Big Steve's Group - CLOSED (Page 10)

Here's my layers, tights with fleece over for legs, soft t-shirt for wicking, underarmour turtle neck, wind breaking layer(pack jacket), underarmour heavy quilted top overtop and heavy jacket overtop.  I also wear a hood (see below) and heavy gloves.  Fingers and toes get very cold in this weather.  
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens/accessories/headwear/pid1201373-Men-s-Fire-Retardant-Hood/1201373-001
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens/apparel/tops/mocks/pid1210354-Men-s-UA-Evo-ColdGear-174-Fitted-Mock/1210354-001
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens/apparel/tops/longsleeve/pid1214742-Men-s-UA-Waffle-Baltiflage-Logo-Crew/1214742-001
http://www.bicyclebuys.com/clothing/Tights/0700077PART/goog

http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens/apparel/bottoms/pants/pid1000431-Men-s-Armour-174-Fleece-Performance-Pant/1000431-025

Great question.  I am a total Gore Bike Wear . Jacket: http://www.gorebikewear.com/remote/Satellite/PROD_JWCOSM?landingid=1208436857421A 
Pants:http://www.gorebikewear.com/remote/Satellite/PROD_WCONTE?landingid=1208436873514R

For socks there is only one choice in my mind: Merino Wool from the Sock Guy - http://www.sockguy.com/products.html/>
Hat: http://www.gorebikewear.com/remote/Satellite/PROD_HPOWEC?landingid=... />
And for my hands I have not found a good pair of gloves.

Under my jacket I wear a long sleeve jersey and that is it; and on my feet I have the shimano gore-tex winter shoes.  I find if my feet are dry and warm this goes along way.

This is the kit that I wear down to about 15 degrees; and at that point I need to ensure that my heart rate is up high enough to stay warm?


 

Just went for a ride the other day that was 19 degrees and I wore some workout pants with a layer underneath (ski type under layer) and a long sleeve ski type under layer top with a long sleeved jersey. I rode with a newspaper between the under layer and the jersey to prevent the wind from coming through. Gloves were just a normal, full finger pearl izumi glove and I also wore a stretch hat and shoe covers. Be careful of the ice, I had to ride somewhat slow on the downhills to avoid it. The only thing that was really cold on me were my feet, next time I may try some thicker socks. After the ride, I was covered in frost as it has been very foggy and humid here lately.

Good luck!

You can get somewhat of an idea of what I wore from my photo on the left as this was taken that day.

So I am still freaked out by the swim but with practice comes distance.  So here is my question.  But some stats first.

Day 1 - Monday: 30 Mins - 605 yards.  No idea what I was doing one lap at a time and rest.
Day 2 - Tuesday: 30 Mins - 710 yards. One lap at a time and rest.
Day 3 - Weds: 45* Mins (screwed up the lap times on my watch and had to go by general elapsed time - 928 Yards.  Today I would do a lap, touch the wall and come back to the second lap and then rest.

So today was the first time that I was organized; I did 34 laps and I was focusing (one focal point per lap) but it was either breathing 75%, head position 15%; slowing down 5% and arm entry 5%.

My question is this should I be trying to build my total distance each day; or is better to swim a set distance and increase the number of consecutive laps?  And if I have to take a break between laps what seems right 30 seconds?

To give context my first few races are sprints and I have an OLY mid season and maybe...maybe....maybe a HI at the end of the season.

NB>  I have also ordered a FINIS swimsense watch to gather some swim data as the last thing I need to think about right now is the lap number; many would say who cares about the number but I am fixated on the distance and beating the cutoff.

 
 

Great job, you're making good progress!  I would work on building total distance and endurance.  Looks like you've already got the sprint distance covered.  30 seconds is fine for your rest, work on trying to cut it down to 20 seconds next week, then 15 the following, etc....   Once you get to 60 laps I would work on getting a little faster (less breaks) and finishing 60 in under an hour.  Then you'll be all set for the Oly. The jump from Oly to HIM distance will be much easier than from where you are now to Sprint & Oly. Keep it up!

From sprint to HIM in your first season, very aggressive, I love it!! 

-Steven 

PS: I'm leaving for Mexico tomorrow (vacation in Cancun). Not sure if I'm taking my computer so  I may not be checking in. Will be back on Tuesday.  Have a great weekend everyone. 

So I am starting to sound like a 14 y.o. emotional teenager.  But heck that is what the internet is for right?  Well the day started off with a trip back to the surgeon that did my un"routine" routine precedure last week and low and behold the last clot is fine but they think they found a new one!  They have not stopped all training but have stated that I should be extra in tune with my body.  I told the Dr. that in my pain cave being in tune is the only pleasure that is allowed and he laughed.

