Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 17)

stevebradley - 2011-01-01 9:54 PM JOHANNE - John is right that clip-ons do not allow for ready conversion to adding shifters. I wonder, though, if the ones that have open ends, without plugs, is to accommodate shifters -- if one is willing to go through the bother of having everything "re-wired". Mostly, though, they are useful for cruising on flats, where neither shifting nor braking is required. Still worth it.....but less sweet that aerobars with shifters that come stock on so many tri bikes.

stevebradley - 2011-01-02 2:19 PM JOHANNE - Exciting schedule -- full and diverse! That is a wonderful way to stay aggressively active while radically minimizing the chance of injury. The only potentially tough bit will be the first two -- half-marathon plus oly -- in Sept, but they should work well to toughen you up for Soma. What will help even more is the century two weeks after the oly, so thos three ought to really move you towards a nice Peak for Soma. Just slightly over two months 'til Napa! Cool beans!!

bswcpa - 2011-01-02 5:45 AM ROGER - Thanks for your good thoughts on this. I'd not heard anyone talk about breathing this way, but I'm going to practice it today at the pool.

stevebradley - 2011-01-02 12:08 PM ALEX - Oops! I forgot to answer your question about 10%! There are different approaches to this, but the most common is to never increase weekly mileage by more than ten percent. So, if your mileage is currently 15 a week, next week you can bump it up to 16.5, and the following week to 18.1. Some people also use it for their long run -- 8 miles this week, 8.8 next week. But becasue there is not exact science to this, it is likely okay to "round up" to the nearest whole and forget the .8 part; just squeak it up to 9. Finally, some people do it on time, so if you run 60 minutes this week, you can go to 66 next week. I should add that there is a lot of controversy about the 10% rule, with some people being religious about it, and others finding in utter hogwash. My view is that when I come off an off-season, or especially an injury, i will follow it for a while. But then once I'm in a really good groove with my running, i will not pay much attention to it at all. I think my Base is solid enough to withstand bigger "bumps" than ten percenters, so when the going is good.....I get going! Does that help at all?

stevebradley - 2011-01-02 11:55 AM GENE - Now THAT'S a good question! I have several perspectives on it, and then I'll comment on Roger's good response to you. First, I breathe to one side, the right. I grew up breathing ONLY to the left, but then when I took up tri swimming seriously '00 and had a couple of lessons, the insrtuctor told me that I was better breathing to the right. So there I am. Second, I spend some fair amount of time practicing breathing to the left, but it is no longer even remotely natural to me. Third, I breathe every other stroke almost exclusively. That is, every time I have the opportunity to breathe to the right, I take it. That's me. Most people will say that bilateral is best, simply because it promotes better balance and does not overload one arm and thus making it more susceptible to shoulder injuries. A further thought about this for triathletes is that occasionally they might face waves or having chop during open water swims, and need the ability to switch to the other side from the one they are most comfortable at; the ability to breathe bilaterally thus helps immensely! I work at bilateral because I am NOT balanced in my stroke, with my body roll much more effective to the right than to the left. this might be why I sometimes "stray" during open water swims, and when thta happens it is always to the left, probably refelctibng that my right arm mechanics ar better and thus generate greater force than the left. Think rowboat --- pull harder on the right oar, and you'll swing more to the left! For people who aren't 127% effective as bilateral breathers, they may be best-served sticking with their strength when in races, and that is what I do -- right side only. When in the pool, I spend maybe 15-20% of each session messing around with the left side, but that has never yielded results that encourage me to do it in a race. However, i have recently discovered that when I increase my stroke turnover I am better able to breathe bilateral, so that is a current focus. I ahve found that for so many adults who are no to triathlon and who struggle with the swim, the are best served to concentrate on their best side and master that. Already in this group there are several people who worry about how quickly they get gassed, and for them the will feel more comfortable mastering bretahing every stroke on their strong side. I mean, every other stroke versus every third stroke........that much more opportunity to grab air! As for the specifics of Roger's post, I really agree with his comments on the exhale controlling the breathing pattern. I mentioned this to Alex (I think it was) a few days ago, just the critical importance of exhaling fully before that oh-so-quick turn of the head to snatch some air. Too many people tend to actually hold their breath during much of the time their face is in the water, and so when they turn to breathe they first have to exhale, and then end up not inhaling sufficiently. I also agree with rhe benefits of being "adaptable", that is, not having any one carved-in-stone breathing pattern, but adjusting your breathing to the distance of the race and to changing circumstances within the race itself. I am spending a lot of time of time on this these days, with my breathing being almost chaotic -- sometimes every other, sometimes every third, sometimes every fourth. In a way, this is almost liberating, being able to adjust to how I am feeling without being stuck in a rut. What I just mentioned is controlled by my cadence (or maybe it controls the cadence?). This is also intriguing to me! When I increase my turnover, that seems to open up a whole range of breathing possibilities. I have played with increased cadence some in the past, but almost exclusively with my single-side, every-other-stroke breathing pattern. Now, i am liberating my breathing from its shackles, and seeing how it works when I allow it to do whatever it seems appropriate at the moment. Maybe the best way to say this is that a take air when I need it, not really paying attention to anything else, so that if I need a breath whikle I am rolling to my left, that's when I'll breathe. I would love to have a race very soon to try this out! Finally, if you struggle at all with breathing, stick with your best side. If that is not a factor for you, though, work at bilateral as a way to balance your stroke. Beyond that, play around with all the other options! I hope some of the above is helpful!

