Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 4)

Hola Steve & Everyone else!

I hope your travels are/were safe! Yes you are correct...I am a NC State grad and just actually finished watching them with the Champs Sports Bowl game....worth a rest day if I do say so myself.

I wouldn't say swimming is my specialty....I just work extremely hard to stay in the pool and continue to get this land loving body used to the water. My past 2 races last year (Ballentyne Tri and Cane Creek Tri) I wasn't very comfortable in the water and it showed. Unfortunately I don't plan on doing these races again this year as I am trying to stick with the IOS series within Setup events. I want to finish 5 races in that series and see where I land in the overall rankings.

I look forward to getting to know everyone in this group and as soon as the dust settles, we should probably get a list of everyone in the group so we can add them as friends and continue to inspire each other.

Take care all and.....GO WOLFPACK!!!!

David

Swim and Run for me tomorrow!

Adam....regarding swimming before taking lessons.

I was in the same boat last year about this time. Personally it was good for me to get in the water before the swim lessons just to get my body used to being in the water. There are alot of articles that you can review on BT to get a basic understanding of what you should do in the water (very basic techniques for beginners to start parcticing) and this would give you a good base prior to jumping into lessons. I actually took additional lessons this offseason just to improve certain aspects of my technique.

Good luck and look forward to seeing your progress!

David

Holy Moly! Our group is awesome - tons of knowledge, support and looks like our leader is highly detailed and interested in each and everyone one of us and how he can help us reach a goal.

Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to getting outside for a run in some chilly weather (I partake in the Crappy Winter Weather Challenge on the Challenge Forum)  Oddly, I actually enjoy running now that I've been doing it for a while. At first, it was painful on so many levels  

Have fun! And looking forward to getting to know you all a little better over the next couple of months.  

I SO admire all of you that have 'winter' weather and still get your outdoor workouts in. I have a 5 mile run tomorrow and it'll probably be raining but should only be about 50 degrees out. My non-active friends think I'm nuts for going out in the rain but we used to live in Kansas City and I really appreciate my California weather.

I'd much rather run in with zero wind chills and snow than pouring rain and 50 degrees. Now, if it were 80 and raining, then that would be sort of refreshing..but 50 and wet is bone chilling.  brrrrr! 

Sarah, I'll let you know how that all went tomorrow We're supposed to have big winds too. I can run in the wet but about an hour after I get home is when the chill sets in. I so prefer cool weather to the heat for running though. One of my goals this year is to learn to like running in the heat since my first 1/2 IM is Vineman in July and it should be pretty toasty.
Johanne

MOJOISTAS -

It's right around 11p.m., and I just got back from being heroic on my daughter's behalf. You know, they get to be of advanced vintage (she will be 27 in April) and you figure all of the "grunt work" of parenting is in the distant past.....and then along comes a mammoth snowstorm, and cancelled flights, and suddenly you're back in business again! (Whoop-de-doo??)

The drive down was fine, the drive back a bit more dicey with the last 2.5 hours punctuated by freezing drizzle. Bah. What a dopey climate this is!

Jane was able to use her Blackberry to check on who all had joined the scene since this morning, and when she kept reading names I didn't know, I panicked. I had her wriet a PM to Ron asking for him to close the group, and I was very relieved to see that that was accomplished. WHEW!

Nine more came on board today, as follows:

Ellen!

Johanne!

Bob!

Juan!

Roger!

Daniel!

Laura!

Alex!

James!

So, barring anyone else squeaking through the cracks, we got ourselves a group -- a whoppin' big group, to be sure!

I will list everyone within the next couple of days, probably as soon as I can get all of my responses accounted for. That'll be useful as a way to begin to familarize ourselves with the others ---- but in time it will all become perfectly obvious, and very, very familiar!

My initial impression, without having had the time to go through each bio in detail, is that we are slightly boy-heavy, and maybe also fairly well "seasoned" -- in a chronological sense! I can't remember anyone older than I am, although there are a couple who aren't too far behind.

I don't have much pizzazz in me right now, but i will knock off a couple of responses and then return with a vengeance in the morning.

Onwards!!

SHARON -

Talk of returning to triathlon in 2011?? Sounds good to me. That sort of thing always gets my antennae twitching!

So, a seaosn of sprints in '06, and then the hiatus. Hmmmm. Did you spend any of the three off-years kind of pining for tris, or was it mostly out of sight, out of mind. I'm just curious; it doesn't matter a hill of beans, juszt so long as the spirit is stirring again and you need to rediscover that lost mojo!

