Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 29)

Hey Tracie, Good news that things are looking up.  Did you write down what your time was two years ago?  How awesome will it be to see how you shatter that time?!

I agree!

It's too bad the pool you swim at doesn't have those training aids on deck.  I would opt for a pull buoy over a kickboard, but I know people are more comfortable with the kickboard.  I say that because it's easier to do kick sets without a kickboard than to do pull sets without a pullbuoy.  For a kickset w/ no kickboard, you have to focus on body position, but your arms should float out in front with little effort and because you're kicking, your legs will stay up so you'll keep that horizontal body position.  But, without a pull buoy, I think you'd have to over emphasize pushing your chest into the water to keep the legs floating without kicking. 

Good sore or bad sore?  I looove sore legs after a race! Makes me realize that I did WORK!  Also, don't underestimate the value of taking even just a short dip in the pool with your legs are sore - the coolness and pressure help with swelling, pain, etc.  I either just walk in circles for 15 minutes or lightly aquajog when the legs are sore.

Had a good swim this morning, 2600 yds and I felt it in the arms after only getting in the pool once last week post-Oly  My masters coach had us doing timed 100's in between other sets. I did them in 2:14, 2:07 and 2:05. My previous fastest 100 was 2:13 so I was very happy with the improvement. I still am in awe of the fast swimmers in the other lanes. I'm not quite sure how they do it!

Later today I have to do a 90 min bike with hill repeats. Since I started to log my food again this week, I'm going to deserve every single calorie I eat. I'm not sure if I mentioned it here but my youngest daughter and I are logging our food on a website so we can hold each other accountable. We gave each other our passwords and we're hoping to lost some weight this summer. I've lost 50 lbs in the last couple of years and want to take off about 20 more depending on how I feel. My daughter put on the freshman 15 and added a few more in her sophmore year so she is motivated to get some of that off. She's a runner and wants to get in shape for a couple of 1/2 marathons she's signed up for. 

Hope everyone has a good training day,

Johanne

Good luck to you and your daughter-that's great that you're working as a team to be healthier!  Which website are you using?  I did a lot of reading the past few weekends on internet-based weight loss programs and learned how much more beneficial the program is when participants log in daily-stick to it and you'll keep seeing results.  Congrats on your weight loss so far!

I've been the most successful when I log my food. It's too easy to eat an extra few 100 calories if you don't! 

We're using fitday.com to log. We're not using any particular diet. We're just eating balanced, healthy meals with snacks. My daughter is still down at her college for a 6 week summer school session but she's in an apartment so I took her grocery shopping before I dropped her off to get her started. Between school and work, she is so busy that she'll have most of her meals at home or pack a lunch so she can stay in control a bit easier. You're our nutrition goddess as well as our swim goddess so if you ever have any healthy recipes, feel free to pass them along!

Sore probably wasn't the right word, they are more tired.  I think I overdid it the last 2 days.  I think a walk tonight will be good for them.

LOL, that's going to go to my head! I'm the water czarina at work, too.  They pay me to be in the water club to get access to the water cooler.

Oh, and www.eatbetteramerica.com is my FAVORITE website! I love the mexican skillet recipe, I've used it with fake chicken and tofu. =)

Sara - It was when I was kicking yesterday that my legs kept sinking so I'm thinking the floatation will help me become more aware of my body's position - then again it could have just been the fact that my form was horrible yesterday and I wasn't kicking properly. I'll probably do the buoy first anyway because there's usually a kickboard lying around near the hydro pool most days.

One weird question - I looked it up but still can't work it out - yesterday the woman in the next lane to me was using a snorkel for some of her laps - what exactly would be the benefit of this? The only one I could find when I looked it up is ease of breathing for beginners but she seemed to be doing great on the laps where she wasn't using one so I'm just curious as to what the purpose of it may be.

Johanne - great work on the swim time improvement - I'm still not even sure how people do times like that. I worked out my 25's yesterday and based on how long it took me to do 2 laps with a 1 min rest I'm at about 2 mins per - not sure how accurate that is though because I usually stand at the end of the pool for a while before looking at the clock. Hope the food logging goes well. I'm trying to make that my challenge this month - log food every day - but I'm just doing the actual food to see what I'm eating as I still haven't found a log that gives me all the nurtritional info that I like due to some of my food not existing on it - mainly because I'm in Aus and the US sites. May check out the Aus Biggest Loser one again though, that should have most stuff on it.

