Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 63)

that's what my dad suggested - I might kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get it done on wednesday when I go to pick up my new sports bra - the shops aren't that far apart and I get to have lunch to,lol

 Great job with the swim swing. I'm thinking I may actually be able to practice my breastroke now that I have a way of just doing arms only.

Ick, though I am not a fan of rain, I would certainly prefer it right now rather than the near 100 degree days we have been having this week! I do not like sweating when I am not working out!I haven't been around much lately due to the start of the school semester--I really need to do well this semester, so I have basically divided all of my time between work, workouts, and studying...ug...I think I've got a system going now where I have a bit off time, so hopefully I can keep up! My last tri of the season is this coming Sunday, also my longest distance so far---800m swim, 20 mi. bike, and 4 mi. run....I know I can do it, but how long will it take??? I am aiming for 2 hours and 30 min.--we shall see!

Last night I did a mini workout to break in my new running shoes--2 miles running, followed by a 400m swim--I was happily surprised that my swim was done in 10 minutes! ---Its an amazing feeling, knowing that my first tri had a 400m swim, and it took me 28 minutes, and here I am now, completing the same distance in 1/3 the time! Such a change!

Tonight, I have to take a small bike ride to make sure the new tire I bought doesn't feel too weird. After my flat 'fiasco', I decided to get a slightly stronger tire for the back wheel of the bike, and looking around online, I found that I would like the 'Gatorskin' tire--sorta pricey, but apparently bulletproof...After checking prices online and at local bike shops, I was able to get one from the college bike shop (yup, got one on campus--full service shop and merchandise--at a discount to students!)--at more than $20 off retail price! SCORE! plus on Tuesdays, you can get 2 decent tubes for $6, so I did. Now I just need to take it for a small ride tonight.

Hope you all have a great weekend and can squeeze in a work out or two.

The part of New York that I live in was hit with a storm that stalled over Binghamton.  The flooding is unbelievable.  I'll be on and off BT for the next few days because I've been helping out at some of the shelters.  

You know how you hear about emergency preparedness??  Definitely take a second to think about it!!!  I had a woman last night that only brought enough diabetic supplies to check her sugar once and take one dose of her meds....but no one will be allowed home for at least another three days.  =(

Whoa! Hope everything is OK with you & your fellow Birmingham-ites!  The recent rains (Irene, and this past week) have made a bit of a mess here as well, but nothing like what you may be seeing.

As for the emergency supplies/plan, we're set. I have box with enough stuff for a few days including flashlights, batteries, radio, list of meds (if any), shotgun, etc which we pulled out last week when Irene went through. didn't need it, but good to have. And, just kidding about the shotgun

Signed up yesterday for the final race of the year, which will be a sprint on 9/18. Not sure what to expect since I've been a total lump the past 10 days or so, but I have time to get moving again. Its the first 'full' race I did last year, so I'm interested to see what king of improvements may be seen, if any. Hopefully some.

I must admit this year has been a bit of a disappointment in terms of what I had planned on doing at years start and what actually transpired. The February foot injury certainly derailed much of what I had planned to do, and it was disheartening. I feel like I've spent much of the summer just getting back to where I was in early February, run wise. Biking I feel I'm much stronger, and swimming is the same. Both have improved this year.

What I really need to do is to get more consistent with my workouts, and think about what I'd like to do next year. I've really found a joy in biking, so I may emphasize that over the winter, particularly since its the longest part of any race. I'm also going to start getting more running in as I want to do a half marathon sometime in the near future. I'm essentially punting on the October one since I'm not ready, and likely couldn't be in 6 weeks without risking some type of injury. Swimming I'll likely keep with the 2x week AM workouts to maintain form & endurance. For 2012, I'm hoping to be more consistent, make measurable improvements, and improve on what I did (and didn't) do in 2011.

I'm still working on stated goals for next year, and thinking about what I want to do between now & then. I will be starting a cross training class on Saturday AM which will be a good, different type workout than the normal S/B/R. One good thing is that its at the same YMCA where I swim, so I'll go early, get in a swim workout, and then hit class.

