Madcow's Group- FULL! (Page 4)

Good morning everyone! Sorry I have been missing lately, my daughter had a soccer tourney this weekend. This is the busy time of year here for soccer, so every weekend will be full for me

I'm glad you all enjoyed the challenge. I was able to finish as well.

Since I think we all have access to a bike, I think this week's challenge will be a bike challenge.

I think we will do it, the same as the run challenge in that we will try for 3 bike rides this week. Any time or distance is fine, but I would like for you to try a few things during the rides.

1. One leg drills
On at least one ride you should do 6 x :30 second One leg drills (3 per leg). Unclip one foot if your are using clipless pedals or take one foot off of the pedals on a stationary bike.  You don't have to do them straight through. You can take a break between each set of drills. The resistence should be pretty easy for these as your legs will get tired and you don't want to hurt yourself straining. 
The focus of one leg drills is to make sure you don't have any dead spots on your cycling stroke.
When you pedal, you should lift with your toe and drive with your heel. Imagine trying to lift a paint can with your foot. Your stroke should be consistant all the way around. You will hear/feel it when it's not.

2. Cadence of 90
On at least one more of these rides, try to keep your cadence (revolutions) to 90 or higher. If you can do the whole ride this way, great. If not, try to for as long as you can. Again, you may need to adjust your resistence or gearing.
The purpose of this is because when you go from riding to running, you always have deadleg. The more you mash your pedals, the worse it gets. I have heard (can't prove) that most people's running cadence is around 90/ minute, so matching your bike cadence with your run cadence helps making the transition from bike to run easier.
If you don't have a bike computer with cadence, then you should do it the old fashion way...counting revolutions per minute. After a while, you will know when you are faster or slower by feel.

Here is an article on cadence you might find interesting.

Good luck, if you have any questions, let me know.

Melanie, that's awesome. Keep it up. Swimming is all about form and stress. If you can relax in the water, then you have half of the battle won. The more you swim, then easier it gets, believe me.

Hey Shawn, I have Speedplays, they are the only pedals I have used.

Before you go out and buy new pedals, make sure your cleats are positioned correctly on your shoes. When I have knee issues, it's usually because my cleats have shifted on my shoes and I had my feet sitting in different spots on the pedals. If you are not sure about the placement, take them back to a bike shop and ask them to double check them. They shouldn't charge you for checking them.
If you go with Speedplays, I wouldn't go with the most expensive first. Most of the time, the difference in these items is weight and I doubt you will notice the difference in the different models. Now, some of the pedals, do have better bearings and casings, so they last longer, but weight isn't that important.

Hey everybody. I am sorry I have been MIA lately. I have been trying to work at work and my daughter's soccer is taking most of my free time.

Keep up the great work and please keep posting as I do have a few minutes here and there to keep track of you. If you have any questions, ask, I will make time to answer them. I will check back tonight after work.

Next week, I will have more time to goof off at work so I can go back to lurking all day

Have a great day

Tom

Sorry I have been MIA since the holidays, I travel for work most weeks and its been a challenge to work, train and travel without doing the blogging.  The good news is I've been able to keep to my schedule.  I wish I had been reading since I like the idea of the bike challenge but I'm a "day late and a dollar short".  They put in two new Expresso.net training cycles at the Y and I used one for the first time tonight for my long bike.  Whoa - just like real hills.  Thanks for the breathing advice Madcow - I'm doing much better!

 Kevin

Hi All,

I failed the Bike challenge for last week. I only biked one time.  I have decided to join the YMCA since it is the only gym here with a pool, but I am not joining 'til Feb so biking will be hard.  I will try to go as a guest with my friend when I can.  I am also trying to work on my running a little more since I will be doing my first 5k in March.  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Again, I am sorry I haven't been around much.

 Kip, when I get a chance, I will go over my swim stroke. It is definitely not perfect, but works for me. Basically I don't breathe on my left... at all. I only breathe out of my right side every other stroke. In theory I sould be lopsided, but so far I am pretty consistant.

I hope everyone is having a great week. I will check in tomorrow night or Friday morning, so don't give up and keep on training!

Hey Boys and girls. I feel like I have abandoned you, but I am here, now. I have been looking in on your logs and you all are doing great. Way better than I am now, anyway.

One thing that I have noticed is some of you are having problems with your swim. I hesitate to give you any swim tips because I haven't taken any real swim lessons. I have perfected my stroke through experimentation and from tips others have given me. With that said, I will tell you my secret, but remember, what works for me may not and probably won't work for you, but it is something to think about when you are in the water.

