TZCoaching tri getting started group! - CLOSED

Hello, This looks like a good group for me.

I am a 41 year old, married, father of 4 beautiful daughters. I have two very demanding jobs as well but love this sort so much. I have three passions in my life, my family, football and triathlon. I think I'm an ok father and husband, am a pretty good football coach and am lousy at Triathlon and am ready to change that.

I trained regularly about 4 years ago and completed 7 sprint tri's and then I was promoted to Defensive Coordinator and that took most of my free time, as I adjusted to that girl number 4 came. Then....One year ago exactly, after a grueling football season in which we won the state and national championship, I found myself in the hospital diagnosed with Triglyceride induced Pancreatitis (my triglycerides were over 2700) and diabetes.

This last year has been spent changing my eating habits, losing weight and learning how to get through a football season without killing myself. I lost 30 pounds before football season (I was over 240 when I ended up in the hospital) and only gained about 12 back this last season. I spent last year simply walking and taking care of myself.

This year I am ready to get back to my passion of Triathlons and making it a steady part of my life. I want to complete at least 2 sprints this year and maybe an Oly by the end of the summer. My life goal is to complete an IM eventually, but want to do it in a reasonable fashion know that football season is always a distraction that I will have to learn to manage better and find ways to maintain conditioning through it. I know that if I hit the season in GREAT shape I can maintain some conditioning through the 4 months.

My final Triathlon goal is to one day become a coach as well. I am A LONG way away from that but I love the art of Coaching and I love Triathlon so it just makes sense. It may one day be able to take over the obsession I have with coaching football.

In my career life I manage my county's local Juvenile Detention Center and I enjoy that work very much even though it can be very demanding but it is very rewarding. I coach at our local Community College and we compete at the division 1 level for community colleges and are very competitive. It too is demanding but very rewarding.

Finally, last but not least, my wife is a true saint who is very supportive and wonderful and my four daughters are 3, 6, 11 and 17. My oldest is graduating this year and going off to college, she is a bit of a track athlete and has a chance to run in college. My 11 year old plays basketball and probably has a future in track as well although she will probably be more of a middle distance runner. My oldest is a sprinter that we are finally convincing to be a middle distance runner. My younger ones will probably follow the same track but we will see.

I look forward to joining this group and having fun learning about this crazy sport. I am currently doing the Couch to Sprint program because I am basically starting over. I am not sure if it will progress fast enough but if the first week is any indication it just might. It kicked my behind, but the distances and times are so much shorter than I used to do. I am hopeful that it will come back soon.

My diabetes is pretty much under control now, in large part due to a strict diet and lots of walking. I don't really look at it as a challenge so to speak just one more thing I have to manage and so far it has been relatively easy. But in this last week's workouts I am wondering if I had enough fuel on board for them, but they were so short it is hard to tell. I am really looking forward to doing this though as I look at it like a puzzle that needs to be solved and am motivated by the challenge.

Hope this is what you are looking for.

Thanks
Nino Pinocchio

Ok. I need you Tony!! .

NAME: Ev3110/Elena

STORY: in 2011 I decided to I really wanted to try a tri. Found a few friends to do a sprint with me and did it. Hooked. Loved it. As the years have passed, all those friends are no longer interested in triathlon. I'm the only one still racing. I'm an ok runner. Slow biker. Have panic attacks in water during Ows. But I always keep going! .

FAM STATUS/WORK: married. 2 kiddos-10 & 8. I'm 43. 2 rescued boxers who I just love! I'm a teacher but haven't been FT in many years. I substitute teach now. Fortunate I can pick and choose when to work.

CURRENT training: almost no training except for a little running since August when I hurt my back. It was bad. Started back running at the tail end of October. I was supposed to run my first 26.2 (CIM) but knew I couldn't get the training in. Ended up running a relay (13.1) at that race. I use BT log for all workouts, so you can ck out what I did earlier in the yr.

2014 RACES: couple 10k's, a few 13.1's, 100k bike, Sprint DU, & a 70.3. I was extremely disappointed w my 70.3 (Folsom). I trained more for that race (mileage) than my previous 2 HIM's. I felt really confident about the swim and was so excited about it even though I tend to get panic attacks. Morning of the swim I was ready! Gun went off. And almost immediately I felt panic start to creep up. It took me longer than any other race to compose myself to continue. Bike was slow. Run was awful. Oh, it happened to be 107 DEGREES that day. I finished but I swore off all tri's after that finish.

