Maine Rob's Group - Closed (Page 2)

Welcome aboard Ed!

That's a good chunk of time for training each week, and if structured well should get you more than ready for the 70.3.  Fitting in the long rides becomes especially important for the long distance races.  Any particular 70.3 that you are considering for this year?

jstdoit - 2010-01-04 7:36 AM Hi Rob, One more here if your group will have me. I am 45 and didnt do much last year and that cost me greatly. I went from 212 to 250 and am still wondering how I let that happen but it is what it is and its time to get more active. I rode the HotternHell here in Texas in 2008 and had a great time doing it. Spring I rode Beauty and the Beast(65mi) in Tyler Texas and figured out that winter will take a great toll on your body if you let it. I have been more active as of late and would like to get a tri or 2 in this year. I do travel an extreme amount for work so that puts another challenge in my training. Like yourself I have 2 beautifull daughters 12 & 14. Ahhhhh, the lovely teenage years begin. I have a feeling it will be the longest and shortest time of my life. Thanks, Tommy

Welcome Tommy!

Doing some tri training should help reduce SOME of the stress of the teenage years .

Fitting in training with a lot of work travel can be tough, especially biking.  Running in other places can be fun, depending on where you travel. Hotel pools are usually kind of short, but if you don't mind looking a little funny, you can always use stretch cords or a swim tether.

Ok, it looks like we've got a nice sized group with a lot of great backgrounds and good goals.

Here are the members:

 maine rob (Rob)

jennifer65 (Jennifer)

stabori (Sharon)

cris577 (Cris)

aureua (Becky)

swimfreak17 (Ronda)

Kris4 (Kristen)

Zannard (Zane)

akchahal (Anne)

hirlr17 (Jim)

sneddie7 (Ed)

jstdoit (Tommy)

Here are some ideas to get the most out of this group and from BT in general.

POST QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS on this thread - this will be a place for ongoing conversation about anything having to do with training, nutrition, equipment, or anything else that people want to know. Fire away with any questions that you have, and I will do my best to answer them or to help you find an answer. Everyone else in the group should feel free to respond to questions as well, as I'm sure that many of you have a lot of knowledge to contribute in some area or another.

LOG YOUR TRAINING! Use your individual training logs to keep track each day of what you did, how you were feeling, etc.  Don't be intimidated by the logs - you really do not need to fill in all the details - just give everyone some idea what you were doing that day, even if it's as simple as putting in a 5 minute swim. This will allow you to track your progress over time, both by looking at monthly totals for each sport, as well as going back a year or two from now and seeing how you have improved or changed.  Knowing that others may be checking out your logs also gives you some motivation and accountability to keep going. If you really do not want others to see your log, you can make your log private. You can also limit access to your log to people who you have in your friend list.

USE THE "INSPIRE ME" FUNCTION IN YOUR LOGS:  The inspire me function allows you to leave comments directly on other people's logs, and to reply to comments they have made on your log. If someone leaves you an inspire me message, pressing reply will take you to their log where you can reply to their comments or comment on their training for that day as well.  Adding people to your friends list in your log can also make it easier to check out people's logs and to leave them inspire me messages.

CHECK OUT THE FORUMS ON BT: There is much useful information to be gained from many of the forums, and there is some entertainment value to some of the other forums (see "Cup of Joe"). The race reports section can also be very inspiring and encouraging.

 Happy training everyone!

Wow!  I went offline for about 14 hours and come back to find so many new people and new posts.  I am really looking forward to “training” with all of you!

NAME: Aureua (Becky, age 28 from Duluth, GA)

STORY: I actually ran cross country and track in high school (I wouldn’t believe it either except I was there!) and played lacrosse in college.  After graduating I somehow gained about 55 pounds in a very short amount of time.  I took up running again for exercise and weight loss and my mom actually got me into triathlons.  I am down about 30 pounds with another 30 to go.  I did my first sprint tri two summers ago and followed it up with another 3 months later.  I then took the winter and part of the spring off before joining a local tri club and getting back to training.  Last season I did 2 olympics, one sprint, and Augusta 70.3.  It was quite a year.    

FAMILY STATUS: Married for 3+ years (no kids yet)

CURRENT TRAINING: Right now I am working on building my base.  I can swim, bike, and run but I lost a bit of fitness by taking September through November off.  I am just trying to increase my general fitness level and hopefully make some progress on my running.  I am feeling like a slight failure in that I took so much time off and lost a lot of the fitness I had gained but I am moving forward and building back up.  I am excited to be starting in the winter this year instead of waiting for the spring.

2010 RACES (OH MY!): Well, I am signed up for Ironman Louisville.  There, I said it.  I don’t know if I can do it but I am going to give it my best shot.  A lot of my friends are doing it and I guess you could say I got caught up in the excitement.  It is going to be one heck of a year.  I am also planning on a spring Half Ironman (TBD) to get some more experience with longer races.  I hope to also throw two Olympics and a half marathon in there as well.  Training for Louisville will probably take everything I have.  This is quite possibly the greatest undertaking I have ever committed to (marriage, et al not included).  I am nervous about it every day but am having fun training with my friends.

