running2far's Group - Closed

Hi Hayes,

I'd like to join if you'll have me

NAME: Gerardo aka Chezz  

STORY: Hi I am originally from Guatemala and moved to NC 2 years ago wiht my wife.  After much southern cooking, gained like 20 pounds and we decided to take up running.  It began with weightloss thing but as we saw improvements, we got hooked.  Started with a 5k and 2 half marys, the latter was terrrible.  Last summer, we joined a running group and began a more structured training and really improved.  Ran the Chicago RnR Half Marathon and dropped 8 min of PR, still slow but it's getting there.  My wife then got sidelined by the doctor and my training began to suffer, with no partner close by, running just got boring and decided to start tri. 
No background in cycling, little swimming, I am really looking foreward to my first TRI season in 2010!

FAMILY STATUS: Married for almost 3 yrs, no kids

CURRENT TRAINING: Building up base with a winter program, I am focusing on swim drills mostly before getting into some endurance and speed. 

THIS YEAR'S RACES (2010): 2 sprints Belew's Lake Aril, Tri Latta June12, Whitelake International Sept and hoping to squeeze in 2 half mary's in preparation for Chicago Full Marathon

2009 RACES: Nashville Half, Chicago Half, several 5K.


WEIGHTLOSS: I regained lost weight after training began to decline and would like to lose 20 lbs 

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I'm a a competitive person, mostly focused on sports where you could beat someone else: soccer, tennis, squash.  Really had a breakthrough when I saw that in running I was competing against myself (although I have to admit, when I finally beat my wife in the 5k, felt really sweet!!!).  I like to reasearch and always welcome good feedback and hope the mentor group and BT will help me keep on track with my training!

Hope to hear back from you
i look forward to hearing from you.......

I woud like to join your group also

Hi, if there is still room please count me in!

NAME: Jason Henderson
STORY: Last year was my first year, and I jumped in with both feet! (type A of course) I started the year with a Christmas gift to my wife of committing to Weight Watchers. After 5 months of watching what I was eating and working out I had lost 50 pounds and found a new me! In may my wife came back from a girls Marathon trip and said she was going to do a Triathlon. I figured what the heck and decided to join her.
FAMILY STATUS: Married 16 years with two children 19,13
CURRENT TRAINING: I’m on week 11 of a 30 week training program preparing for IMSG. I workout about 15 hours a week over 6 days, swimming 3 hrs, biking 100+hrs, and putting in 40-50 miles in runs.
THIS YEAR'S RACES: 1 sprint, 2 Oly’s, ½ marathon
2010 RACES: Arizona RR Marathon, Sun Down ½ IM, IMSG, Vinemae ½, and SilverMan
WEIGHTLOSS: Lost a total of 70 pounds this year going from 265 to 195, I am 6’2”

I look forward to the company and energy that a good mentor and group can bring!!!

NAME:   John

STORY: Been doing tri's just a couple of years...still every much a newbie and want to learn as much as I can....I started during tri's because I got sick of being so out of shape...use to do all kinds of stuff when I was in the military and I miss challenging myself...after my first tri I was hooked...actually was hooked during training for my first tri

FAMILY: Married with 3 kids so finding time to train is always tough

CURRENT TRAINING: nothing since my last tri in oct

RACES 2009: a handful of sprints and my first half mary

RACES FOR 2010:  my first oly and first HIM

Ok so I’m new to the BT Mentor program and am not sure how this works. I'm hoping that it is ok to simply shout out question via the forum without raising my hand and being called on.....

I am currently training for my First IM and have started the process by using beIRONfit by Don Fink. Well this is mostly true, I actually took his competitive 30 week program to a coach and paid her to analyze it for me and give me some feedback. After discussing it, we felt that the program was designed more for someone who was just starting out (first week only did 6 hrs of training) based on that we felt that it was best to continue my current training (averaging at that time closer to 12hrs a week) and let the program catch up to me.
Well I am now on week 11, and have finished the base training section by simply increasing my training each week by 10% with every 4th week dropping 40% for recovery. This has me at a long ride of 75 miles and a long run of 21 miles for this week.
Ok finally reaching the question, now that I am in the Build part of training (weeks 11-20) the plan has started to call for speed and interval work. Since I am training to go long and not necessarily fast, does it really make sense to alter my training to accommodate this?
I mean if in 4 months I will need for my body to do 11-17hrs of cardio and at this stage I am only doing 4hrs at a time, doesn’t it make more sense to continue focusing on endurance instead of speed?
Side note- I'm slow and to be honest have never been very fast. I run a 10min mile pace and bike at 19.2mph pace on most long days....

Thanks in advance for the advice and before you ask, yes I'm going back and inputting my training into BT. I have a pretty cool little binder that I have enjoyed using but will take some time to input here for future help....

Thanks for the great feedback!
I have two other friends who I am currently training with (one an ex college track star) who are now pulling a lot of "see I told you so"....So yeah thanks a lot! - 
That all being said my fears come down to the one we all probably have as we take on a new longer distance, can I really finish this distance within the alloted time? In the end I am sure that the race for me will be about endurance and not speed, in my wildest fantasies I can't see myself running the whole marathon on race day, I will defiantly have walking in the game plan. With that in mind I'm having a hard time wrapping "speed work" into my game plan. I will defiantly take your advice (and that of my "friends") but it just seems a little illogical to me right now....

As for weight loss, for me heroine is a no fail program, lmao...... 
Obviously just kidding. I have found that the only way I can beat away the taco bell demons is to make the goals realistic. For example, don't make your goal I'm going to lose 10 pounds by race day. Thats way to vague and open to failure. I like to set more task oriented goals, like I will write down or log every calorie before I eat it. This gives me a chance to ask the Triathlete's nutrient question "is this calorie I'm about to eat hurting or helping me?" If I simply take the time to write it down before eating, I have found that logic is the great savior. 
From there you will need to determine how many calories your body burns as a base and consume a safe deficit. My second trick is stolen from Weight Watchers, and is simply limit yourself to those calories everyday. If you screw up and eat a donut at work that consists of a 1,ooo calories and your budget only allows for a whole day of 2,ooo then stick to it and don't throw the day away. I cant tell you how many times through out my life that a great month or two of weight loss ended with a single donut. "oh well I had a bad morning, might as well make it a cheat day, which turned into a cheat week, which turned" you get the idea.... This doesn't mean you cant have the donut, it just means that you have to stay within your budget for the day. Luckily our budget as Triathletes can be pretty big on some days.
My last trick (also stolen, I'm not sharp enough to have created any of these myself) is to always try to eat foods for what they have in them instead of what they don't. The marketing now seems to be all about "no sugar or fat or calories". If your going to limit your intake don't let them fool you by filling your body with food that is not beneficial. Eat a apple for it's vitamins and great calories instead of having a diet coke because it has no sugar or calories in it..

Hey don't forget to set those DVR's today for NBC's coverage of this years Kona IM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope everyone has a great weekend and finds time to treat themselves to a good swim, bike or run!