Baowolf's New Years Resolution Group-Closed (if are stuck with no group PM me) (Page 16)

The joys of winter continue. Another snow/rain/sleet/ice event today.

Topping that off is the fall I took down some (granite) steps near my driveway a couple days ago. Slipped on some ice, feet right out, and landed hard on my side. some awful looking bruises, and pain. Nothing broken, except other than the hope of ever seeing warm weather again. I'm sore & hurt enough that I'm on the shelf for a few days. Hip/side/shoulder on right side banged up. Didn't hit my head for which I am very thankful. That would have been quite ugly.

Pam, ummm....you were on vacation, no??? Take it easy on yourself will ya?

Mike, ouch! So glad you didn't hit your head! Dadgum Puxatawny Phil!

Crazy busy with life and work this week, so just a drive by post. Wanted to report some forward progress on my foot. Feeling much better after only two ART treatments (3rd is today). Haven't given it a true test (walk/jog outside), but have done a 30 day shred video a couple days which includes jumping jacks, jump ropes, butt kicks, and lunges. All of which involve flexing/stressing the foot and would normally have had my foot hurting the rest of the day and into the next. I had forgotten how much/quickly this helped my ITB problems. Should be what I go to first instead of last! Also liking the 30 day shred video. Only 22 minutes, but just what I needed to get something going on strength/core.

Carol, good news on the workout shredding tape helping out your fitness and staying off that foot. Hopefully, that ART will help cure your issue. My wife's cousin has her own business and she specializes in that; it helped with neck problems about 5 years back....they havent come back since.

Mike, that totally sucks. I hope you recover soon.

Due to the snow that Mike mentioned earlier, I had to take to the dreadmill. I don't know when this happened but I now HATE the TM with a passion. I overheat like a son of a gun and my runs always suck. I'm thinking I may have to do the elliptical or stairmaster if I can't get outside because its just bad. I tried to do intervals for a little over 3 miles...I did them but it was just not good. On the good side of things, I helped Kiley with her lifting today and she got a PR on her bench press by 15lbs

My racing plans took a big hit yesterday after speaking to my CPA....I guess I'm only getting a return of about half of what I got last year. My family uses that return money for kids activites and our NH summer vacation. My initial projections show enough money for those things and nothing else.....that doesn't bode well for the race fees I'll have to incur to participate in races. Of course, I can work the overtime to save money for those fees but when I do that, my training goes into the crapper because I'm working 14/16 hours. I'm half complaining, half thinking outloud looking for any answers that maybe forthcoming lol.

Jay, I live west of the Nation's Capitol. Blizzard today with up to 2 ft. of snow. I have done a lot of treadmill running this year compared to others. I think the elliptical is a great cross training tool. It is similar but much less stress than the tm.
As far as paying for tri racing goes, it is a beg balance for me. I don't do many races becuase of the cost. I plan to stay local, up to a 2 hour drive, except when I run Boston in April. It does not just affect me but my entire family.

Mike, take care of the trauma, I know you will. We have to allow ourselves to heal when we are trying to train. It is a mental challenge but we have to be strong when we need to hold back. It is only temporary, that is what I tell myself every time I have to back off.

I am snowed in, our school system owes 9 days of school if we are off tomorrow, which we will be. But, it is what it is.

Have a great day everyone. If you are dealing with snow, just think SPRING will be here before you know it!

Wow 2 ft? We got maybe 8-12 inches, and it's been raining and above freezing so it's slowly melting away. Matter of fact I was able to squeeze a quick run outside during the drizzle (37 degrees out). Getting out feels better than jumping on the trainer. My household all got a snow day, and hope for one tomorrow too! Funny that as an adult I still get giddy over snow days. Here's to never growing up!

Just got back from my run, 5F out and snowing... how crazy are we?
I had to literally drag myself out but once started it was not too bad.

Had a great week so far. Tomorrow is off, going to the Montreal Cycling Show! Woot!

Be safe out there!

