TriAya's Group: SHUT like dog on steak, sorry!

Yanti:

 I would LOVE to join your group.  I'm going to need some mentoring this year. 

 Background on me (Laura):

I grew up in Athens, Georgia and now live in Rock Hill, SC where I am a professor.  Working in academia gives me a pretty flexible schedule, so I've decided to get back into shape and do some triathlons in 2008.  I was a competitive soccer player for many years and have always been in decent shape.  Then there were kids....and grad school. I have two boys, 3 and 1, and a supportive husband.  He's all for my training.

I am in week 4 of the 16 week sprint triathlon training program.  I'm already seeing some improvement which makes me feel fabulous.  My goal is to do 4 sprints this year (starting with Parris Island, SC in March), and MAYBE an olympic at the end of the season.

Yanti, I have a question for you. You already know me and we have great times talking which is something I enjoy as you are aware of. I still consider myself new even though I have completed a 5k, 1/2 Marathon, and a sprint triathlon in the last 30 days. As you can see in my log I have several races planned over the next 5 months leading to an OLY in April. I have committed to the 20 week OLY program here on BT and I am finishing my first week. With all that said is this something you recommend that I join or not? You know I respect your opinion so let me know. Thanks

Hector 

Hi, everyone, and welcome! The goals and enthusiasm of this group are great. Super congrats on taking up triathlon and making a commitment to FUN and health! Feel free to post more info about yourself, questions, how training is going, anything. This'll be a pretty free-flowing place.

I can see everyone who's posted so far uses the log feature of BT--excellent! (Don't you just love watching those bars grow?) Keep it up, and I'd suggest adding the fellow group members as friends (if you're joining after this post and you don't know how to do either, just ask)--that way it's easier to leave inspires/comments for each other.

Terri, awesome to have you on board and thank you for jumping in.

Shaun, you can actually join any of the mentor groups on the board--you pick us, we don't pick you--but since you've clearly already found the best one, you may as well stay .

Hector, I PM'ed you--in short, we want you, we need you, you need us, so you should want us.

Laura, let me guess--Winthrop? I took summer classes there when I was an undergrad at Davidson. What do you teach?

Will--never too early to join; in fact, this group's filling up fast!

It sounds like a common issue among us is life/work/training balance--it is a trial and error process and sometimes it's not going to be ideal. The beauty is that it's just fine to miss a workout or two on occasion, and you can train for triathlons on suprisingly little time.

If you're not already doing so, I'd strongly suggest picking a training plan--with limited time, it's always better to train smart (which does NOT mean going hard every workout. Much the opposite). You can modify it to work with your schedule and goals, and we're all here to help.

Yep...Winthrop.  That's really cool that you took classes there.  I love it so far (I'm in my first year).  I am an economic professor.  I specialize in education funding and environmental protection issues.

 Look forward to chatting with everyone and improving together. 

Hi...I was in a May mentor group....enjoyed it....and I think I'd enjoy your group this time around.  I am also Athena and in my second season, doing the 20 week Oly plan (week 2 now) so there's a lot of similarities with others here!  Once you give the go ahead, I will fill you in on more details.  Feel free to read my training log if you want....I've been logging since May.  I hope my old group doesn't feel bad that I am moving on, but I think I would like to increase my BT family and this is a good way to do it!

Thanks, Leslie

Hi

I would love to be a part of this group!  I have been keeping my eye on this forum, hoping a new group would start or open up!  How fortuitous that it is with Yanti!

My name is Beth, I live in Omaha, NE.  I just completed my second season of triiing - that being said, I still feel very new to the whole thing.

I am completely new to biking and running, in fact, I bought my first bike since HS after I signed up for my first Sprint - LOL - I've never been a runner,  swimming is definitely my strength and my love - I swam competitively through HS and rediscovered my joy for it a couple of years ago.

I have completed 3 sprints and 1 Oly.  I've partcipated in 4 sprints, but my final event last year was a team effort and I did the swim only - due to injury.

I am a 46 and the proud mother of 3 wonderful kids!

My most immediate goal - besides getting my foot to heal once and for all, is to participate in the HyVee Triathlon on June 22.  I did the event last year, but really struggled with the run, due to PF.  My goal is to complete and compete in this event and to be able to run the entire distance!

