kaqphin (Super Cat's) Mentor group - CLOSED (Page 28)

Pam mentioned something briefly I just want to repeat.  Don't wear headphones on a bike if you are in any kind of traffic.  Just not a good idea.  The only time I have worn headphones on the bike was when the only riding route I had (I was out of vancouver for a while) was along a highway with a nice wide shoulder and was an out and back type deal.  I would leave them out until I got to the highway and then put them in once I got there.  you need to be able to hear that car coming up behind you.

 And all those sounds you get to hear are awesome.  from the wind, to the birds, to that Harley Davidson that came up behind you and gave you a thumbs up

First- thanks all for the notes, I let me my mind go into overdrive sometimes and I know better, but alas, I'm a woman, what can I say.  Today is MUCH BETTER! I did what I call a "free run" yesterday--no real plan, no time, no mileage set, no pacing, no HRM, no data, just ran what I wanted to and it was much needed.  So, my mind is much better on track.

Pam/Jeni- LOTS of great information on the bike!  I definitely do not use headphones on my bike--it's hard enough to hear Mr. TowTruck bearing down on me without them!  I will say breaking down and NOT knowing how to fix something limits my routes some.  I really need a Bike 101 "fix it" course, but have nothing local with which to learn that stuff (have I mentioned I can't wait to move and I hate this town!?!).  I could change a tire, but unless I've finagled riding with someone, i'm hesitant to go too far from home.  I do have some friends that could pick me up if I had disaster. I do have a Road ID I wear too and cell phone I take with me.  So, that limits me some, but will change when I move to civilization in a few months.

So, while we're on bike questions--let me ask some questions--improving cadence? How do you do this? I know where it is supposed to be, but if I have it in the gear to do that i feel like I'm just spinning and not going anywhere, but could go faster if I push to harder gear and it doesn't wear me out quite as much as just pedaling quickly and yet going slow? So how do you improve this?

Hey Brit - I don't know much about the bike, so I would love to know the answers to those questions as well.

I have my tri on the 29th.  I haven't done any serious training since the beginning of Feb.  I am about 10 days from my race and know I can't gain any more fitness between now and then.  So, I decided to go out and just see what I could do with the run, so I ran today!  Woohoo!

Here is where I think I will pretty much end up for my tri:

It is 500 yard swim, 12 mile bike and 5k run.  Yes, I am slow, but I am well aware of that fact. 

That's great that you know your breakdown dia. and if you have similar experience to mine, you may surprise yourself.

Two things in my experience improved my cadence.  When i first bought the bike I picked up a book by Chris Carmichael (Lance's coach) and he recommenced that for "beginners" all your base milage rides should be done with a cadence of 95. so I shifted gears around to make this happen. Above and beyond your initial get go, you should be changing gears to adjust your cadence, not really focusing on trying to get your legs to move a different speed. More advanced riders aim for 85-95 for their beginning base mileage. So for 2 months I just focused on just keeping it as close to 95 as possible.  If I hit 96/97 I would pop it into the next higher gear and vice versa if I was at 92/93 And trying to spin as much as possible on every hill. 

Now that I am part of the cycling club our coach prescribes cadence pyramids.  you spend 1 minute at each cadence 70/80/90/100/110/120 (or as high as you can without bouncing)/110/100/90/80/70.  This teaches you what each cadence feels like and you start to find your most efficient cadence. now I play around with my cadence as I am trying to find my magic efficiency number. I usually end up between 85 and 92 where I feel fast and easy effort. I like feeling a bit of resistance as I pedal.

Another great practice is to spend time focusing on each part of your stroke.  Using the times on a clock face metaphor.  So 1 minute focusing on that 12-3 part of your stroke, then 3-6, then 6-9, then 9-12.  You'll find muscles you never knew you had. Also helps break up the pain of hill work cause you learn to engage different muscles.

Spinning a faster cadence does feel like a lot more work in the beginning, but once you've adjusted I notice on time trials and sprint efforts I find myself spinning at 100 or above. But today I went up a grade in my easiest gear and just spun up it at a cadence of 95-105 and it zapped me. So I know on a hill my most efficient for my riding right now is more of a 80-90 range.  But it all changed as you ride more and more.

barqhead - 2008-03-18 9:11 PM

TexasMPGal - 2008-03-18 2:47 PM Okay, and while I'm asking bike questions, here is one that I don't think I'll have to deal with on my Oly distance tri--but might dependent upon how hot/humid it is...how does the whole water bottle hand up work without me crashing into them and all, and do I just make sure I use disposable bottles myself? I'm not sure how this works for the bike!?!

The water bottle hand off. First, do you have an aerobottle? If you do, all you do is grab the race's bottle, dump it into your aerobottle (that's what the little yellow sponge thing is for) and chuck the container close to the trash can at the aid station. My races usually use those skinny, environmentally unfriendly bottles of water which would pop right out of my bottle cage. If this whole thing concerns you and you are grace and coordination-challenged, like me, just carry your aerobottle and one extra bottle on the downtube. You shouldn't need more than two bottles on an oly course (up to 30 miles). For my HIM, I carried plain water in the aerobottle and three bottles of cytomax. One bottle on the downtube and two in the rear carrier. I drank the water, and one and a half bottle of cytomax. This was a little low for 56 miles, but at least I didn't have to pee during the race I echo Jeni's sentiments on cadence work. I am also rather low on cadence (86-90). I find it easier to practice high cadence sessions on the trainer than out on the road. My cadence has increased because I used to spin around 76-82. Keep practicing, but during a race, go by feel. If low-cadence, harder gear feels best, trust that. I do not race with a computer. I rely solely on feel. And I haven't been disappointed yet. Your body will tell you what works for you!

