Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 30)

JOHANNE-

I was squizzle over to those plans soon and see what is what with them.

Just toi make sure I understand you, though......
Are you not a fan of days off, or are you not a fan of the concept of less days off? (Is that perfectly unclear?)

I guess I'll just focus on the idea theat you prefer the plan that is NOT the RPE one!

I shall return before too long!

BOB -

That is a great post, and I will print it out so that I have those rules at hand for the times (not infrequent) when someone asks me what I think about joining a tri club, or a group that is uni-dimensional. I can cite the pros and cons as I see them, but has always been based just on gut feelings; aside from a few months of a maters swim class about ten years ago, I have trained 100% solo. This is mostly a function of where we live, way out in the sticks, but also just because I have more of a solo-training mentality.

Again, your rules are ones to live by, or at least seriously consider whenever one is considering joining a club. Many thanks for them!

"If my nose runs after a bike ride, can I call it a brick?"

Quick question for the group... I just got the Garmin 310XT -- I am into gadgets so had to get one and try it out.  I used it today just for HR in my spin session and then with the foot pod on the treadmill after.  I tried to do a short brick workout. Anyway... do you have to calibrate the HR monitor?  It was really off, I know that when doing interval training my heart rate pushes to 160+ and the highest the Garmin recorded was 123.  I actually took it manually in a rest interval and the Garmin was way off.  Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Alex 

Steve,
I'm a fan of the occasional day off which the RPE has more of but in looking more closely, I'm becoming more of a fan of the other 20 week plan even though it has less days off.
Johanne 

LORI -

Bless your heart! You're as good as your word when you say you are going back over all the posts you have missed, with case-in-point being Sharon's from page SEVEN! (I know, becasue for this group I am keeping a record as to who posted on which pages.)

I was worried that I had not responded to her, but it truns out I had posted a repsonse to her on page 10. It may not have been as good as yours about Q, as he is obviously a case of someone who has taken the "unconventional" (but is it really?*) route of having CrossFit as a major component of his overall triathlon training.

* Even though a couple of years ago it seemed that CrossFit was slightly hostile ("contemptuous" might be more accurate) towards endurance types, my impression of it was that it was a variant on strength training.....and flexibility.....and endurance.....all with elements of explosiveness thrown in. Had I the facilities or programs at hand, I wouldn't have thought twice (or at least thrice) about CrossFit a go as an alternative to being a gym rat.


Going back over Sharon's posts, i see she deleted a few, on pages 8 and 19 I think it was. I'm not sure she has been back since that. Uh-oh. I guess I'd better PM her and see if she has deliberately jettisoned us. I hope not!

Anyhow, your responses to her were good ones. Thanks for those!

JEFF -

Only if it's sub-freezing and what comes out is a brickish solid!

JOHANNE -

Thanks for the clarification. I haven't been over there yet, as right about the time I posted to you Lynn press-ganged me into skiing around the track out back with her. That's my first time this season, and it was pretty nice. We only did two loops, plus getting out there, so maybe 1.8 miles in 22 minutes or so. That is about the fastest I ski, seldom getting out of what would be Zone 1 were I an HRM guy! But it's nice and pleasant, and I try to do it 2-4/week. And, actually, i guess I do try to push the pace sometimes......maybe into low Z2?

------ GARMIN USERS! ------


Please see Alex's post a few ones above this!

You're welcome!
I was just talking to a friend of mine the other day about how nice it is to walk out our doors and be able to go for a run on the road or head a block to the trails or start our bike ride. You have a ski track! How cool is that?! I've never been cross country skiing. It's on my list  

Hello Again,

I dropped off for a while due to work and nothing much to report.  I wanted to ask about plans.  Since I pretty much have to train alone I signed   up for one of the BT plans.  I was able to customize my plan and put workouts on the days I can do them ( I hope).  For instance,  the pool is not availalable on Sundays and the prepacked plans might have a long swim on  a Sunday.   But I am not certain how scientific this approach is.  Is it just important to get the workouts in or does order matter? Also the strength training was not an option although it showed up with zero minutes atttached.  I opted for 3 sessions per dicipline because 2 did not seem like enough since I want to do a HIM in June.   I'm confused so I am glad you asked about training plans. I could use some advice.

