Team KiterChick - CLOSED (Page 16)

Got the lunchtime call yesterday that my daughter was sick, so I only had to do the pick-up/doctor trip yesterday afternoon.  At home with her this morning and I'll be working a half day this afternoon.  My schedule has taken a little bit of a hit- but with some juggling I think I can figure it out.  Got a ride on the trainers in last night, and will maybe do some running after work today before I come home.  The victim is my swim, but I think I can squeeze that back in on Friday.  My main goal is not to catch whatever she has.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Good morning all.  Today I have a 25 mile ride.  I am going to try and sneak out during the day today.  We are supposed reach about 70 degrees today.  Awesome for Feb.  

I see that many of us are missing workouts.  It is totally awesome that we all feel bad about it and those workouts as hard and as painful as they are sometimes are so ingrained in us that we miss it. 

I think that I am going to get the Trek 7.2 FX.  Seems to be a good bike for what I am trying to do

I've still been spending some time on the bike and running lately.  I need to pick up my swim frequency though.  I managed to get out for an hour or so today on the bike outside and it felt great.  I can't wait to get used to riding on the road a lot again.  It really just isn't the same as the trainer.  After a couple of runs and some trainer work over the past few days I need a day or two of recovery so that's what I have planned!

Shane

Hi everyone! I got in a run yesterday morning, which felt decent. I've been on the fence today about whether I want to swim or bike after work, but I think I should hit the pool. I prefer the bike, but I'm severely lacking in the swim department, so I think I should shift some of my focus to that.

As for keeping the group together, I'm all for it. I'd also love to see how things go for everyone once the season starts ramping up and people begin their races. I noticed that some of the other groups were repeats from previous sessions, so presumably, I can put in my name again and you guys can jump back in once it reopens up if you're interested.

Hubbie - Sorry to hear your son got sick. Hopefully he feels better soon. As for the bike you're interested in, I'm not familiar with it, but good reviews are always a plus. Is it available at your LBS? If so, you should definitely give it a test ride to see if it lives up to your expectations. Glad your knee is feeling better too!

Frances - Sounds like your shoulder is on the mend, which is great. Those drugs sound rough though! As for fluid trainers, the only negative I've heard is that some can leak. I'm not sure how often this can occur, so it might be worth a quick Google search for the one you're interested in to see if it's a potential issue...

Will - Hope your daughter is feeling better and that you've been able to dodge her bug!

Ken - I'm jealous of all the outdoor riding you're managing to get in. This weekend is looking chilly up here, so I'm not ready to brave it quite yet, but hopefully soon!

Tyler - That bike looks pretty solid. Are you planning on getting some clipless pedals to go with it?

Shane - Swim frequency, or lack thereof, is killing me too, so I feel your pain. I'm looking forward to getting outside on the bike more too. Last summer, I usually tried to commute into work a couple days a week in addition to my other rides, and I miss it!

Ended up taking an off day yesterday, but got in a 1500 yd swim this afternoon and some hill repeats tonight.  I definitely feel much more fit than I did this time last year.  Tomorrow will be either a swim or a run, I am not sure yet.

Tyler- nice bike!

Will

You all may have seen this already but thought i'd posted it up for those who haven't. Had me falling out of my seat laughing, especially since I can relate way to much

 http://youtu.be/1KTEgLKhjIw

(tried to post it directly in here but couldnt, so had to post link instead)

Confessional time! I didn't end up working out yesterday, and it's not looking good for today either. I don't have much planned for the weekend, so I'm going to try to get a lot in then, but not good. Last night was actually interesting, because I got together with a good friend of mine who is a serious cyclist. Both of us were working out a lot last summer, but then got burned out in the fall, and neither of us have really bounced back yet. We both are working under the assumption that our motivation will return once the days get a bit longer and warmer. Here's hoping we're right!

Starting next week, I'm going to try to switch back to more scheduled workouts. Last summer, I used to sit down every weekend with a training plan and plot out what I was going to do for each coming week. A necessity at the time, since figuring out how to fit in 15 hours a week is no small task. Lately though, I've been doing whatever whenever, which is clearly not very regimented. Perhaps the lack of structure has been my downfall of late. It's worth a try to find out...

Chris - I get cramps swimming that are exacerbated if I run first. If it's an issue for you, you could try to swim first, and hopefully that should help. As for the DOMS, if you have the time to devote to swimming, you'll probably feel better, and it's just as beneficial.

Tyler - Sweet bike, congratulations!

Will - You seriously need to send some of your motivational vibes my way! Seriously though, I'll be sure to bring you one of the Spinervals DVDs on Sunday. Did one come with your trainer? I was thinking 27.0 would be a good start (has a few shorter intervals, then a 20 minute LT test), but that one came with my trainer, so I'll bring you a different one if you already have it.

Frances - I have seen that video, but I had to watch it again after your post because I love it! I'm definitely guilty of a ton of things in there. Can't wait until I start with my coach next month, so I can add "My coach says..." to the mix!

Hope everyone has a great start to your weekend. Just have to make it through the day first!

Finished my actual training week with a 7 mile run.  Tomorrow I am planning on an easy group ride with the Tour De Cure training group.  I haven't committed to that yet.  I am planning on coaching my JDRF Ride to Cure team so I am going to be busy with that along with everything else.  

