Eli's Getting Ready for the Season Group-CLOSED (Page 5)

Eli- My shoulder is getting slowly better. Thanks for asking.

It's weird...the pains have changed significantly.  I occasionally have sharp "reminders" at the bottom of my deltoid/top of my bicep.  All of the aches and tightness and pain with my supraspinatus is mainly gone, and my flexibility is back to nearly matching the other shoulder, but i'm left with this bicep/deltoid pain.  Sigh.  More ice.  Keep stretching.  Until the sharp pains subside I think its still to early to try to strengthen with exercises.

I ran 4 miles yesterday, did P90 Abripper again. Still a bloodbath.

I need to find a swim suit (any suit) and goggles.  That's today's goal.

Colby, give it time, you can't force yourself in the water like you can on the bike and run.

Tanya, ouch...sharp pain at the lower delt/top bicep....that sounds weird. When I hurt my rotator, it was much higher. Having flexibility back is good. Maybe try some tennis ball rolling to see if it is an adhesion you can break up.

Grant, keep up the motivation. The one thing I always try to do is never go more than 3 days without at least 30 minutes of something to keep me motivated.

I love Mr. Smooth.  I used the video my son took of me and compared my positions with Mr. Smooth positions to help see where I was going off the reservation on my form.  It really helped.  Also, work on only one or two things at a time.  Trying too much at once just clouds the issue as there are too  many moving parts.

Thunder thighs and bubble butt here.  They served me very well in hockey and football, but not so much for endurance sports.  I'm only 5' 10" so I can't relate to the 6'x" part!

So, to change it up a little from last season, I signed up for trainer sessions at the gym this year.

I didn't do any weight workouts aside form basic body weight stuff like pushups and core work last year.

So, this year, I am looking to do one day a week of weights to help support my core, legs and back.

So, today, I worked out with a trainer...and WOW. We did some basic core stuff, which was pretty easy and then mountain climbers.

Remember those? Well, he had me do 2 sets of 30 seconds and then tried to get me to do a set of 45 secs. I couldn't make it to 45. My HR got up to 168 and I collapsed.

Then, after the rest of a pretty good varied workout, we did walking lunges. He gave me two 40 lb dumbells and had me walk across the racquetball court.

10 one way and 10 the other for 3 sets.

By the second set, my hamstrings were screaming! You could have used them to play banjo.

I am hoping that this will lead to better form late on the run, as it is your core that supports this.

In the meantime, it made my mile swim after into an interesting challenge. My shoulders were still sore from pulldowns and the darn mountain climbers.... 

Hi All and Happy Wednesday!

Attended swim class yesterday morning - we're incredibly lucky to have a great Masters swim class and coach that charges just $6.50 for a drop in session.  I attended his clinic in March, and one thing he said that has proven true:  I had to swim three times a week to see any improvement.  Twice a week just wasn't enough, and that's what I had been doing.  I committed to the third workout and it's finally started to click.  I'm not fast (the fact that I participate in a Masters class just cracks me up) but I have definitely gotten stronger and worked out a lot of the breathing paranoia that I had in January.

Spin class this morning and then mile repeats at the track tonight.  We only did three mile repeats, but they were faster than any recorded mile I had ever done before by nearly 1 minute.  I've been done for two hours and still have a goofy smile on my face. 

Tomorrow morning is yoga, then 30 mile ride tomorrow night.  Hope to get some good sleep too.

Cheers,
Michele

I cringe when i hear the word mountain climbers. In MC Boot Camp we did them religously. We did what was called "Gettin Smoked" Bascially the DI's PT you to death in either the front of the squad bay or outside in the "sand box" in the hot hot hot muggy summer of South Carolina.  Sometimes the mountain climbers would carry on for 5+ minutes.  Thats also mixed in with jumping jacks, push-ups sit-ups and other painfully awesome stuff. I would give anything to do bootcamp over. Best 13weeks of my LIFE! Period.

And yes, i know i'm sick in the head :-)

Michele, Way to go on the miles! I love that feeling of hitting a new "Best"

Nick, you are sick, but that type of stuff does work!

 Colby, way to go on working that swim. It will pay off soon.

