MightyMojoMentorGroup -- (Full House!) (Page 214)

JEFF and TRINA and DOUG -

Oh........I am very sorry not to be at home and able to address your races with the care they deserve.  I'm just stealing some quick time now, and gotta get off in a minute or two. Responses will have to wait until next Sunday or Monday, although if I can find a good motel guest laptop, I can do some posting there.

 But all three of you are in my thoughts, and I'm sorry your seasons ended on a kind of downward note.  I have had a few like that, and while the first couple of weeks post-final-race were full of self-flagellation, it wasn't too long before I (a) started seriously plotting the next season, and (b) started seriously training for the next season.  And then ---- VOILA!  It was all better again.

See you all as soon as I can manage it.  Illegitimum non carborundum!

JEFF, TRINA, & DOUG - You guys almost make me glad I stopped racing last month! Almost. Tough races. Great job persevering. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. etc. etc etc.

MOJOs - I am really having a difficult time getting motivated again after my self-imposed October-November off-season. December started out well with workouts on the 1st-4th, but the shoulder tendon problem that put a damper on my anticipated big yardage swimming month really threw me for a loop, and I haven't trained at all for a week. With the mild weather, I should have been easily able to transition to running and cycling, but I just haven't had the heart for it. Plus the absolute darkness before and after work. Even cleaned out the room where I have my treadmill and trainer. But it seems silly to train indoors when the weather is so mild. And all of the delicious dark chocolate that St. Nicholas brought. And video games. Had a three-day off site meeting for work last week that sapped my energy. Plus beer. And staying up too late. And sleeping in. I think not having anything imminent for which to train is a big factor (in addition to my general sloth). I have a hard time just training and not having a specific goal. Also procrastinating about setting goals. Plus I misplaced my HR strap. And my cycling shoes are trashed. And, of course, it's a Christmas party / food day here at work, but I'm being good so far.

Going to see my A.R.T. guy tomorrow. Will ask him about my shoulder, something going on in my right hip crease, and maybe the pain I still have in my left knee from a bike crash on Nov. 4th. Hopefully he'll put me on the right track. Planning to sign up for an indoor tri on January 20th. Maybe that'll give me the butt kicking I need to get going.

Any thoughts?

DAVE - Sorry to hear that you're struggling with motivation issues. I know exactly how you feel, so that's why I train year 'round. I don't know what to do with myself off-season, so I just keep something on tap to train for. You've signed up for an indoor tri in January so that's what I would focus on if I were you. My gym has Expresso Bikes where you can choose a virtual course and race others in the gym who are on another bike. Always a great workout. Maybe your gym has something similar? Also, I think it's actually good for your psyche to take a brief break from training, clean eating, etc and be a drunken sloth for a couple of weeks. Gets it out of your system so you can be good for the upcoming season  Seriously though - maybe take this time off to get your shoulder and knee healed and do whatever sounds fun? Try a new activity? Yoga? Pilates? Crossfit? 

Today at our pool we had a 2Hr swim challenge and collected some money for the young lady from our group getting treatment for leukemia.  It was neat that a lot of people that don't swim with us came out to swim the challenge because of her ( she's approx the same age as our oldest girl).

It was done as the 12 days of Christmas getting longer and harder as we progressed.  I only finished the 9th day (9# 100m freestyle) and then got a good start on the 10th day but ran out of time.  In the end I was getting slower and my stroke count was starting to rise.  I finished with 3500m which was okay.  I was really hoping to swim 4000m but I had to be careful with my shoulders which so far seem to be fine.

It was fun to do the swim and the coach made it entertaining.  She even had Christmas trivia questions and prizes.  I won a free swim coaching with video taping by recognizing a quote from Christmas Vacation.

Inspite of slowing down at the end I swam 100m further in the 2nd hour than in the 1st.

Gang!

First time on in a few days...and last time until I get home Sunday evening or wee hours of Monday morning.  I should eb in decent enough shape to reappear here by Monday evening.

I see there are a few "issues" -- looking forward to delving into 'em!

Thats really moving.  Makes me wonder what you could do in an OWS under fairly calm conditions.  You'd likely finish an IM distance swim in under an hour!  Excellent!

I haven't been up to much more than shoveling snow for the last few days.  Fortunately, its been fairly light (couple inches deep each day) and it is dry so easy to move.  I see it is snowing again so its fairly safe to say its going to be a white christmas.

