Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 72)

GEORGE -

Second things first -- DO NATIONS!!!! Ellen is already in, and I will likely sign up for it within a day or two. It seems to fit a trip/conference that is Lynn is planning, and I would drop her off in Harrisonburg, VA on Thursday and pick her up there Sunday afternoon. The Nationals are in town during those days, so I'l go to a couple of their games. You a baseball fan?

As for the race, it has a fabulous course. Ellen loves it, as do most people I have heard comments from. I really enjoy the big-city triathlons, having done both Chicago and New York City twice; never Nations, though. The website is www.thenationstriathlon.com, if you haven't been there already. The race is about 70% sold-out now, but TNT would entires would be exempt from that, I think.

As for TNT, there are many interesting stories behind them. The get very unfairly rapped by some hard-core, self-important triathletes, and about 7 or 8 years ago this reached a head in some of the tri forums. It seems to have died down, though, and most people accept TNTers at the races. Plus, no one can argue about all of the good that comes out of the program.

I'm not sure what the reciprocal arrangements are between each individual and the organization. For your part, you get guaranteed entry, and the racing top, and a workout program. For them, there's the proceeds from your fund-raising, as well as your presence for their cause at the race. Those are mostly just guesses, and depending on how long you talked to the rep, you know much more than I do.

First things second, now.....
No pump-up music for this cat! I tend to be "cerebral" about it all --- just getting into my own space, living in the moment and planning my strategies, drawing energy from the crowd. I always get to races very, very early, and enjoy the build of energy as the crowds assemble. I love yakking with people racked near me, and anyone else, I guess, so I suppose my solitude is not completely purist!

Music is an exteemly imoportant aspect of my life and has been since I was a kid, but I draw the line clearly between music and trianing/racing. I dislike having music playing in the gymn while I'm lifting, and I have never been plugged into any sound-source during any physical activity. Never. Ever. I know that makes me an oddity, but that's how it is with me. I guess it goes hand-in-hand with the utter soloness of my training, where I just get used to occupying my own head and not wanting anything else to enter it. Or something like that.

Will your bike be ready tomorrow?

DO NATIONS!

GEORGE again -

And best of fortunes at the 5km! If you feel the need to walk, but really don't want to, just work on making it from one telephone pole to the next. Also, shorten your stride some if you need to. Have fun, and let us know how it goes as soon as you can.

Where eactly is your daughter's cheering video? Johanne seems to have found it on Facebook somewhere?

I am back, slowly catching up. I will swim tonight and try to at least focus on my hips as I digest everything that has been posted todate

Steve, can you post the URL for that video on the forum for us to see?

After a two-week break from swimming, I've been back at it the last couple of weeks. And what a difference that break made in my swim endurance! I was almost embarrassed due to my slowness my first day back, but I can tell it's getting better as I get more days in the pool. And that gives me incentive, and a lesson learned, to not skip out on any more swimming workouts!

Speaking of embarrassment, one morning my roommate, who is the same speed as me, didn't come to the workout so I was the only slow person there, meaning I had my own lane. Pretty nice, I must say, except for the fact that the rest of the swimmers were bunched 5 to a lane in the remaining lanes. I even counted. It was kind of sad...but whatever. Some day I'll be able to keep up with them.

I've been on a ride once this month and it was so much fun. I totally forgot the feeling of being on the open road. So peaceful and beautiful! I also forgot how to use my bike so it took the first mile to master shifting and spinning small circles again. That was kind of weird.

And as for running, I haven't done much, per usual. I really need to because our season (rugby) started this week and we have a tournament coming up next weekend. It would be nice if I had some sort of endurance. But now it's snowing (and therefore icy) and I seem to have developed a weird cough/tightness in my chest that hasn't gone away all week. I think I'll follow the "neck rule" and wait for this thing to pass before trying anything, considering that at this point I'm out of breath from just walking briskly.

Hope everyone else's training's going well, and you're staying warm, and most importantly safe, Jac especially.

