Dream Chaser's 'Set a Goal and Capture it!' Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 12)

Echo the opinions of others above & add that I believe these are the reasons I am in the right group I had a bad end to the week training wise, then ate terrible all weekend - feel like I put 5lbs on Sunday alone!

But that was last week - right? :D

Hope everyone has a great week! Remember February's goal - Discipline!!

Chava, so sorry to hear about your loss.  Our thoughts are with you and your family.

As for the blog, it's actually part of your training log.  The "overall comments" section of your training log are part of your blog, or you can click "Edit" right below the RSS feed link on your home page of your training log.

To be part of the BT Blogger, you will need to go to your Settings and give yourself a name under the "Training Blog Customization" tab.  Then you can change a bunch of settings under your Training Log settings.

Updating your log shouldn't take too long...probably 2-3 minutes a day.

Good job maintaining your training while traveling!

Chava, I am very sorry for your loss

Funny that I picked DISCIPLINE as the group theme for February.  The definition of Discipline is self-control; orderly conduct; following a structured program.  The word Punishment is also associated with the word Discipline.  There's really nothing 'fun' about this word.  Perhaps there's not supposed to be.  All I know is that I am having a huge internal battle with Discipline right now.  

For me, it's easy not to be disciplined.  It's easy to do what I want.  But 'easy' doesn't move me in the direction of my goals and long-term happiness, contentment and satisfaction.  Discipline is hard, yeah - it's WORK - and it means doing things 'I don't want to do,' and the short-term feelings spawned by discipline are misery and discontent.  But little by little, drop by drop, if I stay on the designed path of discipline, the pay-off is ...spectacular.  I need to trust in this truth; have faith.  For me, this means trusting my plan and focusing on my weakest discipline - cycling.   

If I stay in my 'Comfort Zone' ...well, then that's where I stay.  I don't grow or go anywhere.  My 'Comfort Zone' is the size of a tiny room.  In this room I am stagnant.  I am complacent.  It's easy to stay in this room.  Dammit, it's comfortable!!  But the world awaits me... and the world is everything outside that little room.  Discipline is the sledgehammer that will knock down these self-imposed walls of complacent miserable comfort and free me. 

"Come to the edge," he said. "No, we will fall," they replied. They came to the edge. He pushed them . . . and they flew.
--Apollinaire

I've read a lot of threads on this website and have seen people respond to posts such as yours with comments like "It's suppposed to be a hobby buddy!  It's supposed to be fun!".  I think there's a fine balance involved.  In order to reap the rewards you have to work.  Wanna travel? Work to make money.  Wanna experience the thrill of crossing a finish line? Train.  Wanna do well? Train hard and be disciplined. 

One of my favourite books is "In to the Wild".  The title of my blog actually comes from the book.  It's jam packed with quotes that really made me think about the choices I make in life.  For a long time I was very afraid to try new things.  Fear can be suffrocating but I think when you fear something - it means you are meant to do it.  Step out of your comfort zone.  Or as Andrew Carnegie would say, "If you want to conquer fear, don't sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy."

John, write your thoughts again.  But first write them in an e-mail or Word Doc and then copy & paste it into the thread.  I am very interested to hear your thoughts.  Please share with us!!

I loved everyone's thoughts so far with Discipline vs. Training.  Yeeeeeah, greeat stuff.   Like McDonalds: I'm  lovin' it.

Everyone has different goals and does this sport for different reasons.  For me, ever since my first 70.3 at Rhode Island in 2008, I ran a 2:08 half marathon.  Mind you, just two months earlier I ran a 1:31 stand-alone!  Now granted, your triathlon run times are always gonna be a little slower than your open road race times, but to run 30% slower...  you're doing something wrong.  So for me, one of my goals it to run close to my open run time in a triathlon.  To do this, I need to work on the Bike.  The Bike is my limiter. 

And this is a microcosm of My Life.  I'm always leaning on what's easiest.  There's nothing wrong with bagging a workout, or moving stuff around.  It's not about that.  It's about facing my fears, getting outside my comfort zone; in triathlon and in life.  Triathlon is a mirror of life for me.  Again, I do this stuff also cause I want to live a long healthy, active life.  I love being fit.  I hate walking in a triathlon race and not running to my potential.  So for me, it's not about training more; it's about training smarter.  It's about earning my Run time because I put in my Bike time first.  It's about eating my vegetables.  It's about going back to college.  Despite a very successful career and life in general, I started working straight out of high school.  At age 36, I don't want to go back to school.  Short term, it's gonna suck and be hard.  It's gonna take work.  But the long-term achievment and results will be fantastic.  I hope!   

