KathyG's 2012 Awesome Mentor Group-Full up (Page 23)

Another one to add to the sick list!   I've been AWOL in bed with salmonella poisoning, where I caught it I have no idea and luckily the rest of the family was okay.  I got most of it out of my system before our long planned weekend away touring wineries and art galleries in Margaret River, about three hours south of Perth.  Still, there wasn't much wine tasting going on, I steered clear and did the driving.

Trishorts - the youtube videos were on the low rise Carrera tri shorts, I'm not getting the low rise but liked the look of the shorts, hopefully they will have arrived today and I can test them out properly.

Jennifer - that workout plan was just great, I love it.

Kathy, such brilliant news that you can walk

Anna, bad luck on the hayfever, that bunged-up feeling is horrible

Patrick, fantastic news on the bilateral breathing coming together

February goals; what a fabulous idea!  It's my birthday tomorrow and this will be the last year of my 40s.  I want to enter my 50s strong, healthy and fit.  Here are mine for the month, I'm ignoring my weight at the moment as I didn't eat for three days so I'll have lost a bit but it's not "real"

1.  log my nutrition

2.  cut out butter/spreads

3.  stop eating my son's leftovers

Not another sickie! Get better soon! Salmonella can be nasty.

Yesterday was not the nutritional armageddon I expected, so not too awful there, although my team did not win

3000 yards in the pool this AM. As a Super Bowl 46 celebration, our coach though a main set of 46x50 would be fun. I did them on 1:00, and I'm rather tired right now . Good way to start week 4, though!

How did everyone else do?

Even though I haven't posted in a bit - I have been checking in...lots of great goals (daisymouse - I like the one of not finishing your kid's leftovers...that's a big one for me). For me:

1. Continue following Paleo pretty strickly (one cheat meal a week)

2. Run 6 times a week (following BarryP's 3:2:1 plan)

3. Swim 2-3 times a week

(Since biking is my favorite, I didn't think I could count my bike workouts towards my goals, because I have a very hard time missing any of them.)

Something I have been doing lately is during my outside runs, I bring no music. I will listen to something good inside on the track at the Y or on the treadmill, but I've been trying to go au-naturel outside in preparation for the HIM run. How often do you run with or without music? Does it change your workout?

Two questions for which I need help: 

1. Right now I have only a single bottle on the downtube. In prep for my HIM, I should be adding an additional one, I assume? From what I've read, I believe it is a big "YES!". So the question then becomes where? I've read a single torpedo between the aerobars is good, there are also the front mount bottles (with the pesky straw), or a rear mounted 1 or 2 bottle holder. What has the group used, and what advice do you have?

2. Is it too early to start working on nutrition on the bike? I'm doing trainer only rides, but they are getting close to 2 hours in length for the long ride each week. Previously, folks have said to aim for 250-300 cal/hr on the bike, I believe. Should this be all liquid, or a mix of solid food (whatever works for me) and liquids? Or is this all part of the experimentation?

Thanks!!

Mike

Never run with music. I like hearing what is going on around me, and letting the thoughts go. Part of the peaceful/liberating feel of longer runs for me.

Nice job on the workouts. I feel like a slacker!

FINALLY feel like I am getting back int the game, but a little frustrating as I have a rather easy week on the schedule. I know it is the smart thing to do, but our weather is really awesome right now. This weekend I finished up my ride and was covered in pollen. POLLEN - in the first week of February?!? It is full-on sun shining and about 65 degrees right now and I am working really hard not to roll the bike. Easy swim scheduled, but the competition pool does not open until 6pm. At least it gives be some time to catch up on the group!

Nice weather Rusty! If it were sunny & 65, I don't know if I could keep my bike inside. I'd want that thing on the road!

You're in Alabama? The centerpiece of our Super Bowl feast yesterday was some ribs from Dreamland BBQ (I'm assuming you've heard of them?). Had them sent up last Thursday. Good stuff!!!

hey Jennifer - like mike, I never workout (or work, for that matter) with music. I don't know if this is entirely accurate, but someone once described it to me in terms of whether you internalize or externalize your focus while racing. According to this theory, I am an internalizer - I do constant systems checks and kinda talk to my body while I am training and racing. "Hello foot, hello ankle, how you doing down there knee?" kind of stuff. The way I describe it is that I am really comfortable and happy inside my head and can spend hours there - I even don't watch too much TV when I am on the trainer - it just seems, well, distracting. I am perfectly content to stare at my head unit for hours at a time. Pretty boring I know, but it seems that am able to get a lot of stuff worked out otherwise. Of course like most things triathlon, there is no right or wrong and this is one of those topics that are highly personal - it really depends on what works for you. My wife for example would not go on a 20 minute walk without her iPod - it works for her. While I don't listen to music myself, most folks I know do and none of them have trouble going music-free during races even without practicing for it. They all tell me that the stimulus during a race is entirely different and that they don't need the music.

