Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 13)

What a great day everyone - Nicole so glad you enjoyed your run.

I took DH and 2 friends snowshoeing to a spot where we normally mountain bike.  OMG 5 miles and my legs and hips are toast.  It's that awesome so tired feeling......and now onto pjs and the couch for the rest of the day

huh.  Elevation gain felt like more than 383'!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/256747515

Happy 2013

My first workout of the year is in.  Took the dogs for a quick mile walk around the creek to get the legs moving & then jumped on the bike for a 1 mile warm up.

Then I went on one of my favorite training rides.  It's not so great on distance, only 15.25 miles, but its the geography that makes it interesting.  Just a mile in there a sharp downhill run that leads to a 6 mile slow straight decline. The wind at this time of year is always to my back on the out ride although pretty calm today, just 3 mph. Then I have to turn around!  Six miles of slow incline ending in a sharp hill with the wind in my face.

Last year I was happy when I got under an hour as I was new and just getting in to riding.  Turned it today in 49:24 or just over 18.5 mph.  My best time by a long shot.  My goal for this ride is under 45 minutes before my next event in April.  I've really gotta work on that hill.

Only thing left for today is some yoga later with my wife.

Now if only I can make some progress on my run!

Great to see everyone off to a good start for the New Year! Short easy run completed. Hopefully, the calf issues are behind me...but I'm going to continue to take it really easy.

Hate for the holidays to end but I'm looking forward to getting back into our usual schedule. Daughter starts back at school on Jan. 3 and son heads back on 3rd as well. Things should be exciting in Tuscaloosa over the next 5-6 days

Randy

Good morning all!!

Had a good 1400 yard swim today - data available if you are interested......I did some tennis balls drills and some kicking drills.  Hopefully my new Bernhardt book will be here today and if I'm so inclined I'll do some heart rate testing on the bike later too.

Today DH's car is going in for service so he's got mine and I get a work from home/pj day.

Hope you all have a good day and a good training session, whatever you decide to do.

Hi everyone,

I am doing most of my exercising indoors right now out of weather necessity.  I have been putting the treadmill on a 1 incline.

What do I need to do on the stationary bike in terms of settings to more closely mirror actual "riding"?

Thanks,

Mary

Had my first Masters practice today. Those guys make me feel SLOW.  That's good though! Hopefully if I keep at it, I'll be able to keep up with them some day! I was happy that the coach took me aside once to give me some pointers on my form. 

I'm going to have to work on being a morning person. Waking up at 5:15am to get to the pool at 6 is something I'm going to need to get used to.

Training schedule calls for a short Z2 workout today and I'll get that done at lunch. Also hope to get my bike re-fit after work in order to get my aero bars feeling better on my wrists.

Catwoman - 2013-01-02 8:24 AM Swim- Check, Bike later today. Question for those of you who live up North. We're going to Colorado for a few days. The pool that I'll be swimming at is heated but outdoors. What is the warmest way to get from the locker room to the pool and back again? Some my friends at Masters (who grew up in NY) said you run from the locker to the pool and don't even stop to get your towel. Any other suggestions? I don't want to look like the stupid Texan at the pool. What exactly do you wear to and from the pool? Anything besides your swim suit?

LOL now that's funny.  We are going to CO at the end of the month and this never occurred to me Are you staying in a resort where you'll never see those people again?  I'd just go with it!

Catwoman - 2013-01-02 8:24 AM Swim- Check, Bike later today. Question for those of you who live up North. We're going to Colorado for a few days. The pool that I'll be swimming at is heated but outdoors. What is the warmest way to get from the locker room to the pool and back again? Some my friends at Masters (who grew up in NY) said you run from the locker to the pool and don't even stop to get your towel. Any other suggestions? I don't want to look like the stupid Texan at the pool. What exactly do you wear to and from the pool? Anything besides your swim suit?

WETSUIT!

Randy

In my only HIM the air temp was around 32 when we started the swim. Fortunately the water was around 73-74 so it wasn't bad at all once you got in. It was so cold there was frost on the visor of my helmet when I got to T1

Randy

Mary, I wouldn't too much about "actual" riding conditions. Really just being on the bike, keeping a high pedaling cadence, and just getting time in will add to your bike fitness. On the other hand, some of the bikes at my gym have programs you can go through, and one of those might help simulate real world conditions.

