Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 7)

Group Members

Hi!  Thank you for such a GREAT start to our group. I love the questions and the support you give each other, this is fantastic.

You can see that the "dashboard" on my training log has your BT name, your name and in parantheses I have started putting the date of your first triathlon (since we're a swim focused group, I tried to skip the run or cycling events before your first tri for the year), the location of your triathlon (it's fun to see!), and what distance it is.

I'm doing this as I look back through our thread and also as I check out your training logs.  To speed up the accuracy of my chart, could everyone check my dashboard and verify the information I have for you?  That'd be fantastic! Thanks!!

I don't even go anymore. They keep telling me things I don't want to hear.

I am jealous that so many of you are in areas that are warm! We are still in the 40s here and last week we had a snowstorm! I am feel somewhat guilty that you are all in the midst of some pretty intense training and my goal is just to do more each week! I have a goal to run and get to the pool twice each this week. Afterschool kid "events" are wreaking havoc on my time, too.

Laura

Sara,

Can you talk about aqua jogging? Do you do it in the short end of the pool or in deep water? Do you wear any type of flotation stuff? Do you wear water shoes? Does it matter? I've never tried it but with the aches and pains my long distance runs gave me for the pre-marathon training, I might think about alternating a water workout for some of my runs now and then. I'm sure it would help my 50 year old joints!

Johanne

I'm with Laura, it's still pretty cold here in Michigan, and  I know how hard it is to get a workout in when you have kids, somedays I'm surprised I even have time to wash my face and get dressed in the morning.

Tracie

I am jealous that so many of you are in areas that are warm! We are still in the 40s here and last week we had a snowstorm! I am feel somewhat guilty that you are all in the midst of some pretty intense training and my goal is just to do more each week! I have a goal to run and get to the pool twice each this week. Afterschool kid "events" are wreaking havoc on my time, too.

Laura

Right on for Alicia and I.

I just want to say Thanks Again to Sara and all in this group. One thing I have found through all my training is this is a great community and everyone has knowledge to offer, even if your new to the Tri scene. 

My first race is on Eglin AFB, Florida, which is close to Fort Walton Beach.

Wow, I wasn't able to check in yesterday and there was a whole lot of catching up to do!

I had to work, then it was straight on to my tri-training class--we ended up doing a bike ride to a nearby park (from the gym we swim at), then ran, then biked around the park again, then ran again, then biked back to the gym where we then hopped into the pool for half an hour of swimming laps and drills--I still am struggling with the swimming--hand position, head position(for breathing), and just pulling it all together-luckily my coach is really good (and patient!). So I didn't get home til late.

This morning I rode my bike in to school, I tried to keep a good cadence going, but I was distracted by the many wild animals I was seeing along the trail (we have an amazing river bike/running trail here!)--this is a common issue for me--I'm such and animal freak....occupational hazard, I guess!

So I will also bike back home this afternoon and I'm thinking I'll get a little Wii Fit in there too for the fun of it (I'm sure some yoga will be a good addition!).

Its been interesting reading some of the posts, I'll try to catch up on all of the info/friend status/etc..tonight when I'm at home being lazy. Right now I need to update my training log here--and I guess I should probably pay attention to the classes too.

(8/27, Veracruz, Sprint)

We JUST got our warm weather, but it may slink away.  It's okay that your training is in a different place than everyone.  As long as you keep your next race goals in perspective with your training and you're okay with that then it's all good.  We have one guy in our tri club that is going from winter induced coach potato habits into training, but he JUST realized that he cannot realistically train for a 1/2 marathon in just 6 weeks.  Hopefully, seeing everyone training will motivate you when it's time to get outside!

GREAT question Johanne,

I aquajog in both parts of the pool, depending on my mood.  

In the deepend I wear a floatation device-an aquabelt.  Sometimes I even hold on to aquatic barbells (barbells that float).  I stay in the deep end if my joints feel particularly beat up-it's no impact in the deep end. 

In the shallow end I practice "sprinting" so no more than 5 yards/meters or if I want to do some stretching (kick one leg out straight and try to touch toe to stretch hamstrings or lots of side stepping or jumping side to side & front to back-plyometric kind of stuff). 

I do cross country skiing in both ends and "rocking horse" in both ends-pulling one knee up to my chest as I rock back and then kicking my butt with the other foot when I rock forward).

I don't personally wear shoes, but you can.  Especially if you are worried about catching a fungus from walking around barefoot.

Running in the water is super... the resistance in the water strengthens your muscles in both directions of your movement...the harder you work the more of a workout you get, the water can keep you cool, the water pressure helps with swelling and the cool water helps with swelling too.  The more of your body that sticks above the surface, the more work you have to do.  In the deep end, if the water surface is at your armpits then the water is supporting much of your body weight, if the surface is at your hips in the deepend then you are supporting more of your weight than in the deepend.  The water prevents your heart rate from getting high so if you aren't feeling well one day you can jump in the pool and just do some stretching, light walking, so that you move around, but don't put too much stress on your body.

