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tcovert's Group - CLOSED
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 2008-04-23 5:50 PM |
Champion  5781     Northridge, California |  Subject: tcovert's Group - CLOSEDNAME: tcovert / Todd STORY: I'm a 48 year old, living in the Los Angeles area, who's currently working in nonprofit accounting, but has bounced around through various arts, entertainment, and charitable occupations over the years. I've always been at least as committed to various community and nonprofit volunteer activities as to whatever job my "career" is currently situated in. I was a mediocre-or-worse athlete 30 years ago in high school--competing in track (mostly the half-mile), swimming (500 freestyle), and cross country. Over the years, I've enjoyed playing pickup basketball and beach volleyball, but too often, I let my fitness wane and had to lose weight to recover it. But, of that, more below... FAMILY STATUS: Married (for five years), no kids. My wife also does tris and shorter running events. CURRENT TRAINING: A major priority for me is to train _for myself_ in my own way and at my own pace. I take a very "DIY" approach to training and weightloss. No coach. No heartrate monitor. I do research to help me better understand training methods and timelines, but I choose not to tie my life down to training plans any more than I have to in order to safely complete the races I enter. In addition, I spend as little as possible on my fitness: Inexpensive gear, no gym memberships, take advantage of the resources in my community as much as possible. THIS YEAR'S RACES: In 2008, I've completed my first 18-mile road race, a reverse sprint tri (finished 4th in my AG), a sub-4 hour marathon, and my first Olympic distance tri. 2008 RACES: The big enchilada this year is my first half iron, Vineman 70.3 in July. I'm also repeating the Bay to Breakers 12K in San Francisco in May, an Olympic tri in Ventura, CA, in June, the Disneyland 1/2-Marathon Labor Day weekend, and a return to my first tri at Malibu in September. There'll be a few running events and maybe another sprint tri or two thrown in as time, interest, and finances allow. WEIGHTLOSS: In my late 20s-early 30s, I lost nearly 60 lbs and started running and playing basketball again. Sadly, I let other things gradually get in the way and gained all the weight back and then some. Finally, in early 2004--at 5' 10 1/2" and 240 lbs--I'd had enough and undertook what I hope will be the last weightloss regimen of my life. From Jan. 2004 to Jan 2007, I lost 70 lbs. and began exercising again as part of that--first just walking, then added in some running, and--later on--biking, then swimming. By Sept. 2005, I'd run my first 10K. By March 2007, I'd finished a marathon. By Sept. 2007, I'd completed my first triathlon. I'm currently at 165 and have kept the weight off for well over a year. I've never followed any sort of "weightloss plan" apart from "Eat less, eat better, and exercise every day." WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTOR: In case it isn't obvious from everything I've written up to this point, I really enjoy a low tech, self-guided, approach to fitness and training and a high effort-to-expense ratio. To me, there's nothing more important about training--and competing--than the opportunity to increase self-awareness, life balance, and consciousness. So I'm definitely interested in stimulating mutual support among similarly-minded folks. I'm putting myself out here to encourage people who may worry that they don't have the time or the space or the money to participate in triathlon. (Not that I'm only interested in supporting people coming from that perspective, mind you.) If you're interested in joining in, let's hear about you and what you'd like to achieve. Edited by tcovert 2008-04-27 10:52 PM |
| 2008-04-25 9:20 AM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 269 Minneapolis, MN | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Todd - I'd like to join your group. This will be my first summer of triathlon training; however I come from a pretty athletic background. I've got two marathons under my belt and a decent amount of biking. I picked up the swimming this past fall when I decided I wanted to give the world of triathlons a go. My swimming has been improving quickly. I just started logging my workouts on BT a few weeks ago, but feel free to check them out. I've got an olympic distance tri planned for June 1....its quickly approaching! Anyways, let me know if you want to know anything else. Later - Sarah |
| 2008-04-25 12:03 PM in reply to: #1361319 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Welcome aboard, Sarah! Great to see you already making good use of the logging features, so just add me as a "Friend" to your blog and once we have a "full house" here, we'll be underway! Thanks for signing on and good luck with your training! ------- Todd |
