Baowolf's Mentor Group - Sorry Closed. (Page 18)

Carol - I've been wondering that question also. Thanks for asking! I'll se if my wife wants to join (if its okay with others). She is a runner, which our group has a lot of experienced runners, so she would probably learn a lot.

Jay - Glad to hear your should is feeling better and the swim is coming along well.

So I went to a spinning class at the gym tonight, and the instructor was new (to me anyway). She was okay... I eventually got over all the "yeah baby!", "uh huh! uh huh! uh huh! uh huh!", "Here we go! Here we go!". But she told us to start out at 65% to 70% HR, and then, 18 minutes later we had turned the resistance up 9 times and I was dying. Now, she told us we should be in the 70%-75% HR range. I just smiled and wiped the sweat pouring of my forehead, but i couldn't help wondering why all the increases in resistance for such little increase in effort. Maybe I am different, but I try to gauge each increase so it is about the equivalent to shifting up one gear on the bike. Just wondering if anyone else ever goes to spin classes and if so how closely do you follow the instructor? I ended up kind of following along and kind of doing my own thing. I was also leaning on the handle bars and she said something to the class about how leaning on the bars puts added stress on the back. I as trying to acclimate the back muscles a bit, but i did stop because i didn't want to be "that guy" who thinks he knows better than the instructor. So i guess question 2 if you go to spinning classes, do you ever practice the areo position?

Enough babbling for now.

Hey Anthony, enjoyed your spin class description :-)  I try to do one / week, but I've found the 2 instructors who are also road bikers and they (fortunately) do their classes totally differently... none of the "jumps" and the yeah yeah yeah, etc.  I hate the ones that make it seem like an aerobics class.  Made the mistake of trying a few of those and never came back.  I've always enjoyed the social aspect of it and there are a few other triathletes in the class.  I pretty much follow this one instructor because she kills me in an hour, so it is a good interval-based workout, but with other ones I modify as necessary.  Anyway, ask around and see if any of the instructors are road bikers and try one of their classes.  I've found it to be a very different (and worthwhile) experience.  Not the same as biking up mountains, mind you, but can be an excellent workout if done well.

Oh and yes, I practice aero alot in the class (since we've gotten the new bikes - not with the older style).

Carol, if it is above 40, I run in shorts and t-shirt too even with rain.  30 and above without rain, still shorts for me (maybe long-sleeve though).  But my thermostat tends to run hot.  Haven't done 30s and rain... or would that be snow?  Speaking of which, the weather foks blew our forecast so instead of 6-10 inches of snow on the ground we have alot of cold rain.  Sounds like the mountains got pounded though, so no biking up there for awhile.  Anyway, I'm glad cuz I'm not a fan of running on snow/ice (see Steve's issues)...

Stu

Anthony, you made me laugh this morning with the description of your spin class.  I did one of those a few years back and I probably won't return.  The class was taught by a woman who thought it was her right of passage to try and get me to quit her class.  I was put right up front and "yelled" at for the whole class.  I did what I had to do and finished the class.  I came back for more and she did the same thing to me again...finished and then finally had a little chat.  I kindly told her that she can beat the crap out of me for all I cared but YOU do what you're asking me to do.  That put an end to that and then I exited stage left!

Speaking of bikes...I got back to my game plan today.  I got up at 4:30, put on some Aussie Open tennis and started peddling.  I'm trying to convince myself that I don't hate biking and going nowhere but it isn't working too well.  One thing I noticed today with the outer foot pain I mentioned before; when I focus on pulling up during my cadence, my foot doesn't hurt.  I have a feeling that its only my left foot that's hurting because I'm left handed and only pushing with my left and pulling up with my right.  Does this make any sense to you more seasoned bikers?

Hope everyone has a good Friday!

Ha, love the spin class stories!  I don't have a gym membership anymore (and not really missing it).  But I have been to an assortment of spin classes.  I think the worst was this Fabio looking guy who barely said a word.  Just kept flipping his hair around.  His class was the most popular, but I don't think it had anything to do with his skill as an instructor.  Another one was a triathlete...rode a Shiv, and was in my "pool school" class.  Totally different (better) class.

Thanks for the tips on cold/rain running gear.  I tend to run hot too, but will probably look for an inexpensive waterproof shell just in case.  Last yr's White Rock half was pretty miserable wearing light windbreaker type pants, which were no longer light after getting totally waterlogged, and a long sleeve tech shirt.  It was OK (minus the waterlogged pants) while I was running...but after spraining an ankle and limping in the last few miles not so much.  Have never taken so long to stop shaking, and heard some folks were treated for hypothermia.

