Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 14)

DANIEL -

Randomly trawling back through the pages to see what I missed, I see one from you on page 6. Roger has answered the second part of your post about where to find local races. I too use www.trifind.com regularly, and in the past I also used the calendar at www.usatriathlon.com. However, they changed it in 2010 and I found it useless to the point of avoiding it altogether. I hope they revert it to something that works!

The first part of your post, aslking about a training plan to follow.....has that been answered either directly to you here, or indirectly through the various mentions of BT programs? If not, I will search around to see what might be best, given what you say about swimming and running.

For swimming, though, don't think at all about speed right now. You describe yourself as "horrible", and while that is a relative term I will take it to mean that you are both slow and uncomfortable in the water. One place to start, then , would be Total Immersion, which has been mentioned here before. Their website is www.totalimmersion.org, and there are lots of videos there to peruse. Most big bookstores will carry their books, too. The T.I. approach is unique in that it stresses body balance, and many of the initial sequence of drills can seem tedious (and in some cases, slightly difficult!). But thousands have struggling adult swimmers have gained confidence and competence through T.I., so it is worth checking out.

Another option is www.swimsmooth.com. You may have seen the discussion I had with Whato about this, and both of us are very big fans of Paul and his programs.

Given your concerns about hips and lower back, I support your thoughts of proceeding slowly. Especially at this stage of the season, there is no hurry to make enormous inroads into your fitness. Now is the time to Transition into a Base period, which is the actual intial stages of developing that fitness. So, for now, take it slow and,as it were, test, the waters. see how your hips/back feel with moderate running, and start small if you are really concerned. Maybe a mile, or two, and run/walk cycles if necessary.

Getting back to swimmming, how "horrible" are you? What can you do in the pool? How far, and what type(s) of strokes? And how would you describe your breathing patterns -- one side only or both sides, and how frequently? At what point do you begin to feel breathless?

Finally,as for going to an oly this season -- sure, if you can stay injury-free. If you can do a few sprints in the early-mid summer, then after that you can ramp up the mileage to accommodate a later-in-the-season olympic. I have said this several times already here, but I am a big supporter of the idea that there is much to be said for one taking one's time moving up through the distances. But the way I just described a possible scenario to your season, it is not at all unreasonable to finish off '11 with an oly -- or two?

Elizabeth was born at 10:31 am, and everyone came out of the OR healthy and happy.
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However, about an hour later, the nurse came to get me, and I went to see the doctor.  Poor little 'Lizzie' was haing a hard time getting enough O2.  Since we had decided to have the baby at a small clinic (for various reasons, none of which I regret, but if I knew this would have happened I would have made a different choice) instead of a small hospital, they suggested that we transfer her to the big hospital (over 20 km away) to ensure the best treatment.

I spent the day traveling between the clinic and hospital taking care of my wife and daughter.  Most recent update is, baby is doing fine, everything they have checked has come back negative (in other words, no real disscernable problem) What they are guessing so far is that since she didn't get "squeezed" through the birth canal, he lungs didn't get probably kick started.  Apparently this is pretty common with C-sections.  They will continue to observe and test Lizzie in the ICU at the big hospital and I can visit her up to 3 times a day (although there is really nothing for me to do)  Hopefully she will be there for 7 days or less.

Then, to end the day (and kill some stress) I went for a quick run outside the clinic.  Found a nice little route around the part to run.  1.8km for a lap plus a 200 meter lead in and exit makes for a nice solid 4km.  Beautiful night for a run too... about 10 degrees C, with very little wind.

-- Duncan

Congratulations on the gift of Elizabeth, Duncan! I pray the doctors will continue to find no problems and that she'll get stronger and healthier. May your wife also recover quickly. I can't imagine a more rewarding New Year.

MANFRED -

I just found your post to me from page 6, so here goes. Sorry I'm a few days slow with it!

I was not aware of the Sara McLarty stuff here at BT, and I will get to that later on. She is an incredible swimmer, so whatever she says is well worth paying attention to. you are doing really well to be so far along in her program at this stage of the off-season, and you will have "graduated" from her program long before the general tri season begins out there in the intermountains!

Also in the doing well department is your dedication to the rollers. Stick with them, and they will do wonders for your bike-handling skills. I had a bad bike crash in June '09 where a car backed out in front of me when I was doing about 24mph. I managed to swerve left to avoid broadsiding him, and then executed a sharp right going behind him.....but went down in trying to re-correct to the right again. But had I not some decent bike-handling skills, I couldn't've made the first two maneuvers successfully --- and both consequencs there would've been far, far worse than what ended up happening to me (separated shoulder, extensive road rash).

