Allenh's Group - CLOSED

Alright.  I just finished my first week of training and I'm 100% committed to completing my first tri in September.  I am coming from a pretty un-fit background at the moment, but in high school I was a fiend- figure skating, kick boxing and dancing throughout the year. I really miss that level of fitness and the discipline that comes with it.  Last year (February) I ran my first 5k.  I had never been a runner, so was really pleased with myself for finishing the race a smidge faster than I had anticipated (still sort of a tortoise pace). 

So, if I can I'd like to join your group.  You remind me a little of my favorite boss who is my favorite because he pushed me to be the best without breaking me and was genuinely proud when I shattered records. 

I will probably be on here daily updating, I get pretty excited to see times add up.  My first week is lacking in some time departments... I need a new sports watch.  My runs are pretty exact because I have a nike+ chip.

So- what do you think?  Are you ready to take on a brand newbie?

Hi there,
I'm looking for a new group - will you have me??

Hi there,

I would like to join your group! I just finished my first sprint triathlon yesterday and while that is a great accomplishment for me, I think I really would like to improve my time. I think I need a slight bit more structure to my training and I think joining a group is just what I need. I am new to this website, so I am not familiar with logging my workouts and such, but I'm a quick learner and I'll figure it out.

My next race is a sprint on 7/12. I plan to start training again next week, so this means 11 weeks of training to my second tri. I took 2 hours to finish my race yesterday, hoping to better this time come July!

It sounds like you are a very focused individual and would make a good mentor! So, can I join your group?

Yixin

hey allen i am also looking to join a group...im also a rookie triathlete, as in i never actually ran one. but i am an avid runner, spinner, and a pretty good swimmer, when its the season you know...so whatcha say you need a good hand? this site is so cool......way better than active and mapmyrun...ive been training and participating in running and cycling events here in the napa valley(ca) continuosly. just havent spread my wings to fly yet so to speak. but i do have guts and most important im mentally in tune with what needs to get worked on and train with passion and respect to the sport...Im open to any sugestions you as my mentor, or anyone in our group that wishes to share their knowledge with this california country athlete. talk to you soon!

depending on your goals, i suggest you turn may into feb. or march you know...just flip the switch..you can you why? because your a supreme athlete...for reals we are unique kinda in a way, our mind shuns agony..we actually smile and say damn that interval was tough...and we shake it off like nothing.//..like it never happenned..haha.
i also train numerous times a day and all week...unless i have to taper for an event or something...yea...machine like.

hi ms original im machine and will be your colleague in training...feel free to add me to your friends list for i can follow any good ideas you might come up with...thanks.

hi there mmh...just introducing myself to you as i will be a colleague of yours as we prepare for the ultimate race...im have a good feeling about the mentor program...we can share ideas which i will take gladly. feel free to add me to your friends list...thanks

mr gump feel free to add me to your friends list as i look forward to hearing what everyone has to  share on training tips...cant wait...looks like youve dived right into the tri season very good.awesome!!!..that way you know what you have to work on depending on your goals of course...im focusing on the swim since i dont do it year round...but ill be ok...but you, great job...

The following members have been added to the group:

GrilloOriginal
mmh
kylie_gump
m@chine
kwschutte
yvettem
mallorym
spleen


Does anyone have any questions for me right off the bat? I will be checking the site multiple times a day, so you can either PM me or just post here in this thread. After I get to know everybody we will decide when to start. I already have a few workouts planned to see where everyone is at so I can start getting some personalized workouts in.


Edited by allenh 2009-04-20 4:06 PM

Hi!

My name is Mallory, we met the other day at the King Tut Tri. I've done a few triathlons including Pflugerville and Monster last year. You seem really strong and disciplined, yet nice and friendly. I would love to be in your group so you could kind of help me stay on track for my future tris. I'm planning on running the McKinney Kiwanis in two weeks... see you there!

~Mallory

First of all, I am a Mrs. not Mr. , just wanted to clear that up.

Allen, thanks for having me. My first question for you is, how do I recover from this race? I spent most of today sleeping and watching TV. I feel like such a slug! Is there anything, food or drink I could be eating to give myself an energy/mood boost? Or anything that you have done that felt you recover faster?