Off for 5-6 miles, and then it's 20 tomorrow.  Next Saturday looks like I'll be running a HM as a training run (fits with 14 miles on the schedule).  Only $30 as part of a team thing, and right now I'll pay that for a change of scene, some company, and a few aid stations.  Steve, do you think running that at (hoped for) marathon pace would be the best use of that "race"? 

Happy Friday runs and rests to all!

Good morning all.  It sounds like everyone's having a great training week.  I am going completely stir crazy not exercising this week.  Only spent a 30 minutes slowly spinning on my trainer a couple of days.  Not even enough to track.  Back in the saddle today.  Legs feel great and absolutely no more soreness.  

As for the spin classes.  There are so many different ways people instruct them.  I have been in classes where the instructors spend the entire time yelling and I only attend that class once.  It's just not motivating to me.  It actually has the opposite effect.  

It doesn't really make much sense to me. When I am biking I work at keeping my knees aligned, and I don't really do a pull up, more a push forward at 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock.  When I had my tri-bike fitting last weekend the fitter mentioned that I had slight pronation in my left foot and made adjustments to bring my pedal stroke into alignment. I watched the video.. and saw the change. So I guess I am kinda wondering about your bike fit.. and bike shoes. 

Anthony,: That was a funny story about spin class.. We bought our own spinner, and I used that last winter. Now I have a trainer and never use the spinner, ever. 

Carol - best of luck on your run next weekend. I'm getting anxious for this winter thing to get over so I can do some racing too.

Ken - Glad to hear you have recovered and can get back to workouts. I feel the same way if i can't work out...I drive my wife nuts with my pacing and fidgeting.

Kate - I have been eyeing up a trainer for a while now. I really need to just bite the bullet and start saving up. Once I buy one, I will have some questions about training videos and such.

Steve, Jay, Stu and Carol - Thanks for the spinning info. There is an instructor who is amazing. I'm not sure, but she has to be a biker because she will give you an overview of a ride as we are warming up - "Today we are starting out with some nice flats to false flats, and then, we will move into some switchbacks with a steep climb followed by...". I like being able to visualize my workout. Plus, she kicks the workouts a$$ which is a great motivator! I guess I will have to look into who instructs when.

Brian – Hope everything is going well with you. I think I remember you saying you are planning on the REV3 in the Dells. I really wanted to do the Half REV last year, but just didn’t put in the effort with training so I never entered. This year I hope to squeeze the Olympic race into my schedule. I really hope you choose to do it. It would be nice knowing someone there, and the area is just beautiful. Just plan for the hills. If you haven’t been there, bring the family – tons of stuff to do.

I haven’t been the best mentee so far, but I think I have my schedule all figured out now so hopefully I get my act together. Well lunch is over…

Jay, for starters there isn't so much pulling up with cycling.  You "unweight" the pedal as you raise the back foot, but you don't actually gain peddling force that propels you forward as part of the stroke.  I know there are mixed reviews on this, but the "good/best cyclists" get their force from down and across the bottom, but not up so much.  The upstroke just sets up the downsroke. I am concerned about at least your cleat positioning on your shoes and possilby your overall bike fit.  You shouldn't have pain in your feet or legs when riding. 

Carol, if you use a shell, then as you get warm you can unzip it and if you get too warm you can just tie the sleves around your waist.  I think it is a good option for you.  For your half mary you could pick a steady marathon pace or you could try to negative split it.  Pick a pace for the first 6.5 and then slowly increase your pace with your last mile being the fastest.  Your call though. 

Ken it sounds like you have taken a good path and are going to be fresh to start your next build cycle.  It is different starting with good legs and feeling fresh, even ancy to get back at it than trying to drag along too soon and having that heavly leg thing go on for weeks before you are back up to speed again.  You will notice good quality workouts much quicker. 

Cheryl

Thanks for the input Steve.  I had my tri store put on my cleat when I bought my bike shoes this summer. (so I think that piece is good)  The bike fit part could certainly be a big part of it because I haven't been fitted.  My tri store is going to end up being cheaper than my LBS for my bike tune up so I'll ask the owner (who cycles himself) if he'll fit me for my bike.  I plan on doing that after I get my tax return back

I found it interesting that you don't pull up.  Some of my friends who are cyclist swear that the big advantage to clipless pedals is that you can create power all the way down and all the way up.  I felt like I was generating more power when I was focusing on pulling up but if I read what you said correctly...perhaps I'm just powering down and through stronger.

The discomfort in my left foot has decreased as I've gotten on the bike more often so maybe I just need to get used to riding in my shoes as well as make sure I'm fit properly.  My legs feel fine when I ride...no pain there.  Is it possible that I'm tightening them too much before I start?  And while I'm asking novice questions....does anyone think its a bad idea to get bike shorts to wear while I ride on my trainer?  Right now, I'm using my tri shorts and I notice that after a little bit my butt starts feeling a bit errr bothered? because there is limited padding.  My fear is that I get my body used to more padding and my tri shorts won't be as effective as I want.  Am I overthinking this??

