Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 37)

Tony, don't worry about names, wife calls me a LOT worse...lol

Jonathon, take time to enjoy the wedding experience...  I know, I know...

Jeff, swimming zen...lol  I thought it was supposed to be a struggle, fight, gasping for air, cramping and that is just going 5 ft.

Dirk, great swim...

Mambos, congrats, now get out there and train!!!  lol

Just got back from 55 minute hard bike ride w/ hills and 30 minute run.

I'm really struggling w/ the carbs everyone says eat.  I just can't do it...  I can not stand fat on my abs.  i will eat carbs prior to a race but during training, I just tell myself, self eat that fat for energy, that is all U R gonna get!

Everyone ahve a great day.

You've had great advice already but I thought I would throw this in the mix - I wonder if you just planned your workout schedule to give yourself the best opportunity for a good swim to help boost your confidence. Maybe take a rest day the day before your next swim or skip the strength training one day, make sure you get enough rest - just to see if any of those things have an impact.

The thing is you are trying to improve at 3 different sports and increase volume all at the same time. This is a very difficult task! Give yourself a break every now and then!

Last spring I was training for a HIM. The swim workouts from my plan were not anything special for me, not hard, the distance was short to me (remember I've been swimming for fitness for 10 years or so) BUT the additional run volume, and double workouts everyday really played a role in my overall swim performance. My body was tired when I hit the pool and the quality of my workouts suffered.  Others in my mentor group at that time, and these were some really experienced triathletes, reported the same feeling.

Dina thanks for the advice and I am glad you said this because I don't feel like it's just me then. Being tired and lacking energy has really affected my swimming. I am going to try and make it a point to be better rested for the swim sessions and I have rearranged the strength training schedule again to cut that down to a minimum for now. I think you are right I am still trying to adjust both physically and mentally to trying to do 3 different sports and I am still learning two of them right now. I really appreciate the advice you guys have offered up and I will try to approach the swim a little differently than I have been and I am hoping that will make a difference for me.

Cagolddigger - 2012-04-30 9:23 PM

Wow....that is super impressive!  I am not sure I would have gone with them (okay, that was a lie, I definitely would have), but 72 miles at 20.6 mph is awesome.  I wish I had a solid group of guys willing to do that after work!

Seriously: 72 miles at 20mph? Nice ride, I have years before I can pull off those numbers.......................... Someday I will figure out the proper nutrition to succeed at this sport....until then I am going to enjoy a double quarter pounder from McD's! It's only 733 calories so it can't be that bad.......right?

You are lucky to have a group like this.. Iam sure I don't have to tell you.

My time came out to be around 3:30:01. If I did this on my own I would probably only be around 4:00:00. Not counting stops.lol I felt like telling them to go stuff it, but they are a great group of guys and they really push you hard. When you start to drop back (which happens quite often) one of them falls back and gives encouragement and lets me know that if I don't keep up they will stop riding with me. I know they wouldn't, but their intensity and love of riding is sooo contagious.

One of them sat down with me after the ride and we talked. He said how proud the group was of me and that they wanted me to join the local bike club. They want me to stop the Tri training and focus on riding and join them in some races. I told them I have a dream (or goal) of competing in an Ironman and maybe some day Kona. They understood, but said there is no reason I couldn't do both.

I'm really conflicted. I love being out on the bike and feeling the wind, getting the rush from the speed, and the comraderie of the group. Where Tri is such an individual sport and sooo much more exspensive (which I'm having problems with). On top of it all, this last week my boss came to me with a job offer. They need a chef to take over a failing kitchen. Which means more hours and less time to train. It does mean more $$$$. I haven't made any decisions, but my beautiful and understanding wife told me to do what makes me happy. This is really hard.

Stan those are pretty impressive numbers. It's pretty clear you enjoy riding with these guys and that they are helping to make you better regardless of whether you join their club or not I would take advantage of every opportunity I got to ride with these guys. On the job front I agree with Dirk, I think you have to do what you think is best for you but make sure you factor your happiness into that equation. I had an opportunity last year to take a job and the pay was awesome but I could not bring myself to go back to commuting to NYC. It's like 5 hour round trip for me. I was so close to taking it and  really it was a done deal but I just could not give up the fact that I was working from home and that I was pretty happy with that. I would not have been able to train the way I am able to now had I taken it. I wound up changing my mind and not doing it at like the 11th hour. It was tough to turn down the money but in hindsight that was the right decision for me.

Haha, sub 1:50 HM and you're still eating double quarter pounders!!!  Baby steps, go with just the quarter pounder next time.  And you're gonna kill that 70.3.  Good luck, and we'll compare notes again since my 70.3 is the same day.  Virtual race?

Will this be your first HIM? Good for you for setting the big goals!

Stan - That's an incredible ride.  70+ miles at 20.6 is ridiculous.

