Baowolf's Mentor Group- Closed (Page 18)

Ya the swim has way too many components, like balancing spinning eggs on top of each other while watching a football game and listening to the radio.

Some components, 1) butt up/body parallel to the water surface, 2) body rotation so you can breath and to help with stroke, 3) hand entering water at the same time as body rotation starts and pull begins on other hand, 4) initial hand entry into the water, extending that arm out in front of you, dropping that hand into the catch and then holding that caught water all the way back until your hand leaves the water behind your hip. If your hand is not close to haiving the palm facing back water will slip off your hand and you wont get a good pull. It is like a canoe paddle. You don't smash it into the water you place it into the water and then do a progressive accelleration including a finish before moving forward again. The high elbow thing will drive you nuts, still working on that. You can use resistance cords to get a better feel for that on dry land. The trick is that your body rotates around your shoulder as you bend your elbow while moving your hand into position and pulling down and past your hip. Iike running, I think you need to do enough yards/miles per week or you don't maintain a feel for the water. You should feel your hand pushing firmly against the water all the way through your stroke. If you don't feel that, your stroke/catch/pull is off. If you are dragging your leggs, it is like an anchor and will slow you down big time.

Go Mike!
Samanthan we will be wanting daily reports on that knee, don't make us stalk your email account. Just kidding... mostly.

Still no time to catch up yet but I wanted to make sure to drop in and say good Luck to Mike D. Can't wait to hear how it goes.

And Samantha. It's almost here. You put in the work, and it's gonna be a great day for you.

The rest of you I have checked here and there, and it's been a very active group still. Good job.

I'm feeling good, training well. Still need more rest but pregnant wife and 3 year old just doesn't work for that...

Ya, Swimming is tough for those of us who never swam competitively, For my first Ironman I joined masters and I swam a 1:10. It was all about time in the water and accountability for me....

Go Mike Go! Did you get your race number yet? So excited!

So my knee journey continues. I was referred to a sports type massage therapist who does trigger point therapy. He was kind enough to see me for free simply because he wants me to have a successful IM. He says "I am not a doctor and I don't diagnose; however, I really think you have tight muscles in your thigh pulling on your knee". He did some light work and gave me tips on how to keep doing the same thing to myself. It is clear to me that I have tight muscles and I hopeful what he did and what I'll do will help. Have I been pain free, not exactly. It hasn't hurt so much as there is a dull ache. Tomorrow I'll hop on the bike trainer and see what happens. I swam 1,000 yards on Wednesday without much of a knee bother. Today I had an awesome OWS. I did 1.2 miles in choppy water that was 62 degrees. I spent a good portion of the swim in the deep water that took away all visibility because I wanted to make sure it wouldn't freak me out. There were two challenges that stuck out to me: after I first entered the water I found that being intentional about exhaling all the air in my lungs prior to taking a breath helped me stay calm and keep from doing the 'I just submerged myself in really cold water' type breathing. I was so amazed at the difference it made. The second challenge was keeping my arms moving because they were fighting the cold, but halfway through I started to get into a good rhythm. Since I have been training myself to breath continuously on one side I was able to breath away from the waves which was wonderful for preventing major water swallowing. I have always been a bi-lateral, but my swim coach (who is now working at the Olympic training center in CO) says you swim faster when you breath to one side because it limits the full side-to-side rotation. But he wants swimmers to be proficient on both sides. I'm so thankful I have trained to swim that way.

As of right now I see no reason not to start the race. My swim should go well. If I can stay solid on the bike and finish with a little extra time I can push through almost anything on the run. At least that is what I'm gonna tell myself

Mitzi - You did so well with your training while traveling.

Carol - You are so right that people have certain things they will spend money on without thinking. I'm that way when it comes to gear, so you aren't wrong to think I would buy them. If only my funds weren't so tight right now. However, I wish I were better at saving so I could take cool vacations like you. How exciting!

Mitch - Glad to hear your doing well in spite of family life.

Either Mike's race hasn't started yet, or it won't be on IM live tracking. I look forward to Mike reporting in. I don't remember seeing him post his race number and I don't know his last name. I just don't like waiting.

Finished! Swim good, bike good, run a hideous deathmarch with lots of walking.

More later

Great job mike! Super happy for you! What a sweet victory after last year and some tough months of training.

Edited by anthalynn 2013-06-15 2:09 PM

In order to keep the good news rolling I am excited to report I rode 16 miles today pain free. There is still some tenderness, but I think the little bit of work the MT did yesterday and what I have continued doing is really helping. So tomorrow I'll see how a walk goes and maybe get a couple run early this next week.

fantastic Samantha! We'll all be tracking you next weekend (There was no live tracker at my race today)

So, a few quick notes before I take a nap

Perfect weather for this thing today. 80, no humidity, slight breeze, sunny.

