Fred D and Queen Zipp's SWIM, BIKE RUN consistency thread.... CLOSED (Page 40)

Time for some ramblings from me.

First I'd like to thank judi for the almost daily inspires, even when I've gone days logging nothing.

The first  2 months of this year have been a write off as far as any kind of training - I've been sick twice, for 3 weeks the first time and 2 weeks the second.  The main problem was fatigue, I had no energy to do anything.  Feeling back to normal now except having random episodes where I get hit for a few hours with cold symptoms, mosting sinus congestion, which then resolve as quickly as they appeared.  It happened friday night at work and lasted about four hours then was gone.  Weird.

Didn't do well with my Feb goals, the only one I met was setting the bike up on the trainer.  So for March I am not setting any goals or planning any training.  When I plan training ahead of time and then miss a session I feel bad.  Instead my only  goal is  to do something on most days.  This year instead of planning races and then training to be ready for them I'm going to run, bike and swim when I feel like it, build my fitness up slowly, do some hiking and yoga and strength training, and if see a race that I want to try and feel I have the fitness to do it THEN I will sign up for it.  No pressure to HAVE to train, instead do the things I like and just be healthy.  There are lots of local races near me and most never sell out so I can pretty much sign up last minute for any of them. 

Time for some ramblings from me.

First I'd like to thank judi for the almost daily inspires, even when I've gone days logging nothing.

The first  2 months of this year have been a write off as far as any kind of training - I've been sick twice, for 3 weeks the first time and 2 weeks the second.  The main problem was fatigue, I had no energy to do anything.  Feeling back to normal now except having random episodes where I get hit for a few hours with cold symptoms, mosting sinus congestion, which then resolve as quickly as they appeared.  It happened friday night at work and lasted about four hours then was gone.  Weird.

Didn't do well with my Feb goals, the only one I met was setting the bike up on the trainer.  So for March I am not setting any goals or planning any training.  When I plan training ahead of time and then miss a session I feel bad.  Instead my only  goal is  to do something on most days.  This year instead of planning races and then training to be ready for them I'm going to run, bike and swim when I feel like it, build my fitness up slowly, do some hiking and yoga and strength training, and if see a race that I want to try and feel I have the fitness to do it THEN I will sign up for it.  No pressure to HAVE to train, instead do the things I like and just be healthy.  There are lots of local races near me and most never sell out so I can pretty much sign up last minute for any of them. 

I'm in -- and I think that Chapfallen want's in as well.

Should we just report on ther forum here? 

Thanks for the idea!  I need some motivation in the weight dept.

STARTING WEIGHT:  3/1/2013 -- 215

I have UTTriman, Chapfallen, Queenzip and norcal SAHD interested in the weight loss challenge. Please confirm your participation and if you are, submit your starting weight as of March 1. Should we do weekly weigh ins every Monday am and do the final weigh in April 1 ?  So far I have:

UTTriman: 215

Queenzip: 146

Tri2Smile: 187

I plan to just work on portion control, cut back on the bad carbs, sugar and alcohol and give myself 2 cheat meals per week =) Just like my tri training, I am hoping we can give each other some accountability and encouragement. I need it.   Good luck everyone !

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share my race report on my first regular order triathlon yesterday. So after I snuck in a race distance ows swim Friday, I loaded up the car and then finished packing for an overnight camping trip we were headed to immediately after the race. My wife ended up scheduling her oral surgery appt that morning as well (those annoying wizzies) so picked her up and her prescriptions and left for the desert. Checked in the hotel, made sure she was still alive and left for the venue, Lake Cahuilla in La Quinta. I was able to make it just in time for the one hour open swim. Besides being HOT like in the 90s, the lake itself was pretty small, clean and est temp was about 62. I did a few practice swims to a few buoys and left early to take care of my patient =).  Since she was limited on what she could eat, we ended up just getting some take out and spent a quiet and restful evening at hotel... which is pretty rare in our household.

I got up around 430am and had the usual banana and bagel with peanut butter. I got to the venue a little after the transition areas opened and was the first person in my rack assignment so I was able to set up in the front.  I had some time to kill so I got marked, took a couple pictures and walked around the lake to go over the swim course. Temp was in the low 50s but I could see the sun rising and the announcer reminded the participants to make sure we were hydrated. I chatted with the nurse on duty who shared how someone almost drowned last year and how many participants suffered from dehydration... just great. I sipped on a bottle of heed sports drink, use the restroom a few times and suited up about a half an hour before race time.  I slurped up a GU and took a dip in the water along with a bunch of other participants for about 15minutes until about 5 minutes before the first wave start....I was to start in the 2nd wave 3 minutes after though it felt like 3 seconds. I try to position myself near the back but ended up somewhere in the middle as our wave numbered  about 90 competitors out of 565 that day.  As I waited, I went through my swim teacher's tips on completing the swim portion...esp for my first open water swim.

