Ryan and Mike's beginner group - CLOSED (Page 10)

So Michael, do you plan to sign up the the Lake St. Louis Tri?  If so, Sprint or Oly?  I hear it fills up early.  Are you considering any other races this year?

too bad i can't swim with you kim - the introvert part wouldn't stand a chance! (welcome btw)

have you tried adult swim lessons, or see if there's a local US masters swim group (know what i'm talking about??) that works with newbies?

marla

A couple things for the people that just joined the group.

I encourage you to add everyone active in the group as friends in your training log.  To do that, go to Settings -> Training Blog Customization -> Friends and add everyone active in the group (including Ryan and I, big82 and ransick).  This will allow members in the group an easy way to get to your logs and offer encouragement via inspires.  If you aren't familiar with inspires, they are a cool way to offer each other encouragement.  One trick with them is that if you want to respond to one to say thanks, or whatever, click "reply" then type your response instead of just typing it in the empty space below the inspire you received.  If you click reply, it will post in the other person's inspire list.  If you hit post, your response will show up in your own inspire list.  If that doesn't make sense, let me know.

If you aren't logging your workouts, I encourage you to start.  It is helpful when asking questions on the forum and mentor group for others to see what kind of training you are doing.  It is also nice to see your progress over time.  If you are logging workouts and have your log set to private, I encourage you to go to Training Log Settings and allow your friends to see your logs.

I encourage all the above, but none of it is required.  You can use the group to ask questions, just follow along, or fully engage. 

RE weight loss & tri training...

...in case anyone else is interested: i have had an ongoing history using jenny craig for weight loss (about 60-65 pounds as of last spring/summer), but got stuck/plateaued last spring/summer when i was working out the most, and just couldn't drop the last 15 pounds.

i've liked jenny craig bc of the balanced approach to meals & snacking (not to mention the killer chocolate), & they just came out w/ a new program, metabolic max, that uses an armband like you see on the biggest loser to track activity level / calories burned, sleep, etc., along with diet logging software, to help figure out the ideal individualized plan. don't have my gizmo yet, but hope to have it on & programmed in a few days, and happy to share more info once i get started w/ it if anyone's interested...i'm pretty psyched...

Also for the people that just joined, these are the topics we plan to cover (or have covered). 

goal setting (page 5 - post 1)
training by RPE/heart rate/power (page 8 - post 7)
swim training  (up next, I just need to write it and dig up some material and links)
bike training
run training
core training
nutrition
rest and recovery
race day (race day nutrition covered on page 6 - post 8)

and any other topics everyone would like, so let us know what you would like covered.

First I'd like to say this looks like a Great Group!  I glad to me a new member of Ryan and Mike's group.

NAME: Michael Aromando
 
STORY: I turned 40 earlier this month.  I have always been fairly active, but not always consistant.  I have been thinking of doing a Tri for several years.  We moved to Lake St Louis, MO a few days before the 2009 Lake St Louis Tri.  We saw the tale end of the run pass our house.  Leading up to the 2010 race we started seeing all the people showing up to run/ride/swim the course.  I took my daughter up to watch the race and Instantly we were hooked.  We rode home to get my wife and then three of us rode our bikes around the course watching everything we could.  I realized these were all distances I can do, I just need to do them together.  I started trainning the next day!

FAMILY STATUS: 40 yrs old - Married to Angie, we have 1 daughter, Grace almost 9.  Angie likes to bike, tolerates running, laughs if I suggest she swim.  Grace loves to tag along and has been asking when she can start trainning for a Tri.  (I guess soon) We found one in St Charles, MO (New Town) this summer, She's so excited! 

CURRENT TRAINING: I am currently doing a Run Focused - 20 Week Oly (Perparing for the Go! St Louis Half Marathon).  I normally add a few extra workouts, my wife usually talks me into extra Spin Class with her.  Additionally, I try to add a couple weight trainning workouts.

