kenj mentor group - back for another great season! CLOSED (Page 7)

NAME:  gadgetlaw/Karen

STORY: I’m 45 and live in Greensburg, PA (about 30 miles from Pittsburgh).  I have been doing triathlons for 5 years, since I turned 40 and decided to do something exciting in my life!!  I constantly feel like I have so much to learn!  I was never an athletic kid, or adult for that matter, so starting triathlon was a huge deal for me.   I never thought I would enjoy the workouts and the racing, but I can honestly say that I have so much fun when I am a sweaty, stinky mess!

FAMILY STATUS: I have been married to my wonderfully supportive husband Tom for going on 12 years.  We do not have kids, but have a crazy cat named Higgins and a retired greyhound named Magnum.

CURRENT TRAINING: Wow, I guess I have to admit that it is nothing!  I have struggled all year with plantar fasciitis.  It has felt horrible at times and better at times, but has never gone away.  I started following a Jeff Galloway running plan and found that by doing that I could at least finish most of my long runs.  After my last race of the season in October, I started going to physical therapy which I should be finishing soon.  My PTs first instruction to me was no running!  That was hard, but I was allowed to run for 15 minutes on the treadmill this morning.  I never thought I would be so excited about a 15 minute run, but it was great.  Still not totally pain free, but much better!  I have been doing a little biking on the trainer and hitting the pool a few mornings.  When I am actually training, I am anal about posting my workouts, so you will be able to see them soon.  I will be focusing on running until after May, with hopefully 2x/week of biking and swimming.  After my marathon, I will probably be working with a local coach and doing whatever she tells me.  I really like not worrying about what to do when and have relied on my coach to successfully see me through my 2 HIMs.

2012 RACES: I did a half marathon in the spring, a couple of sprints, and the Beach2Battleship Half in October.  There were a few 5ks and 10ks and a charity bike ride thrown in there too.

2013 RACES:  I am hoping for a full marathon in May (my first) if my foot cooperates.  My usual sprints and short running races, and the Beach2Battleship Full (again, my first) in October.

WEIGHTLOSS:  I raced the B2B Half this year as exactly half the person that I used to be!!  That was quite an accomplishment for me and I felt so fit and energized through the entire race.  Since I have not been training, and with the holidays, I have gained some weight back.  My goal is to lose that added weight well before my marathon in May. 

ME TOO!!  Had to get in before the rates went up.  Let me tell you, I sat here for a while gorging in self-doubt before I actually hit that pay button.  Please tell me that we are not crazy?

My goals for January are pretty simple.  Slowly ease back into running and eat right!

Hope everyone is enjoying the new year!  Now to go back and learn who everybody is.

Karen

Happy New Year everyone.

I managed to stay up till 1 am - I'm not such a great athlete.

I did manage to get out on my bike this morning (ie, i got up - put may gear on and then fannied about for 3 hours before getting out the door).

I only did about 9 miles, and had to get off and push twice - but is is a nice little loop around where I live so I thought that if I put this down as a marker then if I do it regularly I will know I'm improving when I get faster and don't have to stop cycling. I read on the forum somewhere someone advising a mum who can only train for maybe up to 1 and half hours daily that doing that much consistently will get you to the same place as less longer efforts. I hope this is right.

I haven't used the bt plan for HIM. They look a little complicated to me - but I'll have another look.

Jennifer

ps I think EST is over rated.  Why don't you all come and join me in GMT?

I took a look at 2012 training and had some thoughts about going forward:

 Bike - I think I'll do less mileage in 2013.  A lot of these rides were long slow IM training ride.  I'd rather see some more intensity in 2013, hopefully getting dropped later and later in group rides.

Run - This will go up in 2013 from marathon training.

Swim - I don't know, it seems like as much swimming as I'll be doing but I'm not getting much faster.  At least I'm starting to like swimming, so if I don't get faster, I'll live.

NAME:  gadgetlaw/Karen

STORY: I’m 45 and live in Greensburg, PA (about 30 miles from Pittsburgh).  I have been doing triathlons for 5 years, since I turned 40 and decided to do something exciting in my life!!  I constantly feel like I have so much to learn!  I was never an athletic kid, or adult for that matter, so starting triathlon was a huge deal for me.   I never thought I would enjoy the workouts and the racing, but I can honestly say that I have so much fun when I am a sweaty, stinky mess!

FAMILY STATUS: I have been married to my wonderfully supportive husband Tom for going on 12 years.  We do not have kids, but have a crazy cat named Higgins and a retired greyhound named Magnum.

