The Frozen (not so) North Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 5)

Jennifer, it figures you want to start the challenge Sunday - my long run is Saturday! 

In terms of swimming, I completely agree and can't highly recommend lessons enough.  Every story will be different, but here's my testimony:

I had a close friend who was a D1 swimmer and now coaches at the high school level give me some lessons and take video of me early on.  Two things were obvious :

1. What I thought I was doing and what I was actually doing were completely different.
2. There were a few minor issues which were doing major damage to my profile in the water.  He helped correct them, and my times dramatically and magically dropped with less effort.

On that same path, proper bike fit makes a huge difference in speed and comfort.  If you can't or don't want to get a professional fit, take some pictures/video and either post them on the main site for analysis by the biking gurus (scary to do that!), or try to do your best to use the web to find the best fit.  Tiny changes in seat height, fore/aft seat position, stem height, etc, can make enormous differences in your comfort and  power on the bike.

The challenge is on. My week for everything begins on a Monday and my BT is set the same. But I will start on a Sunday with some spinning classes.

I record my swim in yards so I converted the 2.4 miles to 4225 yards (rounded).

IRON MAN CHALLENGE 1/16 - 2/13/11

Swim - 2.4 miles (4225 yards): 0 done/ 4225yds to go
Bike - 112 miles: 0 done/ 112 to go
Run -26.2 miles: 0 done/ 26.2 to go

Hey - Congrats on completing your first of many bricks!  A 9:30 time is impressive - just think how fast you will be when summer rolls around!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I just finished with my 20 bike ride in the basement - luckily I was able to do it while my daughter was napping.

Pretty psyched about the fact that it's been 6 months since I worked out three times in a week.  I actually plan on getting into the water next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hey gang-

Just updating before the weekend.  Runs went very well this week.  Spot on.  As for the swimming, major thumbs down.  It's not an issue of motivation as it is scheduling- babies/toddlers will do that.  It'll be ironed out ASAP. 

As for the challenge- I'll be observing enthusiastically this time around!  The biking will be coming a little later on for me.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Last year I was looking to fine tune what I thought was a solid swim stroke.  I had a local coach meet me at the pool, where I swam laps for him at different intensities.  He had a pole mounted video camera setup that took great footage from several angles, both above and below the water line.  After watching the video with him, I went from thinking that I was a solid swimmer (for a triathlete), to just utter shock/amazement and how horrible I looked (form wise) in the water.  What I was actually doing physically was so different than what I saw in my minds eye that it blew me away.  He offered up several drills to work into my swimming sessions to correct the now-obvious flaws. 

So my .02 cents is that if you are already real comfortable in the water, just have someone film you.  You can self-diagnose from there and these forums are a great place to describe what's ACTUALLY occurring and find a solution.  If you aren't real comfortable in the water, then definitely get lessons so that you don't develop incorrect form/bad habits that will need to be unlearned thousands and thousands of yards later.

Hey Lovey,

Great idea and motivator for to have a IM for the month.  It will make Warren get in the pool earlier...haha.  I have to get my odometer hooked up on the bike to log my mileage...it will also force me to run a little further.  Looking forward to the challenge. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend and get some training in...Look out for the snow this weekend!

I am in for the challange too.  All of my biking will be on a the trainer...unless the temps get up near 50...not likely in Michigan this time of year.

Good luck with your work outs everyone!

Me too!

For those of you who aren't participating - no worries...do what you can.

So glad to see everyone sticking to their plans so far - great job. There is a school of thought that says it takes 6 weeks to develop a habit...see if you can try to stick to a plan for 6 weeks (so just about the time the IM challenge is winding down) this year.

Busy, busy weekend - but downstairs to the trainer this am for a bike ride. Enjoy!

Can't wait to start the challenge.  I actually have a swim planned for Sunday, so take that!

I want to echo Jennifer in that it's awesome to see everyone doing something regularly.  When I first started out on this path, it was often a struggle to get motivated to get out there.  Now when I'm a little dour at home, someone in my family asks why I don't just go out and run a little!  What has become of me?  Stick with it and you won't regret it and then it starts to become part of who you are.

