Newbz winter training group is FULL!!!!! (Page 10)

Big expense for the first year to be sure.  I think I spent about $4,000 my first year, but the good news is I am pretty much done.  My buget this year for 2 new pairs of shoes and all my race fees is only $500 and that will cover me for the whole year.

Keying in on what David suggested, I bought my bike on Ebay.  I was a $5,500 retail bike I got for $2,300.  Think of if this way.  Think about all the 40+ year old that can afford a good tri bike, get into the sport for a very short time and then sell their bike.  The guy I bought my bike from claimed (and the claim seemed accurate from the wear on the bike) that my bike was ridden only 320 miles.  Frankly, I'd I paid $2,300 if it was ridden 3000 miles.

No kidding that's a hell of a pace for 4 miles, can hardly believe you didn't win with that.

So I emailed the race director in Austin and asked him to put me on the full marathon instead of the half. No turning back now! I've got two weeks to really hammer out the miles before I start tapering off. Gonna try to get a 18 mile or so long run in the next week...

Won't be doing much of this in the very near future, but I abandoned my weight training routine in favor of one simple whole upper body workout that I'll do a couple times a week. This should help with getting everything in. I decided it's nearly suicidal to weight train legs while training for these races.

Ran today in my new shoes for the second time. Just as an experiment I bought the same make/model. I was gonna go to the only specialty running shoe store in town and get specific recomendations for my feet, but these felt good and I wanted to see if I could notice a change.  WOW there's a huge difference! Knees are still bothering me a bit I guess that takes a while to get better after you blast them with running on bad shoes for awhile? I'm using the equipment tracker to keep tabs on the mileage of these new ones, I set it for 250. Should wearing the old ones around just as everyday shoes be a problem? I was thinking of going to buy some of those gel insoles, maybe then they wouldn't be so bad? 

David (dinotx), congrats on the the full marathon.  .  My biggest run race to date is a single 10k.  Good luck.

David (newbz), I was thinking about something again that seems like it would be fun, but races seem to never offer the category.  It would be a team triathlon, but not a relay.  A two or three man team would need to start together and finish together.  Anyway that got me thinking about the tri-tech time trial.  Maybe it would be fun to hit that this year as a two man time-trial.  Just a thought.  At this point I am not even a member of Tri-tech and doubt I'd become one just to get to the time trail, but if we both find ourselves being members, then it would be something to think about.

Sometimes I am disappointed I don't swim.  The TTT might be one of those times because the event sounds like a lot of fun.  I have backpacked in Shawnee and do understand about the hills.

I like HFP OK.  I just don't like how the leadership flat ignors customer feedback.  There is an air about them like they don't make mistakes and therefore don't acknowledge mistakes nor appologized for them - that is all I've ever disagreed with.  Plus I like Ultra-Fit because they just concentrate on my race - the sprint.  Jeff Sheard and personally emailed me about 6 times to ask my input and follow up with any timing complaint I have had.  HFP ALWAYS (yes always) puts out errors in their race results and they never care to fix them.  I also like Ultra-Fits duathlons because they have a more reasonable 2 mile first run which compares better to the sprint swim.  HFP never sets up a shorter first first - always two 5Ks.  Anyway, I like HFP races enough to always enter the two local ones.  I'll also be utilyzing them for any Olympic distance duathlons should I choose to enter a race at that distance.  (don't see me going longer than that though but certainly understand the benefit they offer the tri world by having 1) a lot of races, 2) longer distances, and 3) fun formats.

Thomas

Errr...I must have missed something?  You're trying to lose weight?  

Malcom, you probably did miss it.  It might have been just before you and some other folks joined that most of us expressed a desire to loose some weight and that January was a mentor group effort to do so.  Each person stated something about their goal for the month.

Looks like we'll need to renew the idea in February to let everyone in and to finish with our race goals.  Plus I hope as Feb appoaches that we all can better use the group to help motivate each other.

My check in:  I have reached my month end goal of 192lbs I've been at 192 for a few days.  If I end the month here or lower, I'd like to make a steady push to 183-185 for this season.  Last season was all at 188-192.

I just sent everyone a shout-out via the Inspire Me again.  I hope we can all help use the mentor group to help motivate each other just a little bit more than we would do on our own.

Ahhh....I just can't really process someone weighing 158....running the times he does...and wanting to lose any more weight.

I'm still hovering around 228 - but I have not made any effort to lose any extra weight over the last month.  Since I dropped a fair amount from May to Dec of last year - coming down from 265 - I'm kinda letting my system equalize...get some strength back...and eating as I please pretty much.   I'm just maintaining - but would like to drop another 10-13lbs before my first event.

Plus you young kids are probably still growing.

Ok, So I have a double whammy age and I'm a female.  I had dropped a pound and a 1/2 the first week and have stayed there until this weekend getaway.  I put it back on + I'm sure.  I haven't checked.  I'll weigh in tonight. 

Just having the group accountability has kept me motivated.  Knowing that everyone can check my progress.  I do need a kick in the but to start making more progress with getting faster and stronger.  I get to a point where I'm feeling good and then I revert back to the old ways.  I'm hoping the group will keep me on track, and the fact that I'm committed to racing.

Thanks everyone

Can anyone else see their graphs?  Just wondering if the trouble is with my computer or BT.

Yeah have fun in CO it's one of my favorite places to visit. I try to go up there to camp/ski/snowboard as often as possible. Alas that's not much lately...

...so I ran my long run for the week yesterday (meant to do it the day before, but the frigid wet weather was pretty discouraging, sometimes I don't know how you guys in the midwest do this stuff) Longest and farthest I've ever ran. I ran about 15 1/2 miles for 2 hrs 24 min. Suprisingly when I got back home and mapped it out my pace wasn't much off what I want to do for the marathon (under 4 hrs is the goal, any more than that I'll be very disappointed). I was pretty spent afterward though (SPENT!). Esp my knees are bothering me, but I did just get new shoes and may still be feeling the effects of running on worn out shoes for awhile. Today is a deserved day off I think. I couldn't believe the distance I covered! I did kind of an out and back run, and went clear across town, what would have been a decent drive! before I was halfway through my time, and still had to make some loops when I got close to home. It seemed really strange I've never ran that far. I still have time for one long run before it's time to taper off, in about a week I wanna push it out to 19-20 mi. I really wonder if my training so far has prepared me for this? Oh well, I'm putting that thinking out of my head! At least I know one thing for sure ...I can do the half distance!

It's actually cold down here now it's in the 40s. It's really awesome, except when it's raining and time to run lol

1) I could see my graphs about an hour after I mentioned it.

2) Good run. You our out of my league on me providing any input on what you are doing, but I can say "good job" on the long run and marathon goal.  I am a long way from a marathon (mentally for sure).