Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 161)

I agree with what everybody has said about the the devastation that Sandy has caused. The homes can be repaired or rebuilt and most items can be replaced. Like Dirk said lives can't be replaced and there are just some things that can't be replaced. I too am hoping that those affected can and will be able to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. I think these events make you realize just hope thankful we all should be.

I know we have been talking a lot about swimming lately and it is good to see everyone working hard and discovering these little things that we have been doing. To be honest I was so oblivious to what I was doing while I was swimming until I actually started focusing on what I was doing. I was shocked to discover how many things I was doing wrong and how I was doing things. It seems like the easy part is figuring out what you are doing wrong the more difficult part is trying to fix it. I'll be heading back to the pool again today to work on those things this morning, patience and persistence is my new swimming motto!

I hope everyone has a great and safe Thanksgiving Holiday.

I'm not surprised that's the case, it's a little out of the norm but not whacked by any means.

The medical term 'threshold' is when lactate levels begin to stay elevated in the bloodstream and can only be measured by taking blood samples repeatedly while doing a test in a lab.  We are guessing we are at threshold by field testing.  What we are really finding, and calling threshold, is the point where carbon dioxide levels in our blood stream reach a point that we can't tolerate for long.  And that's a great marker by the way.

But the result is that we see anomalies such as carbon dioxide levels rising even though we may be processing less oxygen.  The best example of this is when swimming.  Because you can't breath when you want but have to control your breathing to match your rythm, you can be very 'breathless' (that's carbon dioxide buildup) even though you may not be using much oxygen and actually be far below your body's ability.

The differences between muscle recruitment between cycling and running is such that you can often utilize more oxygen yet not have the CO2 buildup you would when running at that same level of oxygen consumption.

Just embrace the 2 different values you have for threshold and go with it!  I'm actually not sure if your cycling threshold of 172 means that you are MORE or LESS efficient on the cellular level when the muscles are cycling...(either they are using more oxygen and doing more work...or they are needing more oxygen while not doing more work)

mambos - 2012-11-20 8:27 PM

michgirlsk - 2012-11-20 4:45 PM

mambos - 2012-11-20 10:00 AM Ok, next swim question! Over the last month I have been concentrating hard on improving my form! Biggest change I have made is going to bilateral breathing and attempting to keep my head down (not much success, yet)! One area I have improved is that I have removed the stress on my shoulders, I'm no longer experiencing any shoulder issues! But I still have not engaged the back muscles! Currently my arms are feeling the majority of the stress! My biceps feel today as if I did too high if a weight on a bicep curl!. My question: how do I engage the back instead of my arms? Although having big arms is appealing, I would prefer to not have elbow problems!

That is so funny... I had the same question.  Just yesterday I was putting more concentration into the pull, and I was feeling like I was really working my biceps... which I don't think should be the case....

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only goofy person ! During today's swim I really payed attention to what I was doing and how I was stressing the bicep and I think Dirk may have been right. It seems that at certain point in my stroke I tend to flex my arm and bring my hand down the center of my Body. I am almost pivoting at the elbow which may be causing all of the discomfort there. To try and eliminate the straight arm stroke, I have trying to follow the tip from earlier where I bring my arm straight down along my side. I doing this I have created some sort of chicken wing where my elbow goes out to the side and I flex my arm (bicep). After 30 minutes of this motion I can understand why I'm a little sore! Now all I have to do is figure out how to eliminate it, 1st attempts had me going back to a straight arm and that's not going to work!

Matt, there is a lot of variability among great swimmers in exactly how their stroke looks.  But before the stroke starts the hand is outstretched directly in front of the shoulder.  It stays in that orientation from beginning to end.  The hand tips down, then begins to sweep back and stays along that line of your body underneath where that shoulder was (before he body roll begins).  As the body rolls, the hand may end up in front of the belly button at the end, but that's only due to the body's movement, the hand pulled a straight line.

In doing this, the elbow must bend.  The elbow, as it bends, sweeps outside.....You are probably leaving the elbow there in front of the shoulder and that makes the hand sweep to the inside and down the center of the body.  The hand is what stays put and the elbow goes out.

When doing this right, it's not activating the bicep, it's actually activating internal rotation at the shoulder joint.  As a simple dry-land example, hold your arm straight out in front of you horizontally right now.  Hand is in front of your shoulder, palm is down.  Now simply do 1 thing: rotate your hand so your thumb is pointing down. 

You notice the shoulder rotation.  Your elbow turns to the outside.  Some bend probably naturally occurred at the elbow.  That is the 2nd step in the stroke, with the first being the hand bending downward at the wrist.  The 2nd is that shoulder rotation.

Do that drill again only this time, as the arm is straight, the fingertips drop down and point at the floor.  Next, without letting the hand change it's orientation (the palm is facing you and it stays like that) rotate the shoulder like we did.  Notice that to do the shoulder rotation and keep the palm back, the elbow flares out.  That's the 'high elbow' catch you've probably heard about.

Once you are in that position and pull back, the biceps aren't used.  There is, however, side load put on the elbow and it becomes possible for a swimmer to experience 'tennis elbow'.  That's the right swim technique....not that you SHOULD get tennis elbow but that's to convey how the elbow joint is loaded during the pull.

Just like with running, introduce this gradually and in small doses and you will acclimate just fine (injuries notwithstanding).  And it's using lateral muscles that you don't use in triathlon so it can be considered a good way to cross train.

