Prof40's Group -- Technically full but ... (Page 20)

Today was my first outdoor ride this season. It was amazing! I which no one else was out there- I had to stop for dogs and strollers. I think I coudl of made much better time without all those peeps. Did I mention how slow my husband was going. I let him lead once around the lake- then I lead, he was fighting to keep up with me. Overall I am ready for towmmorw's run. I have been streching and today's ride really helped me loosen up. Going out for drink tonight cause truth be told, my run in not until 1:20 in the afternoon. I am ready, excited and full of joy from getting out today and soaking up sun.

BGT--good luck tomorrow with your 8K! I do so look forward to the day when I can run that far! You are going to do AWESOME!!

My swim went well, but I cheated for some of it and used fins. I still want that operation! I can just PLOW through the water in them. Even left bubbles and ripples in my wake. Bumped my head twice, hard and got a blister on my little toe. Poor me I did some just kicking laps in retribution, and I'm almost getting the hang of the backstroke done properly (guess I was doing the elementary backstroke before). So---if the fins make me tons faster, that means I still have loads of work to do on my kick, right? But, in my fin defense, I did get to experience the joy of cruising through those laps with hardly a pause, and when I took them off and did the crawl, I could actually do it about twice as fast as before the fin practice. Guess some of it IS psychological!! Those laps just seemed so overwhelming before! Any advice on improving my kick? Other than just getting in there and doing it?

Noah has two little friends over for a sleepover, so I had to clean my house. Spent about 3 hours plowing through the chores and then wondered why I was suddenly SO HUNGRY. So, I looked at the activity explorer on the fitday program and guess what???? Three hours of moderate housework was good for about 596 calories! Holy crap! Who knew? Now I feel LOADS better about doing it, because before, I always considered such mundane tasks an interference in my training!! There is even an activity log for SEX! Now you all HAVE to check it out Cause I'm sworn off men Hmmmm, might have to reconsider that...............

Well today was a day to give my legs a rest. I did some lifting at home and I definitely am lifting less than I was 6 months ago, but I am also about 15% less body mass than 6 months ago so it is to be expected.

I also did some shopping today, picked up some sexy goggles and under armor shirts. Anyone else think they make the coolest stuff ever? Kind of expensive but I love the material they use. I still need to pick up some better shorts for swimming/biking. I am going to look into the wet suit come closer to June, but its only a 300m swim so I might try just a 2 piece get up or something.

Pene, you can't fully cheat when you are in the water, as long as you are IN the water you are getting a workout and becoming more fish-like everyday. And hey if you ever come back to the needing-a-man side I am sure I could find a nice strapping young man that is only a triathlon away

Malphh, I caught that you were in Australia right? Well I just watched Iron Man Aus last night and looks like a blast! Had me all choked up with some of the people's stories. This one guy did it with one arm in a sling! Also today is the Australian F1 Gran Prix, in case you didn't already know. :P


Also just want to make life easier for Mr. Prof. Since he is a yank, here are my weekly totals again but in miles lol

Bike: 60 mi
Run: 5.6 mi
Swim: 665 m



Also, someone asked what our total goals and overall reason for getting into tris.

Short-term I am looking to hit 1000km on my bike within a year of owning it. I just hit 500 since Nov so that shouldn't be a problem. Long-term before I buy a new bike is to hit the distance across Canada, which is 3000ish I think. As far as Tris go, I would like to do at least a sprint this year in decent time, and I would like to COMPLETE an olympic distance this fall, not worrying about place (without coming last lol).

I started getting in shape last November after a long trip I took to Europe to race/reflect. Originally it was to lose weight to fit into a smaller race car (long story), but now it has become more of my lifestyle. The problem with 'getting into shape' is that there isn't a single point to push to. Theres no goal to reach someday, which is what the tri is for. To give me something to work towards and aim for. I didn't think it would take over my life like this, but I am glad it did.

weekly totals

B: 21.10 KM
1h 3m 29s

R: 3.91 KM
23m 25s

hoping to greatly inprove this week as i do not have my 3 game football comitment for about 8 weeks

did another brick training session again same 1 as i did the otherday managed to run the whole way this time and knocked 1 min off both the run and ride so improvement allready makes me happy

talking about yoga in previous post i was wondering if any1 has tried or currently doe pilaties apperently this is better for your core strethgh more so then yoga as yoga is a lot more streching i bought a pilaties dvd and will be giving it a go soon and will keep every1 posted

cheers
malphh


p.s yes i knew the f1 was on~ and i am in australia further north in brisbane so if any1 is in the neighbour hood stop in for a visit!

p.p.s my head isnt really as pixilated in real life as the picture i posted but is still very ruff!

