Prof40's group CLOSED

I'd like to get in if there is room.

Name:  Brian

Story:  I've always been a somewhat athletic guy.  I'm 34 years old and played defensive line at a D2 college.  I tore my achilles tendon two years ago and started running for rehab.  I always hated running before that.  I ran a 5k last summer and my first ever 8k in the snow last month.  For some crazy reason, I have decided to start doing triathalons to continue challenging myself athletically and satisfy my competitive drive.  I just started swimming a few months ago and bought my first bike since childhood last week.  I really am a rookie when it comes to this stuff but I am completely in love with the training so far.

Family Status:  Single

Current Training:  Swim 3 mornings per week.  Run 2 days.  Bike--does the spin bike at the gym count?  Strength train 3-4 days a week.

This year's races:  Ran Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle 8k last month.  Plan to do Cleveland Sprint Tri in August and maybe an Olympic in September if I can get ready in time.

Weight:  I'm probably a little heavy for a triathlete.  I'm 6'2" 205.  I'm sure I'll drop a few along the way.  I've lost 35 lbs of baby fat since the achilles tendon injury in July 2007. 

Happy April 14th to you all!

My goal for this forum was to check-in daily and share tips and suggestions on all things tri-related. That is, until I took off unexpectedly for a long Easter weekend to a beach house that lacked wireless. Thank you all for sticking with me during my time away.

On the plus side, I see we've picked up some new members. Welcome to the group!

I'm brewing coffee as we speak -- I do my best thinking with a steaming cup at my side -- and I'm going to respond to every post I've missed.

As for how this forum will work, well, I'll leave that up to you. I usually do some exercise every day, so I log what I've done and then look through the new posts. If you want, and in addition to looking here, I'll view your logs and offer encouragement and advice. But, I do not want you to feel pressured to perform. If you're not a daily work-out person, don't jump into that routine and get hurt before the season even starts. Listen to your body.

Which leads to my first group question: what are your goals for the summer? Is it to do your first race, or to finish within a certain overall time? Or maybe it's to do a race with an open water swim? Or are you looking for a challenging way to lose 10 pounds by August 1? A successful season starts with clearly-defined goals.

So, by Friday, I want your 3 goals for the summer of 2009. And if one of them is to just do a race, then specificially identify it and the distance, and tell us all the place and date so we can offer some encouragement.

Here are my big 3 (among the many I've listed on my log): 
(1) finish the Providence 1/2  IM on July 12 in 5 hours;
(2) weigh-in at 174, which was my weight in 2006, by July 12. I have 14 pounds to lose; and
(3) complete a long-distance open water swim.

My 3rd goal is tricky, simply because there are not that many to choose from, and the main rule for my race selection is that it has to be at a venue that offers something for my wife to do while I'm off testing my limits. I'll keep you posted on what I find.

Name: Christen

Story: I'm a 37 year old mom of two boys, Tyler is 9 (almost 10) and Hunter just turned 5 last week. I've never been super athletic, but I was playing softball 4 nights a week on 5 teams when I got pregnant with my oldest (I played until I was 13 weeks pregnant). I'm competitive though, and I really enjoyed the competitive outlet of playing a sport. I did have horrible shin splints from playing in the outfield, all the running and stopping was horrible and tournaments where I was playing 5-7 games a day didn't help. I never went back to playing after my son was born because I spent 20 weeks on bedrest, and he had quite a few medical issues when he was born. Thankfully he's a very healthy, and incredibly intelligent kid!

I had my 4th surgery for endometriosis in June of 2008, and it was a very difficult recovery for me as they had to remove an ovarian tumor (thankfully benign), and my appendix along with extensive endometrial lesions on my uterus, ovaries, bladder, intestines, and the abdominal walls. During my surgery, they discovered severe bladder disease and I was shocked because I was symptomless. Sometime during the recovery, I decided I HAD to have my health back and I was going to be in charge from now on. My husband gave me a gym membership for my birthday (I begged him for it lol), and I started going as soon as I was cleared by my surgeon. I started walking on the treadmill, and lifting light weights as I gained strength back. I found out in October that I was going to have another surgery which was scheduled for December 2008. My goal was to be in the very best shape I could so that my recovery would be much easier. My friend talked me into going to spin class, and I completed HATED it because my butt hurt so bad afterwards lol. I was huffing and puffing and it wasn't fun...but the workout was awesome. I decided to give it a fair chance before quitting, and before I knew it I was going to spin class 4 days a week and I felt fantastic. I even went to spin class the night before surgery, and when the anesthesiologist had a hard time getting an IV in me I apologized because I hadn't been able to hydrate well enough after spin (he was a spinner too!). The recovery was a dream, I was off pain meds in 3 days, I was driving in 5 days, walking on the treadmill at 3 weeks, and back at spin class 5 weeks later. That's where things went wonky. I didn't have a goal, and it was hard to drag my butt to the gym and I was eating crapola because of the holidays. My friend approached me a couple of weeks ago and said she was doing her first triathlon, and it was a great beginner's tri because it was all women, the swim wasn't open water (they only let 20 swimmers enter at a time), and the distance was short. She asked if I wanted to do it and I totally laughed it off saying I'd probably drop dead. She planted a seed, and I couldn't stop thinking about it, actually dreaming of it, and finally wanting it. She and I started talking about goals, and I mentioned that I didn't have a goal to work towards so going to the gym wasn't happening and I hated it. I missed spin, but I wasn't motivated so right there on the spot I told her I'd commit to doing the triathlon with her. It's the Mermaid Series Triathlon, Fremont in June.

I went back to the gym on Friday to spin class just because it was something I really liked before and I thought it would be a good way to get my feet wet since Friday's instructor is the easiest. I showed up, and she was gone and in her place was the very intense, techno music loving high energy instructor and I couldn't just walk out...it was a challenge for me to finish. He asked where I'd been, and I told him about my lack of goals, and signing up for my first tri. He was really great about encouraging me to push through during class, and afterwards he said I did awesome at keeping up with him. I wasn't going to quit, I had to keep up!

Saturday was a crazy day here, so I ended up going to the track on Sunday and I was totally huffing and puffing after each quarter mile (I did once around the track, and rested for 2 minutes, and then continued this again 4 times). I was really frustrated afterwards because I wasn't nearly as tired after spin class as I was from running, and I felt like I could have hopped on the treadmill after finishing spin on Friday. I was totally sore on Monday, but went to the gym and spun by myself for an hour and a half and then came home and soaked in epsom salts, downed an ibuprofen and I was fine today, very little soreness.

Direction? So far, I'm completely clueless as to what direction my training should go. My goal is just to finish the triathlon, although true to my competitive nature I'd love to beat my friend's time. I feel like I can bike for days, but I have no running endurance which totally baffles me because I would have thought I would have some cardio fitness left over from spin. I'm waiting for my goggles to arrive and they should arrive tomorrow (I ordered a couple of pair of Swedes because I've never had luck with regular old goggles) so I can hop in the pool and start swimming. I love swimming, but it's been a long time for me so I'm not sure what to expect. If nothing else, at least I'm finding out how much work I have ahead of me and I can only get better. Ideally, I'd like to be working out 6 days a week. For this week and next I'm going to be working on single rotating events, and then after that I'll start bricking my workouts. Eventually I'll have to move it outside, but since I'm training mostly during the day I find that it's convenient to have the boys go to childcare at the gym. My husband is supportive, but I don't feel good about walking out the door the minute he gets home since family time is important as well.

I'm excited to be here, and I hope I don't drive you guys crazy with all the questions!