Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 133)

I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you.  Read your race report and sounds like you did so many things right during the day.  Its so tough to start with a rough swim but sounds like you handled it well.

I have especially enjoyed following your training.  You've been an inspiration to a lot of people and you are one I'll be sad to no longer be sharing the training plan with.  Maybe we can talk you into doing another.

We've been to New England three of the past five years and love MA.  To do the Patriots Half would be a blast.  Since I'll never do Boise again the Patriot would be great early season option.  It'll definately be on my radar.

Good luck and I love the picture on your race report.

I'm now 9 weeks in and just finished swim focus week.  I looked at this week's run focused schedule and day 1 starts with another swim.  I spent all last week in the water, can't I have a couple days out of it? 

As usual I did a strange change-up to the plan.  Yesterday I needed to do the reverse tri - 30/60/30 min times, but due to the campus gym weekend hours where I swim, I didn't have enough time to get the bike in so I decided to get my mountain bike out since I'm more comfortable locking it up at the gym.  I forgot how slow those are.  So the plan was run 30 min, bike 40 min or so, swim 30 min, then bike about 20 min home.  Instead I did what I'd call a "reverse tri and back" - run 38, bike 38, swim 25, bike 42, run 20.  Cut the swim a litle short cuz I ran out of time. After doing a little extra on the bike I decided since I'd ran 4 miles at that point, swam 1250 yards, and biked 17 miles which timewise was about the same at 25 miles on the tri bike, that was close to olympic distance so I'd run two more inside a track nearby with my fivefingers since I hadn't worn them all year.  Calves are sore today and I'm debating whether to do training tonight or just go play volleyball for 3 hours.  I may just to tomorrow's run by running to volleyball and back (8 miles total) then do today's swim/bike tororrow.

Gotta love the versatility of it all.  sounds like your figuring it all out well!

Way 2 go Grace.  Loved the race Report.  Your a Finisher!  Congratulations.  Future plans/goals?

Ditto all the above - I'm gonna miss PopsRacer - in fact i'm still gonna get on this Group Thread each week, coz what a great bunch - and I've got another HIM in 22 weeks, doesn't hurt to revisit does it!

If you follow the plan and read everyone's input - you will not only do it, you'll have a great time doing it!  Welcome!

Hi John.  Congratulations on your goals and on impending fatherhood!  Lots of good info and support here, welcome aboard.

Love hearing all the training/ racing stories.  They all help motivate me to continue on my training for my first HIM in September.  

I am now more than half way on my training plan.  Just started week 12 of my 22 week plan.  I am using my own Gold plan, with long run on Sunday, Monday off, Tuesday Bike swim, Wednesday bike run, Thursday Run Swim, Friday Shot bike, and Saturday Long Bike.  So far I have been able to get all my work outs in.  Maybe not the entire work out but at least most of it.  I am still using the bike trainer during the AM weekday rides because it takes me too long to get outside in the AM, so I get a little more sleep.  

I had my first sprint of the season this last weekend which went very well.  Came in 48 out of 140 and 2nd in AG!!! Was not expecting that. The race ended right after a recovery week so I was able to treat it almost like a taper.   Next pland race is an Olympic race at the end on July.  The next few months are are going to be killer on training but as my wife has said to me "You have made it this far, so there is no point in giving up now."

Hi John and welcome.

In the past year I have personally lost 50lbs, and I'm training for my first HIM in September (On my 50th bday).

If one of your primary goals is weight loss I found the book Why we get Fat by Gary Taubes to exactly correct and useful.

For me personally just exercising hard and regularly did not result in ANY significant weight loss, I did not achieve the weight loss until I changed what I was eating.

I also realize that almost daily exercise will need to be a part of the rest of my life.

I feel so much more alive than I did a year ago the change has been awesome!

Paul

Congrats on fatherhood.  It's an outstanding ride.  I would recommend if your going to use this 20 week free bt plan to focus on getting yourself to the minimum recomended workout times in all 3 sports given that you have 1 yr. till event.  20 weeks is about 5 mo. time, so this gives you plenty of time to build on your base to work up to those times.  Sounds like your well on your way with the Sprint tri experiences.  Welcome aboard! 

Congrats on the podium finish!  Next up:  1st in AG in your OLY!  Sounds like your well on your way to fininshing your HIM.  Way to go.

