Loretta’s Novice Athletes and More Group- Open

Hello Loretta,

I would like to join your group. I'm 45 years old and live in Ottawa, Canada. After returning to school and completing my masters degree (while working full time and raising a family), I decided I was ready for another challenge. So, in August 2014, I started exercising and counting calories and lost 117lbs as a result. For the past year, I have started running and have completed 15 races (5Ks and 10Ks). In doing so, I've discovered that I love following training schedules and waking up in the early morning hours to exercise before the sun rises. I'm fairly new to this healthy lifestyle, however, I now know that I'm HOOKED!

GOAL: I'm looking to diversify my training to also include swimming, biking and strength training. I've signed up for a try-a-tri in May and hopefully complete a Sprint in the fall.

Thank you, Jen J

Hey Loretta! I joined another mentor's group but I think this group is a much better fit for me. Even though it's a beginners group, it seems to be a lot more athletic men joining. Maybe I could switch?

My name is Emily. I will be turning 30 in 10 days and have decided to jump start my 30's and train for a triathlon. I need to loose 100+ pounds, so this is mainly for weightloss and being able to enjoy the rest of my life. I have no experience with triathlons. I'm a newbie.

My boyfriend and his family are into centuries, so I've been biking with them for the past few years. The longest ride I've done is 22 miles in the north Georgia mountains. I have also picked up running and will run my first 5k in quite a while at the end of January with a few more planned throughout the spring.

My weakest point is running. I've come a long way since I've started, but I have a long way to go. I'm confident in the bike portion. I'll be riding centuries (around 20-30 miles) in the spring again. And I'm a decent swimmer with some room for better technique.

My goals for 2017 are to complete at least 1 sprint triathlon. But I really want to do multiple. Weightloss. And to (finally) go clip less on my bike!

I'm really excited about this!

Hi Emily,

Great to have you on board! Sounds like you are jump starting your 30s the best way possible. A sprint triathlon is a reachable goal, especially with your cycling background. Running has always been my weakest point as well but is can get better. I have had a great coach with running these past few years so hopefully I can share some helpful hints in this area. I look forward to the next few months kick starting the season!

Loretta


Edited by LorettaH 2017-01-07 7:38 PM

Hi Jen,

Welcome to the group! WOW....school, family weight-loss and racing all at once is very impressive! I not sure I would be able to handle all that at the same time. Sounds like you really made a commitment to change your lifestyle and being hooked is a good thing! I also love have a training plan like you, but not so sure about getting up the early hours like you...

I am excited for these next few months and helping you get to those goals this year!

Loretta

Hi Loretta -

STORY:

I am 32, male, from Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I ran my first marathon in 2008. I stayed active in sports and cycling up until around 2012 when my first kid was born. Since then I have become very out of shape and went from 160lb to 185lb.

I have always wanted to do an full triathlon one day and in March 2016 I decided I should start getting back in shape with the intent on doing a full triathlon in October 2018. I signed up for the Harrisburg Marathon in November and focused completely on running for 2016. I followed Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan. This plan includes two rest days and a cycling day. I dropped down to 165lbs and completed the marathon.

Last month I purchased a Tacx smart trainer and have started to ride a lot on Zwift. I logged 520 miles on the bike between March and November when I was focusing on running. These past 3 weeks I have already logged 310 miles. My 1 hour FTP right now is 223w.

In December I joined a gym with a pool and purchased five swim lessons. My swim coach is a triathlete. I have not swam in 20 years so I am a complete beginner. Since early December I have made it to the pool 17 times and logged 15,000 yards. I am going to continue to get to the pool at least three times per week so I can improve quickly. When I first started I could only swim 25 yards before starving for oxygen and my heart rate was through the roof. I am starting to get more comfortable in the pool with my breathing. Recently I was able to do my first 100 followed by all 50s the rest of the swim. That was the first time I did a 100 as well as no 25s. My most recent swim I was able to start with two 100s and even finish with a 300. I am starting to feel and see progress.

FAMILY STATUS:

Married 7 years, 4 year old girl, 2 year old girl, 7 month old boy. My wife is on board with my 2018 goal and understands what it will take to get there.

CURRENT TRAINING:

I am hitting the pool as much as I can. I have had four swim lessons and have one more this weekend. I am focusing on stroke form and comfortable breathing. I plan to do this for another month before I start to come up with a serious swimming plan.