Ellen

Hi Alex,
I have a Garmin 310XT too that I've tried syncing to a Garmin HRM that I used with my old 305. So far no luck but I was looking through the website for help with my little problem and I can't find anything as far as callibrating a new device. I'll keep looking.
Johanne 

JOHANNE -

It's not a true ski track, but rather......

Our former next-door neighbor used to train horses fro harness racing, and he constructed a 8/10 of a mile loop track that begins about 150 yards behind our house. It is a big oval, with the long axis running away from the house. We use it for walking the dog in all seasons, and skiing in the winter. We cut our own ski trails in it as we go along.....and just hope that the odd snowmobile that also uses it stays in the center of the track (we do our track on the outside edge of it). It is about 18 feet wide, very commodious!

While Roger still lived there he kept it immaculately groomed, as required for his horse training. The current owner goes over it a few times a year to suppress poplars and other nuisance species, but the surface is now grass/weeds, as opposed to sand/fine gravel from its former glory days. It has also been chewed up by four-wheelers in places. When I began running seriously in '98, it was a fabulous surface on which I did a huge amount of my training. Along about '04 it began to get a bit ragged, too ragged for dedicated running.

The track is a major incentive for us to stay here and not move. We are on it at least once on most days, and sometimes up to three times a day. Also, there are several trails off into the adjacent forests and fields, so it is also perfect for birdwatching, mushroom-hunting, or just leisure strolling. Every property should have a similar resource!

ELLEN -

Yay! You're here!

The person who constructed your plan may well have thought it was laid out scientifically, but in point of fact if you asked 20 coaches to construct a plan using the same number and duration of wokouts that are in your plan, you would find 20 different plans. So, I say that you have some wiggle-room to play with!

Remember, too, that the absolute best plan in the world will cease to be that if the user cannot fit in the workouts. Even when personal coaches ask all the right questions in order to find out the client's schedule and available resources, glitches happen -- things come up, stuff happens. No schedule works perfectly, to be sure!

Mostly, in your case, aim to fit in the workouts as best you can. However, if your can shift the days by one (that is, move the Sunday swim to either Saturday or Monday, and keep the rest of the weekly schedule in place along with it), then that would respect the scientific nature of the plan. I think you will find that the creator of it has not placed tough run worouts back-to-back, and there is probably a very sound rationale behind everything being where it is, rlative to everything else. So, if Sunday assumes the workload of the Saturday schedule, then Saturday would assume Friday's, and so on. Might that be workable for you?

GANG!

It took a major effort and a huge leap of courage, but I have started to post my workouts on my log.

As I have said a few times, I am a zealously committed pencil-and-paper guid, and rleigiously have used a logbook for years. With each of my other groups I have flirted with the log here, too, but have let it fade as a priority after a few days, maybe a week or two at most.

I WILL make a big effort to be regular this time, however (no promises, however......). I will comntinue to use my logbook as my major resource, and at least for now what will appear her will be quite rudimentary -- kind of "bare bones". There will not be a ton of details, but at least you'll be able to see what I'm up to.

I now have retroactived in back to last Saturday -- see if I can make it for all of 2011! (Long odds of that happening, I fear, but....)

I now have to go through each of you and see if and what you are posting on the BT log. I haven't done that yet, still just struggling to keep up with run-of-the-mill postings!

How do you guys above the Mason-Dixon line deal with training in the winter.  NC mountains have been hit with a blizzard for the last 3 days.  About 15" of snow and very windy.  Tried to run today but wimped out after 15 minutes.  Main problem is traction and the wind.  I'm going to put sheet metal screws in an old pair of shoes tomorrow.  Cabin fever is hitting me hard, only 3 runs this week for a grand total of 75 minutes.