| 2008-04-25 1:38 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 28 Texas | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Todd- Hey I would like to join the group so I can make my best effort to become a triathlete. You seem like a real nice guy and could prob. help me out a ton! Alittle about me, I am from Texas and have been in the army for almost 4 years. So I have a some what athletic background. I run a ton and i am about to buy a bike to start training. Of course like many the swim is right now my weakest event. But I just recently started going to the pool and started swimming. I am currently in college about to graduate to be a Lieutenant in the Army and i am pretty busy, but have enough time to train. I have never logged a workout because i really dont know how, and i have not got on agood training schedule yet. The hardest thing for me is weight loss. I went from 248 in Aug. 2007 and im now sittin at 214. I feel like i cannot eat anything lol. Its always easy to just grab something on the way home, but recently i have been finding good recipies and cooking for myself. But as long as i continue to drop my weight i should progress in each event. I have my first tri planned for Oct. 25 (sprint). I know it is kinda far away but i figured it would be a good idea so i could train hard for my first one. My goals are to keep a good level of physical fitness for not only triathlons, but so i can lead my troops efficiently on the battle field. I want to progress in distances and maybe one day in my life complete an Ironman. I am a hard worker and ready to go to work! |
| 2008-04-25 2:24 PM in reply to: #1362201 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi, Matthew (or is it Matt?): Welcome aboard. First thing you should do (if you haven't already) is look at the "mentor program instructions" here: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid... That will give you some guidance in getting set up (and stresses the importance of the log/blogging feature). You've got a lot of time to get ready for your tri (my wife and I both started in early April last year for a mid-September tri and both did fine) and if you're comfortable running already, you're ahead of a lot of folks. Once we get a full complement of "mentees" here, I'll post some more general welcome and intro material. --------------- Todd |
| 2008-04-25 2:33 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 7 Arizona | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Todd: If the group is still open, I'd like to join. I've never done this mentor thing before, but I've finally come to the conclusion that the biggest obstacle in my life is that I'm just plain lazy if left to my own devices... A little about me, my name is Courtney, I'm 26, married, and just had my first baby (a beautiful girl named Laura) in October. I wanted a good post-baby get back in shape activity so I decided I would become a "triathlete". I'm in the Army and grew up playing sports so I've always been athletic, but I'm not particularly fast...or strong...or coordinated...or really good at anything. I did my first sprint race last week and placed third so I'm feeling kinda good about that, and am looking for advice mainly to stay on track and to help get the most out of the little time I have to train. My ultimate goal is to run an Ironman one day, but in the short-term I would like to complete an Olympic distance race by the end of this year. I've always been a runner (though not a fast one), and I think I'm maybe slightly above average on the bike...minus the times I get caught up in my clipless pedals and fall over... My major limiter is the swim. I picked it up when I was pregnant because it was the only comfortable activity I could do so I've been getting better, but it is the thing that really limits what distance races I decide to take on. I'm also scared to death of open-water swimming. I think it's mostly because I have this idea that I will be trampled and drowned by an unruly, angry, swimming mob. And I hate jellyfish. Looking forward to the program and getting to know everybody! Let me know if you need more info. Courtney |
| 2008-04-25 2:46 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 269 Minneapolis, MN | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN |
| 2008-04-25 3:26 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Expert 938 Orange County, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Just poking my nose in here and checking on my up the road neighbor Todd. Courtney, your Army PT should give you a good head start on your fitness. Open water swimming comments. When racing in open water for the first time start near the back and the outside edge of the group of racers. Everyone else wants to be on the buoy line ( shortest distance to the next buoy). So everyone will be trying to get there and thats where most of the slapping and kicking takes place. Less so if you are further away from they buoy line. Makes your swim a bit longer, but less people accidently touching you as they try to swim past. No one wants to hurt you, they just want to go as fast as they can and you just happen to be in the way. Stay away from being in the front row center of the pack. That's where most of the contact takes place. Jellyfish, most open water races are wetsuit legal. Jelly fish can't sting through wetsuits. If you are really paranoid about jellyfish, there is a product you can smear on your hands and feet and other unprotected skin that neutralizes the chemicals in jellyfish, so even if they touch you, you won't get stung. I can't remember the name of it right now, but I am sure somebody here can tell you about it. Cash |
