Leegoocrap's Mentor Group - Closed (Page 8)

Got my run AND swim in last night-so everything went according to plan.....except the DUCKS lost!

Chris-Happy B-day to your son.  My middle child turns 16 in a few weeks.  Teenagers, AAuuggghhh!

Daniel-Hope you get to feeling better, take your time.

Christina-My co-worker has his pre-surg eval today for a miniscus.  I'll let you know what they say for his rehab time.

Andrew-Group rides are 'usually' free, but don't be surprised if they try to recruit you onto the club/team.  BTW:  I still favor the 'road bike' as your only bike-get a tri bike later.  Just my .02.

Remember, Andrew, most advice on this website uses a sample size of n=1, which means that that is what I did, because it made most sense to me.  Your market may vary.  As for groups, the more organized ones that I've found here (with councils, BODs, rules, etc), you have to pay for, but anything that is just a social group ride, with a bunch of friends, no fees or anything.

So last night, I was supposed to get a swim in.  I went to the pool, met with the group, and left.  There was going to be 10+ people per lane, and it just wasn't going to be fun, or worth it for me.  Decided to head home, watch the BCS, and not get really frustrated with people in the club.  Thursday night will be a good one, though    We actually have all 8 lanes in the pool that night.

Rest day today, spin and run tomorrow.  Actually have to go to the run, as I have to really start training hard for the 30k run in 2 and a half months...   

So I have been told that the 70.3 up here in Canada fills up pretty quick, and it opens for registration next week.  I have to figure out whether I want to focus on a longer race this year, or do a bunch of smaller races.  To those of you with some experience with this question, what says you?

Sorry everyone for my inactivity, the snow that hit us has had me out and about helping with some of the fender benders the last day or so. I actually live on a hill infamous for the number of wrecks it causes when the weather gets bad, so it has kept me busy. I actually had a cop car slide into my yard (about 2ft from my front porch) the other night. Makes me glad my bedroom is on the back side of the house...

Other than that, I've been basically in lockup... can't get my cars (both sports cars) out of the driveway so I had to walk to the store yesterday Still, I've managed to get my runs and bikes in, although I had to reschedule some of my swims for this week.

Happy birthday to everyone and their family's! Wow, lots of Bdays!

Christina, I'm sorry to hear it, were they sure it's the meniscus? I suppose until the MRI you won't know for sure... I have nothing but sympathy if it's like when I had my MRI on my knee... sit in the most uncomfortable room imaginable for half an hour trying not to move your leg... (very hard to do when it's all you can think about) I hope it's a quick heal.



Leading up to my 140.6 at Cedar Point, I raced as many small races (sprints) as possible. It's great to break up the monotony of long training days with some good old competition.

Still, there's always an element of danger doing that... you can get hurt in a small race and then not be able to do the big one... but you could get hurt doing anything for that matter... I feel like the best way to prepare for racing is by racing more.

Who's old enough to remember the Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers? 

Mouseketeer role call count off now..........

Jeff

(sorry-this is just a silly excuse to keep the group on the frist page of the forums)

Sorry, you're on your own there, Jeff  :P

I have literally no desire to be at work today, and even less to do anything while here, which is making the day go by SO SLOW.  I really don't like this whole "You have to be at your desk from 9-5 5 days a week" thing.  If I don't really have anything pressign to do, do I HAVE to be here? 

Hope your working day gets better. If it's any consolation I think that a lot when I'm at home. How did I become the person responsible for putting away every little thing in the entire house. Ick, I spend half the day cleaning something. At least your earning a paycheck!

Think we're going to the bike shop to look at tri bikes on Saturday! They have Felt, Giant and Cervelo. I've never sat on a tri bike before so this should be fun. Not sure I'll buy one yet - I've only got $1500 saved right now. Well I've only $500 and my hubby is kicking in the rest. I won a challenge from him this summer. We were out on the boat and my daughter (age 2) started one of her famous screaming fits. Imagine being out on a ski boat in the middle of the lake with a two year old screaming her head off. It's a little difficult to relax lol. My husband looked at me and said "I'll pay you $1000 if you can get her quiet". I snuggled her on my lap and she fell right to sleep HA - I'm holding him to it too!

Trigal,  i spy a way to up that fund if you dont mind your daughter learning what under handed or devious means......

