KathyG's 2012 Awesome Mentor Group-Full up

Glad to have you with us!

When time permits cut the outline of bolded text from what I posted and share with the group.

I'm so excited you have a group!

Would you mind if I'm a member of your group?

I would like to join, participated in mentor groups the last two seasons, and love the extra motivation and meeting new people! After a lackluster and burned out 2011 i'm ready to bring it on in 2012.

Kiri

Love you to join

Kiri, welcome to the group and I look forward to sharing your 2012 journey with you!

Hi Kathy and all - I am in - I really look forward to it, even if that Fred guy is allowed in! 

I am on the road with only a phone but I did not want to miss out - I will post a bio just as soon as I get in front of a real computer.

Cannot wait!!!

Fred yes of course you can join and I'd love to have you part of the group.

Hello, I would like to join as well.  Will post a bio later.  Excited to be part of a virtual group!

Thanks 

Pam

Pam, welcome to our group. Post your bio when you have time...no hurry.

Kathy - thanks again for allowing me in your group - I have already enjoyed reading the posted bios and look forward to getting to know you all better.

Here is a bit about me:

NAME: Rusty - yep, that is right: a grown man with a dog's name. It's a long story; I might need to start another thread for me to tell it...

STORY: I come from a bike racing background - started racing mountain bikes when they were nothing more than beach cruisers with gears. I was really, really good at it, until the sport actually became popular - then, suddenly, I was not so good. I actually went backwards from most at the time and purchased a road bike to cross train for mountain biking - everyone else was crossing over from road to mountain - oh! the road bikes you could buy back then for next to nothing, simply because everyone quit buying them! Of course then LeMond went and won the Tour for his second time in rather dramatic fashion, and suddenly road cycling became slightly more popular - but it took a guy named Armstrong to come along later and make road bikes really expensive again. Fast forward a bit to 1991 - I had just graduated college and fell in with some strange folks that called themselves "triathletes." My roommate and I began racing dualthlons (called biathlons back then - no skis or rifles though) with this bunch of hooligans. Throughout that first summer we would train with them, which mostly consisted of hammering group rides, hammering runs, and then drinking beer on the boat while they swam to and fro. I still remember thinking how awesome it would be to be able to actually swim from one place to another. near the end of that first summer and late on a Friday evening one of my buddies called me up to let me know that another one of our friends would not be able to make it to a triathlon race they had all signed up for, and wanted to know if I was interested. I laughed, as the extent of my swimming up to that point was basically from the back of the boat to the end of the ski rope. However I was easily convinced that I could do it when he told me the swim would only be 400 yards. Had he told me it would be a quarter of a mile, I most likely would not be typing this right now. Needless to say I did the race, and was 12th to last out of the water. I know this because the 12 of us dog paddled the entire course together at a nice conversational pace. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "your first race?"
Them: "oh, yes!"
Me: "mine too!"

I crushed the bike, and did great on the run, and was totally hooked - both line AND sinker. I have not done a straight up bike race, and very few duathlons since. I will never forget the day when I could finally swim 1/2 a mile in less than 20 minutes. I celebrated the occasion by immediately going out and buying my first speedo, which back then was the de rigueur race suit. Ah, the good old days. Just thinking of Kenny Souza almost brings a tear to my eye...

Over the past 20 years I have raced regularly, often competitively, in all kinds of events: dus, tris, adventure races, mountain biking, stage races, marathons, ultras, and relays. Over the years I have been healthy, injured, overweight, under weight, wicked fast, depressingly slow, absolutely rabid for the sport, and completely burned out. I would describe myself now as rather balanced all around. On occasion I can still find myself out competing for the Weekly World Championship trophy, but am trying to be a lot smarter with my training and racing. no matter what, first and foremost, this sport hobby is FUN!

FAMILY STATUS: That roommate I mentioned earlier? we lived together for 6 years and eventually decided that we liked each other a little bit. We subsequently got married and have remained happily so for the last 15 years. My best friend is simply awesome. She races herself, so she completely gets this ridiculousness. Training and racing is a big part of our social life - not sure if we travel to race or race to travel. No kids, dogs, cats, or even a fish. A friend gave us a chia pet as a joke a couple of years ago, but it is still in its original packaging.

WORK: I am an educator and administrator. I am the currently the Chair of the Architecture Program at Auburn University, and the Associate director of the Rural Studio, our remote design/build program in West Alabama. I live in Atlanta, so I am on the road quite bit between it all.

