njc65 Mentor Group CLOSED

Hey Gary - great to hear from you, welcome aboard. Its great that you already have a goal with the Olympic in December and also opportunities with the club and fellow triathletes nearby (plus a wife who's involved too). Looking forward to working with you, once we have our full team we'll make a start!

Neil

NAME: nickgn71/Nicole

STORY: I live right outside of Washington, DC in the U.S.  I'm 30 years old and just decided to complete a triathlon in late July.  I'm both terrified and excited by the thought of completing a triathlon.  I was a hockey player growing up, but shattered my ankle when I was 17 and have since been less active than I would like.  I love biking, enjoy swimming (after taking swimming lessons last year) and am not in love with running.  I'm hoping that I'll love competing in triathlons once I've completed a race.

FAMILY STATUS: Domestic Partner and three furry cat babies.
 
CURRENT TRAINING: I've just started training doing the 12 week Couch to Sprint training.  I plan to switch to one of the Olympic trainings once that is completed.

2011 RACES:  So far I'm just planning on competing in the Culpepper International in Culpepper, VA.

WEIGHTLOSS: I'm hoping to lose 20 to 30 lbs over the next year or so.

I definitely have a lot of fears about training, particularly with running because of my ankle injury... any advice you could offer about keeping your body healthy and relatively injury free would be greatly appreciated!

Best,
Nicole

Thank you for the suggestion regarding footwear!  I haven't done the sneaker fitting yet.  I was planning on waiting until I was a few weeks into training, but it probably makes more sense to do so earlier.

Ok Team looks like this may be us, a nice tight knit group, which is great, I’ll leave the door open for any late comers.

Ok lets start with a few simple ground rules and suggestions.

ATTITUDE:

First and foremost, everybody's opinion here counts, totally.  It doesn't matter how much experience or knowledge you have, if you have an opinion, express it.  We will all respect everybody else's views, and if we disagree, we will say so respectfully.  Healthy debate is great and mutual encouragement and sharing of information even more so.  If I think you're wrong, I will tell you so in the most respectful terms, and in what I think is your best interest as an triathlete trying to achieve your goals.  I hope everybody else will do the same (including to me!).

Let’s use first names,  rather than user ids to help us to overcome the temptation (encouraged by the anonymity of the internet) to say things that we'd never say to someone in person.  I will certainly address all of you by your first names, and hope you will do the same.

In a minute, I'll share a bit more information about myself with you.  Feel free to share as much, or as little, personal information about yourself that you are comfortable with.

LOGS:

The logs here on BT are a great resource, easy to use and very useful.  I encourage you to use them.  It’s a great way of keeping track of your training in this way and has enormous benefits.  First, for yourself, you can go back and see, with the benefit of hindsight, what works and what doesn't work for you.  Second, when you ask a question, others can look at your logs and give you a far better response than they could not having any clue about your training. It really does make a huge difference.  Finally, as far as this group is concerned, the logs are a great way for us to give one another regular support (via the 'inspire' function -- if it isn't clear how to use it, ask).  If you log your training, I promise I will check in to your logs from time to time and try to give you support and advice as I can.  I encourage you all to do the same for each other.

TOPICS:

Any and all topics related to triathlon are all welcome here, and hey if you want to have a conversation about other stuff, that's great too.  We have some beginner triathletes in this group (go figure, on a site called 'beginnertriathlete.com'!), so especially early on, I will suggest a number of topics to discuss that I think will be especially helpful for beginners.  You will get the most out of this group if you ask the questions that you feel you need answered.  Don't worry if the question is ill-formed or unclear, I love questions, no matter how silly they may seem, if its on your mind, spit it out!  Do NOT be embarrassed by a question that you think is 'too basic'.  There is no such thing!

ABOUT ME:

So here's a little bit more about me, just if that helps you to understand where I'm coming from.  If you don't care about biographies, you can skip this part! 

I grew up in Hull in England, I still live there.  It’s a port town on the east side of the country on the rivers Hull and Humber. I live on an old timber dock on the edge of the Humber, great promenade for running along and around a nearby marina. Alas it’s not quite tropical, cold dark and murky right now! I went through school, joined a bank at 18, progressed through various roles until I found project management which I loved. I moved to a few different companies throughout the 2000s and have been with an energy company since 2005. I travel across the UK a bit with the role, it’s fun, I hadn’t done much sport, not very good at it at school and was always last to be picked for teams! I was a typical guy for many years, loads of mates, great social life, too much beer, too many late nights, too many girls and too much fast food, wow it was a blast! Life turned when I married in 1994, then along came my two girls in 1998 & 2001.  I made a new year resolution in 2002 to run (I had been weight training off and on for a few years). I managed 5 minutes before I collapsed! I used to be a bit of a quitter, but found a local 10k race to aim for in April that year in a historic town called Lincoln. Wow how much did I love doing that, I was hooked. I raced more 10ks, half marathons and in 2008 my one and only full marathon so far in Nottingham, loved and hated that!