WEEKLY TOTALS:

Adding the totals from Robb, Malphh and me, here we are:

S 35,915 yds
B 980.08 miles
R 180.49 miles

Hit reply, add your numbers to the tally, and post!

Have a great week.

Hi Team!

Did some research (no, not me!) into swim kicks and found almost nothing. Everything is geared to the arms! But, there is a nifty new toy--Vasa's Ergometer--a swim bench for practicing the stroke with feedback about power and speed, etc. Can't tell you how expensive, as the website wasn't working. But, how cool is that? Sort of like the standing bent forward with pulleys to strengthen arms that my bike fitter told me about........think I can rig something up. I also bought 5 pound ankle weights to do the on my belly on the bed and kicking routine. And I'm looking into these deep breathing exercises. Supposed to teach you to use parts of your lungs that you haven't used before fully, and to expand the ribcage. I didn't buy it yet, but I'm on this Karen Van ness or whatever her name was mailing list. They pretty much give you all the stuff you need that way, just a little bit at a time. And yes, I did get a pilates tape to do with the rollers, as it looked good! I bet I could make a living just compiling all the research I've done so far and marketing myself as a triathlete guru! Well, give me a year or two..........

Adding the totals from Robb, Malphh, Prof and me...(Helen)- here we are:

S - 35,915 yds + 1000 yds = 36,915 yards

B - 980.08 miles + 10 miles = 990.08 miles (I need to get get the cat eye checked AND get on that bike more!!!

R 180.49 miles + 26 miles = 206.49 miles

-Cheers !!

- Helen

I'm waiting to post my totals til after today's spin-a-thon. Don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched!

Rob--Now how's a girl supposed to resist an open invitation like that? Check your sympatico email--supernoahbear@yahoo sent you some mail

I know, I know....me and athletic guys.....and they just keep getting further and further away....Is there a support group for women with man addictions? Well, you have to admit, at least our Rob is sweet

^ don't make me have to sweep you off your feet now :P


Had a great morning workout today. First time swimming with goggles and what a difference it makes! So much easier to stick my head in that chlorine filled pool and lets me concentrate more on my strokes.



And for people trying to build muscle, a recent study showed that sandwiching your workout with protein (eating before AND after), will almost DOUBLE the results of the workout. And the best source of natural protein is from good ol' eggs, which is a great breakfast :D


OK nap time for me now

Ok, two things I just have to say.

1. You've been swimming without goggles all this time? You poor man. Not only do chlorine red eyes look suspicious, but they can just hurt when you're walking to your car if it is bright outside. Welcome to the world of goggles. Soon you'll start looking for the perfect pair, and a collection of bad ones, and great ones with broken straps, will fill your gear bag. (You might want to wear a swim cap, too. Seriously. I never swim without one, and they're mandatory in bigger races because your age group will be assigned a colored cap, e.g., Red is the 26-30 year old guys starting at 7am, Blue is 31-25 starting at 7:10, etc. Might as well get used to it now.)

2. Keep suggesting that we should be the middle of a sandwich, and we'll get an X-rating!


Enjoy your day.

Anyone interested in the Spin-a-thon? No, well, I'm gonna tell ya'll about it anyway! It was super fun, the most fun I've ever had doing anything related to exercise! There were several instructors, and they each had their own theme:

There was a warm up section first with easy drills.

There was a beach theme set to the Beach Boys' music with gummy turtles and crabs handed out, and colorful sunglasses. We had to do swim strokes while pedalling.

There was a muscle interval section with a variety of obscure music that we had to identify and challenges to different participants to do pushups, hold a banana in your mouth for 2 minutes, walk around making monkey sounds, etc.

There was a disco theme with costume, disco ball and appropriate music.

There was a movie/cartoon theme where the men all had to go upfront and do a line dance to the theme from Scooby Doo, among other stunts.

