Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED

NAME: Jonathan

STORY: Grew up recreationally cycling/mountain biking through highschool.  Decided that I would try out a different sport and rowed in college.  Finally got out of a horrible relationship in 2008 and was able to actually do what I wanted with my life starting in 2009, so I figured triathlon was a great idea...

FAMILY STATUS: Engaged to a wonderful fiance.  We are getting married September 22nd.  I'm not anxious at all...

JOB:  I'm a structural enginerd.  I help modernize the nuclear submarines for the Navy in the Northeast.  It's not as crazy as it sounds.

CURRENT TRAINING: I'm doing Jorge's Winter Cycling Program V 4.0.  I've also taken up cross fit/kettle bell in the last two weeks.  I've finally been running consistently with no injuries for the first time in my life.  I'm super running injury prone.  I've been at it since September.  So far so good.

LAST YEAR'S RACES: Last year I had a sort of truncated season.  I ended up with about 5 races because of work, injury etc.

2012 RACES: All short course/olympic stuff this year. Same as last year, and the damn wedding budget doesn't allow anything else.  You'll hear me complain about that a lot!

WEIGHTLOSS:  I'm pretty happy with my current weight.  I will try to race around 182-183, but that's not really a goal.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: This is a direct copy and paste from a previous group.  I'm an over-active member.  I love to help others and need a lot of questions answered for myself as well.  I am a horrible runner.  For some reason God didn't gift me with the talent, so I am doing my best to drop some time while running healthy.  I have built a couple bikes and have some tech experience.  I'm the kind of person who likes to motivate, but also needs a bit of motivation.  I get discouraged when my performance doesn't increase like I expect.

I'm a pretty good cyclist and one of my goals for 2012 is to get fast.  I know it doesn't come over night, but I am looking forward to some results.

I'm a relatively good swimmer.  I started swimming back in 2009 and was able to pick that piece up relatively well.  I logged a ton of hours in the pool over the last couple years and am obsessed with swim technique and analyzing swim video.  I haven't been in the pool since August though, so I need to get back at it!!

NAME: Warren

STORY: Team sport guy through college, mainly hockey but played football as well.  Played competitive racquetball in SD for a number of years, but after 30 did the few pounds a year thing until mid 40s.  At a yearly physical, my doc pointed out that every year was adding a few more pounds and few more points of all the bad markers, so after 15 years of that the numbers were actually quite alarming.  I immediately went into addict mode and lost 40 pounds and greatly improve all my numbers.  While rehabbing tennis elbow from hockey, the PT kept talking about the Ironman races she and her husband did, and I signed up for a sprint on a whim, despite not being able to swim and never having run in my life other than as part of a sport.  Two years later, I'm fully addicted to SBR, and a member of a loosely organized team run by the aforementioned PT.

FAMILY STATUS: Married 17 years, 3 sons - 15, 13, 9.  My wife has been a runner her entire life and we run together on weekends.  The oldest son is my sherpa and comes to all my races.  He may even do a sprint this year, though he really loves grappling and jui jitsu.  My youngest has Down syndrome, which adds a lot of color to our family.

JOB:  I'm a software guy who has managed to Peter Principle my way to directorship level.

CURRENT TRAINING:  I'm focusing on running this winter following the 3:2:1 plan and learning how to run more efficiently.  My goal is to PR a HM in the spring.  I'm also doing Jorge's Winter Cycling Program V 4.0, though modifying it down as required to keep up the running.

LAST YEAR'S RACES: Last year I ram a HM, a few 5ks, 2 sprints and a near OLY distance.  I battled Achilles issues all year after the HM due to some serious training mistakes.

2012 RACES: I'm doing most for the same races as last year.  I'm also doing a HIM relay as the bike leg, and trying to decide between the Rev3 Oly or HIM in Maine.  I'm leaning toward the Oly mainly for family sanity.

WEIGHTLOSS:  I need to get rid of about 15 pounds of baby fat.  I'm not obsessive about it anymore, but I probably should be.  I'd like to get down under 170 for the season.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I'm on all the time as my job allows lots of in between times to check in.  I'm not particular fast at any discipline, but I read a lot, take criticism well and love to learn, and I'll push you once I know what you can handle.

May I stick with you guys?

Haha, I'm with you Jonathan.  I've done my workouts, but eating is OUT OF CONTROL.  I can't wait until all the Christmas leftovers are gone, it's my goal for the weekend.  Then Monday it's on.

It looks like we are all in the same boat.  I just got home from Ohio and I have eaten more in 1 week than I usually do in 2 weeks, well junk food that is.  I am kind of ready to get back into a little better eating habits but I first feel I MUST finish the weekend out by being more glutenous and celebrating tonight with more trash to put into my body.  But, tonight will be mostly food since I don't drink much alcohol, ever.  I have about 2 cases of beer this year.

Warren,

To answer your question, I am not sure when this thread will go live but I am still anxious to get started.  Hopefully soon!

Well of course I am in, I still need lots of help! (straight jacket didn't work)

NAME: Matt

STORY: To say I am competitive is probably an understatement.  I have always wanted to be the best at everything, unfortunately DNA kind of hampers that and I have to work extremely hard to improve.  Late in 2010 I finally got frustrated enough in Team sports (Basketball, softball) that I had to look for another outlook.  I guess I am not "team" friendly anymore, either that or I couldn't stand that the other guy didn't want to win as much as I did.  So I looked for something where the results were completely on me.  I tried golf, but was terrible and it was going to be very expensive to stay (who would pay $45 to walk around a golf course when you can pay $70 to run around a state park).  I completed my 1st tri in June of 2011 and have been completely addicted since. 

