T3 beginners welcome sprint and OLY = Closed (Page 3)

Thanks Dave...... When I think about stuff like that I feel like a blind man who wants to be in the SAS .....because I've come last in races etc etc...... I am certain on reflection I can do a half ironman in about 3-5 yrs .....but wow I really don't know a full just sounds ELITE.....

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Love "embrace the suck" what a great way to put it!

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Thanks for your feedback

...

I have a question that requires thought....

.. I have probably worked out about once a week on average since I ran a 27 mile week ...well,,, average 24 ... in 2010

...

..I did yoga teacher training after. 5 years of intensive practice which ended with a spinal injury where I just did tai chi for a couple of years.....

I've done 3 month spurts of exercise my whole life - usually once a year.... But the least fit I was for the sport was a very slow starting runner,,, taking years to build up age 32... I have only just started proper intervals .... Did my first pyramid yesterday ... And 90% effort for 1.5 minutes

....

It really works!!! I thought I would just stick to LSD and "conserve energy" of course I didn't get anywhere fast..... The danger here is I've exploded back into exercise 12 hrs on the bike this week, 1.5 hrs swim and 1 hr running..... After 2 gentle weeks and rapid build up since May 6th daily.... I feel kind of energetic still.... But a bit tired from lack of sleep..... My husband works shifts and I get up stupidly early with him.... I have lost my routine .... Heard you need MORE sleep as an athlete so I MUST get more

....

I just read about How athletes do not decondition as much as short-term exercises .... How do I know if I'm ok? ..... I think the cycling focus is good, .....but I will need time to pick up on the other two after my London to Brighton ride....

I'd love for the opportunity Dave.

Well, I hope that I am not too late to the party, forgive me if I am... Now, for a little background information about myself

BACKGROUND: I grew up in Alaska. I have always been active playing football and running track and field/cross country since I was in the 3rd grade. I absolutely love to hike and will take any chance I get. My main passion is sprinting and track work but have recently been challenged by a friend back home to take on triathlons. Living here in Phoenix, you see races all the time. I remember driving to New Mexico with my fiance and driving right along side a race... The entire time I kept telling myself "That could be me..... No it couldn't... Yes it could" back and forth. Id love nothing more than to finish my first triathlon. I cannot imagine the feeling of success afterwards.

NAME: tbjeff / Jeff

FAMILY STATUS: Engaged, no kids, getting married in October. 27 years old!

WHAT I DO: I work in a pediatric ER as a tech, pursuing my nursing degree (someday, someday)

PREVIOUS RACES: Multiple foot races ranging from 5k's, 10k's and two half marathons.

UPCOMING RACES: Sprint Tri in September, Phoenix half in November and another half in December (I think, but not sure). Im also thinking PF Chengs half in January.

WEIGHT LOSS GOALS: I'm 6'1" and 200 lbs on the dot right now. I normally hover around 185. I think Id REALLY like to get to 180 as far as racing weight. So, I will continue logging my diet and nutrition until I reach my goals. (Im also thinking about toying with intermittent fasting/lean gains guide)

CURRENT TRAINING: I am not following any specific training plans and to be honest, I think I lack a little structure, eek! I am running an average of 20-30 miles a week and I plan on increasing that over the next few months. As far as cycling, I feel that I am at a disadvantage considering that I do not own a road bike. I will be borrowing a coworkers road bike to train and race with (hoping to find a starter bike before years end, fingers crossed). Other than that, I am doing runs, swims (in a 25 m pool) and training/spin classes on a stationary bike (WHICH I HATE) at one of my local gyms. I feel comfortable in water but I really need to train technique and I'm really looking to get into some open water SOON. Also, I feel comfortable on a bike but I really need to get on the road and there's not much more that I can say as far as that. I definitely lack "road bike" experience.

GOALS: Id really like to dive into the sport. I love new challenges. My current goal for my next two half's coming up are of times less than 1:40. Id like to finish my first full marathon in 2014 as well. As far as triathlon goals, I am not setting any unrealistic expectations. I know that I want to be dedicated and succeed and that's enough for me (for now).

WHY I'M A GOOD MENTEE: I think my persistence, hard work and dedication will prove a lot to my future success. I would like to start a detailed log of my nutrition and training, EVERY DAY. Id like to share ideas and experiences with the mentor and mentee's in the group. I will not give up, I will not quit, and I will not half *** anything. I am willing to learn and soak up as much information as I can and I am not afraid of failure. I am looking to network, make new friends in the sport, and meet people who share the same interests and goals as myself. I believe that I will train well and what I do not know, I will learn.

