Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 44)

ROGER -

That works, too!


By the way, it dawned on me today that several week ago I would tell you my trianing leading up to Half Vermont this past August. Um, er, uh............................I haven't done that yet, have I?

I will try to get to that within the next couple of days, okay?

JOHANNE -

Please see the above post to Roger, and please also accept my apologies for letting that one slide. (I'm sure it was you who also wanted to see how I undertrained for Half Vermont, and how I think i could've/should've done it better. Yes?)

Duncan,

I didn't even know you were racing! Congrats on accomplishing all your goals (on the dot, even, that deserves extra brownie points). Looking forward to reading your race report...unless you've already written one and I haven't gotten to it yet.

Kasia

Race report is almost ready... Its probably a little long winded, and maybe a bit disjointed.  I've added a paragraph here, then some later and so on.  Just waiting for race results to be posted so I can have accurate times in it.

Thanks for the prerace encouragement and post race hurrah's!  My legs are feeling pretty good now, and so am I.  My school has the 'teacher fitness evaluation' tomorrow.  Gonna have to wear my new shirt to that I think.

A little late to the party, but...

I, on the other hand, am a die-hard Steelers hater. Ever since they faced the Chargers in the AFC Championship in 1994 I've wished defeat on them every season. And then they were handed the Super Bowl by the officials when they played the Seahawks a few years ago (can't you tell I have an axe to grind?). It doesn't help the Steelers' case that the Seahawks are my second favorite team after the Chargers.

So now these playoffs leave me with cheering for the Packers and hoping they win this weekend, otherwise the Super Bowl won't be worth watching. It'll be the lesser of two evils at that point. I also dislike the Jets for some pretty vain reasons...such as, their uniforms are ugly. Hey, the girl part of me has to have a say in this football craziness sometimes

George,

You've unleashed a demon, that is, Steve and his shoe fetish. And I mean that in the nicest of ways because his shoe recommendations have been super helpful for me in deciding on a shoe. And now that I scroll down, I see he's already responded to you quite thoroughly.

As for his suggestion of going to a shoe store, I highly second that! I had the same problems as you about a month ago and finally went to a store around here that analyzed my run frame-by-frame with every shoe I tried. They were very helpful in helping me choose the right kind of shoe and almost immediately my self-diagnosed shin splints started hurting much less and eventually went away entirely.

The shoes they suggest may get a bit pricey, but you can always write down the model and search on amazon or www.endless.com (great deals on shoes and amazing return policy) for a super discount. I got a $130 pair of motion control shoes for $80, brand new.

Speaking of running stores, Road Runner Sports has a pretty intense gait analysis thingamabob where they check your arches and your running so I'd highly recommend that. They also give you a little sheet with all the info so then you can post it up here for all to read. Well, mostly so Steve can further suggest specific models from fancy to more bare-bones. I know I'm volunteering Steve for a lot here, but he seems to enjoy it.

I haven't read far enough ahead to see if you've already solved this problem or discussed it further, so pardon me if I'm a bit behind. I'm working on catching up.

Kasia

Adam,

You're getting all sorts of compliments. And this one from a guy from the Naval Academy?! Awesome!

Edited by augeremt 2011-01-18 7:52 PM

I had a great post and it erased somehow...

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and that I'm still here!  And GO PACKERS!!!

Edited by mrsostrowski 2011-01-18 8:04 PM

Daniel,

I may not be the best source of information as I skip workouts quite often for the exact same reason you stated, but in the past couple of months I've willed myself to get out the door. If I still don't want to do anything after a 15 minutes or so then I head home. Usually this happens with runs more than anything else, but for the most part I stay out and finish whatever I'm doing. By that point, it's not worth cutting it short. I've been working on forcing myself out the door lately instead of not doing anything and I'm finally getting to the point where I enjoy most everything I do, to a certain extent of course.

And if I miss something, then I just push my training schedule back a bit. So I technically don't miss the workout, but instead do it the next time I have a run planned. I'm doing Couch to 10k so there's a set plan of three runs a week for 13 weeks. If one week I do 2 runs instead of 3, then the next week I'll still do 3 runs, but they'll be a little off from the schedule. Sometimes I do 4 runs a week, but that depends on how I'm feeling. I don't force it anymore. I tried doubling up or just squeezing more workouts into the week when I missed one, but that led to some pretty bad shin splints and a lot of frustration. So I let it go and started over, and I'm feeling much better about this whole running thing.