As I heard the countdown to start, many racers sprinted to the lake while many, like me, walked or jogged in the lake.  Once I got to about waist deep, I dove in and started swimming. As in my practice open water swims, I sighted every 10 strokes as we had to swim to around 3 buoys to our left.  There was some rubbing along the way but no real issues from inadvertent kicks or dunks...likely due to the wave starts. The swim portion actually went rather quickly as I stayed true to my pace and didn't have to do change directions too much...I felt pretty comfortable..almost =).  Before I knew it, I could see the ground so stood up and started running to the finish area then into T1.  I definitely benefited from being a beginner in a wetsuit.  The swim portion was officially about 550meters...I would have been content with under 15minutes, happy with under 10min but my official time ended up being 8.24...pleasantly surprised =)  

T1 was a bit slow at 3.22 since I had to put on socks and change to my bike shoes. I have a Desoto 2 piece so I was able to take my wetsuit off pretty quickly. Put the helmet on, a few sips of my Heed drink and off to the bike portion.  The mounting area was a bit of an incline which they had warned us about but was able to snap in pretty smoothly.  The bike route was one loop 14 miles in length with no aid stations. The course was pretty flat but the temp was already in the low 80s. My bike ride was uneventful though I began to wish I had a tri bike (down the road after a few more races). I finished the course in 44.54 which was a 18.7 pace, an improvement from my sprint last weekend. 

T2 was faster at 2.07 as I just had to change my shoes, put on my visor and bib belt. Even at only 830am, the sun was beating on us and temp was probably close to the upper 80s. I made sure to take some extra sips of Heed during the bike portion and even remembered to shift to a high gear to loosen up my legs for the run.  Run was a bit tough for me just to the heat and just not used to running sprint pace runs yet though I tried to push it a bit. The run portion had 2 stations which I stopped at and starts off in dirt for the first 1/2 mile then the rest around the lake.  I noticed about 6 guys in my age group (age marked on our left calf) run past me and reminded myself that I should start working on some run speed work =)  I didn't get the official times til earlier today...likely as the International distance went on today.  I was also pleasantly surprised to run my 3 miles in 29.43, the first time I've hit single digits in a run race...2 minutes faster then last weekend, though I felt slower this time. 

Overall I placed a little better then the middle overall and 22nd out of 32 in my age group at 1.28.30 which I have to say I am very content with. It was only a minute and 24 seconds slower then last weekend's race which was an easier course with a much shorter pool swim. I'm the happiest with just getting my first open water swim out of the way with no panic attacks and a faster then expected swim time. I plan to continue to include a few water open sessions each month and plan on joining a few tri friends and their training group for weekly ocean swims as well. Did I mention I wish I had a tri bike ? lol 

To finish the weekend, I picked up my wife and drove the 2 hours back home, pick up my older 2 boys and went to an overnight local beach camping trip with 5 other families. Weather was perfect for this time of year and we had a blast though the adults didn't get much sleep. I am a bit more sore then last weekend and I have to say I kind of prefer the regular order tri then the reverse....nice to get the swim portion out of the way =)   Thanks again everyone for the encouragement !  I plan on doing an easy swim session tomorrow and start up the training again for my first oly distance tri in mid May.  Have a great week !  Btw, the first picture is right before the start of the tri, the second picture is at the beach camping site =)

I have UTTriman, Chapfallen, Queenzip and norcal SAHD interested in the weight loss challenge. Please confirm your participation and if you are, submit your starting weight as of March 1. Should we do weekly weigh ins every Monday am and do the final weigh in April 1 ?  So far I have:

UTTriman: 215

Queenzip: 146

Tri2Smile: 187

I plan to just work on portion control, cut back on the bad carbs, sugar and alcohol and give myself 2 cheat meals per week =) Just like my tri training, I am hoping we can give each other some accountability and encouragement. I need it.   Good luck everyone !

I have UTTriman, Chapfallen, Queenzip and norcal SAHD interested in the weight loss challenge. Please confirm your participation and if you are, submit your starting weight as of March 1. Should we do weekly weigh ins every Monday am and do the final weigh in April 1 ?  So far I have:

UTTriman: 215

Queenzip: 146

Tri2Smile: 187

I plan to just work on portion control, cut back on the bad carbs, sugar and alcohol and give myself 2 cheat meals per week =) Just like my tri training, I am hoping we can give each other some accountability and encouragement. I need it.   Good luck everyone !

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share my race report on my first regular order triathlon yesterday. So after I snuck in a race distance ows swim Friday, I loaded up the car and then finished packing for an overnight camping trip we were headed to immediately after the race. My wife ended up scheduling her oral surgery appt that morning as well (those annoying wizzies) so picked her up and her prescriptions and left for the desert. Checked in the hotel, made sure she was still alive and left for the venue, Lake Cahuilla in La Quinta. I was able to make it just in time for the one hour open swim. Besides being HOT like in the 90s, the lake itself was pretty small, clean and est temp was about 62. I did a few practice swims to a few buoys and left early to take care of my patient =).  Since she was limited on what she could eat, we ended up just getting some take out and spent a quiet and restful evening at hotel... which is pretty rare in our household.

