Mamma Amy Knows Best - Mentor Group Year One - CLOSED (Page 2)

Welcome everybody! Boy did we grow overnight! We are now closed

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone better. If you haven't already given us your real name that will I think be helpful and if you have an "A" race let us know that as well.

Kassie - don't rush back to the roads with Plantar. I've never had it but it's definitely something that plagues runners.

Kristy - Welcome. Cheering your brother in Lake Placid should be terrific.

Cav65 - a coach in our ranks we are really lucky.

Hannah - if you're up for a weekend trip for your first Olympic I did Trinona as my first Olympic in 2011 and its still one of my favorite races ever.

Dd2935 -welcome!

Andrea - welcome!

Carletta - welcome!

old_newbie - welcome!

Mary - wlecome - masters swimming can be great. Keep it up.

Gmorning - welcome!

John - I love the 70.3 distance it's a big goal but you've got time to get ready for it.

Stephanie - Welcome!

Janet - Yay South Florida!

Martha - Rocketman looks like an awesome race. I can't wait to hear about it. And we'll be training for Augusta together! I loved the Seattle Rock-n-Roll marathon it's a great summer race.

Sarah - A swim coach among us. This might be the best mentor group ever. And another new friend racing Augusta!

D_L_B - welcome. I am not a food expert but I'm happy to share my many perhaps uneducated opinions.

Jen from Tampa - welcome!

Becka - another Floridian. Awesome!

Brian - welcome. Hits Ocala is a great plan. I can't wait to hear about it. I've heard good things about their races.

Dogpaddle - welcome!

If I left anybody out let me know. I'm trying to make a master list of who is who and what the goals are. So if you can share names and goals if you haven't already go ahead.

I'm going to go squeeze in my short run today before my kiddo needs to be picked up. My training is sort of loosey goosey through the end of the year which is getting close but tomorrow my plan is running 8-10 miles and then I'll ride some Sunday but how much I'm not sure yet.

Have a great day and I look forward to hearing all about everybody's long runs and rides this weekend.

This will be the best group EVER! Have you done Augusta before Amy?

Thanks for taking me in

Hi,

My real name is Ines.  I would like to prepare for a mini tri in April.  Currently my exercise is sporatic 3-4 times a week.  It's swimming and some weight training, both in a gym - I'm from NY.  I also am about 20 lbs over my ideal weight.  I have the food issues that one other member described, use it for comfort and punishment (how can that be??).  So I battle with that as well as getting my butt out the door to exercise, all the while the 'good' angel on my shoulder is saying, "GO, GO do something good for yourself", and the bad one is saying, "Stay home, sit on the couch, turn on that TV!"

So Amy are you ready to be counselor too?!!

I can't imagine I'm the only one with issues like this - please tell me I'm not.

Thx,

Looking forward to working with you all

Ines  

Welcome Nathan who sneaked in while I was writing the we're closed post

Coeur d'Alene is I think the same weekend as Ironman France which is my big race.

I waffle between feeling confident that my training will work well for me in France and on other days being so freaked out about the race that I have trouble sleeping. So, we can help keep each other motivated and on track.

Okay my advice is don't stress to much about it. Buying a bike should be fun like riding a bike.

Also while fit is critical it is less complicated on a road bike than a tri bike.

For my first race bike I went into the bike store found somebody nice and picked a road bike based on the color I liked. It turned out to be a blue Cannondale - the one in my profile pic actually. I love it and it served me well. Different stores carry different brands so it can be frustrating to try to get good comparisons. Specialized bikes (the brand) are made to be a comfortable / non-agressive fit. I have a specialized hybrid and specialized tri-bike. I think they are good bikes. That being said - there are tons of great bikes out there.

If you can figure out what size you are roughly then you could even look at used bikes because a lot of people buy great bikes - don't use them and sell them at extreme discounts. I'm 5'4" so I am no help in figuring out what size you'd be since you're taller but maybe there is another girl in the group about your height who can share what size they are.

Let us know how the shopping goes. Because the only thing as fun as actually buying a bike is helping somebody else buy one.

I haven't but about a zillion people I know in Miami raced it this year and I felt sooooo left out because I didn't go.

