Jenny's Winter "Find What Drives You" Mentor Group - Open (Page 12)

<RANT ALERT> Lord help me, we're in for MORE snow today. Temperatures are back to February levels (expletive)!  (BIG expletive)!!!!!!!

BLARG.  First race with open water swim in less than two months, and i don't have a wetsuit.  That's not a lot of time for the lake to warm up.  That's ok... i've had hypothermia before.  :S  

Despite the cold, at least its sunny today, and lunch is my 'short' run.  Yay!

Blah, snow!  We had a week of 80*F (26.6C) and blue ski.  Thought I would pass out running, lol.

Here's some links where you can rent a wetsuit.  Some even send it early to give you a chance to work out the kinks and get use to it.  I purchased a Neosport sleeveless from Amazon.  It's a lower end suit but I'm only wearing it a couple of times a year.  It's holding up great.

http://www.triwetsuitrentals.com/

http://www.wetsuitoutlet.com/

http://www.wetsuitrental.com/

http://www.onetri.com/wetsuit-rentals-c-68.html

http://www.landrys.com/about/triathlon-wetsuit-rentals-pg81.htm

Just make sure it's a tri suit or you might not be able to swim in it ;o)

Thanks for the links Monty!  looks like one of them ships to Canada. Whoop!

This is the view out my office window this morning.  Monty and Angie... while I would not wish your "death valley" temperatures in mid-summer on anyone, would either of you consider a trade for a little bit?  First race is less than 2 months away.  In a lake.  O. M. G. 

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Helloooooooooooooo!  Anybody out there???  i know... we're all so busy training, no time to post :D

The snow has almost all melted.  It's sunny and above 0*C for once... but oh my wind!  I'm claiming personal victory at not calling a cab on today's run... it was an out and back to my weight watchers meeting... the return leg completely into the wind with a 40km/h (25mph) headwind and an elevation increase of 700m (2200 ft) (WTH BT map feature... there are no mountains in Ontario... regardless it was a heck of a climb)!  That's insane!!!  I have nothing left!  It felt SO much farther than a measly 4.5km (2.8mi) roundtrip. 

My daughter has been bugging me non-stop about doing races this summer, so I managed to find two little tri's for her to work towards!  Can't wait to tell her... she'll be so excited!!

Hmmmm, soooo tempting, NOT!!! haha I have to pass on this lucrative offer. I surely hope mother nature wisks away winter from you!! I don't envy your swim being in a lake with that weather, any chance they cancel the swim?  Either way, don't give up or lose hope, weather is just another challenge we all have to endure and tackle.  While you're choosing to push through it and continue w/your training, I'm sure there is someone else who is saying screw it!  You can do it!

Geez!  Too bad we can't swap a little heat for the cold when needed!  It's been 80*F (26C) for the last week then we had a cold front hit and dropped us down 30+ deg, but I still got my WO's in!!  Not sure how you'll handle an OWS in those conditions, yikes!  

My first tri of 2013 is a sprint in 5-6 weeks.  After that i'm going to take it easy and do some healing/resting (that's my plan).  Maybe focus on a 70.3 first of next year, like March or April.  I've been hard at it for over a year either running or triathlon and need some rest.  It seems like my training for the next race overlaps the previous race every time.  I would love of just be in maintenance mode for a month or so!!  I have a 70 mile bike race/ride at the end of July and another in Aug.  Other than that I'm just cruzin'!

After this tri, I may do the same thing for a while.  I'm not burned out, but think I may need a little break from all the "training"...at least the kind of training where my days are structured to a work out plan.  It's way too early in the season to feel like this, but I think a lot of it has to do with all the crap going on in my world outside of R/B/R or S/B/R

My family went camping this last weekend and the weather was perfect!  My list of camping food does NOT come off my healthy food list, MUWHAHA!!

How's it going out there.  Haven't heard from some of you for while!

