Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 27)

Because I love to run. I did my first run since Nov 3. Not to bad nice and steady 2mi on the treadmill at lunch. Never got to winded, slow compared to the rest of you speed demons.

LORI -

Small world! I think our swim bags must be Siamese twins separated at birth! I'll go out to the car later, bring it in, catalog the contents, and post them here.

That's my gear bag to which I am referring. There is also my more-or-less swim clothing bag --- which is a whole other kettle of fish. That ought to have a really weird bunch of stuff in it, such as Clif bars and various gels well past their "best by" date, and many goggles, and swim workout sheets from '06 and '07.....and......and......and.......(I'm just guessing, right now. )

So, we shall see what we shall see!

CRAIG -

Yo! Good news! Have we got shoes for you!

I went to www.roadrunnersports.com, and first checked a couple of models - Asics Nimbus, Asics 2160 - I thought might have large sizes: yes, both do go up to or through 15! The I saw the left sidebar, where one of the links is for chosen shoe sizes, and that's a goldmine for you. MANY models from MANY companies run large, so it's all there for your pickin'! Road Runner is also good because they have (unless they ahve changed policies) a 30-day trial period. So, you could order a few flavors and see what works best for you!

Do you know much about your foot type? Arches -- high. low, or medium? Footstrike -- forefoot, midfoot, or heel? Pronation -- over, under, or neutral? (For pronation, overpronation causes your foot to roll inward, and underpronation results in the opposite, with the footfall alond the outside edges.) Some pronation is desirable, as it helps absob shock.

Anyhow, if you find all those shoe models baffling, tell me about the above characteristics and I can give you some advice which should steer you in the right direction.

Hurry on this -- I'm not getting any younger!





Edited by stevebradley 2011-01-06 5:19 PM

CRAIG again -

I wanted to get the shoe one out there and standing alone, before moving on to other things. I also just saw Lori's post to you, so you now have options! Her comment about price is correct, as many of the high-priced shoes have absurdly elaborate features that aren't necessary for 90% of runners; they are just way over-engineered.

Of course, it might be that you try on three pairs - $75, $90, $115 - and the expensive one is the one that fits the best; then you've got a decision to make! My go-to shoe for years was Asics DS Trainer, and at the time that was between $80 and $90, depensidng on where I got them. Then I discovered Newton, and even though they are very expensive ($155!), they are actually quite minimal, and breathy, and lightweight, so I have been with them for 3+ years now.

Good for you to have done your first tri without a wetsuit, as now you know for sure that you don't necessarily need one -- unless the water is >65F or so, I would guess. And for shorter races, being comfortable in cold water sans wetsuit is usually manageable.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is, the foster work you have done for eight years. There are hits and misses with that, but I'm sure that you have made an immensely positive impact on the lives of almost all of the kids with whom you have worked. Do you see any end-time for your involvement in fostering......or are you in it for the long haul?




Edited by stevebradley 2011-01-06 5:20 PM

Maybe, however you did run today and you felt good afterwords.  Therefore I say to you CONGRATS!!!

I am looking to get a run in tomorrow morning maybe about 1.25 miles with a .5 mile warm up and a .5 mile cool down walk.  It all depends on how I feel, I have been feeling kind of sickly and I have not been sleeping good at all.

CRAIG -

Excellent on a first run in over two months --- "steady" is good, "2mi" is REAL good! Nice start to a new year of running!

As for your "slow........speed demons" comment --- did you see the second post of this group, the one that appears after my bio? One of the things I believe in is that we are all Experiments of One, and we all bring different things to the table here. So, comparisons, while understandable (something to do with human nature, methinks!), are often counter-productive. What you did today was very positive and needs no strings attached, no asterisks. Keep doing this stuff long enough, and speed WILL develop!

Thanks for the encouragement. I have a tread mill in a small room at my office and its laziness and lack of any races/goals to train for that I stopped running. I "could" run almost everyday but... which is why this group is so great, I have a reason to run someone is checking up on me.

Edited by ckallpoints 2011-01-06 5:58 PM

GEORGE -

re: all those questions (AND NONE OF THEM ARE "SILLY"!!!)

(1) Sleeveless would work best for you, even in June or September. Inact, it might be that none of your races are wetsuit-legal, which means the water is less than 78F. For each race you are thinking about, go to the race website and (a) see what thye say about whethr or not wetsuits will be allowed, and (b) go to where photos from the race are posted and look for ANYone wearing a wetsuit. If neither of those are conclusive, email the race director and ask him or her directly. I'd just hate to have you spend $xxx on a wtsuit, and then not be able to use it in your races!

(2) What I wear underneath mine is my regular tri stuff -- what appears in my photo. I even wear my race number belt under the wetsuit, so I don't have to add those few seconds to get it in on in T1! Some people don't like cycling when they are soaked from head to toe, but do it a few times and you'll get used to it. It is highly refreshing on hot days.....but can be borderline miserable on cold days, which for me up here are often the May and September races. On cold mornings I will have arm-warmers draped onto my aerobars, and once I get moving on the bike I will struggle my way into them.

