Leah's Group - FULL

Hi Claudia,

I'd love to have you on board!  I remember how I felt before I did my first triathlon and I would have given anything to have had a mentor.  I decided two weeks before the race that I would do it and I had never been on a road bike before.  I borrowed one that was a little too big for me.  I had it for about 2 days before the race so by race day, I still couldn't figure out how to change the gears properly.  I think I only used two gears throughout the entire race

Wow - you must be busy with two little boys!  We want another baby and won't wait too long because of my age.  I am sure you will have much advice for me on the baby front! 

I also have a little boy.  His name is Alex (Alexander) and he is just delightful.  He is a happy baby and he sleeps through the night.  He is desperately trying to crawl at the moment and is a little frustrated by the immobility.  My Mum is visiting from Australia at the moment and we will be lost when she goes back.  Fortunately my job and school hours are such that I will be able to train during the day while he is in day care.

I am sure you can achieve your goals.  Once you have picked your goals, I will be with you all the way.  I haven't checked yet to see if you have been using your training log but I will check as soon as I have finished typing this.  Be sure to check mine out (you will see that I am training ultra-slowly right now) and we can put our little training group together.

Well, Alex is crying so I need to feed him.  I am looking forward to helping you as much as possible and I am looking forward to learning more about little boys!

Cheers,

Leah 

Eeek - 9lbs!  Alex was 7.7 and if he had been any bigger I would have required a c-section.  They almost did one this time because I couldn't get him out! 

Funny how pregnancy sets you back for a while!  I want to get a few races in this year and then I will see how I feel about having another child.

I sure do understand needing motivation to train outside in the winter.  I know that if I can get myself out, I enjoy it.  Perhaps you can make a deal with yourself to train outside if the temp is over a certain number.  I am trying to make myself do my longer run outside on the weekends.  I don't particularly like running in the dark and I only do it if I am running with a group.  Do you have a hash group in Hartford?  I find that running with the hashers is a great way to stay in shape during the colder months.

As for shoes, I don't think it matters what you use at this point in time.  I don't own tri shoes and up until the last season that I competed, I didn't own road shoes.  I was racing in my mountain bike shoes.  I still use the same cleats as for my mtn bike pedals even though I am riding in road shoes.  The reason I like the mountain bike shoes so much is that they have a grip on the bottom, unlike road shoes which are flat and slippery.  My advice would be to get shoes which feel comfortable for you to ride in at the moment.  If you decide you really like triathlons and want to get more in to them, then by all means go for something more specific.  As for comfort, if tri shoes are not comfortable to train in then they won't be comfortable to race in and you don't want that.  Your shoes are not going to make a difference to your race times at this point in time.

Transitions are no where near as bad as you might think and since you are not racing to win, take your time.  You can practice them too.  I can give you plenty of tips as the time comes closer to a race.

I think March is fine for a 1/2 mary.  Just remember that if you have any problems at all, you can always walk.  I have done one 1/2 mary and loved it.  I ended up running faster than I had anticipated so I was stoked.  The last 3 miles nearly killed me though.  I had to talk to my legs the whole way to keep them moving.  I was determined not to walk :-) 

Hi Leah,

My name is Wes and I wasn't sure if the mentor program was just for new people or if anyone could join. It will be a year this January that I started training for a sprint distance triathlon. My goal last year was to complete the sprint distance (Triraider) that is at the same time of the Buffalo Springs Half Ironman in Lubbock, TX (which is where I am from). I ended up completing the triraider plus three more sprints and  two 5K's, and one of those 5K's was two months before the triraider. I am thinking of trying for an olympic distance this year plus some more sprints, but I still am at kind of a loss since I am really out of my training program from last year. So considering me still being so green after reading your intro I was hoping that I would be a good fit in your group.

I nearly forgot to add some of my personal info. I am 31, married, with an 11 month old girl, That between her and my wife they are the reasons that I started this trek to battle some poor genetics that were passed on to me. In short the males in my family like to have heart attacks in their 30's. Our blood is pretty much solid no matter how low of a body fat I am. Since I do like to eat and drink the brew this is my way of training for it.

Welcome NuNu.  I am delighted to have you in our group.  Do you have another name you would like us to call you or would you prefer your screen name?

It sounds like you are in control of your life even though things are hectic.  Goal setting is such a great way to manage a busy schedule.  Weight loss is also one of my big goals.  I love to eat and I don't intend on stopping!!!  However, I found that pre-pregnancy, when I was exercising routinely, I didn't have the desire to eat as much garbage as I do now! Hopefully that will happen again for both of us.

Do you have a triathlon in mind?  My suggestion to you would be to pick a race that fits in with your schedule - probably later in the season so you can work on some base miles - and then we can support you through the training.  It sounds as though you are already part-way there since you are biking and swimming.  If you are carrying quite a bit of excess weight at the moment then you might want to think about starting out slowly with the running - even pool running.  You will want to protect your knees until your body is more accustomed to running. 