GOALS: I am still working on my goals but here is what I have so far.  First, I am giving up soda.  I think it messes with my stomach and I am so dependent on it.  I am 5 days in and Diet Coke free.  I also want to work out in the morning.  I am not a morning person and getting up early has never been my thing.  But with the additional mileage I will need to tack on in preparing for Louisville morning workouts are going to need to happen.  So today is day 1 of that goal – and yes, I made it to spin at 5:30am this morning.  My other big goal is to stick to my training.  I tend to go 2-3 weeks on being on plan and then fall off for 1-2 weeks.  And I feel like I don’t make as much forward progress as I should.  And of course the weight loss.  I would love to lose 30 pounds but I don’t know if that can happen in the immediate future.  But I am determined to chip away at it.  And start holding myself accountable (I am very easy on myself).

maine rob (Rob):  Thanks for organizing the group.  I am looking forward to it!  I hear P90X is supposed to be really great.  I have it on my laptop but have never tried it.  What do you think so far?

jennifer65 (Jennifer):  Do you have your first tri picked out yet? 

stabori (Sharon):  What types of mental blocks barriers for running?  I used to get worried that I would run out of steam and be stuck 2 miles away from the house and not be able to make it back.  And in races I am afraid of going to “fast” in case I can’t finish.  J

cris577 (Cris):  Where are you located?  What distances will your duathlon be?

swimfreak17 (Ronda):  Wow!  It is wonderful that you can swim that far.  Any tips on not getting bored?  I don’t know where you are but in the Georgia area they do open water swim races during the summer – 1k, 3k, 5k, etc.  Would you ever think about trying something like that?

Kris4 (Kristen):  Congratulations on being cancer free!  I see you’re following the IronGirl plan – are you doing an IronGirl race?

Zannard (Zane):  San Antonio must be nice.  What types of adventure races?  How does one prepare for an adventure race?

akchahal (Anne):  I’ve never done TNT but from what I hear it is a wonderfully supportive and fun thing to be a part of.  I think they have coaches who help plan training schedules too.  I see Teams competing at every race and it is neat to see the camaraderie they have.

hirlr17 (Jim):  I did my first race on a mountain bike too.  What is your first workout for today?

sneddie7 (Ed):  This is going to sound silly but are you stationed on the submarine 24/7?  And how long will you be on it?  What types of workouts do you do on board?  I sometimes travel a lot for work and stay in hotels and try to get creative with working out in my hotel room.  Do you have a fitness room on board?

jstdoit (Tommy):  Another work traveler (I am as well) – what kinds of activities do you do on the road?  I find it is pretty difficult to get my workouts in while traveling but am trying to make an effort to prioritize my fitness and health.  It is just a little hard when you’re working long hours and eating out all the time.

For those asking about mountain bikes - a mountain bike is absolutely fine, and you will not be the only one using one, especially at sprint and olympic distances.  You don't usually see them at the really long distance events like ironman, but every once in a while there's someone riding one.

If possible, ditch the treaded tires and get some slicks, as that will help a lot when road riding on the mountain bike.

Common sense rules the day for nutrition while training - a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, a good amount of lean protein, and quality carbs is the way to go.  Cut out the sweets, unhealthy fats, processed foods, soda, and other junk.  Depending on your goals, you'll want to adjust your total intake according to how much you are training.

There's nothing wrong with alternating bike and run workouts, although you can mix it up (especially for duathlon) and do some combo run/bike/run sessions.  I've even done some bike trainer/treadmill workouts with 10 minutes on the bike, 5 minutes on the treadmill, repeat for an hour or so.  The big picture will be to build each discipline up to the point that you can comfortably complete the distances of your goal races in each sport separately, or beyond the distances if you have the time and fitness to do so.

I'm just getting into it, and so far it's kicking my butt . It's not a substitute for tri training, but I think using in the off season will be a good way for me to improve body composition and get stronger for the season ahead.

I did P90X about this time last year. I made it to about day 75 before I quit. It just ate too much of my evenings up. At least with tri training I am not locked to the TV. How many pull-ups are you up to?...lol Good luck, it will defnitely make you stronger.

I still dread those advanced yoga poses.

I don't want to talk about pullups right now - all I can say is ouch .

Sounds like a busy, but fun year. The nice thing with those kinds of series is that you see a lot of the same people, and develop some friendly competition with them, which keeps the motivation up between races.

Wow, that's a full schedule. You may want to consider dropping a few sessions of the swim - I know, only swimming 2-3x a week doesn't seem like much when you're used to 5-6 swims, but it will allow you to maintain your swimming abilities while juggling your other goals.

December is a good timeframe. You'll have plenty of time to gradually build the bike and run.  Have you considered any intermediate goals, like maybe a 5k run in the summer?

Which Hawaii race? THE Hawaii race?