Swim went well, navigated well, but only finished 1 minute better than last year. WTH?

Bike was good. Felt strong, and ready. Probably went too hard which led to some of the problems on the run. Finished the bike in 3:01, I think. At one point on the first lap, I was zipping along at a constant 20 mph or so, which was waaaaaay to fast for what I should have been doing. Was happy to get off the bike when it was time, though

Run started OK, but went south quickly. My sore hammy made an appearance on the first mile, so I was thinking of that the whole time. First 3 miles were OK. Started to fall apart then. Started walking a bit more than I wanted to. Kept moving forward. Was concerned about hydration so I took advantage of all the aid stations.

I walked the last 5+ miles of the run. It got to the point where if I tried to run, my calf muscles on both legs would immediately cramp. By mile 10 my feet were on fire, and I have about a dozen blisters between them. It was one of the toughest things I've ever had to do physically. Just kept moving was all I could think of doing. I DID managed to run up the finish chute, though, and that was fun, except for the lady who decided she had to pass me with 20 feet to go, and yell and wave her hands and ruin my finisher photo ;^)

My 'run' time was almost more than my bike. Now that would be quite a feat...

Edited by Mike_D 2013-06-15 6:01 PM

Wow Mike! The swim and bike did go well, but what a tough run. I hear about people getting blisters on the run portion of races and I cringe at the thought. It is pure misery. Kudos to you for moving forward in spite of the pain and mental drag of it all. What was your over-all time? I'm so very happy for you! Except that lady at the end; what a crappy thing for her to do. I'll be sure to not be that person next weekend You did it!

Tonight I'm headed to a tri-club BBQ. Pretty excited about getting to know more people who love what I love. And I get to eat hamburgers and hot dogs...woohoo!

Signs alerting traffic of the upcoming IM race are going up all over the place. The newspaper post the lake temp every day and I am starting to see more bikers out there and I'm guessing it is out-of-towners starting to show up and familiarize themselves with the area.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Steve, I think this is your son's grad, so congrats to him and enjoy family time.

Great job Mike! We knew the run was going to be tough, way to persevere. Sounds like one Heck of run. My IM run was a 6 hour marathon so I know how you feel!

Very proud of you. You did well.

Samantha - that advice sounds like exactly what I was thinking. Everything is connected. My year long foot injury was mainly due to my lack of flexibility in my legs. Lots of rolling and stretching for me these days...

WooHoo, Mike!!!!!!! I woke up this morning thinking about you and thought about you all day. Amazing job! 3:01 on the bike shows that you put in a lot of training. I hate that the hammy was bothering you but good for you on pushing thru. So sorry about the blisters. Has that ever happened before? I've heard that people who get blisters between their toes love the injini (sp?) socks.

Samantha, yay on getting the bike ride done today. I really do believe in the massage therapist (which I used to NOT believe). I've found that not going to the MT before a race only costs me money and all of my training.

Well, I'll add to the good news but mine is slightly different. First, I was able to get a longer run in this morn(although it was 6.7 versus the 8 I wanted). I was still happy with that. Then I had to go to work because a major project is due at the end of the month WHEN I'M ON VACA. So I went in and finally got some major, major issues resolved. It was all reminding me of sweet Michael, a co-worker who passed away several years ago. I was smiling and fist pumping and talking to Michael. I was convinced I was a genius. Until I went outside and found that I left my keys (in my open top convertible) and the battery was dead. From a genius to a moron in just a few secs. At least the car wasn't stolen. I'm such a dummy sometimes.

Wow!! There's lots of good news on here!!

Mike, you did it!!! Congrats on your 70.3 finish! Although you didn't finish as strong as you would have liked, you should be proud at your perseverance through that run!
Samantha, yay! No pain in your ride! Bet that eases your mind a bit!
Pam, great run!! Yay!!! .

Rode 40 today. Mentioned in my last post that I was going to ride w my LBS. They usually do a 20 mi loop. Had planned to head out with them (along w 2 other friends.) then continue on for 40 w my friends as LBS headed back to store. My girlfriend had gone w the group once before and HATED it. I thought she'd come along anyway since I was attempting it for the first time- She wouldn't do it. So was a little bummed that I didn't get to experience the LBS group. There's always next week. .

Got home from ride and grabbed a shovel and helped hubby dig trenches. Hard work. Back- breaking! Forgot how shoveling dirt is good ab work!

Grats Mike for toughing it out. So why did you get blisters on your feet? Something to figure out. I 3 IM and 3 marys I got 1 blister on my foot. I have a pair of socks just for races and take a little extra time in t1 to get as much sand off my feet as I can.

Yay Samantha, it looks like it may come together for you yet. Sounds like the water will be warmer than when I did CDA, you should be fine temp wise.....

No idea on the blisters. These were my first tri related ones ever. Maybe the socks I had?