The other thing I highly recommend is using the training log on this website.  That way we can keep track of your training and we can all inspire each other.

Thanks for joining our group.

Cheers,

Leah 

Hi Wes,

You are very welcome in this group.  I need encouragement as much as anyone else so by all means join in and share your experiences with the group.

Sorry to hear about the bad genetics.  I also come from a family where the maternal side has a horrible history of cardiovascular disease.  So far, I am the only one who doesn't have cardiovascular complications going back 3 generations!  The exercise helps keep my blood pressure down for sure. But the real reason I exercise is so I can eat and drink what I want

I will be doing my first Oly this year (I went from Sprint to HIM so now I need to do an Oly) so by all means keep up with my logs and see what I am doing.  I am pretty much starting from scratch since it has been 12 months since I last trained seriously.  My last race was September 05.  I look forward to seeing you progress back to good health and fitness.

Leah 

Welcome Pattie,

I had horses a long time ago somewhere in my past.  I used to show them.  I loved it.

It sounds as though we have a great little group here all striving to get back into some sort of routine.  The next few days will be super busy for me but I will try to check in on you all when I can.

Cheers,

Leah

Good morning everyone,

It seems to be a nice day here in WV.  As part of my informal training plan, I do a "long" run each week - preferably on the weekend.  I try to do this run outdoors and at the moment it is about an hour long.  I have a trail I like to run up in the mountains but I think the ground will be too wet today so I will probably just do a run on the rail trail.

For the next month I am trying to do 3 runs and 3 rides a week plus an optional extra of either.  I will do some swimming but my philosophy on swimming is that it is the shortest leg of the course and we cannot gain a lot of time from the swim (especially in a sprint tri).  Therefore, running and biking are where we can gain most of our time.  Of course if you are doing a longer race or you have no confidence in the swim, then swimming is more important.

As far as taking a day off goes, I try to limit myself to once a week but I don't always do absolutely nothing on a day off.  I like to swim or walk on my days off (or even cross train at the gym or do an aerobics class).  I prefer my day off to be a work day when I am usually tired.  I play it by ear and choose a day when I just don't feel like it!  Check out the article about teachers who do triathlon on the front page of BT.  It has some very common sense advice for fitting training into a busy schedule.

Anita - do you have your log set at private?  I am still not seeing it.

To answer your question about what race to do, just pick one that is the distance that you desire and that requires minimal energy to get to.  I am a big believer in doing your first few tris close to home so that you have the advantage of familiarity and you don't have to spend extra money on a hotel and travel.

 Do you use Fitday.com for your calorie tracking?  I really like that website.  I use the nutrition log here but I admit that I prefer Fitday.   I like that it gives all sorts of graphs including energy consumed vs energy expended.  It really helps me get my calories under control.

Have a great day,

Leah

Hi Jimmy - welcome to the group.  I will do whatever I can to help you achieve your goals.  I am sure that the rest of the group will be cheering for you too and between the 6 of us, we will all be achieving our goals in 2007.

 Go Team!

Leah 

Jimmy - when you get a chance, it would be easiest for us to help you if you would use the training log so that we can see what you are doing. 

If you really want to lose that much weight, you may also want to count your calories.  Many people use the nutrition log here but I prefer fitday.com.  It is a little easier to use and I had already spent many hours entering custom foods before I knew BT had its own nutrition log.  As a general rule of thumb, if you decrease your calorie intake by 500 calories a day (or use up an extra 500 a day exercising), you will lose a pound a week.  Just don't hurt yourself doing it!  I read an interesting article recently at www.menshealth.com.  It is called the new science of weight loss.  It gives you some tips on how to up your metabolism.  I don't know how scientifically sound it is but it is worth the read if you are seriously interested in dropping the weight.

What distance triathlon do you want to do?  Are you doing any running or swimming at the moment?

Leah

I hope you all had a nice holiday.  I know I have not answered some of your questions and I promise to do so soon.  I have my family here so things have been a little hectic. 

Keep tri-ing folks.

Leah

Hi Folks,

How are you all doing?  How did you survive the holidays Jimmy?  I know it is difficult to avoid the party-like atmosphere if that is what you are used to.  I drank a little too much but I hope to have some dryer days for a while!

Ah - the evil cigarettes.  I know what that is like.  I had a hard time quitting myself.  So I married a non-smoker who won't tolerate it for a minute!  Just keep trying to quit.  That is the best advice I can give.  At some point in your life, you will quit for good.

We are having spectacular weather here for this time of year but I am still training indoors.  I don't quite have the motivation to get outside on the bike yet.  I am sure it will come. 

What New Year's resolutions are you all going to make?  I don't usually make them (so I cannot break them!!!).  I just want to get myself back into a regular workout routine.

Cheers,

Leah

Awwww - that really sucks Pattie.  Sorry to hear about your leg.  However, look on the bright side, it will be a great excuse to work on swimming and biking for a while!

What do you teach?

Leah