Brian's group - FULL (Page 9)

Ok so I finally got my race results from my sprint race, but it was really raw data so all I know is my finishing time and my approximate place: 1:21:13 and 5th for overall female (I think out of about 20 but I'm not sure). What kind of sucked is since this was a fairly informal race, they didn't state the no-drafting rule. There was a stiff headwind going out, and some of the other girls in the other heat were drafting off each other the whole way. I wasn't drafting anyone because I got stuck in the slow heat (so I was out in front and had no one to push me on the bike and run) and I figured that drafting wasn't allowed. So I would have had a faster time if I had been drafting and had had someone to push me. But I'll stop whining. It's really just my warm-up race.

 Lesson learned: I need to get mentally tougher, to push myself even when I'm racing alone. I had way too much left at the end of the race.

 Now for my goals:

1.  Finishing Bloomsday in under 1 hour - I missed this one by 3 min. I need to step up my long runs next year (hopefully I won't have shinsplints then)
2.  Take 20 off my OnionMan time from last year - This Sunday will be the telling day. I know I set this goal a bit high, but I really wanted to motivate myself to train. I think if I can push myself hard enough race day I can come close.

The thing that would improve my race the most right now would have been to train more for the running. I was having bad shin splint issues in April, so I took it easy and focused on the bike. My biking has greatly improved, and my shin splints are gone, so it wasn't a total loss, but next year I've got to make sure that i'm getting the long runs in.

After my race on Sunday, I'm going to take a week off (which will be dead week for me), and then try to get a few workouts in during finals. Then I'll be headed up to northern Idaho to work for the summer. It'll be hard to find the time and energy, but I want to keep some sort of training schedule going. I will have 500+ acres of forest at my disposal for trail running and mountain biking! I think I'll start training with my heart rate monitor and actually keep in the right zones...

If I'm able to keep up the training I will try to find a triathlon at the end of the summer that I can do. I'll at least do the new Walla Walla marathon that they're putting on in October (actually, I'll probably do the half; I haven't done a half-marathon yet). 

And unfortunately right now I'm having to choose grades over training... so I will go study for my chem test 

Goals:

1. Get in better shape.
2. Make my kids see that working out can be fun :-)
3. Finish my first sprint triathlon
4. To stay upright on the bike the whole race.

So I am definitely doing number one.  Number two is getting better.  My kids are out riding their bikes more, and when the outdoor pool opens next week they will be swimming more.

Numbers 3 and 4 we won't see until August 28th.  I know that I can finish.  I am not sure what my time will be, and I am still aiming for staying up on the bike the whole time.  I hope this will happen!

I like the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a workout, and meet a goal I had set for myself!  I think that this has been a great experience.  I am adding more long term goals to my maybe one day list........

I have been very engouraged with being in this mentor group.  I like that the mix of people! The encouragements and the answers to questions that I have no idea about is very helpful.

It has been interesting trying to juggle work, kids, and home life.  I have definitely learned that if I don't put it down and schedule it.  It won't happen.  I can be very impatient so having to allow my body to slowly adjust and get more endurance has been challenging.  I am trying to follow the training program on here. Some weeks I do better than others. I am glad that I am pretty much staying injury free, and when I feel that I am hurting worse than usual it is time to back off.
I definitely need people to keep giving me a swift kick in the butt if I am not keeping up like I should be.  Over all I am pretty happy with where I am.  I am proud that I have learned to swim, and keep becoming more efficient at each workout.  The lifeguards at the pool have all taken a special interest in me and my training. They get on me if I am not there at my normal time or miss some days.  Biking is still challenging and it is probably my hardest thing.  I have a like/ hate relationship with my bike!  New seat, Tri pants, right fit, and new pedals are all helping..... but it is the one I have to make myself do.  I have always loved running, so it is the easiest. Just getting to where I am not winded is great.
 
The new long term goals are..... I want to do the Escape from Alcatraz swim once before I am 40 and I want to do 1 IM before then too...... So I have 7 years to get there...

