Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 19)

Oh, Suzanne!!  How terrible to not have a shower and the bathtub combined! It is heavenly...not really, but it does work.

With hot vs cold... warm water would help loosen up muscles-make them less stuff.  Cold water would compress muscles, decrease swelling/soreness, thus pain.

Hope that helps!

Mike_D - 2011-04-27 7:28 AM I took today off as I was just feeling worn down yesterday, and needed the extra hours. have big plans to hit it hard the next week, though, so I'll consider this the calm before the storm.

Must be the season.  Didn't get out of work until after 6 yesterday and couldn't bring myself to do anything when I got home.  Strange thing is that my legs felt bad without the workout!  However, this AM they feel great.  Looking to get back in the pool this PM.

There's an outside chance that I may do a mini-sprint this Sunday.  It's about three hours south of here in the same town my parents live in.  Something like 150 yard swim, 5 mile bike, 1 mile run.  Did it last year as my first event.  Would love to see how I stack up one year later, but don't relish the thought of a long car ride.  Other option is to go on another long bike ride.  Have to say I can see where those could get addictive.

It's been a busy last week for me and will stay like this for the next few weeks. When I plan trips it always sounds like fun and then the time comes and it gets a little busy for me. Still fun, just busy!

Last Thursday I headed down to L.A. to bring my youngest her new used car. My middle daughter flew in from Arizona Friday and my son and husband drove down Friday. We all went to Disneyland Saturday and spent Easter Sunday with my in laws. We got a flat on the way home from Disney late Saturday night, put the spare on and spent Sunday looking for a replacement tire. The spare is a little tire and the flat couldn't be repaired so we needed a new tire. Of course most places were closed because of Easter and the car tire was an odd size, so we had to stay another night and get the car fixed Monday. All of us had to rearrange work but we finally got home. I got some workouts in on the trip but I did land up taking Saturday-Monday off. 

I got a decent run in yesterday. I'm reading the Chi Running book and one of the things they talked about was running with a 90 step cadence. I have an app on my phone with a tempo sound I can adjust that I use for my horses so I ran with that. I like it because I stayed at a consistent pace a little faster then normal and I felt great at the end. Yea!

Tomorrow I leave for my annual girls/horses trip. I'll be gone Thursday-Sunday. The best thing about this trip is I can bring my bike! I've looked ahead and I'll be able to get all my workouts in except 1 swim. 

The following week, I leave again on Thursday to move my youngest out of her dorm in L.A. and then we head to Tempe, Arizona for my first tri of the season on May 7! I'm getting excited and nervous We're then staying the week for some girls time until Wednesday when the rest of the family all comes out for my middle daughters graduation from ASU. Then I'll head back Sunday to drop off the youngest back in L.A. for summer school and into her summer apartment then I get to go home!!!

My focus after that will be getting solid workouts in for my big tri in July. I'm already looking forward to the routine

Hope all are well!

Johanne

Hey everyone, haven't been around as I was working 12hours everyday over the Easter w/e. 

Still nursing my back but it is significantly better.   Even did my last 5mi run before my race Sunday.  It was ok and I felt pretty good but I'm slow!

Now to catch up:

Mike:  good job on pushing yourself to do your w/o.  A 9:15 pace is easy for you?  I'm a slow poke compared to you!

Tim:  I am planning a try a tri before my sprint. It ends up being 7 weeks into my sprint training.  I think it is a good plan!

Laura:  I too have hip issues.  I think it is my hip flexors.  I am finding really good stretching and hot yoga to be helpful. 

Curt:  Great news! No Pain!

Silverback:  Good luck this weekend!

Suzanne:  Hope the leg gets better soon!

Kgore:  Sometimes a break is the only thing when it comes to an injury.  Hope you feel better soon!  Congrats on the brick workout!

I'm really looking forward to my 10k this weekend.  Hoping my back and hip flexors behave themselves though!

I start my swimming "lessons" tomorrow.  My husband thinks I'm crazy because I can swim.  Yes, I can swim but the perfectionist in me needs to do it right.  I have already spoken to the "coach" about my plans and what I am looking for with the lessons.  I am looking forward to it!

