The Second Wind Group - CLOSED (Page 4)

David, think you have hit the nail on the head with me. I tri to stay in shape and to do something about all this nervous energy I have! But I think I have been being a little selfish-I belong to a tri-team and I want to represent them well, but I think that is just me being wanting to be proud. I am going to think about that.

Chick, what an awesome website! I did not get to look at it too well, was overwhelmed with it and also have not had time. Thanks so much for sharing that with us. I start vacation tomorrow and I will have more time to read about all these wonderful people in this group!

My vacation involves my first tri of the year-it's Sunday! My husband and I are going to make a vacation of it since it is in Florida.

Matt, I see you are from Jupiter, are you doing St. Anthony's? That's where I am going!

Hope you all have awesome workouts and promise to get to know you all better soon!

Jan

Name: GomesBolt / Matt

Family: Married to a wonderful lady, 2 kids (Jacob 5, Emma 4)

My Story:  Wrestled and played Football in High School (Spalding HS, Maryland), went-on to Wrestle in College for 2 years (The Citadel). I started my training for the Marine Corps in my Junior year, so from that point until 2007, I was required to train 5x a week and keep my weight down.  In the Marine Corps, I was an officer, so it was accepted that you could work out whenever you had time to do so.  I did two tours in Iraq (2004 and 2006/2007) and my son was born 7 days after I returned the 2nd time.  I got out of the Corps that Summer and started my job at my current company.

Being at a civilian company, working out is not part of the culture.  On top of that, I have a job that requires a lot of traveling and a lot of dinners/entertaining customers, etc.  Not good for weight management.  I got into Triathlon in Feb 2008 to get and keep my weight down and get healthy.  I hung up the shoes for a while starting in September of 2009.  At that point, I started on a new project that required weekly travel from FL to AZ.  I also had to do a lot of repair to my marriage and try to focus on my faith and family first, job second, and everything else went by the wayside.  Weight climbed higher than ever (257 in January) and I was feeling awful.

When I started working back into it, I decided I would do so only taking time away from sleep or work, not family.  As such, I run/ride/swim before the kids are up or after theyre in bed almost exclusively.  With good training and tracking my calories (more to follow on this), I'm down to 240 and dropping steadily, not quickly.  I'm feeling great too. 

I won't be doing a lot of races.  I think I'll stick with 2 per year, maybe a 3rd sometime.  But I love the training. 

I mentioned briefly that I wanted to focus on my faith and my family.  I saw the SecondWind group and thought this would be the ideal mentor group to associate with because as Paul said in Romans 1:12 we should "be mutually comforted by one another's faith, both yours and mine."  I think it takes a lot of courage for Chick to set this group up on this site and I think he's to be commended.  There are a lot of great people on BT.com, but I bet the vast majority of them are non-believers.  I think it's important we don't hide our faith.

Weight Loss: I've struggled with my weight my whole life.  It's harder than ever with 2 kids, a civilian job that involves a lot of travel, my wife's awesome cooking, and oh yeah, a slower metabolism...But I started using the MyFitnessPal app at the beginning of March and I've lost 15 pounds since without wearing down or cutting weight.  I just track every calorie I eat or burn and try to stay in the green.  Not too far in the green, because that makes you tired.  It's really cool.  If you have weight issues or just want to track your calories better, it's awesome.

Past Races: Marine Corps Marathon, Cooper River Bridge Run (10k), Several 5Ks, Loggerhead Triathlon 2 times, Bunch of other sprint Triathlons.

Upcoming Races: Motivation Man Olympic (first Oly) June 2, Loggerhead Triathlon (August), maybe someday Kona... (I visited there in March on business, what an awesome place).

Sorry for the long post, glad to be in the group.

Matt.

Matt - thanks for the post.  It's really cool to see so many of these profiles and how much so many of us have in common.  Obviously, there seems to be a common them where many are Christians here...there's also a theme (that is helpful to me, at least) of a bunch of people who have small children and have to work out early in the morning. I am not a morning person, and I struggle to get out of bed early every morning.  

I'm happy to report that my calf strain seems to be tapering off.  I've been running again and seem to be able to up my distance.  The most I've ever run in my life (at one time) is 4.20 miles and I did it early this week without pain.  My Oly in June is 8 miles so I'm excited about improving my distance and am praying I can remain injury free.

davisjanis58- Nope, no St A's for me.  Mainly because 1) I'm not ready to do it and 2) I'm probably going to stick with 1-2 races this year and a 70.3 if those go well.

How's taper-week going for you?

There was a really good article on Oly Nutrition that I found.  I will see if I can find it.  May be too late to implement some wholesale changes, but there may be 1 or 2 things you could adopt.

Here it is.  Some Oly Nutrition.  Pretty good. http://gavinnoble.com/nutrition/

abreakey- I too get the Wiggles songs popping-up in my head during runs/rides.  On my bike rides, I don't know why, but the song that always comes to mind is "Why do you build me up Buttercup."

