MightyMojoMentorGroup -- (Full House!) (Page 3)

Steve,

Can I join your group?

A mentor in my age group!   I turned 63 in October.

This will be  my second year doing triathlons dis  three sprints in 2011.  Hope to do 5 sprints/Olympics  this year. Am currently working on running and will be doing the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach with Team in Training in March and then start tri's with a short sprint  two weeks later.

Right now heading out  for a short run more later.

Tsvi Katz-Hyman

Jo,

I was in your shoes only two years ago. I would say you want to start right now and try to slowly build up your endurance. I'd suggest you want to go out and spend 30 minutes jogging slowly/walking 2-3 times a week. Go as slowly as you need to, and walk when you have to. After a while you will be able to jog the whole 30 minutes, then you can add to the duration. Swim 2-3 times a week in the same way. Maybe the first time you will only be able to swim a length of the pool without stopping to rest. Try to build to 50 yards, and continue until you can swim about twice the length you will need to go in your race. You may want to have someone watch you swim who can give you tips on how to improve your stroke. Sounds like you already know what to do on the bike. Spend a couple of months slowing building fitness. (Build your base.)

One big thing I learned the hard way is you have to train for doing longer distances than your race will require. For my last tri I was trained to comfortably do each distance, but not when I had to do them all on the same day without a break. As you get stronger you will want to work in some brick workouts (when you swim your distance, get out , transition and bike your distance or bike then run your distances). I'd also suggest you have a day where you do a much longer distance run and bike than you will need for your race. Many triathletes seem to do long runs on Saturdays and long bikes on Sundays. These are longer distance, but less speed. You will get to the point where you are ready to do some workouts where you are focused on speed with less distance maybe once a week. This is where you will improve your speed, but you can't jump into them without a serious risk of injury (though you are mouch younger than I and will probably tolerate it a little better). Use the next couple of months to build your base so you can start your 13 week training plan in a good position.

2010 Races:  Did a mini-sprint in April where I was BOP.  Did a sprint with an OWS at the end of July where I nearly drowned.  Seriously 28 minutes for 500 yards and 5 stops on the surf boards.  My Mom was there and my wife let me know she was nearly in tears watching me flail about haplessly.  A very humbling experience where I was way BOP.  Two weeks later went after another sprint with a pool swim and finished MOP and had a great time.  That convinced me that I can do this!

2011 Races:  Did four sprints this past year.  Most in pools, one with an OWS.  The pools went OK, the OWS was ug-leee!  Did have a great final event where things finally came together.  While my times were still below my expectations, I had a wonderful time, got in great shape from a cardio standpoint, and feel like I've now got a solid base to build upon.

Doug, awesome to hear! Small world, isn't it? Your ancestors must have been around for the founding of my university then, as it is set to celebrate its 400th anniversary in a couple of years! I always thought it was more the tradesmen from the west who went to New Netherlands, in Groningen it is mostly farmers. But then I guess the Dutch were known to be good sailors back then too, and they came from all over (also no dykes and levees back then so our country looked a lot different)

Jo,

I like to spend the off season working areas that need working on This year I'm doing a marathon in February so most of my time is spent running but  I'm still doing some biking and swimming as cross training. How much swimming and running have you done? Swimming with a masters group is really helpful and, for me, keeps it interesting. Running with a group/friends also will boost your fitness and keep it fun. You might look into the BT winter cycling plan. It has some really good trainer workouts for rainy days.

Johanne

A couple of thoughts.  First, don't forget it's a journey and not a destination!!!!  It's easy to focus so hard on a race/event that you don't take the time to enjoy the process. Further, sometimes the results focus ends up getting in the way of improvement.  Take the time to enjoy the time from now until June.  Ask questions, answer questions, try, fail, succeed.

OK so much for the esoteric.  I'd recommend taking it nice and slow.  Swim slow, focus on form.  Bike slow, focus on (time in the saddle), cadence, and handling.  Run slow, focus on getting the cardio used to it and the muscles/tendons adapted.  If you do some research on HR (heart rate) training, you'll see that for triathlons they recommend HRs that are crazy low.  When I started and put on a HR monitor I had to drop back to like an 11:30 pace to get my HR down -- this when I was capable of running at a 9:30 pace.  If you work on each discipline 3 times a week, nice and slow, building a bit each day (1-2 minutes) you'll have the sprint distances "conquered" in a month.  At the end of the month, ask us all again -- don't get ahead of yourself.

