Shellback1998 Group - FULL (Page 2)

Hi Scott,

Went biking OUTSIDE today.  It was alittle windy but sunny and nice temp.  I chose a nearby bike trail that is flat and not crowded because this was the first time with my shimano pedals.  I now know what you meant when you said to think right, right, right, right when you unclip.  Of course this was only after my first (and only) crash.  No injuries, just missing alittle epidermis off the knee.  After I figured out the right thing I did fine.

This afternoon went running.  It's my day off so it's my double workout day.  I did wear the heart monitor and I think you are right about me probably running too fast so my heart rate is too high.  I ran 3.65 miles and it was rolling hills for the first half.  When going up the hills my heart rate was 165 (I was trying to go slower).  But on the last half which was flat or downhill I was 151-153 bpm which is a much more comfortable pace.  So, this is what I am going to aim for on my run.

Ordered the Total Immersion DVD.  I had watched some of the total immersion stuff on this site and it really makes sense.

Linda

Sounds good! What brand was the one you're looking at Costco? Swimming is most people's limiter, so don't worry about it. You'll do great!

Scott

So what is everyone's workout for today 5/5/2011?

Today I have, Hill Repeats, a tempo ride, and some core work.

Scott, I would like to join your group.  A little about me. Male, soon to be 44. A year ago I was 6 feet, 285. I now weight in at around 205. Last week I registered for an Olympic tri for july 17.

My background: Grew up very active, playing competitive hockey, swim club, rugby, etc.

Got lazy and ended up 285lbs...figured I should lose this weight for my wife and 2 kids(8 and 3).

To get to 285 has been better food choices, rowing machine and running. Recently did an 8k run.

This week I have started back in the pool. Swimming a mile in about 40 minutes. Arms and shoulders don't know what hit them.

I am going to try do 3 of each/week with Sundays off.

Thanks

Thor

Welcome Thor,  Congrats on all your weight loss. Sounds awesome that you're doing an olympic. Have you ran that distance before?  Are you following a training plan? If so, which one? 

That's a lot of training to do per week, how many hours are you looking to do?  Sunday's are usually my  long run day's and Saturday's are my long bike. Great job on finishing that swim in 40 mins.

What are you looking to get from being in the room?

Looking forward in hearing back from you. Have a great day training!

Scott

Hi Scott and everyone....I am interested and excited about joining this group!!!!  I just turned 55 a couple days ago and will do my first TRI on June 15th.  My work out history is that I was an aerobics instructor for 11 years and gave that up in March as I am looking forward to a new direction for my work out life.  First out of the gate, I did the Disney Princess Half-Marathon with my daughter in February, which was a BLAST!!!!  I then did another half marathon here in MI in March.  I purchased a road bike and the weather has finally broken and we are now enjoying some longer rides now, 25-30 miles.  My next step is to start a series of TRI classes (6 I believe) prepping for 3 TRI's for that particular series.  My ultimate goal is to do the IRONGIRL TRI in MD with my daughter and good friend.  On a personal note, I am newly married and work as an NP.  I have 2 children, son in IRAQ that is 23 and daughter 26 in MD doing her first half Ironman on June 12th.  I hope you will consider me as part of the group, look forward to hearing from you soon.  Oh and a big question I have along with many other things, but it is nutrition!!!!  Anything you can share regarding that would be great, once I hopefully get accepted into your group.  Thanks!

Welcome to the group, and of course you're welcome to join. First, next time you talk to your son, tell him thank you for me. 

Sounds like you're pretty active and have some great endurance already. What were your times for the half's?

What is the distance of your triathlon in June?

Congrats on your new recent purchase of the bike. I agree, the weather is starting to break and after being on the trainer all winter it's a relief to get out there. 

So what do you want to know about nutrition? Are you talking about nutrition on the bike/run or in general?

Look forward in hearing back from you.

Scott

Hey everyone, if the group's still open, I'd love to join.

I'm Daniel, a 27-year-old here in Charleston, WV.  I've been married now for 3.5 years, and my wife and I have a beautiful 9-month-old daughter.  I've got a full year of tri training under my belt, having completed 3 sprints last year.  This year, I've got two Olympics planned over the summer, both here in WV, followed by the White Lake Fall Challenge HIM in North Carolina this October. 

Like many, my biggest limiter is time.  Triathlons are a hobby for me and fall a distant third on my list of priorities behind family and work.  That said, I'm committed to the sport - I'm up every day by 4 a.m. to get my workouts in.  The early mornings free up my evenings for family time, while still allowing me to get in 10-15 hours per week of training.  I'm hoping to update my logs soon.

