GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 21)

Steve, that's good to know about the head count at this point. I just want to get my HM behind me next weekend before I change gears, so to speak.  Texas is a big place ... and no, I don't know KJ, KH, or LC, but will certainly look out for them.

One thing about the Vomeros (or at least the women's). The heel is compressed on the outside, so rather than landing "flat" on the outside heel (as a supinator), you kind of avoid the outer heel ... if that makes any sense.

LISA -

Ta-da! You were the 500th post in our prolifically young life as a group!

Take a bow, and acknowledge your fans and supporters!

LISA again -

More later on your bike crash and the Vomero comments.

GANG!!!!

Well, I thought that my other group was yakkety - and it certainly was - but you guys take the cake! The other group began on Jan. 9, and the 500th post happened on Feb. 17 -- 39 days.

For us, now? We started on Dec. 15, and hit 500 a short while ago, Jan. 2 -- 18 days. Mercy!

So, I guess there's a good reason why we (as individuals) feel we've been "dropped" when we disappear for even a short spell. Makes for a lot of catch-up reading when we return after tending to our other commitments, huh?

DENISE -

Believe it or not there are alot of people who suffer thirst on the bike because they are too nervous to reach for their water bottle. So, don't feel alone in that regard! Like most of what we do in this tri thing, familiarity breeds competency, and in time you will become adapt at manging your bottles.

In the meantime, think about getting one of those bottles with a long straw that fit between your aerobars. And if you don't have aerobars, think about getting them! There are decent clip-on aerobars that cost less than $100, and a suitable bottle runs about $25. What this will do for you is create a system where all you ave to do is lean forward slightly and the straw/tube is right there. It reallly is blessedly simple and safe!

I want to say that a good entry clip-on aerobar is the Century, from Profile Design......but I'm not sure Century is the right name; I'll check later.

Do you have a mail-order house that you like? If not, i'll recommend Tri-Zone, near San Diego. Their website is www.tri-zone.com, and you can check out a lot of this stuff there.

Happy shopping!!!







Edited by stevebradley 2010-01-02 11:10 PM

Yes you definitely are! But after this latest reply from you wondering whether I'm doing too much strength training now...Arthur

DARREN (or anyone else) -

How do I get the team table to work? I friended you, but the link still doesn't work. What should I be doing to get this right?

Kasia

ANNE -

Can you add me to your logs as well?

Kasia

ARTHUR -

Having said what I said before, I'll switch it up a bit in what I'll say now!

Those previous guidelines were rough miminmums for someone who is time-pressed, or just looking at modest gains or even just maintenance. And like everything else, it is not carved in stone.

In past off-seasons (well, since early '05 when I started lifting; so that would be the past five off-seasons) I have averaged 3 times a week in the gym, doing about 75-90 minutes each session. So, by that standard, what I said yesterday is NOT too much. And during that time I stayed regular with swimbikerun, but that stuff gets reduced some every Nov. - March to accommmodate more gym time. I just love the focus and discipline of lifting, so it is a very pleasurable alternative to the more aerobic activities.

Now, having added the above to the mix, I'd say that your first priorities should go towards swimming and biking and running......that unless you have lots of time on your hands, if something needs to be cut on any given week it should be a strength session. As triathletes, strength work will never constitute a "key" workout, but are really just supplementary, complementary at best.

Final (?) verdict --- If you really like lifting and have the time, do it whenever it suits you. If you don't much care for lifting or find that it is taking too much time away from workouts that more directly address your skills at running and biking and (not so much in your case) swimming, then eliminate a session or two each week.

Is that more helpful?

Welcome back, Kasia.   Good for you - doing an olympic for your first tri!  At least we know you don't have any fear or confidence issues  - that plays a big part in helping you succeed.  I know Steve will have lots of advice for you, but from what I have learned from personal experience and watching others (young and old) doing their first long distance, it is often a good idea to go in with the mindset that you will FINISH the race, and not RACE it.   Use it as a training race, see how your body reacts, how you handle transitions, what kind of nutrition you need, etc. and with the knowledge gained, do another race later in the season and race the heck out of it.  