stevebradley - 2011-01-02 12:29 PM Just adding to the middle school girls discussion.... My daughter went through middle school in the mid-90s, with no drama. She has always been drama-free; we were very lucky! I went through middle school in the early 60s, and I remember little drama at all. Others who went through it at about the same time --- am I gilding the lily, or was it really that blissfully copacetic (relatively-speaking....)?

mathsgeek - 2011-01-02 6:51 PM

Hi all,

If I were a radio DJ, I'd have my hyper-excited voice on today, because I have just been in the pool for the first time in more than a year, and I swam 1000m!!!! For those of you who are swimmers, this is not a big deal in the least; for me, it's like winning the athletic lottery! When I started triathlon, I thought that swimming was probably my best discipline. Until I went to a club, and then I realised, I don't have a best discipline.   However, determined little soul that I am (my parents have a bunch of different words that they'd consider more appropriate, but I'm going with determined!!), I persevered, got better, and by the time I came back to NZ in 2007, I was feeling good about swimming.

AND THEN...one night at squad swim, where I could barely keep up anyway, the instructor had us do a drill that resulted in a faster swimmer swimming up my back to overtake me. I wasn't confident enough to deal with that, and bailed out of the water at high speed. For a little while after that, I found myself making excuses for missing my swim sessions. It annoyed me hugely, because I knew I was doing it, but kept allowing it to happen. Then I got the mother of all ear infections, and there followed the 3 months of antibiotics and dashing of IM hopes, blah blah.

Anyhooooo, I had only been in the pool about twice last year, due to various reasons, so I was concerned that all the mental clutter that came from my frightening experience might still be lurking around in my brain. But, it's not. I had the best time today. Largely, this is because somebody brilliant on this mentor group, and I can't find the post now, said to breathe when you need to, not according to a stroke pattern. The penny dropped for me at that point, and I did the entire swim session breathing comfortably and never stretching myself to hold my breath. Suddenly, it was easy and pleasant to swim. I'm so excited, and so grateful.

And I'll shut up now, because y'all are busy people and don't need to read any more of my exuberant babble! (Trots off to do a victory dance in the kitchen...)

Sementi - 2011-01-02 7:09 PM


 I was following the 10% rule last year and feeling great.  Then I decided to throw on olympic in for September so i increased my run by 20% one week and did fine for a couple of runs then ended up with an IT band issue that sidelined me for a month.  I don't know if the increase caused the IT band problem or not but it I am sticking to the 10% rule as I build up for this season.

