dodgersmom's Group - FULL (Page 3)

Okay, here is my highly ambitious race "dream schedule" for 2007:

PlayTri Aquathon (750m/5K) 04.21
12th Annual Metroplex Sprint Tri (800m/16.7mi/5K) 06.10
Heart O' Dixie Tri - Philadelphia, MS (750m/27.5mi/7mi) 07.21 (A)

Rockwall Sprint Tri (300y/14mi/2.9mi) 08.26
Flower Mound Run/Bi/Tri (5K/13mi/350y) 09.30

Okay, now I really am going to go for that walk. :)

Nitrition is ALWAYA an issue for me.  I am a certified carbaholic.  It's funny, I can keep away from sweets without a problem.  Gave up sodas almost a year ago and don't miss them at all.  For me, it's all about chips, pretzels, crackers...anything salty.  The only thing that works is to just not keep them in the house. 

I have made some changes like eating brown rice and wheat pasta.  I could eat pizza every day of the week and not get tired of it!

Anyone have any plans for the weekend.  I have a brick woukout tomorrow.  Since the weather is still supposed to be terrible here in north texas, it will be a run at the indoor track at the gyn (11 laps = one mile) and then the spin bike.

Not sure what Sunday is.  A long bike I think.  My temp tolerance is 50.  Lower than that, I won;t ride outside.  If I put a good movie on, the trainer does not seem that bad.  Last week I rode 2:15 while watching DaVinci Code.

Let's try to post more here.  Keep up with what everyone else is doing  

One of the things I have tried to do is to plan my meals out.  We got in a really bad habit of not thinking about dinners until I got home from work.  Then, it would be..."What do you want for dinner?  I don't know, what do you want?"

Now, we plan our meals at least a day ion advance.  I also started taking my lunch to work.  For now I am taking the frozen lean cuisines but have had a problem with the MSG in them.  Next week it's going to be PB&J on wheat bread, cottage cheese, FF puddung and some type of fruit.

Cheaper and tastes better than anything our cafeteria serves.

Have a great Saturday!

Howdy!

The challenge idea sounds great!

I'm pretty excited because yesterday I increased my walking distance to (2.5 miles + warm-up). I also discovered that I'm at a 13 min/mile pace. It looks like I'm a week ahead of my plan so I'll be able to start mixing in some running in 4 weeks.

OWS = Open water swim (swimming in a lake or ocean as opposed to a pool swim)

The SwimSafe belt is a race-legal belt that you can wear during the swim that turns into a self-inflatable flotation device in case of emergency.  Obviously inflating it would disqualify the racer but it sure sounds like a good alternative to drowning!  You can check it out here: http://www.triaids.com/rp.html 

Susan, I know of some races in Texas - particularly at Tri festivals - that are for first timers. The title is usually something like "My first tri." I'll wager there are similar events in other states. You could look it up your area on www.trifind.com - they usually have good listings and descriptions of the events.

From my 2 experiences racing in local sprints I was surprised at how understanding and encouraging other racers and volunteers were to slow buggers like me. I was in the bottom 3 in my age group each race. People usually are super nice to slower racers as long as we are respectful and use proper etiquette. I think most courses have a cut off time, but it's nothing you can handle. I'm sure you'd be finished way before they would come for you!

I don't really like to compare myself or my times to others because everybody is in a different place. I know I'm not competitive right now, so I just had fun with my race and still met my own (slow) personal goals.

Hey Guys!  Mandi is right about beginners.  We all had a first race, and is you pick a local racs (as opposed to an event type race) you will be just fine.  My first race was a Danskin, all women and really geared to first timers.  Sally Edwards is the RD (race directror) and she is awesome.  She has written lots of books about running and tris.  She is always the last person across the line so noboy else can say that they finished last.  I know there is one in the LA area.  Check it out at www.danskin.com.  It was that races that got me hooked to keep racing.

I am thinking about a february challenge.  I think we should each post how many miles (ride and run) and yards we will try to do for the month.  No winners or losers (cause we are all winners) but just a personal challenge to do our best!

ok, my goals for February are

23 miles - walk/run

1000 yards swim

 This is going to be fun!

Sonia and Susan, I'm sorry you ladies are feeling bad! I understand too - my sinus infection from Thanksgiving hasn't completely cleared up yet. I'm going back to the ENT Doc tomorrow for him to do something invasive (gulp!). I'll be so glad when my nose is back to normal so I can swim!!

Here is what I know about the following:

USAT Membership
If you are going to do a few USAT sanctioned race in a season, I would encourage you to go ahead and do full membership, it might be less expensive then paying $9 at every race for a temporary membership, and you'd get the other benefits of membership as well.  I think most races these days are USAT. Though it is an organization for serious/elite triathletes, it is also for those of us age groupers who want to do a race now and then.

Race Day Attire
For my first two races, I just wore a pair of *black* bike shorts and a nike dry-fit sports bra. I had a mesh top that I could put on after the swim. It can be as simple as that. I would however recommend actual tri-shorts instead of bike shorts because the padding is a little different and it doesn't retain water as much. But, the time (notice the singular) I wore a swim suit under shorts on the bike I got pretty raw from the chaffing. I would strongly encourage you not to just throw shorts on over the suit - you might be in pain for a while!

Tri suits are designed to go straight from the water to the bike, so you don't have to put something on over a swim suit. I've never tried a 1-piece, but I'd like to get a 2-piece tri suit this season. I've heard pros and cons to the 1-piece. The biggest downside to women is having to take the thing off if you need to go to the bathroom.

Whether you will wear bike shorts or tri shorts I would highly recommend that you practice swimming in them a few times. The padding and length does feel different but it's nothing you won't get used to.

How is everybody?  Haven't heard from y'all in a few days.  Are we going to do a February challenge together? 

I'm plugging away at my walking and will be able to run in 2.5 weeks.  Though I'm battling a sinus infection that has continued for the 3 months.  It looks like I might be having surgery for it in March.  So no swimming until I get all that cleared up.  But I'm hoping I can start biking a bit - even if it's just stationary. 

Keep at it.  Y'all are doing great! 

Have you thought about running on a treadmill?