Prof40's Group -- Technically full but ... (Page 45)

I did it! I jumped in the lake today! Everything they say about wetsuits is TRUE! I love it! Just like wearing flippers, as it holds my legs up and makes me feel like I'm floating on top of the water (which I am). I was only in for 10 minutes, but it makes me feel MUCH better about the swim portion, as now I know I won't drown But man, lakes are really dirty!!! And you have to watch out for the crazy old men putting in pontoons--I swear they are blind!

Had a new patient yesterday who has a swimming pool in her yard and teaches swim, sort of, to her grandkids at least, and also has a bazillion work out things in her basement. Her son does the Tough Guy contest in LaCrosse. I didn't know such a thing existed. There are Tough Women, too, and a $1000 purse! It's in March, so I have 10 months to train. Contacted a fellow in Winona today who coaches boxing, but his gym is closed for the summer and reopens in September, which is perfect, as I'll be in CRAZY great shape by then! Don't worry, you get to wear head gear and a mouth guard. You use 16 oz gloves, which will take a bit to get used to (will have to go right out and get some) and your nose can still get broke, but mine is already crooked, so that's okay Million Dollar Baby ain't got NOTHING on Phoenix, here!!!!! Actually, there's a Billy the Blue inside me (except she won't fight dirty) so this chick is NOT a nice girl anymore--I'm a WARRIOR!!!

Off to bike now I'm okay, really.......I did weights again today and my upper body is improving, so that means MORE pushups!!! Yeah!!!

Suddenly Ironman Madison 2008 doesn't really seem that difficult.....hmmm........I really do think I can box, I just have to have a nice long conversation with my ex first and have my friend Tracy hold up his picture in the audience now and then. It'll be just like showing Red to a Bull! You all will HAVE to visit me in March and cheer me on! I'll give you the number for placing bets...........

I'm already registered for:

The MS 150 (a two day charity bike trek....and I'm trying to raise money for it, so if you would like to help me out, I appreciate it): June 9-10

MinneMan Sprint tri: June 30

Danskin Sprint tri (Chicagoland): July 8

Probably Turtleman Oly: Aug 11

Iron Girl Du: Sept 23

And now, probably, the half Marathon )

Go Androgenie, go!! Impressive race schedule!

The kids were out for track practice and I almost weenied out, but decided I better get used to running with other runners. I got not very far and had an asthma/anxiety thing cuz my arms went totally numb! God, I'm pitiful!! So, I quit that and ran up and down the hill there on the playground while the kiddos rolled down it (I tried it once and it was a blast but the grass made me all itchy). Then I tried doing pullups and flexed arm hangs. Try is the key word here. I can only hang for 10 seconds! Well, it was all fun anyway. I even tried the swings. And the little "rock" climbing deal.

My daughter gave me her Mother's day card and this is what she used for adjectives to describe me: "Tuf, beautiful, kissie, luvable, Witchy". I love it!

Can't wait for Mark's race report!! You will have to let us all know how Hong Kong rates on the best cities of the world scale?

I'm doing hills with my bike. There are plenty of them and only one got me. Not for long--the O'Clinton hill is MINE, baby, next time! Actually, the speed down hill still gets me. I'll get this down eventually.......

Been meaning to tell ya, Pene - your kid is cuter than a speckled pup in a little red wagon.

 Oh, and PS - please, what is a fartlek?  It sounds vulgar )

Edited by cmckee 2007-05-10 6:04 PM

I just love you, C! Bet you have one of those super charming Southern Lady voices that would charm a snake! Do you ever have a bad day? I want to eat whatever it is that you eat that keeps you able to do all that remodeling and still be happy!!

Well, as far as I know, Fartlek is a term to describe running on whatever you want--cross country, track, cement, dirt, sand, mud--and you sort of do intervals but it's not so much speed as just doing whatever you feel like doing. Knee ups, butt kickers, carioca (sort of a side winding cross your one leg over the other almost like dancing thing), sideways, skipping, running backwards, whatever you want! I just love the term because it sounds like something you shouldn't be able to write on here! I think the idea is to use your muscles differently on different surfaces and also get your proprioceptors going because your ankles will have to work differently on uneven ground and hills, or mud. And it's supposed to be fun and a nice change of pace.