Now for the other issues.  In terms of biking, follow your heart.  This is all a hobby, meant to improve our quality of life.  Do whatever will give you the most improvement.  Reading your posts, you obviously have a real passion for biking, and obviously an incredible group to experience it with.  If the bike is where you really get rejuvenated, don't hesitate and follow up on it.  We'll still talk to you!

For the job, my philosophy is that you spend too much time at work to have a "job".  Like someone wise has said, do what you love and never work a day in your life.  If you're fortunate enough to be able to choose your place and type of employment, and I understand many, many of use are not, do something you love and don't dread every day.  I tell my boys (and anyone who will listen) this all the time.

Last year when my company was bought at a fire sale, the buying company wanted to retain me.  The final offer was seriously life changing financially, but the position involved plenty of travel and doing something I don't have a particular passion for, nor did I really believe in the company or their direction.  It was a true test of whether I would follow all the rhetoric I'd been preaching for so long.  In the end, I decided to not take the offer and have settled for a much more laid back spot with a group of people I love, doing new and interesting things.  Money is way, way, way less, as is responsibility and resume fodder, but I've really enjoyed this past year and have no regrets at all.

No worries - this group is crazy busy, and we kept almost everyone who signed on, which is unusual.  We all keep up as best we can and even if someone doesn't get a comment on every post please understand we're enjoying everything going on here.

It's going to be a crazy busy day for me.  I have two workouts planned.  I was going to do them as a brick but I don't have enough time for childcare.  If I can do them at different times, I'll get them done.

If I am only able to get one of the workouts done, which one should I prioritize: run 30 minutes on a treadmill or bike 45 minutes on a trainer/Spin bike.

I'd do a nice run on the treadmill given you are racing a HM this weekend.

just a quick dryland drill for you.  Do this now as you read this.  Touch your left hip with your left thumb.  Slide that thumb up your side to the outside of your left pec/front of left delt.  Next, continue that movement straight up in the air toward the ceiling. 

That's the exact movement you should do during your freestyle recovery.  There was probably no discomfort in the shoulder because you never actually needed to put the elbow behind you.  Try to recreate that movement when swimming.  The arm will be out of the water when doing this by virtue of body roll. 

We have 2 drills we do for this when swimming.  One we call the arm-pit drill.  During the freestyle stroke we touch our thumb to our armpit momentarily during each recovery.

The other is the 'finger-tip drag' drill where we drag our fingertips in the water during recovery.  Both of them seem to force our elbows high and our bodies to rotate.

 Your fitness is so solid I don't think it would matter that much if you missed a workout What about cutting a little bit of time off of both to make it fit the time you have available? Or look at what is the most important to you right now - you have a HM coming up and your cycling is a strength right? So maybe keep the run?

Just tossing out ideas.

Our day looks like it will be really mellow. We usually go to the Y for my daughters swim lessons and I swim then teach Toddler Gym. Toddler Gym is on summer schedule now though so I only have class on Thursdays and it is storming here with thunder and lightening. The Y makes us get out of the pool for that kind of weather so we're just going to stay home. I don't really want to drive 40 min in the storms for them to tell me the pool is closed.

So now I am burning 40 copies of our favorite preschool songs to give to my students at the end of the year. Lots of time on the computer today!

If the weather clears up  I might try an ows in my friends pond later or the old stand by - a trainer ride.

My general philosophy is to give running the higher priority.  There's a whole lot of explanation behind that so I won't go into it now.

Jeff thanks again for the help and advice. I see exactly what you mean by doing this. I will work on this as well and will look to incorporate those drills that you mentioned which can help me with improving my rotation and stroke.

Cagolddigger - 2012-04-30 8:23 PM

Wow....that is super impressive!  I am not sure I would have gone with them (okay, that was a lie, I definitely would have), but 72 miles at 20.6 mph is awesome.  I wish I had a solid group of guys willing to do that after work!

Seriously: 72 miles at 20mph? Nice ride, I have years before I can pull off those numbers.......................... Someday I will figure out the proper nutrition to succeed at this sport....until then I am going to enjoy a double quarter pounder from McD's! It's only 733 calories so it can't be that bad.......right?

You are lucky to have a group like this.. Iam sure I don't have to tell you.

My time came out to be around 3:30:01. If I did this on my own I would probably only be around 4:00:00. Not counting stops.lol I felt like telling them to go stuff it, but they are a great group of guys and they really push you hard. When you start to drop back (which happens quite often) one of them falls back and gives encouragement and lets me know that if I don't keep up they will stop riding with me. I know they wouldn't, but their intensity and love of riding is sooo contagious.

One of them sat down with me after the ride and we talked. He said how proud the group was of me and that they wanted me to join the local bike club. They want me to stop the Tri training and focus on riding and join them in some races. I told them I have a dream (or goal) of competing in an Ironman and maybe some day Kona. They understood, but said there is no reason I couldn't do both.

