Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 19)

There's no hope.......I can't keep up with all of you!

I guess I'm training too much! 

I felt like dog poo today.  I managed some half-butt workouts.  They weren't the best but I kept with my schedule and did "something" resembling my intentions.

Between the munchkin puke-fest last week, New Years vacation out of town, and getting back to real life today.....I'm beat.  I need a vacation!

Yeah...that's where my elbow hurts right now too.  I was lifting back in 2006 and hurt that forearm doing some curls or something and it's affected my throwing a baseball ever since.  Super annoying.

The pup is great....except yesterday my wife left her in the living room for about an hour and she ate a couple of her brand new smartwool socks that I bought my wife for Christmas.  So we had a quick trip to the emergency vet to make sure she'd be fine.  And she is.  I'm not even sure why we went.  Oh well.  Potty training is actually done.  She's completely housebroken.  The only issue we were having the first few nights is that she wanted to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Thankfully she slept through the night last night.

I hear you Tracy....sometimes you need a vacation from life on vacation....especially with kids!

michgirlsk - 2013-01-02 10:35 PM Okay, I need to limit my internet browsing (including this forum.)  The clicking around (and typing, while we're at it) just is not doing any good to my tendons.  Literally, I can feel my tendons in a way I shouldn't be feeling them with the clicking of the mouse and with typing.  I think this makes it sound like it's bad- it's not THAT bad, but still, I think the little things are adding up which just prolongs the issue.  SO, (we'll see how this goes, but!) I am making a conscious decision to stop the clicking of the mouse and typing unless necessary for a few days!  So, I am going to attempt to sign off here for a bit!  This sounds a bit dramatic, but... 

Well I hope it feels better fast so you'll be back! Take care of that elbow!

I know how you feel. I have to try to wake the kids up in about 10 min. - back to school today. I have a feeling this is not going to go well.

Samantha, I hope you have a speedy recovery with your elbow and get back in the pool soon!

Dina, good luck w/ the children and school.

Jonathan, what is your dog's name?

Well a little good news, I swam 100 yards non-stop for me.  That is a 1st for me, now if I can just figure out how to keep going. 

Yay!!!!  100 yards!!!!  I remember that milestone!  Congrats!

I noticed something interesting this morning while running on the treadmill.  My feet are especially painful today so I kept the entire 5 mile run at only 6.5 mph just to give things a break.  Yesterday was a double run which is why they are worse today.  (but that's not my point)

So my HR began in the low 120s and made its way up to 130 as I finished, but a few seconds before I finished, I began to think about my breathing.  Unconsciously I was controlling my breathing.  In slowly over about 4 steps and then out slowly over the same amount of time.  Yet I had a slight sensation of oxygen deprivation.  So I began to breath faster and my HR dropped to 125 in only about 5 seconds.

How do you all breath when running or even cycling? (or swimming for that matter)

I first began to play with this last season and realized on the bike that when I would just let my exhale go and almost 'over breath' that I felt so much better at or near threshold.  Rather than controlling my exhale, I just relax and let it 'fall' out on it's own.  The lungs empty faster than when I control it and I seem to get dramatically more CO2 out and feel so much better.

I propose a little experiment for you all.  Next time you are on a stationary bike or a treadmill (and monitoring heart rate) play around with your breathing technique and rate and see what your HR does.

I started doing the breathing checks last winter  running on the treadmill after you suggested it then.  One of the reasons I like the treadmill is I can focus on things like breathing without worrying about the terrain, wind, dogs, etc.  I can fluctuate my HR +/- 3 or 4 beats simply by changing my breathing pattern.  What I have found is probably what you are describing.  My most "efficient" pattern (in terms of lowest HR) is when I really just relax the breathing both in and out.  It takes time to get to the point where you aren't forcing it since once you start focusing on something it becomes very hard to just "let it happen".  I have less success doing the breathing correctly outside, simply because it really requires a lot more focus.

I'm actually trying to employ the same feeling in the pool when I swim.  It's harder to keep the breathing as relaxed, but I'm starting to get closer.

I just watched a site on youtube about keeping your feet strong.  It is as simple as doing 1 leg hops on a soft surface such as sand, grass or thick padded carpet.  The goal is to make your feet stronger so you can get away with less padding in your shoes.

Runners what do ya'll think?

Jeff I agree with the breathing.  One runner around here that helps me a lot says to breath out of your mouth and relax your jaw, just let the air flow out.  Mainly you'll get more air.  A minor theory is the more relaxed you are, the better you will perform, even small jaw muscles.

Karl

Karl good work on the continuous 100. Keep working on it and you will get there.

Jeff I have to try what you are suggesting I have messed around with my breathing while running but I never really compared what I was doing to what my actual HR it is. I should mess with this over the weekend on my long trainer ride too just to see if I can influence my HR.

Another subpar session at the pool today. The last two weeks I've only gotten into the pool 2 times for the week as oppossed to 3 and it shows. I swam tired and sluggish yesterday and today. I did however meet a triathlete from California today and he swam like a fish lol. He is visiting his parents out here and he told me both him and his wife were looking to relocate to Wash DC. Tracy you might appreciate this he lives out in Napa but I don't he liked our cold weather here lol. It is pretty cold today he was off to ride his cyclocross bike outdoors. Man I feel guilty now doing my trainer ride indoors and not running today and this guy who is not used to cold weather is riding outdoors! I like running in the cold weather too, I'm such a slacker.

