SWBKRUN- Miles and Miles ahead!!!! CLOSED (Page 149)

fattyfatfat - 2010-02-15 3:41 PM any of you guys have any tips for taking the training wheels off and teaching the kiddos how to ride?  jack got a new bike this weekend.  i figured its best in the grass.  appreciate any advice.

the better half is on a trans canada pipeline project so she had the day off.  i played hooky and we went to the zoo. pretty nice day here. came home and got a great run in.  forgot to charge the garmin so i just ran what i was supposed to do with a regular ol' watch.  really had a good run. 

CyborgQueen - 2010-02-15 12:48 PM Interesting about the 2-beat kick.   Lately I've been focusing on getting my stroke properly, and I've been gliding through the water...but I don't kick. :-) I know I should, but I think if I tried to do that it will throw off my stroke...I did that once, and it felt like patting my head and rubbing my tummy kind of thing...I have to "think" about it.

   I certainly would like to improve my time, and perhaps the 2-beat kick will do it.  I've tried 4 beat kick or more, and it feels off.   Any way to practice the kick technique?

TriFrog93 - 2010-02-16 9:51 AM

You might try doing "Heads Up" freestyle...start from the wall and do 1/2 a length with your head up then finish the length with regular freestyle. The higher head position will cause your hips to drop so you will need a little kick to maintain body position.

As you get more comfortable swimming with your head up it will get easier for you to switch between the two (regular free/sighting).

Robert

kkcbelle - 2010-02-16 10:44 AM


x2. I was thinking about you, Suzy, during my run and thinking that you might practice swimming head-out-of-the-water for a longer distance, as Robert said, just to get the feel of it and to figure out how to kick and keep your stroke.

John -- please explain what you mean about ranges and back ranges and such??

When I sight I do mostly what Dale said, and take a stroke with a front head lift, quickly sight, and then drop my head as I turn it sideways to breathe. I do this every 4-6 strokes, but if I can tell I am sighting well (or am swimming next to someone who seems to be sighting well) then I lengthen it out quite a bit (10-20 strokes).

Funny thing here last night... Kids are off this week, and I was planning my morning run with my husband (who works from home). I was asking him if he can man the fort until 8:20 or so, or if I should get up and run super-duper early (hoping I could grab and extra 1.5 hours of sleep and he'd be fine to keep the peace). So I asked him if he had any morning meetings and if he was cool being on, and he says, in what I heard to be an exasperated way, "You and your triathlon." (He has been very sick lately, so I'm sensitive to asking too much.) I was across the room, but my stomach sank and I just stood there in stunned silence, thinking "Uh oh, it's time for a long talk." A huge goal for my IM is to keep this mine and not have it impact the family TOOOOO much. *sigh* About 10 seconds later, he said, "That didn't come out right. I did not mean that in a bad way at all... I meant it in a 'My wife is such a stud' way." I do believe he meant it (the second way) and was not trying to back-pedal -- and I got to sleep in a bit and do my run at a decent hour. Thanks, hun!

sdalessio - 2010-02-16 12:26 PM

Hi gang!  I hope everyone had a nice weekend and holiday.  I am back at work and the kids back at school after a very long snow holiday.  My Valentine's baby enjoyed his Lego party and our house survived 9 cooped up 6 yr. boys!


Now on to more tri-related news - I HAVE A NEW BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well not really but I had my bike fit yesterday and it's like a new bike now.  I will try to give the rundown and try not to sound like a bike idiot.

Anyway, before measurements and video showed that as my coach put it "You are a giant sail on top of your bike and your hand position looks really uncomfortable on your aero bars."  And apparantly there was minimal difference in height of my head/back b/t my aero position and road position.  So not a great place to start but then he worked his magic. 

He gave me 2 options: try to fit an aero position on my road bike or give me a good road bike set up.  He did also say there was some good news that my hip angle was currently 109 degrees but I tested to 120 degrees so we had room to work.  Not quite sure what that meant but I think it's how far I can flex at the hip.  I said let's try aero since I am a triathelete.  :-)

Well - 3 hrs. later I walked out w/ a totally new setup and a few new purchases since I also told him I was completely miserable on my bike after 45 min.  He removed a bunch of spacers dropping me down, moved my aero bars back towards me so I could stop reaching out in front of me and allowing me to put my hands on a more comfortable part of the bar and moved my seat forward.  I also got a new saddle that is smaller than my old one - I could feel an immediate difference in position and comfort and added some inserts to my shoes to try and alleviate the hotspots. 

My bike looks so different and smaller.  The result was about 3" lower in my aero position, better hand position and I only used up 2 degrees in my hip angle w/ those changes so I can probably get even lower w/ time.  Tomorrow will be the big test when I have a nasty trainer workout and a full hour on the bike in my new position.  I have a feeling my limiter right now will be my neck.  I did not have very good flexibility there.  Anyone have any good exercises for that?

dalessit - 2010-02-16 11:31 AM

It's difficult sometimes when people throw out such softballs.