In short, don't sweat a missed workout. Just focus on what's coming up next and make every effort to get out there and do it. And beers with the guys are not a bad thing sometimes. You need to unwind somehow.

Kasia

George,

Of the two tris I've done, neither allowed iPods, but I saw some people using them during the run, especially the slower people that I ran alongside. So I don't know if/how they enforce that, if at all.

Kasia

Haha! I like your friends and their method of "exercise" Glad to see you're feeling better.

Kasia

I have a question for the group. The stock saddle on my new bike is not going to cut it for longer rides. Does anyone have any recommendations for a women's style saddle that might be more comfortable? I've heard a couple of names thrown around but it would be nice to hear some first hand experience.
Thanks,
Johanne 

A question for the group.  My right hand gets numb very quickly on my bike; it doesn't matter whether it's a mountain bike, road bike, or tri bike.  I've tried every position of my hand i can imagine with no luck, interestingly enough the same positions never cause me an issue with my left hand.  The only physiological difference between right and left is decades of abuse to my right shoulder throwing footballs and baseballs (10's of thousands of throws a year playing and then coaching) that culminated two years ago with a complete rebuild of the rotator cuff, smoothing of bone spurs, and removal of 1 and 1/2 cm of the AC end of my collar bone.   Any suggestions?

Johanne--I hate my saddle, I had a stock Felt saddle I traded out for  Profile Design saddle, still miserable.  I did find that pushing the saddle back somewhat from my fit recommendation made a huge difference.  I'm not sure what difference that made in "correct" aero position etc. but it was the difference between being able to ride and not.  I also highly recommend DZNuts Bliss, good stuff!
Good Luck!  I will be interested in other responses.
Melinda 

I ride on a Terry Ti saddle. Love it. I was getting numb and sore in my saddle zone on standard saddles. Terry's seam to keep all the trigger point areas intact. 
BTW... I am supposed to go to my very first masters swim tomorrow. I admire that you've stuck with it! ...Can't stay the whole time due to work but I'm actually nervous! I have been swimming a few years now but still....I'm not very fast compared to some at the Y. Plus I have to teach as a sub tomorrow night - weight training class and it will be another first. So Wed will be a trying yet adventurous day  

Ok, last post of the evening. I hope, at least.

I kind of slacked on the workouts this weekend and wasn't able to get out on the bike on Monday because of work (bummer!), so I went for a run instead and it was hard hard hard! I forget what it's like to start running after sitting around for a month. I was doing 2' jog and 1' walk intervals x 7 and I was counting down the seconds for the run part to be over every single time. Oy. Lots of work left to do.

BUT, the big accomplishment of the week was making it to master's swimming this morning. I'm quite impressed with myself since it was still dark outside and my roommate had flaked on me. A short pep-talk while I was snoozing did the the trick and I'm so glad I went! The coach was super nice and I think I sold myself short when I told her I'm a beginner, slow, and my technique needs a bit of work, since she complimented me after the warm-up. I was pleasantly surprised.

After a pretty intense hour-long workout, she had me "cool down" with a 300 yd medley of strokes which included 3 x 25 of butterfly. I laughed in her face. Well, kinda. I think I forgot to mention to her that I've never been on swim team and essentially learned how to swim without any formal instruction. And my only knowledge of the butterfly is from watching the Olympics. I surprised even myself, because I was able to get my entire upper body out of the water for most of the length, with pseudo-decent form (the coach's words, not mine...I thought I was making a giant tidal wave with every stroke).

I didn't realize how much I'd actually swam til I added it up later in the day...after staying out of the pool for a good six months, my first time back was 1750 yds. Yikes! No wonder my arms and legs felt like jello when I was done. Even so, I am totally going back on Thursday.

Sorry that this is a bit boastful, but I am so proud of myself for actually doing this and wanting to come back for more. What a difference a year makes. Crazy!

Kasia

That's awesome Kasia!  Good job on what sounds like a tough swim workout!

Five mile run tonight. 8:2 run/walk ratio. I am actually getting slower for some reason. Starting out-very stiff especially in my calves. I am not too worried about it now, I hope that all this base conditioning and DIY injury rehab pays off when it matters.

