Prof40's Group -- Technically full but ... (Page 43)

Micah dressed herself this morning, because her mother was dead tired still and having trouble getting it together. So, she wore a leopard skin mini skirt and matching top and black tennis shoes that are actually boys shoes given to us for Mose but they fit Micah better and she loves them (the dress was given to her from the next door little girl, too). AND it was hat day at school so she wore a coyote hat. I mean, it's the whole coyote skin with the nose, ears and tail attached! I always got the kids fox skin hats when they were babies so they would have very warm heads and not get ear infections, and spotted that hat and had to have it......Oh lord, my daughter is JUST like her mother! She looks like a Wereleopard or Wolf Girl today. Mose is dressed all in black because that is his favorite color (Batman wears all black!). And Noah wore orange pants today because that is his favorite color. He got a black bike helmet with orange flames yesterday and $60 sunglasses with photosensitive lenses (orange tint), too. He is going to look really hot this weekend on his new black Trek mountain bike!! I'll have to take race pics of this duathlon!

I once read this piece by a working mother turned triathlete on BT, and she was the reason I decided I could do all this. The tears were streaming down my face as I sat there at midnight reading her story. She basically just quit worrying about the usual motherly stuff like a clean house, well-stocked fridge and perfectly tidy kids. And it took a bit for her husband and kids to get used to it, but she persisted, and now has their complete support. I figure when my great grandkids hear stories about their relatives, no one will care that my house was messy or my kids went to school wearing strange outfits. I figure what they will remember is that their great grandma Pene was a TRIATHLETE!

This morning I ate raisin bran cereal laced with flax meal and salmon. And I am very impressed with the Udo's which has the following ingredients:

All organic--flax seed oil, sunflower seed oil, sesame seed oil, evening primrose oil, unrefined DHA algae oil, coconut oil, rice germ, bran oil, soy lecithin, rosemary extract, and oat germ.

In addition, I am making myself swallow black currant seed oil, fish oil, and CLA.

I'm gonna be just like Nelly Furtado's song, Give It to Me, where she says, "I'm wonder woman, give me my robe".

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm gonna be busy with Noah's Du which is in Appleton, and of course, you have to go pick up the race packet the day before, and so we'll have to find a hotel near there. The Du starts at the crack of dawn anyway, so it should be fun!!! I figure if I get the kids hooked on races, they'll understand me and work with me better. It just gets really hard to fight the three of them all the time. I hope they love it!

Okay, I am getting ready for my first distance run. I just read a daily refletion that said, the world is what you create, create a postive world and that is what you fuction in, create fear and you will function in fear.
Well, I am somewhere in the middle. I know that I am ready, I can move my body, and I am determined to finsish; NOT finishing is NOT an option. But I am also worried about time, apprereance, and people judging me for my size. I also hate that I need ALOOOT of outside affirmation to feel validated.
SO I declare here for who ever reads this:
I AM STRONG, I AM POWERFUL. THERE ARE NO LIMITS ON WHAT I CAN DO! MY SIZE IS NOT AN OBSTACLE, IT IS A HURDULE TO BE CLEARED! I NEED OTHER PEOPLE BECAUSE I AM HUMAN; COMPLETING MY GOALS IS ALL THE VALIDATION I NEED; EVERYTHING ELSE IS A BONUS. TODAY THAT 6.2 MILES IS MINE- AND I WILL TAKE IT!!!!
BGT

I hear you loud and clear. You go nail some distance. You own it.

