HILDEBEAST'S Magnificently Motivational Mentor Group - CLOSED!!!! (Page 36)

Way to go, Andrea! I'm so jealous of your speed; you're a "real" swimmer in my book!

While I'm here, can I nominate myself for the Dork of the Day? After I finished a nearly 4 hour brick today, I looked down and saw this:

No, that's not a tumor; that's a wadded-up sock that I carried literally to the next county and back, through a convenience store potty stop, and a 2 mile run before I noticed it. And I was feeling like such a stud...

Ok - how did you even get a wadded up sock that far up?

Oh well lesson learned right - check your clothes before putting them on next time.

Andrea, your swim meet was incredible!  I am in complete awe of your talent in the pool.  I cannot even fathom going at those speeds.  Sounds like you are as REAL a swimmer as one can get.  And a real cyclist and runner at that!  Will you be doing more swim meets in the future?  It must have been a little nostalgic after having come from a swimming background in your past.

Tammie, that is too funny!  Better a wadded up sock than wadded up underoos

That is one WHOPPER of a varicose vein if I've ever seen one!!  Either that or you stuffed some marshmallows up there, ha ha!!!!!  ha ha!!!! ha ha!!!!!

Andrea, you ARE a real swimmer!!!  With those times you are sure to be FOP!  Let me remind everyone that we are training to be TRIATHLETES!!  Not JUST a swimmer, or JUST a biker, or JUST a runner... Our sport is TRIATHLON!!  And it entails the combination of all 3 sports!!

Hi all, thought I'd do a quick drive by to see how you all are doing and nothing surprising, you are all rockin' it! ...or in Tammy's case, sockin' it :P Seriously though, nice job ladies!!! 

I am slowly adjusting to my new job, and a 45-hour work week. It has been an crazy past few months with an intense job interview process, quitting my old job (which was emotionally draining, and surprisingly very much like breaking off a long-term relationship) and digging in at the new place. 

Started officially training again last week - decided if I didn't get my a$$ in gear soon, my hope of an OLY this year would disappear - I have much endurance to build. 

I hope to be much less of a stranger soon, and am going to try to take a spin through everyone's training logs at some point this week to see how much you've all accomplished. You are all a great inspiration! 

Best,
Michelle 

Well, by Michelle and Janet's true admissions, it appears that getting a new job gets in the way of training!!  (Oh and Shawn too, although he's had HIS new job about a year now...)   BUT it also looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel, Michelle is back at it, our fingers are crossed for Janet to come out from the dark side... and Shawn?  Yeah, we are hoping for him too, since he now has THE most important job of new Daddy!    Drive by posts are always welcome over here, good to know we haven't been forgotten because I know I don't forget y'all!

Hey everyone!  Guess it's my turn for a drive-by post. 

Andrea - great job on the swim meet!

Michelle - good luck with the new job and with getting back to training!

I've been trying to hang in there - have good days and bad days, like everyone.  I'm hoping that with the time change now and the nicer weather we're having, the workouts will come a little easier (as in I won't have to force myself to do them).  Had a good run on Sunday and a decent trainer workout last night.  So here's a trainer question that I'm hoping someone can answer for me.  I was doing intervals last night - 45sec @ 100-105rpms with 1min recoveries - and during the last couple of intervals it felt like something was pulling on my back tire, almost like I was squeezing the brakes.  But my hands weren't anywhere near the brakes.  I checked the tire afterwards and it seemed OK, not flat or anything and the brake pads weren't touching so I'm not sure what was going on.  Anyone ever had this happen before?  I'm not sure if it was something with the trainer itself (it's a Nashbar fluid trainer) or something I was doing.  Just wondering if it's something I need to have checked out.

Janet2

The new course is also getting in the way of training. But once I find a rythym I should ge good to go.

Plan tonight is go swimming and walk/running - If I leave the swim til after dinner I should be able to do my yoga/pilates class too.

Well, Day 1 of the Build phase of IM training is done, and so far so good! Added some intervals to the run and did a longer swim. Still chasing off the last of the bronchitis (I'm told the cough can last for a while, yippee), so that might account for the higher HRs in my logs today...will keep track of them, but am glad to be intact after a busy day. Also happy to be starting this while on March Break-- good to be able to concentrate on only two things at once (training and rehearsals) instead of three once work kicks in again!

Good luck to everyone with new jobs, and WAY TO ROCK THE TRAINING, MMMers!!

Alex

Hope the Build phase of IM training goes well.

