Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - CLOSED

Hey Ryan, I'd love to join! I've been in a group with you before.  Planning my 4th HIM for June.  Busy with an 19-month old daughter at home.

Will post bio later. 

Awesome Jen.  Glad to have you.

One of the nice things I have found with our son that age is his 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day to get some trainer time in .

Hopefully we can get some more peeps rolling in soon and get this thread cranked up. 

This is open to athletes of all abilities (beginner, novice, intermediate and advanced) who are looking to complete their first HIM or to PR at their next one.

Here is my bio!

NAME: Jen Snyder

STORY: I’ve been at it for a while. Started as a runner and saw my then boyfriend, now husband do Ironman Canada back in 2007 – I thought it was awesome. I had to learn to swim which was pretty tough. And I needed to get a bike which wasn’t so difficult. I kept at it and started doing triathlons in around 2009 – I even DNF’ed a race being way too scared to do the swim. Somehow and for some reason, I kept on and have worked my way through various distances and am a pretty happy swimmer now (most of the time).

In 2012, I did my ultimate goal of doing a full ironman. I had a great day and a really great result for me (I am still thrilled two years later). Just a little more than 9 months later I had a baby girl and decided to get back at it. I missed the 2013 season but found muscle memory is an amazing thing and I am back to where I was – just more time crunched – and still just as enthusiastic to keep at it and stay with it for the long haul.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with a 19 month old daughter, a dog and cat

CURRENT TRAINING: just trying to keep doing all three sports. I swim twice a week with triathlon swim group coached by a local pro. I feel like I’ve been improving what was my weakest (or previously non-existent) sport. Using one of the winter maintenance plans, I really need to focus on the bike.

2014 RACES: I did an early half marathon, my first real race post-baby, and was happy with the result (1:54), then a half ironman on a super flat course and scored a huge PB on that distance (5:46), a sprint-ish tri at the end of August, and closed out with a PB on the 10k distance (48:44) just last month.

2015 RACES: So far I only really have the one Half Iron planned for June of this year- the same race I did in 2014. I wouldn’t mind a half marathon or a few 10k run races and maybe one other short tri for the year.

WEIGHTLOSS: Also not a major issue for me. Similarly, I could eat better and focus a little more on getting to a leaner race weight but I am in a healthy weight range and try not to worry about it too much as long as my clothes still fit

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I am enthusiastic and spend lots of time on this site! I love to support others' in their journeys. 

Not really a great day for me today - i woke up with a very unhappy tummy and resulted in me staying home.  I am starting to feel better - but it's probably better not to do any workouts today. 

Yesterday, i had a good swim. I finally spent some time working on my flip turns which I haven't quite gotten the hang of. 

Hmmm.... not sure why I didn't notice this group before I joined Baowolf's Winter training.  If it is OK, I'll  jump in both groups since I'm doing huge winter base training for GCT 70.3 in May.

Here is a little blurb about me...

I'm married to a runner and I'm a daddy to 4 children (12, 9, 9, 9). I got into tris in 2011 after doing a few 5Ks here and there. I hated the shorter distances at first because I didn't want to stay red lined the whole race. I guess I like to be cooked long and slow. So, I did IM Augusta in 2012. Thought it was "fun" and signed up for another HIM in 2013 and did IMFL 2013. Training for an IM was great because I have an awesome wife who knows the importance of sticking to the plan. The support was there and she never complained. She joined me on the long runs. I did about 85% of my bike training on a trainer. I didn't have that big guilt from being away from the family on long ride days. I took 2014 off from racing because I wanted to give back to the family. Only thing I did was a 3 mile bridge swim... which really came out to be 3.6 miles.

Swimming is my strongest, then biking, then running. I have tons of improvement in all three areas; however, I'm focusing more on running. I just established my Tpace, FTP & LTHR for the start of 2015. I'm racing a HIM in May so I've been doing nothing but base training (11-17 hours a week). I will probably sign up for a couple more HIMs.  I'm weird... I love the trainer and treadmill.

It was a HUGE surprise.  Yes...my wife is awesome.  We are actually going to relay GCT 70.3.  I'll do all 3; however, I will pass the chip to her on the run.

I figured I should log my workouts here.  I'll still use Garmin and TrainingPeak sites.

Marc - Glad to have you and the group will certainly benefit from your knowledge of the sport.

Any idea what HIM's you are planning on yet?

Well we got destroyed with lake effect snow the last couple days (about 12-inches worth) so I moved my threshold run to today (2x2 mile Z4).  I am actually traveling and went 1.5 hours inland and they barely have any snow so should get a better result.

What does everybody have on tap today?

This morning was a 1h Z1 base run on the treadmill.  This evening is 1h ride on the trainer focusing on force reps.

My run had me questioning my sanity.  7 degrees and -10 wind chill but luckily on pavement with just a few slick spots.

Welcome Shawn and congrats on the weight loss.  That is a big accomplishment.

The jump from sprint distance to Half Iron distance is definitely substantial but certainly doable and sounds like you have a great attitude.  Are you planning to follow any sort of structured training plan for Galveston and what is your goal for the race?

Hi Dean - you are in the right place!

Always nice to have a swim instructor in the group!  It is not uncommon for lifelong swimmers to have trouble with the run just due to the impact on the joints from running that is really non-existent in swimming.  Just be patient with the running and build up slowly.  Looks like you are about 20 weeks out from race day which is a good length of time for preparation.