Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners! (Page 2)

Hey Scott,

Great question this actually took me awhile to think of an advantage, being a total newbie, I don't think I have any advantage. The only thing maybe is disipline, but like you I need an end goal like a race. My heart attack is helping me change my way of thinking to some degree. As for a hinderence this was easy I am a newbie so everything is a hinderence, I think trying to switch from an all out intense workout all the time to varying things is hard to do. Coming from an anerobic lifestyle to an aerobic one will be challenging. It is weird that my heart attack has made major changes in my life as well as my training life, which seems to being fitting at this time.

Jeff

I think my biggest advatage would be y mental toughness.  Having a background in the US Marines, we are tought to be mentally tough and to use your brain to override your body.  We used to say "It's mind over matter, if you don't mind, it don't matter!"  So having the ability to ignore the pain and push yourself mentally beyond your physical abilities.  Your physical abilities tend to be alot more than you thought they were, you just have to be mentally stong enough to find those limits.

My biggest disadvantages would be 1) I am carrying around way too much weight. 2) i have developed athritis in both knees from years of abuse in football and being in the Marines.  3) My lack of knowledge when it comes to training for endurance sports (i.e., nutrition, running form, swimming form and how to increase my endurance).

I guess my one advantage would be that I am new and still VERY excited about training, learning etc...

My hinderance is that with a daughter in college...buying a $800 bike seems WAY out of reach right now!  Also...my weakness in swimming gets very frustating to me at times.

I believe my advantage is my passion for the sport.  I have alot of experience doing tris but would like to focus on improving on the time aspect along with finishing better than the last 10%.

My disadvantage is my weight (270lbs).  I have struggled with my weight for years and I want to change.  My wife has lost alot of weight and I would like to join her.  Also I have a daughter who is overweight most likely due to me.  I know I can improve my times by losing weight but just have not hit the right button yet.  I'm hoping talking with you guys will help keep me motivated!

No, I am not following a program short of trying to eat properly. I am tracking what I eat and trying to keep my daily caloric intake in the 1600 to 2000 range. And keeping to a 50/30/20 percentage intake of carbs/protein/fat respectively. I am working out long and hard, so I am listening to my body as far as that goes about how much to eat. As long as I space my food out. I seem to be fine with that as an intake. I don't work well on diet plans. I work from home and cook most of my own meals, so I have the ability to make the right choices. As far as encouragement, anything is welcome, I am keeping very detailed logs on here regarding my training and nutrition, so I welcome anyone to peruse and comment.

Yes, I feel almost like right now until I get down to about 260 or 250 that is #1 concern at the moment. I just feel  my running and everything will continously improve as the weight comes off.

Scott...thanks for the ideas.  Actually, I am picking up my brother-in-laws bike after Christmas.  He has a hybrid-bike that he isn't using at all...I plan on using it (better than nothing) until I can come across something affordable. 

I am a member of my local YMCA...me and a friend that I train with are going to look into swimming classes when the new year rolls around.  Right now I am doing about 4-5 mornings a week in the pool...I am improving...but it sure is slow!

Thanks again for the ideas and I am really excited about being part of this group...good luck to everyone!

 Chuck. 

Hello Everyone,

My name is Justin, originally from South Africa, but have been living in Taiwan for about 17 years now, I am new to this world of triathlons, so advice, thoughts, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I do not know of any triathlons here, so I will be mainly doing my 'thing' in a non competitive way until I find out more. I have bought a bike and a Polar HRM s625x for running and riding. I got the gadges, now I must learn to use them.

Scott, you asked us to state our "IT". A few years ago I as told that I have a hereditary cholestrol problem. I had been getting sharp pains in my chest and not knowing why. My Mom phoned and told me that it was passed on down from her side of the family and that I should immediately go and see a specialist. I got such a shock that I started walking longer and longer distances.  I was over 90kgs at 5'9" (172cm) at the time. I am still overweight, but down to 84.5kgs.

I started enjoying the exercise and somehow came across BT. After reading various articles over a number of weeks, I decided to join and then to try the 'couch to sprint' program. In June or July I did an indoor 'sprint'  at the local 'spa' using a 25m pool , a cycling machine and a treadmill.

The articles that have most encouraged me are those that are those written honestly stating how they had battled to get up and go even when there was no real reason to do so. I appreciated their honesty.

I enjoy all three sports, but am not good at any of them. Cycling does come more easily than the others though.

Plans/goals: We are going to Calgary, Canada in July 2009. I was hoping that the Ironman 70.3 would also have other events that I could do. I am looking at Singapore and Hong Kong for triathlons too.

Look forward to the next few months as this is going to be a great learning experience.

Kind regards,

Justin

I just wanted to say, this group is great and I hope everyone stays with it. I met bbarr66/Brian at the gym today as we live in the same city here. He said I helped motivate him to do more which is always nice to know you are positively influencing someone.

Beyond, that isn't it amazing. We can have a group with similar interest and I have someone next door and another on the other side of the globe. Happy Holidays to all!

Merry Christmas to everyone in the group, Hope you have a safe and happy holiday

Jeff

Scott, I would really appreciate any help in the area of swimming!  Feel free to send me those drills you are talking about.

Hope you have had a great Christmas...

Chuck. 

Scott, this will show you how little I know about swimming drills...could you please explain what you mean by 8 X 50 "on" 1:30, 100 easy "on" 3:00, etc...?  Sorry to ask questions like this...but I want to make sure I am understanding everything!

Thanks.

That makes sense...I get it now, thanks!  I plan on starting these drills soon...I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.