Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 6)

DANIEL -

I gotta tell you -- I see "LycraCladChamp" and break out in a big dopey grin. Heck, it's almost hard to view you as "Daniel"!

There's nothing at all wrong with starting off with a home-made (home-brewed?) plan that works well with where you are at right now, so as you describe it -- one each of B, R, and S after work each week, and strength before work -- will do just fine. This is especially true if you really are in Ponderation Mode; just ease into it all as you see fit.

Two sprints and an oly are very reasonable race goals to further ponder. If this is like my other groups, there are already severl people who are nervous that they are falling behind in their training, whereas the truth of it is that for most of us, the race season is still about 5-7 months away. So if you are worried that you need to get going with decisions.....don't worry at all! Ponder 'til your heart's content (or March, whichever comes first..... ).

You've got some good cycling miles under your belt, to be sure! Do you try to keep road and mountain balanced, or do you tend to favor one over the other? I guess you know that there is a whole growing world of off-road triathlons, so if you are keen on getting muddy and bruised as a matter of course, your MTB experience makes you eligible for that, too!

As for those buddies of yours who distract you from weekend workouts......I'll take care of 'em. It's just one of thsoe services I provide as a Full Service Mentor!

So I looked at the Learning to swim plan, This plan assumes one can swim 600 in a session.  I know for a fact last time I was training I was only able to swim about 400 per session.  How can I adapt this plan to better fit my training level? TIA

Without Wax,
Daniel

JAMES -

You got me -- hook, line, and sinker! I went over to your wesite/blog, and it took every ounce of my resolve to return back here and carry on with the task at hand. I can see that I can spend a LOT of time there, keeping myself endlessly amused. Cool site!

As far as I went in it, I noticed some of your run data -- very intriguing! I hear your concern that improvements aren't happening, but keep the faith that they will happen if you can stay focused and injury-free. And with that thought.....how was it that you "shattered" your leg? I'm thinking stress fracture, but was it more dramatic than that? (Please tell me "NO!!")

I see that you pay attention to your cadence, and that's a very good habit to instill. I'm asuming that the numbers you put down are for BOTH feet over the course of a minute -- otherwise, you really are close to being one of the Kenyans, scorching the tarmac! For my counting I do just one foot, and the best efficiency for me is 90-94/per minute. This would be a great goal to aim for, BUT --- don't expect it to happen overnight. For me it tooks months of focusing on it, and it happened incrementally at that. That is, initially I could sustain that cadence for about a minute, and it just kept going from there. It is now kind of second-nature, although if I start a run at a slower cadence I can feel comfortable at that, too. But kicking it up from, say, 87/minute single-foot, to 90 is pretty effortless.

Rapid cadence almost always equates with greter efficiency, and that in turn helps with the faster speeds. As you work at this, remember to shorten your stride, and it might be that you have to shorten it quite significantly. It might feel kind of funny to you, but trust the process and give it lots of time!

Another thing to think about is "running pretty". You know what good runners look like, so on any given run take a bit of it to alter your form so you are seeing yourself as "running pretty". that may sound a bit dippy to you, but my on-line used to tell me to do it, and I actually think it helped.

Do you know what type of foot-striker you are? Heel? Midfoot? Forefoot? Seeif you can figure this out, and let me know, okay?

Which races are you looking into. It seems you are from snow-swamped NJ, and if so you have about 287 from which to choose -- lucky boy!

As for Total Immersion, GREAT palce to start, especially if you are new to serious swimming and/or are worried about your swimming skills. Are you in for one of their one-day blitzes, or for the five-star weekend experience? I have only done small ones, i guess tow of them, but when I began serious swimming in '00 it was with the help of TI books and videos and their website. There's a lot of criticism of TI in the vatious triathlon forums, but you are best served to ignore it if you see it. What they do, they do well, and it sure has helped whole pods of people becomne comfortable and competent in the water.

If you have to choose, look into a trainer first, before rollers. Rollers can't be beat for developing bike-handling skills, but beyond that they are not near as flexible in what they offer as a trainer is. IMHO!

Fianlly, I love your four goals! I think all of them are attainable -- even #3, which should happen with the kind of hours you are putting in!

Finally-finally, please remember to let me know what you did to your leg when you were intensively run-training!