I would love to do a 1/2 IM in 2009.  We will have to see if the foot and knees will allow that distance of running - at a minimum, my goal is to do an Aquabike division of a 1/2 IM.

Weight loss *sigh* always a struggle for me!  I had reached my goal weight 2 years ago after losing close to 30 lbs - over the past year and 1/2 I have let 18 of that creep back on - I have made some forward progress, but need to make more!

Lastcall2003 represents a turning point in my life - 2003 is the year I woke up and realized that I needed to do something about being 30 lbs over weight, having become completely inactive, and well, not liking who I was very much.  It is a reminder to me to never let myself go back to being that person!

My life goals are to raise happy, healthy, well balanced kids who care about others and love life! 

Personally, I want to achieve life balance, be active and healthy and to like myself - secondarily, i want to be an inspiration to young people, women especially - I'd love for them to look at me and say "Damn!  I hope I look that good when I'm your age!" - so far so good on that front

I'm not sure how the mentor programs work, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

Beth, dear! So glad you found us, and right under the gun, too.

Leslie, welcome to the pack! Please do post your particulars--it's great to have you on board.

I closed this group because we now have 8 members, and that's still close, supportive, and manageable. If someone doesn't post or log consistently (for whatever reason) or isn't able to be involved, no worries--we won't boot you! You're always welcome! But we may let another soul or two in then.

MrsUSMC -- Terri

lastcall 2003 -- Beth

Medusa Ann -- Leslie

wplummer -- Will

HCS5QA -- Hector

ldatug -- Laura

ShawnC13 -- Shawn

TriAya -- Yanti

Yaaaay! 

I am so excited to be a part of this group!

HCS5QA - 2007-12-08 5:39 PM Yup this is going to be fun and we seem to have some great people in this group. Now get out there and train! Sorry my military motivator side came out for a second , I'm the mentoree not the mentoror.  LOL

ALL of us are the manatees ... wait, mentorees as well as mentors.

TriAya - 2007-12-08 5:57 PM

HCS5QA - 2007-12-08 5:39 PM Yup this is going to be fun and we seem to have some great people in this group. Now get out there and train! Sorry my military motivator side came out for a second , I'm the mentoree not the mentoror.  LOL

ALL of us are the manatees ... wait, mentorees as well as mentors.

LOL - thank goodness you cleared that up!  I wasn't sure about becoming a manatee - I mean they're cute and all, but...................

I am so excited to be in this group with everyone!  I think this is really going to help me get motivated.  I just signed up for my first 5K on New Year's Day (I guess no New Year's Eve partying for me).  I'm REALLY going to try to run the whole thing.  That is my goal. 

I just bought my first "real" pair of running shoes today.  They are Brooks and I am in love.    I ran so much more smoothly tonight.  I normally wear a size 7, but she said I needed a 8.5 running shoe.  I guess that was part of my problem....I was running in a size 7 NB and it was killing my toes.

 Ran 2 miles w/o stopping tonight for the very first time.  Not a big deal to most, but running is by far my weakness, so it's a HUGE deal to me. 

Laura, congrats on the straight run! That's beautiful. Feels great to have new, fitting shoes, huh? I just ordered a new pair myself.

RUNNING SHOE TIPS: 1. write the date you got them in Sharpie on the side, and log miles religiously. That way, you know for sure when you're getting to several hundred miles on them. 2. Better yet, if you like the shoes, get a second pair while that model is still available. 3. When you've put a couple hundred miles on the first pair, plan a run now and then when you can be home (or at your car) with just a little bit left to go (say, cool-down). Swap the pairs and do the final part of the run in the second pair. You'll break them in easier, AND you will feel without a doubt when the old ones just aren't giving you the same support the new ones are--then it's time to chuck 'em.

