GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 51)

SHAUN -

The run sounds like it went pretty well! The discomfort seemed less uncomfortable, although the fact that it is moving around some is a bit unsettling. I never like when that happens to me, but usually what it means is that once it has explored a few options in my lower body, it just dissipates and goes away. Hopefully it will work like that for you!

ANNE -

I have plunged!

(See below)

------------ ARMED AND DANGEROUS! ------------

Not only have a re-bought the Matt Fitzgerald "Essential Plans" book, but I have just become a Silver memeber here. So, for those of you who are structuring your life based on either Matt F. or BT Silver plans, I'm with ya!

So ----

I know:
ANNE is Silver
KASIA is Matt F.
LISA is Matt F.

Anyone else I should know about?

LISA and KASIA -- I think you'bve said it recently, but if you gett he chance can you tell me which Week of which Level of which Distance you are in right now? Thanks!

(Oh, lordy, now I have to figure out how to use the Silver. Like -- how to get into the plans and all. Oh, lordy......)

STEVE, I am starting Week 1 of Level 3 of the Sprint plan.  Today is day 1, and is a Rest Day. 

KASIA, I briefly looked at the peak training for the olympic plan that you said was 5 weeks and which STEVE was concerned about.  It looks like there are actually 6 weeks that fall under the peak training BUT week one is a recovery week and week 6 is a taper week, so I'm thinking maybe it's more like 4 weeks of peak?

Those neuroma issues don't sound like fun.  Hope everything works out for you all.

CATHY, what kind of nursing do you do?  Can't remember if you said before.  I know those 12 hour shifts must make it really tough for training.

STEVE B, go to Programs, and you should be able to view all of the silver plans.

Hi,

Anne
Yes, I saw "Up In the Air" - very good movie - good dialogue and great acting - but very depressing.
I'm doing 5 sprints in Minnesota.

SteveB/Anne
I had decided to use the BT Sprint basic 12 week (silver).  I had even loaded to my training plan to start next week.  However, now I've decided I may look around some more.  I ordered the Fitzgerald book because of the discussions here and also because it got great reviews on Amazon.  I might pick something from there - push myself a little more - I might decide to do an Oly later in the summer.

I tried my new Garmin speed/cadence sensor on my trainer last week.  It hooked up with my watch ok but didn't report my cadence and had my speed averaging around 24 mph (haha) so I need to ding around with it some.  Clip-ins working better so I'm just going to practice more with them.

Denise

Steve,

The run was good. I now realize (again) why squats are a great exercise. It's mildly uncomfortable to walk around but it's a good uncomfortable in the glutes. As for the knee, still in the general same area near the tip (or ball) of the tibula. Maybe a little rotated to the middle. In my un-medically educated self, I say it's pretty close to the same area.

In regards to a plan...I'm completely off track...No idea where I am going! I had good intentions, but stopped looking at plans. I'm maintaining my 2 cycles/week, minimum 2 swims/week (preferably 3) and a minimum3 runs/week (preferably 4). Run and bike is time based. Swim is a bit more distance focused. I also just realized a spring swim is 800y vs the 400y for a sprint and 1500y for an oly. That's gonna take some work.

It's tough to train on work days, if I do it's usually a short run right after work (this morning it was swim).  My schedule is 4 on, 5 off so I do get lots of days off.  
BUT... it's a real problem getting any vacation time in the summer, and I have to work some weekends so scheduling races can be a problem.  We don't get our vacation approval until March 15 so those big popular summer races that sell out months in advance don't really work for me.   I am hoping to switch to a different unit where I'm more likely to be able to get some time off in summer this year.

LISA -

Thank you! I did it!

(Now, that was so simple you must wonder why it is so imposing to me to even begin to contemplate it on my own. Ahhhh, we ask ourselves that question!)

LISA again -


All righty then!

Level 3.....Week 1......Sprint plan.....That would put you in the pool today, right? And doing a warm-up, then a drill set, then 3X100, then a cool-down, yes? Am I in the right place?

This should be pretty straightforward for you, I would think. Have fun with it!

SHAUN -

Your plan-without-a-plan sounds like a good one! You've got a good number of workouts in place, and being time-based for the bike and run will work fine for now, and for quite a while longer. And being distance-based for swimming, which is comfortable for you, amkes sense.

When you mention a "spring" swim, do you mean "sprint"? And when you say "400y for a sprint", do you mean a super-sprint? Just checking!

DENISE -

Oh, how I wish I could help you with your Garmin issues, but that sort of thing just plays to my weakness -- the soft, white underbelly of my technological cadaver.

If you decide to go with the Silver plan, just let me know -- I'm Silver, and I know how to find the plans, and good-god-almighty, don't I feel empowered!

