Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2022 Mentor Group - ALWAYS OPEN

Happy new year!

NAME: Nathalie

STORY: My first sport at the age of 5 or 6 was swimming, my parents had me join the local club to learn how to swim and I stayed on for a few months (years?). I remember my first competiton was a 50m race in a 25m pool but instead of turning around at the end of the first length, I simply came out of the pool, arguing that there was no point in swimming back as I was not going to win anyway….

Then I did judo until I discovered ball sports at the age of 12 and played football (soccer) and European handball for the next 25 years or so, then back to martial arts for a few years (karate this time) until the knees gave up. Nothing for a few years (except gaining weight).

First tri in 2014 and 3 years later, I was hooked. Since then I’ve done about 5 races a year, all sprints except one oly last year. Won 2 small village races (2018 and 2021) and in 2019 I finished 3rd in my AG at the Swedish National Duathlon Championship (no need to mention that we were 3 in my AG and I was 20 minutes behind the first 2, nobody wants to know that )

FAMILY: one husband, one 17 year old, one dog, 2 cats. Husband, son and cats are not interested in triathlons but the dogs keeps me company during some runs.

CURRENT TRAINING: off season, not much going on other than a 10k slow social run a week but I have set up my trainer last week so started to ride a bit and I have joined a local running club and will join them once a week for intervals.

2021 races: one oly, one sprint and a 10k run. Still many races were cancelled. Hoping it won’t be the case this year.

2022: I have 2 10k runs and 5 tris to look forward to. Not sure how many will be sprints and how many olys yet.

WEIGHTLOSS: lost 12kg in 2017, half of which have been creeping back in the last 2 years: fewer or no races to train for = less training = weight gain. I need to put myself together and get more active (or eat less…. Naaaah)

Not sure if I am a good mentor but I have some experience I am happy to share with the group.

Hi gang! I'd love to join the group and share my training and post-training beers

Background: I've done a handful of sprints and an oly that was shortened due to weather, a number of races including a marathon, and a mish mash of other events throughout the years. I always played some sports during school and kept myself fairly athletic. However I've never kept up with the entirety of my tri training plans, and was mostly a back-of-packer/just finishing. I joined a lovely local tri club and want to take it more seriously now, especially as I've gotten more into cycling. I landed an amazing job with full work from home, so I have lots of time to train. I'm hoping the training will also give me some structure as permanent remote work can be wonderful or hellish, depending on whether you put personal boundaries!

2022 Definite Races:
Apr 3, 10K. Time goal under an hour to beat a 2014 personal record
July 17, Oly Tri "A race". New Jersey State Olympic is my focus for the season. My goal is to actually finish a training plan but no specific time goals yet.
Sep 25, Jersey Girl Sprint - ocean swim . I won an entry so I just want to beat my previous sprint times. Too far away now to think of more concrete goals, but training for the Oly will lead to good things.

Other fun stuff on my mind:
May 15, 2 day Bike ride NYC to Philly to support east coast greenway
Various sprints in the summer and 5ks with family and friends, but not signing up due to constantly evolving covid situation. I'm ok to wait and pay a little more for a race rather than having to endlessly defer.

Training Plan:
Running- Following my Garmin 10K plan for the April race which will build the base, 4x week. Leaning on my friends, running store winter challenge, and tri club to keep me accountable and do buddy runs.
Swim- Swimming a min 1x week until Apr.
Bike- Minimum 1x week, either spin class or outdoors depending on weather, until Apr.
Misc - Staying busy with skiing, weight lifting 1x week, yoga when I remember, and some indoor tennis. Overall being flexible with covid and trying to remember perfect is the enemy of good!

Hi Nicole!

(Julia?) Welcome to the group! Nice to have new blood! Looking forward to getting to know you!

Got my run in despite the cold today!
How are you all staying warm this week?
(I go by Nicole)

Hi and welcome Nicole. I'm currently staying warm in Florida. :-)Nice work getting a cold run in...we'll be back in the tundra of Baltimore next weekend. I think we're supposed to get another winter storm tomorrow night, which will make it more than we had all last winter. LOLI'm settling into my sorta-working, sorta-on-vacation mode down here which I've becoming pretty good at, though my work schedule gets nuts the rest of the week.REALLY wish I had brought my bike down with me, though I'm making do with the Peloton bike at the gym. Hope everyone is having a good start to 2022!

I live in Sweden so I’ve learnt to live with cold winters.

I have drawn up a training plan for the next (?) weeks which looks like this:

Mon: slow longer ride (Zwift for now, outside later). 90 minutes
Tue: rest
Wed: run intervals (with a group) . 60 minutes
Thur: bike intervals 60 minutes
Fri: strength training
Sat: slow longer run. 60 minutes
Sun: swimming (with a group) 90 minutes

Should keep me going for a while.

Started this week and just did my run intervals on my own instead of tonight with the club as I have a bit of a cold (again, only just recovered from the previous one 10 days ago…) so don’t want to push it too much nor contaminate the group.