THIS YEAR'S RACES:

03/12/2011 St. Patrick’s Day Cottleville Tradition – 7K Run for the Helmet 2011
04/10/2011 GO! St. Louis Half Marathon
05/01/2011 TriZou Triathlon - Sprint Tri (My First Tri)
06/04/2011 American Diabetes Assoc Tour de Cure - Grafton, IL (100 Miles Route) Team Pedal-Pedal-Pedal
07/10/2011 New Town Triathalon - Sprint
08/20/2011 Lake St Louis Triathalon - Oly  (This is my focus race, The Ride goes behind my house and the Run in front.)

2010 RACES:  None!  I was schedule for a 10K in Oct, but dislocated my shoulder.  I was able to start working out again before Christmas.

WEIGHTLOSS:  I'm 6'3" 208 lbs, I carry excess weight in my upper body.  I'd like to get down to 195, but BMI is probably more important to me.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: Good questions!  I have been trying to soak up as must as possible, because I have a couple friends interested (plus my daughter).  The more I learn, the more I can share.



Edited by maromando 2011-01-25 11:00 PM

Yes, I am planning on the Lake St Louis Tri - Oly.  You heard right, it fills up quick registration opens in Mid-Feb.  It will be my focus race this year.  I am planning a couple Sprints first.  I finally, got the computer back from my wife and completed the template you had in your beginning post.

Marla -  I think it  would be great if you can post a little about that arm band deal.  NOt for sure its something I would actaully use but sounds like it has the possibility to be great for alot of people. Always have someone asking, how can I/we loose weight.  Most of us don't have a clue which direction to point them haha( I wish I knew how i've lost weight haha)

Michael , nice to have you on board.  It would be great to have a Tri right in front of the house!!!

Hi everybody,

Wow! I am just catching up on the thread. Work has kicked off really busy this year and personal issues have come up lately. *sigh*

Workouts are going great. My coach gave me my workout plan through mid-February. I'm getting more and more excited for New Orleans Half Ironman each day. 

Hope you all are doing well in your training. I will try to stay up-to-date on this thread. Kind of hard to get used to! 

Can we get a list of all the people in the group? I want to be sure to add everybody and try to inspire everybody at least once a week.

Thanks! Jennifer

OK, so swimming really sucks!!

Made myself get in the pool last night & it was about as hard as I thought. Doesn't help that I was pretty much just splashing my way through each 25y leg. I've gotta learn how to swim if this is gonna work.

On an unrelated note, who has any tips for dealing with shin splints? I don't want to start missing run days, but I also don't want to push too hard & risk injury. I think I'm going to swap a ride for tonight's scheduled run & see how that goes.

Swimming will get easier!  

(Aug 2010) The first day I went to go swimming in our community pool, it was packed (kids playing in the lap lanes).  So I desided to swim in the lake next to the pool, I thought it would be a good idea to swim across the cove.  It took everything I had to make it across, breast stoke, freestyle, side stroke, float on my back, Doggy Paddle, tread water and prayed I wouldn't drowned.  After Finally making it to the other side and realizing I was still alive I wondered "How long did that take, 20, 30 mins?  NO, No, No...6 1/2 minutes (Now I realize it was only about 50 yrds).  The next day I joined Gold's Gym.

Now, I look forward to my swims!  I started off doing 25 yrds slow with any stroke I felt comfortable.  Then I would take a break until I was ready for another lap.  By Mid Oct 2010, I was up to 1200 yrds.  I was sidelined when I dislocated my shoulder at the end of Oct.  Just before Christmas I was able to start swimming again.  I did the same thing and now I am up to 1000 yrds (with some breaks, I'm still slow [4 mins per 100 yrds] but I feel comfortable in the water).

Just keep paddling.

I've been lucky, I only had a small case of shin splits back in High School.  But, as I get older (turned 40 the other day) any time I restart something I try taking it easy to get my joints and ligaments used to the motions.

Enjoy your Ride, I can't wait until it warms up here so I can get back to riding outside.

Michael A.

Here is the current list.  I'll probably close it after 2 more or the end of the month.

