jmk-brooklyn's group-- FULL (Page 13)

Survived my 75 min run last night. Ended up doing around 7 miles (not quite sure of the exact distance. I ran my 3.2 mile loop twice and then around another few blocks until time was up.). I haven't run that distance in a while, so I was happy I was able to finish strong.

 I did a little walk/run this morning with my friend Meghann who I'm helping to start running. We alternated walking & run every 2 mins for 30 mins. This was how I got started. Next week we are going to try to have her run for 3 mins at a time, with a 1 min recovery. It was nice to loosen up my legs after yesterday & get to talk with a friend.

Jonah- Glad your run turned out ok. Of course all my cycling friends are talking about Tour de France, so I better get on the ball and start watching it. My husband & kids kind of rule the TV though, so my TV viewing consists of Phineas & Ferb, Dora the Explorer, and South American soccer.

Wow, the last couple of weeks have been tough. I see now why getting into a routine and rhythm for training, and staying in that groove, is so important. Two weeks ago I started getting off track when I broke my new bike. The chain popped off during some poor shifting, went to the inside, and almost tore up my very new and very expensive carbon fiber frame. New parts had to be ordered and a paint job was called for, and I finally got the bike back yesterday. Then we went to support my wife's triathlon, and my training took a back seat for that. I would totally put off my own training any day to support my wife, so I'm not grudging that, it was just another distraction. What I won't do again though is go into full post race celebration and binge mode with her. I ate way too much junk with her after her race. The first day back I hurt my knee on a run, and I've now been off of that for about a week to let it heal. So that left really only swimming that I could do, and my schedule only permits that twice a week due to child care reasons. Last weekend was a combo holiday and my wedding anniversary, so there was more celebrating, drinking, and bad eating. So now I've pretty much lost two weeks of training, gained three weeks worth of weight loss back, and probably lost a ton of bike and run fitness. I keep telling myself that I have over two months until my big race this year, so I have plenty of time to catch back up. I am a bit upset that I have a race this weekend, and I'm not anywhere near being in the shape I wanted to be for it. It is the swim/run I've been looking forward to, and I was hoping to do really well. Now I find myself in the position of just wanting to finish without injuries. I am also getting nervous that I am five weeks away from my Olympic distance tri and I'm not comfortable on the new bike with aero shifters and clipless pedals yet. Oh well, what can you do but move forward?

Hi JhonnyFT,

My story was no different! i lost almost 3 weeks of training - Could do only some ad hoc work outs due to my injuries. Also had to mingle with the family of my sis who came from Canada and brought my bike. Have only 3 weeks for my tri in Singapore and I am really upset. Not giving up though. Trying hard to catch up!

Jonah & everybody,

Need some help in swimming....

1) Wht's the most effective way of breathing, for 1.5kM OWS?

     A) Normal one sided breathing after every 2 strokes.

     B) One sided breathing after every  4 strokes.

     B) Breathing on alternate sides, after every 3 strokes. ( I took it as: Stroke from each arm is one stroke)

2) What sort of a pair of goggles U recommend for OWS?  with mirror( To manage the sun light) effect or normal.

Running...

One physio who is treating my heel ( PF ) suggested that I train running in the pool, for which they would help with a gadget and also supervise. The idea is to minimize the impact on my heel, which is caused by my weight. ( they said that's how Carl Lewis trained during last 6 months or so, before winning 4 golds in 1988 Olympics, since he had a similar injury.).

Is this being done over there?

BTW.. well done in your race!!!

Cheers!

Sujith

Sujith- My advice to breathe however you feel most comfortable. Practce both ways when you are training and see which feels best to you, I also recommend practicing sighting (even if you are in a pool). Practice how you will sight while breathing and not breaking your rhythm. Bilateral breathing is really not very important. It's good to be able to breath on both sides if you encounter waves/sun/ something annoying on one side and want to avoid it, but proper stroke technique is what you should focus on (rotating your body, how your arm is entering the water, etc). I'm not a FOP swimmer though, so take my advice for what it's worth.

Johnny- Life happens, glad you are staying positive. In the past 2 years, I've had lots of days/weeks where I got off track with my training and/or eating. I know it's frustrating. I try to just expect/accept that this will happen sometimes and just stay the course. You will probably do better than you think in your upcoming race, your body is rested. 