Second, I'm also looking to formulate my training plan for the next tri. I plan to start next week! Over the last 3 months, I have followed a training plan aimed at beginners (whose goal is to finish). Now I know I can finish, what can I do to improve my times for each leg?

BTW, I live just outside of Philly. Anyone from the mid-Atlantic region?

Hi folks, hope there's room for one more:

Me: I'm a 40 year old, 6'1" 230 pound, married father of 3 with a new business that has me working 6 days/70 hours a week.  

Early last year, soon after starting the business, I noticed that I started putting on (more) weight from becoming increasingly sedentary so I started running.  In August a buddy asked me on a Friday if I wanted to do a sprint tri that Sunday.  I said yes and 48 hours later I was a triathlete.  I started training a bit harder and did another sprint in October and took 15 minutes off my previous time.  I was encouraged by my progress so I've been working on building my base and get maybe 5-6 hours of training time in per week.  Since then I've done an Oli in March and a 5K last Saturday.

This is my first stab ever at endurance sports.  I was a combat athlete (wrestling, jiu jitsu) for a long time but those disciplines were entirely anaerobic.  Explosive strength was what I've always been good at.  Moving fast: not so much.  

My next race is a sprint in June, and I figure I'll get in another sprint or two besides that one and maybe another Oli later in the season.  I'm in Florida so we race until November.

I'm strongest, by far, on the bike.  Cycling is big where I live and I have training buddies that are accomplished cyclists, so I get good tutoring in that area.  My swim is getting better, but my running is dreadful.  I'm hoping to really improve my run this summer so I can make it a bigger part of my training.

Well Kylie, from my personal experience, I find drinking things like powerade and eating things with a lot of protein help to recover the quickest. The powerade restores your electrolytes, and trust me, you lost plenty during your race. Protein as a whole helps muscles to recover quicker as well as make them a little stronger if it's right after a workout.
But my advice to you is to take it real easy this week. Training will start on monday so I need you to be fully recovered. I know it's going to seem hard to not do much this week, but if you can't hold yourself back any longer (I can't go 3 days without working out) just run 1 or 2 miles at a conversational pace. I will let you know what you should be doing monday later on this week. So in the meantime... rest rest REST!

Yes, Sir! I will take it easy!

BTW, here are my splits from yesterday:

Swim: 21:21
T1:4:36
Bike:53:08
T2:1:32
Run:38:38

The water was horribly cold and it was my first open water swim, so I am amazed I even survived. I am an above average swimmer in the pool, but the cold water completely took the wind out of me and for the rest of the race, I just couldn't pull myself back together. Although the bike was much better than I'd expected, the run was terrible. I had side-stickers whenever I tried to run 3 minutes consecutively, and so I was forced to stop and walk for a large part of it. However, I was determined to come in under 2 hours, so I forced myself to really run the last half mile or so. Anyhow, lots of room for improvement. I am so excited!

 

Congratulations on those times! What distances were they? And how far was the transition away from the water? What was the name of the triathlon?

Thanks!

Swim: 750m
Bike: 12 miles
Run: 3.1 miles

Transition area was really close to the water. However, I had problem getting out of my wetsuit for T1. I wore my watch over my wetsuit and I have to take off my watch before I can take off my wetsuit, but I forgot to take off my watch, so I had a bit of problem. Also, I couldn't really get my biking top on me properly, because I was still a little wet from the swim and that really cost me some time too. But I ran with my bike to the mount line to try and make up some time.

The race called Rumpass in the Bumpass in Bumpass, VA. Beautiful place, but water was 62 degree F. I never swam in open water prior to this, so I think I really underestimated a cold open water swim.

Also, did I mention that we drove 5 hours south to get there, and it took close to 7 hours to get home because of horrendous Jersey turnpike traffic that spilled over onto I-95 N. I'll be sticking closer to home turf for the rest of the year, since my husband already told me he does not want to spend every single weekend of the summer traveling. Ha But I think he'll be alright if I wanted to go to Kona. Ha Ha.

