Newbz winter training group is FULL!!!!! (Page 6)

Hello David,

I'm a born-again multi-sport guy. I haven't done a tri since about 1985 (I took a few years off . . .)

I've been back into running and biking for about two years. This year I plan to do some duathlons and maybe a tri or two if I can get over my dislike of swimming. Being part of your group would be helpful in my return. Can I join?

Lou

It's been snowing here in western Michigan all day.  About 6 inches of the light fluffy stuff.  We are suppose to get with the storm Monday night and Tuesday.  Forecasting for snow all week.

I am not planning my workouts ahead of time.  I just do whatever I feel like.  The only thing definite is my swim class on Sunday. 

I have a trainer, a treadmill, and access to a pool MWF mornings and evenings.  I also have free weights with a bench, medicine ball, exercise ball etc. 

What suggestions do you have for making my workouts more productive?  I usually workout in the morning before work and while the family is still sleeping. 

Kelly

Hi Newbz,

Thanks for offering the invite to the group!  Ok, so about myself:

Why am I here:  I'm looking for that next big challenge to overcome.  People say it builds character...I think it builds a sense of pride and a 'can-do' attitude. I'm not talking about something that you know you can do.  I'm talking about something that you think there's no way you can do it.  Hence, I chose to do an ironman by the end of 2009.  Still I'm a bit of a realist, and knowing my current level of conditioning, I doubt that is attainable...so I set my sights on a more attainable "unrealistic" goal.  I want to do a 70.3!  The reason I shifted from a full ironman to a half ironman is because I want to place in the top ten when I finish.  I want to not only place top 10 in a HIM, I want to win my local sprint here in August.  To give you an idea of what it will take to win.  Last years winner did a the 800 yards swim in 10:13, the 18.6m bile in 43:42, and the 5k run in 16:21.  Pace wise...that's incredible.  It's more than double what I am currently able to do.  To break it down by pace, that's a 1:25 min/100 yards, 25+ mph on a bike, and a sub 5:30/mile over 3 miles. 

For me, that's flying.  I've never done anything anywhere near that....ever.  The closest I've come is probably in college when the entire baseball team was required to run a sub 6:00 mile.  If one person didn't make it, we had to keep trying until the entire team made it.  I hated that more than anything.  It sucked.  Now, I'm trying to do that, only faster and 3 times as far?...after swimming 800 yards AND biking almost 20 miles at a crazy pace.  How the heck can someone's body take that kind of abuse?!  But I'm going to do it....and not just "do it"...I'm going to do it well, and hopefully place well! 

About Me:  I'm 28, and have been married for a little over 3 months.  I am wanting to do triathlons because overcoming challenges is what life is all about.  I work as a salesman in a call center, and am working on some programming/investment projects that is somewhat of a hobby.  I'm in decent shape.  I'm about 205 at about 6'3"...I think body fat percentage is just over 20%, so I would like to get that down a bit, but I don't care about body far percentages, or physical stuff...its the mental side that I'm after.  Taking out the part of me that says "I can't" and replacing it with "I can". 

Thanks for helping me a long newbz  

No, this will be my third Marathon.  I did the Marine Corps 2007 and Denver 2008.

Hi David,

I would like to join your group! Here's a little about me:

STORY: My entire life I have been a skier/ snowboarder/ surfer...but starting in college I found it takes a little more than that to stay in shape. I worked at a gym in college, but since joining the corporate world, I found its a little harder to stay active!

LAST YEAR'S RACES: No tri's yet! I started running last year when I joined Team in Training. I was in a new area (Dallas, Tx) and couldn't seem to meet people who wanted to go outside and lead healthy lifestyles. I ran my first half marathon (Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll) in Jan 08 and I was hooked! I then ran as part of a relay team in the 199 mile relay from Calistoga to Santa Cruz, then the SJ Rock 'n' Roll 1/2, then the Nike Women's marathon (my first FULL!), then the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll 1/2. It's been a blast, but already, I want something new!

2009 RACES: So far, I signed up for the Wildflower Mt. bike course (not sure if this counts as a sprint or what: 0.25 mi-swim, 9.7 mi-bike, 2 mi-run) in May. I would have signed up for TNT again to get the advice and guidance to make my first tri a success- but I just don't have the time to fundraise again right now. So I'm looking to you for that help!