This week I'm planning to swim 3 times and cycle twice then I'll likely take it easy until the new year.

Your time is impressive and your yardage is super impressive!

STEVE -

Are you mentoring again for next season? The time is upon us to sign-up for next year's mentor program... 

Count me in if you are.

DAVE -

I'll get to you first, just because I so enjoyed all the reasons you offered for lacking motivation.  (At least you didn't stoop so low as to say that the dog ate your training plan!)

Seriously, though -- everything you mention is a valid reason for an age-grouper with family and job to lose motivation.  In fact, your list is so comprehensive that it's hard to pick out one or two that just might be more valid than any of the others. I will only say that at some point or other during my tri career, i have experienced every single reason you mention --- and many of them many times over!

I will also say that you needn't worry about any of it at this point in the off-season.  In fact, if one is to have an unmotivated time, now is the best time for it to happen.  Some years (this being one of them), I realize along about Jan/Feb that maybe I should've "waited" until then to lose my motivation, thus having an better excuse to eschew otside runs, but in point of fact I have lost my motivation when it was good and ready to be lost; like, I didn't have a ton of control over when it happened --- it just happened.

I suspect you may have fallen victim to the double-edged sword that came when you took off Sept and Oct.  I say double-edged because while having an off-season is wise, wise, wise...........it can wreak havoc on one's momentum.  I have been there myself many times and have had to screw my head on tight and right to get back intp serious training, and know what a pain in the neck that is...............but the option is to NOT take an off-season and then suffer from injuries when the body breaks down form not haing a break from training.  It took me quite a few years to accept and honor the need for an off-season, just to stay fresh and - most of all - have a better chance of not getting shelved due to an injury or three.

A thought for you is to roll through the holidays without stressing ANY MORE about poor motivation -- and then early in '13 set about to serious construction of a race plan.  You have posited one here before for '13, but in a few weeks is a good time to firm things up in your own mind -- enough so that you will start to realize the need to get that Base re-established.

Okey-dokey?  Sounds like a mybe-plan?

On the definite positive sign is the big fast swim you did and what it suggests -- that your shoulder is nicely on the mend if not, in fcat, fully mende.  Did the A.R.T. guy work wonders, or did it just resolve on its own.  Or are you just a tougher bugger than you give yourself credit for?

GEORGE -

Ha!  I've wondered the same sort of thing about DAVE and his swimming myself!

So, i just went to my favorite calculation site (www.tricalc3.com) and figured out that our Pennsylvanian fish could do the 2.4 miles in 55:45 if he maintained a pace of 1:27.  Not too shabby, eh?  

Moreover, I am sure he would swim faster in a wetsuit, so get him in a wetsuit-legal iron and see the boy fly.  Mercy!

GEORGE again -

Nifty account of your swim challenge -- and congrats on winning the video session!  That will be worth a lot in terms of divulging your flaws, and if she follows that up with some suggestions of how to remedy stuff, you'll be much the better for it.  Cool beans!

Congrats too on deciding to bail when you did.  Discretion is always the better part of valor when one decides to pass on a workout when there is the very real spectre of an injury rearing its head, so ya done good in the judgment department!

Nice plan on a few swims and cycles between now and the new year; no need to push things at this stage of the off-season!

Finally ---- we now have snow here.  Lots of freezing rain last night and today, and then a bigger snow-dump tomorrow; I might be shoveling by Wednesday morning.  California was kind of chilly, especially the last few days in L.A. --- but at least no snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks TRINA, GEORGE, and JOHANNE. Not quite sure I could keep up that pace for a straight 2.4 mile swim. The 1:27 average was the swimming time and didn't include rest intervals. We did them on 1:40 and took a short break between each 1,000. Plus there are lots of flipturns and resting / gliding going on over the course of 240 laps! Open water swimming is really a different animal. I think I have a lot of fast twitch muscle the reacts really well to short, intense efforts with short rests in between. I have to work a lot harder over prolonged continuous efforts.

GEORGE - I'm interested in how your swim video works out. I had one done this summer. The triathlon coaches and I noticed some things I'm doing wrong, but I never really figured out a way to translate that knowledge into drills to make technique changes. I just got my swim coach to agree to look at it, so hopefully that will help.