I will be doing my 2nd olympic mid June.   I guess I could really call it my 3rd because I did the entire race route plus more, the weekend prior to my 1st oly last year, just to make sure I could do it.     It's easy to give advice and tell people to hold back, but I have a hard time doing that myself.   However, I HAD to hold back because my hip was bothering me and I remember thinking, this race is going to suck, big time.   I didn't end up with my normal fast bike times, but what I DID learn from that race, was that by biking slower, I had a MUCH BETTER run.  

5 years later, I consider myself still a newcomer to tris (when the people I am racing have been at it for 20 -25 years) and try experiment and learn something from each race.     I read something once about not being able to expect different results, if you keep doing the same things over and over again. 

Looking forward to hearing from you more,

Anne

Good for you!   Not letting that accident keep you off the bike.   That scares the heck out of me.   

DONE!!!

Steve, what is the advantage of the aerobars?
Diane

Anne
Would you add me too please.
Thanks, Mark

LISA -

You've probably heard this before, but there are two types of cyclists - those who have crashed, and those who are going to crash. I had years and years and years to think about that, as I never had a crash - until this past June 13. It was at high speed and it happened so quickly (swerving to avoid a backing-out car) that I didn't even have time to know I was going down. I avoided going head-first into his side, and managed to make it around the back without him plowing me across the street, but it was the final "correction", I guess, that got me. I never lost consciousness and still can hear the sound of helmet whacking the pavement and the general bike-crash noise, but I have no recollection of losing control -- now I'm up, now I'm down. I had a huge amount of road-rash and separated my shoulder, and had tightness in my jaw and along the right side of a my face for a couple of days, so I guess when I finally got around to crashing, it was a doozy!

Within two days I was running, and within three I was back on the bike. I have to admit that I was a bit "gun-shy" --- but I still don't know how much of that was actually feeling that way, or just thinking that I SHOULD feel that way. But for a while, the sense of nervousness was palpable. The first run was a bit tough on the shoulder, as were the rides -- but getting out on the aerobars actually helped in that it place more of my weight on my forearms, and also dissipated some of the effects of jarring.

The initial diagnosis was 6-8 weeks without regular swimming, so I could see a season of duathlons (but I was recovered at five weeks, and from July 25 on it was just triathlons for the rest of the season). And with that in mind I decided to enter a sprint du the following weekend. Most people thought I was nuts, and perhaps I was, but for me it was important to restore things to as close to normal, as soon as possible. It really was a matter of getting back into the saddle again, throwing myself into the breach, that sort of thing. And it worked for me. (I'm not sure if I could've done it any other way, but....)

I tell you that story just to give another perspective on dealing with a crash --- but I fully understand your feelings. I'm tall and a long ways from the ground, and for years my big concern was losing control and REALIZING that the ground and I were going to make contact. At least for mine last June it was too quick for that sensation to be experienced, but I still fear it mightily. And there are times now when I wonder just why I train "fast". I mean, I know why I do it from a training point of view, but thinking about it in terms of wisdom and safety, I'm not too sure. I can laugh ruefully at myself when I say think about what sense is there in a 60-year-old riding a skinny-wheeled bike real fast while wearing minimal clothing........but the adjustments I've made in my "style" since the crash have been negligible.

I am, however, more aware of my environment, and how important it is to take NOTHING for granted. Where I crashed was on a straight stretch of road that I have ridden hundreds of times, and where the houses are sparsely spaced. It was fairly early (9:45?) on a Saturday morning, not a cloud in the sky, no visibility problems at all. I was just flying along, wind at my back, ~24mph, and I had done most of this straight stretch in the aero position, head down. But I knew I was approaching some houses, so I lifted my head -- and just in time to see the car backing out; had I waited less than a second more, I would've gone right into the side of him (and that would've destroyed my bike - at the very least!).

