Slornow and Wannabefaster's mentor group...Closed (Page 2)

Jason N

Story: Yes...I live in Hawaii.  34 going on 35, always active but never really competitive in anything athletic for most of my early life.  Pickup basketball, weight lifting, softball, flag football, etc.  Put on a lot of weight in my late 20's and decided to give running a try with a marathon as my goal.  Broke every rule in the book, but somehow managed to recover from injury and still run sub 4.  Realized I liked the whole lifestyle of training, but didn't like running that much...so triathlon was the next step.  Did 4 years of triathlon, doing every distance up to IM while also getting involved in some bike racing.  After my IM in 2013, I decided to pursue bike racing for all of 2014 as cycling was what I enjoyed the most and did the same in 2015.  One day I think I'll get back into triathlon for an event here and there, but probably not long term season after season.

Family: Live with my GF who also does triathlons.  No kids, one cat.

Training: I commute to and from work 16 miles each way M-F.  We have terrible traffic problems here and it's way better than driving.  Luckily I have a locker room and shower at work.  In addition to that, I tack on some intervals a couple of times on my commute home, then do longer rides on the weekend.  Usually amounts to around 15-20 hours a week of riding and 230-300 miles.  About 11 hours and 160 miles of that is easy commuting though.

2016: We don't have that much bike racing here in Hawaii, so I do as much as I can.  Handful of time trials and road races, but the main focus will be on a couple of mountain climbs, 40k TT, and a couple of road races that suit my strengths.  This is the first year I'm working with a coach.  I like to think that I have a decent understanding of training, but I'm finding out so far over the last 2 months that coaching keeps me honest.  Results so far have been good.

2015 Season:  Had a pretty good season.  Placed well in some races, not as good as I hoped in a few others. 

Weightloss: Raced most of last year around 160 pounds.  At 5'6", that's way too heavy for a bike racer.  Currently at 156 after the holidays, where I was around 153 a couple weeks ago.  Hoping to race int he mid to low 140's, but anything less than 150 should make life a lot easier than last year...especially on the hill climb races I'm targeting.

What will make me a good mentee?: I've been a part of Randy's group way back when...maybe his first or second group?.  Also respect Jason a lot in terms of his training principles from the main forums.  I'm a power junkie, so I have some insights to offer there, but mainly just want to hang out with the cool kids.

Jason-thanks for joining up...this is turning into a star studded group.  Should make it easy for Jason and I as mentors of the group.  I bought a road bike early in the Fall and I could see getting more into cycling in the future...especially since I am getting to be an old man. I am already on the look out for a mountain bike to add to the stable. 

For those of you fairly new to BT we have added some of the most knowledgeable folks that post on BT over the last couple of days.  This promises to be a great group with plenty of experienced people to provide opinions and assistance on pretty much any topic imaginable.   One of the main reasons I am still here on BT is the experience and advice that was shared by some of the early mentor groups I was involved in as a mentee.  

I have not yet made a of list of who we have thus far but we will probably shoot for 15 or so as there is typically some attrition. After we are full we can get into more specifics on how the group will move forward. In general Jason and I are pretty loose and just try to pick up on topics that seem to be of interest to the group but we do try to have a bit of structure to make sure we discuss some of the "foundation" aspects of training, racing etc...  

Don't count me as a "member."  I don't want to take someone's spot as a mentee.  I just plan to pop in here and there if the discussion merits.

Hey Stu-good to have you in the group.  All are welcome to participate as much or as little as they like. Post a bio when you have time.

Kevin-glad to have you. I  think we my have been in a group together in the past.

Marc-I am hoping to qualify for 70.3 WC in Chattanooga in 2017. Fortunately, I will age up in 2017 so will get to race part of the year at  54 to qualify in the 55-59AG.  Will probably try to do it in an early season race...either Galveston or New Orleans.  I suspect competition will be strong with the event being in such a popular US location.   

Kevin-glad to have you. I  think we my have been in a group together in the past.

Name:  Scott 71/Scott.  Living in Southern Ontario.  

