Slornow and Wannabefaster's Summer Group-CLOSED (Page 29)

So Jason and I have been chatting and he has graciously allowed me to rejoin the group mid-season. For those who don't know me here is my story.

Story: I saw my first triathlon in Feb 2012 (other than on TV years ago). At the time I was 56 and weighed in at 250#. I started riding my old mountain bike and running to fast too soon which resulted in two Achilles tendonitis problems. Swimming is not an issue as I was a competitive swimmer in HS & college (more on that later). So with no running, a lot of riding and some time in the pool I did my first tri, a sprint, in Dec 2012. I did ok and my weight was down to just over 200#. While training for my second one I was hit by a car in April 2013. Fractured my hip which required two surgeries (the second a total hip replacement), eight months on crutches and a year lost.

I made a halfhearted attempt to get back into things but I wasn’t ready mentally. Then my surgeon suggested we go for a ride because he “does a little riding”. Well it turns out not only is he 25 years younger than me and in good shape, he was on the Yale Cycling Team in college. The embarrassment of that ride got me back in gear. I’m now riding 3-4 times a week and swimming on occasion. Little to no running right now but I am ok with that. I need to get the pounds I put on while doing nothing and a bike is the best way for me to do it.

Family: Married for about a day and a half. In about three weeks we will be married 40 years. Two kids, two dogs.

Training: Right now it’s mostly riding. I am ok to run but on a short leash. That’s ok because I HATE running. I will swim when the opportunity arises but not something I worry about.

2014- I had a lot of big plans that all got derailed. Now I am looking to do a sprint in late August and if that goes well, add an Oly late in the season.

2013 Season: Lost the entire year and then some. Glad it’s behind me. I did manage to do the Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes 5k albeit on crutches. Too important of a cause for me not to do it.

Weightloss: As I mentioned I was down to just over 200# when I did my first tri in Dec 2012. The day of my accident I weighed in at 190#, the lowest I had been in two decades. Unfortunately I put back on over 30# during my year of doing close to nothing. I am hard at work to get back down to that 190# weight, currently 213#.

What will make me a good mentee?: I love this sport and love to learn so this group was invaluable to me on this journey. A truly great group of people. Then there is the swimming where I hopefully can help you.

I spent 6 years swimming in the area of 5000 yards a day, plus the weight room plus a few assorted and sundry other training routines. Was I any good you may ask. We recently cleaned out the garage and came across some of my old swimming stuff. Now remember this is 4 decades ago but here are a few times from the day.

100 yard Freestyle – sub 0:48
100 Butterfly – sub 0:52
100 Backstroke – sub 0:58
100 Breaststroke – don’t ask, I feel the same way about this as I do running.
1650 Freestyle – sub 19:00

I have also taught swimming to all ages from the Rocks, the 4-5 year old kids you put in the pool and they just sink, to 60 year old adults. Some of my methods you will definitely find odd but they work. Happy to field any questions and help any way I can.


Anyway, thanks for taking this wayward soul back into the fold. Looking forward to getting back to where I was and better.

Randee...hard to say. I was pleasantly surprised by no issues with the saddle, though I rode most of the time up on the horns. Still working with my fitter on neck discomfort in aero.


STUART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO happy to see you again.

Funny that you dislike breast stroke. It's my 'go to' stroke whenever I don't want to swim.

Edited by glfprncs 2014-07-11 8:00 AM

Hi Stuart!!



TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

edited to add: this saddle name freaks me out!

http://www.cobbcycling.com/shop/roadsaddles/randee



Edited by mtnbikerchk 2014-07-11 10:50 AM

Randee. ...you almost have to own it, don't you?

Randy thanks, glad to be back.

Hi back Randee. What kind of royalties are you getting on that saddle?

Nancy I am happy to back as part of the group. The breast stroke is my ‘go to’ when I want to look like I don’t know how to swim.

Today is my run day, uuuggghhh. Only one a week right now. Not that I run far or long. It will probably be 30 minutes or so on the treadmill. A mix of fast walk and slow run.

Tomorrow I have got to turn my bike route in under an hour. It’s 18 miles with one hill up and down out and the same one on the return. I had been doing it in 1:01-1:02. A few days ago I managed 1:00:45.

So I really wanted those last 45 seconds gone yesterday but was greeted by a nasty headwind on the way out. My time at the turn was awful. But with the wind at my back I scorched the return and was just a little off pace so I really pressed the final few miles. Came in at 1:00:05. Are you kidding me…five seconds over? I am still pissed about it.

Tomorrow I will get out early (I always ride better early in the day) and, if the wind isn’t too bad, get in under one hour.

Good Luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Suzy just saw you post as I was about to do the same. It’s nice to know someone noticed I was gone! Happy to answer your question shortly. I am heading out for about an hour or so (American Diabetes Association Executive Committee Board meeting). I will tackle this when I get back. BTW – not as uncommon a problem as you might think

Stuart, welcome back. We are fortunate to have you here.

