Fred D and Queen Zipp's SWIM, BIKE RUN consistency thread.... CLOSED (Page 4)

My January goal is to do something every day.  In the past I've done well when I do something daily but if I skip a day that tends to become two, then three and before I know it a week has gone by.  I log everything and my logs for 2012 are sad.

I have no pool access at present so am limited to bike and run.  My focus will be on running at least at the beginning (running is my first love, I do enjoy biking outside but hate the trainer).

So I guess my January goal is consistency.

Hi Fred and Judi, Hope I'm not too late to join your group ! Happy New Year Everyone !

NAME: Rich

STORY: As newbie as they come. Spent the past 10 years busy with the kids and starting up my practice. Physical activity was limited to shooting baskets and attending sporting events. I supported my wife each time she was pregnant by gaining weight with her, but just not losing it. Low point was about 5 years ago when I was almost 50 pounds above my wedding weight...my famous motto was "I'm starting (diet and exercise) Monday". I lost and gained 15-20 pounds going through all the short lived fad diets until 2 years ago when I decided to get serious. I spent a few months just getting up at 5am and sleeping again just to practice getting up, sad.

I joined a local CF gym in Nov 2011, got hooked, start running in Jan 2012 and haven't stopped. I have friends and neighbors that are enthusiastic cyclists and runners so it was easy to get great advice and participate with. One particular neighbor just did his 8th full IM in 10 years and was the one who first got me into running and slowly sharing his Tri knowledge and experience. I had a mountain bike which I  ride with the kids but no road bike experience..the spandex thing kinda thew me off....forget about swimming. But something clicked and I started to read and learned about cycling, rented a nice bike to try out and eventually purchased a decent used one. I've come to love biking just not the initial costs of gear ! My first swim workout in Nov included me gasping for air after 50meters but after putting some time in the past few months, its getting better and I probably look forward to swimming now more then B/R.

My accidental IMAZ story: So the plan was to start with a few sprints, olys and maybe a HIM by the fall of 2013 or for sure by the spring of 2014. Then MAYBE a full IM in the fall of 2014. My friend who just did the IMAZ in Nov predicted that it may sell out in under 10min this year due to the popularity.( I contemplated getting into another half IM this spring or another full with a foundation slot this year but thankfully/purposely let them both sell out.)  So without going out of way on that  busy work schedule that day, I thought it would good practice to try to register for the IMAZ 2013. I somehow got a few minutes between clients and found myself on the computer at 1158am and started clicking away at 12pm. I kept on going until the pay page came up so I thought to myself..there is no way ! well my fingers just kept on magically clicking away and lo and behold, I received confirmation of my IMAZ registration. I am still in shock and its still a relative secret..but since then, its all I think about  =)... is this normal ?

In summary, I have spent many happy hours reading and researching about Tris the past 2 months and locked and loaded for my first tri season in 2013. In short, I want to lose weight and get as healthy as I've ever been for myself and family. For my planned tri races, the goals are always to have fun and finish comfortably..at least this year  =)

FAMILY STATUS:  Married for 11 years, 4 boys 10(2) and under, one newly adopted dog. I enjoy all sports esp football and basketball. I enjoy food and wine too much, cross fit, theatre and music, camping and reading.  I train before work usually starting at 5 for 1 to 1.5 hours per day and longer on the weekends for my longer bike rides and runs. I don't have any other time. I also have a child with severe special needs so plan to ride or run for some charities.

CURRENT TRAINING: Basically went from couch to half marathon from Jan 2012 to May 2012 and kept on running until my first full in November and currently maintaining a half marathon base. I just purchased a bike in Oct and building up for my first century in 5 weeks. I love the water but was never a swimmer. I took at a total immersion course in Nov to learn the right way and slowly building up to my first tri in late Feb. Due to my lack of time in cycling and swimming, putting in as much as I can.

I plan to start an official training program in early March for my first Oly tri in May, and God willing, to start a program in July for my first full IM in Nov. For now, I am swimming 4 mornings per week. After getting water comfortable in Nov/Dec, plan to start the zero to 1650 swim program next week. I am running/biking 3 times a week by doing 2 mini bricks during the week, and doing my long rides/run on the weekend with Fri as my rest day. No real formal sprint program as I am building up to my 2 half marathons and century ride in Jan/Feb.

