Chris' Group - Closed (Page 9)

Tiffany girl, 52 degree water is a mite cool!  You are a hardy girl to do OWS’s in that!   The first time I went to try on a wetsuit was a disaster.  I thought it was choking me, it was too tight in my chest, and everything is made for tall skinny people.  I’m somewhat less than tall - and far more rounded than the average triathlete .  I tried on several and never found one that was comfortable for me.  Eventually, I ordered one on the internet with the expectation of sending it back.  I was very pleasantly surprised that I was the most comfortable wetsuit I’d tried (except my scuba wetsuit).  It did take some getting used to the added resistance on my shoulders swimming freestyle.  Some creative exercise band routines helped overcome that.  Basically, I tied one end to a door knob behind me, gripped the other end pulled it forward like I was swimming one-armed.  Then switched arms.  When one band got easier, I added another.  But really the solution is to keep trying different ones until you find the one that works for you.

Excellent ideas, Cathy.  I’d never have thought of putting clothing in the freezer!  I need to try that.  I stick those sponges under the shoulder straps, keeping them secure.  I guess the idea behind a slushie kind of drink is to cool your core.  I don’t really know the science behind it but I can’t imagine that it would have much of a lasting effect.  The body likes to warm things up to its preferred temperature so it goes to work immediately on that cooler stuff.  Besides, slushie  drinks  are for after the race – with rum in them !

Doug – great race report!  Spectacular performance and excellent judgment on the run.  Getting stronger takes time.  You are showing great patience working with in your docs restrictions to get there.  I expect you’ll be tackling longer distances before too long.

Arin – Glad to hear there’s no big physical thing going on.   Maybe PT will do the trick for you. Dunno how much stretching you do, but my chiro guy says that’s equally important as strength training.  But then, I’m sure you knew that .  And plateaus happen .  You’ll find it addressed in several forum topics if you search on training plateaus, and there’s an  article as well here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=396 

Wendy – don’t be too hard on yourself. You did, in fact, complete your second triathlon and that is worth celebrating!

 It’s difficult to acclimate to those kinds of conditions.   The older I get, the less I’m interested in adapting!  There is an article on acclimating to the warmer temperatures, I’ll look for it and send you the link.  Course, if I would have done that before your race that would have been more helpful.  I’m sure not surprised that your core temp was up before you got out of the water.  Eighty-five degrees is pretty warm. 

I didn’t find the article I was looking for but, if you search BT articles for “acclimating to heat” there are several discussions on the forum that address this topic and here’s one Coach led discussion article that does as well: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1254&printer=1

Maybe I should go sit in the sauna now

You all have fun, play hard, and keep cool!

Chris

Hello Wendy, and eveyone else,

Wendy, yes, I'm still here.  I have been unable to spend time online lately, due to working long hours.  I just resigned from my job, and I am due to start another one in late August.  My previous job had become hell. 

I have continued to train, but had to see my doctor last week, due to two episodes of vertigo.  He thinks they might be stress related.  He suggested that I give myself a weeks break from training.  This time, I agree with him. 

I am, however, planning on doing a sprint triathlon on August 21st.  It probably won't be my best time or effort, but I'm hoping it will be fun doing it.  Our vacation is planned August 7th through the 14th.  We will be on a cruise.  They have a fitness room, but I probably won't be spending much time there.  I will be doing a lot of snorkeling- which will make me tired physically.

I am looking into purchasing a wet suit.  I am considering a sleeveless one.  Most of the triathlons I plan on entering will have the swim portion in lakes (during the summer), so the water won't get too cold (I live in CA).  I would love to hear input, good or bad,  regarding short sleeve wetsuits. 

I hope everyone else is continuing to train.  I know it's been hard for a lot of you, due to the heat.  Good luck, Wendy, on your tri- and have fun!

Cathy

Hi All -

July has been bruital for lack of training for me. I've had two vacations and a camp trip. Needless to say, my tri this Sat. might not be my best. Oh well, as long as I can get a PR in some event that is my goal. I've really really really been pushing my running. Making myself get out there. I am happy to report I've seen some movement on the clock. I was at 10:45 a mile, which is better than 11.

Wetsuits. Although I have no personal experience to give actual advice on a sleeveless vs. full, everyone I've talked to says go full.  I can see the advantages of sleeveless though... at least from the outside looking in...

Washington is still fortunate with the temps. Mid 80's is all.

