Prof40's Group -- Technically full but ... (Page 50)

Dear Prof, as far as I'm concerned, you may go eat anything you want! You've definitely earned it! Actually, I DO eat anything I want, whenever I want (which is why the scale doesn't budge). But, I'm still getting more definition and my clothes are a tad bit looser in places, so I'm not sweating it. I had Pizza Hut meat lovers pizza and cherry pepsi over the weekend and went with the kids to McDonalds and ate one of those grilled chicken sandwiches and had a mello yello AND some fries. But not all of them. Denial just doesn't work for me. I rebel and then eat an entire pizza myself or an entire pie. So, I let myself have anything, but in somewhat moderation. Of course, I trained for 3.5 hours Monday doing sweat tests and the like, and another 5 mile run and an hour bike yesterday..........so hopefully I'm working it all off

What is Alcatraz like? Tell us all about it. It sounds rather daunting..........do you at least get a goody bag and a pasta feed for doing it???

Is the pedometer challenge goofy? I was just curious how many blasted miles I put on being a slave to my kids and patients. Thought it might make me less resentful when they ask me for yet another drink of water after we've all climbed into bed exhausted for the night.......and like Liz says, I'm rather addicted to measuring things. But what gets measured usually improves!

Like pene I'm not good at self denial so I tend allow myself whatever I want whenever I want it save that over the last four weeks or so I have been good (porridge and fruit) at breakfast and haven't eaten beyond 7pm.

Up until yesterday I was missing having a good long soak in a nice bath. I checked into the Marriot in Hong Kong to get all my laundry done and soak in the tub for a couple of hours. Bliss!

The one thing I am missing is wine. I do enjoy a good glass (bottle) of wine and the stuff here is either Chinese (an acquired taste) or extortionate so I'm skipping wine for the month. Looking forward to getting home.

Also missing Satan. Been away too long, must tell her.

Awwww, Mark, that's sooo sweet! I knew there was a romantic in you somewhere---even if you do refer to your love as Satan I am so jealous of your Hong Kong adventure! You really do live an interesting life! Teach me to manifest a life like yours, please. At least for the next go-round. I used to think this would be my last lifetime on this planet. Now, I'm not so sure......might be another mountain to run over and a desert to plow through and an English Channel to swim across........but my old body might not let me do all that this go-round!!

I want to send a big GOOD LUCK To our fearless leader, the Professor, as he is making his final preparations for the big Alcatraz tri this weekend. For those of you new to the sport, this race is a big deal out here on the West Coast! I for one would never have the guts to do it, so I give a great amount of credit to him. I hope you have a great time and enjoy San Fran (go to the Ferry Building for good eats, btw) and you know we are all behind you, rooting for you in spirit!
Go Professor!

I'll second that! We'll expect a full race report and don't leave out any details when you get back!! Be safe, too Go, Prof, Go!!!!

Ok, all, no wild parties while I'm gone. I'll see you Tuesday.

Good luck prof. Enjoy your race.

Mark

just went for my first run in like ages and ages 6.2 km 37 mins i am really wrapped with that time! especially since its been so long. maybe i am a runner after all
Good luck prof! give em hell!

Prof, it won't be the same without you! My other mentor is also named David (Gillen) and is doing Alcatraz, too. So, I'll be a fish out of water for this weekend. Well.....Rob went and found another group and I panicked and figured I still need tons of help and still have tons of really stupid questions, so I found another thread, too. Where didja all think I was learning about lactate threshold, sweat tests, negative splits, periodization and got my spreadsheet training plan for century ride and marathon????? Gillen told me to build my engine first by doing everything in F2/aerobic zone and he's right. I look sort of athletic, but my engine is a rusty old piece of yellowbike that needs a total overhaul. Cardiovascular is not genetically speaking, our family strong point. Lots of stroke, bad leg circulation, blood pressure, and even pacemaker type issues in my ancestry. So, I figured I better do something about that! And I am. But I can't run fast yet because my blood doesn't get pumped where it needs to very well yet, plus the whole asthma thing (thanks parents for smoking when I was growing up!). Every time I exercise at least one hour in aerobic zone, I will lay down more capillaries and improve my engine performance. Trying to be patient while that happens......but runs and bikes will just plain be slow til it does.

