Clyde/Athena Tri-N-4- Weight Loss Mentor Group -OPEN AGAIN!! (Page 7)

As others have said, don't compare yourself to the others in the group (or anybody for that matter) at least not until you go pro that is one thing I like about this sport and where I am in regards to my fitness (not that I'm happy about my weight or fitness level), I have come to accept that I am not going to podium anytime soon, so the only person I have to beat is me, and at this stage in my training, I am nowhere near peaking so I am always setting new PRs, which is quite motivating.

I used to have issues with the breathing thing too, especially during the swim. I found, for me, it was totally mental. After only doing nothing but 50s with plenty of rest between, one day I decided that if I was going to ever swim any distance, I would eventually need to try. Then I just jumped in and started swimming to see how far I could go before my lungs burst. Turns out after about 600 yards my lungs still functioned and I quit then because of boredom. That was a pretty huge mental milestone for me. I still find that sometimes I am out of breath, and don't think I can do another set, but as soon as I push off that wall, my breathing just comes together. That takes some getting used to.

Keep up the hard work all!

Well bike was on the docket again tonight and I was resolved to going to the gym and riding one of the lame bikes there, but then I had a stroke of genius! I took the seat off my mountain bike and put it on my tri bike while I wait for my new seat to get here, and low and behold... 40 min ride, adv cadence 72, heart rate adv 151... BOOM! While it still wasn't what I would call comfortable by any means it showed me my other seat is really wrong for me. I also tweaked seat height and angle just a touch, and adjusted aero bars as well and all in all had a successful workout. In addition I scheduled a professional fitting in 2 weeks and really can't wait to see how it feels to be set up properly!

I would like to thank Randi and Mike for hosting this mentor, looking back I'm kind of post crazy here but it has good tool to help me stay on track as I go from out of shape casual workout guy to training to be an actual triathlete. Also thank you to all the members that have responded to my questions and provided words of support! Lets keep it up together, GO TEAM!!!!

Another sunny day, another run. Apparently I was running with a purpose today. I ran almost 4.5 miles and averaged a 9:49 min/mi pace, My longest run...ever, and my first sub 10 min/mi pace on anything over 5K. I was pretty happy with that. Trying to decide whether or not I should take the bike in to work and ride at lunch tomorrow. I may reserve that for Saturday when I can get a longer ride in. Hopefully this weather will stay for a while.

I am pretty far behind don't work. I can not even do 15 min miles at the moment. I used to do 9s at least for 3 miles.

Makes you feel better my first sprint tri took me over 3 hour. 3:18. I think it was right before an Ultramarathon I did. Do not worry take where you are today and make tomorrow better.

As for the winded issue I would wear a heart rate monitor. I am a big fan of those.

Lowest of the year for me. only 5 lbs for the year but not bad. I also feel better since the gym scale was about 5 lbs lower. So I may not be as bad as I was worried.

Not why I am posting. I have added Chicago Marathon to my races this year. I was planning on it anyways. I should be able to get in no mater what this year but if I do not do it this year I will have to go into the lottery. So I am going to do it. I did it in 2004,2005,2006,2008,2012. 5 out of the 10 I need. I tried 2007 but was pulled off the course do to race ending. I did ultra marathon in greater heat earlier in the year so I knew I would have made it.

Way to improvise on the seat. Now there is an example of thinking outside the box.

You're very welcome, but in reality I should thank you guys. This truly is a group effort to keep each other motivated. I'm getting a lot out this group too.

Great run! I hope to be that fast some day. I live the feeling of breaking those distance and time milestones. Enjoy the weather and send some my way!

Nice job on the weight loss! Down is down!

GO YOU! Chicago marathon! That's huge. Right now I'm focused on the half and can't even fathom a full marathon. Maybe someday. Ultra? Wow, just wow!

Had a good work out last night, swimming was the task of the day and the goal was to swim a 4 x 150 with 20sec rest between sets and not to exceed 25min duration. I completed it in 16:22 total time which I felt good about given the allotted amount of time for the work out!

Tonight is my first brick workout of this routine, nothing major 20min bike, 10min run, BUT the bigger accomplishment will be it is the end of my first week with a 6 day routine! I was very worried about being able to do it but it came pretty easy and I have already begun to look forward to my workout each day!

Sounds like a great week, diablo. Congrats! I failed to get a workout in yesterday. I just have no motivation to go to the pool, and actually the gym altogether. Hopefully the resolutioners will be gone in a couple more weeks and it won't be so crazy. Not that I don't support their intentions, it's just that, well, they're movin my cheese, man! But until then, I will continue running outside because that has surprisingly become my new second favorite of the SBR. Bike will always be my favorite. Have a great day all!

5 mi run today. Was not as good as Wednesday, but then again I wasn't trying to go faster. My pace was 10:24 min/mi. But i did feel pretty good at then end and maybe like I could go another couple miles. I was expecting to coast in on fumes.

Going to get the bike set up for a trainer ride in the morning and maybe if it's nice tomorrow, a quick easy run in the afternoon.

Hey everyone newb question, whats the difference between a tempo pace and aerobic pace in a bike workout and then in running? Which one is a higher effort?

I wasn't sure, so I set out on a research mission. Here's what I found.