I am cycling more than I ever have. Being able to ride indoors is a huge plus. I am learning about FTP and interval training. I have not started a serious training plan yet.

I have only ran twice since the Marathon. I am working on getting a treadmill set up in my basement next to my trainer setup.

UPCOMING YEAR'S RACES:

Lake Raystown Half Triathlon, May 21, 2017. I signed up for the half and my family and parents reserved a cottage directly next to the transition area. We are staying Friday night and Saturday night, the race is Sunday. This should eliminate a lot of stress for my first triathlon being able to stay so close to the event including the days leading up. The swim is a two lap trianlge in typically calm, cold water. There is 5,000 feet of climbing on the bike which I think will be a fun challenge followed by a pretty flat run.

At this point my plan is to focus on swimming as much as possible for the rest of January. I the meantime I also need to find a half training plan that will work for me. If I start the plan in February that would give me 16 weeks. I am hoping with your expertise you could help me select a plan that will work for me.I am on Garmin Connect if you would like to connect there to see more details.

Thanks for choosing to help others.

Tyler

Hello Loretta,

Thank you for the warm welcome and hello to the other group members.

I'm wondering what will be the best way for us to share our training plan. I am on Garmin Connect as well and will be using my Forerunner 735XT for all my training.

Let us know what works best for you! Looking forward on getting some guidance and recommendations!

Thank you,

Jen J

Hi Tyler,

So glad to have you joined the group. You sound like you really got yourself on track to get started and putting all the pieces in place individually-a good training plan will help you put them all together. The swim is the shortest but sometimes can be the most difficult. You will find after some time and getting your feel and balance in the water, that the distance will come. You don't start easy, do you? 5,000 feet of climbing for that first race? But being PA, you should have plenty of hills for training once you can get out of the colder weather. I am going to have to take a look at Zwift, I hate being indoors on the trainer so this may be a good option for me-I would rather be outside freezing mountain biking then indoors riding on the trainer.
What full distance race are you planning for October?

Loretta

Hi Jen,

You must have been reading my mind, I was just think about this today and here is your message when I logged in. I also use Garmin Connect and looks like Tyler does as well. You can set up your Garmin to upload to your training log here on BT. I have not done this yet but will give it a try when I get home from class later. How about you Emily? Do you use any tracking device?

Loretta

Hi Loretta -

My goal is Cambridge Maryland in October of next year - 2018. This gives me 1 year 9 months. I chose this venue mostly due to location. With three young kids and a budget, traveling far is not an option. My in-laws live 45 minutes away from Cambridge. We stay there a few times a year and would do so for the tri weekend. Weather has been terrible the past two years from what I hear including a canceled swim last year. Other than that it is pancake flat course.

I know it is ambitious to start with a half in May. If I have to, I can downgrade to Olympic the day before the event. I am fully committed, so barring an injury that will not happen! I am confident in my cycling and running, but I have never put them together. I know this is a huge challenge and not something to take lightly. I would like to get some sort of 16-week training plan ready to go by February 1st. Like you said, that is when I can start to put the three sports together and begin to feel what a brick feels like.

I have been assembling gear, and when choosing gear I have the full tri in mind. I have a nice fitting tri suit that I have ran in biked in a few times. It is comfortable. I'll need to get a wet suit and some better bike shoes (currently using my dad's old mountain bike shoes) but other than that I believe I have everything I need. My last swim lesson is this weekend. My coach is going to let me try out a couple of his wet suits. He also offered me a couple open water lessons in April in a lake at our local state park. High school swim teams use the gym pool until 8:15 PM. I ask the coaches for a few tips on their way out

Zwift is amazing. It feels so realistic including ascents, descents, and drafting. There is also the social and racing element to keep me motivated and push me harder than if I was just watching Netflix. My dad brought his bike over and tried it out, then when he was done he told me to order him one His tacx vortex came from Germany yesterday. That seems to be the cheapest smart trainer. It costs around $350 including shipping depending on the website and time, all sold from Europe. On top of that you need a $30 ANT+ USB adapter so your computer and trainer can talk to each other. Another expense is a computer that can run the game if you do not have one. Finally Zwift is a $10 per month subscription.

I am having a lot of fun with it. I can climb a mountain in the game that is 6 times higher than the mountain behind my house - and I can do it from my basement. Technology is crazy. I can't wait for my dad to get set up and start riding with him.

