Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 22)

When I finally got back on (Lynn has been on a filibusterish computer mission tonight), I was gorrified to see that you had churned out enough posts to get to 520!!!! I was behind entering today, and thought my goose was surely cooked and that I might never get caught up, but --- most of the recent ones concern Facebook. Halleloo!!!!

I have a Facebook thingy (page? space? site?), set up for me by a friend, but I mostly treat it with benign neglect. Okay, okay, almost total neglect. As I have said before, I am pathetic with technology, so something such as Facebook challenges me immenssely. And having dial-up doesn't help, either!

I will try to rspond to the Facebook spots mentioned here, but I will almost certainly be a lousy "friend". I enjoy prowling around the spaces of peole who have friended me --- when I can remember to do so!


Other things you haven't known about me:
--I am one of 73 people on earth without a cellphone (Lynn has one, however)
--We don't have an answering machine for our telephone (and given that we ar on dial-up.......you can imagine how much our relatives enjoy trying to phone us! )


I can do email, and I know how to post here, and I have figured out how to sign-up for races on-line.......what more is there to life?

http://www.facebook.com/groups/ 
Make sure you've already got some of the team as friends.
When you create the group you need to add them.
Check with Steve and see if MOJOISTAS is taken!

I am reading, and reading, and reading trying to catch up!  Progress so far, page 8.  I will try to get through all of the posts today and tomorrow!

Sharon-the tennis league got very catty and very competitive and ceased to be fun so I opted out.  Actually it was for the best because I started lifting weights and running again. 

Well, back to the reading until I catch up!  Did a kick butt workout in cycling class today.

CATHY -

Um, er, uh.........

Maybe next week? Right now I am scrambling to acquire a copy of my much-beloved "the total triathlon almanc - 5", which I have been using for the last five years. I thought I still had a couple....but on Saturday I couldn't find any!! I started using the same thing, except "4" instead of "5", but it isn't as well-laid-out. So yesterday I phoned Tri-Zone and ordered FOUR of them, and thye should arrive by Friday. Whew!

ANYHOW, from my previous post you can see that I'm the type of person who is far more comfortable with pencil and paper, and that working through an on-line log is, well, daunting at best and terrifying at worst. I gave a feeble effort a year or two ago to log here, but fell off the wagon in short order. I will continue giving serious (?) thought to this....but make no promises.

Remember Anne ("latestarter"), from Kitchener? She keeps absolutely incredible records, and just to amuse yourself sometime, go to one of her psots and click on her log. Mercy!

LORI!!!

You're back! Yay!

If you're on page 8, it might take you a few days to get up to a post I made yesterday about people not needing to feel bad if they have fallen behind. It's rally not like university, where if you miss a few lectures you're up the proverbial creek. Here, just so long as you keep attending "classes", even sporadically --- that's good enough!

Congrats on doing a cycling workout that can be classified as "kick butt"! Did you suffer mightily?

Glad to hear that you got in a good spin workout.  I got to my spin class 20 min early and it was already full.  Recognized 3 or 4 faces.  The rest were "New Years Resolution" folks.  By Feb 1 there will be empty bike during class.  The stampede never last long.

JAC -

Jane has made it to Sydney, bleary-eyed and blurry-brained, but happy. She said she would love to cross paths with you! And while we don't know her actual address yet, she is in the vicinity of Rushcutter Bay, and more exactly near where King's Cross intersects with Darlinghurst. I take it that all of this isn't too far from Pott's Point. Those are the names I think I remember correctly, anyhow!

Trying to keep up with youa ll is almost anaerobic!!


(pant, pant, pant........)

Okay, I got a facebook group going.  I am much more comfortable with FB, but it won't take the place of this group because I know not everyone has Fb or checks it, as Steve said.  I am really inspired by all of you and the more I have this group in my life, the better, as I see it!  So, the FB group will add to that in my eyes!

Here is the link!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_116478945090655
 

That's such a good point.. if I try out a spin class this month I'll look like just another resolutioner that doesn't have a clue so I'll fit right in.

I went to my gym tonight, no spin bikes--this never happens, went to the other gym about 5 miles away and their schedule was posted wrong.  I guess I'm going to have to be really early for spin at least for awhile! 

I was really nervous the first time I went to spin, but it is a great workout and helps me keep up with the bike when I can't outside.  And I've realized in classes like this that people aren't looking at you, they are too worried about themselves.

Good luck Cathy!  Let us know how it goes! 

I"m meandering backwards through the posts, which is probably stupid, and I see there is some discussion about a.m. workouts. Eventually I will find out who started this topic....but that may take a while!

I just saw Cathy's post, and I have to dsay that I agree with her. I haven't done early a.m. workouts in years, but back when I was doing them they were never speed-based. I now view them as mileage-builders, but that is from mty rarified perspective as retired, and having lots of time at other parts of the day to do workouts that have a higher chance of being "quality" ones -- at least for me.

That said, I well remember the days when it was imperative to do the workouts between 4:30 and 6:60 a.m., and/or after 3:30 p.m. -- often into the deep evening. My more quality running ones, back then, had to be as close to school ending as possible, so those were accomplished before 6 p.m.

I don't think i have added much to the discusssion, just my two (if even that....) cents worth.

CATHY -

Funny comment about you and spin clsasses!

Bob and Melinda,
I'm hoping clipless peddles will add some speed to my riding and I'm also hoping I'll minimize the falling part I was riding with Dave once and we got to a red light and he unclipped his right foot and started leaning really slowly to the left. It was all in slow motion and pretty funny to watch! I might try to get in the habit of unclipping both sides.
Johanne 

Thanks Steve!  I am still catching up (on page 12 now).

