HILDEBEAST'S Mentor Group, CLOSED! (Page 9)

Good Evening Beasties!!

Bearhawk-WTG on the training AND the weight loss!

Hilde- Unmatched bike parts or unmatching cycling kit drives me right into an OCD frenzy TOO!

rustymom-I also think a written down plan for the week with a reward goal may give you a jump start!

hoffsquared- Rye whiskey? Just don't drink and trainer drive! Wheeeee!!

Tstl- That CrossFit stuff is HARD! Good job!

I just now figured out how to properly respond to inspires, so many thanks to all the ones I have gotten so far and didn't respond properly to! Today was the longest trail run ever for both me and Brando. We did an awesome 7 miler and got our average time per mile below 12 minutes. I'm up in the air about tomorrow. I may do a trainer ride early so I can spend the rest of the day with my family or I may have early family time,do a road ride when it's warmer,then spend the rest of the day with my family. I also have a question for the whole gang. Does anyone have any foibles during their training? I'll start. I have to have a piece of gum in my mouth when I swim. I don't chew it of course. I just park it in my cheek and it stays there the whole time. It's a habit I picked up when I first started serious swim training in 2008 and I still do it. Anyone else have any little quirks when they train or race?? Happy Training Everyone!!

Hilde gave great advice on this.  When I started to learn to swim two seasons ago, there was nothing that made as big of a difference as a set of private lessons with a good swim coach.  I was doing so many things wrong and no amount of practice was going to make it better (because I was practicing things incorrectly).  I later joined a Masters group and this also made a big difference for me.  If you can manage either (or both) of these options, it can really save you a lot of swimming grief.  Depending on where you live, the state forums on BT can offer some nice recommendations for swim coaches or master groups.    For right now, I'd skip the pull buoy.  My 8 y/o daughter has been on a swim team for two years (and is really a good swimmer) and has never used a pull buoy - you really don't need them.  Just focus on swimming as much and as often as you can.  Good luck!

I'd wear them!  I should add that I'm cheap and a good deal pretty much overrides my choice in most things.  Which is also the long and the short of how I talked myself (and Hilde!) into doing an Olympic distance race this season!  Seriously, if they are comfortable then wear them and enjoy them.

Happy Monday everyone!

Turns out that my work (federal government in DC area) is closed this morning due to  icy rain & ice pellets.  Of course, I learned this after I woke up at my normal early hour, made coffee, let the dog out, and got prepared for my before coffee exercises.

Maybe it will all melt when the sun rises and I can get my bike commute in.  Or maybe I'll have to hop on the trainer for a bit.

Regardless it's a nice morning of whatever...

Got in a nice swim before work!  I wish I had this kind of schedule every day.  Would make training so much easier.  Haha!

That late work start time sounds nice, Melanie.  Especially because I assume that you don't need to work later than usual to make up for it.

I worked from home today due to snow (early school dismissal someone needs to get the boy off the bus).  Enough snow that I skipped taking him to swim team and got in a 30 minute trainer ride this evening!

Good Evening Beasties!

     Had a great Monday morning swim today followed by a LONGGGGG day at work. I had some kettlebell strength work planned for tonight but that ain't happening. Does playing fetch with two dogs for 20 minutes count as crosstraining? That's all that got accomplished from the couch this evening. Happy Training Everyone!

Back to normal TX winters.  Thank goodness.  Yay for shorts in January!

Week 1 of a base cycle for me with a focus on weight loss, endurance, and a little bit of speed work.

General outline for the next 3 weeks - M: off/recovery ride, lift; T: bike -  speed work + base endurance ride; W: Z1/Z2 run, lift optional; R: bike - longer intervals upper Z2 lowerZ3; F: recovery ride, lift optional (do if W skipped), rest if needed; S: "long" easy run Z1/Z2 (may add some pickups depending on how I'm feeling); Su: long bike in Z2 or tempo ride depending on family schedule.  Shuffle as needed based on family schedule.  Fourth week will be a recovery week with workouts depending on how I'm feeling.

Volume is pretty set at 4-8 hrs/week, maybe 10 if I'm lucky, so I'm left manipulating intensity.  I do a combo of linear/nonlinear periodization, so if it looks weird, that's why.

Hilde asked me about one of the routines I am doing in early morning quickie workouts.

It's called the Myrtl routine (it focus on the hip girdle area - hence the name)

Here is the video of the routine and here is the pdf.

I am trying to get in lots of different kinds of body-weight only exercises and general stretching done during the course of a work week.  Trying to do this by spending 10-20 minutes each morning on them while my coffee is brewing.  

So far it is working - I am getting in somewhere between 50 and 100 minutes of this type of work done for the week.  I am already noticing a difference in tone and shape.

I just have to do it every work morning!  If I slack once...could lead to the eventual demise of the whole before coffee concept.

Thanks for posting.  You might also like the foundation training stuff (foundationtraining.com).  It has some pretty good movements (and is the quickest way I've found to make my back pain go away).

This kind of stuff is also great to do while watching TV, which I know none of us actually have time for.

Happy training this week.  If anyone is interested in a really cool story, I talked with Mr. Steve Howard about some work stuff this week.  I had to google him and found this nice write up on his triathlon enjoyment.  It made my Monday.

http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/posts/2012/5/3/how-swim-bike-run-changed-my-life.html  

Wow Page, what an amazing story, especially inspiring for us "older" folks!  And Melanie, thanks for posting the video and PDF, we have so much info out there amongst ourselves! 

January is almost over, time to get in those last miles for the month!

Thanks for this post.  It made my Wednesday!

Well winter made it's comback today.  Cold, windy and snow flurries.  I knew the 60* weather couldn't last but it sure was nice while it was here.

Question: Has anyone here done any of the fundraising type bike rides?  I'm thinking about doing the Tour de Cure here in June.  They have 10mi, 30mi, 50mi, and century routes - considering the 30mi.  I have a tri 2 weeks before (12mi bike) so I'll be doing bike training anyway.  I thought maybe I could just expand a little on the training rides for the tri to get me ready for the Tour de Cure.  And it's not a race anyway so as long as I could make the distance, speed wouldn't be an issue.  Just wondered if anyone had any experience with those kinds of rides.

Janet

Janet, is your question about the ride or the fundraising?  I've done a few "organized rides", not races, just rides for fun and I always enjoy them.  I usually arrange to go with a small group of bike buddies and we really don't worry about the pace, it's more about getting the mileage in.  You get to see some new scenery, and I like the free cookies at the rest stops!  Doing 50 miles solo would be a chore, but with a group, it's lots of fun.... so a good way to get in a long ride, and 2-3 weeks before your tri sounds perfect!

Dee - I have that same problem.  I have to constantly remind myself that recovery weeks are important while I'm in one.

Keep up the good work everyone.

I watched this today.

Thought I would share with the group because you all give me some pep!

A Pep Talk from Kid President.

A little of both, but more about the ride itself.  I don't have any bike buddies but I'm hoping once the ride starts I can find a few people who are riding my pace and just stick with them for the 30 miles.  I need more time on my bike, especially if I ever want to move up to Olympic distance tri's, and this seems like a good way to do that.  Any just maybe I'll come away with a bike buddy I can continue to train with.