swbkrun's group- CLOSED (Page 45)

I have been doing alot of my training on my spin bike.   I don't have a trainer, but my spin bike is set up as close to my bike as I can get it, and I have the same pedals etc.  I had one of the best outside long rides saturday with my group that I have had in a long time.  I really feel like spinning has helped alot.  I also have a buddy that has done several IM and he trains on his indoor bike all the time.  So, I think you are good to go.  How long is that first tri?  Either way 10 weeks should be sufficient to get you comfy. 

Nice to know I'm not the only one, LOL!  Mine's only 14 miles on the bike and I've seen an elevation map and it doesn't look too bad (I know they're not always too accurate but it at least gives me an idea of what to expect).  There are some hills though and that's the part that worries me, I guess.  I've been upping the resistance on the stationary bike and doing hill programs but I know it's not the same as riding outdoors. 

I think I'm going to try to take a day off work next week and spend it getting my bike ready - there never seems to be enough time to do everything on weekends.  I only have a MTB for now and I've cleaned/lubed the chain and stuff, but I was hoping to maybe replace the tires with smooth ones and possibly change out the pedals.  Problem with that is I don't have the faintest idea of where to start.  I guess a trip to the LBS is in order - hopefully they'll be nice to a newbie.

Steve - great pics!  I watched parts of the race on TV this past week.  Seems like they had a pretty good crowd to watch the riders.  Sorry you didn't get to ride as much as you would have liked though. 

You could just treat your bike to a tune-up, call ahead as some places get pretty booked up when the weather gets nice.

Just tell them you want some road tires put on (if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself)  They can do them in 5 minutes.

Don't fret about your first tri.  It can be difficult reading everything here and on other sites where everyone is talking about how to go faster.

For your first tri take it all in.  Smile and thank all the volunteers, check out expo's, talk to others that are near you in transition, hang out after for food and to chit-chat with everyone.

It will make your day so much more enjoyable and memorable.  You can always coast on the bike and walk on the run so don't have to worry about those things.

EDIT: My wife and I were just talking about it and she brought up a good point.  Take your time in transition.  We are all about going fast and not wasting time there, but for your first time make sure you have everything you need, double check then go.  Once you do one you will see how things work and will be able to think of ways to make them faster

Trevor/Janet....

The nerves will be there, that is normal.  They always exsist, but that is ok.  Like Tony said take it ALL IN!  It is a race that you will never forget!  I remember my 1st 5k run, and my 1st Sprint distance more than any other race over the years!  You both have done the training, have done the distance, and have put in the hours!  It is going to be hard, but it will be fun!  Thank the volunteer's, encourage other races, thank your friends and family for coming to watch you, etc!  You have all of our support here!  We are cheering you on from a far!  Keep us in your head when you are suffering!  Think about what we would say to you if we were swimming, biking, or running along side of you! 

Hang in there!  We do this sport for fun!  We don't compete against others, we compete against ourselves (for the most part-deep down we all compete I KNOW!), and look how far everyone has come in the 2 months that we have all been together.... BiLateral breathing, PR's on distance and time, building bikes, etc!  I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!

 that is a great suggestion, take your time..  my first tri last oct i almost forgot my helmet and got DQ'd.  Luckily a nice lady screamed at me right before i passed the time sensor that i forgot the helmet.  also one thing i remember that calmed my nerves was setting-up my transition early and talking to everyone in my transition area.  you will be surprised that for many it may be their first tri and that everyone is nervous.  good luck

Hey Karen and Trevor

Don't worry, you two will do great!  It is the first race of the season so use it as a learning experience for the rest of '09.  The fact that you have some miles on the bike and feel good about the swim and the run is a big plus. My only advice is don't start out too fast on the bike.  I have done it before and then really have to push myself to finish the run strong. 

I wish I lived near you guys.  I would love to get the season going!

Suzy

OK...I have to come clean here.  I just polished off a whole tube of cookie dough!  Now that is the diet of a champion.  Can you say BINGE.  My name is barry and I am a chocoholic  Well, actually, my 4 yr old got a couple so what can I say. 

I say this because I HAVE GOT TO WORK ON MY DIET.  I usually eat like a champ all day and then every couple of days, I blow it.  I would say my worst vice is diet drinks.  I drink way too many per day and not enough water.  My diet today consisted of bananna, cottage cheese, salad for lunch w/chicken, nuts, clam soup for dinner, and DESSERT. 

So how are your diets going?  I need some inspiration.  Gotta get serious over the next couple months.

