Evondo's group - CLOSED (Page 7)

Monday was a rest day - I took it!

Tuesday was a 1 hour steady state run at 150 BPM - 5 wu 50 minutes@150 (6.4 miles) and 5 CD. Got a little swimming and strength training at lunch.

Last night met up with the running club and got 4 miles ending up for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Commuted into work on the bike, stadium steps (hill work) at lunch and OWS tonight.

I was supposed to met Lance and JD at Jackson at 6:30AM this morning (Saturday). Sleeping in on a Saturday is so nice - the extra thirty minutes is magical. At 6:20AM I opened the garage to hit the road. My rear tire on my race bike was flat - AGAIN! I had just changed it the night before. I always keep flatted tubes and patch them - it is all part of that recycle / reduce / reuse thing. If we are riding together and you get a flat and you don't patch them I will always take them. The patch is supposed to be stronger than the tube itself. I never have any problem with patched tubes - until now. So earlier in the week I noticed that I had a very slow leak in my rear tire. I pulled the tube and could not find the leak. I pumped it up and felt around. Nothing. I actually had to get a bucket of water to find the leak. Air was slowly leaking from a patch I put on - damn the luck. I went ahead and replaced the tube with another patched tube having complete confidence in my patching ability.

So this patched tube was leaking also. I called Lance and told him that I would be just a couple of minutes - they would wait for me at a cross street. Well, I'm pretty quick at replacing tubes now so I put some latex gloves on (I always flat the rear wheel and I don't want the chain grease all over me) and put in a BRAND NEW TUBE.

So I got to the cross road a minute or two before Lance and JD rolled up. We were going to do an easy 40 miles. This would be the third consecutive day of riding for me (104 miles). The legs are tired but not too tired. We rolled on at not break neck speed but we averaged right at 20 MPH for the ride. I took a few hard quick pulls but for most of the ride it was easy spinning.

I decided to burn off a quick brick after the ride. I have a near Olympic race (only a 1/2 mile swim - every thing else is Olympic) in about a month and I want to have a good run. This was a HARD brick - not RACE PACE HARD - but hard none the less. I used my Zoot shoes again (second time running in them) without socks of course. Maybe a little bit of a hot spot or two on my feet for the first 1/4 mile but that was soon forgotten as the legs started to burn. The last mile was just a little long but I will call it a mile. I hate that I slowed but it was a little long and there is a small hill to get back home. I saw JD doing his brick during the run - he was toughing it out.


BRICK
mile 1 - 7:05 - AVE HR 153
mile 2 - 7:05 - AVE HR 167
mile 3 - 7:31 - AVE HR 172

I was pleased with these times. If, and that is a big if - If I can see any 6's on the run in any race I will be very happy. Not sure if that is possible in a 10k near Olympic race but I have a sprint in early July and that is what I will be shooting for.

Eric,

I noticed that you train on the bike with a power meter (or something measuring power output).  I'm not at the stage where I need that but I'm interested in how that has changed your bike training sessions.  Currently I use HR and RPE however I was in a gym a few months ago that had a stationary that measured your power output.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Has it helped you a great deal on the bike?

Jeff

Eric,

I seemed to have corrected my "left drift" swim issue.  Just paid closer attention to not crossing over my midpoint with the arms and don't exaggerate the roll of my hips when I take a breath.  Still happens occassionally when I'm super tired but I notice it and correct.  Easy to monitor and correct in the pool - could be hard to notice and be somewhat costly in OW swims.

Jeff

Hi all,

Did my second ever 10 race today. On the whole race was better than last time feeling more balanced across the whole time spent running. I didn't get the hip pain that I got last time but my times were slower and overall I ended up 5 minutes slower than last time. So now I need to work out why? I have trained more than last time, with a focus on my running. I did do a spin class yesterday so perhaps that had an undue influence. I'm not concerned about the 1/2 mara and the time I'll do for that eeek!

Congra's on completing your 2nd 10K.  As long as your having fun - that's what counts the most!!!

Congrats on the 10k!

I train with a powertap and it's easily the best thing I've ever bought for my bike.  Training with power allows you to remove course and weather variables so you can make sure you're training/racing at the correct effort level.  If you are going into a headwind or tailwind you can make sure you're pushing at the right effort. Generally into a headwind you'll push too hard based on RPE because you feel yourself going slower, similarly into tailwind you won't push hard enough cause you're going faster. Same thing applies to hills... Speed can vary so much based on courses and the weather that day, the only true measure of how good your bike leg was is power data.