I had ongoing issues with my piriformis and IT band after IM WI in 2008.  2010 was a running year but along came MTSS and more of the same issues.  2011 will be spent changing my running form slightly to a mid-foot strike and eliminating overstriding.  Also increasing my run cadence from 80 to 90+.  All based on feedback from a running gait analysis.  My hubby installed a full length mirror in front of our treadmill.  I can now see how I look and make immediate corrections.  Hopefully using the mirror and adding some functional strength exercises will eliminate my injury problems. 

My PR for the half marathon distance is 2:02:09.  I ran a 2:18 in August in heat and humidity and a 2:05 in late October running with a case of MTSS.  So, I would like to think I could run under 2 hours?

Hubby and I bike together and start out running together but I run just a bit faster than he does.  We also swim together but he is much more comfortable in race situations.  All in all we enjoy training with each other. 

JOHANNE -

Congratulations on the tumble-less ride! I'd like to wish you a lifetime on ONLY tumble-less rides, but naw -- that won't happen! It's just futile to wish for the inevitable. One day there will come a time in which you gracefully ease to a stop..........and that'll be the end of that display of gracefulness, as you keel over ot the side with a big clatter!

And I wish i could see that it will happen just once, and you will never-ever do it again, but.....naw!

Just thsi past August, at West Point Triathlon, I flatted about 2.5 miles into the bike. I was so flustered and aggravated that I pedalled until I found a good place to pull off the shoulder to do the change, that when I found it I put on the brakes -- and down I went. Oh my!!

I have about five tumbles to my credit, and mercifully only one major crash. The tumbles I can leave with,as they do little more than maybe scrape some skin....but definitely abrade the ego!

CONFUSING BIKE TERMINOLOGY 101

The talk about clips and pedals reminds me to mention how confusing this can be. So.....

The high-end pedals that all serious triathletes and road cyclists use are sometimes called "clipless", and elsewhere "clip-in". This is because the term "clip" was originally applied to cage-type pedals that have a toe-clip and a strap. People who used these, which preceded the more modern "clipless" pedals, talked about clips becasue thats' how they were fastened to the pedal -- foot in cage, and attached by a toe-clip.

If it helps, think about evolution: first there were just platforms (like we had as kids), and then there were cages with toe-clips, and now there are pedals that are really slotted aor circular "cleats" onto which a very stiff shoe is mounted by (get reddy for this......) "clipping" them in. But the clip mechanism is not at the toe (as the Cro-Magnon example above), but rather on the sole of the shoe -- this is what clips/snaps into slotted part of the pedal.

I call my system "clipless", as opposed to "clip-in", even though it is potentially more confusing. And, so, which system do you all use?





Oh. And there will be a pop quiz on this in a few days. Be prepared!

Juan - Kicking is primarily for balance not propulsion.  Save your legs for the bike and run.  If one kick per stroke is comfortable that is fine.

ETA: If your legs are dropping, you might want to use a 2 or 3 kick  per stroke but don't force the kicks.  Keep everything smooth/relaxed.



Edited by bhc 2011-01-04 10:11 PM

One time I unclipped both sides coming into my garage and then couldn't stop because both feet were dangling,crashed into the back of my car. Another time I had just got my bike and was going up a steep little hill that was too hard and I couldn't shift or get out of my pedals,crashed just as all of the Colavita girls in town for the Redlands Classic were riding by. Fun times with the pedals.Melinda

Wow, what an experience!  I love me some double D.  Great game for your very first.

JUAN!!

You're back, too! Another stary sheep, returned to the flock!

Ah-ha, you noticed the golf-ball comment, eh? I'm never sure if that visual helps swimming, or just addles the brain too much to be useful. Hopefully the former!

If you're at 200m now, that is good! That is close to halfway for a sprint swim, and it;'s still the infancy of the year; you have months and months to build that mileage, and if at 200 now you should easily pass 1000 continuous by June (with fairly regualr swim sessions, that is!).

Some workouts have the total representing the Main Set, while others will include the w-u and c-d in the total yardage. Most follow the latter, so you're probably fine doing that. If drills are included, they are often part of the Main Set. Some Main Sets, in fact, are nothing but drills!

That HR of 218 is very high, although Jac here also has a HR that can soar way up there. You might want to check your unit, especially if you don;'t feel completely gassed at the end of whatever effort is yielding the 218.

A kicj=kboard might help your sinking feet, but let me give you a different thi g to focus on. Think about "swimming downhill". this is a Toatla Immersion term, as is the way to achieve it -- "pressing on the buoy". Now, what this all means is that as you swim , feel as if you are pressing down on the water by using your chest. Your head position will not change, but pressing on your chest - your "buoy" - should help to raise your hips some, which will inturn cause your legs to rise a bit higher in the water. When you can succeed some at "swimming downhill", it is a cool feeling.

Where the problem comes with a kickboard is that it does the opposite --unless you use it with your head submerged as much as possible. But think how people use a kickboard --- they are holding it at arms' length, their head is elevated, and there is iften a bow in their back! All of this creates a continuum that encourages the hiops to sink some, and of course the feet go with it -- exactly what you are looking to avoid A kickboard might produce a stronger kick, but it will not help with your body position in the water!

The foot cramping? Well, probably just the same general cause as calf-cramping, that is, too much tension on your lowewr legs. i know it is inadvertent, but I'm guessing that in your efforts to kicj k hard, you are tensing much of yourself from the hips down, and maybe even increasing the muscular tension more as you look to make a statement, as it were, with your kick.

Anything helpful there? Remember -- "press that buoy"!!!