Then I was off to the pool with my tape measure; as the idiots on staff told me it was 25 meters and I thought it looked short.  Well I was right and they were wrong; yep you guess it 75' on the nose; and 25 yards it is; back to training peaks to re-arrange my workouts.  Oh well.  The swim actually was really good; I was focused on going slow (slow is fast right) and breathing.  I swam 2 laps and re-grouped from anywhere from 15-30 seconds and I did 40 laps.  I was OK with that as they felt good; a good session of imprinting I guess.

And now to the good news!  I have been on the fence about my road bike order.  For the past few weeks I had a Cannodale SuperSix Sram RED on order.  My wife told me that I can only buy one bike in 2011 so I best make the best of it.  But I was not at easy with the decision.  The bike would not be here until late April making my first race on my Cannondale SuperX (which is not a bad thing as I have a ton of road miles on it anyway) but I felt like I was buying the last VCR.  What I mean by that is how did the guy/gal that bought the last VCR feel when the next day the DVD came out?  Well this is how I have been feeling about Sram Red vs. Di2.  My gear philosophy has always been by the best that you can afford and you will not need to make multiple purchases.  So I swung by Halter's today to chat with Jay, and I had asked Ben to leave his Di2 bike at the shop.  I took it for a quick ride and I was hooked.  I was not going to be the guy with the last VCR.  And to make matters better; when Jay called to change the order I was told the first week in March!!!  Now the only issue is that it is only available in the lame matte black.  But oh well.

I have 2 hours in the pain cave schedule for this evening.  I just needed to vent a tad; so I appreciate you all listening to me whine!   

Well I for one enjoy the fact that you share your, uh, well uh your whines   It makes me feel like I might have a chance at this whole thing.  I'm far more than just a whiner right now, I'm questioning my very abilities, but believe it or not your inspirational and I'm glad for your post.  Anyway, what's your "pain cave", I think I missed something,  and I know you discovered your clot while riding but are they as a result from riding?

I totally get the questioning your abilities thing; the first couple of time in the pool I could not sleep at night as I was freaked out that I could not master the swim and get to the distance.  The run and the bike came easy to me through a lot of suffering and sticking with it; but the swim was a new world of self doubt.  On the bike and run you can be slow; on rides you can get dropped.  But nothing like the panic in the pool of exhaustion and open water.  In the end; I needed to re-focus my training.  And realize that it was going to suck for a while; once i starte to slow down in the pool an focus on a perfect stroke, breathing and swimming quietly it has started to get easier.  Mike Phelps I am not and I am only swimming 50 yds continuously but it is getting easier.  So stick with it!  My TI instructor said you do not train at swimming.  You practice swimming, like you would practice any other precision skill.  That totally clicked in my head and is now my swimming mantra.  You see plenty of people at the pool that power through swims; and I think to myself if the only had a better stroke and used the same energy the would be so much faster!!

The pain cave is a concept that a friend of mine; and the inspiration to do my first tri came from.  This is her blog http://www.tribirdie.com/. The idea behind the pain cave this is the dark, lonely place that we go to suffer while we train.  It is very lonely and full of self doubt but in the end it makes all stronger.  I have indoor cycling training twice a week and tonight is the night.  It is 2 hours of hell on the compu-trainer.  It is where I learned the difference between riding and training.  At the end of each set I am hoping that my legs, lungs and heart do not explode.  Here is the data from the last session. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/66267766

Regarding the clots.  The good news is they are not the type that can travel to your brain, lungs, or any other part of your body that will kill you!  But the surgeons are not sure why I am getting them out of the blue; and they feel that my training is a good thing.  So for the time being I am still green lighted to train.  They said today that they do not think that it is cause and effect with riding.  I am so thankful that they are not the horridly serious type! 

Great mantra, I too have slowed it down and am finding that that's where the speed lies.  I'm focusing more on getting all the components to a "perfect" stroke right rather then speed, and found that I can make it 100 yds now but still need about 50-60 seconds for recovery, now I'll work on dropping the recovery seconds.

That's exactly what I pictured as a pain cave, I pictured me on my indoor trainer in the basement spare bedroom.  I've haven't made it more than a 63 minute session although tomorrow's calling for 94 minutes.  I have to pick me up one of those Garmin's one day.  I love your friend's photo gallery it gives me a better sense of the race, and being a woman, it's neat to see it from a girl's perspective.

I sure hope they find the cause or at least that you "out grow" them

Keep up the good work....outs!!!!!

