KathyG's 2012 Awesome Mentor Group-Full up (Page 14)

Stef, great job on the weight loss!!!

With your travel and all you do even more impressive.

FWIW Steffi I find getting to the pool when it is cold outside pretty tough and most of my pools are INSIDE!

Awesome job on the weigh-in, that has got to get you motivated - now get out there and run! 

Enjoy the run Lorna!

Joblin - Are the pools all geothermal heated? I think it would be amazing to swim in a warm pool outside in winter. Not so sure I'd want to get out, however!

A big thank you to everyone for the nutrition info. I had assumed it was a trial and error process to work it out, and your guidance will be a huge help.

Feeling better today. Did a 30 min trainer ride, have a run scheduled for tonight, and I'm back on track. I'm always amazed at how good I feel after a workout, even a short one. Its like my body is finding a happy place when I'm done, and it is very satisfying to know I'm (hopefully) improving my health, fitness, and overall outlook on things. I am so going to rock this HIM race...

I enjoy cyclocross and this video is great....women UCI world championship in snow and mud on tough course.

How many of you wrench your own bike?

Do you do all your own repairs or just some?

Steffi - great job on the weight loss - it really does help the motivation when you make progress!

So glad that people are getting motivated to get their workouts in! That's great.

I am really enjoying the BarryP's 3:2:1 running program (run 6 days a week, three runs short, 2 runs medium and 1 long run....so for me next week - it will be Monday 3 miles, Tuesday 6 miles, Wednesday 3 miles, Thursday 6 miles, Friday 3 miles, Saturday 9 miles all at a pace that you feel you could sustain for longer than the scheduled run). The short days are really easy to get done (I've only got to run a short distance, this is no problem), the medium days are doable because I know I am at a sustainable pace and the long days only happen once a week followed by a rest day. There is more to the program - but right now, I'm just building the base.

Week three of Paleo for Athletes is down on Saturday - only 9 weeks left until my first race. I really struggled this week. I ended up caving in to my craving (of yogurt/granola/blueberries) after thinking about it for 24 hours. I decided if I was that obsessed with it - I should just go ahead and have it. Interestingly enough, I did not feel very well after...I got a head ache and just felt kind of foggy mentally. Another tool for my toolbelt to keep me on track.

So - what do you all have planned for this fabulous weekend?

I can change a tire and slightly adjust the derailer/chain/brakes...but anything more than that - I leave to the experts. I'm really afraid I might screw something up. I took a class with the local bike shop - but unfortunately left more confused than when I went in.

I don't do much, but I should learn. I'm fairly new to 'high end' bikes (barely 1 year in) and the mix of carbon fiber, pneumatic wrenches, and my own ignorance is a disaster waiting to happen. I'm going to REI tonight for some stuff, and plan on looking into the bike maintenance classes they have, particularly things beyond chaning a flat, etc.

I don't do much on my own bike.  Just the simple stuff.  Having a toddler around makes it pretty impossible to focus on fixing things right.  It's worth it to me to take it to my favorite LBS.

I just couldn't get myself into the pool this morning after teaching Spinning class.  I was STARVING!!!!  Now that I have eaten some lunch, I feel much better.  Unfortunately, I need to wait until 4PM before swimming due to the gym childcare times.  I'll be swimming during open swim time which is good training for open water swims.  I'm always dodging kids that swim into the one open lane and balls and noodles and rings and etc.  Wish me luck in getting my butt out of my nice warm house to go do it!

On Saturday, I'll be running in a 5K.  I won't be racing due to my ankle but it's part of our local running circuit.  I can't miss the first race of the year!  Later in the day, I'll be riding my bike on the trainer for 2.5 hours.  We've had about 5 inches of rain in the past couple of days.  I just can't bring myself to ride in the nastiness.  On Sunday, I have a planned 85 minute run.  It'll be outside.....in the rain.

(Edited after I looked at my Saturday ride plan.  Yikes!  Long trainer ride!)

Question for those of you who spend multiple hours on the bike trainer.

What kind of workouts do you do?  I need to be on the thing for 2.5 hours.  I don't have a power meter.  I train by heart rate.  I don't have a DVD player.  I never watch them on my computer, either.  I'll just listen to music and podcasts or something.  Any suggestions?

I wrench my own. Everything except wheel building (which is next on the list).

About 5 years ago I took a maintenance class over several weeks at a local bike coop, and last year I took a frame building class and built a commuter road bike up from bare bones. I eventually disassembled it and used the components to build up a mixte frame, but that's another story.

If you have the resources in your area to take a maintenance class you can save yourself a lot of bucks. And generally most things are not complicated, and don't take too long to fix. A good tool kit is necessary though.

Don't be scared of your bike

k

I can do some repairs, but want to learn more.

The bike race team had a women's only repair class that the head of a big shop did like 4 nights couple hours. Great class and really smart guy but to much talking and not enough hands on. I learn best by reading and watching but then I need to do it.

I want to do the 12 hour Park Tool class and found a shop near me that has the class in February and again in March. I'd love to do February but not sure how standing for 3 hours would work.

I want to be able to remove my crankset, change internal cables, adjust things and be confident that I did it right.

5K tomorrow should be despite not being 100%. Racing is plain fun being with others who enjoy running like you do.

OWS practice in the pool during family swim...LOL!

Sometimes I go to the pool with my kids and they swim/play while I do laps. They come join me at times and we do kicking races or other silly things.

My kids are older so don't need direct supervision.

Depends what makes  you tick a bit but for me I like trainer rides that have different parts and goals which helps me focus. I find it harder to do 2.5 hours zone 2 than something that I change up every 10-15'.

I'll look back at some of my training over last few years and post some ideas in next day or two.

Trainer ride ideas:

Add warm up and c/d

10' 75-80 RPM, 10' 90+, 10' 75-80, 10' 65-75

Ride Z2 20' broken in 5' blocks so you do 5' 70rpm, 5' 80rpm, 5' 90rpm, 5' 100rpm.
Ride Z2 20' doing a seated sprint 10" every 4'
Ride Z2 20' doing 100+rpm for 5' and 90~ rpm for 5' through out.
Do 2X through this.

1-2' hard Z4/5, 8' Z2, repeat 6x

Do alternating Z3 work with Z2 work.....maybe 5' Z3, 10' Z2, repeat

Mix and match but have a plan helps me do workouts. If you are feeling good Zone 3 work is good but it will have longer recovery cost.

I train by HR too and have rather long steady state trainer rides (tomoroow I'll be on for 4.5 hours and another 3 on Sunday).  I do have a power metre but I use it as an output, not to dictate effort level.

I pretty much sit on the bike and watch TV.  Tomorrow will likely be season 6 of How I Met your Mother and Sunday will be several episodes of Make it or Break It (its bright and colorful and doesn't require much thought).  I've kind of found you just get used to spending a long time on the trainer. 

I am super lucky and live with a "bike fairy."  My husband is a good mechanic and can pretty much do anything my bike needs (rebuilds, swapping parts, fixing cabling).  I am completely useless at all things mechanical, I'm not sure what I would do without him.