New guy to the team

Welcome! This is a great site for the training blogs and for everything else of course. This seems to be more of a community then a web site. All are eager to help in anyway. Good luck, stay warm(at least tri to) and good luck in your training!

glad to have u!!!!  sounds like your experience could benifit a lot of others here...hope to hear form ya!  oh yeah...we will definitely strive to aggressively improve the logs here...if u would like a feature...just post it in the log section...chances r, we will get it done.

welcome to the comunity/site. please do stick around, I know that alot of us could use some of the knowledge that you already have. :-)

Good to have you here!

howdy!

Welcome to the forum! We will be glad to hear about your experience.

Me to. Welcome and good luck.

Yo Dave, where in Philly are you? I'm in Malvern.

Welcome - it will be really good to hear how it goes with your tris this season. Lots of good stuff and encouragement here for all of us to keep aiming a bit higher.

Tell me how you do the "mental" aspect of the training. I have always heard that a race of IM distance is mostly mental! Nice to have you on the site :-)
Vanessa

I have only gotten to the half iron distance to this point, and it was not all mental. I did a lot of my longer training rides and runs on my own. I got used to spending longer periods of time with just me to keep me company. Another big help was having my parents there, and making some new friends before the race. Having a friendly face saying good job at the run turnarounds helped. I also took vacation around the race. That way I had nothing to worry about except the race. It didn't matter if I hurt for the next week(it was only two before I could walk down stairs normal).
I am still worried about the full one this year. It is going to be further away from home. I just have to get my training going and I know that I can do it. My first triathlon scared me, and I did that one.

Charles

I did a full IM in October 2002 and it was an incredible experience! I felt like I could conquer the world when I crossed that finish line! It is, most definitely, more mental than physical. You have to be comfortable with your own company for the better part of a day, because there's not a lot of conversation, especially on the swim and bike. (By the run, you REALLY get to know a good amount of people). The IM is like a final exam. If you studied (trained), you can get through it. I did a race report after that race if anyone is interested. It's at www.greatfloridian.com. Look on the left where it says race reports and click on 2002. It pretty well says everything that led me up to and through the race.

Sharon

Great RR Sharon! I am also from FL and am looking at the 1/2IM next year at Disney. Maybe by 40 I will be ready to consider a full (turn 39 this year). Thanks again for sharing your awesome experience.

Cameron, are you saying you're doing the 1/2 Disney in 2004, or 2005? My husband is doing the 1/2 this year, so the whole family is going. If you're doing it this year, maybe we'll see you there. You're from much further north than we are.

Sharon

Sharon,
Read your RR on the Website. Excellent job.

Thanks! I never imagined anyone would ever read it!

Sharon

2005!! LOL I am doing my first sprint and oly this spring, then will start base training for two fall 1/2marys (Space Coast and Disney) and then 1/2 IM training program for May 2005! That's the plan anyways!

Sounds great! Best of luck. If you're going to Clermont for the sprint and oly, you know you need to practice your hills.

Sharon

this years races are here locally. Next fall I will defintely have to drive over to Clermont (about an hour away) for some hill training :-)

I read it too! Great piece!

The bigger the team the better, welcome mate

Craig

Welcome Charles! Hope you're enjoying the HR monitor.

I have only gotten to the half iron distance to this point, and it was not all mental."

How long did it take you to build up to the half's? I've been thinking of doing them for the longest time- but right now for me it's not a good idea. I just want to have a mental estimated map.

thanks, and welcome again.