Anyway, that's who I am.  Looking forward to discussing this wonderful sport with all of you.

Hello Scott,

I would love to join your group! My name is Joy and I have been running since September. I walked a 5K and wondered what it would take to run one.... I've done several 5K's and two 10K's. I just completed my first sprint triathlon on April 23 with a time of 1:44:45 and won the Athena division! A year ago, if someone told me I would do a triathlon I would have laughed! I weighed 262 and now I weigh around 185. I need to improve my speed particularly on the bike. I am a fairly fast swimmer, but in my last tri, I paniced when I was people getting rescued.

On a personal note, I teach 7th grade and have been married for several years. I have a seven year old daughter who is an avid dancer and recently danced with the Moscow Ballet. I have my second sprint triathlon this weekend. I look forward to being a part of your group!

Welcome Joy, congrats on your recent Triathlon, that's a great time. Also great job on the weight loss.  Good luck this weekend, you're more than welcome to join the group as well. How do you like triathlons now? Well, looking forward to hear how the race goes. Have a great day!

Scott

So the past three days have been great for training - Tuesday I was able to get to the gym in the morning and swim for 45 minutes, went for a 20 minute run in the afternoon and a 15 mile ride outside in the evening.  It was nice that I was able to stay in upper zone 2/lower 3 for the large majority of my workouts. 

Yesterday with my trainer we had a 30 minute challenge where we had to run as far/long as we could at a 2% incline.  My goal was to run the entire time at a 5.0 pace.  I was so proud of myself - I ran the entire time and ran a total 2.54 miles (without stopping).  I don't think that I have ever run for 30 minutes straight before.

I do workout with a HRM and try to be smart with my workouts and be within the zones that I want to train in that day. 

I have done some brick training, Saturday I actually biked for 60 minutes and then went right to the treadmill (only about a 2 minute transition).  One of the instructors for my spin class is starting brick training on Monday - 30 minute spin, 20 minute bike and then 10 minutes of abs.  I want to do it, but I'm a pretty slow runner so I'm a bit put off by being the slowest...  We'll see.

Linda - yes, the North Mankato tri is the one I'm doing in June.  My trainer said it's a great beginner tri - the swim is in a larger pond so the water is relatively calm and the run and bike are relatively flat.  Where do you live?  I'm in Bloomington and usually have to drive for my bike rides - I haven't had much luck finding many good areas to bike around me.

Have a good night everyone

Hello- I would like to join the group if it is still open.

I signed up for my first tri at the end of June. It is a sprint tri. I have been training for about a month and a half now. I run and bike. I am starting my swim training this week. The run is the hardest part for me. I would appreciate any tips on breathing and increasing speed. Currently I am running 3 miles in about 34 mins.

I look forward to being part of the group....let me know if there is any other information you need for my introduction.

Thank you!

Hello Scott,

Name: My name is Avona Justice and I am from Mesquite, TX (just outside of Dallas). 

Story: Years ago (1980s) I began and downward spiral after a work related injury, divorce, and some other very traumatic events.  I worked as a firefighter/ paramedic and although I am a female I could definitely hold my own.  I was what some would call lean and mean.  My injury ended a 13 year career and began multiple years of sitting.  In addition to the sitting I also found that snacking on things masked the pain for the moment so I overate for the next 20 + years.  Now I am 43 years old and sick and tired of being this way.  I have begun taking measures to change all that and my goal for this year is to run a Sprint Triathlon in late summer.  I originally thought I would do one the end of May but I now realize I am in no shape to do that.  I currently am 213 lbs and stand 5 foot 3-4 inches.  I have problems with both knees which is my biggest problem with training.  It seems after I run it almost takes 2 full days to get the pain to stop.  Doctors tell me it is safe to run so I try and then ice them afterwards.  The problems with my knees are degenerative knees, spurs, arthritis and the occassional build up of fluid.  I need to find a way to work on the running and treat the knees afterwards so that I can heal them more quickly for the next training. 

Family Status: In a long term relationship (11 yrs) no kids but have 2 young boys (ages 3 and 4) very close to us and lots and lots of nieces and nephews who are grown now.

