Pilgrim's Group - Full (Page 8)

Sarah, wow, I really appreciate your kind words! I do love this sport and feel strongly about supporting people who are coming into it for many reasons but one big reason is that I've seen it change people's lives in very positive ways.

Hey, I want to Echo what Sarah said, thank Jeanette for the page she sent, and respond nope to Sarah.

Brian, I was just thinking about it last night that you really do amplify the experience of training. It's really great to get "coaching" for free this early in the game. I mean I talked to a guy who did Escape from Alcatraz and Florida Half-Iron and he said he paid his coach and he got less out of him than you've been sending. Your input has been really great.

Jeanette, Thanks for the website. There really are so many huge improvements in Prosthetics over the last 6 years. I know it's for very tragic reasons, but one guy who works on my floor lost his leg in a motorcycle crash and he just got fitted for a great prosthetic that allows him to walk normal for the first time in 15 years. I guess you have to find some good from the bad.

Sarah, I'm not in any of those pictures, but I can't wait to shake their hands. I think I'll enter the Miami International Triathlon (sprint for this year) just so I can share the course with those guys. That's a great organization and it's helping those guys get on with their lives.

That's enough of that. I thought this morning of something that I figured out in a few trips to the desert. If you chew gum while you're running in really dry climates, it helps to keep your mouth watering. That also works if you're in a really dry building on a treadmill or bike. Just make sure you don't inhale the gum cause you'll choke. I just wanted to share.

Thanks you all, I really do appreciate the positive feedback. I want to give you my best and it does help me to reflect on my own experiences and knowledge gained.

I subscribe to an ultrarunner list serve and about every other day they put out a link to news that is somewhat related to ultrarunning. I thought you may find the following report on physically active lifestyles versus sedentary lifestyles to be motivating.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080128165734.htm

I'm happy to report that I received my Garmin 305 today. People have been coming into the office all day asking what it is and then oohing and aahhing over it. I will report on Monday how the first runs with it went. I have a run tomorrow with my boy and a ride on the course sunday. Oh, I also got the cadence sensor. Hope I can figure out how to install it.

Hi Sarah,

yep its summer here- another 6 weeks or so it will be beautiful. My first race is 30 March- a month into fall and here in Melbourne we get alot of cold water coming up from the southern ocean- so the water will be a bit nippy!
Take care
Maree

OMG, Sarah! I saw one of those Kona videos with Team Hoyt. It certainly made the problems in my life seem trivial. They are truly inspirational.

By the way, I too would like to thank you Brian! I may be motivated, but it's your feedback and guidance that will keep me out of trouble.

Have a great weekend all! Long ride for me today on my tank of a bicycle today.

Mark E.

Hey Mark - A Bike Tank could prove to be a safe haven should you collide with anything

(biketank.jpg)

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Ha! That pic is just too funny. I am back in the picture now. Yesterday between the 2 kids we did 6 soccer games. I did manage to get a run in while my son was doing his warm ups for the first game. It was a little chilly, 34 deg. but somehow I still manage to sweat Hope everyone else is having a great weekend!

Well gang I hope everyone had a great training weekend, I know I did! I also wanted to encourage you all to visit each others training longs to leave comments. It will be easier to keep up our motivation if we work together.

One more week and we will have a new triathlete on our hands!

Haha! Thanks for the pic Sarah! Just put a tan on the guy driving it, some old running shoes, and a hardly used-mountain biking helmet and that's all me.

I decided to get crazy this weekend (for me) so I road 12 miles and swam 900 meters. I was tempted to run 3 miles just for kicks.

Also, I think I may have found a training buddy. I found out that we both swim and go to spin classes with our wives, so I threw the Sprint idea out at him. I think he's in. The greatest part is that he'll be able to give me some firsthand swimming coaching as he used to play water polo. Those crazy kids would spend 5 hours a day in the water!

Mark E.

Hey Everybody. Hope you're having a good Monday.

I got my Garmin 305 and used it this weekend. It's a really sweet piece of gear. Amazon seemed to have the best price around and it shipped intact and on-time.

Also had the bike serviced last week $75 was well worth it. I noticed a big difference in the gear change during my ride on Sunday. Brakes were a lot better as well.