Goals?  Well, I had specific goals for my first half-marathon this spring and for my first Olympic distance tri (Turtle Crawl).  The Turtle Crawl goal didn't pan out because 1) They added 4.5 miles to the bike, and 2) The swim conditions were not as expected but I did meet the run goal which was the sub 1 hr. 

Now, I am shifting out of "race mode" and into finish mode since my only real goals for the HIM and the IM are to finish and keep it together enough that it isn't too miserable at any given point.

My HIM is next weekend, and while I was on track, I feel like I am no longer in that position due to two slow weeks.  I really had planned on doing more than 1.5 hrs on the bike last week and 45 minutes running but could not squeeze anything in after Wed. 

My short term goals are to acheive my planned training time each week.  That usually works really well because it gives me a little flexibility (not much) as I can choose to not do something at one moment but have to figure out when I can do it.  I have a side goal to get out of Athena territory but I can't say that is a really high priority for me, just a, "sure would be nice" kind of goal. 

Ray,

I am glad that you brought this up as it is topic that I have learned about first hand (the hardway, of course) and something I see in triathletes all of the time.

As the volume increases inefficiencies and/or deficiencies in our form begin to become more apparent in the form of aches and pains.  For instance when did the 3.4 mi bridge swim last weekend my left elbow and shoulder (weak side) started to hurt halfway through the swim and ended up on fire towards the end.  This was due to a bad 'catch' and then 'pull' in my swim technique (which tends to suffer the more tired we get); when I focused on doing it correctly, the problem went away.

As triathletes we tend to ignore the pain and instead of listening to what our body is telling us. In other words pain is simply a message from some specific area of our body stating that there is a problem that needs attention. It is from there you must consciously decide whether to pay attention to it and make corrections or ignore it. 

The first thing you should think about is what is the root cause of the pain. Is it due to poor and/or inefficient form (like the example above), over-use (too much, too soon), equipment (poor bike fit, shoes too old, etc.) or some other source?  Once you know this then you can take some corrective steps such as adding drills, stretching or going to a PT, having our stride looked at by a running store, etc.
 
If, however, you choose to ignore it then bear in mind that decisions comes at the potential of injury. It may be something that you should ignore ... like the 'discomfort' of just starting to run or the 'heart in the throat' feeling you get when doing intervals and the such.

As yo your running, the chances are that your gait is different when doing your long slow distance runs than your short hard runs.  Sprinting generally pulls out you the most efficient running form as your body naturally works towards efficiency.   It is for this reason that short sprints, called "strides", are commonly used as drills to improve your form.

When going for long runs, set aside 2 to 3 intervals of 5-10 minutes each where you focus on one thing during the run - be it relaxed shoulders, foot strike underneath your hips, high knees that are engaged by "pulling" your knee up instead of "pushing" it up off of your foot strike.
 
The best - and some say most important - preventive effort you can take to stay injury free through IM distance training  is to pay attention to stretching to remain (or, in my case, become) limber and to work on your core strength.  It is for this reason that many triathletes take yoga or pilates as it works on both instances.  Strengthening your core will make you faster over short distances and help your endurance over longer ones - period.

Lastly, take your recovery days seriously.  It is not through the act of exercise that the body gets stronger but from recovering from the exercise.  Respect that.  It is for this reason that you should go hard on your hard days and light on your light days. 

Hope this helps.

Thank you Brian.  I had all the clues right in front of me, but just didn't put them together until your post.  Our cross country coach always harped on keeping high knees when we got tired.  I have become a little apathetic about that lately.  I am normally a mid to fore-foot striker while "pawing" at the ground.  When I get tired I notice that I become flat footed or maybe even a heel striker.  I also notice that when tired I sometimes trip on the ground because I don't pick my feet up enough.  If my knees and feet don't come up high enough it is impossible to "paw" at the ground with a forefoot strike, thus losing some of my nature shock absorption.