CURRENT TRAINING: After being self-trained my whole racing life, I took on a coach last year, and have really enjoyed it. I like the accountability, and I have learned a tremendous amount. At 45 years old, I have found that the things that used to work no longer do, and it has been important for this old dog to learn a lot of new tricks in order to remain competitive.  The number one thing my coach has done is to actually slow me down a bit and have me train a good bit less, but a whole lot smarter. I am a self-professed technology wonk - but gave it all up a few years ago as I really began to feel a little bit of a slave to it all. I got to where a poorly functioning HRM could really wreck an otherwise great workout. In the three years prior to becoming coached I threw it all away and trained and raced totally RPE. Call it a deep cleansing. That said, as part of my coaching, I have found myself once again completely jacked in: HR/GPS/Power - at first I did not pay much attention to it, it really just provided information for my coach. As the year went on and with his guidance, I have come to be able to use the feedback myself as another set of data points marbled in with RPE.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: My big goal race last year was IM Lake Placid, which was an absolute blast. I really enjoy going long and tackling tougher races. I did A couple of other 1/2 IM's, and a handful of olympics and sprints for fun. I also did a couple of distance swim races which were a lot of fun. It is kind of weird, but I find it to be really cool to actually swim somewhere. This year is the middle year in a three year plan to see just how fast I can still get at the IM distance. If I can still have a breakout year at 45, I am aiming at 2013.

2012 RACES:
work-wise I will be slammed through the end of January, then a normal schedule through May 1st, then off through mid August. Current confirmed plans:
January: Polar Bear 5k
March: Georgia HM
May: Mountain Madness 1/2 IM
June: 5k OWS
From May to the end of July, I am all-in for IM Lake Placid - for those three months, I will do a couple of sprints and/or olympics, and will actually get to train like a pro thanks to my work schedule!

WEIGHT LOSS GOALS: For years when faced with the inevitable question "Why do you train like you do?" my stock answer was always "so I can eat and drink whatever I want." At about 35 years old, that was revised to "so that I can drink whatever I want." At 45, even that is no longer the case. For the past two years, I have raced best at about 152~153 pounds. between October and January, it would be normal for me to plump up to about 170lbs, and all I had to do was give up the martini for about 6 weeks to get back to race weight. Last year that did not work. I know seem to have a problem with those "last 5 pounds." They are proving to be incredibly stubborn. This year I would actually really like to figure out what my ideal race weight might be. In the past year I have worked hard to increase my power, strength, and durability. Along with that has come increased muscle mass; I have actually gained weight while IM training.

LIMITERS: For me, my current limiter is not one of the stages of the race - it is really my overall strength and power.Last year I worked on elevating my endurance and establishing a solid base with some basic strength work thrown in. This year I have an increased focus on strength training, so I am actually not much concerned about my weight, but rather my ratio of body fat and power/kg.

WHAT WOULD MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: OK - I make a living as a professional mentor. As such I have learned that for better or worse we spend the bulk of our life knowing all the answers and simply trying to figure out what questions we need to ask to get to the answers that we want to hear. I am here to forget the answers that I know, and to learn new questions to ask. I am wide open. Also, I am pretty scientific, but usually defer to experience over lab tests. This is a long game. As such I have always been a regular logger - I have about 10 years of paper logs followed up 10 years of digital logs. In addition to understanding that what works for me may not work for you, these logs have allowed me to see that what works for me this year may not work for me next. I look forward to learning from all of you. My coach and I use TrainingPeaks to communicate, but I also post here as well if folks want to see - my logs are open. I speak with my coach several times a week, and we meet often. In my logs I usually include the short notes he includes when he builds my week, so they sometimes read kinda strange.

I am really honored to be a part of this team - I cannot wait to get started.

Kathy -- Thank you for letting me join!  Here's my bio:

Name: kaburns1214 (Kelly)

Story: I started participating in triathlon in 2006.  When I began Kathy G was one the people I always looked up to.  I was pretty consistent results wise for my first few years of training last year I had a bit of a break through season ending with an 11:26 at Ironman Florida.  My goal now is qualify for Kona.  As my coach puts it there's a possibility (its not likely but there's a possibility) I can do it a IM Texas in May.  At this point I've put in so much effort, I all in for trying to make it work. 

Family Status: I am married with a dog and three cats. 

Current Training: I am currently working with Coach Doug Maclean at QT2 Systems.  Prior to working with Doug I was self coached.  At the moment my training is focused on building aerobic base -- lots of consitent, fairly easy running and biking.  My "A" race for the year is Ironman Texas.  Over the next few months I'll be entering my build and peak phases in preparation for Texas. 

2011 Races: St. Anthony's Olympic, Ironman Lake Placid, Chesepeakeman Skipjack, Ironman Florida. 

Planned 2012 Races:  St. Anthony's, Ironman Texas, Ironman Florida

Weightloss: Body composition is a limiter for me and I struggle with getting to a good racing weight.  Right now I am trying improve my body composition before Ironman Texas.  I am meticulous about logging food, which helps, but its tough.