So! Stick with it! It'll increase your chances of living a longer life!

It toiok me quiet a while to build up my sessions on the rollers -- and also my confidence and competence. I have mine positioned between a wall to my right and the side of a couch to my left, so if I slip, at least I don;t go all the way down. If you can get a similar "protected" setting for yours, that will help.

I have never gotten extremely competent on mine. That is, i can't ride no-hands, and I can't eat a sandwich with one hand -- things that serious roadies can do. I usually use the water bottle that fits between my aero bars and has a long straw, but if you don't have aero bars than that limits your drinking. As the off-season progresses, i can manage to reach behind me with one hand for one of the bottles in the cages behind my seat, AND drink from it, AND return it --- all without tumbling. But that takes a while each year; it's not one of those skills that can be picked up where left off.

My work on the rollers is sort of intervalish -- or maybe like fartlek running. I will work my way through the gears, spending a few minutes in one setting, then shifting to another. I especially like working a few minutes in a hard gearing, then shifting to something quite difference and having to adjust inmmediately to the new cadence. I try to do this as seamlessly as possible, though, so that if I'm doing 97rpm at the first setting, I aim to sustain that right away with the new gearing.

My shifters are at the ends of my aerobars, so that means I have to change my position to get to them. The rollers are safest when one's body weight is distributed widely, which generally means hands on the brake hoods. But getting to the gears requires narrowing that base, and when I bring out the rollers either today or tomorrow, that will not be easy for the first couple of rides. this is another rollers-skill that does not translate well from one season to the next!

After a couple of sessions on the rollers, I can stay on the aerobars easily, as long as I want. I can readily shift my poistion, and watching TV is simple. I suspect that before long you will get to that point, too.

I have learned to get out of the saddle and "climb", but that only works in my hardest gearing -- big ring up front, smallest cog in back. It feels like a massive amount of grinding, though, and I can't imagine it dos the bike any favors. It feels unreal compared to any outside riding I have done. I mostly attempt it as a sort of bullheaded test of what I can pull off on them!

I hope some of the above helps!

DUNCAN -

Congratulations from me, too, and also my strongest hopes that rthe problem is only as you decribe it. I too am aware of it, from Lynn's own C-section experiences, and it is quite common -- just a minor "speed bump" on the long highway of life for her!

And let us raise a toast to the therapeutic benefits of running, which helped you at the end of a very long day. Cheers!

ELLEN -

Seeing one from you on page six.......

Two people from my first group did Eagleman last year, and both found it very hot overall, and the swim quite difficult. Part of the latter was due to no wetsuits, but also the current in the Choptank was desceptively unruly. If you can find the results from people who have done Eagleman more than once, you will see that thier '10 swim results were much slower than previous years' swims. It might be that the course was slightly mismeasured long, but Vigo has been running it for so long that I can't imagine him making a mistake like that. Not wearing a wetsuit will increase one's time in the water, but not to the degree that I found in the results. So, I'm sticking to the unruly current viewpoint!

That's one thing about Columbia -- it's real hard to mismeasure that course! The swim in Centennial only has so much space to work with, and the bike and run are essentially "closed loops". I guess the finish line can be misplaced a few feet in either direction, but other than that it's a locked-in 10km. and the bike doesn't have any wiggle-room, either!

I've done Columbia four times and E-man twice; did I mention that already? Both were done in '03 and '04, and then just Columbia in '05 and '10. Neither for next year, although I'm already kind of regretting the decision about Columbia.

As for Nations, amybe soemday. this coming seson is likely out, as I have committed to a trip with Lynn that will have me away from racing for the first part of September -- most definitely including the Nations weekend. I have done Chicago and New York City triathlons each twice, and love the big-city tris. Nations looks to have a great course, so that's why it's high on my wish-list. Just not for '11.

Finally, i empathize with the addition a course can make to a teacher's free time. My final seven years of teaching corresponded to years I was deep into triathlon, and even though I was feeling very stale doing grade five and wanted to either go up to six or down to four, I knew that the change of grade would include a radically increased workload......and I opted to stay put in five and remain stale! (And I worried about that, even though I had previously taught both six and four!)

Finally-finally, you're lucky to have a end-of-year birthday! I am Jan 13, so the year I hit 59, I was arguably the oldest USATmember in 55-59. And it will be that way when I hit 64, and 69, and so on. I liked it much better when your age-group reflected your age on the day of the race; it's now sooooo unfair to those of us will real early-in-the-year birthdays! ............