I had become obsessed with the idea of doing a triathlon, but was put off by having to swim front crawl. At the same time I joined a local gym and they actually ran a triathlon class, spin, treadmill and run. That was the turning point. The guys that ran it were experienced triathletes, cracking guys and are now great friends along with the guys and girls that take part. They coached me, encouraged me and I entered the Lincoln Sprint Tri in 2009 (hmm Lincoln again)!! I swam breaststroke for most of the swim and wow what a feeling, I was estastic! Ok moving on, we created a club, I trained as a triathlon coach with the British Triathlon Federation, we set up a junior academy and we have 20 children, we stage events, senior and junior, I love it. I worked on the swim and have now done 2 open water Olympic events, as well as loads of sprints. This year I’m doing the UK 70.3, arguably the hardest in the world as it’s mainly all uphill!

 LET'S GET STARTED:

OK, enough about me.  I'd like to start things off (in addition to ANY questions you have or topics you'd like to discuss) with a question aimed at starting a go 'hot and discussion on consistency. Undoubtedly consistent training is the path to success, you cannot be ‘hit and miss’ with endurance training, it's all about getting out the door on a consistent basis, hey I know I struggle here!

So what are the challenges that you face getting out the door each week? Whatever goal you have set yourself for the number of times you hope to train per week, what are the biggest obstacles you face to achieving it, and this is where I want us to be, sharing ideas, so what ideas do we have for each other about overcoming those obstacles?

Speak soon folks, be happy

Neil x

The walk to run is the classic and best way to start, too many people try and run too far too soon and give up, keep with it and well done. I would encourage you to do some back stretches, I really suffered with the same problem last year ended up with needles in my back (accupunture!) to sort it and I stretch it well twice a day and after exercise. Happy to recommend some stretches. The core is important too, here’s a workout I do 3 times a week, have a look, reduce the reps to start with.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=486

I would recommend getting the correct pair of shoes to run in. If there is a specialist running shop nearby, go there and get them to look at how you stride and they’ll match up the right pair. I mentioned in a previous post that I made the cardinal sin of trying a new brand last year and my Achilles suffered as a result. The masters swim club is a great idea, they will help you immensely.

Keep going with the sprint programme, the swimming will come, and I love the new saying, sums me up too. I made the mistake of getting to obsessed with times in races etc, I switched my garmin off during the run section of the Leeds triathlon last year, put a smile on my face and enjoyed the experience. The result was an overall improvement of 20 mins on 2009 and a much more enjoyable experience. Great that you have a race lined up so soon, a great motivator.

Its great to have a supportive family. Although my wife doesn’t take part herself she supports me and knows its a big part of my life, plus she knows I get grumpy if I don’t train! Yes I know the Dick Hoyte story, utterly inspiring and humbling.

Hey Neil! Sorry, origionally I signed up for Triritters group but he is pretty full so I volunteered to jump to a new group. If you guys have room, I would love to join!

I`m a 22 year old male Kindergarten teacher living in Hiroshima, Japan. I know that`s kind of a specialized niche`. After graduating with a degree in Theatre I decided I wanted to live in another country before I got caught up in a career. I volunteered  at a local YMCA to pass some time while on my 3 month visitors visa, and after a few weeks they offered me my current position. I`m planning on returning to the states in August, but before I do I would like to run in the local tri they have here in June.

I was always a heavy kid, and then in high school I was pushing 240 lbs on a 6 foot frame. I got tired of it my Sophmore year and decided I would fix my weight or die trying. I started slowly, running a few miles a week, and then I picked up fencing. I fixed my diet by eliminating all red meat and swearing off any drinks but water. By the end of Jr. year I had lost almost 50 lbs.

I got interested in tris when my cousin finished his first sprint in San Diego over the summer. Japan`s tri circut is limited though, all of the local races are Olympic length so that`s what I will be training for.

FAMILY STATUS:  Single

CURRENT TRAINING: I was up to 200 pounds after college (beer doesn`t come in low fat.) When I got here I started a running program 4 times a week and weight training 3 times. I droped about 10 lbs pretty quick, and then the next 10 came over a few months. I added a swimming session once a week and then joined a soccer club on Friday nights. I was also taking Japanese classes 3 times a week and teaching private students. Unfortunatly I think I was doing too much on too little sleep, and I wound up with pneumonia in early December. I`ve been slowly getting myself back in the groove and improving my sleep schedule (I had to drop some classes.) I`m spending this week focusing on nutrition and building back to where I was, and next week I`m going to start the training plan on my profile.

2011 races:  

Hiroshima Miajima Olympic

WEIGHT LOSS:  

I`m 180 right now and my goal is 175. I`m hoping my tri training will help me drop the last few pounds and build more lean muscle. Unfortunatly I have a pretty bad sweet tooth, so I have sworn off all sweets this year. They say that cold turkey is a bad way to do that, but my will power is pretty good.

WHY I WANT TO BE YOUR MENTEE:  I`m brand new to this, I`m focused on making it happen, and I think I`m going to have a lot of questions.