Nathalie, sounds achievable! Are you on Strava?

Yes, it’s a good start. I am on strava but don’t share much and hardly look at it anyway

Hi all! Back for another year :-) Welcome to my name twin, Nicole, and welcome back to Mike and Nathalie!


NAME: Nicole E. (so as to differentiate the Nicoles)

STORY: I was an athlete growing up (soccer, softball, swimming, basketball, volleyball, track). I like to be active and also like healthy competition. Ran track and XC in college, and when I graduated my parents got me a bike b/c I wanted to do triathlons. Many years later (about 5) I finally did my first one :-) I also play social sports like football, and I transitioned to beach volleyball when I moved to Baltimore (not too far from Mike!) 14 years ago. I also got into axe throwing in the last few years.

FAMILY STATUS: Single with a furbaby (cat named Raven)

CURRENT TRAINING: Got a Peloton in September so I've mostly been using that, as well as strength training. Try to get some yoga in too but I'm not always great at that. I went on a run the other day and plan to start doing more of those even though I am not a lover of the cold. Also planning to get back to master's practice in the next couple weeks.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I ran a Trail Ragnar (WV) in August of this year and also competed in the Baltimore Triathlon (for which I'm pretty sure I still need to do a race report).

UPCOMING YEAR'S RACES: I have a race called the Seneca 7 coming up in April. It's like a Ragnar but you run around Seneca Lake in NY (77 miles split between 7 people). Also planning to do a few tris, probably a sprint or two and an Oly or two. Need to make those plans! Oh and maybe another Ragnar.

WEIGHTLOSS: Currently around my heaviest at 170 lbs. As with every new year, I'm focusing on eating well and getting my workouts in. It helps when I have time to cook and am not eating out all the time (and also saves me lots of money) so that is my focus this year. Hopefully with that comes some weight loss as well.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: As Mike said, in this group we all end up being a mentor or mentee at some point. I'm not as good with the technical stuff, so often serve more as a cheerleader.

FAVORITE BEER/DRINK: For beer I love stouts and porters. I also love red wine. Currently doing a mostly dry January though so am missing my wine a little bit.

Perfect is the enemy of good...I love that!

Welcome back Nicole E! Glad you’re back, looking forward to reading more about axe throwing! Still jealous at you for playing with balls (footballs, volleyballs) when I can’t because of my knees. Although I am trying to organise some social floorball (big sport here, it’s like Ice hockey without the ice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floorball)with some colleagues and friends. I think (hope) I can play in goal without breaking a knee or two.

No training since Wednesday for me as my cold had got worse. (Insert swear words of choice here)

Will probably miss the first Masters swimming class on Sunday too.

More sweat words

Have a nice weekend all! Hope more BDASses will join us! Although the fewer we are, the easiest it is to remember facts about everyone!

Thanks Nathalie! Floorball is a thing here too, although we call it floor hockey. We also have broomball, which is played on ice with a broom instead of a hockey stick), but people wear sneakers. I've not played that before but we have some leagues around. Both sound like a blast! Sorry about your knees, but hopefully floorball happens for you!

Mike, you will be ahead of me when you go back. I've not been in the water since my tri in October. It's gonna be ugly. But I just need to be consistent and hopefully it will come back pretty quick!

Did a bike boot camp after work last night and was reminded why I typically prefer working out in the morning. I had a late lunch and it was not sitting well. Hoping next week to get back into my morning routine! I was up early every day this week but work had me stressed so I started working early rather than getting in a workout then. Need to focus on balance. I'm feeling really burned out lately.

NAME: Bullfrog / Andrew

STORY: Around 12 years ago, while trying to lose weight I started running around the local park with my roommates dog. A few months of that and I commented to her that one day I'd like to get fit enough to run a half marathon. 3 months later I had lost close to 100lbs overall and finished my first athletic event, a half marathon.

Since then I've moved into multisport and finished 16 half marathons, 12 sprint tris, 1 olympic distance tri, 4 70.3s and 2 full Ironman. Most recently in March 2021. Unfortunately my weight and fitness levels have fluctuated wildly over that time, as my usual procedure after a big event is to become a sloth again for a few months - years, and then start from scratch when I enter the next thing. Rather than any specific event, my current goal is to end that cycle and gain and then maintain a consistent level of fitness/healthy weight.

FAMILY STATUS: Married, with a 4 year old boy, 1 year old girl and a spoiled dog.

CURRENT TRAINING: After 2 years focused on Ironman (1st year was deferred due to injury) with a young family I'm stepping things back a little bit. The goal for the next few years is to get into a routine of a sensible amount of sustainable training. Something like 30 minute runs before work most mornings, Zwift ride in the evenings. 1 longer run/ride with a mate on the weekend. Swims to be fit in during lunch breaks when the opportunity presents itself. Lots of consistent workouts, rather than a few Ironman 'hero' workouts.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: 2021, Tauranga Half Ironman, Ironman NZ, and the rest of the year got covid cancelled.