Ok, think i'm finally feeling well enough to get back into training, gonna try for a small run this afty. Stomach flu really threw me for a loop. So incredibly draining. Lost five pounds over the course, let's hope I can keep it off, appetite is still not back to normal, i'm rolling with it. It's a bummer cause the weather has been perfect here - sunny !! and in the 50s.

Goals for Feb

1. Hungry + 30min and water... Trying to get in touch with actual hunger levels. So when I feel hungry instead of instantly feeding it, i'm going to give it 30 min and a glass of water and then see if the hunger is actually real or not.

2. No sugar in coffee, no honey in tea. Limit sugar as much as possible elsewhere.

3. One treat a week.

I'm heading off to Utah on Wednesday for a bit of skiing with my sister. We have more snow here... was so looking forward to infamous Utah pow. Ah well. I'm sure we'll find trouble to get into anyway! Also get to check out the new media works from the Sundance Film Festival at Utah Moca. That should be fun. Bringing the running shoes, but dunno if i'll get a chance to... when i'm not skiing or having fun I'll be at my laptop frantically editing!

Have fun everyone, and healthy and happy recovery to all the sickies! See you next week!

When I saw your earlier post about getting ribs shipped in, I KNEW they had to be from Dreamland.... Even though they are located in the home town of our cross-state rivals in Tuscaloosa (I am a teacher and administrator at Auburn University) I have to admit those ribs are good. And pure. The menu is simple: ribs, beans, potato salad, slaw, sweet tea, beer. Oh - and white bread. That's it. I actually wind up eating there a good bit. We have a ton of visitors to our program in West Alabama, and most of them fly in via Birmingham. A stop at Dreamland is often the first of many "authentic" southern experiences we offer our guests.

and while i am on it, it seems that WAY too many of these experiences involve food of the not-so-healthy southern variety, so I am happy to join the February challenge. I am working on those "last 5 pounds," and darned if they are not stubborn... I swore off alcohol (my arch nemesis when it comes to fighting the flabs) for the month of January, but with the team challenge I am extending that through March 1st. Maybe longer if I don't seem to skinny up. Alternatively, I could get sick again. Right now I think I am one good case of the flu away from my optimal race weight!

1) Yes, two bottles would be great. I have tried the front mount bottle with no success (way too much spillage and slop all over me on rough roads), the rear mount with limited success (they would self eject on rough roads) and now have the torpedo mounted between the aerobars...which I like. You also (depending on your bike) may be able to put a second bottle on the downtube if you want to keep the area around your cockpit free.

2) I would totally start working on the nutrition during your trainer rides - mostly because it is a closed environment...if something doesn't work out, you can easily remedy it (vs. riding outdoors when you would be at the mercy of local gas stations, etc). Currently, I do a mix of Gu and Honey Stinger Waffles (which, by the way, are AWESOME) - one every 45 minutes. I also sip on either Powerade or water depending on how hot it is every 15 minutes. The main thing I found out is it is very person-specific. Experiment, try things out and you'll figure out what works for you. A lot of people advocate eating/drinking off the course. I'm such a control freak that I like to be positive I will have access to what I need exactly when I need that I tend to bring it all with me (with the exception of water).

For long training I am loaded down because I like to stop as little as possible and I don't mind the weight or poor aerodynamics: two bottles on the rear, one on the down tube, and one torpedo between my forearms. For race day I go with just the torpedo for sprints and Olympics. For 1/2 IM it is a toss-up depending on heat, humidity, and number of aid stations provided. For IM I keep a cage on the downtube just so I can store a little water temporarily for clean up purposes mostly. Supposedly my current bike (p2c) is actually the most aero with a bottle on the downtube, so if I was really smart I should run one there all the time, even if it is empty.

never too early to work on nutrition, and liquid/solid/number of calories/is really what you are trying to figure out. Start out with whatever they offer on the race course - that info should be available on the race website. If that works for you then you will have a much simpler plan on race day. Oh, and make sure you use a wide variety of stuff too. When you go out for a ride or run just stuff your pockets full of the craziest favors you can find and eat whatever you pull out without even looking at it. IM branded races provide powerbar products and I swear every time I grabbed a gel in my last couple of races it was always a chocolate-broccoli-triple-caffeinated-mango-mint flavored. yum.

I do similar to Rusty with more bottles for training and less for racing.

Torpedo mount or TorHans aerobottle are best choices for up front. TorHans has been tested to have least amount of drag and doesn't spill especially the smaller 20 size.

Now is the time to work on nutrition.

Hey Susan - I hope Girl Scout camp was fun? I bagged out out of boy scouts early in my life (waaaaay too organized for my back-woods wildness) but my mom was a girl scout leader and I loved, loved, loved going on the overnights with them when I was little. Go figure...