In my experience, I’ve found that if I have my head positioned so that it's facing straight down and slightly looking forward (maybe5-10degrees) it helps with leveling out my body. Think of your body on a rotisserie. It's much more streamline with your head pointed down and rotating form the hips and using a nice easy flowing kick. 

That’s how i swim and have become pretty proficient at it. Others may chime in with different ideas

There's no doubt that head and chest position largely determine where your legs end up.  It seems counter intuitive, but try pushing your chest into the water, and then experiment with head and face position as Nick mentioned.

THeir descriptions may seem a bit abstract to imagine so give yourself time with those changes. Also it might just be your body, I have chicken legs and almost no body fat so I don't float worth a damn. The legs are always sinking.

That is certainly a large part of it I think, I was getting better results in my pool last night messing around with the chest tip, but I need to kick a lot to keep my legs up.  I am trying to concentrate on doing it in a very energy efficient way as opposed to kicking furiously.  My scrawny legs are not helping the situation. If i concentrate on gently moving them up and down like I see in the footage from the TI stuff, it helps keep me up more than propel me forward, and my arms are doing all the work, and that feels more correct. More pool practice today, and it's already getting a lot better.  Thanks everyone for the tips and tricks.  

From what I have read, this appears to be extremely accurate.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk

Hey Everybody just checking in to say hi.   The tips for swimming are right on at least according to my swim instructor.  My first class we spent focusing on nothing but body position.  You really do need to push your chest down in to the water.  This really does help raise your legs.

In order to get a better feel for this we did what he had us do these drills.   Not sure if I could describe them any better but hopefully you can get the idea.

Drills:

Head – Lead Balance – kick on your stomach with your hands at your sides focusing on being flat in the water w/ good head position (lean down with your chest to raise your hips and remember not to wiggle!!)

Purpose: proper body alignment and horizontal body position

Head – Lead Balance w/ rotation – same as above w/ even body rotation from side to side pausing for 2-3 seconds on each side (head remains still unless you turn to breathe)

Purpose: incorporate body rotation w/ proper alignment and position

Hide your head/ show your top arm – kick on your side w/ one arm extended in front under the water and one arm at your side.  Hold body position while turning head from looking toward the bottom of the pool to the side to breath.  Try not to let your hips drop when you breathe. Do with each side.

Purpose: to increase length of body and hold balanced position while breathing

3 second  switch – basically a combination of the above 2 drills switching every 3 seconds to the opposite side.  Remember, you should feel yourself moving forward with each pull, "like an arrow being shot out of a bow".

Purpose: proper even rotation while keeping long hydrodynamic stroke

Catch-up stroke – basically normal swimming, except you always keep one hand extended in front of you.  You don’t pull with the extended hand until the other one touches it or “catches up” with it.

Purpose: works on being long in the water (long axis swimming) and also proper consistent timing of the pull.

Sounds like there are a lot of races next weekend.  I am doing a 10 Miler, Warren and Grant have HMs. 

Anybody racing this weekend?

got in 10 today. 8 of them @ 7:30 pace, then 2 cool down @ 7:45.

Any thoughts on a goal time for my HM? its in nashville with a little bit of rolling hills and mostly downhill the last couple of miles. I did my entry time @ 1:45 but I know I will be under that so I think I have a good ballpark on pace with the 7:30-7:45 range being where I will run at.

How did those 8 miles feel? If that pace wasn't pushing, I would think you could hit easily 1:40 if you can do Z3 training at 7:30 pace.  I have a running buddy who runs about 6:50 pace at threshold (so 7:30 would be hard but not bad for him) , 5k PR of 19:45, and he's been 1:33 for a half.

No matter what, that's a honking pace, and would be science fiction for me!  I'm targeting 8:35 for my half.  Good luck whatever goal you set.

Hey Everyone - hope you've had good weather for the weekend.  Did 10 this morning at a 9:37 pace (with walk breaks every half mile).  That's really really good for me, and hopefully on target for a 2-hour half on May 22.  Someday maybe I'll be able to run miles in the 8's.  Followed with an easy 22-mile ride - just to keep on schedule as I got off a little Friday and yesterday and won't have much bike time this week.

Time for lunch and a nap, then headed to Beaverdam to practice open water swimming. My first time outside for swimming - a little nervous, but am going with a lot of veterans who will be really helpful.  A good day.

Happy Sunday,

Michele