Arin

Wendy, your little grandbaby is about as cute as she can be!  She’s about as good a motivator as you could get, I think.   So tell us how your tri went this weekend.  How was the pool swim?  How did you feel about your times?

Vertigo is tough, Cathy.  There can be several causes for it.  There is something called Meniere’s disease, which is really debilitating and includes ringing in the ears and sporadic hearing loss.  A pilot friend of mine developed that and, naturally, he couldn’t fly until it was completely resolved.  Actually, he couldn’t work, drive, or do much of anything until it was gone.  Vertigo can also be a symptom of inner ear infections, a byproduct of migraines, reduced blood flow to the brain, or even an early symptom of Multiple Sclerosis.  If it continues, you should do some serious inquiries with your physician. In the mean time, if you get an episode, pinching your earlobes may help.  It’s an acupressure site that seems to give some relief in this instance.   I wouldn’t stop physical activity completely.  Exercise is a stress reducer and if your vertigo is a result of stress, you don’t want to eliminate your best defense.  It might not be great timing to get an episode of vertigo on the bike so you may want to hold off on that and replace it with slower runs and/or walks.  Although indoor bike training wouldn’t be so risky. 

When considering the wetsuit, I would suggest carefully looking at the majority of triathlons you plan to do and what the average water temperatures are.  If the water is colder, you may be more comfortable in a long sleeve version.  If the water temps are not too cold, a sleeveless version would be the way to go.  There are tradeoffs.  There is more restriction of movement in the full sleeve suits, but you don’t want to spend long periods of time in cold water without the additional protection they provide.  Regardless of which you choose, you will absolutely want to get in it and get comfortable before you do a race.   The suit definitely changes how your body floats in the water, and this will vary according to salt or fresh/brackish waters. 

Glad you’re seeing some improvement on your run, Arin.  That’s always motivating.  Sometimes I’m surprised at my results after relatively inactive periods.  Tell us how you did in your race – we are always curious!

Doug you are really progressing!  You’ll have no trouble completing the HIM.  I agree that an intense workout should not be done in the heat of the day.  To tell the truth, Triathlons are done in the early mornings (unless it’s a HIM or IM kind of race when you will run into (literally) the heat of the day).  But for sprints and Olys, you should be done well before that.  There’s not really a good reason to risk the calamities of heat exhaustion or heat stroke by doing workouts in the heat of the day.  The caveat here is that in my world the heat indices are currently up in the 110 range, and even the critters are having a hard time.  If your world is cooler, than you may be able to do more after acclimatizing.

Work has been really busy for me so I haven’t been able to jump on as much as I would like.  Hopefully things will ease up a bit and I’ll be able to most more regularly.

Keep training,

Chris

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I’ve been missing for the past couple of weeks. Between moving and getting ready for a bunch of professional presentations and travel, I’ve hardly been able to find time to keep up with my training, let alone write about it! I’m actually writing from an airport now while I keep my fingers crossed that these east coast thunder storms don’t delay/cancel my flight home.

My tri is next weekend and I really wish my training during the last two weeks could have been better, but it’s not really possible to ride a bike or swim when you’re bike is in a moving truck etc etc. It seems like all of us have been running into similar time constraints and business. I’ve been mostly running because it’s easiest/most accessible and I figure maintaining at least that fitness will help me!

@Doug – I have so much more respect for those of you that are training in hot places!!! I don’t know how ya’ll do it. I did a run in DC this morning and it was MISERABLE! Humidity and heat. Completely intolerable. Kudos to you for plowing through it! Keep up the good work everyone, I’ll let ya’ll know how my tri goes this weekend! I’m really excited for it!

-Tiffany

Finally cooler temps! We've had over 30 days of 100+ temps with the heat index being 110+. When I left work today it was only 91. I'll take that. My youngest son left Kansas yesterday to go back to school. When he left it was 101 when he got back to Leadville Colorado late last night it was 38! That's what you get in August when you live at 10,200ft! Lucky boy! I'll take winter anyday over summer!

My race was ok. Low turnout, around 50 people, but it was good practice! You can check out my race log if you like. I finished in 1:23:12. I think my swim, 6:19, would have been faster had I not been afraid to flipturn. I fought a headwind coming back on the bike. On the run I had my left calf cramp up and had to stop and stretch it out. A week prior I had a charlie horse in that calf in the middle of the night.

