JFord's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 22)

I'm loving the extra hour of daylight at night... I might actually work up the nerve to ride outside now!

9 Weeks from race day for me, so the dreams have started.  Last night Iw as trapped NAKED in T1.  Let's hope THAT doesn't ever happen in a race.

Sorry I have been MIA...  Lot's of life issues going on.  BUT, it hasn't kept me from missing workouts. 

I hope everyone's training is going wonderfully.  I think the warmer weather and extra hour should REALLY help.

I'm actually pleased that I have only missed maybe 2-3 workouts since the new year...  I don't think I have EVER been this dedicated and the results show.. . However, now I'm nervous for my April races.  What if I don't see faster times or better results???  Then I might think that all this training is for naught.

Cheers everyone!

Same here, been a crazy few days in my household.  The workouts are getting better, but the run is still scaring me.  I'm 18 days out from race day and I am pretty sure I will be ready to roll come 4/2.  My swimming is my strongest event with the bike a close #2.  I am really going to concentrate on my running these next two and a half weeks.

My big test will be Charlotte later this week and weekend.  I'm still down over 20lbs and need to keep that going......BUT, NCAA basketball, food and beer???  Come on man, I fgotta live a little, right?  Thanks to Goosedog, I will be working out every day at an aquatic center right behind the hotel so if I eat a couple chicken wings, I'll work it off....I promise!

I leave town tomorrow so I may be quiet for a few days.  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend.

I was actually having some similar internal monologue last night.  I'm working SO hard, really sticking with my plan, and doing the workouts.

I'm going to be so bummed if I don't sucessfully finish my Half, or don't make the cut offs or something like that.

There are days I feel REALLY strong and confident, and then there's days (like Sunday) where I have a long hard workout that feels great, but afterwards I'm completely non-functional... and then I think about the fact that the ride wasn't even as long as it will be on race day, and I didn't have to swim first or run after... and I have a panic attack.

In your case, Jim, I think you're going to knock your own socks off with your results.  Checking your logs, you're faster and stronger than you were last year, so it will be fun to see your imporovements!

You are doing a boat load of work, including all that crossfit.  I am sure you are going to knock it out the park...

I have tried crossfit on my own in the past, but it never lasted very long.  Where do you get your workouts from?  Or, do you just make them up?  I don't have a crossfit near here, and I am not joining a gym for that anyway.

I would love to work on strength via quick crossfit type activities, so any info would be a help.

Had a very humbling bike ride this Sunday.  It was nice enough out, so I hit the road for a solo ride on the country roads in my area.  This is the first time I was going to be riding for 2 hours on this bike, as well as the first time over 1 hour on the road as opposed to trainer.  I did get in 33 miles over 2 hours.

I hit as many hills as I could find, trying to keep my speed and cadence at reasonable levels, as well as keeping my HR in zone 2.  After 1.5 hours I was useless.  Slowed down by 4-5 mph and my arm, back and seat were killing me.

Then, I mapped it out to compare to IM Louisville.  UGH!  My course contained half the incline compared to the race course.  I know I still have 23 weeks.  But , that was a kick in the a$$ that I have SO much biking to work on.

I have to confess, it's not official "Crossfit" but that's the closes thing in the pull down menu on BT that matches.

The long story is, my wife was cast to do an infomercial for a fitness program along the lines of Extreme and P90x.  It's called 20" Fitness and the guy who developed it was/is a triathlete...  The wife got a free copy of the program for working the shoot.

She wanted to do some extra fitness a month ago, and when I noticed the workouts were only 8 - 12 minutes a day so I decided to join in with her for some "quality time", extra burn, and some strength training.  To be honest, I was looking at the other programs and would love to add them, but doing another 45-60 min a day on top of the s/b/r would be hard and I would end up skipping it, I think.

This program came with stretch cords so you don't need any weights or pull up bar.  The concept is pretty easy, just go like a "bat out of hell" for 20" then take 10" rest, then go again.  I was surprised how winded and sore I got the first week.  Sometimes it STILL get's hard, especially if I increase the "weight" with stretch cords.  If this was ALL you were doing?  I would say it's not going to do much, IMO.  But on top of the s/b/r, it's nice.

I have all the workouts spelled out in my logs if you want to just copy them?  Also, I just finished it, and they suggest doing it again, but of course, adding weight and going harder, if possible.

My biggest fear on raceday is waking up late or missing my alarm!

What is yours?

DFL.

