Mndymond and Disturbed275's Awesome SBR Group--- Phase 2--CLOSED! (Page 19)

Let's hope flats aren't contagious!  I've yet to flat on my racing/training bike, though I've practiced changing flats on that bike many times!  I got plenty of flats on my old commuter but was lucky enough to be near a bike shop each time.  Haven't flatted on my new commuter yet, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

As for workouts this week- Monday I bike-commuted, lifted, and went to yoga.  Tuesday I did a 1/2 hr swim and a short run (and also bike commuted).  Today I tried out a "swim training" class at my gym.  It was pretty good- he was having us doing Total Immersion drills, which is exactly what I've been working on the past few weeks!  So I think I'll try to go to that class 1-2x/week (they offer it 3x/wk).

Tomorrow I was planning on going to yoga in the morning, but I just checked the schedule and it's a sub.  So I might do the noon class instead since I like that guy better.  In the evening I'm planning on biking to track practice (8-9 miles depending on my route), doing my workout, then biking home (7-8 miles).  

I dream of napping at work!

I've been trying to push my workouts this week which was supposed to be a rest week- since I have to travel next week and have meetings 8-7 to most days.  So next week will be very limited.  I'm trying to decide if I risk hurting myself if I just run the 9k on Sunday (which they are saying is 6.1m - so I guess they just don't like to round up or something?)  I felt good running 3.3 yesterday.  I just really don't want to push so hard I get hurt.  Then again I used to run 5ks with no training at all.

Hopefully nothing blows up at work today and I get to Master's Swimming for a good workout.

rydergal - 2012-05-09 9:04 PM

disturbed275 - 2012-05-09 7:20 PM

kevinbe - 2012-05-08 12:19 AM

thor67 - 2012-05-07 7:42 PM Okay, who did their morning workout today??

I'm in bike focus week on the free HIM plan on this site.  My last 2 rides have = 2 flat tires.  Hey, good practice for HIM in Aug.  I've got it down to 15 minutes.  I always love a reason to go into LBS and drool over the new road bikes.

Another flat? That sucks! Hope it's not a trend.  I had a week a couple years ago where I got 4 or 5 flats before I decided to redo my rim tape and remedy the issue.  Not a fun week.

YThis must be the week of the flats!!! I got my first ever today! Really really lucky though, i was at 49.63 km done of a 50km ride!!' so i just walked home and changed it there!! Wishing everyone no more flats!!!!

Nice job on the 49.63k bike ride! You should have went and bought a lotto max after that, getting a flat 400 meters from home!

I say stay consistent with your workouts. Do what you usually do and try to do what you can next week. With your meetings starting at 8 am, you have "hours" to run in the morning...

Ha ha- I like to try and catch up on sleep on business trips :-)

Those workouts are today!  I swam yesterday!

Went to yoga at noon.  Track practice is at 7pm, so as long as we don't get freak hailstorms like last week, I'll bike up there after work!

I feel sick to my stomach!  I just registered for the same 5k swim I did last year, and the second I hit the "submit" button, I got really queasy!  I don't even know why I registered... I had gotten an email saying it was filling up fast, so I panicked and registered.  And now that I've committed, I'm getting nervous.....  I guess I have a lot of swimming to do between now and September.  

On that vein, I'm debating whether to do my first OWS of the season tomorrow.  It's only going to be in the mid-50's, but air temp will be 70's.  I will soak my wetsuit tonight and bring it to work tomorrow.  I have until about 6pm to decide, since that's when my friends will be at the beach.  

WOW 5km swim!! that's awesome!! I feel sick to my stomach thinking about the 3.8km i have to do for Ironman...I could only imagine! That's awesome!! happy training!

5k in the water=impressive. 

3rd flat in 3 rides.  This time I had the pump I had fixed so I could air it up 2x in the last 2 miles of ride to ride it home rather than leaving it and jogging for the car.  I'm such a Newbie at the bike, I've been tri training since last October, mostly swimming and running, with cycling mostly on a spin bike at the Y.  I just figured out that you can use the drop bars to ride with, and take a bunch of time off your rides.  To date, I've used the hoods, and always wondered why I was so slow.  I sped up quite a bit today by riding with hands in the drop bars and almost seemed like I was in an aero position. 

Time to change the flat.  Looks like I'm going to have to learn how to patch tubes with all these flats I'm getting.

Thanks!!  I guess my consolation is that they won't make me bike or run after!! 

