2018 Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Always Open (Page 31)

Thank you all for the support!

Got some goodies in the mail today, a pair of Hoka Arahi 2's, and a Garmin FR 235..its torture sitting through this 12 hour night shift before I can go try them out. Trying to figure out this new watch...its overwhelming right now lol.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Sweet, Devon! I love new gear, it always lights a new fire under my butt.

Finished a 4 day trip but have another one-day tomorrow so I’m at the crashpad with intentions of hitting the gym to spin and swim. I sat down...put my head on my pillow and the next thing I know it’s a couple of hours later. Ack! I hustle to the gym but only had time for a 20 minute spin. Gym closed so I came back to my crashpad gym and got 2 miles on the treadmill and did some core work. At least it was something.

Oh! I had a beer in Little Rock by Flyway. An amber bock. It was decent enough. A colleague had their blueberry beer (by Flyway as well) and he liked it.

July SBR: 32

2700m in the pool this morning after a super lazy weekend. After Friday’s swim, I was shivering and so tired. I don’t know what it was, but I spent all weekend sleeping and had a fever most of Friday and Saturday. Feeling better today, but trying not to go too hard to force a relapse.

Thanks, Gretchen. It sounds like you get in the water and tread water near the dock till they say go. That is doable, assuming I can swim. LOL.

Lots of good bikes and runs in this past week. I did about 8 minutes of OWS on Wednesday and am aiming to do the same tonight. The shoulder is still touch & go. I'm pretty bummed, I realized there's an awesome race this coming weekend but without the swim time in it probably is not smart to enter.

Sandi

July SBR: 33

Closed out today with a nice hour run. It is 74F here, how could I not go running?!?

A little strength training this morning for me. On tap for this afternoon is a 45'/15' brick. I'm hoping the weather holds...not supposed to rain until this evening here, but who knows what will happen. Wasn't supposed to rain at all last night, but my swamp-like yard tells me it must have poured overnight. Sigh...that just means the grass is gonna grow. Who has time for mowing when there is SBR to be done?!?!?

End of the month, so what our our goals/challenges for August?
I'm game for another 30SBR workouts in the month. Anyone else wanna play?

I have two goals this month. First, get in all the workouts on my plan, even when I'm off babysitting my niece and nephews next week (omg...someone is going to put me in charge of three children for a week!!!!! I'm not panicking...not at all.) Second goal this month is to focus on nutrition and fueling. Nutrition in terms of eating like a grown up and not having pizza (real pizza, not COJ *pizza*) for dinner three nights a week. I'd like to find a good fuel source that isn't sugar based, but I'm not having much luck. Ideally, it would be sugar, grain, and dairy free, but that could be asking a lot!

Got in 2400 in the pool this morning. That included 600 of kicking (I hate kicking).

I would be down for another SBR challenge, but think a more realistic goal for me is 25. I rarely do more than one thing a day, and do boot camp sometimes. Does cycle class count for B? And how many minutes do we need to do each for it to count? Maybe my challenge could just be 30 workouts total, since they all ultimately help me in my tris.

I am also focusing on nutrition this month. My roommate is moving out this weekend (I'm so excited) so I will have my freezer back and am going to stock up so even if I miss grocery shopping I will have food on hand. I think I'm going to freeze a bunch of pre-made meals. I'm going to live alone for a bit but ultimately will probably need to get another roommate eventually. I have a feeling it's going to be difficult going back to living with someone after having my house to myself for a bit.

Gretchen, when you say a good fuel source, what do you mean? And why not a grain? Just curious if it's something specific to your diet (i.e. gluten sensitivity or something like that).

I'm specifically talking about fuel for long rides/runs/races. I've had the most success with gu/gel form "solids" and drinking powerade/gatorade and water. I hate all that sugar though because it seems to make it so much harder to avoid the sweet stuff in non-workout times. I have a major issue with portion control when it comes to sugar. I'm an all or nothing type person when it comes to the stuff.

Grain free because I sleep much better and feel much better in general when I'm not eating grains. I don't have any type of diagnosed sensitivities, but a couple of month-long grain free periods with phased reintroduction of foods has demonstrated to me that I really should avoid grains (but I love them and they are everywhere!!!). I'm not particularly great at avoiding either sugar or grains, but that is the focus this month. Diary I can avoid most of the time, except cheese...and ice cream (see sugar issues), even though both make me feel like crap.

I'd say cycle class counts as a bike workout! No different than a trainer ride if you ask me. Minutes I think was S20, B30, R15, I think. But, in all honesty, since starting is the hardest part for me, I figure if I got my butt out there and did anything, it is a win! Maybe think of it as did you do at least half of what was planned?

Living situation: WOOHOO!!!! Awesome for having the house to yourself! I've lived in virtually every living situation from a communal frat house (oh yes...it was interesting to say the least) to solo in a house and everything in between. I have to say, the hardest transition I ever made was from living solo in a house to having my wife move back in after she had been sent to Montreal for two years for work (lousy job that didn't care about work-life balance). Even now, when I come home from Egypt, there is always an adjustment period where I have to relearn how to live with another person (and her too). Good luck when it comes time, but enjoy the freedom while it lasts!!

My first day of training is in the books and I already had to swap a bike session with a run meant for today. Family life is going to be my biggest hurdle in sticking with my plan. I still got it in though!!!

