RFP GROUP - CLOSED (Page 16)

Cheekymoneys, I am so sorry to hear about your long run, however I couldn't help but laugh.  Thank goodness for husbands!  One thing that I have learned is that when I have a terrible run I seem to get it out of my system and come race day I knock it out of the ballpark.  I hope the same thing works for you.

KC - of course you can friend me, I am Kathy Vogt Thuneman and once we become friends I will invite you into my support group.

Jen, way to stick to it.  I believe we become better triathletes when things don't go our way but we continue on.  

Not sure if you have heard but here in Georgia at a spring/olympic ocean swim we had a 44 year old gentleman die.  The water conditions were not the best and it sounded like they had been thinking about cancelling the swim.  Overall the water rescue team said that they pulled about the same amount of people as they normally do on calm waters.  They are thinking he died of a heart attack.  Netherless it is a tragedy for everyone.

I agree with Kathy - I have always had my best marathons after terrible last long runs - you get it out of your system.  Just make sure your husband has some pizza with him on race day since that is now what you have trained with -

Tim - thanks and my foot is much better now that I've started over on my run training. I'll have to pay attention to it as I build my distance again. And as far as leaky goggles go...I have never had a problem with my TYR Femme T-72 Petite goggles. I think you should just try another brand. Maybe Aqua Sphere just doesn't fit your face shape well.

Cheekeymonkeys -Sorry to hear about your tough run. Nice hubby and way to go with sticking with it! I agree with Tim...now that you've trained with pizza you'll need it for the race, ha ha.

CrazyTallChick - In one of my races last year a 42 year old male died in the water ahead of me. It was crazy cold (61 degrees) and the rumor was that it may have been a heart condition. Just makes ya think.

We had our first open water swim practice this morning (2000 meters) and I'm doing a group ride tonight after work! Woo Hoo!

Tim, I use Aqua Sphere goggles too and I just thought that small leak was just me.  Now I know that it is not.  Do you have problems with yours fogging up in the middle of the swim and then it disappears?  It never fails in the middle of a 500 yard or 1000 yard swim the goggles will fog up and by the time I am done it clears up.  Annoying!  I am thinking of trying something different.

KC, I forgot to mention that you guys gave us the name of this fan page.  KTC Racing Team, the hubby is even going to make t-shirts to all my friends and family who shows up.

Whoa, it's been busy on the boards here! Way to go on the races everyone! It sounds like we had some great examples of RFP, especially Deb!  I will definitely think of you pushing through when I want to quit on my next long run 

Weekend workouts were great.  I went out to suburbs and did a few hills on Saturday for a total of 3.5 hours.  It got really hot towards the end of the ride and I realized that I need to bring more for fuel as I only had 1 bottle of Sustained Energy and 1 bottle of water.  

Sunday's ride was a new route for me and it was fun. It turned out to be 30 min longer for a total of 2.5 hours but no big deal b/c it was an easier ride.  Another hot day though! Almost 90 by the time I got home at 10:30.  Also managed to squeeze in some strength training class in the afternoon.  I was pretty exhausted yesterday so I skipped the morning master's swim and just did the afternoon run.   

The NATO summit just wrapped up here in Chicago so things are getting back to normal in the city.  My friend and I went to dinner after the class Sunday and saw the news brief on the police and protesters clashing.  It's still weird to think that leaders from 60 countries were all gathered here in Chicago.  I live about 10 min away from the loop so I didn't see the protesters, only the police shutting down the highway, etc. It was kind of nice though b/c on Saturday, the traffic was so light coming back from the suburbs! 

Hey Team.

I hope everyone is doing well. I have been crazy busy. Life is getting in the way a bit right now but I am hanging on and getting my workouts done - but I have not idea how I am doing it LOL. RFP. I barely have time in the day to log on here and say hello. I am sorry if I don't chime in on what everyone is doing but I will catch up. 2nd open water swim of the season tomorrow - need desparate work on sighting - any hints will be greatly appreciated.

I hope everyone is healthy and well.

DEB - you are the definition of RFP - you go you Cheeky Monkey.

Looking at a new wet suit - anyone have any ideas?

KC

Hi Team.

2nd OWS of the year this afternoon - a bit discouraging to be honest. Got in the lake around 3:30 this afternoon and water got choppy. Now I know why we start swimming at 7 am. My sighting sucks and I would like some advice or tips on that if anyone has any and I have a major pull to the left. Oh well - keep working I guess - RFP.

KC

Hi Deb.

I am experimenting right now - Coach Dave has suggested every 5 - 7 strokes and sometime I try every 10 strokes. I do have a tendency to pull to the left but am working on it - gets significant at times. I do know I cross over my middle line with my right arm upon entry. You should also know that I only breath on my left - tried to do the bilateral thing at first but I just could not do it. As far as a target is concerned, that would depend on where I am swimming but for right now there is a big radio tower on the shore line we aim for.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

KC

Good Morning Deb.

