Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 32)

Gary,

Thanks for sharing her rr. What a truly inspirational person she is. I think my favorite part of volunteering at IMNO were the last few finishers. The very last person who finished was a lady who thought she didn't meet the cut off times. Everything was already picked up but I was told that if she got there before last piece of equipment was gone, I could give her a finisher medal. There was only a handful of people left packing up but I was not leaving until she came in. When I put the medal around her neck she just cried and cried. It was one of the best memories I have. 

Shelly

Elizabeth - Great tips, for the one where you put one arm out and on your side I typically use zoomers to start off with when my kick wasn't strong (still isn't).  You are officially dubbed the Gary's Mentor Group Royal Fish (hope to add more to that list)!

Shelly - Great story from IMNO, that is great!!!

Gary ... thanks for passing on the RR from Lyoshka (sp) ... that is one tuff lady!!

So another question on the swim ... I mostly keep my head down as when I swim, I'm typically looking straight down at the bottom. Last swim session I noticed a correlation between my head being down (perhaps more so than usual) and the feet rising ... the more my head was down or deeper in the water, the higher or easier for the feet to rise.  Does this make sense and is there a point wherein this works for or against developing speed?

Hey all!

Looks like we are heading out for a mini-vacation in Gulf Shores, AL.  No internet so starting Sat thru Monday no posting for me.  Will be near the beach so am planning on swimming, alot.

Dorm - its similar to being aero on the bike.  You want to present as little of your body to the flow of air/water.  If you raise your head you present a larger surface, if you put your chin to your chest,  look straight down like Elizabeth said and you should be fine. 

Trying to set up a video analysis at my pool.  They did it awhile ago with underwater camera and a tivo box.  Didn't get a copy of the swim but at least he reviewed our stroke(and could see it at pool side) and we could make adjustments and do it again.  Was helpful and hoping they could do it again.

Have a great vacation Gary!  We'll actually be in the area ourselves.   We used to go to Gulf Shores just about every year (love it there!) then my wife's best friend moved to Navarre, FL (about an hour from Gulf Shores) last year.  We'll be there next week.  Can't wait!

I concentrate hard to look straight down and yesterday focused on keeping my legs and feet close together; i.e. more streamlined. Where I start to get into trouble is when I turn my head to breath.    This is when my stroke gets out of synch, out of alignment, loses efficiency and I 'throw the brakes on'.  And so if this occurs with every 3rd-4th stroke, then I'm throwing on the brakes 25% to 30% of the time!

I had a few flashes yesterday wherein I would simply pause a bit with the stroke - breath - and return with the stroke/pull and this technique produced my best lap times.  When I turn my head, the trick I use is to keep the one ear in the water at all times ... so I don't think I'm raising my head necessarily.  It's sorta like running and changing to a 'skip' with every 3rd to 4th step.

Anyway, the glimpses mentioned above from yesterday are encouraging and something I can build on.

We have never been, rented a townhouse by Little Lagoon (West Beach Blvd).  Figured it could not be too bad but we are going to scout the area out and figure out the best places to look for a rental.  Heading out tomorrow morning and back Monday night.

Have a good trip and let me know how Navarre, FL is as we are always looking for vacation spots.

Quick swing by, home, good time but traffic in Gulf shores is nuts (they may want to consider sync'ing their 1.5 million red lights).   Kids had a great time and I managed a little OWS.

FYI, on the classifieds there is a thread on selling speedsuits for a pretty cheap price.  If nothing else I would have liked to have had one this weekend.  Too warm for a wetsuit but with the jelly fish the extra protection would have been nice.

Back later!

Dorm -  You're in good company.  Michael Phelps swims with a giddy-up in his stroke too. 

Gary -  Hope you had a great vacation.  I went to Sun Valley this past weekend for a girls' weekend and it was awesome.  Lots of hiking and running in the mountains but the altitude was rough.  Overall, a wonderful weekend away.

In Gulf Shores we used to stay at the Phoenix V or X.  We like the X a little better but it really depends on the luck of draw what room you get.  It is on the Alabama/Florida border so it's a bit away from the traffic.  In Navarre we stay on the island and it's even less busy.

Hey all!

How is everyone doing?  Will have to check the list to see who is racing in August.  I have an Oly in a couple of weeks, first full Oly and will not be wetsuit legal.  Should be interesting.  Hot as blazes here, love the pic (I think on this site) of a sign saying "Satan called, he wants his weather back".  Definitely looking forward to cooler weather (especially with hurricane season ramping up).

