Amschrod's Group - FULL (Page 2)

Good luck! I love my 305

Yes, I understand completely. Whenever my wife says I'm obsessed, I want to remind her that "obsessed is just what the lazy call the dedicated", but I keep my mouth shut because our couch is not good for sleeping

Anthony

Oh boy, I can't believe you travelled from Calgary to Las Vegas and got snowed on! Who ever heard of snow in Las Vegas?! Hope the weather is better in LA

I know exactly what you mean. I feel like I am very "in tune" with my body when I run by feel.

Smart!

Anthony

Also smart! Rest is a very important part of training.

I always try to

Anthony

Good to hear from you. Have fun with your family!

If I can remember how I did it, I will post on this tomorrow.

Anthony

Hey

Have a good holiday everyone!

As you can see from my log I have a HRM (polar M51). I like it for the bike but my heart rate always seems way too high when I run, so I tend to go by how I feel rather than heart rate zones. I have only used it once for swimming but I would like to use it more and get averages at the end of a swim

J

Every time I turn on CNN I am seeing people digging out of feet of snow.  Kudos to you all that are dealing with that everyday, that looks tough.  I had a good weekend.  I meant to ride outside Saturday morning, but my wife's sister was in from out of town and we had to get the kids over to their parents house by 8:30, so I got up really early and rode the spin bike at the gym, as I hate riding in the dark.  No fun sitting in a spin room for 2 hours by yourself.  While I was in there, a guy came in with a portable DVD Player and set himself up and started watching a movie.  I couldn't see what he was watching, but boy was I jealous.  Next time on a long spin session I am stealing that idea.

I conquored the bike, then had a long swim session last night, 4000 yards!  I never thought I would be able to swim that far, 80 laps in a pool would have been a lifetime goal, rather than an evening at the gym only 6 months ago.

 I hope everyone else had productive weekends, keep up the training.

Hey everyone

 Kudos to you Yankees that are freezing your butts off.  We went from 73 yesterday to 35 today- BRRRRR is all I can say.

  I am in the market for a bike and dont know what to get.  I want to keep the price of the bike under 1000 if I can.  I have looked at the women specific designs

Specialized Dolce,Trek 1.2,Giant (cant remember the series),Motobecane Gigi

Does anyone have any help or experience with any of these?  The Gigi has the best components for the price-$1000  ( all 105 or ultegra components) but its online.  I rode the trek today and liked it but I dont have much to compare too.  I will test ride the other bikes next week.  I would like to support my local bike shop but for $700 difference for the same components that's too big of a difference to think local.

any help would be great!  Thanks in advance

 Rock On

Paula

Happy day before Christmas eve!

It's much warmer today here...all the way up to 21!! I love the idea of the portable DVD in the spinning room.  I might do that too!

So, I think I have lost my swim mojo.  I got in the pool today and did a totally uninspired 700 yds before I got out.  I don't know if it's because I'm not really "training" my swim, or if it's the weather, or what?  Any ideas for motivation in the water?

Thanks, guys!!

Updating the weekend.  Saturday I had a 2 hour bike scheduled, which I planned on doing on the road.  I had a family commitment come up, and we had to be at my in-laws by 8:30 that Saturday morning.  I hate riding in the dark, so I got up early and went to the gym and did 2 hours on the spin bike.  (I don't have a trainer, yet another thing I need to get)  2 hours is a long time to sit in a dark room by yourself.  Near the end, a guy came in with a portable DVD player, and set himself up and started watching his movie.  I have to try that, as I am not sure if can handle anything longer on a spin bike without some kind of stimulation.  Ipod only goes so far.

Sunday I had a long swim, 4000 yards.  It wasn't too bad because it was broken up with drills, and sets.  It sounds like a long way to swim, but when you are constantly thinking about your next drill or set, the time passes rather quickly.

I also did a short run session at the track. 

