Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 140)

gdsemiller - 2011-07-13 8:11 AM

Good Morning everyone.

Ok the camelback issue - Why is it called that? Is the hump on the camel where it retains it's water?   To answer these questions I found this:  

­­No -- a camel's hump is a giant mound of fat, actually. In a healthy, well-fed camel, the hump can weigh as much as 80 pounds (35 kilograms)!­ Human beings and most animals store­ their fat mixed in with muscle tissue or in a layer right beneath the skin. Camels are the only animals with a hump.

The hump allows a camel to survive an extremely long time (up to two weeks) without food if need be. Because camels typically live in the desert, where food can be scarce for long stretches, this is important.

So i guess if we put food in the camelback that Jeff uses then it should be called a camelback, but since it's water it should be walled waterback

I hope everyone has a great day

stevebradley - 2011-07-14 6:13 AM JOHANNE - Ahhh, NOW I understand the method in the madness of handing your swim stuff to Dave. And it's not madness at all, just perfectly sound and sensible. I mentioned that thought about drinking early on the bike just becasue. If you've grown used to hydrating throughout your training rides, then keep with that plan at Vineman. Eschew early drinking doesn't do much other than allow one to focus on actual cycling and getting into a rhythm, as opposed to messing around with bottles. Ultimately you save yourself just a few seconds overall by waiting to start drinking, and over the course of a half-iron that really doesn't matter too much! However, as a strategy it does have some small benefits, and "going forward" with other races in future you might want to consider it. Or not! The other thing, about getting out of the saddle a couple of times over the final mile, should help and is worth doing -- if you can remember it. I have been preaching it and employing it myself for several years -- when I remember, which isn't always. DOH! When are you heading there? Also, what is your race number and/or last name. I probably have the latter somewhere (but am too lazy to search back through the pages here!), and want it so I can follow you on Athlete Tracker. Vicarious thrills, you know?

gdsemiller - 2011-07-14 12:33 PM

Johanne - Good luck with your race on Sunday.

Anyone else racing this weekend?

stevebradley - 2011-07-08 12:03 AM ALEX - I have a few thoughts on getting faster in the water........but remember, I'm the guy who has languished on the same swim plateau for about a decade now! ....... ? First, it might not be such a bad thing that you're stuck, because it will give you some more time to work on your technique, making sure it's as error-free as possible. That may sound facetious, but it's not. It's good, too, that you seem aware of when your form is falling apart, and to your huge credit it sounds as if you have backed off any speed experiements as soon as that (form falling apart) happens. In my own infinite dopery, I pushed too fast to try to swim too fast, with the result being that I successfully implanted any number of bad habits, which haunt me still. Waaaahhhh! Second, there are a few things you can examine about yourself and your technique, and epending on what you find you can have some areas on which to work judiciously. So, I guess I will list a few of them here and now. (1) When you swim, do you sense any "dead spots", that is, brief moments in each stroke cycle when your forward momentum is slightly decreased? For a lot of people, it is the interlude when one hand is extended, but hasn't begun the pull phase, while the other hand has exited the water and is providing no propulsion of its own. Let me know if you sense any dead spots. (2) How hard do you kick....and do you think it helps? If the answers are "fairly" and "not really", respectively, then do a littl;e test for me. Sit on the floor with your back supported by a wall, and stretch your legs straight out with the backs of them pressing the floor. Now, try to point your toes to the opposite wall, and see how successful you are at this. If you can do it, you have good plantar flexion and thus have the ability to affect a decent good. If your toes won;t point to that far wall without your legs trying to lift off the floor, then your plantar flexion might not allow you to kick truly effectively. This is because your feet will mostly point straight to the bottom of the pool or lake, and act more like a rudder than an ewfficient flutterer. The other way to think of plantar flexion is that it's what ballerinas do so well when they have to go "en pointe". Let me know how your ankle flexion is (mine is poor, and I am a dorsiflexer -- not good for swim kicking purposes!) (3) Do you have a sense as to how high your elbows are while you're pulling? Try to figure this out, and that's really just seeing whether or not you have a good bend in your elbow as you start the catch and pull. Mnay people suffer from "dropped" elbows during the pull, and thus lose a huge amount of pulling ability as their hand and forearm no longer function as a powerful lever. (4) Related to #3, do you feel that your hand/arm kind of "slide" through the water, as opposed to pushing against it? While the sliding is easier, it is also much slower. There are ways to improve this, but for me it's been a very looooong journey to do so! (5) What is your cadence for one length of a 25m or 25yd pool. Count both hands as they enter, and let me know. many people have a very slow cadence, and that can lead to dead spots -- especially if their kick is poor (See me raise my habnd about this one!) There is much to be said for energy efficiency in having a low stroke count, but I really think it has to be balanced with a consistent and steady propulsive kick; otherwise, beware the dead spots! I have asked a bunch of questions there, but while you're doing thr research and composing the answers, play around with speed over very short distances. i'm thinking for isolated 25m lengths, or ebven less -- maybe just half a pool-length. This will be enough to give you a sense of what might work, without running a serious risk of losing good parts of your form. And, of course, each of the fast(er) efforts should be split from the next by several lengths of your tried-and-true "good" form -- just to keep those muscle memories intact. So, what to play with? Try increasing your cadence. If you find you do 22 strokes per length, try 23 or 24 and see how that feels. Alos, try to alter your pull so that you are utilizing your bast pulling surface -- that would be the hand and forearm as one contiguous fulcrum. which can only happen when the elbow is hig during the pull. Do you ever do the "fist drill"? This is when you make fists and swim without opening them. Do them just one or two lengths at a time, and your focus should be on feeling the ater against your forearms, which is about the right amount of pressure you should be feeling when you swim normally, but effectively-normally. It's late, and I've rambled lots, and hopefully some of the above will make sense to you. If not, PLEASE ask me to explain it again!!

gdsemiller - 2011-07-19 4:53 PM

David - Great job on your race and PR.  

Johanne - Great Job on your HIM

Ok Johanne put it in her race report so I have to ask. I was told on the long distance races, if you have to stop and make a tee tee break, you just do it in your shorts while riding.  Is this a common thing? I think it would be hard mentally to go, but it might feel pretty good.

I hope everyone is having a great week.