I don't lift weights, but I do strength train during the fall and into the winter - i begin to taper off as my R/B/S intensity goes up though. In the fall I begin with Pilates/core work, then move into more core and "iso-lateral" compound movements using mostly a medicine ball and a step and/or chair. These are sport-specific exercises that target imbalances and build joint stability and balance. Unlike a lot of weight lifting, they also target chains of movement rather than isolating a single muscle or small muscle group. As triathletes most of our movement is in one plane (forward, hopefully) so we tend to get really weak in the lateral directions (think tennis players) which can play havoc on the joints the longer and farther we go. Toward the end of my strength build I will begin to add some plyometrics. I don't think everyone needs to do strength work though - it really depends on what your limiters are. We only have so many hours in the week, and every hour spent strength training is an hour not S/B/R-ing. For me it is valuable - I have proven to be relatively fragile, particularly on the run (hip flexors, knee tracking, ankle stability) - incorporating this type of strength training during the fall and winter has more than paid off in the time "lost" to running in my case. If you are not having any issues and/or do not have a lot of base simply more frequent R/B/S might be more productive. If you (or anyone else in the group) are interested I am happy to point you to some of the online resources that have helped me.

Sorry for the non-tri related post - but maybe to bring it home, when I just stood up to head for the pool, I realized my glutes are absolutely killing me from my strength workout yesterday. Two weeks off and it is like starting all over - I feel like a zombie.

Rusty,

As having knee/hip problems seems to be a norm for me, please point away at those links. I think it will be beneficial to many! The more I can learn the better off I will be in the long run. That's the beauty of BT - learning from those who have been there.

MENTAL FORTITUDE!  That's my new mantra.  Whenever the going gets tough I remember to be mentally tough.  For example, today my MP3 crapped out on me but I had eight miles to do on the mill before work.  Got through it with speed work, 1/4 mile intervals, and plain old gutting it out. 

We are a tough bunch of dedicated athletes.

Saturday was 20 on the bike trainer and 36 laps in the pool at the Y.  Sunday was a total bust because of getting home late from camp, grocery shopping, baking the week's bread.

GS camp was such a great experience for the troop.  There were 23 other junior troops at the event.  Lots of great girl time, singing, camp activities.  Overall a good experience for the girls.

TankBoy-too funny on tagging along on GS events.  My girls are convinced that Boy Scouts is way cooler than GS.  BS get to shoot guns, arrows, throw axes, have high adventures outdoors.  They think GS is a bit on the tame side.  I have to somewhat agree with that assessment.  Although GS is a great way for girls to lean leadership skills.  All of my kids have been or are in Scouting.  My son is going to earn his Eagle this year, assuming he gets his act together and finishes it.

Tomorrow is MIW.  Hope it's a killer work out.

This is week one of marathon training.  Eighteen weeks until Grandma's.

I may be late but I will be in for the Feb Challenge:

1. Drink 3 liters water daily
2. Cut out beer (ouch!)
3. Log food intakes

Above all, get in to a REGULAR training schedule. All too often I get derailed. How do you with families and careers mange to balance a training schedule?

I don't :-)  this morning I'm off work and was looking forward to a bike ride but we were away at the weekend so I had to instead do laundry and ironing.

careful, that sounds dangerously like CrossFit. You might get tossed out into the wilderness for talking about that around here....

Thanks to one and all regarding the hydration/nutrition questions. Much appreciated. I'm going to get started asap on all of this.

Next question. Running pace -- my last several runs have all turned out to be at nearly identical paces. 30 min, 45 min, hour in length, all ending up at 9:22/mi pace (or within a couple seconds). Does this say anything about my running? is this normal? I'm just wondering as it seems like a curious happening. May mean nothing?

As for family/life/tri balance, its ALL early AM for me. My alarm clock goes off at 3:59 AM M-F, I get up, and do whatever the plan says. Weekends its early as well. I have familiy commitments at 8AM on  Saturdays, so my trainer rides start about 5 AM. Long runs on Sunday start around 6/6:30. One other thing I'm now doing is posting a 4 week look ahead of my entire plan, highlighting days when I need to do an evening workout. That way everyone knows what is what with no surprises.

MIW was 2900 yards.  Delicious!  Yoga tonight loosened  everything up.  Came home to a chaotic scream fest of kids and a pissed husband.  Joy of joys.

Oh, and I picked up 44 cases of Girl Scout cookies tonight.  How the hell are we going to sell that many boxes of cookies?????

The whole work-life-family-training balance is difficult.  As others have said the only real solution is early a.m. workouts.  May alarm is set for 4:00 a.m. and I usually start a home workout by 5:00.  MIW is at 5:30 but it's a half hour drive at 65 mph so I am out the door by5:00 a.m.  Weekends I have to play it by ear.  Evenings are running kids around.  It's tough but if this is the life we choose then it requires sacrifice.

44 cases of cookies? Thats like 4 gazillion boxes, no? Any prime real estate outside the local grocery store you could use to set up a cookie sale?

The family/tri balance can be tough no doubt. 

Good swim session this AM. 3100 yards in the pool. Felt good the whole time, and it seemed I could have kept going. Can't say enough good things about masters swim class!