2015 races: I'm deciding. I know I'd like to do the following: My first 26.2, My first century ride, another 70.3 and several shorter races (tri &run) sprinkled in.
Weightless: I'm up 9 lbs since about October. .. Now that's a lot for a skinny chick!! I currently do not look good naked! Must lose it. :D
WHAT I NEED: I just want to get myself back on track: physically and mentally to feel strong again and get some races on my calendar!!

This may be a great mentor group for me.

If the dictionary had a definition for beginner Triathlete my name would be the definition. I used to run in high school i was a nationally ranked sprinter and had several schollie offers and then had an accident which ended my running career. I have run off and on over the years but never longer than a couple of months. Last year I tore my ACL, MCL, LCL, and meniscus and had them repaired the day before christmas eve. I started getting back into running two weeks ago and I have always wanted to do triathlons so I am hoping to focus my training towards that. I have done absolutely zero exercising in the last year (besides what I have done in the past two weeks) and just a little bit off an on the many years before that so my status right now would probably be beginner at everything.

I grew up in Las Vegas but I live in Utah now. Growing up in Las Vegas we always swam but it was never real swimming always just goofing around in pools if that makes any sense. So I am very comfortable in the water but not any good at real swimming. And I have never really biked before so really the only sport I know how to do is running.

I have five kids three boys 19, 14, & 11 and two girls 16 & 8. I am 42 and have been married for about 21 years.

As far as nutrition goes I have the worst eating habits you could imagine. I work construction as a project manager and on my way to work i grab a 44 ounce mountain dew or cherry coke and a pack of hobo's then for lunch whatever fast food restaurant is around with more soda. I will usually have a good dinner but then a bag of popcorn and some ice-cream each night before bed. So needless to say I need to lose about 45 pounds

My goal 2015 races: I have signed up for a beginners tri on March 21st (swim 300 meters, bike 12 miles, and run 5K) and a 5k race on the saturday before memorial day. I am hoping to do a full sprint tri in June/July, I am doing a half marathon in the end of August, hoping to do an oly tri in October and a marathon in December.

Hi Nino,

Thanks for sharing your story and welcome to the group! Glad to hear you've focused on triathlon to get you into a healthier lifestyle.

How long are the workouts your doing now in your sprint triathlon training plan? I would assume roughly an hour or so? If so, don't worry about the nutrition on the bike. My opinion; it's better to let your body adapt to training without the need to take in calories for that hour of training. It might suck at first, but you'll be better off in the long run, especially if you avoid any suggery calories like gels, sports drinks, etc. (I have nothing against them, I consume them too but not for training for an hour or less).

Again welcome to the group!

Hey Elena!

Thanks for joining the group and sharing your story! You have some long races planned for the year! Those 9 lbs will come off easy with the volume you'll need for those races so I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. It's only January 4th!

I see your in Hollister. I frequently visit Monterey - especially now that I moved to L.A. a few months ago! We'll have to meet up and go for a ride up there if your interested. Fremont Peak is one of my all time favorite climbs, I do it every time I visit town! I'll also be up there for the Sea Otter Classic of course, so you should come on out and wonder around (and race, of course racing is good...)

Again welcome to the group!

Welcome to the group Rebelzzz

Ok first thing, next time on your way to work pick up a 12oz mountain due, and a 32 oz jug of water. Drink that instead in the morning. You'll still get the sugar you crave, and add in a ton of water. Same for your lunches, obviously fast food is not the best but you can start making smaller changes - eventually you won't crave any of that stuff and you'll look for healthier options. The 45lb loss will follow...

How much have you run in the last couple of weeks? With the injury, I would suggest you take it pretty easy on the run. Even come the sprint triathlon in march; if you have to resort to mainly walking with a little running mixed in, it's probably the safest bet. Focus on more swimming & biking since they are lower impact and you can still gain fitness since you've been out for a year.

