Gray Guy/Girls Tri--Masters Sprint/Olympic Mentor Group CLOSED (Page 6)

What are your goals for the race on the 26th?  "A" race or just a training event?

Steve

Good stuff Cathy.  Thanks for posting and welcome to the group.  Pretty tough to train like you want without a pool, but if you can at least get in extra run/bike workouts in place of swimming you can perhaps bank some time in those sports.  But I'll bet if you can find your routine to dial in the training, the weight you're looking to drop will start coming off.

I don't ever have "A" races because I can never get in enough training to make them "A" races.  So, I guess this will be another training event, and I will continue to train through the summer and maybe pick out another Oly that I can call my "A" race.

For me, numb hands has been the result of my seat being too high.  Even the slightest raise in my seat can do it.  Last year my hands started going numb mid season and I went back to the person that does my bike fit.  Still don't know how or when it was raised, but after lowering slightly, hands stopped going numb. 

Question for the group :  Some of you have private logs and some don't log on BT... do you log your workouts somewhere else, have you tried the BT logs but prefer another way to log?   I love the BT logs and have logged every workout since Dec 2006.

Where do you log your workouts?

I've been putting mine on workoutlog.com for the last years and trainingpeaks.com prior to that.  I'm trying to use BT more since we have the mentor group going.

Steve

Spin class yesterday morning and an hour in the pool today!  That makes me happy!

As far as logging is concerned, I really hate to log anything.  I very bad at it.  I use the map my apps for run and bike.  I'll have to check out the fitness one so I can consolidate. 

What area of Texas do you live?

I might have one.  I have a brand new 2XU tri suit that I got at Christmas and never got around to returning....so I still have it.  It's never been worn and the tags are still attached.  I was going to take it back because it's just a little tight on my  (+/-160 lbs).  At this point, I'd let it go for half price.  However, the color is Navy, so that might be a deal breaker for you. 

I'm in San Diego until Friday.  When I get home I'll get the details and shoot you a message.

Steve

Cathy, I post my training workouts on BT logs and just changed my settings to not be private.  But reading my training log should come with a WARNING, most of the time I do not follow a plan and just go with what feels right...and I am an exercise junky.  I train with family and friends and unless I am training for an "A" race, I just do what everyone else is doing.

OK, this is me as well!  Yay!  Glad there are others on here just like that.  Perfect group for me.  That's why I am so slow with triathlon.  I do too many other things.  Lol

I log mine on BT, I did try TP but, at time, found I was not using all the bells and whistles. BT suits me fine.

Hey Steve, if it isn’t too late, I would love to join your group.

NAME:  Scott K.

BIO: 

54 Y.O. (55 in June) Male, married, 2 "little ones," 5 grand-kids (would've had the grand-kids first if we'd known how much fun they are!)

STORY: 

I started swimming competitively when I was 11 and swam all through high-school and college.  I was a world class swimmer in the late 70's and early 80's.  I held a world record at one point, albeit for about 20 minutes, but it was a world record nonetheless (I set the record in a semi-final and it was broken in the next semi-final).  Back in those days, an amateur was an amateur so as a swimmer, unless you were independently wealthy, you really only had one shot at the Olympics.  After the 1980 U.S. Olympic debacle my swimming career began to wind down and in 1982 I finally retired from competitive swimming.  That was, coincidentally, the same year my Ironman dream started.  I suspect that many of you can trace the genesis of your own Ironman dreams to the same moment - Julie Moss on her hands and knees, crawling across the finish line in Kona.  In my mind, that was, and continues to be, the epitome of athletic achievement.  I immediately knew I wanted to do an Ironman.  However, the sad reality was that I had spent 5-8 hours a day in a pool, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for over a decade, and the thought of going back to full time training was not very appealing.  On top of that, I had another problem - running and I had never really been friends.  The Ironman has that little marathon thing at the end and that simply terrified me.  A couple decades later, I found myself over one-hundred pounds overweight, and I couldn't run 100 yards, let alone a marathon.  Although I didn't move to fulfill my Ironman dream, I did tell anyone who would listen that, "I could do an Ironman."  Then a couple years ago, I went to a client's house and there on the wall of his home office was a picture of him crossing the finish line in Kona.  Of course, my first comment was, "I could have done that!"  After a year of him hearing about how I could have done that, he finally called me out in May 2012.  He basically said, "Your going to go to your grave saying you could have done it, or you can do it."  He then challenged me to join him at the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 11, 2014.  After a grueling two weeks of researching everything Ironman, including how to qualify for Kona, I finally accepted his challenge.

