crea0029/etknowles's group - CLOSED for now

Hi, Pam!  

NAME: Velcromom - Linda
STORY: I'm a 45 year old mother of 3 - one in college, one in high school, one in middle school.  I'm married to an Ironman (Canada, 2008), and the bug has bit me.  I did a couple of sprint triathlons 8-9 years ago, but have been pretty inactive for years.   I've got Rheumatoid Arthritis, so I'me struggling a bit with physical limitations, but I think that big goals are really helping! 

I made the decision in September to enter Ironman Wisconsin - hey, I had a year to get ready! I then immediately entered and finished the Rock-n-Roll half marathon 3 weeks later, and I'm feeling like I can do this!  I'll do a full marathon 3/1/09; a HIM in May, and then Ironman Moo (as my hubby calls it) in September. 

FAMILY STATUS: Married, homemaker, 3 kids. my kids are swimmers, polo players and triathletes.  It's contagious in my family!

CURRENT TRAINING: I'm trying to get out 5-6 days a week.  I train with different partners, always looking for more.  Nobody else around here is doing IMW, except my hubby, and he's light years ahead of me.  My schedule can be tough with kid commitments, so I need to stay flexible. 

 THIS YEAR'S RACES: ....Just the Rock-n-Roll half!   Plus, I was the Sherpa at IMCanada!

2009 RACES:  The main "A" goal race of the year is Ironman Wisconsin on September 13th.  I will also do the Wildflower HIM, the Napa Marathon, and who knows what else...

WEIGHTLOSS: I've struggled in the past, and hard as it is for me to believe, now I'm trying to put some back on

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WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I've made a commitment to this, and am looking for all of the support, suggestions and advice that I can get!!

Room for one more??

I'm 49, having been doing tri's for about 6 yrs. Last yr entered my first 1/2 IM- (Steelhead) - however the swim was cancelled due to riptides- so hence forth- still not officially done a 1/2. I' a slow/steady, plodder- love to soak up information, and appreciate any help/motivation can get! I'm thinking of running a 30 km race in March, followed by an Oly and 2 - 1/2's  IM- one in July, the other in Aug.  I'm an RegN, work Mon to Fri- try to train 6 days/wk ( with at least one rest day). Would like to lose 15 lbs... I have 2 daughters- one who is trng for Louisville , and the other is an amazing support team member at our races. Have a very supportive husband- he gets bored at races- howvere always there to help me out!! Anyway- looking forward to any mentoring available!!

thanks 

Helen   

Hi everyone,

I am going to close the group for now.  I have a few inside people who will be joining and we will hear from them soon.  I will catch up with everyone soon.  At work and have things to do.  Welcome!!!!

Hello Pam and everyone else,  I am one of the inside people that Pam was speaking of... What a great pleasure it will be to get to know each and every one of you.   I started on March 31 of 2005 as a overweight 49 year old recovering from cancer who decided that was not going to be my future... six full and lots of half marathons later, with a couple of other du-athlons along the way I am working toward my first HIM to celebrate five years cancer free and a wonderful life at Oceanside this spring.  I plan to raise some serious money for prostate cancer as I have survived and 25 years ago I watched my father die from the same disease.

As to training:

I can be a big help to anyone about running...

I can help some on the bike....

I will need all the help I can get with the swim...

I am really looking forward to working with our group this spring.  I can help and I will need some help...  Pam is a great kid and a real trooper...  She will be a great partner to all of us!

It looks like it will be a bunch of us "mature" athletes.  I am a 52 year old grandfather... Happily married, two daughters 24 and 27.  The younger is the mom...  I have a great son-in-law.  My wife became paralyzed by a massive stroke 5 1/2 year ago and we moved to Arizona for her health and it has been great for mine.

I have an excellent coach and several great running and tri groups I hang out with in Tucson.  We go to Cincinnati in the summer where my business is and to visit the kids.  Good group of Tri athletes there too.

After a two week cool-down after the Tucson marathon I start serious tri training tomorrow.  I workout five + days a week at some level, keep my diet on track and live life to its fullest.  I write for pleasure and will post things from time to time.  Any one who likes short stories will get some if they ask, and even if they don't I might send one anyway.  I think Pam has read some.