Hey Barry- I hear you on the diet thing.  Strawberry ice cream is my downfall.  Dreyer's is my favorite  I abstained tonight!

  Trevor! I'm excited for you....just 8 days!  You are ready!  Just remember to have lots of fun!  Janet- 10 weeks is a long time, no freaking out, I should talk  Just think, we'll get to read Trevor's race report and he'll tell us all of the important things to remember.

 I found an April 12th tri, with a pool swim being put on by my alma mater, UC Davis...it's 750 yd swim, but an open swim around buoys (50 peeps max per wave)!  14 mile bike and 4 mile run...sounds kind of fun and might be a good first tri for the season.

Barry

A whole tube? YOWZA!

Seriously, I can go weeks with a really clean diet and then BAM I fall off the wagon, eat sugary crap and it is weeks before I get it back together.  As a consultant, I work at home almost all the time.  Having something in front of me while I am working is my downfall--a box of cereal, a bag of dark chocolate chips (my downfall!) or reduced Fat chips (yeah, right!).

I used to drink 8-10 Diet Mt. Dews a day to keep me going during my 80 hour work weeks.  YUCK.  I completely dumped Dew, started drinking more water and dropped some weight without doing anything to my diet.  Now I might have one can of diet pop a day. Try it. 

In general I am a good eater, but I am a volume eater.  I always get 7-10 F &Vs in my diet which means big salads and homemade soups all of which really fill me up with fewer cals.  I would start there.  Don't allow yourself any crap until after you have eaten at least some F and some V that day (which is looks like you do!).  I am not someone who skips sweets or salty snacks. I just try to get the good stuff in first.

If you are a night eater, I might suggest you make something that is actually good for you (strawberries with some chocolate sauce dribbled (not dumped) on it, single serving stuff, like pudding or a measured bowl of sugar cereal with milk.  I have a pudding recipe using quiona that is pretty good.  I will try to dig it up and post it if you are interested.  You could also try the don't eat after the kids go to bed routine.

Bottom line, is I am trying to work on body comp leading up to Boston so maye we can keep each other on the right track.

Suzy

Barry,  I'm right there with you.  The Girl Scout Cookies arrived this weekend and my five year old and I ate a whole box in under an hour!!!  In fact, I have a sleeve of Thin Mints in front of me right now!   I too am a dessertaholic.  I don't really drink so this is my one vice.  I am trying to drop five pounds (I secretly want to look like trixie he he he). 

Suzy,  full snaps for drinking POP!!!   Down in the south they call it soda but I'm from Kansas where we still drink pop, put our groceries in sacks, dive hoopties, and use sweepers (not vacuum cleaners).  I also play at the crick (not creek) and have been know to tip a few cows in my youth!!

Barry from what you described you ate, it looks healthy but not nearly enough.  I had that problem when I started to try to eat better, I ate less.  Near the end of the day I was starving and would eat whatever was available and usually needed something substantial so an apple wouldn't cut it.

I would have to ask my wife who is much more dialed into the calories in vs. out thing but with all the workouts we do in training for tri's you don't want to go too much in calorie debt.  There are some good calculators out there that can estimate how many calories you need.  You have to take those with a grain of salt also because they don't take into account the amount of calories we burn in training. 

This is what makes things tricky.  To maintain enough energy to train you need to eat.  It is very tough trying to find that balance where you eat enough to provide the fuel but not too much where you eat more than your What you need to Live + what you burned  ratio.

What helped me was to make sure I was eating enough at each meal, especially breakfast.  Also Trying to eat at least 5-6 meals a day, i.e. decent breakfast + Powerbar at 10am, lunch, Fruit/nuts/etc at 3, Dinner, some sort of decent snack at 7ish.  It has been tough trying to find that balance of not over eating + making sure I am not hungry all day.

As for soda and water it really helps me that we have a water cooler at work so I just fill up my bottle all day and just cut diet-coke cold turkey, I could drink a 6 pack of diet coke just while at work.

Hey Barry I know the feeling.....With the young kids its stressful sometimes, and you just grab what you find and eat away. And lots of it!!! We always used to snack on crapfood when the kids went to bed....Our REWARD for making it through another day. What I've done now is have some yogurt at night, and throw in some yogurt covered raisins or something like that. Its a good snack, and gets the sweet tooth out of the way.

Yes ,everyone March 8 is coming quick. Looking forward to it. Not really nervous yet, but thinking about it alot. Only goal is to finish right. But really I want to be around 1:30. Will be nice finally get it out of the way. There are going to be a bazillion people there, so it should be exciting. Next week I'll be asking for all your 'veteran' tips of preparation and all that good stuff...unless you want to share now.