All in all, a pretty successful weekend.  I didn't have any family conflicts, and I managed to get all my training in.  We have family visiting over the next week, which is fine, but I like my routine, and get uneasy when I am jolted out of it.  I need to work on being more accomodating, but I am definitely a creature of habit.  I am getting pretty used to the schedule of getting up early.

Anyway, I hope you all stayed warm and safe over the weekend, and that your training is going well for you.

What works for me is having a workout, rather than just straight swimming.  If I have a total distance of 3000 yards to do, but it is broken out into many chunks, it seems more doable, and I have an easier time staying mentally alive for it.  I have seen a couple of swim workouts posted on the Articles section, so maybe give one of those a try.

Other than that, the bottom line is that swimming endless laps in a pools is boring!  No way around that part of it unfortunately. 

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was good except for football. Seems like the sole purpose in life for the NY Jets is to torment me. 3 points in Seattle!?!? Maybe they saw the way the Mets collapsed late the last 2 seasons, and thought it looked like fun. Well that' enough of my whining!

Our very own kcovert1 (Kelly)asked a good question about run training over in tri talk (Run less, run faster ?), and got an awful lot of interesting and very strong opinions. There is always a lot of good info in those kind  of threads, but in my opinion, the best responses always come from JorgeM. If I were going to use an online coach, it would definitely be him.  BTW, sometimes threads like that get a little heated, but don't let it make you nervous

Here's my opinion on the topic. I actually trained for my first HM using a similar plan w/only 3 runs per week. It worked well to allow me to achieve my goal of finishing with a pace of under 10 minutes/mile AND feeling pretty good at the finish. Last year, my 1 stand alone HM was not that good, but that was because my training in the 4 months before was inconsistent due to family issues. This year my training is a little more aggressive because I would like to lower my time a little, so I am running at least 4 times a week with some tempo runs, and just a little bit of speedwork. Still, the most important run is the weekly LSD or Long Steady Distance run (sometmes called the Long Slow Distance run). Long story short, I think Kelly's plan is fine. The important things are to be consistent and patient. Follow the 10% rule (keep weekly increases in volume to 10%), and follow 3 weeks of building with an easy week.

Well, that was pretty long winded, and I hope I made a little bit of sense. For me the 2 most important things about run training are: Consistency and Patience.

Anthony

7 degrees for my run this morning and i enjoyed it. As long as you are dressed appropriaately, you can be comfortable. Believe it or not, overdressing can be a bit of a problem.

This is a hard question, and depends on a lot of things. I see you posted in gear reviews but haven't gotten much response. This question comes up a lot, so if you do a search you will find plenty of threads.

Here is my 2 cents. Fit is very important for road bikes. Unless you are really comfortable about getting the right size and getting fit correctly (or have someone who is knowledgeable to help you), I would lean towards a local shop. As far as brand goes, Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale all make nice bikes. Maybe you can negotiate the price especially at this time of year on a 2008 model. Also maybe negotiate to get a reduced price onsome incidentals like a helmet, saddle bag, multi tool, tubes or maybe even clipless pedals if you are thinking of getting them at the time of purchase.

Anthony

I'm not really the one to ask about swim mojo since I haven't swum in quite a while. However, when I am actually swim training what works for me is visualizing race day. My pool is only 20 yards and is in the basement of the Y with no windows, so it's not the most inspiring place, and my swim training is not my favorite. However, I love the swim in a race, mostly because I love open water swimming especially in a pretty lake with a few hundred other cool triathletes.  So, I just think about seeing trees, and sky and people in wetsuits and NOT seeing concrete walls and fluorescent lights and especially NOT seeing that stupid black line!

Anthony

Nice weekend of workouts! 4000 yards in the pool is great. I also don't ride in the dark, but I really don't like riding the trainer. Maybe if I got a better headlight, but once I get about a mile from my house there are no streetlights, so I get a little nervous. If I can't get out on the roads in the next few days off, your dedication to the spin bike has motivated me to put in some decent time on the trainer.

