Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 71)

I too work out most am's before dawn so don't eat and I'm VERY lucky and happy if I get a couple of cups of coffee in me pre-work out but that doesn't happen often.
However...when I start to run longer (like 60min +) I make it a point to get food in - maybe some yogurt and fruit and cereal if there's more time to digest -   and then I'll carry a gel or 2 with me. Anytime I've skimped on nutrition for hour plus long early am workouts, I seem to pay for the rest of the day with feeling tired and just wiped out.  

GEORGE -

Funny story about the tree killer! I guess it makes it easier on his kids, who have been in training for embarrassment since they were born and having to deal with those names. On the other hand, there are much worse names that a kid could be called. Longhorn? Cornhusker? Tar Heel? Boilermaker? Buckeye? ("Buckeye Bradley, I'd like you to meet Boilermaker Miller.")

Congrats on your daughter's fine finish, too. Dos this mark the end of a season for her, or is cheering at that level a 12-month endeavor?

AND --- any time to check out bikes at All3 while you were down there?

DANIEL -

That's better advice above than I can give you. I almost-never workout any earlier than about 9-10, and when I do it is mostly just a bagel and tea. For most any workout I don't eat anything special, but for runs over 45/50 minutes I will have a gel just before it. For some long rides (>90 minutes planned) I will do the same. As for swims, maybe a gel before an open water swim scheduled to be over 35/40 minutes.

I think that pre-workout nutrition IS important, it's just that I don't tend to it properly myself.

KASIA -

I still owe you a decent repsonse!

Just got back from Vegas, went down Friday and home this afternoon.  Had some great food at Rick Moonen's Seafood place and Susan Finegar's Border Grill.  We stayed at the Wynn, great place and great customer service, and the fitness center was fantastic.  I only missed one workout but walked five or six miles each day.  

GENE -

Ahhhh, the balanced lifestyle ---- fine eating, and a few workouts thrown in to keep you honest!

On another thread I saw the term "drive the hips to drive the body". This is the second or third time I encountered similar sounding wording related to swimming.
I do not understand, anyone?

I think what they mean is that your rotation is controlled by the hips and the rest of the body follows  the hips  so the hips are 'driving'.   Good rotation helps you glide through the water.  I think I underrotate and that is one reason I swim so slow.

I almost understand...I think I "undereverything" that's why I am so slow

JEFF -

The hips matter! I'd forgotten the hips matter! Cathy has it partly right, but there is more to it than that. There is a great insight into this in a book called "Overachiever's Diary", and I will find the book and try to make sense of it for you (it is slightly cryptic).

I will try to dig out the book by tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Thanks!
Will be on the road tomorrow and Wednesday, not sure when Ill be back to a computer but I will look for your reply

JEFF again -

As a teaser of sorts......

Two key concepts (relying on memory here):
(1) The hips are not so much rotating up/down/sideways, by rather driving forward; they are actually working to help extend your reach.
(2) Hip count is an important enabler -- you count each time your hips "torque". You might think this is the same as stroke count, and in fact it is, but how it works is that the focus is on the hips as oposed to the arms/hands.


I had forgotten this, mostly, but remember how illuminating it is to do "hip count" rather than traditional stroke count. I guess I have to start re-working on my hip mechanics, eh?

There is more to it than the two teasers above, but I don't dare try to make sense of Tharp's comments without having his words right in front of me.

See you tomorrow (assuming I find the book by then........ )

JEFF once more -

There will be two parts to this. One will be right below, and that is satraight from his book. The other will be tomorrow, as I have to transcribe the answer he gave me when I ask for more detail and clarification.

Onwards to his book blurb!

(Happy travels, by the way!)

(The following is from "Overachiever's Diary", by Louis Tharp)


HIPS ARE CRITICAL

* Most triathletes don't use hip power.
* The secret:
--- Power comes when hips move forward on a vertical plane, not through rotation.
--- Hips control the kick and the stroke.
--- Hips allow your body to move past your shoulders.
--- Hip count is critical count for power. Stroke count is critical count for gliding.


Tomorrow I will transcribe what he wrote me back on March 9 '09, when I asked for more clarification. In the meantime.......see if you can figure out what he is getting at with the VERTICAL PLANE concept!




Edited by stevebradley 2011-02-23 7:43 PM

Follow-up to the above: HIPS ARE CRITICAL

The following is from an email from Louis Tharp -- his response to my confusion about hips are the vertical plane. (The email was from two years ago.) He admits that it is a tough concept to describe, that it works much better when it can be done in person. But I think this will help you!


Tharp:
"I'll try to explain this. When your hip is at maximum rotation, visualize your higher hip is toward your ear. I'll wait a second while you read that again. This is the equivalent of standing and making one hip higher than the other. The reason to do this is that by moving the higher hip -- the one closest to the surface -- toward your ear, you set up a forward momentum that is transmitted through your core and into your arms. It's subtle, but provides that extra jolt that squirts you forward when you are in the anchored position (arm anchored at a 45-degree angle in front) just as you are starting your stroke. Does this make sense?"

He then went on to clarify "hip count":
"Hip count is a way to move focus from your arms, which only transmit power, to your hips and core which actually creates power. It's a way of getting out of the arms-do-everything in swimming. Counting is done as one side goes down and the other rotates up......so as your right side goes down, that's 1, when your left side goes down, that's 2. Your hip count should equal your stroke count, it's just about where your mental focus is as you swim."

From the horse's mouth! Hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

Follow-up to the follow-up!


From my experience doing this, be careful that you don't get too lossey-goosey with the hips -- remember Tharp's use of the word "subtle". He's really talking about the effect of the action rather than the implementatin of it, but if you try to really torque that hip, you may end up "fishtailing" through the water.

