Tripletmom01 Group FULL (Page 13)

Hot Runner - 2011-02-10 6:02 AM Congrats on the flip turns. I know they're hard to learn!  My great frustration with swimming is the whole bilateral breathing thing. It's embarassing--I'm reasonably fast (top woman out of the water in my first sprint tri, 7th out of about 90 in the more high-powered Oly), I can do flips and all the strokes, but I just can't get it to feel natural.  When I breathe to the left, I have to slow down and think. My tri-buddy "got it" after about 30 minutes of instruction; I still don't. I got into running because I was a scrawny, klutzy kid who sucked at all other sports, and swim drills make me relive those traumatic moments of childhood!

As for the trainer rides, do you break them up by doing intervals of different intensities?  That really helps me deal with this kind of thing.

Eeek--my first race is Saturday (1500 meter swim and 10K run) in Singapore. I do not feel ready, esp. speed/pacing for the run. My endurance is good after training all last fall for the HM, but speed doesn't come naturally and not having a track doesn't help.  But it is what it is.  It will be good to get open-water experience, and to do only my two stronger events.

oriolepwr - 2011-02-10 10:41 AM

Thanks for the video link.  I'll check it our for sure

kduncan - 2011-02-10 10:33 PM Back in the saddle this week. Last week I was pretty sick. My foot still hurts I haven't been to a Dr. - It is bearable and I am not sure I want to know what's wrong yet. I have a 5 K Next Sunday the 20th and it doesn't seem to bother me while I'm training. Hopefully I will be buying a bike this weekend. I am giving up on buying a used bike. I am just too short and too impatient to wait at this point. If I was between 5'5 and 5'8 it looks like I would have no problem but there must not be any 5'2 people upgrading so far this season and I am getting nervous. Spinning has been great but I want to get on the road.
How Long is everyone's stretching routine? I am sure it varies but I am a tighter and more sore this week than normal. I have been trying to pick up the pace on my run and I had leg and foot cramping at night and I felt very OLD at work today.

SpottedCow - 2011-02-10 11:18 PM

Hey Karan - Hope you get that foot figured out.  I don't really do any specific stretching before or after my workouts, however, I try to do yoga once or twice a week and I think it helps a ton.  I could never fit classes into my schedule so I bought a few DVDs. 

SpottedCow - 2011-02-10 7:00 PM

Good luck on your race   Do you think there is benefit to learning the other swim strokes?  I'd kinda like to since I enjoy swimming.

Hot Runner - 2011-02-13 2:26 AM I agree. Each stroke is kind of useful in a different way, and doing different ones breaks up the monotony of endless freestyle sets and probably helps prevent overuse of the same muscles. I use breaststroke mostly for warmdown/recovery, backstroke for stretching out, and butterfly for working on aerobic capacity. Oddly, the latter's my best stroke, though I sure don't look like a "fly" swimmer!  I love to do IM's--think it makes my freestyle more efficient.

Not that I'm a "hot swimmer"  Survived my first race of the year Sat., despite a "swimming to Indonesia" moment. I'd finally broken out of a crowded start, rounded the first bouy at about 350m, and, a minute or so later, found myself out in the clear. WAY out!  Some combo of swimming straight into the rising sun, not sighting enough to the left, and just getting into my own rhythm had caused me to drift way to the outside of the course.  Fortunately fixed matters before I got out to the ships parked offshore!  Probably cost me a minute or a bit more. Other than that it went well. I was the fastest master's woman in the swim (by a second, but I'll take it!) and second master's, I think 8th woman overall in a BIG race. The run went okay but couldn't seem to speed up--felt like I was stuck in half-marathon mode. It would really help to have a track or some local 5K's. I will just have to figure out another way to get in focused speedwork. I did use some of the prize $ to get a real heart monitor (Polar) so maybe I can play with that.

Will try to do a race report once I check results again--my watch didn't start (maybe pressed the wrong button???) and the run wasn't timed separately from the transition, so still unsure what my run time actually was. I was quite unhappy with the run time as posted, then realized later that run+ swim = total time, so transition was in with the run time as the mat for the swim was right out of the water. Still not stellar--maybe at or just under 43 minutes. Would like to get it closer to 41, sub-40 if run-only. I aim high, but......Still can't believe it's not in there somewhere!

Was such a space cadet I didn't realize my watch hadn't started until about 2K (????no markers or splits) into the run! At least I didn't get dizzy, and didn't run in my goggles and cap....Oh well, other than that, the race was well-organized and fun. I actually won money, some tri/swim gear, a watch (with big buttons and numbers), sunglasses, etc. ! The cash  funded the subequent shopping spree in S'pore but now very tired!  

kduncan - 2011-02-14 8:49 PM I am the proud owner of a Felt FW95. I really don't know how to use the gears and I am working on flipping the pedals. The clips will be installed next next week. The one thing that I haven't felt comfortable doing yet is getting out of the saddle. Could be because I haven't tried a hill that I need to gear down for yet. Brought my baby home yesterday. I need lots of miles to gain some confidence.

Hot Runner - 2011-02-14 7:45 AM Okay, the race report is up. It should make for good comic relief--what NOT to do, starting with hitting the wrong watch button at the start. (At least one of my prizes was a Timex Ironman watch with big, clearly labeled buttons and display!)  Am blaming the various snafus on nerves and lack of sleep, but it's not too unusual for me. Organization, like speed, does not come naturally!  Think my ideal race would be an Ironman, without the bike leg and with only body marking. Forget wetsuits, T-shirts, or race/hydration belts. I'd probably run the marathon with my goggles on my forehead, and never notice.

RE Reports--Are you supposed to count only your own gender in total athletes? I did. Otherwise the math gets harder--I think 67th out of 1691, including guys. Kind of a gender imbalance!

Hot Runner - 2011-02-19 8:56 PM Totally newbie bike question for Tammy or any other bike experts in the group--are you supposed to ride with the top grips or the bottom? (It's a road bike, not a tri bike.)  Is there any advantage to using one or the other? Does it vary with terrain? The guy at the bike shop where I bought it said that you use the drops (I think that's the word) when surging for position or the finish, but that's obviously from a bike race perspective, not tri!  I can ride comfortably in either.  I'm thinking I won't try aerobars until next fall as the two Olys I'm doing this spring and summer are big and hilly (one is described as "undulating", but we all know what that means) and I think handling-wise I'd be safer with the bike set up as is.

kduncan - 2011-02-20 4:29 PM Great Weekend! Took 6 minutes of my 5K time at the Break A Leg during the Austin Marathon. Purchased my Rookie Package including my tri suit and the most expensive piece of athletic equipment I have ever purchased my FELT FW95.