Fred D Mentor Group Part III (Page 113)

Yup, get up and go.  I always factor on the it's only going to get worse side and that gets my butt out the door

Would you be my friend?

Some idiot wrote this namby pamby article but there's actually a few good tips in it I use from time to time.

9 Tips to Get Going in Winter or Whenever

At least the irony is ridiculously funny.

That weather is coming are way tomorrow..40mph winds and 4-6 inches of snow...just in time for Christmas travel!!  I just need to get my run in first thing tomorrow to avoid the worst of it.  Intervals are not fun in 40mph wind .

Been kind of disappointed with the Garmin 310xt transfer of data from the device through the ANT stick..it has worked successfully like 50% of the time.  Juding by all the threads on message boards it appears prevalent.  I am always troubleshooting something different.

Now I figured out how to do it manually so thats nice..but not what I paid for!!

Tested on the bike today to see my progress over the last 8 weeks

20MP: 312 from 300

FTP: 296 from 285 (4% Improvement)

VO2 (5MP): 353 from 337 (5% Improvement)

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/131310

Happy with it...Just in time for 3x15' at FTP next week LOL.

Nice.  I've got my 20' test tomorrow.  I did my 5' max effort yesterday, so I'm going to bypass the 5' clearing effort and calculate critical power.

Sounds easy enough. Nice going!

Good gravy! Well - after the previous discussion about improving kick, I'd say you got some focus on that.

Glad I found you all in the archives...I haven't been terribly clear-headed this week and kept going to the Mentor page and no further. I would love to participate in this discussion going forward and in whatever manner makes sense. I have learned quite a bit in the last several months that I have been fortunate enough to be part of the cool kids table.

On a SBR topic (to make this a valid post) - I have recently started throwing in Bikram yoga (it's that hot yoga stuff - which I have to say is delightful in the frozen north in winter) into the mix in an effort to 1) get my mojo back by mixing it up a bit and 2) try to strengthen my core/hips which have historically been the root of some niggling injury. Anyone else do yoga? Any limiters? Any side effects? Benefits?

Oof, Ryan - that makes my head hurt! I Got a 2:30 group ride in today at lunch. We were supposed to start winter pace today, but the ride leaders made a command decision based on weather to postpone the transition to the first wednesday ride in January. Weather here is unseasonably warm - it was 65 degrees (18c) by the time we finished up. Right at thirty folks showed up, which is a pretty good group for midday/midweek. I managed to stay with the sprinters all the way to the sprint zones, which is no small victory for me this time of year.

Catwoman - 2012-12-19 8:07 AM Chris, I would encourage her to sign up for the race. Then you should step away from any and everything regarding her training and racing. Sure you should still be there as a listening supporter and encourager. Don't offer any training advice. Let her train the AHA training program . Even if you don't agree with it- keep your mouth shut and smile.. Let this be "her" thing on "her" terms. So what if she completes the HM in a slow time. As long as she is doing something on her own terms then it is a good thing. I'm a later in life athlete. Basically never really did anything fitness related seriously until I turned 42. My husband used to "encourage" (NAG) me to try different things all of the time. It drove me crazy. The more involved he became in my "fitness" program the less interested I was in it. Once he stepped away and let me find my own direction then things changed. Let her have her own training group and coach. I wouldn't try to run together unless SHE asks for it. The fact that she is interested in this group is a great thing. Buy her a cute running outfit/watch etc., for Christmas. Support her by stepping back and letting her discover her inner athlete. You may end up being surprised. BTW- be careful what you ask for..

Chris - in my experience this advice is spot-on, especially the "careful what you wish for" part. 

My wife raced triathlons for 7 or 8 years back in the '90s, but then laid off swimming and bike riding almost completely. She really likes running and spent her time almost exclusively on running, 5ks to marathons. She came up to Lake Placid to spectate last year (2011) and out of the blue the morning after the race she told me she was going down to registration and signing up for this past year (2012). She had an incredibly focused year and a great race season and is still on it for next season. While we have very different goals, paces, etc, we do have a great time training together - there are lots of ways to do it that allows each person to do their own thing and still do it together (we have the same coach and he helps out a lot in the respect). Happy to give you some tips if it comes to that.

Definitely support her but do heed Rene's advice (and others). My wife and I have trained and raced together for over two decades - it is a lot of fun. There are many, many positive things about it - but maybe the best advice I can give you is to make sure your spouse always has nicer gear than yours, and that it is really, really nice. That way you get great stuff too! Ha! From my experience, you guys will have a ball. Good luck to her.

