Jackjack's group - closed (Page 6)

Nice racing ladies!  Awesome!

I ended up NOT getting outside for a run or bike.  And I don't even have the excuse of parenting 4 kids today - we canceled watching our friends' kids after my son awoke with a fever.  He seems OK, just fighting some minor bug -- "Mama, I have a cootie bug, why?"

Ah well. I'll attack the training plan again tomorrow!

-Cynthia

GReat races ladies!

Diana- I'll take your sub 26, any day!! What do you think happened to slow you down?

Jenny-Awesome race! Great job!

Cynthia- I hope your son feels better today. The "Cootie bug" story is very cute.  My oldest daughter used to say "I'm strawberry sick"....I could never figure out what the heck that was supposed to mean

Every one have a great day!!

Heidi - I think I was just dehydrated.  The first half of my race must have been about 11 minutes, and the rest was at a snail's pace (by my standards). 

'Cootie bug' and 'strawberry sick'?  I love these stories!  I hope your son feels better, though, Cynthia. 

Great job Jenny!  It sounds like you toughed it out - running cross country in the mud is always miserable.  Congrats on meeting your goals!

I have class all day today, after which I'm hoping to bike and lift.  It's so hot, though, I might sub in a swim.  Then I get to spend the rest of my evening/night studying for biochem!  Yey!

Enjoy the day, all.

Sorry i wasn't around all weekend. My friend was in town and we had a great time just walking around all day everyday she was here! It was great to see her again. However i didn't get to run bike or swim all weekend. Hoping to change that now that she is gone.

This is my last week of school ever (or at least for a very long time) starting to feel like i'm running around w/ my head cut off, trying to finish everything up (grade, study, pack, workout, say good bye...)

Jenny - congrats on the race!! 3rd in AG and coming in under the time you expected is awesome AND doing it all in the pouring rain! Impressive!

Di - sorry to hear your race didn't go so well. Next time will be better.

So i was thinking, to help keep people motivated and just for fun that we could propose challenges either weekly or monthly or however often. one of the mentor groups i used to read from time to time would do this. They had things like do the ironman distances over a month (pick a time frame), or try a new vegtable/fruit each week for a month, or things like that. Would you guys be interested in maybe doing some mini challenges in our group too?

Rachel-I'm glad you enjoyed your visit with your friend! I did much of that this weekend too! It was too beautiful not to socialize

The challenges sound like a great idea. I'd be up for it! Do you have an idea for the first one?

Hello Everyone
I am back!  I can't wait to read all about what you have been up to over the last week or so and see how you got on in your races.  I better settle in with a cup of tea to read the update...

Jackie

Hi everyone!

Great job on your race, Jenny! Good job on the cross-country run during the race.

I had a fun weekend. On our way down to our originally planning camping area, we passed by Cheyenne Mountain State Park - the park itself has only been open for a few years and the campgound just opened last fall. So we decided to camp there instead. We found a nice campsite with some huge rocks to climb around on, so that was fun for the kids.
We could not have actually climbed this weekend anyway- it was pretty cold and foggy/drizzled most of the weekend.

I like the idea of a challenge. Can I propose something involving abs? I truly suck at doing abs work and after 2 kids, I really really need to get my abdominal muscles back into shape.
My sisters and I did a crunch challenge one year - that got a little crazy since we are all super competitive with each other.

I'm off to take a nap now. I was at the pool at 5:30 am and my older son has a track meet tonight.
Talk to you all soon!

Dee

welcome back Jackie!  I'm drinking my cuppa too... missed it this morning.

Dee, Rachel, yes, I could use a challenge to get me doing my core strength exercises.  abs, flabs   I stick to the plan for s/b/r but strength never makes an appearance.  I was thinking about joining a challenge forum group for May, but none of the challenges include strength...

My son is already down for his nap (2 hours early) and my daughter has refused lunch...great, we're all supposed to hop on a plane Friday after a week of illness?  ...and then there's the swine flu, hmmm.

-Cynthia

I have to tell you about this cool book I got this weekend as a gift for our anniversary.
It's called "Workouts in a binder: swim workouts for triathletes". It is mostly waterproof, so you can take it to the pool. It has TONS of workouts already designed for you and broken down by type (endurance, speed, form, muscular endurance, anaerobic threshold). I did one of the workouts this morning and was surprised at how fast the time in the pool went.
Anyway, just wanted to share!

It is gray and cloudy and wet here today. I get kind of cranky if I don't see the sun for about 36 hours, so I hope it peeks through tomorrow for me!

Have a great day
Dee

Jackie- How was your trip?
Welcome back!

Hello again
I am so proud of this group.  You have all been motivating and talking to each other but most impressive of all is the great training weeks and races (even if they didn't go to plan - the attitude is positive and good) that you have all had.  I am very impressed.