So perhaps you can play 1 or 2 games per week of one-on-one where you can control the pace?

Jeff, it's interesting you mention that swimming can induce tennis elbow, at least to some extent.  With my recently aggravated tendinitis, which is really just tennis elbow, I absolutely noticed that swimming exacerbates the problem.  Nowhere near the extent as hockey, but I'm being careful not to overdo the pull without screwing up the stroke.  I find that trying to "pack" my shoulders helps with the overall shoulder/elbow strain.  I don't really know how to describe what that means but maybe Jeff can.  It's a common thing learned while doing kettlebells, so I would guess weightlifters use the same idea.

I wont be able to ride it outside until spring, but I have some bike shop pictures of the actual bike I'm getting.  I'll be changing out to an Adamo saddle and a different drivetrain (I'm getting a compact and a 11/28), but this is the bike:

(P2-small2.jpg)

Jeff....thanks, I'll just embrace the numbers even though I don't know why.  I'm a need-to-know kinda person, though.

Warren.....beautiful bike!

I did another hard swim this morning.  It was another t-pace workout.  Based upon how I did, I need to re-test my t-pace.  Anyway, the whole workout was 2800 yards.  The last 200 was 4X50 with 30 seconds rest at best possible average.  I did them in 45 sec, 44 sec, 44 sec, and 45 sec.  That's pretty consistent!  I was pleased......and tired.

This swimming thing is hard work!

Tracy, this statement which I cut and pasted below may be the understatement of the century!  lol

My hat if off to you!

"This swimming thing is hard work!"

^^^^ This is soooooo true! and fustrating too!

strikyr - 2012-11-21 2:02 PM Warren congrats again on the new bike. It looks great and exactly like the one I have  I'm not sure I would be able to contain myself that long to get out there and ride it but it is getting a little too cold to be riding outdoors unfortunately.

Great minds think alike I guess!  I generally don't ride much by now - we're still getting some low 50s but the night time temps are more like 20s, so I stay inside.  Time to kill the trainer for me anyway.

Hahahahaha!!!!  

wbayek - 2012-11-21 2:07 PM

strikyr - 2012-11-21 2:02 PM Warren congrats again on the new bike. It looks great and exactly like the one I have  I'm not sure I would be able to contain myself that long to get out there and ride it but it is getting a little too cold to be riding outdoors unfortunately.

Great minds think alike I guess!  I generally don't ride much by now - we're still getting some low 50s but the night time temps are more like 20s, so I stay inside.  Time to kill the trainer for me anyway.

Yep!  That's what I'd like to do too!!!

Oh wait.  Do you mean work out hard on the trainer?  I thought........Oh well never mind what I thought.  But I would like to kill my trainer nonetheless!  I have been riding on it for a couple of weeks but today I took my TT outside for a ride.  It was 56 degrees and little wind but very sunny.  It felt pretty good to be out there today seeing the road and not a TV for a change.

Today has been a pretty active day for me.  I had a short 4 hour work day and I was able to really get some work outs squeezed in.  I got a 2 mile easy run in to help my mind get ready for tomorrows 4 mile race, a 3100 yard swim and a 21 mile ride outside to finish it all off.

That's a nice looking swim!

During my swim today I had some college kids in the lane next to me.  I don't think either of them swim in college other than for a club but they were both pretty fast.  I was doing my 100's on and hitting the wall around 1:25 and one of them would have been hitting the wall around 1:15 and being pretty consistent with that time.  They were also doing all of the strokes and I was just sticking to freestyle.  One of the guys was involved in swimming in HS school.  I remember seeing him at meets.  He was one of the faster swimmers in the area.  If they had chosen to embarrass me it wouldn't have bee difficult.  My pace would have been more like a very slow WU or CD for these 2 guys.

I learned something today, actual several somethings

1. Running in new shoes is fantastic!  All squeshy but yet tight around the feet, great feeling.
2. Getting said new Shoes for 1/2 off makes the feeling even better
3. New shoes being the same brand and model that I have been running in for the last 6 months, means no adjustment time.
4. And Finally, Since the shoes are the exact same model that I have been running in...The wife didn't even notice I bought new shoes.  She thought I cleaned my old ones.   Extra bonus when I dont have to justify the need for new shoes when my current ones still "look" new.  She has yet to buy into the theory that shoes only have so many miles in them regardless of how they look.

Happy Early Turkey Day to all

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  I hope you all have an inspiring day filled happy with the memories of family and friends.  I hope all of you remember all of the things we have to be thankful for in this great Country.  This land is filled with men and women who give selflessly all that they have for us, so that we may enjoy a day of thankfulness.

Of course these people aren't just serving in our military or in police, fire and EMS.  They are people who have served us all of our lives; Our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers.  The person that holds the door for us at the grocery when our arms are full of bags. 

We have so much to be thankful for so I hope today is a day you can remember all of these people because we all know many of them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I echo Dirk's sentiments to remember those who have served us throughout our lives.  It's amazing how much we have to be thankful for, despite the hardships in each of our lives.  Consider that if you went to bed last night hydrated with clean water, stomach full of nutritious food, roof covering your head, walls keeping weather and insects out, little chance of a home invasion of armed bandits, you are among the luckiest humans to ever live.

Blessings to everyone today and have fun training and racing.  I am so thankful for all of you and how much you've added to my life in so many ways, much of it outside the sport of triathlon.