Then it was my favorite--a lady dressed in tophat and big round glasses ala Johnny Depp--yep, you guessed it! It was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with music from the movie, trivia about the movies and books, and Wonka Golden Chocolate Eggs as rewards (I knew all the grandparents' names). I'll do about anything for chocolate!

About that time it was half way, and I was feeling so strong (after all the chocolate) that I felt like I could climb/stand FOREVER! Which was good, considering what all came next!

We had speed/tension intervals with ratings from 1 to 10, even going anaerobic for awhile. We just built it up with rests in between.

There was a jump theme where you listened for certain words and stood up then sat down when you heard it again (TNT, Bad Medicine, Thunder....)

There was a section devoted to Johns (Cougar, Foggerty, Cash and Elton).

And there was a section where we climbed for WHOLE songs! Mercy!!

In between, we had to do squats, lunges, and plyometric stuff....More mercy!!!

I'll do it again next year FOR SURE! I actually feel a little like a Jock Shhhhhh........not too loud.

What's with the Ironman tatoos on the right calf? There were at least 4 ironpeople there! Ya know, if (when) I do an Ironman myself, I just might get the brand, too! Not really into tatoos, but--if I was gonna do it, that would be just the right reason, dontcha think? Sort of like a secret club, and rather intimidating when you see someone pull ahead of you with "the brand"!!

Oops, here are my totals from this week:

S 1600y

B 58 miles

R 11.86 m

I think it's more than 58 miles today, but those are the indoor ironman values for group cycling that long, so we'll go with it

1. I did my 8k today. My goal time was 115:00, I came in at 105:53!! ten min faster than I prediceted. Want to know more, how I felt or what went good? You will have to read my race report. Click into my logs and there is a race report on today.

2. Totals- last week was a tapper week and it was SAD. I am not adding to the bigger totals but here is what I did do:
11 miles biked, 4.98 miles ran, 600 yrds. swim
Hey what is a week around here, Monday to Saturday OR Sunday to Saturday????

3. equipment:
bike: hybrid trek 7100 (four years old, well maintained, love it for long rides and communting to work when it get warmer), standardard helmet, clip shoes- last years model- still a little nervous about using them after a good fall last year.

run: Nike Air Max Moto shoes (about 3 months old), they have the IPOD thing in the left shoe but I have a shuffle so it does not matter.

Swim: Big girl suit-Junonia sports wear. I need the breast support (no target for me and speedo does not do the trick either), generic googles, I use a board from the club but no fins (scared of foot fugus!).
never go anywhere without my favorite water bottle and my IPOD (I created a hot play list and forgot to place it on my IPOD for my run today!! lesson learned).

so I know we have another challange out there from Phoneix? but as you can see I am really playing catch up. I will answer that call as well set my training for the next 6 weeks before my tri.
BGT

Adding my totals (for the past 2 weeks, I slacked off in adding them in the week of 3/5-12), BGT's, and Phoenix's, tallies stand at:

Swim: 43615 yds (36915 + BGT's 600, Phoenix's 1600, and my two weeks at 2200 and 2300)

Bike: 1100.08 mi (990.08+BGT's 11, Phoenix's 58, and my two weeks at 11 and 30)

Run: 227.83 mi (206.49 + BGT's 4.98, Phoenix's 11.86, and my two weeks at 4.5 and 0. You can tell where I need to spend my time.)

Ah, the run. Well, sick kids have played a partial role, but part of it is my lazy red bike. Shoulda yesterday and didn't. Will have to be much more strict with myself this week. Sigh. Am supposed to be upping to 3 runs a week at this point...

Congrats on your race BGT! I just read your report and it sounds like it was a perfect race for you. Its always scary to jump to the next level of distance and it sounds like you were prepared.

Oh- before i forget-here are my stats for the week. Im still trying to baby my injury so I layed low, very low, this week. Its depressing looking at these numbers but here they are : Swim: 4450yds Run:3miles Bike: 7.75miles
I just returned from what was supposed to be my last big ski hurrah for the season- a weekend at Mt.Baker. However, the gods were consipired against us and decided to dump rain the ENTIRE WEEKEND. We tryed hard, out there skiing in the pouring rain. I decided to stop finally when I noticed puddles in my ski boots about 2 hrs into it. We still stayed at the mountain since we were already up there (its about a 3 hr drive from Seattle) and just read and talked and ATE> Its been a bad week for me health and nutrition wise. I felt like the professor and his girl scout cookies, but my evil nemesis was animal crackers and trail mix. And since I was up there all weekend, I didnt get to do any other form of excercise. I was a bit bummed but I wont lie, I feel pretty relaxed and my butt/hamstring seems to be finally a little better. My plan is to continue laying off major running or cycling for a few more days and then, hopefully start my 12 week olympic distance training plan next weekend. Im excited to start but nervous about my body holding up. Im using the Gail Bernhardt plan and it looks very doable.

