esc's Goonies Never Say Die mentor group - closed (Page 17)

Tempted by the dark side?  I think I AM the dark side.

Hope the babes were as fun as the bikes and beer!

Adventure Boot Camp sounds...adventurous.  Is that a daily class or only a certain number of times per week?  What sorts of "fun" exercises are you in for?

I meant to add to my previous post...stick with the 0to1650 so you have a solid plan to follow but if you're feeling good then, by all means, add a few more repeats to get some more yardage in!  There are also a few other places to go for free swim workouts.

The Livestrong site has an article with links to several free workouts: http://www.livestrong.com/article/252540-free-triathlon-swimming-workouts/ (scroll to the bottom of the article for links to the workouts)

There are also several workouts on BT: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/category.asp?catid=156

Still out in AZ.  Got in a great workout last night.  Ran 4 miles and then a spin class right afterward.  The spin class part was only OK as I was wearing my running shoes.  I hate not having cycling shoes.  In those situations I don't get out of the saddle much 

Overall my eating has been really good this week.  Really hard to stay clean when I can go eat out at a very nice restaurant on the company dime  That is what has caused the slight slip on my weight over the past year..  I opted for cooking a chicken breast with having a salad in my room after working out.  Yay for me!

I keep saying this, but it's true.  I really need to pick a training plan and stick to it.  The longer I procrastinate the harder it will be to get on the correct/right track.. 

Sounds fun!  The wine, that is, not the snow.

I managed to be just productive enough to get in 10.5 miles today.  It snowed the whole time but luckily the weather has been warm enough the past few days that nothing stuck to the sidewalks or streets.  It was cold and windy but at least it wasn't slushy or slippery.

Hope everyone has a fun-filled weekend!

I still have plenty of time, i think..  My first race of the season will be in June.  I will either do a sprint near my house or fly to SoCal for an Oly, if my friend can who lives there can do it with me.  Either way it's June.  I will do another Oly in August and then half mary in Sept and then the HIM in Oct. 

This weekend, I plan to upgrade to the silver plan and do the oly plan then up it to the HIM in June.  This Q&A link from the plan details was very helpful, they describe many things I'm probably doing wrong currently

http://beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=629

What do you think?

Day 23 of mystery cold, that I have named the bat flu.  It's a reference to Contagion, which I rented while I was sick.  I think that I am finally on the tail end of it, and should be back to 100% in a couple of days.  I really feel much better than I have in a long time.

I ran ~5 miles yesterday.  Easy pace, but I could tell my running fitness has started to suffer from the sporadic training.  I ran around the college campus that I attended 15ish years ago.  It was a lot of fun, but I didn't recognize most of it.  And I felt old.   It's one thing when high school students look like babies, it's entirely another thing when students look like babies....

I got on the bike trainer today - 8 degree wind chill is very much out of my comfort zone.  I did  1 1/2 hrs, and felt really good on it.  I did some strength training on Monday, and I may have over done it on the squats - I couldn't walk for 2 days.  But the good news out of the that is I saw dramatic improvement in the ease of biking.  I didn't want to get off the trainer in the first 5 minutes!!!  In fact, I didn't have any muscle soreness at all.  So weight lifting class is going into regular rotation. I can't believe the amount of improvement in the bike that I saw from it.

Hope everyone else is having a good day - stay warm if you are in this cold snap! 

Glad you're finally feeling better.  It's the pits to be sickly for so long.  Take it easy getting back into things.  Any fitness you may have lost will come back pretty quickly so don't worry too much about the missed training.

It's C-O-L-D on a bike when it gets below about 60*.  For winter-time rides you can either put duct tape over the ventillation on your shoes or you can put some plastic bags over your socks and then shove your feet into your shoes.  Wool socks are also a big help.  They'll keep your feet dry and warm.  Even wet wool will be warm and toasty.

Lance is a beast.  On top of his amazing athletic ability, he works extremely hard to be good at what he does.  But then, the best of the best are always dedicated.  That's how they get to be the best of the best!