Now, when I am riding in a place I don't know like the back of my hand, I am almost entriely heads-up -- no deeply-tucked aero position for me unless I am 100% familiar with where I'm riding! (At least for training; races are a different matter! )

Ultimately, crashes are highly random. We both know it's not a matter of The Fates, and that just because one crash has happened others won't, but as with everything else in our lives, the odds of bad things happening are very, very small. Of course, we can increase the odds by being foolish (i.e., riding fast with head down ), but I try to look at it by thinking of just how long it took me to have my first crash. And hopefully for you (and me too, I guess), there won't ever be another one !

I was able to track down a couple of the links on BT that I knew I'd watched before on dynamic stretching, which here are referred to as 'activation drills' in the first link. I think you need to be a performance member to view them. They are located under the Video Tutorials section. Hope these are helpful. Mark

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=...

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=...

Hi all:

I've added everyone as my friend on BT. Not sure exactly what that means, but just wanted to let you know!

Thanks!

Tracey

STEVE,

Did my run and followed your advice - almost perfectly.   Run was pretty good, but my right hip flexor/groin felt weak.    It's a start.  

Diane
Would you mind adding me as a friend so I can see your logs? I will be nothing but supportive.
Thanks, Mark

ARTHUR (and others) -

I am sorry I've been remiss in giving you suggestions for titles of a few books. Part of it is due to me just being daft, but beyond that I actually had to get to a few bookstores and see what all is out there nowadays. My go-to books way back when are now out of print, and what I've been working out of for the past few years are the ones that are more geared to "advanced" training.

Now, having said that, my short-list below includes several books that are supposedly advanced, but that have enough comprehensive information (that is, good for all abilities) to be worthwhile. So here goes:

BASIC:
Swim, Bike, Run - Wes Hobson (Human Kinetics)
The Triathlete's Training Bible - Joe Friel (Velo Press)

ADVANCED
Triathlete's Edge - Marc Evans (Human Kinetics)
Championship Triathlon Training - George Dallam and Stephen Jonas (Human Kinetics)

Two other titles to investigate would be the ones in the "Dummies" (yellow and black) and "Complete Idiots" (orange and navy [or is it black?]) series. I think the latter is the best of the two, but both are quite useful.

The Hobson is the best current, in-print book geared to beginners, IMHO. But if you only want to but one book and have it last you through several seasons and periods of evolution of your skills then either the Friel or the Dallam/Jonas ones would be the way to go. Friel is massive, and as Mark has said and I've agreed with him, some of the material is presented in a very dense and almost overwhelming fashion. He has left no stone unturned, but the cost of this is that the book is not always readily accessible. I suspect a lot of newcomers to triathlon might feel daunted or even intimidated by its comprehensiveness. Dallam/Jonas is very succinct, and loaded with good info -- including a big section at the back on traijning plans for the four main race distances. The best part of this is that the plans includes the structure of countless workouts. Finally, the Evans book is accessible, but misses a lot of the concepts in both the Friel and Dallam/Jonas books.

Finally-finally, a pretty good book geared to the absolute beginner is another by Friel, carrying a title such as "Your Very First Triathlon". Google Friel, and it will come up with the correct title.

Hope this helps!

I have added you Mark, as well as everyone (I think) in this group.  BUT I have not been entering most of my training in the logs.  That will change as of today:-)

Swimming Question.  Got in the pool today and did the Lesson 1 Drills from TI which were interesting.  I discovered that my right side is the better balanced side of the two, but in the past my breathing has been on my left side.  Should I consider changing that to my better balanced side?  Or continue on the left with the hope of improving balance on the left?  Thanks in advance.
Diane

Steve, I always assumed the bend was to mimic the bend in the arm on the pull part of the swim stroke, so to strengthen the muscles associated with that movement. I'll be interested in hearing what you find out about the two different ways to do this.
Thanks, Mark

I just googled both trainers and rollers since I wasn't quite sure what the difference was (or what they even were for that matter), and wow! I don't think I could ever have the balance for rollers. That looks impossibly difficult. Now it makes sense why you're taking it easy, Steve. I'm impressed