Phil- hey man I got some 66mm and 88mm Carbon wheels from Real Design. They have been around for four years. Do some research on them. They are based out of Nashiville, Tn. I came across them from a guy in Knoxville. He had one them in a door Prize at a race and sold them to me.

Pam- I could eat that Burger.

Great to see everybody doing great training. I read an article this week talking about the importance to continue everyday of training. They referred to the P90X Tony Horton saying "Training is easy! Just get out of bed and push Play and workout." Well I haven't been pushing play but I have been hitting the pool, trainer, and treadmill. I am on track of having my best month of training since I started triathlon training in March of Last year.

Steve- What are some training workouts with one leg spinning.

Thanks
Happy Training
Happy Valentines day!
Jared

One leg spinning is usually inocorporated into your warmup or whatever. Basically you go 30 seconds with only the right foot clipped in, then left only, rince repeat each leg 2-4 x. You could do 60sec if you really wanted to. It helps you not have a dead spot at the top of your rotation. This is much easier to do on a trainer than on the road.....

Mike - sorry about your spill and so glad you didn't seriously injure yourself.

Carol - Great news on your foot! I look forward to the day you walk/run pain free.

Jay - The treadmill is a tough one.

Steve - was this the first IMCDA training week or does it start MOnday?

It's been a fairly rough week for me. A friend came from out of town and we stayed up really late, then got up really early to go to the airport. I did manage to get in a very short run after work that day though it was all I could do being as tired as I was. And I did a coouple other workouts as well. I'm still struggling with being motivated to put in all the work. Most days I push through by telling myself - "you are never going to WANT to do this, so just do it". Some days that works more than others. I'm also having some radiating pain in my left foot and I don't know what it is from. Maybe I pushing too much too quickly, but I thought I took enough time before I started running full time. Oh and I've also been having some mild pain in my left knee. Probably all related.

Ya starting this week Samantha, but totally smoked yesterday and today. Not sure what is up with that.

Samantha, how old are your shoes? Usually radiating pain is from a problem farther up stream like lower back, ITB, or something actually in or around th knee like I had last year. Does it hurt when you walk, only when you run, how long after you stop running/walking does the pain stop, is it painful the next morning, did you feel a pull, does it throb or aches?

Mike this is supposed to be your healthy year... take care of yourself.

Edited by Baowolf 2014-02-14 4:22 PM

Ok thanks Steve for the trainer tip.
My wife surprised me with a Banana Cream Cheesecake last night!!!!
There is no way this is in the nutrition plan! Extra Workouts for me I guess!!!

Mike D - The snow is a real bummer and the fall, Ugh. I keep looking long range forecast with little comfort yet. Feel better, spring will be here before you know it.

Carol - Glad things are looking up. That work out sounds great.

Phil - Great job getting outside. Cold is no fun, so for you to get out in the cold and wet - Congrats!

Jay - Hear you on the budjet and time crunch. I am starting to put in some extra hours which will make training much harder to fit in. I looked at Team in Training and another charity but they have minimum fund raising levels. I do not need another job right now as much as I like the idea of charity racing. I will be minimizing my racing to a 1/2 Iron distance race and maybe a couple 5-10K's. Training in the gym is tough but there are some postives like Steve says. Things you can do/measure easier in the gym than outside. On the treadmill I have used it to do some shorter distances with work to get the leg turnover up. Still missing running outside because like you said the heat is tough and I end up totally drenched. I have been on the bike machine a lot which has a power meter to measure progress. Still checking that long range forecast though.... nope.. no real thaw yet.

Great to hear all the activity. Keep it up.

Another day, another foot of snow, this time with blizzard conditions overnight. So much for outside running for now.

Still hurting from the fall as my left shoulder is painful enough that extending my arm up is very painful. Swimming isn't working at all.

An heading out if town for a few days but will have access to 24 hour gym and indoor pool. Will get restarted!! Will bike tonight when the snow is swirling outside

Holy snow again here! 16" by morning. I'm taking I I'm taking advantage of the control I've got indoors to do intervals. Really actually enjoying the trainer.