Cheers!

Edited by Tbjeff 2013-05-26 2:16 PM

Have a great Memorial Day everyone!

I have a race in 2 weeks so this has to be a big week of training for me.

MOJO RISING !!!

Dunno if Im in or not but hey, likewise friend. Im headed to the lake for the day... Who knows, maybe I can get some open water swimming in?

TB jeff you are in.

I was working all weekend but needed some training too. rode to work yesterday and rode home so it was a long day. then worked again today. two more days and 5 days off.

it sounds like you are approaching your events very wisely. You might look at some sprint races to mix up the training for your running events too.

welcome aboard.

waht races are coming up?

I am racing next weekend. 2x in one weekend so I will see how it goes.

Very happy to be in,



Edited by Tbjeff 2013-05-28 8:04 PM

Do you work as a doc? PA? Nurse?

Doing a double... What distances? I will probably be doing a double in September...an Olympic followed the next day by a sprint. Not sure how that will work out but I have a few months to think about it.

My upcoming is on June 9th at Tybee Island, GA. Its a fairly small sprint race but It's part of Set-up Events Georgia Triathlon Series. It's only about 45 minutes from where I live and I've spent a lot of time on the Tybee beaches growing up so It's kind of the home town race and I'm pretty pumped for it and want to do well!

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventI...

saturday sprint 750, 13, 5k.
Sunday OLY.

I am an EMT right now, looking to upgrade starting later this year.

Not sure which way I would rather do it, Your way - Sprint First, or the way mine is set up - Olympic first.

Swimming -- comfortable but not great. I can swim 400m nonstop but I am not fast. Usually 100m in ~ 2:00. Looking to slowly improve my form as I add distance.

Biking -- Comfortable, clipless pedals, TT bike, etc. Comfortable on the bike and slowly zeroing in on optimal fit while I try to increase distance/pace. I usually average 17.5mph over 20+ miles, so I'd like to bring that number up quite a bit.

Running -- Cautiously optimistic. I typically run somewhere between 3 and 7 miles depending on my training load and usually average an 8:30-9:30 min / mi. I have never been a fast runner and am pretty cautious about putting undue stress on my knees and ankles (especially since I have two plates and 11 pins in my R ankle due to a break 2 years ago).

Sorry to be relatively absent from the thread for the past week or so -- I was hoping to celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend with a lot of exercise but wound up running a 5mi Mud Run on Saturday, swimming 800m, and then realizing I was coming down with a nasty cold and spending most of the rest of the weekend in bed. SUCKS.

Ahhh, my bad man. I am an EMT as well, good luck on your races!

I like the sprint first for a good training event although I will race it full out. Recovery can be tough from and OLY. I normally am not right for about 48 hours. I think the sprint I can be fully ready the next day.

I will let you know how it goes.

You sound like you are in a pretty good place with the basics.

swimming keep working on form and speed will come.

bike just need the miles.

Running: the miles should be good for most distances of racing. make sure you vary your runs from slow to fast intervals and overall running will increase.

hope you are feeling a bit better.

Since I never replied to the question..

Swimming -- So-so. I am just now really starting to test how far I can go without feeling like Im going to drown. I swam 800 meters the other day in a 25 m pool at the gym without stopping. Felt O.K., not great, not terrible but I notice that I really start to lose form the more tired I get. I did not time myself but rather just tried to focus on form. Id really like to try and test out some different swimming drills, been youtubing a bunch and my fiance was a swimmer growing up so shes throwing pointers at me.. I will be heading out and trying some open water swims in the next couple months. I found some fantastic resources here in the Arizona forums, so, Im excited to say the least.

Biking -- Will report actual road results as Im picking up the road bike in two weeks. Im not even going to begin to try and compare a stationary bike/spin class to road biking with wind changes etc. All said, I feel that mountain biking or bikes in general have always been one of my strengths. Will report later on...

Running -- Definite strength. I love it. Ive been doing distances runs at a slow pace for about 1-2 months. Im just now starting to do 3-5 mile runs for speed. I really want to challenge myself and run hard. I am looking for a good running watch for outdoors.... Not sure where to start. I have a standard running watch and I feel that I do well with it but Im looking to pick up a Polar to monitor HR or something similar.. Open to any suggestions.

Edited by Tbjeff 2013-05-30 2:21 AM

Been out of town and not online much...now i'm back and ready to get serious with the training! i start the beginner's program official on Tuesday.

