bcagle25's Endurance Ninja's - Closed (Ninja school is in session) (Page 5)

Erica-So sorry to hear about your accident, I'm so glad you're OK!!

Justin-Congrats on the baby, what wonderful news!!  Yes, your life will change, but for the better.  And teaching (by example) your kids a healthy and active lifestyle is one of the greatest gifts you can give them.  My son and I ran our first running race together last year (Kids 1.5m Mud Run after my 3k) and it was fantastic!  Now he wants to do more.  Also they are the greatest cheerleaders!!

Nicole-Glad you're feeling better!  Being sick that long is no fun.  Your old gym sounds like a doozy! Ours has separate saunas and whirlpools for men and women, but maybe yours did too and that still didn't matter.

Ben-Hope your visit with your parents and gf parents went well, I know sometimes that can be stressfull.  Thanks for mentioning Hillary Biscay's blog, I've really enjoyed reading it.

Another fantastic, above normal day here (56), but tomorrow it's supposed to get colder, so I really enjoyed my 8 mile run in short sleeves and capris!

justin - Congrats, kids are the best. most of the time until you have to battle with them for an hour to get them to bed like mine did tonight :)

My wife and I went to Maui a few years ago. We stayed at Lahaina Shores Beach Resort. At the time the were remodeling so we got a discount so I am not sure what the cost is now. It was a nice place but not too expensive. Lahaina is a nice town to hang out in. We spent some time wandering around the island, but definitly enjoyed a snorkel trip out to the Molokini. I have seen better snorkeling but it was still a good time.  

Sounds like people are getting good work outs in even with a variety of distractions. That is impressive.

Glad to hear that you are ok....bummer about your car, but cars can be replaceable and bodies cannot.

Matt these are some fantastic points about long-distance racing and the mindset that goes into the race.

Personally for me when I did IMWI my first time in '10 I never really thought about the distances during training. I knew what they were and were aware of them going in, I even covered the full swim and bike distances in single session many times, but I never really thought about those distances. Then 5 minutes into the swim it all hit me at once, I started puking and questioning if I would be able to finish. Like you said Matt, trust your training! Once I was out of the water my attitude and beliefs changed, I remembered back to my training, what I had done to get to that point and the rest of the race was much more enjoyable and I knew that I would finish.

Visualization can go a long way as well in mentally preparing yourself to cover the distances too. Picture yourself each of those miles, coming into T1 and T2, and imagine the second half of the run. This can give you a high level of confidence as you fall back onto your training from a physical standpoint and use visualization from a mental standpoint too.

Nicole I have some excellent notes and a PP on mental training that my coach presented last year, if you want those let me know I will check to see if I still have the PP.

Ali glad to see you are enjoy Hillary's blog, she has one of the best in triathlon. A good mixture of life, training, racing, and nutrition amongst a variety of other topics. And she writes well enough that the reads are rather short and to the point.

8 miles in this weather feels great doesnt it? Especially when it is Jan!

Parental visits went great too, nice to relax and enjkoy family away from the holidays.

justinfss - 2012-01-09 7:17 AM My Fear.

That I let myself down by not sticking to my training plan, as well as a healthy lifestyle. I have been overweight for all of my adult life and I am just finally starting to realize that it is going to have a big impact on my health down the road if I don't do something. We haven't really been freely broadcasting this, but my wife and I are expecting our first child sometime in June, and I would like to be able to set a good healthy example right from the start for this little person! Well there ya go Folks that is some big news, as I said we haven't even told everyone about this yet, so I am going to ask all you guys to keep that under your hats .... Ninjas are good at keeping secrets right??

As for what I wear to battle the frigid Arctic weather ( note: I am not actually in the Arctic, not even really close. We are North of the arctic watershed though, so all rivers and streams here flow north to James Bay/ Hudson Bay and the Arctic ocean) I find just a good tight thermal layer with outer shells to block wind. I put a light fleece on yesterday for the -20, and of course a runnning touqe and a face/neck cover. Some good socks and gloves and I'm out the door! If anyone is interested in experiencing somem true winter conditions I am always looking for running partners!

Justin, congrats on the child! I do not have any kids but I can say that some great and very positive changes seem to be in your direction in 2012. Also I think it is fantastic with your realization about your weight and the effects in can have on your life down the road. Too many people think "it won't happen to them" and thus do nothing about it. I am sure that the newborn will provide much inspiration to you, and in a couple years give you some great workouts chasing them down! My neice and nephew run all over the place at my sisters it is tiring in about 5 minutes for me.

Jason great job on the swim PR! By the way, 200's are my favorite distance to swim with while training for IM and HIM's. It is short enough you can get lots of reps in and hold a faster pace, but long enough that it requires you to learn how to pace. I was at the same point timewise going into last summer, and then I had a huge breakthrough over the summer, I hope this translates to you as well! If you need some good workouts let me know, I have some good ones from last year, and I learned yesterday that my coach is going to put me through some killers sets this year as well (not distance killer, but effort killer).

As for friends on your log go to the plus sign, hit it, and then it will bring you to a screen where you can add each friend individually.

Andrew, not to worry, you're not the only one taking it slow.

I'm just getting back into running, and at 250 lbs there are perils the small folks likely just won't comprehend.

To that end, anyone have any good reference sites for diagnosing leg issues? I've been hitting the treadmill and while I've been doing a run/walk there are parts of my legs that are beginning to protest in ways they never have before, so I'm a little out of my depth on whether it's fatigue or injury. One I'll gladly run through, the other... not so much.

Going to try some new shoes in the hopes that might help, these ones are likely borderline for mileage (and who doesn't like to get new tri toys?).

Add my name onto the taking it slow list... I had grand plans on Sunday to do 6 consecutive days of training, but by Wednesday the old body was cranky.  Listened, and took the day off, but I've got to tell ya, it was a blow to the ego.

I really need to stop taking so much time completely off between racing... the last time I was training regularly I was in HIM shape, and I'm not used to my body not being able to perform at that level.

x2 on the running shoes.  I am a "bigger" runner for a girl and find that my shoes break down about 20-30 miles earlier than they "should".  Usually when my shoes are wearing out I have calf and achillies issues, but they go away as soon as I get shoes with better support back on my feet.

That said, if the issue is painful or lingering, I really reccomend seeing a doc ASAP.  It's never a good idea to run on an injury, and the only person who can diagnose that for sure, is a doctor.

I finally got to the pool this week.  It was a mix of weather and the fact that swimming is my least favorite sport.  I can find different gears in both cycling and running but I only have one speed in swimming. I don't know how to differentiate.  Any tips?

I have a hilly run on the books for tomorrow and then I plan to take Sunday completely off.  I have about 10 miles on the bike that I'm missing but I'm early in my training plan so it's not really going to set me back at all.

Anyone have exciting weekend plans? Who's off on Monday?

When I have some time this weekend I will send you some info on swim sets, and some various tests that I have done over the past year. I'll post it right here in the forum so all can see.

By the way that 10 mile tempo run in that weather is a great mental toughness builder!

I'm obviously not Ben, but I love this site for swim workout ideas.

http://www.ntcmastersswim.blogspot.com/

They post a short, mid and long workout daily, and have some great drill suggestions as well.