ChrisM's Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 5)

Thanks! I'll try that!

Nice going hoots. 

A balance exercise that someone posted on the tri forum might be good for those trying to find balance.  Basically as you push yourself off the wall don't start swimming, just extend out, head in the water, and feel yourself balanced and floating.  Since your not swimming yet you should be relaxed and you should be able to feel that balance point.  It took me a while to get rid of that sinking feeling and if I am having a bad day in the pool it comes back and always when I am stressed, tense, whatever.  Those are the days I just slow my pace and think about things more.  Making sure my head is down, when I turn to breath that I am not lifting the head, concentrating on extending out before pulling.  After a few 100's like that I find it comes back to me and I can go back to my zoning out.  Course, I am slow, so take all that I said for what it's worth. 

Hi Gang!  I have had a busy week......42 mile ride Monday, gym workouts, meeting up with Jorge my coach and running and riding hills!! I have yet to start swimming.   I figure I am doing the off road sprint in August so there is plenty of time to get back at it.

Jorge really broke down the run for me to practice.   Keeping the pelvis neutral, opening up the chests, keeping the foot neutral, pushing off, and bringing the knee forward to increase cadence.  He will be writing up my plan to focus on one part during any particluar run until my body just slides naturally into position.  He is increasing my running times on my 3rd run of the week.  I am excited.  I hope that my body responds well.

Yesterday I had 90  min of excrutiating pain on the massage table (deep tissue) and today my neck hurts worse than yesterday.  Go figure!  I think I may take today as a rest day.

I breathe to the right every time. I have not mastered the every three breath routine yet. I tried your suggestion of humming while exhaling and that helped a lot. Unfortunately it took 2-3 time of being out of sync and breathing in a lot of water before I finally could do it. lol  I was also able to realize that I was actually holding my breath for just a second or two between my exhale and inhale. This forces me to exhale quickly and with a lot of force, which makes me inhale quickly and with a huge amount of air. I think I will make huge strides if I can get past the point of holding for those brief moments.

Thanks for the input Chris.

As for my training this week…I was able to get a couple short runs in and forced my butt to get to the pool two times this week. I am looking forward to a longer swim and bike tomorrow morning. I was in a plane or in a meeting most of the week which does not fare well for training. The good part is that I was able to keep mu diet a little more on track.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=2274

Race weekend for me this weekend.  20 mile mountain bike ride.  Been fires over near the area so hopefully the air quality is ok.  It'll also get me out of the heat since it's typically cooler over there.  Should be a fun time, although I haven't been on the mountain bike in forever.  Pretty sure this isn't a technical course though.  I'll just keep telling myself that anyways until I get to the end.

Anyone else racing this weekend or have big training plans?

irony416 - 2011-05-05 2:27 PM Hi everyone, I have a question about biking, and getting a bike fit. I recently started to bike more (for me at least), and do 2-3 hour bike rides on the weekends. It's been a blast but afterwards my knees are totally messed up. I feel like the tendon that goes across the kneecap is really tight, and there's pain. I don't ride clipless pedals. I've suffered from chronic knee pain after a bouldering accident about 4 years ago which is why I can't run as much as I would like to, but I thought that biking is a good sport for people with knee pain. Which leads me to my next question: should I get a bike fit? The places around me that do thorough bike fits are not cheap on a student budget (about $50-60/hr) and I don't know if it's worth it, but I don't want to ruin my knees more and not be able to bike anymore. If you've gotten a bike fit or have an opinion please let me know Thanks for reading!

A bike fit would be ideal, but probably not necessary.  I'd adjust the saddle a bit to see if you can alleviate the pain.  Knee pain on a bike sucks.  The general rule, as I've read it is knee pain at the front means the saddle is too low, or too far forward.   That's just what I read..... 

No hijack, I know some about swimming, but others here know a lot as well.  I think this is good advice

Congrats hoot and mike on the swimn progress!

Brent, good luck this weekend, that's a ride for a good cause....

