StephSprint... mentor group FULL! (Page 12)

Very sweet ride indeed!!!! 

Yes, you are so right about the window shopping leading down the path of no return.  After class, I  talked at length with the manager about different components etc.  At my price point I'm sort of in between bikes. So we discussed a few changes/upgrades to the lower cost bike... He's emailing me a quote later today.

Hi everyone.  Im sorry that I havent been up on my logs.  I just updated my logs today.  Next week our club starts a regular training schedule.  Wish we had more pool time available.  But for now it looks like one day a week will have to sufice untill we find a better solultion.

Please dont forget about me, help keep me motivated.

Okey

Great bike.  A friend just got a used one.  Loves it. 

All good here.  Bike and run going well.  Love the kettle bells.  Swim sluggish on the long, quick on the short.  No idea whats up with that.  My coach thinks its left over from the IronMan.  Dunno.  I know it takes me a while, like a mile to warm up on any run now but once going, I feel stronger and faster at less exertion.  The kettlebells are really making me stronger faster. 

Paleo is giving me lots of energy.  Weight down 5 pounds from the start but no loss last week.  Body fat dropped through under 11% so that's good.  I'd like 10 pounds off at least by June but we will see. 

I've actually been struggling with this since my November HIM.  I was getting burnt out in the weeks leading up to the race and after the race I completely stopped biking, cut way back on the swim; but managed to keep the run miles up.  I keep doing this because I do like triathlons and I like being in shape.  I'm also competitive - I don't mean that I contend for podium spots, but rather I like to compete and compare myself against others and past performances of my own.

Once I sign up for a race my desire not to completely stink up the place will help motivate me!  I also like the social aspect of the sport.  I run and swim with a group and have formed friendships from those groups.  When you make plans to meet others to train, it is harder to blow off the workout then it is when you train on your own.

Ann-Marie

Ok...I think I just updated my friends list to include everyone in the group.  If I missed some please let me know.  Some times it takes me a little while to update my training logs so bare with me at times.  I am so new to this, didnt realize all thats involved.  And with working, coaching, and teenage kids it sure gets hard to make the time to log my work outs.

Happy training everyone.

Okey

Yep. Me too!  Otherwise I wouldn't stick around  Frankly my life is so busy, I only have one friend who also does Triathlon and we train together once in a while.  Other than that, I'm the sole triathlete in my sphere of influence.  So my online buds (you guys) help keep me motivated!

What motivates me?  My coach wonders too.  He would like to bottle whatever it is and sell it. He has a pretty darn good idea though.  Other than my wife, he probably knows me best;

In 2005 I weighed 400 pounds.  I started riding a bike to lose it. I lost enough by the end of the year to get a road bike. In early 2006, I lost enough to feel confident going to a doctor.  He was pleased with the weight loss.  He did tests.  he found cancer.  I underwent surgery and a month of the worst pain I've ever felt.  I was back on the bike in 3 weeks pain and all.  I was told that getting in shape and staying that way was the best way to avoid a relapse.  That was pretty much all I needed to know. 

I started riding relay team triathlon in 2007 to raise money for LiveSTRONG.  In 2009, I started solo triathlon when my weigh loss slowed so I would be forced to cross train.  I got a coach that year who asked me what I'd like to do in the sport.  I said, I'd like to do an Ironman.  Do you think I can?  His answer was of course, depending on how much time and effort you want to invest. 

For 1000 days, that became my goal, 140.6 miles, farther than from my house in Central Illinois to the shore of lake Michigan in Chicago.  I got up 6/7 days and did something, swim, bike, run.  Most days it was two-a-days.  Fridays are my rest day.  My wife was instrumental.  She washed, cooked, joked, traveled with me, let me go alone to Madison to ride the course weekend after weekend.  I had a hernia from a fall on a 10 mile night run.  We didn't tell anybody.  They would have said, quit.  Stop. That wasn't going to happen and I didn't have time for a month off for surgery.  I bought a truss and kept going. 

Sept. 11, 2011, was the worst best day of my life.  I loved every second, cramps and all.  When I heard, Scott Richardson, you are an IronMan and saw my wife's face at the finish relaxing now that I was OK, it was worth every second of training, every bit of the pain.  I am an Ironman.  I always will be.  Only a small portion of the people in the world can say that.  Only a small percentage of the the people who do triathlon will ever do it - or be insane enough to want to

Afterward, I had surgery to repair the hernia. A colonoscopy at the same time discovered a large tumor in my colon. I had a second surgery to remove it.  I was back working out in a month.  I'd say I am 98% back on track.  

What motivates me?  I am 60 and in the best shape of my life.  I can decide I am going to run 10 miles, 15 miles or ride 100 miles and go do it. (Notice I didn't mention swimming.  It's the price I pay on race day for getting to race my bike  

I set new goals to keep moving.   My A race is Branson half IM.  I have some runs and two short triathlons before that and may sign up for another half depending on how I feel by summer.  I think I will sign up for IM Wis. in 2013 if I can get in.  I want to do it faster and better.  

I am an athlete now.  I have a positive mental attitude about most things most of the time and when my perspective falls, I know what to do about it.  I approach life as an adventure.  I have fun.  I live pretty much every day like a 15 year old boy on Saturday morning.  

This isn't dress rehearsal.  This is the real deal.  You get once on this planet so far as I know.  One life.  I plan to turn mine back in worn out and bloodied.  

Set goals that you think are just beyond your reach, then do what you need to do every day to reach them.   Forget about negative thinking, but remember the mistakes and learn from them.  There really are no failures, only stepping stones to success.  Surround yourself with positive people who are doing positive things in their lives and wish you only the best.  Have no time for any one else.  Negative people, even family or friends, have no place.  They do not matter.  They can change their attitude or get out of the way.   What matters in the end is what I do to set an example to others.  I'm a recovering alcohol/addict with 23 years clean.  I lost massive weight.  I overcame cancer and aging to reach my goal and I'm no where near done yet.   That's what motivates me.  I am ALIVE.

You all have a great weekend of training.  I am on a rest day.  Redtails, the movie, and dinner with my wife.  Every Friday night is date night with my best girl.  

Ice.

Iceman, Great stuff; especially the part about the standing Friday date night with your wife

Ann-Marie

That's the current plan.  I know some people that are doing Augusta 70.3 and I'm thinking of joining them.  I'm also considering REV Sarasota (assuming it actually gets approval) and Miamiman (I'd really like to improve on my time).

Ann-Marie