Welcome to the group!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask away! Your also welcome to email me if you have a more private question: [email protected]

Also be sure to visit the blog at www.tzcoaching.com I try and update it weekly, although sometimes I just get too busy! But if I get enough common questions I may just use them as a topic on the blog!

So, thanks again for joining! I'll start off with the questioning....

What's the biggest challenge you currently face in your training?

What goals do you have for your training this week?


Every Sunday I'll ask you the same question above and look forward to a summary of how your week progressed!

Ok, for me My biggest challenge is finding the time and energy to stay consistent and when I don't to not beat myself up for that which starts a vicious cycle.

This week my goal is to complete each of these workouts. This plan looks so small to me but the consistency is what is needed for sure. My body is starting to respond in familiar ways already. That is good and that motivates me. Probably my second goal for the week is to learn how to do morning workouts. If I can master that my schedule will open up so much more. I just can't seem to find motivation in the morning.

Also thanks for reinforcement of biking nutrition. When my rides do get to where I might need it I want to find whole food answers. Staying away from sugary crud has really helped me steady my blood sugar and I don't want to ever give that up.

Thanks

Nino

Tony
Would love to join your new triathlete group. Not sure if i'm doing this correct but here goes.
I just turned 65 last month. While physically active most of my life I decided to get serious about cardio training in January of 2014. I am retired and have lots of time to train. I love to train and have to be careful not to push myself too hard because injuries heal a little slower at age 65. I have a home in Arizona and my wife and I come down January to early May to escape the cold of Wisconsin. In our community here in AZ we have access to lap swimming as well as a complete fitness center. Last year I bought a Garmin heart rate monitor and using the 220 minus your age formula I do all of my training in the 80-85% of max heart rate zone. I have my first ever Sprint Triathlon scheduled in 9 weeks from now(March 8th) and am really excited for it. I have been spending a lot of time watching the Triathlon videos on YouTube. The more I watch the more confusing it is to know what would be the right training program for me.
Here is where I am at now in my conditioning and training.
Swimming: My current swim time for 400 yards (sprint distance) is approx 12 minutes. I swim 30 minutes 3-4 times a week
Biking: I have a Trek FX 7.4 and can bike 12 miles in about 50 minutes. If after I get back to WI and I still love Tri's I am going to upgrade to a good road bike. I currently go out and bike about an hour 3 times a week.
Running: My PR for a 5K is 35 minutes. I currently run about 45 minutes 3 times a week.
So here is my first question. Which of the training programs would you suggest for me? There are no 9 week plans so I will have to start somewhere beyond the first week.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions !!!
Jim

Ugh!!! Typed out and sent reply and apparently did not go thru! will try again later ...after my workout!!

Ev3110/Elena

Edited by EV3110 2015-01-06 10:45 AM

I would like to join. I'm new to this website and new to triathlons in the last two years.

NAME: Carolyn

STORY: I've struggled with my body most of my life. I'm prone to minor injuries - I've had tendonitis, sprains, tears and strains in more muscles and tendons than I can name. I've always been a bit heavy, never a "normal" BMI in my entire life since age 9, but never into a super high risk zone except during pregnancies when I ballooned 70 lbs heavier. My husband had a scare of a TIA at a very young age when our first child was 10 months and he committed to exercise, then a half marathon. He found the commitment of a race to be really helpful in getting in the exercise to lose weight, improve his stress and improve his health. We have tried to commit to a more active lifestyle for and with our two young children as well taking them on hikes, sports and activity. I have had the mindset always that I "can't run" and I "can't be fast" and I am "not an athlete" since I was a young child, so I looked for a challenge other than a running race and found triathlons. Having now "completed" (not competed as I say) five local triathlons in the last two summers and three 10K races with my husband for support, my parents still actually said to me in the last two weeks that I am not a runner and should really stop this as I'm going to hurt myself as running is bad for you. Lots of baggage inside and outside of my head. I have a demanding job both of my time and stress that makes finding the time for triathlons and training very challenging. I love triathlons. I can't seem to explain why. Most people in my life don't seem to understand it and look at me like it is a fad I'll get over.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with two young children.

CURRENT TRAINING: I train 6-8 hours a week.

