tcovert's Winter 2009 Mentor Group - FULL (Page 39)

Lynn,

Looked for you, too ... at the run turnaround, eh?  Well, no wonder we didn't see each other.  I was at the finish line   Turns out that one of my wife's friends has a husband that works at AquaSphere (our kids play together, too), and he hooked me up with some passes to the VIP tent.  Just coffee and fruit and such, but it was right on the finish line, which was cool.  I rode up in the morning and met some friends from my tri club to watch the swim exit into transition, then hung around to cheer on my fellow Coyotes as they got off the bike and headed out for the run.  I am completely in awe of the speed and endurance off these athletes ... Insane!

Had to take the kids to a birthday party, so I had to leave for the ride home at about 10:30am.  Cool event, though.  Glad I went.

Todd, glad you're not dead.  Seriously.  I'm not one to back down easily, either, and while it's not even remotely true, I think I'm capable of holding my own in a fight with just about anyone (including Chuck Norris!).  Point is, you never know what the other person is capable of and if you think this person was on something, all the more reason to just ride away.  Nothing you can do or say will make them change their attitude or behavior, and there is absolutely no shame in just riding on and shaking your head in disbelief.  You too, Scott.  Cool it out there

And just to show I'm not preaching from my soapbox, I called a man and his wife a couple of a-holes this weekend for walking against traffic in the bike lane when there was a huge, empty sidewalk for them.  I heard a nice "F U" as I rode on.

What else?  Well, the weather here has turned fantastic, and I think I might have gotten my motivation back.  We'll see.  The double edged sword here is that my wife is pregnant with our 3rd (about 6 weeks), and she is really bad at being pregnant.  Not intentionally, but she gets hit really hard with fatigue and nausea for the first 4 or 5 months (at the ER all day yesterday for IV drips), so I'm going taking care of a lot of extra duties that will make it harder to find the time to train.  I'm a night time guy, though, so I can probably do what I need to do when the kids go to bed.  Bummer is that the weather is flat out gorgeous now!!

Hey, I've got a race next month and it'll be my first race in a town where I live.  I actually went out last night and ran one lap of the 5k loop and I realized, "Wow, I can actually train for this course!"  Kind of cool!

That's about it.  Swim, bike, run!

morgan - congrats on the pending birth, well wishes to your poor wife with her nausea. 

Lucky you that you can train for a race on the actual course!  glad to hear your motivation is coming back, mine too

Ditto that, Todd.  Just realized that I really didn't compliment you on how you handled it, which is impressive.  Certainly not pointing any fingers at you.

When people aren't racing, the numbers really get cranked up...lots of good stuff in these logs! (Sorry to read you're still in computer purgatory, though, Jocelyn: We were there last summer...two total meltdowns and lost a ton of irreplaceable files.)

Kind of in recovery mode from 20 mile run yesterday...and have to take the cat to the vet when my wife gets home...but may get in a short ride afterwards. Unsettled weather forecast here has me hedging about workouts. Know I'll run tomorrow evening and Thursday and probably Friday. First 80-mile ride planned for Saturday. (Then a treat for my New Englander wife: Going to see the Red Sox play the Angels on Sunday.)

Hope y'all have a great week!

Morgan, congratulations on your wife's pregnancy! Everything else takes second to things as cool as that.
Other than the occasional crazy encounter on a bike ride (sorry Todd, that sucks), it sounds like everyone's training  quite a bit. This week, I officially start my IM trianing program. It's 20 weeks, but I like to start a little early just in case of sickness, injury, etc. I'm super pumped and ready for this journey to begin (although it really already has).

I hope everyone has a great week of training. May the water be smooth, the weather be warm, and the wind be behind us

good for you jake - rock on!

i'm not typically one to do this but, in the spirit of all things red sox nation can you ask your new england wife to boo manny for us???

it's a red sox thing 

LOL...If it was a Dodgers game, no problem. ("Manny's dead to me" is what my wife says...of course, before that it was "Johnny Damon's dead to me"...and "Adam Vinatieri's dead to me"...not sure if she's a bigger Pats or Sox fan, actually.)

I've been so conscious that next month will be the five year anniversary of my "getting off the couch", that I forgot about the fact that last week was the two year anniversary of my starting tri training. (Basically, it was two years ago this past weekend that I got back in the pool for a workout for the first time in almost 30 years.) It's also two years of logs here at BT.