Edited by Muskwa2 2011-02-03 5:14 PM

Those are some good links!

The fire in the pain cave is a good idea; all that I see are the glowing eyes of the other animals just out pain cave looking to rig you to shred you to bits! 

Thanks for the links, I too look online these days for videos; I find if I watch a video just before a swim session, that session is great but if I don't have the time, for some reason, not so good   I'm progressing too and hopefully once I have another moment to read the article you linked I'll do that much better again.  Hey! ya should upload your own video for us too.

So I was back in the pool today for 1150 yards in 40:31.  I started the day with 50 yard repeats; and then worked in a few 100 repeats.  This felt really good so I started doing back to back 100s with 10 or 15 seconds in between.  Enough time to get the water out of my googles and hit the lap button on the watch.

So I have learned a few things this week.

Swimming effortlessly (I am not there yet but making progress) is all about two things.  

SLOWLY Down (being smooth) - So for me being smooth is about three focal points.  Head position.  Watching the bottom of the pool.  Making sure that I do not collapse my lead arm.  I actually accentuate the glide for a slip second with both arms out and then recover the arm.  And lastly; my arm entry and lip wrists.



Breathing.  Once I started to get into the groove on the breathing (and actually exhaling under water out of my mouth not my nose) things got so much easier.
2.   

I am feeling much better about the swim; and dare I say I am starting to enjoy it.  I hopped out of the pool and jumped on the will for a quick 5k and did it in just about 29 mins.  Slow overall but not a bad brick.

I have to say this was a good week.  One more session on the trainer tomorrow and then it is off to Salt Lake City for a week of meetings.  Let's hope the hotel has a nice gym and pool. 

If you want to do some training or skiing in Salt Lake, give me a call. 801-706-6409

Rob, got your note!  Sounds good; I dropped you my digits as well I am staying at the Grand America down town I think (this is my first time not just passing through SLC)  Would be great to catch up!

After getting the approval to get back on the bike it was time to get back after it!  This was my first week in the pool so nothing that great for me:

Swim:  3:39:33 - 5197 Yards
Bike: 6:17:52 - 128.7 Miles
Run: LOL 1:27:08 - 9.57 Miles

This freaking snow and Ice are killing me.  I need to get outside ! ! ! !   In addition, I toasted the front differential in my Silver Jeep.  My wifes sports car has been garage bound, so we are down to a single jeep for two of us.  I just haven't had a chance to get time at the health club this week.  

 Having the new bike and trainer have at least given me a venue to lock myself in the basement and grind away.  Most of my cycling shorts etc are old - wound up tossing all but a pair of mountain bike pants with minimal padding.  I ordered new padded pants over a week ago and still haven't seen them.  It's going to be nice when I finally have them.  Sorry, just needed to vent. 


Event        Time          Distance
Run            1:00            6.7
Bike            5:00           85
Swim           2:15         6000

Good and bad week for me.  Bad because I missed Wednesday Masters swim practice due to a snow day and Friday due to a cold I'm fighting.  Good because I actually RAN for the first time since Oct 30th when I did a 5k.  Numbers below are off of the treadmill- dreadfully slow- probably only ran about a half mile, but the foot feels pretty good!  Also good, because since I've started the BT log, this is the most minutes I've had so far!

Swim   2,900 yards 1hour 15 min
Bike  63 miles 3 hours 24 minutes (trainer)
"Run" 2 miles 31 min 
Strength 20 minutes 

I'm learnign from all this and glad I wasn't the only one "learning how to swim".  Yesterday I learned by improving my technique, I'm going farther on less effort then before.  I love the the pain cave, but I think my is part crazy house !!!!  My family thinks I'm crazy for doing a Tri!!!!  At least they haven't committed me yet!!!!!

Edited by OspreyTriAhtlete 2011-02-06 2:45 PM

Grant,
 
I feel your frustration.  It's been snowing and cold here the last week and more for this week.  Then to top it off, my sons Explorer crapped out and I thinik the enigne is shot.  This will set me back a little bit before I get my road back.  Did I say I hate training on the spinning machines?  At least I'm getting to the pool and able to run outside half the time.  Snow and ice is not good mix for bike riding.  Thanks for lettting me vent!!!  

Thanks for everyone's input.  I'm looking to do my swimming on my days off to work on my technique.  The Masters team has me working on my technique by using the board.  Once I start swimming, wihtout it, then I will do less or cut it out.  Right now, I have one full day of rest and only doing an "easy" swim on Friday.    

Thsi has helped me out.   I have the top base layers, I just need to get a base layer for my lower body.