2014 YEAR'S RACES: After doing two sprint triathlons in 2013 for the first time ever (as a 40th birthday present to myself - get myself in shape and do more than I ever thought I could), I moved up to a sprint and two Olympic triathlons in 2014. I also did two 10K races as part of my training to push myself in my weakest area. I grew up in the water (I'm not fast at swimming, but it comes second nature to me), but I feel like a "fake" when I try to run.

2015 RACES: Still planning the season. I don't have the time to train for a half iron, so I'm planning to stick with sprint and Olympic. I'm considering whether to add in a half marathon.

WEIGHTLOSS: I lost about 10lbs last year, but it has come back. My story so far (unfortunately) isn't much about weightloss, but more about size loss - I'm down two sizes in clothing.

I would like the support of others through this forum to ask questions and have some sense of community or acceptance. I'm relatively shy about my training. I train alone in my basement or on solo rides or swims. I have given up losing weight. I'm typing this while eating a salad - I have switched to smaller portions (lunch plates rather than dinner plates) and homemade salads for lunch at work rather than eating out, but bad habits (nacho snacks and pop) have undermined my efforts and I've almost given up on weight loss. I struggle with how to avoid or reduce injuries or recover from injuries. I've already been through physio for a knee tendonitis since starting triathlons in 2013. I don't want to lose out on this area of life that has become important to me through injury. I also struggle to find others who also find joy in what seems to everyone in my life as a strange pastime.

Hi! Would like to join in if the group is still open.

My name is Greg, married father of 2 grown boys, 5 dogs, other assorted pets. It's good chaos.

I did 2 tris in 2009 (sprint and oly) then life got in the way and I got fat. My wife (Micki) and I started getting back in shape about 6 months ago. She got a 'You are now 100% cancer free In October and we decided it's time for fun. I've lost about 40 pounds, still have quite a bit to go. Been running for 3-4 months, slowly! Still selling Micki on the triathlon idea. She's running C25K in week 3. So maybe.

Goals for 2015 are to get back in the pool and on the bike, do a sprint TRI and then an International later in the year. Lose weight, get back in shape, and have some fun.

First pool session since 2009 was this morning. It was UGLY folks. Best thing I can say is that nobody felt the need to throw me a life preserver.

TZ

I am just getting started and look forward to training for the bear creek sprint triathlon in PA. My goal is to complete it. I just turned fifty and my motivation has been the residents I work for. The average age of my residents is 74. I see them in the gym working out to stay strong so I said I need to do the same. I am in average shape and I just started working out approx. 5-7 hours a week. I been practicing swimming, spinning and walk/run. The event is May 31, 2015 and I am looking for the best way to get through this event and have fun. I am not sure how to balance my work outs, what I need to focus on, I need to get through the winter months. How do I go about practicing transition between sports. ETC ETC. I signed up with this web site about 3 weeks ago and I saw that there were some mentors and thought this would be a great start. Thanks, Nancy

Hi everyone!

Mowjack & Rebelzz: If you gather all your kids we can have a BT softball team!!!

Jim, welcome! Great story and you've got a fantastic start w getting in all three disciplines. Just a matter of increasing your volume. Im sure Tony will lead you in the right direction.

Greg: comic relief! lol just what I love! Glad ther eare equally-poor swimmers in this mentor group!

Hi Nancy! yay another girl!

My current challenge is nutrition. Im simply eating more calories than I am expending in exercise. High calorie, high fat, junk! For me nutrition and workouts are highly related. If I don't eat well then I either wont work out or the workout will be half- primarily because I just don't have the energy and motivation to give it my all . Once my nutrition improves then the workouts do too. Happy to say that both are improving as we speak!. yay.

Goals this week is continue with decent nutrition, increase strength training (which have been non-existent for about 6 mo!) and continue with running 20+ miles a week. So far I am on track.

Hey Nino,

Don't worry about how big/small the workouts are. Your right to focus on consistency for now! One of the things I always suggest for people just starting off (or really anyone), is the reward of checking off a workout. There's a few ways depending on how you track your workouts, but to give you some ideas:

If you have a spreadsheet: highlight your completed workouts in green, missed workouts in red. Green good, red bad. Don't let your spreadsheet fill up with red.

If you mark them on a calendar, draw an X on each day you completed a workout. That calendar should have so many X by the end of the month; no white space allowed...