 First, if your pool has a Masters swim program I highly suggest that you enroll in it. Most people think that Master's is for really good swimmers, but it is really just a swim team for old people. Even though most of the swimmers are old competitive swimmers and they do all of the strokes, if you explain to the instructor that you are new and are a triathlete, generally they will let you do only the crawl stroke, but suggest that you at least try the others as well. Most instructors will help you with any problems you have with your stroke.

Second, swimming is all about form. Nothing more, nothing less. Learning good form will help you more than anything else. You can teach yourself how to swim (like I have) and even how to be fast, but without proper form you will only be limiting yourself and what you can do.

There are several swim videos and programs out there like Total Immersion that will help you with drills, so if you can't get into a Masters program, I suggest that as well.

 *Disclaimer. This is how I do it. I have no idea if I am doing it correctly or not. If someone else has given you help. please, please, please listen to them first*

Now on to the swim stroke.  The first thing is the entry of your hand. I try to reach out as far as possible with my hand. I don't slap the water but try to slice into it as smoothly as possible.
Next is the pull. The best way to describe it is to make an "S" with your hand. Scooping as much water as possible. Now as I scoop the water I force it behind me as I touch my stomach with my thumb. The whole point is to move as much water behind you. You move your hands straight down your body like you are climbing a rope, all while cupping your hand and pushing water. (This probably doesn't make any sense to anybody but me, but I will continue in case it does).
After I have moved my hand down the center of my body with my thumb brushing my stomach I make sure that I finish the stroke by touching my thigh with my thumb as I point my fingers towards my feet.
Once my hand finishes the stroke, I bring my elbow up first and move it towards my ear. I now have my thumbnail brushing against my side. Basically from my knee to my armpit.
Once I get my arm up as far as possible, I pull my hand out of the water and then stretch as far as I can again.
Also, once one hand finishes the stroke, the other hand should be entering the water.
And you should have a slight twist in your body as you move through the water. I like to think of it as corkscrewing myself down the lane.

The next part of it is the kick. Some people have a great kick and just motor effortlessly around while kicking. I, on the other hand don't go anywhere while kicking so I don't. I barely move my legs. I pretty much only kick to help with the corkscrewing. I am all about the pull with my arms and I figure I will save my legs for the bike and run. The other thing (at least for me) is that I get really tired from kicking, so I have to make a conscious effort to keep my lower body up as close to the top of the water as possible. Nothing will slow you down more than two big anchors dragging behind you.

The next part is breathing. This is where most of us have the real problems. I know there have been some debate about the effectiveness and the risk/reward of hypoxia sets (holding your breath) , and I have no idea if it will help with your endurance, but I do know it helped with my relaxation.
Once I realized how much I can do with little oxygen, swimming with full lungs was a breeze. I was also able to figure out how hard to swim vs. how fast to swim.
I would suggest that you start by swimming a 50, breathing every other stroke (every 2) either on the right or the left (whichever is most comfortable).
Then swim a 25 breathing every 3rd stroke. This is how most coaches will teach you to swim.
It is important that you take as much time as needed between each 25.
Then swim 25 breathing every 4th. If you can make it to the end doing this successfully, then swim another 25 breathing every 5th. Keep trying this until you can make it all the way breathing every 5. Once you do that try it every 7, then 9. You might not get this the first time you try it, but keep working on it.
What I found is that by the time I got to breathing every 9 strokes, I had found the balance between going too fast or too hard (which was making me work hard and losing my breath) and going too easy or too slow (which was taking too long). That balance is where my "Happy Place" is. I can swim that effort all day. And once you find that, you will too.

I know I have given you all so much info and you won't get it all in one workout, but if there is anything that you get from this, I hope it is that you can find an pace and effort that you can swim all day with.

When we all have access to a pool, then I will try to give you swim workouts that have worked for me.

Have a great night everybody!!!

It's been very quiet here.

I have to apologize for that.

So, how about another challenge?
Since I am still not sure if everyone has pool access, why don't we do another bike challenge?

The challenge is to ride 3 times this week.
One ride longer than the others
One leg drills in each of the three rides
One ride including 3 x 1 minute of standing (low gear and stand, not sit, like you would if you were climbing)
One ride including 1 minute of spinning as fast as you can, while staying in control (No bouncing)

Also, if there is anything you guys want to do as a challenge, let me know.

I was waiting until we all had access to a pool and can ride and run outside before we do even more challenges. So let know when you can do all three

Thanks

Tom