tcovert's Group - CLOSED (Page 8)

Hi Matt-
My usual breakfast consists of 2 slices of multigrain toast, with either brumel and brown spread, or peanut butter if I've had a hard workout, a trader joe's soy yogurt and some trader joes cereal. If it's cold out I do toast and oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder, gotta get those proteins in. It's boring but very dependable and gives me good energy for at least 3-4 hours before lunch. Lunch is kind of variable, but I try to make sure I eat veggies at lunch, since I definitely don't do it for breakfast. This week, I'm trying to bring lunch everyday...saves money and I think I eat healthier. Today, pasta and leftover chicken breast with broccoli (sp?)

Good luck with your weight goals.

I've actually bought a lot of stuff from Ebay. Quite often people list stuff that's brand new with the tags still attached for half of what you'd pay in stores. Nashbar.com is another good one for biking stuff, I haven't bought any clothing from them though.

My eating pattern isn't one to emulate...I tend to break a lot of rules (like skipping breakfast)...but I'm pretty careful about what I eat.

I don't like to have much in my stomach for a run...and I train in the morning...so I usually don't eat breakfast until after I run (on running days). For a long run on the weekend, though, I've finally convinced myself it's okay to have a Nutrigrain bar before running. After running (or before biking to work), I have a Dannon Light and Fit yogurt and a packet of Emergen-C Joint Health. That's it for breakfast during the week.

During the day at work, I have 1/4 cup of Trader Joe's "AntiOXidant Mix" trail mix to munch on and a Clif Bar and a Luna Bar at lunch time. That's it for lunch during the week.

I'm careful to get adequate lean protein in the evening and snack on whole grain snacks as much as I care to--muesli, Triscuits, Kashi honey sesame crackers--along with baked blue corn tortilla chips, trail mix (no granola, just fruit and nuts), no-sugar-added frozen fruit juice bars, low- (or non-) fat cheese, occasionally baked pita chips and hummus. Sweets are no-sugar-added Jell-O pudding cups or Weight Watchers brand chocolate fudge ice milk bars.

When we eat big meals (at home or out), Liz and I stick to whole grain pasta whenever we can and avoid red meat most of the time. We'll eat things like turkey meatballs with marinara sauce or chicken skewers at home, with veggies and/or potatoes. We eat a lot of fish and chicken when we eat out...and salads.

Oh, and only nonfat dairy...no exceptions for me, except for occasionally cheese at parties.

IMO, if you concentrate on reducing fat and processed sugar (I'm also not a big fan of added salt) in your diet and replacing simple carbs with whole grains, you really can't go wrong. Get as much of your protein from fish, nuts, and poultry as you can. That's really the sort of diet that the human species essentially "grew up" on for its first 80,000 years or so, so I try to trust that a bit.

Ultimately, weightloss is a straightforward equation: Take in fewer calories than you burn each day. Most of us take in way more calories than we realize and probably burn fewer than we think. (Example: I just did a 22 mile ride with nearly 900' of climbing that took about 1:40. Not a whole lot of people in this country do that kind of workout. But that workout only burned 1200 cal. according to my Garmin...that's probably less than 1/2 of what most Americans eat in a day...it's certainly not enough for me to go nuts and have three or four slices of pizza for lunch.)

The more one stops and thinks, before consuming something, about what its value and its cost is, the more likely one is to control weight. None of this, though, is to understate the need to get nutrition appropriate to one's workout load.



I don't buy online much, but--living in LA--I have local options. My wife buys a lot of cycling gear from Performance Bike online (http://performancebike.com). BT offers a discount through trisports.com--they are very reputable. For bike gear, I've gotten some great deals by haunting the clearance racks at chains like Sport Chalet and REI.

Good morning, everyone! How's the week been? What's up for the weekend?

Big race for Kim on Sunday: Auburn International Tri...one I thought long and hard about entering (because a buddy of mine does the duathlon there every year and tried long and hard to talk me into it)...I'm looking forward to hearing all about it next week! Kim's workouts look great and I think she's going to have a really good experience.

