Super Cats Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 4)

Yes like that!

You can do it with your head mostly out of the water until yuo are comfortable with it... oh and if yuo think thats goofy... yuo can do that drill 10m on one side, 10m on your back, 10m on your other side, 10m on yuor front etc

Thansk Dee!

I like option 1... although option 2 really cracks me up

I think I might just say - pick whichever you like best!

I go away for 12 hours and all h#ll breaks loose! Cat & Dee.....are you kidding me?  This WILL be the greatest group ever.  May I have a lifetime membership. 

 FYI, I'm headed toward Kansas City, Mo this afternoon to run a Half-mary wit a BIL of mine.  It won't be a race because he has just recently started running.  He was in a serious accident about a year ago and during rehab decided running was fun!  I probably won't check back in until late Sunday or early Mon. 

I'm really looking forward to getting to know all of you!

haha think of what will happen over a weekend?

Have a great run - hope your BIL reaches his goals! He is SO lucky to have you to support him through his goal and be there for the race! Awesome

And yes you can have a lifetime membership... I say we keep this going until we cant tri anymore.. so that would be FOREVER!

- Who you are and what your life is like (family etc so we know what your time demands are) -- I'm 27/F and currently living with my boyfriend of 1 year.  I've never been married and have no children (but we do have 4 cats!!)  I work full time Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm...but we have a gym at work so that is helpful for working out over my lunch break.  I live in Wilmington, NC which is about 10 minutes from Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach so I have great access to the ocean to do open water swims (when the water warms up a bit!)

- Are you using a tranining plan? -- I'm following the trinewbies 11 week sprint distance beginner  training plan.  Here is the link:

http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms/10wtp.pdf

It also has a strength training plan that it suggests you follow 2 days a week.  I haven't started any strength training yet...do you think that is a good idea?

- Do you have any weight loss goals? -- Since graduating from college in 2004 I've not been able to stick with any sort of consistent exercise program...I'll have a few good months...then a few bad months and it seems to be a never ending cycle.  My weight right now is 143 and I'm 5'3" tall.  I'd like to get down to around 115.  That's what I was in college and it was a great weight for me.  So I guess that means I want to lose 25-30 lbs.  My struggle is that I really like wine...and I love food in general.  I have been much better about cooking at home and making healthy substitutions, but I still really love going out to dinner!

- How are you going with the individual sports? Swim/Bike Run... and what are your strengths and weaknesses? -- I was a competitive swimmer through my childhood and swam for my college swim team so I'd have to say swimming is my strength.  I'm not an expert cyclist by any means, but I've been taking spin classes for years which I love (although it's been a few months since I've done this consistently).  I own a trek 700 hybrid bike which is a number of years old, but in very good condition (b/c it wasn't used much!).  I just took it to my local bike shop to have them take a look at it since I hadn't used it in a few years.  It only cost my $15.00 for them to make a few necessary adjustments!  I've been out on it once since then and had a great time riding.  As for running...that is my weakness.  I find that anytime I've started running I jump into it too quickly and end up with shin splints or a knee issue.  I'm now well aware that it needs to be a gradual process!

- Anything else you need help with in relation to the sport -- I'm most concerned about some possibly minor things like...what do I wear for my race? and what about transitions?  Do I need to fuel during my race if it's only a sprint?  If I'm doing a longer race how do you go to the bathroom? etc.

-Goals/upcoming races -- My goal is to complete my first sprint tri the end of June (already signed up!), but also I'd really like to complete a half ironman in November (I know that may be a bit ambitious...thoughts??  Is this an unrealistic goal?).  I actually already signed up for it because I know it's an event that fills up very quickly (only 94 spots left as of today) so I wanted to have the option.  Here are the races I've signed up for:

Kure Beach Double Sprint Triationlon - June 28th

Wilmington YMCA Triathlon - September 19th

Beach2Battleship Half Ironman - November 7th

Misc. Info -- I'm originally from New Cumberland, PA and went to college in Maryland.  After college I moved to New York City and worked in publishing there for 3 years.  I grew tired of the lifestyle in NYC and was ready for a change so I picked up and moved to Wilmington, NC.  It's a great town with a big Tri presence in the community.  The only thing is that to be part of the "Tri Club" here you have to pay about $300 and that was too much for my tight budget.  Any advice for someone training alone?  My biggest fear is biking on busy roads alone, but I realize if I don't bike on some busy roads I'll never get in as many miles as I need to when I begin training for my 1/2 ironman.