So, when I start tiring at the end of my long runs I will try to hear my coach yelling at me to get my knees high.  If I can no longer run with high knees, I should probably stop and walk until rested enough to run correctly.  Then maybe I can save my hip.

Hey Ray, I've had the same experience with my running technique. I ran track in high school and my hurdle coach was always telling us to get our knees up and keep light on our toes. He had us watching Flo Jo tapes to see what it should look like. I'm to the point where it's easier to either keep on my toes, drop back to a mid-foot strike for slower paces, or just walk. Heel-striking hurts too much!

We've been lucky to have such awesome coaches! 

That sounds great! I am hoping to be a triathlete. Motivation is low because I do not know ANYBODY who is (that isn't on cyberspace that is). So triathlete talk is limited because no one knows what I am saying. Speaking of which, I was trying to get more savvy on the triathlete vocabulary, and there is a dictionary here on BT and the word BONKED is a real term!! I couldn't believe it! So I thought of you and had to share that.

My short term goals that cost money:
1.) Get my bike tires changed to street tires;clipless pedals;new bike computer (mine broke).
2.) Find a tri suit (any suggestions?);new swim cap(havent' been able to get into the water so I have procrastinated on getting a new one since mine snapped).

My short term goals that cost energy:
1.) Signed up for a 5K this weekend, I would love to finish in less than 30 min. I will even settle for 29:59.
2.) Get my bike time down. Not sure yet what I should be shooting for....guess I should be coming up with a goal for that.
3.)Get back in the water! Thanks to some of you I actually have training plans for that, just have to get in the water. I was going to hold off another week until I realized I have only 10 weeks for the Sprint triathlon.
4.)Finish my first ever Seattle Danskin Sprint Triathlon August 14th. Unfortunately, the only family here, my husband, will be gone on his ship. Again, making motivation tough.

Long term....will ultimately depend on this triathlon. I do enjoy 5k, so those will continue. We are moving to Texas so I will have to see what that place has to offer. If this triathlon is mind blowing, extraordinary than I will be looking for more.

What do I think about when I work out: My mind wonders all over the place. I try to focus on my form. I try not to focus so much on time and distance at the moment, even though I find that causes me to push harder at times. I asked my husband this question some years ago when we ran together and he says he imagines being Kurt Russell in the move 'Soldier' when he runs. Seriously?

Teresa,

Some athletes like to work out alone ... I am not one of them as I like to interact in a group training. My friends and I might not do a workout together as we are training for different distances and/or may be in different stages of our training but we start off together and, if the schedule allows, might grab food afterwards.

Check your local running store as to whether they do a regularly scheduled group run(s).  Our local gym (Lifetime Fitness) also has a running group.  These are often populated by people of all different speeds and most are geared towards beginner runners. 

My wife is just starting to get into this stuff and is by all means not a runner. She is going to join a running group at Fleet Feet that is going to build their way up to a 10k distance.

Athletes are some of the most accepting people I have ever run across. When I started exercising after smoking for 19 years and was severely underweight (5'9" and I weighed in the 140's) I was amazed at how patient people were as they helped guide me towards building my fitness. 

Hey guys! Thanks for all the inquiries about my race on Sunday. I was hoping to get the official results by now, but I'm still waiting, so I'll go with what I have.

The swim: Not bad, but I don't really have a sense of how fast I was. I'll have to wait for the time. I had more trouble at the start than sometimes with people swimming on top of me and what not, but by the second lap I felt good and really pulled the last few hundred yards. Just as long as my time's not slower than last year... (33:10 for 1500m)

The bike: This was definitely my strongest leg, and the one I had been hoping to improve the most from last year. I felt strong, actually passed some people up on the hills, and the headwind wasn't bad except for the last couple of miles. I'm really excited for my time on this one!

