Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 6)

Hi All, 

Donna - I have worn my tri-shorts for rides up to 160km without any issues.  After a bad bike fit just before my longest bike ride (2013) I had serious butt issues just before a 180km/112mi ride so I wore bike shorts and liberal amounts of butt butter which got me through the ride nicely but that has been the only time I've worn bike shorts.  I just went to my local bike shop and tried on every pair of tri shorts they had until I found the pair I liked the fit/feel of best.  I've done two HIM in tri-shorts and many 120km rides as well without any issues (and I don't normally wear butt butter ever).

Choosing training plans is always a personal choice but have a look at Gale Bernhardt's book on training for a HIM.  Her plan is a 27week routine that worked quite well for me.  This year I am using her IM training plan with some modifications to suit me.

Barry - Look into some swim coaching at your local pool.  It is well worth it and it will help your swimming by quite a bit.  Locally, I swim 3 days a week with a group they call "Swim Fit" which is similar to a Master's swim group but a bit less formal.  

Donna and Soccermom - Running off the bike is the hardest part but with training you'll find it gets easier.  My training buddy is a Boston marathoner and he tells me that training for a triathlon is far easier than training for a marathon so work hard and be confident.  I like to read race reports - especially of races I want to do.  It is really good way to get you inspired and to see how other people deal with whatever comes up in their races.

Scott - I'd like to take part in the weight loss challenge.  I don't expect to lose much weight but it is still worth a try.

Dan - It is interesting to see where you work out.  We aren't very cold here but the temps are just cool enough that we have no ice under our fresh snow.  Are you close to St. Stephens (New Brunswick)?  I have their Challenge half on my bucket list.

Steve - It would be cool to meet up even just briefly at ChelanMan.  I like the HIM races but I actually prefer a good Olympic race.  With Sprints I always feel they are over too soon.  What kind of temperatures can I expect?  Last summer I rode the local Granfondo on the hottest day of the year and I saw 45C/112F on my bike computor.  It really slowed people down.

Jo - It sounds like you've had more than your fair share of tribulations over the last couple seasons.  Hopefully, this will be your turn around year.  Have they suggested why you're having the adrenal problems? (hope that isn't too personal - not trying to be nosy, honest).

Scott,

That's a bummer, but it's a bummer with a silver lining.

If it were me, I would take that email and hang it on my mirror in the bathroom so I have too look at it every morning when I brush my teeth.  Then I would use it as inspiration all year.

My thinking would be something like this, "So you don't think I'm good enough?  Well let me show you!"

When I was in high school, I qualified 8th for our league championship final.  My coach came to me before the final and said, "You barely made the final, I don't think you can win, just do your best."  Oh really?  I won the race.

My first national championship, my coach said, "This is your first big meet, I don't expect you to rock the house."  Oh really?  I set a PR by over 2.5 seconds for a 100 and had a podium finish.  Oh yeah, there was also that little 4 x 200 freestyle relay world record thing.

I can go on all morning.  Sport is 10% physical and 90% mental.  This is the type of thing that would supercharge me mentally for an entire season.

Just my two cents.

Hi Donna,

The short answer is the plans you can find on BT are wonderful plans.  There were written by highly respected coaches and if you follow them, you will likely have success.

The long answer is - training plans, to be successful, need to fit YOU.  They also need to take into account where you are, where you have been, and where you are going.  What I mean is that a novice athlete, just coming off of the couch, would not be served well by an advanced 16-week Ironman plan.  Nor should an Ironman finisher be following a 20-week sprint plan, well, unless he/she had crossed the IM off their bucket list and now wanted to just stay healthy.  See what I mean by where they are, where they've been, where their going?

As I was thinking about suggesting a training plan, I went to your training log to get a snapshot of where you are at, and found . . . nothing I could use to see where you are at.

Which gives me an opportunity to talk about training logs.  This is for all of us and especially the newer athletes.  It is very helpful, and highly motivational, to record your training in an organized fashion.  You will have a historical perspective of what you have done and a training log can provide absolute indicators of change and strategy effectiveness.  Plus, a training log has a way of holding us accountable - which directly goes back  towards motivation.

I have, for the last couple of years, kept my training logs over on another site where my coaches can access all of my training data.  They can upload workouts, make comments, etc.  However, since we went live around Jan. 1 I have also been logging basic workout information here in my BT training log.  I have added everyone in the Gray Guys/Gals group to my friends list and changed my privacy settings so all of my friends can see my training log.  That isn't so I can "brag" about my training because heaven knows there are many others on BT that make my couple hours a week of training look like absolutely nothing.  Rather, maybe my logs can help inspire others to keep an accurate training log. Certainly nobody has to make their logs accessible and you may prefer to keep that sort of information private.  If that is your choice, that's fine.  However, consider this, imagine you have been training for some period of time, and you feel you're struggling with something, say your running.  So you ask your friend, "Friend, why am I have so much difficulty with my run?"  If your logs are accessible, your friend can take a peek and maybe offer some advice.  If your logs are private or there is nothing there, your friend can only say, "I have no idea."

