Jmk-brooklyn's mentor group- FULL! (Page 11)

My community has a gym and offers Boot camps and training so I do a good deal of weight training.  I always enjoyed weight training however, I am not doing as much as I did a year ago since I started this whole tri thing.  Trying to morph myself from a contact sport athlete to ensurance athlete, but I feel I will forever been relegated to the Clyde division!!! 

I want to add some core training to my schedule but just don't seem to be able to find time to squeeze it in!

glad to hear that I am not the only one who has a hard time fitting it in! I think I'd be better about it if I found it remotely enjoyable.

I have a swim tonight and I can't wait! It is so hot here that pool will feel fabulous.

So I need to think about adding some good drills to my swimming.  What are some favorites people have?  I do some, but I feel a bit like a dufus and don't love it.

My favorite drill is the "catch-up" drill. It's the one I do the most often. Fist drills are interesting too, where you swim with a closed fist to feel the water pushing against your forearms.

Truthfully, I don't do a ton of drills, since my form is ok, but catch-ups are a great one.

Sorry I've been away for a few days-- we were out on the North Fork of Long Island for a couple of days.

I am no swim expert!  I like swimming but I am -- how to phrase this positively?  -- speed challenged

I do the Side Kick Drill and Finger Tip Drag to help with rotation.  I also work with hand paddles to help with proper entry, etc. 

I think I really need someone to show me what the drills should look like.  I either half-drown (one-armed drills, and to a lesser extent fist) or I am convinced I am doing it wrong (all others).  I may look into a couple of lessons - if I can find someone good.

Fit in a bike ride today, though just a short one.  Since my toddler was up sick at 4:45, I consider it a victory that I made it out at all!  Spent the rest of the day with him on my lap reading The Economist and watching a marathon of America's Next Top Model.  (We grow the brain cells, then we kill them off.  Keeps life interesting.)

There are tons of great drill videos on Youtube. I'll see if I can find some links and post them.

Man, the Hudson River Swim yesterday really took it out of me! The water was pretty cold (60 degrees or so), but it was fine once I got going. The current was going against us this year and it made a huge difference. When I did the race last year, we swam with the current and I finished in 35 minutes. This year, it took me 44 minutes.

I'm going to go on a long ride tomorrow morning and make sure my bike's all set to go for next weekend.

Hope everyone's having a great Memorial Day weekend (or, for those of you overseas, please substitute "weekend" for "Memorial Day Weekend".)

Here are three drills from "The Man" himself-- six time IM World Champion Dave Scott:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUULNJEdKU8

This is the catch-up drill, which has probably helped me more than any other drill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Si6VeAfluQ

Shoes (dhb Tri Cycle shoes) and pedals (shimano 105 spd-sl) have arrived! Guess I'll be spending tonight fitting said pedals and learning how to un/clip from them.
The question is how many times I'll fall over tomorrow before I master unclipping?

Ironically, the front derailleur I ordered that I actually need, still hasn't arrived even though ordered on the same day! Still, who needs to be able to change which crank you're using

Congratulations on the shoes and pedals!

I did OK with the clipping except once -- I forgot I was clipped in and stopped and tipped over.  Oops!  Oh, I had numerous "panic attacks" on them too.  I kept on thinking that I would not be able to get out of them and I was trapped!

Again, congratulations on the equipment upgrade.

Had my first ride clipless this morning and unclipping was fine, but finding clipping in a little tricky as the pedal seems to like resting upside down! Still, I'm sure I'll get used to it in time.

Congratulations on going clipless! I don’t think I took my first tumble for a few months after I switched. I was so focused on making sure I unclipped well in advance that it wasn’t until I got overly comfortable with them that I “joined the club”.

We’re headed out to CT this afternoon for the Rev 3 Olympic tri tomorrow. It sounds like a great race. This organization has been more organized, more communicative, and more high-class than any other races I’ve done. Endorfun, which runs Timberman, Lonestar, Longhorn, and some others runs a close second, but Rev3 has been first class all the way.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Good luck and have fun!