My other groups have had a few people who were in a situation similar to yours, and the group approach works well to get the going again. Hopefully it will work that way with you!

To be sure -- zeefraugtries!!!

WHATO -

Another admirably patient person! You have set the bar very high in this respect, judging from the amount of time you spent on your Base, and your devotion to structured programs. Outstanding!!

The three weeks off you took was probably ideal -- for you. I mean, it would be close to ideal for anyone, but in your case you entered it.....and then found you couldn't quite stay fully away! So, you did what you needed to do, and as long as you went wisely into a wise program, you're none the worse for not having taken as much "down" time as you might've initially planned.

I am much the same way --- can't stay away from it for too long. The best way to ensure that I take adequate down time is to injure me.....but heaven knows that's not really desirable! So, in lieu of full-bore breaks, i stagger my off-"seasons". That is, I'll do a block of time from cycling, and then another block for running. This year it was mostly Octovber without the bike and November without running; the swim break was quite sketchy .

I'm glad you have found success from a strength program. I love being a quasi gym rat, and it's all even better when some preformance benfits come out of it. I am very lazy, however, about stretching, and so continue to be one of the 300 most inflexible people on the planet.

Your sprint best is quite solid, with the run especially standing out. And yes, i know how elusive it can be to put it all together in one glorious race. I have had but a handful of such efforts, and while I wish they were not quite so few-and-far-between, it nevertheless is absolutely fabulous when it happens. And may it happen sooner rather than later for you!

It sounds as if you are sticking exclusively to sprints this coming season; is this in fact the case? If so, that's the quickest way to meet that time goal you are shooting for! My time goals have been achieved when I have very pointedly pursued one distance quite intensively. I'm not all that capable of settling into one distance exclusively, but I can devote the majority of my training to a particular distance, when necessary. That has been my approach with olys the past two seasons, and it has suited me well, i think.

Your final paragraph reminds me of an old Dylan song, which had the line "You know what you want, but I know what you need", except that you turn it around so that you know what you need to learn. Man, it doesn't get much more ideal than that!

Okay! It's 11:45, and I'm one weary pup. So, it's off to bed with me!


But just to make one thing perfectly clear ---

EVERYONE WHO HAS POSTED SO FAR IS IN THE GROUP!!!

I love the diversity that I feel is present here, and I'm really excited to get rolling. I'm sorry that today evolved the way it did, and I look to close some big gaps tomorrow and Thursday.

G'night, all!

DUNCAN -

Nice body roll! Nice high elbow on the recovery! Looks like you were born to swim!

That's a very unique duathlon you have coming up on the 16th. You have listed it as bike-run-run, but I hope it actually happens as a duathlon should -- run-bike-run. At least that way it would make those 14km easier, but if not then it will be nice to finally hit the road after 5km of trails. What's the name of the race?

Beyond that, your plan for the race season looks good. As I have said elsewhere here (the group), I am a big fan of one taking one's time to progress through the distances. I have known lots of people who have done a tri or two and then jumped right up to half-ironns and irons, and that can work okay, but I just think there is a lot to be gained from getting good and comfortable with the shorter distances before leaping forth to the long stuff. Anyhow, a season of sprints/olys is wise -- very doable!

I will try to remember to pay attention to your logs. Not being a BT-log-user myself (preferring my time-honored hard-copy log), I tend to forget that option exists. But maybe this season (I've said this to a couple of others here, too) I will work to be a good boy and post my logs right here in full view of whomever wants to see what I'm up to.

Just a few more days until the scheduled-to-a-fault C-section! Our second-born, Peter, was scheduled for noon on Dec. 19, '86, and there he was --- right on time! This became a necessity due to Lynn's experience with our first-born, Jane -- 37 hours in labor. Lynn is normally very mild-mannered, so it came as quite a shock to me when, along about hour 28, she lashed out and kicked her doctor. I guess it was at that point he figured it was in his best interests to go for the C-section, and that worked well enough to make it the best path for Peter a few years later. Is Erinn completely and totally thrilled by the new addition?

Finally, getting back to tri and specifically yours on the 16th......don't worry yet about the distance of the run. If you can get another 2 or 3 km under your belt before then, that would be ideal. Otherwise, go into viewing it as really two separate runs, with the trail part frquiring very different strategies and maybe not even being a true run. So, that'll be five kind of cautious kms. and then you'll launch yourself into the final 9km on the road. I guess that would make the trail run a "warm-up" of sorts, and it might comfort you to know that a lot of people will do a leisurely 5km or so as part of their pre-tri warm-up.