FAMILY STATUS: Married with 3 kids.  Trust me you will hear all about them, they are my pride and joy and I love to talk them up as much as anything

JOB:   Production Manager of a Plastic compounding plant, This is where the triathlons have helped me the most.  It is amazing how much stress can be reduced by swimming/biking/running around the local parks.

CURRENT TRAINING: My current training involves the Jorge bike plan along with getting in as much running as I can.  Although the set bike plan has recently taken a back seat due to my finding the mountain bike to be a lot of fun.

LAST YEAR'S RACES: Completed 4 sprint tri's, 2 Adventure race's (Kayak instead of swim), roughly 10 5K's, a 10K and probably the one I am most proud of is the Half Marathon I completed in November.  My 1st 5K in over 17 years was in April, which is why the half stands out.

2012 RACES: Scheduled races: Glass city Half Marathon in April, Maumee Bay Sprint in June, and to celebrate my birthday I will complete my first Olympic Distance in July.  August: Olympic at Great buckeye Challenge.  I will also continue to improve my 5K time by doing every even in Shelby county.

WEIGHTLOSS:  Not setting much of a goal here, in 2011 I lost 33lbs going from 230 down to 197.  Ultimately I wouldn't mind getting down around 180, but I am not ready to give up some of the good stuff just yet

2012 GOAL: My goal for 2012 is to learn to swim, properly.  I am to the point I dread the swim portion mostly due to having so much difficulties with it.  Last year I was able to complete lap after lap in the pool, but that did not translate to the open water.  I am going to start earlier in the year for the pool section and as soon as I wil not freeze to death I am getting in the lake! 

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: Even though I have a season of Tri's under my belt, I am still completely clueless on a lot of things.  I am open to trying just about anything to improve my times and always willing to admit I was wrong!  My entire goal out of this group is to pulll out as much knowledge as I possible can and maybe at some point I may even be able to give something back.

Hey Dirk,

I'm going to stop by occasionally just to harass you .  For anyone thinking about joining this group.  DO IT!  Dirk is a great cheerleader and he'll even tell you to get your A$$ in gear during a race if you get lucky!! 

Sure Jayne you may stop by anytime, BUT!!! Don't think you are going to harass me like the guys already involved in the group!  There just a bunch of clowns trying to feel good about themselves. LOL

Really the guys already signed up are going to be as much mentors as I will be.  This is quite a group of encourager's and knowledge assimilated in this group.

I think that the mentor program's rule book states in section 3 paragraph 2 that "no one may stop by occasionally just to harass".  You need to join and BE harassed to earn the privilege of DOING harassing. 

Isn't that right Dirk?

Welcome to the insanity Heather.  We're mostly harmless.  Will that be your first half?

And Jayne, no way you are allowed to harass our mentor, we're very protective.  Unless of course you become one of us - then it's mandatory.

I checked my bike shoe cleats.  They are right in the middle.  I will be moving them back.  I actually discussed this with a friend of mine at the indoor time trial tonight.  He had a training session with Joe Friel who also recommended the same thing.  Pretty good idea IMO...we'll see how I feel when I change them.

I see we have moved up in the world!   Exciting!  Welcome to the new and soon to be new members of the group!

Here is the different view of Wally and I.  I do not have the aerobars installed yet so no pictures of that view, just the basic slow guy on the bike view.  The other photo is of the measurement I took, I wanted to make sure I was going off the right location.  If I understood Jeff correctly the reading I want is the 21ish number?  This correlates to 54cm, probably pretty small for my size?

Sorry for the blury images, I am having difficulties uploading to the site or at least linking to a decent size photo!

You are most definitely welcome here.  When you get the chance fill out a a bio similer to those of us that have started and get ready to go.  This will be an awesome time!

I agree with Jeff.  Jayne in order to dish out to this group you must first become a member than allow yourself to become our cannon fodder for 2 months before providing any harassing remarks, especially if they are directed toward me.  I like Warren's perspective......

With the discussion of the cleats on your cycling shoes beginning to get a little more in depth here I thought it best to bring others who might join the group something to look for this discussion.  Here is where this discussion took off..................

And, with these things in mind I will be taking a look at mine tomorrow too.  On my last bike (last night) toward the ends I began to cramp in both of my calves (or in my case, COWS) and I haven't had that happen on the bike in quite a long time.  I will make an adjustment and see what happens.

Matt you said in the last group that you had a longer torso than legs so a 54 could be alright for you.  When you are measuring up for a bike you can only use your overall height as a baseline, then you have to get a little more detailed with other measurements.  I'll leave it to Jeff to add any comments and "real" bike fitting advice because my fitting capabilities are  VERY limited.  Your true inseam will help determine where to begin the rest of the fitting process from here.

Matt, I do think your leg looks pretty bent in that shot.  I think the angle should be much flatter when extended, maybe more like 30 degrees.  Someone can get the tools to get a general reading from the picture - it's kinda hard without a clear shot so you can really pinpoint hip/knee/ankle points.  I'll try since I'm forced to be online tonight for a while for work with nothing to do but wait for a reply to a silly question - don't ask.

I checked my cleats and they are all the way back.  I think Jeff must have mentioned that before at some point since I had deja vu when I was checking them, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have put them all the way back on my own.