Tomorrow is the second week for my running club. Three miles. Not bad, except we're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow between now and 8am. And that's on top of the 6 inches we got earlier this week. I'm going to get coffee ready now, so I can brew it the moment I get home to warm up. I'd rather run outside in the winter than in the summer. But when it's really cold, it can take all day to warm back up, even though I'm dressed for the weather - all technical fabrics, layers, hat, gloves, jacket, etc. And I have to get better about stretching after these weekly long runs. I put in 5, 6, 7+ miles in 30 degrees and it's hard to feel motivated to stretch.

Wish me luck!

Wow! That is a lot of snow! I'm in southern Louisiana so we rarely get snow. We got snow in December 2008 and it was just a little and my city basically shut down! 

Good luck on your snowy run tomorrow! How do you run in the snow exactly? Do you run where it has been plowed or salted? Sorry, I'm a little curious about snow running. 

I like running in the winter/cold weather also. In the summer it can get to the 120's with the heat index. Christmas day it was 82 outside and very humid but tomorrow night it will be in the 20's (teens) with the wind chill. Louisiana weather is a pain to train in

Hi everyone! I'm back from my travels and wanted to submit a more detailed hello now that I have my computer/wifi.

NAME: Gretchen Morning

AGE: 42

MY STORY: I'm a documentary filmmaker and reality tv editor/writer. I was an athlete when I was younger (swimming, lacrosse and soccer). I've been active on and off in the years since. But as of late, it's been more off than on. I had an epiphany last summer. I felt like crap and I was sick of exercising just for fitness. I decided that I needed a goal, some sort of competition, to keep me motivated. Getting swimsuit ready just wasn't doing the trick anymore. So, I made a commitment to train for a sprint distance triathlon. I figured I already had the swimming down. And I know how to run and ride a bike. booyah.

FAMILY STATUS: Married, three kids ages 12, 9 and almost 5.

CURRENT TRAINING: Luckily, I moved to Los Angeles two years ago, so training through the winter isn't an issue for me. (I lived in Syracuse, NY prior to that. There, I'd have to run in snow shoes.) I began training with couch to 5K program this past September, I've been working out three times a week for 15 weeks, and I'm just about done. I have like a week or so left. I've been very consistent and am pretty happy with my progress. I'm not fast, but that's okay right now. I'm in much better shape than I was a few months ago, and I've accumulated lots of new, fun, uber-nerdy running gear (including a light). In the next week or so, I'll begin with a sprint tri training program. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the 11 week one from trinewbies.com. I like it, it's do-able for me. 

2013 RACES: I'm looking to do a couple of small reverse tris in the spring, and one or two sprint distance in the summer - maybe. I'm not really sure exactly how to plan around a race season. I'm totally open for advice. But what I'd really like to gear my training for is SheROX in San Diego, which I hope (the sched isn't posted yet) will be in October.

Race on the Base, Los Alamitos - February, registered (I'm dragging my husband and older two kids into this one with me...)

Pasadena Triathlon - March (maybe)

Hansen Dam Triathlon - August (maybe)

Hood to Coast Relay - August, registered (ok, it's not a tri, but it should be gads of fun)

WEIGHTLOSS: Yes please. I'd like to drop some pounds. 

Thank you again everyone and I look forward to hearing from you!!

Hi Everyone - Looks like a great group! I am very excited, I have been telling friends and family about everyone's great backgounds, very cool!

Amy - I am so envious of your open water swim with 70 degree water, temps in Boston Haba (I mean Harbor) are currently low 40's.

Going to try and run tomorrow for the first time in 2 weeks since I got the flu. Sinus's and chest are still congested but feeling stronger - I'll let you know how I make out. Expecting snow but I will hit a trail with no cars. Should be fun, I love running when a fresh snow is falling.

Setting up my trainer to get going on my bike on Sunday. It will be nice to get back in the saddle again.

