Evondo's Group - CLOSED! (Page 123)

March's totals:
Run:	4h 29m 41s  - 20.27 Mi
Swim:	4h 10m  - 7200 M
Strength:	3h 10m
Stationary Biking:	7h 00m
Walking:	1h 45m
Yoga:	1h 50m

February's totals:
Run:	6h 29m 50s  - 30.04 Mi
Strength:	50m
Equestrian:	20m
Stationary Biking:	1h 51m
Stretching:	10m

February just looks embarrassing next to March.  April goals: just keep swimming just keep swimming (Finding Nemo), keep shins pain free and work on running, GET A BIKE!  Also since March was arms month and I can already see that my arms are getting more toned I am adding core workouts to the regular workout routine.  Should probably incorporate more stretching on a regular basis too

Wow that's a whole lot of water!  Hope things get better soon!  

Run was down a bit due to injury.  Goal next month is to completely wear out my bike (nice weather finally) and somehow find a way to PR at my undertrained half mary next weekend. 

March's totals:
Bike:	17h 33m  - 280.11 Mi
Run:	8h 47m 56s  - 57.02 Mi
Swim:	1h 50m 46s  - 5900 Yd

February's totals:
Bike:	13h 52m 18s  - 218.29 Mi
Run:	9h 56m 19s  - 73.66 Mi
Swim:	2h 46m 24s  - 8725 Yd

I am so sorry to hear this, what a pain.  I hope you have some relief soon.

You can definitely make it through a HIM in June, you also still have time to ramp up the training a bit.  The weight loss and your HIM goal of just finishing will help a lot. My advice would be to focus on some calf strengthening exercises and ramp your running volume up, focus on long bike rides and enjoy your first HIM! 

X2, hope it gets better for you. I think hauling water/debris counts as strength training log it

Wow, that's seriously insane!  I hope that conditions improve quickly for you... and we all expect to see really strong swim numbers for the month if they dont. 

Sorry, bad joke, not funny, serious situation...

Hope things improve for you up there in the northeast. My sister lives in Swampscott, Ma. and she said it has been horrible up there as well, but she hasn't had any flooding issues. Best of luck and log those hours.

So my response to Emma yesterday got me thinking about my first triathlon.  If anyone is up to it, I would love to hear the "story" of your first race, or even just how you got addicted to the sport.

Mine started when I was 20.  I had just graduated college and moved to STL and had a friend rope me into running the marathon there.  During the training process I met a bunch of cool people, many of whom did triathlons.  The first race I did was an Olympic that was over in Springfield IL.  I decided maybe a month before that I was going to race it because I was "dared" by one of my training peeps.  I had ZERO swim or bike base for actual racing purposes, but did swim or bike maybe 1x per week each for cross training.

For the month leading up to it I probably totally over trained, and did ALL of my training indoors.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I had to borrow a bike for the race and rode it exactly one time before racing.

It was seriously the best experience ever.  I remember being on the run course and thinking that I had to be getting close to being done when a guy ran past me with 68 marked on his calf.  He had a Garmin (which at the time I had no idea what it was but knew that it was a watch that told us distance) so I asked him how much longer.  He said, "you've gone 2 miles so far, great job" which meant 4 left to go.

By the time it was over I was seriously hurting, but crossing the finish line there was a huge group of other athletes cheering, even some of my training group.

I think the community is really what sealed the deal for me, and to this day I love the process of tranining and all the awesome people I get to meet as a result.

Ok, your turn.

Great Idea Nicole!! I love hearing about people's first triathlons!  So everyone start sharing your story... I need something to keep me awake in finance 

Starting off with an Olympic race very nice!

As luck would have it, my first race was exactly 4 years ago today 4/1/2006.  I weighed ~215lbs and struggled to run over a mile.... My friend and I signed up cause we wanted to lose weight and have a reason to train.