Current Training: I began training back in March of this year.  That training consisted of the couch 2 5K program.  I made it 2 weeks and was up to running 90 seconds and walking 60 seconds.  I am so out of shape, I loose my breath quickly.  Still it felt good to run and push myself.  I do not have a bike but I have used a neighors recumbant bike and seem to do well on it (no knee pain).  I can swim but did not learn how to swim until I was an adult and then I just did it myself.  I know that I need a swim coach to help me get past my current stumble which is not breathing under water.  LOL.  When I was younger I used a nose plug and that was a very very bad thing for me.  Now when I go up, I can't figure out how to hold my breath right and end up sucking in a bunch of water.  We have a pool but it is not optimal for laps, it is more of a kidney shape so I get about 3 - 4 strokes in and have to turn.  Still I can work on swimming underwater here once I figure out how and increase my comfort in water.  I can swim with my head above water, but I know I am faster with it in water. 

My second biggest problem with working out is getting distracted by other things such as our bathroom remodel which we just finished.  That got me out of working out for the past 4 weeks or so.  I need to get back at it and stick to it.  Motivation is a problem with me but I am trying to get better.  I also try to watch what I eat and I am doing better but there is definitely room for improvement there too. 

Planned Race: I want to run a sprint tri yet this summer. Then I want to continue training and do several of them next summer.  I have a friend who is just starting to get involved in this with me.  We are doing a 5K walk/run Sat May 7th (tomorrow) but I doubt we will run much of it.  I would like to push myself and run as much as possible but I am not sure how wise that is with my knees and not training for the past 4 weeks.  I would love advice on how to work with the knees as they swell after training so that I can recover quicker and eliminate some pain.

Weightloss: I started out at 238 and am down to 213 but I have been stuck here for about 3 weeks.  I want to get down to 135 - 150 ish and maintain that.

I also want to buy a bike but I am not sure what to look for in one.  I can not get one of the expensive tri bikes so I am thinking something between a mountain and street bike.  Any suggestions?

I also know I need to do some strength training but I am really bad at going to the gym alone and I don't have a membership right now so doing things at home is best for me.  I do have many of the biggest loser work out tapes. I will also look into that total immersion tape for swimming. 

Thanks so much for reading, I look forward to learning from you all.

Avona

Scott, I also forgot to ask what type of heart rate monitor I should get.  I bought one from Walmart a while back but it only registers the heart rate if I tell it too.  I was really hoping to find one that does that constantly as well as allows me to keep times for training and race purposes.  Can you tell me what type you have and any others that might be good?

Thanks, Avona

Great job at your workouts sounds like your endurance is coming along. Great job with the incline on the treadmill as well. Running on a treadmill can be boring. I mostly use them for my speed drills during the winter. 

I'm glad to hear that you use a heart rate monitor, how did you calculate your zones? 

Have you ever been timed for an 800tt swimming? Or an 8 min TT trial on the bike? I try to do these once a month to check on my fitness seeing if I am improving. Being an engineer, I like to plot things. So having all these numbers I can verify if I am over training or if I just went out easier. 

Brick training sounds like fun. Don't worry about being slow, the more you run you'll be faster. Just trust me on that. Stay in your zones though. I know it might be boring and you feel like your walking, but your training your heart. My Half Marathon training, majority of my training was in z1 and for me that's pretty low. My pace declined a lot, I was running  mid 9's to almost 10 mins for my runs. Now if you knew me that's drastic as for my 5k times, I can run in the 6's the entire run.  However, come race day my coach was like. I want you to stay at 7:09 pace. I was like ok. I asked him if he thought I could keep that pace throughout and he said without a doubt. Well, I listened to him and I had one of the best run's of my life. 

Well enjoyed reading about your progress keep up the great work. 

Scott

x2, Great advice Daniel. You should always be able to have a conversation for about 90% of your training. Especially in the lower zones. It's called building your aerobic zones and not your anaerobic zone. That will come later. Like Daniel said, it may be frustrating knowing you can run faster but just stay focused and disciplined and your paces will increase. 

Scott

I LOVE triathlons so much more than just running events! I love to swim, just need to be faster. I also like them because they are a great way to stay in shape. If I sign up for a race, I'm not going to let myself down, so I'm definitely going to train for it. I'm keeping several in my future. I eventually want to do an Olympic distance tri that's done in June near me. I'm hoping to be in it next year.

Welcome Avona, first of all congrats on your weight loss. Remember losing weight is very difficult and all I can say is don't give up. 3500 calories is one pound. To lose at least 2lb's per week you need to cut at least 500 calories and burn at least 500 calories a day. To figure how much your body can take just by sitting on the couch all day. Try to figure this calculation out. 