As for your brick to the run.  I think when you come off the bike and start running, your eyes are seeing the ground move slower than you were moving on the bike and your brain tells you "hurry hurry hurry."  When really what you should do is just focus on getting your legs in a rythym.  Definitely think the cool weather helps-out. -Great job on your first Brick!

Hey,

Hope your all doing well and training hard this weekend!

Good luck in your race Jan!

Well, tomorrow marks a year since I officially did my first sprint triathlon. I'm anxious to do well and beat last years times. The weather looks pretty good and I picked up my race packet today. Did a brick workout last night and practiced T1 and T2. Could really use some work on transitions! Kind of relaxing today and reading Matt Long's "The Long Run". Very inspiring book!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Joni

Ran a 5K this morning.  Did ok, did not push hard.

Pulled out of my Sprint Tri coming up since I have not hit the pool and am still having some pain in my shoulder from my surgery.

Great to continue to read all of the progress everyone is making.  Yesterday I did my first tri of the season.  It was the Riverwood Triathlon.  Here were my times.

300 yd swim - 00:05:33 (actual swim time was 5:00, had a 33 second run to T1 where the timing mat was located)
T1 - 00:01:09
14 mi bike - 00:48:38 (17.25 mph avg)
T2 - 00:00:56
5K run - 00:27:56 (PR)
Total time 01:24:10

I was treating this race as a tune-up for my half ironman this coming Saturday.  Felt great to get back to racing.  It was a cool day with the temp at 50 with winds.  That mad it a little interesting on the bike, but not too bad.  I was able to spend a lot of the bike in the aero position, which I was hoping in prep for next week.  Broke the 28 minute barrier on my 5K.  I was excited about that for 1) being able to do it and 2) doing this on a hilly course.  Guess all of my training on nothing but hills on my route paid off there.

If you are interested, I have some photos up on my Facebook that you can see here (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3819846823065.168859.1484516791&type=1).

Good luck to those of you racing today.

I hope everyone had a better weekend than me.  I was out for a 30 mile bike ride on saturday morning, and about 14 miles in, I caught a seam in the concrete and it threw me off my bike.  I scraped up both of my hands, my right shoulder, right elbow, and right knee, plus a little road rash on my right hip and a bruise about the size of a softball on left thigh, i think from where it hit the handle bars during the crash.  I was about a mile from home at that point so I took it easy to get home and got cleaned up, cutting my planned ride in half.  My bike is fine, but I'm still a little sore.  If this was going to happen, it occurred at the right time, because this is a recovery week for me and I will be traveling for work tuesday through thursday, so I won't have much time to work out anyway.  This gives me almost a full week to recover before jumping back into things next weekend. 

Hey Gomesbolt - I really like the idea of the tech-free runs. I will have to try it soon!

Nice job on your tri Chick!

How did it go Jan?

I did also did a sprint tri this weekend that marks a year since my first tri!

I will show you my 2011 and 2012 results for the same tri.

           200 meter pool swim       TI         10.3 mile bike         T2         5k run           Total time

2011:             5:54                 2:49               43:18            1:18          37:50           131:23

2012:             4:51                 2:19               42:36            1:39          36:49           129:19

Overall, I can't complain. I was especially happy with my swim. Couldn't believe how much improvement I made. As for the bike, I powered my way through 30 mile per hour winds in 2011 and this year tried to maintain a steady cadence. I guess that didn't work too well because I should have been faster on the bike. During the run I had a cramp under my left rib cage and had to walk 3 times...not fun, but I still beat last years time. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results!

Can anyone explain cadence for me on the bike? I feel like I don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing on the bike. I think I do much better when I ride in a harder gear instead of trying to keep a steady easier pace. Any advice? Oh, and I had clipless shoes this year vs. last year.

Thanks,

Joni

I'll join the good news thread!  I was finally able to get outside on the bike today.  Put in 37 miles (2 hours) on a kinda-windy day.  Followed that up with a 2 mile run.  I thought my watch was broken because of the times it was giving me.  I PR'd my 2 miler... by a lot!  Praise the Lord!

I must admit I've been lurking since joining the mentor group--My eldest has had a school project we've been working on since February and he is presenting it tomorrow.  Needless to say, I have been focusing my attention there. 

Ahhhhh.  It's good to be back.

Nice race Chick! I don't even know what hills are. Joni, nice race too and it's always good to do the same race to be able to see how you're doing. Hope everybody else who raced today had a good race, and please post up

Steven, sorry to hear about the fall. Hope the timing of it all works for you.

I still haven't done much, but I did pull my bike out of the dusty corner of the garage

Prayin for ya Otter man.  And also thanking the Lord that you may have caught something early because you happened to go to the doctor. Right?

Stegaman, Good news is this "My bike is fine."  If it wasn't, you may have had a hard time justifying funds to your family for a new one... At least I know I would.  One of the guys I work with used to ride a lot in college, in criteriums, etc.  He said he'd get all his fitness, technique, speed, strength on trainers indoors.  Riding outside is where all the injuries happen, where you break your bike, and, because we live in FL, the land of hit cyclists and runners (more total and per-capita), where you take your life into your hands.  Doesn't mean I've ponied-up the $$$ for an indoor trainer...yet, but I think there's some truth to the comments.