So, it should all be subtle -- as you rotate your hips, just think about ever-so-slightly moving the top hip forward; toward your ear he says. Think of his use of "momentum", and think too of the hip being part of a chain, or whip, leading to your fingertips.

As I said to Jeff last night, I haven't played with this in quite a while -- out of sight, out of mind. But you can bet your goggles I will be doing it this afternoon in the pool.

Glub, glub!





Edited by stevebradley 2011-02-23 7:44 PM

Hey Steve, have you heard from Jac?? I was watching the news this morning at the gym and saw the earthquake they had a few days ago in New Zealand.  Was not sure if she lives around the area it happened. 

I swim like a lead weight. dont be too hard on your self.

GEORGE -

No, haven't heard from Jac in a while (actually, haven't heard from SEVERAL people in a while ). I guess I should PM her and see how things are for her.

Good nes on the bike! Fuji makes very good bikes, and I will check the specs on yours soon. From whom in CA did you order it? I'm just curious, as there are a lot of reputable bike dealers out there and I always like to know who is who.

The nice thing for you, where you live, is that you can ride it as soon as it's put together. Cool beans!!

JEFF/CATHY/DANIEL/OTHERS --

I'm mostly just waiting until Jeff returns before telling him how my own hip-emphasized swim yestrday progressed......although by then I will have info from tomorrow's swim to add to it.

Basically, though, it was enlightening; I had forgotten about this from first messing with it a couple/few years ago.

For now, though, I will say -- to anyone who is keen to experiment with it asap -- that it will work best if you begin by focusing on one side at a time. What worked best for me was, in the 25m pool, to do half a length to a full length focusing on just the left hip, and then on the return leg focusing on the right hip. I would do this a few times, and then do four lengths (100m) with both hips driving. The I would repeat the whole process; I did this sequence 3 or 4 times, I guess. Finally, I did two 50s trying to use the hip drive to control my kick, and that seemed to help quite markedly.

More on Hips Are Critical tomorrow!

Just checking in. I think I'm one of those that Steve has not heard from in a while

Nothing much going on. Tapering for the marathon. I kind of feel like I'm vacation before I go on vacation!

My 2 daughters and one of the boyfriends are coming home for the weekend (1 daughter and boyfriend) and the week(single daughter). With my son already living here, it'll be fun to have a full house. The youngest(single) got in a car accident last night so her car is in the shop and we're waiting to find out how much damage there is. She had to go to plan B and hitch a ride with a friend to get home so she'll be home tomorrow instead of tonight.

Here's some news most of you can laugh at...........we might get SNOW!!!!! Wh haven't had a dusting (and that's all we might get) in 35 years. Everyone is quite excited My friend and I are going to take the horses up to the local mountains Monday to ride in it. While you all might be sick of it, for us it's quite the novelty. I'll post a picture of the storm of the century!!!

George, my middle daughter cheered for Pop Warner Football and then high school. I loved going to competitions. We went to Disneyland for high school and DisneyWorld for Pop Warner. Great experiences for the kids. Your daughters team looked awesome (I saw it on Facebook). They are great tumblers.

Jac has been posting on Facebook and all looks good for her. I think she lives quite a ways from Christchurch.

Hope everyone's training is going well. I'm so looking forward to getting back into my routine soon.
Johanne 

Good Morning Everyone!!!!!! I have a pump up and energy going question.  What type of music do you listen to before a race to get that blood going. Im a Country Music person but Country really dont have to many songs to get pumped up to.  I like to listen to NickelBack and also M&M (Eminem) I like to put M&M because its easier to spell   My daughter fell in love with his song Lose it to the Music (of course she listened to the clean version) but she really got pumped up for her cheer on that song because it has a nice beat to it.  But Im looking around to find more music to listen to.  Like to see what everyone has to say...
Steve, I purchased my bike from Precision Bikes here is their website http://www.precisionbikeshop.com/index.html
I hope I can take it home on Sat and take it out for a short ride on Sunday..
Has anyone heard on TNT (Team in Training) http://www.teamintraining.org/.  Its a group that races to raise money for Leukemia & Lymphoma.  I talked to a rep yesteday and they have a Oly Tri they are doing Sept 11th in Washington DC (Nations Tri).  I need to get more info on the group and the ok from the wife, but I might be thinking about doing it.  I feel that since racing has given me a new life, why not use it to help others.
I hope everyone has a great day

Oh, I have my 2nd 5K tomorrow.  My goal for this one is to walk no more than 2 minutes and finish under 34min.

JOHANNE -

Glad the taper is going deliciously, and good that the tribe is gathering around you. Not so good about your daughter's accident and car, and I hope both mend quickly!

As for the snow, well, one's man meat is another man's poison, I guess. Actually, I'm kind of hoping for snow soon, as I haven't skiied in about ten days.....which means Luna hasn't received many walks lately. Our generous snow cover first mostly melted and then what was left re-froze, so it's all just crusty and unskiable. Bah. But by tomorrow we might have enough to allow skiing, so i guess that's good.

I have yet to develop the Facebook habit, partly due to time and other priorities, and partly because we have dial-up and it just makes everything too tedious. I'm glad you've followed Jac, though, and it's good that the rumblings don't seem to have affected her. Whew!

Dial-up also hurts me with YouTube stuff. I received an email the other day form Louis Tharp, the author of "Overachiever's Diary" (hip stuff, above), and he linked a video that is on YouTube that shows how accessing the hips works. But to do that, I need a window of downloading time, which could well be while I'm sleeping, but I don't like being connected all night. Maybe I ought ot go to a branch of the Ottawa libraries and do all this stuff there!

Everything feeling okay with you? By my reckoning, it's 9 days and counting!!!!!