure off the area of the prostate.  If you seat isn't adjusted correctly or the "nose" of the seat is too high and putting pressure in the area of the "taint" as you called it, you could cause damage to the nerves.  This could lead to sexual dysfunction.  I would have my fit double checked and explain the problem to your fitter to see if he can fix the seat position or angle...

I'm still trying to get used to being back in school.  I have class every day of the week and then either a 1 or 2 hour break before I have to be at work.  It has been a struggle to find a good way to fit in workouts.  I think I'm going to have to resort to the HTFU and get out of bed earlier method.  Which means I really need to work on getting to bed right when I get home from work.

I did finally sit down and work out a running plan to take me thru to the half-mary and oly in May.  I've spent hours and hours trying to soak up as much info about run training as I can.  I'm still trying to decide if I should consider myself a beginner and focus only on endurance or if it's okay to start adding in some basic stamina workouts like tempo runs and the like.

Thanks for the info Chris and Todd.

I'll be going back to the LBS this Saturday to have them double-check the seat setup.  I've been reading other posts as well that say they sit on the widest part of the saddle, even when down in aero position ... and that while the perineum (I learned that word today - the area I've been trying to describe) ... that although the perineum area may come in contact with the saddle and take a small portion of your bodyweight ... that still the majority of your weight should still be over the Sits bones ... so obviously mine is not set correctly ...

... cause it's just the opposite for me ... my Sits bones and glutes just barely touch the saddle when I'm in aero and nearly all of my bodyweight is being supported by my perineum area..