Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED (Page 13)

MATT - I know what you mean about the swim times. I'm looking at their times and wondering if I can do the first 100 in those times. We'll see tomorrow, but I'm just hoping to be able to swim freestyle continuous for 200. 

JONATHAN and DINA - From where I am those are great times for the swim. I can only dream of swimming with that kind of speed.

DAVID - Check your logs for Thursday the 12th of January. It looks like you entered 40 hours for your workout there instead of 40 minutes on that day. 

I tried to back the speed down on my run today in preparation for running 2 consecutive days and I clearly backed it down too much. 2.3 miles at 10:58 pace. I was shooting for 9:30 to 10:00 m/m. I guess I need more practice gauging my speed or I'll just have to run where there are 1/2 mile and mile markers.

Ok, I have to make this really quick this morning.  I spent most of the night talking to my brother who is making a rather large, life altering decision about where his next place of employment might be........Wyoming?!?!?!  I was coaching him in the realities of his decision.......

Anyway, Not a lot of time right because work is calling,

Allison, I have considered the Y membership but I think it is a little more expensive for the time I would have available at the pool.

Vero and Matt, Do't worry about your swim times.  This is not intended to be a competition.  Rather it is intended to expose areas where each of us can go to work a little more.  The swim is a more technical discipline and requires a slower process to get things where we want them.  Don't be intimidated by the times posted by Dina and Jonathon, they have obviously spent A LOT of hours in the pool.

Paul,  I'm glad to hear you got the run in and with only a few people out there it can make things go better sometimes.

David, it's great to hear your bike is in ready condition for the weather breaking.  And by the sounds at 5 AM this moring it may here here for a day today.  53 degrees and lightning and thunder........January????

That's all I have time for now.  Maybe I'll have some time at lunch or later tonight but today is going to be rally busy for me again.  My daughter has another swim meet at 4 then another family dinner with the team.  My training is about to take a MAJOR hit this week.

This was me when I signed up for my sprint 2 falls ago.  I tried to drop out after trying to swim and 25 yards in I was gasping for air and realized I had no business being in a race involving swimming.  I also used TI  (lots of controversy on this site about it) to help me learn what swimming was about.  Balance and relaxation are the key - easy to say but harder to do.  One piece of advice - if at all possible, get some video.  I had a cheap camera which took video and could even go underwater. It wasn't great quality, but it showed me that what I thought I was doing and what I was actually doing were totally different.

I think you're overthinking it.  As long as you're not over-striding your body picks an efficient cadence.  Jeff has some ideas on this you need to hear.

I generally don't swim in the winter, and I know the times aren't supposed to matter, but seeing this makes me think I have an opportunity to beat Jonathan at SOMETHING, so I may have to try to find a pool to swim in!

That is a great time! I know what you mean though. My time was 15 seconds slower than Feb. of last year.

Don't even think about it. I've been swimming 2 or 3 days a week for seriously - 10 years!! I should be lots faster than what I am putting out but I'm having a hard time mentally getting into the pain cave this year.

Dirk, best of luck to your daughter today! We are having that same weather here. High of 61 this morning then dropping into the 20's. Crazy. I'm in Illinois by the way.

Anybody want to join me for a H2O hydration challenge? I think I only had two glasses of water all day yesterday. This is a real weak spot for me. Too much coffee in the winter .

Do you all sip on something during your swims? My friends in swim class do but I never remember.

Matt and Vero - Don't feel bad. I forgot my watch so I didn't get an exact time, but I think it was just on the north side of 4 minutes - probably about 4:10. So yea, there are probably people here who could do two lengths for every one of mine.

What I found today though was that by watching some YouTube videos and learning a couple of drills I was able to improve my form over the course of my swim quite significantly. It's no substitute for a master's class though.

Warren, that's all I had and I'm not even kidding.  I will be in the pool at least 3 days a week until I get back to feeling comfortable.  I'm ticked that I stayed out of it for so long!

Curtis, I think Warren is right and that you are over-thinking it a bit.  Cadence is almost like a footprint.  You will find that many different styles will work for different people.  I have a tendancy to stick to a lower cadence (in the 80's), but will spin up hills.  This year I am going to do one workout a week where I spend 10 - 15 minutes spinning at 120 cadence to get comfortable for climbing as it is a big weakness for me.  Maybe something you should think about for running is increasing your stride length instead of changing your cadence up.  I personally focus on three things.  1.  Landing soft and quiet. 2.  Staying nice and tall.  3.  keeping a long stride length, but not overstridin

Everyone else:  Do not be discouraged by your current swim times.  It will do you no good to worry about where you are today.  You all have potential to be good swimmers.  It takes practice.  And the right kind of practice.  For those of you who are just starting or even if you have been swimming for years, I strongly suggest that you take a couple lessons.  It will make a huge difference.  Swimming is a very technical sport and requires a lot of attention to little things that you would never thought of.  If you need help, as for it!  Nobody is here to judge you.  I started swimming a few years ago and could not finish one lap without stopping.  NOT ONE LAP.  I expect questions about this.

