FoggyGoggle's Mentor Group - Closed (Page 4)

After a unplanned rest day yesterday, I made it out this morning for a 5 mile run.  Didn't feel great, my legs just felt dead.  This evening I forced myself to go to my training lab (aka my basement) and got in an hour on the trainer with a couple of my riding buddies.  Rode an hour to the Sufferfest, Downward Spiral.  I'm spent.

I hope everyone has had a great day.

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Stacey

I am not sure I loved running at first! What really got me going and motivated was signing up for races. At first I had no goals other than to finish them. I started with a 5k, then 10k, then 10 mile and then 1/2 marathon. (We have a series of races here, the triple crown (5k, 10k, 10 mile) and then the Derby full or 1/2 marathon that are all in the spring March-April time frame). I completely walked the 5k, 10k, and 10 miler. I walked/ran the 1/2 marathon but I too suffered from ITB issues (although at the time I had no clue that is what was going on with my knee!).  I went to a local running store and they put me in a more supportive shoe and I haven't had much trouble with ITB since, although I am finding that cycling bothers it a little. Once the ITB was better I couldn't wait to do more races! I love the feeling I get when I finish a race, even though they aren't all PR's I still feel such an accomplishment when I finish one!

Another thing I have found that makes running more enjoyable is to run with others. We have several local running stores and they all do group runs throughout the week and on Saturday's. I can't always make the weeknight runs but I try to get to the Saturday ones. I have made some wonderful friends from these group runs!

Thanks for the swimming advice!

A couple of questions for everyone:

1 - Has anyone ever dealt with a Morton's Neuroma in your foot? I am currently getting shots for neuroma #2

2 - I think I am allergic to the chemicals in the pool. After I swim, I cannot stop sneezing and my nose is all stopped up like I have been crying or am sick. I researched it a little and everything pointed to allergies. I take generic claritin everyday and that is helping but it is not going away completely. Does anyone else experience this?

Thanks!

Selena

Stacey - I have yet to ever find a runners high either.  The only sense of elation I feel is when the run is over and I finish it tired, but vicotrious.  I think my excersize endorphin gland is broken.  Suffering never makes me happy, only the completion of a goal set before me does.  Whether it be completing a half marathon, or training run, or sometimes just making it to the next street lamp. 

Josh - That is one hell of a training lab or perhaps dungeon you've got set up.  I especially love the twinkies banner in the back.

Took the bike out yesterday for the first time in an extremely long time.  Booooo, its strange how the hills in this area don't look very steep or long when seen from the cab of my truck.  But from the saddle they seem to go straight up and forever.  Can't wait to get my biking legs back.....cause after that ride I found out they left me.

I do a little training every day, plan on 60min on the crosstrainer and 1800m swim this evening, I've added the attached link which gets me off my arse when it appears to be superglued to the couch. If you haven't seen it before it might help to get you motivated on those low days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6xLYt265ZM

I'm planning on purchasing my first roadbike tomorrow, I'm undecided as to whether or not to get a cannondale caad 8 alum frame 105 gears but crappy wheels for £799, or purchase a Fully Carbon Cannondale Synapse (white red) complete Ultregra components and £500 wheels for £1899 (cracking bike).

Is there room for another Minnesota boy in here??

Hey everyone I'm Doug.

Back story - I started really cycling in college.  I stopped for a while then came back to it.  Last year I did my first 2 tris.  I did the Chaska Tri and the One Last Tri (and proceeded to freeze by BUTT off).  I started to run and swim for Tri's so those are in need of lots o work.  I have done a a few 5k's and a 10k.  My current roommate and I train and compete together .  I did pretty good against him last year but I want to be more of a threat if I can.  I primarily do this for myself but it never hurts to stick it to the 6'5" people every now and then

Family - Me, my BMC, My Sauconys, my TYR action, and my motorcycle ;D

Current training - Now the parts that I'm really here for.  Over the winter I did mostly weights.  I've done a spin class/spinervals a few times recently and started running again.  But I need some help figuring a good plan to achieve my goals this year.  I got about half way through the Triathletes training bible and that is a very poorly written book.  It doesn't make much sense to me.  Once I'm done here I'm going to run 3 around Lake Calhoun.  I also decided that this season I will only drink 1 day a week and only go out to eat 2 times a week.    Should help with many things.

2011 goals - 2-3 sprints and an Olympic.  Also I'm pretty sure I want to do the Twin Cities marathon and I'm already signed up for the MN Ironman bike ride (century distance).  My main goals this season are to top 5 the bike and age group at Chaska (i'm 31) and do a 10 minute swim at Brewhouse in Duluth (really 10 minute swims should be done at all Sprints).