The kids had freezer pops and sloppy joes for supper. It's finally in the 80's here and they are all hot now. Gotta go give them a bath now as they drew on eachothers bellies with marker and are all sticky from the freezer pops. I think my new approach to exercise--play with my kids--might just bring us some peace and be rather strength building! Can't do monkey bars, though--hanging there just makes my poor shoulders hurt!

been half reading and not really responded or sharing.
Will do some weekend catch up.
Androgenie- I was thinking of the Ryka Duo- how are you training for that? Is it full and if I do it can we finsish together so we are tie for last ( I have seen photo's those women look like they are BODY HARD CORE! were you and I are more mind hardcore) Quiana

back into it guys! went for my first ride in about 1 month today 2 mins or so short of my old time which im pretty happy with got my second tri on sunday

Well, I'm training for my tri's first. If I manage to do Turtleman, I ought to be fine for IronGirl. I don't think it's full....http://www.irongirl.com/bloomington/index-bloom.html ....doesn't look full. I'm assuming that they would have some sort of message on that page if they were!

You can certainly come in last place with me ) DFL < DNF < DNS. I'm excited for my season. I was hoping to do the Brewhouse Tri in Duluth, but I'm an avid bellydancer and I have to choose between a workshop with a well known dancer or Brewhouse :-) I'm really torn, especially because Brewhouse was the tri that got into my head first as "doable."

C--PUT DOWN that tuna can!!! I'm afraid you'll glow from mercury, soon. I can't do more than one can a week and I'm totally SICK of the stuff! Nice to hear from ya, girl. Love that southern girl sense of humor.

Androgenie--how cool is it that you belly dance, too! I started doing that while pregnant to develop birthing muscles. You will find it helps your run a lot, too! I'd be rather torn between the two events as well! And you and BGT will NOT be the last to finish. Geesh, you two have tons of talent and gumption!

Okay, here's your Velma lesson for the week! I have like 4 degrees and a bunch of alphabet soup behind my name, so I do study this stuff--can't help it! Prof, I know speed isn't supposed to matter, but it DOES! The research I found says there are slow twitch, fast twitch and super fast twitch muscles. To develop speed, you must put down more of the fast and super fast twitch muscles which have atrophied by the time we are 20. (Unless you were a chubby asthmatic couch potato kid not living in her body 90% of the time--that would be ME--so I never had any fast or super fast twitch muscles!). BUT, you can develop them! I can attest to that--my boxing SPEED is getting MUCH better, and for a woman, speed with the punch is everything! So, your pylometrics help with speed for the run, but you just plain have to practice explosive starts and just run faster and ANAEROBIC.

The speed/muscle interval bike deal I wrote out for you all many many pages ago is great for getting your fast twitch and slow twitch leg muscles to work together for improved biking. I imagine, if you do the fastest runs followed by longer slower runs all in the same session, you would get your running muscles to do the same thing for you.

Anyway, another thing to develop speed is to strengthen your HIP FLEXORS! Namely, the psoas, iliacus and a few others whose names escape me right now. There are no machines at a gym that address these muscles unless you have a hip rotator machine at yours. BUT, women tend to try to address these muscles more often than men (and I think it has to do with certain postures that we use during.....um......certain "wrestling" type activities with sig. others--just think about it for a moment). You can address these muscles by using resistance bands, too. I'll let you know more about it when I get the $27 book and bands. ( I know, Prof, I know....you can take away my debit card if you want, I fully admit I have a problem with investing in fitness, but I'm calling it a write off cuz it's exercises I can give to my patients!!!).

Okay, kiddos! Have a great day enjoying shakes, sunrises and sore bums from biking (mine is a bit sore now--LOVE IT!!!) It means I'm finally sort of a little bit becoming that biker chick I always wanted to be but thought I couldn't!!