We had a wonderful week and although I was active and ate "well" I do need to focus on my A race which is looming up quickly at beginning of June.  I really need to focus on dropping a couple of pounds (but I NEVER diet nowadays as that just makes me obsessive about food) by concentrating on eating really healthily and getting on the bike more now outside now the weather is becoming more cooperative.

Great idea about challenges - although no one should feel pressured to do ones if it isn't their kind of thing/ challenge.  However from what I remember I think most (all?) of us have (or would like to have) a focus on healthy eating so what about the first one connected with that?  Open to ideas but even getting in our 5 (or more?) fruit and veg portions daily maybe?

I have to add a bit about flat tires since there were some posts about that.  It really is a good idea to know how to change a flat tire out and about "just in case".  I had to be rescued by my hubby (dragging him out of work) several times during my IM training due to my incompetence and it ended up to be a bit of a worry in the back of my mind every time I went out on longer rides (or even shorter ones when I knew I had to be back in time for school buses etc).  Many bike shops have free clinics to show you how to do this.   I learnt using an article a BT friend gave me and part of my IM training I scheduled in weekly times to just change my tubes/ tires for the sake of it so I was comfortable doing it.  I used a pump and didn't waste the CO2 stuff though.  I also check my tire pressures before every outside ride. 
You do not need to put permanent attachments on your bike (apart from water bottle cage!!!).  I have a velcro and strap set up for behind my saddle which holds spare tube and changing tools, a phone and some money and ID).  You can also get ones that go on your top tube (which I also have but only cos I needed to carry lots for IM training rides).  Bike jerseys and T shirt often have pockets in the back that you can store stuff in too.

If anyone still wants further explanations on clipless/ cages etc just let me know.  I personally put my bike shoes on in transition and jog (carefully) to the exit, jump on and then clip in.  If you are going to try leaving them clipped into your bike please practice lots on a soft surface first.  I have found that it doesn't save me enough time to worry about it.  Clipless pedals are great but for people in their first few seasons then normal cages on pedals are perfectly adequate (and provide for a faster second transition too!)

And I can't resist a comment about snot rockets. I only dared in the last couple of years and it is amazing how proficient you become.  Mostly only on the bike though when no one is looking.  But then I'm not the kind of girl that worries about having a bit on her glove/Tshirt !

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Jackie

Dee
That is a great book.  I have a similar (same series - the one for swimmers, triathletes and coaches) too and use it often when I am not masters swimming.  I still carry it in a plastic bag though - it is waterproof but water between pages seems to take ages to dry/ wipe off.
You can adapt it but I would say that the workout distances in mine can look a bit daunting to a novice swimmer.  I suspect the triathlete only one is less daunting.
There are others in the series (I have the cycling one for indoors to try and motivate me on the trainer)

Happy anniversary!

Your swim workout looked fun... how about one with about half the total yardage?  I'm not up to those distances yet!

-Cynthia

Good morning Ladies!

Happy anniversary Dee!

I have a race/planning question: I'm scheduled to do an Oly tri 0n August 2nd. So, obviously I'm building up my running miles for that.

However, I'm really dissapointed in the 5k results from last weekend and would like a "do-over" Is it counterproductive to sign up for another 5k? Should I focus my attention on building distance instead? Or, can I work on getting my 5k time down, while training for the Oly distance?

Heidi

Morning everyone!  I must get out on my bike today I must I must I must.

Heidi
You shouldn't dwell on one performance that you were disappointed with but I know exactly where you are coming from! There's absolutely no reason why you can't do another 5k as part of your training for your olympic - as long as you remember what your main goal for the season is.
Working up you running endurance (time which obviously converts to distance) would I have thought be your main goal.  However I think you will find by doing that you will automatically be training for shorter distances!  By being able to do longer distances you will find shorter distances easier to do and in race situations are likely to put a little more effort in (or actually probably same "5k" effort but find you are faster).
OK I'm garbling on now.  So in summary keep main goal in mind but somewhere before then enter a 5k, use it as an intense training day so make sure you have plenty of recovery afterwards

Jackie!  Welcome back! 

I have a crazy week, so I may be kindof quiet, but to respond briefly to some of the things brought up yesterday -  I think a challenge is a great idea!  I'd be happy to participate in something involving healthy eating (it's hard in college... or maybe it's just hard all round.  like you, jackie, actually 'dieting' makes me crazy, but I could definitely stand to lose a pound or two).  Abs are also a great idea, Dee - because you can never do too many of them, and they help with everything! 

: )

I am going to chime in on the running comment....
Don't worry too much if you have a race that does not go well. That just happens sometime.
You should be fine if you pick another 5k to run.

