kenj group - Closed (Page 5)

Hey folks, today I'm off from work and have a million things to do!  

 I think my challenge will be keeping my body from falling apart.  My left shoulder has been bugging me for about 2 weeks and my knees are acting up more than usual.  All the aches and pains are making it hard to fall asleep at night and I'm in the prep phase of training!!!  

 My husband is in medicine and is giving me advice, but I think when I get health insurance (soon hopefully!) I'm going to ask a PCP about a prescription pain med.  My stomach isn't liking all the Aleve and I can't ice as often/as long as I'd like/need to.

I've looked over the Olympic Run Focused 20 Week plan and think that might be a good choice for me.  I won't have any problem with the bike or the run at startup, but the swimming - ????.   A June 21 race date puts me starting the plan around the end of February, so I'd have two months to get up to speed.  I would probably start the program a week early since I know I'll have some days off for other bicycling events.  That still gives me almost two months to focus on swimming and strength training to get ready for the program.  How does that sound?

also...   when I preview the plan all it shows is xx minutes per day per discipline.  When I import it does it have more information (intervals, effort, etc.)?

Unfortunately what you see in the 2 week preview is what you get, for the most part.  If you read the plan preview you can get some of the logic behind it, but in a nutshell; most of the plans at the bronze level are for relative rookies to the sport.  They are designed to get you to the finish line safely.  Thus they are strictly volume oriented.  The assumption is that all of the workouts will be done at a safe Z1/Z2 if you train by heart rate or at a conversational level.  

Hey guys just checking in.  A bit of an update.  For the last 2-3 weeks I have been having this BAD pain in my glute and upper hamstring.  Thought at first it might be a pull but have now discovered it's a pinched sciatic nerve.  Nothing will make you feel old than saying the term "sciatica"

It does not hurt when I run so went out for a 3 miler the other day (just to test the waters) and everything seemed OK.  Until the next day... OMG what pain.

After going to the chiro yesterday it's a little better.  I'll be fine for 80% of the time then I'll shift the wrong way (or when I get up from a seated position) it just screams and shoots down my entire leg.

If the chiro does not help over the next week I'm going to see the PT that solved my IT band issues to see what she can do.  Of course being up all night in the lazy-boy with a 4 week old infant is not helping issues any

In the mean time I feel kind of stuck.  I want to run but know I need to heal.  Have not tried swimming in a couple of weeks so maybe that won't hurt as much.

One a related note I and a few frineds are doing the 100 pushu ps challenge.  Looks like fun...

http://hundredpushups.com/

Good to hear from you! I was getting worried we had lost you!  I know with pinched nerve issues it is a frustrating and at times painfull experience.  I know when I had a pinched nerve in the neck, I did better with the PT folks than the Chiro so I wouldn't wait too long if it doesn't improve.

Do what you can, when you can and we'll be here to help you through it.

One of the very few advantages of not being teenager anymore is the wisdom to know when to back off a bit.  Go get some help and heal up, it's early in the year and you'll have plenty of time to train.  I lost eight weeks of cycling last year to hernia surgery so I know how frustrating it can be.  I also know it is a lot easier to give that advice than to take it. 

The push up challenge looks interesting.  I think I may do that.  Thanks for the link.

I saw that 100 pushup challenge thing on the challenge forum.  Even printed out the workouts and did the initial test.  Just never started doing the actual workouts.  Anyone else want to do it with me so I can have a little extra motivation to get started?  I need help as my initial test was a mighty 15. 

 TriRSquared-Sorry to hear about your injury but at least with it being early January hopefully you will have plenty of time to heal up. 

Thanks guys...

I'm starting the pushups challenge today.  Did my inital a few days ago and it came in at 16-1/2

40 degrees! That is shorts weather!

As far as which plan, that is somewhat of a personal choice.  I have heard of Ironfit, and read some great success stories of people training on his plans.  I think, if I am not mistaken, his plans tend to be season long plans (read longer) than the plans here.  But I beleive what he has done is taken a base building period prior to the race prep, which you could do here by tieing various plans together.

For us self coached atheletes, choosing a plan is similar to a coached athelete choosing a coach.  Whether from a book or online, these plans are generally written by qualified coaches and the plans reflect thier opinions and princeples on training.  Although I am currently using a plan outside of BT for the off season, I like the plans here and will use one of them for my A race again this year.  You need to access what your goals are for the race, what your available time for training is, and how long you can focus on a particular plan.  20 weeks on one plan versus 32 weeks is a big differance and can impact the quality of your training towards the end of the training plan, when you can least afford to lose the focus.  Once you are comfortable with these things, find a plan that matches the best.  One of the nice things about BT is the variety of the plans available, especially once you hit the silver level membership.  I have loaded plans, tried them for a week or so and replaced them with another because it just wasn't the right one for me.

