njc65 Mentor Group CLOSED (Page 2)

timbell88 - 2011-01-10 2:37 AM

Hey Neil! Sorry, origionally I signed up for Triritters group but he is pretty full so I volunteered to jump to a new group. If you guys have room, I would love to join!

I`m a 22 year old male Kindergarten teacher living in Hiroshima, Japan. I know that`s kind of a specialized niche`. After graduating with a degree in Theatre I decided I wanted to live in another country before I got caught up in a career. I volunteered  at a local YMCA to pass some time while on my 3 month visitors visa, and after a few weeks they offered me my current position. I`m planning on returning to the states in August, but before I do I would like to run in the local tri they have here in June.

I was always a heavy kid, and then in high school I was pushing 240 lbs on a 6 foot frame. I got tired of it my Sophmore year and decided I would fix my weight or die trying. I started slowly, running a few miles a week, and then I picked up fencing. I fixed my diet by eliminating all red meat and swearing off any drinks but water. By the end of Jr. year I had lost almost 50 lbs.

I got interested in tris when my cousin finished his first sprint in San Diego over the summer. Japan`s tri circut is limited though, all of the local races are Olympic length so that`s what I will be training for.

FAMILY STATUS:  Single

CURRENT TRAINING: I was up to 200 pounds after college (beer doesn`t come in low fat.) When I got here I started a running program 4 times a week and weight training 3 times. I droped about 10 lbs pretty quick, and then the next 10 came over a few months. I added a swimming session once a week and then joined a soccer club on Friday nights. I was also taking Japanese classes 3 times a week and teaching private students. Unfortunatly I think I was doing too much on too little sleep, and I wound up with pneumonia in early December. I`ve been slowly getting myself back in the groove and improving my sleep schedule (I had to drop some classes.) I`m spending this week focusing on nutrition and building back to where I was, and next week I`m going to start the training plan on my profile.

2011 races:  

Hiroshima Miajima Olympic

WEIGHT LOSS:  

I`m 180 right now and my goal is 175. I`m hoping my tri training will help me drop the last few pounds and build more lean muscle. Unfortunatly I have a pretty bad sweet tooth, so I have sworn off all sweets this year. They say that cold turkey is a bad way to do that, but my will power is pretty good.

WHY I WANT TO BE YOUR MENTEE:  I`m brand new to this, I`m focused on making it happen, and I think I`m going to have a lot of questions.

ldparsons - 2011-01-10 9:26 PM Cheers neil, thanks for your kind response.

Did my first day today, felt nice and easy, bet that wont last!!!!

I want to include 2 sessions of weights (I love lifting weights, weird...) and a core session to my week, could you, or any other group member,  poss point me in the direction of a good plan. Just spent 30 mins digging through the articles and could not find anything appropriate.

Cheers guys,

Lorna

ebggoblue - 2011-01-10 8:15 PM neil and group,
i am loving that people joining the group are from all over the world.  the more i am learning about triathlons, the more i realize how large the community is and this group is a reflection of that.
as for me and my challenges to get to the gym to train, i am lucky.  i am single/no kids, so that removes what i can only imagine are numerous obstacles. my one obstacle is my job. i am a criminal defense attorney and am in court everyday. ultimately the majority of my cases are resolved short of trial, but when i am in trial, it is my main focus and when that occurs, my energy to go to the gym after a long day is less.
i started going to the gym 6x/week the monday after thanksgiving. i knew that my work calendar was light for december so i wanted to get back in the routine of the gym and have been consistent since.  then over xmas vacation, my friend suggested a triathlon to celebrate her 35her birthday - which brings me to today.
my hopeful routine is to swim 3x a week, run/walk 3x a week and i have my trainer 2x a week - which i may lower to 1x a week. i do take one day off a week to let my body rest, so some of the run and swim days will overlap (which is my plan for today, we'll see how it goes)
overall - the only challenge i have to getting to the gym is myself, which as of late, has not been a problem.

nickgn71 - 2011-01-10 8:52 PM Right now I'm set to train 6 days a week (doing couch to sprint training), which is a lot.  Thus far I'm just trying to get up in the morning and go right away.  My biggest weakness is procrastination, so by going first thing in the morning I don't keep trying to just put the training off until "later."  I'm finding that it is actually a nice (if exhausting way to start the day).  I'm starting to feel the soreness that I've finished my third day of training, so I'm concerned that I'm going to wake up and think "I'm too sore to work out" tomorrow morning.  If I can get through the first month without missing training I think I'll finally be in an exercising habit 

Do any of you travel frequently for work?  I'm on a project that's causing me to travel at least a week a month.  How do you all manage to keep up with your training while on the road?

ldparsons - 2011-01-11 10:34 AMCheers Neil. These look spot on. Off for a weights session and then a bike. I understand from the site that I am better off doing weights before the bike ride, makes sense but a bit cruel. Thanks for your support. Lorna

gazaboy - 2011-01-11 9:01 AM Hi all

Neil, thanks for the core workouts.  I definately need these.   The small of my back is an issue when run/walking, will try an easy slow run/walk tomorrow at lunchtime for 20mins and at least keep moving, all be it a bit slow, but will persevere as my core strengthens with the workouts.  Our spa pool comes in handy for a relaxing soak ! The biking and swimming are ok so can continue with them no probs.