Anyhow, welcome to 60-64!

DUNCAN Congratulations! I'm sure everything will be fine. How exciting the baby has arrived.....Whato

Just an interlude here, between hopefully otherwise Meaningful Posts........

My calves have been okay today, not living up to the threat they posed last night. WHEW! It may have helped that I have been in compression calf sleeves since getting into the car post-race, but I'm just happy Im not hurting!

How many of you yuse compression calf sleeves? if you don't, maybe think about getting some. There are many players in the market now, and the ones I use are De DSoto and Zensah. I also have 2XU , but are less fond of them.

I have never used mine during a run or a race, but many peole do and swear by them. I use mine regularly for recovery purposes (even sleeping in them) after tougher efforts, and for thsat purpose I swear by them!


And if you wear them in public, either during races or runs -- and especially after races and runs when you are in shorts -- your Geek Quotient rises by a factor of six. For true!

Duncan, Congrats of the birth of your daughter.  Happy New Years to everyone.  I do have a question.  I was wanting to get everyones input on if you take anyting to help with the energy during your training.  I'm training in the morning 5am since the evenings are crazy with gymnastics and baseball and other sports.  I wake up at 4:30am and really dont have time to eat breakfast until after the workout.  I wanted to see if anyone knows of something that I can take to give me some energy and help me get through my workouts, also if there is something I need to take after to help my muscles.  I went to GNC and the guy there sold me some whey protein which I have been mixing with milk and a banana and taking it before the workout, but I have been reading different articles and the way it sounds I should be taking the protein after the workout.  This past week my workouts have been going ok considering I have not been to the gym in 10+ years and I'm also getting up early, but It really takes a lot to get through them.  I know over time I will get adjusted to the early workouts and also even working out.  So if anyone can give some suggestions as to what you may be taking to help get through the workouts I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
George

What is compression calf sleeves?  If it helps then I would love to learn more about this.

Thanks
George

GEORGE -

Have you entered the wonderful world of gels yet? These are a good source of carbohydrsates, and will help with your workouts -- especially if you aren't getting anything much into your system at that hour of the morning.

The only problem with gels is that for some people they are unpalatable. I agree that they are an acquired taste, and I urge anybody I talk to who does this stuff to work at acquiring it! The rough rule-of-thumb is one 15 minutes before a worlout, and then every 45 minutes or so during. I dont follow the later for most training, but i try hard to observe it during races greater than sprints. So, I will have one before the swim, one toards the end of the bike, and one partway through the run of an olympic-distance tri. For most of my training runs I will have one before; on training rides, maybe one during. For runs over an hour I will often have a second, and the same for bike rides over two hours. Beyond those levels for either run or ride, I adjust as I see fot -- how I feel going into it, what the temp is, and so on. I never use gels before swim training (well, once in a blue moon), and never for lifting.

Gels are not wake-me-ups, but rather provide a boost to your energy systems. This comes in the form of about 25g of carbohydrate per serving size of about 40g per packet. And herein lies one part of the palatability problem -- some people do not like the carb taste, especially if it's maltodextrin (which, as it happens, is the more effective carb source). The second part of palatability issues is texture, but that varies from person to person. Some folks hate the thicker ones, others hate the thinner. The third part is just the taste of gels, which to any given palate MIGHT seem artificial, or just plain yucky. But think "acquired taste"!

The major gel products are Hammer Gel, Gu, CarbBoom!, Clif Shot, Accel Gel, and Power Gel. I find Accel and CarbBoom! to be thinner, Gu and Clif to be thicker. I tend to dislike the berry-flavored ones, although in real life I love all berries! Most chocolate ones sit well with me, but even though I am a vanilla junkie in real life, almost every vanilla gel disappoints me immensely.

the thing is to buy a few a do your own taste testing. MAKE SURE YOU CHASE EACH GEL WITH WATER! This is per the instructions as it increases absorption.....but also in the beginning you might well need the water to help you through the process! You can find them at most sporting goods stores, many pharmacies, and places like GNC.

As for whey and other proteins -- after workouts is best. The whole topic is protein during endurance workouts is hotly debated, and while most gels and endurance drinks do not contain protein, some do. AccelGel, for example, is made with a 4:1 carb:protein ratio, which reflects a particular school of thought on the matter. (Their complementary drink, Accelerade, has the same 4:1 ratio.)