Last, I took a look at the course for next weekend's race. If you get a chance to do this, I highly recommend it. I checked the water a little chilly, but I think I'm going without the wet suit. The "beach" where we get out of the water is just a few truckloads of sand dumped on the water's edge. Glad I found that out so I know to bring my bucket of water for washing my feet off when I clear the water. It was also good to look at the transition area. If I were to have gotten there on race day, I would've probably tried to be close to the water. Now I know to be as close to the road (opposite side of the TA) because if not, I will be clop-clop-clopping a lot further. I rode the bike course and the run course and on the second loop for the bike, I was able to really burn as fast as I could because I had looked at the course before.

Anyway, I highly recommend getting to your race site a week in-advance of your race to take a look at the layout.

Okay, here is a pedal / shoe question again. Any preference between Crank Bros eggbeaters pedals and Shimano? For shoes, do they run similar in sizing to tennis shoes? Looking to make a purchase and wanted to ask you all first I want something easy to use! Thanks!



Edited by juls2bfit 2008-02-04 12:45 PM

Hi Juls...here's a link for shoe sizing at Nashbar with lots of manufacturers. It's in men's sizing but if you are a size 8 in women's, you'd wear a size six in mens.

 http://www.nashbar.com/sizesearch.cfm

 

 

Edited by BbMoozer 2008-02-04 1:23 PM

Hey Juls, in my opinion since you are already considering Shimano I would go with Shimano shoes and pedals.

The Shimano shoes go by standard American sizing but other shoes like SiDi are European size and cut so you would come across shoes that tend to be narrow. I used to wear a size 47 (if I remember right) SiDi and was able to get away with it at the sprint distance but once I started training longer and racing longer they killed my feet.

Also on the shoes, if you really plan on using them primarily or solely for triathlon go with the style shoe that has the single large Velcro strap to fasten the shoe…that is the design to get you in and out of transition quickly.

Re the music for running (and I sometimes wear headphones on the bike if I'm on trails)- I'm finding the new Foo Fighters album fantastic and the new Daft Punk- really high energy! Its actually a miracle that I can physically run as slow as I do to this high octane music...

Thanks Brian! I was leaning towards those anyway. I was reading an article today on pedals online when my hubby came up and asked what I was reading. He jokingly said "great read" - actually it was. Kind of funny, a year ago I would not have guess I would be reading an article on pedals

By the way we enjoyed unseasonable warm weather today - 80degrees! Thinking of you all in the cold - wish I could send you some!

I am leary about being clipped to my bike... and investing in yet another toy (trust me, I've done plenty of investing)... I did recently purchase some powergrip straps for my pedals, I havent had a chance to ride in them yet... but I have read alot of good reviews as an alternative to the shoe/pedal combos... and at 25 bucks... they are more economical...

Actually being clipped to the bike is very easy to deal with. The tension can be adjusted and it only takes a quick twist of the foot, heal twists away from the bike, and you are out.

Have fun gear shopping!

Well, I have purchased it - pedals - Shimano Guess you could say I am really enjoying this! Still not running, swimming or biking easily but continue to see improvement each week.

Have a good night all!

Congrats Juls,
Now you'll get to use the full-range of motion to help you pedal. It really makes a difference. Just practice unclipping before you expect to come to a stop though. It's easier to keep your balance.

Taper period does kinda suck. I only did 1.5 miles yesterday. Today, I did a short bike to the pool, swim, and short ride back through the wind. Good news is that I still have so much left at the end of the work out. I'm really looking forward to Sunday. Is it strange to be looking forward to Monday so I can start pushing myself again in the workouts?

Garmin 305 is awesome. I forgot how long it took, what my HR was, all that stuff and pulled out the 305, looked at the history and there it was. Pretty cool.

Happy training everyone.
Matt

Where'd the group go?
Got a big presentation today so it was good that I had a scheduled-day-off. 3 more days and a wake-up to the race. Getting excited.

Just wanted to make a post so we were back on the first page of groups in the Mentor group section.

Happy Training everyone.

Good luck on the race! That is so exciting.

Brian and anyone else who wants to chime in - how do you suggest preparing for an open water swim when you swim laps in the pool the whole time? That is the thing I am most worried about. You know there is a lot of comfort knowing the bottom of the pool is there even if you don't need it, being able to see the bottom, etc? Josh - do you know of anywhere around here to swim in open water?