Swim was a 400m, pretty uneventful but slow for me 1:41/100m pace.  There were a lot of people walking the swim cause it was so shallow. Bike was 12mi and I was using a borrowed bike that I trained on a few times before the race. It was a nice road bike from a friend but frame size was a little too large at 61cm (my Cervelo is 54cm). I was about 8mi into the bike and started feeling my back tire loosing air, decided to try and make it to T2 with the flat tire.  About 1mi down the road the rim was now on the pavement so I pulled over and changed it, didn't know what to do with the blown tube so I wrapped it around my neck. Finished bike @19mph without including the time for changing the flat. Run was a 5K and I was dying after 1mi, there were two 60+ year old women talking to each other not out of breath that blazed past me around mile 2. I finished the run with a pace of 9:32/mi and collapsed on the beach afterward. 

Pics from the race... http://picasaweb.google.com/eric.vondohlen/04012006Triathlon

I got hooked on tris from this race on. I really enjoyed the mixed up training, having the reason to train and the people. I've become competitive at races over the past year or so but it's still more about me vs me, not making sure I beat someone like I was so used to from my swimming background.  I really enjoy the comradery that most triathletes share.



Edited by evondo 2010-04-01 9:11 AM

I would love to say that I stared with the Olympic because I'm a hard a.ss, but truthfully, I just didn't know any better.  Haha.

I love your first race story... while I would still LOVE to have times like that I know what you're capable of now and how much faster you are.  That kind of thing is super motivating to us mere mortals.

I wonder what your cankles looked like at 215 lbs?

My first race was a tri-it.  I was always comfortable in the water but didn't really know how to "swim".  I could dog paddle with the best of them though.   I had done a fair number of du's/races/centuries before so events were nothing new to me.  I had a friend who decided to do a race so I agreed to sign up and do it with her (a sprint in Maine) and decided to do this tri-it first.  So I spent what I think was 6 months learning how to swim.  Might have been less actually.  I think it was 6 months to the sprint.  I did a run through of the course before the event with a buddy of mine.  I got in the water in my wet suit and all swim fears left me.  Those things are the bomb.  (Now I need to buck up and do a race that might not be wet suit legal)  The day of the race I sat there looking at the tri-it buoy's inside the sprint course and just laughed.  I still could not swim well or far but I knew I could do that, and they looked so sad inside of the sprint course.  The event itself was pretty non-eventful.  I am a very calm person when it comes to things like that so I just set up my transition area, went to the truck and surfed the internet for a bit until my buddy showed up, went to the bathroom a few times, did a warmup in the water, the usual stuff....  I had a good race and finished first in my age group, second overall female and 8th overall.  Too bad I knew enough to know that those results in a tri-it would be MOP in the real race.  But for that day I was AWESOME!

Ah yes, the first race...  I had originally planned to race CB&I Sprint tri, but it sold out before I got registered in 2008...so my wife & I and the knucklehead (Mike Junco), who talked me into changing over from just running to Tri's, went to the race to get an idea of what went on.  Well, there was a larger woman with one arm that came out of the swim (NOT LAST mind you) and hopped on her bike and was off... that was a 'really?' moment... then an ambulance sped down to the swim start to haul away a man who had a heartattack and died during the swim...  needless to say that too was a 'really?' moment ~ oh, and my wife was like - NO YOU AREN'T doing this... HA!  Me being the cocky, overconfident, Marine that I was simply told her... OH YES I AM - and I am gonna win damn it!   Little did I know...

A couple weeks later (May 18th, 2008) I managed to sign up for Silverlake Sprint Tri (400m OWS, 10mile Bike, 3 mile run) and I was gonna crush some dreams... lol!

I bought a used Tri bike (which I still use now - only revamped), tri suit, used wet suit, and a various assortment of other tri related goodies.  I trained some... felt strong on the bike, I knew I could run, and my swim... well how hard could that be - I grew up swimming (non-competitively mind you), was a life guard one summer, was Water Safety Qualified (WSQ) in the Marine Corps and went through Scout Swimmers School in Okinawa, Japan... where we did several open water ocean swims, with gear, at night... soooo   I GOT THIS!!!   lil' tri swim in a wet suit...

Did I mention the wetsuit was at least 1 size too small (like king kong sittin' on my chest)... But I GOT THIS....