I am now focusing on a Triathlon very close to home Sept. 10th at Fort Riley, the Army base, seven miles away. It's a 500m serpentine pool, 14.2 bike and a 4.3 mile run through their very hilly golf course. I going to change my running route staring tomorrow to incorporate hills while trying to get to the 4.3 miles. I've never ran more than a 5k so this could be interesting. If you have any tips let me know!! I'm going to focus my swimming on doing 500m speed drills with FLIPTURNS! Not sure why I'm so scared to do them, I thought nothing of it when I was young. After each bike ride I will dismount and run up to 1 mile. My goal is to try to be closer to MOP at this race!

Tiffany good luck with your upcoming race, I hope you get your bike unpacked soon!

Doug I hope the drop in temp makes it your way soon! Keep up the good work!

Chris Thank you for the compliment on my Granddaughter! She already loves the pool!

Arin way to go on getting faster! How was your last tri? 

Great job Tiffany! I looked at your race log, loved the pictures! Good luck with your new job and your upcoming half marathon!

Hey everyone,

Sorry I've been MIA! I haven't read everything I've missed so I'll just try to keep up from here. I did my first supersprint last month and it wasn't terrible. It was 375m swim, 10k bike and 2.5k run so it should have been a piece of cake but I got off track on the swim, started hyperventilating and never got it back from there. My goal was 57 minutes and I came in in 56:47 and was 8/9. So I wasn't last anyway. Since then I've been on vacation etc and I've hardly done any swimming. I have this idea that I'd like to try a sprint in September but the 750m swim is scaring me after my last episode in July. So we'll see how brave I'm feeling when the time comes. I'd also like to do another HM in the fall so I'm not sure  can really do both.

Congrats to everyone who finished their events this summer!

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted in a while because I was preparing to go on vacation, on vacation, and recovering from vacation.  My husband, youngest son and I went on a 7 day western Carribean cruise.  The ship had a fitness center and a jogging track, but I only managed to get 2 runs in,  one workout on a cycle, and one open water swim.   We stopped at four ports of call, and did all kinds of walking, hiking, snorkeling, kayaking, etc.   Our room was over a night club, so we stayed up late every night.  We had a lot of fun, but I was absolutely exhausted when we came back.  I did not work out for five days, and did my first workout last night (a spin class).  My son acquired a bad cold when we returned home, and I think I'm coming down with it.  My spring tri is scheduled for this Sunday, and I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to do it. 

I have always heard that if your symptoms are above the head, that it is ok to do your workout.  I'm not sure that this applies to racing though.  Do any of you have any experience, or pearls of wisdom to pass on?  I know if I did go ahead with it that my time would probably suffer. 

Doug, you continue to amaze me with your level of energy and commitment.  You all are an inspiration to me.  Whenever I feel lazy I read your posts and get motivated all over again.

Keep up the training everyone!

Cathy

First off, apologies to all for my absence.  Things got quite overwhelming here and are continuing to be really, really busy.  So I do apologize for being such an absent mentor. 

Doug – congratulations on your HIM! What a challenge for you to come back from your injury and complete a half!  Sounds like you did well, learned some stuff to take away for your next event and generally had a great time.  And already looking to get back to training – What a guy!  You gave a lot of great advice, particularly about remembering to bring you own pump.  I second that and I’ll add this for everyone, if you have not had any experience or practice changing a flat on your bike, then you need to jump on that.  The last place you want to learn this particular skill is on a race.  Do it several times on each both front and back so you can get the feel for the differences.  And you are also right on about helping and encouraging your fellow racers.   The camaraderie of this sport is really what makes it so great. 

Tiffany – I’m glad I could be of some small help for your race.  That cheers me.  It’s amazing how disheveled the transition area becomes during the course of the race.  Congratulations on your finish too!  Your race report is great. It’s easy to get disoriented coming out of the water.  I can get disoriented getting out of the bath tub.  Looks like you did really well though.  Proud of you girl!

Christie – a super sprint is a great race to start with.  Not hugely intimidating.  Pre race jitters and not enough warm up can set you up for a rough swim start.  This may not work for everyone, but if I can get in the water and swim for 15 or 20 minutes right before the race, then I’ve knocked off the jitters, gotten my body acclimated to the water, and warmed up some to boot.  For me – and again, this is a personal preference – I prefer the swim warm up to biking or running.  I just feel like I get more out of the race if I’m not worried about the swim part.  Try not to fret too much about the longer swim.  Get yourself some open water practice in, find your rhythm and memorize it.  On race day, don’t let the other racers distract you from your rhythm.  It’s easier said than done, I know.   I seem to only be able to do that with the pre-race swim. 