CATHY -

Saving you for last, partially because we know something about each other already left over from last year, and partially beacuse you say that you won't be back until sometime after the coming weekend. Anyhow, I'm very glad that you are back, and I hope that Life's Other Demands don't conspire to undermine your tri-related hopes and plans, as they did last season.

I hope you're enjoying (yeah, I know, that's a bit of a stretch....) this slight warming (another stretch?) trend we are experiencing. It allowed me to do a run today dressed moderately minimally, and that's always a good thing.

Looking forward to your "return" next week!

Try repeating week one workouts until you can complete the prescribed distance. It will come faster than you think

Steve,

I see "LycraCladChamp" and break out in a big dopey grin. Heck, it's almost hard to view you as "Daniel"!

Yah I got the nick name from my college riding/racing buddies.  They called me the Leppi-in-Lycra (short for leprechaun, I am of Irish decent and have a nice full red beard)  but the name changed for one reason or another.

There's nothing at all wrong with starting off with a home-made (home-brewed?)

Home brewed as in brewing beer in my back yard.  I love taking the raw ingredients and turning them into a delicious beverage in a matter of a month. Plus it is cheaper than buying in the store.  Hey its kinda of like cooking right?

You've got some good cycling miles under your belt, to be sure! Do you try to keep road and mountain balanced, or do you tend to favor one over the other?

I started out on the MTB then went to Road.  I have been off for a while, but I enjoy both styles.  I prefer cross country riding more than downhill these day and 2 broken shoulders later.  I will most likely train on my fixed gear bike because I live close to a river trail and it allows for higher cadence training as well.

I guess you know that there is a whole growing world of off-road triathlons, so if you are keen on getting muddy and bruised as a matter of course, your MTB experience makes you eligible for that, too!

I am totally up for these.  I know they have a few of these at bonelli/puddingstone park near my house so it would be perfect.

As for those buddies of yours who distract you from weekend workouts......I'll take care of 'em. It's just one of thsoe services I provide as a Full Service Mentor!

By distraction(read as too much drinking) I meant the night before so I would most likely be hung over and training just does not sound like fun.  but then again if I can do a 4ooyd swim hung over imaging how far I could go not hung over.

So happy to hear I am not the only one that struggles with the swimming!!! I am not comfortable in the water at all, but after taking swim lessons this fall I feel a little better and am able to do more laps every week which is promising! I am also doing the Beginner Swim series, I don't stick to it every swim but I do use her drills at least once a week.

I am so inspired after reading everyones stories I am looking forward to getting to know everyone and hearing about your progress!!
So excited it is supposed to get into the low 40's later this week so I will be able to get outside to run and actually not freeze!!!

Happy training everyone!!!

Daniel - Don't be too concerned about you present swimming ability.  When I came back to tris, it had been 20 years since I had been in a pool.  I think I made it 100 yds my first workout.

Do sets like: 5 x 100 with 20 second rest between each 100.  Just keep adding 50-100yds to each or every second workout.    You will be up to 1500 before you know it.  Also, if you have access to a swim instructor, taking lessons will help tremendously.  Swimming is as much about form/efficiency as it is about endurance.

Roger

Edited by bhc 2010-12-29 4:54 PM

ROGER -

You almost slipped through the cracks, and I apologize for almost overlooking you. I think maybe/possibly/conceivably I might have figured it out in due course, but I'm just gald it happened sooner than later.

I think it's fair to say that you are the most experienced of the whole bunch. You have a looooooong history with this stuff, both in terms of duration and accomplishments. I suspect it must;ve made you nuts when you had to take various hiatuses due to family matters and health scares. That one in 2005 must've been fairly horrific.....but in the grand scheme of things it didn't keep you down for long, did it?!?

You're also at 35 years of marriage! In it for the Long Haul, eh? In my case, Lynn and I work as polar opposites. She loves canoeing and kayaking and cross-country, and we never "train" together. Occasionally i will ski with her, but I don't get along well with boats. (Psst! Don't tell James!)

Which HIM are you looking at? I gave lots of thought to the new one, Washington, but then ended up not having the energy for the drive down. I guess you've heard that B2B is being moved to late October, and seeing as how you already have a race connection at Wrightsville Beach, I wouldn't be surprised if that was also in your sights.