Quiana, I struggle with exactly the same issues. It is so hard to keep positive about everything, especially when choosing to do something that most people would consider very hard if not downright impossible. Look around you, who else do you see on a regular basis running, biking, swimming? Or if they do those things, do they actually sign up for races? You are among the elite, my friend. There are very few people doing what you are doing! And of course you need some validation and encouragement. Although that is the part I beat myself up for "needing" or wanting, or craving, the most! I want to be super warrior woman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound---alone! But, I bet even wonder woman gets lonely at times, or has that moment where she wonders if she can go out there and keep on fighting the bad guys. My bad guys are self-doubt, overwhelm, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt for actually taking the time to do this stuff when I could be devoting myself to my kids, patients, friends, etc. Did you know there is a log for MENTAL TRAINING? I noticed that the other day, under "sports". And I'm going to start logging my minutes/hours of mental stuff. If you think about it, it's just as important as the physical training. If you don't feel up to the challenge of a race that day, even though your body is perfectly ready, then you simply won't be there or won't finish. Right? You have to think you can first! And you should give yourself credit at the end of the season for all the time and effort you put in to fight your own "bad guys"! So, keep on proclaiming yourself and we will all cheer for you, too. You are one of my heros, and I mean that with all of my heart!

You are strong and I am proud of you!!!! Run your heart out!

Done- 1:23:12!! made goal, see race report for more detail. BGT how, hit the races button ynder this post.
Also my legs hurt like hell. Wonder what word BT will h e l l? we shall see.
thanks for the reminders that I do not do this alone and that I still a mere mortal doing super human things. I took a nap and now I am hanging out with my husband at the library, trying to figure out how to get a beer tonight...?
Also I need to let go of one training goal this week, I will give up my 13 mile bike ride. It sucks but I need to stay on track with my swim. 7 more laps gives me the distances I need to stay on track to cover the "English channel" on time. Given how my legs hurt, I know I can not swim and bike befor going to work from 1:00-10:00 tomorrow. Be Well BGT

Great job, Quiana! I'd say you deserved that beer

Noah finished his duathlon and the verdict is: he beat out about 5 kids in his age group, 9-10 year olds and he's just barely 9, having had his birthday in April. He's happy and keeps talking about when he gets to do the next duathlon. He showed his medal to all the waitresses and immediately went to his friend's house to show it off when we got home. It was a long trip, but the hotel pool wasn't too shabby and the food was fantastic. It was cool to be at an event like that and see all the beautiful people running around. We had to park a long ways away and walk his bike to the start area and barely made it. As I was running along, a dude on his bike was too busy gawking at me and wiped out! Guess I still have it He was super embarrassed. I can totally relate--that will be me gawking at the guys at my tri!! And the super biker dude from the Gordy Paulson seminar (speed interval info) saw me at a gas station and came over to talk to me! He asked if I was on my way to the Neenah Criterium! That made me smile, because I am no way near being able to do a Crit yet! But I was pleased that he thought I looked capable of such a feat! I guess I am starting to look like a athletic biker chick. Now I just have to BE one. But, the swim was super hard for me at first, and now I'm doing hypoxic and butterfly swims. There's hope for me yet.





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Just wanted to show off my skinny critter! I'm pretty proud of him!

I did 100 pushups today--yes, 100! And 300 situps, and a bunch of other stuff. Ouch!!





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i love photo's! thanks for posting one's of your skinny little critter. I have a new computer and have not put the Kodak program back on my computer. When I do I will free about 200 photo's including my tri and my last run.
I swim today, which put me at 60 laps for the week, just short of 2 miles!!!

okay I am at work and I have 1/5 hours left of my 109 hour shift. It is good money but I get bored and I want to eat. I hate that. BGT

Hey team: we were doing a challenge clean up, I think Mark out out the weight loss one few weeks back. Are we still doing that? When are we suppose to report our weight etc. Let me know and I am game. BGT

CONGRATULATIONS NOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THREE HURRAHS!!!!!!!!!!

BGT- I think it was on Saturday. I lost 1/2 lb.

