QUEEN ZIP & KathyG - CLOSED (Page 44)

http://www.davidgoggins.com/

Whenever I think I can't or I don't want to train I think of David Goggins.  He is no one special, just a guy who runs a lot and bikes and swims more than most.  His first triathlon was Ultraman.  Come on.  His second Ultra was Badwater, are you kidding me.  He used to weight 285 pounds.  He is still 200+.  He is a machine.  He does not stop.  He gets up everyday at 3:30 to run 10-15 miles, rides 25 miles to work, runs at lunch, rides home, and if he feels like he needs a couple more miles, runs a quick 3-4 miler. 

I agree with Helen. Pacers can help a lot. My only advice is ease up in the beginning, if you think you're running to slow for the first 13 miles you're probably running at the right pace. Enjoy your taper.

Hello all! You guys have healing powers for sure...I woke up this morning feeling way better. That is until I decided to test the waters by going for a wee run...it was tough.....

 Oh well...we shall see what Sunday brings. My real goal is just to get used to running this distance so that by the time my HIM comes along I will have some experience.... I must remember that ....

I'm going for it....

Signing up for Rumpass in Bumpass April 18.  Water will be 60 degrees at best.  I'm hunting a neoprene swim cap at the local diver shop. 

 If I feel okay after this international I'll decide whether I want to do the Patriot International vs HIM in September.  My biggest concern is time to train with work.  The Oly plan last summer was a major time commitment and the HIM plan was about another 2 hrs a week more....

Hi All!

I am trying to keep up with the 5 a day challenge but really only hit the mark 2 days so far. I am being really lazy about cooking & housework in general so there isn't much around.  Hmmm....maybe I am taking this taper thing too far.... But I even got the hub to cook last night so tapering from household chores every once in a while might not be so bad.

I also wrote something about training in my blog today, it seemed a little long for here. I have read about Goggins before.  He is really amazing and is working for a cause that too many forget about.

TGIF soon everyone. Hope you all are feeling good in the AM.  Oh- for evidence of true taper madness check out Aquagirl's blog.... ;-)

hehehehe.....

Morning Peeps! 

 The madness continues.......

 I am feeling OK except for a lingering cough...much Ventolin is being sucked back. Oh well.....

 Does anybody know how much Ventolin affects heart rate? I know it can cause an increased heart rate...I will be wearing a HRM on Sunday and want to stay in zone3....but should I take the Ventolin induced tachycardia into account and let myself run a little higher ??

I'm getting my fruits and veggies in so far this week.

Hmm what inspires me to train. This changes from time to time. There are 3 reasons at the present moment I train.  

1. My job is very stressful, training is cheaper than therapy and by time I'm finished I'm over the drama.

2. I want to complete longer triathlons, I realize that if I don't train I may very well not make it to the finish line. I'm cheap and refuse to pay for a race that I don't have a chance finishing. I have no choice but prepare. 

3. I have had two longer periods in my life where I was so sick or injured that I couldn't walk without having to stop to catch my breath or nurse my injury. I am so thankful that my body works and I can move and enjoy the world. I train as a reminder that I can and there were times where I was unable.

Hey everyone.  For those hitting the 5 a day challenge, good work.  It sure can be tricky to do.

To Helen, yeah, um, don't run until Sunday.

My afternoon run got pushed off, which is okay.  I still am in recover mode.  I just can't get to used to this.

 Have a great weekend everyone.  I have nothing major planned.

 These are all very good and motivational reasons.

My race toes are all ready!!!

Nicework! They look beautiful  

I love that Im not theonly one who paints their nails prerace

My motivation...

First some background

Initially in my late teens/very early 20s I discovered exercise as a way of loosing weight and reshaping my body...

I was a BIG gym bunny, did a lot of weights and cardio...gym classes.... 

Then a trainer at the gym asked if I would do a triathlon with her... I couldnt ride a bike and NEVER ran because I hated it...so I said yes, bought my roadbike and learnt to ride it...