Bilateral breathing and I don't mix - I have not completely given up on the idea and do practice it a bit but think I may leave that alone until next winter. I will try the drill. I think yesterday may have just been a bad day because of the waves but I still have a long way to go.

KC

Good Morning Team.

I hope everyone is doing well. Long run for me today after work when it is hot out - oh well, have to get used to it I guess.

I am also taking the bike in for the new race wheels - my VW is going to get even faster and more aero soon LOL.

Have a great day team.

KC

Roll more.  Roll "ridiculously" as my swim coach says.  Shoulders our of the water.  And keep trying the bilateral.  You can breath one side in a race for more air (good enough for C. Wellington, good enough for me) but the bi lateral breathing will help even the stroke.  Slow down.  The strong side will teach the weak side.

Good stuff happening here.  Near PR at the time trial this week.  Swimming is good after several semi private lessons.  Run is super. Did 10.5 miles yesterday at a good pace.  I am sticking with strength exercises once a week.  Really paying off.  Only trouble is lower back pain sometimes on the TT bike.  Sucks.  Repeat every season.  Going to do the chiro and the bike fitter to see if I can get raised up more. 

The training is going well enough I think I am going to switch an oly out in mid July for Racine 70.3. Make it a B race for training toward Branson.

Coaching studies are going well.  My bike coach announced his retirement at the end of the eyar.  Unsure what to do.  I joined VQ because of him.  May go solo after the course with consultation with two coaches here, could stay with a remote VQ coach (he's in Switzerland) or with something like Endurance Nation.  I suspect I need some feedback from someone.

Crazy decision to join a biking friend for a ride last night.  He was going out for an "easy ' ride so i joined him.  after 3 miles I asked how long tonight - he said we would be looking for the group ride that left a bit earlier and probably do close to 40 miles.  Well, that is more than double what I have done all of May!  Needless to say, I have lost a ton of power from my intense training last year.   Held onto 16.6ish mph for 36 miles. 

I just found out I am free to do a sprint tri this weekend!  Short one with a pool swim and loop bike route - but finishes at a local brewery.  First time wearing my tri team's uniform - I hope not to embarrass them!

Hope everyone's week is going well!    

KC - I would agree with what Deb says about the crocodile eyes.  I haven't done an OWS this year yet but remembering from last year I tried to sight every 8-9 strokes.  Croc eyes right before breathing.  

Deb - I LOLed at your description of really slow.  It reminded me of a tip I got last year about the race swim.  Most of the time you go out super hard when the gun goes off but then it's good to slow it up a bit and get your HR down.  My coach from last year said he would take 1 stroke for every 3 strokes that the guy next to him would do.  Ridiculously slow... and then settle into a good rhythm. 

Scott - I think it's great that you decided to do a 70.3 instead of the Oly.  The gains you've made so far this year are awesome...can't imagine what it'll be like next year when you do another IM  

Brian - good luck on the race this weekend!  Very cool that it ends at a brewery. 

I had a bike test this morning and gained 5% on my previous FTP.  This is the first time I've seen steady gains throughout training, and even though they are small, I'll take 'em!  Swimming with masters tonight and then have a massage afterwards.

KC - the on ly thing i can suggest is to just practice your sighting every swim session.  Don't just wait until you are in the open water.  I try to do at least 100Y of sighting per session and honestly it has really helped.  When you are sighting in the pool without your wetsuit it works those muscles to help keep your legs up and your neck strong.  I felt so comfortable last week with my wet suit and sighting than I have in years.

Sight as much as is comfortable for you.  Depending on the situation I will sight every 3-4 strokes but it has become part of my stoke and is a very minimal head lift like Deb suggested.  If you watch the pros they do it seamlessly.  Here is a good video.  Watch the beginning and end and see how she just lifts her head very slightly as part of her stroke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vpXixraQJI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL8C6D94FD27F8EADA

Good luck! 

I just bought the Synergy Endorphin and have only used it once but really liked it.  It came off very easily and is extremely flexible.  The 2011 model is only $135 so even if I get 2 seasons out of it I will be happy.

http://www.wetsuitoutlet.com/2011-synergy-mens-endorphin-sleeveless/

Nice job hanging in there!  I would think that you should get that power back pretty easily with some good workouts.  Those workouts when you go in with someone totally unaware of what is going on are the best and really make you work but I would just be carefull to not push it too hard.  Good luck on you sprint!

Are you still coming into Chicago next week?  I will be downtown on Thursday afternoon and free after 3:30PM if you wanna get a run in? 

Nice work on the bike improvement Sarah.  Glad to see that your training is coming along.  That massage sounds like a great idea.  I have been toying with the idea might might wait a few weeks until I am really sore.

Scott - your running seems to have really gotten solid this year.  All that hard work is really starting to pay off.  I am curious to see how you do at these 70.3's.  I just registered last week for Racine so I will hopefully see you up there!  Good luck on the coaching dilemma - I would think that you would be fine with all your knowledge and now taking the coaching classes.  I have never had a coach so I really don't have much quality input.