marymosc13's group THE V.A.M.P.S., FULL (Page 7)

this is the last "challenge free" weekend, fellow vamps! challenge begins feb. 1st!

everyone's on board, right? - the total number of minutes from each member will be tallied for the month of february and compared to the total number of minutes from mosc11's group.

since we're doing total minutes with no restrictions, that means a 30 min walk counts just as much as 30 mins swimming/strength training/yoga/stretching. its about getting moving for the most minutes - the way we'll keep track is the logs, so post everything to your log asap after you do it... and those of you who haven't logged anything yet, please consider this your time to really show us what you're made of and make those graphs grow!

VAMPS ROCK!

good to know! though i don't need another site to start logging stuff, i'm already too attached to this one.

btw, i have SERIOUS bike envy for you and your little sunshine!

I only know that about fitday because I was there a LONG time ago logging things - she was just a fling before I found BT, I swear!

Thank you for the compliments on my bike.  She's beauty-ful, and my butt is appropriately sore today.  Note to self: when you go from hybrid with big fat seat and gel cover to road bike with skinny little seat - buy the biggest, fattest chamois/gel shorts you can find!!!

QuietGirl04 - 2007-01-28 8:01 PM Hi all! Sorry I have been away for a while but I am back and with training on my mind!!! I have a HUGE inspection coming up on Tuesday and should be taking my make up APFT this week too!!!! Crazy week and I cannot wait! I am ready for this challenge too... And ladies remember to always... no matter what is going on in life...at the gym...in the pool... on the bike....SMILE!! (Come on now you all should know me by now)!!!!

i love your attitude chrystal! you make us all smile. great good luck on your APFT - tho you don't need luck 'cuz you rock! make the vamps proud!

i had a great weekend, for challenge days i'm going to add swimming to my running rest days as best i can (gotta get a new bathing suit) or maybe go back to my step aerobics class on mondays and fridays as well. my goal is to do 2 hours a day total activity at least 5 times a week.

Hello all!

Crystal, have fun with the APFT.  I'm sure you'll do awesome. 

I can't wait for the challenge to begin.  I hope to get 60-90 min./weekday, and 2 hrs on weekends.  If i can get more then that, all the better. Here we go!!

I have a question for Mary, but if anyone has suggestions/advice, I'd be grateful to hear it.

How do you do bricks? I think I understand the concept, but I'm confused about how it actually works. If I want to do a swim/bike brick, by the time I get out of the water and into bike clothes and onto a bike, doesn't it lose the feeling that you would actually get on race day? Is the swim/bike brick really that important? I can see why the bike/run would be something to work out before the race, so should I be working on them right now, or wait until just before the race to start them? My first tri will be June 23, so I'm just curious if I should find a way to fit bricks in now, or wait? Any suggestion would be helpful.

(I've actually been thinking about this since I looked at your pictures from the Danskin triathlon, Mary, because you said Jorge wasn't sure if you would make it when you were transitioning from your bike to run. Since my run is definately my weakest of the three, I want to be as prepared as possible.)

Ya'll are gonna have to work pretty hard to beat us in this competition.  I already get an average of 600 minutes a week and I haven't even ramped it up yet for the competition!

Good luck.

Yeah for the new swim cap  Crystal!! Good luck today with inspections!

Glad to have you back Jenny! We'll all need to log like crazy in Feb.!

I'm definately getting spring fever already! We have yucky haze when it gets cold outside. If we don't have any storms it just hangs around the valley and makes everybody sick. It's really bad to ride or run in it (burns your lungs). My DH is from oregon and had never seen the stuff so he ignored me when I told him not to ride in it. After 30 min. he thought he was gonna cough up a lung...blech! So, needless to say, we are both ready for the warm weather to come back!! 

Have a wonderful (and very cold day) all!

congrats on your consistency, working out 600 minutes a week is very impressive.

as for who will win this challenge, that remains to be seen... i'm sure everyone will give it their best attempt.

gl to you too.

i did search the forums to see if i could just cut and past a decent answer here. but it seems like there are many schools of thought about swim/bike brick importance vs. bike/run bricks. i'll try to sum up what i found.

long distance swims like the 2 mile portion of the ironman takes strong swimmers about an hour (slower swimmers have to finish in 2 hours) - so consider the impact on your body being horizontal for one or two hours and then having to stand up and get on a bike. for these distances, practicing that is crucial.

for a short(er) swim, you aren't going to spend that amount of time in the water so chances are you won't feel weird heading to the bike. HOWEVER, there is a benefit to swimming and then getting on your bike - true, your transition would be longer than in a race, but doing it back to back like that is good training. anything less than, i think 15 minutes, is considered bricking it... i'll double check that figure. the main thing to remember is that you need to condition yourself so that the swim portion of the race doesn't wipe you out. one BTer said "many triathletes make the mistake of trying to just 'get through the swim' when it really sets up your whole race day". i agree with this statement. i know that i needed to train more than i did for the swim, it did wipe me out on danskin race day - so learn from my "mistake". make the swim a breeze by being sure you can complete the distance and then go on to the bike and run w/energy to spare.

specifically addressing the bike/run brick... they ARE really important. in my case at danskin, i was using a mtb w/regular pedals - using all quads (when you clip in, you use your whole leg, quads and hams, its more efficient) so i had a really hard time going from the bike to the run. many people recommend doing a bike/run brick at least once or twice a week... obviously transitioning from one to the other just means hopping off, switching shoes and starting to run... unlike swimming to running - so its a quicker transition.

at this point in your training, i'd say just focus on completing the distance in each sport until your about 3 months away, then start to work bricks into your routine.

i hope i helped - take advantage of the wealth of knowledge in the forums on this site, you can search them and find answers to your questions (albeit some conflicting) but still.

Thanks Mary!

I did a search in the forums, but most of the stuff it turned up seemed geared towards people who have been doing the bricks and tri's for a long time, not the newbies who don't really even understand entirely what a brick is! Your answer was very helpful though!

 Go VAMPS!

just to chime in (because I do that sometimes) - when I first started practicing "bricks" I did them in the gym (it was August and REALLY hot out and I was out of shape and didn't want to die!).  I'd do 3 miles on the stationary bike, then hop on the nearest treadmill for a mile, lather, risnse, repeat.  You won't get any practice in the actual "transition" - no need to change shoes or take off a helmet, but you will get your legs used to the sensation of going from biking to running.  The first (and second, and third) time your legs will feel like dead weight when you first get on the treadmill - the idea is to practice working through that awkwardness and getting into your running form.

For the swim, try to find some open water swims before your tri.  It's a huge difference from swimming in a pool.  Huge.

 Thanks alot of the tips!! Very helpfull!!