Jonathan22's mentor group - CLOSED (Page 5)

I would like to join your group. My name is Jeff and I go by Big Daddy Fro. I am 32 years old, 6'1" tall, 340 lbs and looking to get back into shape, lose weight and start competing in triathlons. In regards to my weight I do have a large frame and hold my weight relatively well for my size.  I am looking to get down to at least 200 lbs.

A brief overview of my background, I have been an athlete for the first 20 years of my life. I played baseball, basketball, dek hockey, football, soccer, and wrestling.

 I have a goal of competing in a sprint distance triathlon in May of this year. I started this week on the treadmill, due to the cold weather (I live in PA) and have been walking for 40 minutes at 2.8 mph. I feel that I can be in good enough shape to complete the tri in May even if I have to walk part of the race. I have a lot of previous experience cycling and I can pick that up really quick when the weather begins to break.

 Well that's my background and current goals. I look forward to this journey and would like to be a part of your group.

Thank you,

 Big Daddy Fro

My real name is Ruthie...funny I just had this conversation with one of my boys...apparently he only knows me as Mommy! 

I posted the races I plan to do this year...what do you think?  I've never done an open water swim and the Clemson Sprint is an open water swim...plus I want the tshirt!  Of course that is IF there is enough water in the lake.  Festival of Flowers Olympic is also an open water and, of course, the SC 1/2 is open water (that's my ultimate goal for this year...do the 1/2 and then train next year for  a full.)    My only limiter to which tris I can do is that I'd rather be able to drive to them the day of.  Dealing with a tri and 4 kids is too much! 

And your race schedule is totally doable.  You have plenty of time to ramp up to the HIM which I would make as your A race and have all other races be prep.  Doing FoF will be great prep for SC 1/2.  

 Thanks for the help all... what watch if u don't mind me asking?  I know they have 50, 100, 150 lap watches.  What is recommended?

My biggest fear:  not having my morning coffee kick in before the start and having to "go" on the course!  Ya'll know you are scared of it...just to afraid to admit it!  This is an actual fear.  I get up like 2 1/2 hours early on race day to make sure the coffee has run it's course!

My 2nd biggest fear: Starting the swim out too fast and bonking in the water.

My 3rd biggest fear: overuse of my knees.  I had IT band issues (bad enough that I had to go to the Ortho doc) last spring.  After 9 months of of pain free running, on my 7 miler Saturday, the other knee started giving me a twinge on the outside of my knee.  :-(

Right now, my biggest fears are:

1. The unknown - Having not done any Tri's, or any races, I try to read everything in hopes I have all the bases covered and no big surprises hit me on race day.
2. Flat tire on bike half way through the 2nd leg.
3. Finishing the race in the way back of the pack with just a handful of people 20 or 30 years older than me.  I'm training like crazy for the next few months so the sprint shouldn't be an issue but I'm still hesitant on picking up an olympic distance to "try".

My biggest fear right now is that I won't actually keep up the necessary training to actually get a Tri race done.  I have never given up, but there is just a lot to learn and a lot of training to do.  I've not done a lot of biking and I've done almost no swimming so there is a lot in front of me to accomplish.  I'm enjoying the training that I am doing, but when I'm out there doing it, it sure seems like I'm a long way from being ready.  The one thing I have going for me is I've done long "unattainable" running races so I know that given time and effort I can make it, but right now, I don't have anyone to train with other than the running leg so hitting the bike and swimming legs will be my worry until I actually get it done.

A note about getting sick before a race - the first marathon I signed up for was the Disney World Marathon in Jan '07.  Unfortunately, I got sick over New Year's that year and when the time came to go to Orlando, I couldn't even get out of bed.  I went to the doctor instead that day and found out I had sinusitus and bronchitis.  Probably about the sickest I've ever been.  But what can you?  I sure wasn't running 26.2 miles that weekend.  Luckily, I had done the Charlotte marathon the previous month so I at least got one in.  1 week after the DNS at Disney, my leg cracked (shin stress fracture) and it took me 14 months before I could run regularly again......  

 My biggest fear is investing all the time to training only have an injury just before the race.  I have had a run in with shin splints once before and it set me back a while.