Wendy, how did the 10k go?

Happy Saturday all! I will participate in the IM challenge as well.  When is the starting date again??  I need to put my other bike with the computer on my trainer.  This will be the motivation I need to change it out!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Could some one post on here a copy of the nice team table I see in some of your logs? I would love to copy and paste to my dashboard!  Thanks!!

I did group power this morning at Y.  (strength training) That's it for me,  I am feeling a little tired after the extra cardio with the biking and running this week.

Can you say stiff and a little sore? Feel much better after a scolding hot shower though.

I went for a long run with my running buddy in the snow. We did 15 miles. On the out and back course, there we pass the same coffee shop at mile 2 and 12. The 2 mile marker was two early so at mile 12, we stop and used the bathroom and grabbed a cup of coffee.

And yes, we ran the next half mile or so with our coffee in hand. That caffeine boost pushed us the last 3 miles.

Awesome run in the snow Lovey! 

Kathy, here is a table for our group: Off to the gym/pool!

Frozen (not so) North Mentor Group:

• Lovey/Lovey
• jacks4Life /Wendy
• KOM /Kathy
• alsiedee /Ally
• MindBodyandSoul/Lesia
• jgrigg /Jeri
• mw22 /Mike
• scott1223 /Scott
• igby /Igby
• KellySue1975/KellySue
• TMUISE1 /Tara
• Syrinx61/Rachael
• ssngeorge/Susan
• Qua17 /David
• greenhousevt/Kim
• Mainer22 /Kevin
• wbayek/Warren (mentor)
  itsallrelative_Maine /Jennifer(mentor)
  

Saturday is my day off from training, so nothing but a nice walk for me today.

I'm really excited that I managed to stick to my training plan this week, but I'm still nervous about being able to make this a habit/lifestyle.  Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.  I'll breathe easier once I've been able to keep it up for a couple of months. 

Nice Job!

Alsiedee,

Don't think about the long term. Focus on the now.  Accomplish todays goals and tomorrow will take care of itself. 

Lesia
Mind,Body and Soul

WOW!!! What a difference between running the "flat, zero elevation" courses I ran in Massachusetts.
NOTHING even remotely flat on this one. Some called it moderately hilly to hilly. I called it "wicked hilly".

Even with that I dropped 3 minutes off my previous PR with a 58:54. So happy to break the hour mark. Finished in 1st of my age group and won some bath salts that I think I will be using tonight. 

Keep up the good work everyone. I'll be joining in the challenge, but think I'll wait until Monday to start

Wooo Hooo!!!  Congrats Wendy!!  What a great way to start off your year!

Enjoy your winnings with a nice recovery soak!

Congratulations on both counts!!

CONGRATS!!! On your run  

I am just catching up on all the posts for the past few days.  I decided to avoid the forum while I was getting over my cold cause I was feeling guilty.  This challenge sounds great-I def need this week to get back into the swing of things!

So-today was my first day back to the gym, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill.  After a warm up, I alternated walking and jogging.  I was pretty slow-did just over 2 miles, but it felt great to be back!

I need to get a HR monitor.  Does anyone have advice on a good one that is easy to use?  In the past, I have always had problems setting them and found that when I would start to jog or do anything vigorous, it would start beeping like crazy and I would panic and stop.

Awesome race and an AG win!  Wow - first group bling.  Saying "wicked" hilly really proves you're from New England!

Don't ever feel guilty about not training, especially when you're sick.  Come check out and encourage everyone else or give a word of advice if someone is going through something you've already been through.

In terms of HR monitors, mine is a Polar monitor that's really my bike computer, so I wouldn't recommend it just for a HR monitor.  I turn off all the beeps and such anyway, and I really only use it occasionally now as a check on my effort level.

If you get one and are heart rate training, do the tests here on BT to establish zones.  And then it's amazing how slow you have to go keep the HR in the right zone sometimes!

DID 25 Minutes on the bike made 7 miles.  17 running on treadmill I went 1.16 miles and swam 500m in 16 minutes so a slow workout,

Feeling the first week of training.