Diedre - I bought a used 2010 entry level Giant Defy 3 last year a week after Christmas which I have been very happy with and got a great deal (actually kind of stole it) off of CList, lists for $750 and got it for $250 (only needed new tires), so you can get some great deals this time of year. Not scratch on it and was mostly used on a indoor trainer by a tri guy who was looking to move up. I am 5'9" and went with a Small 52 frame because it just felt more comfortable. I know women bikes have different proportions but because I am near your hieght I just thought I would offer this info, at 5'9" / 5'10" we are bordeline for moving up to a 54 size frame. Go to a local bike shop and get fitted - you never know they may have some good deals going on. If you are looking used the first question I would always ask is how tall the seller was to save time and just beware of older bikes try to get something only a few years old. There is nothing better than buying a new bike so like Amy said HAVE FUN!!!

I took a bit of time and created a list of group members with links to training logs/blogs.   This works when pasted in your log (in the HTML view, I think).

The team name link should bring you to the current(last) page of this post.  I suggest using this to give inpires (little notes) on each others training.  I think only one (Hannah's ?) was private.  She could either make it public or add each of us as friends if she wishes to share her training in this way.

I will paste a copy in my training log/blog as I use that frequently (when I'm not slacking off).

miamiamy - Amy
A Little Madness - Mary
carlycunn - Carletta
cav65 - Neil
Dd2935 - Diedre
Dogpaddle - Townsley
D_L_B - David 
gmorning - Gretchen
Hannahpete - Hannah
jaggrl - Janet
jeuart - Kristy
John_S - John
josephje - Jen (pronounced Yen)
JREDFLY - James
Knightraven - Brian
kslamp - Kassie
LSUrunningmom - Sarah (or Sam)
mcenteno - Martha
mellowmama75 - Stephanie
nato777 - Nathan
nightnurse - Becka
old newbie - Ines
rustymom - Andrea
TRIATHLETE2013 - Rose

Diedre,

Check out this web address, it's a good resource for fitment. And I agree with Amy and James, great used bikes can be found on craigslist and elsewhere at a fraction of the cost. I myself bought my Felt S22 frame on ebay and pieced it together for less than 3 bills. I have over 500 miles on it now.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO&INTRO_LINK=NOREDIR

Andrea - that is awesome that you compiled that list.

I promise I will start updating my log. I keep my training in Training Peaks so the vast emptiness you see in my training log is just because I've been tracking it in other places. But as soon as I can remember how to manage the garmin upload to here I'll track it in two places.

Well, I got in my snowy run today. LSURunningMom, running in the snow isn't actually too bad. Freshly fallen snow isn't that slippery. It has enough crunch to give you traction. Slush and ice are what's really slippery. So if you just watch your footing, slow down and take shorter strides, you should be OK. I do a run/walk and actually found it worse when I was walking. And since snow dampens sound, it can be very peaceful and quiet. Did have one irritation today when an SUV drove by the trail and intentionally drove through the slush to splash a group of us. But I'm sure karma will catch up with that driver.

I'm having a lot of hip pain tonight and hoping it's just from today run and maybe altering my gait and being more tense. Going to try to get in some yoga tomorrow and hopefully that will help.

RustyMom, thanks for putting together that list. Very helpful. Do you know if there's a way on the message board to jump to the last message you read? I'm guessing it will get pretty cumbersome to scroll through all these messages over the coming months.

- Kristy

old_newbie: I happened to see some headache relief yoga moved on Pinterest. Here is the link for it. 

http://www.myyogaonline.com/about-yoga/yoga-anatomy/top-yoga-poses-for-headaches

I hope this helps! I get migraines sometimes after a good workout and these poses help me.

I too enjoyed yoga, a good stretch for the spine supporting muscles, I have found relief seeing a chiropractor as well.

Final session of the month, and year, done today, not a bad month with a bit of illness and christmas factored in. More pool time in January as this is my focus area, and a bit of determination to deal with dark cold winter days here in the UK!

old newbie - 2012-12-28 8:08 PM Anyone have any advise on exertion headaches (aka exercise headaches)?  I get them sometimes after a work out.  I stopped training because of them in the past.  I try to drink plenty of water and breathe deeply but they still plague me.  Don't worry Amy , I've gotten myself checked, prodded, tested and retested.  Nothing organically wrong with me.  I've done research on it and have not found an answer as yet.  Was hoping someone out there had a remedy.

Ooh luckily for me I rarely get headaches and the only exercise related headache I've gotten was from having my helmet on too tight over my ponytail for 30 miles. Which is to say I have no advice for you. Sorry. But luckily it looks like others do.