As BT members, we all have free access to our own training log and basic reports here on BT.  If you become a paid member, even at the lowest level, you unlock more extensive reporting.  I strongly encourage everyone to log all of their training.  Enough said about training logs.

So Donna, back to your training plan question.  You've done a couple marathons, you're planning to do a HIM in July.  Where are you at today?  You said you were coming off of a "rest" month.  What does that mean?  Also, I know you are planning a HIM, but what is your goal?  Cross the finish line?  Cross the finish line with a smile on your face?  Age group podium finish?  All of these things go towards coming up with a good training plan.

Hi again Donna,

I actually prefer my tri shorts over cycling shorts.  I used my tri shorts for a couple century rides last summer with no problems.

In a race, even a HIM, you probably aren't going to want to take the time to change into cycling shorts in T1 and then out of cycling shorts in T2, especially given that tri shorts are designed to be worn start to finish.  If you're having difficulty, there may be other causes to consider, such as bike fit and/or your saddle.  Or, depending upon how many miles you have ridden, you may just need more time in the saddle.

If the group is still open I would like to join. Let me know and I will post bio.

Thanks

Hey Randy,

Welcome to the group.  When you get a chance, please post a short bio.

Slornow/Randy....as in "slower now" than I used to be.  I have had the pleasure to know a couple of folks in the Gray group from previous mentor groups. Stu/Juneapple and I were in a group/groups together several years ago and have kept in contact. Stuart/Stuartap was an active member of the last two groups I mentored...Stuart is a great resource for swim tips....other than that sadistic tennis ball drill!  

Story: Will turn 53 this year and completed my 5th full season of doing triathlons last year. Have always participated in sports. Played tennis competitively as a junior and for a couple of years in college. After that I continued to workout but was more focused on weights, playing basketball and some running. Decided to give triathlon a go after having continuing injuries with running. Fortunately, I have progressed steadily over the last 5 years and have become more serious about the sport. Bike and run are my strong suit and the swim is a constant challenge! I have done everything from sprints to HIM but have been more focused on sprint/olympic distance over the last 2 years. I live in South Alabama, near Fairhope, just across the Bay from Mobile. I am an attorney and have my own small firm.

Family: Married for 24 years to my very tolerant wife. I have a son 21 that will graduate college in May and plans on attending law school. He ran college cross country and track before a knee issue recently sidelined him. I am grooming him to be my future relay partner.  I also have a daughter 20 that is a sophomore in college and is a casual runner

Training: Depending on the time of year I probably average 9-13 hours a week.  I'm in my third year with my current coach and he keeps me working hard.  Run mileage was down in 2014 due to a couple of nagging injuries early in the year. Trying to avoid that this year so running frequently but almost all EASY. I am also trying to be more consistent with weight training and core work. Goal is to get in 1-2 short sessions a week for a total of 45 min to 1 hour a week.

2015-will be mostly short course although I will likely do a HIM in late April/early May. Maybe another HIM in the Fall. It always sounds good early in the season but come October I am usually ready for a break.  I have raced a good bit over the last couple of years and will likely do 8-11 races this year depending on how injury free I can remain. "A" race will likely be AG Nationals in Milwaukee in August.  The race season is long on the Gulf Coast and my first race will be in early April and my season will likely end in mid-October. I am on a team and we have 6-7 local races where we earn points based on our finish. I will race many of those races to try and retain my spot on the team.  www.gulfcoasttriteam.com . My overall goal for 2015 is to continue to improve. As an older triathlete my hope is to continue to improve for another 1-2 years, maintain for a couple of years, then deal with a gradual decline.  

2014-11 short course races. Pleased with results other than AG Nats where I got sick the week of the race and was less than 100% for the race. Had hoped to qualify for 2015 AG World Championships in Chicago......now hoping for a roll down. Otherwise, it was a good year.  

Weightloss: Fortuantely not a big issue for me but I am terrible about snacking after dinner on ice cream, cookies, candy...whatever I can find. Need some help there. Just installed the Loseit app on my phone hoping I will do a better job of monitoring food/calorie intake. I currently weigh around 165 but like to race around 157-58.