(3) Triathlon wetsuits are very different from scuba wetsuits. Tri ones will not only have different thicknesses of neoprene at different places, but they are generally vastly more flexible than scuba ones. Removing any tri wetsuit, however, is not a snap, although as with most anything else, practice helps a lot. like most people, I start removing mine by degrees as I run from the water to my bike, so that once at my bike it's off me in maybe about 20 seconds, probably a bit less. I ALWAYS spray my lower legs with PAM, which allows the wetsuit to be worked quite quickly, Many people use BodyGlide for this, but PAM is less expensive so that is my choice. Some people also put PAM or BG on their wrists, again to aid in quick removal. And it is essentail to put Body Glide on the neck -- otherwise you will be displaying "wetsuit hickeys", which are not only unsightly , but hurt like the blazes!

(4) I bike AND run sockless. One reason I love Newton running shoes is that are the best (for me, anyhow) for allowing my to go sockless. I tried Zoots sockless on two different occasions, as they say they are designed to be worn sockless --- and got a blister each attempt. Grrr! Part of going sockless is foot toughness, of course, but thr other part is how exactly the shoe fits -- if there is even a tad too much "wiggle-room", that's enough to get blisters via lateral abrasion! For the toughness part, I have to wear socks during the winter while running, but as soon as it gets warm enough (greater than about 36F) I start back in sockless. And of course all my indoor riding is sockless, so my feet stay pretty tough that way. (FWIW, my feet is incredibly beat-up!! )

(5) I think eveyone should wear a wetsuit in a pool at least once. I have never been in a position where I have to "cut weight", as MMA guys and boxers need to do, bjt I have seen them wearing rubber suits while running on a treadmill and then jumping in the sauna. Well, a wetsuit in a heated pool is probably close to the same thing! I have done it a few times when I have ordered a wetsuit and wanted to test its fit, and a place like www.tri-zone.com is great with that -- just so long as the wearing is done in the pool. I would also recommend it highly if you have a wetsuit-legal race before you can get in open water to try it there. Wearing a wetsuit for the first time ever in a race is a really bad idea, as it is a completely different world because........

(6)......you want a wetsuit to be as snug as possible without cutting off all your breathing. But even short of that, constriction happens and can lead to panicked swimming if one is not ready for that sensation -- almost guaranteed! So, if you have a race in May and haven't test-driven your wetsuit.......do an immediate about-face and test drive the wetsuit -- maybe even twice! Daniel is correct, though, hat too much chlorine can harm a wetsuit, especially along seams (be they glued or stitched or - most commonly - both of those).

(7) Two final (for now) wetsuit reminders: ALWAYS thoroughly rinse the wetsuit in cold non-salt water after using it (a few hours can pass before you do this with no rel ill effects), and NEVER use a petroleum-based lubricant to help with removal, as petroleum loves eating neoprene. So, Vaseline is a big negative! But neither PAM nor BodyGlide are petroleum-based, so they're fine.


Does that about cover your questions?

MANNY -

When did you clonk your head -- a couple of days ago? The I think the 15th should be okay, just as long as tere are no obvious symptoms, such as dizziness, headaches, blurry vision. Do you have a follow-up scheduled, or is was just left at 10-14 days?

My childhood best friend and I worked as polar opposites with serious mishaps. He was the one who broke bones with alarming regualrity, but never clobbered his head. I never had a broken bone until I was 39 years old, but had many concussions as a kid. As I remember it, my mom clucked over me for a few days, but I pretty much resumed my devil-may-care activities immediately (except for swimming, if I had stitches holding my brain in place!).

But that was just me, being a dopey kid in the 50s when the whole concept of "childproofing" everything --including a kid from himself! -- wasn't even on the cultural radar.

CRAIG -

Okay then! If you feel a little "fluttering" above your right shoulder, that would be my invisible doppleganger, just checking up on you! (One of the service I provide in my role of Full Service Mentor! )

------------------------------------------------REQUEST FOR TRAING PLANS! --------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------- REQUEST FOR TRAINING PLANS! ----------------------------------------------------

So that we all have an idea of what we are all up to, can we all post briefly the type of training plan we are following? This is NOT a required assignment, and do it only if you feel comfortable divulging your secrets! No big setail is required, so if you are following the "BT Beginner Sprint Program", just saying that is good enough. "Hal Higdon's 18-Week Marathon Program" will do just fine!

I'll go first.........

MY TRAINING PLAN ----

I follow no specific plan, largely making it up as I go along -- but with one important qualifier:

In general, I follow the precepts of PERIODIZATION. There is a lot to Periodization, and I will save the details for later. But for now, just broadly.......

A periodized plan will break up a triathlon year into several distinct periods:
--Prep
--Base
--Build
--Peak
--Race
--Transition

The key ones of those are Base, Build, and Peak, and for most people there will be three phases of Base and two phases of Build, each four weeks long. (That's 20 weeks, for thsoe of you keeping score at home!) The Peak periods come before races, and are usaully 2-3 weeks long. So, for me last year with 11 races, if I follow a periodized plan to the letter, that would be 22 weeks of Peak. But, some of my eleven races were on consecutive weekends, and one day I did two races; so, my Peak periods account for much less than 22 weeks. (Plus, only once or twice have I had a Peak greater than two weeks.)

