RFP GROUP 2013 - CLOSED (Page 2)

Welcome to the group Megan.  Congrats on taking a big step and training for a triathlon.  Are you registered for any races yet?  When you get a chance give us some background as far as your fitness or racing history.

I'm back in as well!!

NAME: Jenny Thorpe

STORY: I started doing triathlons in 2007 as a personal goal after knee reconstructive surgery from a soccer injury.  I was instantly hooked and have been at it ever since.  I started with my first race not really knowing how to swim that well (used a snorkel in the Chicago Triathlon) and made it to the finish line of Ironman Wisconsin in 2012. 

FAMILY STATUS: Married to my awesome husband Billy (he did my first triathlon with me, and immediately retired...and calls himself my manager) and we have a friendly little lizard named Mojo

CURRENT TRAINING: Right now just getting back into a routine of training and building my aerobic base for the more intense training to come.  I am currently signed up for three weekly training programs- a run circuit on Monday nights, swim training on Wednesday AM, and a two-hour cycling session on Saturdays.  I am hoping to run every day in 2013 (even if it's only a mile)...we'll see how this goes.

2013 RACES: My number one A race for 2013 is USAT Age Group Nationals in August (in my front yard in Milwaukee!) I am racing in the Olympic and Sprint distance races.  Other races I have scheduled are: Elkhart Lake Sprint Triathlon, Pleasant Prairie Olympic, and Chicago Sprint. 

WEIGHTLOSS: I miss how skinny I was before Ironman...I am a little pudgy right now from the time off but I am hoping to improve my nutrition overall in 2013.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP: Motivation from others, hopefully I can offer some advice from my experiences (mostly on what NOT to do ). 

Tim,

I don't get a chance to practice in open water. I don't live near lakes where I can practice but I think that you are right, it would help me out.

You need to go downtown to Ohio Street Beach once it gets warmer.  We will set something up and I can meet you down there.  It is great for practicing OWS.   

NAME: David

STORY: I am 27 years old and over the college and start of my career years I stopped exercising and let my weight creep up until I was over 50 lbs overweight. My wife and I changed our lifestyle and started eating healthy and losing weight and I dropped 50 lbs and decided I needed to get active again to keep it off. Three years of a few half marathons and other miscellaneous events later I decided to get into tris and completed my first Olympic this past summer as well as my first full marathon. I never enjoyed team sports and seem to have found my niche in endurance sports and really enjoy the mental and physical benefits of pushing myself and seeing how far I can go. Time management is a bit of an issue for me as I have a fairly high stress job with a lot of hours and a lot of travel as well as a family to spend time with.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with a very patient wife and 2.5 year old daughter who constantly finds ways to remind me how funny these sports seem to a little person

CURRENT TRAINING: My two week break from the Philly Marathon turned into six weeks and I gained a few pounds and lost some fitness. I’m spending the next few weeks working on my bike skills using a trainer (goal of 3x/week), some running intervals which I don’t do enough of during the season (goal of 3x/week), and strength training (goal of 2x/week). Unfortunately my plan to join a Masters Swim this winter didn’t pan out thanks to Hurricane Sandy destroying my local pool. Also squeezing in some miscellaneous activities (i.e. snowboarding, a GoRuck, etc). Real training will start in ~ six weeks.

2013 RACES: Long Island HM (just as a tune up), Philly Olympic, and debating between a HIM or two more Olympics. Still not sure how I want to go on this as the races I was hoping to do won’t work out. 

WEIGHTLOSS: Last season race weight was 154 lbs and I gained a few since then. I am hoping to get a bit lower this season if I can find a way to not be hungry all day while training.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP: A bit motivation but mostly people to bounce ideas/questions/issues off of. Also if anyone lives in the Queens/Nassau County area of NY some additional training buddies are always welcome. 

Good Morning Team RFP 2013.

NAME: Kevin Corriveau KCGOLF

STORY: 

I started triathlon late in the summer of 2010 with a tri-a-tri here in South Western Ontario Canada (I am from
Windsor, now live south of Windsor in Amherstburg Ont.) My reasons and story for doing it are varied and complicated and I won’t bore you with more than this - I was looking for a something else to do that would challenge me and keep me busy and I loved it. After a neck injury right after that first tiny taste of triathlon, I knew I wanted more so I set my sights on a busy schedule for the next year – 2011. In 2011 I competed in 6 sprint triathlons, bought my first road bike, started learning how to swim (still a work in progress), joined BT and  met some great people and met some great people in this group. After a great 2011 I took the plunge and did the first and last Ironman New York City in 2012, swam in the Hudson, biked in New Jersey and ran in NYC. Now, I am completely hooked and I am doing my second IM in Quebec in August. Ironman Mont Tremblant.