STEVE - Thanks for that. My A.R.T. session and icing did help my shoulder. It's not perfect but much less painful. The biggest benefit, though, was just identifying the injury and confirming that I wouldn't do additional damage by continuing to swim. That gave me the confidence to work it hard and strengthen the muscles, which I think is really the (sometimes counter-intuitive) key to healing tendonitits. I went to Masters this morning and had a great workout. I dropped down to a slower group and led the lane, hit all of the intervals, and finished a nice 3,600 yard workout. So that was a good confidence boost. We have some great swimmers in the next group up, so I always feel like the slow poke in that lane (plus I'm right next to the really fast guys which I'm seeing out of the corner of my eye). Swim psychology!

Found my HR strap (right in my swim bag where I left it!), most of the chocolate is gone from my house, and I finished the video game I was playing. So whittling down excuses is helping!

I'm beginning to think I'm burning out on the swimming.  I've been progressively slower for a few weeks now and having trouble warming up at the start of the swim plus today I felt like I was having trouble controling my HR so when we swam a 300m mixer to warm up I had to stop a few times to catch my breath.  Fortunately, I have my video/coaching tomorrow at 9 a.m. and then on Friday our last session until January.  I'm hoping that will set me up to be back to normal in the new year.

Today we cut the swim class short and then the coach opened up the waterslide for us and we played for awhile.  I set off a couple tidal waves when I hit the bottom fast.

Today was a nasty day here with not a lot of snow but it was blowing hard and we had a pretty high wind chill factor. 

GANG!

Pant, pant pant!  I'm still catching up on my energy levels, and aplogize for not jumping back in here a day or two ago.  The best-laid plans of mice and men.......

GEORGE -

I'm sure you'll be fine when swimming resmles in '13, as I have no doubt that all you need is a bit of downtime from it.

The best training plans usually have every 4th week as a softer week, and that approach can be distilled down to each individual discipline.  That is, eveb though you haven't been cycling all that much, you still had done a big chunk of swimming -- and it's very likely a rest is called for.  Embrace it!!!

And, enjoy the video session tomorrow.  I haven't had one since '06, and if I had any confidence that I could affect change with rspect to my "flaws", i would probably aim for another.  Maybe should, anyhow, just because.

Let us know how the video sessions goes, please!

Important - happy - business first.  My wife got a text message this afternoon from our youngest daughter that she had a baby girl today.  About 10 days early, 6lbs 7oz.  No name yet, so far she is calling her "Larry".  Joelene ran up to her 8th month, had to be told to stay off her horse and was out hiking regularly up until 6 days ago so I'm expecting this new grandchild will be a triathlete. 

This morning I had my coach/video session.  It was pretty interesting.  She had me swimming back and forth for awhile as she video'd me from underwater and from the deck.  She reviewed the videos with me right there on the deck and she said she will email me a copy of the videos and her recommendations as well.

Mostly I already knew what my main issues were.  I need to work on getting my feet higher in the water, I need to rotate my body more and I need to do more catch-up drills.  I also need to work on my shoulder ranges of motion to make the other things easier.

She also had me swim with a ring out in front of me and immediately my stroke count went down, my speed went up, I rotated more and my feet came up higher as well.  Still not perfect but definitely a step in the right direction so she wants me to focus on drills with the rings.  I have to say that I could feel the difference myself.  Overall I felt pretty good about the session and I'm looking forward to making the changes she recommended.

Then I ran home and changed, loaded my bike and gear into the car and returned to the rec centre for my cycling class.  After a long build up phase we did a 20 minute time trial (5 weeks after our first TT).  In the end my average speed was 29.1kph, my average HR was 161 and I peaked at 172 just in the last 30 seconds.  I tried hard to maintain 90 rpm cadence but in the last 5 minutes I started to fatigue but knowing I was going for 29kph I hung in there as high as I could.  I was a bit perturbed by how high my HR was especially since it was a fair bit lower in my first TT but my average speed was 5+% higher than 5 wks ago as well.  Within a few minutes my heart had calmed down considerably and I maintained a comfortable zone 2 cool down.

After a flurry of text messages we just got word that they are considering "Alexandra" for the baby.  Alex or Lexi for short.

GEORGE -

Aww, I was just geting used to "Larry"!

I'll be back later, I'm off now, in a blizzard, for a doc app't, and maybe also a swim.

