Baowolf's Mentor Group- Closed

Hey, Steve -- ITS ALIVE!! At last. Would love to join/continue on.  Will post a bio shortly

 Hi, Mitzi!

I'm in!  Hey Mitzi....I like it that you keep coming back for more.  Look forward to getting to know you.

Mike and Steve, glad to see you on this side!

Bio:

NAME: Mike_D/ Mike D

STORY: I'm 46, and just over 3 years off the couch. Got into tris when asked to be the bike guy in a relay at the local sprint tri in June 2010. Had not ridden a bike in ages before that.  I was slow at the tri, and was riding my Trek 7200 street hybrid, so the goal was to finish my leg.  After doing it, I decided I had to do a race myself, and signed up for a race within a week. Could not run or swim at the time I signed up, so I had my work cut out for me. Was totally addicted the second I crossed the finish line. It was one of the best feelings of my life. 2013 will be a big year and I hope to continue to build on what I've learned, and hopefully share it with the group. 

FAMILY STATUS: Married for 17 years, 2 kids - girls ages 13 + 10. One crazy/lazy dog.

CURRENT TRAINING: Working toward the first race of the year -- Patriot HIM on 6/15. Training has been inconsistant, and I'm also suffering from a nagging hammy issue which has been around for a couple months. It got to the point in mid April where I stopped running for 2 weeks, and it feels better,  but I'm very aware of it, and a bit paranoid about making it worse. Run volume is low, but swim & bike are good.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: In 2012 I ran my first HM, did 2 sprints, and a highly disappointing DNF in my first HIM in June (bike crash)

2013 RACES:  2 HIMs (Patriot, Timberman), 1 Oly (NYC Tri), 1 sprint (Cohasset, MA), a maybe a HM this fall. Plus a 1 mile swim race across Boston Harbor in September

WEIGHTLOSS: down 60 pounds since I started this madness

WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR OR GOALS:  In light of the hammy issue, my expectations for the June HIM is to finish with a smile. I had a bike crash on this course last year which ruined my season. I literally broke my bike in half on it, although I was lucky enough to not be seriously hurt. I'm REALLY looking forward to going back and crossing the line this year.  Since my second  HIM is 2 months after the first, I'm sure i'll have plenty of questions about ramping training back up, and other related things

I would like to join! I am friends with Carol, but new to BT. I am 40 and I have Type 1 diabetes. I have done 2 open water sprint tri's, HM's, and FM. Suffered a bad hip tear after my FM, and I had surgery to repair it 7 months ago. I am signed up for a 32 mile bike rally in August and a Sprint tri in July.

I have a great husband and 2 kids, age 14 and 12.

Julie

Hi Julie! Welcome! Are you in Texas as well? Hope everything is healing up well. And your first post on BT, too! Hopefully you'll look back on this in a couple years and say "Wow, I've done so much! and spent so much money!"

Today is eat a bunch of terrible food day. I don't think I've had one thing which could be identified by its original ingredients, except maybe the french fries . Will have a decent dinner, but breakfast & lunch have been nutritional armageddone. But tasty.  Should make my run tonight extra fun as I sweat bar-be-que sauce out my pores.

Welcome everyone, happy to be live, I'll post on the old forum for folks to jump on over.  After today all my posts will be here. 

So Mitzi when did you want to do that IM?

 And yes in Triathlon you need to balance your build or body parts tend to get grumpy with you, especialy at the IM distance.

Hey Julie (waving crazily)!!!! So glad to see you here in the group.  You are going to love it.  Some in this group may remember me mentioning one of the great running experiences of my life...running Carlsbad half marathon with another gal, and us both pushing and pulling each other to our first sub 2:00 hour half even though we had never run together.  That was Julie and she is awesome!

Mike, I ate crap yesterday as well.  Had a client visit in Ft. Worth and spotted "Mexican Inn" on my way back home around lunchtime.  There is really nothing nutritious or redeeming about the #1 lunch special there, but yes, I enjoyed it...more than once .  Bounced back today with a chicken breast subway loaded with veggies for lunch.  Oh, and if your BIL might still be interested, we're hosting a group ride in the morning at 9:30 am.  Might be the last one for a while...will reassess after vacation.