I went for a group bike ride it was fun and scarrey. I lost my high gear during the ride, it was crappy. The ride out was great but the ride back was bad. I am really sore. I was trying to go fast in low gear and kept pedaling when the wheels were free spinning just to keep up with the group. Yes I will do it again the leader said if I could keep up in low gear on a mountain bike I could bike a longer distance in a few weeks on a road/ race bike, so that boost my confidence a little. JD led the group and his wife was there helping the begginners in the back and then me in the way way back when we were riding back. It was interesting. I am glad I was with people who knew what to do when I lost the gear. GET IN THE GRASS!!!!! Luckily I didn't fall. One of the pedals got my leg though. Advil or aspirin? One lady had a fanny pack with both. It worked out well in the end.
Do you guys think I am ready for a 30 mile bike ride? in 2 weeks.

It seems as though we have all had a busy few days (check out Robb's logs if you want to see what unemployment can do for you!).

I am sitting at my desk in sweltering Hong Kong where it is clear blue skies, 31 degrees C and around 70% humidity.

I found a pool yesterday and did 3000 yards and felt so much better that when I woke this am (at 5am- I have trouble sleeping when I am not with the snoring Satan) I went for a run (about 6 miles on the roads as there is little else here) and topped that off with another mile in the pool. Finally feeling as though my event on Sunday is not impossible!

I had thought that we would all weigh in on Sunday but that was only because I did! Weigh in whichever day you want to and keep a note. I thought of this not really as a challenge but more of a way of keeping score. I got into this to lose a bit of weight and caught the tri bug as a side effect. I was disappointed to not be losing any weight so when Sean posted his article on weight loss I thought it sounded like a good idea to rekindle that focus.

Incidentally, I don't have any scales in my apartment so I am going to one of my colleagues' gym tonight and will sneak a one eyed peek and let you know tomorrow.

Well done on the 1/2 lb loss. I imagine that after my flying start I will have put all that back on and will have to start again. Flying does that to me!

All the best to you all and well done for a busy time. Pene, marvellous photos and excellent "mum" support there.

Quiana, you must love to swim. I wish I did so push some of that enthusiasm this way. For me, every length feels like a trial.

PS Robb, regarding your challenge, I can see from your logs that you will move shortly from unemployment to professional triathlete shortly. Please don’t forget your friends when you are on the top of the rostrum!

Good on you Robb.

I was a man of leisure (sorry, studying for my law degree) for several years. I managed to play polo twice a week and spent much of the rest of the time in the bar.

A tough life and I was glad to get back to work!

Incidentally, if anyone wants to work out the british sense of humour, I have just finished reading "Penguins stopped play" and it about sums up why no one else in the world gets our humour.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguins-Stopped-Play-Village-Cricketers/dp...

You might get it in the US, Canada or Aus but it is a cracking read and, may I say it, bloody funny!

I will fill you all in on the adventures of a fat bloke abroad once I have time but in the meantime,

toodles to y'all

Jeanette--Very excellent job with your group ride!!!! I'm too chicken yellowbike to try that yet. I'm even still chicken to go running with the TNT group, but a lot of that is because I'd have to be in Madison at the crack of freaking dawn (7:30) and it's at least 2 hours away, if I can even find the Natorium! Not to mention baby sitters up at 5 am!! Wonder what they'd do if I brought my kids along? Hmm........

I'm glad you all liked the kid pics. Didn't know if I was being corny about that or not. I actually brought kid pics to my very first Match date, which was a disaster, and that didn't help. The dude actually stood me up, but he's this 6'5" Nurse Anesthetist Tri dude with a Hummer, and I called his cell because I thought maybe he got a late start or was called in to work. He answered and said his plans changed and did I want to go to an air show? He'd come pick me up----I'd get to ride in the Hummer!!! I did it just for that! Anyway, it's not too cool to show a "date" your kid pics, but I didn't know ANY dating protocol then. And I'm not too sure about the posting protocol here, either......just thought maybe you'd all appreciate a little dating disaster story. I could go on for days..........I even thought of writing a book about surviving internet dating, but you sort of have to be a success with that first!