X2!

Quick funny story from last weekend at Ironclad Tri. I was working the bike course at a real bad turn/intersection at the bottom of a hill where the roads were supposed to be closed. An older guy pulls up behind me and tries to drive out onto the bike course as the bikes are flying by right in front of him, I stop and walk up beside the car to explain that there was a race taking place and when there was a break I would help him get turned around. He wasn't very happy with this so I explained that we're just trying to keep everyone safe to which he replied "F*%# em, I have to get to Church!"

Wow, did that hurt.

That was the hardest race I've ever done-- 70.3 included. The bike course was relentlessly hill (Avg speed was under 17mph.). I did break my PR for max speed on a bike-- I hit 49mph on a downhill at one point. By the time I got to the run I had nothing left and my legs started breaking down at about mile 3 of the 10k. Quad cramps, calf strain. Ugh. Ended up walking big sections of the course, which was also really hilly. I finished in about 3.5hrs. But, I did finish.

Perhaps I should have seen the signs: As I was taking my bike out to the car to load it up on Friday Afternoon, I noticed that the front tire had a puncture and the tube was bulging through it, so I had to replace the whole tire while setting up transition. Then, about 5 minutes before the swim, I tore a hole in my suit. Not a big one, and right on the seam, so I don't think it affected the swim, but it was definitely in my head the whole time.

I'm happy I finished in a respectable time, but I'm feeling it this morning, that's for sure.

I participated in the Raleigh area Tour de Cure ride this weekend.  I rode from Cary, NC to Pinehurst on a 100 mile route on Saturday and came back on a shorter 80 mile route yesterday.  About 450 people participated and we got quite strung out.  I soloed a good bit of the ride both days.  I felt strong and I had a blast. 

My husband met me in the Pinehurst area on Saturday and we spent the night at the host hotel.  The organizers did a great job with the food and mechanics which was handy since I had a mechanical problem on the way back yesterday.  About 60 miles into the ride, my foot started to feel funny.  I looked down to see how my pedal was and it look kind of ok.  I went to unclip and reclip in and when I unclipped, the whole crank arm came off!  Oops!

Another rider helped, I rode to the rest stop a few miles ahead. Mechanic said, 20 miles left, no worries.  I rode about three more miles, it came off again, I was soloing at this point (solo from about mile 50), a rider stopped again and helped.  It came off a few miles later and this time I SAG vehicle was right there.  I sagged forward since the mechanic behind me was unhelpful.  This time they got it on good enough that I could finish.  I really wanted to finish!  I am slightly disappointed that I didn't get to ride the whole thing without issues since I had a good ride going but I'm please that I persevered.

Congratulations on your finish!  It sounds like this was a weekend for perseverance for sure!

Sammeg-

 Hilarious. Good to see those values kickin' in.  

Jonah-
Thanks for the swim links.  I finally got around to watching them and I tried some drills today.  I think it's harder than just regular swimming since I try to breathe as infrequently as possible because I find that I mess up the drill when I take a breath.  (Plus I looked up to see an old woman literally walking down the center of the lane I was sharing with another woman.  She decided she was going to swim with us and she wasn't going to wait for us to get to the wall, or see her, or anything.  That's a workout ender right there.)

I finally wrote up a Tour de Cure report.  Since it's not a race, per se, I put it in my training blog.  I added a few pictures too.

Right now I'm having a short recovery period before hitting it again this weekend.  Less than two months to Lake Logan Oly...

Is anybody out there?

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I'm here!
What a difference 1 day can make! Yesterday saw me posting my fastest bike ride (15.94mph ave) and my best 5k time (26:13). Today, however, every traffic light seem to be against me and slowed me down to 15mph

Do you have a bike computer or are you calculating this somehow?  Are you including stopped time (bike computers do not)?

No bike computer, just my stopwatch and mapmyrun to plot the route I'm going to take. At first I used to stop the stopwatch when stopped at lights, but I decided I couldn't be bothered after a while (plus it makes me try harder to improve )