RunningJayhawk's Mentor Nest - FULL! (Page 12)

Well it's Tuesday and I got my official time for the Long Branch Half Marathon. I soo far exceeded my expectations. I completed it in 1:56:30. I was shooting for 2:12!! My time was a 50 minute improvement over my half two years ago. I felt soo good throughout and during. Consistent training has helped tremendously. Hoping it works for my swimming!!

This Sat. is my first sprint tri for the season. It will probably be raining again. Oh well, thank goodness for wetsuts.

Erin--Get a foam roller. In my opinion, it is money well spent.

Nice new bikes

Denise

Good morning all,

Boy, it was an early start today.  Had to get up at 4:30 to get the run workout in...I am umpiring baseball tonight and it will be late when I get home.  This week is an easy week in terms of workouts...just 5 days until the tri. 

Denise - AWESOME job on the half mary...beating your time by 50 mins is great.  I am glad it was a positive outcome for you.  Hardwork does pay off and I am sure you will see it pay off in the tri this weekend.

I am liking the bike porn.  Those are sweet rides. 

My ride is getting a tune-up and should be done today.  Everything should be ready to go come Sunday...here is hoping the weather is nice...what I really mean is please let there be no wind on race day.

Hope everyone has a good Tuesday.

Nik

Haha, I'm loving all the bike pics!  I can only hope to get a new bike next year. . . I'll have to save up for it.  In the meantime, I'm ok with my old road bike that I bought off of craigslist a while back. 

I'm a HUGE fan of foam rolling.  Whenever I'm sore somewhere (which for me is usually my IT band, hamstrings, or anywhere else in the thigh area), I just roll out the knot.  It hurts when I'm doing it, but then the knot & soreness are gone afterward.  It's an AWESOME self-sports-massage tool

Denise - Great job on the half mary!!!  That's fantastic you dropped almost an hour from last time!!  That's HUGE

Congrats, that is fantastic!

Missy – Good for you for getting out there and working on riding clipless. Momentum-less crashes happen to the best of us, but nice job getting back on it. I think we’re going to make it to tomorrow’s CTC meeting (I’m doing my LT run today after work)…so let me know if you need a ride to or from Fizz! On another note, I still haven’t heard back from Dan regarding the Barrington map. I’m sorry!! Out of curiosity, are you familiar with how/when to change gears for hills?

Denise – Do we get a full race report from the half? INCREDIBLE job breaking 2 hours!! That’s so awesome you beat your expectations like that! What an amazing improvement. Are you feeling ready for the tri this weekend?

Cheryl – Every once in a while it’s good to “abandon ship” and spend time with family and friends. The Conservatory sounds like a wonderful place!! As for your run, remind yourself that you’re making great progress. The fact that you’re enjoying running more speaks volumes, too! Don’t get all caught up in the pace…so often we rely on numbers and forget to just let go of watches and GPS tracking and just run for the heck of it (I am soooo guilty of this!). Speed will come in time.

Lisa – I want details on the down and dirty of the VO2 max test. And Tewonda!??!? LOVE the name. True fact…the girl who played “Little Idgie” was in my bunk at summer camp…so very, very random.

Nik & Tif – Glad to hear that both the race and the all nighter went so well!!

And Tif, you’re not the only one who gets race nightmares. It’s only May and I’ve had at least a dozen race-related nightmares (most of me doing something to royally screw up on the bike…). In the past with the crazy dreams things always seem to go okay in the end.

Nik, like you I was up at 4:30 this morning (holy smokes I am dragging *** right now) for my workout. Hopefully you get a few nights of solid sleep the next handful of days! You’ll be rested and ready to rock your tri. And even if it’s windy…may it be a tailwind in every direction for you!

Alan – Great job getting a run in while out of town. Is the weather getting any better for you up there?!

Margot – Roxanne is AWESOME! I give it a few weeks before you’re tired of that song Definitely let us know how today’s run goes over.

