Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 8)

Blanda (we were in the last group together). I had to reply about your daughter at UNF. I am a UNF alumni, and still live in Jacksonville. It is a great school!

Hey Nick-sure. Post an updated bio when you can. Glad to have you with us again.

Randy

As far as the food amount is concerned, I will take that to heart and use it as my food motto.

You were talking about your bike tonight, Randy. I have seen a road bike that is for sale brand new at $300. I've seen Cannondales, and the actual bikes Bradley Wiggins used go for $3000+ It hasn't got tri handles, but would you say it's okay for a beginner? I mean, surely you don't all start triatlons with expensive bikes, do you?

Paul - Here is what I did when I started a season and a half ago ... 

I bought this bike from Walmart for $249 and bought a $49 aero bar and added clip in pedals. In one of the sprint triathlons I took it up to 20 mph average which I think was the ceiling for me on that bike ... here is a picture. 

Here is what I bought a week ago ... for $1299 ... and I know my next bike is probably double of that ... :-)

So I think it is possible to use a cheap bike for some time. The reason I didn't invest in a more expensive bike was that I wanted to make sure that Triathlons are something I want to do longterm. 

Hey Brian,

I hope/plan to.  That's a great race to start my season and only an hour away.  Let's plan on it.  I can't remember exactly where you live, but once the weather is good, I bike up on Skyline Drive some.  PM me if you're interested in riding up there some time.  It's a great workout!

Stu

As far as nutrition goes, I changed to a completely plant based diet back in May and I have done great with it so far. I feel more energized and also feel that if I do overeat, my stomach will be full of low calorie veggies/fruit instead of higher calorie meat etc...

For bike advice, I do think most should start out with a low or moderately priced bike. If you find that triathlons are not for you, then you won't be out too much money. If you love it, then you can start researching and saving for a bike that you want to be competitive with. I started with a road bike ($1100) and found that I really loved triathlon. I kind of wish I bought a cheaper bike since I pretty much decided after my first race that this was going to be something long term for me and that I really wanted a tri bike

I spent around $800 on my bike and have had it since 2008. It's a roadie. I can't afford an upgrade and really don"t need one as I've only done a couple of sprints. Also, I love my bike and would be sad to replace it (I'm probably too attached).

Nutrition-wise, I transitioned to vegetarian over the past year (and by transitioning I mean I had a couple of cheeseburger on vacation this summer). I do eat eggs and a little cheese but I make sure the cheese is vegetarian. I was on a mission this summer to add more vegetables to my diet and now I eat lots. I am also experimenting with new, healthy recipes. It must be doing something right because My hair is growing really fast and in fact I have new hair growing in. I do count calories and want to lose about 30 more lbs (I've lost around 20) but have made a few errors here and there and have been plateaued since July. Currently, I'm struggling not to gain weight but I'm hoping my metabolism will improve now that the days are getting longer.

Sorry-that's a long post. Nutrition is something I spend a lot of time on.

Randy,

Thanks for allowing me to join the group. I really wanted to be a mentor this time around, but I don't think it is feasible at this time. I figured what is the next best thing...be in a group with Randy so that he can teach me his ways of being fast off the bike.

I will post a full bio later today to properly introduce myself.

Congratulations! I couldn't train without two things: a race to train for, and a training plan. Can't wait to read your race report after you get done!

Good Morning all,

Today is day 2 of my plant-powered training approach. Testing it out for a month to see how my body feels without meat. 

Mary - Congratulations ... now get ready to get hooked and majorly addicted once you complete that first race. 

Jamie - I am the same way ... I need to be signed up for a race and have a training plan in order to pull through with the training. 

Rene - The only thing on the plan for me today is some swim assessment for my coach followed by an easy swim workout. Tonight I am getting some adjustments done on my bike and other than that it will be a nice and easy day. 

Good morning-another swim for me today and then a fairly tough bike workout this evening.