Since I have enjoyed reading everyone else's intros, I thought maybe I should put mine in the correct format so we all have a good familiarity with each other:

- Who you are and what your life is like (family etc so we know what your time demands are) -- I'm 42, but feel 24 (not kidding).  Married to a gorgeous chicky and have 3 kids - 9yr old girl and twin 6yr old boys.  I work at Penn State (The Pennsylvania State University) which gives me access to mulitple pools and exercise equpment, plus I belong to the local YMCA.  As far as time considerations - I always prioritize family before anything else, so I'm not ever going to be a "hardcore contender," but that's really not my goal, so I'm ok with that.  I fit my workouts in and my family's very supportive, so I'm happy.

- Are you using a training plan? I really don't do the plan thing.  I just try to get all my workouts in as often as I can and call myself lucky to have the opportunity.  HOWEVER, I am considering joining the Team in Training to benefit the fight against Leukemia and Lymphoma, so I might be getting a plan and some coaching out of that membership.  If I do decide to join up, I will share my experiences 100%

- Do you have any weight loss goals? I have more of a fat-management goal.  I'm really looking to cut my fat percentage down by about 5% over the next couple of months.  I don't really care what the scale reads, because if I maintain my current weight, but decrease my fat percentage, then I'm still going to be just as happy.

- How are you going with the individual sports? Swim/Bike Run... and what are your strengths and weaknesses? -- Swimming has been my biggest hurdle - by far.  Last year, I couldn't swim more than 25 yards without stopping for 30-45 seconds to catch my breath.  The longest open-water siwm I did last year was 1/2 mile and I breast-stroke and back-stroke almost the whole way while seriously thinking I was going to die.  I almost called the boats over to rescue me several times.  However, I stuck with it and something finally clicked about a month ago.  Now, I can swim over a mile non-stop and I'm trying to work on my form and breathing techniques to get better.

I love to run.  I hurt my ankle two weeks ago, so I'm a bit frustrated right now, but I guess that's the risk that comes with a weekly trail run.  I was 1.5 miles into my biggest trail run yet (it was supposed to be 15 miles) and I jumped over a log and landed on a root.  Ouch.  It's getting much better, so I'm hoping to start running again by the end of next week.

I think I will love biking, but don't have a road bike, yet.  I will continue to ride my mountain bike as much as possible until I can sell it and buy a road bike, but I have kind of fallen "out of love" with mountain biking and really can't wait to get on the roads!

- Anything else you need help with in relation to the sport -- 1- I need help being realistic and knowing what to expect with rehabbing my ankle and getting back to running.  2- I'm really wanting to work on my swimming.  I'm sure I'm fighting myself much more than I should be.  3 - Anyone have an extra 58cm road bike sitting around that they don't need?  :-)

-Goals/upcoming races -- I want to repeat all four sprints I did last year and improve on my times (which shouldn't be hard since I took SOOOO long on the swims).  Then, I want to try to complete an Olympic by mid-season and I'm dreaming about a Half-Ironman sometime in the fall (we'll see?)

Misc. Info -- I right outside of State College, PA, home of the Penn State Nittany Lions.  I graduated from Penn State and never left.  My running partner is my 14 month old Shepherd/Lab mix dog, Cinnamon.  She's a sweety.

Important - After watching me overcome my fears and start doing triathlons last year, my wife has told me that she has dreams about doing a triathlon, too. She has been really struggling with weight loss, so I'm trying to help motivate her to get started and work slowly toward her goals.  It's tough, because she's hard on herself and doesn't think she can do it.  If I can get her to commit and join me, then all of the above goals will change because I will go at her pace to be there for her and help her enjoy this sport as much as I have learned to.

Any advice in this area would be appreciated, as well.