I love Pene's idea about picking a destination in the world and "going" there with our training. Im assuming we add up everything, even swimming right? Im going to spend some time deciding where I want to go because there are so many places! my other favorite thing to do besides triathlon training is traveling so this is a perfect assignment for me.
I could write a volume about "WHy I want to be a triathlete" but I think I have probably indicated throughout my posts the different reasons I like it. I think my reasons are not very different from all of you out there, or at least from what I can gather. About 6 years ago, I made a consious choice to try something that I had always wanted to do but had been afraid of. I was seriously overweight, had extra time on my hands, and signed up for the Danksin triathlon since I had heard it was good for amateurs. I had just finished grad school and was ready for a totally different kind of challenge in my life. I had spent most of my life being extremely insecure about my physical abilities but I had lots of friends who did all these activities so I figured it was about time I joined them. I started training, loved the the way I felt after a good workout, and it has stuck ever since. Its amazing to me that I am now known amongst my friends as an athlete and people ask me for advice all the time. I wish I could say I am one of the weight loss success stories too, but the fact is sometimes genetics suck. I did loose quite a bit of weight the first 3 years, but have gained some back (strangely, its all been way harder since I turned 30!) but still am steadily increasing my excercise intensity and goals. So thats it in nutshell. I guess to sum it all up, doing triathlons gives me a sense of fulfillment that far exceeds any initial hopes I might have had.
Ok, im tired now. Have a great monday everyone, I know its a hard day of the week for a lot of people but hopefully it wont be too bad!

hey guys just read a article in mens health thought it might be of interest:
run for longer with sprints Aprently if u do enough sprint training the burning that you feel is lessened when you go for long distance running apprently the burning that u feel while running indurance is like a walk in the park compared with that of the sprints thus more distance it says burn less by doin 4 sets of 40 meter sprints in 1 week adding 20 meters every week untill u hit 100 meters then do this at 100 meters for 2 more weeks to go faster and longer

Hi

My numbers from last week:

B: 204.00 Mi

R: 29.35 Mi

S: 1800.00 Yd

Love the idea of picturing a place to get to and tri'ing there. I am going to go for a race rather than a place (but it ends in a place that I love).

Over the next month I'm going to do the Arch to Arc race. This is a race from Marble Arch in London to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. 87 mile run, 22 mile swim (you haver to cross the Channel) and 180 mile cycle to Paris to finish.

The current record is 81 hours. I don't think that I'll beat that!

I'll post a bit later as to the multitude of reasons why I started this triathlon madness.

PS BGT Well done on your race. I'm very proud of you.

Wow...

OK, here are two things that I am not (I repeat NOT) going to do until I have acheived the level of athletic ability to where you might see my name in some magazine and they are 1) shave any part of my body other than my face or my head and 2) squeeze into a banana hammock for the swim portion of any race.

On the other hand, the tri-sandwich sounds interesting if you're using the right kind of bread...

But I digress...

Totals since I last posted totals are a dismal;

13 Mi Run
10 Mi Bike

But, in my defense, I'm Irish and it's March Madness so what can I say ??? I've done more than my share of 16 oz. curls however. Oh, and I'm training for my next MA belt, and I did start strength training so I still feel that I'm making some progress. ;-)

You all did wonderful this week.

BGT - Congratulations on the race. You kick major red bike.

Phoenix - Great pic, you can walk on my back anytime ! And congratulations on your spin-a-thon !!! Sounds like you "rode it like you stole it !" I used to go to a chiropractor
when I was younger. I loved it, I would walk out of there feeling so good !

Malphh - I started doing this class that combines yoga/pilates/tai-chi the pilates stuff kicks my red bike !!! It's excellent for developing your core.

Mark - Neg kicks red bike. I love his stuff. The Burger Bowling is classic !!!

