Milaminute and Sparco's Group - Closed (Page 4)

Party crashers welcome, Kendra... and yes, we can just pretend that number six is an honorary spot for drive-by posters... even though we all still know there is no number six .

givemashot - 2007-12-12 11:43 PM OK, here's my attempt at a bio/intro. I'm Amy/givemashot. I'm a 32 yr old mom of 2. My daughter is 11 and my son is 5. I live in a suburb of Salt Lake City, and my hubby travels a ton. I work very part time (like 5 shifts a month) as a pediatric nurse in an urgent care/after hours clinic. I haven't been physically active regularly since 1994, and a total couch potato for about 3 years now. I swam on a team from age 7 to age 12 or so, when I quit because my shoulders were giving out. Swam again freshman year in high school , and it went well, until I tore a ligament in my knee in dance class at school. Ugggh. Missed half of the next swim season, then at the beginning of my junior year I switched over to diving. I also attempted running on the track team in spring of my sophomore year (a few months after knee surgery), but had to quit because of leg/foot pain that I never found a cause for (I'm thinking too much too fast combined with gnarly shin splints, and running on hills an hard pavement right off the bat). I was talked into trying triathlons to get into better shape by a friend of mine, a fellow newbie BT'er. I started training a little over a month ago, and immediately fell in love with running (I NEVER would have dreamed I'd love running...), but I overdid it on the treadmill one night and paid for it for several weeks with ankle pain and swelling. I did last month's challenge, and I'm in this month's as well, which is good, as it's the only thing keeping me from giving up exercise out of frustration from my body's intolerance. I have a few hurdles to getting my training in this month: hubby is out of town for 2 weeks, kids are out of school for the entire month, and the daycare at the rec center I belong to is only open a few hours a day. (not mention my daughter's too old to go in there, and my son wont leave without being carried out potato sack style, screaming). But, I will persevere and get my workouts in at the crack of dawn if I have to, but there won't be as many of them as I would normally put in (read: hardly any. I know, I'm a wuss). I haven't been in any races in the past (except swim meets, and the one 100 meter dash I did with the track team--and I barely hobbled to the finish line, let alone ran fast . ) I'm afraid to register for a race this year for 2 reasons: one, WS scares the h3ll out of me, and two, I'm afraid the ole' connective tissue doesn't like exercise much (I'm afraid I'll get injured just trying to train as I'll have to back out of the race). So I'm here for the support (both to give and take) and the badgering, I mean support, from my fellow BT'ers. Oh, and I should probably warn you, I have a dry/dark sense of humor, and I can be really sarcastic. And I talk alot. (just in case you hadn't noticed yet).

Thanks, Amy!  Scheduling is tough for everyone but particularly so when you're alone and have to deal with childcare...  or lack thereof.  I can completely relate.  The boy toy used to work in a different state... and not one close by, either.. think different time zone, Rockies, snow vs. Southern Living!  I had to get very creative and sometimes had to sacrifice workouts.  It happens.  However, two weeks, in the big picture, is very small, especially during the off season.  Don't stress about it.

Have you been using a specific training plan for your training?  If not, I would really encourage you to look at a beginner plan that maybe focuses on minutes and heart rate zone training.  I think that would help minimize your risk of injury.  I would also encourage you to sign up for a race to have a specific target date.  It might help keep you motivated and will allow you to back up a training plan to meet your needs (Sal is really good at figuring out that sort of thing when it comes to plans!).

Thanks for the sarcasm alert... you know I'm right there with ya, sista!

Sorry Amy   no nibbins notes for December - they were fun, but took up too much time!

don't worry about getting caught up, just jump in , sometimes that's just the easiest way

you have some great mentors!!

ps

great swim yesterday!

Hee hee... it's magic and wizardry .

You need to enable HTML.  When you go to post a response there should be some boxes on the bottom left you can enable/disable and one of them is for HTML.  There's another for emoticons.  The cross out, bold, italic and underline options as well as the options for colors, highlighting and adding pics, among other things, will appear on your toolbar.  To get the "invisible" font, just go to the color pallette and choose the bottom right color.  It will truly be invisible when you're writing but you can highlight it to read it prior to submitting just as you would once it's posted.

Yup, that's what I've been doing the past couple of days.  I've been way too busy to keep up with that thread. 

Awwww, shucks, thanks, Beth!

X2!!!!!!

LOL, yes you ARE cool.  Ummm... yeah, rich text... forgot about that.   For some reason I was thinking that was just for the blogging. 

Nothin' says good morning like a pink star.

Good morning everyone!  What's on tap for today?

Here is my multiple choice answer entitled "which form(s) of torture will Mila choose?"

A.  Go to the dentist
B.  Pay a little tiny personal trainer to kick her a$$ on the fitness floor
C.  Attend the 4th/5th grade orchestra concert
D.  All of the Above

I had to giggle aout the "manly man" stuff... I totally understand... but on the other hand you boys have chosen a sport where wearing spandex and shaving your legs is encouraged .  Chlorine is very hard on your skin and hair.  Definitely keep some lotion in your bag and put it on right after you shower.  I'd still also suggest trying Bodyglide on the rubber of the mask. 