Add my name to the list of those addicted to dessert.  Most of the winter I've been a nightly consumer of ice cream (Tillamook chocolate and PB or anything I can put caramel sauce on are my favs), cinnamon rolls or some other sweet, nutritionally void morsel.

A couple weeks ago that had to change.  I've gained about 5 lbs over the winter.  Nothing too worrisome, but not a trend I wanted to see continue after all the work I did to drop lbs last year.  So now the plan is that dessert is ok on Sunday and Tuesday, every other night the post-dinner snack has to be healthy (or at least not harmful ).  In the last two weeks I've dropped 3 of those 5 lbs.

Moral of the story - you can't always deprive yourself of the things you enjoy or it becomes a stressor.  Allowing that indulgence once or twice is ok, in appropriate servings.  Many "diets" have splurge days or free days built in for this reason.  It's easier to stick with something 95% of the time, knowing that a little reprieve is just around the corner.

Oh, and why Sundays and Tuesdays you ask?  Because Sunday is usually dinner with my wife's parents and her mom is a great cook and is always making new desserts.  It would be rude to not partake.  Tuesdays - well that's BL night and we enjoy the irony of eating dessert and watching BL.

Barry (sorry for the long post), I think Tony is on the right track w/ the not eating enough.  I was surprised at how much I needed to eat when I first began training.  I felt like I always had food in my mouth and was still losing weight.  That stabilized after awhile, though I still eat more often than I used to.  Breakfast, mid-morning snack (usually fruit), lunch, midafter noon granola or fruit, dinner, evening snack/dessert

Barry,

I have no place to say anything about diet... That is one of the reasons for excessive workouts (and AMEN for genetics---pisses my wife, and sister off, but I was blessed w/ my mother's genetics!).  I also am lucky in the fact that I don't have a sweet tooth!  What I am a sucker for is Chips and salsa!  I try to get my fix during the day.  At night it is never good to have "JUNK!"  Your metabolism is much slower than during the day (when you are up and moving around).  I know easier said than done.  Since my wife know's what I like she buys me chips and salsa when she is at the store.... I have to say don't do it every week.... I love it, but I can't have it in the house.  I asked her to do it every once in a while!  Intentions good, but too easy to temp my belly!  Again it may be different for me since we don't have kids? 

For the night cravings I am a FIRM believer in a glass of chocolate milk!  I am sure it will give you the kick you need!   I actually drink it a lot!  If I am still hungry at night, if I feel like I need something sweet at night, if I have a hard workout (great recovery drink!)....

Suzy is right, it is ok to have this stuff, it is just in what context you have it... Moderation 1st off, a reward (for a great workout, for eating excellent throughout the day).... BUT MODERATION!

so is this what open water swims are really like??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk

Very Funny

Yeah, and I bet you drink out of a bubbler too!  But how many of you have eaten at a supper club or gone to Friday fish frys?   

So the bike saga continues.  Tony has been helping me find other custom manufacturers and translating the Chinese they send back to me (very helpful guy!). I never realized how many custom shops there are in the US (Parlee, Rue Sports, Elite, etc). Everyone has a slightly different angle to the build and approach to the fit, etc.  Today I spent 45 mins on the phone with the lead designer from Elite in Philly. Their fit session is 6 hours long. The good news is they have built bikes for people even smaller than me, 4'7"! Depending on what happens with the Seven,  I might be taking a road trip.

Steve, I would kill for your metabolism.

I can't see it here at work, is that the cliff bar commercial where they beat him as he swims?  Very funny if it's that one.

I haven't had issues with kicking, hitting on swims, maybe that happens in the front - middle but as I am usually off the back of the pack I always have clear water to swim through

oh oh Matt...now what happens when the Biggest Loser is on back-to-back nights? Do you eat dessert tonight as well?(My wife and I watch that show religiously as well).

Tony-yes its that commmercial. Thought it was pretty good.

And Suzie......By the end of this ordeal, you will have a kick*ss bike! The pain will be worth it.

Yeah, I usually start at the end of my wave too, often on the outside of the buoy line.  My problem is when the next wave starts the faster ones catch up and it scares the crap out of me.  It is a little like JAWS, a sea of red swim caps are coming my way.....

Well today being Ash Wednesday, the decision is made for me due to it being a day of fasting.  Do you know if it will regularly be tues/weds?  I kind of hope so - I'm an early riser and 10 is pretty late for me.