Buying a bike.....No need to go all in from the beginning. I would go with something that you feel will get you through your first season. By the end of the season you are likely to know if this is a long term thing. At that point you can upgrade if you are in it long term. If you can find something used, THAT FITS, you can probably get alot more bike for the money.  Don't feel the need to have the latest/greatest bike out there. I suspect if we really knew all the science/data there is very little that these superbikes and high dollar bikes really do to increase out speed as compared to riding a good aliminum frame with quality components. Most importantly, get something that will get you out riding. Maybe spend less on the bike and get a decent trainer so you can ride whenever and you can make more gains on the bike than plopping down a ton of $$ on a new bike. 

Along those lines...I feel that having a good bike trainer is one of the most important pieces of equipment a triathlete can own. No worries about weather, daylight or traffic. Great way to get in miles over the Winter when its hard to get outside.

Randy

Happy Friday!!  it's jeans day at work so it's my favorite day

I swam yesterday and I concentrated on getting a good reach from each stroke - well I may have over done it because last night my shoulder was really achy - I have bursitis and for the most part swimming has been great for it (strengthened the muscles in my shoulder and I rarely have problems anymore).  SOOOOO I decided to sleep in today.  Meh, it happens

Also we are skipping skiing this weekend in favor of swimming and snowshoeing!  FINALLY some snow!

FWIW with respect to cycling indoors a few years ago we picked up a spin bike.  And I LOVE it for cycling indoors because it's so rock solid you can really stand up and hammer when you need to and it's not going anywhere!  Of course the downside is it's not the same geometry of your road bike or tri bike - but I think it's a good substitute.  We got a second one last year from a gym going out of business.  Money well spent!!

Jason - I have to say I read a few great books over the past few months ... mostly ultra running related ...

"Ultramarathon Man" by Dean Karnazes (Like it ... it was a fun read but I enjoyed "Finding Ultra" more.)

"Finding Ultra" by Rich Roll (Loved it)

"A life without limits" by Chrissie Wellington (Loved it)

"The Complete Book of Running"  by James F. Fixx (The book is old and it shows. I had a hard time staying focused on this book and I didn't finish it. There was actually an article about the book in Runners World just recently.)

"Racing Weight" by Matt Fitzgerald (Good reference, good guide)

"Devoted" by Dick Hoyt (Loved it)

I am currently reading "Eat & Run" by Scott Jurek and also got the "Iron War" book for Christmas that I will start after "Eat & Run".

Not SPORTS related:

"SUPERFreakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

"Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" by Meg Meeker

"Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman

Will run this evening.  

Last night, I went to the pool -- first time swimming in jammers (Christmas gift) instead of baggy swim trunks.   Holy freakin' cow!  I couldn't believe how much faster I felt (and was!) without dragging a parachute at my hips.   50m swim was 4-5s faster than normal, 100m swim was 8s faster, 200m swim was 20s faster.   Even my "recovery breaststroke" was way faster.

...

Mary -- as others have stated, there's nothing like a race on the schedule to focus your efforts.   I've found that a good first step (confidence builder) is to hit the distances for each event alone -- e.g. for a sprint, get to the point where you can confidently swim 500m front crawl, run a 5K without walking, etc.    Then once you hit it (or if you're already there) you can switch focus to (a) exceeding the sprint distances, (b) picking up the pace a bit, and (c) bricks.  

Simple trick but it's helped me -- I felt like a king the first time I ran 5K (about 4 weeks before my first sprint).   Now I'm doing Oly training and I was ecstatic the first time I did a 1500m front crawl.

Scott.

Books: I don't read nearly as many books as I used to.  Have substituted the internet I suppose. So, still reading but not the same. Within the last year I have read Chrissie Wellington and Chris McCormack's books. Chrissie came to our small local bookstore and did a talk then a signing. Got a picture with her and an signed copy of her book. I enjoyed it. She seems very genuine and smart.  She did a bike training session with one of the guys from my team (he is a stud) and his wife and they both said she was just like she seems....very nice and easy going.  I'm not much of a Macca fan but I did enjoy his book and it gave me some perspective on him as an athlete.

3000 in the pool at lunch. That puts me at over 40,000 for the month with at least one more swim workout scheduled. Hopefully, the volume will drop a bit when I get back to running. Going to look for some tennis balls at the house this evening so I can try the drill.

Randy