2012 Races: Santa Barbara Half Marathon, Long Beach Full Marathon, 4 smaller half marathon races, 2 5K races

2013 RACES:  Jan- Los Angeles Half Marathon,Feb- Surf City Half Marathon, Palm Spring Century Ride, Race at the Bast sprint tri, Mar- Desert sprint tri, May- Orange County oly tri, Aug/Sept- HIM distance race somewhere, Nov- IMAZ

WEIGHTLOSS: After losing 20 pounds last year to 180, would love to hit my ultimate goal of 160 this year ! I've learned that diet is like 99% but being somewhat of a enthusiastic foodie, its the hardest part for me. I live to eat and love to entertain so I am looking at a lifestyle change/modification as well.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THIS GROUP: Accountability, encouragement, education and motivation and hope to give out the same.

Welcome Rich.

Wow, an IM first season.  I know of a few people who have successfully done this.  Takes a lot of commitment and being comfortable with feeling uncomfortable!

Hi I would like to join your group.  I definitely need to work on my consistency. 

I am Dee Heitz, 54 years old, married, two dogs, I live in western Washington where it rains most of the time.  In late 2009 I started jogging (it was a struggle) and then added in swimming and biking.  I did some sprint tris in 2010 but 2011 & 2012 were basically jogging only.  I am not very fast but I do like 10ks. I don't really have anyone local to work out with except my german shepherd Hanna goes on most of my runs with me.  So I like the bit of encouragement and accountability from a group on BT.

In the last couple of months I have worked on my consistency and on adding swimming in with the jogging.  I log my workouts on BT but mainly hang out only in the challenge forum.  I do better when I have a monthly goal to work toward. 

I don't know yet what events I will do this year.  Probably some 10ks, but not a tri unless I can get my bike back on the road.  Pretty sure it needs new tires, since it has not been out for most of the past year. I really am a fair weather rider, but we don't have a lot of fair weather here. 

As far as weight, I need to lose about 15-20 pounds.  Our holiday eating is not quite over, but soon we will be eating more balanced.

enders_shadow - 2013-01-01 2:48 PM

Fred D - 2012-12-31 4:59 PM

norcal_SAHD - 2012-12-31 12:31 PM My daughter (10) asked me what we were going to do today (off school this whole week).  I said we were going to go running.  She said, wouldn't that be a better thing to do tomorrow, you know, on the first day of the new year?  I said, OK, lets do that too.  To which she replied, but dad, you can't run every day, that's too much running.  

Sounds like a challenge to me, it's on! 

Cool, I have a 10 yo daughter as well.

10 year old daughters are awesome. Except when they're not. My 10-year old is a soccer fiend, which is why I can't plan too far ahead for my races this spring - waiting to see the travel soccer schedule. She also regularly whups me at 5K races. One of the reasons I started to tri was to be an inspiration to my girls (the other is 7) - it turns out, they often inspire me!

Sadly, 10 year old daughters grow up.......and somewhere in those teenage years they alternate between being fun and being the source of all irritation.  My 17 year old is in that stage.  I understand her completely, yet she is usually at the center of every conflict.  She loves to run but show choir competitions have taken up her time so she has let the running go.  My gut is she will go back to running once she graduates high school and realizes she can't live on carbs without some form of exercise.

First run of the year completed.  Hoping it'll be the first of many.  I enjoyed it more than I expected given my lack of training lately.

As I said, my January goal is simply to start to develop consistency into my training again.  Even training across all disciplines (2x each per week) to start with, and then starting to add focus as needed.

Hey everyone!  Made it back home from the west coast for the holidays!  Ready to get back into the pool and on my trainer as I've kept up the running.

January goal:

I have to do some travelling for work this month which may effect bike and swim, but I'm doing the 100 runs in 100 days over at slowtwitch.  I'm shooting for 70-80 runs in this timeframe.  So run 6x a week.  

Get back on the bike and into the pool.  3x a week on the bike and at least 2x a week in the pool.  A half hour for each "workout" in S/B/R for it to count.