Anthony

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Thanks, guys, for the good swim tips.  I love the idea of visualizing an open water swim.  My pool is also inside with no windows.  As far as the workouts go, I think you are exactly right, pac10er2!  I've just been getting in to get in with no real goal.  Last summer, I had a workout planned for every swim and that always seemed to keep me more focused.

Do you like all of the controversy I've caused with Run Less, Run Faster? I think it is really interesting that most of the people that say it is crap have not actually tried it.  All of the people that have used it seem to have had good success. I was just thinking that it would be a great way to train for a marathon and still squeeze in some tri-specific training as well. I have a while to decide what I'm going to do, but you are definitely right, Anthony, that patience and consistency are what pay off in the long run...literally.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. I love this time of year, but look forward to January and getting back into a routine (and stop eating all these cookies). 

We're getting more snow here in the Pacific Northwest (we have 2-4 feet already on the ground), which is ok by me because it's our trade-off for not having: hurricanes, tornados, floods, sink holes, killer bees, giant bugs, and/or high humidity during the rest of the year.

As for swimming, do any of you have recommendations for workouts? Right now I've built up a base of 800-1500 yards and am doing lap after lap after lap. I need to get in some variety. The visualization tips helped.

 Joann 

Hey everyone! Back at it after a couple of days off for the holidays. I hope everyone had a good time. I always ask everybody not to get me anything, and this year they listened except for my in-laws who got me a gift card for Lowes. That works out well though, because my gift to my 19 yo daughter is to replace a door in her place, which I plan on doing this weekend. She moved out a few months ago which made me sad, but that's a whole other story.

I had a very nice run this morning, which felt good after a couple of days of no activity and just a little bit too much to eat. So, now that the holiday season is just about over, and the new year is almost here, it is time to really start rocking our training!!

Anthony

Absolutely. Goals are important, both within each workout, and long term.

It was interesting. Maybe next time you can ask about something less controversial, like maybe using an IPod during a race 

I think it is really interesting that most of the people that say it is crap have not actually tried it.  All of the people that have used it seem to have had good success. I was just thinking that it would be a great way to train for a marathon and still squeeze in some tri-specific training as well. I have a while to decide what I'm going to do, but you are definitely right, Anthony, that patience and consistency are what pay off in the long run...literally.

Thank You. Whenever I hear of anyone having a little trouble running, the first thing I think is, "be patient".

Anthony

I hear you. I don't normally eat a lot of sweets, but they are tough to avoid at this time of year.

That's a lot of snow. Good luck with the cleanup. It got warm and rained here, so ours is mostly gone, and I hope to get to ride outside this weekend.

Excellent job getting the distance in. I personally don't do a lot of drills, but at every swim workout, after warming up, I do 4-6 sets of 100 yards as fast as I can being careful to maintain good form with about 15 seconds rest in between. Any chance of getting a little bit of coaching at your pool? Also, here at BT, if you upgrade your membership, the training plans have some pretty detailed swim workouts.

Anthony

Almost forgot a couple little things. Here are a couple articles that are pretty useful to newcomers at BT:

Training plan terms

BT Glossary

Also here is what I did to put a box in my blog: I pasted the text in the attached notepad file into the long term goals section ogf my blog.

I did have a little trouble with this. I had to go to my control panel and turn off the rich text editing, then paste this text (without the quote at the beginning and end) into my goals, apply it, then go back to turn rich text editing back on. There must be an easier way, but obviously I am not a computer person!! You will notece that pac10er2 is no longer listed. He switched to another group because a friend of his is in it.

I encourage you to "inspire" each other in your blogs whenever you can. One little tip; if you "reply" to an inspire, it will go in your blog. If you "blog" an inspire it will go in the blog of the person you are replying to.

Anthony

Hey hey

Happy Boxing Day

I'm back from the family trip to Tahoe, although I didn't think I would make it! Many, many feet of snow, a 2 wheel drive rental car and nowhere in town had chains to fit it, and we got a puncture as we pulled onto the driveway at home!

Anyway very little in the way of specific training but I did many miles of walking (carrying a 40lb kid) and ice skating. I will try to get in an hours ride today

J