Story: I was never really out of shape but as I was approaching 40 I realized that the extent of my exercise each day was a 10 minute walk from the train station to work.  So I did my first “Try-a-Tri” two weeks before my 40th birthday and have been hooked ever since.  I will be turning 45 this year and so will be moving up to the M45 - 49 age group. 

Family: Married for 11 years with two kids - 6 year old daughter and 8 year old son.  My wife also does a few tri races each year and both our kids will do at least one kids-tri each summer and a few 1km fun races.

Training: Although I train almost every day of the week, between work and family my training load caps out at about 7 hours a week. I’m looking at a late season HIM this year and so will have to find time to get the extra training in. I’d say 95% of my biking is on the trainer with a power meter and Golden Cheetah, and 75% of running is on a treadmill in the basement with a long outdoor run every Sunday. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at for the bike and the run, but swimming definitely is a weakness and needs improvement.

2015 Season:  7 sprints and 1 olympic (my first).  Also did several 5km and 10km running races with 1 HM to end the season. Had a really good year and overall have made steady gains each year. Highlights for 2015 – I managed the OA win for one of the sprints and won the Season Series AG Award with a local tri series in Southern Ontario.

2016 Season: I’m still in the process of figuring out my race schedule for 2016, but so far looks like it will be 4 or 5 sprints throughout the summer, an Olympic, a “long course” tri in June (2km/55km/15km) and possibly a HIM in September - looking at Barrelman in Niagara Falls.

Weightloss: Weight has never really been an issue for me.  I’m 6’1” and typically never get above 170 lbs in the off-season.  Ideal race weight is about 165 lbs.

I do post occasionally on Triathlon Talk, but find the responses a little hit and miss.  I recognize quite a few of the names in this group already and respect what everyone has posted in the past.  Looking forward to the discussion!

Jason-I have put together a list and will try to post tomorrow.

Nice job on the swimming today! 

Jason and Randy - I have lurked in this group since you guys started it a few years ago, so I suppose now is as a good a time as any to come out of the shadows. However like other's have said, I don't want to bump a spot for someone who could better use your mentoring. If there is space I will post a bio this evening.

Rusty-glad to have you join.  Great to have so many familiar faces in the group.

I have kept up with Rusty for many years here on BT and we got to meet briefly at AG Nats in Milwaukee a couple of years ago.  He writes the best race reports! I have been trying to get him down here to a race on the Gulf Coast for the last couple of years. But, that invitation has been revoked now that we are in the same AG.  

I did a 12 x 2min @ 114% last night and am slowly building to longer intervals. 

Marc - in the Polarized Training thread you passed along the link to Seiler's presentation where he indicates that 4 x 8 min @ 110% was the target for best results, but I don't think I'm quite there yet.  Even 3 x 8 min @ 110% would kill me at this stage.

Easy run for me this morning on the treadmill and some time on the bike/trainer this evening.  I am doing a modified "Barry P" running plan over the Winter.  5-6 runs a week....all easy in HR Z2.  Right now I am moving up to about 24-25 miles a week but hope to get up to about 30 mpw by mid Feb.  I have had a tendency to have run related issues when I try to ramp up mileage/intensity for Winter HM efforts. So, this is the Winter of Easy Running.  Race season begins down here in early April so I will gradually add in some interval work beginning in mid-late Feb.

I am sure that many here know of the "Barry P" plan.  Basically pick a time or distance...say 20 minutes...then you run that amount of time 3X a week; 40 minutes 2X a week and 60 minutes once a week.  Great way to build run volume and increase the body's ability to adapt to the physical impact of running.  Of course, with someone just starting out the selected interval would be much less.

Stu-tough loss for UVA last night in their rivalry match up with Va. Tech.  ACC is strong at the top again this year.

Jason A.-you haven't forgot about the game yet have you?  38-0.......hey, cut it was closer than the score indicated.       

Marc-at some point when you have a few minutes I would like your thoughts on Heart Rate Variability.  I have the ithlete app and plan to get a bluetooth compatible HR strap.  Do you use a strap or the finger monitor?

Thanks