UPCOMING YEAR'S RACES: Tauranga Half Ironman, Jan 22. 5 x Half Marathons February- April. Rest of the year to be confirmed. Likely some sprint tris and half marathons.

WEIGHTLOSS: My weight has been up and down for over 10 years. Although I have lost some over the last couple of months it's currently very up. Losing 100lbs (yes seriously that much) over the year and keeping it off is a big focus.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I've been hanging around the BDAS for a few years now. I think I've got some experience I can share with the group. Although I may not know the best way to do things, I've learnt lots of ways not to do them

Hi Mike, Nathalie and Nicole, nice to see some familiar faces back for another lap around the sun. And welcome to the group Nicole J, it's equally nice to see some new faces.

Nathalie, sorry that your sick. Hopefully it's only a few days and your back at it soon... and of course no isolation needed.

Mike, Hope Florida is still treating you well. I see lots of workouts on strava so keep it up.

Nicole J, looks like you've got a good plan to follow. How has it gone this week?

For me; we had a week at the beach with the family over new years. Mr 4 caught his first fish, so very happy. We ate too much good food, drank too many beers hand had a lovely time. I did manage to run 5 out of the 6 mornings we were there so not a total loss. Since coming back to normal life, last week was the biggest week training since Ironman, 6 runs for 3:45 total. 5 rides for just over 5:05 total. Highlight of the week was dusting off the TT rig, and going out on Sunday morning for my first ride not on zwift since Ironman, followed by a 2km brick run. Considering I haven't been in the TT position in months, it felt really good.

How has everyone else's weeks been?

Welcome back, Andrew! I didn't remember the story of how you started, and that is extremely impressive!

I had a solid weekend. It's been pretty cold (and snowy) in Baltimore so I've not had the motivation to run, but I did a ride each day. 60 min power zone endurance ride Saturday, followed by some core and strength, 45 min bike boot camp Sunday (all Usher music, it was awesome), and started this week off with a 45 minute power zone ride this morning. It was my first ride staying mostly in zones 3 and 4, and whewwww was it a tough one. Music is also a big motivator for me and I don't love this instructor's music selections, so that made it extra hard. I'm doing a Power Zone Competition though so have to take certain classes for it to count. I made it through!

Planning to get some yoga in this afternoon, focusing on my hammies!

Thank you. It's been quite the journey. Although I do think more impressive would have been keeping weight off and fitness up after the first time. Haha, oh well, such is life.

Yeah! Andrew is back!

Cool Mike, I Love having a pool to myself, never happens though!

Closing on to one week of my new cold and I have been good, limiting the food intake to the 1522 calories I need without stuffing my face because I feel sorry for myself.

Can’t wait to start moving a bit more than a 20 minutes walk with the dog every day but I will take it easy this time, as I may have pushed too much too soon when I started feeling better last time.

Working from home today. In fact, working from home for a few weeks due to a surge in covid cases in this country. F@ck

Welcome Andrew! Nice to see the sense of community that some of you "know" each other. Just added you on Strava. Sounds familiar, the pattern of having a hero all out and then getting back to base (or in my case negative) level. You have to start to gain momentum in one direction or the other; sloth-land is well deserved but don't get trapped there.

Nicole, give those hammies some love!

Check in: Had a good week, fighting the temptation to go overboard and said no to some of my tri clubs workouts that I'm not ready for. Did join a group run and have a nice couple of ladies to swim with. Completed Run 3x, swim 2x, bike 1x, strength 1x, bonus tennis 1. I'm pleased I've been making it out for the runs despite the cold. They are short and manageable. Pulled the trigger and registered for the April 10K I had my eye on. Repeating same for this week. Paired with red wine as we are still working through the holiday stockpile.

Edited by NicoleJulia 2022-01-27 12:50 PM

Did a 45 min power zone endurance ride. It was 80s music themed and everything I didn't know I needed. So good.
I did not get around to my hammie yoga yesterday so it's on the docket for today! Just need to get through one more meeting, then I'm going to take a break and get it done. One of my goals is to make sure I take work breaks to do some kind of movement. Otherwise I just sit all. day. long.

Mike, have a safe trip back, and make sure you get your mittens ready for when you get here. Brrrrr

Nathalie, sorry to hear you're not feeling well! Definitely take the time to get your rest so you can bounce back! And I'm right there with you, fully remote again. Missing my commute (which is a 3/4 - 2 mile walk, depending on if I drive part way).

Andrew, still impressive! Glad you are refocusing. We are here to be your cheerleaders in your journey. We definitely all have our ups and downs in training, but getting a nice consistent routine is a great goal!

Nicole J, nice work on consistency and for getting the 10K on the schedule! I'm going to be signing up for a June Sprint Tri by the end of the month. Definitely need that motivation to get me back in the pool. And I need to stop being a wimp and just run in the cold! You will be my motivation for that!

Hammie yoga done! It was just a quick 20 minute thing. Felt so good though!