My turn to get in the water.  I was 38, and obviously in one of the fastest AG's (35-39) but I didn't know that at the time...  So I make my SUPER SWIMMING MARINE a$$ to the front ROW!  I am gonna crush this...  HA!   The horn blows, and its the craziest thing I have ever been involved in... Full contact mosh-pit style swimming!  100 meters into the maylay, I am FUBAR... F'd Up  Beyond All Repair!  With 300m's to go I can't breath... definately drowning... DEFINATELY not winning a damn thing.  I am as close to last in the swim as you can get without actually being last... my wife & kids were waiting, and waiting, and... No Justin... I finally emerge from the water... mouth wide open, eyes the size of dinner plates and all kinds of discombobulated!

Swim results 10:32 / 2:32 per 100 pace...

I run into transition, find my bike... struggling to catch my breath, trying like heck to get my wet suit off... dry feet, put socks on.... Oakleys come apart, struggle to buckle helmet... running in MTB shoes... I felt like I was moving at warp factor 8....   3:16 later I leave transition on the bike!

I am not 10ft from the mount line, when my front wheel of my bike falls into the large gap/crack between the concrete where the curb and street meet... Not quite sure how I did not totally eat sheooot!  Only by the grace of God... he felt sorry for me after that stellar swim performance.  Anyways, I finall get my frickin' act together and I am off on the bike... like the swim, it too was much harder than I expected.

Bike 28:34 avg'd 21.0 mph

Come in off the bike, manage to unclip and hop off without incident... not a stellar transition, but much better than T1... 1:28 and I am out on the run.

Ahhh, my comfort zone!  I had a solid run (20:18 - 6:46 pace) and passed a bunch of folks, so that eased the suffering from the first two events... but Triathlon was the hardest darn thing I had done to date!   AND I WAS HOOKED!!! 

(2 seasons - 2010 is Season 3) - 13 Tri's & 1 Du later... I am tri-addict! 

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I'll let you know in a week or so... Can not wait. Ducking out of work early to get a run in before I'm off for the weekend with the family.

So I guess signing up on a dare from a friend is a common theme.  I did my first sprint 3 years ago.  When I signed up I had never run a 5k, didn't know how to swim and although I hadn't biked in 10 years I had done some century's and MS 150 rides so that didn't worry me.  Swimming was my biggest worry.  I joined a Y and it was not going well.  They didn't offer lessons at a time I could swim so progress was nada.  On advice of a friend I took a TI swim course and that made a huge difference.  At least I wouldn't drown.  I bought a bike.  My old steel Trek 1000 was ok, but I had bike envy.  Returning to the bike felt good.  Very good.  Then as I started running more, I developed severe plantar fasciitis in both feet.  Had cortisone shots, slept in the boots, stretched like crazy and no more running.  So I biked and swam (my version of) for a couple months.  When the big day finally arrived, I had not run in 4 months.  I decided that even if I had to walk the run, I was doing the darn thing.  So I swam 800 yds, biked 13 miles and *wogged* the run.  I don't remember exact times, but my swim was about 25 mins, the bike was about 40 mins and the wog was probably 40 mins. 

You know how to tell I had a great time?  When I finished the race my right ring finger was horribly swollen.  I didn't know it at the time but I had torn a ligament during the swim, probably kicked by someone in front of me.   Who knew swimming was a contact sport.  I never even noticed it during the race.  Since then, a few sprints, an Oly and a couple half marathons.  More of the same on tap for this year.  Oh, and hopefully NYC Marathon.  Lottery is next week. I am being a good girl hoping for karma to kick in.

Happy anniversary Eric!  Love 1st Tri stories.  Mine was a sprint last August- 550yds/12m/3M.  I did it as a 'before I turn 30' goal.  I trained hard for about 6 weeks leading up to it and felt pretty ready going in. 

If I didn't have people there watching me I would have quit about 50 yards into the swim- I seriously thought I was going to drown.  I ended up doing about 25% backstroke, 25% breaststroke and 50% freestyle and barely finished it @ 2:09/100.  Rode the bike as hard as I could (19.15mph) and really struggled through the run (8:01min/mi).  Ended up 11/41 in my AG and 71/431 OA.  Effort-wise this was probably my best day ever.

I began planning my 2010 season that night when I got home- totally hooked. 

Let's see my first was 10/19/08.  A sprint of course  I was supposed to do one in Houston but for some reason ended up doing one in Plano.  It was a pool one. - Blackland Tri - the first time they put on a race.  