FAMILY STATUS: I live with my boyfriend of 5 years, Hans. He is the one who got me on a mt. bike and gave me the inspiration to "tri"!

CURRENT TRAINING: I spin at the gym 1 day/wk, run 1-2 days, train with a PT 1 day/wk, and snowboard every chance I get on the weekends.

WEIGHTLOSS: I consider myself in shape, but I have a good 20 pounds to spare. I would like to have that off by August when I travel to Germany for a wedding.

Hope that's a good start! I look forward to hearing from you!

~Kristy Schmit

Just another thing to enjoy about during those swim sessions.

 I'm definitely interested in being coached. How does it work/can you give me a little more information?

Did I make it in....If not not worries...just let me know. Thanks

Great! Glad to be in the group.

I have some swimming experience, but it's been a while. I was on the swim team as a kid at our local swim and racket club. It was from age 6 to 14. So... it's been over 11 year since I have swam competitively, but I jump in the pool every now and then to swim laps. 

I was considering signing up for a Master's Swim program at my gym. The only problem is its during lunch and I will have to rush to get showered and back to the office. Do you think its necessary to have someone coaching and watching for technique, or is it ok to just start swimming laps and building up my time in the pool?

Thanks!

I'm assuming this was directed to me - since I dated a rower - for 5 years - so I can understand the confusion. No - never rowed - Eightman was the position (among others) that I played in rugby in college and men's club.  VT - Virginia Tech!! Go Hokies!!  I will say - having spent a little time on the erg - it's a hell of a workout!

I hope Schmitty doesn't mind - I'm going to copy her format...before she can copyright it  And I'll add a category...

STORY: My story is probably one told a million times.  Very active and involved in sports...really through my early 30's - to some degree.  All of my 20's I really was a lifter - nothing too crazy, but definitely OCD about lifting - bodybuilding type of workout routines - 4-day splits...with cardio on top - a bit more of an afterthought - but there were years where I ran to the gym and ran home.  I never completely neglected cardio - it just wasn't emphasized as the focus of the workout.  It was secondary.  When I was playing rugby - practice and games counted as sufficient cardio for me - gym time was always lifting.  I definitely considered myself very fit during my 20's.

Was in the Navy for 6yrs - so got to college (at least seriously) a little later than some - and once I finished grad school - I was 31.  Enter the "real" world - marriage...etc etc.  Desk job - etc etc - slowly the gym time eroded in favor of other priorities - no more sports - except softball, which doesn't really count.  Still tried to go to the gym after work...but of course, that gets harder and harder...and before you know it - you're at the gym once or twice a week - and carrying a ton of extra weight.  Making matter worse is that I've always been a big guy - so I didn't feel that the extra weight was that big of a deal.

Anyway - long story short - a little over a year ago - I finally said it's time to get back into shape  made the enormous leap to morning workouts - that was a huge thing for a natural insomniac nightowl like myself.  And...spent the year - acclimating myself to that - and to placing far less emphasis on strength workouts and more on cardio, while not neglecting strength.  I'm now hovering around 228-230...depending on the day and when I weigh in - and probably will lose about 10 more lbs - but am in no real hurry.  I didn't diet extraordinarily to get here either - I certainly watched what I ate - and changed my eating habits during the day a bit - but no real depriving myself significantly - I just let the change in workouts and kicking the metabolism off in the AM do it's job. Oh - and I gave up my nightly milkshakes!! That was my one real concession.  Anyway - I'm a true Clydesdale - haven't been under 200 probably since I was 16 or 17.  I think the Clydesdale threshold should be 215, personally.

WHY TRIS?:  Well - like many, I tend to be sports oriented.  I considered long and hard, both this year and last (before I was back in semi-shape) finding a men's club and playing rugby again.  Rugby - at a position like I played - will get/keep you in shape, guaranteed.  However, I don't think my back or even the rest of my body is really up to it.  Contact sports take a toll eventually - and they also need to be kept up.  What I mean by that is - go play a game of pickup tackle football one weekend - even you fit marathoners - and tell me how unbelievably sore you feel?  Something about sprinting/crashing into another human/and getting slammed into the ground - you need to do it semi-consistently to keep the pain tolerable.  At least I've always felt this way - the 2nd or 3rd games were never as painful for me as the first few practices.