My name on Garmin connect is "bluestacks" if you would like to add me. I am going to start researching half plans and maybe run some by you. Or if you have any ideas I would love to hear.

Thanks,

Tyler

I have been looking at online plans including a free one on this website (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/training-plans-view.asp?planid=16&memberlevel=1)

The problem with that specific plan and a lot of plans I am researching online is the types of actives on certain days do not fit my schedule (kids, work, and wife's work). Although I am sure I can take specific elements from plans like that and apply them into my custom plan.

I thought a lot about it and I have some specific activity restrictions due to my family's schedules. Because I am a beginner swimmer, I want to swim as much as possible. There are 4 days in the week that fit my schedule to get to the pool:

mon - swim
tue -
wed - swim
thu - swim
fri -
sat - swim
sun -

I would like to create a plan based off of those 4 swimming days.

Taking things further, Tuesdays would be my perfect rest day because my wife works late. My most open days in the week are Mondays (wife off), Thursdays (wife works short hours), and Fridays (wife off). Those would be good for runs because I currently need to leave the house to run. It could change when I get my treadmill set up.

mon - swim, run
tue - rest
wed - swim
thu - swim, run
fri - run
sat - swim
sun -

I like the idea of doing the long rides on a Saturday or Sunday. I also have time on Wednesdays after the kids are in bed to ride indoors.

mon - swim, run
tue - rest
wed - swim, bike
thu - swim, run(long?)
fri - bike, run
sat - swim
sun - bike(long)

This puts me at 4 swims, 3 runs, and 3 rides per week. I think this is a good amount to prepare for May. It only includes 1 brick per week, but I could add more by doing a short easy run on the treadmill after all of my rides. Do these look like reasonable activity days?

I think the thing I need most help with is what I should be doing during each activity. I know I will have a long ride each week, maybe an intense interval workout on one of the rides, and an easy base mileage recovery ride the other day. For runs, possible a longer run each week with the other two runs being easy pace and shorter. As for swimming, really at this point I just am trying to swim as much as possible and focus on my breathing and slowly increase my distance. At some point I will need some sort of structure to my swim workouts. I am a total beginner when it come to that.

I don't really have a time goal in mind. With this being my first, I just want to prepare my body and fitness correctly so I can finish and enjoy myself.

Hi Tyler,

Doing the 1/2 for your first race is a ambitious but I think you will be able to do this-you seem very focused and determined. You definitely want to take advantage of the open water swim help. The more time in the open water you get, the better your will feel on race day.

I have done Eagleman 70.3 there and you are right that Cambridge is totally flat which is a plus but on the flip side, you feel like you never stop peddling. You don’t get the coasting of down hills so keep that in mind with your training.

Let me look around at some plans and see if I can make recommendations.

Loretta

Hi All-

I tested syncing my Garmin to the training log here on BT and it worked like a charm-with technology that is usually not the case for me. So of you want to sync your Garmin or other device to your training log and connect with the people in the group as friends, we can help support each other. If you don't have a tracking device, no worries, you can manually add your training or upload from a calendar. If you want to connect with me on Garmin, I am LorettaH1058.

I have a lot of racing/tri-training/strength training/nutrition experience so I will try and post some information I think you might find helpful. But if you have any specific questions that I can help with, please ask away and if it is something you may not want to ask in a public forum, private message me. If you have any suggestions on topics that you would like to see information, let me know. I really would like for you to get the most out of our time together and help you get to your goals this year.

Happy Training!

Loretta

Sorry, I've been off for a few days. I have an apple watch that I use to track, but I don't believe I can upload it to the website. I've been manually writing in my workouts. I've had to take this week off due to sever abdominal pain. I'm going to the doctor this week to check on it. But I'm going to try and get on the bike for a nice ride tomorrow.

Signed up for my first triathlon tonight. Rambling Rose in Charlotte June 4th. Hopefully to prepare for the Chattanooga Waterfront on June 25th.

Hi Loretta -

I did a lot of research and created a plan for myself. It will be 16 weeks from February 1st to May 21st. It follows this plan very closely but includes an extra swim.

Week 4, 8, and 12 are recovery weeks with a slight reduction in distances and time. There is only a 1-week taper so I am not sure if I should tweak that to 2 weeks. It seems like marathon plans include a 2-week taper but perhaps tris are different?