And if it's Matt F. you decide upon, just let me know that, too, as I re-bought the "Essential...." book and am armed and dangerous there, as well.


No report on the Clooney droolathon, so I'm figuring you managed to stay in Zone 1 for the whole movie and won't even include it in your log. Well, you know, some of the best-planned workouts just don't seem to unfold as well as they might have......

ANNE -

After a big old false start, I think I am where I should be. I initially went to the first 20-week plan I could find, which is one written by Coach AJ. I studied it and saw some pretty big numbers right in the frist week, and didn't remember you mentioning stuff along those lines. I then went back your post on the previous page, read your overview of the plan, and decided I should go back and print of the whole rationale for myself. Well, looking at that it didn't seem to jive with what you wrote, so I went back to your post and saw your mention of a BEGINNER HIM program. So, back to the programs I trudged, scrolled down, found a 20-week beginner HIM plan, and b'gosh and b'gorry, I think I'm in the right church, right pew!

Or not? Before going one baby-step further, I gotta know --- if today is tuesday of Week One, should you be biking 60 minutes and running 30 minutes? And does this follow 40 minutes each of running and swimming yesterday? Let me know, please! I feel like ("feel like"?!? No! It's an actual fact!)) I'm scrambling to figure out where you are........although with 20 weeks to go in the plan, I have lots of time, right?

Thanks Steve. After thinking about it, I've decided to try the shot. My race is on the 14th, so I'd better get on the horn today to schedule it. I'm a little bit of a baby, so having heard the horror stories about the shot itself, I'm scared! I read on one message board that you can feel it all the way to your hips. Ouch. Reminds me of the novocaine shot I got for a filling in my front tooth once - I felt that one all the way to the top of my head.

Anyway, I'm hoping it helps. My podiatrist did say that they should be limited to 3x per year, so hopefully I won't have the issue of tissue break down. (And maybe if I'm lucky I won't need them that frequently).

I did try moving the metatarsal lift around a bit but it didn't seem to help. It's so soft and squishy, it just doesn't seem like it's substantial enough to do anything. I just feel like I'm flattening it out under my foot. I wonder if there are types that are made of a firmer material?

I got custom orthotics made for my ski boots when I was out in Vail. I happened to get into a conversation with the guy about running and the neuroma, and he said that their shop also makes orthotics for running shoes. But like you, I'm hesitant to shell out big bucks for something that might not help. The ski boot orthotics were $215, and the running shoe orthotics would be another $215!

I'm back in the pool tomorrow. I'm going to try the technique where you sort of "slip" your arms into the water when you stroke (as opposed to bringing them over the surface of the water and slapping them down). It'll be interesting to see if it helps... It's been a while since I've been in the pool so I'm anxious to get back in.

Thanks for your help!

Tracey

ANNE again -

I have more wiggle-room now, being at 48/541 with SIX below me, so in answer to your question for a few days ago:

If I made HM for '09, I would be sorely tempted to just race msotly Ontario in June/July/August. That would be the fiscally-wise thing to do, and ultimately it would just make my life easier.
BUT.......there would also be the severe temptation to dive right back into the USAT rankings game and see if I can improve over my '09 ranking!

My brain tells me to race in Ontario during the bulk of those three months, but I have spent a lifetime following my heart rather than my head, so we'll see if I'm getting any wiser as I get older. (So far, no signs of life on that frontier....)

STEVE,

Yes, you DO have the right plan now.        However, as I mentioned, I won't be sold on this one until I hear your comments on it.   I thought it looked quite duable and sort of on the 'easy' side.   Too easy???    Also the days don't mesh with my schedule, so I would need help to switch things up - I bike M, W, and S or S; Swim on T, Th, and S or S; and Run on my swim days, generally, until the need for brick work comes into play.  

I'm figuring if I do a 20 week plan, the official start won't be till March 8th???   

With all this talk about the Fitzgerald book, I am getting curious, but am reluctant to buy another book right now.  However, if you think there is a better plan in it that would suit me and my schedule, I would re-consider.

So yesterday, I switched things up and did Bikram yoga in a.m. and rode the bike in the afternoon.   Based on yesterday, I think it is better to do the tri training first.    Was able to get 30km of an easy Z1 ride done with no issues.   Couldn't have gone harder if I wanted.  

TRACEY -

Good choice, especially hearing that your podiatrist is cautious about these things. So it sounds like you are in good hands.

As for the injection itself, I did not find it as bad as what you've heard. I mean, the 2 or 3 I've had certainly got my attention, but I can't say I felt them up to my hips. I think my doctor described it as feeling a "bit of a pinch and sting", ---- and he might have understated it some . Really, though, it's just a surficially-sensitive area, and then there is the hope that it will go into the correct area of the nerve bundle itself, so maybe that's why one person felt it up to heir hips -- maybe that's a good sign that's it's in the right place! And after wards I just felt a dull ache down there for about 48 hours, with the ache not at all mirroring what I felt from the injection itself.