Ok so I didn't get my swim in again - so my question is - if I can only get there 2 days per week should I concentrate on distance, form or both? If I do the plan I'm looking at the days are as follows - day 1 - form, day 2 - endurance, day 3 - endurance and form.

I should be able to get there 3 days a week next week if I go on one of my non school days, then Friday then the weekend. I'm thinking I may do swim/bike rather than chopping and changing the routine too. I'll see what happens though.

So there is this hill...that I have yet to regularly conquer on my bike commute home.  I get off the bike and walk it.  Every single day.  

This summer I am thinking of trying to get up it.  I have not tried it since I had a very hard fall trying while learning to be clipped in.

That was 1.5 years ago.  I am pretty scared to try.  Prior to the fall, I'd only been able to conquer it about 6 times.  Conditions had to be perfect --- good momentum, not much commuting baggage, not too hot/cold, etc.  It is short (.13 miles) and the incline increases just a tad about halfway up (this is where I have troubles).  Overall incline is about 10%. 

I'm much stronger now.  I think I can do it but don't want to stall and fall over clipped in again.

Thoughts?

I say go for it!  As you said, you're stronger now, and you're more comfortable being clipped in (and I assume knowing how to clip out quickly when needed). There's this hill near where I work and several of the running races that I do each year use the same route and we always have to run up this hill (just once I'd like to be able to run down it instead of up, lol!).  I've made it up the hill exactly once without having to walk.  I know running up a hill and riding up one are different - not nearly as painful to stop and walk on a hill as it is to fall on the bike - but I think the mentality is the same.  I've convinced myself that I can't run the whole thing so I always end up walking.  I need to change my mindset to "I know I can" instead of "I don't think I can".  I understand being nervous about it, but you won't know unless you try, right?  Good luck!

Janet2

I am really lucky.  My work has a dedicated bike locker and shower area.  I am able to keep things at work in a dedicated locker.  Since I don't wear makeup all I store there is shampoo, soap, deodorant, face moisturizer.  I wear my hair very short --- so I 'wash and wear'.  The locker also holds most of my work shoes so I'm not carting them back and forth to work every day.  I bought some little shelves so the shoes are not in a total jumble.  I have friends who keep their shoes in their office/cubicle.  I keep a towel there too.  All the bikes are in a locked area that only folks who commute by bike have access to.

So each night I pack two panniers (made out of sunflower seed buckets).  One contains my work clothes and the other my lunch and workout clothes if a lunchtime workout is planned.  I also lay out my commuting clothes.  

With respect to locking a bike outside, get one of those heavy duty U-locks.  Maybe sure to lock the bike frame and the front tire.  I understand they deter most thieves.  I'm not sure what kind of bike you have but you might consider finding an inexpensive used one so that if it gets stolen it is not a big deal.  Some credit cards cover theft so might want to check this if you are riding a more expensive bike bought with a credit card.

I would try your commute route one Saturday/Sunday/day off to see what it is like so the first day is not too stressful.

Good luck!  Give it a try.  I dread driving to work now.

Thanks Hilde - If I can sort out the plan I should be able to get in at least 3. I wouldn't mind more but Wednesday/thursday are long days and by the time I get home/have dinner I don't end up with much time left and I'd like to so swim, bike, stringth in one session - well the swim/strength - and then ride to/from or separate from it. 

 Janet - I was thinking the same thing as Melanie. Is there a way you can ride unclipped? (sorry I'm not familiar with clip pedals) - maybe yo could try that too.

I've had a few questions about my bike commuting.  Here are some pics.

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Thanks for the tips!  I've actually ridden the route several times on the weekends so I know it's possible to do and about how much time it would take me.  But those rides have always been on Sunday mornings when there's very little traffic to worry about - too many cars around scares me a little, especially in the mornings when people are in a hurry or aren't really awake yet.  There are sidewalks the whole way that I could hop onto if needed, but I really don't like doing that.  As for locking it up, I have a pretty strong cable lock and DPS patrols the campus pretty often, but it still worries me about leaving the bike out all day.  I could ride my hybrid bike instead (it's old and cheap, but also doesn't work too well).  I may go over to Campus Services and see if they'll let me keep the bike in the warehouse during the day, it would be away from all the students and visitors on campus that way.  This is something I'd really like to do - just need to get up the nerve to try it one day.

Janet - for your bike worries I'd prescribe a lock and maybe putting it in a place that doesn't get much general traffic. The lock stops people from being able to get it easily - and they're generally fairly inexpensive while taking it away from general traffic decreases the amount of people who you have to worry about.