MJEWEN Spring 2013 Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 7)

Ken I hope you get better soon! Bill may you get good news and it is nothing serious.

As far as open water swimming I can only do that starting in  June and the closest is 30minutes away. Some times living in the high desert really has it set backs. The nearest indoor pool is 30minutes away and I have yet to being to train for swimming. when the outdoor pool is open it is a nice 5 minute walk from my house.  I don't bi lateral breathe I just have never gotten comfortable with it. I just breathe out of my right side and tuck my chin in as close as I can to my shoulder so I have little head turn as possible and it is one fluid motion when I need to breathe. I usually go six and breath when I am in good swim shape. As far as flip turns it is just practice practice practice to get them down it can be hard the first few times in shallow water.

Emily: Nice to hear your achilles is getting better!  I'm amazed you go six strokes and then a breath swimming... I can barely do three strokes.  I guess that's why I'm landmammal

Wanted to thank everyone for the nice words and support about my pneumonia.  I'm patiently waiting for Feb 11th and hopefully getting the green light from my dr.  In the meantime, I've decided that if I do get cleared that I'm not giving up my goal that I started back in November.  I ran 600 freaking treadmill miles in Nov/Dec just for base building.   The Pfitzinger Advanced Marathon book has an 11 week plan (weekly mileage of 66,72,75,77,70,84,87,82,83,71,54,36).  I normally like a 3 week taper, but I put quite a bit of faith in the Pfitz training plans... heard lots of runners with great results from them.  The plan seems like it will work because it does start with lots of slower miles the first few weeks (endurance phase) so I can hopefully regain fitness from the month off.  The 4 straight 80+ weeks will be a new high for me and I'm kind of excited about that.

Also, if I get cleared on the 11th, that Saturday I still have the indoor triathlon that I signed up for.  I'm thinking I'll do that, although my swimming will probably be downright comical at this point.

After the spring marathon, I'll definitely be focusing on swimming and biking!  I keep looking at my road bike which I go this winter and haven't been able to ride and thinking how awesome its going to be when the weather turns to hit the roads.

My swimming answers:

1) Where do you swim?  If a pool, how long is it? 

A 25 yard pool at the local YMCA

2) How often do you OWS - not in a pool but in a river/lake/ocean? 

Zero times so far, but hope to go about twice a month to a local lake over the summer.

3) Do you have a wetsuit, if so what type and brand?

Not yet.

4) Do you bi-lateral breath - breath off the right and left side - or only one side? 

Sort of.  At least as I swim and and attempt to breath I do attempt it bilaterally.  Every once in awhile I mess up the form and get more water than oxygen.  But was getting better back when I used to exercise (Dec and early Jan)

Ken - Pfitz rocks!  I've used his 18/55 plan with good success.  The plan you are looking at is some SERIOUS MILES!

Emily - Glad to hear the achilles is doing better! 

Ken,

 I am a swimming machine.. I would rather swim 500 miles then run 1  The six truly is to much and I should back it down to around 4.

Em

Hey all,

i've been traveling on and off for the past week or so.... but...I spent half hour on the new bike trainer this morning. (cycle ops magneto).  The latest cycling death in Daytona two days ago helped me convince the wife that it might be worth the investment -  (we've had three local cycling deaths in the past 3-8 months).

I'm definitely going to have to figure out how to keep occupied in the garage - how do you guys set up your trainer for entertainment when you ride? TV on a shelf? reading? Laptop?

Bilateral breathing comments... these are some efforts that helped me work through it .....for example..if you go to the swimsmooth.com website there is a figure with a "perfect" stroke. If you notice the head position rotating with the body, it's not a matter of turning the head to breath, rather, when the body rotates with the stroke, the head naturally follows the rotation and one is able to breath- bilaterally. if the problem with breathing is having to turn the head to breath between strokes then perhaps one is swimming "flat" i.e. no rotation in the torso with the stroke and thus leaving us to breathe with the perceived strong arm pull of the swim.  I hope this helps.... 

