joelle & co international triathlete group CLOSED (Page 2)

I was so excited to see that I made it into the group! I have been running about 15-20 week regularly.  The weather out here in California has been fantastic.  Although we need rain, it has been nice to get out into the 35 degree weather to run.  I am working out getting slick tires for my mountain bike.  I plan to purchase a road bike after my first sprint on March 7th.  Unfortunately, the pool at my club is down for another week, so I have to wait a little on that.  I have made a appt. to meet with the Masters swim coach to give me some pointers...I am not much of a swimmer, I can swim breaststroke and backstroke but have no technique in freestyle.  As far as the road bike...I have no idea what to look for.  I am a petite woman, about 5'2" 114 lbs. I plan to get fitted for a bike soon and start doing some researching.  Any one out there have some tips for a tri-newbie like me?  Anything would be greatly appreciated!

 Have fun all and train hard!

Kim

Hi everyone,

Joelle, sounds like you've got a lot on your plate right now.

Hey Jen, I can remember how hard it was to balance family and work.  And my kids were older when I went back. But you will be able to do it.  Plus, you are smart for keeping the "me time" as I like to call it. I think parents, especially moms (not trying to lessen the importance of you dads) need to carve out  time, even a little for themselves.  I know for myself it makes me much happier and healthier and thus better mom and wife.

So, I joined the Triathlon group at the club.  I've know many of the members and have joined them on group rides and runs from time to time, but was never an official (ie: paying) member of the group.  I've basically been training on my own for the past 3 years and decided that this year it might be nice to do more with a group espcially in the off season.  Two days a week we do a class called Strenght, Endurance, Stamina (SES).  It is absolutely brutal.  It is circuit training.  A typicaly class might be 6 stations set up and you rotate through the stations spending one minute at each with 30 second rest between each station.  At the end of the cycle you get a 2 minute rest.  Do this 4/5 times.  The stations are excersices like push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, step-ups, air squats, air-squats plus a medicine ball wall throw, suicide runs etc.  All designed to work on different muscle groups in succession with the added cardio of attempting to get as many repetitions as possible in the minute while maintaining proper form of course. On Saturdays we have a Spin class first, then the SES class. I add pilates after that.  I had to take a nap this afternoon

Well, have a great weekend

Susie

Hey Joelle,

No I've never done a winter triathlon.   To be honest I am a total cold weather whimp when it comes to running.  I can handle living here in the northern clime. I do like snow (although about mid Feb it all gets a bit old and I'm ready for Spring), but excercising in it..... Plus, my few attempts at skiing have been rather dismal.  Down hill that is, believe it or not I've never tried cross country. After my terrible down hill attempts I have a fear of skis in general.  But, I do like water skiing... go figure.  Anyway, I've not been outside for any physical activity other than snow shovelling, which has been frequent this winter.

Susie

PS. Sounds like you had a wonderful day off.  Isn't nice to have the day to yourself and actually get some things done.  And then a comfy couch, cup of tea, warm furry kitten...sounds heavenly.  

Hi all,

Well, I seem to be going for it, just hope I can keep it up! I'm swimming and running 2x per week with the aim of cycling twice too - it's a lot to fit in...hmmm - my 2 little daughters are wondering what's going on.

I managed to swim a mile (1.5km) non stop in 31 min tonight, is this a good time? I'm feeling quite proud of myself . I reckon I can soon knock minutes off that, hahaha! However, at 38 i'm very wary of avoiding injury so am being careful, my shoulders are sore tonight - anybody know any swimming specific stretches.

Happy training, dave.

p.s. there seems to be a lot of people in the group now!!

OK, I did something bad to my knee.  Not sure what.  Last Tuesday at my SES class I felt pop, pain then the knee buckled. Not good.  Of course I continued to finish the class, probably not the smartest of moves. But by the end of the day it felt OK.  After swimming on Wed as I was getting out of the pool, pain and the knee gave way again.  Thursday I was able to run, but felt a little sore.  Friday off.  Today, pain again and now it's not going away.  So....I've decided to take tomorrow and MOnday off of training and see how things feel on Tuesday.  I am the most impatient person when it comes to injury.  It is very hard for me to take it easy.