Whey is great for recovery purposes, better than soy. Any protein source is best when it gets into the system within an hour of the end of a workout, so keep that in mind. If the taste of whey bothers you, you can search around for products that contain whey in a flavored product. just as one example, go to www.hammernutrition.com and see what they say about Recoverite. hameer also carries a high-quality straight whey product, with two of them now being flavored. the advantage to recoverite is that it also contains carbohydrates and a broad array of electrolytes, all good to get back into one's system following a workout.

Finally, many people use whey before they go to bed, as nocturnal absorption is supposed to be highly beneficial. Swig, swig!

GEORGE again -

I have to head off to Ottawa, so I'll let you hear it from the horse's mouth, regarding the calf sleeves. Go to www.zensah.com, click on Men, and then go down to Compression Calf Sleeves. Voila! Somewhere there you will find the "science" behind them.

Let me know what you think!

Duncan

Congratulations!!!  Daughters are an absolute joy....until they enter middle school.  Glad they are both doing well.

Roger

First run of the year and my first half marathon done! Not bad considering my first ever 5k was this past August. Since my injury problems after Thanksgiving my goals were: 1. Don't re-injure myself, 2. 3 hour or less time and 3. Finish in that order.
I havent seen the official chip time yet, the clock read 3:03:?? so my time was close. I don't feel injured but experience has taught me that I don't always notice until the next day

George,

My wife brought me some compression socks like Steve was talking about for my birthday a year back. I thought, what a lot of rubbish, then I wore them a couple of times to aid in recovery - wow I had no idea they would be that good. So, if you're on the fence this may help.  They work as suggested. 

Take care,
Whato
 
 

I thought I would add my planned races to my signature line as a help in reminding myself to stick to my workout plan. I'm not sure how other people are but I stay more motivated if I have something to work towards. That said, I learned something from how I planned my 2010. I think I over scheduled myself and kept feeling like I was stalling out between a taper week then a recovery week (even with shorter races, I took it a bit easy) I felt like I was just getting back up to speed and then I had another race. This year I tried to space things out (except for September and then I was like a kid in a candy shop ) a bit more. We'll see if that works.
Johanne

Congrats Duncan.  There is nothing like a Daddy's little girl.  I can say, "No" to my boy all day long but my 8 year old red head has me wrapped around her little finger.  She always has since the day she was born.  Good luck! 

All 3 of my kids were C sections but we were lucky that none of them had the breathing problems that you have mentioned though that was talked about. 

JEFF -

You did it, and hope-hope-hopefully no injuries will rear their gnarly heads of gnashing teeth. Garden-variety soreness is perfectly acceptable and too be expected, but beyond that..........uh-uh! Go easy on yourself the next few days, okay?

Was Allen as fetching as when you were last there?

And finally, belatedly, think you for the translation of res firma mitescere nescit -- it's a good one!

ROGER -

Good line about girls and middle school!

(Would any of the women here care to either support or take issue with that? Just checking! )

MANFRED again -

Here's another thought on rollers....

Maybe you've discovered this already, but balance/stability is easier when your gearing is moderate to hard. So, try your small ring up front and your third-smallest cog, or the big ring and a cog in the middle. Either way will be more stable than easy gearing that encourages a fast spin, which usually is less controllable.

Hope it helps!

I wear compression socks after hard workouts and I've seen a big difference in recovery as well. Plus they just make your legs feel overall good Last year Dave and I ran a 1/2 marathon and he had to get on a plane to Singapore 4 hours after the race. He wore his socks for the first time (he's a a little old school and after I bought them for him he just looked at them for a while) and got off the plane hours later feeling pretty good. They are certainly worth a try.
Johanne 

I'm a firm believer in compression sleeves if you have calf problems.  I use to have horrible calf pulls that would prevent me from running for a couple of weeks.  I started to use compression sleeves during my long runs and I have used them for a couple of races.  They hold the muscle in place and I believe provide better blood flow to the muscle.  I have even run with them on the treadmill.  Yes, a geek runner for sure. 

I started to do yoga about a year and a half ago and haven't needed the compression sleeve since.  If you have tight calf muscles, compression sleeves are a saving grace.  Stretching is even better especially after runs and Ice baths.  I hate ice baths but they are really good when you over do it. 



Edited by jslacker 2011-01-01 3:29 PM

Middle school AND high school! I have 2 girls, one was more the typical girl with drama attached. Middle school brought friend drama and high school brought my parents are idiots drama Our other daughter pretty much stayed drama free. Overall, we had it pretty easy with them. Now at 20, 22 and my son at 24, life is great.