I am ready to kick some butt and we will all be better from the sharing in the months to come. 

Your partner in this great enterprise of life,

Emerson from Tucson

[email protected]

Here is an article from the local sports section of the paper from two weeks ago...

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/270456.php

Hello again, I have added all of you to my friends list so I can check your logs and give you inspires... Karen, good getting a photo up but I think a turtle can be just the start... something speedy will be a good one to shoot for.  Helen, Lisa, Cath and Linda... well, you guys need to add an avatar.  Pam you know from her bike, mine is from the NY marathon (it kicked my behind but I finished).

If you need some technical help, put the question on this list and one of us will explain how to get started.

I will share my new joy...  my little girls little girl... what a happy moment to share...

First off, welcome everyone!! I am so very excited for the opportunity to share my passion and love for triathlons. I am not a certified coach, but have been know to give advice when ask so feel free to ask as many questions as you want! We also have a few returners from the mentor group I was in and they are filled with knowledge and now some experience. I hope to make this group a network a people you can turn to for advice, inspiration and the occasional kick when you need some motivation. I hope this group will also be there to support others during the ups and downs of our everyday lives as we all know our lives don’t revolve around the sport (I just like to think it does ) I know that personally I will be looking to everyone to keep reminding me of the wonders of this sport as I prepare for my first Ironman.

Now on to the members. Feel free to banter back and forth with one another so we can learn more about each other. After this first week of introductions, I plan on start with a few questions to get conversation going about our triathlon lives.

Again welcome everyone!  I will be saying hi to everyone individually today, but I also have a Christmas tree to cut down with the parents so please be patient with me

Hi Linda,

Welcome!  I notice that was your first post on Beginnertriathlete!  Welcome to BT as well.  First off I want to say congrats on signing up for Ironman Moo.  It will be a huge honor for me to work with you and see us both make it to the start line come this September.  Did you sign up online or in person for Ironman?  I have some wonderful pictures of the race in 2008 (I volunteered and brought my camera).  I look forward, if you do not have prior experience with the course, talking about transition and the course!  I personally admire your dedication and person goal of such a big race with your commitments.  Have you done any triathlons in the past year?  I saw you did the half marathon.  Welcome again and I look forward to sharing this next year of goods and bads with you on our way to the big IM Moo.

P.S.  I am saving money for all the wonderful Ironman gear and have a very special bank.  I will post pictures soon to show you Moola

Hi Cath,  Welcome to the group!  I am very excited to have you join in the group!  First off, the half Ironman program on BT is very good and you will not be disappointed with it.  I think you will find that there are many others in our group that will help motivate you, especially with the cycling ( I personally love to bike).  I hope to introduce some nutrition/eating right information to the group this year.  Since you have experience with marathon training that will help the nutrition for the half Ironman, which can be very delicate.  I hope you find a bunch of support from this group; we have some group members use training as a stress relief and will have no problem keeping up on you to make sure you are working hard.  Welcome again!  I am very happy to have you in the group.  

Karen, welcome!!  I am excited to hear that you are looking for knowledge and looking for friends.  You will certainly find some good ones who will always motivate you here.  I am a little curious as to where you are racing these early races this season.  Granted I do not know much about the weather in BC, but  I would think a triathlon in March would be difficult and cold!  Like I told Cath, we will certainly be spending some time talking about nutrition and eating right this mentor session.  I too also have problem managing my weight when I am not in heavy training.  Please feel free to share what you know and ask all the questions you want.  We can also take a look at how your training is going and maybe offer some motivation or advice for races to finish the 2009 season.  Again, welcome to this group. I think we are going to have a great few months and hopefully more!

Lisa (and everyone else!)  I am so excited as I read through your profiles about this mentor group!  Welcome Lisa!  One thing you will notice is I shut down the group after 5 new people joined.  I did this because I have 3 or 4 others joining us from my past mentor group and we are still great friends and talk all the time!  You don’t have to worry about us fizzling.  I have good feelings about this!  Congrats on finishing the half marathon just a few weeks ago!  How are you recovering?  I think you and I can push on each other as running is something I do not enjoy and by far is my weakest of the sports.  I am glad you had fun with your race.  I think discovering how to make each area of this sport whether running, biking, or swimming is very important to train properly for this sport!  As for living IM Moo (WI) through Linda and me, we will certainly be talking about it and as I told Linda, I volunteered this past year (2008) and took tons of pictures so I will share those and some stories as well.  I hope this group can motivate to your dreams of a future Ironman!  Welcome again!