As for your training, it;'s quite comprehensive -- even with a supposed run focus for the half-marathon. Just curious -- How will you alter things once the HM is done?

--------------------------------------------- INFO REQUEST! ------------------------

DANIEL! ALEX! LAURA!

Where do you all live? Thanks!

I'm a little surprised that I haven't gotten much of a response from the group regarding my thoughts of non-traditional training for triathlons. Perhaps it's not as controversial as I thought it would be!

I guess I'll be the guinea pig because I really don't enjoy long mileage training. I'm not your traditional endurance "athlete" anyway and my body type is much more built for "speed" (I put that in quotes because really, I'm not speedy at all, but with my short, blocky, bulky body type, I could definitely do well in speed skating!) since I'm not lanky or lean...more stocky.

Anyhow, I spent most of 2010 CrossFitting and well, did little to no running. I did a 3 mile run in late 2009 and it took me well over 41 minutes....fast forward to July 2010 and I did a 5k July 4th run and had only CrossFit and at most done 400m runs per CrossFit workouts and not very many. I completed that 5k run in 34 minutes. So that was proof for me that I could use non-traditional methods for even things like running.

I'm currently trying to figure out my training plan....I used to train at a CrossFit gym, but am now training out of my carport and with the cold temps, it's made training a bit more challenging, but I hope to have the details figured out soon.

One thing CrossFit has done for me is given me the confidence that I can make improvements and get stronger and even run faster without logging miles. When I first started CrossFitting in late 2009, I could only do 30 situps (situps, not crunches) in 2 minutes, but at my best, I was able to log 67 situps in 2 minutes. I've also never been able to do a pullup before, but I can now do a kipping pullup and am working to get my first strict pullup....goal is June 1st, 2011!!

As I said before, I'm not a rogue, just a bit non-traditional. I enjoy the challenge of multisport, but I am not in love with endurance training. I like to get to it and get it done! Should be an interesting year!

Glub, glub, glub ------

I have now surfaced for air, having completed initial repsonses to one and all. (Well, except Brenda.)

that;'s the good news. The less-good news is that in going back over the posts, I see that what I initially responded to were, in several case, not the full bio. So, if you posted a bio after my first response to you, I will try to clear through thse in the next day or so.

This weekend, from Friday morning through midday Monday, i am on my own. Lynn is off on a four-day remote cross-country ski trip, so what that means is that I will have lots of time to while away the hours here at the confuser. I am DESPERATElY hoping that come monday, I am completely caught up and ready to work hard to keep up with everything close to as it's posted here. Whew! Pantpantpant!!

It's off to dinner prep, and then I hope/plan to be back here again this evening. Bye for now, Mojoistas!

Steve - Very familiar with B2B and that might be the one I do.  Washington is on the same weekend.  I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to deal with the hugh crowds and the hassle of getting from the finish back to the car.  But Wash. only had 100 participants it's first year, so that is reallllly small.  I will keep an eye on the number of entries at B2B and decide in the spring.

After the HM, I will back off to 9 miles on the long run (1x9m, 2x6m, 2x3m) and start hitting the bike hard and suffer through getting back into shape on the swim...I hate the monotony of swimming.  I've never done a half, so this will be a new journey.

Roger

Edited by bhc 2010-12-29 5:33 PM

Sharon - wish I could comment on your crossfit program but not familiar with how it works.  Sounds like it is focussed on total body fitness.  Do you know anyone who trained for tris using it?

Roger

Edited by bhc 2010-12-29 5:50 PM

ROGER -

Never done a half-iron? I'd say you have the run chops for it, to be sure!

I've done a bunch of 'em (16, i think), so I'll be with you all the way!

I saw the small numbers at Washington, and couldn't figure out why that was. Seemed like a nice enough venue, but maybe 94% of all HIM-aspirants in the genral region were already committed to B2B. Sometimes these things -- why some races fill and others don't -- make absolutely no sense to me!

Not anyone specific, but I think there are some folks out there who say they have...will have to research it.

I'll have to post some details about CrossFit later, although total body fitness does sound like it.

