Congratulations Brian !

Way to muscle out a great time!
Sounds like you had a great time out there also - excellent!!
You are going to do great on your next goal (Sprint triathlon).....!!

Way to start your season off on a good note !!!

Danny 

Hey Cav,

I like a HUGE variety of music, and my IPOD has everything from U2, to Celine Dione, to B-52s, to Creed, to Led Zeppelin, to the Newsboys....and the list just keeps going.

The funny thing is I am getting more used to running (and definitely biking) without music.   For a long time, I HAD to have my music when running.  I think I have a tendency to get distracted when I listen to music and my mind wanders alot.  Not a bad thing in itself.

With headphones being banned in IM races (and some others also), I guess I just tried to force myself to do without. 

I justed wanted to pass along some news....

As of today, I have my first "official" sponsor.   MOTORTABS realized what a diamond in the rough I am and snapped me up before the competition could latch onto me!!

So I better start cranking up my training, in case they have some sort of high expectations....

Danny 

I haven't worn contacts for almost 10 years, because I didn't like them much.  I haven't personally tried them during my "triathlon" era.

I would think that once they were in, there would not be any issues with sweat or wind (especially if you had decent bike glasses on to protect your eyes.  If your goggles were on incredibly tight it seems like it could be a problem, but I don't know.

I have a pair of nice prescription sunglasses that I love for driving, but I don't wear them for running/biking.

I guy I swim with has prescription goggles, and he seems to like them alot.  I could ask him where he bought them... 

The funny thing is, when I posted that, I was forgetting that I was on Team Javelin in 2007.  I went to their website, and saw that I could renew with a single button press for 2008.  So now my current sponsors include Javelin, and Motortabs.

Before I start feeling too good about myself, I should mention that they are both "low level sponsorships" which means I basically get to buy their products (and their associate sponsor products) at a deep discount.   They have yet to figure out they need to include me in their "elite sponsorship arrangement".  Maybe they will come to their senses...

Meanwhile I am getting a JAVELIN and MOTORTABS tattoo on each butt cheek! 

Sorry to hear about the sore hip.  Been there...

Is the hip more sore right in the joint?  Or in the front, closer to the groin?  or in your hip felxor muscle?  or towards the back/above your glute??

Other than the usual rest/ice/compression/elevation, you might also check into some good stretching.  The Piriformis muscle runs all through your hip/groin/lower back.  When I went for deep tissue massage, they showed me a great stretch that seemed to help (my pain was close to the ball joint, and also in the front of my hip - closer to the groin.

I'll look for an illustration of the stretch, as it might be hard to explain....

The deep tissue guy I see is part of a school known as ART (Active Release Techniques).

http://www.activerelease.com/

They emphasize moving the muscle through its entire range of motion while doing deep tissue massage to break up any scar tissue, adhesions, or knots. 

Sometimes a little break is the only thing that helps....but come back as soon as possible !

Maybe focus on swimming during the meantime.  If you use a pull buoy between the legs, you can float the legs, and work on your upper body.

Danny 

Beer is my enemy / my friend...... 

Interesting article I was reading on Active.com:

http://www.active.com/swimming/Articles/How-to-Use-Your-Core-in-Freestyle.htm

One of you were commenting on trying to focus on keeping your hand stationary during the pull phase...this article touches on that real well.

Danny 

How to Use Your Core in Freestyle

By Terry Laughlin
Total Immersion

Q: I decided it was finally time for me to attempt to integrate more of my core muscles into freestyle rather than simply trying to pull my way through practice. When I was attempting to integrate my core more, I was essentially using my hand as a lever against which to snap my torso, thereby bringing the pulling arm back and extending the other arm, is this the right idea or is there something else I should be going for?

A: Since the water doesn't offer very good traction, it's a bit difficult to use your grip on it—the hand's not a very large gripping surface either—to "snap" something as "massive" (i.e. a significant piece of body mass) as your torso.

It's really not like what occurs when you use your planted feet on solid ground as a base for snapping your torso. Full disclosure: I used this analogy when writing the original TI book 13 years ago. I have since come to see it as a weak analogy because of the significant differences between solid ground and water.

So what emphasis that will work reasonably well in water can you replace that one with? I have found that the following combination works well:

1) Have an intention to use your hands to "hold your place" in the water, rather than to push it back. Your hand will still move back; indeed to an extent it will still push water back. But that intention will cause you to engage core muscle more and arm muscle less.

2) Using the slight leverage offered by that gripping hand/arm, drive the "high side" of your body down. This taps the free energy available from gravity to assist in your intention. It also results in your swimming with your body, rather than using your arms to drag it through the water.

In freestyle, as your left hand is "patiently" establishing a grip, the right hip will be higher than the left. Rather than exert left-arm muscles to push water back, use them to stabilize your hold on the water as you drive the right hip down. Indeed think of using your right hip to drive your right hand past the gripping left. This should result in a sensation of sending energy forward rather than back.

Interesting article I was reading on Active.com:

Oh man thanks for this article. I have been looking for something like this to help with my shoulders being so sore. I spent 2 hours in the pool this morning practicing this method and my shoulders have not even come close to feeling like they usually do. I also took 4 seconds off of my 50 meter time after swimming a lot before trying. Only problem I had was being able to stay with the method while swimming slower.

My shoulders and myself thank you for this great info!!

Question: What is the usual time that you can register and pay for an Ironman? Every Ironman coming up this year is full across the United States. How did you get into the your Arizona race?

Edited by Txhokie 2008-02-27 7:11 PM

The piroformis muscle and also the psoas muscle are both likely culprits. There are tons of webpages that show good stretches for them if you google "psoas stretches".

A sample:

http://www.simple-ergonomics.com/pdf/Ilio-Psoas-07-2003.pdf

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/piri.html

http://www.drbackman.com/new-muscle-stretches.htm

Again, I totally swear by the deep tissue massage help I got from a doctor that was trained in A.R.T. (see my previous post for a link). They have practitioners all over the place, and are regulars at most the IM events - they do all the pre-post race massage support at Kona.

Most of the IM races sell out extremely quickly.  In many cases they sell out within 1 day, and IMFL sold out in 7 minutes this year.

So, you need to do some long range planning, and decide which race you want to do.
Then, do some research to see how fast it usually sells out (each race varies).
I think the protocol now, is the people who are registered for the current year, get the 1st crack at registering for the following year.  This is done on-site at the event (usually the day after the race).  Then, non-racers from the current year, who are on-site get the next opportunity to sign up.  Then the remainder of the slots go on sale on the web.  I think sometimes they open it up a couple of hours early (I heard that rumor but don't know if its true).

So, you could either show up at the venue you want to race the next year (great way to scout the course, get a pre-view, do some training on the course, and maybe also volunteer - I TOTALLY recommend volunteering as a finish line catcher if you want to get pumped for the next year).  Then you can be on scene to get a early chance at registration for the next year.

You could take your chances online, and start trying to get through on the web either at midnight of the day they go on sale (or try an hour or two earlier) - this has worked both times I did this for IM AZ.

You can try to get in through a community slot.  It will cost you more, but it is a tax write off.  Someone told me they did this and it cost them around an additional $500 dollars, but their company matched donations, so it only cost an additional $250.  That is still alot of money on top of an already expensive race, but if it's a write off, and you are already spending a bunch to travel, lodge, eat, race, and buy goodies at the expo...then it doesn't seem too bad.

Do you have a race in mind?

I am going to try to get in IM WI next year.  The race is in Madison (college town) and it is supposed to be insane !