I think I am going to let this one go...

kkcbelle - 2010-02-16 10:44 AM

John -- please explain what you mean about ranges and back ranges and such??

sdalessio - 2010-02-16 11:26 AMI have a feeling my limiter right now will be my neck.  I did not have very good flexibility there.  Anyone have any good exercises for that?

fattyfatfat - 2010-02-16 12:41 PM

sure.

its incredibly hard, maybe not impossible, to stay on course with just one buoy.  poor technique, wind,  currents, etc... all aid in getting off course.  so, use range and bearings to help stay on course.  this is one of the tools we used to maneuver a 1000 foot aircraft carrier or tanker down a narrow shipping lane.  same principle applies ows.

do this.  stick you're right thumb up in front of you at eye level with your arm bent. look at it.  holding it there stick your left thumb up a little higher than the right thumb with your arm straight out.  line the thumbs up. your right thumb is your front range your left thumb is your back range.  now, holding your arms still move your head to the left.  now your left thumb (back range) is to the left.  to correct it you have to move your head back to the right.  opposite happens if you move your head to the right.  simple example of a range and bearing. 

so before ows practice or a race,  find these.  you already have your front range, the turn buoys.  now you just need a back range... a house, a radio tower, a big building.  this isn't always possible, but try to find something and don't be short sighted and think the first thing you see will work.  the lake where we swim has small docks with orange traffic cones on them we use for turn buoys.  not the easiest thing to see. but add a light tower on one bearing and a big white a/c unit atop a building on another bearing and voila...  i know if i'm left, right or on center.   with a little practice you won't be looking for the buoy but the whatever object you are using for a back range and instinctively you'll catch the buoy in your peripheral vision below it.  if not you're probably way off course.  and you'll only be barely peaking out of the water becasue the back range is up off the horizon unlike the buoy.  if the intermediate buoys are small or non-existent, which is been the case for all of my races, this can really help. 

pre-race.  i can usually get the first and last down pretty easy.   for the last, go to the swim exit and look at the last turn buoy then turn around 180 degrees and find a back range.  the other turn buoys, if there are any,  can be a bit more difficult but nothing a little course recon can't help with.  i'm working on map with recent imagery of the the augusta swim.  whats cool about augusta is the currents vary across the river.  so what might look like the fastest line on paper may not be. 

fwiw, lone star is going to have huge orange buoy's.  and after the last turn there should be a huge white paddle boat just to the left of swim exit you can use.  for those rockin' the sprint i think you swim right at the stern of it from the start which is real nice.

meant to add...  i used a big high school at a local sprint and it was great.  so its not just the longer courses where you can do this. 

kkcbelle - 2010-02-16 12:57 PM

Got it. I have done this instinctively, as in the past I have done tracking with my dogs and have used such strategies to know exactly where the (human) track goes so I know if the dog is following it later on. Where I do my OWS training, there are buoys but also houses in the distance and I have chimneys and roof-tops that help keep me on course. But this is much harder in a race, IMO, esp. when you get out in the middle and haven't been able to line something up. Of course the other trick is not to sight off of something that may end up moving (car, boat, bird in a tree...). Wasn't following the exit part, but I think I just got it -- makes sense. So in the middle you are pretty much at the mercy of thinking on your toes and finding something at the last second.

For lining up the exit (or starting buoys for that matter), do you find that your position in the water affects the line of objects you set up as your ranges (i.e. if you do the exit from the land)? Or is it a minimal distance that doesn't correlate and make you end up off-course? Not sure if I am making sense here...

Thanks for the great explanation and tips!

sdalessio - 2010-02-16 10:26 AM

Hi gang!  I hope everyone had a nice weekend and holiday.  I am back at work and the kids back at school after a very long snow holiday.  My Valentine's baby enjoyed his Lego party and our house survived 9 cooped up 6 yr. boys!


Now on to more tri-related news - I HAVE A NEW BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well not really but I had my bike fit yesterday and it's like a new bike now.  I will try to give the rundown and try not to sound like a bike idiot.

Anyway, before measurements and video showed that as my coach put it "You are a giant sail on top of your bike and your hand position looks really uncomfortable on your aero bars."  And apparantly there was minimal difference in height of my head/back b/t my aero position and road position.  So not a great place to start but then he worked his magic. 