Your last statement is the key to success regardless of which plan you choose.  No plan is worth the paper it is written on if you fail to follow it with consistancy.  Life is going to get in the way, whether it is family, work, or just recovering from sickness or injuries.  But, the closer you get to following the plan as written, the greater the chance of exceeding your expectations come race day!

Thanks for checking up on me after my little spill yesterday!  Nothing more than a bruised ego today (a city bus was going by as I was stumbling forward trying to right myself up).  I landed on my left hip and used my left hand to stop myself, so I'm impressed (and lucky) that I didn't have more issues today.

 TOMORROW IS A DAY OFF. HURRAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!

 I'm actually really happy with the past week of training using the BT free HIM program.  I LOVE that it uses RPE instead of distance.  I tend to push myself to get through the miles or the yardage, but now, at an RPE of 2 or 3, I find that I can focus a lot more on my form and recover with some vim and vigor after the workout. 

Any info on good diets (by diet I mean choices of food, not weight loss) would be appreciated. I find myself getting into ruts where I eat the same 5 or 6 things over and over.  Then your body goes into rejection mode and craves the bad stuff. 

If it's too big to post here or you cannot figure it out let me know and I can host it on one of my servers.

That's nice of you to offer the help!  Nutrition can be a challenge (I know for me it is!).

Not bad so far.  I haven't been on the bicycle yet but hope to do that tonight on the trainer.  Friday may allow for some outdoor riding.  I've had a little bit of pain in my groin but it feels much better today, so I'll do some weight training but will probably minimize the squats.

I did the push up challenge initial test and plan to start on that on Friday.  Looks like a good way to increase upper body strength without spending too much time on it.  I've just got to figure out how to schedule it properly with the weight training and not over do.

On the swimming front...  I've joined a center that has a lap pool ($25 / year - not bad) and the trainer who did my V02 max testing is also a swim coach.  He's agreed to come up to the pool a couple of times to help get my initial form figured out.  I'm planning on doing that sometime next week.

I'll stay on the treadmill for several more days trying to get a faster pace planted in my head before I take to the roads again.  I've really gotten into just shuffling along out on the roads.  I don't see any reason I can't run a 10K in the 8's instead of the 10's. 

When do I start dropping weight and developing that six-pack set of abs?  I'm waiting......

Getting back into the routine after the cruise.  Managed to average 21 mph for a 30 minute ride on the trainer last night.  First few times on the trainer I was more in the 18s.  Running tonight and off to the pool tomorrow. 

I do have a quick question for the group.  I bought my tri bike in September.  Its a Giant Trinity and is all stock so far.  I am thinking about upgrading the wheels as I know the stock wheels are very heavy, 2000 grams+.  I have been looking at the Neuvation wheels as they seem to be a good value.  Anyone have any input?  I am not looking to spend a ton, maybe $300 range.  Thanks

Sorry, I'm no help either.  I'm just a lowly road bike guy riding Mavic Ksyrium.
 

Congrats on the pushup challenge! Great way to force yourself to do them!

Great job on the getting set up with a place to swim, but especially finding someone to evaluate your stroke!

I'm glad to hear I am not the only one that uses the t-mill to force the pace.  That is one of the things I like about my Garmin is the pace function. 

 I ALWAYS use the pace alarm on my Garmin.  It give sme that extra push when I start to get tired towards the end of the run.

I'm not familiar with that particular wheel.  I'm still riding the stock wheels that came on my Trek tri bike.  Although I would like to upgrade the wheels, I would rather wait and do it when I can add a power meter first or at the same time.  Besides, as far as weight savings goes, I have more to lose than my bike weighs so I figure I better work on that first!

If you want some feed back I would suggest posting the question in the gear review forum.  If anyone has had experience with them, you will get good feed back.  If the quality is good, it sounds like a decent price considering the number of $1000.00 plus wheel sets I see advertised!

I did a quick google for Neuvation Wheel Review and came up with this link:

http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/wheels/wheelsets/neuvation-cycling/PRD_323658_2490crx.aspx

I don't know if it is the same model, but I am sure if it isn't you can do a search on it. I was curious to find out what they were all about.  It looks like they were mostly positive though!