The run: And this is where I fell apart. The first mile was ok as I was settling in from the bike to the run. The next half mile felt awesome and loose and fast, but then I started getting pain in my right arch. I kept running but had to start walking before the turn-around. By then it hurt so bad I was literally in tears when I ran. I didn't want to hurt myself too bad so I alternated running and walking, and around mile 3.5 it went numb, so then I could run again, but I was super super slow. Then I went up a hill at mile 5 which must have stretched something out because I got feeling back in my foot, and so I was able to get up to an 8:00 min/mile pace and then speed up to 7:30 in the last half mile. Super weird. By then my left quad was trashed though from trying to compensate. Yesterday and today I've had pain all up and down my right leg. I'm guessing I strained a tendon or something, so I've taken a couple of days off, then I'll do some swimming and maybe some biking. I'm going to leave off running until it stops hurting.

So I'm bummed that I screwed up the run, but at least I was a little faster than my time from last year, so my bike time must have been pretty decent. I'll post the official times whenever I get them. 

Haha so I was way off on my times. The run wasn't as bad as I thought and the bike wasn't as fast as I thought... (times in parenthesis were my times from last year)

Overall:   3:05:03 (3:07:17)
Swim:  0:34:03 (0:33:10)
T1 3:03 (2:32)
Bike: 1:29:08 (1:33:58)
T2: 1:23 (1:05)
Run: 0:57:25 (0:56:31)
Overall place: 162 out of 229

 So at least I was faster than last year. I think in the swim my too-small wetsuit was a problem in that it was really restricting my stroke. But I'm happy with the 4:50 improvement in the bike! Lots learned for next year...

I have been laughing.  I guess I have been training long enough, and my kids have seen me keep at it.  They are 5 and 7. Last night they were out in the yard "playing" that one was the coach, and the other one was the runner, and they were in a race.  It was quite cute. They ride their bikes with me sometimes when I run.... .

I have been having to get up around 4:30 in the morning to get my workouts in.  I am not a morning person, so this has been a huge deal.  I have to have everything ready to go and packed so there are zero excuses. I manage to get there most mornings.  If I don't make it, then later in the day my workouts are really kind of rushed.

Ok...question....
What are the best type of upper body excercises to strenthen myself for swimming?  My endurance is getting better, but I feel if I could get a little stronger that would help too...

THanks
AMber

The best are lat pull downs and pull downs (with your elbows tight to your body the whole time) but you typically want to balance your weight training so any weight training you do for your back (lat pull downs) you want to do something for your chest, etc.  But swimming-wise: upper back, shoulders, and triceps are the key areas. 

I am starting to work on running technique. I have a number of things to read, and am currently working my way through "Chi Running". The problem is I only get time to read a few pages each day! So far these are the things I'm trying to keep in mind when running. (1) Strike on front of foot not flat or heel (2) Foot strike should be directly under the hips - not in front of the body (3) Arms relaxed and bent at elbows (forearms parrallel to ground (4) Try to "lift" legs - so using quads more. (5) Try to visualise running from the centre/core of the body, not with the legs.

In my run today I focussed on striking on front of foot. This definitely seemed to naturally make me feel like each stride was pushing me forward more, but I did find it hard work partcularly for the 2nd half of the run. Really felt it in my calves, which were already tired from long run on Sunday and race on Saturday. I'm assuming it will get better as I keep practicing.

If anyone believes I shouldn't be focussing on the items (ie: because I've misinterpreted something I've read or heard)  in the list above please let me know! Any suggestions on technique and drills to improve running technique gladly accepted!

Rod,

Those five things are dead-on ... that said, it is difficult to do all five at once.  I would focus on concentrating on one aspect at a time and then incorporate another.  The first thing I would focus on is the foot strike underneath the hips. HINT: this becomes easier if you keep your body straight but tilt it slightly forward. 

Clarification on ?the forearms being parallel to the ground, they should actually swing like a loose pendulum back and forth.  Your shoulders should be relaxed (don't bunch up) and loose. If someone were running behind you then they should never see your entire forearm ... but some of it is okay.

Good on you for reading up on it!  Chi Running has an almost cult following ...