Dena – Great job on the ride and run this weekend! Hopefully your shin is doing better today and that your first day of official tri training went well

Erin – Nice job on the bike and run this weekend. Getting quality time in the saddle and on the pavement is half the battle. I find that sometimes the best positive reinforcement I can give myself is to simply smile while I’m out there. It’s weird…totally changes my mindset even if the workout is ten shades of sucktastic. I’ll do a separate post on the awesomeness of foam rollers…and how they hurt so good.

Angela – It’s hard to compare the same race year to year because we often are faced with different variables across the board (weather, training, health, general fitness, food, etc.). It happens to the best of us! An 8k earlier this year I was minutes slower than last year. Craziness. But I loooooooooove Betty. She’s beautiful

Lara – Welcome home!! I grew up in the south, so I know exactly what you’re talking about with the food (soooo delicious though!). The trail run sounds like it’ll be fun…I’ve always wanted to actually try trail running.

Let's Talk Foam Rollers!!!

(insert gratuitous cheers here)

Essentially, foam rollers are a great way to help stretch you and work out painful knots/adhesions from your legs (you can also do it on your back/sides/arms) and help you a little bit with flexibility as well. I like to spend some time getting intimate with my foam roller after any hard run or if I'm feeling stiff/sore on an off day (usually I'll take anywhere from 10-20 minutes rolling my legs out). When you roll over it, your own body weight provides the pressure therapy. The first handful of times you do it, if you've got exceptionally tight legs, it will probably hurt a little bit. The trigger points are typically painful (at first) to work on, but once you get through them it provides some sweet release on your legs. And I promise it gets better with each session.

The benefit of the foam roller is that it really hones in on lengthening the fascia and can provide relief for injuries like IT band syndrome and shine splints.

Here's a pretty good article explaining some of the science behind it if you're interested
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/flexibilityandstretching/ss/Foam...

Stretches with a foam roller:
Hamstrings and Glutes, Calves, Quads, IT Band, Back and sides

Thanks for posting that link Barb! I have had a foam roller for a long time but had trouble finding a site online that wasn't confusing. That one is great!

No Problem! There's also a handful of videos on YouTube if you need a demonstration

Thanks!!  I'll be heading to the meeting straight from work, so I'm good getting there.  Maybe on the way home, though?  And no worries about the map. . . I'm thinking of joining the CTC Barrington ride this Sunday, so if I do make it out there, I'll just follow everyone else  

Regarding changing gears. . . I think I got down the HOW, I'm just not sure of when.  I've been training with everything set to the medium sized gears, but was going to switch it to the easier settings for the race.  Is that a bad plan? 

Let me try and put together a "how to" this afternoon/tonight on gears and hill riding. The Barrington ride should be a good precursor of what's to come next weekend. One thing for Galena, there is a hill right out of transition and you have ZERO room to gain momentum. Seriously...the mount line is on the incline. It's crazy. So before you rack your bike, go ahead and make sure it's in the easiest gear so you don't drop a chain right off the bat.

We can definitely help you out on the ride home. No idea what I'll be wearing yet, but I'll pm you during the day to let you know. Otherwise, here's what the hubby and I look like...don't hesitate to come up and say hi...I don't bite (at least not very hard).

I just ordered a foam roller a couple days ago; hasn't arrived yet.  I'm hoping it will help with some of my muscle soreness/stiffness. 

That is an awesome time.  You broke 2 hours.  Hurray!  That's one of my long term goals. 

Okay...based on my experience...here's how I was taught to ride hills...it's sort of hard to describe, so please don't hesitate to ask questions about it.

Riding Hills...

If you’re not used to climbing on the bike, riding hills can often be discouraging…mostly because it takes a bit of practice to really get comfortable climbing and understanding how to best work your gears.

For me, I learned how to climb hills properly last spring. Before that point I usually did one of three things…1. Stand up and mash my way up the bike (killing my body in the process) 2. Fidget through a billion gears trying to find something that worked (but it was almost always too late) and 3. Dismount, look down in shame, and push my bike up the stupid hill on two legs (and as embarrassing as this may be, most riders at some point or another…have done this). It wasn’t until my Endurance Camp last year where I had a coach ride behind me for 20 miles, telling me exactly when to shift, that I truly got the hang of it.

