Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Group version 3-CLOSED (Page 3)

Hi guys-

Would love to join this group. I am actually sitting in a hospital bed as I type this on my phone waiting for a medial meniscus repair on my left knee.

I can type up all my detailed responses tomorrow but the basics are that I'm 43, have never done a triathlon, was a competitive collegiate runner and have been a recreational biker for a few years but Very little to no swim background. So that should make this all vey interesting.

Would love to join the group if there is room and if I can get the detailed bio information up tomorrow.

Thanks!

Chris

PLEASE let me come back again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!! I just got back from a horrid 4 miles (on the dreadmille) followed by my first swim since Sept. 29th. THAT was humbling.

Story: I'm 42 years old, and 2013 was my first year of triathlon. I played basketball and softball in highschool, but the only other 'sports' related thing I did most of my life was ride 3-day event horses (dressage, cross-country jumping and stadium jumping). When I was in my late 30s (about 10 years after I quit riding horses--you think triathlon is expensive? Buy a horse), my husband says I had my mid-life crisis and started running. In reality, I had a friend that ran her first sub-4 hour marathon, and my interest in running was piqued. I signed up that day for my first ever running race, a half marathon that was 5 months later. Obviously, I'm of the 'go big or go home' mentality. I finished that first half marathon, did two more that year, signed up for my first full marathon (which I did in March of 2013) and then wondered, 'Now what?' That was when I bought my first bike, joined the Y so I could swim, and entered the Augusta half Ironman. I have yet to run a 5K distance race that wasn't part of a triathlon. How odd is that?

I grew up in a small town in southeastern Ohio, but have lived in the Augusta, GA area for the past 10 years. I've been teaching middle school English for the past 10 years.

Family: Married to my husband, Chris, since 2005. He wasn't a huge fan of triathlon when I first informed him that I was training for a half iron distance race, but we worked through some growing pains, and after I finished Augusta 70.3, he has become quite a supporter. He was truly proud of my accomplishment. We have no kids; the rest of our family consists of our three dogs T.C., Louie & James.

Training: I used a beginner half iron distance plan from this website last year. It got the job done. I was a bit of a slacker since the September 29th race, and am just now getting back into all 3 disciplines. I have been running 3 days/week for the past 2 months with some cycling here and there as well as some other cross-training.

2014-My "A" race this year will be Augusta 70.3. My goal is to finish in sub 6 hours (I finished last year in 6:31--I had several picnics in transition and had a lousy run, so shaving on 32 minutes should be achievable). I also have scheduled:

February--half marathon
March--Dare to Tri (local) sprint
April--half marathon
May--Tall Pines Olympic (local)
July--Mistletoe sprint (local)
August/Sept--Olympic tri (two local choices)
September--Augusta 70.3
December--possible full marathon


2013 Season: My first season of triathlon. Completed 2 sprints, 1 Olympic and a half iron distance race. Also ran a half marathon and a full marathon.

Weightloss: Always something in progress. I find that the more distance training I do, the harder it is to maintain/drop my weight unless I continue with strength training. For me, I have to lift weights to lose weight. It's hard to find a balance sometimes.

What will make me a good mentee? I continue to stay committed to my goals. My motto is, "If I sign up for it, I'll train." Alas, if I don't have anything in the pipeline, I become a bit of a slacker. I learned so much from the last mentor group, and can't wait to learn more this year! It'll be nice having a little experience under my belt.

Edited by glfprncs 2013-12-23 4:08 PM

Good luck with the surgery!

Edited by GoldenSprocket 2013-12-23 4:19 PM

Seeing as how we are both from the Granite State I figured I'd check out your profile. It seems as though we both did the Nashua YMCA sprint and you beat me by 12 seconds. You may add another name to the list of people gunning for you in 2014.

Jason & Randy, I would love to jump in one more time. Hopefully I can get back to racing in 2014!

Stuart.

So glad you are back. I want to watch you achieve your goals on the new hip.

(plus I still need lots of swim tips)

Welcome. Hope the surgery went well.

I had a 90% + menisectomy shortly before my 25th birthday and have never looked back. It was amazing to me how quickly I was able to resume normal activities. Very close to baseline within a month after surgery so there is hope.....

However, if you have the repair it will probably be a slightly longer recovery than the menisctomy. Different surgeons have different protocols when it comes to activity post meniscus repair.

Edited by wannabefaster 2013-12-23 6:51 PM

I have an 11 year old daughter as well. She blows me out of the water with every stroke at every distance. And never lets me forget it.

