Manatees - 2018 Edition Now CLOSED (Page 10)

I like his taste...and enthusiasm for his beer!

Seeing my Neurologist this afternoon to get the official clear to start training. Wish me luck

Also had a follow up appointment with my eye doctor from my Lasik surgery last February. I still haven't been able to apply my new vision to my bike finding skills. Should be able to cut my Swim to Bike Transition by at least a minute

It is the novice 1 program. I have done 1 day of cross training to have some strength and core work, and the other cross day to be biking. My issue is that my garmin vioactive caused me to have a horrible skin reaction ( silicone and nickel). I am waiting until I have more funds available to update my Garmin to the triathlete specific watch ( forgot the name) I would get half off the upgrade fee because of the issues. I work 1-9 p.m. and when I exercise before work I am exhausted out of my wits. I am doing what I can with biking at a local gym for now. I still keep good pace.
I want to keep the marathon this year, because I know that my goal is to attempt IM LOU in 2019. I feel like I need that running distance under my belt before I move any further with my IM goals. I may be overshooting, but I have also heard that the KDF marathon is not a good first course from coworkers who run marathons. I just want to move forward. I did not have issues with the biking. I had a comfortable cushion with my biking times at Muncie.
My swim and my running speed/form are the two things I want improvement on.

^^^^^^ yes yes yes!!As for what Chris said, this group had been an amazing source of support, inspiration, and fun. I've made some great friends and laughed a LOT at some of the directions the conversation goes. When I got the TBI that messed up my vision, the loss of my connection with this community was one of the things I grieved the most. It makes me so happy to be here again and I hope I can continue to be involved!

Trade secrets....har har...There are none! I work my a$$ off for often minimal results! I think there may have been an issue in the past with a former athlete "stealing" workouts and starting their own coaching business, or something like that.

At any rate, workouts out of context are pretty useless. When you work with a coach, they are (at least I hope) tailored to your individual goals, race calendar, strengths, and weaknesses as an athlete. I have a particularly odd background for a triathlete, with a pretty strong base in two of the sports (running and swimming, different from most people who come to tri as masters, who seem to generally have a run and/or bike background) and very little in the third. Lack of power/size/strength is also a much bigger limiter for me than it would be for most people, particularly guys. Endurance is almost never an issue; getting the lead out and picking up the pace is! My workouts might be effective for me, but probably not so much for someone else.

If I was self-coached or using a "canned" program, I'd actually be happy to share exactly what I was doing on a daily basis, and did so in the past until I started working with a coach in November of 2015. I just don't think there are any secrets. Even if the workouts were suitable for another athlete, it's all about the execution of training and racing, and other things like nutrition, recovery, motivation, etc. I would probably never think of following another athlete's program verbatim, or, if I did, expect it to work really well for me, just because it seems to work for them.

Edited by Hot Runner 2018-01-09 7:27 PM

OMG! I'm really jealous! I can't even see the sighting or turn buoys during the swims. IM Boulder my swim was 2.7 miles ( swam to every kayaker as they were dressed in the same color as the buoys) . Every 70.3 has been at least 1.4 miles. Oceanside this year was 1.6 (I wanted to say hi to all the seals, haha). Then I get out and try to figure out where my bike is.

Sad thing is, I had PRK in 2007. I would love to have it again, but my eyes aren't eligible. Sigh

Wishing you the best of luck with your neurologist.

Hi, all -
I’ve been battling a cold/bronchitis & haven’t been online lately, much less training. I’m looking forward to catching up on the group chat and seeing who else has joined - I just hope I won’t find a msg saying I’ve already been booted from the group! Ha!
Hope everyone else’s training is off to a better start. -Ally

I had Lasik 12 years ago and it was like Jesus himself rubbed spit and mud in my eyes. Literally overnight I went from 20/200 to 20/12 vision. Absolutely one of the best things I have ever done. I wasn't doing triathlons then, so I have no idea if it would have helped, but it was great in all other aspects of my life.

Have you tried prescription goggles? While they weren't perfect they did help me.

NAME: Nate

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: Strava -> N8 P https://www.strava.com/athletes/23216535Garmin N8-P

STORY: I started triathlon about 4 or 5 years ago now. We recently moved and my life became marginally less chaotic. Although I ran in high school and in college I had let myself go and was overweight, with marginal blood pressure and cholesterol. I decided to make a change. I started to bike and swim as I was concerned my increased mass would be tough on my joints and then started mixing in running slowly. I found the variety of training was fun, and I started to look at doing a triathlon and found BT. I did a sprint and then was hooked. Last year I completed several of my goals 1. Did my first half iron distance race. 2. ran my first marathon 3. logged over 1k miles running. I have successfully got my wife into running and she has now done 5 half marathons. We both do beach body and she is an active beach body coach.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with 3 children. 1 cat

CURRENT TRAINING: Since finishing my last at the end of September I have been in Marathon training. I have been using the BAA plans and found them to be pretty kick butt for marathon and half marathon training. I will switch to a half plan to keep volume up for this year.