Welcome, displaced Haligonian!

GEORGE -

Really nice note! You've got a lot of things working in your favor, and I'm sure that if you can just stay mostly injury-free you'll be able to reach those goals. It certainly helps that you have "been there" previously; that is, having done those races in the mid-90s. While you may have lapsed since then, there is a certain part of your mental and physical memories that will acclimate quickly back into hte patterns that were in play back then. Granted, the hard-wire muscle memory may take a while to catch-up, but that WILL happen!

Congrats on getting back into the gym with some commitment. For people who can tolerate the gym environment (I love it -- so long as the music is kept barely audible), it is a great motivator. That's certainly working for you, but as you say -- a bigger motivator is what you're getting from your family. It is remarkable the amount of activity you all are involved in, and I can guarantee that in xx years you will look back on these years of Collective Accomplishments with huge fondness.

as with so many others in this group, your proposed progression is superb. I see it all as very attainable, working through those runs and into the sprint(s), and then the half-marathon at the end of the year. Again, if you can avoid injuries I see no earthly reason why you couldn't readily handle a half-mar in November.

Which are the sprints you are contemplating? I gave serious thought to coming down to Tuscaloosa for the USAT Age Group Nationals this past season, but then just couldn't fit it in with other races I had planned. But beyond that, i know little about races in your neck of the woods beyond what happens at Tuscaloosa, and Powerman Duathlon. It'll be good to diversify my knowledge base, so let me know what you are considering, please!

ELLEN -

Hey! You're talking to an Eagleman vet here! I did it in '03 and '04, and loved both experiences. In fact, '04 was my PR for half-iron, so I GOTTA love it for that reason alone, I guess. granted, both my years were pretty clement by Eagleman standards -- not too windy, not too scorching, not too much chop in the Choptank, and no jellyfish. Who could ask for anything more?

Which four tris have you done? And, are you from that genreal area, that is, Marylandish?

I launched into this post without seeing if you had posted subsequent to your first; guess I should check that now. If you haven't posted a second time......I look forward to it when it happens! I may not be doing Eagleman this year (closest i came last year was Columbia in May and Make-A-Wish in Sept), but I'm ALWAYS happy to talk about it. GREAT race!!!!!

JOHANNE -

Sorry to have stresed you out yesterday, leaving you in limbo like that. Believe me, I was quite stressed out as well. We were along the Northway (upper Route 87) in a limited-cell area, and Jane was using her Blackberry to try to find out how amny people who posted yesterday, and all I could see on the horizon was the prospect of getting home late in the evening and having a total of 43 people in the group! Argghhh! But Jabe was able to PM Ron to close the group, and that happened just about perfectly; I think we are at 25 right now. 25 is good.........but 43? ARGGHHH!!

Anyhow, thank you for assuming he best and posting your bio before getting oficial red-letter confirmation. (Truth told, had the group closed and I found your bio after the fact, I couldn't've turned you away anyhow, so you covered yourself well. Nicely played! )

You had a very eventful season, especially if I see it correctly that in addition to the sprints and oly there were 4 half-marathons. That IS 4 isn't it? As in four/for/fore? 4? If so, i guess it's safe to say that you have tumbled into that world of just about the sweetest distance to undertake! I love half-marathons, but don't do near enough of them anymore. I put 97% of my eggs into the multisport basket, and that just doesn't leave much time or energy for straight road races. I did a half-mar in mid-October and was ecstatic with a 1:37, so I might make a point to do aone or two each year. We'll see!

Which were the races you did in '10, and what ones are you planning for '11? I try to keep up with CA races just to further fuel my fantasy of racing out there at some point, so you can inspire me by naming names! Are any of the '11 ones returns to what you did this past season? It's always good to have one or two races that you return to every so often , just to make improvements over time easier to chart.

Looking more closely at your sched, I see two half-irons, and something you slipped in a few lines above it -- a marathon in March. Wich one is that, may I also ask? I followed Higdon in my initial marathoning days, and he worked well for me. I suspect he has re-tooled his programs about ten-fold since then (late 90s), but the essence of his approach must be about the same.

I'm glad you found the vibe at the triathlons so favorable. That is certainly what I feel, and it never really ceases to amaze me. And just wait until you get into a race where there are professionals! It is REALLY amazing how friendly and helpful and supportive they can be of us "mere" age-groupers, so very different from most professional athletes.

Fianlly, congrats on the impressive weight-loss, and even more so with sustaining it by committing to an aggressive exercise/workout/race regimen. Mercy!