Gah... how are the weeks going by so quickly?!  And how are some people so stealthy in the pool??... this was an amazing experience last night.  I'm admittedly slow in everything... my current average for 100m is about 2:30 or so.  yeah, slow.  But last night there was this woman in my lane doing what looked like the most relaxing head-up breaststroke i'd ever seen and gall-darnit, if I could barely keep up with her.  She was incredible... I was trying to figure out how she was so efficient and of course couldn't... her legs were dragging really low in the pool, she had a quiet stroke, didn't seem to be breathing hard and NEVER stopped for the whole hour.  i of course was breaking every 100 or 150m to catch my breath.  And then, near the end, she goes to pass some dude like me and does a couple of front crawl strokes and you would have thought she had flippers or an outboard motor or something... just PLOWS through the water like she's being towed by a boat.  Just amazing!

Training is going well... training sessions are getting noticeably longer and i'm starting to feel like I will actually be well prepared for racing this year.  First race is less than two months away.  That being said, we got this posted today:  O.o 

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Hi Jenny,

I hope this group is still open.  I am a 41 year old, single mother of one, part time grad student, and work part time as a RN.  I have completed two sprint tris in the past, but they were far apart and it has been about two years since I have participated in the sport.  I had abdominal surgery about two months ago, so I have just started training again.   I am working a swim focused custom plan at the moment. 

Erica, that lady has probably been swimming the same way since she was 8, lol.  We have an older gentleman that swims during the day at the gym.  He'll be in the pool for 1.5 - 2.0 hours.  He's fast and I can hold a 1'45"/100y.

We had a winter blast this week!!  It got down to 38*F (3.33C) and nearly paralyzed North Texas.  Rain, wind, & cold!  The gym was even empty last night due to no one getting out, HA!!  The older women are digging out their parkas, again.

Welcome kgmcdowell!

Hey guys!

I'm doing a quick check in on race day eve.  It's been a hard time for me to actually "taper" this week because I just don't feel 100% prepared, mainly about the swim, but there's nothing I can do about it now haha With my 2 months of formal swim training I'm going to just do my best and for me, my race will be won when I get to the ladder at the end of those 350m  to exit the pool!

I'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes!

Hope you guys are having a good weekend!

Oh Bummer!!  Well, you'll just be that better trainer for the next, er, first one!

My first tri of 2013 is four weeks from today.  It's a sprint with an OWS.  This is only my second sprint distance, the longer tri's seemed to interest me more.  So, I need a new PR beating 1:16!

Clothing:  Just about anything will work that you can do all three disciplines in.  My first tri was a sprint and I wore some old cycling shorts (not made for swimming) that felt like wet diapers after I swam and Nike compression shirt that also stayed wet the whole race.  I rode the cycling leg on a Specialized Hard Rock mtn bike.  Although I've acquired some gear I'm still pretty frugal about it.

I would say running shoes first and most important.  You can always wear these on the bike if you have regular pedals.  Not knowing where you are in cycling gear or the bike you have.

Swimming: workouts - just make sure it's chlorine resistant.  Nothing like dropping $40 on some shorts and they fall apart the first time you wear them in a pool.  I wear a Speedo Endurance swimsuit for workouts, thigh length.

Bike: For short distance work/race just about anything that doesn’t rub you raw will work.  No seams in the crotch area.  You can find some tri shorts under $40.

I bought a Pearl Izumi one piece tri suit on Amazon for $60 and two months later bought a second one.  It’s still my favorite gear although I mainly race short distance (Oly and under) in it now.  I’ve spent many long hours on the bike wearing these.  Chlorine resistant, small chamois you don’t feel on the run, drys fast, etc.  The only down side is the restroom breaks are a little difficult.  For my long races I purchased separate bottoms and tops.

Google Triathlon clothes or tri gear and you’ll find all kinds of stuff.  I’ve bought almost everything from Amazon because of the free shipping, shoes (running/cycling), helmets, hats, water bottles, clothes, HR monitors, wetsuit, heck I buy my GU gels and other supplements from there.  I also pay the $75/year membership for free shipping.

ahh, its only 5K. Like a warm-up for you, right?  Have a good one!

True, but this is small town Cleburne, Texas.  I'll know everyone there and they'll know me.  We're talking bragging rights!  Not the place to trip and fall at the starting line, lol.