Just in case you are wondering about the KCGOLF thing - I am a Golf Professional, Class A member of the Professional Golf Association of Canada and teach a full time Business Admin, Professional Golf Management Program at the local college here in town. I grew up in the golf industry and managed golf clubs etc.

FAMILY STATUS: 

I am currently in the process of going through a divorce, splitting assets and selling a house - blah, blah, blah - nothing else I think I am ready to share at the moment. The good news is - no kids.

CURRENT TRAINING: 

I have been stayin in shape for the past several months just working a maintenance plan with full IM training getting ready to start soon.

2013 RACES: A race - as stated above Ironman Mont Tremblant

WEIGHTLOSS: I need to shed about 7-10 lbs and that will happen when my training ramps up again.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP:

I am looking for what I have always received from this group - support, friendship, understanding, humour, knowledge, motivation and a good kick in the a$$ when I need it or when you think I am starting to sound like I need it  and I will offer the same thing in return.

Hi Team.

I just looked at the posts and want to say hi to everyon:

Scott, KTC, WTB Jen and Jennifer - nice to see you back in.

T-royboy - welcome.

dcolman-David welcome

gdelamora-Gil, you will love the OLY distance and welcome.

baelliot-Barry - Welcom to the world of TRI - you are going to love it.

Meganb77 - Megan - Welcom aboard.

Swam this morning - bike on the trainer this evening I hope.

Have a great day team.

KC

Welcome aboard David!  Man I could have wrote your bio 10 years ago haha.  I was exactly the same - put on a bunch of weight after college, kinda of lost in the mid-twenties la la land - realized once I had my first kid stuff needed to change.  Seeing my kids interested in this lifetstyle and even doing some kids triathlons makes it all worth.  

Time management is such a huge aspect of this sport and can make or break how successful you are.  We are all here to support each other and help as best we can.

Can't help with the NY area training buddy but KC seems to like to travel around the country so he might be able to help haha.  Speaking of NY/East coast area has anyone heard from Deb? Should I hold a spot for her?

So after a couple of medical procedures to end the year and pretty much laying in bed for three days I am SO READY to get going again.  Doctor appointment on Jan 8 and hopefully get released for exercise so I can get going on my Jan 14 start date. 

I have put on ab out 12 lbs. since September - ugh.  I know I am in trouble when my wedding band fits me haha. I haven't worn it the past two years because it was too loose but tried it on this weekend and fit like a charm.  Wife was happy but I was kind of bummed with gaining the weight haha.

NAME: Pierce (phishinphan)

STORY: I Have always been an athlete playing mostly basketball and tennis. After college I got married to college sweetheart and pretty much stopped working out when we moved to a new city together. After my oldest son played a year of soccer and I started playing basketball again with some other guys I realized just how bad out of shape I was. I'm 6'3 and got up to 230# or so which was mostly gut weight not muscles. I started running in May 2012 to get back into shape, got a training plan to follow and needed something for crosstraining. So I bought a bike and love riding. I completed my first ever running races, a 5.2 mile mud obstacle run with a team from church and a couple 5k races sponsored by my work. Having a goal motivates me to train when I don't want to. So since I enjoy riding and running and love feeling like I'm in shape I looked into triathlon.  I have yet to complete an event and just started a training plan now that I have pool access. I can swim, but my endurance sucks so I am planning to focus on swim for the first couple months.  I created a hybrid 3x per week balanced olympic distance training plan to suit my schedule.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with 3 boys ages 4, 2 and 6 months. My oldest sees me running on the treadmill and wants to run like daddy which I love.  This is even more motivation for me to go fast and long. Wife has never been an athlete or in that good of shape but seeing me working out and the 15# I have lost since May she is starting a couch to 5k!

CURRENT TRAINING: As said above I have a modified olympic distance plan. I do cross fit with a church group on Monday mornings.  My bike needs a little tlc so I currently just use the YMCA equipment. I am starting a 0 to 750 swim plan today and will follow the 0 to 1650 plan online with some weight training inspired by the Mark Allen article on BT. I typically work out 5 to 6 days a week and some days 2x per day.

2013 RACES: I have a few races on my perhaps list. I live in South Carolina which has a pretty decent tri series with several tri's right in town and some very nice races close by. My first tri will probably be the Downtown Columbia Sprint. I may try for some olympic later this summer if all goes well.