Susie

A ironman I know told me to stop training when ever you get even slightly hurt.  If I were you, and of course I am not, I would not ride or run for at least a week.  I would swim but not worry about my kick.  We have a lot of time so there is no reason to push your knee and risk further or greater injurey.

The logical person in me knows and agrees with taking a break.  It's just so difficult.  If I'm sick, I minute I feel better, off I go.  If I have pain, when it abates a bit , I get right back into it.  I think I'm going to see the DR to rule out anything serious ( it's the knee giving out that's got me worried) and hopefully get a script for some PT.

Susie

Hi there-

I'm back after a long weekend at Legoland with the family.  I managed to get a couple of short runs in.  The pool is back up and heated at my club, so I plan to meet with the masters coach this week.  I checked some bike shops and tried out a couple of bikes.  I know my size now, 48 and think I have one I'm interested in, Specialized Dolce Comp.  Seems to be a good middle of the road bike that will last me a while.  Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to check out the training logs, I plan to do this tonight after I put the kids to bed.  Will keep you posted....

Happy training!

Kim

Hi Joelle,

Bummer about the storms, personal and nature.  Hope all calms down soon.

Last year my injury of the moment was my foot.  The foot is doing OK now, although it is an injury that will always be there, just have to make some adjustments.  The knee is a brand new complaint.  I guess it's always something isn't it. It's feeling a bit better today.  I did make an appointment with the DR. for next week in case it's still bugging me. I am most impatient with these things.

Susie

Hi Joelle,

Yes, I' working out 3 times a week - weightlifting twice a week and finishing the workout off with a  run on the treadmill, swim once a week. And the weather here in Denmark is fairly tolerable so I can take the bike to work 2 - 3 times a week, which means that I cover a distance between 32 - 48 km a week 

I have been pretty swamped at work and I get home very late in the evening, so I haven't updated my training log. But I will get around to it this weekend.

I'm amazed at how quickly I can feel progress. That's really a great motivation.

I'm beginning to think about which pace I should aim for on race day

The distances are:

 450 m swimming

22,5 km bike

5,25 km running

 Any suggestions for a good average pace?

cheers

Maj-Britt

Hey Jenn,

Wow, husband going to Iraq...that's going to be tough.  How long will he be gone?  Has he been deployed before?   My hat is off to you military families, from the soldiers to the families back home. 

Training is going good despite the knee issue.  I have to adapt some of the circuits in the SES class, but so far I am still able to run.  I'm having it checked out on Wednesday. Hoping it's nothing a little PT can't fix.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Susie

Jenn I Hope you can still acomplish your tri goals, my brother is in Iraq as well.

Susie sounds likie you are doing good, I hope the knee will be completely better soon.

Joelle I hope your hardship is over soon and you come out in the sun.

Ray

Hi all,

So the verdict on my knee:  something is going on with my knee cap. Could be patellar subluxation, which means the knee cap is unstabe.  I found out that I am susceptible to something like this due to the fact that my knee caps are somewhat misaligned, they point slightly outward. Plus, it can be an overuse injury. So, it's nothing too scary (no surgery), but I am in for a bit of a recovery.  I'm off of everything for a week, except for some upper body strength work.  Then I can swim, do the elliptical, and spin at light tension and no standing in the pedals. No running for a few weeks and no exercises that include squats or a lot of pressure on the knees - in other words no more SES class.   I have to do these straight leg exercises twice a day and ice.   I'm bummed, but at least this is happening at the beginning of Feb.  Hopefully if I am a good girl, I'll be back in action in plenty of time.  Marv, who is one of the leaders of our Tri group told me that one should approach injury recovery with the same level of commitment and determination that you apply to training and don't rush it.  Wise words.  It is so easy to want to rush recovery.  This will certainly be a test for me as I am most impatient with these types of things.  But if I'm not patient, I'll end up with more trouble in the end.  I'm still contemplating going to see this chiropractor that specializes in multi-sport, endurance athletes, not necessarily to speed up the recovery, but to work on a plan to help prevent future problems by addressing some of the physiological issues that I have(ie: tight hamstrings, misaligned knees, etc).

So, learn from my mistakes.   When you feel pain - STOP.  Listen to your body.  I thought I could train through the pain and I should have stopped.

Hope you've all had a great week and Happy Friday tomorrow!

Susie,

I would be interested in hearing about the straight leg exercises, what they are, how to do them, etc.

Thanks,

Ray