BigSkiesMentorGroup - COMPLETE! (Page 7)

Hi,

My name is Canon Young and I'd like to join your group if you have space for one more.  I'm out in California (the Bay Area to be more specific) and sometimes feel like i'm on an island - training wise.  Here is a short bio (I'm at work and try to focus on work at work)  I'll try to post more later.

I'm 39, married with 2 kids.  I am an attorney and active in my church (you may see indications in my posts - it's not intended to persuate or offend, it's just who I am). 

I did triathlons back when I was in high school and once college got in the way ... well its been over 20 years.  Fortunately, I still have my bike.  I grew up focusing on swimming and riding.  I really dislike running (shin splints) but with the right shoes it has been almost tolerable ... so far. 

On the weight loss front, I need to lose about 20lbs (not including muscle hopeful muscle growth). 

Training wise I am at about week 13 of Michael Pate's 22 week plan.  With all my other obligations I have been averaging about 80% of the recommended training exercises. 

I have signed up for the Golden Gate Tri (Sprint) on June 26 and may do one sprint later in the season.

Alright, back to work for me.  I'll fill out more later.

Canon

Hey Veronica! We are planning on doing a cruise tour (leaving Vancouver on 6/21, 3 day cruise, 9 days inland to Denali etc, finishing up in Anchorage on July 2nd) with my cousin and her husband. It will be our first trip to Alaska. Where are you at and how did you get there?! My daughter spent 2 weeks in Anchorage this fall with the tour of Mamma Mia. Lucky girl has a week lay off and is enroute to Belize today!

LISA

stevebradley - 2011-04-25 9:34 AM LISA - Love your bio! I thought I knew a fair bit about you from last year, but some new things emerged (the secrets you kept! ). The most enjoyable part was the account of your kids being shocked that you met up with an on-line friend. (If you mentioned that last year when it happened, it slipped past me.) That's just so amusing....and always is when the kids try to raise US properly! I mean, I know the horror stories out there and all, and that they know no age limits....but a triathlon forum....and DENISE??? that seesm to be as safe as a connect can be! Is "Mamma Mia" still working well for her, or is the road show scene getting too draining? And I see you are back at all-season baseball (too bad the Astros can't say the same........ ). Ahhhhh.....now I see what you meant by "attitude adjustment"! Do you feel that that is working, or at least will eventually work? Sounds smart to me! And the masters swim --- a resounding success? Yes, your 2010 race list IS impressive, especially from the person who hated running so much not so long ago. It makes me wonder what other things you think you hate, but might actually end up liking AND doing quite well at. (Maybe it works that way for all of us....although I'm not about to undertake a valve job on my car! ) Finally, what is "Beach Palooza"?? I guess I'd better try to goggle it.

STEVE, yes, it was a bit "scary" meeting up with Denise and her husband, so brought my own husband along. Alison is still enjoying the touring and talking about continuing on in the fall, now that she's seen the tour stops. She just finished her first half marathon two weeks ago ... Glass City Half in Toledo with several of the cast. The tour was in Detroit ... they had two shows on Friday, two shows on Saturday, drove to Toledo Sunday morning for the run, then back to Detroit for two more shows that afternoon/evening!!  Oh, to be 22 again!!

Beach Palooza is an obstacle course 5K on, you guessed it, the beach!  Off to my masters swim.

LISA

Ok, work is done, kids are in bed - should I go to the gym?  It's only 9pm???

The rest of my bio...

Thanks Steve for the comments.  Part of why I chose this group was because there was another attorney so I thought someone could understand my time dilemmas.

I started training the end of January.  Originally my wife and I were both going to do a tri but working out with two kids under 6 became too difficult for her.  So now it's just me...  With the exception of rainy mornings and too much work, my training is progressing.  I can swim 600+m with little difficulty and could probably do 800 if I wanted to.  I can ride the required 13 miles no problem (cycling has never been my problem), I even developed a loop with similar hills to the actual race.  Running... well that's another story.  Some days I can do 35min run/jog no problem.  Other days (like today) not so much.  Today I had been going for about 40 min (10 min walk/warm-up + 30 min walk (2min)/jog (4min)) Just as I was passing my street (thankfully) I felt this little pop in the back of  one leg just beneath my calf, oh did it hurt.  It felt like a quick, hard, small cramp.  I limped home, had more water and gatorade/protein and mustard just in case I had a cramp or was not hydrated and it's still tender this evening. I hope all I need to do is rest and stretch it.  Any ideas?  I'm slated to ride tomorrow morning so I plan to do that.