Hope that helps!

I think I will try aqua jogging during my next swim workout (maybe tomorrow....), it looks like something I could definitely use!

I made it home from school, so my total biking today was 23 miles---11.5 miles each way--and I shaved off time on the way home (10 minutes to be precise...) probably cause there were fewer animals roaming around on the trail!

Tomorrow, I might be able to fit in a swimming workout--if so, I will be doing more drills, some laps and the aforementioned water jogging; later in the day, my tri-training class is just doing a 5 mile bike ride and maybe a bit of running. Thankfully I am on vacation from work this week, so I can take it easy the rest of the time!

Suzanne,

You are an ispiration! Wow.  Keep up the good work.

Alicia

Had a good ride complete with a head wind (both ways of course) and plenty of climbing.  It was later than I had hoped, Plan C for the day but glad to have got it in.

I was told early when I started about the 80/20 philosophy that has really helped me keep going at times.  They say 80% of your gains will come with 20% effort.  That means consistency at an easy pace will get you the biggest chunks of progress.  It made me not afraid of going out for a short easy ride/run/swim if that is all I could get in for that day.  The key is consistency.

It is inspiring to hear everyone's stories and the obstacles you have overcome.  Thank you for sharing them.

Chet 

My plan had me doing a 2 1/2 hour run with hills today. Keeping it in Zone 3-4 on the uphills and recover on the downhills.

I hadn't gone on a trail run for a while so I thought I would go down the road to our county park. I know these trails like the back of my hand but I think I was blocking out how steep the hills were. Needless to say, my run was a little short I went 2 hours and only ran 8 miles. I'm not complaining about the 8 miles but I wish I would of gone to another park with shorter hills so I could of run more of them. I landed up walking most of the hills and running the flats and downhills. Total climb was 1700 feet and my legs are complaining about it!

It's all relative because a year ago I probably would of run/walked 4 miles in 2 hours so I've seen fitness improvement and I'm sure walking up was good for my butt! I need to plan a little more realistically next time.

Hope everyone had a great day today and got their training in.

Sara, thanks for the aqua jogging info. I'm going to try it sometime.

Johanne

Thanks to all for the encouragement & support. It certainly helps!

I thing my using the 'loser' term in my post may have been more of a poor way to express disappointment in myself more than thinking I'm a loser for not swimming more . I usually never try to do a work out of 'swim as far as I can at once'.  The usual progression is warm up, drills, main set, cool down. Maybe I just need to expand the main set a bit each day to build some endurance. What kills me is I know can, and have done what I feel I should be doing - I'm just getting lazy perhaps?

As for the foot, on Thursday I'm off to see an ART specialist - and a "team Ironman" one to boot, so I'm hopeful he can do something. Turns out his office is a 5 minute taxi ride from my office, so I can go on my lunch hour. Will report back on how this all works out.

One very positive for the spring is my new bike which i've had up on the trainer since christmas. All my riding has been inside, except one trip which ended with a crash (all is well -- rookie with clip in's was the cause ). I'll be back on it about 4:30 am tomorrow.

Good night, everyone!

Mike

If anyone is on Facebook and wants to connect there too, you can find me: Johanne Volante Roberts

It's kind of fun to see pictures there. Especially since I still can't figure out how to downsize my pictures for here....but I will!

Sara,

Thank you sooooo very much! Wow...lots to take in.  Will practice looking at my hands entering the water and ?the "core thing"...

Thanks again,

Alicia

Mike,

Yup...Rookie with clips in, I'm there. On my first sprint I had a bit of a crash too on my bike. Was going uphill and kept changing geers, but I wasn't going anywhere and I couldn't figure it out until I was down on the ground with my feet still clipped in.  I felt like "Dorothy" in the Wizard of Oz, trying to unclip both feet while on my side on the ground.  Out of all that I did get a great "chain tat." scar on my ankle, which I am proud of!!

Alicia

WittyCityGirl - 2011-04-12 2:30 PM oooh, Itzia! I kept your triathlon location as "Mexico" in my dashboard because I had to look it up and double-check what country it is.  I'm awful at geography!

Don't worry, Veracruz is a port in Mexico.

http://maps.google.com/

I rode my mountain bike for 9.54 K and then swam 800m.  I didn't really try to remember minutes and strokes to play golf, but I observed that it always takes me 1:03 to do 50m, I do 19 to 23 strokes in 25m (most times 22) and I do the kick, kick, kick thing LOL  I hadn't noticed that.   By the way Sara, I loved that explanation.

Good night! 

Hi Itzia, Alicia here. Where you are from sounds a lot like where I am from.  I was born in Colombia S.A. and it's the same there.  Sometimes I complain about things here in the good ol' US of A,  but actually it is pretty good here.  So sorry about you not being able to run or bike anywhere in your city that you want.  I will from now on remember to not take life for granted.  Thank you so very much Itzia for reminding me of this.  Have a great evening.

Alicia

Kate,

What's your picture? There are a lot of people with your name

Johanne