Total Immersion is a great approach to swimming.  Those of you who are new to swimming might consider purchasing the DVD (I know Sal has already posted a link) and if the opportunity presents itself and it's financially feasible (it's pricey), a TI clinic is money well spent.  Cash, you are lucky that the local tri clu offers clinics based on these principles!  Sounds like the club is a great resource.

For Sal:

1.  Early morning 2000 yd swim
2.  Prep pre-test document for early morning conference call
3.  Full day of meetings.
4.  Visit friend at hospital
5.  2000 yd swim.
6.
7.  Relax on BT with the family

December has been busier than I thought.  Please harrass me today to remind me to get my early morning early evening swim in today...

Greetings all,

I thought I posed this question to get some insight and advice. When cycling i always heard stay light on the pedals and have a fluid cadence and quit mashing the peddles. I'm one who mashed the peddles and when i watch the pros and even top age groupers there upper body is stiff. why mine has my shoulders dipping with the pedal stroke and i know I expelled more energy than I need to be. So what are some good workouts, drills or advice to try to help stablizing my upper body when on the bike.

I think I have over read stuff and am overwhelmed so if you can help me walk through this I would REALLY appreciate it. 

My immediate goal is a sub 1-hour 10K; the furthest I have run this year is 5miles (50 minutes).  I feel I can run 10 minute miles with moderate exertion.  I can do a 5k in around 28 minutes. So my race pace is a little over 9 minute miles?  Given that can you help me with a weekly workout?  I do want to learn the HR method, but I think my current monitor is broken.

I'm going to throw that one Sal's way in terms of how best to develop a plan but I will put in my two cents in terms of your goals and heart rate zone training.

This is going to sound weird... but in order to get faster on the run, you have to first focus on slowing down.  Basically, you want to build your aerobic base by spending a lot of time running in zone 2 (this is aerobic endurance... you can comfortably hold a conversation here, do it for an extended period of time). 

Oh dear.  Ohhhh dear. 

Fortunately for you I prefer college football.  Fear the turtle, hon .  Say, Ferd... did you want to send me some Old Bay potato chips and Berger cookies for Christmas? 

I'm in a break between a conference call and a meeting...you guys are lucky .

I agree with Mila.  You need to build an aerobic base in running, just like we do with swimming.  Going all out on every run or swim is a perfect way to get injured and knock yourself out of a training season, or worse yet, a planned race.

I'll reply a little later on training plans and a good substitute for HR training if you don't have a HR monitor.  I have used perceived effort when I can't find my HR monitor or am traveling and didn't bring all my gear.  Mila, if you or anyone has used perceived effort, please chime in...

I'll stop by your blog tonight and hopefully give you some recommendations for workouts or training.

Sal

Yup, that's good advice.  Find your cadence, keep it fluid, and gear through to meet the demands of the terrain.

Are you on a road bike or a tri bike?  And... because every answer to a bike question ALWAYS starts with this... have you had it professionally fit? 

It's tough to know without actually seeing what's going on but if you're not set up on your bike right you might find that you're compensating with your upper body to try to stabilize yourself.  Just a guess.

Sorry... my last post wasn't particularly clear with regard to the term perceived effort... also known as RPE (rate of perceived exertion).  When I mentioned that in zone two you could comfortably hold a conversation and could do it for a long time, those are RPE "cues".  Keep in mind that there are several different approaches to heart rate zone training that vary slightly from one another and that my RPE descriptors go along with my philosophy.

Z1... not much more effort than eating popcorn on the couch.  You could do this all day long.
Z2... you can comfortably hold a converstaion here, depending on your fitness level, could comfortably sustain this for 60 minutes to... well, let's just say 16 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds .  Z2 sometimes feels awkward... as if you body is saying "c'mon already" but you're trying to keep it reined in.
Z3... you feel it, you know you're working, you're sweating, but you can get through it.  You are not breathless but as you get higher up in this zone you reach a point where you could hold a conversation if you had to but you don't really want to.  Five words at a time or so is about all you feel like saying.
Z4... it's tough to breathe, your jaw drops (your body is trying to get more oxygen in), 1-2 words is all you can say.  Your muscles might burn.  Depending on your fitness level, you could stay here for as little as 1-2 minutes or you could possibly run a 5K here...
Z5... Z5 is only doable for a very short amount of time.  This is your all out effort.  It's like going to your in-laws... you know you gotta go but you don't want to stay for long.  If you were to try to sustain Z5 you would hit the wall, puke, etc.  Good times, good times.

Like I said... this is my methodology... and I happen to teach it to group X and personal trainers for a pretty well known company... so I do believe it has a lot of merit... but there are variations on the theme so please feel welcome to chime in with your own RPE methodology!