And, if you're a real driver/go-getter and don't want to wait, go get "The Time Crunched Triathlete" and jump in with both feet.  BUT, that won't be nearly as much fun as learning along with all of us!

On the personal front, 45 minutes on the trainer this PM.  Going to be going slow for a bit while I get the legs retrained from 3 months of ignoring the bike!!!

For those of you new to Steve or just new to triathlon don't hesitate to ask any questions in the thread.  No question is not worth asking, so fire away.  Swimming, biking, running, training, racing, gear, nutrition, injury prevention, etc..  Steve has a great deal of knowledge about triathlon and the dude is seriously fast (I do care what AG your in, doing the Olympic distance in the 2:20-2:30 is moving).  Not that fast is important, just that there is no athlectic arrogance on Steve's part.  A very humble man and a great teacher.

BTW, Hi Johanne and the rest of the group.  Looking forward to interacting with the all of you as we move into 2012. 

Guess I'm "Hokie Jeff" now. 

BTW, for those that don't know me the "Hokie" denotes that I'm a huge VT (Virginia Tech) football fan not that I use rope for a belt and run moonshine.  Go VT.  And yes I'm glad we don't have to play Clemson again this year (ouch).

I can't remember who in the group was an Alabama fan but I'll be with ya come BCS national championship night.  Can't stand LSU!! 

Thomas,

I looked him up again today to get the whole story. His name was Tomys Swartwout. He was born in Groningen about 1607. He moved to Amsterdam and had a tobacco shop there before moving over here.

See what I mean about being humble. 

Steve, I have been hanging around you for the last 6 months and I had no idea that you were a BT'er of the Month.  Nice interview BTW.

Hi all,

Am I too late to join in the fun?  I have been in mentor groups in the past, but not last go 'round.  I miss having a group of people to talk to and to have to answer to!!  If it is okay, I will post more info about me tomorrow.

Karen

Actually I think it was Jito that outted ya.  Were you mean to him in the old group!!!    If so, he got his revenge.

On a serious note, you were thoughtful, articulate and well spoken during the interview.  Much like your written musings here in the thread.

OK, enough of me praising you.  Let's debate the value of HR monitoring.      Just kidding!!

Yes, it was Jito and he also outed himself. He's come a long way in taking control of his health!

 It's pretty easy to praise Steve too I hope we don't take too much of your time. You know how chatty these groups can get.

Ok, Jeff, are you a HR fan? I think I'm going to train that way for my IM. I know Steve has been a 'feel' guy right?

Wow.  That's a great story Jito.  Thanks for sharing.  Your family must be really proud of you.

Along similar lines I recently watched this video on youtube titled 23 1/2 hrs.  I thought it was brilliant.  Those interested can see it here:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

HR - yes I use it.  It's a tool.  Of which there are many that we can utilize.  It's useful for some, not useful for others.  Different protocols for different folks. 

stevebradley - 2011-12-20 6:48 PM JO - You've received a fwew terrific answers already, and for now the only thing I'll to those is a reference to a very accessible article on "Periodization". Go to www.d3multisport.com, then click on Training Articles. On the right is a search bar, and type in persiodization. Up'll come a page with 1-5 at the top, and click on the 3 -- that'll get you to the artcle. In a nutshell, that will give you a timeline for what you might want to do between now and when your "official" training plan begins. In essence, now is the time for Prep, working towards Base. In a further nutshell, this is a great time to just start feeling comfortable with potentially worrisome or troublesome areas, and/on subtly building functional strength and endurance with all three. "Prep" really isa good word for it, and accompanying that might be "fun" -- make sure that almost everything you do is pleasurable, as opposed to ardous and/or angst-producing. I generally feel it's a good time to pay little (or no?) attention to a watch or any kind of measuring device; there'll be ample time for that stuff later! FWIW, the detail of the previous answers (Jeff, Doug, Curt) is very impressive, strikingly so in a group that is still a-bornin'. I'm psyched thinking about the interaction that will eventually fully develop here!

Wow, thanks everyone for all the helpful replies!  Looking forward to getting to know all of you guys.  Sounds like I'll be spending the next couple months slowly building up my base and getting more comfortable with swimming and running