Know that climbing is sort of a personal art. Just because it works for me, it doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for you. Also, I ride a triple crank set, so if you only have 2 rings you’ll probably make a few small tweaks based on what I describe below (for your sanity and mine, I won’t discuss the number of teeth on the cogs, though there is a science behind it, so if this interests you let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction of some literature on the subject).

Let’s start with climbing a single hill…

So you’re riding along a nice, flat country road, maintaining a solid cadence (let’s say for the sake of this explanation, we’re maintaining 85 rpms) and channeling your inner Lance Armstrong…and lo and behold…you approach a hill. Now in theory, since you’re riding on a flat, you’re probably in your big or middle ring. And in a perfect world, we’ll keep close to the same cadence on our trip to the top.

As I approach the hill, I typically do two things…
1. Try to pick up my cadence about another 10-20 rpms…so I’m spinning a bit faster before attacking the hill (around 95-100 rpms) -- depending on where I'm currently at in the gears, I may shift down to make it slightly easier before the climb begins, but I won't be in my easiest gear.
2. Evaluate what’s in front of me. Can I see the top? Is it steep at the bottom and levels out somewhere along the way? Is it a slow, gradual incline? Long? Short? Curved? …all of these factors can make a difference with how you approach it.

So now that I’ve picked up speed and started the ascent, I’ll stay in the current gear until I start dropping rpms naturally (keeping the same effort, not pushing harder on the pedals or anything). Mentally, I’m focusing on pulling my knees up rather than pushing over on the pedal. My body position will likely be on the hoods rather than aero when climbing if it’s a steep hill…and I find that scooting my bum to the back of the saddle helps me get more power in my stroke, helping maintain a higher cadence.

Once I see that my cadence is starting to drop, I’ll shift down (…move the chain on the rear cogs from a smaller ring to larger one). I’ll continue to do this through my middle/large chain ring…and if I’ve hit the largest of the rear cogs and still need more gears, then I’ll drop from the middle/large ring to the small/middle ring and shift up quickly so I'm about halfway through the rear cassette and then continue to work my way shifting down (when you make this shift between rings be careful because this is a point where many folks will often drop their chain during a climb). So I’m basically working my way through the various gears, making it easier to spin.

Shifting down to go faster will help you produce more power – this is what folks mean why the say “drop it into the granny gear and spin your way up.” If you shift down too early, you risk tiring out. If you wait too long to push the power (or don’t gear down early enough), the hill will be more difficult to climb. And as funny as this will sound…shift about 5-10 seconds before you think you’ll need to be in the next gear to help keep your cadence up.

When I climb, I’m all about doing everything I can to stay seated. If you stand up and mash your way up the hill, you’re legs are working harder than necessary and draining energy from them that you’ll need on the run. Although from my experience, if the hill is gradual at the bottom and steep at the top, you may need to start off seated and work your way through the gears and then stand when you’re at the steep portion. If it’s short and at a sharp angle, I may just stand the entire way rather than drop down and spin. But know that when you stand, not only are you draining your legs, but your raising your HR and using a different muscle set (which is partly why some folks prefer standing on hills). If and/or when you stand to pedal up the hill, you’ll want to change into a harder gear.

Once you crest the hill, DON’T STOP PEDALING!!! Continue to pedal up and OVER the hill…and pedal on your way down as well (however you’ll want to switch back into your big/middle ring and probably crank up the cassette so you feel some type of tension in your pedal stroke). This is free speed, people. And in a race it can be priceless. On that same token, don’t do anything stupid on the downhill that can injure yourself or other riders. Getting comfortable handling your bike at increased speed on a downhill is just as important as it is to learn how to get your rear up the hill. I typically try to “get small” (could be aero position or on the drops of my handlebars) to help minimize wind resistance. Sometimes I’ll continue to pedal, but sometimes I’ll just let myself coast for a few moments before picking it back up again. Also, if you’re not comfortable speeding downhill, don’t ride your brakes the whole way down (gently pump them to decrease your speed).

