Julia's Group - Full (Page 13)

My graduate program is Instructional Technology...what is that? It is incorporating technology into the classroom. I am a High School Physical Educaiton and Health Ed. teacher. I've added a lot with heart rate monitors, media maker, using Excel into my classroom. So my research was whether or not heart rate monitors affect motivation levels for students to be working at a moderate to vigorous physical activity level in class, and whether their rate of percieved exertion is an accurate means of assessing how hard they worked according to their average heart rate during class activities. There are so many factors that affect the outcome, that it would be really neat to see this in a lab setting where kids volunteer to be a part. Then teacher influence wouldn't play a factor, nor would students who do anything to mess things up.....So I don't think there will be a significant difference between that and pulse count, I'm still sorting through the data and threw out individuals that weren't there or something went wrong on one of the 10 days of collection. Before throwing them out, the heart monitor group was definately higher. I know heart rate monitors/my Garmin has helped keep me focused on pace, heart rate, etc. during training, but I have a totally different mentality than these kids. They are a great group, but most complained about wearing the straps......They don't know how lucky they are.

 When you teach physical education, sometimes you are limited to technology around you, plus the time factor...plus I have found that after using a HR monitor for awhile, you no longer need one to tell you how hard you are working, because you are so intuned with your body.  I scream fitness, so this was something I found of interest.  Of course I have to make things more difficult and do the second part of it, but that is ok.  I'll let you know the outcome...right now the difference is not significant between the two, however the group that wore HR monitors were slightly higher.  I haven't looked at the RPE yet.....I'll keep you posted! 

trYgrl, your research sounds really cool, I'd be interested to hear the results too. Those ungrateful high school kids, I'd love to be part of a study like that and get to use a HRM for my workouts! I'd really like to get one at some point, because like you said I think it would help me be more in tune with my body, whereas I think my rate of perceived effort can vary wildly based on how cranky or lazy I'm feeling on a particular day.

My opinion is that wind is worse than hills!!!  At least the hills are predictable and consistent - wind NEVER is.  I always try to head into the wind on the way out - just like I try to ride UP the hill first because you never know how hard the return trip will be   The bottom line is the wind can slow you down more than you can imagine and can help you at your back as well.  Wind is probably the biggest factor in any race.  You can count on bike times being slower if there is wind on a course!!

Diane - this happens to me ALL of the time.  I need to get in a certain pace run according to my coach then my hubby says "Can I run with you?"  I NEVER say no, but I have learned to run around in circles!!  Same thing when I ride.   I will ride ahead hard for 10', then turn around, regroup, make sure everyone is good, then push ahead again after riding with the slower folks for a few minutes.  With the running, I will usually do intervals or sprints within the run ahead of the hubby, then run back to him on the recoveries.  As long as they don't mind, it's all good  

As far as training the distance or beyond - it's different for everyone depending on experience level and race distance.  For instance my first race was an OLY with a 10k run at the end.  I only actually ran the full 10k once before the race.  Now I train up to 15 miles for a 6 mile race...  I would say once you feel comfortable jogging the entire 3.1 miles, then start training longer distances.  I wouldn't run more than 4-5 miles for now.  On the bike, though it is ALWAYS good to train longer than your race distance.  This is because you want to make sure your race distance is "EASY" for you so you can perform well and still have something in the tank for the run.  And biking has not much impact like running, so not as much risk of injury.  Same with the swimming - SWIM AWAY  

My goals are :  Swim 10 hours, Bike 25 and run 15.  I am halfway there on the swim, but I'm only at 11 hours on the bike and 5 hours on the run...  I think I will still get pretty close after looking at my psycho workout schedule for the rest of the month - we'll see

 I've seen people biff it as well when they get off the bike and turn to running.  They are different muscle groups and it takes me about a mile to get my legs back.  When you train, you want to do bricks to practice that feeling and get you more used to it.  So bike hard, then do a short run after....this is a good thing to practice your transitions as well.  One of my first races I had to run up a mile hill shortly after transition and didn't have my legs back yet.  It was torture! Congrats on that feeling! 

Why do you think it's called a brick - because that's how your legs feel   I can tell you a few things for sure that will help.  DRINK A TON on the bike.  Pushing the faster rpm's will also help, but you WILL feel a little like jello for the first mile.  Trust me when I tell you it gets better after that.  Also something that ALWAYS surprises me in a race or a serious brick workout - I feel like crap, but when I look down at my watch and see my pace - it's FASTER than it feels.  Think of it this way - you don't need to do a warmup because you're already there!!  And it WILL get better the more often you do them.  You might even find yourself enjoying that feeling...  OK maybe I'm a sadist

AWESOME work.  It's great that you are finding your groove and getting back on the bike more and more.  And I hope you DO get in the pool once more - as for me I have already done 2 swims this week and still have TWO more to go!  My coach is also a sadist

I think that you will find that master's class GREAT.  Even from someone who was already fast (in my own mind anyway) I have improved a TON swimming with other people.  You push that little extra and never leave off that extra 200 at the end  

At least one 25 mile ride a week would be great and pulling the kiddy trailer will do you a TON of good with your leg strength.  Just be careful on the hills and find the lowest gear you can