Hey- I grew up in southern NH- Amherst. We all went to elementary school in Nashua. (my siblings)

My parents still live in NH- just east of Concord.

Nancy

Edited by el penguino 2013-12-23 6:55 PM

Well since you are willing to put up with me for another go around, here's my story. For those who have been in the group, nothing new here.

Name: Stuartap (Stuart – BTW – I hate Stu and/or Stewie or any other abreviation)

Story: New to the sport in 2012. Feb 2012 I decided that being almost 250# at 5’11” and age 56 was not a combination for a long life. So I began a weight loss program. In May I was helping my daughter at a booth for the American Diabetes Association at a local Sprint Tri. Seeing people older than me and heavier than me was inspiring. I decided that I wanted to do this.

I was a competitive swimmer in HS & College but inactive for the better part of three decades since. Always enjoyed riding, always hated running.
I started off on my 37# mountain bike and picked up a used 2012 Kona King Zing in Aug. Tried to run too hard too fast and injured my Achilles tendon…twice. Consequently I ran just a few days between June and my Dec 2012 tri.

Did my first tri Dec 16, 2012 although the swim was cancelled due to storm runoff and replaced with a second run. YUCH! Still, I did finish towards the BOP but my bike was good. My weight was 195# at race day, age 57.

In March 2013 my front wheel was clipped by a car and I went down. I was able to break my fall with my hands but ended up with a small fracture in my left wrist. I was sidelined for four weeks but did a lot of stationary bike work. A week after being OKd to get back to full training I was hit by a car and this time fractured my hip. They tried a repair with titanium pins etc but that repair failed. There was not enough blood flow restored to the hip and it was dying. So 10 weeks ago they replaced the hip.

I am still trying to get back to full range of motion and hope to resume training soon. Running will be limited for quite a while.

Family Status: Married to the girl I went to the senior prom with for the past 39 years. Two kids and two dogs. One of the dogs just joined our family at Christmas time last year. She is an 11 year old mutt who was rescued from a dump in Texas. They named her Dumpling because of where they found her. We were going to change her name but it just fit her.

Current Training: Still on the shelf for a while. I will start PT right after the holidays and hoping to get back to something that resembles normal later in Q1.

2013 Races: None, lost the whole season to injury and seven months on crutches. I did do one 5k for charity (American Diabetes Step-Out) on crutches in Oct.

Planned 2014 Races: I am hoping to get the OK to do a super sprint Aqua/Bike in April but haven’t been able to get the sign-off from my doctor yet. It will likely be last minute if at all. Beyond that the only things penciled in are the Tour de Cure and Step-Out Walk. I would like to get a few sprints in and maybe an Oly late in the season.

What Will Make Me a Good Mentee: I have two objectives for joining the group even though I am currently not training.
(1) I am still new to the sport so I learned a ton from this group previously.
(2) I would love to be a resource for those struggling with or wanting to improve their swimming. By way of credentials I swam competitively in HS (the only freshman to ever make the varsity team) & College. My PR in the 100 yard free was 48.81. I swam a 1650 Free a couple of times under 19 minutes.

I would be happy to answer any questions and/or offer suggestions on how to learn to love swimming a.k.a. how to get faster!

Getting caught up on the group posts:

Steve I too live in Morgan Hill. It seems you are quite a bit ahead of me but would love to meet up some time.

Jamie nice to see you here again. FYI ‘mentee’ is actually in the dictionary. It does sound a bit dumb but there nonetheless. ;-)

John keep the training up and the weight loss will come. I managed to drop 60# my first year! I have put some back on being injured and inactive for 8 months but I do know what I need to do to get it back off.

Suzy nice to see some familiar faces!

Bryan I have to agree with Randy on the increased volume in biking. When I started I was increasing both distance and intensity at what seemed to be ‘too fast’ but it was good for my improvement. Running however, do cautiously.

Randee…I’m back too!

Gregg I too have a full on my calendar for 2015, probably IMAZ in Nov 2015.

Chris good luck on your surgery.

OK so I think I am all caught up. For those new to this particular group, it has a history of high performance and great gains so you came to the right place. It’s a great group so have fun!

Hi Suzy.

I pulled this plan off the Digital Running website. It appears to have been designed with people like me in mind.

https://www.digitalrunning.com/couch-to-half-marathon-plan/

Hi Randy/Jason and everyone else! Can I get in??

Mary

It would be great to have you in the group Mary!