I'm really conflicted. I love being out on the bike and feeling the wind, getting the rush from the speed, and the comraderie of the group. Where Tri is such an individual sport and sooo much more exspensive (which I'm having problems with). On top of it all, this last week my boss came to me with a job offer. They need a chef to take over a failing kitchen. Which means more hours and less time to train. It does mean more $$$$. I haven't made any decisions, but my beautiful and understanding wife told me to do what makes me happy. This is really hard.

Well, you can do both.  Just ride, ride, ride with running and some swimming stuffed in the margin and you can be fine.  In the months prior to your ironman you will want to really start ramping up the long runs...we can talk specifics later some-day if/when you have an ironman looming on your horizon.

But you can still ride with these guys and do the cycling as a competitive sport and still be a triathlete.  heck, one of the nation's top ranked Xterra pros is also a pro mtn biker and was last year's TN state champion.

I don't know how many days per week you would be riding with these guys if you were all in with the cycling, but I doubt it would be 5 days.  That leaves plenty of time for running.  In fact, in my cycling club the triathletes are among the strongest riders because adults with jobs and family are only fitting in around 3 rides per week for perhaps 150 miles.

The triathletes are doing that plus 40 miles of running and 5+ miles of swimming.  So our cycling legs are just as good and our aerobic fitness twice as good.

Jeff, I'm totally confused about the swim now.  I've been trying to learn to swim and I've been rotating my body but my instructor said to "push the water" past my butt, and I'm keeping my arm straight coming out of the water, thus rotating my shoulder.  Please help.  She did mention being a zipper like U said but I end up pushing to the front causing me to go backwards. 

Swimming is so hard!!!

just a quick dryland drill for you.  Do this now as you read this.  Touch your left hip with your left thumb.  Slide that thumb up your side to the outside of your left pec/front of left delt.  Next, continue that movement straight up in the air toward the ceiling. 

That's the exact movement you should do during your freestyle recovery.  There was probably no discomfort in the shoulder because you never actually needed to put the elbow behind you.  Try to recreate that movement when swimming.  The arm will be out of the water when doing this by virtue of body roll. 

We have 2 drills we do for this when swimming.  One we call the arm-pit drill.  During the freestyle stroke we touch our thumb to our armpit momentarily during each recovery.

The other is the 'finger-tip drag' drill where we drag our fingertips in the water during recovery.  Both of them seem to force our elbows high and our bodies to rotate.

Stan, those are good problems to have.  Job offer, racing team offer.  Do what fuels your soul, and you won't regret your decision. 

Matt, I have the same problem.  If I'm not registered and paid for a race, I find it hard to stay motivated.  My first tri is this month, and I registered on January 2nd, the day they opened registration.

OK, you can kind of see it here.  http://www.ehow.com/video_7380320_swim-freestyle-stroke.html

Just know that this swimmer is putting everything together in fluid motion so it doesn't look exactly the way I described.  But you can see the body roll with the pull, the recovery of the hand very close to the side and you can see the straightened arm come out of the water via body roll at the split second the transition occurs from pull to recovery.

No worries.  You can eat low carbs, even low calorie and your body will adapt.  You are carbing up prior to a race, which is good.  Otherwise you will be forcing your body to metabolize fat in leiu of carbs and that's a fine approach.  You may feel flat, but I think that feeling goes away with adaptation.

In fact, it's not necessary for good long course performance, but I think it can be a very beneficial strategy for someone to 'train' their metabolism.  It can guarantee you don't bonk during a race and prepare you for better performance when calories aren't immediately available in a race or long workout.

I'm hoping to advise or 'coach' someone I know who will be doing a week long ultra event that is unsupported.  Meaning the competitors pack all of their own supplies, including all of the calories for the entire event from the outset.

It's virtually necessary to go in to a calorie deficit not just during each day, but more and more all week long.  Imagine 10,000 calories for 6 days and 160 miles by foot.  For triathlon it can be argued that metabolic conditioning isn't necessary but for an event like this it is.    Kinda cool.

Thank you to everyone for your support and insights.

 And today is a no training day. My legs are toast! Feels like someone stole some of my muscles while I was asleep.

I'd be worshiping the ground you walk on if you weren't tired after that ride!  Such and awesome job!

I love it Stan..............."someone stole some of my muscles."  It's been a while since I have felt that way myself but I can definitely say I know what you're talking about.  I think I have reached a pretty decent volume for my training right now.  I am slowly building my volume in bike and run to what I hope will be 14-160 MPW riding and 35 MPW running.  Once the bike starts getting higher I'll probably start feeling that old familiar pain.

I am planning to get my base rides up to 30 miles very soon.  The new bike is allowing the additional time to let me grab those few extra miles per ride.  I will be adding different intervals to make sure I don't stop making cycling gains.