tri808's Spring Pot Luck (CLOSED) (Page 26)

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Got in my 50 minute run at lunch.  Going out for a ride after work.

Did two hours of spin today, computer said I burned 2300 calories. Weight lose is going well, I have lost 4lbs in the last four weeks.

Got an hr trainer ride in tonight after feeling under the weather the past few days. Still not 100% but def feeling better. Hope to get some of the workouts I missed in this week and hit my recovery week next week. Sorry these are a day late:

Goals from last week:
~Eat more healthy snacks after work - didn't really do much at all, whoops
~Begin to stretch more - I've been doing it after every run and bike workout. Didn't find many interesting things so just been do hammys, quads, and calves like I already knew.

New Goals
~Get 3 swim workouts in before next Monday (its been a little while since I've been in the pool) 
~Drink more water, I'm gonna say at least 4 bottles a day. 

Weird, my achilles problems are definitely improving, but now it is swimming of all things that tends to make it worse.

Only theory I have is that while swimming my feet are pretty much pointing straight down toward the pool wall the whole time, which tightens up my calves. But even when I stop every lap to stretch my calves, the next day my achilles are still saying 'Screw you dude, I'm not a happy camper.'

Maybe I should start wearing Strassburg socks at night on my swim training day?

Anyone else ever have this achilles/swim deal? Did anything help?

I used to get really sore/stiff achilles after playing basketball...and then when I made the transition to running.  But I haven't really felt it recently since I've started tri training.  It's never bothered me in the pool.

There really shouldn't be too much tension in your calves/achilles when you swim.

You might be holding your legs too stifly, your knees and ankles should be fairly relaxed for freestyle but it could also just be your ankles aren't used to being pointed in that direction and just have to get used to it, like getting used to sitting on a bike saddle but I've never heard of that with swimming, springboard divers would have that issue occasionally and stretching usually helped...

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Eric,
I agree with the others.  Your feet should not be flexed at all, but loose and limber.  After your initial push off the wall you need to relax your feet and allow them to flow with your kick.  If you are having problems with cramping or tightness I would really concentrate on keeping relaxed.

                      

I got a run in tonight, 5 miles at a slightly higher intensity than I have been doing.  The trouble is that the snow and slush is hampering my pacing and push off.  I am ready to get rid of the snow and have some decent conditions to ride and run in. 

I agree about the snow and ice.  My feet get really cold during my outside runs.  I got in a 3 mile run and 1700 Yds in the pool tonight.

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. "
John Wooden




Edited by mparson76 2011-01-26 8:21 PM

about to head out for my normal short run and masters class.  After seeing recent video of myself swimming, I'm pretty excited to try and work those somewhat major flaws out.

I'll see if I can post video when I get home tonight.

Got a quick swim in today, feels good to get in the pool after a while off. I'm hoping to move swim workouts to the mornings when the pool opens up early. We'll see if I actually want to get up at 6am though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM52LM8r7K0

Here's a recent video of me swimming.  The thing I'm really trying to work on is my right hand.  It seems be be entering the water way to close to center, maybe over center, then fans out way to the right.  I often notice I always drift to the right when I swim.

Also trying to work on my kick.  My ankles aren't very flexible, but you can see my toes are pointed almost straight down most of the time.

Yeah, you can see exactly what you are talking about.  It makes me wonder about Eric's question about his ankles.  If his look like yours I can see where he might have a problem, but it almost seems like the problem would be to the front of his legs (anterior tibialis) from flexing.  Do you notice if you are actually flexing your foot to that position?

I really need to get to the pool with someone with a camera.  There would be a lot of useful information that I could get from watching myself swim.  Of course then again, maybe it would be to horrible to watch. lol

Thanks folks I'll try next swim to focus on keeping my ankles supple instead of pointing my toes back in a flexion kind of position (I think I picked that up long ago believing it was more aerodynamic). (I hold my toes pointy facing the wall behind me, not the floor which really would be awful for drag if you fix that you should see big improvement (and also keeping your legs closer together will help reduce drag too)).

To help I think I'll do some upright swim drills, treading water using just my kick, focusing on relaxed ankles.


Here is a video of me swimming:
Smooth swim



Edited by neuronet 2011-01-27 10:07 AM

Now I remember where I got the idea to point my feet:
http://www.swimsmooth.com/kick.html

(Great article by the way)

I think maybe I overdo it and need to chillax.

Edited by neuronet 2011-01-27 11:01 AM

You definitely want to be pointing your feet but it should not be causing you pain, I heard a coach once say to think of your entire legs as flippers your power should be coming from the hips and your legs should be long and straight but bend like flippers do but if you are thinking about it too much you might be holding yourself too rigid.  I definitely stand by the idea that you might just need to work on ankle flexibility, great article though.

Got 19 miles in just under an hour on the exercise bike can't wait to get my bike rolling, they keep the gym around 78 degrees I'm drenched within ten minutes, especially since I've gotten accustomed to being out in the cold, albeit SC cold (you win on that one Dirk).

That's a useful way to think about it!

Thanks for all the tips thus far.

It's a work in progress.  I'm just trying to figure out one thing to work on at a time.  Hopefully I'll get more video every couple of weeks to update my progress.

I got in a good run this morning, and will be heading out for a ride this afternoon.  I just bought an Adamo race saddle off the BT classifieds and the tracking info says it should be delivered to my door today.

So sort of a new toy to play around with.  Hopefully it will ease some of the discomfort I've been feeling lately when I'm aero for extended periods of time.

yall have rested long enough from me. 
I went for a short run just to see how I felt. 
it seems I am back in working order now.

I have a long day of training on tap for today.  I missed a trainer workout on Tuesday and last night because of swim meets and I am going to try to cram it in along with a 9 mile run and a 3000+ yard swim.  I will have to lower the intensity on the ride because of all the other activity but I would like to get all of them in today.  I will be spreading it out throughout the day so I don't fall over dead but I am sure I will bee exhausted at the end of today.

My legs are a little sore from work this week.  I had to climb a tower to check for ice before scheduling work on it.  It has been a while since I have needed to climb and my legs aren't used to doing that anymore.  (We climb poles more than towers anymore but it used to be the other way around.)  Ice on a tower isn't particularly a good thing when 110 feet in the air.  We had tried to complete the work on Tuesday but there was too much ice and i canceled the job.

It's my monday, so I took the day off only have my short run, + strength training, left this week but felt drained this morning, been putting alot of the longer workouts together on my 3 days off which has me feeling less then bright eyed and bushy tailed for the start of the work week, but I switch to weekdays next month so will be able to make it to gym everyday hopefully that will help.

Have a great weekend

I was just checking some of the charts and graphs on BT and opened the years 2009 and 2010 for me.  I started tri training in August of '09 and weighed in at 177 that month.  Since that time I have been gradually losing weight and keeping it off.  One of my goals when I started training was to drop a couple pounds but I didn't have a specific target at that time.  Now that I have been training for a year and a half I can see those results in endurance, fitness and speed. 

I just patted myself on the back and I thought everyone should know it.

This morning I weighed in at 162 but I hope to drop to about 155 by my first tri in May/June sometime.

Good to hear you're feeling better.