GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 22)

ANNE -

Now you're starting to scare me. I didn't realize it was such a big feat until I started hanging out on these forums. Basically I chose the distance based on the maximum amount of running I was willing to do. That was the naive and over-ambitious me speaking. But I think I should be ok. Like you said, I'm looking to FINISH and have a good time, or as good a time as I can while pushing myself like crazy.

There's another race in mid-June around these parts that I was thinking of training for afterward this first one and possibly "racing", also olympic distance, but at altitude: 5000 feet. I live at 5400 ft so it'd be sorta ok for me, but much harder than Vegas since I'll have the altitude advantage there.

If I do decide to do that 2nd olympic, we may be racing the same weekend. So far I only have a plan for one tri, but I may have to look into getting one that incorporates other races as well. Right now I'm focusing on finishing this one.

And I will most definitely be soliciting advice from you guys. Right now I'm just reading and absorbing. I'm so out of my element that I don't even know what to add.

Kasia

Done.   I think I should have taken advantage of Steve's list on page 5, instead of relying on my memory!  

LISA -

And about the heel of the Vomero.....

What you said made some sense, but I had to see it for myself -- which I did this afternoon. Interesting design feature, to be sure! I didn't check the women's model, but what you described for it seemed to be perfectly reflected in the men's model.

For someone who is a confirmed back-of-the-heel-striker, that must take some adjustments. But I guess those would still be minor compared with someone who is looking to get all the way up to their midfoot or forefoot.

I will try to remember the name of an EXTREMELY revolutionary running shoe that is made in the UK -- that one you've got to see!

LISA again -

Okay, it's been found ----- but brace yourself!

Go to www.healus.co.uk, then click on "Technology Explained"; the top two photos on the right provide the best views of the shoe's uniqueness.

Due to our dial-up connection, I seldom go to any vidreos, so I haven't seen the ones for Healus. But I suspect they are fairly jaw-dropping, or at least head-scratching.

Enjoy!

Hoisted on my own petard! It was me who was mostly away from the computer today, and now I find that I'm the one who was "dropped" by the yak-pack. Lots of catchin'-up to do; yikes!!

KASIA -

I owe more of an explanation about rollers to Denise, too, but I'll start with you.

As with virtually every part of triathlon, what might seem impossible at one point becomes achievable further down the road. And rollers fit that pefectly.

My first few shots at the rollers featured my daughter standing in front of them and me, stabilizing the bike while I climbed on and tried to get going. I used her in this capacity for a few quick attempts, and got marginally better, but then she left to go back to school after whatever break it was, and I was left to my own devices. So with reading and blind faith, I pulled it off thusly:

(1) Find either a narrow hallway or a place where you can have a support fairly close on either side. For me it was a wall to my right, the corner of a futon to my left.
(2) Brace with one hand and start pedalling. Do it really fast as sooon as possible, and once the pedal stroke is very rapid, let go with the bracing hand and bring it up to the bars in the fastest, smoothest motion possible.
(3) Keep the cadence high! Rollers is one instance where fastest is safest -- at least when starting off.
(4) Working a harder gear is easier for stability than a lighter gearing, as the latter allows for more extraneous movement.
(5) Learn quickly that the sublest of movements can have huge effects. So, the slightest waver can be magnified into a wild oscillation....but also to correct a wild oscillation just requires a tiny movement. Big movements lead to trouble in the form of landing a wheel (usually the front) into one of the gutters, and then you tip and have to get out a hand to meet the side support, or rely on your shoulder or upper arm for bracing.
(6) Eye focus should be directly in ahead, and about 3-4 feet in front of you. Looking down at the wheel just gets you dizzy, and looking sideways? You can imagine!
(7) Nothing about rollers is intuitive initially. However, the paradox is that once one gets proficient at them, they become great for bike-handling - even though they don't seem intuitive. But all of that awareness of slight wavers, and the skill at making meaningful corrections with tiny movements, really does help on the road. Mostly for me, though, it enables me to ride on a shoulderless road as close to the edge as possible without wiping out!
(8) Having said that, though, I'm not 1/50 as proficient as some truly serious cyslists - who can ride rollers no-hands....who can eat a sandwich and drink a mug of hot tea while riding on them.....and who have hair-trigger control when out on the roads. I can do a few minor "tricks" once I get re-settled on them after a long time away from them, with the best thing being watching the TV for long periods without needing to focus on what my bike is doing. My proprioreceptors are all in synch, I guess!