Hey Pene, there is a really great and simple to follow training plan for free on runnersworld.com- its called Smart Plan because you actually enter data about yourself and then it gives you times that you should be training at. You enter your last "race time" but I just used a good mile time and then how much you train now and then you can choose your "long run" day and exactly how many weeks till your race. It then spits out a program with recommended training paces and a week by week slow increase. I used it for my half marathon training and it was exactly the right amount of time for me to run.
While you are there, check out Kristen Armstrongs blog- she writes about running, being single mom, etc,- recent posts havent been as good but earlier ones are better.

Its just another one to look at but I think you might get bored just doing 1 of 2 weekly plans, and this is a great plan for those who really want to avoid injury and build slowly.

Question for Prof: How do you mix training for tri's with training for a running race? I have a few sprints scheduled for the summer after my big olympic tri in 6 weeks- but my half marathon is end of October. I currently am running 3x week tri-trainingn but ran 4x week when I did my half-marathon training- Should I just start increasing my long runs towards the end of the summer? My last tri could potentially be in September.

So, Im toying with the idea of entering the lotto for the New York Marathon, its on November 4th- my birthday! I have a few girlfriends who are thinking about it too but they are much better runners than me. The half marathon was excruciating but I had fun. I think if I lost a bunch of weight, a full marathon would be more realistic. I guess I could always walk half of it but that sounds awful to me too. Its about 2 weeks after my half marathon in San Fran- Prof do you think that would be ok timing wise or too soon?

Thanks Liz, I'll check that out for sure!

I'm not prof, but it seems to me that you are already trained for a Half, so I would go ahead and enter the lottery and just train this summer for a full and use your half with the hills as a long run and just do a 20 mile run some time in there and you should be set!

There's an endurance seminar May 21 and I plan to go and talk with the folks there and see how to balance a training plan to include tri training and even boxing training and weights because it IS a lot! And you have to rest some time in there to get stronger and not wear out. I'll certainly let you all know what I find out. It's a 3 hour deal with talks and then you break out into groups to work with the UWL students and make up your personal plan. And it's free, except for the babysitter and gas.....

Beautiful view!! Guess maybe I'd ride that far to see that view, too!

What's your stallion's name? I think it deserves one

Hi

Well, it is the day before my Hong Kong tri and I’m papping myself as you would imagine. Kick off is at 0900 and, at 0730 it is already hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk. Except that in this humidity (hovering between 70 and 90%) you would be poaching them instead! All is looking good for a quick sprint. The organisers have suggested a winning time of 1hr 45 mins which either indicates that this is very amateur (similar distance finishing times in the UK are around 1hr 10mins) or that a degree of local knowledge as to the effects of the heat, humidity and terrain. Naturally I suspect the latter but will compete as if I am enduring a rainy day in Yorkshire, rather than a bike section through the doors of Hades itself.

As to Hong Kong I feel that I should put down a few words as to what it is like for t hose who haven’t been. Those who have may recognise some of this.

Hong Kong was ceded to the UK after a particular proud moment in our history when we were the worlds most successful drugs dealers and we kept it until ’97 when, to the great surprise of the Chinese, we handed it back as we said we would. During our 150 year occupancy we turned it into beacon of capitalism at the outer most reaches of our empire. It is made up of a series of small islands and a chunk of China itself and rises out of the sea, seemingly only anchored to the ground only by the vast skyscrapers that are on every available square foot of flat land.

My office is in Wan Chai, an area of Hong Kong famed for its bars, hookers, parties and nightlife. During the hours of daytime it is a bizarre blend of high end car showrooms and home improvement store creating the impression that were you to want to install a three piece suite into your Lamborghini this is the place to which the world flocks. At about five in the afternoon the bars open and the parties begin ending only in time for the human detritus to be hauled away to make way for the plumbers fitting bidets to Ferrari 360s.

One of the enduring images of Wan Chai is of the ladies of indeterminate age who loiter outside the dance bars enticing (I’m afraid to say largely western) customers inside. In the same way that entire civilisations have been constructed on the back of the ability of elderly women to carry more than their own body weight (see Greece if you need a reference point), Wan Chai bars rely entirely on the inhuman ability of a 173 year old Chinese woman to pick up all 432 lbs of Claude Feetleburger from Illinois by the elbows and carry him bodily into the darkened interior of Bottoms Up. A true martial art if ever I saw one.