CURRENT TRAINING: Wow, I guess I have to admit that it is nothing!  I have struggled all year with plantar fasciitis.  It has felt horrible at times and better at times, but has never gone away.  I started following a Jeff Galloway running plan and found that by doing that I could at least finish most of my long runs.  After my last race of the season in October, I started going to physical therapy which I should be finishing soon.  My PTs first instruction to me was no running!  That was hard, but I was allowed to run for 15 minutes on the treadmill this morning.  I never thought I would be so excited about a 15 minute run, but it was great.  Still not totally pain free, but much better!  I have been doing a little biking on the trainer and hitting the pool a few mornings.  When I am actually training, I am anal about posting my workouts, so you will be able to see them soon.  I will be focusing on running until after May, with hopefully 2x/week of biking and swimming.  After my marathon, I will probably be working with a local coach and doing whatever she tells me.  I really like not worrying about what to do when and have relied on my coach to successfully see me through my 2 HIMs.

2012 RACES: I did a half marathon in the spring, a couple of sprints, and the Beach2Battleship Half in October.  There were a few 5ks and 10ks and a charity bike ride thrown in there too.

2013 RACES:  I am hoping for a full marathon in May (my first) if my foot cooperates.  My usual sprints and short running races, and the Beach2Battleship Full (again, my first) in October.

WEIGHTLOSS:  I raced the B2B Half this year as exactly half the person that I used to be!!  That was quite an accomplishment for me and I felt so fit and energized through the entire race.  Since I have not been training, and with the holidays, I have gained some weight back.  My goal is to lose that added weight well before my marathon in May. 

ME TOO!!  Had to get in before the rates went up.  Let me tell you, I sat here for a while gorging in self-doubt before I actually hit that pay button.  Please tell me that we are not crazy?

My goals for January are pretty simple.  Slowly ease back into running and eat right!

Hope everyone is enjoying the new year!  Now to go back and learn who everybody is.

Karen

Wow, things are moving fast in here.  Happy New Year everyone!!

Ken, hope you had a great race!

BT plans - I've used the HIM, but went with Be Iron Fit for IM.  I liked them both, but I pretty much ignore the swim workouts.  If I'm not swimming with the masters group, I try to use Workouts in a Binder.

Johanne - I read your race report from IMAZ.  Fantastic race and report.  2012 was my first too, and I loved it.

Kicked off the year with a run including 30' a little slower than threshold pace.  That knocked the hangover out of me, but now I'm ready for a nap and the Twilight Zone marathon that runs through the holiday....

Hi Ken and Everyone!

Sorry I am late to the game, I couldn't find your group the other day when I looked

Can you fit me in?   Looks like an active group!

Happy New Year.

Hi!  It's Denise....Happy New Year!

Trying to figure out what races I register for in 2013....distances and number of races. As I am just back to tri's  after many years, I wonder if you have a recommendation for how I approach this.  I don't want to overtrain and get hurt and I have no idea how I will do in the HIM Aquabike I registered for in June, but also don't want to get locked out of events if I don't register - and most of all the goal of an event is great motivation!

Any suggestions on best approach and how to manage training throughout the season would be so helpful.

Thanks.

D

Started the day with a short run with my husband and son. By short, I mean 1 mile My son is training for his first 5K and also losing some pounds he put on the last few years. Today was an off run day for me so it was fun to tag along.

We hosted our group of friends for a New Year's dinner last night. Good food, lots to drink and fun times. Today has been a lot of de-Christmasing, football and snacking. Last day of the holidays, then back to healthy eating.

I paid a quick visit to the barn to check my horses. After a week off, mostly because of rainy weather, they go back to an exercise routine tomorrow too When I got home we took our 5 week old foster puppies outside for the first time. I foster for our local animal shelter. All the fun of puppies then I get to send them back to find a home with someone else.

January goals:

Plan out my training plan to get me to my first few races. I'm going to use a combination of BT plans with some modifications.

Get back to masters swim at least twice a week which will force me to get up at 5:00 a few morning a week. After IM training I loved not getting up early during December.

Restock healthy food in the house.

Cut back on sugar again to get some control of my cravings. I LOVE candy.

That should give me plenty to do!

Good afternoon all, and Happy New Year.

I managed to make it to 9:35pm last night before I went to bed. I was up at 5:15am for my morning swim then I had another swim with my coach at 9:30am. This one was a video session. When you see yourself on the iPad you really notice what you could be doing better. I definitely have a lot to work on as far as my technique. I have never had formal lessons, so I am impressed that I don't just sink.

I went for an easy 7.0 mile run today. I used my new Garmin 610 (for the first time) that I gave my self for Christmas. I was a good boy this year, I deserved it.

My resolutions for the year are: Enjoy the training and journey towards better health and the Ironman. I really would like to find a signficant other to share the journey with as well. As far as January goes, I want to make it entire month and not miss a workout. I also want the NHL to resolve their differences so that I can go back to enjoying my Winnipeg Jets.