Dream Chaser's 'Set a Goal and Capture it!' Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 42)

I was just looking back at my June goals and one was to try and get down to 136 by June 30th - now August 4th and I'm in the same place I was June 1st !!??  I feel more tone but the scale ain't budging.  So... I'm going to join this challenge and REALLY focus (although not to the detriment of training and feeling good) on getting my %BF down. 
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=262575&posts=119&start=1

It's odd how you can feel more toned and good and then you see the freaking race pics and wanna curl up under a stone and die!!! REALLY???  I looked like THAT???? So ya... more work is required.  Hubby is worried I'm going to become obsessed but I've been thinking about this a lot lately - how as a society we seem to think people that are fit with low body fat are 'skinny' and having a 30%+ is more healthy.  Not that it's always unhealthy but I'd like to have more muscle and bone and can't really see the benefits of being so soft aside from having a built in pillow for my child to rest her head on so... that's my goal for August.  That and sticking to my training plan.  I'll post my updates on my profile (though not sure about the photos!!??) 

How about everyone else?  August goals??  We kind of missed July in all the race pandemonium which was fun.

Everyone is SO quiet!
Chava/Mike - how is the recovery going? 
Bobby - feeling okay after your spill? 
How's the Timberman training going George?
Looking forward to your run this weekend Ted?
Congrats to David for running 2.5 miles continuous!!
Just think Greg - 5 more weeks and we'll be racing!  I'm actually signed up for an oly this weekend - this was supposed to be my A race but now I'll treat it like training.  Hope the rest of the group are doing well too!!

It has been quiet in here as Marcia said. 

I have been trying to pick up my training over the last month and continue to increase it as I head into IM Wisconsin.  I'm ready mentally for the event but still need about 3-4 solid weeks of training before I am physically ready.  This is the toughest time to maintain focus and stay disciplined but the race will be here before I know it. 

Tough week for the Navy, one of my training partners is a Navy SEAL and he lost two close friends the other day.  News like this really hits home.  On a more positive note we are going out for a group ride tonight and it will be a great release from everyday life and the news. 

It really stinks that we have had some many injuries within the group lately.  I have no doubt that everyone will push through their respective ailments and come back stronger.  Remember that this is a lifestyle with ups and downs.  Sometimes just getting to the starting line is the biggest challenge. 

To get some conversation going I will post my July training #'s, how is everyone else doing?

Bike:  32 hours 51 min, 624 miles

Run:  15 hours 1 min, 103 miles

Swim:  5 hours 51 min, 17,917 yards ?

???

Sorry to hear about your loss Greg!  Your experiences are so different from ours here. 
Like you - I'm loving the fact we have a couple extra weeks of training - I need all the help I can get!  And I have a feeling once the race date approaches I'll be a bundle of nerves - living in fear!  Having said that I'm very proud of my July totals - this may actually be my highest volume month EVER!  And check out all that foam roller/massage/stretch time - are you proud yet Bobby???

Great month of training!  You are tracking well for your event.

X2. I was thinking about you the other day when the helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan and how difficult days like that must be for you.

X2. I was thinking about you the other day when the helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan and how difficult days like that must be for you.

I am looking forward to it quite a bit, it's my wife's first 5k and I'll be running with her. She started running at the beginning of the year and had difficulty completing more than a quarter mile. Now she's running 3.5 miles 6 days a week(which is more than I can say  ).

The race benefits brain tumor research and has donated over 200k to the cause in it's first 4 years. My wifes stepfather and our friends 10 yo son both died from brain tumors so it's something we're happy to contribute to. If any one is interested in donating, the link is www.fi5k.com

On top of that, it's run on Fire Island which is a beautiful barrier island off the coast of Long Island that I spent all my summer's on growing up.

What does everyone else have on tap this weekend while rehabbing?

Sammeg - 2011-08-10 7:02 PMI am looking forward to it quite a bit, it's my wife's first 5k and I'll be running with her. She started running at the beginning of the year and had difficulty completing more than a quarter mile. Now she's running 3.5 miles 6 days a week(which is more than I can say ).

The race benefits brain tumor research and has donated over 200k to the cause in it's first 4 years. My wifes stepfather and our friends 10 yo son both died from brain tumors so it's something we're happy to contribute to. If any one is interested in donating, the link is www.fi5k.com

On top of that, it's run on Fire Island which is a beautiful barrier island off the coast of Long Island that I spent all my summer's on growing up.

What does everyone else have on tap this weekend while rehabbing?

What a great cause!! Best of luck to your wife in her first 5K!!  I hope she fly's like the wind!

Chava and Mike:  praying for both of you for quick healing and that you won't go stir crazy.

Here's my July total

Bike: 54.64 miles:

Run: 21.27

Swim: 5400 yds

strength/core training once a week,

last couple of week, have been doing insanity with wife.

Have not ran the past couple of weeks, unable to get my butt up in the morning, will try to run at lunch this afternoon, hopefully the So. Cal sun will not be too hard on me.

I am going to try to make it out to the ocean this Sunday for my open water swim.

I'm trying to determine if I should sign up for a HIM next yr, I feel like I can't get up to speed training....

Thanks Rene! But based on the weather forecast it's more likely,  fly like a DUCK!! 

Good luck today Marcia!!! Have a great race!!

Thanks Ted & everyone!

Raced today and I have to say I think this is the TOUGHEST race I've ever done.  The swim was insane - I wrote about it in my blog but just a bizarre experience.  Feet are in pain right now and hoping I don't lose a few toes as a result

I'll take a peek at everyone's blogs later and see how the weekend went.  Hope your run went well Ted - for you AND your wife!