One weird thing which happened on the run was I felt cold a few times, almost like chills. Any ideas?

I'm going to do a race report likely tomorrow and think about what I need to do training wise - that is running more, and trying to figure out a bike pace which will let me run well. Anyone have suggestions on building a run base or a plan?

I did LOVE riding yesterday. It was just glorious to be out there moving along and truly appreciating that I was able to do it. Awesomeness all around.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there!

Mike - Any long runs I use Injiji's as someone mentioned. They really make a difference!

Elana- make sure you log that ditch digging. Truly back breaking work!

Pam - glad you got those miles in. At least your car was still there so you did/t have to run home!

I have my long run today. was going to do just over 10. It turns out that there is a 5k/10k down the street this morn. My running group has a booth and they talked me into running it. It's for a great cause - Autism, so I am going to run both the 5 and 10K. Definitely not going to be able to race them. I am very sore form beach boot camp yesterday and I added more biking this week. Last time I did a double I PR'd both. right before the broken foot. Not even close these days to that but I will just try to get in the miles, support a good cause and represent Run MDR...

Happy fathers day!

Mike - huge congrats on your race! Sounds like it went pretty much as you expected. Hey, if you know the run was going to be iffy anyway, maybe good to let fly on the bike. Ouch on the blisters! Hope they heal up quickly. As for the chills, not sure if this is your issue, but I often get chills when I get overheated. Thinking maybe since the day was a bit warmer, you haven't had time to acclimate.

Steve - good reminders on the swim. I think rotation (lack thereof) is an issue for me. Congrats on your son's graduation -- a nice father's day present for you!

Elena - nice 40 mile ride! Hmmm....you may have to go alone to try the group ride. I really think it's something you have to keep trying on sometimes...to find the right group and/or figure out how things work. Hope your friend will try again too. Digging, ugh, I feel sore just thinking about it!

Pam - nice long run! Yes, humility comes in many pacakges. The ability to laugh at ourselves is priceless though .

Mitch - the 5K / 10K sound like fun. I did a double like that earlier this year and really enjoyed it. Hopefully knowing you will be doing the 10K will keep you from pushing too much on the 5K.

Samantha - so glad that bike ride went well! Is it sort of surreal now that you see your town preparing for the race? The excitement builds!

Hey to everyone else, and happy father's day to the dads in our group!

After 2 weeks of doing nothing that would stress my glute, and several days pain free, I've started on a "return to running" plan (http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/stressfracture.shtml). Probably what I should have done initially after the stress fracture recovery down time, but yeah, that humility thing again. Also watched "Spirit of the Marathon" last night, and was very inspired by seeing that Deena Kastor recovered from the exact same fracture I had (cuboid bone) and later that year won the Chicago Marathon. While I have very little else in common with her, it made me feel a bit less broken overall....like maybe there is not as much fundamentally wrong with my form as I was starting to think. I mean, if Deena doesn't have good form, I don't know who does, and same thing happened to her. One other take-away from both movies is how much non running maintenance the participants did (stretching, PT, dynamic exercises, etc.). Tomorrow I go for my stress echo, so yay, I get to run for maybe 5 minutes on the treadmill .



Edited by squirt 2013-06-16 10:01 AM

Mike, first thing is to get up those weekly miles. You have been riding 10 miles a week on 2 runs a week for a while. So you need to run 4-5 days a week and build your runs up so 3,3,3,3,6/3,3,4,3,7, etc. up to 35 miles or so per week with a long building to 13 for hims 17 or so for IMs.

Congrats Mike. Great job.

Mike - congrats. Seems like you will figure some things out for the next one. You're getting experience.

Bummed - posted everywhere how I lost 5% body fat. Checked again and I was reading the BMI by mistake. My BMI is 29 - still 33% fat. Oh well. Weight is the same, body fat about the same, but clothes are looser. Main goal is to be a triathlete - weightloss would help that. I train, the body will do what it will do.

I'm jogging over to the races this morn... Saying to myself that I am NOT going to push the 5k. NOT going to race. Just a nice run... Told everybody in my running group that I was NOT going to race... Walking to the start I'm Not going to race, Walking towards the front for some reason... NOT going to race. Talking with a friend right before the gun goes off...NOT going to race. Gun goes off, I'm racing!!! Don't know what it is that made me go but there was no stopping it. but I ended up with a 23:30 5k.. 7:30 pace. Pushed and raced the whole time. I dunno.... the 10k started about 3 minutes after I finished and I was spent. Did the 10k at about an 8:20 pace (which is very surprising considered how tired I was...)

Had a blast and I am very surprise I was able to hold 7:30's. My training has not showed that at all. Feels good to know I think I will be able to get my running back eventually...