I'm doing the Carlsbad tri this Sunday, then I'll have a week more in Vegas to train, then I'm off to Buffalo, NY for 2 weeks to see my parents. So...I will not be able to swim or bike for 2 weeks. I'm trying to not let this stress me out. I'm mostly worried about the bike, since I don't swim nearly enough anyways  My plan is to up my running those 2 weeks. My HIM plan has had me start some longer runs, so I figured I'd be safe running 5x a week, as long as 3 are short easy runs. Thoughts?

Sujith and Jackie you guys both rock.

Nice run Jackie! I hope your race this weekend goes really well. At some point I saw your progression pics somewhere on this forum and you look amazing. Your progress is really awesome.

Sujith you continue to inspire me on a daily basis with what you're doing. I really like the breathing every 3 strokes, but I find when I get tired I switch to a 2 stroke for a minute or so to get my breathing back under control. 3 stroke breathing helps keep you moving a bit straighter in the water, especially open water. It also helps to be comfortable breathing on both sides in case your swim gets crowded and you have someone really close to you on one side. As far as goggles go, find the pair that fits you best and you like the most. My wife and I have a pile of goggles we tried and hated, but we each found the best pair we like the best for our own personal style. I actually have this giant pair of goggles that looks kind of like a mask someone might use for snorkeling. It looks really goofy, but it is extra big and gives me a huge window of sight. Also, because it is bigger it has more surface contact with my face, and I find it stays in place longer. Finally, a bigger pair of goggles/mask like this has added space on the inside for a little water to pool if anything does sneak in it isn't right in my eye. But again, pick whatever is most comfortable for you, and never try anything new on race day.

Jonah- Yep, I know what you mean. Although I really do want to go visit my parents, I worry about it messing up my training. The trap of eating and drinking too much and not excercising at all is very real. And many relatives & friends will be encouraging me to do this. Thankful, my parents support my triathlon obsession (my dad is a former triathlete & marathon runner). Also, I'm planning on doing a 5K with my dad while I'm there to keep me on track. I'll try to run 5 times a week and scale back if seems too much (but since this will be my only break from the kids- I think it won't be ).

Johnny- Thanks. Here's the thread of my before & afters if anyone else is interested

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=252978&posts=48&start=1

I'm still not at my goal weight. I weighted 156 at the beginning of June, but am back up to 159. All those threads about gaining weight when training for longer distance races are no joke. You really can't eat whatever you want. Well, at least I can't. So I'm back to counting calories and checking in with team skinny on BT. Did I mention that although Buffalo is famous for chicken wings they also have really good pizza...and Greek food and hot dogs and... I think you can see why I'm not at goal yet.

Jonah- Yep, I know what you mean. Although I really do want to go visit my parents, I worry about it messing up my training. The trap of eating and drinking too much and not excercising at all is very real. And many relatives & friends will be encouraging me to do this. Thankful, my parents support my triathlon obsession (my dad is a former triathlete & marathon runner). Also, I'm planning on doing a 5K with my dad while I'm there to keep me on track. I'll try to run 5 times a week and scale back if seems too much (but since this will be my only break from the kids- I think it won't be ).

Johnny- Thanks. Here's the thread of my before & afters if anyone else is interested

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=252978&posts=48&start=1

I'm still not at my goal weight. I weighted 156 at the beginning of June, but am back up to 159. All those threads about gaining weight when training for longer distance races are no joke. You really can't eat whatever you want. Well, at least I can't. So I'm back to counting calories and checking in with team skinny on BT. Did I mention that although Buffalo is famous for chicken wings they also have really good pizza...and Greek food and hot dogs and... I think you can see why I'm not at goal yet.

So I finally got my bike back and got a decent 1 hour trainer ride in this morning. The bike shop loaned me a demo Adamo saddle to see if that would help with my numbness issues. I can't say the ride was very comfortable, as I now see the reason for having padded shorts on a bike. However, there was no pressure on any of my more important parts and no numbness at all. I am very excited that I found the solution to my problem; I just wish the solution wasn't a really expensive saddle.

The real lesson of today, though, was don't do bike workouts before swim workouts. I have never done had my quads lock up during a swim before today, and it was really painful. I'm pretty sure the ride is what did my legs in, especially since I haven't ridden much in the last few weeks.

Hi Jackie, JohnnyFT & Jonah,

Thank a lot .. for being so helpful... I am learning fast!

Jackie,

I saw you thread on B & A... That was cool... You really have progressed. The time gap... 1 & 1/2 years? ( I was looking at the baby).

Jonah,

Need your help on this..

