kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2013 (Year 3!) - CLOSED (Page 3)

Name: Kuma (Matt)

Story: I have been a cyclist for probably ten years.  I have never been much of a racer, but I have always enjoyed riding long distances on country roads, usually by myself.  For me it is like therapy, allowing me to process the other things that are going on in my life.  In particular I love to climb because getting to the top gives me a sense of achievement.  I swam competitively as a child, but not since.  I have never run much at all, but decided to start some this year. 

The tri-seed was planted at a bike event I entered this past May -- the Garrett County Gran Fondo event in Garrett County Maryland.  There was a big carbo-loading dinner the night before where all the participants met up and fed our faces.  At that dinner, they announced all the groups that had come to participate, and many of them were triathlon clubs from DC, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh.  I got to talking with several of them and they were all really nice people.  Turns out there is a big HIM-distance triathlon in the same location in the fall - the Savageman, and they were there to prepare.  I was particularly impressed that the morning after this long and difficult event (16,000 feet of climbing over 125 miles) I ran into a group of them suiting up for a swim workout in the lake.  

I mentioned this to my wife when I got home, and she suggested that I give triathlon a try myself.  Spousal blessing like that was an opportunity that I couldn't turn down, so here I am.  I'm registered for my first Olympic-distance event this upcoming May.  I think I'll probably enter a few other Olympic-distance events during 2013, and then try the real Savageman (and maybe some other things) in 2014.  

I'm saving up my stupid questions to parse them out over time, rather than hitting you with all of them at once, so please bear with me!  I'm looking forward to, well, mentee-ing with all of you!

Current Training: I'm focusing on swimming right now, and planning on run and bike focus periods after a few more weeks.  I joined a masters swim club at my local Y, and I can tell already that's really going to help.  What worries me most about this process, though, is avoiding injury as I'm ramping up my run training.    

2012 Races:  Garrett County Gran Fondo Diabolical Double, Peachtree Road Race 10K (my first running race ever!), Baltimore Bicycling Club Civil War Century, Bethesda, Maryland Turkey Chase 10K

Planned 2013 Races:  Monticelloman Olympic, Charlottesville, VA, The Nation's Tri Olympic, Washington DC, open to suggestions for others!

Weightloss: Isn't the reason we do this so we can drink the occasional beer without worrying too much?  

What Will Make Me a Good Mentee: I think I'm pretty responsive to advice and pretty supportive of others.  I tend to be somewhat type-A about training so hopefully I'll be good about logging my workouts and sticking to the plan.  

Name: luv2bhealthy/Norma

Story:  A little over eight years ago, I lost my parents - one to cancer and the other to a heart attack.  It woke me up to my own unhealthy habits.  I had been very active prior to marriage and children, mostly working out at a gym, but life got in the way so I did little physical activity and my eating habits were not the best.  Once my parents passed away, I realized I could very well end up in the same boat (cancer runs in my family).  I joined Weight Watchers, lost 25 lbs., adding exercise along the way.  First walking, then my entire family started taking Taekwondo.  To help with my endurance for sparring, I transitioned to running.  I added various at-home weight training workouts.  My body started to change.  I added races - 5 & 10ks.  My Taekwondo instructor asked if I would teach Cardio Kickboxing classes.  I have since become a 2nd degree black belt and teach a class four days a week of a hybrid Kickbox/HiiT/Body Pump type class.  My husband and I have taken over the running of the Taekwondo studio where we live in addition to having jobs.

I decided to pursue triathlons because they just seemed like a new challenge in my fitness journey.  I was running longer distances (completed two half marathons this year), but I wanted to do something else.  I wasn't sure if I would like triathlon so I purchased a hybrid bike and just this year ventured into tris, doing three sprints.  I decided I enjoyed it enough to purchase an actual road bike.  Just got it Friday.  Wooo hooo!

Current Training: I am currently studying to become a certified personal trainer.  I've trained myself for triathlon only using this site which has been very helpful.

2012 Races: Spring/Fall Classic Sprint Triathlon, Jefferson Heritage Sprint Triathlon, Rose City Tri, Longview Half, Metro PCS Dallas Half, Hot Chocolate 15k, and various 5 & 10ks, Pineywoods Purgatory 50 mile bike ride, Mineola Century Bike Ride - 36 miles. 

Planned 2013 Races:  Probably the same, although I am entertaining the though of doing an Oly.

Weightloss: I don't know what a good racing weight is for me.  I've been the same weight for the last 8 years.  I could probably stand to lose 5 more lbs.  I am starting a Whole100 in January.  That will probably do the trick.

What Will Make Me a Good Mentee: I really like racing triathlons.  I wish I had more time to train, but I put in as much as I can.  Because I live in the country, I have to drive 40 minutes to access an indoor pool so I usually only swim 1x a week, but I do ok with the swim.  Bike is my weakest link.  I am hoping that my new road bike will make a difference because I am terribly slow right now.  I still run races, so I training is ongoing.  I really need more time in the saddle.  I need to get faster!

Thank you for allowing me into your group!  I am looking forward to learning more about this fun sport.

Happy to be here!