Thanks for the reply...that completely makes sense to have an A and B race. The Tri is definitely my A race... it comes first which is great as well as the 1/2 is 4 weeks afterwards.

In response to where we all are in our training my responses below:

Swimming: STILL have not started swimming...guess since i'm procrastinating it means i'm scared to death! LOL...actually scared to death is prob not accurate but i've never done any real swimming and at present this is my weakest area. I am going to a clinic on Monday evening, Manny Huerta will be there and the focus is swimming. So i'll let you know how i feel after my first swim!

Biking: Very comfortable biking, have worked up to 25 miles but need to focus on improving my speed.

Running: Very comfortable running as well but again need to work on improving my speed. Short runs (3-4 miles) i average a 9 minute mile, longer runs (6-8 miles) i average 10 minute mile. Longest run to date is 8.3 miles.

Forgot to add...i too love the phrase 'Embrace the Suck'...that's the 3rd time in 2 days that someone has mentioned dealing with the pain and enduring the pain and the 2nd time someone has referenced the Chris McCormack saying when discussing triathlons...SO guess i better get my mental game on.

You and I are at almost the exact same pace/distance while running. Hammer's tips helped me really improve my form so, for the first time ever, I feel comfortable running distance. Hitting about the same pace numbers you are. Let's start comparing notes :-)


I switched from training with a Suunto Ambit to a Garmin Forerunner which means it's a lot easier for me to import training data into this site -- I added you all as friends so you can see my training log. Hope you guys also use it so we can compare notes

Edited by tacetman 2013-05-30 12:00 PM

Hey Guys,

I am closing the group up,

I do have some other mentors that might put their two cents in occasionally, but here is the final group you can add in your friend list and see how others are training.

handyhammer = Dave
Ridarling = Rhonda
Tacetman = Beau
TbJeff = Jeff
Dominion = Chris
Clouddog = I did not get your name
GCfit = Grady
Gr8hope = Greg
mheard = Marshall
HK08 = HK
BigTair = Tim

I wont be using one for awhile... Probably at the end of the year. The fiance and I are already talking wedding gifts to each other and I definitely mentioned a Garmin Forerunner lol... LMK how it works out!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I was out of town for the Holiday and playing catch up at work.

I embrace the suckfest in all three disciplines:

Swimming: A weakness. I took swim lessons as a kid, so I can survive and did a mile swim when I was early teenager, but those days are long behind me. I took the advice and bought TI and I am reading through it now. I hope to try and apply some of it this weekend. I currently stop at both ends of the 25 yard pool to catch my breath and say a quick prayer.

Biking: Very comfortable biking, and alternate between indoor biking and road biking in my workouts. Not very fast, but I started focusing on my cadence on the indoor bike. Workouts are anywhere from 6-15 miles in length.

Running: Getting back into running from a significant amount of time off. I have a goal of running 4 miles without stopping, and getting my 2 mile time down. I alternate between bricks with the bike and 1.5-2 mile speed work in an effort to build leg and lung endurance.

My focus is on the sprint distance, since I am a total Newbie to Triathlons, so a lot of my training has been focused at that distance range.

I wondered if I was in the right group when I read handyhammer's comment to do sprint races to mix up the training! Seems like some of you are at complete different levels!

handyhammer thanks for the great tip to run while the kids follow you with their bikes. I've done this twice so far - It was perfect! My little girl was talking to me the whole way while I was grasping for oxygen. She had a blast and now keeps asking me when is my next run.

OK so as I am starting TriNewbies 'begginer 11 Week to sprint level, I have some questions:
- would you recommend another program?
- can I start the "program" at week 3-4? Or should I train less? When I see the amount asked in the first 3 weeks, I feel like it's going to be way less time than I was ready to put in.
- I swim in open water, how can you determine how far you go? I'm a total newbie as you can tell... does each stroke equals 1 yard?

For the check up:
- Swimming: comfortable - only been twice since the snow melted. Got my wetsuit though, plan on being in the water twice next week.
- Biking: using clippless pedals for the first time this year (almost fell at a red light this week!), I can ride an hour easily - not fast if I compared some of the speed you guys are at! I average 15mph on my odometer.
- Running: I love it, even more now that I can spend the time with the kids.

Looking forward to see what i need to work on!

Edited by HK08 2013-05-30 10:24 PM

When doing open water training it is not about distance traveled. You need to swim for time and navigation. Look at doing intervals of 2 to 6 minutes of swimming with a short break. then the next swim my be 12 to 15 minutes continuous if you are looking at an OLY distance race or longer.

glad the kid training worked well.