Catwoman - 2013-01-02 7:24 AM Swim- Check, Bike later today. Question for those of you who live up North. We're going to Colorado for a few days. The pool that I'll be swimming at is heated but outdoors. What is the warmest way to get from the locker room to the pool and back again? Some my friends at Masters (who grew up in NY) said you run from the locker to the pool and don't even stop to get your towel. Any other suggestions? I don't want to look like the stupid Texan at the pool. What exactly do you wear to and from the pool? Anything besides your swim suit?

Finally, a mentoring question I'm qualified to answer!

Rene -- your note reminds me of when I took my brother & his family (all from Atlanta) to the Banff Hot Springs in January.   Pool temperature:  100F.  Air temperature:  0F.  If you got your head too far out of the pool, your hair would freeze.  Quite funny as the kids were all OK (short enough to be close to the warm water) but my brother and I are both 6 foot plus -- constant head freeze.  

There are different ways to deal with it -- the key is to get dry as soon as possible.  What I typically do is wear a nice, warm, dry, fuzzy sweatshirt out on the pool deck.  It'll keep you surprisingly warm (at least for the few minutes of cold that you'll face).    And trust me, you won't be the only one out there like that.    Then when you get out of the pool -- quick towel-dry, and put the sweatshirt on immediately.  Wrap the towel around your hips and you'll be in decent shape.

Even better is to grab two towels (if they'll let you).  Towel 1, you use to dry off your body -- then wrap on your head  (particularly if you have long hair).  Towel 2 then is nice and dry, and you can wrap around your shoulders (if no sweatshirt) or your hips (if you have sweatshirt).

In any case -- do minimize your time outside -- but this should take the edge off a bit.   Getting warm after a cold swim is one of a northerner's great pleasures in life.  (Right up there with having a hot chocolate by a roaring fire, and putting on comfy winter boots after a day wearing those dreadful concrete downhill ski boots!)

Good luck!

Scott.

Mary-I think Jason was spot on with his advice. Try to mimic things as much as possible but the main thing is to stay consistent with your training.

For whatever reason my coach has been incorporating alot of ankle band swim sets into my workouts lately. I've used a band off and on over the years as a kind of drill work but never for longer distances or timed sets. With the band sets in warm up and 12x50 band set in the main swim I ended up with 800 yards swimming with an ankle band in a 3000 yard workout. It was exhausting but what a difference it makes when you take the band off.....those first hundred yards or so seem so easy. I guess it helps but boy was I whipped when I got out of the pool. Optional easy spin on the bike this evening.

Anyone see an increase in numbers at the pool/gym with the New Year?  I counted 3 new swimmers while I was in the pool today.

Randy 

I had a followup with my PT on my leg issues and we were talking about things you could do to build upper body strength at home without any equipment.  We discussed pushups, which I am not very good at, so he suggested the following routine given that I have stairs in the house.

With my feet on the ground I put my hands of the fifth step and do pushups that way.  Not much angle and easier to do than on the floor.  Then drop down a step (moving the feet back) which will make them a bit harder and do half of what I did on the previous step.  Continue down the stairs until you hit a minimum five on a step, then stop.  So I am doing:

Step 5 – 40

Step 4 – 20

Step 3 – 10

Step 2 – 5

Step 1 – 5

I have done it twice today.  He wants me to do a minimum 2, max 4 per day.  I think it is a lot more useful than doing six or seven pushups on the floor and then stopping because that is all I can do. I will let everyone know how its proceeding but I thought an idea worth sharing.

Renee-My pool is indoors so I've never had to do that but all I can think of is maybe some warm slippers to slip your feet into when you get out of the pool. I hate cold feet.

No training for me today. I woke up with a migraine and then my lower back seized up. It's a problem I have on and off. Hopefully will be ok to bike tomorrow but today's not my best day. Also it's the second swim I've missed this week and I missed last week's swim too so I'm feeling kind of guilty.