Panicking about the 2006 times for my tri coming up. Geepers. Everyone is so.....FAST! I projected it will take me between 2:15 and 2:30 in all reality, based on past times, fatigue, transitions that will likely not go well for me, due to the fact that Kali will be there for sure, etc.... and last year there was only like 2 people that finished in that time. Everyone else just cruised!! We all say we don't want to finish dead last and that it's the fact we did it, not the speed. But truthfully, I didn't run over 200 miles since January and bike 600 and swim 23000 yards and put in like $4000 with equipment, gas, babysitters, seminars, bribery to make kids happy since I'm working out, etc. to finish dead LAST!!! Know what I mean???

Malph, you amaze me. You can just exist and you are faster than me. You don't really work out that I can see, and you finish tri's without much ado. Piece o cakers for you. And I'm happy for you, but that just ain't the case for this chick. I work my redbike off to be a truly slow hobbling along tri person. Maybe it's the Aussie genes, or because you are so young, or whatever, but it really doesn't quite seem fair to me.......

Well, everyone, today is the last day of the May Rob challenge! I've been snooping. Prof kicked everyone's redbike on the swim and put in around 40 hours this month. I think Watergirl is next with the swim. Not too surprising. She's part mermaid!!! I don't know Mark's totals, as he isn't posting them currently, so Mark, let us know how you did. But I think Mark kicked us all on the weight challenge! (I'm moving to Hong Kong to get some horrific food and some really life threatening diarrhea so I can lose it too). Or maybe he's pining away for that girl of his and can't eat...... Rob of course, kicked all our butts on the bike! Will take me two months to get his mileage, but he's a race car driver turned triathlete, so that doesn't surprise me that the bike is his love. Well done, Rob! Helen kicked everyone on the run by over 10 miles more than the rest of us. Maybe having a Half mary helped that, but well done anyway, Lady! After today, I think I tied Prof and Rob with the time--around 40 hours. And with the run--around 43 miles. So, well done to this old lady with kids and self employment competing for my time. BGT gets the "Whew, she picked herself up out of a major slump and is gaining super momentum" award! And she's doing great on the mile a week or so swim challenge! Malph gets the "effortless" award. He just is a natural at this stuff (green monster stomping her foot here!). Cmckee gets the "sunshine" award. That woman is just too nice! She can motivate a flea to do pushups, I swear! And she's signed up for a Duathlon now!!

The rest of you, I miss you, so post us a message or two and let us know how your month totalled up and how you are feeling about upcoming tri's, etc.

I'm off to make good on my tying the guys on the time and run totals. Have to get some OWS in today, get on the bike outside with clipless pedals and play with gears up hills, and jog at least the course so I don't get lost on the run race day (as the others will have finished and gone off to catch their planes by the time I hobble through).

Someone think of a June challenge. I'm so competitive that it really helps me. Why do you all think I've been killing myself these last days..............

maybe i make it sound a lot easier then it is? im not sure but believe me i was blowing pretty hard after the race. I have also recently aqquired Myself a girlfriend yep thats right a girlfriend I Swear its cos im a triathlete but she is also a personal trainer, She is going to help write me a training program which includes weights.

have a good 1 all

remember your addrenilan will be pumping hard so that makes your race time quicker!
got a fun run coming up 8kms piece of cake since i AM a triathlete!

Right well since the year is almost half over and its the start of the month my plan is to start loggin all my exercise again. ive been very slack on this over the past few and its something that must be rectified because it gives me a giddy little thrill when i look at my results and think i achieved all that! wow im good.

Just wondering does every1 stretch after there exercising? I never used to but its very important and i know 1 thing for sure is my body thanks me the next day.

Thanks, Clint. Well done on the girlfriend deal Maybe she has a brother for me...... Kidding. The ironman visited me last weekend and fixed my bike trainer. But.....he's not such an ironman in other arena's I discovered Maybe that's why his wife left him??? (nasty Phoenix, bad girl, play NICE!)

Unfortunately, I don't have much adrenaline anymore. I have adrenal failure basically. That's probably partly my problem, too. Well, at least I'm off the meds for it.....coffee is my friend

Actually, I snooped again at Robb's log, and the stinker is just after Helen with 48 miles. After today, he might even beat her!

Yeah Sean!! You okay??? Didn't have like coronary arrest or a knee operation here??? Welcome back!

Okay, I'm going to get going here. Really. (pours a tad more coffee.....)Here's your Arabic lesson for the day: Mafi Mushkila. It means "no problem"!! I saw a t-shirt yesterday

How about an ironman a week for June?

If you break it down it's not really much more (and in some cases less) than we're already doing.

Say 5 miles running a day, a couple of decent swims and 3 or 4 good sessions on the bike.

As an added incentive, we could do it against the clock...