I too am curious about the "ring".  that's a new one for me, and my questions are the same as Dave's.  So  --- Curious minds want to know!!  'Fess up, please!

Joelene's a neat really outgoing girl but she is also keen to not make a big deal out of having a baby.  So by texting she would be avoiding any fussing by her mother.  She always said she'd never have a baby and now she's saying never again so I'm betting we'll get atleast one more.  When she was calling the baby Larry we suggested she name her Larissa or Laryssa so she could stay Larry for short.

The ring is really a simple 6" diameter rubber ring and you hold it out in front of you then as you stroke you catch the ring with your other hand before you can start the stroke with your opposite hand.  For me it forces me to keep one hand extended in front of me at all times.  My stroke count without the ring is typically 26 - 28 (more when I'm tired) and with the ring its 21 - 22.  And, when I use it I can feel myself moving through the water faster.  Quite a neat feeling.  I just find it hard to do for a long time.

I like the term "grandtriathlete".  I'll use that for sure.  A couple of my grandsons should be up for it as well.

29kph is just a hair over 18mph.  I'll be quite happy to get myself strong enough to maintain that pace for longer durations.

Today I went to the pool for my last swim of the year.  I was feeling tired and not well motivated.  I was thinking 15 minutes swimming then playing on the water slide for awhile.  Our coach had a different plan for today.  After a brief warm up she had us swim: 50mFR/50mkick/100mFR/50mkick/200mFR/50m kick/400mFR/50m kick/800mFR/50m kick

When I finished that I had just a few lengths (4) to complete 2000m and 4 minutes to do it in one hour so I kept going and was excited to finish 2K in one hour.  That is by far my best swim for distance this year.  Well, ever really.  Last week in our 2 hour challenge I swam 1700 and 1800 in each hour so I guess it was a good month.  My total for 2012 is about 10000yds short of 100miles so next year I'll beat that milestone.

Tomorrow I'm sleeping in until 7a.m. for sure.

GEORGE -

FABULOUS swimming accomplishment!!!!   Boy, she really knows how to blow expectations out of the water, doesn't she?  (And I'll be you didn't even miss the water slide, huh?)

Looking back at the parameters of the workout --- that was no walk in the park.  It wouldn't've been an easy set for even an experienced swimmer, so you ought to take great pleasure in not only pulling it off, but then having enough in the tank to hit 2km.  Sweet!

When our daughter, jabe, was born, we were living in a girls dorm at a private school in Pennsylvania.  the girsls were grades 9-12, and they were incredibly excited at Lynn being pregnant, and then just getting all would up about the birth.  Come April 6, and Jane was born, and the girsls were suitably thrilled ---- until about her third day without a name.  They really wanted to call her by a given name, but not only hadn't we chosen one we liked..........but then by that point we decided to kind of "let her name herself".  Well, gthree days post-partum turned into six...then ten.......then thirteen....and FINALLY, along about Day 15, we settled on Jane.  But up until then the girls just kept getting more and more agitated and impatient with us, and it was kind of amusing to see the "ownership" they had built around themselves and Jane.  Cute, maybe?  Um, I guess!

The waterslide would've been fun but the swimming went a lot better than I expected.  I would consider doing the work out again sometime especially if I can correct a few of my bad habits.  The next leg would've been 1500mFR.   For now I can't really imagine doing that one.

The girls in your dorm is a good story.  I'm sure they were quite cute in their exasperation.  I think a name does come in time and shouldn't be rushed.

Today I had to shovel snow twice.  Not a lot of snow but very wet and heavy.  On the weather channel they showed some videos from Ottawa and it looks like you had a fair bit of snow today.

GEORGE -

Yes, we did, with yesterday being a three-shovelings kind of day.  Our driveway is about 80 feet long, with half of its length being double-width, so it is always an effort.  And then when it is wet/heavy as yesterday AND with significant build-up forecast, i need to keep up with it or I will suffer dearly if I do nothing until the storm is past.  So, as much as I dislike going out any more often thean, um, once......sometimes frequent foays are required.

We had some more today, but it was all of the light'n'fluffy variety, and not much of it at that.

I think you should move to Vic!

DAVE -

Sorry about your Steelers......

Winter training. It just isn't Christmas unless Mom and I do some shooting.

First time with a new gun, stiff trigger pull and some low shots but most are "center of mass"

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