WEIGHTLOSS: Weight loss is not a significant issue for me at 6'3 220#. I would like to tone up and build strength so any fat loss will probably be replaced with muscle. I would like my "race" weight to be in the 205 to 210# range.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP: Motivation, support, training ideas answers and a group that I have committed to that will expect me to follow through (accountability).

HA! I don't know that I've gotten though it more like just endure it. I'm really slow but I just stay calm and keep putting one arm in front of the other. I figure eventually I'll reach the shore and the swim will be over.

Glad you joined the group!

Hopefully you still have room for one more Tim!

NAME: Lori / retiretotri

STORY: Played high school and college tennis, became a runner after college, went back to tennis for many years as an adult USTA league and tournament player, and then discovered triathlon at the age of 48 after volunteering at Ironman Wisconsin for numerous years.  Love weight training and still continue doing it to this day after starting in my 30s. Completed several sprint tris and one Ironman, DNFed one Ironman due to health issues.  Definitely a BOP'er and absolutely fine with it!  Strength is running, followed by biking, and then swimming.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with 2 terrier mix dogs. Became a grandma on Dec 22nd! I train for triathlons with my husband Eric, mostly biking and swimming but not running.  We are both retired but are caring for elderly parents. 

2012 RACES:  Lake Monona 20K run (set a PR), Madison Half Marathon (did it for fun), Door County sprint tri (water was rough and missed my goal of a 20 MPH average on the bike).  The late summer and fall schedule was washed out by a hip flexor injury.  Quite a bugger of an injury!

2013 RACES:  Lake Monona 20K, Madison Half Marathon, Pardeeville Sprint, Door Country Tri, and Ironman Wisconsin.  Probably throw another sprint or oly tri in there somewhere if the mood strikes me!

WEIGHTLOSS:  Need to cut just a bit of weight and get rid of some body fat!

CURRENT TRAINING: Currently building to 9-10 hours per week until the training plan starts in February.  Really need to get back to the pool starting this week.  I will be using a Matt Fitzgerald Ironman training plan (one month added to it) with many of Friel's suggestions from "Going Long".  We hired a coach for our first two ironmans and discovered that she was giving the same workouts to everyone.  Decided to give it a try myself and personalize it to work with our schedule and aging bodies.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP: Like what has been mentioned before:  a kick in the seat of the pants when needed, support and encouragement, suggestions on improving my training, and a big dose of accountability.  Love the Relentless, Forward, Progress title which drew me to this group!

Of course we still have room Lori! Welcome.  

Scott is also doing IMWI this year and is very knowledgeable on Friel so i am sure he can help.  I think there are pros and cons to having a coach and a lot of it has to do with your personality though.  There is so much information out there that if you just take the time and learn it makes you a much better triathlete.  Then you have us to hold you accountable.  I will be up in Madison this year cheering you on and I am so looking forward to it as I have a bunch of friends doing it this year.

Welcome!

I don't know if this group can handle another Tim haha.  Welcome aboard.  I LOVED everything about training and racing IMWI last year.  It is such an awesome course and the crowds are unbelievable.  As I mentioned to Lori above I will be out there this year so looking forward to it.  Also gonna plan to try adn get out on the bike course once or twice with some friends so maybe we can do a Team RFP group ride.

Welcome and looking forward to helping you get to that finish line in September.

Hi Team RFP.  I am interested in joining this group if you are still accepting new members.

NAME: Dennis Cecil

STORY:  Athlete through school.  Cross country and baseball.  Joined Navy at 18 and became an a demolition and EOD operator.  Tons of physical training with open water swims of long distance, weights, tons of running, all in support of doing the job.  Spent 10 years in the Navy and the fitness lifestyle stuck.  Always looking for the next physical challenge and Tri seems like the ultimate start that allows progression into tougher and tougher events.  Hope to do some Ultra races someday as well.

FAMILY STATUS: Married for 21 years with one 14 yr old daughter.

CURRENT TRAINING: In the throws of a marathon training program for an April 6th race and mixing some pool swims and bike trainer sessions in throughout the week.

2013 RACES: April SIC Marathon in Evansville, IN.  May Dances WIth Dirt trail race, Knaw Bone, IN.  July 1/2 IM Muncie, IN.  Definitely mix some 5k's and 10k's in there too.

WEIGHTLOSS: Looking to drop 15 lbs to make me more efficient and give my knees some relief.  Not really overwieght (6'0 @ 180 lbs) but will be much more comfortable and feel a ton better at 165 to 170.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP:  I am new to doing Triathlon solo.  Have done plenty of relays years ago but the bug has bitten me so here I am.  Looking for information of being more efficient with my swim (as I feel like I am in a fistfight with the water most days) and becoming confident on the bike.  Real comfortable in the water and running but feel like a real rookie on the bike.  Looking forward to learning from you folks!

