GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 41)

M -

Yay for you! You now have the honor and the glory of making the 1000th post here, and for as long as you live, nobody can take that away from you!!!

DWAYNE -

Is the material of the roller part metal or something rubberish or vinylish?

At any rate, one thing that is recommended is to clean your tire every day (for the record, I do this very seldom) with an evaporating cleaner such as isopropyl alcohol. This will remove any oils or molds that have built up on the tire. And make sure that the tire is inflated to its maximum pressure.

Beyond this, play around with what is called thre "press-on focre". This is the amount of contact the tire makes with the friction roller, and when there is not enough press-on force, the tire can slip. On the other hand, too much p.-o. f. will really skew the ride so everything seems unrealistically difficult.

A third thing to check, if the above don't help, is to check to see if the tire is running perpendular toi the friction roller. You can test this by rotating the tire forward and then backward a foot or so. If everything is okay, the "footprint" of the tire should stay in the same place on the roller in both directions that you rotate it.

For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever had slippage on my fluid trainer, but it has happened periodically with my CompuTrainer. The friction roller surface on the CT is some vinyl/plastic/rubber compound, and that is more prone to slippage than is the metal roller of my Kurt Kinetic. I have solved the problem with the CT by either using rubbing alcohol or tightening the press-on-force; never had to readjust the hinge/roler mechanism (which is good, because I probably couldn't do it! )

I hope one of these works for you. Let me know, okay?

Hi,

Steve,

I just tried out my new clip-in pedals.  Had a heck of a time clipping in the 1st foot - went better with the 2nd.  The instructions say you have to practice a lot.  Very easy to clip out of (thank goodness)
But I noticed riding seemed unusually hard - this was on the trainer which I've only used a few times.  I read what you said above and wondered if 1)I had too much force on my wheel or 2) does it just seem harder when you're attached to the pedals or 3) maybe I was just tired

Denise

This is great. Thanks Mark.

DENISE -

I suppose all trainers are different, but for mine I turn the knob until the roller barely makes contact with the tire, and then I do two almost-half turns. So, I guess it ends up being about 3/4 of a full turn of the knob, but it really isn't scientific at all. Where you probably want the setting is so the tire will move some when you spin it with your hand, but "dies" after about 3/4 of a revolution.

The sensation of a trainer is one of having greater resistance, even when nothing more is being done than "cruising" along. That is, using the same gearing is always easier and faster on the road than on the trainer. i guess I could adjust for that my using less press-on force, but then I might have slippage. Plus, having slightly greater resistance makes me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something!

Depending on the pedals you have, it is pretty easy to adjust the tension so that clipping in and out is just right. On my pedals, which ar Look, there is a small screw hole on the top (that is, the surface that meets the bottom of my shoe) that can be adjusted with an Allen key. A couple of times each year I have to do slight adjustments, but if I can do this ANYBODY can!

For most people, especially those starting out, loose is better. You'll have to search far and wide to find someone with this pedal system who has not come to a stop and forgotten to clip-out. Timbeeeerrrrr! So at least when one is falling to the side, it is best to get the foot out asap!

In time, it gets to be second nature, and we all adopt that saucy little ankle-twist/flip maneuver. Before too long, you'll grow to love them, but don't be afraid to try to adjust them. And a very small turn of the Allen key goes a long way.

MARK (and TRACEY) -

Wow. If T.I. has abandoned the catch-up drill, that's kind of revolutionary. I'll have to scratch around some and see if i can find out what has gone on with their thinking and philosophy.

But maybe it's just semantics, a new term (anchoring the hand) for an old concept. Although the way you describe it, it is different from the rigid catc-up technique. Hmmmm.

I just fished out (as it were) my book-copy of "Triathlon Swimming Made Easy" ---- but this is copyright 2002. Yikes! I see quickly thta Chapter 9 deals with anchoring the hands, which is a concept I remember and know and try to use, but as for a mention of the catch-up drill itself.......I'm not finding it. Hmmmmm X2.











Edited by stevebradley 2010-01-19 7:38 AM

MARK and TRACEY again -

A few minutes have passed, and I'm still searching. I find Under Skate and Under Switch and Zipper Skate and Zipper Switch, so I know I'm in the right ballpark, but that's it.

This is fun stuff to re-visit. I had a blast going through "overachiever's diary" (Louis Tharp and West Point) for the benefit of my group last year, but I don't think I ever wnet to Terry laughlin himself. Maybe I ought to summarize his menu of sensory cues, yes?

