Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 3)

Name: Jim Forbes

Location: Jacksonville, FL

The Low Down: I am about to turn 36 here in a few days (14Apr). I have been in the Navy for almost 18 years now and have always been active. I slowed down a bit but still trying to go. I enjoy swimming and biking but the runs get to me more now than they used to but I still do them. I would like to get back into this and have been trying for a long time now to get my wife to join me but she refused to do anything like this so…. I guess I’ll have to keep nagging her for a while more lol. My weight is currently hovering right around 178 -180 and I am totally lost at figuring out what my race weight should be for a 5’9” guy? Maybe someone could explain that one to me. My ultimate goal is to complete an Olympic length by next year and place in top 15 AG for a sprint (I know I’m a dreamer). Currently I train about 4 or 5 days a week and try to log them all here at BT. I am a good swimmer and a decent biker but my run is where I usually lack so any help is appreciated there.

Family: Married for 9 years now with 3 kids (13, 8 and 6) 2 dogs 2 cats a Guinea Pig and a fish.

Races: I have completed an Xterra sprint and 2 other regular road sprints a couple years ago. I was looking into doing a sprint in April or May and see what else after those finishes.

Goals: Get in the best shape as I can be for my 20th high school reunion lol. Also I would like to get more into the sport and include my children as I believe that they do not get enough outdoor exercise for their growing bodies. Also I am going to keep nagging my wife till she finally gives in and joins me in doing Triathlons LOL!

"If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means keep moving." Dr. MLK

Jason-welcome to the group.  Great to have someone with your experience join us.

Randy 

Welcome Jason!

Jim -- great idea to get the kids involved.  I've done that with my kids and it is one of the best parts of living an active lifestyle, IMO.

Working in pool workouts has been the hardest part of my training...so far. It would be easiest for me to stop by after I get out of school, but there are always classes for kids then. And often when I try to swim on Saturday or Sunday the pool is being used by an unannounced swimming class, or something. I'm working them in, but it's a lot easier to just walk outside and run/bike.

Mark-come on in.  I think you will be the last in.  Looking forward to having you in the group.

Randy

Alrighty ... here is my promised bio ... 

NAME: d3term1ned/Michael

NICKNAME: determined german

STORY: I was always very active as a kid. Growing up in Germany my number one sport was soccer. I played soccer for over 16 years and was always in good shape. I had soccer practice three times a week in addition to a game, I swam twice a week and practiced Karate twice a week. I started smoking when I was 16 years old (picked that one up from my parents) and joined the German Army for my mandatory time. I would have stayed in the German Army and probably would still be in it if I wouldn’t have met my wife.
I moved to the US and made bad choices in regards to food and exercise. I ate bad food and didn’t exercise at all. I was never able to find a soccer team that was organized and gave up after a while. In 2007 I moved from Chicago to Dallas and in 2009 I decided to continue my martial arts journey. With exercise came more eating and instead of losing weight I gained more.
Fast forward to January of 2011. I competed in a taekwondo tournament and got whooped by everyone because they were faster, leaner and in shape. At 5.11” and 250 lbs I was the heaviest I had ever been. That day was the day that I decided to turn my life around for me and for my family.
I started running on the treadmill 5 days a week at 4am in the morning before going to work and continued my taekwondo training and lost 50 lbs. I always wanted to finish a triathlon and decided to train for one … needless to say I got hooked … hooked and hooked …

FAMILY STATUS: I have been married for 12 years and have two children. My oldest is 6 and the youngest is 3 (both girls). My wife was an avid runner but stopped running after our first daughter was born. I have been trying to get her back into running but starting something and making it a habit is hard.

CURRENT TRAINING: I play racquetball twice a week for 90 mins each. I train in and teach taekwondo 5 days a week for about 2 hours a day. (minimum). I am trying to squeeze a balanced 3 run, 3 bike, 3 swim training plan into my schedule but really need help developing the training plan as that is the part that I am struggling with.

PAST YEAR'S RACES: In 2011 I completed a few races.
3 x 5K’s
2 x 10K’s
3 x Mudruns 5K’s and 10K’s (like Warriordash, Merrell Down & Dirty)
2 x Sprint Triathlons
All races were PR’s ….

