Hokies 1st Timer's Group - FULL (Page 14)

Amanda,

A lot of times we all have to "learn the hard" way before we truly understand the consequences of our actions.  If we experience it ourselves then it seems to have more meaning.

BTW - Smart of you to followup your long run on Sunday with a swim on Monday.

A few weeks ago one of my friends told me, "Swimming is the poor man's massage". And I believe him!

Good luck, James! Can't wait to hear all about your race!

Jeff...I was thinking about your blood donation question. I can't point to anything specific other than I've had unusual problems since then. It's been mostly joint though...I don't typically have knee pains but have since the day I donated. Sat 10-miler was tough, but it was dripping humidity, so I initially blamed that. I guess we'll see...hope everything straightens out before the half in a few weeks. I'm taking a rest day tomorrow!

Good thing the superbowl game was good...the commercials and half-time show seemed weak this year. 

Hey Melissa,

Regarding the blood donation thing - I'm not saying that you should experience anything. That's great news if you don't feel any excess fatigue. 

Knee pain - I don't know about you but if I run 10 miles my knees are likely to feel it the next day.  Hope everything gets back to normal by race day for ya.

Commercials - I'm with ya...  Totally dissappointed.  Where did all the clever marketing ad people go?

Half Time Show - In my opinion nobody could sing (or at least they didn't sound very good).  Fergie looked nice though!!   

James: May the wind be at your back and stroke the same direction as the current.  Looking forward to hearing how the first one felt.  Good luck.

Rob (I think)....so right about the poor man's massage.  I always feel better out of the pool.

My swim for tomorrow just got postponed.   Noticed TI has 2 swim workshops in Portland in March. Thought about signing up for one, but it says you have to be able to swim 50 yds.  Do you think they  mean "total" or "without stopping"?  Anyone ever taken a Total Immersion class?  It's so short, it's hard to imagine that it could help that quickly.

Have a pre-test for my next karate belt test tomorrow.  Fingers crossed...ready to move from Orange to Purple....thinking purple thoughts........purple......ooohm........purple......

Christi 

Actually, it's Amanda.

Please let me know how you like the TI workshop. I'm kicking myself for not taking one offered last month, because the next one in Atlanta is the weekend I have a race. I would assume they meant you could swim 1 length, take a short break, and swim the next length but you could call the Instructor listed on the website. My guess is they want to make sure you can get from one edge to the other without assistance using any stroke, since they don't want people to put themselves (or others) at drowning risk.

~Amanda

Edited by atlveg 2011-02-08 5:02 AM

Sorry Amanda....I knew as soon as I pushed "reply" that I wasn't sure who wrote what. 

Good idea about calling them, perhaps I will. I'll post my experience if I do decide to do it.
Christi

For you new swimmers I saw this earlier today on the main board here on BT.  It's a BT member showing their swim stroke before and after.  Thought you might be interested:

http://animoto.com/play/bZGL523wOxA2HcFovVGmCw

Looks like  TI stroke.

Thanks guys, I can't believe race day is finally here, 4 days and counting...months of work. I am bursting with excitment!!

J

Good for you James.  Enjoy the vibe before and after the race.  Watch out though - it's addictive!!

Christi...how did your belt test go? My husband and daughter just started tae kwan do so we're learning how all this works.

James...so cool! Only 4 more days!

I'm on running IR for right now. I REALLY torqued my knee...not sure how. Fortunately, got the 10 in last weekend so I'm good for the next race, but I have two in March so we'll see.

Jeff...did you decide on Sarasota Half? 

Hey Melissa,

Sorry to hear about the knee.  I know how frustrating being injured can be.  Actually this is for the whole group because I know a number of you are dealing with nagging leg issues.  The BIKE is the safest place to build your endurance.  The RUN is hard on the body.  If the injury doesn't prevent you from getting on the bike focus on your bike (and the swim) until you feel 100%. 

Running is really hard on my legs particularly if I pick up the intensity or go long.  I'll feel those workouts in my legs for days after the actual workout.  My legs had a little ache in them today after my run on Tuesday which was less than an hour long but it had about 20 minutes of Mod-Hard work.  So, I followed that session up with a bike today.  I think they will be back to normal on Thursday.

Injuries are not good (dah...).  It's okay if you miss a day or two here and there but if you start missing multiple days of training that's when you start to lose fitness. 

BTW:  it doesn't have to be outdoors on your bike, it can be indoors with your bike trainer or at the gym on a spinner.

Melissa,

I decided not to do it.  I start an HIM Specific Prep. Plan in 1.5 weeks.  That plan kicks up the volume and intensity of my workouts so I thought it would be better to not throw in an extra 13 mile run.  When I get around competitive people and my HR gets high sometimes I do stupid stuff.  It's more important to me at the moment to execute the HIM plan well this go around.

But, thanks for asking.



Edited by junthank 2011-02-09 8:05 PM

Gang,

Well it been a little over a month since the group started.  I think the one month time period is an important milestone to reach (pass) for those that are trying to start something new.  We lost a number of people that orginally signed up for the group but I think we have got a good core group that have stuck with it.  I look at you training logs on a daily basis and I'm seeing lots of pink on your calendars.  So, to those that are still with us and getting it done, CONGRAT'S.  For those of you where life got in the way the 1st month, it's never too late.  Start a streak.

Prior to joining the group many of you had already developed the habit of daily exercise.  That's great.  One thing that is encouraging for me to see is that many of you are training the discipline that is not in your comfort zone.  It's not easy doing anything that initially you are not particularly skilled at.  The good news is that with a little work and determination it gets better.  So stick with it and most importantly be patient.

Keeping it rolling team, and remember to have fun!!