My two biggest questions are diet wise what should I be doing (BTW, I'm vegetarian) and gym/weight wise what should I be doing?  I'm optimistic that my run will improve with time but I feel like my form is all off i.e. gait, landing etc. (too afraid of it hurting - I still vividly remember the pain in the run from my first tri 20+ years ago)

My biggest struggle - other than figuring out the run is finding the time to train.  Most of my training is at 5:30 in the morning.  (This is why I haven't joined a club - I'm barely able to get out of bed at that time and ride/run out my front door - much less meet someone else...)

I enjoy the challenge of a triathlon and the feeling and feel it is a good impetus for getting other parts of my life in order work, spiritually, etc.  Each one is an endurance and requires focus, just like training for a tri, so I hope training and dedication in one area will spill over into other areas.  I really do hope to continue doing this for many years to come, not just a one time recapture my youth thing.

When I figure it out and have time, I will add my workouts to the website.  Right after I figure out why my bike computer will show cadence but not speed and decide whether to go to the gym...

Canon

Steve,

May I Join?

Denise

DENISE, welcome!!  Good to "see" you, hope all is well!

STEVE, I guess I should have mentioned that Alison decided to do the half about 8 weeks prior to the race.  And, no, she hadn't been running.  See what I mean ... to be 22 again! I'm sure all the dancing that she does in the show helped endurance wise.

CANON, I work at a law firm as a legal nurse consultant, so totally understand your time constraints and how difficult it is to have any kind of fixed schedule for your training.  Not that I have to deal with them very often myself, thankfully, but I know the schedule that the partners that I work with keep and how much traveling they do.

SHAUN, I meant to comment about the Nike Frees.  In December, I bought a pair of Sauconey Kirvanas which is a minimalist shoe like the Frees.  I love them on my shorter runs, but don't think I 've used them on anything further than about 6 miles.  I just feel like I need a bit more cushioning for longer than that.  How is your girlfriends training going?

I'll check back with everyone else later ... but better get to work!

LISA

Steve,

My leg is doing better.  The "pop" was just below the big meaty part of the calf.  My Nubian Queen Who Must Be Obeyed (MNQWMBO) massaged it last night and it's feeling better.  If it keeps improving like this, I'll go for a run tomorrow.

I did in fact go to the gym last night.  Felt good, I may have to do it again...

As for my swimming, I've done that (on and off) since I was a kid, raced in high school and worked as a lifeguard in college.  I need to start incorporating specific workouts, not just distance swims.

This morning I rode 10 miles.  Felt good.  Not sure how to add all yall to my training log so it's visible.  Is anyone else using the training log and adding everyone else to their friend list?  MNQWMBO is reminding me I have to go to work...

gotta go.

Canon

CANON - Glad to have you here. When I saw the map where everyone is, I realized I was the only one west of the Rockies. Yay! Someone closer to my timezone. Mornings are also the best time for me to workout. It is the least disruptive to the rest of the family. And I am more likely to get it done. 

Looking forward to seeing your triathlon progress. And good luck on the run. I'm always reading something related to making running easier. The latest book that I really like is Chi Running. I was just thinking as I write this, that the author is from the Bay area and he teaches classes so I checked out his website. If you are at all interested, there is a class in San Francisco next month that he is teaching. I believe his classes fill up fast. Here is the link http://store.chiliving.com/Workshops/One-day-ChiRunning-Workshop-01729  I took a class from someone here locally and I think it was worth it, though I wish the class had been over a period of time so that I could work the kinks out and confirm my form is right. What helps is if my run starts hurting, I think of the different pieces that were discussed both in the book and the class. Either it helps relieve the hurt or takes my mind off of it.

