Beth and Yanti's 2010 Manatees--Closed (Page 17)

You are tough people, guys! You have fought through so much...

Mia- You have come a long way! I am glad you were able to kick the sugar. Sounds like you are doing very well and that is wonderful! Any addicition, big or small is lifelong thing that can be hard to control. other wise why would it be called an addiction!?

dang! your cycling made mine sound puny little excercise thingy! hahaha. 

Do you guys know what kind of level for the upright indoor cycling is your average road outdoor cycling competition? (the sprint ones) so I can have some idea of a goal while Im stuck indoors during the winter season?

Thanks!  by the way, good morning!!

Marcea

Good morning to you too!

Thanks, I know it was really hard to get the sugar under control. But now I just don't crave it any more; yesterday I almost bought a piece of carrot cake in the store, but changed my mind and put it back. I feel proud of myself for making that choice.

I have no clue of what level on the bike that is like road conditions, so I like to know that too.

Marcea, what kind of bike are you riding? Usually model # is written on the foot of the bike (the front support thingy).

I'm riding a Cybex 530C.

I don't think your session was puny, we are all just on different levels of our fitness.  

If it wasn't for the running I feel ready to do a sprint tomorrow (my hip is a lot better today thou).
I'm on a good roll now and feel like I have a ton of energy this morning.

/Mia

Wow guys.  I hope you realize how very, very far you have come!

Art, I've been meaning to ask, how goes training with a coach?  Any divine wisdom to impart now?

Tried to do week one of the couch-to-1 mile swim program today (supposed to take 6 weeks).  I can do the swims, but I need way more recovery between sets than it calls for.  So the program for today was:
4x100 with 12 breaths between (I had to take  30 or more before continuing)
4x50 with 8 breaths in between (more like 16-20)
4x25 with 4 breaths in between (more like 8)

Then I did a few more laps with pull buoy, kickboard, and freestyle for a total of 900 m swim.  Also, my breathing really degenerates to taking a breath on the same side almost every stroke after about 25m.  Very hard for me to continue good bilateral breathing because I feel like I need to keep gasping. 

So my question is, should I be doing something else to better work up to that week one workout, or just keep doing week 1 until I can totally do it, or what?  My sprint race is about 17 weeks away, and I need to be able to swim 800m for that.  I don't think I can manage to get in the pool more than twice a week between now and then. 

Sounds to me like you are doing good Dineen.
If you can try the first week for 2 or 3 weeks and feel like you get better recovery I think you can then go on to week 2 and do that for 2 weeks too.
If you do all of the weeks x2 you will still finish the program in 12 weeks and have plenty of time left untill your race to go over more things after that if you feel you need it.

When I swam a lot (like 15 years ago) I used to go 5 times a week in the morning and I started with just 20 min and then increased it with 10 min each week. So week 2 I would do 5x 30 min and so on. I got up to doing 60 min 5 times a week, but I only did breast strokes, so I don't know if it will be differnt doing the forward crawl.

Anyone have any ideas for improving upper body endurance? 

When I swim, my arms and shoulders get tired a LOT quicker than my core and legs. 

Well, if you HAD to get lost SOMEWHERE, I GUESS that place will do! haha

Seriously, are there any downsides to living in New Zealand, or do you just spend your whole life awed by natural beauty?

Oh it sounds like you had a wonderful morning Melyssa. I can't wait till we get some warm air again. Right now we have freezing rain and I'm not going outside today.

Omigosh ... such beautiful people and training and stories and moments, Manatees!!!

Lynn--an amazing health journey for you. Thanks so much for your encouragement and insights here!

Lynne--I *hear* you girl--I *hear* you--definitely with the others here in that YOU ARE AWESOME for being a free breather. Don't sweat the weight. Didn't I tell you that my motto used to be "There are plenty of cute plump girls. There are no cute dead girls"? Besides--you are very fit and don't look plump at all. One little change at a time, and you've already made the biggest and best change of all.

Marcea--another free breather on this side of the journey!!! Yay! On the shoes--absolutely, if you can, get thee to a running store and get professionally fitted for running shoes. This is really important. If there aren't any around, let us know and we can think of a solution or suggestions. Also as far as the cycling and running--really, it's just about getting as much time in as you can at a moderate effort, meaning, you could carry on a conversation. You can gauge that level of effort anywhere, anytime, on a machine or outdoors. If you're time-limited, once a week, you can throw in a few minutes here and there during your workout when you're working at a bit of a harder level--like you'd have to take breaths between phrases to hold a conversation.

Mia--you, too, have struggled and overcome and are amazing! Thanks for all your input and continuing to share your journey with us.

Rebecca--I love that you're still going strong in BT overall and thanks so much for being a great cheerleader here. Again, it's amazing you're juggling so much stuff ... as for upper body endurance, there's no substitute for 1) swimming lessons to get efficient so you can go better, longer, and then 2) swimming more and more often. If you really can't get in the pool or stay in the pool more (even if you need to rest a lot more in between the laps!), dry land swimming is okay ... bend over at the waist, and swim as you would, in the air. It's hard to do more than a few minutes at a time. Helps to do this next to or in front of a mirror. You might be surprised!