I have recruited a group of girls at work to do a tri for women in September.  I will be doing a sprint; they'll be doing a try a tri.  This triathlon thing is addictive and I'm only just training for my first!  I think I've read every possible book on tri's.  I'm becoming a little obsessed!

Lori

I can't fathom an ice bath -- like my scalding hot showers!  I'll have to be really hurting to be convinced to give this one a go.

10 x 100 yards after work.  Nice and easy.  Breathing felt great, time was OK, form was shXX.  Also had some shoulder pain for the first time.  They felt stiff/tight through the entire workout.  Best guess is that it's a result of the long bike ride / using some new muscles.

Debating the mini-tri on Sunday.  Know I'll do great / have a massive gain year over year, but do I really NEED to drive 6 hours to validate this?!?!!  Maybe I'll just do a mini-one on my own locally Sunday.

Sara - thanks for the info. I'm guessing the shower/bath combined thing wasn't in when my house was built - late 70's - but I'll take it over just a shower any day

 Mike - hope things get better

Croix - do you have the option of staying at your parents house the night before the race? If so go for it

 Johanne - looks like you've got quite a bit of travelling ahead of you, have fun

 Cb - I don't have any experience with "long weeks" but they had an article about it in the Runner's Worls magazine - you should be able to find it on their website - I think it explains how to work them, but I'm not sure - I didn't actually read it.

 Lori - have fun triing with the girls, lol. Swimming lessons when you can already swim are still a good idea if you want to get better or can't remeember everything you learnt as a kid - that's why I'm looking in to them

Finally got out for a walk today. .84 miles and some ankle strengthening excercises - toe raises and leg swings. I'm going to try doing the full routine sometimes soon.

This is the one I found - any issues with it? I'm thinking I may leave out the jumping for  a while yet

http://www.csuchico.edu/~sbarker/injury/ankle/ankle_rehab.pdf

Good morning, everyone! Its finally spring here, and temps have creeped above 60 on a consistent basis, and even reached 75 yesterday! Whoo hoo!! Outside workouts are back! Now if the sun would just come up at 4 AM, I could ride my bike outside in the AM.

Johanne (sp?) - enjoy your trip and good luck on 5/7 with your race!

Curt -- 6 hour drives r/t for a *really* short practice tri? I vote no - just go out and make your own tri up at home, and get 6 hours of your life back!

Lori - my pace is slower than it was pre-injury so I guess its all perspective

Ice baths -- never tried one, and really don't know when I'd try. Is this done after long runs, generally? Or just tough workouts? I'm an ice-bath know nothing

Can't believe my first race is less than 2 months away, and I feel totally unprepared. Its a sprint (440/13mi/5k) and I'm concerned about the run, given how early I am in the recovery phase of my foot injury. I really want to kill it on this race (its our local in-town tri). My dream time would be a sub 1:10:00.

Today was a decent swim. Felt my form was only OK, but stamina wise, I was doing well. Tried to just focus on form, and not push the effort. Still worked out to a 1:40/100 average pace, but it didn't feel like it. Felt worse. I did a total of 1600 yards, split up between drills and intervals. Have another lesson coming up on Sunday, and I'm hoping that will tweak things for me.

I went swimming last night-after taking a week off. I will never do that again. It felt like I was starting all over again. The week before I was getting really comfortable and relaxed, now I feel all tense and ackward again. Any advice?

My first tri is in a month and I'm feeling exicted and nervous. I'm more worried about the transitions than anything else right now. My plan is trying to take it easy on the swim-just relax and not worry about speed, because I'm not a great swimmer and I don't want to burn myself out to fast. On the bike part of the race I know I won't be going that fast, because I'll be using my MTB. I've been practicing running coming off the bike and so far so good. I have no idea how I will be after a swim than a bike.

Since I'm using my mtb I was wondering if I still should use 2 different shoes. One for bike and one for running, worried about them getting soaked after the swim,  I'm pretty sure they would dry out by the run, but never having done a tri any advice would be great.

Tracie

First and foremost: Have FUN!! You should enjoy the day and learn from it.