Tempo pace: A level of exertion just below the rider's anaerobic threshold. Used as a reference point in training, this is the highest level of exertion that a given rider can sustain.

Aerobic exercise: Generally, light-to-moderate intensity activities that are sufficiently supported by aerobic metabolism can be performed for extended periods of time.[1] The intensity should be between 60 and 85% of maximum heart rate.

So, if I interpret everything correctly, tempo is faster and harder than aerobic.

I welcome more comments, discussion or insight into this.

Nice job! I ran 5 today (not as fast as you). Tomorrow is my long run day. Plan is for 105 minutes.

Nice swim! Isn't it a great feeling when you finish faster than the plan says you should!

How'd the brick go? Did you feel like you had fawn legs transitioning from the bike to run?

Excellent job on getting the workouts squeezed into your week! That's one of the hardest parts of the training.

Had my first run today since December 4th, I've been suffering from Plantar Fasciitis. Only ran 1.5 miles, and was slow, but It felt great!

That's great to hear that you had a great run! Glad you're back running.

Thank you for the info, I had found similar info but was still having a hard time determining what was what!

The brick went well, legs were actually ok, but even with only a 10 min run I started getting side cramps. It's running looking at the data on garmin connect, you clearly see the dip where I had to ease off because of cramping. Any tips on stretching out a side cramp while still running?

The cramping you described sounds like a "side stitch". I had bookmarked an article about dealing with them. Here is the link to the article in Runner's World. http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/ask-doctor-s...

Hopefully this helps

Great article, shame there is little known cause though! Had a great swim tonight did a 500 in 14 mins flat, in talking with my "coach" (my best friend I had mentioned earlier that is the head swim coach at Conn College and a multi time all American swimmer in his own right) said he thinks with little effort and stroke modification he can have me under 10 mins at the 500, so I have that going for me... which is nice

Nice job on the swim. Swimming is so much about technique. Having a coach or friend analyzing your technique and making small changes can have big pay-offs in time. Keep at it. One thing you can't replace is the volume. Get lots of swim time when you can. Once my triathlon plan kicks in, I'll be in the pool 3 times a week. Also keep an eye out for open water swims in your area. Swimming in open water is different than the pool. Don't get discouraged if it feels like a setback. The key is to keep putting in the time.

So yesterday we had a bit of a warm-up. If you call 30 warm! I had a 105 min run on my training plan. So I decided to run outside instead of trying almost 2hrs on the treadmill. I ran 9 miles and averaged 11:50/mile. Not my fastest miles, but if was my longest run outside. The weather was cold, 30 degree air temp with wind chills in the 20's. That really is my lower limit for cold. I got a bad cramp in my left calf at about mile 4 but kept going. I stopped twice to try and stretch it out, but it nagged me the last 5 miles. I really wanted to hit the10 mile milestone, but when I hit 9 at my training time I decided not to push too hard. Stretched last night, then swam 775 yards this morning. A short swim for me, but still feeling achy. I hit the hot tub at the Y for a bit and that seemed to help some. I figured I'll take it easy today as a recovery day.

Why I hate the start of weight lose.

Good news. Did 5 miles on the trendmill and 9 total for the day (did a lot of shopping) on Saturday.

Saturday night I was plague by massive headaches. I been getting them a lot doing the week and I would take pills 30 min later I would be able to go back to sleep. This time I had it all night and all day long. Did not do much Sunday because of it. I only did 2 miles and I stopped. I was hoping to go to the pool but I decided against it. Just not feeling well.

Worse I stepped on the scale this morning and I am back to starting weight up like 7 lbs over the last 2 days. I just can not get below that mark.

I admit to my girl I signed up for ITU Chicago so now she knows I need to train so that is good news too. just back to needing to drop about 50 lbs at the end of June.

It looks l like a lot of folks put in some work over the weekend. Good job all!

Keep your head up chi, the scale isn't always the best metric for fat loss. 7 lbs in 2 days sounds like something isn't quite right, but not necessarily fat gained. That's almost 25,000 calories consumed over what was burned if we were considering all 7 lbs as fat. So unless you're chasing tubs of butter with glasses of bacon drippings, my guess is there is you didn't gain 7 lbs of fat. I can't remember if you are tracking calories, but maybe track water intake too. If you have the ability to, weigh yourself before and after workouts to see how much you lost in sweat, you might be surprised. Keep at it though, it will come off.

As for me today, weights followed by a 3.5 mi run at 10min/mi. Trying not to catch the latest bug going around daycare, but I could feel that it is coming.

Good workout tonight, 45 min bike although it was a gym bike and not my trainer. 30mins at aerobic pace, 10 at tempo, 5 back at aerobic, 12 miles total adv cadence 85. Again having data from my garmin is awesome! So cool to look at my heart rate chart and see the zones I'm supposed to be in.

So here's a question that plagues me, so I'm currently doing an 8 week to sprint tri that finishes at me doing an indoor tri. Then I have a 12 week program I will do leading up to my true sprint tri in August, but what do I do in between or after? How do you change or maintain your training when your further out than a 8 or 12 week program, or when you wrap up for the season?

Thanks all, good job everyone keep it up!!!