2014 Rookies - CLOSED (Page 6)

Panther - you're in.  Last one. 

Awesome!  

Good stuff Adrian!

I'll try to do up another list of members tomorrow!

Dave, welcome and I look forward to meeting you at the Niagara Half Iron in September.  

Welcome Chuck.  Congrats on the NYC lottery.  A couple of my friends ran this year and had a blast.

Welcome, Dave!  I think a sprint in June and a HIM in September sound like really good races.  Very cool that you have a whole home gym set up in the garage.  I assume you didn't splurge on the endless pool though, right?

Struggling with motivation isn't entirely uncommon, but now that you've set some goal races and have had the gauntlet thrown, let me suggest you also log your workouts in BT's training log.  It's a great motivator (I know watching the graph grow with weekly volume is a motivator for me) and will allow you to analyze it to see what is or isn't working for you.

Looking forward to following along in your journey!

Welcome, Chuck.  Congrats on the NYC Marathon!  You mentioned that you'd like to do a HIM before the marathon as cross training -- have you considered a shorter event, like a sprint or an Oly distance race?  I've never raced a marathon, but I can't imagine doing marathon training on top of HIM training....but sprints and Olys may be somewhat more manageable.  HIM distance races will be around for a long time if you decide to put it off for a year.  If you do decide to stick with the HIM plan, listen to your body.  Come hang out here with us regardless of which race distance you decide on  

I hit the pool today for the first time since before Thanksgiving.  The month and a half off combined with poor sleep and not enough calories today made me cut the workout at 1000 yards (that and I got surprised by about 100 screaming kids jumping into the pool about 300 yards in...).

Just wanted to share that even for someone who has swam in the past, starting again after time off is still difficult/painful.  If you're just starting out and it's difficult, though I'm new to triathlons, I'd say from my experience that it is normal.  Keep at it!

Slow and steady - slow and steady.

Hi Robin, you should have no problem putting the pedals on yourself.  The only thing to keep in mind is that the left pedal is reverse threaded so it tightens counter clockwise while the right is the normal clockwise.  The reverse is obviously true for when you remove your existing pedals.  Depending on how long your current pedals have been on there and how tightly they were put on, removing them may take some force.  Remember that reverse thread so you don't make it tighter!  

The trickier part will be putting the cleats on the shoe (and yes the cleats will come with the pedals).  There is nothing technically difficult about putting the cleat on, it's just a few screws, but cleat misalignment can cause knee problems.  Unfortunately there is no one answer to how to put them on as everyone is a little different.  Without having a professional do a fitting and cleat alignment for you, you probably want to set them up as neutral as possible.  They likely have adjust-ability both front to back and side to side (I haven't used those particular ones so i'm not sure of that).  I would start out with everything centered and see how that feels.

Here is a new list of members.  I hope I didn't miss anyone or make any typos, please let me know if I did!

2014 Rookies

I think Jason mentioned that one of the topics he'd like to discuss is the BarryP running philosophy, so I won't go into it too much.  I know Arend and I both run frequently (5-7 days a week), and Jason was doing that when he was running as well.  I've found that doing frequent, but fairly short, runs has helped me stay pretty injury free and improve my speed.

Some general advice about running (without knowing exactly where you are) would be to keep your runs as EASY as possible and take walk breaks as necessary. People (especially those without a strong run base) tend to get injured when they start adding in speed work.  Running high volumes at low intensities will still allow you to race reasonably fast -- not "to your potential", but it sure beats getting injured and not being able to run at all!

What's your current running like?  Sounds like you've been pretty active, so a Couch to 5k plan may not be entirely appropriate.  For what it's worth, when I started running again back in August, I started with 10 minute runs five days a week and slowly added to that (keeping total weekly volume increases to no more than 10%).

Anyone have fun training plans for today?

I raced a 5k this morning  It wasn't my best time ever, but it was a great way to start off the new year!

I think I'll get on the trainer this afternoon to spin some of the fatigue out of my legs.  Looking forward to a fun, productive, and healthy 2014!  Glad to be sharing it with all of you

I'm not sure I'd call it fun but I ran 9.5K this morning in the cold.  At least the sun was out today!

Donna, nice work on the swim and the run!

Here is my anti-fog trick for goggles.  I have a small travel sized plastic bottle that I leave in my swim bag.  In it is a solution of baby shampoo and water - probably about a 10:1 ratio (10 water, 1 baby shampoo).  Before every swim I put in 3-4 drops in each eye cup and swirl it around inside with my finger.  It will keep them fog free for as much as a 2 hour swim.   One small bottle like that will probably last me an entire season.

I spit in mine, rub it around on the lenses, then rinse them out.  It's an old diving thing we used to do, which also works for goggles.  That said, I don't think everyone's spit is as magic as mine

Nice work on the swim and run!  Nice way to start the year, huh?