hblackmon's Group - CLOSED!!

Hey everyone!! My mentor group is offically "open for business". If you'd like to join the group, just respond with a bio (like mine above). It would also be helpful if you could answer these questions, which will help me know how best to help everyone:

1.  What do you want from this mentoring group?

2. What training plan (if any) are you following?  

3. What is your biggest goal for the next 6 months? 

Thanks!!

Heather,

Whoever joins your group is going to get one AWESOME mentor.

Mad dedication, skills and knowledge. 

Welcome leahjt (is it Leah?)!! Congratulations on making the decision to do a triathlon next year - what a great example for your boys!! I will warn you, triathlons are addictive - once you do one, you'll be hooked!

If you need any help picking out a training plan, let me know. You might consider becoming a bronze or silver member of BT, so you'll have access to all the plans offered. I used these plans when I started doing triathlons and I know a lot of people I train who use them as well - they are a great place to start! You'll also want to look into using the training log feature on the website - it's a great tool to track your progress AND it makes it easy for our group to motivate each other. I will add you as a friend to my training log, then I can link to your log easily and use the "inspire" feature to leave you notes on your training. There are some great articles on the site that help explain how to use the training log (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/index.asp?catid=122), but feel free to ask me any questions about it too!

Have you picked out which race you're going to train for next year?

Hi Tania! We'd love to have you join the group. I'm heading home to squeeze in a workout before dinner myself, but I should be back on later tonight to look for your bio.

Hi Kevin - glad to have you in the group! As a Georgia Bulldog fan, I'll overlook your college affiliation. I was actually born in New Orleans and my dad got his PHD at LSU, so I don't mind that school too much - at least you're not a Gator! You're actually in my area, my parents live in Kennesaw and I'm just down the road in Marietta. Not to hijack my own thread - but if you're looking for training partners, you should check out our tri club (www.northatlantamultisport.org). There are a bunch of us on BT that are members.

Motivation is a tricky thing sometimes. For me, sometimes I have to force myself to do workouts for a while after a break, before I really "want" to do it again. You're in the right place for some extra motivation, though, we'll keep you accountable to getting back on track. Sounds like you have a big goal for the next year, I would suggest you set little goals throughout the next year to help keep yourself on track and gauge your progress.

As far as your training schedule, I have heard nothing but great things about the FIRST program - I think it meshes extremely well with tris, as you have more days off running to fit in swim and bike. Great choice! Your race schedule looks familiar - I'm doing those same races (well, maybe the SC HIM as a relay, depends how I'm feeling by September). I've done those races before too, so let me know if you have questions about any of the courses.

We've got a great group forming - I'm very excited about starting the new year off right with everyone!

If you haven't already, you will want to add each other to your BT friends list.  If you haven't used the training log before, this is a great time to start! To add the group to your friends list, go to the control panel  -->  edit training settings --> friends.  Enter each person in the group and you will have a link to their blog/training log in your blog/training log.  This is a great way to remember to check in with each other on a regular basis and help keep everyone accountable! Knowing that others are watching your training is a great extra push in motivation!

I'm sure everyone's training is a little wierd right now with all the holiday busy-ness, but once we hit the beginning of January I'll ask everyone to post their planned training here each week. Just another way we can motivate each other throughout the week.

Wow - 10 marathons in 3 years, that is impressive! I can't imagine NOT being burned-out on running after that - it only took me 2 marathons in a year to hit that point! With your running background and the dedication required to train for and complete 10 marathons, I think you will adapt to triathlon training very well!

Your experience starting to swim sounds very similar to mine. My husband was a year-round swimmer growing up and I believe the term he used to describe me was "a flailer". Swimming is such a technical sport, it really takes a while to start to get your form corrected and understand the mechanics. The best thing you can do to continue improving here is a swim coach - I took several lessons with one in my area last year and it helped immensely - although having an ex-swimmer for a husband certainly helps too.

As for a training plan, have you looked at the plans offered here at BT? They have some excellent winter maintenance plans and sprint training plans that will certainly get you ready for your race in July! Honestly, with you starting to train now, you could definately pick a race sooner than that, if there is one in your area you are interested in.

So - it's Sunday night of Christmas week - I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve! What's on tap for everyone's training this week?

For me, it's very abbreviated this week:

Mon - 1.5hr bike & 45min run (both at base pace - slow!)
Tue (Christmas) -> Tue (New Years)- No tri training, snowboarding in Utah for 4 days!!

I won't have access to the computer while I'm in Utah, so I'll be unavailable from Christmas night through New Years. How about everyone else?

Heather - If you still have room I would also like to join.

Name - tntexpres/John

Story - I became interested in triathlon almost 2 years ago. After a complete floundering on my goals the first year - I did manage a handful of 5k's and my first sprint (Xterra) this past year. I have had a couple of family things that were life changing and managed to let them blow me off course the past two months. I am a tile contractor and used to get a good bit of exercise daily but having employees now continues to decrease this amount.

Family - Married to the best woman for 17 yrs - daughters 9, 13, 14 - and 1 wanna-be dog (chihuahua - also female!)

Current training - non-exsistent. I will be deciding on a plan this week. Any help appreciated.

2008 goals - I haven't committed to anything specific .....yet, but I will. These are some races in my sights.

Feb - Reindeer on the run 5K

May - Turtle Crawl Triathlon Olympic (?)

August - Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon (I volunteered for this race 2 yrs ago - first experience with tri's and want so badly to do this race)

Weightloss - I would like to drop about 10lbs of fat and replace it with about 15lbs of muscle.

I would like to get a coach at some point this year. Specifically for swimming.

Thanks - John

Edit - after re-reading your original post I realized your group size is limited to 5 and I think you are at that number already. I will try elsewhere.

Thanks anyway - good luck to you all.

Hi gang... I'd like to join this group if there is still room.