Jay - I had my LBS put my cleats on too and they ended up being put on quit wrong. When I went back to ask some questions about my feet going to sleep the guy asked me "who put these on?" He was surprised when I said it was a guy in his shop. So don't totally rule that out.

Cheryl - Have fun this weekend!

Carol - I hope your 20 miler goes well and you get to see a couple dogs on the way. That always makes me so happy.

Ken - great job on taking it easy. It is really fun to be excited to get back at it, and your body feels recovered. When I do that my workouts seems so much better.

Steve - I'm definitely looking forward to your healthy days. It has been too long since I have cheered for you in a race.

I've been thinking about using a spin class for one of my workouts, but haven't got around to it. I don't love riding my trainer necessarily, but I do love watching my favorite shows for hours. Can't do that at spin class.

Training has been good this week. I have to remind myself that it's okay to hit "stop" when I reached 1.5miles on the treadmill beacuse that's what my plan calls for. I'm embracing it, but it still feels weird. Swimming class was really good. Found out that I have pretty much reached a plateau in my speed unless I change some things in my training. Turns out I am really good at the catch-up drill. So good, in fact, my coach had a certain name for someone with my type of stroke. I don't remmber what it is; what's important is I remember how to start fixing it. I need to start increasing my stroke speed/cadence. I never thought about this before but he taught me how to increase my cadence without increases my power so I don't trash my arms so quickly. Once he pointed it out it seemed obvious. No more catch-up drill for me. I'm gonna focus on increasing my number of strokes/lap. Something else he was pointing out about the importance of a faster swimming stroke cadence is how it sets a swimmer up to be better at responding quicker to the swimmers around them, especially in open water. If the crowd is slowly your cadence stays the same but power decreases. If a hole opens up power increases and cadence stays the same. Or something like that.  So I'm gonna train my fast twitch muscles and stop needing to use a TON of power and my lats to gain speed. Hope this all makes sense and I hope it is helpful.

Happy weekend training.

Good stuff Samantha. I am going to work on increasing my number of swim strokes as well. I do think about cadence, but not often enough. I did a forty minute swim tonight and I'm tired.

**I love my foam roller***

It sounds like most had a very good training week last week.  I have been thinking about taking a spinning class but I think I have changed my mind.

I had a good training week as well.  I did my longest continuous swim, 1600 meters, and an indoor brick.  I did 2 hours on the bike and a 15 minute run.

The weather has cleared up a bit on this side of the world and the wind has died down.  I contacted the local British cycling group and found that they were having a 60KM race yesterday.  I have never done a bike race before so I decided to give it a try.  They broke the race into three groups, a fast group, a 35ers group (avg. 35 Kph) and a novice group.  I rode with the 35ers group.  I went out wanting to average 17 - 18 MPH.  I ended up averaging 16.8.  It was nice to ride outside.  I took a few pictures before the race and I will see if I get them posted.

good Saturday morning everybody. Freakishly warm day here today (44 F at 11 AM), but still did my 1 hr bike ride on the trainer.  Tomorrow is a nice run, and the end of week 1. Feel good so far, but its really just the first of a few warm up/basic base weeks. regardless, I like knowing I'm working toward a big race season, and it keeps me focused.

Good luck everyone with your run, rides, swims today.

Hey all...wow, sounds like a lot of training going on this weekend!

Ken, so glad you are feeling recovered and ready to go.  That's amazing mentally as well as physically.  I think the marathon distance agrees with you!

Anthony, I've heard the thing about scraping mud off from several good sources.  As for the trainers, if you are trying to stay within a tight budget, there are magnetic resistance trainers for under $100.  I have an Ascent Mag Trainer.  No bells and whistles, but it works.

Mike, I'm glad I'm not the only one who draws the line at cold AND rain.  Like you, I'll run in just about anything else.  Nice to see you putting in some good base weeks.  Know that takes patience, and you got it goin' on!

Steve, yes, I'm on the hunt for a waterproof shell (just in case).  Found some really nice ones at the local running store ranging from $125~$200.  Ummmm....NOT!!!  Will keep looking.  Thanks for the idea on pacing the half as a progressive/negative split run.  Sounds interesting, and would be good practice for not going out too fast.

Cheryl, hope you have a blast in your Marathon relay!  Nice place for some OWS too .

Jay, I'm probably weird, and have only done up to OLY distance, but I actually prefer tri shorts on the bike.  Maybe because my bike shorts are cheapies, but just saying everyone is different so whatever works for you is good.