Mark--ease up this week and drink a lot of water and do some mental training visualizing yourself doing great! You've trained super hard and we are all in awe of your willpower and mileage! And we are all jealous that you can actually be in Hong Kong just to do a tri! Wow! How many people can say that? Just being there is a feat all in itself. Maybe check out the course and see yourself in your mind's eye doing each turn and hill. It's okay that we started late in life doing fitness stuff. I'm in that boat, too. But I don't look at the years I missed, I only look at the fact that a year ago I never imagined that I would be in this place in my tri journey. And I hope to instill in my children a healthy outlet and healthy self esteem boost with fitness.

Rob--I envy the fact that you can consider a part time job so you can train. Not many can do that. Just don't do what my ex did--he worked very part time to bike during the day, like hundreds of miles every day. And then he hooked up with me and I stupidly supported him financially. Soon he was totally unemployed and his self esteem dropped or he just plain got lazy and he even stopped biking. Then he went to drinking, drugging, and whatever else he was into when I wasn't around.......because he needed something to fill the void after not getting those exercise endorphins. And no one really cares that you can do 4 century rides a week on your mountain bike in the real world. People do care what you do for a living. And helping out in your wife's chiro office when you feel like it is not exactly something to be proud of. Any way, hopefully you get what I mean, here--don't let the lure of part time job to support athleticism ruin you!!! It's no fun to have your gas turned off and have to cook oatmeal in your coffee maker and eat raw food because your stove no longer works! Even if you can leave everyone else in the dust on a bike!!! (well done, btw!!!!!) And I figure Noah will be doing marathons with me soon--he asked if we could!!

Keep on swimming Quiana!! We'll make that goal! I did a lot of swimming in the hotel pool and it was hard to count the laps because of it's weird shape, but I think I was pretty close. I'm starting to like the swim--finally! What is your next race challenge?

Heh gang

-just getting caught up on posts- glad to see everyone is doing well with training and races ( heh- congrats to Noah- fine pic Pene- what a cutie!!) I think it is so important to get kids involved in some sort of physical activity – have seen too may sickly looking kids- spending whey too much time inside- watching tv/computer games, etc- when they should be outside ‘playing’. Just like we do…- right!!!

Anyway- have a bike question – just graduated to the clips/shoes this season- (yup- have already fallen off once Prof!!- And yes- was at a complete stop. Anyway- I am nervous about using them. Maybe the fall spooked me a bit- not sure. Well- I am nervous that I won’t be able to clip in/out quick enough (seemed to have a difficult time clipping in yesterday). Afraid I’m going to fall off and hurt myself. As well- concerned about my transitions- I usually end up having to sit on my but stripping off the rest of my wet suit, putting on my shoes- now with this one more step…..- I think I’ll end up adding too much unnecessary time. Yes- I need to practice this- however- anyone experience the same type of anxiety related to a new user of clips/shoes- and will this just get better with time/experience ??. I do feel the biking is much more effective with the shoes/clips- but …..??
Thanks gang- Helen.

It seems a common fear this one.

I first borrowed a bike that belonged to my boss and went and bought myself a pair of shoes. It was set up for him (a hardcore multi ironman dude as Pene would say) and I fell off that sucker many many times simply by not being able to get my blibking feet out of the pedals.

Roll on almost a year until I got my own piece of kit. When I collected it I told the guy behind the desk (knowledgeable looking twelve year old) that I kept falling over. He took one look at my current set up and told me in no uncertain terms something about being hardcore gnarly. I had no idea what he meant but what he did was slacken my clips off totally and sell me a pair of shoes that fitted properly. Result being that I can easily lift my feet away from the pedals any time I want, I never panic about putting my foot down and riding is fun. I mentioned this to my boss (said IronMan dude) and he said, "oh yes indeed my young protege, all bikes you inherit are set up for serious bikers who believe that it is only by adopting the magic way of never having your foot accidentally slipping out of the pedals when competing in the Tour de France by cranking up the resistence to such a point that one has to sleep with ones pedals that one may be truly enlightened". He doesn't actuaolly speak like that as he's from Barnsley but I think that I have been in Hong Kong for too long already.