As far as getting fast, I have found that several things have helped me in the past.
1. Increase the time/distance you run first. Concentrate on running at a pace that is comfortable for you and build a nice solid base.
Then...
2. Add some shorter, faster sessions. There is a book called "Run Fast" by Hal Higdon that has lots of ideas on workouts designed to get you faster. 1 speedwork session per week is usually enough - mix it up: tempo runs, surges, repeats on the track.
3. Hills and strength training. Running hills and lifting weights can do alot for your strength and therefore your speed. If you are not used to hill running, take it easy at first until you learn how to position your body so you don't fall on your face running downhill.

I have been running for many, many years and if you want any specific running-workouts for speed, I am willing to look up a few in my book and post them to the group.

Dee

A cold, cold morning...

You know you are a dedicated runner when
1. You get up to meet a group at 5:45 am
2. The temperature is 37 degrees
and
3. It is pouring rain for the entire run

Thankfully I had 2 nice, warm boys at home ready to snuggle in bed and keep me warm.
I hope you all have a sunny day since I'm not!

Dee

Great running comments Dee
I agree that just getting that running base is really important first before you start playing about with things like track workouts.  However shorter "intense bursts" like some strides or a fartlek session I believe can be safely introduced reasonably early on. (if this sounds gobbledeegook to anyone and they want to know more please just say or stay in blissful ignorance   ) Sounds like we are definitely on the same page there and I may tap you for some tips if I enter my first stand alone marathon later this year!

And well done Dee for getting out there this morning.  By that definition I am definitely not a dedicated runner (today anyway!)  I used to run with a group and it is unbelievable how motivating it is just knowing that someone else will be out there waiting for others to join them.

I managed to get out on the bike today, yippee.  What are everybody else's plans?  Has anyone got any races planned in the next couple of weeks?

Dee - (and Jackie) - thanks for the much needed running advice.  I think I've worked up a pretty good base... other opinions are welcome... but like Heidi would like to work on speed. 

Heidi - I ordered a copy of "the 15 minute vegetarian" from amazon.com (it was only $4 used!!) and it just came in.  Thanks for the recommendation.  I'm super excited to try some of the recipes!

Short run planned for later today, and lots and lots of studying.  It's an incredible 94 degrees here (not that i'm complaining - Dee you're incredible!) and I have to wait for it to cool off some. 

I too am really busy this week trying to wrap things up so sorry if i'm kinda absent.

In regards to challenges, it sounds like everyone is in. Food seemed to be proposed alot so I would suggest starting with one of those. A couple of suggestions are below:

1. Actually eating the 5 servings of fruits and veggies you're supposed to every day for a week
2. Try a new fruit or veggie you have never tried before this week (please share recipes and outcomes)
3. Try to eat things w/ no added sugar or sugar substitutes for (time frame?)


Any other ideas? I say we decide on Thursday and we will do the challenge next week. If we decide after that thats fine too but i'll be Graduating and moving this weekend so i'll have to check on monday and start then when i have internet again.

Hope you are all having a good week

I would be up for either the fruits/veggies challenge (5 a day) or the no-added sugar challenge.
So, should I go gobble up all the cupcakes now?

I agree with you, Jackie, on certain speed workouts being okay to introduce early.
Fartleks are always fun, especially if you have a training partner and you trade off calling
the intervals. Surges and tempo runs are good also.
The track repeats can be pretty rough if you are not used to speedwork.

I am toying around with the idea of a fall marathon also- there is one in November that runs through the Colorado National Monument- beautiful scenery, lotsa hills!
I would love to offer any input on a stand-alone marathon.

I'm hoping for a spin class tomorrow morning if I can get a bike, and then a swim workout.
Dee

So does anyone have an easy resource for what constitutes a serving size for different fruits and veggies?  I know they say "half a cup" but is the half an avocado I just ate a "serving" or half of one?  It was YUMMY. 

-cynthia

Hi Ladies-
Sorry I have been MIA as well, work has been lots of looong hours lately. I have to replan my workouts for the next couple weeks since everything got shifted at work and there are some days I work earlier or later now and won't be able to get in what I hoped to. I was supposed to go for a long run today, but by the time I left work (after being out in 35 degree windy weather for 3 hours) it was already getting dark and the thought of running on the treadmill did not seem appealing at all. I opted for a bike workout instead.
For the challenge- I'm down for the veggie and fruit servings one. I know that's a challenge I have, and I think that would be a great starting one.
Heidi- as far as the 5k goes- all runners have good days and bad days. I remember before the Chicago triathlon last year I had a particularly bad run and it really shook my confidence- I struggled (in the heat) to run 2 miles one day- but the day of the race I did great, I tried to forget about it and instead decided that at least I got my bad run out of the way.
On a running note- I am getting closer to attempting my first half-marathon. Has anyone done one before? Any advice or pointers? I am racing on my own, my friend backed out, but I am definetely focused on doing this. My goal for the race is just to finish, and to run the entire thing and not walk. I'm planning on going at a 10-11 min. pace.