- Transitions: Practice at home. For T1 (assuming you have a wetsuit) put on the suit, hose yourself down, run around, then work on getting it off, and getting your bike stuff ready.  For T2, get used to the feeling of jelly legs, and it seems you've been doing that.  Make sure you have your transition area set up as well, so your race # is with your shoes, helmet on the bike, etc

- shoes: If your MTB has 'regular' (no clip, flat platform) pedals, use your run shoes on the bike. It will make T2 much faster as well. Take the extra 30 seconds in T1 to dry your feet if you need to, get your socks/shoes on, and be ready to go

- the swim: is this OWS w/ a wetsuit? If so, have you tried this yet? Its very different than pool swimming. Try to get in the water a few times to get comfortable with it. And try to relax as best you can before the start. Easy to say, I know . And yes, more time in the pool will help with your swim.

- Bike: your MTB will like not be as fast as others, but who cares? Ride at a pace you find comfortable, and will allow you to run afterwards. I did my first 2 races on a Trek 7200 street hybrid and it was slow. I thought my name was "On the Left" since that is what everyone said to me.  

- Trust your training. You're not out there working out so you can run a crappy race, right? You've done the work, so trust yourself to get it done.

- Most of all -- HAVE FUN. And write a race report, so we can all read about it.

- If your experience is anything like mine, crossing the finish line will get you hooked unlike anything you can image.

Mike

Hi Suzanne, just checked out the strengthening exercises.  They look pretty beneficial and can not only help your ankles but the whole lower body.  Some reminded me of games we played as kids like 4 square or hopscotch lol.   Good job on the walk today.  Every walk, run, swim takes us closer to our goals.

Hey Mike, given how you are slowly building up your distance running again, I think you will do great on the tr run in 2 months.  Your swimming looks great! What length is your pool and do you break every so many yds/m?  I just started swimming today and you have given me some motivation to try out what I learned. 

Thanks for this!  It truly is a journey and not a destination.  I am learning this, unfortunately the hard way sometimes lol

Here here!

Thanks for the tips Mike!  Spoken like a pro!

I keep hearing the same thing.  Brick w/o's, specifically bike-run, are essential.  The plan I am using starts doing bricks in week 6 of a 12 week program. 

So today I had my first swim lesson.  It was awesome!  The instructor coaches at the national level.  He was spot on in what I need to work on - breathing!  I put my self in beginner level but he moved me up to the group that has been swimming for 10 weeks.  He also said that 1 more week there and then I should go to the more advanced group at the location that is actually closer to my home.  I didn't want to do that one as I thought it was too advanced for me.  So, I don't think I am as bad as I thought and will do the try a tri on June 18.  The swim was scaring me more than anything.  I think my weakness will be the run. 

The instructor left me with some drills to do at my club before my lesson next week.  I will incorporate them into my swim workouts. 

Off to work the night shift tonight.  Have a great evening.  If anyone lives in or around the areas hit by the nasty weather, my thoughts and prayers are with you.  Stay safe!

Tracie - no advice, but good luck on your first tri

 Iwilltri - didn't realise they helped the rest of my lower body that much but I do know the leg swings loosen me up a bit - I was doing them as part of my warm-ups before I found the article - I think they might be more in the category of "dynamic stretches" then strengthening but they're probably in there because you have to balance on 1 foot while swinging the other leg. Glad to hear you're better at the swimming than you thought you were.

 Me - I'm going to try for a short walk today to see if I can loosen things up and get out there then go for my LD of 2.25 miles tomorrow or Sunday. I think I might just stick with the walking for the next week though - I'm not sure how much the other stuff is going to affect my race.

Oh - 1 question - anyone got any ideas on how I can devise something to do up my swimsuit? It zips up the back and I can usually only get it to about midway before I have to ask someone to do the rest for me, and getting it off I pretty much get it as far down as I can then pull my arms out and shrug out of it. I tried the ribbon but it came out - did I not do it right or what?

Sara - I am converting my workouts to a 9 DAY workout week.  I work a 24 shift so my schedule is a 9 day week.  I have never been able to just look at my plan and do that workout each day because my days change each week.  What I am having difficulty with is what to do with the other 2 days.  Suzie put me on to an article in Runner's World that had some info for a running program which helped.  I will know Monday if I am writing a marathon plan or HIM plan, then I can get onto the new schedule.

What I have learned about going faster: swim faster = coach on the side of the pool, Run faster = Tempo workouts / speed work once a week, Bike faster= Intervals and time in the saddle.