Weight loss goal - I'm right about 165 right now and would like to be 150-155.  That shouldn't be all to hard.  Though last year I must have traded out fat for muscle cause I didn't lose much if any weight according to the scale.

Foggy, I'd like to join your group...

Name: Donto/Don

Story:  47 YO male, will have been on BT for 8 years coming up on Feb 5th, still learning something every year!  My wife and I got into fitness after our 2nd born turned 1.  We took a good look at ourselves and said "we need to change".  I've always been athletic, grew up in the great outdoors not playing games or watching TV!  I work a lot of hours as I am a partner is a small business so training is something I incorporate into commuting to/from work (min 5.5 miles).  My strengths as a triathlete are biking and running. Major weakness is swimming. Up until my last race (MOP) I have always been BOP and other than 2006 & early 2007 when I did a HIM and a race that was 1.5x Oly distance I haven't really swam a lot.  Believe it or not, most of the swimming I've done yardage wise over the last 3 years has been in my 10 yard long back yard pool!

Family Status:  Married 15 years with two kids, boy who's now 12 and girl who's 11 going on 16!  My wife is a teacher assistant, has become a runner and works out almost daily at the Y since she has to take the kids 5x per week for swim team practice.

Training: Need to get on it ASAP after taking a Nov/Dec off.  Currently working on my training plan and bought a new RB for commuting as my old MTB has seen better times. Need to incorporate some strength training exercises as strength wise I'm starting to feel the slow affect of aging.  I have some back issues which core training helps with. 

Goals: Three main goals for this year. 

1. Swim: I need to improve my swim.  Had a somewhat of a breakthrough last year with some TI principles that helped me.  Now I need some more water time to become a stronger swimmer.  My kids have been able to out swim me since they were 5!
2. AG Podium at the June Sprint A-race:  This race brings in some of the best triathletes around Central FL and this will be my 8th year doing it. I was able to take AG 1st place in a smaller fall race in Oct which gave me a lot of confidence.  I know with dedicated hard work & the perfect race scenario I can do it.  I'll need a 2 minute swim improvement to have a chance to do this.
3. PR 15k run race: In July we travel to CNY and visit family.  We've run the Boilermaker 15k 2x and I would love to have a great run with a PR.  Crowds start to finish, several world-class athletes and a great post race party!

With all the workouts people are doing, I thought I should chime in.  I've just started my "winter" training.  

Monday I went for a 1hr mountain bike ride with friends, not a long ride distance wise but some good hills.  

Wed and Thursday I participated in a kettle ball type boot camp workout.  My wife and I bought these on Groupon and decided to use it to jump start my training and work on building my core.  After last year's events I concluded that I really need to build my core strength so I'm hoping this 3x week kettle ball / circuit boot camp will help jump start that process.  

This morning - Friday, I rode on a spinning stationary bike for the first time at the gym near my work.  I rode about 55 min, it felt really good.  I will have to do this more often.  

I'm also trying to get back into tracking my diet with myfitnesspal.com - man I eat a lot - I've got to be more careful about what I eat.  

One of the things that attracted met to this group was the fact that OFL (Our Fearless Leader) lifts weights - this is something I want to get into as part of my training.  So, any help you can provide on good exercises (weights) to do would be most helpful.

@Marshpike - I've had an aluminum Cannondale for about 25 years.  Save for the fact that I no longer have enough gears (the industry widened the rear end on bikes to add more gears on the rear end in the mid 90's) I absolutely LOVE my aluminium Cannondale.  I've never rode a carbon fiber bike so I can't comment on that, but I am seriously considering another aluminium Cannondale for my next bike.

Canon

"... Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  Hebrews 12:1

Marsh - before you go off and buy a bike be sure to ride as many bikes in your price range as you can.  I was hell bent on a Trek a few years ago.  I went and road everything there was and thought "well now I'll go ride my Trek and it will decimate all and I'll buy it."  This was not the case, it was terrible.  No matter how I tired to like it, it just wasnt for me.  I tried a Lemond (now I think Gary Fisher road bikes are the Lemond geometry) and before I got out of the parking lot I knew it was the best thing I had ridden all day.  You are going to be on this bike for a long time.  Make sure its truly is right for you.  

All bikes are not created equally, just like running shoes!!!!