This was supposed to be a bit of a taper week for me with a relatively hilly 12K race coming up on Sunday, but that plan didn't last very long. Even this morning's planned "easy 4.25 miles" turned into an "easy-to-moderate 4.75 miles." After the tough climbing on the bike yesterday, my legs may be a little tired come Sunday morning...guess we'll just wait and see.

For those of you pointing toward races in June: You've all got at least a week to ten days of quality training time before you need to give yourself some opportunity to taper, so try your best to make good use of this time!

I'll be offline Saturday morning through Sunday night...hope everyone has a great weekend! (And I hope the weather lets everyone get outside for as much training as they want to do!)

My week felt quite light but given the pulled hamstring I'm ok with it - and it did give me more quality time with my bike.  I'm hoping to get one long bike and one long run in this weekend and possibly a swim although we have company so that might be hard.  As Todd mentioned, I have four weeks left until my race so I'm hoping to double up most of the upcoming week and try and work out super hard as my last really hard week and then not push myself as hard after that.  Given that I'm only doing a sprint tri, I'm only planning on week of real "taper" especially since I don't feel like I have a good "bike" base yet - that sound reasonable to everyone?

Bay to Breakers race report is up...mission accomplished (finished betw. 54 & 55 min...three minutes better than last year). Time to pay bills and call it a night...hope everyone had a good weekend!

Hey everyone - I hope everybody had a great weekend. We had two incredible days here in Minneapolis, Saturday was 70 and sunny, Sunday was 60ish and sunny. I bought a wetsuit this weekend. I also picked up some body glide, a race number belt, some goggle anti-fog stuff (do people use this?), and a pair of yanks. Dropped a lot of dough at the triathlon store.... I think that is everything I need for my first tri. I heard they have gear checklists somewhere on this site, can someone direct me to where they are.
This week will be my last hard week of training before taking it easy next week leading into the tri on June 1. I am hoping to get in a short brick at some point during the week, maybe like a 15 mile bike, 2 or 3 mile run. I didn't do a good job on nutrition on my weekend brick and want to try it out again.
Take care - sarah

If transition is the fourth triathlon discipline and nutrition is the fifth...then spending (sadly for those of us with limited resources) has to be the sixth.

(I try not to spend a lot...that's actually a big deal for me...but it's tough.)



Here ya go: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/race-checklis...

I think there may be others--try the search function.

If I think of it, maybe I'll try to put mine up on the Web somewhere you can access...it's just a simple Excel sheet. Hopefully I can stash it here on BT.



Great strategy. Nutrition isn't super critical for an Oly, but you don't want to "run out of gas" if you can avoid it, so practicing it is a good thing. Don't sweat it (no pun intended), though, if you have another attempt that you feel is unsatisfactory...nutrition issues will hamper you much less at the Oly distance than at the IM and HIM.

What's up, everyone? I'm still a bit sore (as much from 5 1/2 hours in the car as from the race yesterday), so I'm taking it a little easy this week, I think. But I got no swimming in last week, so I need to up my one weekend swim more than I planned on...fitting in that and a long ride is gonna be tough. (And I'd indicated to a new BTer in the area who PMed me that I'd try to go out for a ride with him this weekend...may have to postpone to get my swim in).

Today -- Easy effort bike commute, 12 mi.

Tues -- Probably easy run, 4 mi. max

Wed -- Probably ride 20 mi. to work, bike/subway home (6 mi) -- 26 mi total

Thurs -- Probably 3 x 1 mi intervals, not at max effort

Fri -- Bike commute, 12 mi.

Sat -- Swim 2000 yds, then 45 mile ride

Sun -- 10.4 mile run (may shorten to 8.1). Then volunteering for the Celtic Arts Center at the Highland Games in Costa Mesa the rest of the day.

If they have the "Kilted Mile" run at the Games, I might shorten the morning run even further so that I can compete.