Samantha, you are amazing!  Seriously, serious training you got going on there.  Did you ever think you would be choosing between 100 and 115 miles on a bike training ride, and using 5K and swim in the same breath?  Cannot wait for your upcoming celebration at IM CDA!

Anthony, glad to see you on this side!  Hope your move is continuing to progress, and look forward to hearing of your training in the windy city.

Steve, thanks for having me again!  So glad you are back to being able to train AND that you are hosting a mentor group again. 

I will post a bio later when I figure out who I am and who I want to be...OK I won't wait that long .  

Looks like another nice group once again!  I'm here and ready for what's to come next!  I'll post my bio later for newbies but I am excited for this new group.

Did a 9.2 mile run this morn.  Longest since I've been back!  Foots a little sore but overall feelin pretty good!

Welcome everybody!!!

Hey Mitzi, No pain no gain... you'll fit into this group nicely.  Glad you keep coming back for more!

Julie - welcome, Carol is quite an inspiration to us on this thread!  Shaping up to be a very nice group.

OOO OOO!  Id love to come back (a year later!)  Never too late right?

NAME: EV3110/ Elena 

STORY: I still consider myself a beginner even though this is my 3rd yr doing tris.  Ive raced many sprints, half marys, 10 &5k's.  Completing 1/2 aquabike last year let me know that I had the ability to do a HIM. So luckily got into Vineman HIM which is in mid-july!Currently training for that and loving it.    I love training and what its done to my 42 year old body.      

FAMILY STATUS: 12 yr married.  2 kids.  6 chickens. And a new pup named Rooster!   

CURRENT TRAINING: I try to do what my training tells me.  Sometimes I am dead-on.  Mostly NOT.  I think i tend to self-sabotage.   Ive up-ed my bike milage a lot (well a lot for me!) in preporation for Vineman.  I feel strong (er) in bike and run.  Swim is a weakness.  Will probably always be.  Have a free week at a masters class that I will take up in probably 2 weeks.  Lets see if I can 'hang' with the big boys/gals!

THIS YEAR'S RACES: Did a DU in March & was dissappointed in (ony) a 2 min  improvement than last year.  My main race is Vineman HIM!  Mid July.  Have a sprint in 2 weeks and will likely do a half marathon  at the end of May or early July.   

WEIGHTLOSS: Im a "skinny" chick with a fair amount of belly fat!  ...Its the nutrition... I know!! no willpower.  ugh.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTee!!  I Love what you wrote about what makes you a good mentor Steve!  Its the reason I am back!   Youre a numbers guy and a mentor that showed me that a base is necessary!  Simple concept, yet you showed me that a base is necessary to prevent injury!Glad to be back!     

NAME: Antwonathon/Anthony

STORY: I am 27 years old. I live in Madison, WI for 6 more days, and then I move to Chicago where my wife has been living/working for the last few months. I was always active growing up - always played something whether it was a made up game in the backyard with my siblings or on a team for school. I love sports and all the competitiveness associated with them. I started running with my wife in 2011 when she wanted to do a half mary. We trained together and since then have done a couple of other runs together including a couple more HMs and one Mary which I did not enjoy (mostly because I didn’t train). This led me to triathlons which allow me to split up my training between disciplines. I am starting my second season. I have learned bunches, and I look forward to learning more. I enjoy the difficulties of training for multiple disciplines and the individual part of the sport (it is a good outlet for my competitiveness where only I get hurt ).

FAMILY STATUS: Happily married for just over a year and a half. We had a dog last summer but found that we don't want that much responsibility right now. We found him a better home (big yard with 2 kids and a bunch of chickens to chase after), and now we enjoy playing with our friends’ and family’s kids and pets.

