swbkrun Mentor Group- CLOSED FOR BUSINESS!!! (Page 2)

NAME: Gofaster / Neil

STORY: I have no real background in sports, except for playing hockey as a kid.  I got into Triathlon in 2007 with a Try a Tri, and in 2008 did a few Sprint races.  In 2009 I moved up to the next level and did some Sprints, plus an Olympic, and the season ended with the Muskoka 70.3.

Unfortunately, I got injured during the run in Muskoka, and it turned out to be an ITB issue.  I’ve been dealing with this for the past 6 months, and am currently still suffering with it.  Since running is my strength, this has led to a lot of frustration since I can’t really run at the moment.

This year I’d like to return to do another ½ Ironman, but this all depends on being able to run the way I’d like to.  I’d also like to really improve my biking and swimming, since I’m MOP on the bike and BOP in the swim.

FAMILY STATUS: Married, with two terrors for kids.  A 5 year old boy, and 1 year old girl  (but they’re great).

CURRENT TRAINING: Swimming is my weakness so I’m currently trying to improve in the water.  It would be nice to get faster, but more important is I would like to see some better fitness that should let me bike and run better, rather than feeling exhausted getting into T1.

I’'ll spend most of my bike time on the trainer, usually only getting in a single ride outdoors each week.  For the past few months I've barely done anything on a cycling front - except for buy myself a powertap which I'm excited about.

2009 RACES: 3 Sprints, 1 Olympic, and a ½ Ironman.

2010 RACES:  Currently registered for a ½ Marathon in May, which is part of the frustration since I’m looking to rebuild my run base at the moment.  I’m planning to do a ½ Ironman this year as well, although this plan is on hold till I get the ITB issue sorted, along with a couple of Sprints and perhaps an Olympic.

WEIGHTLOSS: Not lose more weight.  At 6’, I’m typically tipping the scales at between 155-160 lbs.  Before I started Tri training I was just under 175 lbs.

NAME: gdale / George

AGE:  37

STORY: I live in Horseheads, NY.  I decided in November 2008 to give tri's a try!  I have been running for fitness since the beginning of 2007 when I realized that I was about 55 lbs heavier than when I went to college.  I guess the freshman 15, the first years of marriage and then a lot of sympathy eating with my wife while she was pregnant over the years added up.  So with diet and running in 2007 I lost about 20 lbs but then put about half back on.  I did some biking in the summer of 2007 too but only about once a week.  Seemed to be plateauing with running so I added swimming at the end of August 2008.  I was a lifeguard in highschool but never a swimmer--just did the minimum amount of laps to complete my required workouts.  After I started feeling comfortable in the pool, I decided that working towards a tri would keep me motivated to improve my fitness.  Besides work and training, I am actively involved in my kids sports  (coach for wrestling, t-ball and soccer) and serve on the board for a charity based in Dallas, TX.  In the tri's I did this year, I was pretty much MOP in all three disciplines.  Hope to move up to the back end of the FOP group this year.

FAMILY STATUS: I am married to Kristine for nearly 12 years with 3 boys - 10, 8, and 3.  Kristine is doing her first tri this year!!

CURRENT TRAINING: A lot of my training happens at lunch at the YMCA near where I work.   I have been swimming with a Masters group 2 mornings per week which really helped my swimming.  I try and do each discipline 3 x per week.

STORY: Never much of an athlete - did the usual intramural volleyball/basketball teams in grade school, 1 year of track in HS (came in last in every race except one!), HS racquetball for 2 years, then not much of anything.  I tried softball and indoor soccer as an adult but wasn't very good at either one.  About 3-1/2 years ago I volunteered at a local triathlon just to see what it was about and decided it was something I wanted to try.  At the time, I couldn't swim (never learned as a kid), couldn't run more than 30 seconds without feeling like I was going to die, and had only been on a bike once or twice in about 10 years.  I decided to start with the running since I figured it would be the hardest for me to pick up.  Since then, I've done 3 half marathons - doing my 4th this weekend - lots of shorter running races, and last year I did 2 sprint triathlons.  This year I'm hoping to move up to Olympic distance in August.  In fact, I've already registered for the race so I guess I'd better be ready!

FAMILY STATUS: I'm 46, married, with 2 kids.  Our son is finishing his first year of college and our daugher is a HS sophomore. 

CURRENT TRAINING:  I've been concentrating mostly on running due to my half marathon this weekend, but I'm also trying to get in 2 bike rides a week and 3 sessions in the pool.  The bike suffers most - I do most of it on a stationary at the gym right now.  That's partly due to weather and partly due to the fact that I'm still not really comfortable riding on the roads.  I bought a road bike last year that I like, I just need to make myself get out and ride it.  That's where I'm hoping you'll be able to help. 

I don't do a lot of "intense" training and don't do a lot of analysis of my workouts.  I'm doing this for fun - don't know anything about watts on the bike, don't know my VO2 max for the run, nothing like that.  I workout by feel most of the time and I'm OK with that.  I have nothing against getting better/faster, but it's not the primary focus for me. 

THIS YEAR'S RACES:  I'm doing a sprint in May, an Olympic (hopefully) in August and a bunch of 5k's, 10k's etc this summer.