(And are you a happyhappyhappy Giants fan.......or do your affections sit with the Athletics?)

BOB -

Reston, eh? And Ontario previously? We've got a couple of things in common then! One of the people (hooslisa) from my first group is from Reston, and I got to actually meet here when I did the Reston Tri in Sept '09. Stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in Herndon, ate with them the night before the race at a palce in reston Town Center.....wonderful weekend! I will wear my Reston Tri vest today, just in acknowledgement of you being in the group!

Which races did you do while in Ontario? I have done bundles of ones in the Somersault series here around Ottawa, and about five of the Multisport Canada ones. I've done K-Town a couple of times, plus a copuple of tother independents. Curiously, I have yet to do any of the Trisport ones, which seem to be de rigeur for hard-core Ontario triathletes. (However, the bulk of my racing is done in the U.S.)

Lisa (hooslisa, above) is a big-time memebr of Team FeXY, from your general area, but also gets involved in some activities put on by Reston Runners and RATS. Do you have any involvement in any of those groups? Reading your comment about training partners, one of those avenues might be helpful to follow. Lisa loves FeXY, but also feels strongly about Reston Runners. Might be something worth pursuing, anyhow! (Says he who trains 100% of his own..... )

But wiat! Are you currently living in Reston....or still the Caribbean? Hmmm.

Good choice with the eprsonal trainer at the gym. I began doing the gym in early '05, and decided to use a trsiner for a while so I could learn the ropes without either killing or making a fool of myself (don't know which would be worse). I had never done gym stuff before, and he was great by way of teaching me technique, as well as orienting me with the vast araay of equipment and all. I used him for about ten sessions, and it was money well spent.

Which sprints are you looking at? Don't hold back -- I gotta know!

Good Morning Steve,
I'm glad your were able to get your daughter off safely.  Boy I would love to spend some time in Australia, that has been my dream vacation for many many years.  As for the tri's that I plan on doing:
1st one is 6/4/11 The Grandman Tri, it's held in Fairhope Alabama the swim is 1/3 mile, bike is 18 miles and the run is 3.1.  The swim will be in the Mobile Bay which is calm so yeah me.. 
2nd one is 9/10/11 The Brett Robinson Alabama Coastal Tri, it's held in Gulf Shores Al.  The have 2 different ones.  One is 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run?, then they have another one that is 328 yards swim, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run..  I would love ?to do the bigger one but I'm not sure if that will be pushing it.
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?The bad part of my tri's is I dont hav?e a road bike, all I have it a mountain bike (giant boulder) that I purchased new earlier this year.  My wife said I can get a road bike in 12/11 if I have stuck to this.  I told her to start saving up because Im in for the long haul.  I do have a question.  Is there somewhere or does someone have a spreadsheet they can send me that has the break down on distance.  I'm used to miles and when I see meters or K im not sure how far that is.  I know a 5k is 3.1 and 10k is 6.2 but that is it..  I hope everyone has a great day.
Thanks
George
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Mojoistas....I like that.



Edited by zeefraugtries 2011-01-05 8:50 PM

JUAN -

Centennial Park! Know it well! I did Columbia in '03, '04, and ;05, where I flatted twice on the bike. It took me until this past may to get back there again, and I was rewarded by winning my age group. TOUGH bugger of a course, but I love it. I missed the crunch for signing up for '11, and I'm regretting that a bit. Well, there's always '12, I guess!

I will check out the specifics of the one you'll be doing out of C.P., which I think is a Tri Columbia race as well -- maybe called Columbia sprint? I will look into it later. PLEASE don't be cowed at all by what I said about the Columbia course! That one may be a tough bugger, but I doubt the sprint version will be as demanding. The hardest parts of Columbia happen furthest away from the venue itself, so just by virtue of the distances of your race being shorter, you shouldn't get to those points. Whew! Thank god for small mercies, eh?

Anyhow, those distances are very doable for a first tri; we can get you there! (Just have to navigate around those knee issues of yours!)

As for other injury concerns you mention, I'll just make a few comments for now. As for the calf cramping, just try to ease up a bit on the kicking. Think about generating the kick from your hips. I suspect a good amount of your power is coming form your lower legs, maning you are "whipping" your legs more than you should. I am NOT a good kicker (more on that later), but know what I should be doing. One piece of advise I received about kicking from the hips is to focus on that area by clenching your buttocks tighly together, as if you were trying to hold a golf ball there without it becoming dislodged. (I never promised you that this would be a 100% polite group! ) Anyhow, give it a try and see if it helps.

