Beth and Yanti's New Manatees - FULL! :-) (Page 13)

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for being MIA. Last time I checked, there were 9 pages in this thread. Now, 3 days later and we are on page 12 - wow! I had a lot to read and catch up with...

Beth,

I really liked your swim talk. So true but at the same time not so intuitive (at least to me) - until someone else pointed this out.

me too please?

Hi Ronen!  Good to *see* you!

And you're right it is absolutely not intuitive   I'm glad you liked it.

Beth, I appreciate your comments on the swim. I know that my kick is soooo weak. When I started swimming one year ago, I was a 2.40/100 yd swimmer. Now I am down to 2.20-2.25/100. I hired a coach for a few sessions which really helped. So, last week, I was the Purdue Aquatic Center swimming my laps, happy happy happy (I really do enjoy swimming), when two kids (Purdue swim team members) hop in the lane beside me and proceed to swim. I just kept plugging along until they decided to work on their kick-sets. They were KICK-SETTING (is that a proper term?? LOL) faster than I was FREESTYLING down the pool. Talk about a reality check!! Fortuanately for me, I am signed up to go to an endurance symposium at the end of Feb where one of the cool things that they will do is watch me swim and videotape it and give me some advice. I hope they have a while! I have a feeling that I need a lot of work!

Also, on another note, I appreciate the bike comments too. I got a new roadie last spring and of course, the guy at the shop "fit" me and all. But all summer I really struggled with a nagging R trapezius pain. I know it's not a strength issue. The pain starts in after about 25-30 mins of a ride. So, one of my goals for either Jan. or Feb is to take me and my bike to Indy to a professional bike fitter and pay the money to have some tweaks done. I am hopeful. I really want more than anything to be able to go and enjoy my bike for 2-3 hours at a time and not be in such misery!!

Hi Sam,

I'm glad the posts were helpful!  A pro bike fit is one of best things I've ever done for improving my comfort and performance on the bike.

That's awesome that you are going to be video taped under water!  You will find it extremely helpful.

I attended a tri clinic a couple of years ago and they did that.  We actually reviewed all the tapes as a group and got to hear feedback on everyone that was taped.  It was a little intimidating at first, but it turned out to be really helpful because you could learn from what others did wrong as well.

The clinic was a real kick, the swim coach for the clinic was my old HS swim coach!

I don't have a straight-cut answer, but here is some advice for your consideration.

Training with your bike on a trainer is more specific training for triathlon.

High-intensity workouts should be balanced with lower-intensity ones, which even outside of the Base period of training should comprise the majority of your training.

It looks like RPM does include some lower-intensity segments within the workouts.

If it's motivating to you, and you would otherwise be less likely to get on your trainer, by all means take the third class. Or take the third class one week, get on your trainer the next. Or help balance the classes by getting on your trainer once or twice a week for 30 minutes.

Sent.

ooh, ooh, ooh, me too? Pretty please with sugar on top?

Going on the idea that every 3rd or 4th week one should pull back on volume, I'm actually taking that advice to heart this week. I wound up sleeping most of the weekend (and slept fine at night), so I took it as a sign that I was over-tired and should probably use this week as a pull-back.

So Week 1 of January is pull-back, Weeks 2 and 3 will build again, and Week 4 will be a pull-back before my IM training starts in full force.

x 2 Suzie...Thanks

Steve

Well it is not like you haven't had some major stress going on with you and your family....the pull-back week couldn't have come at a better time.  One of the hardest I have had to learn in endurance training, as opposed to other sports I have done, is to LISTEN TO MY BODY.  I am probably a tiny bit older than most in the group so when my body talks to me it SCREAMS and I have learned to listen sooner and better (same listening lesson that has kept me married for almost 34 frickin wonderful years)

Steve

What the *@%^_ :-} !!!

 Hi everyone,

 First of all thank you, and this place is great 

 A great thing happened today as I was logging my first real workout

 I looked over and saw a little link "inspire me" so I clicked it, and what did I find ? {well all of you know} positive words of encouragement from you guys Thank you...!

 Thanks this just made today's workout a little better

 by the way my workout today went great  swim/bike 30 min. each

 ~talk to you soon... as I figure more of this blogging stuff out

Hi, Chad! It's so awesome that this is your 5th post and you're really getting into the swing of things!

Mental Training #2: CONSCIOUS RELAXATION

To be able to relax while training and racing makes every stroke, pedal and footfall more efficient and therefore makes us better athletes overall.

Swimming: Bethie Love and Bob Stocks gave us excellent tips on relaxing while swimming. Consciously relax the arm that's on the recovery stroke; let it pull up naturally and move forward. Think about stretching out in the water instead of powering through it.

Biking: Consciously "unweight" the foot that is coming up. That way, the foot powering down through the pedal stroke doesn't have to do that and carry the weight of the other foot, too. Just relax the foot coming up and allow the foot coming down to do the work. Think smooth circles, weightless on the upstroke.

Running: Relax the leg moving forward. And think of "unclenching" the leg as soon as it has hit the ground and begins to move back. This way, every moment your feet are off the ground, your legs and whole body have a chance to relax.

Final Tip: Remind yourself to relax whatever body parts you are not using, or using the least. These have a tendency to tense up when the other parts are working hard. In the swim, relax the legs and just let them pitter-patter the kick. In biking and running, periodically remind yourself to relax your neck, shoulders, and arms.

Yanti, Thanks for the relaxation tips.

I've got a related question : When running, how can I relax my neck and upper back? It seems that during long runs, I start feel this pain in my spine, just at the shoulders level. I then start moving my arms and head to get rid of it. Usually, it fades away but then comes back a bit later.  I was always wondering how to prevent it from showing up. Any idea? Note that I do not feel that during shorter runs (i.e., below 10 miles).

Any advice is appreciated!

I had and occasionally have the exact same problem on long runs--it's very common as you get into the longer miles to slump the upper body a bit in order to drive forward. The same is actually true of those of us who sit in front of computers all day--we get tired and mistakenly slump the neck and shoulders, which in fact strains them more than the neutral position of keeping them in line and upright.

I've read this in many running and tri books, I'm just citing Jeff Galloway (the run-walk guru coach and former Olympian) suggests this: when running, and early on and often before your upper body gets tired, imagine a string pulling up through your spine, neck and up through the crown of your head. Imagine hanging from this string like a puppet. This aligns those areas into a neutral position and keeps them most relaxed and your body most efficient, and helps prevent tension in the upper body.

I had issues with this when I was in college.  I wore my shoulders as ear rings as a coach from another school told me.  I finished behind his girls the 4-5 times I had competed against them.  My coach had me do two things.  1) I worked on hand tension during my runs.  I focused on loose fingers/hand/wrist, no clenching of fists, or very light touch on the finger tips (think of holding a potato chip between the fingers and you can crush it).  The idea here was the tension from a clenched fist works its way up the chain to the shoulders and neck.  Your continual tension creates fatigue; which limits perfromance.    2) She sent me to the strength coach.  He had me work on my core and upper body strength.  The idea was to improve the endurance capacity of the UE rather than improve strength/power.   I don't know which one worked better but I beat his girls in the spring that year.  And, I no longer have shoulders for ear rings.

Excellent additional tips, Suzie! I forgot about the hands-clenched thing--so easy to fall into.