I get back from HK on Saturday and I will have a few days off. I have been working hard but have recruited a lawyer out here so I can get back to slacking, playing on the computer and logging my times. Rest assured every last one of you (even Malphh) did more exercise than I did over the last month so well done to you all.

For those of you who are still on for the weight challenge, the weigh in day is June 10th and no, I haven't found the courage to step on the scales after my mammoth loss last time largely because I have been wining and dining quite well although...as I mentioned in one of my other posts I have been eating early evening and putting in a bit of exercise after dinner. One of Sean's suggestions and it may work. What it has done is knock me out like a light in the evening when it comes to beddybies which is a result worthy of big thanks. So THANK YOU SEAN.

Toodles to you all, I'm off to pack to go home so I may not get to play until after prof gets back.

Mark--"doing" an ironman a week for June sounds GOOD to me All in the semantics........

Sorry. Really, I do pull my head out of the gutter once in awhile...............

I'm completely off for the weight challenge. Don't even want to look at a scale. Fortunately, my poundage doesn't seem to matter much to the ironman or the 26 year old marathon dude that still is after me, but only for one thing and he's still just too blasted young.....

I think my meds are recirculating. My face is all puffy today, my body feels like it's been hit by a Mack truck, and my hormones are CLEARLY just a bit overwhelming currently. But in a fun way As soon as I start really hitting the bike hard, those quadriceps where I injected the adrenal medicine for a year and a half start to lose some of the flab and then the leftover meds recirculate and I get symptoms of side effects. Has happened many times before. I think that's part of why I don't get on the bike as often as the rest of you. I hate having that reaction. Oh well, might as well suck it up and get the crap out of my body once and for all, eh?

Do you all realize that currently some of us are doing ironman training as far as hours per week??? And of course, Mark has been doing ironman training for a long time now with the mileage! But Gillen trained an average of 11 hours a week for his IM and he just did a tri near him in TX and took first in his age group, and now is off to do Alcatraz! So, my point is that 40 ish hours a month is pretty much THERE for IM training. Now we just have to keep it up! So, Rob, Mark, thanks for challenging me. Keep it up, guys. But remember, if I'm gonna work myself that hard, you all need to be there for me when I crash. I'm just about there again. Been pushing really hard and my body is really complaining today. When that happens, my mind goes, too. And then I'm blubbering all morning and the tears won't stop. So, push me, but be kind, too, please. Iron girl here needs a little praise and encouragement, too. I'm okay today, though. So, relax......

Hey Rob!! Nice to hear from ya!! Congrats on your new digs! So are you now self employed?? It's not for the meek of heart. But you'll do just fine! And congrats on the May challenge. You kicked butt. Period. I'm not THAT far behind, though..........

Well Mark, some of us have a June tri coming right up (me, Rob, Helen) so I think we might be better served taking it a TINY bit easy this next week or so. Gillen says we don't have to taper much for a sprint tri, and I trust him. So, I'm thinking I'm definitely in for 3 ironman distances this month, but 4 would be pushing it too much for now.

At the endurance seminar, the Ph.D. dudes said to go by the Rule of 3's. In other words, for a newbie, you need to do three times your race distance a month, and probably for at least 3 months, to be ready. So......since I'm training for a marathon, a century, and the aquathons (which aren't IM distance, but hey, close enough), I'm in for at least 3 IM's a month for the next month at least and then I'll re-evaluate! That will be enough of a kick in the pants for me.

Have to take my bike in to have her looked over as a 90 day tune-up and get her ready for the tri deal. They are super busy there, and I didn't want to miss having her looked over. And then I can get used to any fine tuning they do this next week. My mom comes this next week and will stay til the Tri and then take my kids back home with her for the next week. So, I'll have a chance to get some real biking in then!! Yeah!!!

That makes a lot of sense....I think I'm going to implement the rule of three stuff for my own training!! Thanks!

Wow Androgenie, you have some real ambition! MS is a great cause, too.

Well, today was not the best day for me. I did my bike, which was great. Then I did an OWS by myself. Which was terrible. Asthma set in almost as soon as I was no longer touching ground, even with a couple hits off my inhaler first. Not so much from cold, but from nerves! I was in there gurgling and coughing my redbike off the whole way. Very daunting. BUT--those sneaky Ball Buster Tri Club people (all iron people and our president, Scott, took FIRST PLACE last year for the whole West Salem Tri--not just his age group, but first period!!!!!) are all doing the "intermediate" distance, which is a .9 mile swim! So, they were like--just go out to that rock over there across shore and back, and we'll do it twice for intermediate. Well, that means that to the rock and back is an 800 yard swim, NOT a 400!! No wonder last time I got half way to the rock and wanted to turn back. It's all my body can handle--it's been trained to go 400 and then take a 5 minute breather! I didn't realize last time that they were doing nearly a mile. I thought they were doing a .5 mile swim total. Sneaky little iron creeps!!!! They aren't very friendly, either........too competitive.