Tim - hope your legs feel better.

Mike - good luck with the bike maintenance

Me - Going for a bike ride today as my ankle is still playing up.

Switched my workout up a bit this PM.  Did 1.2 miles in 10 minutes to start.  Didn't feel like running -- was fine, just not in to it, so I walked a bit.  Then did 4 x 2 minutes at what had to be a 6:30 to 7:00 mile pace.  First 50 seconds of each were awesome.  Last minute was a slow fade, but still running solid at the end.  Good news is that body felt great afterwards.

Would like to put in some more hours during the rest of the week, but am going to listen to my body and make sure I'm ready for the race on the 28th.

Went to tri-class, only one other student showed--and he didn't have a wet suit, so I basically got a private open water swim lesson! My coach set up the buoys in the lake and went out in her kayak to work with me. I did okay, I swam straight out to a mid point in the buoy string, then she had me swim along the string and back along it again, then back to shore. I did have to stop and do breast strokes multiple times, but then when I started back to the shore, I got about a third of the way there and then the same thing happened that happened at the practice race. I couldn't catch my breath and my arms felt like lead pipes. The only difference being that this time I was able to catch it again within a few minutes. I then swam back to shore. My coach thought that it started with a CO2 buildup from not breathing out enough, and then I sort of had a panic attack...SOOOO, tomorrow is another OWS class, and I am going to take a moment to basically prove to my brain that I will FLOAT and there is nothing to be worried about--and I will relax...those are truly my main issues!

After all of that, I also ran about 1/2 mile, though there was a bit of walking too--still having breathing issues....Oh well, keep on pluggin' along...

You are doing FINE! I think OWS is tougher mentally then physically and it just takes time to teach yourself to relax but you can totally do it. You got it together quicker this time and it'll keep getting better. When you race try to remember your calm times during practice. One stroke at a time 

I'm looking forward to hearing about your race. You've got some speed in those legs!

Fixed the tire last night in 5 minutes. Amazing what you learn from screwing something up the first time .

Did an hour on the trainer this AM, then went for a quick 'rehab the foot' run. Did 1.9 miles @ 9:10 pace. Still did the run/walk thing, but this time it was 8' run/2' walk. Next time out there will be no walking. I feel as if my foot is 98% at this point, and I have no effects from injury either during or after running.  Was pouring rain this  AM, and was kind of fun to be out running in the slop! .

Running is coming along. I can tell not all is lost, but I do need some work. It will come in time, so I'll be patient, and just do the work.

Anyone racing this weekend????

Kate -- You're my hero on the OWS!!!  The thought of it still scares me / I'll be doing some similar practice sessions as the summer moves along.

Johanne -- I used to have a LOT of speed in the legs as I could run a 4.5 second 40 yard dash.  Problem is this whole endurance thing.  It was nice to actually feel a bit of speed again AND rewarding to see that I could hold it for almost a minute.  Think I'd have died if I tried this stunt last year at this time.

Kurt,

I think I've learned that building speed and building endurance are 2 different things, at least for me. When I was doing my marathon training, I really slowed down. Now that I'm back to 'regular' running, I'm starting to pick up the speed again but slowly. You'll be able to combine the 2 and really use that to kick some butt.

Sara,

I bookmarked that website. It looks like a great resource. I can spend hours on learning about nutrition. This whole tri business can become a full time job

Suzie,

Keep it up! Really! I love seeing your post and you always have a plan and each day you are working on getting stronger. 

Mike,

That's pretty impressive that you can keep a 9:10 pace with a run/walk. I'm so glad the foot has improved. Have you gone back for more ART or are you good and just building at this point?

No racing for me this weekend. I have 2 big workouts. Saturday is a 3:45 bike with a 30 run brick and Sunday is a 75 min run. I'm glad I started logging food this week because I'm going to need good nutrition to feel good about those workouts!

I have a 30 run today and then some core/strength work. The sun is shining and I'm going to ride my horse too! Since I figured out how to finally post pictures here, I think you all need to see how cute he is!

Johanne

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