I guess i didn't explain my self right on the trainer Question.  The chain is jumping cogs after I changed tires and wheels


Thanks For everyones help 

Edited by Dwayne 2010-01-19 7:21 AM

MARK and TRACEY once more -

Not really related to swimming, but at least to West Point, is the West Point Triathlon, which is going to be USAT-sanctioned this year. It's a bit far for me to go for a sprint, but I think the atmosphere would be terrific. It is definitely on my short-list of races to do this season! It's www.westpointtri.com.

The team link of the website is fun to visit, as some of the men and women in the book are still at West Point, still competing at triathlon. To excel at triathlon and just survive and be successful at West Point, period --- that's some kind of inspirational balancing act, I think!

DWAYNE -

Oops! Sorry! (Right church, wrong pew.)

Offhand, i don't know why you should be having that problem. I change out wheels all the time during the season, and while I noyttice subtle differences in shifting, it is bnever as dramatic as you are describing. Is it possible that one wheel has more or less cogs than the other. Like an 8 vs a 9, or a 9 vs a 10? That's about all I can think of.

And as for the Girl Scout cookies, well, I envy you. We are out in the sticks so nobody comes to sell us anything (which is mostly a good thing), and the only time we can land a box is when there is a parent at Lynn's work who brings some in to sell to the hungry Civil Servants.

I want a G.S. cookie, and I want it NOW!!!!!

MARK -

How goeth the trainer for you?

Recommended trainer-time movies:
"District 9"
"The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3"
"Moon"
These three got me contentedly through three trainer sessions in the past couple of weeks.

I guess, however, i ought ot get serious and start digging into the "Spinervals" ones I have. But heck, it's January and "Spinervals" just seems too much like work!

(And then there is my largely-neglected CompuTrainer ----- which seems even MORE like work!)

ANNE -

Short answer for now to your long post from yesterday....

Sure. I'll help! But we probably have about the same resources from which to draw bright ideas, yes? Well, at least if that's the case we can labor under the illusion that great minds think alike!

Checked out the website and last year's results.   I wouldn't have been last.      This looks really cool - about 8-9 hours from here.    Thanks for referencing all these good tri locations.   Might not happen this year but will happen. 

Denise, just two cents, totally agree with what Steve said below.  I ride the trainer a lot during the week, and really need to set my ego aside when I do so.  Average speeds on the trainer (I use a Kurt Kinetic) are slower than the open road due to the resistance curve of the wheel.  The great news is that after time on the trainer, you're going to feel like you're FLYING on the open road and chances are, you'll find another gear or two out there. 

Steve,

Thanks for the nutritional input.   I'm going to take a little more time this weekend before the long ride to really plan out the nutrition and such and see if I can get more regimented about intake.  The one downside of the B12 is that it has just one bottle cage on the downtube, so with the aerobottle, I have only two drink sources.  I think it's going to be time to invest in one of those behind-the-saddle bottle holders. 

Different topic, but one near and dear to everyone - SWIMMING.  So, perusing through my Triathlete magazines, I come across an article that seems to go against everything that TI stands for.  In essence, the article says that in a real race, especially mass starts, you can't glide and that efforts to lengthen the stroke are wasted due to all the bodies flying around.  That triathletes need to train for short, quick strokes, high turnover and very little glide. 

It'd make sense if they said "for the first 500/750 meters and and when things open up, revert back to classic TI techniques", but the article is also making all sorts of comments about how choppy water, currents, swell, etc., make a long stroke and gliding inefficient in open water. 

My knee-jerk reaction is that if you have a weak catch, don't generate power through the hips and fail to power through the end of the stroke, then yes, too much gliding (gliding without power behind it that is) can work against you in open water.  But then if the power is there in the stroke, what's the downside?.

Whaddya think?  Am I missing something, or is Triathlete magazine looking for words to fill space? 

Great link Dwayne!

Steve,

To your responses a few days ago...

Your statement getting at position of head in the water (somewhere around hairline) is exactly where I was trying to go. Not sure I was looking down excessively far before or what, but this seems to have made a difference. Or I'm seeing where I am trying to go earlier so I've got a bit more motivation.

In reagrds to RPE scale, yes I am using 1-10. I think wondering if I am at a 7 or 8 is even to narrow, What about being at a 6 when I think I'm approaching a 9? How much is my natural lazy state getting into my head and I am not pushing myself as hard as I should? I assume more frequently than I think.

I'll ask again, based on my current training, do you think following an Oly 20 week plan is too much? I keep my log up to date so you can see what I have been doing. Yesterday was my heaviest day yet, but I didn't have to work, so I was trying to train so I could so I could rest a bit this week.

ANNE -

Oh , there's many more where that came from!