Edited by junthank 2011-02-09 8:33 PM

Injuries have frustrated me for the last year.  It seems I get one thing under control and something else pops up immediately.  Mostly it is messing with strength training.  It might be part of the motivation dip I'm having right now.  

Melissa: I took a pre-test for my belt test, to make sure that I had the material well enough to test.  I passed, but it was shaky because of my groin strain.  Then I strained/sprained my thumb.....see what I mean?  I had just started doing push ups again because my tennis elbow was healed up.  

Actually test will be next Tuesday.

It's helpful to see the amount of work the rest of you are putting in.  It keeps me from slacking off.....much.  I won't get too many days behind (thanks Jeff).

How's James feeling?  Ready for the big day?  Is the weather going to be good for you?

Christi
 

Christi,

Sometimes injuries happen and there is not much you can do about it.  Other times they happen and you know you could of done something differently to avoid the situation.  On Thanksgiving weekend this year I went out and did a long run on Thanksgiving Day.  Came in from my run and my wife was prepping stuff for the Xmas tree.  She asked me to move a chair.  A chair I've  moved 100 times before.  My legs were tired from the run and I picked up the chair using my back.  Boom - I was on the floor and could barely move the next 3 days.  Could I have avoided it - probably not.  But, in the future I'll never try to pick up something heavy when my legs are dead from a workout.  Lesson learned!!  If possible try and find the patterns that have lead to your injuries over the course of the last year and avoid them. 

Also, one thing I really like about triathlon is that you work multiple disciplines.  Legs bothering you, jump in the pool and workout your upper body.  Shoulders sore, do a run/walk.  Knees sore from run pounding, jump on the bike.  When I hurt the back, the bike was the most painful for me.  Surprisingly the pool somehow stretched it out and my back felt much better after a swim.

Regarding strength training, when I lift I don't lift much weight.  I concentrate on my form while lifting.  My son laughs at me when I do squats and leg presses.  "Dad, aren't you going to put some more weight on the bar?".  My answer is always, "Nope". 

Christi,

Don't worry about the past and making up workouts.  Just focus forward.  You want to have total confidence in your abilities before JUNE 11th.  Remember, what you want to do on race day is show up and PRESS PLAY.  No doubts on race day.  Prove it to yourself in your training build up to the race.

Thanks Jeff, that's a great way to look at injuries and workouts.  You are so right.  I just need to kick my butt back into gear.  As I sit here and think about it, when it was going good it's because it was easy to fit into my schedule and didn't cause a lot of impact.  But lately, time has been limited and I've been tired.  Guess this a challenge I need to get used to dealing with.  Just press play.
Christi 

Christi,

Scheduling can be an issue.  That's one reason why I like to do my workouts in the morning if possible.  Then "life" does not get in the way as much (at least for me).

The other thing that I did that was helpful was to sit back and look at all my "wasted" time during my awake hours.  Time spent in front of the television or surfing the internet.  Our time is one of the most precious things we got so I don't like wasting it!! 

Look at it this way, if it wasn't a challenge then it wouldn't be fun!!

Team,

The weekend is here  (yes!!) and we have our 1st team member doing his 1st TRI race of the year this weekend (go James!!).  So, it starting to get exciting!!

My wife is away this weekend in Richmond, VA for our grandbabies 1st birthday so I was thinking about a team challenge last night.  The idea is to do a "Virtual TRI" as a team.  All of us are at differing stages in our development so it's not about doing a "virtual race".  It doesn't matter how far you go, or how fast you complete the challenge.  It's about completing your targeted race distance over the course of the weekend.   Yep, I have written about this in the our thread.  One of the 1st steps in building your confidence for your race is to complete the distance of the race over the course of a weekend (this works well with the Sprint, Olympic, and HIM distances - probably not a great idea for the IM distance). 

So if your 1st race is a Sprint distance of a 400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run then the idea is to do that distance as a "broken TRI" over the course of a weekend.  You pick how you want to break the distance up (i.e.. Swim Saturday morning, Bike Saturday afternoon, Run Sunday).  Whatever works best for you.  If you need to take RI's (rest intervals) during a specific discipline that's fine.  If you need to walk the 5K, that fine.  If you want to do the distance as a race simulation (swim, then bike, then run.... consecutively.... that's fine as well).  Whatever allows you to complete the distance over the course of the weekend is fair game.

We can pick a weekend that works for everybody (hopefully!!) and do it collectively as a team.  Any takers?

Jeff,  I like the idea of doing the components of our race, but I don't swim on weekends because the pool is so much more crowded.  I would do it over a 1 or 2 day period as close a possible to the same time as everyone else. Just let me know when.
Christi

James, how did your race go? 

That's fine Christi, it doesn't have to be on a weekend.  As long as it is on consecutive days or during one day that's great.  So that's you and me so far.  Let's wait and see if others want to join before we set a date.

Definitely count me in for the simulated tri challenge! I think I would go for the Olympic distances.

Weekend of March 5/6 is out for me, because I am volunteering the overnight shift of a 100 mile trail race so my schedule will be shot. March 19/20 is also out because I have a half marathon. And I have company the 26/27. Sorry I will probably be the most difficult person to accommodate, but I could do it March 12/13 or most weekends in April.

~Amanda

I am looking forward to a full report from James!!!

~Amanda

I got to ride outside today, the first time in ages! I was only planning on 15, but was having such a good time that I finished with 21 miles. The weather is gorgeous, in the mid 50s and perfectly sunny.

I had my first 'didn't get the toes out of the clips fast enough' tumble today. Luckily, it was right into a bush so no harm. Oh well, practice makes perfect. I did bend my entire right shifter out of place like a broken thumb (it seems to pivot, which is very smart design!) but was able to push it back into place and all the gears were working fine so I rode on.  


~Amanda