As for the shoulder soreness.....be careful there! I suffered a shoulder impingement several years ago, and it was a nusiance to rehab. There was lots of physio, and I went swimless for a couple of months, anyhow. That was much worse in terms of recovery than when I separated my shoulder in a big bad bike crash in June '09. That left me swimless for only about four weeks -- so much more pleasant! However, going "swimless" really means just not stroking; it still alows for skulling and licking sets. Not entirely the end of the world --- just feels that way at times.

Mnay thinsg can lead to shoulder soreness, and for all the minor times i have expereicned it, it has gone away within a few days. the impringement, however, came about dramatically when I tried to emulate an Olympian I had seen in a video, who had a recovery that was very high and very close to his body. I tried that for lieterally no more than dozen strokes......and felt the shoulder hurting in a way it had never felt before. Oops! So, if you can ask someone at the pool to quickly evaluate what your affected arm (or is it both?) look like when you;'re in the recovery phase of your stroke, that might help.

Congrats on the milestones reached -- the 800 on the swim, the 28mi of the tour, the 5km of the run; were the C.P. race tomorrow, you could do it. For true!

It is good that you have so many of your ducks in a row, which includes everything you mention towards the end of your profile. I detect a very committed and organized person in you. Yes?

AN INTERLUDE (between my getting-to-know-you posts)

Two things to know about me:

(1) I am LITERALLY a two-finger typist, with no comprehensive knowledge of where the keys are located; so, I need to maintain constant eye-contact with the keyboard. What this means is that I'm not real quick at typing, and this problem is exacerbated by TRYING to be faster and then making mistankes and needing to go back and go back and go back. My kids tell me that I am very quick with those two fingers......but that is kind of like damning with faint praise, isn't it? Anyhow, I say all that by way of letting you know that this whole businness is not a fast process for me!

(2) Our computer is dial-up, and seeing as how I am techologically very stupid (okay, "limited" might be a nicer term), well, when Stuff happens that can often throw me off for a while.

I am very dedicated to my groups here at BT and try to attend to everything asap, but sometimes my best-laid plans get undercut by some combination of the above. Just so you know!

Onwards!

PAUL -

"Sorry if it;s a little long", you say? Hey, you're apologizing to the wrong guy here!

You've got a good deal of experience....and I don't think I know trhe half of it yet. I see five years, and Boise70.3, and a very intense schedule last year between April and July, and it;s all beginning to add up to a whole lot of savvy. Correct me if I'm wrong!

I can empathize/sympathize with what you say in the "current training" paragraph. You do not use the term "burned out", but I think all things point to that. The good news is that all of that is reversible -- just needs a usually-slightly different approach, is all. I guess you have learned where your head (and feet) will end up when you try to what you did last April-July....so don't try that again! (I say that with full confidence.....but I'm am not always good at not following the same troblesome path more than once.)

It is really good, i tink, that uopu have Boise in your plans again, AND with a time-improvement goal in mind. It is also good that you have Boulder70.3 a nice distance (~two months exactly, i think?) away from Boise, just to either cement or atone for whatever happens at Boise. And, it is also good that you have a nice stretch of time before Boise to get your head and body both fully ready for that challenge.

Have your struggles been more foot (blister) than head? If it's the latter, did you take a half-decent off-season, or rather did you just kind of patch workouts together as best you could? I have frequently done the latter, which means that nothing really quality-level happens, but I also never give my body the rest it tries to tell me it needs. A lot of that for me comes from stubborness, and also denial, and also not wanting to feel that the rsst of the world is training and improving, and I'm not. Any of that sound familiar to you?

Again, i love that you have those goals and the time to work towards them. When you get a chance, try to tell me exactly where your struggles are rooted' okay?

I trained for my first two tris of '09 on a mountain bike.  Since I was not certain that I would stick with the sport, I waited to get my Transition.  I would suggest taking the wheels to your LBS and have them put on the most narrow tire possible.

Here is a link to a triathlon calculator:  http://www.bx3.com/phil/tri/tricalc.asp

Roger

Here are two handy tools for converting and estimating times for triathlons:

http://www.bx3.com/phil/tri/tricalc.asp

http://triathloncalculator.com/

Roger

Thanks Roger.. I did not know they had road tires for mountain bikes.. Thanks again for the websites.

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?.  I know a 5k is 3.1 and 10k is 6.2 but that is it..  I hope everyone has a great day.
Thanks
George
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