2010 RACES:  Here's my schedule so far!

4/11/10 - Go!St Louis half marathon
4/24/10 - SCC Wellness Festival 10k
5/23/10 - Gateway Sprint Triathlon
6/6/10 - Run for Your Life 5k
7/3/10 - Firecracker 10k
8/1/10 - Fleet Feet Flat 5 (5 mile race)
8/21/10 - Lake St Louis Olympic triathlon
10/2/10 - Roots'N'Blues'N'BBQ half marathon (maybe)

NAME: Jeanie

AGE:  33

STORY: I have never been athletic, although there have been short spurts of exercise here and there throughout my life. I've always been pretty out of shape. 6 years ago I had my first daughter and OMG I gained some serious weight. 60lbs! I lost 30 of it pretty fast, but the remaining 30 lbs hung on. 2nd daughter came along 3 years later and I hadn't lost any weight. 2 years ago I was tired of looking terrible and so I started loosing weight. I weighed less, but I was still very out of shape. A year ago I wanted to get in shape, so I hired a personal trainer and started working out with her. I remember her telling me to warm up by running and I told her I wasn't much of a runner. I wasn't! I couldn't run more than a half a mile, on a treadmill, at 13 minute miles.

Last August my husband was in a sprint tri. I watched and loved the atmosphere so much that as soon as he and our friends were done with the race I said I wanted to do one. Well there was an adventure race/tri coming up in October for the military and I said I wanted to do it with them. I started training way too fast and messed up my legs, but I completed the race and it was fun! After the race I ended up at the doctor getting bone scans on my legs and was told to stop running for 2 months. So November and December were out. I just started running again in January after doing virtually nothing in December.

In February I decided to take the plunge and sign up for a tri in April. It's this weekend, in fact! I wasn't sure I would be able to do it when I signed up, but there's nothing like pressure for motivation. In March I signed up for a 5k three days before the event because I needed to run 3.1 that Saturday anyhow and I wanted a t-shirt. This from the girl that couldn't run a half a mile a year ago!! So here we are.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with 2 girls - 3 and 6. My 6 year old REALLY wants to do a kid's duathlon.

CURRENT TRAINING: I do as much as I can with my schedule. I work swing shift and get about 5 hours of sleep a night. So it makes it hard to get longer distances in but I'm working on balancing exercise and trying to get a nap every day.

In for three if ya'll have me

Name:  ashort33 - Andy

Story: Did my first tri in 2007 - a mini sprint and then promptly did nothing until last year when I jumped in with both feet.

Current training:  Been sporadic lately, but I have several sprints and oly's planned for the year.  I really need to learn to love to run...

Family status:  Married for 17 years with a 9 year old daughter

Goals for 2010:  Have fun and enjoy the lifestyle!  Try to find that balance between tri training and life so I don't burn out or up....  Lose some weight permanently...

I'm in for round 3!

Name: Roni

Family Status:  Married for 21 years to Gary (gslye). We have two adult daughters, 19 and 22.

Story: I first got into triathlons by following BT's "12 week basic Sprint Plan". Before that I had never run a full mile in my life, and only swam and biked recreationally. After finishing my first sprint I was hooked! I love having a goal race to keep me motivated to train, and I love getting outside on the trails, roads, and in the lakes. Officially I live in Kalispell, Montana, but spend the great majority of the time in The Dalles, Oregon because that's where my husband is currently working.

Current Training: I was sidelined by a stress fracture about 5 weeks ago. So, for the most part, my training is on hold until I heal. I'm swimming a few times a week and doing some aqua jogging.

2009 Races: Started 2009 with a new 5k PR at a New Year's day race, ran the Snow Joke 1/2 Mary in February, my first Marathon in April, followed by a Trifecta race (10k, 5k, 1 mile) later that month, Bloomsday in May, Onionman Olympic Tri end of May, my first HIM( Boise 70.3) in June, Missoula Marathon and Polson Days 1 mile swim in July, Whitefish Lake Sprint in August, Garden City Olympic and Black Diamond HIM in September, Columbia Power Marathon in October, and got my first DNF at Woodside 50k trail run in December (I'm a bit directionally challenged )

2010 Races/Goals:  This is all up in the air at the moment, just depends on how the healing goes. My goals were to finish my first Ironman and 50 miler strong, but we will see what the season brings.

Weightloss: I lost 55 lbs about 4 years ago, but have gained back 15 over the last 1.5 years. My new goal is to lose 20 lbs and get down to around 20% body fat.

SSMinnow - 2010-04-08 9:05 AM Happy Thursday oldies and newbies...welcome Jeanie, Neil, TJ, Stephanie, Julia, Chris and Mike!!!

Can someone tell me what is wrong with this picture?  One week ago today, I was roasting in the outfit on the left and today, nearly freezing in the outfit on the right! It was 24F and snowing....Spring in WI!

Um, global warming?  No wait, global cooling??!!??  Uh...  Oh wait - its Spring!!!

Don't worry John, I am trying to reach equilibrium between my bike speed in MPH and my run speed in Min/Mile... 12 seems like a likely number for both

SOMETIMES???? {{WINK}}

May I join,  I'm at work.  I'll post a bio when I get a break.

Tiana