MarkQuiet's group - FULL (Page 26)

Wow - we're a mess.  Looks like Frank and Jay are the only healthy ones out there - stay healthy and keep up the good work!  For all of us injured and/or sick ones - be patient with yourselves and remember we're in this for the long haul.  Looks like we could write a journal on overtraining injuries... Be well everyone!

I agree, no jinxing!  No Whammies, No Whammies!!!  I need to keep up this training through the end of April.  Then May I'm going to relax some and then start ramping it up again in June. 

I hope everyone starts to feel better soon.  The good news is that we are early enough into the season that, with some rest now, it may not interfere with the tri season.

Tri season - Hell! Soccer season just started.  Doc told me to stay off it for 3 weeks (normal recommendation), but he was hoping I would stay off at least 2.  Well, the knee gods were looking out for me on Friday.  I was dressed and ready on a cold, nasty, 38F, rainy/drizzly night, but only 5 of my teammates came out.  Forfeit.  I was upset w/my fairweather 'mates, but not that much as I would have had to play an entire 90 minutes, and the knee just wasn't ready for that.  We still drank a couple beers in the parking lot - I just got home earlier than normal.

Test run on Wednesday.  Then it's decision time - to run something at Cowtown or kiss the $$ goodbye and volunteer.  Either way, I'm getting a t-shirt or two.

This has been a good reason to be getting in some pool sessions, though.  They've been pretty good.  Can someone direct (tell) me proper technique on the "pull?"  I'm doing the TI reach, and my timing and switching are good, but I'm not sure I'm maximizing my arm motion from the reach all the way through to the recovery.  Y'all are better swimmers than I am - enlighten me.

Keep up all your good work.  I'm trying to do a couple fewer tris this season, but everytime I get an email notice about another one, I secretly try to find a way to do it.

Hmmm, first I hope I can explain what I do...next, I'll hope that what I do is correct enough to be giving advice.

I'm not quite the TI disciple that some people are but I am incorporating a lot of TI into the stroke that I already had.  The best piece of advice I got on the "pull" is that if I'm feeling it in my shoulders I'm doing it wrong.  Rather, you want to feel as though your lats are doing all of the work.  That did wonders for me b/c I had to get my arms in the correct position in order for the lats to pull my arms through the water.  If that doesn't help, let me know and I'll pay more attention next time I'm in the water so that I can explain exactly what I'm doing.

Once I got that down I had to start working on making sure my arms were not getting lazy at the end of the pull.  By that I mean that I tend to pull my arms out of the water to soon and I don't finish the pull.  A good drill for this is to drag your thumb across the side of your thigh before it comes up out of the water.

Hope this helps.  Have fun with soccer and take it easy on that knee.

Hey Jay,

Have a great time in the marathon tomorrow.  Can't wait to hear about it!  Enjoy!

Hey all -

Sorry I haven't been in touch - work has been crazy, it's been enough to get the workouts in and log them when I can, let alone hitting the boards.  I hope everyone's healing well with tri season starting to ramp up.  I'm doing a 40 mile bike ride for charity in 3 weeks - and the longest I've gone is probably 15 miles.  I'm a goner, but I'm definitely looking forward to it - hopefully all those miles on the trainer will make it a little less painful.

Stay healthy.

Oh the knees.  Tony, I feel for ya.

My good news is that mine is no longer sore.  I've done an oly and continued to play soccer and everything is checking out all right.   My work has been hellish, too, but it looks like I'm getting back to a more normal schedule.  That'll give me more time to blog and train.

Good luck to everyone this season.

Glad to catch up with you guys -

COLWIN - so sorry to hear about the hip but it does expain your pain...I bet you'll be out there Tri-ing once you get fixed up.  I'll be thinking about you.  Keep us posted.

JAY - Good job on a last minute 5k.  That is really exiting about Kristen racing.  I checked out Beth's log too - impressive.  That's great to have more than one in the family into this stuff.  GOOD LUCK AT ST. ANTHONY'S NEXT WEEKEND!  I wish I could be there.  I can't wait to read your race report.  It's a HUGE race so I know if I make it, I would never be able to find you guys....oh well.

CHRIS - Nice workouts.  I love the cannonball idea!  Let us know if you do it.

DOUG - Good to see you back to a normal work schedule.  You amaze me how you fit in races and get healed up in spite of what looks like a minimal workout schedule.  I always like to look at Texmom's log too - she inspires me with her early morning workouts.  Looks like Yoblondie has gotten a hold of you too! )

I am slowly, ever so slowly, working up to running.  My log has details.  I'm not putting a race on the calendar cuz that makes me go crazy overtraining and hurting myself.  When I feel I'm ready - you'll see a date on the calendar.  Until then, I'm enjoying the ride (and run and swim)....

Hey everybody,

I have a running question...I am obviously just starting to increase my running and do about equal walking and running while I'm logging in my "runs."  Here is my problem - I can't run slow.  I know that sounds stupid because my times are really slow but what I mean is, I wish I could just run really really slow instead of walking, but, whenever I start to run, I think about cadence being at about 90rpm and leaning forward (I read Chi Running) and keeping my arms and legs loose and before I know it, I'm sprinting along and quickly need to stop and walk.  While I'm in the "build" phase and just working on being able to run a 5k without walking, is it okay to run at a slower cadence.  Or, if I run at a 90rpm cadence and just sort of almost run in place I guess I could go slow.  Has anyone ever experienced this???

Thanks for any help you can give me. )

This is a better question for the main forums, you'll get lots of expert answers.  That said I'll pass along what I just learned last week at a tri club meeting where we discussed exactly this same thing.  What they were telling and demonstrating to us was that cadence should always stay the same, and, like you say, a cadence of 90 is pretty much ideal.  To run faster or slower we should just shorten or lengthen the stride but cadence stays the same.

Can you concentrate on a shorter stride.  That would slow you down and would conserve energy.

My cadence is not at 90 yet, I just started working on some of the things I learned.  I have such bad running form, I'm hoping to correct it over the next several months.

Did I say I'd have more time to blog and workout a few postings ago?  Wrong!  It got hot, here, quickly after a very nice spring and I've been fighting the heat (a losing battle, I know).  Anyway, I've been learning some very cool swimming tips that I'll pass on to y'all after Saturday's clinic.  For those of you still swimming TI, I'm curious to hear if you're still using the ear as an entry point for your hand/arm extension.  My swim coach says not to, it kills momentum.  She advised me to keep the hand/arm out of the water to near full extension before putting it back in.  Keep the long reach, though.  Also, bend the arm at the elbow and even wrist on the pull.  That way you "catch" more water than just moving a straight arm through the water.  You may already know this, but I didn't.  2 more things - pull in a line down the center of your chest and finish with a strong, tricep-based push out of the water.  These simple corrections (and a couple others) have already brought my times down to the 2:20s/100.  Finally, feel as if you're pushing yourself upwards through the water.  My biggest complaint with TI (books and video) was it wasn't clear to me what to do with my arms in the water on the pull.

After Saturday's clinic, I'll post some of the race techniques they taught.

Hope all is well for everyone despite bad hips, "happy feet" and participating partners.

db

Hi Everyone - Happy 4th of July!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday...

Remember Tony in your thoughts and prayers (colwins440) - he's going for hip surgery on July 14th (unless things have changed.)

Doug - tell me more about the "long arm" swim stroke... I've been doing the TI thing of entry at the ear and it seems okay but I've never had a swim lesson so have nothing to gauge it by.  I'm interested to hear what your swim clinic said.

Happy training everyone and be safe out there!

Tara