Jenny's Winter "Find What Drives You" Mentor Group - Open (Page 9)

Very nice, congrats!!

Great job, tygr_tri!

During my last (and only) triathlon there was one woman who was obviously struggling with her clips, and that has made me very wary of trying them.  I personally saw her fall down twice.  My mountain bike class' teacher swore by them, but he was also the charge-up-the-hill type. I met two guys who ride with him sometimes that complained about how he won't slow down to enjoy the scenery. xD I'm a bit of a klutz myself and never know for sure which leg i'll end up putting down. I'll aim for one and end up using the other. Maybe that has to do more with my lack of depth perception, though, or my failure to anticipate where my feet will be when i stop at the stop sign.

I'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather and am thinking about changing things up so that my easier workouts are on my long work days and my hard workouts are on my day off. Friday and Saturday were just exhausting for me. Another possibility is using a work day as a rest day. I think i'm going to be moving some workouts around. Does it really matter which day of the week is the short ride versus the long one?

I have plenty of scars on my chins to show what happens when I ride mtn bikes w/o being clipped in.  But, I'm trying to keep up with my buddies infront of me

I move workouts all over the place with my schedule.  Just try not to put strenous workouts back to back to give your body time to rest and grow.  And, keep your bricks together, of course.  Many times I have to put two workouts on the same day (or three).  I might put running hills in the morning then easy spinning or easy swimming in the afternoon.  Listen to your body and you'll know if you over did it! 

I had a bad training day getting ready for my marathon that gave me a lot of concern.  I messaged Jenny with what I did and she called me on it quick.  She helped me realized I had moved away from my training plan, trying to re-invent the wheel and do more than I needed to for that day.  So, stick with you plans overall volume.  If you missed a wo then skip it and move on.  Better that than over training or worse, injury.

Last night was the perfect example of why you don't want to skip your workouts when you just 'don't feel like it'. 

<Warning: Story time>  It was 9pm.  Had a fairly crappy day of just being grumpy and annoyed with the world.  Once again had missed my swim workout as my husband was 'unavailable' to hang with our daughter so I could go out to the pool.  I wanted to just veg on the couch with a blanket and a glass of wine.  The last thing I wanted to was climb onto my 'mostly broken' bike in the cold dark garage.  But I did anyway... I cranked the tunes, got my legs moving and then suddenly it all changed... My 'race visualization' imagery jumped onto "Maximum Fantasy mode". 

It was like the stars aligned and the songs were perfect choice in perfect order.  Instead of seeing the car drip sad puddles of slush on the dirty cement floor, I saw the sun shining, felt the breeze not too strong and not too warm and the fields of corn were flying past.  I was riding a bike that didn't grind and could change gears smoothly, my legs were happily spinning around.  I played cat-and-mouse with another rider.  Before I knew it, my time was up, I was hot and realized that I had a smile on my face.  What a great workout!

How often do we begrudge a bad workout on 'bad equipment' or 'weather' or 'other people'.  Those all may be valid complaints at times, but sometimes, just focusing on the power of our minds can totally change a seemingly crap session into something motivating and energizing.  Going to take last night's lesson with me as my training schedule jumps up into "Month 2" lengths. Can't wait!

Thanks!! I already know where I can save some time aside from just going faster haha. Had an unusual(for me) shoe mishap in T2, lesson learned.

As for the clipless shoes/pedal system, what I did was park my bike in between the door frame of one of my rooms, got on while holding to the sides and just practiced clipping in and out. I did that before going out on the road and when I finally did take the bike out, I would clip out way before it was time to stop, still kinda do this now just to be sure I'm clipped out.  I also decided early on to solely clip out with one foot over the other and it just became routine with that foot, second nature so to speak.  Also, I just waited to get the first fall over with and eventually it happened when I thought I was all the way clipped out and low and behold as I'm tipping over my foot wasn't all the way out.  Only thing hurt was my ego!  I've only ever had that one incident and I don't regret using them, they're worth it!

That's awesome! Those are the best feeling moments and will keep ya motivated to chase the next one :-) 

BerryKristi - Got this from Dallas Athletics today.

Caveman Tri price goes up at midnight & St. Pats tri Kids and Adult race events close for registration at noon on Tuesday, March 5.  Sign Up now.

www.stpatrickstriathlon.com
www.cavemantriathlon.com

Well it's my night number seven at the power plant and I'm ready for some days off to get some training in.  At least feel better while I'm doing it.  I was going to ride this afternoon and the North wind pushed in at 30+ mph so that's moved out till tomorrow.  Probably some free weights at the gym on the way to work.  SQUATS, I think!!  Pump up those prime movers!

The weekend is coming!  (Both my kids will be in Florida for a week on a high school band trip!)

End your week well!

Hey Jenny,

I emailed you my tri plan looking for feedback, let me know if you received it. I wasn't sure how to upload it on here, but if I can someone let me know. 

Thanks!

I am ready!  I just found a running partner here that can help me to build up my running skills.  I'm taking this very slowly as I still have much weight to lose even tho I've lost 100 pounds. Long way to go, but I am going to do this!!! So excited!