Okay, here is Gary's question:  Would you consider an evening/night Triathlon (assuming the course was completely closed to traffic?  May be issue each racer a light stick to carry on all three events.

Would absolutely do a night tri. The heat is just too brutal. I haven't had hardly any motivation for the last couple of weeks because of it. Thank goodness my dd did her second tri this past weekend so I had to keep the training going somewhat, in order for her to train. A night tri is an awesome idea in my book.

Shelly

Santa Rosa Triathlon- October 1- sprint

Soo excited! Finally scheduled my second tri. Dh and I will do it together and it will be his first so I can't wait. Petrified of the swim though- it's 200m farther than my first and it's in the ocean so have saltwater to contend with. I just keep swimming and praying-lol.

Too make it an even better weekend, dd is going to do the Sea Turtle kids triathlon the next day. She is excited as well. She just finished her 2nd tri and did very very well. She smoked it on the bike for her second tri. She was 14th out of 105 7-10 year olds, boys and girls. Only three other girls were faster than she was and they were all 10. (She is almost 9). So she's been on cloud nine.

Shelly

Santa Rosa Triathlon- October 1- sprint

I freeze a bottle of water and carry it.  Holding the frozen bottle seems to help a little.  Then about 30 minutes in I have a nice bottle of ice water to sip on.  About 45 minutes in it's still cold.  An hour in and I'll stop at a gas station and get another bottle but I rarely go more than an hour in the heat.  In fact a half hour kicked my butt this morning in 110F heat index.

I'm in for a night tri! Just like jpfeife, I am a morning person. Up by 9: and coffee on the front porch is a perfect morning. Wish all tri's were at 6: or 7: PM.

Been extremely hot here in MI too. Been hanging out in AC on the elliptical a little and convincing myself that yard work is better than nothing. Have a great weekend all.

Hey all!

interesting on the night tri results as my main concern for a night tri would be the swim safety.  Too easy for a wetsuit clad swimmer to disappear.  On the other hand I haven't been in a tri where a racer has had to have rescue swimmers out to get them (most have been swimmer goes to kayak and ends their race).

Ran little over 5 miles the other night, 90's and humid.  Got back just drenched from head to toe.  So looking forward to winter but good training for my next race.  Orded a speedsuit from the guy selling them on the classifieds.  Good price and am really interested in seeing if it helps.

Hey all!

received my speedsuit in the mail and tried it out on Sunday.  Very small pool that I had not put chlorine in for awhile.  Initial reactions.  Easy to get off and would add just a tad bit of warmth but really not much.  Didn't add bouyancy (wasn't supposed to) but did make me feel like I was gliding thru the water easier.  Once again, very short pool and the real test will be Sundays Oly.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Good Luck Sunday Gary. I haven't forgotten about the beer I owe you, I'm still trying to get my riding decent enough to keep up with you- lol. I did do an RPM class for the first time and thought I might die riding that hard. I'm guessing it can only help my speed though. I hope so anyway. It was a pretty intense workout.

Anyway, can't wait to read the rr from Sunday and see how the speedsuit worked.

Shelly

Santa Rosa Triathlon- October 1- Sprint

Next race for me is not quite 2 weeks away ... 8/21.  I've been training mostly on biking and swimming as the knee is still a bit sore.  I'm working on the flip turn in the pool and must not be doing it right as it seems way to hard.  There have to be 'you-tube' videos are out there on this, so I'll check these out. BTW - I've found you-tube to be a great source for training videos.

Monday a week ago, I ran-walked for ~45 minutes and the knee soreness was there in the morning.  So, last night I did a 25 min jog-walk around the neighborhood and not too bad.  I put one of those 'knee bands' just below the knee and it felt good there, seemed to help support the sore area and not much soreness at all this morning.  I've read a ton of posts here about running and there are a lot of good posts on benefits of running slow and easy and focusing more on training time rather than speed and distance.  I've never been a fan of running, but last night was not bad.

So, that's going to be my mantra for running ... slow and easy and increase the time - over time. 

Oh ... Gary - any thoughts or comments on the checklist?

Dorm,

I've also read a lot that running uphill is easier on knees since your foot doesn't fall as far. However the obvious downside is...you are running uphill.

On another note, does anyone have trouble with their hands slipping on the bike once they get wet/sweaty?  The last couple rides I've been having to put a death grip on my handlebars so my hands won't slide around. My last ride I wore gloves which helped a lot but I'm not wearing those during a race. Is it time for new handlebar tape? If so, anyone have suggestions?