Ryan and Mike's mentor group
_T2_ - Thomas
paygilr - Tanya
Brightbow - Victoria
MarlaS - Marla
CliffK110 - Cliff
rebersole2 - Robert
conway9 - Mike
metii - Gene
akouwenberg - Adam
soccersandi00 - Jennifer
caramy - Amy
ladpc14 - ???
Sooner - Allen
burningrabbit - Jack
rad110 - Steve
mezistrano - Jay
tricupcake - Kim
maromando - Michael

I went through the same thing swimming.  It was very humbling.  Just keep going 3x a week and you'll eventually get it.  If you can get a lesson or two, it will help a lot.

I'm no shin splint expert but what I've heard is that they are often caused by ramping distance or speed too quickly, so backing off a bit is probably appropriate.  If they get too bad, you'll need to quit running for a while.  Icing after each run can help but there is no real substitute for ramping your volume and speed.  The rule of thumb is not to add more than 10% distance each week.

Jennifer, great to hear your workouts are going well. There's a button at the bottom of the page that says, "toggle email notification" and every time someone posts to our thread a notification is sent to your email addy.

Marla- the armband sounds interesting, so I'd like to hear more about your experiences with it. For myself when I was trying to get back down to my goal weight after each child it took a lot of work. I saw the best results when I logged my food... something I really don't enjoy. Groups like this are really helpful too. I was on sparkpeople for a while if anyone has ever heard of that.

Shin splints: I had those when I first started running. I'm sorry I can't help though, I can't remember what I had to do. All I really remember is the doctor telling me that it wasn't a good fitness approach to run all the time. LOL He suggested that I ride my bike and swim of all things! I find that hilarious now.

i can't understand it - lost weight last summer when i went on vacation, which led me to speculate that it was the tequila.

will post more when i get my hands on it & figure it out!

OK, I'm a gadget geek so I looked it up.  The arm band is the BodyMedia FIT .  The reviews I read were positive too.  Someone said to check their facebook page for even more reviews.

Blah, Blah, Blah that's how I feel today! Thanks for listening. I took a little nap and plan on going to exercise at 10:45pm.  This should be fun. Thomas

wow, exercising at 10:45 pm is hard core! (unless you work off shift).

Blah, blah, blah happens.  For me, lack of sleep and proper nutrition can be the cause.  A bad day at work and crappy drivers that don't go fast enough in the fast lane can also cause it.  I had a stressful commute on the way home tonight. 

Tracking food and calories is something that I have been meaning to do, know i should do but haven't till now. I signed up for myplate at livestrong. Hopefully this time I will stick with it.

Marla, to bad it was Tekillya, or I would say we could go on that diet and let the group know hahaha.  Well maybe after april, if I want to see mike at all , during our SHIFT at the Tri hahaha.

Are you guys still accepting newbies to the group?  If so, I'd like to join in on the the fun.....

Little bit about me:

NAME:  Rhett
 
STORY:   Started running last January after about a 10 year hiatus in lazy land.  Ran a 5K in February, then came upon an Off-road (mountain bike) Sprint Tri in March and was hooked.  Signed up and completed another 2 Sprints and an Oly before the winter break, and then did an 8K over Thanksgiving and a Half-Mary in early December.  I have lost 35 pounds in the process and could probably stand to lose another 10 or so.

FAMILY STATUS:   Married with two boys (4 and 2), and a little girl on the way in May.

CURRENT TRAINING:  Full swing right now, but just can't seem to get in enough- between work, family, etc.

THIS YEAR'S RACES:   Ironman Texas 70.3 in Galveston, TX on April 10.  We'll see what else I can fit in after the baby comes.

2010 RACES:  Couple 5K runs, one 8K run, a Half Marathon, 2 Off Road Sprint Tri's, one Road course Tri, and an Olympic Distance Tri.

WEIGHTLOSS: 35 pounds and counting since last January.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE:  I've done what I could do when I could do it, juggling work, family, and other commitments.  I'm not trying to win spots on the podium, but simply enjoy the process of getting the point that I can finish with my head held high.  I've learned a bit through my experiences, both good and bad, and am willing to share my outcomes and lessons learned.

Rhett, nice to have ya in the group.  Sounds like you got the bug like the rest of us.  How did you compare the Offroad stuff to the on road?  I've been thinking of the Xterra events.