MElissa

Nothing wrong with slow and easy, Melissa.  You can do it!

You know, i think that's my problem...my long run and long bike are back to back, one on the same day as my longest work shift. /: I do think i'm going to change my schedule so my long ride is on Sundays (rest on Saturday) and my long run is midweek instead of the day before the ride.  I'll play around with the schedule later today.

I did my first Brick Tuesday night and it was a bit strange.  On Sunday i got talked into going to a Pilates class and not only did it give me really weird soreness in my lower abdominals but my hip joints were still aching Tuesday night. Also, probably unrelated to the Pilates, my right calf got tight towards the end of my run.  My body wanted to keep running but i was worried about injuring my calf badly since the pain reminded me of the tightness i felt just before pulling my hamstring in early 2010.  It seems to be fine today but it was aching all day yesterday.  My aunt is saying i should keep going to Pilates and will see improvement with my core but i'm worried that i run the risk of overtraining or being sidelined by an injury. I shouldn't be feeling joint pain two days later, should i? It wasn't even that hard of a workout, though i was fatigued from my spin the night before going into it.  My abs haven't been sore at all up to this point, do i need to be working them harder?

I love running in snow if it isn't too cold. When it's really cold it makes me cough. But i've had some great workouts in bad weather. Though i draw the line at wind. I've done that a couple of times and it's just not worth it. (It can get very windy near my house at times.)

Thanks, Monty. I prob. won't be able to do one that early. Lagging in my training a little. I am starting to get headed in the right direction, though.

Barry

Good deal.  Saw the email of price increase and thought I'd share it.  I'm frugal that way!  Stick with it!

Schedule this week:

Mon: Strength training class (1hr)

Tues: Swim (400yds) lunchtime/ Strength class pm(1hr)

Wed: Swim w/coach friend/ Bike 40min

Thurs: Rest. I was supposed to swim and run today, but I was really exhausted, like unusually fatigued for me.

Fri: My usual rest day, but I'm going to do my Thur workout, swim/run

Sat: Bike 60 min

Sun: Run 35min/will probably also attend a swim clinic

We made a video of my swim yesterday just so that I could see what I looked like and I have some form work to do.  Lifting my head way too much, not diving my hand all the time into the water (kinda skimming the top) and my hips are sinking   Not really sure why I am/was so tired today, gonna try and get a good nights sleep and hope it's nothing to worry about. 

Hope everyone is doing well!  I think we've all gotten busy with life this last week :D

Question:  Following the Sprint 16 week plan.  When you do the "short" workout of a particular discipline, are you supposed to increase the intensity?  IE:  I have a short run and a long run.  My long run, i'm just putting in the time at a reasonable steady pace that won't kill me... but for my short run... am I supposed to run my pants off (ie: tempo or fartlek or 'wild dogs are chasing me' pace)?

Thanks!

--Erica

p.s.  For those women who are a bit more rubanesque, where do you get your tri shorts?  I ordered a pair from Aerotech, and they're fabulous around the legs/hips, but WAY too tall and the chamois bags out at the back, so clearly the wrong size (but I wore them, so i can't send them back)

Hi Everyone, 

Sorry for a lack of posting and updates on here but my past 2 weeks of school have just been insane! I have managed to keep up with training though, I just haven't had much spare time to catch up on this forum! 

As for an update about my clipless pedals The first day I went out and just clipped and unclipped a bunch of times (I had already done it a few times in my dorm room) but then I would practice starting and then un clipping to stop, going up and down the road. I started feeling more and more comfortable to so I decided to just go for it, so I went out for 30 km in total that first day! I have now officially gone out for 3 longer rides with them, I did even venture down town Vancouver last Tuesday for a couple loops around Stanley Park! I managed to get through all the traffic lights and crossing lanes etc and felt fairly confident in my ability to unclip so I think it is a success!

I did experienced a really horrible run on wednesday morning that I ended up cutting short to just under 4 Km because I felt so tight after a big bike ride the day before. I had biked 57 Km on Tuesday afternoon (which was the longest bike ride I have done since before Chrsitmas) and despite stretching and going for a walk, I still felt like my running stride was way off and just couldn't get loosened up. Does anyone else get like that after doing something the day before? I just felt like no matter how long I ran for my body would not settle into a comfortable stride so I decided to just listen to my body and walked for a while.  

Also I started swimming again last Thursday after 4 weeks off due to a rock climbing shoulder injury and I feel like my breathing is way out of wack again in the pool. I guess it will just take me time to get back into it again, so I am not beating myself up for being nowhere near as efficient as I was 4 weeks ago.

On a positive note though, In the midst of my weekend studying for an Anatomy midterm I went out for an 11.5 Km run that felt really really good, so after Wednesday's disappointing run I was very happy with my weekend!

I swam this morning and just had spin class which was fabulous! Now it's study time! 

Keep up the good work everyone! And thanks again for all the tips on getting used to the pedals!