brick94513-GoGoGo Mentor Group - Closed For Now! (Page 43)

norcal_SAHD - 2010-05-12 7:18 AM
anyone else tried running without socks?  How long did it take to get used to it?

norcal_SAHD - 2010-05-12 7:18 AM

anyone else tried running without socks?  How long did it take to get used to it?

brick94513 - 2010-05-12 9:02 AM

Question for Trina or anyone with orthotic experience.  I currently wear a stability plus shoe for running to help with pronation.  However, if you go with orthotics, are you then able to switch to a neutral shoe with the correction coming from the insole?

brick94513 - 2010-05-12 2:05 PM I thought this article was interesting after some of our recent discussions:

Searching for Confidence

By Dr. Mitchell Greene

If you are new to triathlon, or are racing a new distance this season, one thing is certain: if you search too long and too far for confidence — triathlon's Holy Grail — you may be missing a key element to winning triathlon's mental game. As it turns out, a lack of confidence may not be your problem, and trying to "find confidence" may be a waste of your time and energy.

Consider Cathy, who was training for her first triathlon, but who rarely swam as a youth, and never in open water.  When she and I met, she was literally shaking as she waited for her local tri club's open-water swim clinic to begin. Cathy stated emphatically that she had "zero confidence." I smiled and replied, "Perfect, because you don't need confidence to swim." I also added that swimming in Philadelphia's Schuylkill River on a chilly July morning hardly inspired confidence in even the most seasoned athletes. The truth of the matter is that Cathy had little reason to feel confident, having never done anything similar before. Yet, she was expending so much mental energy trying to "get confident" that she was feeling defeated and exhausted before she even dipped a toe into the water.

I asked Cathy to focus instead on the word "willingness" instead of confidence. Willingness, I explained, is something she could do something about. She could ask herself three key questions: Are you willing to have a good swim but maybe not a great one? Are you willing to feel incompetent if that's the way you feel? Are you willing to reconnect with the purpose behind your triathlon goal rather than worrying about how to banish thoughts and feelings over which you have little direct control?

Unexpectedly, Cathy's eyes welled up with tears as she saw that her tension and fear were less about swimming than about the perfectionistic standards she always placed on herself. Once Cathy "got it," she rejoined the group, and asked a tri club member to stay by her side as they entered the water. When she exited the water, having completed her first open-water swim, she allowed the tears to flow as she experienced a healthy release of tension.

Cathy and I joked that now, when she didn't need it anymore, she actually felt some of the confidence she had wanted. More importantly, Cathy said she faced something about herself that she needed to face if she was going to actually enjoy triathlon.

If you make a commitment to stop trying to prove yourself, and you're willing at any moment to give yourself the breathing room to enjoy your participation in the sport, you'll have a much more enjoyable experience than if you futilely sitting around waiting for confidence to develop.

croixfan - 2010-05-12 7:29 PM

Great stuff that I put to use this PM.  Yesterday's swim workout absolutely sucked.  Could not breath, could not float, muscles hurt.  Very frustrating.  Today I relaxed and just took your advice to have a good swim and not worry about how it went.  Just give it a nice relaxed effort.   Worked on drills and form.  Stretching out, rotating hips, breathing out under the water.  At the end of 20 laps (1000 m) felt great and had my best session in the pool ever.  Actually managed to swim 100m non-stop after the first 750m and was not really gassed.  I've lined up some swim lessons starting next month.  Hopefully by that time I'll be pushing out to 200m.  Thanks for sharing! 

BigH2OChief - 2010-05-12 5:51 PM Today was another Encinitas course preview... and when I arrived it was like the Race Expo came a few days early(?).  The Transition Area was full of Tri-Bikes of all sorts as well as Runners exiting and entering the course.  Around the perimeter of Moonlight Beach the Race Organizers were starting to set up fencing and no parking signs... and down at the beach there were about a dozen swimmers training (in small and mushy 3' surf ).

So today was a another brick for me (No Transitions).  The winds were off-shore though so I had a tailwind on the out leg (sort of downhill) and a headwind on the back leg which consists of a couple real low grade climbs (which none-the-less smack you in the mug).  These winds also cramped my style in the downtown portion of the bike/run course around the buildings.  So I am hoping for off-shore winds on race day as I have performed better fighting the winds outbound and enjoy having the breezy nudge on the return.

Training log for today is updated and tomorrow evening is the TCSD OWS at De Anza Cove.  If I can snake a trip up to Camp Pendelton in the  morning I may get my toes wet at Encinitas too.  Also tomorrow is PMCS on my Bike and gear shakedown inspection.  I'm getting friggin' excited... It's almost race day BABY!

Regarding "Socks"... Well I'm a low impact - low mileage kind of guy so I always run/ride without socks (accept on my MB).  I wear Zoot TT and Asics Gel Nimbus and use a dab o' "Booty Sweat" on the back of both to fend off blisters.

GoGoGo - 2010-05-13 3:12 PM

OK, looks like everyone is tired...No posts today!!!!!

I went to pool this morning...feel like I am "on top of the water".  This is much better.  My breathing is still a problem.  This is very difficult to master!

Went for Slice for 30k ride, hilly, but fun.  Sun was out.  Few downhill stretches, tucked in aero...flying down road...Wheee  Wheee   The fun.  Reminds me of childhood.   Gotta say, I like cycling.  It is probably my favourite.  My climate limits my time cycling, this is probably why I value it so much!!!

Hope you guys return from retirement!!  

norcal_SAHD - 2010-05-13 4:36 PM

I ran again today.  One hour.  It's becoming my favorite sport (if you can call running a sport...).  I'm still having a really hard time finding the love for road riding, it just doesn't really do it for me.  Maybe a real road bike would help, but I am really looking forward to getting back out on the MTB trails.  I haven't even ridden a bike at all yet this week, not good!!

norcal_SAHD - 2010-05-13 2:36 PM I ran again today.  One hour.  It's becoming my favorite sport (if you can call running a sport...).  I'm still having a really hard time finding the love for road riding, it just doesn't really do it for me.  Maybe a real road bike would help, but I am really looking forward to getting back out on the MTB trails.  I haven't even ridden a bike at all yet this week, not good!!

Meulen - 2010-05-13 2:53 PM



Road bike won't help that much, it's still boring. I just think of it as a "ways to a means". Where I live it's a weekend trip to get to any good MTB'ing. If I get the road miles in I'm that much faster in the trails. Unfortunately, sometimes that leaves my technical skills on the MTB lacking!!!

shmeeg - 2010-05-13 6:08 PM



Try finding a group to ride with maybe?  In my limited experience, I have found riding w/ others makes it much more fun.

brick94513 - 2010-05-13 8:33 PM Yep. MIA today. I thought I would have Richard tow the line for a while! Haha! No actually, I went on a long ride today. Seven hours in the saddle left me a little beat. Then off to Costco with the family to stock up the pantry. Finally, I'm sitting at my oldest son's baseball practice right now.

BigH2OChief - 2010-05-14 2:00 AM TCSD OWS at De Anza Cove tonight.  We did swim stroke evaluations and I was moved up to the "fast group" (even though my Time Trial was 35 seconds over the cutoff last week).  I guess the Coach thinks my technique is good enough to be the slowest guy in the group... yeah, I feel challenged.  ha-ha!

After that we moved on to Intervals (with MASS Beach starts and 200 yard sprints added to the finishes)... Yaaaay!  After an hour of that I dont think I'll be making the 5:30 AM Encinitas Swim Course preview tomorrow morning.  Go ahead... Call me a wuss!