Yes Helen, we of course have room for one more!  Welcome!  I’m so sorry to hear about the swim on Steelhead.  My first HIM made wetsuits mandatory and the swim was almost cut short.  I can also relate to the slow and steady; that is how I race as well.  Maybe we can do some discussion on speed training to help us get faster.  As for motivation, you will get plenty of that from the group!  As I mentioned to the others, I hope to also do some discussion about nutrition and weight loss or maintance in the future.  I’m curious as to the age of your daughter who is doing Louisville.  Do you have any hopes of doing an Ironman or are you just having fun with half’s?  Welcome again!

Hi Emerson!  I am so happy you found us.  You did an excellent job introducing yourself!  I am so happy you have continued on.  I really look forward to going with you through your journey to your first half Ironman.  I wish I could be there to be part in the celebration.  I will certainly enjoy sharing the trials and tribulations to the start line!

Instead of directly talking to Emerson, I find that I am just going to talk about him.   Emerson deserves to co-mentor this group.  The knowledge he has and stories he can share have helped develop me into the athlete I am.  I have read some of the stories Emerson has written and if you are ever in the need for a reality check, please ask him for one of them.  The journeys Emerson has gone through could be a great lesson for us all.

I have also been brighten greatly by the stories and pictures Emerson has shared with me of his beautiful baby granddaughter.   I am sure we will see many more to come and those will certainly be a cute as the many we have seen so far.  Emerson, I love the one of the four generations of your family.  You should post that one for the group!

Again, I am so happy you found us.  I look forward to continuing our friendship and learning more about each other and sharing our excitement! 

abud7373 - 2008-12-20 11:45 AM Hey Pam, Do you have room for another? I won't take up much space . Thanks

Oh my gosh Amy!  Yes we do!  Can you fill out the mentor sheet so the others can learn more about you!  Welcome! 

amy mutz - 2008-12-20 10:00 AM Pam, I hope I'm not to late! I would like to join your group, you are a great example and motivator. I promise to be a positive force for your group and encourage all. I will however be in Julies group also if both of you approve!?!? I'm ready for a new year! Go Irongirl! Love from Indiana Amy

Amy, I would love to have you as well!  Feel free to bounce between any groups you would like!  Could you post a message like the others talking a little bit more about yourself so the group can meet you?  Welcome and I am excited to have you as well! 

Okay, some house keeping now that I think I have say hi to everyone!  If I haven't please let me know!  I am very excited about everyone here... I think we are going to have an awesome group!

Now to the house keeping.  I will be in the process of developing a cool name chart to put in your goals on the main training page so you have quick access to everyone's pages.  Like Emerson said, Karen and Cath need to open your training pages so we can all see (if you are okay with that).  If you are not sure on how to do that, we can guide you through it.   It would also be awesome if you wanted to put everyone in your friends so you can see everyone.

Please feel free to say hi to everyone and get the discussion going. I will be posting things I would like the group to do in pink so everyone can tell! (Pink is my triathlon power color ) My first "assignment" for everyone once you have gotten your general introduction is to just post up what your strengths are and what your weaknesses or things you would like advice or guidance on over the next few months!  I also want to know something that just makes you really really excited!  I'll start!

My strengths:  Swimming and biking!  I actually develop a lot of my own swim workouts and am pretty much self taught there!  I will try to help anyone with as many questions as possible in those areas!

My weaknesses/need advice area:  My running!  Emerson can tell you that this is something I just struggle with. I am hoping anyone who has longer running experience can help guide me through my first marathon in May and of course the marathon in IM Moo 2009 in September!

What I am really excited about?  This group and IM Moo 2009!!!  I can't wait for IM.  I have a countdown clock and find myself always thinking about it!   I will post a very cool picture with a story later on!