Kasia

Edited by augeremt 2011-02-25 12:13 PM

Hey Steve,
I hope the bike will be ready tomorrow.  I dropped it off on Mon or Tues so they can install my cateye computer, water bottle cages and make any necessary adjustments to the bike.  I plan to go to the LBS tomm after my race at 10am when they open. They are going to measure me and make all the adjustements.  Also the seat post will need to be cut just a little.  Its one of those tubes that is part of the bike, I forgot what they call it.  But according to the shop it sounded like I will get to walk out with it tomorrow.  I hope Im really dying to ride it Sunday.  As for TNT we only spoke briefly because they are getting racers for the spring race.  She said I should get a call around April or 1st of May about the fall race (Nations Tri).  She said that I will need to raise $3000. for the race in donations and if I do then my race fee, training coach fee, accomodations and entry into the Pasta Night party I guess is on Friday.  Does not sound like a bad deal.  I'm trying to do the math to see who all I know that will donate and how much.  I really like the idea that I get to race for me and others. That really gets me motivated.  If I cant get enough in donations then I still will look to see if there is room to sign up and if the wife gives the ok then I will go.. I would love to go, especially when we were talking about taking a vacation to DC for the kids..   Here I get to kill 2 birds with one stone..  Ok I will not kill a bird, Im an animal lover.  I did have the video on Facebook but my wife said I had to take it off because it was a violation of the gym.  I think Im going to put it out there again until the gym says something.. The way I look its not a private video, heck you can order the videos if you wanted.  I will post the link later tonight when I get home. 

So I have a best buddy that is in town this week.  We have been on a 4 day bender, how ever he is a fitness nut as well.  Saying that I have not missed a work out this week.  My Wednesday swim was however cut in half due to a extremely stiff back that would not loosen up. 

I have been only focusing on my swimming for the past 2 months.  Would this be enough to cause a muscle imbalance in my back?  My back has been sore and tight for the last 2 weeks. Thanks for the help guys.

JEFF -

Gald you're back, and I hope the hip stuff helps you. Let me know how it goes, PLEASE! I played with it again today, although it was a minor component of my session; it will figure more prominently Sunday or Monday.

The website info for that video will be in the next post. For reasons I said above, i haven't watched it yet. Let me know about it, too!

GANG!

Here is the info on the swim video that shows a West Point graduate correctly incorporating/implementing his hips:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=86U717xVP2o

Let me know either (1) how it strikes you, or (2) if I have the info wrong.

I will probably try to download it overnight, further spurred on by Lou Tharp's recent email comment to me that "The hip thing is the chess game of swimming". Intriguing, and then some!

It says video not available

Maybe this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86U7I7xVP2o

The camera angle is a bit disconcerting

DANIEL -

Tough to say. My experience with backs tells me that even the smallest thing -- flossing your teeth, whistling for the dog, glancing at the rear-view mirror -- can trigger problems. IMHO, back probs are more likely to come from running or biking, but that sure doesn't mean that swimming movements can't create or exacerbate back soreness or tightness. These are just the wildest of guesses, but maybe if you swim too swaybacked, or if you rotate your core too aggressively, you can get somehting in your back stirred up. Maybe?

Thinking about the latter one a bit, how is your core? (Be honest with yourself, but you don't have to share with us! ) If your core is kind of weak, but you're still working at accessing it for power (which is ultimately a good thing), then that has maybe contributed to your back issues. As I said at the top --- tough to say!

What might help you suffer less on your swims is a pull buoy, especially if you are having to work at keeping your legs up. The p.b. will reduce or remove that need, and that might help your back. Just another helter-skelter thought!

GEORGE -

The tube the seat post goes into is the (drum roll, please......) seat tube. Imagine that! And I'm not trying to be facetious there, and really can't afford to as I have yet to commit the various tubes and stuff to my permanent memory bank. HOWEVER, I am pleased to say that the seat tube is the one I can consistently remember within about 5-10 seconds of trying to remember it. I'm getting fairly quick with top tube; the lag there is under 15 seconds, mostly.