He gave me 2 options: try to fit an aero position on my road bike or give me a good road bike set up.  He did also say there was some good news that my hip angle was currently 109 degrees but I tested to 120 degrees so we had room to work.  Not quite sure what that meant but I think it's how far I can flex at the hip.  I said let's try aero since I am a triathelete.  :-)

Well - 3 hrs. later I walked out w/ a totally new setup and a few new purchases since I also told him I was completely miserable on my bike after 45 min.  He removed a bunch of spacers dropping me down, moved my aero bars back towards me so I could stop reaching out in front of me and allowing me to put my hands on a more comfortable part of the bar and moved my seat forward.  I also got a new saddle that is smaller than my old one - I could feel an immediate difference in position and comfort and added some inserts to my shoes to try and alleviate the hotspots. 

My bike looks so different and smaller.  The result was about 3" lower in my aero position, better hand position and I only used up 2 degrees in my hip angle w/ those changes so I can probably get even lower w/ time.  Tomorrow will be the big test when I have a nasty trainer workout and a full hour on the bike in my new position.  I have a feeling my limiter right now will be my neck.  I did not have very good flexibility there.  Anyone have any good exercises for that?

fattyfatfat - 2010-02-16 11:41 AM

sure.

its incredibly hard, maybe not impossible, to stay on course with just one buoy.  poor technique, wind,  currents, etc... all aid in getting off course.  so, use range and bearings to help stay on course.  this is one of the tools we used to maneuver a 1000 foot aircraft carrier or tanker down a narrow shipping lane.  same principle applies ows.

do this.  stick you're right thumb up in front of you at eye level with your arm bent. look at it.  holding it there stick your left thumb up a little higher than the right thumb with your arm straight out.  line the thumbs up. your right thumb is your front range your left thumb is your back range.  now, holding your arms still move your head to the left.  now your left thumb (back range) is to the left.  to correct it you have to move your head back to the right.  opposite happens if you move your head to the right.  simple example of a range and bearing. 

so before ows practice or a race,  find these.  you already have your front range, the turn buoys.  now you just need a back range... a house, a radio tower, a big building.  this isn't always possible, but try to find something and don't be short sighted and think the first thing you see will work.  the lake where we swim has small docks with orange traffic cones on them we use for turn buoys.  not the easiest thing to see. but add a light tower on one bearing and a big white a/c unit atop a building on another bearing and voila...  i know if i'm left, right or on center.   with a little practice you won't be looking for the buoy but the whatever object you are using for a back range and instinctively you'll catch the buoy in your peripheral vision below it.  if not you're probably way off course.  and you'll only be barely peaking out of the water becasue the back range is up off the horizon unlike the buoy.  if the intermediate buoys are small or non-existent, which is been the case for all of my races, this can really help. 

pre-race.  i can usually get the first and last down pretty easy.   for the last, go to the swim exit and look at the last turn buoy then turn around 180 degrees and find a back range.  the other turn buoys, if there are any,  can be a bit more difficult but nothing a little course recon can't help with.  i'm working on map with recent imagery of the the augusta swim.  whats cool about augusta is the currents vary across the river.  so what might look like the fastest line on paper may not be. 

fwiw, lone star is going to have huge orange buoy's.  and after the last turn there should be a huge white paddle boat just to the left of swim exit you can use.  for those rockin' the sprint i think you swim right at the stern of it from the start which is real nice.

meant to add...  i used a big high school at a local sprint and it was great.  so its not just the longer courses where you can do this. 

fattyfatfat - 2010-02-16 1:13 PM

TrevorC - 2010-02-16 2:47 PM
Anybody else have a coworker ask what they were just doing???

And that is great advice too.

Happychick - 2010-02-16 12:10 PM

Well, I did my race yesterday ~ sorry I'm slow in posting Tracy and I am thrilled to report that I beat last years time by almost 3 mins!  I finished the 8.12 miles in 1:13 and couldn't be happier as this is the first race (longer than a 5K) that i've maintained a 9mm pace!!!  Now I need to start focusing on my swimming so I can actually improve those times!

gdale - 2010-02-16 12:37 PM

No...but only because I closed my office door before doing it!

kkcbelle - 2010-02-16 2:36 PM

Happychick - 2010-02-16 11:10 AM

Well, I did my race yesterday ~ sorry I'm slow in posting Tracy and I am thrilled to report that I beat last years time by almost 3 mins!  I finished the 8.12 miles in 1:13 and couldn't be happier as this is the first race (longer than a 5K) that i've maintained a 9mm pace!!!  Now I need to start focusing on my swimming so I can actually improve those times!

Happychick - 2010-02-16 12:10 PM

Well, I did my race yesterday ~ sorry I'm slow in posting Tracy and I am thrilled to report that I beat last years time by almost 3 mins!  I finished the 8.12 miles in 1:13 and couldn't be happier as this is the first race (longer than a 5K) that i've maintained a 9mm pace!!!  Now I need to start focusing on my swimming so I can actually improve those times!