Hey Doug! Woot for folks who train all winter in MN! We're crazy! But getting lucky with this weird weather, eh? I could use a biking buddy later in the season, so let me know if you're interested. It's pretty easy for me to hop on the greenway and head your direction. I'm also signed up for the Brewhouse, but I'm doing the long route.

Henry

Thanks for that, strange my main discipline is running and the first thing I say to anyone who's starting off (not that I'm an expert) is to be sure you get a shoe that is fitted for you, even when they say I paid x amount for a pair of running shoes my response is always it doesn't matter how much you spend if they're not right for you.

I never consider the same for the bike, but it makes perfect sense!!

Ended up doing 30 min cycling in the gym this evening and swam 1100m, my local pool had jjust closed for 3 weeks for refurbishment, during that time I was reviewing swimming techniques on youtube and now my swimming is all over the place.

My usual stroke now appears so wrong but I have it in printed, going to have to get some classes if i want to make it to an oly tri this year. 

I have a current plan which is improving my base in each discipline, I tweak it every two weeks to increase intensity but its not 70.3 specific 'yet' I'm hoping as I develop the plan will develop.

Just finished reading who dares run by Gerry duffy and ultramarathon man by Dean Karnazes and I feel I can do it now, lol but I know I need conditioning. Both these books are great, I had only ran twice in Nov/Dec 5miles each time and on boxing day I just put on the shoes and ran 26.2miles due to the inspiration gain from the books, ok it took my 4hr 58min but I still completed it

Hoping to gain knowledge from the group to help me make the 70.3 next year, what a buzz that would be...

Your the third person thats said that to me today , I'm going see if I can find a CAAD 8 some where and get a spin before placing an order. I might even be allowed back in the house if I went for the cheaper of the two choice (joke face).

I was having a hard time getting motivated today but managed to get to the pool for a 2000m swim.

I saw that  Marshpike posted his favorite motivational video.

I'll play along, here's mine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnqpYKx8Fvk

I can't help but get motivated to go train after watching this.

Robbie (MarshPike) I agree with StriderArrows - you should definitely ride as many bikes as you can.  I've heard aluminum bikes can be a bit harsh/rough and I must say I feel more bumps now than I did 25 years ago.  I rode a bunch of bikes before I got mine, Bianchi, SR, Trek and when I rode the Cannondale - I knew instantly, the power, the rigidity, I was hooked.  So best of luck looking for your bike.

Froggy - what I learned last year.  I felt a lot of pain in my lower back during the first tri once I started the run.  From this, I learned that I really have to build my core strength.  I cramped a lot during the second one.  I know I trained more for the first tri than my second, the drop off in training effort after a tri was amazing.  I didn't expect how hard it would be to get back into the swing of training.  From this I learned that my training needs to be more sustainable, not just goal oriented.  I also learned that I need to do a better job learning how to fuel and prepare my body - hence the wanting to start lifting weights.  Not sure how I'm going to figure the fuel part out.

I use protein shakes when I work out and Accelerade / Endurox with endurance training/ events (and Gu during)  For protein I like Gold Standard but have a bag of Costo 100% Whey that I need to get through before I buy more Gold Standard.  I'm not a big fan of lifting weights (mostly because I'm not comfortable with what to do and how to do it, and partly because I find it boring - but a run/ride/swim I don't find boring - curious... LOL)

Since others posted their motivational videos, I'll post mine.  I have both a song and a video, here they are...

(video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6inUumXJBI

(song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB3nWWS6ZC4 - I have a whole playlist of this type of music - It was kind of hard to pick one...

Canon

Shorts in January! (Minnesota). HR a little high. Haven't been training much lately but have a 10k mid Feb.

Did nothing yesterday.

Avg HR: 169

Congratulations on your soon-to-be bike purchase!

It's nice to see Minneapolis folks here. Have any of you considered Duluth's Superiorman HIM? It looks very interesting.

Thanks for the advice regarding core strengthening. That's something I have been neglecting (along with cycling and running.) Getting hours in on the trainer is brutal. What do you do to make time pass on the trainer, group?

I am getting so anxious to get my training started reading all the workouts everyone is doing!  I have been suffering with a nasty sinus infection for a week now, but finally starting to feel relief. 

Any recommendations of training plans?  I printed out the 13 week sprint original plan.  Although looking through it, it seems maybe a little too simple.  Like only swimming X (whatever x is suppose to be?) and then biking 20.  The workouts don't seem to be that long (not as much as I expected).  I'm pretty new to running, but I go to my gym regularly and feel that I am pretty fit.  I feel my workouts should be longer.  Am I wrong?