Rollers nowadays can be bought with a removeable stabilizing attachment for the front, so they become a hybrid, almost - half rollers, half trainer. But for rolers to be most effective, they must be ridden "free". And for a trainer to be most effective - well, it can't be on a roller platform, period. A trainer is a trainer is a trainer -- and never the twain shall meet!









Edited by stevebradley 2010-01-03 7:53 PM

DENISE -

See above post to Kasia for some in-depth stuff on rollers!

So, for you and most other people who don't have some pretty big bike hours under you, a trainer is far and away the go-to choice for indoor work on your OWN bike (as opposed to using a spinning bike).

Much of bike handling comes from being familiar with your own bike, knowing where you have to reach for stuff, where you sit most comfortably, how to shift yourself when things get uncomfortable, and so on. In time, your bike will seem to "conform" to you, and that can happen when all you do for a few months is ride it on the trainer.

Some specific bike-handling skills can be mimicked on the trainer, and even your concern about reaching for a water bottle can be allayed in this way, The trick here is very simple, and involves two aspects - knowing where your bottles are, and reaching for them with minimal movement in your upper body. So, picture what it would feel like to be riding outside and need to get at your bottle -- and be able to do this perfectly. Well, your eyes would stay straight ahead, as you know exactly where your bottle is. If you're reaching with your right arm, you want to keep your left shoulder as still as possible. And when reaching, you'll want to maintain the same pedal stroke - or stop pedaling when your legs feel as if they are in their most stable position to "counter-balance" your right arm's movement for the bottle.*

All of the above can be practiced while on the trainer, and even if some of those things feel weird to begin with, in time (and not much time at that) they'll become second-nature. For true!


* If I stop pedalling while reaching for a bottle, I do it two ways:
-- For a bottle in cage behind my seat, if I reach back with my right arm I have my right knee bent at a 90-degree angle, but my left leg is straight, with the foot at the "bottom".
-- For a bottle in my cage on my down tube, reaching with my right hand works best if the RIGHTleg is the one that is straight and the left leg is the one at the 90-degree angle.

Tha's probably really confusing, but the point to be made is that YOU will decide what is the best combination of movements that YOU need to make to reach a water bottle with the least amount of extraneous movements!










Edited by stevebradley 2010-01-03 7:48 PM

DENISE again -

I haven't forgtten your aerobar question........but I'll give you some time to digest all the foregoing gobbledegook before launching into another convoluted explanation! ..... ?

Okay try number 2

if your link doesn't work please let me know, if it doesnt then your log is private and I am not your friend.

both midlifeinsanity and augeremt I still don't think you added me as a friend so I cannot get your member id.

To post in your log you need to copy and paste the table so:

1. hit quote to this message
2. copy the table html code

then paste into dashboard

3. go to settings
4. training blog customization
5. dashboard
6. paste the code in there
7. click update dashboard

let me know if any problems, it has been a while since I have done this.



-----copy after this------

GrooveTime Group Steve
CathyD BigDH ShunShun DeputyDawg Lufferly Latestarter lmcvetty SAquavia Dwayne FoxfireTX	thall0672 midlifeinsanity hooslisa smarx Hepeoc LadyNorth TriD64 rcotter ThatGirl Augeremt
link to the forum pg1

-----stop copying before this----

Edited by BigDH 2010-01-03 8:39 PM

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-23 7:50 PM

Darren,

Sweet. Thanks. I added you as a friend and all works great now.

Kasia

Never mind.

Edited by cathyd 2010-01-04 1:47 AM

DARREN -

Okay! NOW I'm beginning to understand what the chart can do! I guess for all of you who are computer savvy such things come fairly easily, but for me it is perplexing.

And just how long did it take you to do all of this? Even if it was intuitively simple for you, it must have been very time-consuming. Anyhow, many thanks for tackling this task!

Anne!

Thank you for your kind inspire this morning! I'm not sure I'm nearly fast enough yet, but at least I'm definitely improving, in terms of heart rate at least. I wanted to send you an inspire back, but could not find a way to do this. There only seems to be the option to comment on the inspire you sent me...

Arthur

Steve!

Thank you so much for the book suggestions. I will look into whether amazon or another online bookseller has some stock shortly. Just a quick curiosity question. Do you do a pure base training period at all (exclusively aerobic workouts) for a part of the offseason? If so how long is that period for you and what would you recommend for a beginner like me? At the moment I'm considering wether to phase speedwork in gradually on from february or march...

Arthur

AHHHHHHH

This is driving me insane.

Silly chart still does not work. I mean, if someone clicks on their link it wi9ll work but it won't work for other people, at least some of the time. I stupidly put a NULL in memberid if I could not get the memberid which means it defaults to the the CLICKERS ID, so, Kasia, your link works for you, but no one else, grrrrrr, but now I have your memberid I can edit that....