Moving west from Wan Chai one gets very quickly into the truly Chinese suburbs of Hong Kong. The area where every inch is made up of a business (many with hilarious names if, like me, you find smut amusing) and is the engine room of Hong Kong. Here is done the laundry for the hotels, the printing houses, the telecoms support businesses, IT supplies and so on. I bought myself a new pair of swimming goggles (having again left my previous pair at the pool) and to do so I went to the fifteenth floor of an apartment block where, instead of finding an opium den as the environment suggested, I found just over 30,000 sq ft of scuba diving gear, wet suits, fully inflated zodiac speedboats (with engines attached) and, and this sums up Hong Kong, rack after rack of pyjamas!

Going east from Wan Chai and one gets to Central, the mid levels and beyond that, Western where there be dragons. Central is an emporium of chrome and glass skyscrapers occupied by names we all know; Citibank, HSBC, Bank of America, PCCW (formerly Cable and Wireless) and pretty much every law and accountancy firm one could think of. This is ex pat central. Brits rub shoulders with Australians who rub shoulders with Europeans who rub shoulders with Americans who rub shoulders with Scandinavians. Virtually unrepresented are Indians who, it seems dislike the Chinese as much as the Chinese dislike them. As a result of the cultural and ethnic mix this is one of the best places in the world for a truly global dining experience. I one street you can eat your way from breakfast in England (courtesy of the Flying Pan), through Italy for lunch and into Asia for early dinner followed off with Australian for post beer dining. The Outback restaurant in Central is completely empty until about midnight when it fills up with Aussies and South Africans all looking for food like their old mums used to make (basically huge chunks of beef, deep fried popcorn shrimp and vast plates of fried onion rings and potato skins).

In between time you can visit every possible shopping experience you can imagine and yes, my new best friend, Kent Wong, runs one of Hong Kong’s three very successful triathlon shops!

I mention that in Western there be dragons. http://www.nkgw.ics.keio.ac.jp/~konishi/img/Travel/HongKong/WebPhot... is a picture of a hotel in Repulse Bay where a hole has been left in the middle of the hotel for the local dragon to fly down unimpeded from the mountains to the water front.

Whilst not quite the best city in the world (that accolade must go to Cape Town in ’94) it is still a candidate for the top five.

Incidentally, having travelled the world several times I would rank the top five (and they are purely personal) as:

1. Cape Town immediately following the democratic elections in ’94.
2. Annecy in France during the summer.
3. Barcelona, Spain in the autumn.
4. New Delhi
5. Moscow in the winter.

Places where to where I would like to go to see if they would change my current list:

1. Sydney.
2. San Francisco
3. Vancouver
4. Tokyo
5. Charleston, Carolina.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know and I am happy to add them to my list.

Turning to my training I have found a swimming pool where I have been lapping most mornings and have scammed gym membership in one of Hong Kong’s finest gyms where, over the last couple of days, I have been going to spin classes religiously. My day has looked something like this: 0630, swimming, 0800 office, 1200, spin class, 1330, office, 1830 spin/body-pump and run back to the apartment. I haven’t logged any of these as I’ve been a bit busy but I’m going to do that tomorrow assuming I survive my tri!

A quick word about my apartment, it is small, the shower reaches to my nipples so to wash my hair I have to sit down and I can reach everything from my sofa. It is like being a student again. I do, however, have a lizard who has taken up residence with me. He may have the more superior colouring and ability to catch insects but I have the edge on him intellectually and I think he knows it.

I’ll drop in a race report tomorrow.

PS I haven't found any scales yet but (having tempered all that exercise) with several expense account splurges, I don't think that I have lost (or gained) anything. As soon as I get to some scales, I'll post the honest truth.



Edited by Mark Stanley 2007-05-11 11:12 PM

Hey Malphh

What time is your tri on Sunday and what distance have you got? Mine starts at 0900 Hong Kong time and is 750 open water, 15km off road bike and 5.5km run.