You get where I'm going right? Trainingpeaks does a good job with this automatically color-coding the workouts; you'll be amazed at how motivating it is!

Welcome to the group Jim! I would suggest you do some HR testing rather then using the 220 minus your age. That formula can be off, quite a bit at times. Look at what your highest 20 minutes average is in your 5k, then use one of the on-line calculates to calculate zones. Might give you more accurate results.

Try not to get too lost in you-tube and other sites! Tons of information out there. It can be overwhelming for someone going into their first triathlon! Even a plan might be a lot to go off of (and I offer plans and still wouldn't suggest them at this point!). As stated many times on this thread; consistency is going to pay off huge. If your race was farther then 9 weeks, or longer then a sprint, I would definitely suggest a plan, but with 9 weeks to go I would say what your doing is fine.

Stay consistent with your workouts, it sounds like you have a good plan. I would suggest adding at least a brick workout (doing both a bike and a run) once a week. You can start off slow, like 30 minute bike and 1 mile run (total of 45 minute ish workout) and start increasing the running and bike time.

Welcome to the group Carolyn!

Thanks for sharing your story. I have to say, your doing the right thing by not focusing on weight loss. Just my opinion, and in fact I'm actually writing a book (my first and probably only! on the topic. I believe that by focusing on goals, like your husband did, rather then on the pounds, you'll actually be more successful and accomplish your goals sooner.

Soooo, let's focus on that and you joined a great group to do so!

Babysteps. How consistent are you in your daily / weekly workouts? How about before you reach for those snacks / pop, you have to earn it by doing your workout first.

Welcome to the crazyness of the group!

Welcome to the group Greg and congrats on your wife being Cancer free! Really awesome news.

Glad you survived the swim session this morning without being the star of the next Baywatch movie...

Have you signed up for a sprint tri yet for the year? You should! Having that commitment that you signed up for something will help your motivation!

Welcome Nancy!

Happy Belated birthday! Never too late to start, and that's amazing that the residents are exercising and inspired you to get into it! Very cool.

Start off slow. Your doing 5-7 hours a week which is actually really good just getting started and for a sprint distance triathlon. Just be consistent, with 2 workouts of each sport a week and 1 where you do both a bike and a run (a brick workout) at the same time. So you bike for 20-30 minutes, then go for a walk for a mile. Every week you can add a few minutes onto that.

Welcome to the group!

Main event will be the Lake Logan International in early August. I did that in 2009. Goal is to finish smiling. If I beat my 2009 time that would be a bonus, I'll add a sprint May or June. But really focusing on the longer distance. I enjoy them more and feel like I do better. I have not been fast in the past so I don't really race anybody but myself. I like the training - it keeps me sane and is the only way I can keep the weight off.

Here's what I am currently doing. Really looking for some guidance as I'm piecing this together. Not sure if this is the best path or not.

Current training plan is the BT Couch to Sprint to get some bike\swim going. I'm in week 1. I think my biggest areas where I'm hurting are swim form, endurance, and strength. Hills are killing me on both run and bike. Heart rate spikes early and I wind up walking a lot of hills on the run.

Swim - First session in 6 years was Tuesday. Form is awful, so is fitness. But that's what I expected and it's a starting point. I'll dig out my old Total Immersion book this afternoon. So focusing on form and endurance.

Bike - Very little and nothing structured. Have worked up to a 40 minute session on the Mt. Bike. TRI bike is off to the shop to have a good look over it and make sure everything is good to go. It's an entry level Felt but comfortable to ride. Did trainer session on spin bike yesterday and struggled to get my heart rate up even though I felt like I was working pretty good. I think that just says I'm weak on the bike. I do not have a power meter . Hitting the weights here to build power and focusing on endurance.

Run - Have been doing this for 6 months. Did couch to 5 k then the bridge to 10k. Hit max of 20 miles a week. Dropping that back as I start the training plan, but will add volume to the Couch to Sprint plan on BT. Don't want to drop all the way to 2 miles a week and throw away progress. Endurance is better than bike or swim but still poor. I've avoided any intense workouts so not speed. Try to keep it in High Z2/low Z3 with an occasional trip to Z4 going up hills. When I do Z4 for any length of time I can definitely feel it the next day.