Cathy – I hope you had fun on your vacation, sounds like it was wonderful!  A head cold can be distracting, but not debilitating.   You might try some non-drowsy Sudafed and see if that helps you any.  I agree with Doug on this, if you aren’t feeling competitive use it as the best training and practice session you can get.  You will get SOMETHING out of it!  Besides – the money is spent, you ought to at least get some post race food for it.  I’m sure you can do the race.  Good luck to you!

Best,

Chris

Hi Guys! I've been without a pool all week. Our outdoor pools closed for the season on Sunday and our indoor is down for annual maintenance. Back in the water on Tuesday! I've been training for my next race, Sept. 10, 500m serpentine swim, 14.2mi bike and a 4.3mi run. Both the bike and the run will be very hilly! I have been focusing my runs the last couple of weeks on hills still just going 3.1mi. I wanted to get the hills down first before I increased the distance. I will add a 1/2mi on Tuesday. Does anyone else have any upcoming events?

Doug- I, too, run year round.  I have for 35 years.  Like you, at my age, I'm scared to stop- because it would be too painful to get started again. 

I wasn't able to participate in my triathlon last Sunday, due to a family emergency.  I'm going to have to, once again, find another tri to do. 

It has been super hot in my city lately.  Today our high was 107.  Last night I drove in my car at 9:00 pm and the temperature was 98.  I know that those of you who live in the midwest, the south, or the east have to deal with high temperatures 24 hours a day during the summer.  In my city, the temperature usually cools down to the high 60's or low 70's at night.  I am not used to this weather. 

Last night I went to a spin class.  Tomorrow my family is going to the beach, and I will be able to run and cycle there.  Swimming is never an issue in the heat.  I just need to get motivated to swim.  Swimming is the sport that I'm least motivated to do. 

So how is everyone else?  Are you able to continue your training in the heat? 

Cathy

Wendy – bless you, girl!  Hills are a nemesis for me.  We don’t really have hills here and when I do encounter them elsewhere I’m at a loss as to how to attack them.  Sounds like you are working a good plan though!    Stay strong and good luck on your event this Saturday!

Doug, that’s an interesting swim start for your next race – I haven’t heard of it done that way before.  And what a great combo a race and visiting your babies!  I’m excited for you! 

Cathy, I’m so sorry you weren’t able to do your tri last week.  I hope everything is okay with your family.  It’s disappointing to not be able to do the event you worked so hard for, but family always takes precedence.  With the heat that it seems the whole country has experienced this summer, I would think there would be lots of incentive to swim!  Okay – even the water has been too hot to enjoy lately, I understand that.  I understand it being hard to get motivated to swim, though.  It’s a lot of extra work – getting gear together, going to the pool, changing, showering, swimming, showering, changing, etc.  But I really do like the quiet time in the water.  It sort of comforts me, releases stress.  No one talking and I can just let my mind drift along.  Sometimes I even think about my form but, I confess, not very often. Doug has a good point about a plan – having a plan does make more sense for using limited time productively.  I think I have that same book that he was discussing.

Like all of you, I’m glad temps are coming down.  It was low 60s here this morning. I'm loving it!

That’s a great question, Doug.  We (my husband and I) are a little backwards on the training thing.  Our summers are bad hot and our winters are mild.  So we both tend to slack off “in season” and pick up again in the fall.  There is a day that I go to the grocery store and THE apples are in season – best apples in the world (Honeycrisp) – and I come home with a big bag and announce “Training Season has BEGUN!”  And off we go.  A good long ride with a snack break for apples and cheese and crackers which seems to give us exactly the right combination of sugar, carbs, and protein.  I can hardly wait – they should be here soon.

Running is easier for me when the air isn’t so thick with humidity that I worry about drowning before I get home – although lately it isn’t advisable to run due to all the smoke from the wildfires. (Please, PLEASE send rain!)  I do slack off severely on running in the summer time and always have to back track to catch back up.  It’s okay, though, I would rather the running continue to be enjoyable than ruin it by making it tortuous.

I’d like to know what the rest of the group does as well.  Do you train all year? For a specific event? Just for the season? What do you focus on off season?  Do you just train in one aspect, e.g. running?  Do you incorporate strength?  Flexibility?  Enquiring minds and all that…

Next week we are going  on vacation for two weeks.  I’m going to take my computer but I have no idea of the internet availability.  I will do my best to get on and see what mischief you all are up to but if you don’t see me it isn’t because I’ve lost interest in you  You guys are great!

Best,

Chris