After the swim last night, it was amazing how good I felt.  Felt, not quite lethargic, but very mediocre before hand, but after the swim it was like, I feel quite good now. 

Can appreciate it must be a bit hard for others to get a decent outdoors program going with most going through winter at the moment (we're experiencing 28-30 degrees C at present) so I just offer my thoughts of encouragement to you all.  The feeling of crossing that finish line is going to be totally, totally worth it.

Keep on keeping on

Gary

timbell88 - 2011-01-10 10:01 PM Cool guys, thanks for the welcome! This looks like it's going to be an awesome group of people! Thanks for the weight and core exercises Neil, because I choose a beginner routine I'm finding the running a little easy compared to what I was doing before. But rather than extend the running, I'm going to do some minor weight training on my running days with the extra energy to prepare me for the biking. Right now it's very cold in Japan so I have to train on a bike at the gym until March, so I need all the training I can get. 

ldparsons - 2011-01-11 7:18 PM My own cheerleaders, fantastic. One of my main motivations is that my little girl, who is 8, wants to do the kids tri. She is a competitive swimmer, and runs cross country for her school, I need to get fit just to keep up with her. My last memory of the Humber bridge is sitting in the mid span, drinking wine at 4 am! I went to uni in hull. Two days down just the rest of my life to go. Good luck all, lotus

nickgn71 - 2011-01-11 8:50 PM I'm struggling with the soreness thing right now - and I've only completed three days of training!  My fault entirely... I was running a little low on time yesterday, so didn't spend the appropriate amount of time on warm up, cool down or stretching, so my quads are killing me! 

suzielea - 2011-01-12 6:32 AM

Hi Neil,

Have you got room for one more?

My real name is Suzanne but most people call me Suzie for short anyway

I live in Victoria, Australia and am really only just starting out but keep dreaming of doing a triathlon one day although right now I'm just using the other 2 sports (cycling and swimming) as cross training as part of my 5 and 8k run/walk training. I'm  also currently on the casual teacher's aide list of our local Special school which I'm hoping gives me the experience to get something more permanent and am going to be studying Diploma of Disability part time once a week.

My Story:
I had a heart transplant in 1995 at the age of 11 and hated P.E during school. I think it may have been more the teachers and the fact that it was mostly team sports and I wasn't really as fit as the other kids although I did tend have a try at most of the individual stuff (athletics, swimming, gymnastics, etc) even if I was way behind everyone else (walking the 1500 and 3k cross country.) I also gained a bit after the transplant so when I was 15 I decided to do something about it and joined a local gym which I got bored of quickly. I also used to walk and/or ride to school (3.2k/2M) but I wasn't consistent and it wasn't at the same time I was going to the gym.

Anyway fast forward a few years and I joined another gym in 2007 which I couldn't really motivate myself to go to because it was a little out of my way and if I walked there I felt I'd already worked out enough. So joined another one less than a mile away that opened up in 2008 (although I could have the dates wrong) where I still am. I also decided to start walking in October 2009 and got up to 4.6M as my longest distance at the end of August  which was followed by an illness/lack of motivation layoff of about 2 months (mid September - late November) after which I started walking again using the Hal Higdon 5k walkers program which I'm currently in week 6 of.

My current training consists of:
2 short walks (or 1 and intervals plus strength training), a yoga class, 1 long walk and an optional medium walk along with a long bike ride,  and 1 swimming session per week.
The short walks peak at 30 mins, the bike ride will peak at 40 mins, the yoga class is 1 hour plus I occasionally add very short running segments to the short walks and my current base line for swimming is 2 laps of 25m with a fairly long rest at the end of the first one.

I will also be starting my version of the Galloway conditioning program to get myself in to run/walking after I have finished the current training program
My races for this year are
Brazillian Butterfly Queen of the Lake 5k on Feb 6, Run for the kids 5.2k on April 17, Mother's Day classic 8k on May 9 and Flight Centre HM on October 9. I am also aiming to be able to swim 400m continuously and ride for 1 hr (which I should accomplish by May) but haven't decided on what to do after that although I did see some mini sprints and sprints in Melbourne this month that I may aim for in 2012.

Weight loss:
I'm currently 116.7 kg and am looking to lose around 24 kg over 12 months.

I believe I would make a goood mentee because I'm eager to learn and want to improve myself to get fitter for both myself and my job so I can keep up with or assist the students as needed.

Thank you for starting the group

Suzanne