I think having the long ride and long run on back to back days will really help me adapt to running on tired legs. Also half of the long rides include some running immediately afterwards.

I am including a screenshot of the detailed plan. Let me know what you think or if you have any modifications you think will help me.




Edited by bluestacks867 2017-01-17 12:37 PM






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plan.jpg (426KB - 35 downloads)

Congrats on signing up for your first race! It looks like a really first time friendly race and a good distance to start with. And, Chattanooga is a great place to race. I just did IM Chattanooga in September and I this was one of my favorite cities to race and vacation. Hope you are feeling better!

Hey Tyler,

When researching some plans, I had bookmarked I think the same super simple plan. Can you do me a favor and looks like you may have this in an excel format? Can you send that to my inbox? It would just be easier for me to view and sort. For tapering, I usually start 2 weeks out with keeping up the intensity but session lengths being cut back. Race week I still keep some intensity early in the week but super short pickups only. Then a few days leading into the race, maybe just a 20 minute run with some striders and a spin on the bike just to keep the legs active and get in the water at the race site for a swim if they allow.


Loretta

Hi Loretta -

I sent it over a second time. I made some changes to it to include longer swims and more bricks. Thanks for taking a look.

It is weird how this forum does not seem to have a sent box, but rather sends a copy to your own inbox addressed from yourself to yourself. It is late though I could be seeing things.

I made a major breakthrough in swimming tonight. Two weeks ago I was swimming the majority 25s with occasional 50s. Then near the end of the week I did my first 100 and even finished with a 300. I started swimming all 50s with occasional 100s. Tonight something magical happened and I swam 1,000! Comfortably and calmly to boot. I should have kept going! Maybe next time.

Awesome! You will find once you get to a certain point in swimming, adding distance comes easier.

Thought this was a good read on some of the important basics for success.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2142651/best-advice-2016-worlds-best-a...

I have been slow getting to consistent training after some recovery over last season...way too long recovery. Doing just short, easy trail runs and some mountain biking. February is my start point to get my season in gear.

How is everyone's training going? Have you started for the season or just getting back to it?

Hi Loretta

I would like to join the group as I am need of some friendly motivation, focus, & definitely coaching!
I am 44, married, and have two daughters, 11 & 15 both active volleyball players. I am located in Arizona, just west of Phoenix about 20 min or so.
I did my first Sprint Tri in April 2014. My time was within 2 minutes of my goal. When training for my second, I had a minor accident and lost my motivation and drive to train. I signed up and half trained for a lifetime marquee event, got in the the water and had an bout with anxiety and couldn't start. Felt like a failure and was disappointed. So I didn't do anything training wise since. A buddy of mine has completed IMAZ 3 times and I was there twice. I enjoyed the atmosphere. I figured it was time and I am not getting a younger

My spirit has been rekindled and I am ready.

I will be signing up for the same race I did before and am looking forward to beating my time. Race day is 4-1 and its a mini sprint
My schedule is pretty open as far as training goes and look forward to any and all input and advice.

I have never had any real coaching.

My gym does have a pool and I have been swimming a few times to get the juices flowing again.Swims feel pretty good been doing 600yrds. (100's)
Running has been OK nothing fancy
Bike haven't gone on any yet.

Shooting for February 1 to start full training.

Danno

Welcome to the group Danno! That is great that you are getting back into training and wanting to do a race. I think the swim and getting started can be the most difficult part of the race. There is so many things that can not work out as we planned so you should not ever feel like a failure. You just need to look at it as a learning experience and have a good plan in place for the next race in case that anxiety comes back you can use that plan to work through it. Your swim training will help you get through and the confidence with training, I use a lot of visualization....I see myself standing at the start, try to feel how that is going to feel and change that anxiety to being excited for doing the race or work on getting into a calm state. This has helped me get through the initial start.

IMAZ is a great race and crowd support-It was my first IM. There are lots of great races out by you and winter weather! Lucky you!

Thank you!

I upped my training swim this week to 800 yds. Felt pretty good but did notice to the additional 200 yds.

Just wanting to increase the stamina.

That is great! I am getting back to the swim this week so you are way ahead of me! Building the endurance just takes a little time and then you will find that swimming a few hundred yards or a mile will feel the same. As you start to feel tired, really be focused on keeping proper stoke and form so you use your energy effectively through the entire swim.