I think the real reason I registered is to motivate me to swim!  I swam regularly as a kid, though not very competitively (was always in the "slow" lane) so even the half iron 1.9k swim isn't enough to motivate me to practice!  I'm hoping this race will scare me into actually training for the swim, and maybe make me a little faster for my half-I swim too.

Ironically I haven't even registered for any of my tris yet

Sorry if I missed this discussion (sometimes I have a hard time keeping up!) but did you ever figure out why you keep getting flats?

Do you check the inside of your tire to see if there's something there (pebble, rock, nail, glass shard, etc) that keeps causing the flat? 

Does your tire have a hole?  If so, you can reinforce it with a $1 bill!   

Do you pump your tires up all the way with air before riding?  If you're underpressure, you could just be getting pinch flats all the time.  Especially if you ride on a bumpy road with a lot of grooves/potholes/etc.

Is your tire worn out?  How old are your tires?  I once kept getting flats on my commuter, and it was because my tires were worn, so the tube inside would bubble out where the tire was weak, then burst.  Once I replaced the tires, I stopped getting flats. 

When you change tubes, do you make sure it's seeded properly so that none of the tube is sticking out around the tire?

If all those are a-ok, maybe you should bring your bike to the shop and see what's causing it.  It could be something to do with the rim rubbing on the tube funny or something.  You shouldn't be flatting so much!!

Wow, a swim marathon?? I think it's safe to say I would probably do a 50- or 100-mile (running) ultramarathon before trying to swim 26.2 miles!  I have a couple of friends training for a few 10k swims, but it'll be at least a few years before they can convince me to join them!  Last year some woman swam (or at least attempted to; not sure if she made it) from Chicago, across Lake Michigan to the other side.  I think they were saying it would take her like 26 hrs. 

Calf cramps while swimming?  I would say foam roll (either with a roller, muscle stick, or even tennis ball) & stretch to loosen it up.  Maybe get a massage.  In terms of avoiding it, I'm thinking maybe you point your toes to hard? ....Kick more from the hips than that knee, and relax your lower leg. 

ETA... I forgot to touch on your flat tire questions.... I've never changed a mountain bike tire, but road bikes are fairly simple.  If you go to your local bike shop, I'm sure they'd be happy to teach you!  (And of course sell you tools to make sure you can do it yourself!)  My LBS actually made a video that's pretty helpful... Here's the link.

Wow! 5 K in the pool!  How long will that take you?  How's the the swim go?  Were you able to get it in

I've been taking it easy this week getting ready for my sprint this weekend - so tonight, I decided to practice transitions one more time... So, I've done a couple of practice runs and I'm continuing to improve my time.  I bend over to grab my helmet and stand up.  So problem.  Then I shift my weight about an inch and bam! Pulled my back!

So now here I am - lying in bed and icing my back.  I scheduled a massage tomorrow and may have to cancel the campout (I can only imagine what lying on the ground would do...).  

But I will race on Sunday.  Even if I have to walk the thing... I will. 

Actually it's 5k open water, no wetsuit..... so the timing all depends on the weather   2 years ago it took me ~1h15 to do the 2.5k because it was super cold, windy, and choppy with 8-10 ft waves.... last year it took me 2h10 to do the 5k since it was nice and sunny with flat-as-glass clear water (about 30 seconds/100m faster going double the distance just because weather was nicer!)  

Got in the water today, but I could only manage a 1/2 mile.  It was 52 degrees.... Cold enough that I had to keep stopping every 5-10 strokes since my face and ears were so cold.  I'd heard that ear plugs are good for cold water swimming so maybe I'll get some if I go into water that cold again.  

Owww, bummer! Shoot, I hope your back sorts itself out by race day!  

Very good information.  I just want to add a couple of things.  You definitely shouldn't be getting so many flats.  The first thing that comes to mind is pinch flats.  One other thing can be helpful is to align the stem of the tube with a logo or writing on the tire. If you flat you can examine the tube and tell where along the tire the puncture happened.  You can check that area for any debris that may be the cause.  Or it could be an exposed spoke hole not covered adequately by rim tape (this was my problem when I had a string of flats).  If the flat isn't always occurring at the same spot in could just be a pinch flat from improper installation.  Make sure you are not using tire levers to put the tire back on.  You should be able to work it on with just your hands.  Also, once the tire is on, but before inflating the tube I like to I like to push the tire in from the rim to make sure I don't see the tube sticking out from under the bead.  I work my way around the entire tire, both sides.

Hope this helps and find the culprit soon! Nothing is more irritating than a series of flat tires

Wow, that's a bummer.  Hopefully the massage and ice did the trick.  Best of luck tomorrow!