LaurenSU02's group - CLOSED!

I'm in if you got space!  I'm new to this, but I will try to be a good mentee!

Yay, my first mentee. WOOT!! So cool. Yep, you're in!

How about if for the good of the group, you give a little background on your tri career and what races you're planning this year? I am sure you'll be able to provide some helpful advice to beginners as well .

nm - it was fixed . Thanks, Ron .

I need a mentor!!

Kidding.   

haha. Well, feel free to stop by from time to time; I'm anticipating a lot of fun in the thread!!

I'd really like to join your group too if there's space!!

Of course you can! We'd love to have you!! WOOT!

Can you just give the group a little history of your tri career and what your planned races, goals, etc., are for this year? And, of course, if you have any questions, concerns, or doubts at this time, ask away .

Yay!! It does look like it's starting off to be a great group.. whoo

A little background about me...

This is my first tri season and I haven't done an outdoor race yet.  I did do an indoor tri a few weeks ago but it was based on time instead of distance.  10 minutes swimming / 30 minutes biking / 20 minutes running.  I wasn't nervous at all because I know I can keep going for an hour and no one could really tell how fast / slow you were anyway   I'm 26 (turning 27 in about a month and a half.)  

I'm doing my first tri, an Olympic distance, in Philly on June 22nd.  Honestly, I am kind of freaked out about the bike and the swim.  I signed up to do two more sprint tris during July and August.  I'm thinking about signing up for an Olympic dist in Sept, but I'm getting married at the beginning of Oct so I may need some time to fit wedding stuff in too!   Goals for the season: make it through the Olympic, go all out on the sprints, and have some fun.

I come from a pretty athletic background.  I've played sports for several years..mainly basketball, volleyball, tennis, and I rowed for a season in college.   I still play volleyball and some tennis.  Not so much bball but I can play a mean game of horse.  None of those sports involved much running, biking, or swimming though so this is all new to me.  I'm a SLOW swimmer, not as slow of a biker, and an OK runner.

I'm really excited to be part of this group Lauren!  I periodically check out your logs and you're awesome & going to be a great mentor.  Thanks so much for volunteering to do this!

Awesome stuff, vball. Your training is looking great and you had a solid 10K last week, so I think you are definitely on the path to having a strong first season. I just noticed you're in my AG...maybe I should be happy I can't do Philly this year .

Philly is a great race and you're going to love it. The swim can vary from year to year as it is in a river. Last year was the only year I did the swim, and I can honestly say it was great. Little to no current, perfect water temp for a wetsuit, and because it's a fairly "dead" river, you didn't have any of the gross river stuff to deal with (i.e., you didn't accidentally touch anything with your hand or feet that kind of freaked you out). It's a deep-water start, so hopefully the race is wetsuit legal, so you can just kind of float out there before the gun. If not, just hang onto the dock beforehand, or tread water. Our AG is fairly early (3rd or 4th out of like 15), so that's good.

The bike is a really fun course. Riding is my strength and I am a decent climber, so I didn't find the hills to be bad at all. I know a few people who did their first tri on this course last year and said afterwards, "The hills weren't that bad; I was worried for nothing." As the race gets closer, we can go over the course hill by hill if you want. But honestly, just don't hammer them, and you'll be fine. The bike course can get a little crowded on the second loop. Just make sure you know the rules of the road (i.e., staying right, drafting rules, etc.)...it'll go a long way on that course as it's crowded and a mix of newbies and some REAL FASTIES .

The rest of your season sounds great. If the Oly in September isn't expected to sell out quickly, feel free to wait and see how the season goes before signing up. Which one are you considering? I might be looking to do an Oly in September as well.

And, congrats on the engagement !!

Hi Matt, welcome to the group!! It sounds like you are well underway with your training. I can't really speak to the weight-loss part, but it's great you're working with a nutritionalist. But I am a big believer in that it's not the number on the scale you want to look at, but rather how you feel and how your clothes fit .

I think it's a good idea skipping the Oly in June if you feel your training, sleeping, etc. will be disrupted by the new baby. One's first Oly is a big deal, so you want to go into it feeling 100% ready. It sounds like you have a great season planned, and MCM this fall will be awesome. I can't wait to follow your progression.

Welcome to the group. I haven't made my way over to your log yet, but I'll get there shortly...