Hope all are well, taking care of foot injuries, getting out when you can.

@Steve/Samantha

4th week of my training plan is accomplished. Should be a short week for me I just followed as adviced and focus on recovery but I still feel worn down. I just got intel that my HIM this April will be a hilly ride and hilly run more difficult than my previous (hilly ride/flat run), How important are hilly rides in training? I dont have this luxury.How did you train I know IMCDA and IMLT is really HILLY!! .I can plan my longrides on time for hilly bike ride events. In my last event the hilly ride wrecked my legs on the run. We have a four storey parking garage at work just wondering maybe i can run or ride that for practice.

@Samantha
I hope your foot feels better and nail where the pain is coming from.

@Phil
IF you need a Don Fink’s “Be Iron Fit” HIM TPs let me know. I have the competitive and intermediate. They are 16 week plans.

@Linda/Jay
I hope I can be as careful as you guys in spending in races.

@Carol
Hope you can go back to running again the weather next week is great for both of us.

@MikeD
Sorry about the fall ?

@Everyone

Sorry about ya’alls bad weather we don’t have snow in Texas and believe me the weather makes up to it in the summer we ride and run under the scorching heat of the sun.
Carl





Edited by strykergt 2014-02-15 9:36 PM

IMLT makes IMCDA feel like a very flat ride on the bike. You can simulate hills by doing hard effort in the highest gear on your bike on the trainer and be in the 70 ish rpm range.

You need to do hills if you are going to race hills, or do simulated hills etc. If the run is hilly you even need to practice some downhill running in the last couple months before the race. For hill repeats you only really need a 2:00 uphill hard effort on the run. By hilly do they mean lots of short 6% grade hills or lots of long 12% grade hills?

Steve

Here's the profile of bike and run.

Bike
http://www.mapmyride.com/us/marble-falls-tx/hits-triathlon-series-m...
Run
http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/marble-falls-tx/hits-triathlon-series-ma...

let me know whatcha think.

Thanks Again

Carl - Texas has hills? I actually visited my cousin in the Lake Austin area last year during a business trip and there are some hills. The profile does not look too demanding though. Some hard effort on a trainer will be good. Better would be to ride the actual course if you are close enough. Samantha did that for her IM debut at IMCDA. Worked out well for her.

Jennifer - THought of you and the NE crew as that last storm was developing. Happy shoveling. You can do like Mike D and add it to your WO totals.

Steve - Where is that picture of your WO hill? Too bad we all don't have hills like that to train on.

More shoveling WO's for me too. More of the fast pace low effort type though which was nice for a change. I am glad not to be living in a city as there is nowhere to put all this stuff. Did some sledding with my 14 yo daughter and it was reassuring that the gym is working because I was out pacing her back up the hill.

Let me try to find it

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/photos/get-photo.asp?p...

The hills in that race don't look bad... but I would still try to get some variation in my runs and bikes to get used to climbing/descending.

Edited by Baowolf 2014-02-16 3:47 PM

Hi All,

Whew, I hope everyone is thawing out. The temps that some of you run in.......shiver. It gets in the 40s and I wimp out. Great training everyone.

This morn, as I was lying in bed complaining about how tired I was, hubby very gently reminded me that there is a difference between good tired and bad tired. Ah, he is so right. So today, I'm changing it all. I've been a slug since the mary (two week planned recovery and then two weeks of lots of excuse making. Phil, you and I are alike in that.). Had a decent run this afternoon and then went out again tonight at sunset. I've started back on the vitamins that I'm supposed to be taking and also started back on the green stuff that makes me feel better. Tomorrow I will get up at 5am and go running, biking, or do some stretches and I will start back on a schedule. Of course it helps that our temps have risen now.

Carol's BT friend is moving to Tally (for a few months) and I get to meet her tomorrow! Yay, it may not be Carol but it's closer than I had. I'm looking forward to it. She will be going to the tri-club meeting with us tomorrow.