The plan is to do 50 tomorrow.  Sunday I have a "short" 8 mile run.  

Hi Sarah- You are correct, I did get #27 with my trainer.  If you'd like to bring a different one, that would be great!  Just remember, it'll be three weeks until our next lesson, so not one that you cannot live without (I'd hate to keep you off the bike)

Okay, enough procastinating.  Today has been work from home day (thank you laid back biopharm industry) while I watch Eliza.  But its time to get that run in.

Will

So it seems like this week life has gotten in the way and I haven't been able to train as much as I would have liked, and I've also fallen off the wagon a bit with my diet.  I've also felt like some nagging injuries were starting to creep up so I decided to take three straight days in a row off from training to allow for a good recovery.  It might have something to do with the Superbowl and all, but I don't think I'll be totally back on the wagon until the beginning of the week.

I've also realized that I've neglected some strength training for the past few months and I've certainly lost more than my share of strength since doing so.  My cardio base has improved, but my overall strength is down.  This is something that I need to work on once again.  I actually realized it the other night at work when a couple of guys I work with fell through a floor during a fire.  Both were able to self rescue or rescue with assistance and are okay without injury.  But it kind of got me to thinking how despite my good cardio base, strength training can be a key to me getting to go home at the end of my shift at work.  I made the mistake of asking about crossfit in the general forum and apparently opened a bit of a pandora's box.  I realize it is not the best training for triathlons, but like I mentioned in that thread...I want to be a good triathlete, but I have to be a great firefighter.  This is a point that seemed to be missed by many that took the time to reply.

I've been considering joining crossfit because the workouts tend to be structured with a decent coach/trainee ratio.  I know people who have done it and gotten great results, but the same can also be said for those that just do strength training in the gym.  Their program does seem to focus more on functional training as an overall goal and that's something that I like.  I also like that the classes are only an hour long (although intense).  I'm not a huge a fan of structured classes, but it does seems like a good way to make use of time while leaving time for me to swim/blike/run and train for triathlons.  I also have a friend who trained for (and completed) at least one full length IM strictly with Crossfit and doing Crossfit Endurance (Regular CF for strength/CF Endurance for cardio SBR component) and did rather well.

Have any of you done crossfit and what was your experience with it like?  Hopefully some of you will have better or more useful comments than what was posted in the other thread.  It was worth posting the thread though despite the (mostly) useless responses since it showed me something about the forum that I'll keep in the back of my head before posting some future inquiries.

Hope you all are having a good weekend!

Shane

Hi everyone, hope you are having a good weekend. I raced in a duathlon this morning and it went very well. I am almost done with the race report and will post soon and let you know. It was pretty hard, but I performed as well as I could have expected and had a blast. 

Sebastian

Like you I prefer free weight over machines.  But I also find that going to the gym by myself I tend not to push myself to my limits like I should to really get gains.  With CF there's the coaches there and other people pushing just as hard doing the same thing so it seems like a positive environment.

And I definitely understand what a medic goes through.  I'm required to be one as well for work.  I've been a paramedic for seven years.  So I absolutely understand!

Shane

Swim clinic and a 7 mile run yesterday.  Unfortunatley, I started the run out way too fast and paid for it be the end.  Still, it was nice to get outside and enjoy the sunny, although cold, day.

Shane- I've had a couple of cycling friends that have incorporated cross-fit into their off season routines with good success.  Like you said, they have liked the fact that it was a) intense; and b) structured.  It was mostly an offseason activity for them- where a lot of their activity was crosstraining activities anyway.  I cannot speak for myself though- my strength training is fairly anemic and often leads me to hurting myself through poor technique.  Good luck in which ever way you go!

Will

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting for a couple days, but the one chance I got to do it yesterday, my computer started ditching its internet connection, so I guess it wasn't meant to be. As for workouts, I didn't do anything on Saturday, but Sunday was swim clinic in the morning, then almost an hour on the trainer in the afternoon before heading off to a Super Bowl party. Needless to say, I was not the life of the party and was dozing off toward the end of the game...

Hubbie - Wow, 16 hours of classtime sounds brutal. Glad you made it through!

Ken - Looks like you've been super active as always. Keep up the good work!

Shane - Sorry for the response you got in the general forum regarding your CrossFit question. It wouldn't have surprised me in SlowTwitch, but it's disappointing it happened here. I've never tried it myself, but if it sounds like something you would enjoy, and you can find the time to incorporate it into your schedule, then I don't see any reason why you shouldn't give it a shot.

Sebastian - I read your race report, sounds like things went pretty well. I haven't started working on the flying mount out of T1 or removing my shoes while clipped in coming into T2 either. I'm thinking about it this year, although I thought it would be best to wait until I start with my coach, since he will likely have some suggestions for it. I'll be sure to pass along anything useful I may learn in the future...

Chris - Good luck with the squats. Sounds painful!

Will - I can't believe there's only one swim clinic left! Hope you're enjoying your group and finding it helpful.

Nothing going on tonight, but I'll actually be taking off all day tomorrow since it's my birthday! Hoping to use the free time to swim and maybe brave the chilly weather and get in a ride outside. After that it's off to dinner at a nice restaurant in Cambridge with the new guy. Should be fun!