I got up around 430am and had the usual banana and bagel with peanut butter. I got to the venue a little after the transition areas opened and was the first person in my rack assignment so I was able to set up in the front.  I had some time to kill so I got marked, took a couple pictures and walked around the lake to go over the swim course. Temp was in the low 50s but I could see the sun rising and the announcer reminded the participants to make sure we were hydrated. I chatted with the nurse on duty who shared how someone almost drowned last year and how many participants suffered from dehydration... just great. I sipped on a bottle of heed sports drink, use the restroom a few times and suited up about a half an hour before race time.  I slurped up a GU and took a dip in the water along with a bunch of other participants for about 15minutes until about 5 minutes before the first wave start....I was to start in the 2nd wave 3 minutes after though it felt like 3 seconds. I try to position myself near the back but ended up somewhere in the middle as our wave numbered  about 90 competitors out of 565 that day.  As I waited, I went through my swim teacher's tips on completing the swim portion...esp for my first open water swim.

As I heard the countdown to start, many racers sprinted to the lake while many, like me, walked or jogged in the lake.  Once I got to about waist deep, I dove in and started swimming. As in my practice open water swims, I sighted every 10 strokes as we had to swim to around 3 buoys to our left.  There was some rubbing along the way but no real issues from inadvertent kicks or dunks...likely due to the wave starts. The swim portion actually went rather quickly as I stayed true to my pace and didn't have to do change directions too much...I felt pretty comfortable..almost =).  Before I knew it, I could see the ground so stood up and started running to the finish area then into T1.  I definitely benefited from being a beginner in a wetsuit.  The swim portion was officially about 550meters...I would have been content with under 15minutes, happy with under 10min but my official time ended up being 8.24...pleasantly surprised =)  

T1 was a bit slow at 3.22 since I had to put on socks and change to my bike shoes. I have a Desoto 2 piece so I was able to take my wetsuit off pretty quickly. Put the helmet on, a few sips of my Heed drink and off to the bike portion.  The mounting area was a bit of an incline which they had warned us about but was able to snap in pretty smoothly.  The bike route was one loop 14 miles in length with no aid stations. The course was pretty flat but the temp was already in the low 80s. My bike ride was uneventful though I began to wish I had a tri bike (down the road after a few more races). I finished the course in 44.54 which was a 18.7 pace, an improvement from my sprint last weekend. 

T2 was faster at 2.07 as I just had to change my shoes, put on my visor and bib belt. Even at only 830am, the sun was beating on us and temp was probably close to the upper 80s. I made sure to take some extra sips of Heed during the bike portion and even remembered to shift to a high gear to loosen up my legs for the run.  Run was a bit tough for me just to the heat and just not used to running sprint pace runs yet though I tried to push it a bit. The run portion had 2 stations which I stopped at and starts off in dirt for the first 1/2 mile then the rest around the lake.  I noticed about 6 guys in my age group (age marked on our left calf) run past me and reminded myself that I should start working on some run speed work =)  I didn't get the official times til earlier today...likely as the International distance went on today.  I was also pleasantly surprised to run my 3 miles in 29.43, the first time I've hit single digits in a run race...2 minutes faster then last weekend, though I felt slower this time. 

Overall I placed a little better then the middle overall and 22nd out of 32 in my age group at 1.28.30 which I have to say I am very content with. It was only a minute and 24 seconds slower then last weekend's race which was an easier course with a much shorter pool swim. I'm the happiest with just getting my first open water swim out of the way with no panic attacks and a faster then expected swim time. I plan to continue to include a few water open sessions each month and plan on joining a few tri friends and their training group for weekly ocean swims as well. Did I mention I wish I had a tri bike ? lol 

To finish the weekend, I picked up my wife and drove the 2 hours back home, pick up my older 2 boys and went to an overnight local beach camping trip with 5 other families. Weather was perfect for this time of year and we had a blast though the adults didn't get much sleep. I am a bit more sore then last weekend and I have to say I kind of prefer the regular order tri then the reverse....nice to get the swim portion out of the way =)   Thanks again everyone for the encouragement !  I plan on doing an easy swim session tomorrow and start up the training again for my first oly distance tri in mid May.  Have a great week !  Btw, the first picture is right before the start of the tri, the second picture is at the beach camping site =)

I have UTTriman, Chapfallen, Queenzip and norcal SAHD interested in the weight loss challenge. Please confirm your participation and if you are, submit your starting weight as of March 1. Should we do weekly weigh ins every Monday am and do the final weigh in April 1 ?  So far I have:

UTTriman: 215

Queenzip: 146

Tri2Smile: 187

I plan to just work on portion control, cut back on the bad carbs, sugar and alcohol and give myself 2 cheat meals per week =) Just like my tri training, I am hoping we can give each other some accountability and encouragement. I need it.   Good luck everyone !

I'm in for the weight loss challenge, my official weight on 3/1 was 198lb.

OK, that is my start weight.  Looks like everyone is putting a goal weight out there too, so I'll do that.  I'll say 2lb/week, plus a little extra just because, and call it an even 10 pounds.  Goal weight 188 by April 1.