If you’re riding a series of hill, you’ll approach the first hill as noted above. You’ll want to use the momentum of the previous downhill to help push you up and over the following hills. So while you’re on your downhill, you’ll shift up and increase your cadence once again…then when you start to feel like you’re cadence is dropping, you’ll shift down through the gears again and repeat the process.

Know that hills typically hurt. But with practice they will hurt less (I promise!). Keep working on them until you feel you’ve got your timing down pat. So challenge yourself, have patience and have fun.

Today was long swim day for me and it was tough. I have not been in water since October of last year and unfortunately missed week one's swimming. The 44 minutes seemed to last forever but when I was done I realized I had only stopped once to fix my goggles and catch my breath. I find it hard to get my breathing down but I am sure that with practice it will come.
Tomorrow is short run day and I will be doing some strength training as well.

Thanks for the biking information. I will be sure to try some hills with regular pedals before I do the clipless thing. I too have fallen recently and it is not so fun.

Awesome job on the time!!! I always feel so overwhelmed when I think of that distance. The fact that you beat your estimated time by almost 16 minutes is amazing. It definitely shows that we can still surprise ourselves. I have a friend trying to convince me to do the Disneyland Princess half in March of next year. I think that I just might be persuaded.

Up today was supposed to be a run this morning, but I've been feeling tired lately.  I checked my calendar, and I realized I haven't had a rest day since last Monday!  Argh, I guess that's what happens when I keep rearranging my schedule.  So today's an impromptu rest day for me.  I may or may not make up the run later in the week, but I'm not too worried about it.

Thanks for the bike tips, Barb!  I'll practice this weekend in Barrington, and hopefully I'll be somewhat used to it for Galena   I'll keep my eye out for you at the meeting tonight!  Here's what I look like, in case you spot me first. . .

Hey all- last night was my long swim, about 20 minutes.  I did ok, I stupidly ate dinner before swimming and I was so hungry I ate too much. I felt the dinner in my stomach the whole time.

here is what I did:

4 x 25 warm-up
4 x 25 freestyle concentrating on breathing
4 x 25 kick with board
4 x 25 pull (with pull buoy, freestyle crawl focusing on form)
4 x 25 freestyle concentrating on breathing

I did this twice.
Overall I did ok, I was surprised at how out of breath I was after the 4 x 25 of just regular freestyle.  I think I have to work on pacing myself, I tend to go out too hard and tire myself out too quick.

I hope everyone has a good hump day! today is a rest day for me.

Good morning everyone!

Barb thanks for the tips on hill riding. That is something I'm going to have to practice, especially here in San Francisco. The first time I rode clipped in and tried going up a small hill I didn't have enough momentum and when my legs ran of steam I almost tipped over. It was pretty funny.

Yesterday was my first run in 6 weeks! I took it easy, did a run/walk for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I was able to open up and sprint at the end, it felt really good. I stretched well afterward and am excited that I have no groin pain this morning.

Today I'll be swimming during lunch, probably a nice easy swim after the run/lifting last night. I'm still reading Total Immersion. My only complaint about the book so far is that it takes 8 chapters to get to the drills! But there is lots of good tips and info, now if I can just work on getting out of the mindset that more meters is better, and really focus on drills maybe my form will improve!

Sounds like everyone's having a wonderful training week so far for the most part.

Margot, I'm thrilled that your run went well. And Erin, great job cranking out some solid distance in the pool. Keep it up and don't forget to log those training sessions!!

Masters swim started for me yesterday. Swimming in a 50m pool is so drastically different than a 25yd one. But it felt great. And geez some of those guys are fast!! Hopefully I'll see my endurance and speed improve over the next handful of months. I've found that I'm doing better getting up to workout before work these days. I got in an interval session this morning, making it my first pre-work RUN in all my years of running (swimming and the bike trainer aren't a problem, but I've never been able to crank out a solid run)...ended up feeling pretty good, so my Wednesday speed work may turn into a routine 6am wake up call.