Edited by bhc 2011-01-08 5:10 PM

Good for you! Leading my example I'm a numbers girl so I log here, on my iCal and I just made myself a nifty spread sheet I don't really do much will all the info I gather but it makes me feel good when I realize what I'm getting done.

Steve,
That's great you are logging your workouts! I know it can be tough, but I try to either enter them in right when I get home from my workout or the next morning at work. It can be tough, but we'll all try to keep you honest and leave some great "inspires" on your log to keep you motivated!
David

ROGER -

(A) Grin and bear it.
(B) Not grin and bear it.
(C) Grin.....and not bear it.
(D) Not bear it....and not grin.
(E) All of the above.

The correct answer for this intrepid cat is (E)!

Yesterday's run was (A). A few days ago was a (B) situation. A cabin-fever type of day will be (D). Some days when it just feels so RIGHT to do nothing at all, that'll be (C).

Within a week or so I will be able to handle most runs regardless of cold or wind. Wrell, sort of. I usually bail when the wind chill is -20C of colder, which is a few goosebumops colder than zero degrees F. In my slightly younger days I did some runs in harrowing cold, but that was about five years ago and this is now, and that is one area in which I have grown wiser, I do believe!

There are a few products geared to increasing traction in ice and snow, and I think the most common is Yak Tracks (or Traks, or Trax). These are kind of like crampons for running shoes, and are very popular up this way. I have never looked into them, however, as it's just not the typw of thing I want attached to my feet when I'm ruinning. Then again, yesterday's run was a bit too slippery for my liking, and one of the roads I had planned to run on too slippery to even attempt. Had I had the yak things, I could've done it, i guess, but what I did I managed to survive okay, so......

Then other trick northern triathletes have is to look at the weather, and look at the calendar, and think about their race sason, and in most cases they will see about a 3-5 month gap between the current weather-challenged day and their first race.....so they'll just sit that one out. (Might then be a (C) or (D), per the above.)

This rwally is one of the glories of being a triathlete. Back in my run-only days, when I didn't run I didn't do anything. Now there are all the other options, and even if I can't venture onto the raods to go into Ottawa to swim or hit the gym, there is always the bike on the trainer or rollers, or I can do Pilates, or I can hop on my Vasa Trainer, which I am refurbishing to make useable -- I hope. Barring any of those, i can just make it a (C) day!

As for three runs totalling 75 minutes, you know, that's not all that bad for the first week of January!!

DAVID -

Thank you! Motivation is not the problem, but rather my fear of, and clutziness with, technology. I guess i'm happy to have it doewn there, but for some reason it didn't eneter that my other sport today was cross-country skiing. I was sure I had enetered that from the draw-down list.....but it didn't "take". And now I don't dare go back and try to fix it, for fear that I will somehow obliterate everything!

I guess it's good having stuff in two places, although I will never forsake my logbook. That's my bread-and-butter tool, with lots of space to write details ---- and none of the angst and pain that comes from getting slapped around by the computer.

JOHANNE -

I'm getting closer! It was a dodgy day for the computer, but I eventually succeeded in getting to the two HIM plans to which you refer. At least I HOPE I have the correct two; they're the only two that are for 20 weeks.

I have printed out both complete plans (although not the intricate details of each workout), and i will look these over between now and tomorrow. Expect some sage (hahahahahahaha!) advice from me tomorrow, okay?

I'm in eastern Washington, 90 miles south of the Canadian border. It gets light at 7:45 and dark at 4:00, we've had snow on the ground since thanksgiving and probably will until March.  Treadmills and bike trainers. 

Hey group... I need a pep talk...
this is the first day in a while that I just don't feel like training.  I am scheduled to run/walk today.  My hip has been a bit sore so I feel like I am using that as an excuse not to train today.  I think I over did my training yesterday leading to soreness today so would taking a day off be horrendous this early in the season? 

Thanks!
Alex 

Early in the season-listen to your body, it will thank you