Race periods are usually the week before a race, and will include the "taper" -- the gradual reduction of serious workouts so as to not exhaust all of your energy leading up to the race.

Transition is the off-season; for me it was spread out according to discipline (that is, swim, bike, run) from mid-Oct to mid-Dec. How I worked it was: no bike from late Oct to late Nov; minimal running from late Oct to early Dec; no swimming between open water ending on Oct 15 and back-to-the-pool on Oct 23. Coincident with back-to-the-pool was back-to-the-gym, which I usually stop each year a few weeks into my race season -- about June 15.

The only Prep for me is with strength training. In general, Prep is a time of adaptation to picking up activities (swim, bike, run, strength, stretching, cross-training) that have been dropped for a while during Transition (off-season).

I generally do not need any Prep other than for strength, and I also tend to cut back a lot on Base, as mine is quite big due to all the years I have been doing this stuff. So, with my race seasons usually not beginning until May, I spend more time of training that is consistent with the Build period -- kind of by-passing parts of Base training. However, the line here is not all that clear.

For those people who keep track of heart rate, at this stage of my Base/Build most of my workouts are in high Zone 2. or Zone 3. Some of my indoor bike ones will be in Z4,and parts of some swim sessions are Z4 as well; indoor rowing is always Z4. NONE of my runs are Z4 now, although virtually all of them are Z3.



Perhaps I should explain PERIODIZATION in greater depth, yes??
























Edited by stevebradley 2011-01-06 7:06 PM

Is this the calm before the storm, when all the posting activity will happen? I can almost hear the echo of my own voice!

My training plan:
Right now I'm following Hal Higdon's 18 week Novice 2 Marathon training plan.

The 3rd week of February I'll start the BT 20 week HIM plan.

From now until then I'm maintaining my base with swimming 2-3 times a week with a Masters group and biking 2-3 times a week. I also do a TRX strength training session 3 times a week. I know as my runs build in the next 2 months I'll have some weeks where I'll need to skip a bike or swim workout and that'll be ok. My tricky part will be to increase some of my bike mileage later in the year so I'm ready for the bike events I've signed up for. I like all the planning that goes with this sport

It might be! I came back from my horseback ride and had a dozen notices of updates so there was some activity going on  

I am following the Couch to Sprint here on BT.  Though I replace a lot of the strength training sessions with Tae Kwon Do.

I found a 9 Week Couch to 5K on the website so I'm doing that from 1/3 to 3/6, then on 3/7 I'm doing a 13 week Tri Oly that I found on BT and made some changes to.  The plan I found on BT was a 16 week but I only have 13 weeks from when I finish my Couch to 5k to when I have my 1st Sprint Tri.  I decided to do a Oly plan and not a Sprint because I plan to do an Oly in Sept.  My Oly plan will end the weeks of May 30th.  Then after that I'm taking the week of June 6 off and on June 13 I will start a 24 week half marathon plan that I got from Jeff Galloways web site.  The plan on the website was I think 16 weeks but I streched it out since I never ran that far before.  Well I have the plan on an excel spreadsheet for Jan through Nov if anyone would like to see it I can email it to you.

Thanks
George



Attachments
----------------
Copy of TRAINING PROGRAM 2011.xls (48KB - 14 downloads)

Currently training for a HM in March - running 6x wk.  3 short - 2 med - 1 long.  Using 1-2-3 distance ratio.  Also doing one spin class and swimming once per wk for now.

After the HM will start training for 2 Olys this summer:
Runs 5x = 2 (short bricks) - 2 med - 1 long
Bike 3x = 2 med interval sessions & 1 long
Swim 2x = various intervals

Roger

I am not following a plan as of right now, but this is my "plan"

once a week spin or bike, once a week swimming and three times a week running.  I am obviously focusing on my running as I am doing a half marathon and I plan to start that training 16 weeks prior.  I will also step up my biking and swimming at that point.


A little side note: I had a great time at swim lessons tonight!  I practiced my rotary breathing and swam the entire length, while rotary breathing! 

The only bad part?  Walking into the men's locker room accidentally on my way out!!  I went in and out and very quickly, so it's almost like it didn't happen right? 

What is goggle defogger?  Does it work better than licking the lens?

Right now I am in the "Basic 12 Week Sprint Program" here on BT. Although I have tailored it a bit with substituting the swim portion with the remaining 8 weeks left in the "Learn to Swim Program" also on BT. So far so good...I'm very religious about logging my workouts on here...keeps me honest! I don't like to see empty squares in my calendar!

Thanks to all who have submitted your plans as they exist right now. I will try to keep track of them, to the best of my humble(d) abilities!

GENE -

Yes, it does -- unless your saliva is a whole lot more reliable than mine. Some days mine works great, other times it's a dismal failure. Must be a reflection of what I've eaten recently!

Goggle defoggers come in little plastic bottles, and it doesn't take much of the stuff to work. The two manufacturers I'm aware of are Tyr and Aqua Sphere. I try to save these for races, relying on saliva most other times. I also try to buy a bottle whenever I find one; they cost about $3 (or maybe $5).