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: Just did the Goofy challenge at Disney. Currently planning a Ruck in March and maybe a sprint. I have yet to plan very deep into the year. My wife and I are teaming up to get 2018 miles this year.

OBJECTIVES/DESIRES: I have been in a couple mentoring groups that have faded pretty quickly. Leaving only a couple active members. I like the accountability and the motivation. Its also fun to hear about others races, and share my experiences.

WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD MANATEE: Share my experience and learn from others.


Edited by nrpoulin 2018-01-10 10:03 AM

I have. Sadly my face is narrow so all they did was leak as they don't fit. I tried every pair that swim outlet carries. That made my husband happy, haha.

NAME: Randy Childs

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, MapMyRun, Garmin, all use Randy Childs.

STORY: I've played sports in high school, some intramural in college, and recreationally throughout my adult life. In my 20s and 30s, I lifted weights, but never worked on endurance. As I got older, my weight climbed. Around age 40, my older brother had started to run and suggested that he, myself, and my younger brother all do a 5K together. We did that for a few years, but I always took about 9 months off and then trained for about 3 months for the race. In 2014, my younger brother asked me to train for a triathlon with him. I had to ask, "what's a triathlon?"! LOL He explained it and I accepted the challenge.

To be honest, before I had even raced my first sprint, I was hooked. I loved the variety of the workouts. Before, it was just run, run, and run some more. I really enjoyed the training and can still remember some of my milestones that first year, such as how ridiculously jelly-like my legs felt on my first ever brick run. After finishing my first sprint that year, I signed up for another race the very next weekend! LOL In 2015, I moved up in distance and completed my first Olympic. I didn't exceed Oly distance in 2016, but tackled my first half marathon. This past year, I took another step up in my tri distance and completed my first ever HIM.

FAMILY STATUS: I'm married with 3 children (8, 6, and going on 4 months!), 2 cats, and some fish.

CURRENT TRAINING: I took a large break after my HIM, barely logging more than 1 run a week. In December, I tried to get going again, but between work, kids, and the holidays, I didn't get as much done as I wanted. So far in January, I've started to get my mojo back and am getting more consistent training.

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: I've got a lot of my year mapped out. I'll do numerous 5Ks and want to run a local 5-miler, but am always open to adding extra short distance races. I am currently signed up for 3 obstacle course races (Spartan Sprint, Tough Mudder Full (10 mile), and Rugged Maniac). I also currently have 3 sprints and 1 Olympic on my tri calendar. There's the possibility of sneaking in a half marathon in October.

GOALS/OBJECTIVES/DESIRES: This year, I'm looking to get faster at the shorter distances. I want to shave at least a full minute off my 5K time (current PR is 24:09). I also want to get faster on the bike, with a goal of averaging 20+ mph for a sprint race. My best pace so far is something like 19.2 mph. I don't have specific pace goals for my swim, but I think I can approach 1:40/100m in a sprint. My hope is that I can improve my sprint speed in all 3 sports and move closer to the podium. I'm also hoping those improvements will help me move up the rankings at the Olympic level, as well. I don't expect to actually be on the podium (I know my limitations), but I'd like to get to the point where I'm consistently in the top half of my age group.

WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD MANATEE: While I've managed to complete tris all the way up to the half iron distance, I'm still not even close to an expert on triathlon. I still have questions and look for guidance from others. But I've also accumulated some experience of my own and I'm always willing to share what I've been through with the hope of helping someone else. I enjoy discussing this sport that I love and interacting with like-minded people. I'm looking forward to 2018 and I hope everyone else is, too!

Thank you.

I live in Winterville, Greenville area. I have done some races out in that area as part of the setup series. A little bummed by the decrease in number of races this year. Will make it difficulty to compete for the series award if they keep it at 5 events. I may try to do two races at white lake in spring and fall but we will see.

fixed strava in bio and provided the link. had trouble pulling up your profile but im in a conference and goofing off right now, so will try again later.

I liked the course for toughman SC but was hoping for a bigger race. I had received emails for toughman races for 3 years and thought they would do it up like a Rev3 race. So in that regard I was disappointed. I was invited to the championship race in NY but it is during our anniversary and I will be deferring.

Nate