How is everyone today, having an enforced rest day / evening today as my wife is working so cant get out to train as 2 daughters sound asleep upstairs! still, legs feeling it a little after last few days so will hopefully make me fresher for tomorrow night.

weather here in UK is wet and windy at present but hopefully getting better at weekend which is unusual as it is normally week days when your at work that its like that. So hopefully i can get an outdoor bike session in rather than current stationary bike

for all you bike fans the Tour Down under starts on sunday http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/
runs for 7 days. I believe it will be lances swan song from pro tour racing.

bikes seem to be a topic we all like to talk about so here is a link to a bit of bike porn!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya-4fC48ad0&NR=1

have a great day

Got some good news today. I don't have to have surgery. Yay! Just meniscus tear and minor tearing on my MCL. So I have to wear a brace the next 4 weeks and have to build back up to running. Luckily my ACL is completely intact which is what the doc was worried about. I am so relieved as I have recently watched two close friends go through ACL surgery.

Well back into some easy spinning for me tonight. Hopefully the brace helps relieve the pain.

Glad to hear you got good news!

I hope everyone's training has been going well! It's been a while since I've posted so I thought I'd fill everyone in on what's been going on.

I joined a race team!  I can already tell it will be a great opportunity, especially with the people that are in it. Some of the nicest people in the area from what I've seen so far.  We have trainer rides on T, TR, that last for about an hour... The first one was awesome! Did a bunch of different things on the trainer that I would never have thought to of done by myself (i.e. 30 sec intervals of standing, cadence work, cycling with one leg at a time, and other various things).  The swim group meets on Wednesdays for an hour, and the owner of the team was working with me and a few others on swimming exercises that will (hopefully) help us out.  My problem, what I can tell, is definitely endurance.  I timed myself for a couple of my 50's (yards) and I was hitting just under a minute for each one (I have no idea if that's good or not).  But, whenever I was getting to about yard 35 or so, my body just didn't think I could finish and I'd go into a, what I'd call a breaststroke.  I think it's because some water was getting up my nose... Are there many triathletes/swimmers that use one of those nose clip things? Or would that be really detrimental to my swim?

Anyway, I also got my RA schedule for this semester, and wow, am I going to be BUSY. Between Honors College, being a RA, concert band, wind ensemble, pep band, other campus activities, and trying to have a social life it's going to be hectic!  Although, as I can see most of you also have some pretty busy schedules.

Also, seeing as how I'm a newbie... What are things that I would need to bring when I go on an ACTUAL road ride? Do I bring my phone, wallet, keys (very important, because if I lose my keys, I lose my job as they would have to put new locks on the entire dorm)? I'm just unsure!

Thanks everyone, and I wish you all happy, and healthy training!

hey, thats great news, well as great as still being injured can be when told its not as bad as your worst scenario.  Follow the advice and you will be back to top form in no time. the season is still on

Very good news! Take it easy for a bit and make sure you don't start running too soon! It's harder NOT training than it is to train (for me at least!)

I don't think *endurance* (at least like you are thinking of it) is your problem... it's oxygen. I'd say anyone who can run a 5k can easily swim well over a mile at a time without getting tired... considering they are getting sufficient oxygen and are comfortable in the water.

Some things that may (or may not... everybody is different )
- You are not going to drown in the pool. Silly sounding, but you need to internalize it and let your mind accept it. There are ropes, you can (generally) put your feet down, you can stop. The first step is to always be calm.
- Think about whether it's rational that you can't finish after 35y. Are muscles burning? Are you gasping for air and in danger of drowning? Are you swallowing more water than oxygen? Or is your mind simply throwing road blocks in your way? It happened to me when I started running longer. I would think "I need to stop/slow down/rest" but after I looked at it from an outsiders view I realized I wasn't *hurt* and was still breathing fine, so there was no real reason to stop.
- Are you trying to force your way through the water? Do you have balance in the water? (can you float on your back with only very very light kicking and stay above water? Or does your lower body sink?)

There's more, but those are some quick things. Maybe you should try slowing down. Many people only have 2 speeds in the water, stopped and swimming. It's unrealistic when you compare it to running (walking, jogging, running, sprinting, etc) or cycling (spinning, coasting, sprinting, etc) most new swimmers simply swim too fast for their fitness.



whoah, sounds like a busy schedule! Good luck with the juggling



Get a saddle bag for under your seat. I always take my cell phone, a key (generally either my car's door key if i drove or my house key if I left from home) $10 cash, either my I.D. or road ID, a spare kit and a multitool. That's generally all, maybe an extra candy bar

anyone have any experience with suunto? I was checking out some watches and the 305 was not that comfortable with my small wrists, so I was looking into other things for a decent price. Saw the Suunto tc3 which was about 150 which fit perfect. The only downside is the gps is separate and requires a separate pod. I'm thinking this would be perfect with the foot pod and bike cadence pod. Is the gps really necessary, its an extra 100 dollars or so. 