In a previous life I had a Comp Sci degree......believe it or not.

okay, new table

LATESTARTER
LMCVETTY
HEPEOC

Your links do not work for anyone else because I still can't get into your blog, you need to "friend" me or make your log public.

Oh, and Anne, thanks for the Inspire this morning, "friend" me and I will inspire you back.

---start copying after this-----

GrooveTime Group Steve
CathyD BigDH ShunShun DeputyDawg Lufferly Latestarter lmcvetty SAquavia Dwayne FoxfireTX	thall0672 midlifeinsanity hooslisa smarx Hepeoc LadyNorth TriD64 rcotter ThatGirl Augeremt
link to the forum pg1

----end here----

Steve!

Thank you also for the equipment porn link to the healus shoes, the video does look quite convincing. However, I wouldn't like to twist my ankle from that height, so I guess it can be good if you've done a lot of strengthening exercises for your ankles, you've got excellent running form and you run on a perfectly even surface...

These new models from Adidas look quite nice as well:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/run/8/Adidas_Adizero_Adios_Shoes/5360046696/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/run/8/Adidas_Adizero_Kona_Shoes/5360046636/

Arthur

You are added.   Sorry!!!       Thanks for doing this amazing table.   

Welcome to the first Monday of the new year.

What I kinda like to do is lay out some goals at the beginning of the week. It is good to hear what everyone is planning and good to write it down, helps me follow through.

This week I would like to hit 80km again of running. I did it last week for the first time, yahoo! I want 3 key workouts

- 10 k with 10 strides
- 15 k midweek run
- 30 k weekend run.

Have a great week everyone.

Holy cow!!!  I disappear for 12 days and this thread takes off! I've got some reading to do.

I am alive...The food coma is wearing off slowly.

Hope everyone is having a good start to the New Year!

Thanks Steve,

Yep, definitely need to find some dollars to get the tests done.  I get what they are saying about Z3 being a "dead zone" where benefits are minimal, but I also just don't see how I can get off those courses (St. George and Vineman, much less Silverman) without spending some significant time in Z3 during those races.  There is  just too much terrain to climb over.  Unless I resolved to walk to keep the HR down, I'm going to have to be able to sustain some Z3 for longer than just a few minutes at a time.  So, good to  know.  That said, still need to figure out where Z3 is!  Definitely want to do the test rather than the field test.  Best to know for sure.

Thanks again Steve!
Yep, I think we are on the same wavelength.  After spending much of Friday recovering on the couch, Saturday was long ride/brick day per the Fink plan (3 hour ride with a 30 minute brick afterward).  However, I bailed on the brick portion after a very challenging ride, knowing that I had a long run the next day. 

I did my first canyon ride of the year, up and over Topanga Canyon then out and back on PCH before climbing back over Topanga again.  The climbs are about half the distance as what I'll see on St. George, but they are steeper, and quite a bit so in some sections.  I have to say, I felt really good even though I suffered like a dog at times.  But it was extremely rewarding and I am looking forward to doing it again this weekend on a 3.5 hour planned ride.  Plus, I'll get another PCH roller or two with the extra time and take even more out of the legs before I get to the canyon again.  I'll be interested to see if I have another gear on them this time around.   

I need to figure out scenario for locking up the bike for bricks.  On PCH, we locked the bikes to the car wheels, and what with all the other cyclists and runners around, you're pretty confident that you don't have to worry about someone working over your lock.  On Topanga, you don't have that simpatico training traffic, so leaving your bike locked up for 30-60 minutes is not very appealing.  If there are any tricks of the trade other than lock it and pray, let me know! 

Awesome news on the mileage.  I'm looking forward to the time I can crank that out.  But baby steps!

2x swim @ 3,000m per session (found a pool where I can swim this week!)

Three run sessions:
Wed: 1 hr run @ Z2 with 2xZ4 for 4.5 minutes and 1 min jog recovery between them
Fri: 1 hour run @Z2 with 3xZ4 for 4 minutes and 1.5 min jog recovery between them
Sun:  Long run of 1:15 hours @ Z2 following 30-minutes on the bike at 100rpm

Three bike sessions
2 1-hour sessions (Tu and Th) @Z2, each with 3xZ4 for 5 minutes and 2 min spin recovery.  The first is followed by a 20-minute brick.
Sat:  Long ride:  3.5 hours with 30-minute run brick if the legs are up to it

BigDH!

I don't understand why my link doesn't work on your table, as I'm sure you've already been added as a friend of mine quite a while ago...

Arthur