What is everyone else doing?

As it was my first year of doing tris, I am happy overall--I completed my races and saw improvement in my times(kinda had to--when you're in last place, there is usually nowhere to go but up!). After the race on Sunday, my training will see a shift. I plan on continuing s/b/r once a week (at least), but will definitely be putting a 'heavy' emphasis on strength training--For the next month I will also be working more on the running and upper strength and flexibility for Warrior Dash in late October.

My overall goal for the 'off-season' is to lose some of the extra weight (i.e. FAT!) so that I will not look like a sausage in my tri gear next year! Of course that is a never-ending goal of mine....

Good luck with your race/workouts everyone.

Me - I'm doing a relay for life next Saturday/sunday and a 5k (If I can work out how to pay for it) on October 9. Still haven't decided whether I'm doing my tri or not though because I haven't got in a single 10k bike ride yet - I'm sort of getting lazy with the riding again as I still haven't done my last long ride from month 1 of my plan,lol.

Ironically, this experience has motivated my husband to get his pistol permit!  There has been looting and other burglaries in the downtown area that was evacuated.  On Wednesday, there were odd people who walked down my street knocking on doors asking people for stuff, but I didn't answer when they came to my door-it's just not a good neighborhood to open the door if you don't know the person!

The destruction is soooo sad.  My elementary school was submerged up the the bottom of the first floor windows.  On Facebook parents were posting that their children were crying when they saw the school and playground under water.  There was one whole town completely evacuated and only parts of mine.  We have a boil water advisory and water/power are out here and there. 

There are definitely ways this could have been worse, but I still am in shock... and very thankful that my family wasn't horribly affected.  We have family in a town where the main bridge to their home washed away, but that just means they have to be more creative to get there through back roads.

Tomorrow is a double-whammy for us.  I can't believe it has been 10 years since 9/11.  I was volunteering with a girl who was in 3rd grade the day of the attacks.  I told her it's a little sad that she didn't know how life was before 9/11, but I hope, hope, hope that she never experiences a change in the world like us older folks did!  We had different memorial services planned in the area, but people need to focus on clean up efforts instead.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!  I hope you're able to get some great training in!

You may surprise yourself!!!  Just go at a comfortably fast pace and try to negative split the run.  =)

I don't have any races planned, but once we get back to normal around here, I'll start thinking about racing.  The YMCA I swum at is closed indefinitely, the roads are a mess for cycling and there's just an "air" about our city that wouldn't make for a pleasant run.  I'm hoping to get into a groove so that I can do some short races before I head to NZ in January.

The off-season is the perfect time to trim down.  Keep in mind that you do not have to deprive yourself of anything to to lose weight, it's about really enjoying the taste of the food in smaller amounts.  Besides trying smaller portions (use smaller plates, bowls, cups so you don't "think" you're eating less) think of ways to add.  Yes! ADD!  VEGGIES, VEGGIES, VEGGIES!!!  Sneak in veggies at breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  It's so win-win.  You'll get great nutrients and will feel fuller on fewer calories.  Making a sandwich?  Think of something you like to add like tomato, lettuce, avocado, etc.  Fruits are great to add, too.  Having cereal?  Look for fruit to add.  Having yogurt? Look for fruit to add.  Add nuts too!  Just keep the serving size of nuts under 1/4 cup.  I nearly fainted the first time I saw that a handful of nuts was 200 calories <-ooooh, the nutritionist in me! ha!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We're getting back to "normal" around here tomorrow. YAY! 

The YMCA that I teach swim lessons at has two branches about 10 miles apart and both are closed indefinitely due to damage.  Looks like I won't be swimming for a while, so I'll take advantage of the extra time to run and maybe, just maybe, start looking at P90X.

=)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We're getting back to "normal" around here tomorrow. YAY! 

The YMCA that I teach swim lessons at has two branches about 10 miles apart and both are closed indefinitely due to damage.  Looks like I won't be swimming for a while, so I'll take advantage of the extra time to run and maybe, just maybe, start looking at P90X.