That's a pretty good deal with TNT and Nations. Accoms and entry will cut into about $600 or more of the cost, the past feed would be about $25, and training costs are kind of an intangible -- but no chump change, either. I'm guessing that the race will close out within a month, so you might be caught betwixt and between in having to commit to TNT or sign up on your own.

As for the $3000, well, that's alot for some people, but it might not be for you depending on your kids activities and your own circle of friends. I did Make-A-Wish Triathlon in DE last Sept, and fund-raising is a huge part of that and helping the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Before the wards they acknowleged the top ten money-raisers for that year alone, and the top 3 or 4 were all over $15,000; the top guy was at $23,000, I believe. (He has been doing the race and similar fund-raising for many years.) It staggers and humbles me to see how many people take these projects so seriously.

Been to Nations website yet? Is that a great course, or WHAT?

Luckily, my daughter and everyone else involved in the accident are fine. Sadly, it doesn't look like her car is The shop called and repairs will equal the value of the car so we're waiting for our insurance company to call and give us options. Basically I think they will cut us a check and she has to shop for a new car. This was her first car she bought herself and it took some leg work to find it. She's pretty bummed about the whole thing. Another one of those life experiences!

I'm still nursing my ITB and tight quad along. I would say at the peak I felt like my leg was about 65% good and I did my last long run today (8 miles) and I'd give it a 85%. I think I'll be able to finish my race, recover for a week, go on vacation, do a little working out there and when we get back I think a more balanced workout schedule will help. I've learned a lot through all of this so it's all good.

I've loved some of the swimming stuff that's been going around. I try new little things with each swim and I don't know that I'm getting any faster but I'm feeling pretty comfortable in the water. I can hardly wait until we do some open water swim practices to see if I can keep myself relaxed and moving well there.

We had big winds and rain all night until mid morning and right now it looks like our little chance of snow my be going down I'm still hoping just for the novelty.
Johanne 

KASIA -

Yes, yes, yes -- follow the neck rule. Today's little personal pestilence could easily evolve to plague proportions if you get too cavalier with what is ailing you!

That is a slightly poignant story about you and your own lane, and i wish i had been there to keep you company. But you're right -- keep at it and pretty soon you'll be scrapping it out in one of the more heavily-populated lanes!

I envy you your outside ride! Big-time envy!! Day-glo green envy!!! Since Jan 1 I have logged 1912 minutes on the trainer, which is about 32 hours, which is over 600 miles. Now, those aren't killer minutes/miles for some people, but still -- it's a lot of time for me to labor away in my basement, and I'm just very anxious to take it outisde! Monday or Tuesday might be possibilities; we'll see!

Stay healthy -- and no rugby injuries, y'hear??

Well time and mileage keeps going up. I run in my office and had a couple interruptions during my run. Did 38min 5k at 2 incline (that's what it always is) with the * of had to answer a call 30sec and the fire extinguisher service guy came in so had to stop for him a couple times. I hate interruptions. Its hard to get back in the rhythm again. beat my old time by 2:18 not really valid because of the stops but still beat it.

Its snowing here and supposed to get cold tomorrow so I have a feeling its going to be a quiet weekend for me. I hope everybody has a great weekend. Now back to paperwork. 

KASIA again -

Yikes! It's been a whole week since your big one to me. I apologize for being such a slacker.

That's a good, honest assessment of your current state of running and how it might work for you to join a tri club and attempt the speed sessions. At the best it would be frustrating and at the worst you would injure yourself, so you're completely wise to just work on endurance and distance either on your own or through any of a large number of on-line plans. There will be plenty of time later to focus on speedwork if you wnat to, and that can be either on your own or through the sweet structure and camaraderie of a club.

Good plan, too on merging those programs. That is always a roll-the-dice judgment call ---- but then too is just trying to follow a program to the letter, for some people. Volumes could be written about how wildly divergently different people approach and adjust and accommodate a given training plan, as canned plans never yield universally canned results. ANYHOW, your 5'/1' not only sounds smart, but seems to be working. Bonus!!