Tris have always held an appeal for me - just because you have to be such a well rounded athlete to succeed.  I sorta wish they incorporated 2 more events that measured strength as well as the events that demonstrate conditioning.  Tris give me a chance to be around other like minded folks and serve as a goal to push my training and make my time in the gym more effective.

LAST YEAR'S RACES: None yet. 

2009 RACES: Planning to do 3 events - although would consider others.  The Triangle Tri in NC, the Dewey Beach Tri in DE and possibly the Lake Anna Tri down in VA - if I can figure out when the sign up is.  That will probably be my first triathlon.  These are all sprint events - and I didn't mention this above - but I really don't think I'll ever be interested in the longer distance events - Olympics are as far as I can ever see myself going.  Who knows though. 

FAMILY STATUS: Married since 2003 - Had a little girl about 7 months ago - I'm sure I'll eventually post a pic - I've flooded Facebook with pics.

CURRENT TRAINING: My current weekly regimen - when I get it all in and don't get sick or too many days without sleep looks like this.

Monday: 5 min Cardio warm-up then Weight Training - This consists of full upper body workout major movements (none of the old bodybuilding exercises - just major movements) - all supersets to get it all in and keep the intensity up.  For instance - Bench/Lat Pulls  Incline Bench/Seated Rows  Barbell Curls/Dips(with weight)...etc...  No shouler raises, or presses, or upright rows....etc etc..just the key upper body movements.

Tuesday:  Run in the AM.  I use the PT right now - because if I need pushing - it's here.  I hate to run on a treadmill - I don't like to run unless someone is chasing me or vice-versa and there is a ball involved.  Being mildly (depending on who you ask) ADD - Running just to Run has always been a chore for me.  Finish up with a short 10min abs cycle.

Swim in the PM.  Pretty new to lap swimming.  Have always been comfortable, relatively speaking in the water, but never a freestyler.  Pretty much self-taught in that regard, although I did do the Total Immersion Clinic back in August.  Tried doing that for a few weeks - then threw it all out the window - and have just been freestyling my way ever since.  I could sooooo benefit from some coaching here...I feel like I could be a good swimmer - but probably need help to cross that.  Rather than address all of that here - I'll save that for another post - since this has already turned out to be about 10x longer than I planned. (Sorry )  In the pool - anywhere between 17-30 laps - depending on how I feel in the water, how I'm breathing and how bored I'm getting.  I do much better if there's a female in the same lane with me kicking the crap out of me - which happens far far too often!!! I can't flip turn - so push off the wall - and I usually seem to take a couple of second breather about every 3 laps.  I need to get much much better here - well everywhere.

Wed: Off day

Thurs: Same as Tuesday

Friday: Same as Monday

Sat or Sunday - I try to get in a long cardio in the form of a bike ride usually.  But I also cram other things in.  This day I warm up with abs - much longer workout - then I try to get in some legs.  Usually limited to 4 squats supersetted with Dumbell RDLs (kills the hamstrings).  Then - 3 cycles through leg raises, leg curls, calf raises - no rest.  That's enough legs for me and off to the bike.  I've been doing 40-45 min on level 12 - whatever that really means.  One one bike it's 12 miles, this weekend it was like 18??  Who knows.  Then I hop in the pool - but usually just a few laps - this weekend only 9.  I was pretty spent.  I seem to be getting the weekend workout in about every other weekend right now - Things just seem to happen.

WEIGHTLOSS: Like above - hoving around 228 +/- 2 lbs.  I used to think my ideal weight would be 230 - based on where I used to be in my 20's weight/BF% - but I guess it's time to let all of that go.  215 I think will be a great weight for me.  220 is fine too.

At any rate - sorry for the long intro - I'm not here to be a pro-triathlete - I'm not even sure how competitive I can be.  Right now I'm kind of a power athlete making a transition towards quasi-endurance athlete - but will try to straddle the fence for a while.  I'll always be a Clydesdale, that's for sure.

Oh - one more thing - just had an MRI on my shoulder - right bicep over the past 3 months has become incredibly painful with any kind of bicep flexion - so I can't really curl anything without great pain.  Good news/Bad news - Good news -- starting PT this week, hopefully that will help.  Bad News - I think I'm starting it - because the Dr. isn't completely sure what the problem is - the MRI was a bit inconclusive.