Jellyfish's Group - CLOSED (Page 4)

Unfortunately, I haven't been training. I cut my right hand in several places (one down to the bone) with a broken champagne bottle the other day.

Not sure what I'm gonna do about swimming and biking now (the big cut is right where my hand sits on the hoods of my bike)....

Just another challenge I guess...

I did do my fastest mile and 5k yesterday though...

i guess I should plan on running alot in the near future...
 

Throw the bike on a trainer and go into aero! You should have little to no weight on your hands.  That must have been some party on NYE to be breaking bottles!!!! :-)  Hopefully it heals quickly

Congrats on your great 5K!

Razor - if you havce a chance before you leave the keys and driving to MIA, check out Mack Cycle near Coconut Grove.  Awesome store.  They also have a series of races in the area.  They could give you a few routes for your next trip to SoFL.

I find myself still avoiding the pool, perhaps this Sat AM before a family commitment at noon. 
Jelly - any drill suggestions?  Beginner level PLEASE!

Also, this week I decided to add "Run during lunch as much as possible" to my personal goals.  I know it is flawed by not including a number of times but today the temp went up to 55F and I ventured out (everyone else - DON'T LAUGH! OK?, especially you RazorX - LOL)

The temp was perfect for a LT test and I went ahead and did that - check out my log for today (1/7/10).  Turns out my max HR coincides with 220-age (179BPM).  I will use that number for my base period runs during the nect three months.

I signed up for St Anthony's in April - this is an OLY but its a HUUUUGE event.  I need to be ready to swim the distance and also do the mass start.  Throw me some tips - and no, I will not go in a lake and ask all my friends to beat me with their canoe oars...  LOL  Did anyone else see that video?

I'll be at St. Anthony's as well...

 

Don't do it. I know it sounds fun, you'll use it as a training day, etc. The fact is your total weekly mileage in the last 8 weeks is pretty much equal to or less than the total distance.
Respect the 10% rule I learned the hard way (3rd metatarsal stress fracture) and it sounds like you've had a stress fracture too and still having issues - this is a sign!

Let me tell you a story - two winters ago I signed up for a winter running series called "The boston buildup" - over 2 months they have a 10K, 15K, 20K and 25K on hilly terrain. I was working on my running and thought this would be a good way to get in running shape. However, I didn't have the adequate base mileage training and by the time I got to the 15K I had taken a week off running before the event because "my foot felt funny" the pain went away before the race and I went fast (for me) because I was rested. However, my foot continued to feel funny on and off and I ended up not doing the 25K. That was in March. By the end of April I was running pretty fast but the foot was still acting up here and there - nothing major. Finally two weeks before Alcatraz I was on a run and really felt my foot bothering me - I finally went to the docs and he determined I had a stress fracture - it took me out of the tri season till Sept.
Sorry for the babbling...but the lesson here is that don't jeopardize your season on a "fun run" that you are not properly trained for.

Drills are really important - they help everyone improve their stroke! I would say about 10% of my workout is dedicated to drill work (and some of that is non-free). This is less than you should be doing if you are struggling with the swim. I will usually do specific drills if I feel like I'm not rolling enough or don't have a good feel of the water, etc.

Here is a video that describes why drills are important and how you should use them. I will try to post at least two videos a week with examples of drills that we all can work on.

Enjoy!

Drills: I would start out with the floating rotation drill (you can see a video of it in my post above). Hands should be at your sides, head in a neutral position and then begin flutter kicking (kick action should come from your hips, not knees). Slowly rotate your body from one side to the other (Image your a pig on a spit). This drill helps with body balance and body rotation.

Run: I am sooo jealous you can run during work - I've been working crazy hours and only taking 10 min breaks for lunch and eating at my desk.

St. Anthony's: I have never done this race but hear it is awesome! I'll be heading down to Florida the first week in March (Ft. Myers area then doing Florida's Great Escape in Clearwater)

Megan,
Thanks for the advice.  I was just about to go to the website and sign up, but I thought I would check back to see if you had replied yet first.  You've talked me out of it.  : (  You're total right.  You'd think I would have learned this one already, but I definitely need someone to talk some sense into me when I start getting rabid for a race. 

I went to the chiropractor looking for some help to stop this reoccurring pain.  My stress fracture was in Aug. of '08 and it was in the pubic ring of my pelvis.  Weird, huh?  He did a gait analysis and determined that when I run, I am pretty stable when bearing weight on my left leg, but I drop my left hip when I bear weight on my right leg - same side as my ACL replacement (years before I started running), my stress fracture, and the sciatic nerve pain that I've been having.  He assigned the Myrtle Hip Girdle routine to strengthen all of the muscles around there, and he is doing some active release stuff to try to fix the sciatic nerve pain.  Hopefully, this will get everything on track for pain free running and safe mile building.

Other news - I just got my Garmin 310XT in the mail - Christmas present.  So now, I can't wait to get out and run.  Its snowing at the moment, but I am bound and determined to go out there and do something with it, so that I can play with my new toy.  Does anyone else have one of these?  Any advice on what you can get out of it?