We have a great group shaping up. So far it's:

Aikidoman,
dlswimmer,
Gomesbolt, and
vball03umd

And, I guess from time to time, we'll let newleaf in to play

Feel free to add everyone to your FRIEND'S list, so we can keep tabs on each other.

vball,

The Philly bike course is a bit technical. As far as downhills, there are only two I can really think of that might be of some concern (most of the bigger climbs aren't immediatley followed by the downhill). Right after the first aid station on the bike course, you go around a loop, and when you come around the loop, you'll head into a pretty decent downhill. You'll have guys whizzing past you at about 40+ mph, so just stay right and hold your line. I think the road curves a few times going down that one, but not too bad. Also, there is a downhill at the end of the course. It's a little tricky, because there's a turn at the bottom and as you're entering the turn, you need to decide to stay left for loop #2 or stay right to head into transition (if you're finishing your second loop).

There are a few other pretty fast sections of the course. There aren't any steep downhills, though. Just a few places where you can really fly -- and trust me, the fast guys FLY!

dlswimmer,

Welcome to the group. It'll be so good to have you. You can be our resident swimmer as I don't think that's any of our specialties! I am sure we can all learn a lot.

What type of foot issues are you dealing with (you don't have to tell us if you don't want to)? I had tendonitis and a tear in my peroneal tendon earlier this year, hence all the aquajogging in my log. BTW, aquajogging is an awesome run supplement, so let me know if you want to incorporate it into your training. I'll give you some tips. As a side note, Deena Kastor (she won the Women's Olympic Trial Marathon this past Sunday) is an aquajogger as well .

I haven't made it to your log yet, but will get there soon. We're excited to have you !

Sign me up! I've gotten some great advice from Lauren over the last year or two, and her training and effort is second to none.

Here's my info:

Name: Jeremy, occupation: Coast Guard.

I've been on this site since around Feb 2006. Since that time, I've had ups and downs with my training. Finally, late last year, I was at the peak of one of my "downs" and decided that I needed to crack the whip. My training the last few months has been consistent, but un-structured.

To date, I've completed a couple of sprints and one oly (the swim portion of the oly was only 800m). I've run one half-marathon and several 10k/5k's.

My goals, lofty as they might be, are to run the Tupelo marathon in September and The IM 70.3 New Orleans in April '09. I'm also planning on doing various running races and sprints over the next year as time/training/life permits.

Current weight is 182, goal weight is 165.

Towards the end of May, I am going to a 5-week school in California. I'm working on trying to get my bike shipped out there, but worst case scenario, that won't happen and I'll be riding the schools mountain bikes for those 5 weeks. But there is lots of hills out there and there is a 25y pool on base, so I'll be able to keep up the rest of my training and the hills will be an added benefit.

Thanks for mentorins Lauren. You are definitely the right person for the job.

WOOT, we've got jjweav !

I think your goals of Tupelo and the NOLA 70.3 are great! You've been training with a lot of consistency this time around, and it looks like you're on a good path to accomplishing them. You're going to have to get on a mary plan soon -- have you started thinking about which one?

I really hope you're able to ship your bike out to CA when you go. You should just head to your LBS and they'll pack it up for you, etc. There's some awesome riding out there, so I'm told.

Sorry for my brevity. I have to get off BT for a bit, but I wanted to respond to this !

Make that:

Aikidoman,
dlswimmer,
Gomesbolt,
jjweav, and
vball03umd

Lauren,

I would love to join if you still are accepting!

I am a 29yr old female (sorry my pic got deleted for some reason but I'll get a new one up there soon) and I am very interested in hearing about your effort towards your IM.

This is year 3 for me with triathlon and I am aiming for my first HIM in July. If it goes well enough, I am thinking about signing up for IM KY for '09 (I will be a volunteer there for this years race).

I am the type of person that struggles not to overtrain. Currently I'm building my training back up slowly as I come back from some knee stress from a poor pedal set up I had on my bike. I usually learn all the training/equipment set-up mistakes the hard way

-Claire

Lauren,

Thanks for the info on the Philly bike course.  It really helps to know what to expect ahead of time!!   It sounds like the end of the course is kind of interesting.  Hopefully I'll be able to remember whether to go right or left.. yipes!

can i join? looks like several of the people in the group are Female 25-29, and I need to keep tabs on the competition. HA!  

Lauren, you seem to have done what I would like to do - get consistent with training and pull myself from BOP to FOP, or at the very least MOP. the last 6 months or so are the first few months i've ever been serious or consistent about training and i need that to keep happening! i've been on BT for 3 years, have had longs spurts of lurking or not logging on, but i've clocked record amounts of time on BT in the last 6 months, and i really hope to kick a$$ this season!

thanks!