Samantha, that's funny re: the bike shop dissing the cleat placement by same bike shop .  Sounds like you have a good swim instructor.  We must be related...I need faster turnover on my run, you need it on your swim.  Lots of dogs out today, but I waited until after running to pet any this time.

Tom, good going on the 1600 meter swim!  Nice that you were finally able to get outside, and being part of a race was a nice bonus.  Would be great to see some pics from that side of the world.

Hey Pam, Kate, and anyone I may have missed!  Hard to keep up here, which is a good thing .

Got my 20 miler in today.  Wasn't great speed wise, but blood sugar was good, and it is done.  My ipod battery has stopped recharging, so I did this run without any music and by myself.  First part was nice to be quiet, but towards the end when everything hurt, not so much.  My cardio system seems to be in great shape, but muscular endurance is lacking. 

On a different note, my pastor loves the idea of a bike group meeting at our church.  We are in the perfect location for it (near park path that leads to a low traffic shoulder and longer road routes).  We have a nice large lobby where everyone can bring their bikes in, and a cafe area where we can have drinks and snacks after the ride.  So after the marathon, and as things start to warm up, we will likely have some fun with that.  Thanks Stu for sparking the idea with the bike cafe article!   

Carol: 20 miler...great job!  Its been awhile since I've done that distance.

Anthony: thanks for the tip on the 9-3 thing and the visual of wiping the mud off my feet

I just finished a 40 minute ride on the trainer while watching the first period of the Bruins with my son.  The ride went pretty well.  I felt very little pain on the side of my left foot today and that's a huge difference to what I was feeling.  I'm thinking that it was due to my focus on wiping the mud off my shoes.  It really worked well and I felt like I was getting more power than usual.  Doing that also made me realize why Steve was telling me NOT to pull up.  So thanks crew for helping your newbie biker get a little bit better today!

Jay - hope you can get out today and enjoy the warm winter day. Its fantastic out! Tuesday we plunge back into the real winter, so we need to get it while we can

Carol -- 20 miles is awesome. I've never done more than 13+, and even then 20 seems like a whole other world - congrats.

Ken - glad you are feeling better, and back in the swing.

Steve - Hope all is well with your recovery.

Tom -- the bike race sounds great. Glad you had a good go of it.

I was able to get out for a run this am and did a bit under 5 miles. A beautiful day, and running along the ocean is just spetacular on days like this. the hefty headwind all the way back, though, was zero fun. 

Have a slight nagging left hammy thing going on that hurts more a couple hours after I run than it does when I run, but its noticeable. Trying to slow  my pace a bit to see if that helps. Going to visit the foam roller in a bit (like Kate!) and hopefully that will help out as well. I need to do that more often. Week 1 of HIM training in the books!

Go PATRIOTS!!!!!!!

Oh my, I'm about 3 pages of reading behind!  Active group.

Quick report in just to let all know that I'm still here.  Yesterday was shooting for my last 20 miles but I only made 17.2 miles.  Was doing fine until a known leach came onto my route and I thought I was going to have to deal with him.  Thankfully, I got rid of him but then mentally, I was just gone. I should have stuck it out but I didn't.  On the good side, I got to meet another BT'er yesterday and had a great lunch with her.

This morn went to early church and then met some friends for a few miles by the church.  Beforehand, I had decided not to drive an extra vehicle to church and I would just run/walk home.  Ran into a local ultra runner who was dressed for church instead of his typical running gear.  Asked where he was walking and he always goes to Sunday School at his church and then walks down to our church for the later service.

Carol, that is so cool about your pastor being on board with a bike cafe!  Several years ago, our church challenged some other churches to a local 10K race where we all compete as teams.  Soon the race opened a church category because there were so many church teams.  We have gotten a lot of new members too because some people wanted to train with us and then they decided to try the church.  I definitely want to hear how the bike cafe goes.

Cheryl, have fun in Nassau and in your race!!!!

Anthony, I died laughing when I saw that you posted as your wife.  Hubby and I have done that several times.  So if KWDreamun shows up here with a avatar of a fine looking man, it's actually me posting.

Steve, best of luck with all of that recovery!  I know that you'll be gracious and diligent about your recovery but I'm just so sorry that you have to go thru it.

I'll try to catch up on the posts later.  Everyone have a good long weekend.

Mike: Sorry about your Patriots.

Cheryl: I hope your race went well. It sounds like a lovely vacation.

Pam: 17 miles is awesome. You and Carol are my running heroes. 

Steve: Thanks for all your informative posts. They help me so much. 

Tom: Great to hear from you. I'd love to see your bike event photos.

I had a good training weekend with a nice ride this morning. Part of the ride felt like I was back home in Wisconsin. The weather felt like their September. Great morning for biking. 

Wishing everyone a good night.