Randee, that saddle looks cool to me. I understand your issue with it though

Well, I'm at Muncie, checked in, packed up and ready to race. Hope it goes well. There is some serious looking competition here,and as usual the 40-44 AG is stacked with talent and 160+ participants deep. I'll give it my best effort and we will see what happens.

I am racer #172, Jason Adams, if anyone wants to follow along.

Suzy let me see if I can be of some help here. Generally people who drop their head to low not only over rotate when breathing but they also mess up their body alignment at the same time. At a minimum it forces the hips to drop when you lift your head to breathe which also drops the legs. Not good…but fixable.

It would be unusual for someone who is carrying their head too low to be doing just that with the rest of the mechanics working fine. The most common cause is short arming your stroke. Putting the hands in the water too close, thereby diving the hands too deep. Your hands spear the water, dive deep and the head follows.

First thing you need to do is reach a little farther on your stroke. Get your hands out in front of you and flatten them out quickly for a longer pull. This should help a lot with the head position. When you breathe it should be a slight roll above the hips and not a rotation of the body.

Practice with a pull buoy high up on the thighs. It will minimize the roll as you get used to a longer stroke. Fins might accomplish the same thing, keeping your legs up, body in better alignment.

Also watch where your hand placement is with respect to the centerline of your body. If you are crossing that imaginary line that runs straight up your spine and bisects your head, or even close to that, the position of the arm will force the head over and down. Concentrating on stretching the stroke out a bit will help with this as well.

Do you breathe on both sides or just one? This issue is far more common with people who only breathe on one side. If that’s the case, now is the time to work on bilateral breathing.

The advice to look a yard in front of you is a good suggestion. If it is feeling odd it may be you are carrying too much tension in the shoulders and neck. Don’t worry about turn over. Try to relax and DO NOT try to muscle it. As you know, form and rhythm are far more important than strength.

Fortunately in the laundry list of things that could go wrong with a swimming stroke, this is one of the easier ones to fix. Try lengthening out your stroke and watch your hand placement and let me know if that helps.

Jason good luck tomorrow. It sounds like 159+ guys in your AG are just going to have deal with the fact that they didn't win come the end of the race tomorrow!

Have a great race.

Worst week of training so far. Low volume in an important month.
Stressed at work. I'm the supervisor, and when sht goes wrong I have to take the wrath.
Well sht went wrong this week with clients and employees across the board.

Did a really hard and hilly bike across state lines this week. So much swearing on the elevation gain but the descents were gnarly.
Highlight was when I hit a bug with my sunglasses and it went splat like on a windshield. EWW!

What really did me in this week was meeting a beginner OWS group after my swim. I hung out with them, which caused me to miss an important run.
BUT I had fun which really helped my stress lower.

Swim, maybe a bike today.

Racing tonight.
Midnight run race 4 miler. Checking the batteries in my headlamp.

Go Jason! Just pulled up the Tracker he was 40/188 AG out of the water, 35:53. http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx?race...

Go Jason!!!

Nice job today, Jason! 40th out of the water, 20th off the bike, and 11th after the run. I can't even fathom running one 7:18 mile, let alone 13 of them!

I her ya, that's about my open 5k pace, never mind after a swim and run. Way to smash it Jason! Very inspiring!

Well can't even go half that fast. Yesterday I ran 2.2 miles on the treadmill in 32 minutes or 14:38/mile. And that is the fasted I have done in the 8 running sessions I have had since my surgery. I guess I have a lot more work to do.

Awesome job Jason.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I keep coming back: you can't argue with Randy & Jason's results! You both crushed it today; congratulations! I hope you both get to put your feet up for a little while because you've earned it!

Sitting here at awards. My wife says that she thinks we can make 70.3 WC at MT work. Zero slots out of three available have been claimed. Looks like my odds are good.

That run was killer. I have done this race twice and both times the run kicked my butt.

Another truly AWESOME job today Randy. The run times in this group are just scary good.

I can only dream.

Awesome! You killed it today too. Nice work Gents, way to lead by example.

I have a swim question for the group(Stuart ).

I had my first lesson last Monday and we worked on EVF or high elbow catch. Tuesday and Wednesday my shoulders were pretty sore. I expected it, I don't think I've every swam that hard, but it did get me thinking. Recently a friend of mine who is a very good swimmer was complaining after a recent mile swim race that his Lats were sore. Am I pulling with the wrong muscles? I feel like I am pushing water back with my shoulder muscles. Should I be pulling my elbows in to my body with my Lats. In other words should I have the feeling like I would in my Lats as if I was doing a wide grip pull up? I hope I described that correctly.
Any thoughts?

WOW what a day here! Congrats Jason and Randy!

Stuart is back in action!! Now come here and teach me to breathe bilaterally. Thanks in advance

regarding the saddle, it says this on the website:

"John Cobb has spent over two years developing the all new Randee....."

DH Says "good luck with that pal, I've been working on it for 17 years!" BOOYAH LOL


Anyway that saddle looks way to long for me. Maybe I should sue for royalties though..................

Edited by mtnbikerchk 2014-07-12 4:16 PM