Melinda,
A good fitting saddle is such a key component for a good ride. I'm looking forward to some responses too. Did you use the Profile Design saddle for IMAZ? That would of been a lot of training and a long race on a saddle that wasn't really comfortable!
Johanne 

Sarah,
I'm going to check out the Terry saddle. Something has to change Thanks!

Good luck with your masters swim. Sometimes it's nice to just go to a pool and swim your workout but on the other hand, I think I've pushed myself more since I've been going to masters. Hope you have fun. Teaching a weight training class is pretty cool too. Have a great Wednesay,
Johanne 

I have been using the Terry Butterfly Tri Gel Saddle:  http://www.terrybicycles.com/Saddles/Womens-Saddles/butterfly-tri-gel-saddle

The Terry got me through thousands of miles of training and IM WI with no issues.  I don't have a cast iron derriere and need some gel padding for comfort.  Great padding for the sit bones with this saddle.  Lots of ladies use this saddle or the road version of this saddle. 

Fortunately, many bike shops allow you to demo saddles which is what I would recommend.  Just like bike/tri shorts, you need to find something that works for you and is comfortable for the long haul.

I just got approved for unemployment so it is a bit less stressful.  I am not stopping the job search because the times between training are rather boring.




The weather was great today.  I hate when I am looking for my seeing glasses in the morning and I cant find them anywhere, only to give up and eventually look in a mirror  only to notice they are on my face.



Go back a few pages and read the inspiration/motivation I got from the group it helped me get back into the swing of things.  but dont worry you will get back into the the swing.






I have a RoadID but it still does not ease my fears of another vehicle bike accident.




This is pretty much the attitude I have taken up as of late last week.





I am feeling much better, so much better that I went for 23 mile bike ride tonight with some of my old cycling buddies. it was great!!

From my experience, you are either leaning too far forward or you are bending your wrist too much while you ride.  Try raising your handlebars a bit.  This might take a couple of tries to get right.  next time you ride, notice your hand position and how your wrist look.  If I am not in an Aero position, I have my hands to the side.  My thumbs are up and I am holding on to the side of my handle bars instead of my hands directly in front with the thumbs facing each other.   If this doesn't work, you may want to get a professional bike fit or gel gloves. 

Let me know how this works out for you. 

No, Steve, you didn't make a math error. First off..... you're a beast! Impressive array of time and diversity to your week. I've not looked at someone's log or seen a workout written down like you did so your numbers begged me to look closer. I was curious to know your average time spent in each discipline and it was interesting.

Hmmm.....you spent an average 35 minutes per swim session. I'm so slow it takes me that long just to warm up with 300 meters. Ha. I usually don't go to the pool unless I have an hour to give. Yesterday I did 90 minutes and felt really good. I'm still learning so I'll take your advice to Johanna and hope that next year I'm able to be faster.

Next thought....your strength training sessions last about 52 minutes. Wow – what all do you do in that time? I just added strength training per my swim instructor. She has me doing pull-ups, dips, rowing and some work with bands (all swim related muscles) – 3 sets of 10 reps and that takes me no time at all. I wonder if I should be doing more?

Another thought...you spent about the same on the bike and run per session. Did you do any one long session and then a couple shorter ones, or were they all about an hour? I think there's a way of looking at someones daily log on line but I've not hit that button. OK, I just went in and hit your “log” button and see I can answer that question on my own. Actually I can get the answer on my strength question since you've put what you work on in there. Cool beans!

The one thing that would be helpful to know which I don't see in your log, is what's your goals this year? What races are you planning? Are you focusing on sprints or endurance events? Again, just curious in light of how you're training. Maybe you answered that somewhere in the previous 1000 plus posts and I missed it – sorry if so.

Oh, and I'm curious to know what you have to say about the USAT ranking system, so I'll be all ears when you respond to George on that. This is the first time I'm ranked and I'm 353 out of 930 in my AG. I don't know what that tells me other than I need to work really hard to bump that up.

Thanks for the time you take for us, Steve, as you're a wealth of info and very helpful.

Our school was just put on a two-hour delay this morning because of ice. Yay for a change to the morning madness. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Laura - that happened to me last night, too. I'd written my long note to Steve and hit the "submit' button and then I got a funky message and it disappeared. GRRRRR. For the record, I liked my note last night better than the one I recreated this morn.

I agree.... Go Packers!