I had watched Eric race many times at this point but never thought I could do one because I never learned to freestyle.  After seeing some of the people that raced, I thought surely I can do this.  And somehow I learned to freestyle.  Thankfully Gilbert was very patient with me.  

Race was 300yd/13mi/3mi.  Arrived at packet pick up but for some reason they had given my number to someone else.  (Remember since it was a pool one - we are seeded by time.)  I ended up the back of the pack - maybe 4th from last in water.  In hindsight this was probably a good thing.

Race day arrives and I am a mess!  I get really nervous on race day.  After a warm up swim (forced by Eric) all I could do was wait my turn.  Swim went okay and I was glad I was in the back.  I mainly did breaststroke.  Then it was off to the bike!  Bike went well.  I felt fast since I was passing so many up.  (but only because I was almost last in the pool) haha  I remember at one of the last turns after the volunteer directed me, he left. I thought...hummm..that's not good.  I am not the last biker.  T2 was fairly quick.  Now I am running.  Just was following the pack of runners and next thing I know the woman says the finish is just around the corner.  I thought she is just saying that to make me think I am almost done.  But no...really ...it was and I had only run 2 miles instead of 3!  So yeah, I think I might have placed but didn't stay around long enough to get that award!  I was actually pretty upset I had missed a mile.  Guess Eric and I are just directionally challenged.

 http://picasaweb.google.com/eric.vondohlen/101908BetsysFirstTri#

Oh - did I mention in my 2nd race - I missed a turn on the bike?  

 

My first tri was the mighty man sprint on Oct of 08.  I decided to do it because I was seriously out of shape and in bad health (218lbs, constantly sick, doc told my wife to trade me in), I got laid off 8 weeks prior and my friend was pushing me to do one for yrs (he did the same tri for support, great friend).   I trained for around 8 wks and was very worried I couldn't finish.  When I first started training I could barely run a mile and swim 2 laps consecutively.  Trained pretty hard during those 8 wks and was able to slowly run the distance and just able to swim the entire distance for the race.  I was very nervous about just finishing because the swim would be my first OWS (in 58F water).  Even though I swam competitively my senior yr in high school I didn't swim for over 16 yrs and was over 60lbs heavier.  Day of the tri I brought ALL my gear..  I had everything you can think of in my bag, I even brought a chair thinking I could sit on it during the transitions (it was a little embarrassing).   During the swim, I started way to fast trying to avoid all the arms and feet and had a major panic attack within the first 200yrds.  I flipped on my back and did backstroke for over 50% of the swim and finished at 2.37/100.  I was so tired that the first transition took me 6 min..  Bike was fun and finish at 16.67mph and the run, my goal was to not walk and I finished at a surprisingly good 9:31/mile.  As soon as I crossed the finish line I wanted to do another one..

http://www.pearlonuranus.com/

lol

My 14 year old self is cracking up. 

Note: If you're at work and in ear shot of your manager/boss you may not want the volume up too loud

14 year old?  I think this is great.  I'm totally doing the Beevis and Butthead laugh at my desk at work.   Heh heh.

I just finished packing the truck for the weekend, running gear included bear spray. Opening day of spring bear season is today in B.C. Last thing I want to run into out on the logging roads is an angry bear.

HAPPY EASTER!
Enjoy your families and stay safe.

 

No 1st TRI story for me yet.

I will say that watching my wife train and race in TRIs last year combined with her encouraging me to purchase a bike is the reason I am training for my first TRI now.  I had plenty of "by the time I am 40" goals...... completing a TRI wasn't one of them. It sure is now.  Little did I know teaching an old dog a new trick (swimming) was going to be this hard.  I wish I had swimming, biking or running in my past - I don't.  I am still working hard and think I will have a lot to be proud of when I look back at 2010 - we will see. 

The important thing is I am enjoying most of the journey and learning a bunch each step.  I hope to be seasoned and as bike/run speedy as Eric in year 4 of my TRI career (still in this AG).   It seems the speed drops off pretty fast for most guys over 50.  It's going to suck getting oldER.

Honestly, the best moments so far have happened during training or watching Keri or friends break through expectations / previous limits.  Doing something you have never done before is pretty powerful.

Holy crap! I get if you are that close to a bear you better have spray or a gun!  I can't say that I have ever been in a location without a fence between a bear and I.  Good luck!