Mark

What about "Chunder Thunder". Fab looking beasty.

Mark

Thank you Mark. I love hearing about far off places. Especially liked the part of where there be dragons. Noah has an extensive dragon collection including a dragon skull (from Design Toscano!) and a big chunk of polished granite with a fine dragon etching. He studies Dragonology and wants someday to be a Mythologist, as one day he asked what he'd be called if he took up the Study of Magical Creatures! So, being rather "Witchy" as my daughter proclaimed in her mother's day card to me (not to forget "Tuf"!), I totally indulge his dragon fetish. Micah has everything Faery and Mose is a Spiderman nut (and Hulk, batman, etc.).

Sounds like you have been working out quite hard, so I hope you didn't wear yourself out, but sometimes I just think one needs that for mental purposes. You will do GREAT and we can't wait to hear all about it!

Now Malph is another story! How that boy does these races while logging nothing much more than fishing, I don't know. Must be the blooming onions for breakfast or the Aussie genes! Go get 'em, Clint!

Rob, it's always a great idea to check out the course ahead of time. That's where I'm headed today, having respite from my magical kiddos from my Mum who is here for Mother's Day weekend! She's feeding us full of her fantastic cooking (did I mention I didn't get that gene?)and salmon that Grandpa Larry caught in Lake Michigan last week!!! I'm realizing that your bike's name is "Stallion", correct? (blonde moment on my part) I do hope within a year you treat yourself to a tribike, as if anyone deserves one, it would be you! If you are used to speed in a racecar, then you deserve to have it on a bike. I on the other hand, am older and have dropped my insurance (too bleeping expensive and I'm a rebel!) so I take everything rather cautiously these days. But, I would love to do a Criterium some day before I die just to experience the thrill of it! It's now on my list along with skydiving (and I spotted a tandem jump "airport" near Appleton!) I was all set to do a tandem jump the morning I discovered I was pregnant with Noah. I opted to not risk a miscarriage, as I had already lost twins that way and couldn't live with it if I caused such a thing. Maybe I'll get some insurance first........

Yeah! I did it! I survived my 17 mile bike course. Made it up all the hills, even the "lung busting" one and no one hit me (those county roads are mighty busy these days). My time was 90 minutes, which was my goal for the first time, even though I rode the brakes down each hill, cuz I'm still chicken, and let myself stop about 5 times to gulp water, as I'm not yet coordinated enough to drink while still pedaling on the bike. I did NOT pee on my bike, but sure had to go bad by the time I got back. And I drove right past Linda's Bakery (known around these parts for their excellent everything sugary and bad for you) and went to Subway instead. I still have almost a whole month to get better on the bike and to get used to the course and hills. BUT, when I got home I tried to run, and only made it 1.55 miles before deciding enough was enough for one day. It's gonna take me the whole month to gain enough endurance to add the rest of the run and the swim onto this!!! Yikes!! However, I know that I am NOT relaxed on the bike yet AT ALL and my arms were all rubbery from overgripping from the sheer nerve of it all. If I can learn to relax better, that will give me lots more energy. Perfect weather though--about 68 degrees And now I know I can do the bike part. Whew!!

Jeanette--where the heck are you girl??? I miss you!! I thought of you doing 30 mile group rides and using your aerobars on your phoenix!! Hope you are doing okay.

And I think I scared poor Sean off by flirting with him--you know I was kidding, right??? I have flirt genes galore, but I'd never seriously hit on a married dude. How are you surviving the Florida humidity? You'll have to do another tri soon, as after your last one we could catch a buzz off you!!!

Helen--is this the weekend of your Half? Go Helen Go!!!!

Have a great rest of the weekend! And call your Mum if you haven't already

Got my second tri today---- thoughts... AWWW man i wish i went to bed earlier and actually did some training! haha. I got some muscle manipulation done the other day and feel so much better for it even tho it hurt like hell!
Its less then 2 hours before my next tri and im a little nervous due to the lack of training but if i can do it on this small amount of training and large amount of playing up drinking and carry on at weddings and stuff then it will make me all the more confident of what i can do when i "set my mind to something"


nervously waiting!

malphh