Fred D - 2013-01-01 12:33 PM

enders_shadow - 2013-01-01 2:48 PM

Fred D - 2012-12-31 4:59 PM

norcal_SAHD - 2012-12-31 12:31 PM My daughter (10) asked me what we were going to do today (off school this whole week).  I said we were going to go running.  She said, wouldn't that be a better thing to do tomorrow, you know, on the first day of the new year?  I said, OK, lets do that too.  To which she replied, but dad, you can't run every day, that's too much running.  

Sounds like a challenge to me, it's on! 

Cool, I have a 10 yo daughter as well.

10 year old daughters are awesome. Except when they're not. My 10-year old is a soccer fiend, which is why I can't plan too far ahead for my races this spring - waiting to see the travel soccer schedule. She also regularly whups me at 5K races. One of the reasons I started to tri was to be an inspiration to my girls (the other is 7) - it turns out, they often inspire me!

My girls are 7 and 10 as well. They both swim competitively. Last meet my 10yo swam 1:25 for the 100 free. 8:16 for 500 free and 1:32 for 100 IM. That's better than many triathletes and within a year or so she will be whupping me lol.

my girls are 8 and 10 (11 next week).  The youngest is mostly into gymnastics, the older is a softball nut.  Did a traveling team all summer and fall, crazy to me how young they start trying to get the kids to specialize in a single sport!  Both girls did swim team last summer, and liked it enough to do it again.  It's mostly for fun of course, but I love that they are learning the RIGHT way to swim right from the get go, unlike me who learned a few years ago as an adult and had (has) a lot of bad habits to unlearn...

david.

Here's my bio:

NAME: Anthony

FAMILY: 54 years old and married 25 years with 3 kids. Son 24, daughter 23, and son 16. The 2 oldest are out on their own and doing well.

STORY: Lost 40 pounds about 10 years ago so I started running in some local 5 and 10K's. In 2006 I found out there were sprint distance triathlons and not just Ironman so I thought I would give it a try. Luckily I found BT, did my first tri that Summer and have done 4 or 5 tris and a couple of dus each season since then. I do one HIM each year, but I probably won't ever move up to IM. I'm kinda slow but I have lots of fun.

2012: In January I had my first (and hopefully only) running injury when I slipped while warming up for a 5K and something sort of popped in my hip. Had to cut down on my running. Should have done more swimming and biking, but I didn't and did all my races undertrained, so I just took it easy and enjoyed the day.

2013: Definitely a March HM and American Zofingen Du Short Course in May. 1 or 2 olys, 1 or 2 sprints, and 1 HIM, but I haven't picked them yet.

CURRENT TRAINING: Trying to get my running back to where it was before I got hurt. Luckily I really love running in the Winter, so my running has been good. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of cycling when it gets below 40 degrees, I don't like the trainer, and I have trouble motivating myself to get to the Y and swim, so my riding and swimming falls off in the Winter. I plan to do better this year. If anyone would like to give me a virtual smack over the internet to get me moving, feel free!

Okay, here are my January goals.  They sure sound pitiful but it is where I am at, so here it is.

Since my goal is consistency, I plan to train 3 out of every 4 days.  Realistically with my schedule, that is what I can do right now. So 24 workouts in January and lose 4 pounds.

Today was a loss as far as progress toward my goals.  Big family dinner with too much food and no time for exercising unless vacuuming, cooking, and doing dishes count.       However, tomorrow I don't start work until 11 am.  So I plan to get myself out the door in the morning to get in a run.

It seems cliche, and so simple...but it's really the truth.  So many athletes focus on "key" workouts like the long run or long ride and overlook the 30 minute runs, a few swims here and there, etc.  You add all of those up at the end of the year, and it's a whole lot of training. 

Obviously it's okay to miss a workout here or there when life gets in the way...but consistancy also has to do with taking the steps ahead of time to minimize those possibilities.

I must be doing something wrong.  I added everyone to my Friend list and still can't see a few people's logs to inspire.  Fred D, you're one of them.....advice!!!

Today is my first swim of the New Year and officially kicks in my January goal!

For those of us who need a little help to stick to our January (and beyond) goals, I thought this was a good article.  I especially liked the part about seeing those goals down the road, not just the first week we kick them off.

Off to the TM and then the pool!