What will make me a good mentor?: I was a mentee in several strong groups led by some really sharp BT members. I have co-mentored groups with Jason/Wannabefaster over the last few years and we had some great members and wonderful discussions. Some of the members of the group made amazing progress and it was great to follow along. I log all of my training here on BT and check in on the site more than I should admit. I like to see both the new and more experienced members work hard toward their goals and have success. Jason and I decided to skip a cycle of mentoring and I was undecided about joining a group. Looks like there are a lot of knowledgeable folks in this group. Hopefully, I can absorb some of that knowledge and chime in if I can help. 

Goodness, there's been a plethora of new Grays the last few days.   I hope I can keep up with you all.

KARL!! I'm looking forward to being back with you in a mentor group. I didn't know you had a stress fracture. Yikes! Heal that thing. Also didn't know you were 99% Vegan. I admire that. I can't do without my steak but I did have a vegan sandwich once and it was good. I DO know about your sense of humor, though. Glad I'll be able to see it in action again.

DANIEL (longrun26) - I'm impressed with your career changes and 3 Masters Degrees. Also impressed that your wife ran Boston 6 times. Wow.

DAN - looking forward to watching your training progress to IM Lake Tahoe. This is surely the year that everything will align to make that race spectacular.

TIM - I see on your signature line that you're part of FCA Endurance too. Welcome brother!  

DEB - You're the first true older woman that I've seen post on BT so I'm so looking forward to learning your secret of successful activity. You're 13 years older than me and I would love to still be doing this sport when I'm your age. Pass on your secrets please.

DONNA - Big standing ovation to you for losing 95 pounds and keeping it off! Wowza! There's alot of time between now and July so I know you'll get yourself ready to tackle that 70.3. What's 13.1 miles when you've done SEVEN 26.2s? And what chips do you love?   I'm a Cheetos fan.

SCOTT K - I love the advice you gave Scott I re: AG Nationals. Good words and useful motivation!   Also on your "let's talk" to JANET on swimming - please include me in that talk as I need it too.

Just so everyone knows - JOANNE is a fighter.  She's had some setbacks but she's like the energizer bunny and keeps working.  Welcome Jo36!

I was supposed to do a 50K on Saturday but the weather took an icy turn just when I needed to leave (4:00 AM).   I wasn't going to risk life or limb driving 3 hours on country roads but I was so bummed. I also know I made the right decision after seeing someone else from my general area tried to get to the race but ended up smashing their car in a guardrail.   Ugh.   I did an 11 mile run yesterday and a 20 mile bike ride today. I'm calling it my 50K and moving on.

Have a Happy Day everyone!

Thanks for this, KARL!   I had 3 pieces of scrap paper that I was writing everyone down but now have it all in one place.

The only one I see you left off is Kris67 - Kristen

Oh, and now Groan - Greg     I guess I should wait a few more minutes and even have more!

Hey Greg,

Why don't you post up a short bio when you get a chance so we can get to know a bit about you.

You're doing the Sprint Tri at Lake Cahuilla in La Quinta on February 28th?  Cool, that is on my list also.

As to a wetsuit.  I had the same problem, I am 6'5".  Finding a wetsuit that fit was a challenge.  You might try http://www.wetsuitrental.com/.  They are down in San Diego so fairly close to us.  They work with you through the mail so you don't necessarily have to drive down there and they will work with anyone, anywhere in the country for whatever race you might have.

Couple things about wetsuits.  They are supposed to fit tight and that claustrophobic feeling you talked about is not uncommon, especially the first time wearing one.  It is best to get some time in the water in a wet suit before the day of your race and wetsuitrental.com will send it to you early so you can do just that.  Personally, while I have used sleeveless wetsuits, I don't care for them.  I feel like the openings on top just allow water in and create more drag.   I competed in a Sprint at the beginning of December in Lake Cahuilla and the water was warm enough, warm being a relative term,  that I didn't use a wet suit.  I am prepared to do that again but that probably isn't going to be an option in late February.  At any rate, get hold of the folks down at wetsuitrental.com and they can hook you up.

Hey all -

Now that we have closed the group, here is a list of everyone with screen name, first name, and general location:

(gray guys-gals group.jpg)

Nice spreadsheet, SCOTT K!  Thanks, that's helpful!

Scott - I was actually hoping to get some feedback from you after I start swimming again.  I say I'm a "horrible" swimmer but really I think it's just a matter of endurance (and not swimming often enough).  I'm very slow but am able to swim comfortably, if that makes sense.  I was told once (by a triathlon coach - it was at a triathlon camp) that my form is good but we didn't get into any details on that.  I'm planning to start swimming with a triathlon club on Sunday mornings starting on Jan 11th and I'm hoping someone there can either watch me or do a video for me and give me some pointers.  So I may have some questions for you next week.

Janet