I love the training that is being described to Carl. My hubby does a lot of work on the trainer and he will come in from the cold garage absolutely soaked in sweat because he has been doing "Hill training" or interval training. I can watch the same videos and just la-te-da thru the workout while he actually does it right. See the hills Carl and work on climbing them.

As for the discussion on signing up for races, I'm one of those that don't sign up for a lot of races unless they are local and/or the price is decent. I do try to do one every year or so with Mel as a Girl's weekend but they are still closer. Son isn't into the race scene and so I'd rather spend my money/vaca time with either the family or the husband. I’m fortunate because I don’t need to race a lot, I have a good bit of reasonably priced races around here. Jay, I think you are spot-on for designating tax refunds for kids and for race entries and forgoing the races if the refund isn’t as large. You are a wise man and spending it on the right thing. But as far as “saving” for races, I’ll tell people what I did in case it helps anyone. When son was going to Cooperstown, I suggested that the family embrace a saving plan - things like instead of dinner and movie, eat at home and either rent a movie or play games; the savings would go in a jar. They scoffed at me. So I thought, “Screw you” and I started my own plan. Every time I saved money thru Buy One Get One Free Deals, coupons, or sales, I would take the savings and put in a drawer. I didn’t count it but just kept putting it in there. When we left for Cooperstown, I asked them how much money they had saved. They looked at me glumly and then asked how much I had saved. $1300. Their eyes flew open. I told them what I was willing to buy and what they would have to buy. And then I was completely and totally OBNOXIOUS every time I used my savings to pay for things. Oh I was so obnoxious. But the funny thing was that it made them interested in doing something like that for other things. And we get a lot more enjoyment now because it’s the anticipation. As we put a $20 back, we know that it’s going toward something that we all want to do and it gives us some enjoyment now thinking about later.

Ok, I've had some chocolate. Very little but some. A choc chip Lara bar a couple of weeks ago, 2 choc chip cookies at other times, and then today, a Costco sample. Oh my, I looked at the sample guy and told him that there was no way I could buy that. He could tell by looking at my face what I thought and knew that I could have the whole jar gone by this evening (and I'm not even the chocoholic in my fam.) I've reduced my DP this month and may, may, may, may reduce it more in the next few weeks. May tho. Baseball has started up and dealing with some of that stuff, I need either wine or DP and the DP is more socially acceptable at baseball games. We shall see.

Have a great week everyone!

The trick if you have a chocolate relapse is to get back on the wagon the next day. So far I am chocolate free though the chocolate covered strawberries and almond toffee filled chocolate bars were a bit tempting. Also good on no soda. I will probably have chocolate for my birthday cake next month and try to have it not corrupt me too badly. Next month is no icecream either (except for said birthday).

@Avid Runners (too many to mention)

Do any of you use your wornt out running shoes for casual wear?? Thats what i normally do, but recently i have been using my wornt out shoes and i have been experiencing mild leg pains. Does They dont seem to be not going away. Does this mean i have to retire them completely .


@Steve,Joe,Pam
thanks for the advice on hills.

@Steve
"No IceCream" Does Yogurt Counts??? I'll still continue No Chocolate . I am getting fond of Chococlate Outrage Gu and
Salted Caramel Gu.

@Everyone
I used my running shoes with the Pedometer last night at work and at the end of the shift I walked close to 4 mi and thats not on a busy night. so i am actually walking 12 mi / week atleast

Cheers Everyone

Have Fun

Hi,

I see that so many of you have snow and find it difficult to go out.
Here, in Texas, that at least is not one of my concerns. Lucky me :-)

Feb 23 is Cowtown marathon that I have signed up for. I am apprehensive as it will be after 6 years being in the couch that I will be attempting a marathon again. I did my first marathon in SFO in 2008 and went to the couch right after that race :-(

I have been training since May 2013 though and am just targeting to finish at Cowtown (not time goals). I did my SFO marathon in 2008 in 6h:25m.

As I had mentioned earlier, I did not know swimming in Dec 2013 when I decided to do a sprint tri in 2014.
Yesterday, for the first time, I swam 18 yards free style and took 8 breaths.
I am hopeful to swim a lap in the next couple of weeks and then progress to swimming the half mile that is the swim distance for a sprint tri.