Emile, Ken, Em.... i started looking into Pfitz..... you're right..... that's alot of miles....

Emile, are you serious?  80 mile weeks....holy cow, I'm thinking about 80 miles every quarter .... but that's really amazing, i hope to be at that level in a year or two.... you guys all inspire me- alot of you guys are Post surgeries, pneumonias, and other serious life issues and here I am bundled up in a blanket in South Florida thinking my ankle is a little sore, ....and we just had a cold front last night it's down to 53 with a wind chill of 49.. so maybeI'll run tomorrow. when it warms up and my ankle feels better...

thank all of you for doing what you do and posting such positive messages...

EMILE... thanks for the advice on HR under 150 when beginning to run.  I followed that rule and had a pleasant experience running 4 miles today.... of course I had to test it ... so when i got up to 154-156 i felt the cramp coming on and reduced my HR to 144 and continued chugging along.... you rock!

My wife is encouraging me to ride a 1/2 metric century (31 Miles) tomorrow morning in memory of two cyclists from my city who lost their lives this past year. Ride Right-Drive Right for cycling advocacy is the sponsor.

Great news, Terry! That's fantastic to find something that works.

Emily, so now I know who to come to with swim questions ;-) How was the elliptical?

Ken, wow, that's some serious mileage!

I have also spent a bit of time watching the swimsmooth videos. I find that helpful, at least for visualizing what I should be doing. Having someone watch you also helps. I took a swim class in November, and the teacher gave me some very unexpected and helpful tips on form.

Let me ask you guys a swim question: When you first set out, say, on a 100 yd. set, does the first 25 yards feel the fastest? Do you feel your form breaking up as you tire? Do you feel less buoyant as you tire? I notice even on the longer sets of maybe 1000 that the first 25 or 50 just feel so fast, easy and floaty compared to the other 950. That is really not my experience with running, where the middle miles can be the best and the fastest (for me).

Hi Emily!

Ken here.  You say that running is your nemesis.  The same goes for me.  Running always seems to aggravate one of the many injuries I've had over the years.  

I have found a program that helps both with the injuries and with the boredom.  I'm using Jeff Galloway's Run/Walk method.  The idea is that you run say 3 minutes and walk 1 minute.  The time depends on the time you need to run a "magic mile".  And the training isn't onerous.  I'm training for a half marathon for example.  I run on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 30 minutes.  Then on the weekend, I do the "long run" but I use the run/walk method and I run at a VERY slow pace.  That's part of the plan.  So far, it seems to be working.

Many areas also have one of his groups which will help with motivation and provide a social aspect to running.  

Most of Jeff's information is available for free on his website.  He's also written many books.  

Hope this helps.

Hi all!

KenW here.  If KenL is going to be KenL, maybe I can be Ken or KenH instead of KenW.  That way I won't get confused.  My last name begins with H.

I think I missed the memo.  You know the one - that tells you how to do everything on this site and keep up.  I just had to read all of the posts for the month of Jan and fill in my training.  Whew!  Glad I finally emailed Mike and he set me straight.  Thanks Mike!

I'm going to try to answer some of the questions that have been going around.  Watercamper - I used to do a lot of white water kayaking and rafting.  Not so much nowadays.  The name stuck.

Aerobars - Someone mentioned a forward facing seatpost.  My local bike guru fitting triathlete guy says the post can be the way to go because most aero bars really S T R E T C H you out.

Trainer - got one at Performance - Merry Christmas to me!  Bought a fluid trainer for a little over $100.  By the way, DC Rainmaker's site is great for reviews on equipment like this, watches, etc.

What does OWS mean?

I swim at the Y.  I consider myself lucky.  I joined the tri-club at the Y last year.  My swim coach has been a competitive swimmer all his life and is now a coach and professional triathlete.  His opinion on breathing - one side- not bilateral as you want all the oxygen you can get.  But - make sure you can breathe on both sides.  I learned this in heavy waves and wind - you WANTthe ability to breathe on both sides - also for sighting.  As for me - I just learned to swim properly last year - and I'm still working on this.  My plan is to be able to beat my wife!!!