The last race I wasn't gona race resulted in a me racing and having a full pull of a strained hamstring...... Glad you got through your race healthy and ran a fast race. It is really hard to not race a race where you are iffy health or trainingwise. This is one reason that if you are a stronger cyclist than runner, then you have to hold back on the bike to not kill yourself on the run.

Experienced that recently, no doubt

Took yesterday & today off completely. Had a good relaxing fathers day, and have been tending to my blisters. Only one real bad one remaining on my right foot, while the others seem to be healing. It had to have been the socks I used. Lesson learned. Race report to be done today. Still haven't seen my official time, but I'm estimating about 6:40...

race report: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

Thanks for the run thoughts, steve. I'll be working that into my plan.

So, Samantha, here it is.....How ready do you feel? You are going to have an AWESOME day!!!!

Edited by Mike_D 2013-06-17 7:23 AM

Mike - Way to go. So happy for you that you could beat the race which had you down last year. Sometimes a race is about more than the time and you showed up ready for the challenge. Plus that time is a good time.

Samantha - Banners are going up everywhere. This is what you have trained for. Loosen up and let your faith and training do the talking.
Mitch - Glad the wheels are intact. You might have some base building to do but you are well on your way to race form.

Pink Pam - It seems that the world has been trying to teach us all that we are not invincible lately. At the same time it is wonderful how benevolent the world really is.

Mitzi – Weight loss is not easy. I would like to lose another 10+ but have found that dieting leaves me without enough energy and 6 hours a week of WO is not enough to shed those pounds. Keep at it though because I have noticed that the body tends to change before the scale does.

Carol - Good luck at the Dr. Hope you can get back out there soon.

My WO’s were OBE (over taken by events) a bit last week with bike problems and bad weather so the goal of run 4x/wk for June is over. I did keep the mileage up with a nice 8 miler Saturday but to Steve’s credit, the 4x has really helped keep my energy up and build mileage. Suffice to say I’m a bit bummed that I missed this. Top it off with the Wi-Fi on my iPhone dropping out and you can see that life is humbling me a bit. To get back on the horse, I had a nice Father’s day 5K run. As people continue on the recovery trail and others discuss their stiffness, I have noticed a much greater need to stretch. Probably from being in better shape this year than last and performing at a much higher level.

So Samantha, you might want to get some sun on your shoulders this week, not too much. I find that my Tri suit doesn't cover the same areas as the shirts I generally run in, so there is a band of less tanned skin that is less welcoming of 11+ hours in the sun than you might think.

Other reminders: Long races (mary, HIM, IM) remember to cut your tonails lest they turn black, use newer socks, cut fingernails to avoid putting those little half moons in your wetsuit, remember plastic bags for putting wetsuit on easily, body glide, etc. I get all suntan loationed up before going down to set up T1 on race morning. Ya i know some of it will get rubbed off and such, but it is a start, then I have some loation in t1/t2 also. At IMs they will often gook your shoulders coming out of the water if you want them to. also make sure your elastic laces are not too tight. This can cause blisters and really irritate the tendons on the top of your foot (ask me how I know). Those tendon sheaths do not forgive this insult quickly. Oh and with the suntan lotion, if your tri top does not significantly overlap your tri bottom when you are on the bike in aero.... you should hit that spot with a little loation or it will become quite grumpy with you by the end of the day.

Newer to my group folks. Blisters happen, my best way to fix them is to use a sterilized needle or pin, lance the blister on the edge towards your heal and drain the fluid. You might have to do this a couple times before it settles down. If you have the nastier kind that just oozes way too much you might have to cut a slightly bigger hole so it can drain more. I tend to run on blisters, they will heal up fine.

Edited by Baowolf 2013-06-17 10:28 AM

Mike - it is great that you were able to do the race after crashing last year. Give that hammie a break - imagine how great next years race will be.

Steve - great tips.

I went to an excellent orientation tonight for the sprint next week. It included swimming the course. First time using my wetsuit, first time in open water, salt water to boot. (must confess to surviving a sprint about 5 yrs ago, but that was in a lake and no wetsuit). When asked who was doing their first tri, most hands went up - but you'd never know it by how they all took off in the water.

I got left behind. A very nice person swam along side me giving me encouragement. Big problem was sighting, not surprising. Would stop, tread water, feel exhausted, correct my direction, swim another 7-8 strokes. Clearly I'm not a swimmer, but have been doing my pool workouts.

Honestly, I don't feel like my time in the pool made any difference - I still can't swim.

I have a decision to make about going through with the race. I'm thinking of returning the used wetsuit and seeing if they will just charge me a rental fee. I will be the last out of the lake. Thinking of asking the kids to not come watch me, don't want them to see that. There were a few older men, but I must have been the oldest woman there by 15 years. Who am I kidding?

Mitzi

Edited by MuscleMomma 2013-06-17 9:40 PM