Dineen--what you're doing sounds great and SUPER KUDOS to you for doing it. here's my 2c--DO NOT SWEAT breathing bilaterally. It's not that important at this stage in game. If you can, though, breathe on one side going up the pool and breathe on the other down the other side. and RELAX. Seriously--try to relax as much as you can in the water. Speed doesn't matter, and you will actually go faster if you're not trying so hard. And as always, do what you like, but I'm not a fan of pool toys like pull buoys and kickboards, especially for beginners. You will get a better feel for the water and better body positioning if you do pulling with your legs just floating, and kicking with your arms stretched out in front of you.

Melyssa--what a great run story, and pretty pretty pics! Good on you for getting out there and your phenomenal improvement. LOL--I'm perpetually lost--I've gotten lost during so many RACES ahem!


Again, it's so wonderful to read about all of you and your exploits ... big high flipper to everybody!

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend! We're under 26 inches of snow here in Philly. Perfect weekend to stay inside, do laundry, do homework, and ride the rollers... just like I was already planning on doing, haha.

I need to figure out how and why to shift gears on my bike  
i got me a buncha videos and how-tos and stuff from the internets.

...well ... the latest season of Grey's Anatomy hasn't arrived here yet... ?   and eating out is generally way more expensive than cooking, and taking a holiday to anywhere other than Aussie is a long long flight!

Yanti, wowza girl -- that new pic is GORGEOUS.  You are definitely my inspiration!  I have decided to ditch the pull buoy and kickboard entirely and instead try to do drills from the Total Immersion video I just got from Netflix, sprinkled in with continuing to do laps to push my aerobic threshhold.  I AM going to conquer swim, I AM!  Thanks for the breathing tips, that's a good idea.

Melyssa, sounds like an awesome run.  I am still at a point where I am frankly afraid to run or bike with others because I am sooo slow.  (I mean, my Garmin logs my runs at being a "slow walk" pace.  BOO.)  I swim with a buddy, but the beauty of that is we can do our own thing and still touch base once in a while.

Had a GREAT training weekend.    On Friday, I rode my bike for some errands to the new Ironman Store near my house to get new pedals installed on my bike, and then afterward, went for a run in the rain, which felt hardcore and awesome.  I don't know why I ever convinced myself I couldn't exercise outside.  A nice spin class on Sat, followed by a bike ride with my kids.  Then on Sunday, I ran my longest distance ever, 5 miles (I am working up to a 15K in April along with my first tri in May).  I have decided, though, that I am not going to even try to work out on Mondays anymore -- I push it hard on the weekend because there is the extra time to do so, and I need to give myself at least one rest day a week.  I am happier now that I have made that official rather than beating myself up for not working out on a Monday. 

Lynne, you had a great weekend too!  Good on you.

Rebecca, if you figure out the bike gear shifting thing, let me know!  In all seriousness, I think the easiest way to explain it is that you want an easy enough gear to get a good cadence early on, then switch it higher to maintain that cadence without spinning out of control.  I think the goal should be to foremost, maintain an even, decent cadence, and second, to build endurance to the point that you can maintain that cadence at a higher gear, so that each pedal stroke is more efficient and gets you farther.  At least, that's what I have been trying to do -- someone more experienced correct me if I am wrong!

Beth, are you back from your trip yet?

OK, here's a training question -- most of my bike time, so far, has been spin classes, which I do think have helped a lot.  But for a race in may that has an 11 mile bike portion, how far should I be aiming my long rides to be?  Double that?  I need to start plotting out how I am going to fit in real rides on the weekends in addition to longer runs, all while spending enough time with my kids.  Not enough hours in the day!

Oh, and Yanti, I've been meaning to mention this:  I just finished reading "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and I thought of you a lot as I read through the portion of the book that took place in Bali.  Have you read/heard of the book?  I would be very interested in your thoughts on how she portrayed Bali.  And I appologize in advance if this is a question you get all the time and you have no interest in discussing the book; if so, just ignore me!

I had a great weekend too! A birthday party on Saturday with my best friend and then a lazy Sunday (no football). Today I had planned to get up early and work out, but I sleeo so bad last night that I really needed to sleep in today.
So work out has been moved to tonight instead.

/Mia

Hi Everybody!

It's been a busy week or so. Between increased training, work and lots of snow (ugh!) I haven't had much time to post. I have appreciated you guys checking in with me though!

Training is going pretty well. I'm adjusting to the increased volume and the introduction of some intervals has helped increase my speed in the pool (at least a little, there is a lot of room for improvement).

Dineen - No "divine wisdom" to share but I will say having a coach has really helped me mentally. Now I just focus on doing my workouts for the week and ask questions when I need to. It's not necessary, there are plenty of resources out there, but I know it was the best decision for me in order to meet my goals for this year.

Inspired by Melyssa's pics, I thought I would try to post one of my own. Here is what my run on Sunday morning looked like. Yes, those are the Amish buggies that passed me as I ran.

Art

Edited by reid15 2010-02-08 3:56 PM






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Art, no offense, but I think I'd rather train in Melyssa's neighborhood than yours!  Glad the coaching is doing well for you -- I can see how taking the pressure off of figuring it all out can be a huge, huge help. 

Had a very good swim today.  I got the Total Immersion Easy Freestyle DVD from Netflix today, and tried to implement lessons 1 and 2.  I started with the drills, then did the week one couch to 1 mile workout (repeating week one this week).  I can feel my head aligning better, and have a sense of what I need to do with my arms, though I need to keep practicing finding the focal point for my arm.  Just so glad to see progress, though!  I can't believe how much I enjoy swimming outdoors in 50 degree weather.  Six months ago, I thought anyone who would do that is nuts.  Now, I love it!

Glad you had a good weekend, Mia.

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