Lest you all think I was sittin' around eating Bon-bons all July...I present my July numbers:

 Now in August, I'm sitting around eating Bon-bons (and everything else!!!).

Bah!  I feel as though the fates are working against me.  I've heard that the greatest challenge is getting to the start line healthy but I thought that was for ironman races!  Not HIM's! 

I took two days off last week and my body started to feel the stress of my training.  Then raced and was so sore in the calves and my foot.  Finally started getting back to normal this week and this morning I did a face plant on the concrete!  Mostly feel okay - just a lot of scratches though shoulder is sore.  Biggest pain is my left hand.  It's shredded and slathered with Tagaderm right now.  How will I ride my bike this weekend like this?  It's so sore and a mess!  I booked us a weekend away at this resort near the hilly Centurion bike course all so that I could get one last good hilly training ride in... So frustrating!  Okay - I'll stop the pity party!  It could be far worse.

Dream Chaser - 2011-08-17 8:30 PM

jmhpsu93 - 2011-08-15 1:38 PM

Lest you all think I was sittin' around eating Bon-bons all July...I present my July numbers:

July's totals:
Bike:	10m
Run:	5h 17m  - 16.79 Mi
Swim:	6h 23m  - 17050 Yd
Strength:	2h 20m

 Now in August, I'm sitting around eating Bon-bons (and everything else!!!).

Yeah my wife bought klondike bars.  I yelled at her and she's like, "Well don't eat them."

And I'm like, "If there are klondike bars in my house, I am going to eat them!  I'm powerless over those evil little bastards!!" 

I generally stick to those Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, which are pretty low in calories.  Then I looked at the label.  It has like 25 ingredients, half of which I can't spell or pronounce, and many of which I really couldn't qualify as a "food".  I'll just stick to Bryer's (Ingredients:  Cream, Milk, Sugar) and take it easy on the quantity.

You are trained to the death.  You rammed through a 12-hour training week, then an OLY race with only a little taper, and jumped right back into training the next day.   I would definitely take at least two of the next five days off and just focus on the quality of the workouts you continue to do.  You're just about to taper for the HIM so pretty soon you're really going to feel like hell, but you've put in a great eight months.  The DC bucket is full, just don't get any more injured and tip it over!!

I guess I just don't *feel* ready.  I don't feel I have had any continuous long swims in the 2000m mark.  I haven't gone for a long 100k hilly ride in a while.  And my running has been mostly flat terrain.  And in a few short weeks I have to put it all together and this is my last week of high volume training so there's that bit of panic.  Like I don't want to taper-type panic but I guess that's normal and it's good to rest up.  I am still going to try and squeeze in that ride tomorrow if I can.  I just have to be careful and THEN I promise to back it off.  Here I am whining about some scrapes and bruises and look at YOU giving me advice - Mr. I had to give up my whole race season [BLUSH].  I hope you are feeling better.  Looks as though you are back up and at em a bit!

George is racing this weekend!!!  Good luck George!
Anyone else getting out there?

Just an update, DC team:

PT is progressing very well, and I've only been scolded once by my PT for doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing.  The main focus for the first 10 days post surgery was just trying to get the swelling down and some passive ROM.  These last 9-10 days we've been focusing on increasing the ROM, working on core strength, and teaching my hip, quad, hamstring, and tendons to all work together correctly.  It's pretty amazing how much atrophy has occurred, both from the six weeks since I stopped running/biking and the time after surgery.  My left quad is about 2/3 the size of my right one right now, but it's starting to gain some strength again.  He says I'm going to have a quad like a soccer player when I'm done.  I told him, "no, thanks, those guys are sissy whiners."

Knee swelling is down probably like 50% or so.  I'm dealing with a bit of patella tendonitis now but PT says that's normal from the stress I'm putting on it, both from my bad gait and from the weak quad muscles.

It's really wild to see how your body does things just naturally, like how the timing of all of your muscles firing just to take a normal step.  It's amazing we don't hurt ourselves more often with the bad form that many of us have.  I'm taking this opportunity to re-train everything, including my pedal stroke since I'm busting out a whopping 42 watts right now during my warm-ups.  Since I really can't use my left quad much yet, I'm really focusing on pulling up my leg with my core (realizing the position's all whacked but hopefully it should translate).  I'm also doing a LOT of core work, and I can swim with a pull buoy with no pain (LOVE the pull buoy...I could swim all day with that thing).

I've also taken some time to really focus on my job recently (when I'm not researching Dr. Internet on how to heal quicker ) which is starting to yield some results.  My wife and I are so lucky to have good, stable jobs in this economy, and I get to work out of my house so I have the flexibility to train, take my daughter to school, or whatever.  I've also realized from watching others in PT that I'm really lucky to be in my early-40s with minimal injury up until now, and still have long, healthy life in front of me.

I am going to miss the Baltimore Half-Marathon, though.  It was my first "big-time" race back in '07 and I've done it ever since, almost breaking 1:50 last year.  I thought, maybe, just maybe, if I could start running by mid-September, I could run/walk it or something.  Then I realized how stupid that was, and that my goal should be "get fully recovered, whenever that is" and go from there.  Funny how injury recovery doesn't conform to our schedules, huh?  We'll get 'er done eventually.

I've signed up for Eagleman 70.3 next June.  When I started doing triathlons, that race was considered my Mecca.  I can handle heat, it's flat as a pancake (good for us Clyde's) and it's only freakin' 90 minutes from my house.  Other than the almost $300 entry fee (OUCH!!) it's perfect.  And EVERYONE around here does it.  I can't wait to start the training.

Happy Friday everyone!!