Anyway, you get the picture. Loosen the suckers off, get some lose clips (they are graded you know) and practice leaning up against a wall until you feel comfortable. Loser clips help with clipping in as well. If it is still a problem, try just taking your foot out of the shoe and leaving the shoe on the clip. Look like a true professional in one easy step.

I love the way to tell stories, Mark! Let's write that best seller together!

Truly, Helen, even though I loosened my pedals ALL the way, I'm STILL chicken to use the shoes with them after my previous falls. I hurt after that for weeks and finally managed to get my own hip in place with one of those roller thingy's. (a miracle!) And I'm WAY too busy to find time to go to a chiro myself (trust me, I havn't had time to get my hair trimmed in 4 months, much less actually go shopping for clothes and I've NEVER had like manicure/spa experiences!) So, I'm NOT using my clip shoes now. I'm wearing my running shoes and to heck with it. There's time to use them after this first tri, I figure. I feel so much more confident riding knowing I can just put my foot down whenever I want. Actually, this whole bike thing has me weirded out to the MAX right now. But, a lot of it is insecurities left over from my horrible marriage where we tried to use a tandem together and he raced me up hills on separate bikes and made fun of me when I almost couldn't climb those walls (I mean, the steepest darn hills in the world and he did it on purpose!). I DID climb them, but it was really hard and no way did I use a fancy little dainty bike with those crazy pedals. It will take us all a bit to learn to do this with different equipment, but I have FULL confidence in you, Helen! And I'll have to just get over all my insecurities, get mad enough at the bastard ex (wonder if they'll let me write that word) and go out there on my dainty bike and kick redbike!!!!!

I'm also in need of advice today. Prof, I'm looking at you.

I'm doing a sprint course on 7/7 - 600 yd swim (although it's tres shallow, so it's more like a 400), 11 mi bike, 3 mi run. I was planning on doing one other sprint in August, and then moving to a long course in September for my last race of the season.

I now need to have a medical procedure done that I'm planning for August that will take me out of racing in September, so I'm looking at upping my training and having my August race be the long course race. It's a .8 mi swim, 21 mi bike, 5 mi run. I'm pretty sure I could do it, but I need a little encouragement that if I ramp it up slightly in May/June, taper for Race 1, and then bring it back up for 2 weeks I would be able to finish without dying. The course is relatively flat with rolling hills, but I'm worried about the run. It's pretty hot by that point of day, and I don't much like to run in heat.

So whaddaya think? And I don't want "power of positive thinking" type stuff (I know it's good to think positively, but that's not what I want right now). I want an honest eval of my current training levels and whether I'd be ready.

Also, anybody love their goggles? I've decided that the frames on my current ones are too big for my eyeballs - if I swim more than a mile, they give me a cracking good headache from pressing against my eye socket bones.

Hi Guys,
I've been doing a lot of mental training lately (3 hour drive to Appleton and back again) and realizing that I'm under more stress now than ever. This stuff was supposed to be my stress relief, not the cause of more stress! So, after a lot of careful consideration, I'm going to let some of my goals/dreams go. First to go is the marathon in October. TNT is just not for me. Everything is in Madison and they start very early in the morning and have 1-2 meetings a week! The coach is nearly impossible to get hold of as he is only available to talk on the phone between 6-7 on Friday evening and possibly if I catch him at home on Sunday some time. I'm the only single person with kids crazy enough to consider this in the first place. But the biggest factor is the fundraising. It will be a full time job to get that kind of money together, and that's only if I believed in myself enough to beg for it. I'm not comfortable asking for monetary support from anyone. I never in my life ever did so and I think I'm too old and stubborn to start now, even if it is for a good cause. I still may do a marathon some day, but not this year.