CURRENT TRAINING: The last three weeks have been slow training wise. 2 taper weeks before REV3 Knoxville and now a vacation week afterwards. I plan to pick up about where i left off in early April and then keep building the mileage up to about 4500 swimming, 125 biking, and 25 running per week. I really need to work on my OWS as well (I guess just swimming in general), so that will be my main focus for the next couple of weeks/months.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I enjoy the short races for now. Sprints are great fun, and I did my first Olympic distance last weekend. For now I would like to work on building up a strong training base so that I can begin some speed training. I like to go all out, and the short distances are perfect for that.

2013 RACES: I just raced REV3 Knoxville which went like this. It was great even with the rain and cold temps. Next on the list is a local tri, Elkhart Lake Olympic, on June 8^th. Then, another local tri, the Ripon Medial Center triathlon (Sprint or Olympic), June 29^th. And then my “A” race is the Life Time Fitness tri in Chicago August 25^th. I want to put in a lot of work and see how hard I can push for the Chicago tri.

WEIGHTLOSS: I've been blessed with a linebacker build, which isn't the greatest for endurance sports, but it does help hide the extra pounds. That said, I have slowly lost 20-25 pounds since late 2011, and I hope to continue losing about 10 more which will put me at my pre-college weight. From there I will assess how I feel and take it from there.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I am looking to build a steady workout routine and begin training harder and hopefully faster. I will have some questions along the way, and hopefully we can all learn from each other and with each other. I was in Steve’s last group, and if this one is the same, it should be fun learning about people and helping everyone push through the tough training days and help celebrate the fun/exciting days.

Julie, my aunt just slipped on a water bottle in the London marathon and tore a muscle in her hip. Hope the surgery and rehab are going well! Welcome!

Everyone is welcome come on in plenty of room still. 

Hrm still out of shape after 2 whole weeks, oh well, maybe next week I'll feel a little zip, this week, not so much. 

A word to our newer members try to not compare yourself against anyone else in the group.  Ya well we all do it to some extent, but we are each in our own place in our own path.  If you compare your workouts to mine you might feel pretty uber, but if you look at Samantha's workouts you might feel pretty inadequate.  But then she is 7 ish weeks out from an IM. 

As I said in intro all abilities, all distances are welcome.

Please put your first name in your signature so I can answer questions.  I just won't be able to remember everyone's name associated with their avatar name. 

So who has what on tap for the weekend.  I have a 2100 yard swim tonight, 45 mile bike ride I will try to limp through tomorrow and a 7 mile run on Sunday. 

NAME: Samantha/Anthalynn

STORY: It's long - but here's the short of it. I was an extremely lazy couch potato who sat at the finish line of IMCDA in 2005 and the dream of running that race sparked in my heart. It has been a long road. I had to start from scratch, and never really knew if I believed IM was even a possibility. I started with a 5k and began working my way up from there. A couple years ago I decided to take my chances and sign up for a sprint triathlon. I joined Steve's group at that time and he has been my mentor ever since and I so thankful. After that I did a Olympic. Some major changes happened in my a year and a half ago that lead me to the place where I could finally make the decision to commit and sign up for IMCDA. Last year, in preparation, I did a HIM. Now I'm about 7 weeks out from the race I have dreamed about for years and I totally stoked!

FAMILY STATUS: Happily single for 36 years and still wondering if 'happily ever after' is in my future. In the meantime, I busy living this dream of mine

CURRENT TRAINING: Currently I swim 3x/week; bike 4x/week; run 5x/week. Until June, then I taper, race and recover.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I've got my eye on the IMCDA prize and when I make it through that race we'll see what my body will want to do next.

WEIGHTLOSS: This is not an area I think about because I never weigh myself. But since I started the process I dropped 4 inches around my waist.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I listen really well when being told how to do something by someone who actually knows what they are talking about.   

Steve - I often forget the things you tell me. Thank you for always being willing to tell me 10 more times. You did tell me not to run over 3 hours, so that will be my plan. Pretty sure I can't run 16 miles in under 3, but I'll take it as it comes.

5000 yard swim was interesting. Started out and thought I would quit. My arms were so tired and my breathing was labored. I couldn't swim 100 in less than 2:20 no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't decide whether to swim my long or cut it short, so I just kept going. After 3500 I started getting into the groove and it went much better. I'm so very tired. My arms are pretty sore too.