Hope everyone has a great week.  Stay away from a lot of salty foods today.  Tomorrow is weigh-in! :-)

Vero, are you trying to imply that I did not lift weights for 40 hours on Thursday? 

Dirk, its 46 degrees right now, getting into the 50s today with rain all day, then low 20s overnight.  This weather is just plain crazy.  I think I'll put the bike on the trainer today, then run outside in the rain.

Brenda, I keep my water bottle poolside and take sips when I take a break.  I'm always concerned about putting too much of anything in my stomach during a swim, but I definitely feel better if I drink some while swimming, other than the pool water I swallow when I take a breath.  

I actually take it everywhere...on the treadmill, stationary bike, weight room; and I got a hydration belt for running too.  The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is drink a pint glass of water, then I have another after breakfast before my coffee.  My fiancee finds it helpful to fill up a 32oz Nalgene each morning so she could see the ounces she drinks through the day.  Without the numbers on the side of the bottle, she just can't remember to drink.

Just a quick tip for anyone that doesn't know.  If you run in the rain and your shoes get wet, stuff them with newspaper.  It will draw all the moisture out of your shoes!  If they are really soaked, you may have to replace the newspaper a couple times.

I'll join you on this.  It is crucial for your body to keep it well hydrated.  My problem is that when I drink water when I swim, I constantly feel like I have to go to the bathroom.  It super annoying.  Maybe I'm just not sweating enough.

If you want more of these videos, just ask.  There are some that have really changed my view on swimming as well, so this is a really good point to bring up and YouTube is a great resource.

If you have some good ones I'd be interested in seeing them for one - I had to sort through some useless ones before I found the good ones. Thanks!

John

Quick thought for those of you on the 5lb weight loss challenge.

Did you know that without any extra effort or fitness that losing 5lbs will speed you up by 15 seconds per mile?  (no matter what distance).  So in a 5k that's :45 seconds!

My morning workout was epic.  It was the normal Tuesday workout, but my intensity was pretty high.

I play this game where I try to see how high I can get my average HR for the first 45 minutes on the spin bike.  I start with my HR under 100 and through the warmup, the HR comes on up.  It can be very hard to have a good average because it starts so low for the initial warmup period.  The best I'd achieved in the past was 145 bpm and to do that I had to be over 150 for the last 20+ minutes solid.

Today I had my average HR come in at 153.  That's pretty brutal for me. (I know HR is very relative). 

I then ran 5 miles at my easy speed, but it wasn't easy due to the bike fatigue.

Then I did another 45 minutes on the bike with an average HR of 148 which is still better than I'd ever achieved before this morning.  I'm more beat than if I raced an oly triathlon this morning.

I know that those of you doing Jorge's winter cycling program are hitting intervals pretty hard and seeing high heart rates.  So I don't expect you to be too impressed.  My winter cycling routine consists of tempo rides rather than intervals.  I try to maximize the amount of work I do over the entire 1.5 hours I ride (or longer on some Saturdays).

Actually changing your sstride length can be detrimental to good running form.  Really your stride should remain the smae most of the time and, as Warren said, try not to over think your running cadence.  There are ideals for everything but each person is going to be different because of any number of factors.  When you lengthen your stride (overstride) you beging to plant on the back of your foot sending shock waves through your body that will eventually cause damage.  I think when focussing on your running form each person should try to make sure they are striking on the mid foot.

Good point Dirk.  Over-striding is probably what causes a ton of injuries.  Lengthening your stride to an unnatural style is not a good idea.

Let me give you an example of how extending stride was helpful to me.  When I first started running consistently back in September I would end up very tight in my hips and each day my stride would get shorter because my hip flexors were so tight.  Now that I have been stretching them out and sort of lengthening the distance behind me that my foot can go, I still land under my center of gravity as much as I can, but my stride length is now longer and I "bounce" a lot less.  If you can teach your body to stay loose and natural, you'll be better off.  Varying your stride length may actually show you how unnatural the wrong stride length can be.  I wouldn't do it for any length of time.

Swimming vids:  A lot of Dave Scott's stuff is good:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG2Sm9CJRCs

For catch and pull:  I like this guy, one of the vids that helped me out early on:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cCyO7gIlIA

This is key.  Anyone who wants to lengthen their stride should make sure that they are doing it by reaching back further with their push-off leg and not reaching forward more with their landing leg.

Otherwise, lengthen your stride to your heart's content.  If you can practice this on a treadmill with a HR monitor on you can see if there is a benefit or detriment to your running efficiency.  At no point should your landing become harsh as a result.

I have way too much to say about running technique and it's not universally agreed upon, so I don't want to go pushing my running philosophy in Dirk's group. 

OK, went to the gym for weights this afternoon.  Just walking up stairs was a physical challenge (aerobically).  I am literally more shot than after a race.  I had to continually sit down just to catch my breath between sets.

Today was brutal! (where else can you find someone saying those words happily!?!?!? us triathletes are crazy)

I haven't eaten much at all today, maybe 500 calories.  I will need to eat more to recover from this.

BTW, I met my 10lb goal today since the holidays....but I need a few more honest pounds because that probably reflects a glycogen-depleted state.