If you are doing slightly less than two miles a week in swimming, that is great! If you think about a half-iron swim being 1.2 miles, and a full iron being 2.4, then you are soemwhere quite nicely betwen the two. Granted, yours are in broken up sets, but still, in terms of time in the water, close-to-two-miles-a-week is significant. Are you as impressed as I am??

And just carrying on about thta, I really believe that even if you do nothing more per week than you're doing now, you'd be ready for an oly. A ture oly will be a 0.93mile swim, so all of us know you are functionally beyond that right now. The dots are all there and many have been connected already; do this for another month or so, and all the dots of an equaivalent oly swim will be connected!!

Use your coach as much as you can. Start with a request for her to watch you swim and provide advice or modifications based on what she sees. She sounds like she is very approachable already, and I think that most coaches love watching thier students and making suggestions. Don't be shy (which, lest I be mistaken, shouldn't be too difficult for you!)

I really believe that people who love their bike grow to love intervals/tempos/fartleks on them; they are just other ways to relate pleasurably with one of the joys in your life! Start with just fartleks -- concerted bursts of speed, or even just pick-ups. One of the simplest ones I enjoy is to push really hard until it hurts some, ane then back off until I feel together again, and repeat...and repeat....and repeat. I use this quite frequently in races, in fact, so it has obviously served me well. There is neither time nor mileage* attached to it -- it's based strictly on perceived effort and "suffering"!

Finally, think about getting all cuddly with hills and wind. Most people like neither, so the more friendly you can get with one or both, the better that will serve you psychologically and competitively.


*That is, you're not hammering for, say, three minutes, or a mile or two.










Edited by stevebradley 2011-02-25 4:07 PM

My core is as strong as an over cooked spaghetti noodle.  I am going to take it easy this week and after next week start working on my core.  I know it is super weak and I just kept on pushing through.  Not the best strategy but it used to work. Now that its broke broke its time to fix it.

CATHY -

Muskoka, yes? If so, is the chalet in Huntville, or somewhere firther removed. Wherever, congrats on scoring it! How long are you figuring to be there ---- a few days on either side of race day, maybe?

Warmer? Is it supposed to get warmer? Hot diggity!

DANIEL -

Don't feel too bad about your core. It has been clinically proven that 87 out of every 100 gym rats basically ignore their core. They can do squats and leg presses and heft barbells and dumbells in all during around them.......but they can't bring that same discipline to their core. And even for guys with "six-packs", well, I think most of them are implants!

CRAIG -

Well done on the running commitment! Moreover, 2:18 is pretty huge and you should be very pleasd with it. Somehow I don't see the interruptions as accounting for that level of improvement; I am sure most of it came from increased consistency with your training. Finally, 38 is a very solid amount of time to spend on the 'mill -- great for you body AND your menatl toughness!

JOHANNE -

Last long run is in the books. Halleloo! And 85% is pretty goof; hopefully the next week will see that number swell up to about 98%!

I'm glad you enjoyed the swim stuff (you are referring to the hips posts, yes?). I never know what to do with swim info anymore. With my first mentor group two years ago, I was very free with posting all sorts of swim stuff, with most of it unsolicited. Some people enjoyed this, while otthers just found it T.M.I. and overall intimidating. So, last year I backed off considerably, and I guess this year I am cautious as well.

The hips posts started with Jeff's question, so blame him! I may have gotten carried away with the post from Louis Tharp and other posts sprouting from it, including ones about my own recent experiences with hip work. Like you, it seems, I love playing around with swim tidbits, so it definitely helps me when I post info toe the group. That is NOT my primary motivation, but it does make for a nice little fringe benefit.

The chalet is at Hidden Valley, one km from the race site.  We're staying for a week total, leaving the day after the race.
And I'm loving the weather this weekend.

Steve & Kasia,
i have to ask, what is the neck rule?