Once I run the Cowtown on Feb 23rd, I will start focusing on biking and swimming.

When I look at the group and see folks planning a 70.3, I see how much farther I have to go.
But, the distances you race, the cold weather in which you go out and run, the no chocolate challenges you do (even during your birthdays, maybe :-)
is all very motivating to me.

All the best to all of you towards your goals.

Looking forward to be a part of Baowolf's New Year Resolution Group and do my first tri in 2014.

- Kumar

Kumar -- hope you have a great race at Cowtown! It is large, but not too large, and the organizers and volunteers do a great job. Always fun running through the stockyards. I also like the latter part of the mary course that runs through some parks. Makes me kind of sad...this is the first time in 5 years I haven't at least done the half there. But I'm happy that you get to experience it! Please let us know how it goes.

Linda -- you just quietly get it done. Great job on embracing the treadmill! You excited about Boston?

Carl -- do you have any bridges with slope nearby? If not, are you maybe close enough to drive to the hill country on the weekend for some training rides? Nice that you have some exercise built into your day!

Mike D -- hope you are continuing to recover, and that the snow is maybe melting some by now. Enjoy your trip!

Mike -- congrats on the new wheels!

Pam -- good job getting back to those healthy habits! I just might show up in Tally. My step uncle and aunt live there and I haven't seen them in years, and I'd love to meet you for real! So glad you and my friend have made connections!

Jay -- hope the new job is continuing to go well. So glad you were able to change work environments! I hear you on balancing the costs associated with racing. Hubby & I each have a monthly budget for hobbies. It helps keep us honest with ourselves about how much we are really spending, and also allows us to pursue what we enjoy without guilt. I don't think I'm made for the longer distance stuff anyway, but part of what turns me off on that is the thought of sinking most of my annual budget into one race. It's just not worth the risk to me of getting sick/injured/having family crisis etc. and not being able to participate.

Mitzi -- how are things going for you? Are you into a groove on the diet? Have you been able to get that fish friend of yours to the pool with you?

Steve -- great job on the diet changes! You are incredibly determined and self disciplined to pick off your diet trouble spots one by one like that. Are you continuing with the coaching now that you are heading into the meat of your plan, or was that more for the off season? What insights did/have you gained from it?

Jennifer -- great job embracing the bike trainer! With 16" of snow, that sounds like a good plan. How are your injury issues doing?

Joe -- sledding with your daughter sounds like fun! Nice confirmation of your fitness on climbing back up the slope. I hear you on the fundraising stuff. I did that once and really have no desire to do it again. In a way it was wonderful, because I got a front row seat to the generosity of others. But I would have to hit the same people up, or as you said, turn it into another job, and I just don't want to do that.

Samantha -- glad you had some good friend time! How is your foot/knee feeling?

Jared -- nice consistency you have going there! No small accomplishment with your newest family member!

Isabella -- how was the cycling show?

Phil -- ha, ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who still feels giddy when they cancel school!

Saturday, I tried running some (walk 0.25, jog 0.25) X 5 and also did the "shred" video. Very disappointed that my foot hurt the rest of the day, and into the next. Iced and stretched it, and now....48+ hours later....it feels decent again. I think the ART doc is right that it's not PF, but I have to wonder if there is not some tendon involvement (googled posterior tibial tendon disfunction, and there are some similarities). Attempting to stand up on my tip toes on the left foot hurts and what little I can do of it feels unstable. I suspect that is why running is particularly aggravating to it. Will try another walk/run this morning and see how long it takes to recover this time. On the plus side, I did get out on my bike for a little while yesterday. Just a spin around the park and neighborhoods, but got the dust off. Supposed to do a grand fondo ride with a friend at the end of March.

Edited by squirt 2014-02-17 8:55 AM

Carl- Hey Bro! I have a HIM in August getting ready to start. I thought about starting the HIM on BT. I would like to see what training plan that you are using!