| 2008-04-25 3:47 PM in reply to: #1362400 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi, Courtney: You're in...welcome! Looks like a trend is developing of folks with some running background who need to develop confidence in the swim...it'll be interesting to see how that process goes! Be sure you've read the instructions page: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid... We'll be adding at least three more people before we start any sort of organized activity in this thread...in the meantime, I'd recommend getting up to speed on the use of the logging/blog feature here. Holler if you need any help. ------------ Todd |
| 2008-04-25 4:11 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 50 Ballantyne | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi Todd, I'd like to be in your mentoring program. I 've been going at this alone for my first year and don't have a fixed schedule to set my training to. I was hoping to get my first tri (sprint) in at the beginning of June, but that doesn't look like it will happen as I came about this idea a little to late. I am aiming for a sprint tri at the end of June. They don't have the Croixathlon up by St. Paul on here, but it is on June 28th. My goal is to finish in a respectable time (not after dark). I took up biking two years ago and have completed 2 Ragbrais. It is definately my strong area. My freestyle was non exsistent and running has never been a strong point of mine. I have just taken up training seriously in the last two weeks. I've been skirting around the issue, but have finally made the commitment. The problem is that I have my busy season coming up and will be working long hours with no real hard schedule to follow so I will have to fit training in when I can. I liked the fact that you seem much more flexible with your schedule and would probably be more understanding about having to move around my training times from week to week and day to day. I haven't been logging/blogging, but hopefully being in a group and accountable to the group will help with that as well as training. I find it is easy to say "I'll do/finish that tomorrow" but it is much harder to do to a group of people that are in the same boat as you are. |
| 2008-04-25 4:22 PM in reply to: #1362661 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Welcome, Joseph: One of the things you can consider as you work towards your first tri in June is not just what your priorities are, but how important they are relative to one another. You definitely can train through busy periods and--if you aren't trying to finish at the front of the pack--you can make progress and take satisfaction out of the process...and give the other activities in your life the attention they need/deserve. Definitely get yourself into the routine of logging your workouts (no matter how short they might be on a given day)...be sure you've looked at: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid... More soon... ---------- Todd |
| 2008-04-25 5:06 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 269 Minneapolis, MN | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Todd - It looks like we have a common goal of BQ. I just missed my qualifying time the last marathon I ran. Do you have plans for a marathon this summer or fall? I am thinking of doing one in November and using my summer triathlon fitness to get me across the finish line in a BQ time! |
| 2008-04-25 5:30 PM in reply to: #1362789 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Slahmmer - 2008-04-25 3:06 PM Todd - It looks like we have a common goal of BQ. I just missed my qualifying time the last marathon I ran. Do you have plans for a marathon this summer or fall? I am thinking of doing one in November and using my summer triathlon fitness to get me across the finish line in a BQ time! I don't see any hope of a BQ before 2010 (when I'll be 50 and the QT goes up). No marathon for me before early '09...I'll probably do LA again (so far it's the only mary I do each year), but might try to get another in sometime. A lot depends on how my half iron goes this summer...if it is really suck-tastic, I'll probably stick to sprints and Olys next year and that would increase the odds of my doing another marathon. In terms of residual fitness from tris for marathoning, I relied on that a bit last fall, but I did definitely shift emphasis after my last tri on Sept. 30. From Oct through February, I continued multisport training, but I almost totally stopped swimming and upped my long runs from around 10-12 to the 18-20 range. I had a miserable experience in my first marathon from undertraining and I didn't want to chance that again. (I did find that my marathon training provided a good enough endurance base to get me through my one sprint tri in early Feb without having to add a lot of tri specific workouts.) |
| 2008-04-25 9:43 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 52 Overland Park, KS | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN I'd like to join this group. I, too, have a bit of a 'running' start - I did a half marathon in November. I'm fairly comfortable in the pool but I've never done an OWS. I am scared to death of the bike and for the most part have only rode the indoor bike at the gym to date - I'm a cold weather wimp. I'm a 29 (nearing 30) year old mom of 2 young boys. I used running as a means of losing 60 pounds last year and I wanted an event to keep in shape for so I chose a triathlon this year. My biggest need is that I have no training 'plan' - I just go out and do what I feel like for that day. I am training for a Sprint Distance Tri on 6/14 so I don't have much time left. I'm brand new to this site so I'll get going on filling out my profile, logs, and reading up but would love to be included in this group! Carmen |