On a side note, I now have a new running partner but he is training for a half marathon. Going to my first swimming session today with alexandria masters swimming, and thinking hopefully will be getting a road bike soon and start training on that. For now I will force my self onto a stationary cycle. I am going to need to purchase the silver membership soon as well so I can get started on my training plan. Next Thursday I have an appointment with the guy I was referred to by the bike store. He says he has a camera and everything setup to watch my running form and will see what type of shoes will be best for me or I guess if i need some sort of orthodic. Hope all goes well.

Eating has been absolutely terrible with all the retirement lunches going on lately, but that comes to an end this week as well. 

EEEK, couldn't find our thread! Happy Friday everyone. I'm going to try to take the kids sledding somewhere today. Can I count that as hill repeats

Hope everyone is having a good end of the week. Things are slowly getting back to normal as I've been able to get out of my driveway yesterday and today. Sadly having to flip flop workouts has put me behind(ish) so I'm doing 3 of my longer runs in a row this weekend. Not terrible as none of the runs are hard enough to put much stress on the body. I signed up for the Knoxville (half) Marathon April 3rd. It's supposed to be quite hilly so I suppose I had better get used to getting some quality work in on the legs.

Bike sessions have been going great. 300w FTP is still off on the horizon, but it's certainly within view now.

Swimming is going great as well. I'm still not where I'd like to be, but I'm swimming a 1:3x -1:40/100m pretty consistent now and hopefully as the season develops and swim sets get longer I'll be able to start bringing my 500m/1000m tt time down.

Hey everyone work was really hectic this week so only able to run this week. Gonna get out on the bike today and all weekend.

Hello everyone!! well- drove to London- just over an hr away- and had my bike fitting re-checked- as felt seat was too low. Anyway- sure enough was about 4 cm too low- so same re-adjusted. They applied this grainy substance ( Tacx)- as apparently carbon seat posts are known to slip-and have to be careful I guess as not crank to tight so the carbon doesn't crack.

Anyway- as well- they changed my seat- and provided me with a loaner -Adamo road seat- to try. Currently use Selle Italia- find during long distances get sore- esp in aero position. Anyone have any experience with these seats of comments?

Have a good weekend. Have a 1hr 40 min run for tomorrow morning- and they care calling for more snow!!
-Helen

Hi everyone,

Finally did the free trial with the Masters swimming program. Looks like I will need a lot of work with swimming, but my endurance is there. The coach had me doing lots of different swimming techniques, but overall it seems like it will greatly improve my freestyle swim.

Today took a power nap after the work and went straight to the gym. Started off with a 27 minute run with a 3 minute cool down. Then went into the bike for 27 minutes and 3 minute cooldown. After the bike did a weightless workout and cooldown stretch.

Some things I noticed. I was on the stationary cycle. The type of cycle that they do the spin classes on. I had lots of discomfort. Do you guys attempt to ride in an aero position or upright like a road bike. Also it may be my lack of cycling experience, but I found it really hard to get past my 155bpm heart rate. The first cycle machine that I was on showed I was spinning at 110rpms or so and ~25mph on the flat surface. What is an ideal rpm to be pedaling at?

Other than that it was a great day today! Will probably just pay for a day pass at the pool tomorrow morning  to work on my freestyle technique and then go on a run after. Hopefully I can find a foot pod for my hrm locally and pick up some tri shorts to give some padding when biking.

Overall I feel that my fitness level has dropped a good amount, so I think I will take a month of getting back into the routine and get a feel for what fitness level I will be in at the end of the month. That will be perfect for a 16 week training program. Thoughts?

Some numbers I've heard--60 rpm hills, 90 rpm as a minimum for training, and 110 rpm for racing.

On work days i have very little time to play with. I wake up at 3:30pm and am out of hte house by 4pm, drive 60miles to work and get there hopefully by 5:45 and get an hour in the gym before i start work at 7pm.  i take my break at 8pm and workout from 8-9 when the gym closes, then back to work until 7am. i drive back home and get in bed by 9am and sleep until i have to wake up again at 3:30
they are planning on opening a 24 hour gym by my work but it keeps getting pushed back and i am trying to train for a HIM in july.......soooo im trying to find ways to work all my running in on work days so i can focus on biking and swimming on days off.