Those are very impressive times for those distances for your first tri! Obviously we need to focus on running, and I think that is going to be the major discipline we are going to train for you in the next couple of months. But all in all, that is extremely impressive!

Hi everyone,
Seems we have a great little group going with a good mix of boys and girls.
I thought it would be nice to get to know one another a bit more. In the last mentor group I belonged to even though we connected via the site regularly and inspired each other most days it wasn't till the last few weeks we found out what everyone did outside of triathlon!!

Anyhoo here goes me....

I live in Victoria, Australia
I am married with 4 kids (2 are mine and 2 are step kids - 3 with us full time).
I turned 40 at the end of last month and celebrated that with a holiday in France & Italy with my hubby (kids stayed in Australia).
I also attempted to run the Paris Marathon while I was in Paris.  I had to retire injured at 30k which was a huge dissapointment but I have made myself get over that and be satisfied that my longest run was 33k in training and I still had some legs left and I am not built for distance - taekwondo is all explosive based and this has been my main sport.
I have done one short distance tri and came 6th in my age group but just know it was not a very competitive field!!
I have been running for years - have done 2 x half marathons and a bunch of 5 & 10k events.
I have my 4th degree black belt in Taekwondo (have been training 18 years) and competed in the sport of taekwondo (Olympic style) for many years. This is my first love!!
I have an online personal training business www.glowwomensfitnessonline.com.au  if you want to check it out. I have owned gyms and taekwondo schools and pt studios over the years but now my kids are older I find online training is best for me because I can work my hours around my kids and my training.
I usually train 6 days a week for up to 2 hours a day. This hasn't been the case in the last month or so with the taper for the marathon along with some injuries I have been dealing with but after a slow May I plan to step this up again.
A new triathlon club has just formed in my area and last night we had our first meeting (I am on the committee) and tonight we have our first swim training session. I am still jetlagged as hell so this should be interesting!!
My 11 year old daughter also signed up and will be training too.
I only learned to swim about 10 months ago and had been swimming 10 weeks before my first tri - talk about scary!!
So swimming and bike are the two areas I need to work on most. I haven't done much bike at all but the tri club has multiple sessions each week for each discipline (between 3 & 4 for each) so I am looking forward to seeing some big improvements.
The plan is to take this month and a bit easy (In Aus our season has just finished so I have a solid 7 training months before my first tri for this coming season.)
The plan is to get some good taekwondo training in and build up some muscle in the gym so I no longer resemble a stick insect and do 1 session of each discipline each week with the tri club along with some of my own tri training each week.  

I look forward to hearing some more about each of you when you have a sec (and if you want to of course).

This was a great idea mmh! I was actually going to ask all of you to tell me a little bit about yourselves. The stuff I want to know is:

AGE:
GENDER:
STRONGEST DISCIPLINE:
WEAKEST DISCIPLINE:
NEXT RACE DATE:
POOL AVAILABLE:
SPINNING OR ROAD BIKE AVAILABLE:
GYM OR WEIGHTS AVAILABLE:

And also if you feel comfortable, getting to know everyone's first names would also be a plus. Please feel free to share any other information, stories, or questions as well.

So Allen, I have a question. I recently put my two schedules together and discovered that the Kiwanis Tri is the morning after prom. This isn't a big deal, I have no problem leaving a little early to get to bed sooner. But in your opinion, would you suggest maybe not doing this particular triathlon, and replacing it with a different one when I could get a full night's rest? Or should I stick it out and push it at Kiwanis? The distances aren't super long (as you know since you'll be running it as well) but I'm not sure... what do you think?

Mallory

Mallory, that is quite a predicament. I would say it is in your best interest to get a complete nights rest before a triathlon, especially if it is your first one of the season. You wouldn't want to get discouraged from a bad time because you were tired. If you think you can leave the prom early enough to feel rested in the morning thats great. But also, it is the prom and you only have one of those in a lifetime. So the decision should really be up to you. If anything, I would try to find a triathlon that has the exact same distances or maybe even a little longer since you would have some extra training time.