I'm also letting go of the century ride in September. Just can't find any more time or babysitters to get out more than a pittance at a time on my bike. Thought about taking off an hour or so from work, but I really can't afford that. I can't even get babysitters for really important vital things like continuing education seminars so I can keep my chiropractic license. Seriously. You have no idea how difficult it is to accomplish that! I can still do 20 or 40 miles on that ride, and that may be possible and more realistic given my situation. Truthfully, I always pictured myself going out biking with a boyfriend this summer and that simply isn't happening either. The dudes want to flirt with me or maybe have a fling, but they aren't interested in anything more than that, not even an exercise partner. So, I'm going to be a big girl and suck it up and accept that some things are not within my grasp right now. Acceptance is part of the serenity prayer!

I'm not seriously depressed or anything, so don't worry. Just reassessing goals and doing some introspection. And stress relief. I feel better letting go of some of this. However, there is a sadness with that. And my goal of attending that class reunion, hunky guy on arm and IM tatoo on leg is really a very dim and distant dream right now. I'm not ruling it out, but realistically, people in my situation just don't do things like that. Not without a miracle happening.

However, on a bright note, I'm still accomplishing some things. I learned to swim and can now run a bit. I'm in better shape than I've ever been before. And my kids still love me and there's a roof overhead. What more can I ask for?

Kanders,

Like Robb I've had a look at your logs and like him I would say that you can do this. You seem to have the distance on the swim (and that really is the bit that you can't fake) for the 600 yd swim so go for it (especially as at least 200 mts of it seems to be a sprint!). The bike and the run both seem well within your capabilities at the moment so by 7/7 you should be well up to the challenge.

As to the August race I'm guessing that this is scheduled for pretty early on in August so you will be able to have a few days recovery after the 7/7 race and then at least a couple of weeks build up before you taper for the August race. Two things will happen. Firstly you will get a huge boost in confidence after the 7/7 race (hopefully!) but a 1400 swim is going to be quite a jump although your logs suggest that you are well on target for that. The run and the bike are well within your grasp at the moment and with another month or so of solid training you should be well up there.

I won't give you any "power of positive thinking" stuff mainly because I'm British and we don't do that sort of thing but, looking at your logs, if I was you I would feel fairly confident that both these races were within my grasp. Additionally, you are thinking like an athlete in the way that you are thinking about tapering and the heat on the run. Oh yes, wear a hat and drink plenty of fluids both on the bike and on the run.

As to the goggles, I have been through loads for two reasons. Firstly I have a big head and find that goggles are basically for small headed people with eyes that are in normal places. I am also quite sensitive around the eyes so I find that most don't fit or are painful after 30 mins or so. Secondly, I am extremely forgetful so I donate many pairs to people who change in the cubicle after me!

At the moment I am wearing (well not right at the moment as I'm in the office and that would be just a little weird) but when I swim I wear these:

http://shop.swimmingwithoutstress.co.uk/sws/swimming-goggles/Aquasp...

They fit well and are very comfortable. For some reason they don't seem to fog up too much although you do feel a bit like a pearl fisherman when you are wearing them! I also know quite a few people who wear these:

http://shop.swimmingwithoutstress.co.uk/sws/swimming-goggles/Aquasp...

and are very happy with them.

As they are pseudo masks they sit on the face rather than in the eye sockets and you get a great sphere of vision. Also, thus far, they are too big to lose!

I hope that some of this helps (or at least doesn't hinder) and provides a bit of confirmation/confidence for the next couple of weeks.

Mark

First, why are you letting yourself get stressed out about all this? In case you forgot, this is supposed to be fun...and a personal challenge...and self-rewarding. If the fund raising aspect is adding aggravation, I vote to ditch it. Millions of people train by themselves, and do a race just to do it. Don't add more angst to your plate.

As for the wetsuit, you'll know if the water is too cold, and hopefully, you'll get right back out instead of swimming into hypothermia. Stay out of the water until the group swims, and don't you dare swim alone in a lake. I'm convinced that swimming just takes practice, and open water swimming just takes experience.