Did the triathlon and had a blast!!! 

The next year I went through a breakup, the person I had done that first race with lost contact and then I got into a new relationship with someone who didnt *get* exercise... and work took over my life and I was stressed and travelling about 3 weeks a month...

Nonetheless I signed up for my second ever tri and first full sprint race... while I struggled and got heatstroke I finished... more motivated than ever....

I started training more thoroughly.. and decided to train for a HM but a couple of months later I found myself at the doctor, exhausted and sick...a referral to a GI..to hospital and got my diagnosis...  I have a chronic stomach condition...

I spent thenext year on high doses of prednisone, immune suppresants and drugs to counteract the side effects of those drugs! As well as maintenance drugs and Calium/Vit D to try and overcome the bone softening effects of the pred....bleh!

Gained HUGE amounts ofweight, wasnt sleeping, barely had enough energy to hold down my job let alone exercise. Changed job to a less stressful role (a move that has paid off professionally and Im still in the same company almost 3 years later in a much evolved role)... walked when I could without pain, swum a little... 

As I finally started to come off drugs I FINALLY felt better and headed back to the gym...signed up immeadiatley with a trainer and on  our first session doing step ups I landed badly and put myself on crutches for 4 weeks!!!

I messed around with the gym off and on but didnt really loose much weight... then I got back into workin on my running and developed both Runners Knee and Plantar Fascitis... 

I got lazy again!!! 

Through all this my stomach condition was in and out of remission but I was slowly learning how to control it drug free!!! 

Fast forward another year and a bit.... here I am... which brings me to...

My motivation:

1 - Because I can: I know what its like to have a body that cannot train... today is not one of those days so I must take advantage

2 - Because being healthy will allow me to live my life fully and hopefully away from the cycle of medication, fatigue and depression that comes with a chronic illness

3 - Because while Ive had a 3 year delay Im now in a position to start hitting some of those goals I dreamed of when I first got into triathlon

4 - Because I LOVE to ride my bike... 

5 - Because I now have people who will share the journey with me... whether as fellow competitors (Tri girls at work), support crew (cycle guy) or just by asking me what I did today

6 - Because its a challenge

7 - Because its reshaping my body in a way I like. I still ave a huge amount of medication weight to shift and while i suspect getting my 22 yo body back might not be realistic there is no reason why I cant have something Im proud of - Vanity counts as motivation right?

8 - Because it makes me feel good about myself and who I am. When your body starts working against you with illness or injury its easy to start disliking it...and as an extension yourself (especially when you are trying to lose weight). Working out keeps my focus on what my body can do and that makes me feel good

9 - Because other people rely on me these days to keep them motivated and help them with their goals... I always feel the best way to do this is to do the right thing (yes I still have treats and lazy days but Im trying to keep the overall trend good)

10 - Because for the most part training makes me happy...even if sometimes Im just happy its over!

11 - Because I need balance - its great stress relief... and my job can be very stressful! Also... keeping my stress levels down keep me healthy!

^^^^^Cat, that was a wonderful and inspirational story.  Thanks so much for sharing it with us. 

 Now I 've got to go paint my toes, I think I'll choose light purple so they well just blend in with my skin after running in the cold rain on Sunday.

Cat,

What a great way of explaining what all this means to you!

I can't explain my attraction to the sport.  It was a fascination that once I tried the training and racing I was hooked into. 

Vanity is definitely a part of it.  After all, there's 10 lbs between me and my teenage girls (try sorting jeans when you're tired and figuring out whose is whose). 

Pushing my physical boundaries of comfort in both training and racing has gotten me to push my comfort zones in other areas.  How can one be shy or bashful in a crowded locker room and no place to go change without dragging stuff to 3 different corners in the locker room anyway.    We all got the same parts in there...just in different proportions

I officially signed up for Rumpass in Bumpass tonight.