Great Race Jwoody.  On the no-tech runs, I read a blurb in Runners World about it and although I love my tech, I tried it more to study the effect of just paying attention to what my body was telling me "You're slacking, you're still slacking, you're clomping your feet, etc."  Consequently, when I had my garmin on this morning for my brick, I couldn't stop looking at the thing.  I wish I had left it at home as well.

Downloaded "Born to Run."  Pretty great read.

I sounds like everyone had a pretty good weekend working out and racing (with the exception of the bike wreck...yikes!).  Personally, I ran a personal best (actually personal longest) 5.2 miles this morning.  I could have gone longer but I had trouble getting out of bed and had to head home to get to work on time.

This weekend I did a brick with my ultra-marathon running buddy.  He started talking to me about joining with a race team: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team In Training and also the FCA.  The thought of being on a "team" had never even occurred to me.  I've never even done a real race (yet) and am still just training.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?  Have you done it? I am interested because I figure if I am going to do these races anyway, and I can help other people and be a testimony...why not?  But, I really don't know much so I'm interested in feedback.   

dprocket, great job on the long run. It's too bad we don't have plenty of time for everything we need to do, and we have even less time for what we want to do.

Team in Training seems to be a very popular group at almost every race.  They wear the purple shirts.  Someone pointed out to me that they only cheer for their team members.  Ever since I heard that, I have noticed it at every race.  Nothing wrong with that, it's just noticeable. 

If you mean a tri team, there are tri groups everywhere that have workouts, clinics, get togethers, etc.  I train a lot with the TriRunningSports team here in Jupiter. 

I ran the Marine Corps Marathon with Team Semper Fi.  But that was more about raising money for wounded Marines and less about having someone to train with.  It was still very motivating to know I wasn't just running a race, I was raising money for a good cause.

I'm sure Chick wouldn't mind you running for the SecondWind team.  You'd be the KC chapter.

Morning Everyone!

So, I have a Bible app on my ipad and iphone and I do a daily reading on there.  Right now it has me bouncing around David's life.  Ever since I was a Lieutenant, I've carried a little green notebook to write notes of all types in it throughout the day.  I'm almost certain Chronicles is just David's little green notebook from when he was in-charge.  Today's reading 1 Chronicles 11 has David saying "I wish I had water from the cistern in Bethlehem" and three of his warriors went off and killed a bunch of Philistines to get to the cistern and back.  Then David goes "I can't drink this blood water." As if to say "I didn't mean go kill a bunch of people and bring me a cup of water."  The OT is funny.

Just a goofy thought for your morning.

-Matt.

That's great, Matt. I love the thought of David carrying around a little "green book". I teach an adult class at church and frequently we study some of these passages in the OT and I love to ask the question: "why did God see fit to put this in here...what am I to learn about God or people from this".

This morning I was on a run and I broke through a new personal best for distance again. I'm a big fan of gospel rap (I know, laugh it up) and listen to it constantly when I work out. As I was running up my final hill just before stopping at my house my music player switched to the next track which was (not rap) "Carry Me To The Cross" by Kutless. The first words of the song were so appropriate: "when the path is daunting, and every step exhausting, I'm not alone, no I'm not alone". I had to laugh to myself.

Oh no stegaman, hope your healing quickly and feel better already! Good luck on your race. Sounds like a rough road you traveled.

Great job on your run Robin! It always feels good to break those records!

Otter - how did your scan go?

Thanks Chris! Yes, I think I will do the same race every year. The weather in NJ is not always good this time of year, but it's a great early season race.

Thanks Gamesbolt! I totally enjoyed this tri. I've been debating on a GPS watch. Don't think I really need one, but I've been tempted to check them out.

Went to a running seminar last night and met Matt Long. He was a NY City firefighter who got hit by a bus during his training. He was in really bad shape and basically had to learn how to run again so he could run in the NY City Marathon. His book is "The Long Run". Very inspirational and so awesome to meet him. I highly recommend his book!

Doing a 5k Run Against Drugs this weekend!

Happy training!

Joni

Scan went easier than I was lead to believe.  Results due some time later this week.

Hey Otter, glad to hear the scan went well.  Praying for good results.

dprocket- my running playlist (titled "Run, Fat Boy Run!") is a collection of music I wouldn't let my kids listen to (Clean versions of Eminem, JayZ, some hard metal), some worship music (yes...Toby Mac), some U2, and then the coup de grace... Irish music (the Pogues, etc).  The Irish music always seems to pop-up at the right time.  It's not entirely clean in their language, but in ours, it's fine...Mostly about drinking...

Slept through my workout time this morning (intentionally, sore throat, ear pressure) so if I don't check-in with a workout during lunchtime today, feel free to flog me. 

Edited to add: Did my run at lunchtime. Ran 4.8 miles.  Don't flog me!

That's what this whole Mentor Group thing is supposed to be for.  It's supposed to be to hold you accountable for working out.  And to rejoice together when someone has a great workout or great race.  So, hit the bricks gang!