Body composition. I've overweight. I've lost about 40 pounds in the last 6 months but still well into the clyde category. Really watching calories overall - trying to have some balance of protein\fat\carbs but no real idea of what I should be shooting for. Challenge is to lose weight the right way, and cut overall calories while still having enough fuel to do workouts well. I'm not great at that right now - have had a couple of 'blow up' runs where I cut calories too much the day before.

Workouts are almost totally early morning other than strength which is evenings. I have trouble eating early, so many of these are fasted. Read enough articles to be totally confused as to if this is good or not.

2 Strength sessions a week, restarting next week. Focus on back\shoulders, core, and legs. 2 sets of 15 reps.

1 day off a week. Typically Monday but not afraid to take more if I really need it. When I've run over 1 hour 20 minutes it takes me a long while to recover, so have been gently pushing that by a couple minutes a week.

Thanks for the welcome!

I am pretty good about getting in 6 workouts a week. With winter weather, everything is indoors. I am trying to do one long run of an hour or more - I'm up to 7 miles , two short runs of 30 minutes one of which has hills of two minutes at 5 incline out of every ten minutes, two one hour bike rides on my road bike on a trainer and one swim of 42 lengths of a 50 m pool each week. I struggle to get the three runs in and instead tend to do two runs and a row (I have a concept 2 rower my husband bought years ago and can't use because of a herniated ) of 13000 m instead.

I don't know whether two minutes of hard riding each ten is sufficient on the bike. It is hard to mimic outdoor sessions during the winter. My husband got me aero bars for Christmas so I've installed them and have been using them this week for the first time.

Last year I focused on increasing length, but I don't have time to work out 90 min as often in the winter and wonder if intensity might be better or if just logging time until closer to the season is ok. My first tri of the season will likely be a race in mid June of international or olympic distance.

Any thoughts from your experience would be appreciated!

Carolyn

Hi all!

Would love to join the group as a 100% newbie. I did my first duathlon last year (as I'm kind of terrified of the swim) and then Santa brought me a shiny new road bike for Christmas! I'm signed up for a sprint-Mt. Gretna in PA in May. It's a lake swim which is less scary than a lot of the Delaware tri's that are in the Atlantic. I hope to do 2-3 more as the season progresses.

I am coming into Tri's from a running background. High school, college, a few halfs (some minor injuries that were discouraging), innumerable 5ks/10ks, and a failed marathon attempt (my husband deployed in the middle of training and I simply could not keep up with the time requirements.

I have two little ones (4 and 20 months) and an Air Force pilot husband who is gone a lot. The tri regime seems to fit my needs a lot better than by challenging myself with increasing running distance (and therefore increased time commitment-ain't nobody got time for that! ok, some people obviously do I can get in/out of a workout in an hour and still be moving my fitness level forward! I currently work out 4-5 times a week, sprint workouts, long bike rides, sprint bike rides, treadmill spints, HIIT workouts, strength training, you name it. I'm game.

I LOVE nutrition. I find it incredibly fascinating and really enjoy trying to keep my family healthy and fit through the foods we eat.

I have no good ideas on how to train for this tri (ESPECIALLY THE SWIMMING?!) and am so excited to get some guidance from this forum!

I am also excited to motivate each other.

Thanks for having me! Katie





Edited by katietrimomma 2015-01-09 1:47 PM

Greg-Congrats on your wife's cancer free-status!!!! Life is good!

Edited by katietrimomma 2015-01-09 2:59 PM

Hello Tony,

I believe this might be the right group for me. I am a 31 year old male living in Rochester, NY I have been interested in triathlons for about a year now, I bought a road bike in March of 2014 and rode twice a week during the spring and summer. I used to be an avid trail runner but unfortunately fell off the wagon back in 2013 because of a knee injury. I work for a non-profit running adventure based trips for preteens and teens, basically I organize and run backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing trips for kids during the summer months.

I am getting married in May and want to get in better shape for the wedding/in general and triathlons and training would be a great opportunity for me to do so. I think the moral support and having a knowledgeable person to reach out too is going to be exactly what in need for me to reach my goals.

Thank you and I cannot wait to get started.

-Joshua