Shawn, thanks for filling in your extra background (LOL at the chasing mice part. Was that the real beginning of your tri training?) Your race schedule is extensive. When will you have time to train? Your spirit and energy are incredible, but without building a strong base (endurance training) and then specifically doing high-intensity training as race prep, all that racing is likely to end in injury. And even if you did have the base and intensity, there just isn't enough recovery time between races. Racing puts a huge amount of stress on the body--it would be like running a lot of cement trucks over a half-built bridge. I would encourage you to pick races, well-spaced apart, that you really can't live without doing, then pick one or two of those as "A" races, and be willing to do the rest as amplified training. That way you'll also be able to follow a training plan that actually builds you up and prepares you for those races.

I'm really glad you outlined your goals ... and we'd be happy to help you refine them. You also brought an important point to my mind, which I'll put in a separate post ...

Hi everybody!  What fun to be a part of a new and interesting group of people!!  I see so many similarities with everyone here.... so here's my story:

Once upon a time.... when I was growing up, my dad was a triathlete in the very early days of triathlon.  I grew up being his support crew at races and eventually was a volunteer and race director at many races.  I never did one, though.  I was an athlete, playing varsity in basketball, volleyball, and track for four years, and also bike racing, windsurfing, skiing etc away from school.  I went to college and rowed for the University of Washington for one season.  Then I  had a knee injury at the same time that my dad broke his neck ski racing, so I had to quit the crew team and help take care of my dad while I was finishing college.  What followed was many years of a pattern of depression, eating disorder, alcohol and drug use, pure laziness, workaholism, helping others and ignoring myself......my weight climbed and my motivation went to zero. Occasionally I'd start a healthy lifestyle plan, but always fell off the wagon worse than before.  Sometimes I'd start exercising again which usually involved biking, which I always liked but then life intervened and I didn't fight back. 

So, fast forward....now I am almost 39 years old, a married mom of two boys (2 and 5).  I have lost around 50 pounds in the last year and am actually lighter than I was in high school.  My sister inspired me (nagged/dared) me to sign up for the Danskin Tri last year and that spurred me on in this adventure and soon I was addicted.  I completed four sprint tris last year, a few 5ks, a 5 mile and 10k trail run, and hopefully next weekend I am running a 12k if the weather isn't too awful.  I live in the Seattle area and am not a fan of winter weather, but I do my best.  I joined a gym a couple of months ago and I go there a lot to swim, take spinning classes and occasionally use a treadmill.  I tend to enjoy outdoor running no matter what the weather, but am forced indoors for bike and swim.  In the summer I have access to open water swimming every day at my in-laws' house down the street.  My weakness in this sport is swimming, although recently I have noticed some gains in both speed and endurance, so I am hopeful that winter will allow me to continue to improve.  My challenge with everything is finding the time, as the kids are demanding of me!  I am sure all of you parents understand that!!!  Last year I pretty much had them with me while I trained, either in a jogging stroller or in a bike trailer.  I even attempted to rig up a way to swim towing a kid but that never worked very well!

I am working on my season's plans, so I don't have that yet.  I am going to do at least one Oly and hopefully more, as I have a goal to make a 10k run an easy thing to do!  I'd like to do more sprint tris, especially ones close to home since there are some really fun ones.  I am considering doing the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride and also trying to decide if I'd do it in one or two days.  My athlete past comes in handy, as I have been able to finish in the top 30% of all competitors in most tris I have done, and I've placed as an Athena in a couple.  I will continue to compete as an Athena, as I don't foresee ever falling below the cutoff line due to my body composition!  Fine by me, as long as I am in shape.  I am in week 2 of the 20-week run focused Oly training plan on BT.  I am finding the biggest challenge so far is getting the bike time in. Next fall I also want to try out for the Roller Derby, so I will be taking some skating lessons this year.  I have the attitude, just need the skills!! 

Thanks for taking this on, Yanti.  I am very excited to have this new group to become close to this year--it's so great being able to see everyone's successes!!

It looks like this is really going to be a great group!  How did we all get so lucky? 

Great advice on the running shoes Yanti, I love that idea - I do log my miles religiously, but I can never remember exactly when I bought my shoes. What a simple and easy way to keep track!

Also a really great idea on how to easily break new shoes in!

From personal experience I can't stress enough the point you made about making sure that the shoes get replaced on a timely basis - if not, you will really start feeling it and will be much more prone to injury.

Here's a nice summary of when to replace running shoes (I was trying to remember so I looked it up )

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/replaceshoes.htm