Robb - Lucky ! I wish I had a 5 day weekend ! Even if I had to work 48 hours straight to get it.

Hope you all have a wonderful week !!!!

Sean

BGT--Awesome Blosom! Super job on the 8K!

Watergirl--You are cute! You look so young! Glad to hear your butt is healing

I enjoy hearing your stories about where you want to go and why you want to do this tri stuff! One of the reasons I wanted to do it is because I suffer from Overwhelm syndrome. Meaning I would give up on stuff too easily when it got difficult for me! Tri's teach me endurance, patience and give me a bit of "come on, girl, you just did 4 hours on your redbike--those taxes aren't any harder than that!". Know what I mean?

So, here's a picture of me after the spin-a-thon, that my daughter took. She's getting pretty good at photography (at least my head isn't cut off).





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I totally forgot to say congratulations to Phoenix on your spinathon! I was wondering how they would keep it intresting and it sounded so fun. Thats great that you lasted the whole time....I am so impressed by people who can stay on their bike for so long. Great picture, you dont even look tired!
thanks for the compliment on my picture, I switched them up so you can see the look of exhaustion on my face while holding my prized tiffany box. I look a lot younger than I am, Im guess Im lucky to have good Asian genes that way (im half chinese)
Sean: I bet you will be in speedos before you know it

Okay Watergirl, why did you get a tiffany box? Is it an award for a certain race? Remember, I'm new to all this!

Well, I had BGT and the bluff (ball) busters tri group and everyone else that can run 5 miles at a time up on a pedastal. Sooooo, sorry, but I had to take em down! My tired out legs ran the 5 tonight in 1:04. Not super fast, and I did Malph's suggestion and ran sprints and then really slowed down, even to a walk at times, then back up there again to feel the burn! I now have even more blisters on my feet (some from flippers, some from spinning), and tomorrow I'll likely have even more tired out legs, but I now know that I can do it I've been fretting about the Chi running seminar this Saturday. The pedastal........don't want to look bad in front of "real" runners! Also, Rob had mentioned the article about starting out fast and not conserving energy. I think he's right. I conserved alot of energy in my indoor tri, afraid I wouldn't be able to finish. Those miles go down lots faster when you start out going all out, and that leaves you feeling confident that you can indeed finish! This really is all about psychology

Pene, 5 miles is awesome! I am still working on doing 5k myself, and you have just inspired me to do it this week! This Thursday I am aiming for a 5k run now I need to catch up :P Its only 3.1 miles, I just need to pace myself better and not wear out.

Also, you mentioned a while back something about breathing exercises for swimming? Do you have a link to it or more info? I would love to be able to do a lap with taking in less gulps of air (and water).


I am quite bummed out about this weather. Tomorrow is only going to be about 25F with a 20kmh wind in my face, and Wednesday will be really warm but with 80% chance of rain. Its starting to look like I will need to delay my big bike ride. Maybe I will just go snowboarding one last time tomorrow. ugh.

I usually run at about 6-6.5mph on treadmill, but today I tried pushing it by going at 8.5mph at a 2.5 incline for 2k. Felt good but I was very close to showing everyone my dinner lol. I have been reading a lot of how the best results are had by switching things up, distance, speed, incline etc.


Mark, that arch to arc race sounds simply insane! I have heard people swimming across the channel before, but they usually stop there. Is there like a day's rest in between or something?

Sean, be a man and shave your legs with us :P

Hello, and welcome! I wondered where my fellow cookie addict had gone.

I'm not sure about what officially happens after April 1, but I plan on keeping this going until we all grow bored with each other and walk away. If you've read the posts, you know that this team has many strong personalities willing to share and compare experiences/ideas/tips. It doesn't seem fair that the mentor experiment would end before most of us do our first race of the summer. So with that said, keep lurking -- and posting -- and we'll just play this out day by day. Team, is that okay with you? No one would reject a new member, right?

You're right, the body/stamina/speed will improve by varying your runs. Same with the bike and swim. Just listen to your body -- there's a difference between "this is tough and I can do it" and "this just hurts." Don't sprint every day, don't run hills every day, don't run 10-miles every day. Heck, don't run every day. And be willing to take a day off even if your training plan has you scheduled for something else. You want to have a great summer and do some races, not get hurt and be sidelined on the couch for the next three months.