 

Great to hear! If you keep paying attention to it, it'll eventually become second nature...

This user's post has been ignored.

Edited by alsi071 2009-05-15 9:39 AM

I'm new to the wetsuit thing - only one race with it - I only wore the suit twice before my race - once in the pool and once in a lake. I went with a long john because I live way south. There are not many races where I will get to wear the suit- in fact it is much too warm right now to wear the suit.

My suit fits me like a glove but it was not restrictive and did not make me feel confined at all.

Most people will tell you that a full suit is faster than a long john - i'm sure they are right.

A full suit will make you more buoyant but I find them constricting than sleeveless.  Most people I know who were previously swimmers prefer sleeveless because it's less constricting in the shoulders. In 60-70deg water you should be fine with sleeveless unless you prefer  the full suit more.

How many swims it takes will depend on your comfort level... I've had friends who never did a single OWS before the race and were fine. Others can swim 3000m workouts in a pool but still struggle with open water and a wetsuit after 10+ OWS attempts.

Eric,

100 Pushup Challenge.  I'm in Week 4, Day 2.  Yes indeed it is getting tougher.  I barely finished the MAX. on Set 5 for Week 4, Day 1.  I'm assuming you completed the entire 8 Week Challenge.  If so, are you still incorporating pushups in your workouts?  With all the swimming/pushups I've been doing I can definitely feels a difference in strength in my arms. 

I didn't get through the entire 8 weeks... I got to week 6 because my build/taper phase started up and I had to stop increasing exercises.  I do currently incorporate pushups/dips/core into my routine at least 3x/week.  Normally I do 3 sets of 30-40 pushups, 4-5mins of core, 20-30 dips then repeat.

Glad to hear you're noticing a difference, pushups will definitely help out your swimming.  If you start incorporating dips all major swimming muscles will be covered

Sorry for not being around the past week or so guys, things have been really busy for me.  I've noticed there hasn't been much discussion or logging of workouts recently so I wanted to try and get the group up and going again with some semi-daily questions.

Starting us off today...
What and/or who got you starting doing triathlons?

For me, a co-worker introduced me to the sport and I already knew how to swim so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I was ~40-50lbs overweight so my original goal was to lose weight and run 3 miles. 

Not sure what a dip is but I'll research it.

Eric,

Up until recently my technique focus in the pool has been primarily "an upper body focus".  Not dropping my elbow, head focused on the bottom of the pool, not crossing my mind-point on arm entry, bilateral breathing, etc....  I really have started from scratch in the pool.  Seems like there are so many little technique points that you have to think about while swimming.  It's not just muscle memory for me at this point.  As a result I have spent very little time on the kick portion of the swim.  In fact, I've been trying to correct a big scissor kick.  I noticed that the kick does help a great deal in keeping my hips higher in the water.  I guess what I need to do is get a board and flutter kick lots and lots of laps in the pool.  Any tips, drills that I should concentrate on?

BTW, Gordo posted this in one of his threads and it has helped me a great deal.  Thought I would share it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SVfLvO5Z0M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYt8x_7uL48

Like you Eric, I started this "wellness" kick as a result being overweight.  The fact that I recently turned 50 and my daughter getting married all were factors that influenced me being here today. 

For me swimming was not natural.  In fact, I contemplated giving up triathlons altogether as a result of being so bad in the pool initially.  After 7 months and 28 hours of pool time I have finally learned how to relax in the pool and now I enjoy being in the water (not as much as being on the bike but I don't dread my swim workouts).  Just a testament to being patient - if you stick with it positive things will happen.

I'll probably never win my AG in a TRI, nor will I qualify for Kona - but the mental clarity this entire wellness process has produced for me is invaluable.  I'm deeply indebted to BT for providing this platform and to my mentors for their advise and encouragement.

Edited by junthank 2009-05-22 6:57 AM

For me, it was a mixture of things

• Early seed planted: While in graduate school a couple of years ago, some fellow classmates were training for IronMan Kona.  I had heard of IronMan before but I thought it was really for the ultra type athlete who needed new challenges -- I am nowhere an athlete, let alone ultra. But I saw them as in fit regular people who were doing an ultra exercise and I began to think I could probably do it too.
  
