Todd’s Tri Turtles 8 (Beginner, 5K, 10K, Sprint, Whatever) (Page 3)

Kim, that is so cool about how your kids are responding to your training! I have young kids and hope that I can set a good example of fitness/training for them.

I decided to register for a sprint triathlon near me that is in July. That should give me plenty of time to get my running sorted out. So it's official now!

I should have mentioned this before about my running...I did do a 5k in the fall (Halloween) then decided to do a 5 mile race for Thanksgiving. The 5k went okay. Wasn't breaking any records, but did okay. The 5 miles was a bit of a mess and didn't help my confidence. I was walking by mile 2 and ran/walked the rest of the way, but did finish.

Todd, I'm going to take your advice and start fresh with my run training since I have plenty of time. I have a Garmin watch and they offer some 5k training plans and I plan on following one of them.

The gym I go to is holding an indoor triathlon in April that I think I might try. 10 minute swim, 20 minute bike and 20 minute run. I'm not totally sure how it all works and the transitions, but figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try.

Thanks for the tips and advice everyone!

Kim, your post really hit the mark and you are helping to provide a healthy example for your kids plus spending time with them. There is so much more to all of this than race day! Keep up the great work!

Congrats on registering for your sprint... Mine is in July as well. We can countdown together. The indoor triathlon sounds SO cool.

Don't let that one race discourage you... believe me, I'm NOT a runner. I can swim and I can bike but running has always been my nemesis. I've been setting small realistic goals for myself...they might be a joke to others, but for me, they're hard. My first goal was to run 3km in under 30 mins. I beat that last week and ran it in 27. My new goal is to run 4 km under 35 minutes. I'm no where near that right now, but with every run you are getting stronger and better. Mini goals like that work for me, so that I can build up my confidence, instead of setting to reach for the stars and keep coming up short. Think of what you can do today, then push yourself to do something just slightly out of reach. It's really exciting when you get there. I actually cried on the weekend when I finished in 27 minutes. And dozens of people were speeding past me on the track, but I'm on my journey, not theirs. Good luck!!!!

Struck: Good on you for registering... dangling that carrot makes it more real (at least to me)

Flo: I've 3 girls that I'm hoping to influence. My son is out of the house now, but when I did this 5 years ago it didn't really encourage him.

Anyone else do early morning workouts? I am wondering about nutrition. I try to stuff some food in my face as I am going out the door each morning, probably 2-300 calories. I am wondering if I should be trying harder to get more food into my system each morning. I am worried that if I am not eating enough that these morning workouts are not as effective as they could be.

I do early morning swims and do eat a Kind bar....200 c or so and it helps me; anything more would be a bit much for me anyway...

I tend to do any early morning stuff before I eat... but we're talking about 45 mins max, and I eat immediately after.

I usually eat after the morning workout unless it’s a long race or really long training session then I eat an hour before. I don’t even eat before my longer morning rides because it makes it easier to take in and practice nutrition on the bike. The truth is that unless you are going a long time you are not going to bonk from a lack of calories especially if you ate the night before. That said we all have to remember to not do anything new on race day, which is why I know to eat an hour before when I do eat before.

Oh, and I forgot....coffee (caffeine) !! ??

My son plays hockey. He has 6am practices. We need to wake up around 5 in order to for him to be ready to go at 6. He usually has a banana. We've tried protein bars, smoothies, etc. But smoothies make him want to pee in the middle of practice. The banana works. We always make sure he has a protein bar in dressing room after practice.

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I can remove one of the many things I worry about.

De Nada... that's what we're here for. Just please remember that there's really very little that is true gospel, ie: whatever works for one may not for another...

That statement was probably absolutely worthless, but I'm an ex auto tech who's now doing the paperwork side of things and CYA-type statements like that tend to bother me if I don't actually say them.... **cuckoo...cuckoo...**

Took our 2 Vizslas out for a 3.5 mile walk; a portion of the route was in a small timber area....they had a time! Found the remains of a deer (a leg from the hoof to the knee) and what was left of a cottontail rabbit....they needed the outing due to “cabin fever” and
I got a “training” walk in....win win for all!

Good deal 2newknees training walks work too. My wife is ocd bad and on her rest days if she didn’t close all the rings on her Apple Watch we take our 3 dogs out for training walks. Sometimes those are the best times.

Pretty excited minus having to battle 4 people doing total different things (one adult was learning to swim, another not sure what he was doing, lady kick board the whole time) we had to share one lane. I did 1225 yards and don’t feel like death I had some left in me but was tired of playing frogger. Couple more weeks of building a base and then it’s time to kick swimming up more.

Hi Turtles,

Very hard to train at the moment as the weather has been 100 - 110 F. I've been training indoors on the treadmill and gym. No problems jumping in the outdoor pool at 6AM this morning. I have running group at 8 AM tomorrow so we'll see what happens. Yesterday I walked in the evening rather than run as planned.