Name: kr140.6 (katie)

Story:  Spent my teens dancing several hours a day so fell in love early with exercising.  Started out college as a dance major but quickly realized that wouldn't be a viable career option.  Started running a bit while still dancing which was a weird hybrid.  Ran 3 marathons before kids and 2 after.  Got the tri bug 4 years ago.  From the get go I thought the idea of the HIM sounded awesome and daunting but thought I would never be "insane" enough to do IM.  Well you know how that goes.  Did IMLP in 2011 (13:38)  and loved loved it.  Trained on my own and really got all my help here from BT.  I am soooo excited for you guys here gearing up for you first.  On a less positive note, it did feel like it took over a year to recover (tendonitis) but I am trying to get back in the swing.  

Family: My husband is not into any of our 3 sports but is beyond supportive. My daughter is 10 and my son is 8.  I work fulltime as a physician often lose a night(s) of sleep per week which is a hurdle. 

2012 races: only Escape from Alcatraz (awesome experience)

2013 races: Musselman HIM in July

Weight loss: Wow I really admire you guys who can give up sugar.  I really should eat better and would probably feel better if I did. 

Why I would be a good Mentee: I love the sport.  I still have a lot to learn.   This is an inspiring group!

Oh btw I live in NYC (came from California with stars in my eyes over 20 years ago as that dance major ).

Oh also I know my avatar is weird! but it is my shout out to Jane Fonda... you know for us ladies it wasn't socially acceptable to exercise at all not that long ago! (hard to imagine they didn't let females in the marathon for quite a while, etc.) but Jane helped make it more normal to exercise. 

You bring up a really good point and something I've been thinking about / working on recently.

In triathlon training load = volume + intensity + life

A lot of time athletes are really good at working hard and getting in all of their training but don't step back an think about how life factors into everything.  A lot of us can go through the motions and "do" a workout but sometimes the better (and harder) thing to do is to realize that the life knob is turned up really high and the volume and intensity knobs need to be turned down a little bit to allow us to be the best triathletes (and people) we can possibly be. 

I love this!  I really want a small farm with a herd of goats and lots of corgis.

The biggest thing with getting stronger and faster on the bike is spending time in the saddle ().  Once you get comfortable with going the distance then you can work on speed and durability. 

If you just got a new road bike, I would suggest making sure its fit well.  It will be a lot easier (and a lot of more comfortable) to bike if the fit is correct. 

The key to avoiding injury is not to add too much too soon.  For example for Peachtree you're going to want to get comfortable running about 15 -ish miles per week at a comfortable aerobic pace before adding in strength endurance or speed work. 

When you are untrained at a specific discipline, the first thing to do is to build up a basic level of fitness (e.g. to get comfortable just putting the yards / miles in).  Slow and steady is a good rule of thumb here.  Once you built that basic level of fitness, then you can work on getting faster (speed) and taking longer to slow down (durability). 

Wanted to post this too -- for anyone who is interested here's my facebook profile . 

Kelly - I sort of figured that is what I might need to do - volume, espescially with the bike. While I understand the concept, I am kind of lost in its application. That is, for 8-12 weeks how should I exactly begin building volume on the bike, should I bike one day, run another etc. Swimming I get, as I am in a class and have workouts and drills to do, but combining the run and bike together ??? I plan to begin using trainerroad and get a Garmin to record and track workouts, but think I need (and probably would work best with) some sort of structured plan. I looked at the BT Winter maintenance plan bike focus - would you recommend something like that or do you have any other recommendations? Thanks and I apologize for the lengthy question.

Kelly + Karen - I use to live in Atlanta/Decatur for five years during graduate school and came back for two more after my internship. For one year I worked at Northwest Regional Hospital in Rome - not sure if you are near there Karen. I loved living down there but it was too hot, too crowded (traffic was awful), and I missed snow. So I moved to Maine in 2001.

Chris - I love Maine - was there today!

To those that have done IM already, how do you feel about 'tune up' races? I'm on the fence and considering just doing a long on course workout instead, but my coach would prefer a HIM.

My FB - ww.facebook.com/deborah.kelly.980

How many hours per week are your currently training?

How many hours do you have available (e.g. what is the biggest number of hours you could possibly have)?

Its usually a really good idea to do a "tune-up" race 6-8 weeks out.  I usually like to schedule a 70.3 about 6 weeks out and then a short, fast race 2-3 weeks out. I like to have the "tune up" race be right before the biggest weeks of the plan.  So rest week with 70.3 at the end.  2 overload weeks and then into a 3 week taper.

In 2012, I did Poconos 70.3 the last week in the September and then IMFL the first week in November.  In 2011 I did Rev 3 Quassy and then IMLP and Chesepeakeman and then IMFL. 

ETA -- Race simulations and training weekends are fine, but I find that you don't really push yourself to the max unless its an actual race. 

Quassy is a great prep race for IMLP.

If you're coming down on January 1 let me know.  I live about 20 minutes from the course and would love to show it to you.  Its one of my favorite bike routes. 

Quassy is particularly good for IMLP.  It makes you pace the bike well and rewards smart racing.  Plus the IMLP bike course is easier than Quassy.  If you can handle Quassy, IMLP will be cake. 

That's what I had heard, and partly why I'm scared lol

I will indeed let you know. Thank you for offering.