John - Are you using one of the BT training plans for your HIM or did you make up your plan?

Hi guys,
Yes, I'm alive, and yes I finished...it wasn't pretty but here is a link to my race report

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

Today was a day of rest. No training, no BT til now, and it felt good. Will check in tomorrow, hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the support guys, it was truly an experience not to forget.

Great job, Kim! Really terrific! (More praise in comment thread of your race report...)

If you haven't read Kim's report, please do...not just a very strong job in the race, but a really good race report!

Great job Kim!!! Congrats on doing well!

Thanks guys!
Now that I've had a few days to reflect, I feel really good about my first oly. It's funny because as I was filling out my race report, I realized the race didn't really go all that bad. Kathy was saying how really proud of me she was that I finished running so strong, because as she sat with others who were waiting for loved ones, they all were beaming about how amazing it was that we could all be out there in that weather giving 100% + effort, and not sipping an ice cold beer under the shady trees! That would have to come later!

It's easy to focus on the things one does poorly on and overlook the good stuff, until you actually break it all down. And it's important to do that soon afterwards i.e, the race report. I made myself laugh at things that I did which at the time, I was cursing myself for. Like the toe warmers...Could I have stopped at the top of the hill to rip them off? Yes, but it might have changed my momentum...so I'll never know if that would've been better or not. Instead of cursing myself, I could have had a good laugh about that right then and there! I also was able to see the things I did well by writing it all out and that made me feel great about my effort. This is a lesson that I will hopefully learn as I become a more seasoned triathlete.


I'm really happy that I am barely sore anywhere today, except my leg that bounced off the brushy hillside of course, but otherwise, I feel physically great. I am planning to do a few light workouts this week, but nothing big planned until a longish bike ride this weekend.

Sunday night I was thinking maybe tris might not be for me. But today, I am looking for another race to do, hopefully within the next month or two. I plan to go to Monday night swims with a group at Aquatic park to work on my nemesis, OWS. If there is one thing to be learned from my experience, it is that OWS does not really come naturally (at least for me), so all the swimming in the pool is great, but it does not translate all of the time. If you have a race in open water, go practice until you feel comfortable. I hope I will someday feel comfortable and learn to sight properly. It took a huge mental and physical effort for me to keep going after that swim.

Thanks for all of the support and excellent wishes. Look forward to hearing how everyone's races go this season, too.

Hey! How is everyone's week going? I am super excited its already Thursday.
Tomorrow I am taking the day off work and this weekend my husband and I are going on a short backpacking trip to take advantage of the long memorial day weekend. We're doing a section of the superior hiking trail which runs along lake Superior from Duluth, MN all the way up to Canada.
Training is going ok this week. Been biking a lot. Our very wise mentor, Todd, suggested I get in a little bit longer of a run this week so I am planning on doing that tomorrow. I did a 25k trail race 5 weeks ago so was in great running shape, but then my foot started to bother me and I really scaled back the running. My foot has been feeling great on my 4 mile runs so my goal for tomorrow is to do the 6 miles right around race pace.
Anyways, gotta get to work. Just wanted to check in with everyone.

Oh, I also have "new bike fever". Is there any way to get rid of this? Luckily my browsing right now is all online, I am avoiding bike stores until it subsides!

Sarah

Only way to get rid of "new bike fever" is to get that new bike! Nothing wrong with that Sarah, you deserve it!

Sounds great...I'm very jealous...



Don't feel very "wise" today after a bad day at work yesterday, so thanks for the nice sentiment.

Keep close watch on the foot during the long(ish) run...probably should abort if it starts to flare up...but otherwise, I think psychologically it's always good to get a run in at race distance(ish) close to the race, but with enough time to recover from the effort.



Obviously I failed at fighting off the contagion...

^^^
Hmm...three "smileys" in one post...that may be an all-time record for me, on BT or anywhere else...

yeah, stop being so darn happy and cheerful!