If you're wondering how to figure out exactly how many fewer calories to lose weight , the easy answer is 1,500 calories a day for the average woman and 2,000 calories a day for the average man. However, because this calculation is a general rule and you may not be an average person, you will want to use a more complex calculator that is more accurate. One way you can calculate this out is to use the Harris-Benedict Calculator.

Determine your basal metabolic rate
Your basal metabolic rate is how many calories you burn in a day just living your daily life. The calculator differentiates between men and women because men and women, even those of the same height and weight, have differing caloric needs.

If you are a woman, you will need to multiply your weight in pounds by 4.3, multiply your height in inches by 4.7, add those two numbers together and then add 655 to that number. Now multiply your age in years by 4.7 and subtract this number from the first number.

If you are a man, you will need to multiply your weight in pounds by 6.3, multiply your height in inches by 12.9. Now add the first two numbers (weight calculation, height calculation) and add the number 66 to that.  Now multiply your age in years by 4.7 and subtract this number from the larger number.  You will get your basal metabolic rate from this.

Now factor in your activity level
Multiply your basal metabolic rate by the number that corresponds with your activity level.

• If you are sedentary, do not exercise at all and sit at your job all day, use a 1.2 multiplier.
• If you are somewhat active, meaning you exercise 2-3 times a week or walk while on your job, use a 1.375 multiplier.
• If you are moderately active, meaning you exercise 5-6 days a week, use a 1.55 multiplier.
• If you exercise every day and are active at your job, use a 1.725 multiplier.
• If you exercise strenuously every day and are extremely active all day, use a 1.9 multiplier.

Your basal metabolic rate multiplied by the activity level multiplier will give you the number of calories you need to maintain your weight each day.

Use the example as a guide as you calculate your Harris-Benedict numbers

Example: If you are a woman who is 5'3", weighs 146 pounds and is 39 years old, your numbers would look like this:

                       146 x 4.3 = 627.8
                       63 x 4.7 = 296.1
                       627.8 + 296.1 + 655 = 1578.9
                       39 x 4.7 = 183.3
                       1578.9 - 183.3 = 1395.6
This woman's basal metabolic rate is 1395.6.

Let's say this woman is moderately active because she exercises five days a week for between 20-45 minutes at a shot.  1395.6 x 1.55 = 2163.18

This woman can eat a little under 2,200 calories a day and maintain her weight.

However, let's say this woman wants to lose 15 pounds in 15 weeks.  This means she will need to subtract 500 calories a day from her intake, allowing her to consume just under 1700 calories a day.  If she wants, she can choose to burn an additional 250 calories every day (in addition to what she usually burns) and only reduce her calorie intake by 250 calories if this is easier than cutting 500 calories.

Weight loss tips
If you want to lose weight, there are always some good basic tips to keep in mind:

• Do count your calories.
• Don't beat yourself over a bad day.
• Do make up for a bad day by exercising extra or eating less the next day.
• Don't try to be too aggressive with weight loss goals.
• Slow and steady is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off.

Now, if you stay committed and motivated and become regular within this thread I know that everyone in the group will help you out as well. Everyone in here is amazing and Im glad to have met all of you. 

Road Bike, well, I would suggest getting a road bike. One, it's faster than mountain bike and will be a smoother ride. I would look into specialized dolce or anything equivalent. However this will be an investment on your health. So make sure you get fitted, don't go to a shop and say you just want a bike. Make sure they ask you questions, they take measurements and they make you straddle the bike. Make sure it fits you, you'll spending many hours on this in the future. So make sure you're comfortable. 

For swimming, I would look into getting the Total Immersion DVD. This will show you how to find your balance in the water. The pool you're swimming at might be a tad small but if that's your only choice. Look into getting something like this. 

http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/4934.htm

This will allow you stay swimming and not have to turn around. 

Strength training is also good. You can do planks, do lunges, do lat pull downs all from the comfort of your home. be creative and you should you will be fine. 

Ok, looking forward to hear back from you. Have a great day!

Happy training!

Scott

I would look into getting a HR monitor that will tell you constantly your HR. I personally use a Garmin 310xt, for my Triathlons. Mine is also a GPS, and I upload my data to my coach and my training logs. Im an engineer an when it comes to this stuff, some would call me a nerd. I have excel spreadsheets of past workouts, test, runs, events that I track. Polar, is also a good brand to look into. Timex as well. read the reviews and find one that fits to your budget and your needs. 

Scott