My running schedule:

Run Pacing
Pace
45
WU: 10'
MS: 12x400 at 10k race pace. A pacing only workout - no concern for speed. RI: 1'.
CD: 10' ..

What do : 10k race pace & No concern for speed mean?.. and what shd be the RPE here?

Cheers!

Sujith

Johnny- Glad to see the new bike seat solves your problem.

Sujith- Yes. It took me about a year and a half to lose most of the weight, but it's not the same baby in both photos. The before photo was taken in 2005. That "baby" is now almost 6 years old. The after photo was taken last December and that baby will be 2 years old next month.

Dear Jonah,

Thanks for all your help....

Given below is the schedule for me for the last day ( 19th July) on my 12 week BT training schedule for my Olympic tri on 31st July. In fact, I planned it to end on 19th July, leaving a gap of 11 days for my traveling and settling down in Singapore.

Now I have missed about two weeks of training due to my injuries..etc and am catching up now.

Are the undermentioned wk outs meant for the day before the race day?

If that is the case, I could go back for 11 days and restart my schedule( So that I am catching up with what I missed), for it to end on 30th July.  What do you think?

Also in the undermentioned work out:Bike they say do 4x20" and for run 4x20" . I am confused whether they are seconds, minutes or meters ( Ha!). Some do not add up to the total time given?

I will have many more queries coming for you during next few days....

Cheers

Sujith

Pre Race Prep 10 Warm up for 10', make sure your bike is shifting properly and nothing is loose or rattling. Check tire pressure and make sure handlebars, stem, skewers are all tight. After wu, do 4x20" fast with a full recovery between each.

20m ----- -----

Pre Race Prep 20 Warm up for 10'. After wu, do 4x20" fast with a full recovery between each.

25m 1200.00 yards -----

Easy swim
Endurance
25
1200
Easy 1.2k straight swim.

(Err, this is kind of long and a lot of me rambling about my race today. Feel free to skim or skip over this entirely.)

So I got to do my race today, and it was a great experience overall. First, I cannot say how nice it is to do an event 20 minutes from my house where I don't need to worry about hotels and transporting my family. Even better for this race is that it was a Splash 'N Dash, so there was no bike or biking gear to lug around. The lesson learned on this, though, is while my Rudy's were purchased with biking in mind, I need to remember them for run races as well. Oh well.

The event coordinators for my race had some interesting ideas for setting up a race, and I thought it ended up being pretty sweet. The swim was 600m in an 50 outdoor pool. We were snaking lanes, but doing a full 100m down and back in a lane before moving over a lane. To prevent congestion there was a 30 second delay between swimmers starting. My quick count of 60 or so racers meant the last guys would be going off late. We were then given group numbers (1-4) and told each group had swimmers of different abilities in it. Some of the guys I was standing around with in my group though this was weird and would cause problems. Of course I managed to be in group 4, with the last start. When just our wave was left on the pool deck the director told us his idea for the race in more detail. Our group was made of racers that had reported the fastest estimated finish times when we registered, and thus we were the top tier group. If we started a 30 second delayed start swim with the fastest guys at the front, we would have some people finished before some of the slower people even got out of (or even in) the pool. By starting the fast people last everyone would be finishing closer to the same time in the morning. I tell you it did wonders for my ego to be part of the "top tier" group, but I did feel a bit of pressure not to embarrass myself being put against a field of people who to me were clearly in better shape. One guy had that very distinctive chiseled torso of a competition swimmer. It just goes to show that you cannot control who shows up to be your competition on race day. You might show up to a small local event and find yourself in the fast and competitive group, or you might show up and find yourself racing against a guy paying for his college with a swimming scholarship (chiseled torso dude). In any case, everyone at this race was pretty laid back and extremely friendly.