| 2008-04-25 11:17 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 7 Arizona | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Cash - Thanks for the advice on the swim. Good philosophy: stay out of the way. Not sure why jellyfish freak me out. Figure I've jumped out of planes, rappeled out of helicopters, fought in the war, and had a baby, but I'm scared of jellyfish. And bats. Good for me that I live in Arizona which is not native territory for horrible creatures like jellyfish. And maybe if I stay out of the way, the jellyfish will sting the fast guys and be too tired to mess with me when I come dog-paddling by... On that, does anybody have any advice for buying a wetsuit? Part of me feels like I'm not legit enough to own a wetsuit, but this state is big on the lake swim and the water around here is surprisingly cold. How should a wetsuit fit? Are there different kinds to chose from? Courtney |
| 2008-04-26 1:00 AM in reply to: #1358169 |
Expert 938 Orange County, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN If the price of a wet suit doesn't hurt your budget, get one. Trust me you have already earned the right to wear it. PS: I graduated from Arizona State. Read Tom Demerly's posts on this link, and read his links on how to wear a wet suit. Note he says that all full wetsuits performed the same no matter what the price. And that a full wetsuit what was worn correctly was always faster than sleeveless suits. Period. Many people will say sleeveless are faster, but usually they don't wear them correctly and that reduces the shoulder movement and therefore are faster sleeveless. http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp... |
| 2008-04-26 1:13 AM in reply to: #1363142 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi, Carmen...and welcome-- I see you're set up already with logging and you've added everyone as friends, so you're good to go. If your sprint tri is a typical distance, you should be fine as far as the bike goes with 7+ weeks to get ready. Hopefully the weather will let you get out on the road on a consistent basis. If you feel like you are making progress without a structured plan, there's nothing wrong with continuing on that basis and seeing how the first tri goes. In general, if you gradually build distance (the rule of thumb is 10% max increase per week) and allow yourself rest time after your peak distance weeks, you'll get ready just fine. We can certainly talk about this over the next couple weeks if you want...or you can see if there are recommendations for a plan that might work for the <8 weeks you have. Thanks for joining! ------------- Todd |
| 2008-04-26 7:21 AM in reply to: #1358169 |
Elite 3072  san francisco | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi Todd, If there's still room, I'd like to join your group. My name is Kim and I also have a running background but am a newer swimmer. Learning something like swimming at age 43 is challenging! Cycling is something I had not done in years but it came back really quickly and I'm finding it to be a strength. I did one sprint tri last fall and really loved it. I am currently training for an Oly that is 3 weeks away using a BT plan to structure workouts. I love to run but am really trying to limit my running due to an old plantar fasciatis injury. I am pretty disciplined when it comes to my workouts but I tend to do all of my training alone which while I enjoy, can be somewhat lonely. I thought perhaps being part of a mentor group would be great to have a group to learn from and share with. Off to do my long run now...Happy training everyone! |
| 2008-04-26 3:08 PM in reply to: #1363282 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi, Kim...you're in...welcome! I see you're doing the Olympic distance race at Auburn...I'll be looking forward to your report from that. I seriously considered registering for that (because a buddy of mine who does the duathlon there every year was nagging me about it), but we decided to do the Bay to Breakers run in SF again instead. You're logs look great...I can see where you feel your swim still needs to "catch up" to your bike and run. Your splits from your sprint tri last year were really solid! Make sure you've looked at the "mentor program instructions" page I've been directing folks to in this thread. I'll probably "close" signup tomorrow so we can get started on some weekly checkin opportunities while it's still April (this being an "April" mentoring program, after all) ------------- Todd |
