kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2012 - CLOSED (Page 37)

Yeah I have been downhilling for the last 3 weeks now that there's real snow its time to break out the x-country's.

Swim Drills (most of these are TI drills).  Some people do not like TI because it tends to create a "forward" swim stroke.  My take on this is that TI corrects a lot of issues and once you corrected the basic form issues you can work on increasing turnover.  I know Jen has done an actual TI clinic so I'd be curious as to what she thinks:

Sweet Spot - this helps work on body position in the water

Skate - works on staying long and balanced while breathing

Switch Drills - This helps getting steep and deep quickly after the hand enters the water.

Virtual Swimmer - This is a really good resource to see what the stroke should look like

Also I do a decent amount of specific paddle work.  These paddles are great for getting you steep and deep quickly.  You swim "slow" when they use but they're a big help.  

Here's a fantastic blog post by Mary Eggers (who is a great swimmer) about common swim mistakes.

Well I got my first video critic of my stroke and he was pretty kind. Good mechanics, but need more power on my pull and to lengthen my stroke. It was a good visual for me to see what I need to work on. Trying to learn the two kick instead of the four beat kick. Boy I feel so akward and my feet want to flutter.

Bad news is that I will be taking a break from the class as my husband and I are heading over to Kona, HI for a week and a half. I will try my hand at a bit of open ocean swimming and look forward to some runs in the warmth. We leave Wednesday

G'day again everyone. Hope you all had a good weekend. 

Sorry to hear all the comments about snow, and below zero temperatures you guys are having to deal with, I'm glad that Auckland never gets that cold. Summer has finally arrived down here, its starting to get dry and warm for as long as the forecast goes.

My week went pretty well, not as much swimming as I’d have liked, but still pretty good. My highlight would have to be my 70km ride on Saturday morning, that’s the longest training ride I’ve done. (Done 80km 3 times in races tho)

It’s now 6 weeks since I re-started training again after my injury and I’ve been hitting some pretty consistent numbers, not big volume like some of you do, but by my standards, pretty good. The last 6 weeks have been 4, 6, 6, 4, 6, 7 hours. Which isn’t bad considering 8-9 weeks ago I wasn’t able to do anything.  

This week I’m planning to step up my running a bit, the goal is 5 runs, for about 16km, this might change depending on how the calf feels, but I’m hopeful. And also my first 100km+ ride on the weekend. 

A trip to Hawaii doesn't sound like bad news! Have fun

Hi all! Happy Sunday. Got in my first legit "long run" in awhile today, 6 miles. Just trying to build up volume a bit before my marathon training program starts on January 30th.

Hope you are all staying warm! We've had an insanely dry winter this year so far and everyone is complaining since we have no snow up in Tahoe for skiing. Forecast looks like rain later in the week finally so hopefully we'll get some rain here and some snow up in the mountains.

So I've been rethinking my plan to do HITS Cooperstown a lot with all the talk about Palm Springs and Naples.  It sounds like there aren't any major issues for the long course events, other than low numbers, but that's huge for me.  This is my first IM and while I don't really care about being lonely on the actual course, I want to have a great finish line experience.  Not three people there saying "oh hey, you're done."

So total change of plan.  I just registered for B2B.  Can't wait!

I have not done B2B but a training buddy has.  He and his wife have nothing but rave reviews.  I think you'll really enjoy it.  Exciting!

X2 - how can that be bad news?  Have a great trip, take lots of pictures!

B2B is a great race.  Set Up Events is a really solid organization and you should have a fantastic experience.

Have a fantastic time in Hawaii!

More thoughts on swimming -- Way to assess problems in the water from Eggers Blog:

Swim Golf: This has been a popular tool swim coaches have used for years. It gives us insight into how well an athlete is balanced in the water.

• How it’s done: Swim 50 yards, moderate paced. Count how many strokes it takes you to cover that distance, and time it.
• How to score it: Add the time of the 50 in seconds + your stroke count = your golf score.
• Example: if it takes an athlete (who is 5’9&Prime in height 40 seconds to swim a 50 and they take 40 strokes (20 per 25) their golf score is 80.
• What to measure against: an athlete over 5’6″ should aim for a score below 65, and a shorter athlete should aim for under 70.
• What the results mean: The above athlete who is 5’9″ has a score of 80, and for their height we’d like to be under 70. This would tell them they need to work on balance and streamline. I would do this early in the season so we can implement balance / streamline drills early on.

Propulsion: This drill tells us how propulsive the athlete is in the water. Does their forward movement come from their upper or lower body, or is it balanced between both?

• How it’s done: After a good warm up the athlete kicks a 50 for time, rests a minute then swims a 100 without kicking. Time both.
• How I score it: divide the kick time by the 100 no kick time.
• Example: An athlete kicks 50 yards in 50 seconds. Then swims 100 yards (no kick) in 1:30. We divide 90/50 to equal 1.8.
• What to measure against: an athlete with good propulsion from upper and lower body will score between 1.55-1.65.
• What the results mean. Below this range tells us that our athlete has an inefficient kick. Above this range can indicate an athlete with a lower BMI who might lack strength in the upper body.

Got in 50 yesterday on the bike.  I've been messing with my position a bit.  I took photos of my original postion and started tinkering.  Moved the seat up and forward.  Everything seems a bit more natural now.  i really wish I had the tools to slam my front end but I don't.  Anyway my feet were frozen by the end of the ride.  Of course I wake up this morning and it's freaking sixty degrees outside.  Ugh.  Could have used this weather yesterday. 

Plan was for 3k in the pool this morning.  Came up a little short but my swim endurance is getting better.  I really need to push my cadence out of my comfort zone so it's a good thing a ton of intervals are on the docket.  I'm starting to feel that a sub 2:30 Oly for the first race of the year is attainable. 

TI was helpful for me.  It taught me to open myself up more and eliminate crossover.  It also taught me to keep my head down so I'm more streamlined while swimming.  I saw a lot of flaws in my swim, and over time, I've been able to improve because of what I learned at the TI clinic.  My experience was very positive.  I used to get all caught in in strokes per length, but I really don't worry about that anymore. 

Rest day for me.  My husband and kids are off today, so I'm just chillin with the family.  Have a great day, all!

I think she's actually a bit bummed out.  I think that she's the type of competitor who wants to beat the best.  Even when she won in 2010, there were all sorts of comments that while Rinny had a really great race who knows what would have happened if Chrissie raced etc. etc. etc.

If I were Rinny, I would really want to go against Chrissie in Kona and win. 

Congrats on signing up for B2B.  I did it last year and had a good time.  The town is great and the race is run well.  I would be happy to answer any questions for you.

Life and work have been keeping me away from the computer as much as I would like.  Training wise- I am going to take this week and try to recover somewhat.   I am going to cut out a few of my shorter runs.

I hope everyone else is having a good Monday.

Good point

My vacation day was spent finalizing the redesign of the Hartford Track Club website.

Do me a favor and let me know what you think.

Original:  www.hartfordtrackclub.org

Redesign: beta.hartfordtrackclub.org

I helped!  (or rather added the content to Shaun's designs).