BikerGrrrl's Group - CLOSED (Page 11)

Glad to hear from some of you!

Brooke - I wonder if the water will be a normal temp?  I bet you'll be okay, only getting in and out will really suck.   I hope the asthma doesn't affect yor 5k too much.

Steve - I hope it's just phantom pain and nothing more serious.  Have fun with your busy weekend.  Hope the tri goes well!

Janet - yay for being on track!  Let us know how the swim goes!  I love OWS so much more than pool swimming.  I hope you do too.

Dee - I agree, a coached workout really makes the time go by.  I eventually decided to not keep going with masters because the coach didn't have workouts that were slow enough for me   I ended up sprinting the entire time to keep up and that wasn't working with my goals.  But it's highly motivating!  I swim workouts now from my own coach and they fly by.  I cringe when I see a long steady set.  I love fast sets (i.e. swim 6 x 50s fast with :10 rest). 

Lauren - I can totally understand your apprehension about trying a masters group.  Maybe you can find one that encourages newer swimmers.   If you want to try your own workouts that are more structured, check out swimplan.com.  I also am constantly worrying about weight.  I am a good 20 lbs over what I "really should" be and 10 lbs over what "need to get to at least."   They only way, in my opinion, is to decide you're going to do whatever it takes to lose the weight.  And I don't mean crazy dieting, but seriously counting calories and sticking to a plan.  Often people store the last 10 lbs in one area, so I would bet if you lost them they'd come directly from your problem area.  Keep working the workouts!  If you've never tried a food diary before, I really recommend it.  I used myfooddiary.com to lose about 30 lbs a while back.  It really works and I found this site to be very easy to use.  It's worth the very low fee of $9/month.

I'm leaving for Knoxville tonight.  I hope I'll see you, Carrie!  Make sure you swing by the BT tent.  I am going to do a swim practice for sure.  I also need to run on Saturday, so I might try out the Oly run course if I can.  Weird doing the swim relay - no taper for me    I am excited to try out my new wetsuit...

Hey gang!  I did my first OWS yesterday morning!  The wetsuit that I rented came early so I was able to take it with me to try out.  I'm happy to say that it fits really well.  I was worried about that because of my height.  They sent a "tall" one though so it was long enough.  The swim itself was good.  Don't know that I can say "I loved it" but I definitely didn't hate it.  I spent a little while just getting used to the water and being in a wetsuit before I actually started trying to swim.  I don't know how far I went, but that's OK, I was only there to get used to being in a lake instead of a pool, not really worried about distance this week.  Next week I'll pay a little more attention to how far I swim.  Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative next week too.  It was cold and windy!  The water wasn't too bad though - my feet felt like popsicles when I got out, but the rest of me stayed nice and warm.  Oh, and I did get some ear plugs.  I'm glad I did too - not sure my ears could have taken the cold.  

This morning I decided to do a brick workout.  I don't do those too often, but wanted to get at least one in before my tri.  I went over to a park that has a MUP so I wouldn't have to deal with cars (just lots of people running/walking/riding/etc).   I had a good ride although I had to keep the speed down.  After I finished my ride, I went for a short run/walk.  It's funny how slow I felt like I was running after riding (I'm slow anyway but I was keeping a decent pace for me).  Ended up with 14.46 mile on the bike and 2.37 running. 

I hope everyone's having a good weekend and a great Mother's Day to all the mom's!
Janet

Steve - I would definitely keep working at a conversational pace and building miles.  If you have trouble maintaining conversation/speed, you're definitely going too hard.   Building up your base with conversational miles WILL yield speed eventually.  Your conversational will go from 12 mph and soon enough it's 16 then it's 20 (bike, obviously).  Same will happen on the run, although not as dramatic.

That said, I do think it's useful to challenge yourself.  Especially on the bike.  Do the majority of your ride in the conversational pace but mix in short intervals of more powerful riding.  I like to do this on hills.   Instead of shifting to an easier gear, for instance, stay in the same gear and stand up to crest the hill.    Then go back to conversational pace.  

The only risk here is getting too comfortable at a certain speed.  Try not to focus on speed and instead focus on what you can do that day to feel like you've done your workout.   For me, on runs, my speed might shift an entire mile/hour from one day to the next.    Do the calculations later so you don't get caught up in your own expectations.

sorry for being MIA the past few days - it finally picks up around here and i go missing!     work has just been busy and unfortuantely the only time i get to pop on here is when i'm at work.

Steve - congrats on your daughter's graduation! you must be one proud papa   sorry that you're still in pain.  is your doctor going to keep running tests to try to pinpoint the cause?  sounds like you're getting a lot of good training in despite everything.  you da man!

Janet - congrats on your open water swim!  they seem so intimidating!

Dee - are you finding your new swim group helpful? the two of you are brave to put yourself out there and try these new swim experiences!

Lauren - hopefully you can get back to your training once the summer hits.  i don't know how moms do all that they do.  also hope your kids spoiled you for mother's day!  as far as weight issues - mine is more of an issue being content with where i'm at.  I've struggled with the vanity weight until i'm sick of struggling. 

do you track your food?  i lost about 15 pounds eating between 1650-1750 calories.  that depends on your activity level of course but it worked well for me (also doing about 7-10 training exercises per week).  i tracked on the livestrong daily plate.

Leslie - sucks about your computer big brother but glad you can check in when you do.  i've read a lot about the VFF.  very cool.  you mentioned heel striking, which i think is one of my problems as to why i can't build speed.  how do you work on changing how you strike?


one of my bike problems is that i think i feel too comfortable on a bike and don't really push myself.  i've borrowed a friend's hybrid which is about 15 years newer than my MB and i can pick up a little speed on it, so i'm probably going with it for the race.

today is my first outdoor swim.  hopefully the water won't be too miserably cold!  brrr!!

That's great to hear!  What a cool opportunity to swim alone, too!

I had a great time in Knoxville this weekend.  The water was in the 60s (I would guess upper) and it was perfect.  Not too hot once I was swimming and felt great compared to the air temp on race morning   That's an added benefit of the wet suit... something to keep you warm while you wait.

I took more than 6 minutes of my best Oly swim!  I am thrilled.   I was doing a relay, so laid it all on the line, but this is still great progress.  Here's my report:  http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=207329

Sounds like you're on track!  Good luck with the doc.

That's cool about the borrowed bike.  Every bit helps! 

I know I sound like a broken record, but this is my number one advice for bike riding.  You have to push yourself.   I really like to make a game out of attacking things on the bike.  I tried to race up a hill, pass someone, reach a new high mph, etc.    Hopefully the bit faster bike will energize you!