| 2008-04-26 3:51 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Veteran 168 Washington , MO | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi Todd, I'd like to join your group if you have room for 1 more. I've joined BT a month ago or so and would like to get to meet some great folks and provide/receive some support/advice along our triathlon training journey. (I have updated my training logs on here back to Jan. ,since i have kept a personal log on my own) I'm 34 yrs old, married to an awesome wife and have 2 beautiful daughters(8&10) and live near St. Louis , MO. I'm relatively new to triathlon. I played baseball and basketball through high school and took up mtn biking about 10 yrs ago. Thought it'd be a good idea to get a road bike last spring to help get my fitness up to be stonger on the mtn bike and got hooked on road biking. Was doing a little running at the time as well. Tried a local sprint tri last year despite never learning how to swim (thought i was going to die on the swim) and had a blast! Ive done a couple team tri efforts as well as a duathlon since that first time. Ive also just wrapped up some swimming classes and feel a little (and i mean a little) more comforable in the water. Right now my training is going well and like you, i follow no exact plan. This will probably need to change as i have decided to do a HIM later in this year. My rough plans for the year are a few sprints early in the year, a quartermax in august and a HIM in september (unless my friends talk me into a HIM in June). Next year i'd like to do my first IM. Looks like a good group building here that i'd like to be a part of. Happy training and racing all! peace, John
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| 2008-04-26 10:27 PM in reply to: #1363672 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi, John...welcome aboard... I'm going to post some basic groundrules for this group tomorrow...maybe we'll get a couple more members by then...and on Monday we'll start using this forum space for regular checkins. Thanks for the info about what you've been up to, John...looks like we're both going to be ramping up for HIMs this year. ------------- Todd |
| 2008-04-27 10:54 AM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 50 Ballantyne | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Sarah, I was just wondering how long the Nokomis loop and Calhoun loop were. I make it up there a few times a year and they would be great places to train. For future reference I usually go by Joe although I answer to just about anything. |
| 2008-04-27 5:46 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Member 269 Minneapolis, MN | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Nokomis is 2.6 miles. Calhoun is 3.1 if you run on the running path and 3.2 if you run on the biking path. If you do Calhoun, Harriet and Isles its almost exactly 10 miles. Where do you live? I live one mile from Nokomis so let me know if you're in the area and we can meet for a run. I also plan on doing OWS in nokomis once it stops snowing  I use this map a lot to figure out the distance of my runs, it includes the river road, the lakes and the parkways...pretty nice. http://www.runmdra.org/mpls-lakes-distances.pdf |
| 2008-04-27 6:16 PM in reply to: #1358169 |
Expert 815 Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi Todd! If you've got room for one more I'd love to join your group. Me: I'm Melissa, 22, graduting from Michigan State in a week, and then heading off to medical school in August. I've always been pretty athletic, played softball in high school and was very competitive. Since beginning college I've not stuck with an exersice routine, but I've made it through without gaining the "freshman 15," or becoming a coach potato. I've never been a runner, swimmer, or biker so a lot of this is pretty new to me. My frist tri is a sprint on 6/1, and I'm concerned I won't be prepared. Planning another sprint in July, and a couple 5k races in there too. My "target" race is the NEMO tri in Missouri in September. It's longer than a sprint distance, but not by a heck of a lot. Not concerned with weight loss, but I definatly need someone to guide me on how the heck to train I'm having a hard time sitcking to a routine, and need somebody to keep me from slacking and point me in the right direction in terms of workouts. I hate running, (I feel I should mention that). I do have a road bike, but haven't been on it too much yet. Just got it tuned up so it's ready to go! Having never swam laps before, this is definatly been a slow process, but i'm getting there! I just started recording my workouts in the training log, but looking forward to using that feature. Can't wait to hear from you! Edited by Pegasus1731 2008-04-27 7:07 PM |
| 2008-04-27 6:48 PM in reply to: #1365089 |
Champion 5781 Northridge, California | Subject: RE: tcovert's Group - OPEN Hi, Melissa...looks like you'll probably be the last on board this group...welcome! First thing you'll need to do is make sure your training log/blog isn't set as private...right now, I can't see your log. You should be able to access the "edit your training" features function via the Control Panel link that you'll find on the top left when you're on BT.com. Through that same access, you can set up your "Friends" to include the members of this group...that'll give you handy links to visit everyone's log. Sounds like you're already hitting the pool, which is great if you've got a tri in 5 weeks. The key (IMO) is to try to get to at least close to the distance of each leg of your upcoming tri prior to the race (for confidence, if nothing else). Getting in a couple brick workouts (bike followed immediately by run) at approximately the race distances is also a very good idea. I'll be posting a list of everyone in the group with their general goals before the end of the evening tonight. Welcome! ----------------- Todd |
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