=)

Kate - Great job getting it done. Sorry about the bike issues.

Kate, never regret a race! Sounds like you stuck it out to the end which is awesome. =) Congrats on a great season!

Hey everyone!!!

No more downer flood stories, I promise. =)  I got out for a run after work.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL today!!!  I saw a guy on a bike with a t-shirt that said, "One less car." I thought that was pretty cool.  What's cooler?  I got my average pace down to under 10 minutes. HURRAY!  When I was in shape last year, I could hold a low 8 minute pace for a nice distance (like a 9 mile race that I did in March 2010), but this year it's been tough, tough, tough to get that speed and endurance back.  I think if I keep this up than I can rock out to a nice race before the year is done.  I fare better in cooler weather anyways. =)

How's everyone else??

Kate's race report is up!!!  One thing I wanted to bring up to the group is fartlek training.  Google it!! =)  For swimming, through in sets of EBEH.  Easy. Build. Easy. HARD.  In the beginning, swim 25 yards/meters , easy, 25 build (start off at a medium pace and then finish the length with a sprint pace), then 25 yards easy, 25 yards sprint.  It's a GREAT way to build your tolerance for differing speeds.  That sprint at the end gets you to HTFU so you can get used to pushing yourself when you get tired (let me tell you, if you repeat 100s of EBEH you will have one heck of a workout!). 

During running I do 30 seconds of above race pace every 5 minutes to get my legs to turnover... it's long enough to get the muscles twitching faster, but it's not long enough to completely wipe you out.  Same thing can be done with riding, but I'd make the hard efforts a little longer...1-2 minutes.

Let me know what you think!  I'd venture to say Mike is ready for a set of 10 x 100 EBEH and Curt, too!

That is actually the main set of tomorrows swim workout!   I've done these before and I am just wreckage floating in the pool afterwards....

I have a race on Sunday, and I'm woefully under prepared. For a number of reasons, the past 3 weeks I've been missing far more training than I've done, and I really need a mental attitude adjustment for the race. Its not a matter of finishing, thats not really a question. its about racing strong, knowing I've arrived ready to go and to put up some decent times, particularly compared to last year when I did this race.  Everything will probably turn out fine (I'm fired up for the bike, to be honest!) but I'm not where I wanted to be.  I'll re-evaluate on Sunday afternoon, and think about how to attack shorcomings in the offseason.

Speaking of offseason - come trainer time, I'm going to get a few of these and try them out. Go to www.thesufferfest.com and take a look. Fun! . There's been a few threads in TT about these, and overall a big thumbs up from the greater BT community. Will be a nice addition to the cycling dungeon.

Mike

AWESOME!  Wait til you do a set of 5 x 200 EBEH!  Bumping everything up by 50 yards makes a big difference! 

Hope you're able to get back into the swing of things!

Ok BT is eating my posts again.

Mike - good luck with your race

Curt - good luck getting back in to training.

Sara - I do some fartleking on the bike/run to avoid being hit by cars etc right now but I may look at putting some more structured sessions in. Not sure I'm ready for the EBEH yet but I may look at it once I've finished the beginner swim program.

Oh and I'm leaning towards not doing my tri this year because a) I'm not sure I'll have the $$$, b) I've been neglecting the bike again and haven't got in my 70 min (hopefully 10k) ride yet and c) The brick I did last week (full) left me with an "almost walking" pace on the run so I'm a bit concerned about speed. I wouldn't mind being DFL but looking at the times from last year I'm wondering if they have any "cut-off" times for the different stages - especially the bike as I'm seriously slower than even the DFL bike person from last year. OH well I may aim the race they have at the same place at the end of the series.

As I'm struggling to get to the pool and/or on the bike, going to see what I can do to run every day.  While it won't help with the other two disciplines, it will hopefully build the run.  Last night felt really good -- did my standard out and back route and had a big time negative split while running comfortably.