I can't give first-hand props to West Point, as I haven't done it yet. But here are a few that I have done, New York and New England:

- Lake George (olympic) -- Lake George, NY; done first time this past season; mile markers every mile of the bike!; I won a fabulous prize; did a 45:54 10km off an aggressively-ridden 40km bike, which is a superb bike course; I love this race! www.adktri.org

- Crystal Lake (sprint) -- Averill Park, NY, east of Albany; done this one three times; small, alid-back; 18 mile bike, challenging!; 3-mile run around the lake, pretty. www.cdtriclub.org

- Musselman (HIM and sprint) -- Geneva, NY; done sprint twice, HIM once; great organization, with the RD, Jeff Henderson, being in the vanguard of "green" races; beautiful courses; TOUGH half-iron run; bottles of local wine to top 3 in each a.g. (I don't drink wine, but the three bottles I ahve won have scored valuable points with Lynn, who does imbibe!) www.musselmantri.com

- Fronhofer Tool Triathlon (oly) -- Cambridge, NY (east of Saratoga); lovingly-organized race, put on by a great guy, Kevin Crossman, with many of the proceeds going to school reading programs; fabulous bike course; huge post-race feast; tons of raffle prizes. www.fronhofertooltriathlon.com

And there's more still, but I'll stop there for now.

Just so you know!

DENISE -

As a follow-up to what Steve said to what I said......

An illuminating thing to do when the roads are cyclable is a bike-bike brick. That is, do a session on the trainer, and then whip outside and do the same type of ride on the road. You really will feel as if you have found some new gears, and it will just prove that the rolling resistance of the trainer is greater than that of the open roads. It's almost like swinging a leaded bat in the on-deck circle, and then going to bat for real with your 35-ouncer!

ANNE again -

And ANY race run by Keith Jordan is worth trekking to! The two ones closest to us are both in New Hampshire -- Mooseman (HIM and int'l) in early June, Timberman (HIM and sprint) in mid-August. NOBODY puts more thought into races than Keith does!

And while I don't drink (missing the fun of that Musselman wine), I do so love my maple syrup, which is what each of the top 3 in each a.g. receive. And what is especially cool about it is that the syrup comes in beautiful bottles that are individually engraved/etched (whatever the process is with glass) woth the race logo. The syrup is top-of-the-line, the bottles are gorgeous keepsakes. www.timbermantri.com

STEVE -

Weekend assignment: Buy two-bottle cage system for behind your seat!

Don't delay! You'll 583% want it fro St.G., and 247% want it for Showdown.

Do it, do it, do it! It will empower you! It will enable you to go much further without duress!

Do it, do it, do it!

STEVE again -

Gotta abandon the computer asap, but I'll just say for now that much of what Triathlete wrote IS very true, and worthy of further discussion here -- which I will tackle later this evening.

Bye for now!

OK,  This one I HAVE to do!!!   I too love my maple syrup.   That's all I use in my coffee.     

STEVE:

I'm so excited about my swim today, I could barely wait to post here!

So I did the plan you suggested again today (10 x 50m, with progressively shorter rests in between each). This time, I took Anne's suggestion of keeping my head slightly lifted, with eyes facing forward. It obviously made a huge difference for me, because I did SO much better today!

Until today I had been focusing on tucking my chin and almost pretending to look down at my toes, in an effort to keep my lower body up. This was on the advice of my swimming instructor. But today I kept my head in a more "natural" position, almost as if I was resting my chin into the water (for lack of a better description), with eyes facing forward. This felt so much more comfortable than what I had been doing. And to my pleasant surprise I found that I was able to breathe much more comfortably as well. This resulted in being able to do your sets without having to do those "cheat" rests in between the 25m! In fact, I dare say that I think I may be able to shorten the rests a bit. (Yes, I felt THAT good!)

I'm very surprised that such a small change could make such a huge difference, but it really did. I have either been expending a huge amount of energy pressing my forehead down into the water, or (which I think is the likelier explanation), by keeping my head in a more natural position, I'm better able to turn to the side and catch a full inhale, which I struggled to do before (hence being totally out of breath after 50m). I felt so good that when I finished all the sets, I swam until I felt I really couldn't do much more, and I did 125m without stopping! (This is HUGE for me.)

I don't think the change in head position has compromised my lower body position at all, because I could still feel my feet breaking the surface of the water a bit as I kicked. I've also found that with practice, I can now "press" my chest down into the water and improve the position of my legs.

I'm back at the pool tomorrow, so I may try shortening the rests a bit (not too much for now!) For the first time, I feel like I can actually do this, like it's an attainable goal. I'm SO happy!

(I need to post to Anne and thank her for posting about this!)

Tracey

ANNE:

I wanted to thank you for the tip on keeping the head a bit higher and looking forward. I tried it today and I did SO much better (see my post to Steve). I'm just so thrilled. It really made a huge difference for me to make this slight change in head position. I just can't get over it. I really feel like I can do the swim portion of the tri now. Thank you so much!

Tracey