Woo Hoo!! Congrats Karl!

Interesting, I've never focused on that but I don't typically wear a HR monitor when I run either. I'll give it a shot.

Umm, if you are a slacker then I'm a total slug. I don't even think for one second about going outside to run or ride. We still have snow all over the sidewalks here. I know I could put my cleats on my running shoes but it's not worth the risk of injury to me. It does not matter if you are inside or outside as long as you keep on moving! Hope your next swim feels better for you.

Thanks for the input about Nationals - everyone's comments have been very helpful on this subject. I will be making a decision this month. Since I am new to the sport and my husband appreciates my tri talk as much I enjoy his golf talk, I know better than to drag on and on about tri stuff with him. If there was a 24-hr tri channel on tv like there is a Golf channel, he would be in trouble though.

I'm a mom of a 2-yr old and 4-yr old. My husband is in law enforcement and works out of town - he is gone more than half the week and I am left to keep everything moving along at home while working full time myself, training, and keeping the girls on their schedule. I appreciate your input regarding late nights. I still have those when the girls are sick and am so appreciative when my husband provides relief when he is home. Words cannot express how grateful mommies are when daddy takes over.

Thanks everyone. Glad to share my race with you guys. I was pretty much a zombie after the run and finally am feeling adjusted and rested today. Now I am ready to eat my way through some tasty food over the next few days. I visited the local YMCA yesterday and am hoping to get a swim in tomorrow or Monday.

Thank you. Knowing that whatever time I posted on 1.1.2013 would be a Half Marathon time I would want to beat by the end of 2013, made it realistic to slow down and run easy.

1 leg hops will definitely be done on the forefoot.  It will challenge the calf/achilles/arch.  It would be good preparation for transitioning to forefoot running.  But your normal gait probably has you landing on your heel and I don't think a non-impact hopping program 'strengthens' your bones and joints (above the ankle) for greater levels of impact.

That is, except for indirectly, by virtue of strengthening lower leg muscles so they absorb more of the shock of impact just because they will be more dense.

It is most certainly a good exercise for leg strength though.  And doing it on sand or grass will also indirectly strengthen the stabilizing muscles of the lower leg because the ground will be uneven and will reqjuire lateral stabilizers to control ankle roll.

I think doing barefoot running drills is the best way get ready for shoes with less padding (if you want this).  When you run barefoot you get so much feedback upon impact that you will naturally run soft.  And this should be done on a harder surface rather than a soft one.  But not a surface with dangers for your feet....I suggest a treadmill or a running track. 

As you run barefoot on one of these surfaces focus on trying to find silence.  If you don't hear the feet landing (or make it minimal) you will be running with very little impact.  But resist the temptation to run barefoot on the toes.  Try to keep both the heel and toes at least equally weighted when you come down.  This is because it's mostly the barefoot heel landing that teaches you to run lightly.

Do that often enough (in short amounts) and you will be able to memorize the technique and use it when running in shoes too.  It's not as easy as you'd think to use that form in shoes because the shoes remove the tactile feedback that helps you run softly.

I was stopped cold turkey when I read '70 GTO. I have a 2005 Pontiac GTO and she is one high maintenance ride. Seemed like everything wanted to go wrong with the car in 2008. I hope she is grateful that you took a training day off to fix her car.  

I kind of hate to mention this with so many people in the group struggling with swimming but I actually had a great day in the pool. I finally got my 50's down to 40 seconds and my 100's back down to 1:25 for the first time in, well, I don't know how long but a really long time.

I have been killing myself to stay around 1:30/100 all fall. I mean staring at the water, preparing to enter the pain cave, then swimming so hard I thought I might blow up right there in the pool. So the best part was I was not killing myself to hit these times today! The first 100 I thought was a fluke - 1:27. I did not even go all out. The workout said I was supposed to do a 200 but I switched it out for 2 more 100's instead and the next was 1:25, the last 1:26!

I don't make a lot of progress anymore so I was pretty excited .

2x the Congrats! Maybe keep doing 100 yds at a time?

Congrats! I think that's awesome and please post more if you have great swims. I don't feel that my swim is awful, but I have a long way to go. Since I concentrate more on vloume building, I rarely bring a watch or time my laps or anything. I still just get in and swim. Your post inspires me! Great job!

Just took a look at my 2012 totals.

Bike: 

I typically log only miles when I ride outside and only time when I ride inside, so it is the mileage + the time.

1454.00 Mi 

182h 03m  (equivalent to about 3640 miles)

so about like 5000 miles.
 

Run:

1680.83 Mi 

Swim: 

223,205 M

Pretty cool!

Well I should mention that I've been at this swimming for fitness thing for 11 years now! When I started out swimming it was just for exercise because the pool was really close to my work. I never timed anything and swam everything in sets of 10 laps. All I ever did was build distance. Eventually I hit 2 miles and thought well now what? I joined a beginners swimming class to learn other strokes so that was my next challenge. Then we moved, I joined another class that just happened to be full of triathletes. That was 5 years ago and the rest is history!

MACHINE!!!!!