OH, and one more question.  I went in for anaerobic threshold testing both on the bike and on the treadmill.  I have noticed that different HR zone charts put your AT threshold different places - bottom of Zone 4 vs. bottom of Zone 5 for example.  I have used the Friel zones from the Training Bible to try to set up my zones both here on BT and on the Garmin website since I like to use workouts out of that book.  What do you guys use?  Any suggestions?  I'm never sure if I am worrying enough about what zone I am training in or not.  I'm pretty sure that I don't train too high, in general, but its kind of confusing!

I have had one since last spring and LOVE it!!!  Let me know if you have any questions on setup or "quirks"...  

Hey, THX!  So rotation will be what I'l be doin tomorrow AM in the heated/outdoor pool (hehehe!  Gotta love it!)

I get a chance to work from home office often - this is a perk I've never used before...  Often, my hours are spent behind the wheel traveling from place to place, so this isn't a consistent deal. : ( 

BTW: Great Escape in Clermont (not Clearwater) http://www.floridasgreatescape.com/ is actually NW from Kissimmee/Orlando.  Lemme kno, I will make plans to be there and cheer u on! But be aware that this is quite a drive from Ft Myers (about 3 hrs on car - just a heads up). I've been looking for an excuse to go see this race. 

Again, thx for the swim advise and the link.  Olman

Edited by TrkHilo2k 2010-01-08 5:21 PM

I usually train with power versus HR so probably not the best person to ask...but I usually equate AT as Z4. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
BTW I have the earlier Garmin and love it. The new one looks really cool!

Oops! I meant Clermont. I saw the drive is about 3 hours -I'll actually be in Punta Gorda visiting my Grandma then heading to Clermont on Sat for the race on Sunday.
Let me know if you plan on watching - it would be fun to meet in person! The race director is letting me go in the elite wave so I'll need all the support I can get

ABSOLUTELY !!!  Elite, uhm!  Maybe someday - right now I just dream of surviving the distance of my first HIM.

I have a 305 and love it too.  I've even swim with it and no problem ever.  Even the 310 won't capture HR underwater, the trick with the 305 is not to keep it underwater over 30 secs at a time. 

I had a very interesting experience at swim practice today!  I was going along, half-heartedly doing my laps at my usual snail's pace, when the coach came over and pulled me out of the pool.  He handed me a bucket on a rope to hook around my waist and said "Now, swim!".  Then he stood there and shouted "Pull!"  as I crawled down the lane.  Slower than ever!  The first thing that happened was that I was jerking on the rope, but I quickly figured out how to smooth that out and be more consistent in my forward motion.  Then I started to feel like I was getting a better catch and hold on the water.  I did about 7X50 with the bucket.  When I took it off, I don't know if I was any faster than I was before or not, but I felt like I was flying!

Coach Ginger also worked with me on my pull.  She said I was keeping my arm too straight and moving my hand too deep through the water.  I worked on adjusting my pull, but I still don't feel like I have figured out quite the right shape to get the most power in the beginning of my pull (S-shape or ?-shape?).  Coach Ginger said that the back part looked good - I feel like I get most of my forward propulsion after my hand passes my midsection.  Any suggestions?

I don't have much input as I need to work on this section of my stroke as well. But I try to do an "S" and pull at a 45 degree angle from outside in. I feel I can engage my lats more this way but I have no idea if it's really correct or not.
 

Megan: since the weather kept me out of the water (again) I went back to watching swim drill videos (TI and some Tri training videos).  Worked on visualization a lot.

That said, my question is, should I work the drills fresh into the water? or after my w/o? 

Also, I keep getting more and more info on the benefits of running in the ball of your foot.  I don't have knee problems (knock on wood) but I have a speed problem.  First: do you have any experience/feedback with this style of running? and second: Would you recommend changing to this style even if no injuries on std, heel stryke/toe push-off?  I really want to improve my speed this year, at least down to 8:00 or 8:15 minute miles for 6.2mi (10k).

Thx!

It has been so cold here in MI that I have not run outside at all since mid-December...but I am getting sick of the treadmill and indoor bike.  I was unable to get to the site for about a week...but am back...hope everyone had a good week of training.  Mine was ok...could have done more, but not too worried about it.  

Corrie

we are FINALLY getting some weather that will let me run outside this week!  Can't wait to leave that treadmill at home!!!

I have to admit I've never done the bucket drill, but have seen it. I think it is similar to using "the rack" which my Age Group coach used to torture us with. Basically you get tethered to to this nautilus looking machine and swim away from it pulling weights. This sort of stuff forces you to "find your catch" as it's the only way you can make any good forward progress.

It sounds like your coach thinks you have a "windmill" stroke. You want to continually pull still water. Pulling your arm straight down means your pulling moving water so it won't make you move forward as quickly as pulling still water (physics). This is where the "S" or what I like to call "q and p" pull comes in. Take a look at this freestyle catch drill video and this video of freestyle swimming for good examples of "the catch." Your should be getting the most forward propulsion out of the front quadrant of your stroke (the top part of your pull) versus the back part of your pull.

I changed my running from heel strike to mid/forefoot strike about 2 years ago. I started trying to do this for a month, then these lovely shoes called Newtons hit the market. They are not for everyone, but I love mine One of the first things I noticed when switching form heel to mid foot strike was that running became a lot easier for me (not breaking every step) and seemed to be more efficient. Additionally I almost instantly ran faster - I think part of this was due to better conditioning - but I went from a 9 min miler to 8 min miler for a 10K that summer.