I looked at Setup's page for other races and have some thoughts in my blog about which ones I'll do.  Most of it depends on how I feel after this race sinc my attempt to do the distance last year was forced into dualthon mode.  THere's another early Oct International distance too...very tempting but I'll be building for the Nov.  half mary and need to look realistically at my desire to get faster for the half  and the volume of training.

Can I brag? Im back from my longest bike ride EVER... I melted down a few times and finished with legs that could barely turn over.... I went up hills even though my legs didnt feel like they had anything left.... and I managed not to complain too much!

What revelation... and great insight into the things I need to work on with my riding... 

I also learnt some new technique... such as how to climb a hill more effectively and efficiently...

I will definatley be waiting a few weeks before I try something like that again!!!! And doing some training...

I have NO idea how I would manage 100ks!!! But...perhaps I would start with a less challenging course! No way I could have ridden another 20ks today!

Sweet!

It is huge to make a PB for distance and especially on challenging terrain.

Strong work Cat!

Have a great race this weekend to all our racing teammates!!!  Let's meet here Sunday night if you are able, for a post race shake down.  Should we say at 7ish?

 Ha, that is awesome.  That is how I feeled at the end of all my rides as I was building up.  Alsways felt that was the longest possible, but seriously, you can always add 20k, I mean, the bike just rolls right, how hard can it be. lol

I goofed up my couch to 5k plan! I have the plan on the fridge and it seems that instead of checking what week I am on, I always just focus on the next INCREASE. So, I am on week 10 of the program, and I have completely SKIPPED two weeks of recovery training (by accident.) This made me wonder:

Could that be why my running seems so difficult? Theoretically, yesterday's run should have been easier than Wednesday's because I was inside on the treadmill (FLAT!) instead of outside (rather hilly.) But, the treadmill run was NOT easy; I had a really hard time, and that was my third time doing that level (21min run.) Also, my chest has been hurting when I run...right in the center. I never feel like I can breathe deep enough, so is this pain related to my lack of lung capacity...and won't this get better eventually? For the record, I feel really silly with my petty concerns with Darren and Helen running a million miles to my two-minute intervals; but I also feel really grateful because I know I can learn so much from you all (and I have you to pose my questions to!)

So, will "rest training" improve my performance (and comfort level?) Or (please be honest) is it possible that I will just never be a "runner?"

 For the most part, running hurts.  It is hard.  You get sore.  You get little blisters.  You turn your ankle.  Your toe hurts for some reason.  Sometimes your shoulders hurt, what is with that?  I think that sometimes all this stuff just combines and you end up having a crappy run.  Or a crappy week.

It too me a long time to even come close to enjoy running, sometimes I really like it.  Sometimes I have a crappy run.

The thing with running is there is no cheating.  There is no coasting or floating.  You are either moving or you aren't.

I remember when I did my couch to 5k or 30 minutes in my case (2 years ago).  It was brutal.  It was really hard. I had to fight for each extra minute on an interval.  Part of the problem is the 10% rule, where they don't want you increasing milage or time by more than 10% a week.  That is why going from 5k to 10k isn't nearly the battle that going from 0-5 is.  I mean it is a 10 week program, and all you get out of it is 5k.  There are 20 week programs to train for an IM.  But you have to follow the 10% rule, if you don't you will get injured.

Question, how do you measure your distances outside?  Maybe the calibration on the treadmill or your measuring outside is off.

I do not know what causes your chest to hurt.  Could be some type of asthma or a cold coming on or some anxiety or maybe you are running too fast.

 I told people I don't like running as recently as 4 months ago, up to that point it was a mostly hate/some love relationship.  Now I am a mostly love/some hate relationship.

I did the couch to 5k program three different times in three different years, I wish I gutted it out the first time.

I don't really remember the program having recovery weeks so much as weeks with no increase.  Perhaps try a week with no increase.  Then try the next week, if you can't make it go back to the week you could do. 

Bottom line, keep it up.  It takes time.   But you have been making progress, and that is the point.  If you want to be stronger, in better shape and have more energy then keep running.