August goals are going to be following my plan and not missing workouts. Even if I have to swap things around, I just don't want to scrap a workout session all together. I just bought an amazing pellet grill on Sunday and that will hopefully help me meal prep for the week with delicious meals. I'm not on a "nutrition plan" yet and want to hold off for now, until I get the training a routine. A byproduct goal of starting Tri training is to force me to quit smoking. Which brings me to my question:

Question: During my swim session yesterday, I found it difficult to swim more than 200m at a time without having to stop and catch my breath. I know smoking has had changes on my body over the years but I can run 3,4 or 5 miles with no problem. is there something I'm doing wrong? (side note), I am breathing every right-hand stroke and know how to execute a breath while swimming. I just didn't know if there is a drill or something that can help, besides getting all the toxins of smoking out of my system?

Gunny--welcome to swimming. It will humble you in ways you can never know. Swimming is technique driven. Yes, there is a little bit of muscular and aerobic fitness in the mix, but technique is king in swimming. The single best thing you can do to improve your swimming is to get a coach (one who knows what s/he is doing). Second to that is to join a master's swim team (if they have them where you are). Third would be to watch videos and read on swimming technique. Total immersion program is available on youtube. They also have books with CDs to watch videos of the drills and techniques they are trying to demonstrate. Good luck!!

PS...great job getting the workout in, even if you did have to swap things around to get it done!

@Gunny, you say you know how to execute a proper breath while swimming, are you fully exhaling between breaths? If you are just holding your breath while your face is in the water, it causes you to take a much smaller amount of air in because you have to exhale and inhale in a short period of time.

Try swimming with a snorkel if you can find one.

Yes, exhaling in the water on my right down stroke and left stroke, inhaling on right side. I will try a snorkel.

Breathing every right stroke could be causing issues as well. Try breathing every other right hand, if not you can run into the issue of almost hyperventilating. Spread out your inhales and exhales.

One set we used to do that helped condition our lungs was a pyramid set:

100m breathing every 3rd stroke
100m every 5th
100m every 7th
100m every 9th
100m every 7th
100m every 5th
100m every 3rd

It’s going to suck, not going to lie, but it will help you learn to control your inhales and exhales.

July SBR Total: 34

Ended up doing a split bike ride instead of a brick. Rode outside for 20’ until it started to rain, then threw my bike on the trainer for the last 25’. Run delayed until tomorrow after my scheduled ride because the rain brought in a front that gave me a pressure headache. Ugh. Running with a headache sucks.

August SBR: 1

Just like that a new month and a new beginning!

Great swim workout this morning with my masters team. Coach has been out of town for a couple of weeks, so we've been taking turns creating workouts for ourselves. I cheated today and used one of Shelia T's swim speed workouts, but it included 30 50s in a row. We were a little tired after that! This afternoon is my rescheduled brick from yesterday--60' ride, 15' run. Fun, fun, fun. Weather is gorgeous here (81F for the high), so I'm going to take as much advantage of it as I possibly can!

July totals are in too:
Swim: 10h 17m 22s - 20997.88 Yd
Bike: 12h 58m 16s - 161.1 Mi
Run: 9h 47m 49s - 37.68 Mi
Strength: 2h 30m
Yoga: 10m

Clearly I still need to be working on getting to the gym for strength training and doing the yoga after runs. Seriously, 10' in the entire month?!?!?!

Ahh I gotcha. That I cannot help you with as I do my best to avoid long rides, lol. Seriously, you all are very tough for staying on the bike that long, I would go nuts. I am not a sweets person and tried gu once and hated it. It was hard getting the super sweet taste out of my mouth.

That stinks about grains b/c they are really tough to avoid. And I am sensitive to casein (protein in dairy) and also have a hard time avoiding cheese and ice cream. We are having an ice cream party at work today apparently so I'm mentally prepared for tummy aches.

Okay, I'm going to aim for 30 workouts total and count my boot camps and volleyball, as I believe any activity ultimately helps me in my tris.
And yes! I'm so so ready to have my own space!

@Gunny, if you are just getting back into swimming, I wouldn't beat yourself up about having to stop every 200. When I first got back into it I had to stop every 50, and I'm not a smoker. Swimming is like no other sport, so being in running shape does not really translate that well, especially since half of your breathing takes place under water. The more you practice, the longer you will be able to swim, you just have to find a rhythm.

As for breathing, I used to try to breathe every 3rd or 4th stroke, but my masters coach yelled at me (he doesn't have the best poolside manner) for doing that, saying if I wasn't breathing every other stroke I wasn't swimming fast enough. So now I breathe every other stroke, but alternate sides (I basically always breathe to the same wall). It is beneficial to practice breathing to both sides b/c in an OWS, waves can come from either side, and you typically want to breathe away from them so you don't get slammed in the face.

I agree with Gretchen about finding a masters team. You will get in shape a lot faster if you 1) have a coach giving you workouts and 2) have people to swim with and push you.

I can't believe it's August! Summer is going by way too fast!

I went to boot camp this morning and she crushed us per usual. My backpack made my shoulders tired on my walk to work this morning. I don't even understand how that happens.

Not sure if I told you guys, but I've decided not to do an Oly I was going to sign up for in August. Although I really want/need a redo for my flat in the last one, it's pretty expensive, and with my roommate moving out I need to conserve money. I still have the sprint tri at the end of September though (right after 2 1/2 weeks in Europe...), and might sign up for a couple runs. Then swim meets start back up in October!

August SBR+ = 1
(The + is for other workouts )

I'm down with counting all workouts, whether SBR or not!