Shoes - I've done 2 runs in my new NB Leadville 1210's.  Nice so far!  Can't wait for the ice to leave the trails so that I can really give them a spin.

Urologist - sorry, can't remember who has to see one.  Me too - again - in a few weeks.  Hope everything is OK.

Bike - 8 or 10 year old LeMond.  Lusting after a tri-bike!  Did put a Cobb saddle on it to not aggravate the prostate.  Seems to work.  

Clip-ins - I switched to these back in the late 80's or early 90's.  Probably early 90's.  Never looked back.  I actually use my mountain bike shoes and SPD's on my road bike.  Haven't used the TIME style in years.  Years ago, I got tired of walking around (or not walking around very well) in my road shoes when doing a long ride and stopping for a snack or whatever.

Zero drop shoes - I agree with those that posted.  You MUST make the transition slowly.  I visited my PT, did a video gait analysis and with his input and my past injury record, we decided that the "minimalist" shoe was not in my future.  I did do what others of you have done - concentrated on changing my gait from a heel strike to mid-foot/forefoot, kept the traditional shoe, made sure of the forward lean, shortened my stride and upped my cadence.  I'm also using Jeff Galloway's method.  So far so good.  It took me about 6 months to make these changes along with some specific calf exercises - I'm missing some Achilles tendon parts on one leg.  And I'm still trying to add the kick in that my coach wants.

OK - I know that I didn't answer everything but maybe just enough.  I am envious of your guys that are racing already.  My first one isn't until April - and the swim will have to be in the pool the day before the ride/run.  We can't usually get in the lakes until May or June.  Oh - I have a full wetsuit that I usually use all summer except for one lake where I can swim w/o it in August.

Nos vemos,

Ken o KenH

Terry - Glad that my tip on running off the bike helped! 

Re: your question on riding on the trainer.  I put a bar stool in front of my bike to put my lap top on.  I watch different tv series or movies on Netflix.  I really like watching tv series over movies because they keep me motivated to get back on the bike to see the next episode.  I also position a fan towards the front of the bike to keep me from sweating as much.

Did you do the 1/2 metric century?  How did it go?

Denise - Glad to hear from you!

Melissa - I'm not sure I feel faster on my first 25 or not.  It has been a couple of months since I've been in the pool but planning on getting back in soon.  Although if my memory serves me correct I think I usually feel pretty slow all the time!  I'm a pretty bad swimmer! 

Ken - OWS stands for open water swimming.  Good to hear from you!

Emile.. The bike ride went well.  I finished 34.83 miles at a 15.5mph average speed. it was an improvement for me and i'm excited. the first 9 miles was into a headwind on an unprotected road, the remainder was through residential areas and then looped back.  The Start finish was at the BB&T arena where the Florida Panthers play, about 8 minutes from my house. . It was an incredible day - few clouds.... clear and sunny day. temp was 56 at start and 71 when i finished. 

i'm exited with the off season preparation and my training begins in earnest this week. I should be putting in about 10 -12 hours a week now.....

now hopefully the lights get back on at the Super Dome and the Ravens can finish the job.

This was my first ride with "cyclists." Wow, what an eye opener..... they have a a very interesting etiquette and protocol, hand gestures, commands, drafting (very close I might add), right of ways..... and .... very colourful. 

I had the only tri-bike. Had my profile design hydration up front and all my gels duct taped to the cross-bar... but i didn't need it.  There was a rest area after 12 miles. Everybody pulled in. I'm thinking, "It's only twelve miles and I feel pretty good....." But - I'm not kidding... everybody pulled in.  They all got off their bikes, stretched, ate sandwiches, oranges, bananas, relieved themselves and we were just standing there with further looking around and talking for about 30 minutes..... and then we continued on.....  Those people can ride... geez louise they are amazingly fast ....

