New year resolutions 2024
What are yours?
Below mine. Challenging but realistic
Comments
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****** family *******
Not shout to my family
Be nicer to my family
Visit Mum at least 3 times
Visit my sister at least once
(I live 1200km from Mum and Sis)
****** health *******
Not buying alcoholic beverages (apart from already specified occasion, birthdays etc)
Never drink more than 2 coffees in a single day (excluding when I work night shift). I only drink the strongest espresso ever, so "only" 2 is a ton of caffeine already
****** Environment *******
Drive less than 3000km, year total
****** Finances *******
Save at least 1100€/month, average (not counting mortgage repayment, and voluntary workplace pension)
****** Physical activity *******
Run injury free whole year round. Complete at least one half marathon @<5min/km (the latter easy IF I crack the first, a big IF tough)
Cycle at least 10,000km and 100,000m elevation before my birthday. And climb at least once 5000m in a single day.
Swim at least 160km, year total
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Learn to breathe every 3 strokes, when doing front crawl ie learn to breathe on the right side.
Going to try and do some core exercises twice a week.
Get less stressed when I can’t cycle.
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Here are all of mine:
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Ride more?
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Maintain my resolution from the mid 80s.
To not make a new years resolution.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.1 -
@rick_chasey since the quotes aren't working:
Do you mean breathing on alternate arms, not three revolutions on the same arm? So left-right-left (breathe)-right-left-right (breathe)?
It's really useful for evening up your stroke and makes it slightly faster but I used to find I couldn't maintain it over distance - I couldn't have done 800m at pace using it. It's worth practicing just normal strokes but breathing to your 'offside'. You'll feel how uneven your kick is when breathing as well as how much you roll your shoulders, as it feels a lot more. Don't worry about pace at first, just work on technique.
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I’ve never been a swimmer and my biggest issue has always been breathing in front crawl. However, from things I’ve read I thought common practice had changed from the 3 stroke breathing to 2 strokes.
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I am still struggling to swim non-stop for more than 100m or so. I have worked hard on technique and have found my speed go up and I cover a lot more distance per stroke but whatever I try I am absolutely gassed by 100m. Just can’t keep my heart rate down.
I also find when I go more slowly I lose the efficiency of my stroke which I suspect is part of the problem.
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I’m OK for a few strokes but then start to panic and get the timing wrong so swallow water. My breaststroke is pretty decent and I can swim for miles as I find the breathing technique works naturally with the movement. I put the panic down to a swimming teacher when I was in school whose answer to any child with a fear of water was to push them in or even duck them under (as I had done). It’s an odd one as I’ve jumped from 15m cliffs into the sea but get panicky with my face in the water and my one attempt at snorkelling was a disaster.
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As a wild guess without seeing you in a pool, you sound like you may be sinking, and the reason you get so puffed is the drag from hips and legs being too low in the water. There’s a reason swim squad training includes boring laps with just a kick board - a big part of technique for the kick is not just extra propulsion, but mainly for keeping your legs and hips up in the water, so your body stays straight to minimise the drag.
If you’re pretty skinny/lean muscle mass already the problem is worse - a bit of extra body fat helps buoyancy, and cyclists or runners especially are always trying to be as lean as possible. Maybe also try a training buoy between thighs or ankles to get a feel for the float position you need to aim for.
Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS0 -
I’ll have a go with a float but I get a good bit of splash with the kick so I’m not sure that is what it is, though i am YouTube video and guessing away so could well be right.
I suspect core is weak and so when I get tired you’re right
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Back last century when I was at least half serious about training and even (social) racing, I was typically below 10% body fat, and that made swimming hard without really concentrating on technique. But even then, distance swimming was very fatiguing. I could happily run 20 km, or ride 150 and not feel too knackered, but chuck me in a pool to do 2000 metres steady pace and I’d be toast.
triathletes cheat and use wetsuits, which massively improve buoyancy to offset the fact they are all runner/cyclist lean.
Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS0 -
Mine is to give up my Strava Premium.
I started riding around 12years ago because i had to get fitter as I was diagnosed with high blood pressure.
I got fitter than I'd been for a long time, and also got quicker and quicker which peaked a few years ago. I'm now 64 and I've noticed a slow decline. I can't go like that anymore, and seeing the drop on strava has me beating myself up, there's no way I can compete with 10 years younger me and so I'm going to stop trying to do so. NOT seeing the matched rides etc. will help I think.
I came to this decision partly after reading a Raynor Winn book. She and her husband became long distance walkers, and when walking the Pennine Way they met a few people who were obsessed with their 'pace', the time it took them to cover the miles instead of enjoying the walk. They saw one chap (70s ?) who was almost in tears because he was going to give up because he used to do this route in x time and now couldn't. I had the realisation that I was doing the same thing. Time to change.
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The older I get, the better I was.1 -
I've never had Strava Premium, but have kept spreadsheets of distances and speeds. Ditto, I can't compare with 10 years ago, and whilst I still enjoy clocking up miles at a reasonable speed, I can't match my 49-year-old self, so the spreadsheets are now neglected. I just use free Strava to log my rides now, but I'm not looking at stats.
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Yeah, my 70-year-old friend who's now clocked up 30 years of being a super-randonneur, and a few years ago did PBP on a fixie puts me to shame.
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Tbf, unless you are racing then speed is the wrong metric to be using.
Smiles per miles is much better! 😉
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.4 -
A friend of mine ran a 2:12 marathon. It was in year 1976. He still run regularly but it must have been a LONG time ago that he gave up competing with his former self.....
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I don’t really bother with them anymore. I like to set personal goals, mainly sporting, but resolutions are usually just setting yourself up for failure. That said I’m aiming to spend less time posting and arguing on here especially when there’s nothing new being added to discussion so feel free to call me out if I lapse!
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