I have a Cosmo Kramer ability to wake up at a set time.  Won't miss start of a race

Definitely worried about tire problems though.

Happy St. Patty's to all.

Today marks a bit of a personal milestone for me - 1st anniversary of have a large slug of my medial meniscus removed.  In the scheme of things (not that big of a deal at the time), but it has been a long hard slog.  While injuries are inevitable, there's nothing worse than feeling physically and emotionally "broken".  After working through rehab, the icing, the meds and fighting the desire to push harder than I should, I can say that today I'm in far superior shape than I was even before the injury and mentally stronger. 

Today is a good day. Enjoy!

Emerging from the lake covered in leeches.

Hey, I never said I was sane.

Yahooo!  Joe!  Congrats on battling through everything!

Where exactly do you swim ???

So you are cool about the gators, but the leeches scare you... 

Actually, that sounds about right.  I HATE leaches....  Ick.

My biggest fear is a bike wreck when I'm flying OR, making a wrong turn...  So far, in all of my races, I have done that twice and it sucks (wrong turn)...  Once was during an XTERRA event, made a turn, and went a mile or so, and realized "I'm all alone"...  so I just coasted for a while to think, then made the decision to go back.  Probably added 15-20 minutes to my time.  I'm stoopid.

Well, down to 223 now.  That's 25 lbs since the new year.  I actualy saw 218 the other day after a hard run (dehydration - so it was only temporary).  BUT, I haven't seen the "teens" for 10 years, under any circumstances - dehydration included.

I'm also starting to look like I did when I played HS/college ball.  YAY!  Long and lean.

Sorry to brag/boast...  Got to look at the positives these days...

Also, as a side note.  I lost the first 12-13 in the first 3 weeks.  But it's taken the last 7 weeks to lose the second 12-13.  But it's been pretty steady.  I fear the last 12-13 will be stuborn, without really cranking up the effort.  We shall see.

Great job Jim!  I lost 6lbs last weekend with the stomach flu!  A quick way to get to race weight for me!

No where that I've ever actually seen leeches.

It's an irrational fear for sure... I also am paraniod that there are zombies in the really murky lakes where you can't see the bottom that are going to come up and eat my face off.

Makes me swim faster though...

That's awesome, congrats! 

#1 Mechanical bike failure of any sort

#2 GI tract "issues"

Like the college anxiety dream where you show up for a final exam for a class you never attended, I've had the anxiety related dream of getting to T1 and not having a bike.

One thing I struggle with is diet. It seems like the more activity I do, the less I worry about my diet. I often think that I would be in better shape if I controlled the crap I eat better, but ever since that M Phelps story came on during the olympics, I have used that as my "excuse" to eat whatever I want as long as the activity is up!

(my activity will never be as high as Phelps, but then again I could never eat as much as he did either!)  Anybody else have this kind of thought process? The higher the activity, the less tight I have to be with my diet??

In the midst of training last year, I overhauled my diet and really try to avoid crap (with the exception of beer, which I count as complex carbohydrates).  Not that I ate poorly prior, but I made a conscious decision to eat less meat and products using refined sugars, and more whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish. 

Same story as a lot of people, but for me the difference was a change in philosophy about my relationship with what I eat.  Kinda just got to the point where I wanted the calories to be meaningful.  If the food I'm eating isn't gonna fuel the engine, then it better be damn good.  No reason to eat crap that isn't truly super tasty.  So, I'll avoid the cold day old pizza in the back of the fridge, but will save the urge for that hot pizza and cold beer at my favorite place.

I found that was my downfall in the past.  I just didn't know what was going on.  It's SO easy to overload on calories.  For example only 1/4 cup of peanut m&m's is 210 calories.  And I can eat them by the handfull...

SO, I simply track everything.  Makes it REALLY clear how easy it is to consume 3000, 4000, even 5000 calories a day.  I used to be maticulous, but now sort of ball park my numbers...  Usually rounding UP, so I don't fall into the trap of underestimating my intake and wonder why I'm not losing weight.

In a way, the whole Micheal Phelps things is true.  I'm burning 4500-5000 calories a day now in my peak of training.  I'm sure he was burning twice that.  So you CAN eat anything, and tons of it, and still not hit 8000-10000 calories.  It's tough for me to even eat 4500 unless it's lots of pizza and beer and burgers and such.  So I could be a gluton right now, but my goal is to lose.  Once I'm there?  I may loosen up.

T-minus 6 days to first triathlon.