GOALS: 

1. Ironman World Championships - Kailua-Kona, Hawaii - October 14, 2014

WEIGHT-LOSS:

1. Started a weight loss program in May, 2012.  Was at 297.6 pounds when I started.  Graduated high-school at 180 pounds, college at 200 pounds.  Want to get down to that range.  Target is 200.  I have lost roughly 60 pounds so far.  Started out using the Atkins diet plan and have modified that as I started training.

GETTING OLD SUCKS:

For all of my 54 years I have been the picture of health.  Until September of 2012 that is.  10 days in the hospital behind peritonitis and emergency Gall-Bladder surgery introduced me to the not so pleasant side of aging.  Ironically, the doctors said that the Gall Bladder was most likely a result of too much weight lost too quickly.  Who knew?

In February, I got to spend another 6 days in the hospital after I refused to acknowledge I had developed a cold and it turned into pneumonia - yeah, my wife is reminding me with "I told you so's" on a weekly basis.  Then finally, at the end of March, I was diagnosed with a Deep Vein Thrombosis (a blood in my right leg), probably as a result of being in the hospital with pneumonia.  Because I had a history of DVT the quack, I mean the doctor, insisted I be hospitalized while I was started on anti-coagulation therapy.  Never mind that there are medications that can be administered at home for that.  At any rate, that was another 8 days in the hospital.  I am done with hospitals!  Finally started back on my training plan last week and hoping there will be no more interruptions!

RACES: 

1. I have done ZERO triathlons or running events.
2. Was entered in the Indy-500 Festival Half-Marathon in May but had to cancel because of the DVT.
3. Entered in the Muncie Sprint Triathlon in June.
4. Entered in the Evergreen Lake Sprint Triathlon in July.
5. Hope to do a couple 5K’s and a Half-Iron before the end of the year depending upon how training goes after the forced lay-off.
6. Previous:  Well in excess of 1,000 swimming races back in the 70's and 80's

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MEMBER:

Having competed at a world class level for several years, I vividly recall the pressure and nerves you experience at a high level competition.  Plus I have a pretty good understanding of swimming and proper technique.  That is experience I look forward to sharing with anyone interested.

I may not be the most competitive person you have ever met, but I will settle for being the second most competitive person you have ever met.

I have this theory, if you aren't going to be the best you can be, why try at all?  That theory tends to be contagious and will spur others to higher achievement. 

Most importantly, I know my limitations.  I know I have returned to training after a very long "retirement."  I know that I am no longer the 20-something world class athlete of the past (I acknowledge my body is older, but beyond that, I think being a world class athlete is largely a state of mind).  I know training techniques have changed dramatically in the past decades and I know there are many people here with far more knowledge than I have.  I anxiously look forward to hearing their expertise.

There is probably nothing wrong with your kick, but your swim stroke may be relying on the kick instead of the glide and smooth/strong arm strokes. The fact that you find success when using the pull buoy leads me to believe you have decent arm stroke technique that glides.  When doing your next 50's, ease off the kick and think "strong stroke". 

www.feelforthewater.com 

I found this web site benificial in describing the different types of swimmers.  The Hard Kicker is a type of swimmer it describes and gives good advice on swim kicks that don't wear you down.  I too was a Kicker, that turned into a Glider.  So now I am working to correct that.  It just never ends.