Sharon

----------------------------------------------- WHO WE ARE!!! --------------------------------------------------------


cathyd ----- Cathy -----Ontario

retiretotri ----- Lori -------Wisconsin

mathsgeek ------ Jac ----- New Zealand

jslacker ----- John ----- Indiana

ckallpoints ------ Craig ------- Oregon

justfeltlikerunning ------ Manfred ------ Utah

shannen ------ Shannen ------ Ohio

Sementri ------ Gene ------ Washington

akaye ----- Adam ------ Pennsylvania

Av3rTx ----- Jeff -----Texas

grannygear ------ Melinda ------ California

triwolfpack ------ David ------ North Carolina

BbMoozer ------ Sarah ------ Wisconsin

zeefraugtries ------ Sharon -----Louisiana

Whato ----- Robert ------- British Columbia

Paul32Cosh ------ Paul ----- Utah

DuncanQH ----- Duncan ----- Taiwan

gdsemiller ------ George ------ Alabama

Zam92 ------ Ellen ------ Maryland

50andgettingfit ------- Johanne ------ California

bjva ----- Bob ------ Virginia

jgarcia1------ Juan ------ Maryland

bhc ----- Roger ------ North Carolina

LycraCladChamp ------- Daniel ------- California

astorm65 ------ Alex ------ New York

mrsostrowski ------ Laura ------- Wisconsin

NorthernIvy ------ James ------ New Jersey

bswcpa ----- Brenda ------ Indiana



That's 28 of you, and while that may seem like a lot (and it is), my experience is that over time people fall by the wayside. I CERTAINLY HOPE that's not the case, as I truly mean it when I say that I don't want to lose any of you from this journey you have set out upon. I know it will be a TON of work if all -- or even most! -- of you persist here, but I also know I can handle it.

You're a terrific group already (still in your infancy), and this should be a blast as we work through the loooong months.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I will NOT be closing the group in April! We will continue, except in the achives instead of the Main Stage. As I've said to my other groups.....I plan to be the last one standing; you can't get rid of me that easily!








Edited by stevebradley 2010-12-29 10:38 PM

yes please post some info on crossfit.  I am rather interested in this, maybe to incorporate into my training instead of normal weight training.

I have a newer Garmin 310xt and I'm trying to sync the heart rate monitor from my husbands Garmin 305 to my Garmin. I've tried pairing it, didn't work and I've replaced the heart monitors battery and it still didn't work. Any ideas? I must be missing a step?
Thanks,
Johanne 

Steve,

I live in Pawling, NY.  
I have 3 sprints in mind this year -

June - Pawling Tri
July - Philadelphia Women's Tri
Aug - Danskin's Women's Tri in Seattle (planning a trip to visit friends so figured I would combine the trip with a tri)


In Terms of the CrossFit questions -   I have been considering it myself as an alternative to straight up strength training I think it is a great program but my swimming and running really require a lot of focus and the program that is close to me that I would like to join requires a commitment of 3 times a week for the first month and I don't feel like I have that kind of time to commit to that and get in the necessary time for swimming and running.


Alex 

Sharon...just got back online after workout at the gym and dinner with the wife (little one is at the granparents!) I was totally talking about Crossfit with my wife at dinner and I did check a little out online today. Looks interesting and would love to learn a little bit more. Any recommendations on websites, etc.?

Johanne....regarding your Garmine 310XT question....I don't know

But...I referred somebody to a blog today about HR monitors and you may want to check it out www.dcrainmaker.com

This guy blogs about everythin super techy in the triathlon world and did a complete diagnostic on the 310XT. You may find the answer to your question in his review or you can even drop a comment under his review and he is really good about responding when he is not traveling. This is my second referral...I gotta tell you this guy is thorough when it comes to reviews!

Good luck!
David

Let's see now... First, Steve, thanks for welcoming me, and everyone, into this mentor group.  I am really looking forward to the next few months (and then some).

Second, please allow me to apologize in advance for my relative silence in the last few days, and what will continue for the next few weeks.  Taiwan has no Christmas break, and the semester ends here in a couple weeks.  I've been going mad these last couple days editing final tests, (and writing some for the less than responsible teachers) working out grades sheets, reports cards and 100 other things... I am sure you can relate Steve.

Also, with the baby arriving in exactly 48 hours, and trying to get in at least some sort of workout almost everyday before my race in just over 2 weeks I just know I'll have minimal online time.

-- Cheers, Duncan

Edited by zeefraugtries 2011-01-05 8:51 PM