I have had a personal trainer for 3 years and lost 100 lbs.  I was looking for something new but I kept thinking I was too old to start this now. Then I found multirace.com from active.com and ended up here at beginner tri.  Anyway I signed up for a duathlon in May.  I downloaded the 12 week training course here.  I have questions about some of the abreviations for the training.  Can anyone help me? 

Is there a specific newbie duathlon group?

Bonnie

Welcome Dennis - Glad to here the triathlon bug has bitten you!  I think the issues you want to work on are all pretty common in regards to swimming and biking.  Lots of knowledge in this group and I sure we will help you out!

Bonnie - You are never too old!  Congrats on the weight loss.  I am not aware of a specific duathlon mentoring group but really the only difference is the swim portion which most triathletes hate anyways so we can help answer any questions you might have .  What specific abbreviations are you having trouble with?

I think I will take two more new members and then close it up.  

I think we have a really good group going here and all the new members seem to be really solid and focused.  After doing this for a couple years I find these mentoring groups seem to fade a little as time goes on and I can usually tell who that will be but I am not seeing that this year so I am getting excited!

If you have not been part of a mentoring group before here are a couple things to keep in mind:

• Don't feel that you need to be part of EVERY conversation EVERY day.  Life happens - especially since we all have priorities outside of triathlon.  So if you miss a few days don't stress and feel like you need to spend the weekend catching up and reading posts.  Just jump in and we will fill you in if you missed something.
• One way for us to remain accountable to each other is to make sure you update your training log.  I have made this almost a daily ritual and try to log after the workout while it is still fresh in my head.  it also helps to keep yourself accountable!  I find that if I skip a workout I feel worse about it the next day when I am logging that days workout and notice how I slacked the day before.  If you need help with the log let me know.
• Once a week you should take a few minutes and just check up on the other members and see how their workouts are going.  You will notice an "INSPIRE" button on everyone's log for each day.  If you get a chance just drop a note to let the other member that they are doing awesome or "great job on that swim", etc...  You can also leave the "Are you still alive?" inspire if you see no workouts logged for a few days .  Trust me it can make your day to get a great inspire after you know you busted your butt on a workout and that someone is actually keeping tabs and appreciating that hard work.
• If you are having issues - let us know.  I am probably more open on these forums then most so you might hear some stuff not triathlon related but at the end of the day stuff going on in our lives affects our training so in order for us to help you sometimes need to let us know what is going on.  Also, don't ever feel that because you haven't worked out for a week or two because of stuff going on that you can't come by anymore.  If you feel yourself slacking or dropping off - let us know and we will try to help. That is why you joined this group!
• There are no stupid questions.
• Have fun - that is why we do this.
• and finally... never wear red bike shorts.

Tim,

Thank you for choosing to be a mentor.  I know it is time consuming.

I am so very glad I chose your group and your last post just validated it in a major way!

My run for the day is in the books and logged too!  Heading downstairs for a weight training session.

Thanks again Tim.

Hi, I'm new to tri and a group like this would be great for my learning/development/training.  Is there room for little old me?

NAME: Aodhan

STORY: After following tri for several years joined the uni club upon joining uni last year. Did a decent amount of training then was forced to miss the whole season due to injury. So this year, I'm back in force to get that first of many tris done!

I'm 19, turning 20 this month, from Ireland(sorry to invade on you Americans :p ). I swam for a club up untill about 4 years ago. Have played soccer, gaelic football (and still do), hurling so have a decent basic fitness which will hopefully hold me in good stead for running. I love cycling having watched it on tv for years, yet for one reason (money/time etc) or another never got to actually do it. 

Love training at anything, you just can't beat that feeling of beating a tough training session. Love it!

FAMILY STATUS: Youngest of family of 4. Student.

CURRENT TRAINING: Nothing structured at the moment due to exams/holidays but would usually be something like Swim twice a week, running twice, football training twice (weights +running). 

2013 RACES: Nothing planned yet.

WEIGHTLOSS: My core needs a working on, and weightloss in legs most needs working on probably. I'm 6foot and pretty lean so I suppose the fitness is more of a worry to me atm.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP: Advice on my training and how much I'm doing and advice on questions concerning races and gear which is a complete new world for me. Also, good place to question the more experienced for tips etc and be able to compare myself in order to motivate to success!

Hope you let me join the fun!