At some point I went to the ottawa Orthotics Lab for a comprehensive running gait assessment and to har what they had to say anbout me and orthotics. To their everlasting credit they did NOT prescribe otrthotics for me, even though that is their finacial bread-and-butter and I was stting there, an easy mark ready to be taken. What was done for me was that they tried a metatarsal "button", similar in shape to the store-bought softer ones, but their's was made of hard rubber, and maybe a bit higher. He glued it onto my sockliner, but shortly after starting to wear it I tore my mensiscus, and by the time that was healed I stopped using anything for the neuroma. or maybe I had had it removed by then; I can't remember the exact sequence right now.

ANYHOW, all of that is to say that there are harder materials out there, and when pads and bars are built into custom-made orthotics, I'm sure they are are of a hard material - probably the smae plastic or polyurethane, or whatever it is that orthotics are composed of.

Arm slip! good stuff! Let me know how it goes. It will be a good workout for your proprioreceptors (sp?) at the very least!

Have fun, glub, glub!

STEVE/TRACEY,

The pad in my orthotics is built of a hard material and not something I can move around.   They built them into both feet even though the problem was just the left, so I had to go back and have them take the right one out and grind down somewhat.   

$215.00 sounds pretty good for orthotics.   They cost $430.00 here.  

ANNE once more -

Eureka! I've found it at last!

I will study the Silver plan and compare it with a few of the Matt F. ones. My quick look at the Silver one is that it looks fine, it looks serviceable. I am a bit confsed by the heavy Base and relatively small Build, and will have to figure out why it is set up that way. It goes slightly against my instincts........but then again, he has constructed a plan and I haven't!

I've said before that this stuff isn't rocket science, and I've also said that my former coach, Erik, referrred to all of this stuff as being more art than science. Meaning that there is a lot of free-form work that goes into a well-executed plan, that sometimes wild stabs at something actually end up working.

The other thing I think I've said is that, ultimately, all of these plans will not work perfectly for everyone. So, ergo-ipso, there is a lot to be said for getting some general generic plan in place, and then tweaking from there on an as-needed basis. BUT, there is also even more to be said for at least getting the seemingly-best plan in place, which just elimates that much more of the guesswork.

With Fitzgerald, if there is something in there that really seems to work better for you than the Silver plan under scrutiny, then I will be happy to try to feed it to you - or, alternatively, photocopy the appropriate pages and jsut send them to you. Remember, I'm a Full Service Mentor, and that sort of thing is well within the job description!

I'm off now to (1) look for the other Friel book, (2) look for Salinger's "Franny and Zooey" (Salinger died last week. Sniff.), (3) swim, (4) lift, and then I'll get back home and start sifting through the Silver and the MattF plans.

I shall return!

SHAUN -

It's a good gamble getting a size smaller, as tight is the way you want it to be. I think I used the word "constrictive" before, which while still accurate is not exactly user-friendly. For me, anythow, it conjures up images of immensely large snakes with girths as wide as my waist.

As for weight, yes, that's what it might seem like now (I think I told you that my impression of Xterra suits is that they do run heavy), but once in the water it should make a big difference for you. I mean, that's the plan, right? And with Xterra (this is something else I think I siad, so forgive me for repeating myself), I attribute it to the thicker rubber being extended over a marger area of the suit, which if that's the case will help with added buoyancy.

As I think back over wetsuits with which I have been intiimate, I've run through a swack of companies: Quintana Roo, Orca, Ironman, DeSoto, and Xterra. I couldn't get the Ironman (I think since bought out by Blue Seventy) one to work for me, so that one doesn't really count; it was returned after one or two moest swims. For the past few seasons my go-to wetsuits have alternated between DeSoto and Xterra, with a slight nod to DeSoto. I am now pretty committed to DeSoto (lots of loyalty issues there), but in a pinch, in the future I would continue to consider Xterra.

Congrats on the purchase!

ANNE -

Oh, it's a capricious system! Sinde this morning I have gone from 48/541, with six below me, to 54/541 --- with no one below me. It's just me, and then The Abyss. Bloody hell.....

Oh NO!!!   When will all this torture end??? 

Oh goodness!  You shouldn't look everyday.  It's like weighing yourself or checking your stocks every day.

Related to the USAT rankings.  I was stalking some tri results for HM women in 65-69 group.  Yikes!  68 year old woman doing 20 mph.  I'd have some work cut out for me.  And I'm not even going to mention the swim times.

Denise