It was quiet in here over the weekend.  Everyone must have been out training hard and playing harder!  I was stuck at work all weekend so I've not done much but work, eat, sleep, and run on the treadmill.  Today is the last day of my set.  Friday on a Monday.  I've got the next 3 days off and plan to make the most of them.  I've got lots of little things around the house that are piling up.  I hope to check lots of to-do's off the list.  I also hope to get in some good running and maybe even a little biking. 

I've resigned myself to the fact that when I'm doing lots of running it's hard to fit in any biking and swimming.  My goal for the remainder of the month is to stick to my running milage and figure out how to fit in 3 bike sessions a week.  I hate to admit it, but I think it's going to take getting up super early on at least one of my work days.  3am wakeup call hear I come!  Once I get bike workouts solidly in the mix then I'll start looking at how to fit swimming in with all the rest.  Maybe I should just be a duathlete!

What's everyone else got going on this week?  Any big goals?  Any big plans?  Anyone racing?

I am home the entire week - super big yay!!!  I couldn't drag myself out of bed this morning for my swim, so I really need to sneak out of the house this afternoon and get it in.  Can't start the first day of the week off on a bad note.   

Eating has been spot on today, looking for a GREAT week of training and eating.  Well I did some research on the Paleo diet on the web last night and feel this will be way to hard to accommodate while traveling and something that will be way to hard to stick to for the long haul.  So, I will stick to what I know works and try to cut back on processed whole wheat carbs (cereals, bagels, breads).  I just simply can't walk away from whole wheat rice and oatmeal!   

Enjoy your week at home.  How frequently do you generally have to travel for work?

I think the best thing we can all do for our eating is to just focus on eating more whole foods and take a good hard look at portions.  I still eat carbs with most of my meals but I've cut back considerably on the portion size of those carbs.  Instead of having pasta with chicken and veggies on the side I eat veggies and chicken with pasta on the side.  I still have beer and pizza and burgers and fries but I only indulge once every week or two (or at the very least I'll make the pizza and burgers and fries myself so I can control what goes in them).  Healthy food can still be fun and delicious.

Joey - loving the eating plan!

I need to get serious.  I think I said that about 3 weeks ago, but the bat flu wiped out all productivity.

I need to get on the trainer today.  I spend the morning working on my Cub Scout lesson plan - which seems to have derailed my day...

Haapy Valentines Day to everyone. 

So far my training 'plan' has been working out OK.  I don't always follow it, but it motivates me do do SOMETHING.  Diet/calorie watch has been going well.  I'm down to 154 and not really sacrificing any beer. 

Anybody ever read or tried 'The Time Crunched Triathlete' by Chris Carmichael.  He makes good sence, but MAN you gotta be going full-tilt on every workout.  You also don't get much liberty to miss a workout.  I might give it a try for awhile, but I'm questioning my ability to stay in a plan that soooo rigid. 

I have that one on my to read list as well.  Not training books, but I also have my eye on Iron War and 17 hours to Glory.  I usually read David Baldacci or something in those lines.. 

I have a really hard time following a structured plan.  Part of the trouble is that I work a non-traditional schedule so I always have to move workouts around to fit with my free time.  I've done really well with a loose set of constraints - such as basic milage goals for the week or X number of sessions on the trainer - then I sit down at the start of the week and plug in the workouts around my work scheudle.  This is especially refreshing during the winter.  It's easy to be easy when I'm not doing any specific race prep.  This willy-nilly approach doesn't work for everyone.  Some folks need a structured plan to get them out the door and to the starting line.  Some of us just get out there every day so we don't have to feel so guilty about the beer and doughnuts.

Just a few more books to add to your possible reading list...

-Once a Runner - John L. Parker (fictional account of a college miler)
-Swimming to Antartica - Lynne Cox (Lynne is a long distance swimmer who does some crazy long swims in crazy cold waters.  The book is really well written and she has such a infectiosly positive attitude that I read it nearly in one sitting.)
-I'm Here to Win - Chris McCormick (Macca is a bit of a polarizing personality but I still really liked this book.  Lots of interesting tid-bits about training and racing.)