Excellent--and yes, I have the aero bottle and don't figure I'll need any hand ups, but was curious about it...exactly what I was thinking was supposed to happen with it.  I just got in a cadence computer (my Garmin wasn't cutting it) and need to hook it up and after Lonestar I want to work on cadence and swim form, etc.  I may do a couple thrown in sprints or run races, but I really think April and May will be a good form/build phase for me before starting HIM training in June.  Y'all have such good advice! As they say in Germany, DANKE!

yeah go by feel.  I have also found sometimes focusing on cadence also helps get your mind of feeling tired.  Thoughts like "if I keep this cadence then I know I have a good pace."

My coach also talks a lot about doing body checks periodically.  Starting with your hands- no death grip needed...  then are your arms relaxed, bent elbows, relax your shoulders, are you engaging with your core, power from your hips, feeling the whole stroke with both your quads and hamstrings, strong calves, heels down.  scrape the mud off the soles of your shoes. I can speak from experience that it helps get you to refocus when you're putting in a lot of work.  

Hi - Im just back from conference.... looks like youve all been busy talking about bikes and form...

Im tooo tooo tooo tired to try and help at all tonight but I think youve all got it under control!

Since talking about cycling is one of my favourtie things in the world I will check in tomorrow and see how we are all going!  

Welcome back CAT!!!! hope your conference went well.

I need some help- that's what the mentor group is for right   Yesterday I chickened out of going to our university triathlon club swim practice.  My friend has been trying to get me to go for about the last month.  I got my gear together, walked to the pool, walked inside... turned around and walked back out and back home!  I started having flash backs to hating swim practice as a kid-- I don't want to hate swimming again. Plus the general just nerves...

Tomorrow I am supposed to go bike shopping with a friend (I keep telling him about the cycling high so now he wants in!!!).  Hurray for a day filled with bike porn!! But I am going to try to make it back in time to go to their swim practice tomorrow afternoon-- I need to suck it up!

So I need a favor....could you guys send me an inspire on Thursday so I won't chicken out again? 

excited2tri - 2008-03-20 8:53 AM You bet Jeni!  Believe me, once you get out there and swim with the group, you will think "what was I so worried about?".  I bet you it is more nerves than anything.  But I will get out there and inspire you girl. 

x2... also if you have a contact number for the coach you could call them in advance and talk ab out the group so you feel like you know waht to expect!

Hey all, I hear Jeni has a date with the pool tonight...we expect full details Jeni, full details!

Note to all--don't do too many push ups prior to a swimming day...oh my gosh I was struggling this morning!  Tomorrow I have a date with my wet suit and my first OWS...should be interesting!

Yep, I am looking forward to reading the details, Jeni.

Brit - first OWS?  Very cool.  What is the water temp?  I did my first OWS in 58 degree water with a wetsuit.  I got pulled out half way through because I was turning blue.  LOL  I love swimming in a wet suit, you can't drown. 

I DID IT! First swim practice in 15 years!

Thanks guys. your messages are entirely the reason I went. Had everything against going, meeting friends I hadn't seen in months for a beer last night turned into a 2 am pub crawl (needless to say my head was swimming today-- and Brit I think grad students drink just as much as army guys so be prepared if you head back to school). And it was cold and rainy all day, which was giving me flash backs to 7 am practices in the rain as a kid.  But I could NOT post a message that said I didn't go when all of you were expecting details. 

Introduced myself to the coach (old german guy with the typical swim coach gut) and he immediately made a comment about it being a little late in the season.  But he had the workout on the blackboard and I knew I could do it so was able to shrug it off. The workout was good, felt like a workout after only swimming 500-1000m at a time for the last few weeks.

He gave me one correction to focus on shortly into the practice (to reach forward above water not in it).  It completely threw my stroke off and made everything feel weird (plus a hangover makes it a lot more difficult to swim in a straight line!! LOL) but by the end of the practice it was feeling more natural.

Chatted in the hot tub a bit with my friend after and introduced myself to a few people.  And I shall be going again.

YAY! Way to go Jeni!! Knew it would be a blast...if you can survive with a hang over, you'll rock when you aren't, haha!  

Have a great weekend y'all!!

Have a great run today Pam, 10 miles is one of my favorite distances--I think because the Army 10-Miler is what kicked off this whole fitness addiction!  What's funny is I started training with a guy I would've described just like the guy running with you....then I got faster than him, haha!   Like Jeni said, just run your pace steady! Have fun!

I have a 5K race on Ft. Hood this morning.  No PR expected from the one I did in Feb as I was in pre-marathon kick butt stage, but we'll see how it goes. I'm still a little sore from all those stupid push ups I did the other day (good workout, but more sore than anticipated!!)...anyhow, should be fun depending upon how many people actually signed up to run it.

Pam - you go with that 10 miler!  You are going to rock it out girl.   

Hey Britt, I did a 5k this morning too!  Plus a 1 mile fun run before hand!  We had a whole crew, it was me, my husband, our kids Brianna, Riley and Ryan, my brother in law Ted and Ryan's friends Dalton and Christina, so 9 of us total.  Brianna and I ran together again and we finished in 43:16, a whole minute earlier than last time.  Plus, it was very hilly AND we did a 1 mile fun run beforehand.  She is really starting to improve.  I am really hoping this is something she grows up enjoying.

Ok, and now I have to brag (because I can't run).  My son Ryan (16) won the 1 mile run at 5:45 (out of over 300 people)!  He got some nice hardware out of it, I am so proud!  I have to live vicariously through his running.  LOL

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!