• Celebrities: Then I heard of all these celebrities knocking out the ING NY marathon and triathlons, like it was drinking a glass of water.  Sorry but I felt if P. Diddy and JLo can do this, I mean like really, why can't I?  And in the spirit of JT, aint nothing wrong with bringing sexy back.
• Weight gain: I was on another the upcycle of weight gain / weight loss cycle, this time reaching a new high, and approaching 200.  I couldn't believe it.  For my height, as a female, the range of weight should be between 117 - 143 (According to Changing Shape website).  I believe my weight should be around btw 123 - 135, but no more than 140.  I was naturally skinny, almost lanky until I got to my mid-late 20s.  Now I am 40+ pounds over the large frame upper limit.  Yuck!
  
• Sedentary life style:  I am in the midst of a long protracted job search and my butt became glued to the couch.  One day walking up 12 steps, I felt like I was going to pass out.  That was the last straw.
• Getting Old(er): Will turn 40 in a few years, and wanted to make sure I had some new challenges. So started with looking into the ING NY marathon, but stumbled upon triathlons, and I loved the swimming component.  So Ironman 2011 was in the plan.
• Family:  My family is naturally thin, as was I.  When I went to Nigeria to bury my grandfather at the top of the year.  My extended family basically told me that I was much too big, (although I am fortunate that I carry my weight well), and not in the most tactful ways.  I already had plans in place to start training for the triathlon after returning to the US,  but my goodness, they made sure there was no turning back. 

Okay that is the long scenic version.

Thanks for sharing, this is exactly what I needed at this stage of my training.   I will be going for my first open water swim this weekend and will keep this drills in mind. 

Hopefully I will be able to hang with the polar bears, water is supposed to be at 54 F and they don't wear wet suits, nor will I this time around.  I will definitely be shellacking myself with the vaseline and using those yoga psycho-physio drills.

To improve your kick a board can make it so that's all you have to focus on.  I normally recommend side kicking or kicking on your back as an alternative because then you also will be focusing on body position while kicking.  I'll attach some pictures of side kicking since it's hard for some people to visualize sometimes. 

How much are you having to kick to raise your body position? Reason I ask is you should only really have to do a 2-beat kick which is one kick per arm pull. If you need to kick harder/faster than that to raise your hips, you maybe using kicking to help your body position where it's your body position that needs a little more attention not the kick...











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Thanks for the stories Ony/Jeff, weightloss and getting fit is a pretty common reason people turn to triathlons.  For me that weightloss journey was only going to be 3-4months long and before I knew it 3 years have gone by!

Question for today is light hearted... Does anyone have fun plans for the holiday weekend whether it be training or other?

My brother came into town from Florida last night so I'll be spending some time with him until he leaves Sunday. We have a group OWS planned for Sunday AM and hopefully I'll still be able to make all my scheduled workouts.  The only one really in question is my long bike ride, just have to hope weather is good and the schedule works out.  Have a great weekend everyone!

I started doing tri's to lose weight & get in better shape for scuba diving.  I've since lost (net) about 30#.   Still have about 30+ # to go (currently 182).  Sad thing is, even if I get down to my goal weight I'll still be an Athena...

Training:  I've updated things on my polar log, haven't transfered here.  Still focusing on running right now.  Good thing is I'm getting more into the habit of working out fairly regularly.

Honestly Eric I'm not certain.  Up until now I would kind of do ONE BIG scissor kick before my left arm pull.  Make sense?  I told you I was new to swimming!!!!!  Kind of like........ left arm pull, right arm pull, scissor kick, left arm pull......  So I guess that would be a 1-beat kick if there is such a thing!!!  Although I have gotten better at the scissor kick thing by trying to touch my toes when I do kick.

I have great hand-eye coordination, but like my dancing, my swim kick lacks coordination.

With regard to kicking harder/faster - I really don't try and kick harder/faster.  If I'm trying to pick up my pace I normally increase my stroke turnover. 

The advise I got early on when I was having endurance issues was not to focus on the kick for the time being.  Focus on  bilateral breathing and being able to relax in the water.  That has done wonders for my swim.  Seven months ago when I first got in the pool I could not swim 50 meters without stopping.  In my last workout I did 2000 meters consecutively and could of gone further if I had more time.

So now that I have some endurance capabilities in the water it's time to get better at swimming.  Sorry.... I'm rambling now.....



Edited by junthank 2009-05-22 11:21 AM

Steph,

Nothing sad about losing 30 lbs.  Congra's on the weightloss.  That's a huge accomplishment.  Keep up the good work.

Jeff