JohnnyKay's HIM & IM focused Group - CLOSED (Page 7)

HI cute little baby!!!  At least your mommy didnt have to go to the hospital on a snow mobile!!

Steve- Congrats!  She is adorable!!

JohnnyKay- Thanks, my weekend did end on a VERY high note.

Got in a thirty mile ride on Saturday, and ran 3 miles yesterday.  Did some strength training today but didn't have a lot of time- I taught all morning and then went up to Green Bay with my dad for the Packers Superbowl Party at Lambeau.  It was an amazing experience, but I am still shivering from sitting in the cold!
Tomorrow I am planning to bike again and do some yoga.  I started yoga this year after struggling with tight IT bands while training for my marathon last year.  I have to say, it really has done wonders for me, and I haven't had any problems with the IT bands (so far, so good).
How many days a week does everyone strength train at this point of the season?  I have been doing 2-3 days/week (at least aiming for that) and alternating that with yoga on the off days.

Wow, congratulations!  She's adorable.
John

Didn't realize I was quoting Jennifer.  Steve, your daughter is angelic as well.
J

Congrats Steve!! Luckily, she doesn't have her dad's looks!

Congratulations to you & your wife, Steve!

You are allowed to gloat for a long time now, Dad. 

I have that experience sometimes.  That is, feel really fatigued and wonder whether I should even bother with a workout.  And then a few minutes into the workout I almost feel rejuvenated.

But, other times that "fog" never lifts and I don't really have a great workout.  In those cases, I'll usually scrap any intensity I had planned and possibly cut the workout short too.  (Still other times, I do bail on the workout completely--usually rolling over for more sleep in bed.)

It's not easy for me to tell in advance which one is going to happen and I just try to adjust on the fly.  I'll do my best to start a workout, because I agree that sometimes it's just fighting through that mental fatigue and the workout actually leaves me feeling better.  But I do think it's important to realize that fatigue comes from all aspects of our life, not just training.  Challenges at work, home, any kind of stress can add to it.  Not just the more obvious training, physical activities or lack of sleep.  That's another reason that following a "canned" plan to the letter may not be the best idea.  the plan has no idea what else is going on in your life.

You will find a wide range here.  I'm at one end--zero.

With limited training time, and no injuries to address, I feel my time is best spent S/B/R (well, at least B/R right now--S will be added long before any ST) as my goals from training are princiaplly triathlon-related.  I don't even do much stretching--certainly, nothing formalized.  Might be a bit different for you playing soccer--strenthening some supporting muscles could help avoid injury in a sport where you are constantly changing speed and direction.  And some people just like the way ST makes them feel--builds confidence--which is a factor that shouldn't be discounted.

So, it's really an individual choice.  What's important to you?  What are your goals?

Congrats Steve!!

We have a little boy due in 2.5 weeks!!

What a beautiful baby girl! Those are really nice photos, too. You deserve to gloat as much as you want. Congratulations and best wishes to you and your family!

Anthony

Edited by amschrod 2011-02-09 4:09 PM

Awesome!!!  You're first or how many rugrats you have at home already?

Thanks mentor group for letting me gloat. 




I 2nd JK's thoughts.   Some of my athletes LOVE to strength train, so part of all of this is mental management.  Most people can't handle doing things all the time that they don't like or not doing something they do like.  So if you like strength training and it makes you happy....then do it.  The athletes I train who don't really care one way or the other about strength training...I prefer they focus on S/B/R with some core/stabilization exercises.  Those who like it, I only take it out of their training when volume increases to the point where there is no time int the week for it.  Typically these are long course (HIM/IM athletes) about 3 months out from their long course race.

If you are hoping strength training will increase your S/B/R performance, the verdict is out on that and it is a widely debated topic among us coaches and researchers as well.  I have the pleasure of coaching a couple athletes that have "all the time in the world" to train, so time management is less of an issue than those athletes who need to actually work for a living.  For "all the time in the world" athletes, I have them strength train primarily to stave off injury and control asymmetical strength issues.  For the AGer (elite or BOP) who works for a living, strength training becomes less stressed as I focus more on "bang for the buck" workouts.


Edited by Steve- 2011-02-09 9:02 PM

He will be #2. I have a 2 year old at home who can't wait to be a big sister!

That's very cool.