On a fun note my son's school is having a fundraiser - but a cool one. They are having a 5k fun run and encouraging crazy attire and families. Isn't that cool. We just signed the whole family up. Now we will need to come up with something fun to wear. It will be myself, my 10 yr old son and my 8 yr old daughter....any suggestions?

Hey all,

Sorry I dropped off for a bit and thanks for those that checked in on me. Went out early this week with a stomache virus. Found out that over half of the people at the Superbowl party we went to got it as well.

Good times. . .

Good luck on your presentation and race, Gomes! Looking forward to the report.

Mark E.

Getting ready for open water swimming.

There are a few major differences in an open water swim versus a pool swim.

The water is almost always colder.
There will be some level of bumping and jostling against other athletes, this is especially true at the start and at any point where you are rounding a buoy.
You can't usually see the bottom.
You must navigate because you are not swimming in a confined area.
You will have to deal with some level of chop or wave action.

Here are some pointers that will help you prepare or think about things differently.

Because the concern over not being able to see the bottom was specifically mentioned I'll address that first. Whenever there is an open water swim there will also be safety boats in the water and depending on the distance of the swim there might even be a lane line set up, for instance if it is an out and back swim there may be a ling lane line that you swim out to the end of, round and swim back. Here is the rule as far as swimming goes, a swimmer may hold onto anything in order to maintain flotation but they can not make any forward progress while doing so. If you are feeling like you need support you can tread water and wave your hands and a safety boat will come over to where you are. You are allowed to grab onto the boat and rest, gather your wits and then take off swimming again. Similarly, you can grab onto a buoy, lane line, rock, tree whatever, you just can't use the object to propel you forward. Sometimes the places you may have an open water swim will actually be shallow enough for you to stand up. I think this is pretty rare but I have heard of it and there is one race in my area where even a short person can stand up in the middle of the "lake" because it is only about 4 feet deep (it's a man made duck pond, I call it the Duck Toilet Triathlon and hence do not race it.)

In order to practice getting used to the bumping and the chop or waves you should see if you can get a swimming partner or two or three and share a lane. Practice swimming hard right next to each other and that will simulate the chop and the bumping.

Getting ready for colder water can be done in your own bathtub. It is very common for new triathletes to panic in an open water swim and I think the main reason is the combination of physical exertion, excitement and cold water. All three of those things cause the same kinds of physiological reactions. If you can learn to separate the reactions, acknowledge them for what they are, then you are much less likely to feel overwhelmed and panic. Here's a brief explanation.

Normally when you experience something like heart palpitations due to excitement your mind is able to see/understand that you are excited and match it with the level of heart palpitations you are having so you just say to yourself "I'm just excited." However, if your physical response is much greater than what your mind is seeing around you it starts looking for an explanation. First it says, "I'm excited" and then it says, "I'm not THAT excited", then it might say "I'm working hard" and then it says "I'm not working THAT hard" and so it keeps looking for an explanation as to why your heart is beating so darn hard and it finally lands on "I must be terrified so I'll PANIC!." This feeling is accentuated even more at high altitude. I have a couple races that have cold water swims over 7000 ft and in those events I find myself having to remind myself of exactly what I am telling you now.

So, take a dip is a cold tub of water and really focus on exactly what kinds of bodily sensations you are having. Your mind will tell you, "Oh my god this is cold" but pay attention to the bodily sensation and notice how it could be interpreted as fear or anxiety if you did not know you were dipping yourself into cold water. That's the thing about competition, your have a limited ability to notice everything around you and a limited ability to interpret things accurately but that doesn't stop your brain from trying to make sense of every little input.

Navigation, you just have to learn a way to do it. One thing you can do in the pool is to swim with your eyes closed. First you need to count about how many strokes it takes you to get across the pool so you don't find yourself swimming headfirst into the wall. Take off from one end, close your eyes, count your strokes and focus on swimming straight. A big part of navigation is the ability to swim straight. This is also where bilateral breathing comes in. When you learn to breathe on both sides you become a more balanced swimmer and more able to swim straighter. It is also the case that waves or the sun are likely to be coming from one direction and if that direction is the same side where you are trying to breathe it makes navigation very difficult.