tcovert's Winter 2009 Mentor Group - FULL (Page 8)

Well it's official... I just signed up for what will be my first triathlon!!!  Registration for the Azalea Sprint Tri opened at 5pm and I'm pretty sure that I received my electronic receipt at 5:02pm... wow.  I am so excited!!!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend of training   

Iceman Scott - congrats on your accomplishment, that is huge!  I love it when the time/miles fly by - it is such a great feeling!!!

Congrats!! Now for the countdown...Way to take that first step. It will be fun to watch your journey.

Congratulations!  It's exciting, isn't it?

It just so happens that this very moment I got the receipt for entering my very first triathlon too.  June 6, a sprint.  I am so psyched!  I will be signing up in a week for an olympic in July.   

This is so cool!

Aloha all

I'M BACK!

New year far all and traditionally a time to look back and then forward and make new goals and plans. Maybe we should all consider this if we haven't already.

Well looking back - it has been a very mixed year but I have made new distinctions that has to be good. I started out on BT well and trained down to 190 lbs and able to complete a sprint in under 2 hrs (including a slow breast stroke swim LOL) Then in late summer it fell apart. Slow at first. A lot of friends and family needed support with illness and stuff and I got easily side tracked and crept into old ways. By December ... well you guys all know the shape I am/was in.

In the last week I am quite proud of myself. Okay, I'm still riding the tide of enthusiasm but I have kept the nutrition well in check and despite heel kept on the go.

So what did I learn? Well first of all (as has been mentioned in this group already) 'Pay yourself first'. I have to remain on course if I am to give to others the best of me. So my triathlon lifestyle has to most important in my life and others have to be slotted in around it. Okay I need to be a bit flexible, after all I don't want my nearest and dearest to think thank that BT is more important than them (it isn't) but I need to be fit and healthy if I am to be the person they (and I) want me to be.

Nutrition has to become a way of life (for ever). I have a lot of views and ways to make it work (and well) just need to get past the 6-9 month period to assimilate my ideas into my life with out thinking about them. It seems that that 6 - 9 month period is the hurdle for me and when I get over it this time I will have let the triathlon in me take over for good.

Starting this group now at the start of a training year is a great move and I know I will make the end of my season and it seems that going to Barcelona might actually be a option. (think I got the other half talked into us all going). Then continuing with this group or joining another if this one doesn't continue into the next Mentor Programme.

For the coming year I have of course made my race goals and I will review these again to make the race destinations as family friendly as possible. I would like to complete the Donkey Brae run (7m) in under 60min and be able to complete an Oly in under 210 mins. Weight wise I will be 175lbs or under by this time next year and as an incentive to keep me going through the winter I want to be able to complete the 5k I am doing next week in half the time I do it in next week. Actually that's a bad goal in case I do it much faster than I think I will on Saturday so next year I want to be able to do the 5k in 25 mins.

Beyond that I want to complete a half IM  in 2010 and  an IM in 2011.

Wow - got that off my chest LOL.

I'll review the past week and set goals for next week tonight.

Looks like we're all getting set for our '09 seasons. So cool to share the journey with you all. Great goals, Paul. IceMan -- so cool on your tri. The countdown begins.

Go team tcovert! Any thoughts on making up a team name? Todd? 

I'm off to the gym today due to wet, slick roads. I dont' think it's wise to ride in the traffic with them because Southern Californians really don't know how to drive in it. I really am not fond of the gym, but....

Oh, and uh, GO CHARGERS!!

Wanted to add this link about New Year's resolutions:

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3552

And, this one I found about setting your training calendar and other good info from a triathlete and swimmer:

http://austintriswimmer.com/default.html

Hi all,

Well, I did my first 10k this morning, the "Trail of Torment" in San Diego.  1:07:15, and I finished 2nd in my age group ... out of two

This was the inaugural race, so it wasn't huge maybe 50 or so people.  Lots of fun.  Really a brutal (at least to me) course, all trails lots of hills, rocks, streams, etc.  I was told that this 6.2m run is the equivalent of 10 miles flat. Don't know about that, but it was hard and the longest I've run in 20 years.

Lesson learned today: Think twice about any race with "Torment" in the title

This week:  Get back into it.  Between Xmas and New Years I didn't do much other than paint some rooms in my house and watch football.  And eat.  Stayed away from beer for  the most part, but did no exercise.

Depending on how sore my legs will be tomorrow, I'd like to hit 12 - 15 miles running, 40 to 60 miles on the bike and 3,000 or so meters in the pool this week (sooo hard to motivate for the swim right now!).  I definitely want two days to be bricks, with a fast 3 to 4 mile run off the bike. 

Got a 5k on February 1st, and a sprint on the 21st.  Time to get ready for them! 

That's excellent Morgan.  Way to go!  I ran a 5K trail race, which was my first time on a trail at all, and it was fun, a lovely place to be in October.  I'd love to do more. 

Congrats again.

Race elevation chart for the 10k ... hard, or am I a big baby?

I'm cryin' just looking at it!

I just got finished with my first workout of the new year.  It felt good to get back in the pool.  What was even a bigger deal is I lost weight over christmas, 9 pounds to be exact.  for those who dont know I had gastric bypass surgery in Oct.  I am down 72 pounds since then.  It is crazy how much weight I have lost.  I am running my first tri in may a sprint. I just had to share.

Austin

Aloha all

looks like we are all well and starting out on the new year with enthusiasm. Right - last weeks goals:

1. Increase Bike time Done
2. Continue to consistantly do nutrition logs 256lbs to 254lbs Done
3. Introduce Core training regime & stretching Done

Wow, great stuff going on. 

Austin, congratulations.  You can do it.  75 since October is huge. 

Cindy, you can learn to love the water.  As you said, baby steps, easy does it, but do it.  The more you swim, the more you'll find you feel more natural at it.  I started with the Masters Swimmers in September and I'm doing a mile at will now.      

 Weighing is indeed a personal matter.  I've avoided it for nearly 4 years.  I didn't want those ups and downs and doubts that can come something as simple as water retention.  I used my belt as reinforcement.  Still wearing the same one, only now it goes around me one and a half times.  Down from a 50 inch waist to a 36 and still dropping.  I do polan to get on a scale at some point and start weekly weigh-injs.  Just not yet. 

As for lengthing the bike rides, if you can do 60, you can do 112.   The difference is just time and nutrition.  I've neen able to ride 112 for a couple of years, longest is 135.  But, I have to decrease the time so I have more on my weaker events, especially running.  I'm riding more intensely than ever, doing intervals, etc trying to increase speed and endurance.     

 I have a orientation meeting for my triathlon club's mentor program tonight.  A bike club meeting on Wednesday.  I have to do workouts in between the meetings and work. 

 You all have a great week.