Gene 

stevebradley - 2011-01-02 4:52 PM JOHANNE - I like your attitude to the likelihood of hot runs at the HIMs: ".....I'm going to learn to like it or at least be able to do it!" I too dislike the heat, and while I'm very good at mind-over-matter with cold runs, I struggle with mental mastery over heat. But here's a wee story for you that might help your cause: We had a cameo appearance here last week from hooslisa, from my first group. Her first iron was Louisville this past August, and you probably know that Louisville in August can be TORRID. No, change the "can be" to "almost always is". While cautions (rightfully) abound about how awful the heat is during the marathon, Lisa took a different approach to them. Her attitude was "Everybody dislikes the heat, that's nothing new, and if it's going to be there I'm going to be ready for it." She lives in Reston, VA (same as Bob here!), where it can get mighty hot in the summer, and while Lisa's husband, Ryan (also doing IMLOO) wanted to do long runs in the morning while it was still coolish, Lisa opted to do them in mid-afternoon, figuring heat acclimation would go a long way to handling it on race day. She worked very hard on her nutrition and hydration on those runs, making sure to strike a balance beteween being adequately hydrated and over-hydrated. So, when race day came she was ready for it, and clocked a comfortable sub-4 marathon -- even though it was hotter than the hinges of Hades. Could I pull off that accomplishment? Um, er, uh....I'm not sure. I'm not even sure I could summon the discipline to do my longest runs in the hottest parts of the hottest days, even though I will admit that the suffering involved there is far less than the suffering from bonking or crashing during the race itself. Anyhow, that's just a (typically long-winded ) story to support your notion to either like the heat or at least be able to work through it. And with that resolve already in place, my money is on you to pull it off -- and maybe even with dignity and aplomb!!

mathsgeek - 2011-01-02 9:51 PM

Hi all,

If I were a radio DJ, I'd have my hyper-excited voice on today, because I have just been in the pool for the first time in more than a year, and I swam 1000m!!!! For those of you who are swimmers, this is not a big deal in the least; for me, it's like winning the athletic lottery! When I started triathlon, I thought that swimming was probably my best discipline. Until I went to a club, and then I realised, I don't have a best discipline.   However, determined little soul that I am (my parents have a bunch of different words that they'd consider more appropriate, but I'm going with determined!!), I persevered, got better, and by the time I came back to NZ in 2007, I was feeling good about swimming.

AND THEN...one night at squad swim, where I could barely keep up anyway, the instructor had us do a drill that resulted in a faster swimmer swimming up my back to overtake me. I wasn't confident enough to deal with that, and bailed out of the water at high speed. For a little while after that, I found myself making excuses for missing my swim sessions. It annoyed me hugely, because I knew I was doing it, but kept allowing it to happen. Then I got the mother of all ear infections, and there followed the 3 months of antibiotics and dashing of IM hopes, blah blah.

Anyhooooo, I had only been in the pool about twice last year, due to various reasons, so I was concerned that all the mental clutter that came from my frightening experience might still be lurking around in my brain. But, it's not. I had the best time today. Largely, this is because somebody brilliant on this mentor group, and I can't find the post now, said to breathe when you need to, not according to a stroke pattern. The penny dropped for me at that point, and I did the entire swim session breathing comfortably and never stretching myself to hold my breath. Suddenly, it was easy and pleasant to swim. I'm so excited, and so grateful.

And I'll shut up now, because y'all are busy people and don't need to read any more of my exuberant babble! (Trots off to do a victory dance in the kitchen...)

LycraCladChamp - 2011-01-03 9:50 AM So I decided I am going to follow a semi-homemade program.  I will be combining a run/walk program, learning to swim program into the 16 Week Sprint - 2x Balanced program.  This should give me a slow and solid start so I can build a solid base.  I will probably keep training until Jusish where I plan to race in my first race.
I will most likely me lifting weights 3 days a week before work and swimming the other 2 days. I will be dong the run and bikes after work.

jslacker - 2011-01-01 11:40 PM

The Big Ten took a beating today in all the bowl games.  But at least the BEARS will bring down the Pack today.  

Ah, we have a spinning instructor within our group.  Do you teach spinning or RPM? 

BbMoozer - 2011-01-03 1:36 PM

I think the Bears headed out to the woods during the game

And I teach at the Y - I don't teach any funky crap like doing popcorn jumps or push ups on the bars. I teach much like riding a real bike outside with cadence and rate of perceived exertion on hills. I know sometimes the class gets 'bored' if we aren't moving around a lot but there are other instructors.