Razorxp Group Is CLOSED (Page 62)

Rob - Congrats on the "official" engagement.  Exciting news!

Dave - The Masters Swim group would be no different then your bike training group for you.  The experienced swimmers in mine just like to have someone to swim with and push each other during the workout.  They sometimes modify the coaches workouts.  For beginners I also think its great becasue it is a good (cheap) way to get coaching and also a good way to push yourself with other people your ability.  When I first started I was with a good group of beginner guys and by pushing each other it really helped me improve.  They do focus alot on different strokes but I think it is all dependent on who the coach/mentor is.  The girl who was running it when I first started had completed some Ironman and the swim workouts were triathlon based.  The girl running it now runs it more like a highschool swim team.  Plus it is so nice to be done with your workout at 6:15AM!!

KC- Yeah I've been chased a few times.  Luckily though all they seemed to want to do was chase me and not bite.  It is annoying though. 

Swim and a run tommorow!  Looking forward to it after a day off. 

Good Evening Team.

Keith - good luck with the run and the swim tomorrow - have fun and enjoy.

Swim was nice tonight - same workout as last evening.

Have a great night everyone.

KC

Rob, congratulations.  Love is a good thing.  I live with an angel...life is heaven...and I kid you not.

As for masters, awesome group.  Great coach here.  Meet 5 a.m. Tues and Thursday (stop your whining   Earlier than yours.

They do a lot of speed work and drills and coach on form which is great.  My coach has really helped in 2 years.  Yes, they talk a lot about trying other strokes...but not mandatory.  They make it a choice and just stick with freestyle.  For the kick exercises, sometimes I do a breast stroke and kick freestyle or kick on my back.  But it's all about speed and drills, like the VO2 work on a bike.  The faster you can go for shorter distances, the faster you can go over long.  I add a third longer swim on the weekends when time allows.  Usually that lasts an hour or more continuous.  Just zone out and swim.  Masters is worth it to hone form and decrease speed.

As a bike rider, I know dogs.  I scream really loud at them.  Usually stops in their tracks.  If not, I wait until they are close and then put the hammer down....they are wasted and I am not...usually speed right away.  In extreme cases I do what you do.  stop and toss rocks and scream until the owner comes to the door...Then I scream at them. I've too old to take from anybody.  Come to think about it, I was too old at 15 to take from anybody.

Good Morning Team.

Thanks IceMan - I have also had a few encounters with dog owners on my bike.

Well Happy St.Patrick's Day Everyone. Any great workouts today that include some green brew?

It is going up to 18 c here today (66 on the f scale) - looks like it is going to be a very nice, breezy day but ... my pool is closed tonight (no lap swim for Kevin ) my bike is in the shop , I could go for a run I guess or maybe I might just take the day off and drink something green - oh well, I am sure I will figure it out.

Have a great day everyone.

KC

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KC, I don't leave home without pepper spray (usually a 9mm too) I have been chased by so many dogs it gets annoying after a while.  This weekend I had a Rot and Doberman come up on me, luckily the owner wasn't too far away.  A nice deep HEY usually works but alittle backup never hurts.

Tim, on the masters class thats what I'm looking for someone to push me and look over my stroke.  Biggest problem is I don't want to learn other strokes and I don't want to swim race.  I met with the coach and all but 1 person does tri's (and swim only for open water tri's) and he wants to run it like a race team.  Most of us have no intention in doing swim races.  I just don't want him to get upset when we don't want to do all the things he wants. 

Scott, I am a baby when it comes to my sleep.  for a 5:30 class I have to get up at 4:45, to go to work I get up at 8:15 now.  I am afraid it will throw my sleep schedule out of whack getting up 3.5hr earlier 2 days a week.  I have trouble sleeping as it is.

No workout for me last night as it was a late and unhealthy night, had meeting in Columbus that I did not get home from until 1:30am.   This has been a rough workout week hopefully I can find some schedule soon that works.

Good Morning Coach - (9mm huh - if hand guns were legal up here I would consider it LOL), like I said, I love dogs but I hate being chased by an angry one.

Have a great day.

Are guns completely illegal in Canada?  I too love dogs hence why we have 3, but a dog coming after me is a different story. My fight or flight kicks in. LOL..   I would never try to outrun a dog or even turn my back on one, if anything I charge it alittle. 

Wow - and here I'm planning on doing a swim-bike brick that puts me on some roads that have low levels of traffic and are sparsely populated.  Read that as "people fly down these roads"...so I really need to be on my guard today.  Oh - and forecasts for high winds.  YAAAAYYY!

I goofed a little on my run yesterday.  Was supposed to do 5x3' on 3' rest but ended up doing 6x3' on 1' rest.  Paid for it a little bit during the workout by walking the last 3 "rest periods" but I didn't want to take 3 min to have my heart rate plummet too much.