KenH - thanks for mentioning the Galloway method. I read up on that and  tried it this morning for a 3 mile run, and, combined with Emile's heart rate running - it was pretty amazing effort. I did the warm up which really helped out and made it the beginning of a 3 min run and 1 min walk.  I think I'm going to try and stay between 3-8 miles with a 4 min run and 35 second walk for a couple of weeks to work out the cadence and get comfortable with that before navigating to my next efforts towards running.....

KenH you mentioned calf exercises - can you let tell me what those are/were?  I'm almost through an achilles issue and am feeling much better, but am still a little stiff/tight sometimes and am always looking to strengthen/stretch that area.

I've added my 2 races from last year to the race log.  At the end, the following comes up:

Your race is currently saved as a private draft.
If you would like to make the race public, use the link below.

So, I clicked on MAKE RACE PUBLIC.

A new window pops up with the following:  Once you make your race public, you cannot reverse this. Are you sure?

OK - what exactly does this mean?  Do you guys make your races public or leave them in Draft mode?  If made public, can I go back and edit them if I spot an error?

Hi Ken, It does sound like a dire warning, doesn't it? I usually go ahead and make them public. I'm sure there's an error in my writing here or there, but that's ok.

Terry - the exercises are from my coach and given via TrainingPeaks.  I couldn't access the video but here are the names.  

1.  Box Alternating Leg Shuffle - I found a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irjQA9R7mPY.  It shows the basics of the exercise.  I use a lower step and concentrate on taking off from my forefoot and landing on my forefoot.  I do them much quicker and in more control than the lady in the video.  

2.  Box Left Single Leg Hop - again, I couldn't access the video.  I did find this:  http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/single-leg-hop-progression  This video doesn't use a step but otherwise is close to what I do.  Using the same  low  step as in #1, I stand facing it with my weight balanced on my forefoot/toes.  I then hop up onto the box concentrating on landing on the forefoot, gain  my balance if needed, and hop back down again concentrating on landing on my forefoot.

3.  Repeat with the Right leg.

If you try these, I would suggest starting very slowly because of your Achilles issues. 

I'm surprised the "cyclists" allowed you to ride with them on a tri bike.  That usually doesn't happen around here.

"I'm surprised the "cyclists" allowed you to ride with them on a tri bike.  That usually doesn't happen around here."

I know around my neck of the woods it is fine as long as you stay on the bull horns.  They just don't want you in aero.

KenH, Emile - I was told by one of the Sponsor riders that aero is "not a good idea" when riding in the pack.  So that was okay..... Staying in aero longer is one of the things I'm working on.  So I had to stay in the back - out of the draft and work on that aero position.....  and getting used to drinking from the hydration straw... It's still kind of awkward for me.  

I tried on a new pair of Brooks Glycerin 10 and ran about 3 miles yesterday evening. They felt good on the treadmill but I didn't like the feel on the road. My feet got hot.... the toe box seemed too narrow for me and there wasn't the cushion I was used to in my Asics... The running store guy said I could bring them back If i didn't like them.  Oh well..... new shoe dilemma.

Melissa- in the pool... when I begin to get tired I try to become conscious of keeping my head down, and feet going above the water when kicking (so i know i'm not swimming uphill), my rotation and focus on the finishing portion of my stroke. 

When I swim 100's it's usually its the pace... about 2:10 per hundred.... that I'm interested in. 

random notes....

I returned Brooks Glycerin to the running store and went back to the Asics - Gel-Nimbus 14. Much more comfortable shoe...I'll be able to test drive it tomorrow.  The shoe guy seemed a little perturbed that I didn't like the Brooks (I find out they are a Brooks Distributor) but I reminded him that he told me I could return them if I didn't like them........

Did an hour on the bike trainer today..... It will be a while until i get used to the whole bike trainer experience, but I was able to stay in aero for much longer than normal.... and I think the workouts will be really good......

Phasing out of the strength training gym routine and will spend less time lifting now that the training hours are increasing.