Just for the books, I was in another group where responses to everyone's posts/questions were put in one post, so it was hard to follow.  We may end up with a lot of pages, but trying to make sure everyone gets their questions answered.  If one doesn't and it falls off the page, please reask!

As for me, it's still baby steps but the 3:2:1 running is going OK this week so far, knock wood.  It really feels awesome not to have some nagging injury or muscle pull!! 

This weekend has a 65/3 bike run brick, and Sunday I might get in the OW for a mile.   Although I do have an 8 mile run planned, so we'll see.

I am having saddle issues tho.  I moved from a few year old Arione tri to a Cobb, sent that back and got an adamo cheap thru a sponsored friend, not sure I am liking that.  It was OK on the road, but sure don't like it on the trainer.  Ouch.  So thinking about going back to the Arione since at least I could ride it without too much discomfort.  I also just don't have the saddle time I did a couple years back.  in '08 I did 5K plus miles.  Last year did 1500....

It's keeping me off the trainer which is not a good thing

It's OK in aero, but it really hurts the sit bones when out of aero.  I can't stay aero for an hour on the trainer, and usually don't on the road due to hills, etc, and my back    It's the adamo road, by the way.

I lowered it a bit as they say it's a bit higher than other saddles.  I am getting....  hot spots?  on my skin right where the sit bones hit the saddle.  I *think* that means that my hips are rocking so maybe need to come down a little more....

Good luck this weekend and have a blast!

I used a couple of the Adamo Saddles before I found one I love.  I ended up with the Typhoon.  Its a bit cushy, lots of gel padding but its perfect for me.  I even bought a second one for my cross bike but my husband ended up hijacking it and loves it too!  I tried The Road and the Podium both with disasterous results. i.e. pain.    Its definitely worth looking around.  Now that i have this seat I wouldn't use any other!

The bike shop told me to measure from the center of the stem to the tip of the nose and from the center of the crank to the top of the seat BEFORE i changed seats.    So my Typhoon is pushed all the way forward coz they are shorter seats.   I had to find a pack the fit behind the seat that didn't need rails. 

Jennifer

I had the exact same problem with my bike set up. A fellow cyclist told me about the web site that walks you through setting up a bike. http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO

I recruited my wife to help me with all the measurements and set my bike up to their recommendations. My rides felt much better, but just not as good as I hoped for. So…I hauled the bike to the bike shop for a $150 fit just to find out that the dimensions and set up I had from this web site was the exact same as what they came up with at the bike shop. The end to this long story is to try the web sites recommendations first before you pay money for a shop to fit you.

The web site and the bike shop told me that my bike was too big for me and the fit would not get any better. Try this and let me know how it works for you.

Chris

For some reason the last post you made did not include all the posts to date.

This blog seems to be the most up-to-date.

I hope this helps.

Mike

sorry, I'm lost.....

Actually, it could be me that is wrong. I opened up the most recent post you made and it only include the first 5 pages of this blog. I could be wrong. Please let me know if I am looking at it wrong.

I am new to blogging and still trying to figure things out.

Ah.   hmm, maybe a computer glitch, i show we're on 7 pages....

Can't believe it's Friday again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Happy dance

Well my week is off to a good start.  90 minutes of pure hills!  Chris - I got a question.   I figure you might now an answer since I stole your sig line a few years back.  When climbing hills are there any techniques I should be employing?  I already think of moving my feet from 3 to 9 in the pedals and I try to keep the cadence up but that goes out the window the steeper the hill.  I was just wondering if there was anything else I should be doing?

Thanks!  My race is in 5 weeks.  Today I got stuck on line looking for a good place to stay in Lake Placid.  I am very picky.  I like places with kitchens so We don't spend a fortune eating out.  It also gives us the illusion that we live there!

I am not sure if my husband is going to make his first race. Its only 21 days away and he still is unable to run 2 miles continuously.    We may end up doing this as a relay

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!