Bobby asked “Hi John. So how are you liking the Crossfit? What is the goal of crossfit, for you personally? If you don't mind my curious self asking “

Ok – going to try this again! I lost this post twice the other nite before I could get it posted.

Good question and now that it has been asked I realize I haven’t given it a specific goal or thought about it in those terms. My first thought would be just general fitness or overall health benefits. Though most workouts are short in duration they are heavy on intensity. The ever changing workouts challenge every muscle group in my body. What I have learned is the variety of the workouts and the group I have found keep me looking forward to each and every workout.

Most all workouts are for time so everything is done as close to full speed as you are capable.  Being in a group setting makes it difficult for me to slack off when I am feeling very winded or wasted especially when there is someone half my age who has beaten cancer recently on one side and someone 10yrs older on the other side – neither of which yet to show any indication they are slowing down during a workout. Vanity, fear, peer pressure….call it what you want – it works to keep me focused on pushing myself to the limit. Many days I find myself literally lying on the floor, drenched in sweat, gasping for air, feeling queasy –like I am about to lose my lunch but not having the energy to do anything about it – for 3-5 mins after a workout. But also in the group is an atmosphere to only push as hard as you desire too. There are a couple people who do not push that hard and are perfectly happy with it. Overall there is a positive vibe and support. I happen to enjoy the short torture of the high intensity workouts. I had never been a member of a gym prior to CrossFit and always had the perception that most gyms where filled with a bunch of meatheads only interested in watching themselves in the mirrors. This gym isn’t that way at all and the CrossFit program is filled with all ages, skills, abilities and walks of life. I feel comfortable there. I am also at the age finally where I don’t care what those half my age think of me or have the need to try and impress every female that walks by…I don’t care that some or many of those females put me in my place during those workouts. I am only in this for me and it is a great place to finally be ……

Workouts always start with a nice warmup – usually 5-10min followed sometimes by a skill or technic workout to help train you to complete the workout correctly so as to obtain the most benefit. Then the WOD –work out of the day begins. Everyone huddles as the coach goes over specifics and everyone readies their individual workout areas with necessary weights/ropes/boxes etc. Countdown begins and everyone is off. Though I mentioned the “race” mentality I sometimes embrace –for the most part everyone is more concerned with their individual performance and doing better than their last time and encouraging each other to push  a little harder – “You can do it” is the encouragement. Most workouts range in the 10-20 min time frame. After the workout is completed and everyone catches their breath – a cool down with stretching for 5-10 mins takes place.

According to CrossFit, their training helps endurance athletes expand their aerobic capacities while building their muscles to help them muscle thru longer distances. That isn’t word for word - just my interpretation. I can tell you that as a group, my CrossFit affiliate has held a couple of sprint tri’s for members just as a training workout. In each case – those members who have been CrossFitting for awhile left me in the dust. Most all of them had never done the distances of a sprint consecutively. Not that that qualifies them to compete with more serious triathletes – I have never finished above BOP in any of the Sprints I have done. My point being that I believe it increases general fitness to a level that can only help anyone looking to do a triathlon.

Maybe as the distances get longer additional training needs to be part of an overall plan. Currently I am planning on sticking pretty much soley with the CrossFit if for nothing else than to create the habit of training on a more consistent basis. CrossFit is something I look forward to everyday and if that is what gets me out the door….then so be it!

I can’t lie and say the “Manly” “BadBoy” “Adventure Junky” perception of CrossFit doesn’t have some appeal also. It isn’t THE reason…but it isn’t a negative for me either.

So I guess the goal at this point for me is just to build consistency…a habit…a lifestyle.

Here was todays workout :

Warmup

400m jog

25 Karaoke

25 Butt kickers

25 High knees

25 Knee hug to lunge

25 Barbwire steps

25 Inchworms

20 Big arm circles each arm

30 sec Samson stretch

WOD – “Cindy” amrap –as many rounds as possible in 20 min

5 pullups

10 pushups

15 airsquats

Ended with 11 rounds plus 5 push ups

For comparison – most people at our location were between 9 rounds & 15 rounds. We did have a 17 & 22 round from some 20 yr olds. On the CrossFit Journal I believe the record was 38 rounds – I believe that isn’t from a human J

Anyone interested in checking out the workouts – here is my local link http://sandbox.sitesasrx.net/page/index.php?menu=blog&page=blog

And here is the national link  http://crossfit.com/

Most all the workouts are named to honor our fallen service men & women. Giving tribute to those who have given all for us makes motivation come a little easier to me.

Sorry for the long post! I am finding a passion for this lifestyle – hope to share!