Famelec Brian's Mentor Group - FULL (Page 2)

Hi All!

The purpose of the mentor group is to motivate and inspire, not just from mentor to mentee, but between all of us in the group.  We have an interesting group of 13 (including myself) with a great variety of strengths and backgrounds.  We include 3 from the UK and 10 from the US.  Some have strong athletic backgrounds (running, cycling, and a couple of rugby players -- guess from which country!), some not as strong.  A few have already done some triathlons.  Some are starting a bit closer to the couch, others already quite fit.

We'll be using this thread to ask questions and offer suggestions and comments.  Ask away!  Jump in and post the answers or suggestion if you have the knowledge!  I may post an occasional topic to discuss (winter training, swim training, gear needed, what kind of wetsuit, etc.) if it seems appropriate.  Feel free to PM me if you have questions you wish to discuss privately.

Also, we'll be checking on each other's training logs (yes, you need to log all your training on this site!) so we can comment on each other's training.  It's always to nice to get an "inspire" message after a particularly good or bad workout, week, or race. 

So the first task for each of us is to "friend" one another on our training logs.  With this we can send individual "inspire" messages and comments on each other's training logs after an especially good or bad training day or week.  Click on the "+" button on the Friends part of your training log and add each of the tagnames below.  Jonathan and Jimi, you need to modify your privacy settings before you can be friended.

This is our mentor/training group:

bramdizle - Bram
tiesim - Tiernan
croyston - Chris
abr - Kristen
quincyf - Quincy
mitchell - Pete
longrun26 - Daniel
cspreiter - Caleb
jlags14 - Jonathan
deb c - Deb
jimi - james
chale - Chris

famelec - Brian

Thanks so much for the response and for volunteering to mentor us. What are we? The dirty (baker's) dozen? Anyway, you've planted a seed of mischief...costumes in triathlon?!? Genius! There has to be a way to incorporate the swim and bike...perhaps a 3 part thing that morphs as you go along. I am definitely uncomfortable with the "too serious" side of multisport, helps calm my nerves to think of ways to lighten things up.

My gym routine has been very light. I overtrained inbetween the 1/2 marathon and the sprint triathlon so after my October/November runs, I really went in a different direction. I wanted to concentrate on strength, core, and swimming. I've done best with the strength and core and the swimming...well, I'm doing it, but I don't really know what I am doing. I can swim 1500m, actually I can swim farther, I just get so flippin' bored, so I decided I am going to invest in a kickboard and maybe some other toys, and do the same distance, but break it up...I understand this is natural for swimmers, but it is hard to get my head around...

My new favorite thing is Yoga, it has been a very healthy physical and mental endeavor. I understand how to stretch now. I also have been doing a 12 exercise ab workout I found here called "Hard Core - Exercises to Strengthen Your Abs For Better Performance." Weirdly, my lower back pain intensified with this regimen until I replaced the pushups with an inverted v on a ball exercise...I think it concentrated too much on your front and not enough on your back...happy with the obliques though! Or maybe it had nothing to do with my substitution, low back pain is something I struggle with and I understand "tri" will do nothing to help that situation. Maybe the Yoga helped. My core is really strong now, the back pain is pretty much gone for now, so I'm pretty happy about that.

I have been running occasionally in the cold...it's not too bad down to about 20 and I think with a neoprene mask I could do just about any temp...it's more the road conditions and the lack of sunlight that slow me down. I don't run at night here, daytime drivers are hazardous enough. I also don't run with the children in this weather...in the summer they go in the jogger with me and I get to log bonus calories burned from the increased activity (running while pushing a wheelchair...haha).

I am getting a stationery trainer from a friend at the end of January so that is exciting. Right now my bike lacks a front wheel, and that is something my bike friends tell me is essential, so I am working on getting at least one of those. And a helmet. And a bike computer. I'd also like a heart rate monitor, because I have a hard time slowing down. Did I mention I don't have a job? Man this is some expensive hobby. I am trying to do it in a sane way, but it's hard! Good news is I asked all my relatives (who asked) for amazon gift certificates, so I think the helmet is a done deal! Hooray!

So I made you all my friends today. Hooray. In the interest of full disclosure, I am sick, I've been sick with my two sick kids since Christmas, it's cold outside, we're trapped inside, and, well, you get the picture. I don't usually sit around and write novels on message boards. Ok, maybe once in a while.

Ciao,Quincy(Q)

Thanks, Brian. 

I was actually a little overwhelmed by the idea of training for the swim, even though I have no trouble swimming. Technique is only OK even with high elbows.  Last night I found a video on a website on the finger drag technique.  It wasn't something I was familiar with.  My husband is a former high school swimmer, and we both scuba dive.  I've asked him to be my eyes while swimming, as I obviously cannot "see" what I would be doing wrong. 

I think the entry is where I may be the most concerned, but I just read an article from someone on this site that gave his experience about "respecting" the swim.  I bought a couple of books and a DVD yesterday on Amazon, so those should be here soon. 

I plan to head to the rec. center at lunch to get a pass for the pool so I can get started.  You know, I guess I hadn't thought about the altitude while swimming.  Let me know when you are in town again. . .I have a great "mountain" we can run up.  South Table Mountain overlooks Golden and the Coors Brewery.  It's a great start to a spring morning. 

Deb

2010 Goals:

Short term
- Start spin classes by early Jan
- Get in the pool by mid-Jan
- Drop 10-15lbs by Feb
- Nail down a training plan by mid-March 

Long term
- Get to competition weight 170-175 by June
- Complete first Olympic (June) - goal time TBD
- Complete first 70.3 (July) sub 5.5 hours

- And of course make my new wife smile as much as possible

Happy New Year team!

Best,

jl

193 days to go until Rhode Island 70.3

Hi Quincy,

Garmin makes some nice watches which do everything and incorporate a GPS system.  The newer models which seem to be more popular with geekier triathletes are the Garmin 310XT and Garmin Forerunner 405.  They're really quite amazing in terms of information offered and computer connectivity.  You can download your workouts directly from the unit into your training logs on this site, I believe.  You may have to buy the cadence sensor separately.  These seem to work great, though are expensive compared to other options.  The one thing that GPS gives you that other systems don't is the ability to see your run pace accurately at any moment. 

My personal setup is a just basic Polar heart rate monitor with a separate bike computer.  There are a lot of good HR monitor options at Polar and others.  Personally I like having the bike computer (about half the size of a credit card) mounted on the bike and watch or HR monitor on my wrist.  It's easier to glance at your speed and cadence on the bike computer than on your wrist.  And while you can mount your watch on the bike for easy viewing (that was my plan when I started), it's not practical in a triathlon since you'll want to take it with you on the run.  I have a very basic bike computer with wires which works great  Cateye Astrale 8 though most people seem to prefer wireless models like this one Cateye Wireless. 

There are probably some good review in the Gear section of the forums, and probably in the Articles section also.

Let us know what you decide!

Brian

Never mind...