Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 69)

shannen - 2011-02-17 6:21 AM So excited supposed to be in the upper 40s maybe even 50s today can't wait to get out for a run!! Steve I have the "strap-in" pedals right now and I have fallen already with these so I am positive it will happen if I get the clip-less pedals!!! We have the Rails to Trails bike trail that goes through our town which is really nice and seems to be getting longer every year! Last year I would take the girls for rides with the pull behind cart since it's a pretty safe ride, but this year I'm afraid my oldest might be too big to do that!! Yes my 5k was a race, I didn't do as good as I thought... I felt better this race then last and this was much flatter but I was @ a minute slower?! Could be lack of getting "out" to run!! Hope everyone is getting to enjoy a break in the bad weather!!! Shannen

stevebradley - 2011-02-16 6:47 PM ALEX - Okay! Some thoughts and insights into breathing! I have spent parts of both yesterday's and today's swim doing hypoxic breathing, which has been mostly every six strokes (a la you), and sometimes every eight strokes.. And just so that we're on the same mental abacus here, I count a stroke as every time either hand enters the water. So, if I do 22 strokes for a single length of the 25m pool, that means each hand enters the water 11 times. As a right-side breather, my normal pattern is breathing every other stroke. That means that right after every time my left hand enters the water, I am turning to breathe -- as the left arm is extending, I am breathing. And every time my right arm enters the water, my face is submerged and I am rotating to the left -- but not breathing. Were I to breathe then, too, it would be breathing every stroke, and I'd quivkly resemble a bobble-head doll! As I said to you the other day, one of the few truly functional tools in my swimming toolbox is breathing, which I find easy to do and am fairly inefficient at. That is, I can do it without disrupting my body line very much at all -- just as long as it's to my right. (When breathing bilaterally, things are not near as smooth and efficient -- which si why I only do it doing workouts and not in races.) So, even though I breathe mostly okay when swimming....... Breathing every sixth stroke is very hard on me. If my turnover is fairly high, which is 24 strokes per 25m, I can make it from one end to the other with four breaths. I am fine at this point, but about 3/4 of the way back I am beginning to become uncomfortable short of oxygen; by the time I hit the wall on thr return, I'm gassed. So, when swimming hard I can make it about 42m before I start to get hypoxic. Were I to turn immediately at the wall and continue, I would very soon have to change my breathing to every 4th or every 2nd stroke. And by very soon, I mean by halfway through that third 25m, at the most. If I relax a bit and swim more leisurely, using about 21 strokes for each 25m and breathing every sixth stroke, I am in better shape by the 50m mark. I could probably continue that way --breathing every 6th -- for another 25m, and then I might have to breathe more regularly, such as every 4th or 2nd. The trade-off for me comes when I look at speed for those 50m. When my arm turnover is fast and I'm breathing every 6th, I do the 50m in 47 or 48 seconds. When my turnover is more relaxed, I am done with the 50m in 50/51 seconds. Granted, I would love to be able to work that hard AND breathe that infrequently --- but my lungs cannot sustain it. Heck, even when I relax, I'm not good for more than 75m breathing every sixth stroke! ANYHOW.....all those numbers aside.....I just wanted to see for myself how difficult it might be for you to swim happily breathing so infrequently. And, as I suspected, I can only imagine how cacaphonously your lungs are hollering at you by the time you've done a length of the pool! So, again, if you are a one-sided breather, look to breathe very 2nd or 4th stroke; if you breathe to both sides, do it every third stroke. The simple math for a unilateral breather tells you that every other stroke allows for twice as many breaths compared with breathing every fourth stroke, so that should help your breathing problems enormously. And if you can master the fine art of the Full Exhale, you'll be good to go great distances in no time flat. Glub, glub!

ckallpoints - 2011-02-07 5:56 PM Kasia

If you are using one of the plans on BT I know it can be customized. You can combine different  parts of different plans. I'm not sure how to do it. You have to be a bronze or silver member to do it if I recall correctly.

augeremt - 2011-02-17 1:27 PM

Craig,

Last year I followed a pretty structured/specific plan from a book called Triathlete Magazine's Week-by-Week Training Guide (linked here on Amazon). I liked that it told me exactly what to do and when. But, now, per your suggestion, it seems like I may switch over to BT's plans. Seems like they're more customize-able and would fit my lifestyle better.

Thanks!
Kasia

stevebradley - 2011-02-17 1:39 PM DANIEL - By your standards, how rad is "rad"? By my standards, our weather is fairly rad, about 40F, with tomorrow approaching 50F. I might try an outside ride tomorrow, but if it's raining I'll just sigh deeply, pout a bit, and screw up my patience for another few weeks. And by Saturday, it'll be back to typical mid-Feb temps here. But for now -- it's rad!

stevebradley - 2011-02-17 4:41 PM ALEX - Have a good swim tonight! I will be sending along some vintage exhalation mojo, too, just in case you need it!

jslacker - 2011-02-08 2:14 AM Found out my fate.  It's a century ride.  He is letting me pick it though because he doesn't want to mess up my training.  Looks like a century ride in June.