I find the treadmill and stationary bike are good for fitness but not a substitute for the real thing

Fitness levels are returning slowly but steadily.

Hope you're all well. I'm enjoying reading all the posts.

2NewKnees - Great job on the walk. I'm in Eastern Canada... I think if I went for a walk that long right now I'd have some severe frostbite. lol

Firechrs - Sharing a lane is the reason I haven't gotten myself to the pool yet. That, and putting on the bathing suit, but I'm not too far from that. Sounds like your experience is what I fear, though... your success is what inspires me to get out there.

Rod - I totally agree on the indoor treadmill/bike not being a replacement. I seem to be able to run much better on a treadmill than on ground.


I'm battling a nasty head cold. I was full of aches and pains on Monday and again Tuesday. I pushed through on my Monday workout but Tuesday I quit not even 1km in. My legs were cramping, my head was throbbing, I was just in a bad place. I got really frustrated with myself and Tuesday night was in bed by 8pm. The last 3 days I've been sneezing/coughing/sniffling. I'm going to try some light cardio today. I'm at the point where I don't feel like my head might explode. I was hoping to get a run in at the track tomorrow, but may just walk it. I've been very cranky whining that I don't have time for this. I just want to get back to it!

Kim....take care of that cold; stuff like that happens; better to rest up then get back at it....best of luck!

Rod....that’s pretty toasty in your part of the world; those indoor workouts can be sooo boring; hopefully temps will soon break for you....

Month 1 is in the books...
Swim: 3 for 1150yd. 850yd shy of what a single session should be... Figured out a schedule last week. This will improve.
Bike: 8 for 69.4mi. All exercycle, and improving.
Run: 4 for 7.34mi. Pitiful... no excuses.
Weights: once... ugh.

I have 16 weeks left to Memphis in May as of tomorrow. While I'm getting more work in (this last week was the best so far), I have improvements to make across the board. Feb goals are: 8 swims (minimum) and getting to 500yd without resting (150 is best so far). All 12 bikes for 100+ mi incl a 60+ min session 1x/week. 8 runs, pushing towards no walking (I've never run the entire run segment). 8 weight sessions. February... Here we go!!

Hi Turtles

Our crazy weather continues, conditions have been almost tropical the last few days with heat , humidity and lots of rain. Running group on Saturday morning was mainly hill sprints, we clocked up a bit over 6 KM in an hour with the usual stretching as warm up and cool downs.

The rain caused the swim leg in today's race to be cancelled as water quality in the bay was poor. In my race, the mini sprint, we had a 800 M run, 13 KM bike and 3 KM run. This was my first race this summer and I took it pretty easy not wanting to upset my recovery process. I treated the outing as a training run and it certainly was different not having any PB goals or target times. I took time out to thank volunteers, encourage others at that were struggling and took in the views around the boat harbor. A very pleasant morning. I completed the race in just over an hour. Also had a massage after the race and that hurt more than the run.

I'm now revising my training plan as I have a reasonable assessment of where I'm at after today's race and looking forward to a couple of races next month.

How was everybody's weekend?

Rod, way to turn the adversity into a fun and informative event! I probably would have run to my car sulked ; ) Adapt or die is one of my mantra's, though it is more of a reminder for me to keep calm rather than an actual practice.

I am gassed, so my weekend workouts were good. I think my endurance in the swim is getting better and I signed up for some swim lessons to hopefully improve my stroke. One more week before my training plan kicks in and kicks my butt.

Rick, way to put some real numbers to those goals. I trick I also use is to put dates and times on those workouts, much like a dentist appointment. If it's on the calendar I have to at least show up! I will allow myself to head back home if I am injured or sick, but I always make myself show up and get dressed at a minimum. I find once I am at the workout and dressed, I almost always put in some kind of an effort, but there have been a few times where it wasn't going to happen and I got undressed and went home. I don't beat myself on those few times cause I was there and ready, just not able to physically perform.

Edited by RockHead 2020-02-02 11:36 AM

Tom:

That's the way I pulled it off last time. Biggest difference this time is that my oldest (aka: built in sitter) has moved out, and with my wife and I on opposite shifts that makes a hard & fast schedule quite difficult... With the exception of the swim, designated days are the best I can do right now (things can always change, yes?).

Rod....that was a great outing for you!!! Wise use of time!

Must have been some "technical difficulties" with the BT app....took several days for some of my activites to show up and I was unable to post anything via my phone on the app. But all appears to be resolved.

Bill you’re right. I had a post not show up for almost 3 Days. Great job Rod. So today I decided that I have to stop being “To Busy” to get my workouts in. I can always wake up earlier or stay up later and that at some point I’m making excuses not to workout instead of reason to workout. I got up at 3:30 this morning and got in a 1.25 mile run before getting in my HIIT workout and was home by 6:00 am

Thought my phone was on the fritz...