Looking over those two years I've found that out of 738 days of logging, I've taken a grand total of 27 complete rest days (5 of them during the three weeks my left arm was in a cast when I broke my wrist in my second tri in late September 2007)...went the first 6 months of 2008 with no rest days (though plenty of walking-only days, esp. when I had runner's knee that February). Not counting the fallen arch problem--which I've had my whole life--and the broken wrist and a calf injury from cramping up on a flight from Africa to Atlanta, I've really only had three training or racing overuse injuries during that time: Runner's knee in Jan-Feb 2008, Achilles tendonitis (probably from compensating for the runner's knee) suffered in LA Marathon last year, and right hamstring strain from half marathon in December.

I've lost 5 lbs additional pounds during that time (from 70 lbs lost to 75 lbs) and finished: 2 marathons, 3 half marys, 1 HIM, 3 Olys, 5 sprints, 1 18-miler, 1 20K, 2 12K's, 2 10K's, 3 5K's and 2 1-mile-runs...25 races in 24 months.

Five years ago--just before turning 44--I was sedentary and Stage II obese. Ten years ago, I could barely walk without a cane due to the pain from my post-tib tendonitis...pain which often woke me up at night.

Anything's possible if you take it one day at a time and every single day is a wealth of possibilities...and every day's the first day of even more discoveries to come!

yeah, i believe i saw her at the wakes

i have no words to describe the emotion that i am feeling while reading your post.  todd, you are truly an inspiring man and i am so lucky to have connected with you (and many other wonderfully positive folks!) through this site.  keep it up, although i am certain that you will; and know that through the boost i get from your positive energy i will find that place where i don't give in to the fear of not being able to do this.

thank you.

Hi, guys:

As you may have noticed, our mentor group thread has been moved into an archive forum to make room for the new spring mentor groups. I'm still up for participating here while there are still folks training for their first races. Feel free to come and go as you see fit...if you want to try out another group in the Spring mentor forum, don't hestitate to do so (I promise I won't be jealous). But I'll still be watching logs and trying to keep up the weekly (and weekend) posts.

Happy training!

Thanks for the kind words! Like everybody--I suppose--I get down on myself and feel incapable or incompetent and such. Been going through that with my work situation now, for instance. I do try to keep moving on day by day and focus on the things that are progressing...in whatever part of my life that is happening. Even when things feel frustrating or overwhelming in one part of life, I usually can find some reassurance elsewhere.

Thanks again!

Why am I getting this "final scene from The Breakfast Club" kinda feeling?
 I definately would like to keep posting with you guys.

Todd, you're story is very inspiring, and I surely thank you for sharing all your thoughts and knowledge with us. The same to everyone here. We're all fighting battles, all on different journeys, but this one metaphor for life, triathlon, brings us all together. Thanks to all!

Jake

Like I mentioned, I'm planning to continue on here while we still have people training for their first races. Unlike last year, I'm not planning to open up another mentor group this cycle (last time, I did and it sort of made me have to "move on" and I'm sure that's true of most mentors who decide to start a new group).

I still check in periodically with about three members of my first mentor group last year (to be perfectly truthful about it: they check in on me more often than I check in on them). And I'm sure I'll do the same with the members of this group, regardless of the ongoing post volume in this group thread. I'm pulling for all of you to realize your goals!

Well, it only took me about a day to figure out that this thread had moved and was not simply a new site "bug" in the Mentor Program forum

I'm still here and will continue to post.

Thank god I found you!  I thought it was a bug in the system.  Then I realized.  God, no, they had disbanded us without warning!  The horror!  I feel much better now. 

I'm staying put.

Todd, I just went back and found your post on your progress.  Inspiring, man!  All that and a Jeopardy champ, too!  Woohoo!

You are so right.  Anything is possible.  Only our mind limits us.  No need to let it.  In the dark times, it lies and says the way it is now is the way it always will be.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  Just look at the changes we've made.  Little by little, one day at a time.  Sometimes they come in such small increments that they are hardly noticed until some time passes and the cumulative changes can't be ignored.   Hope and faith, the real power food.

    

Brick Saturday, then road trip to get a bike part for my TT bike build.  Should be done Sunday.

Long endurance ride Sunday. 

Happy holidays, folks.



Edited by IceManScott 2009-04-10 9:57 PM

Sounds like a great cycling weekend for you Scott. Post a photo of that bike when it's done okay?

Hi, guys...

Last long ride of the month planned for the morning (80 miles min.--1st 50 with my wife, then 30 or so solo). Then it's the beginning of a gradual taper for Wildflower, then LA Marathon. I'll do one more 20 mile run before the marathon and one 85-90 mile ride in mid-May, but I've got a 5K, an HIM, a marathon, and a century between April 19 and June 7, so my training will be a bit less intense during that period. But June and the first week of July will be pretty intense, I think...only one race (an Oly), towards the end of that time, so that'll be peak training time.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!