I'm getting to bed early tonight. Tomorrow I will bike 100 miles and run 4. Saturday I will swim 3800, bike 30-40 (depending on how I feel) and run 13. Phew! "Don't think; just do!"

Elene - Welcome back!

NAME: Mitchparadise / Mitch

STORY:   I'm just getting over an injured foot which kept me down for over a year and I'm about 2 1/2 months back in into things.  I've got my eye on doing more IM's, as soon as I can.  This year will be all about re-building my base and staying healthy.

FAMILY STATUS:  Married.  One 3 year old daughter (who is the light of my life) and another girl on the way.  Due in Oct.  I started all of this for them.  I want my family to see the affects of a healthy lifestyle and hopefully it will rub off.....

CURRENT TRAINING: Building my running base again.  Running 5 X week.  Doing 20 MPW now but  want to build up to 25 - 30 MPW safe and healthy.  Just  getting back in the  pool.  Going to start up masters again. The bike... Well let's just say  I get through the rides....

THIS YEAR'S RACES: Nothing n the books as of yet.  I do not want to re-injure myself so it's slow and steady for a bit.  Also with the baby coming there is just no time for anything long this year.  Prob do an Olympic later in the year and a few road races...

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I feel that these forums are extremely important.  The regular people out in the world just don't get it.  I enjoy the feedback from the group and Steve is an amazing  mentor that really knows his  stuff!

NAME:  Jay

LOCATION: Dartmouth, Ma.

FAMILY/DESCRIPTION:  I have been happily married to my wife (Kiley) for 12 years.  We have been blessed with two great kids; Braden 8, and Kaelyn 5.

STORY:  I'm not sure how far back you really want to hear.....I was a three sport athlete in high school (football/basketball/baseball) before I went on to play all three sports during my four years in college.  I made the decision as a young man to go to a smaller school to play two sports (even all three for one year) rather than go to a D1 school to play football or baseball.  A few years after college, my wife and I decided to get married....and thats when the comfort and weight increase happened.  I gained almost 100lbs from my college playing weight a few years into my marraige and didn't like it one bit.  Over the course of the next six months after seeing that weight on the scale, I got back into the gym and got within 20 lbs of my playing weight. (this happened back in 2003)  I have maintained that weight for the better part of 9 years now.  I have contemplated doing bodybuilding competitions in the past but I could never pull the trigger.

That leads me to the last few years.  I was given some marathon training books by my wife for XMAS 3 years ago as a gag gift.  I had always talked about doing the Boston Marathon so I took the present as a sign to start training for it.  I have complete 4 marathons since I got those books (including Boston last year) and many more half marathons.  This past year, I decided to take on the challenge of triathlon because HM/FM weren't challenging enough.  I've gotten my fitness level to the point where I can run an acceptable (for me) HM time without any training.  The next logical step was triathlon so this past March, I went to a TI workshop to learn how to swim.

CURRENT TRAINING:   I'm on the road to recovery after tearing my achilles in February.  I can swim, bike, and strength train without restricition so that's what I'm doing currently.  I'm hopeful to add some running into my training next month after clearance from my doctor.

2012 RACES: 3 half marathons, Boston Marathon, 2 sprint triathlons

2013 RACES:   TBA.  I'm hopeful to do a sprint and olympic triathlon in August/September if my achilles reacts well to running.  I'm also hoping to do a marathon in October because my surgeon said it'd be "impressive" if I could do that.

WEIGHTLOSS: I have dropped 15 lbs since I had surgery on my achilles at the end of February.  To be as competitive as I need to be, I need to drop at least another 15lbs to get down to my college weight.  As our group members from last time will tell you, I've really embraced a low carb keto diet. 

GOALS :  Get healthy and make sure I can compete in a few races this season!

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: If you think you're stubborn, I'll make you realize you're not as bad as you thought!  Semi seriously, throughout the last session where I was injured, I remained an active member of the group.  I think I'm pretty supportive to our little family and despite the stubborness I mentioned above, I do take the good advice from our members seriously!