Rod,

I'm really glad you posted this because I just decided I need to start focusing on this.  Poor form during the run at my race really gave my knees a beating so I need to make some adjustments to limit that the next time around.  I appreciate the nice little cheat sheet you've provided.

(edited for grammer...)

Edited by crazyalaskian 2010-06-07 12:18 PM

I haven't raced since the days of sporting the speedo.  I don't have a tri-suit, so I just planned on racing in my swim jammers.  I have read on BT of a rule requiring participants to wear shirts now (absurd! tri-suit makers must have lobbied for this rule ), but I am not sure which sanctioning head this falls under.  The sprint I am doing this weekend requires a USAT card.  I read through all of the USAT rules, but found nothing about shirt requirements.  Am I overlooking the rule, or is it under another organization?

There was a big bugaboo about USAT proposing to mandate this in 2006 or 2007 ... and the rule to require that your chest be covered did not pass - for guys (girls ... you still need to cover the girls).  WTC, the owner of Ironman branded races, requires that your chest be covered.

Also of note is that individual Race Directors can require that your chest be covered.

I need some advice. This summer I will be working a job where I have to get up at 5:45 in the mornings and don't get to bed until 11:00 at night. I'm working with horses all day (bucking hay, saddling, fencework too) and entertaining kids in the evening, so I'm not going to have much leftover energy. I have one day off per week and I can usually count on having a free hour somewhere in the day. I want to keep in shape without totally wearing myself out, so I was thinking about doing a long workout on my day off (either cycling or running) and short, intense workouts during the week. Any ideas?

Also, someday I want to do a HIM. I'm not sure when in the near future I would have time to train for something like that, but I was wondering if I should wait a few years anyway. I'm nineteen, and I know that people my age can do HIM and IM but I was wondering how advisable it was. Any insight? Thanks

SO I have some exciting news!!  I found a pretty decent used bike for 175.00.   I got a 1995 Trek 370 51cm , with look pedals, Shimano RSXm, a trek radar computer, and araya wheels.  The wheels need trued, and a basic bike tune up.  I have to get fitted to this one now.  I am really excited!  I thought this was a good deal... anyone else have some input?

Rod, those are some good tips.  I was reading in one of the triathlon magazines about a pro triathlete that has started something called "Movement U".  It is basically stretches and strengthening exercises to make sure your body is in proper alignment and tells you what you need to work on to keep yourself injury free.  She doesn't have any classes until this coming winter as race season is in full go.  I am definitely going to find one and go though. I am all about staying injury free.

Erica,

You can do a HIM whenever the time necessary for training won't kill you.  A HIM isn't as extreme as an Ironman but is still a pretty significant time suck.  How old you are doesn't really even play a factor, it is where you are in life that you can put in that time and what your priorities are at that time.

As for your other question, I think the H.I.T. is probably the way to go for you in your training since you are young and mostly trying to maintain fitness rather than training for some long event (in which H.I.T. just wouldn't be a good substitute).  I don't know much about it though.

Woo hoo!!! That is great news ... got to love having a new ride!

When you bring it in to get the wheels trued and the basic bike tune-up ask them to help adjust the seat to the proper height - and qwiz them as to how they think it "fits" you (e.g. aside from the seat height do they think they need to do anything else to make it fit such as swamp out the stem, etc.). 

Also, when talking abou the bike tune-up, ask them to check the condition of the bottom bracket (when the pedal cranks fit into the bike).

That deal you got on it rocks!

That's great about the new bike.  New stuff is always fun.  I don't have any insight on what good equipment is though.   I can't help you there, but  it will make you faster.  I say that tongue in cheek, because a friend of mine told me a new bike would make me faster.  I argued with him, and said that my engine wasn't worthy of a chassis upgrade yet.   I am 225 pounds.  What's a lighter bike gonna do for me?  He said it will make you faster, because you will ride it more.  I couldn't argue with that.  So have fun, and ride it bunches before the "new" wears off.