I'm finding lately that my HR recovers VERY quickly.  Is this a natural by-product of consistent endurance training?

Have fun out there everyone!

Hey Coach.

 Canadian law mandates firearm ownership as being primarily for sporting or recreational purposes (target shooting). You can hunt and you can own a handgun but it is illegal to carry a loaded weapon. Very strict laws here. You can even get into trouble for carrying pepper spray if you use it on a human it is illegal but you can use it on an animal - weird I know. So, I guess I am going back to carrying the pepper spray - look out dog on the 8th concession that chased me yesterday, I am coming after you LOL.

Wish I could help you with that one Rob - but I am interested in the answer - are you asking if when climbing a steep hill should we stand on our bike and pedal or sit on our bike and pedal - sorry, I don't have many hills around my place so I don't normally encounter this.

Hey - 3 posts in a row - sorry about that LOL.

I just checked my training log and today is supposed to be a day off for me - am I weird to find that a bit depressing? I have to do something - don't I? LOL.

Maybe I will rake some leaves tonight.

KC

Go to the hills and try both.  Everyone does better one way or the other. You'll find your answer.

Big guys like me generally sit because standing can put us into the red zone too quick.  Just scoot back on the seat to engage the gluts, shift down before you get to the climb and spin.  When you see me stand you know its 1. a really serious climb or 2. butt hurts. Smaller guys can stand more often without burning too many matches.  

I was feeling more comfortable sitting, and at 6'6", I think I rank up there in the "bigger" group.  I just thought maybe I was tackling it wrong since standing felt a little weird.  I read elsewhere that standing was primarily used to get the cadence back up where it needed to be.

Yeah I agree with Scott on this one too.  If you are using a heart rate monitor on bike just look to see how fast your heart rate climbs when you get out of the saddle.  You will be surprised.  The only times I will stand is if it is a monster hill and I have run out of gears and gas and looking for some power.  From what I have read and heard that is only a triathlon thing though - right?  Roadies are always getting out of the saddle but then again they don't have to run when they are done.

When you say "we" do have some buddies that are also going to join?  If so maybe you could talk to him about adjusting the program for triathlon?  Maybe if you have enough triathletes he would accomodate that. I always thought that Masters Swim was flexible.  In my Park District program the description for the Masters is "people who are doing triathlons, former college swimmer slooking to get back in shape or anyone looking to add swimming to their exercise routine" or something like that.  I would think triathlon swimmers are a good portion of the overall Masters group nationwide.

And lastely - where do people swim competatively at our age?  I have never seen anything like that. 

My local masters group swims in meets.  I DON'T GET IT EITHER, BUT i SUPPOSE they probably say the same thing about triathlons.

Big improvement on my swim!  Todays workout had 500 yards all broken up  into smaller sets, so I decided to combine them and see if I could do it continuous.  And I was able to!  That's the farthest I've ever done continuous!  I was winded after, but could have kept going!  I was pumped!  And I ran in a tshirt and shorts for the first time this year!  Today was a good day!

Tri folks here are a majority of Masters. But the swimmers do indeed have swim meets.  Plus they do open water.  They are having their second open water swim here this year.  Only one downstate Illinois.  1.2 or 2.4 miles.  I did the short last year, long this one in July.  They also do Big Shoulders, 5K in Lake Michigan in September.

AWESOME JOB KEITH - WAY TO GO! I am jealous but I am chasing you my friend - one of these days I am going to catch you LOL.

Rob:  if your HR is recovering quickly that is a GREAT sign you getting more fit.  Some people get hung up on high or low HR's but recovery is much more important.   For standing on the hills in training I stand to spike my hr and work harder.  But in a race they say you will burn more energy by standing so it should be avoided unless necessary.  I tend to stand every now and then just because I get tired of sitting.  Also most get out of aero when climbing to get more air in your lungs/ no advantage going that slow in aero.

Tim, I think he will adjust it to a point but he also wants the team to do races.  I don't train with many people that practice the butterfly.  I wish I could do it but my should does not mover that much.  I have no idea how flexible the training is as we have never had one in our town, so I'm hoping its fun.  Apparently the have regional/local swim meets for masters programs???  This coach wants us to do them, heck I don't even do flip turns and there are no walls in a tri lol.  I have no problem with swim meets just not for me... I don't even like to swim, just gets me one step closer to the finish line..

For those of you in a masters class what is the going rate?  I have no clue what they plan on charging.

EDIT he just emailed me back its $40 per month.  Is that a fair price??  Now I will have 2 gym's just to swim.

We join Masters which I think is about $25 a year and then pay $65/semester to Masters so they can rent the pool from the university.