Ryan - I have hardly every used the auto upload feature of any of my garmins - it seems like a lot of extra steps when it is already so easy to just point to the actual files and upload them. I have made aliases/shortcuts to the folder/directory where the files are stored, so I don't even have to navigate to them. Easy-Peasy. If you want really easy with the 310/610/910 and have a smart phone, pick up a wahoo dongle and their free app. No computer needed at all, and it uploads automatically to just about all the major services. I upload all of my stuff to training peaks, and then us BT's "upload" feature to automatically import those workouts to my training log here. Now if only the Garmin 500/800 could upload via the dongle (according to DC Rainmaker there is no reason why it could not, Garmin simply has not written the firmware to allow it) - then I would go completely computerless. The new Garmin 2000 will no doubt allow it...

Jennifer, first of all welcome back. I hope that family issues are settling down a bit. I did Bikram during the last couple winters. I can't imagine doing it in the summer.  I do like it, although the first few sessions after being away are pretty rough. Like most things, consistency is key. My goals were also to improve flexibility and strength. I do think I benefited, as long as I went at least 2-3 times per week. Therein lay the limiter for me. Time and cost. Bikram is a 90 minute series and the studio was 15 mins from my home. Even with a package the cost was $15 - 20 a class. I just couldn't justify either.

One other suggestion, I found a pretty good interactive DVD on Amazon called Yoga for Athletes. You choose the sport and area of emphasis (ie cycling, hips/lower body) and it will lead you through 30 - 50 minutes of poses to address that area.  I think I may try adding this into my week. That said, if I could find a low cost Bikram class nearby I'd be there.  Good luck. Oh, and I always thought I was going to puke during Cobra pose. Never got past that. 

Thanks for the advice.  After nearly 30 years together (crikey), I learned about 2 years in, when trying to teach her to ski, that the best investment would be to pay someone else to teach her how to do stuff I liked   

I don know that when she did the HIM swim relay, she was really nervous about the cutoff.  I came off the bike and saw her on the run course, when she said she had done it I couldn't have been more proud.  Likewise when she completed the sprint tri which was IMO (Wildflower) the hardest spritn I've ever done.

Will keep everyone updated 

I think it's great Chris and I look forward to hearing how she does, and how much she enjoys the running!

My husband and I are both very active, our 2 boys are as well. It was not always like that. Years ago, I had to beg my husband to do anything like s/b/r. He liked to Skate board, he competed and did vert etc... and he would run once per year in prep for his military fitness test. After we had kids, he had gained weight and hurt himself very badly during a skate session...I convinced him to start running and about a year later he ran a sub 17 minute 5k. It wasn't easy though, I had to step back and not give too much "advice" or coaching. I had to let it be his thing and let him make his own errors but pretty soon it became something he enjoyed and that he was very good at. In the end, I created a monster...he got into mountain biking, then road cycling, did a few triathlons and completed a 50k running race last year. I created a monster- one who is now faster than me on the run and mtn bike (I'm still holding bragging rights on the road bike and in the pool). Now that our kids are older, they too race triathlon, mtn bike and run track with us once per week. Best of all, we now train together. He does his easy runs with me (which become my tempo runs), we do a weekly group ride together, and we enjoy supporting each other at the races. We make sure to communicate to each other about our planned training and races so we don't conflict, luckily I am a morning person and hubby likes to train at night, so there are rarely issues.

I hope it all works out and that you can report back that you have created a "monster" too  

Nice improvements Ryan!

At Masters, was coming in on 1:20-1:22 on the 100's (yds). Had been at more like 1:25 (which was already an improvement), so something was really going well today. Thought it was the draft off the leader, but able to keep it up after switching places, albeit with a bit more effort. Hopefully I can keep that up.

Something I've been trying to remember/figure out is how the various IM strokes can help develop freestyle. Be nice for IM/stroke night to have better selection for improving aspects of that.

mndymond - 2012-12-20 1:24 AM Did an open water swim today!! Kind of got smashed around by the chop but ende up going for about a mile. Going to sleep well tonight. Having a bit of anxiety because I still don't have any emergency med interviews and 5 programs are out already

I don't think you are allowed to be anxious when in Hawaii!!  I'm sure it will all work out.

Nice work with the 100s Ben, it's always nice when you have those days when things are just working like that!  As far as the other strokes, my personal opinion is that it is worthwhile to learn them.  It just adds to your overall feel for the water and if nothing else it gives you more options to mix things up in a practice.  

axteraa - 2012-12-20 3:46 AM

mndymond - 2012-12-20 1:24 AM Did an open water swim today!! Kind of got smashed around by the chop but ende up going for about a mile. Going to sleep well tonight. Having a bit of anxiety because I still don't have any emergency med interviews and 5 programs are out already

I don't think you are allowed to be anxious when in Hawaii!!  I'm sure it will all work out.

Yes, I do believe they have rules there. 

Sent a PM to Ron regarding the open group idea.  If he accepts the idea, the open group would probably not start until all other mentor groups are filled.