That's right on Paul.  Diet (eating healthy) is so much more a part of weight loss.  excercise is so good for feeling good and builds so much confidence.  Together they make a very healthy combo.

Bcraht, Kevin, Jobaxes, HotRunner, Popsracer (and more!) Your feedback has meant so very much to me. Checking in has kept me honest and the inspiration from your struggles has come in heaps. Maybe I will do another one of these, but for now my plan is to focus on Olys, Sprints, Half marathons and maybe even an insane Ragner relay...oh, and I'm invited to an impromptu 'Mountain 13.1'. I've made friends on and offline, but I have to say that this comment from you, Pospracer had me in honest-to-goodness happy tears. Really.

I need a WWPRD bracelett (What Would PopsRacer Do?) to help guide me in my future endeavors. In all seriousness, I'm humbled by such kind words and praise. It has been a joy to 'run' among you and I also plan on continuing to check-in. You haven't seen the last of me

Yep, threw another change-up yesterday, running 8 miles to volleyball and then 4.5 home.  I was about 10:30 pace on the way back and felt quite good, though I couldn't manage to go any faster.  Got home late today and decided to take the day off since my knees are sore.  I'll try to do a ride in the morning and then get back to the actual schedule after work.  Also, I bought a Garmin and it should be here Thursday, so it will be helpful to actually know my pace while going, plus heart rate, and cadence on the bike.

Welcome new folks.  Good luck with your training!

Ditto. Ditto. DIT-OH! Well, I maybe lost 5 to 6 pounds over 20 weeks. I was in the 170's when I competed (178-ish) and every time I had a rest/recovery week I lost a few. Our bodies are swollen from all that work, but now I've commited to 'eating like a normal human being' LOL - but then again I have a metabolic disorder and I was able to eat probably like most people w/o GAINING for about 20 weeks and I'm endlessly grateful for that!  Try the LoseIt app if you have an iPod/iPhone/iPad Good luck, pal.

My first tri in March was pretty chilly, but it was only a sprint too, so not that long on the bike.  Nonetheless, I put on a skull cap type hat (the kind football players wear under their helmets) as soon as I got out of the water, I think that helped a lot.  I also put on a long sleeve jersey/jacket over my tri top--but I knew I wouldn't needing to take it off at any point.  Also full finger gloves, but my hands go numb pretty easily.  Not sure how much help that is, sorry!  Good luck in your race, I'm glad the dreams have stopped!

I'm not technically trying to lose weight through the training, but I figured should I drop some weight that would be nice.  I weighed ~220lbs (6'2") at the start and thought just with the increased exercise I might get down towards 200lbs again.  Nine weeks in and for the most part I've been between 218-220 during training and then a couple days ago I checked and I'm now just below 215.  I think with all the training the body sometimes resists weight loss for a while and then suddenly sheds weight all at once.  I'm hoping this heppens a couple more times and I maybe get down to 205.  That would probably help me run faster.

My recent race was really cold and the thing that most people complained about was cold feet on the bike and not getting feeling back in them until at least several miles into the run.  The water was cold and air temps were colder so really no opportunity to regain warmth there until the run unless you didn't get cold feet to begin with.  I wore neoprene booties which I know slowed me a bit but my feet felt so good in T1 that I decided against struggling to put socks on in the T1.  It was really raining hard and windy so any additional clothing in T1 took twice as long as normal.

I do not think you are forecast for much rain but the air temps are going to be pretty chilly and would suggest a long sleeve cycling jersey (I prefer a full zipper so I don't have to try pulling over).  I also chose not to wear socks because our bike leg was shortened to 15 miles.  If the ride remained at 56 miles I would have put socks on and I would have worn gloves.  I had the socks and gloves in T1 but made a last minute decision to forego them.  I also wore compression socks under my wetsuit and they worked great throughout the race.

In my race, temps warmed up enough by T2 that I discarded the cycling jersey and just ran in my tri top (well, the shorts too).  Best of luck to you!!  I know you've trained as hard as anybody and you should have a great day.

As Chrissie Wellington said in her book - you can't control the uncontrollable so quit stressing about the weather.  It's your A race - go out there and have fun with it - and if it's cancelled you'll get discounted entry to another race.  If it's shortened race it!

Keep warm definitely - in boise the pro's wore their wetties for the bike - could be an idea?

Youve done the hard yards - just go out an have fun regardless of what mother nature throws at you. 

Can you post your race number/race title etc so we can track!  Go get em!