Veronica

LISA - I'm sure you're Alaska cruise will be beautiful and memorable. I dont have a good story of how I got here. I am in Anchorage Alaska, "the city". My parents moved here when I was in high school so I have been here since, except attending college in Oregon, over 30 years here.  Many winters, I wonder why but then summer comes and I remember why! Alaska really is beautiful.  Although the winters can be long and cold, they are beautiful too.  Just have to be willing to use the bike trainer.  Wow! I could ramble on about the weather and our (2) seasons but I think I'll jump past that.  You are traveling on the solstice, June 21, to many of us here, it seems the sun starts going down pretty quickly after that but as you will find it is still pretty much light out all day and night. The land of the midnight sun. In Anchorage, there is a the Mayors Midnight Sun marathon right around that time and I hear a lot of those folks that come up with team in training comment on the daylight. Ah, it will be a perfect time a year for you and your family to visit Alaska.  I'll try to keep watch here when you leave just in case we are able to meet up.  And it sounds like your daughter has found a wonderful way to experience all these places. And getting paid for it.

Veronica

Steve,

It's a salt water swim in the Gulf of Mexico.  I hope to get 2 more OWS's before the race. 

My Run and Bike fitness (by everything that I track such as pace at different HR's, endurance, etc..) are better than they were a year ago at this time.  Here's to making progress   My swim is a little off on both the endurance and pace fronts.  Mostly due to a lack of training in the water.

Steve:

To answer your shoe question from the previous post I ended up going with the Mizuno Wave Alchemy.  I did have Brooks trail shoes (don't remember the name of them) and the guy suggested the newer model of them first with inserts.  The inserts I got were Superfeet inserts to allow my foot to roll correctly.  I ended up going with the Mizuno's because my heel felt like it fit better. 

As for the swimming I swam from 4th grade to 12th grade on our summer club's swim team.  Then from 9th to 12th grade I swam on my high school's team.  both teams were really good with a lot of junior olympians.  Unfortunately I was not one of them lol!  My "specialty" was 100m fly with 50m free and 200m IM relay second.

If I remember correctly the drill I mentioned in my last post was repeated 6 times.  The swim team would break up into groups of 24.  There would be 6 groups of 4 in each lane.  We would do one set (sprint, kick, arm, recover) in one lane then snake to the other lane at the last turn (the group at the end would get up and walk to the first lane) and work our way back to the lane we started in. 

My kick isn't as strong as it use to be.  I now rely more on my upper body strength.  The CL swim was around 500m.  It was my first open water swim, my first time in a wet suit and my first massive group swim.  I took my sweet time finding a spot to swim in and after a few impromptu wet suit adjustments I felt like I could breathe and swim at the same time in the suit.  (I rented it at the last minute).  I don't think I used my legs to much in the swim from what I remember. 

I have really good shoulder rotation and stroke follow through.  I'm conscious of my thumbs skimming my hips when I am focusing on my stroke and I don't really change my stroke, from what I can tell.  I also work on elbow up with touching the top of my head and then arm extention with touching my other hand that is out in front to complete the stroke before I move the other hand. 

I don't plan on trying to win the swim or even beat my time from last year.  I'm content on finding an open spot on the outside just so I don't get kicked in the nose.  I just want to make it a strong swim and feel good about it.  

I think that is about it. 

Hi again,

History:  I am 64, retired, married, one adult daughter, and live in north-central Minnesota.  I was a couch potato until the age of 57.  Started running using the "Couch to 5k" program.  Ran the 2007 Twin Cities Marathon.  Tore my miniscus the next year and had surgery.  My surgeon told me to run less but said sprint triathlons would be ok.  I learned the front crawl and bought a road bike.  8 sprints the last 2 summers.  I asked my surgeon if I could try a 1/2 Ironman and she said it might be a risk but go-ahead

Training:  Matt Fitzgerald 1/2 Ironman (Level 5)

Races:

Apr 30 - Duathlon - Cannon Falls,MN

May 7 - Sprint - Alexandria,MN (Chain of Lakes)

May 22 - Sprint - Albert Lea, MN (Land Between the Lakes)

Jun 5 - Olympic - Buffalo MN        

Jul 17 - 70.3 - Racine,WI

Aug 13 - Sprint - Nevis,MN (North Country)

Aug 14 - Sprint - YWCA Mpls

Aug 26 - Sprint - Baxter,MN (Lakes Country)

Sep 25 - Duathlon - Bloomington,MN (IronGirl)