I'm not sure our little guy (who is 4) thoroughly understands what a sister is and that she will be living with us....like for a long time. 

We'll see.  We should be getting discharged from the hospital this weekend we're thinking so then he'll be able to meet her.

Congrats Steve! She's beautiful! Babies are awesome!!!!

Congrats, Steve!

Update on my training / injuries:

I've been quiet within the group mainly because I still can't run and am not really doing lots of tri-specific training. I've had some treatment on my iliopsoas and improved quite a bit. Now my abductor is still tight while running with somewhat proper form (oddly enough it doesn't hurt or get further strained while playing tennis). So I've been riding and swimming a bit here and there + going to the gym, but avoiding any activity or exercise that may cause adductor abductor pain. I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to run properly before the end of the month as I'm feeling much better than in December, but I'm not quite ready yet and must be patient. Starting next week, I plan on following my HIM training plan and invest the scheduled run time either biking or swimming.

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Félix

Edited by dragoman 2011-02-11 9:44 AM

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  I managed to get my biking done during the afternoon on Sat (though a little shorter than I had hoped) and had decent weather for my run outside yesterday.  Also made 2 basketball (son & daughter) and 2 soccer games (both daughters) plus a night watching some college hoops with friends (the host Pitt fans got the edge over their guest 'Nova fans) to keep Saturday busy.

Anyway, thought I'd try to get some more discussion going here again.  I know race day is a long way off for most, but we do have a few people tackling their first HIM or IM this year.  So maybe there's something your wondering or worried about.  We've got some people who have "been there, done that", so now's your chance to get some real-world feedback.  As usual, it may not answer all your questions exactly (as many precise answers are individual) but hopefully will help make you better prepared when race day does roll around.  We've touched on nutrition, but we can go further into people's plans if that helps.  Or maybe it has to do with pacing or transitions or the mass swim or some other topic.  Let's hear it!

First day of 30 week IM plan!!!! 209 more days left, yeah!

Yes!!!!
Since I'm a computer idiot, I can only send it via email. If you or anyone else wants it, get me your email address and I'll send it over to you.

OK, I was curious how I can develop a better kick in the swim (or should I even try?).  I have no problem swimming long distances, but this is with little to no kick.  I often wonder if I developed a good kick, how much faster could I be?  In Ironman races, I have always viewed the swim as a "warmup" for the day, and come out of the water feeling good, not overly tired.  This is especially true for my legs as I need to preserve them for the bike/run.
This morning I kicked 20 laps in the pool, with fins.  Take the fins away and I make virtually little to no forward progress.  Would I be better off focusing on other things than working on my kick for the potential time savings in Ironman distance races?  For a reference my I've swam 7 IM races, with swim times all over the map 75 min-94 min.

Jim, I'm in the same boat, pardon the pun, as you. I use virtually no kick also, but with decent results. My sprint/oly times are usually 1:30 - 1:40/100yd and my longer training days are in the 1:50/100 yd range. What I may gain w/ more kicking just doesn't seem worth it to me, what's a couple of minutes in the scheme of things?

Now, a question for you and John/Steve, our IM vets: on you long training days, did you bike 4-6 hours and follow it with a run of 2-3 hrs. or did you do your long rides on one day and follow it with a long run on the next day? I've seen where some people do it one way, others do it the other. Just wondering how you guys did it?

thanks,

First and foremost, yes, you are correct in thinking your time is better spent on increasing FTP or run speed at distance than your kick for improvement in IM time assuming that you have not reached your athletic potential in those two other sports. 

Secondly, a light to no kick is a non-issue in IM AGers like yourself and actually almost all the athletes I coach have too MUCH of a kick; masking their inefficiencies in the pull/power phase of their stroke.

However, with that being said, if you're having issues with your kick, ditch the fins ASAP...they're not teaching you how to kick but rather building leg muscles, ankle flexibility and providing propulsion.

Do you do all 4 strokes, or at least 3 strokes each and every pool workout?

Do you do at least 15 min of drills between your warmup and main set?

The best way to increase the efficiency of your kick is to do exactly what you're doing.  Kick sets with as well as without a kickboard.  Sometimes the way you hold the kickboard can actually create drag in front of you...further increasing your frustration of not going anywhere while kicking.  But again, powerful kicking is much more useful in swims much less than 2.4mi.

Do you do kicksets on your side too?