Any hoo, more than 2 hours after my "swim" today (I'm back to my side/back swim with head out of water gasping and gurgling for air due to stupid nerves) I STILL was having tight breathing and coughing up piles and piles of tinged mucous, even with more hits from the inhaler. And I was WIRED. We're talking super adrenaline. So, I decided to go for a run at the track. Now, realize, this is MY track, just yards from my house. And when I got there-----those dratted track kids and their coach were on my track!!! Well, I decided I need to get over this fear of running with real runners, so I proceeded. And failed. Arms went numb again, was gasping and gurgling all over the place, and nearly fainted. Mercy! But, I'm STUBBORN. So, I made myself WALK. In front of God and everybody. Even though they were all gawking at the crazy old lady in skin tight biking shorts and tank top gasping for air with her 4 year old behind her. And I realized that the kids are just kids. One of them is a patient of mine and waved at me. And the others were actually showing off a bit. Like they were sort of happy to have an audience for their discus throws, shot puts and sprints. After a little while, Mose wanted to go home--whew! Otherwise I think I would have done the turf war thing and outlasted them until they left and then tried to run. But I think my body has just plain had enough. I'll have to do Yoga or something if I can't rest tonight.

So--new plan of attack: Asthma tapes everyday with swim and run visualizations, I MUST get some more OWS in even if I have to beg someone to come along and watch the kids for 20 minutes on shore. I may just let myself do the crawl right by shore in a sort of "lap" mode and just go for minutes of swimming and not worry about how many actual yards it is. At least until I quit panicking. All runs outside in front of whoever until I get over my insecurities. Like even if it's up and down the block with all the neighbors gawking. Let em gawk right? And when I get my bike back and my mom is here, I'm doing hills every day, even if it's just 5 miles.

Any other words of advice for this hopeless case??????????

Naw, I think you are the one with ambition! Or maybe you were just fueled on albuterol :-)

If anyone is able to donate to my ride (even $5...heck, even $1!), I would really appreciate it. It's easier for me to train than to fundraise, even on the days where my heart is trying to say "stop!!" (it doesn't like going up to 195 on my run intervals).

Ok, end commercial :-)

Okay, Candice, you got my donation. Not a big one, but hey......

Good for you!!! I treat an MS patient Monday nights. And it takes forever to get her unwound so to speak. She's all tightened up and spastic so it takes a long time to get her flat on the table. Her husband needs a lot of chiropractic care, too, as he has to lift her from the wheel chair all the time. She's wasting away to nothing. I don't get paid to treat her anymore, as their insurance is maxed. Maxed on the husband's care, too. So, I contribute to MS every week in my own little way. Just trying to make her comfortable, and keep her husband from having disc surgery from all the lifting he does.

Bless you for your efforts!!

Okay, I asked for some help today. My friend, Tracy agreed to watch the kids for me several times the next few days to allow me to do more open water swims. She also is a Reflexologist, so she worked on my feet and adjusted my back. She's not a chiropractor, but she did great--several of my thoracic vertebrae moved, and she even worked on my twisted sacrum. So, my nerves should be working better. Now that I'm using the aero bars on my bike, my upper and mid back were all screwed up and tight and those are the nerves to the lungs.......

I got one of those "junk" emails today and actually read it for a change. It was a Dr. Sear's book about NOT training aerobically. He claims that your body holds onto fat when you exercise for hours and hours because it freaks out and thinks you'll starve. He says by the time you are 50 years old, you've lost more than 40% of your lung capacity. Well, I never had much lung capacity to start with, so he got my attention here. He claims he can help anyone increase their lung capacity and get them fit and thin in no time by following his program, which is basically more interval training at higher exertion levels and for short times. He calls it his PACE program.

Rob--is that the book you were reading about walking 10% of the time??? Did you get his book, and what did you think of it??? I spend enough on stuff and don't want to put out another $28 if it's junk. But if it's GOOD stuff that will help me....................

Runners--what do you all think??? Today the mucous I was coughing up was blood tinged again. Just a little bit. But it got my attention. Am I forcing things too much too soon?