So when it came time for our group to start, the race director actually held us back an extra five minutes so we wouldn't have to pass as many people. All of the waiting wasn't good for my nerves, and waiting in the sun and heat for a long time wasn't great either. When I finally started, it was 44 minutes after the first swimmer had started, and I immediately felt uncomfortable in the water. Because we did a down and back lap before swapping lanes, I decided I would try flip turning (a very new skill for me) on the first lap. I was hesitant because I am still learning, and I do a very bad job at flipping straight. 90% of the time I flip at an angle going to my left. It still saves me time swimming, but it looks and feels awkward. In this particular case it was actually pretty harmful. The pool we were using was an L-shape, and lanes could either be set up as we were using them, or perpendicular to what we had. The result of all of this is that when I did my sloppy angled slip turn I ended up looking at the bottom of the pool with 4 T's painted on the bottom all facing a different direction. It was actually pretty funny how confused I got, but I did manage to finally right myself, and swore off flip turns for the rest of the race. My goggles were leaking a bit, so I took a second as I swapped lanes to fix them, then on the next lap a guy who was coming at me in the lane (who ended up being the winner) didn't stay quite on his side of the lane and we semi-collided, and my goggles got knocked off again. Once a few of the truly "top tier" swimmers passed me I noticed I had each lane on either side of me completely empty, so I wouldn't have to worry about collisions any more. I had a lot of trouble actually getting comfortable swimming, and by the time I was ready to really focus on my form I was on my final 100m. I didn't want to be completely wiped getting out of the pool, so I held my steady pace and was content with what I thought was going to be a truly awful time. I was relieved when I got out of the pool and saw an even 12:00 on my watch. It isn't a great time, but it wasn't a failure.

Since the event was pretty laid back and my swim time wasn't very competitive, I took my time in transition. I had left an extra gel out in the event I had ended up with a late swim wave, which turned out to be an outstanding call. I don't have my transition time yet as they haven't been posted on the website.

The event website had said the 10k course was hilly and challenging, but that was an understatement. The whole course was up and down, with some really brutal hills. This was definitely not a course to set a PR on. I did enjoy that it took some thinking to efficiently do this race, and I made the decision to swallow my pride and walk on any hill I considered to be Hors Categorie (my new TdF knowledge there). In talking to some of my friends who are ultra runners, I've learned that walking up big hills isn't something to be ashamed of, and it can really benefit overall times. I didn't know if this would carry over into a 10k or not, but I gave it a shot with good results. By power walking up a the big hills I had energy to let loose on the flats and downhills. As a result I always passed someone at the bottom of a hill. Many times I noticed some people were walking on the downhill because they had gassed themselves on the ascent, and I thought this was terribly inefficient. I ended up crossing the finishing line with a 10k split of 58:58, which I considered good for the hilly condition and great when I factored in the swim prior to the run. As an added bonus the race director actually commented on how much time I had made up on the second lap of the run, so I felt good there. I don't have official overall times since I didn't podium, but I'll let everyone know when I do have them.

After the race I hung out and chatted with the guys I had made friends with while waiting to swim. The post race stuff for such a small race was really awesome. Smoothie King was one of the sponsors, so there were amazing protein smoothies available for all of the racers, as well as other food and drink (no beer though). There were also massages, music, and it was a really great atmosphere. I got to see the awards ceremony, and then the race director let everyone know the last racer was coming in so we could all go down to the finish line to cheer her in. The whole atmosphere was friendly, supportive, and fun, and it was really a perfect example of why the multi-sport community is so great. I chatted with the race director at the end and told him about BT and how he could post his races for better visibility (and that way I can do a real race report instead of writing a book in our mentor group forum).

I'm really glad I got to do this race today. It was a lot of fun and I think a good competition was what I needed to get me back into the mindset of training for my HIM. After months of early morning workouts, it was a nice change of pace to do something this fun.

Hello Jhonny FT,

I really enjoyed your personal race report.... that was an innovative way of having a race with available races by the orgainzers. Well done on good performance in the swim, given all the hassle U faced...  i could not help laughing on  imagining , on how you did your flip turn and ended up facing the bottom, looking at T s facing different directions. ( BTW.... I can't do a turn yet... Just touching and turning... But must learn soon!).

Good tip on running up and down hills...

Hope you wd do better in transitions next time..

Cheers!!

Sujith

Great Race Johnny! Especially the swim.

The Carlsbad Tri was good. The ocean swim was pretty tough. I did this race last year and didn't remember it being a problem. I didn't have trouble getting passed the waves & finished with an ok swim time. This year was totally different. I thought I might have to quit the swim (and I consider myself a decent, although slow, swimmer). I just couldn't get passed the waves. I kept getting pulled back and as soon as I was able to get my head up for some air, it seemed like I had to get ready to dive under the next wave. But I finally did manage to get passed them & finish the swim. Not sure what my official time is yet, but I'm sure it's horrible. I'm just happy I was able to complete it. The bike was good. The course was rolling hills, again flatter than I'm used to here. I averaged 19 mph which was right around my goal for this course. My run was ok, again not sure of the time because I didn't stick around to see my results (had to get back to the hotel to do Day 2 of Legoland). I'll write up a RR after I get my results online.