NAME: itsallrelative_Maine/Jennifer

STORY: The well written version can be found in Alice's article "Triathlon: A Life Changer" - I'm the last story mentioned. I came from an academic background (read: unathletic) where physical activity was not discussed - much less done. After college, I played in the company softball team and rode in the 1997 CAR (the AIDS ride Kiri mentioned from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 7 days) and then had kids and started sitting on the couch. A lot. In 2008, a friend of mine was participating in a local sprint (the bike route passes within a mile of our house), so went out to cheer her on. I loved the energy and excitement on everyone's faces and decided I would give it a try. I have always had my eye (whether I spoke it out loud or not) on completing an iron-distance race and decided I would try the sprint year one, oly year two, HIM year three and IM year four.

FAMILY STATUS:  Married for 19 years with 9 and 11 year old girls, a geriatric cat and a 5 year old lab.

CURRENT TRAINING:  Due to a foot injury in June, I really pulled back the training through November. I have just started getting back on the wagon. Prior to the injury, I was doing two sports most days and loving it. I have every intention of continuing that schedule...Right now, I'm following BarryP's running plan (from SlowTwitch) of running 6 days a week, with 3 short runs, 2 medium runs and one long run. Because I was off running for a significant amount of time, I am currently running about 22 miles a week, with an eye to 50 miles a week by April. I am also following Jorge's winter cycling plan and doing whatever swimming I can (pool swimming is my least favorite so it seems to be the first to drop when there are scheduling conflicts). Entirely self-coached, but I am a voracious reader.

THIS YEAR'S RACES:  I did the Great Bay Half Marathon in April, two legs of a relay for the Vermont City Marathon (which is a really fun race - I'd highly recommend it) and then was felled by an injury. I had planned on doing all the local tris (a sprint in July, an Oly in Sept) followed by the Pumpkinman HIM in September - but that was all halted once I developed debilitating pain in my right foot. It turns out that when my foot was run over 20 years ago (long story), it moved the cuboid bone out of place. After all the hammering of running for the last three years - my foot finally protested. Many trips to the PT later, I wear a pad on my foot while running to teach the bone to stay in the right place. It is working - and I am slowly weaning myself off the pad (at the PT's recommendation).

2012 RACES:  Because of the injury, I am terribly gun-shy about signing up for races this year - but am ever hopeful. I have told myself if I can cover the longest run distance on my plan (9 miles) by the end of January pain-free, I can go ahead and register for the following: Great Bay Half Marathon (a good friend and her husband are planning on running as well as a friend I made on BT), relay team for Vermont City Marathon, Patriot HIM in June, Lobster Ride and Roll 100 mile bike ride in June, sprint in July, local Oly over Labor Day, and possibly the new Rev3 HIM at the end of September.

WEIGHTLOSS:  I have lost about 25 pounds since I started, but have really stalled out. I'm a bit heavier than I would like, so I decided to follow the "Paleo for Athletes" plan for the first three months of 2012 and see if it makes any difference. I would love to lose another 20-25 pounds - but am not going to lose any sleep if I don't.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I am very active on the discussion boards, I read a lot and love the camaraderie that a mentor group can provide. In addition - KathyG's posts have been a significant source of motivation for me in the past.

Jennifer,

You had a tough year last year.  Your PT sounds wise and doing the BarryP running 6x a week is awesome. I worked up to 5 runs a week and saw huge difference in my running in my tris before my knee injury. Are you doing Jorge's bike plan using HR?

That ride you and Kiri have done along the West Coast sounds amazing.

What's the link to the Lobster ride in June as I may be interested in participating?

I hope it works out you come do Patriot as I will be there racing or volunteering as I do most years.

Your IM build up plan is similar to mine but I spent 2 years at the Oly distance after doing my first oly that was incredibly difficult for me.

Glad you are on board with the group!

What training do you have planned this weekend?

Are you doing any swimming in the off season?

Lorna welcome to the group!

Are you starting the couch to sprint program now?

Looking forward to sharing your journey this year. It's amazing feeling to accomplish something big that you never thought you could do.....super job!

"Lobster Ride and Roll 100 mile bike ride in June"

Such a great event.  Beautiful (and hilly) course with a really good lobster roll at the end!

Kelly,

Thanks for sharing your bio with the group!

I remember Cranberry 2006 when you passed me on the run and said "Are you KathyG"? Your progress in tris has been impressive.

You work hard and are consistent. Looking forward to sharing your journey with you this year!

Is your week schedule similar to last year so you do long run, long rides same day each week?

Are you adding more swimming to your training this year?

Kiri,

Thanks for sharing in your introduction.

Your 2011 sounds tough and loss of interest in what you have done is tough. How is your passion for the sport right now? Motivation has it come back?

I struggled more with motivation issues last year than ever before. For me I think fear of losing what I loved put me in a bad place in my head. Thankfully I was able to get enough training in to participate in my A race but not in the way I would have liked to.

How are you doing your long rides...trainer or living in OR can you get them in outside?

When is the Portland Marathon?

Are you running 6x a week currently or building up to that?

Looking forward to having you in the group this year!