2012 RACES:  
So far this year I completed the Cowtown Fort Worth Marathon in Feb., a St. Patricks Sprint Triathlon in March and the Toughmudder 12 miler this past weekend.

I have a 5K, a mudrun and a Sprint Triathlon coming up this month. I also have two Olympic distance and 5 Sprint distance triathlons that I am signed up for between now and October. My intent is to PR in every one of these races.

WEIGHTLOSS: I lost 50 lbs and I am still hovering at 200 lbs. For some reason there is something in my head that tells me to eat more once I hit 199lbs … I love food … nutrition is where I need help with ...

I hope this will give you some insight in my life.

I am still sore from the toughmudder on Sunday ... wow what a workout! I was going to swim for a mile this morning but last night wasn't very good ... youngest one kept me up all night ... strep throat again so getting up at 4am to swim wasn't going to happen. 

I got 2 hours of TKD tonight and hopefully I can sneak in a 30 or 60 minute sprint workout on the bike trainer or treadmill while the little one takes a nap. 

Looks like our group is complete.  If you have not done a bio please do one so we can get to know you a bit better.

As Bennet pointed out these groups are what you make of them. Some folks like to be very involved and others stay more to the sidelines.  Either way is fine.  No one should be intimidated or embarassed to post a question.  I've been in many mentor groups over the years and never seen anyone be rude or condescending.  We are all here to learn and support each other whether you are training for your first sprint or you are an experienced IM finisher.  Jump in and have fun!

I would encourage everyone to log their workouts on the training log here on BT.  That way if you have a training question or something workout related we can refer to your logs to get a feel for your training.  I like to look at other folks logs as I often get ideas for workouts or specific intervals.  

Michael and I don't have any specific plan for topics for the group.  We usually let everyone bring up a topic or issue that they may like to explore and we head that way.  Occasionally, we may bring up a topic to generate discussion but most of the time the group dictates the discussion.  I like to occasionally throw in a topic that may not be tri related......don't worry nothing weird  

Here is what I have for our group:

Experior/Michael

Slornow/Randy

JimmyB/Jim

Stexfjr/Dewaune

Sschaar/Steve

AV842/Bennet

WoodrowCall/Jamie

Blanda (only one name...like Madonna, Cher.... )

Catwoman/Rene

Juneapple/Stu

mchlspil/Michele

jimforbes/Jim

Jen2012/Jen

d3term1ned/Michael

wannabefaster/Jason

thirdstation/Mark 

Welcome Mark!  Post a bio when you get a chance.

So we are official now.  Welcome again to everybody.  I'm running off to swim.  More later.

Woo-hoo! Right under the wire, just like my usual finishes .

NAME: thirdstation/Mark

AGE: Forty-freakin'-one. I am simultaneously delighted and appalled by this fact. 

STORY: My triathlon journey started six years ago as a self-challenge to accomplish something almost universally considered difficult. I had been swimming to rehab a shoulder injury so, one Winter's day as a litmus test I threw in a 20-minute stationary bike and a three-mile treadmill run. Still alive, and thus reassured, I registered for my first sprint tri.

I joke that I am not so much a triATHLETE as I am a triATHALATOR. This year I resolve to stop calling the transition area the rest area.

TRAINING - PAST and PRESENT: Historically, January and May experience intense bouts of fitness activity while the remaining months primarily feature good intentions. Cognitive dissonance is a training technique I employ liberally. 

Last season, I managed to toast my legs due to overtraining on the bike. I still struggle to find the right balance of training, recovery and nutrition (chocolate milkshakes are sooooo beguiling).

To fix my abysmal strength/weight ratio I've been lifting weights regularly since January (Starting Strength program). This week I am trying to figure out how to fit in swim/bike/run training without sacrificing the strength gains I've made. Because I'm - ahem - fluffy around the middle, running is punishing for me. I'll focus on weight-loss before adding volume.

2011 Races: Pawling Tri, Hudson Valley Tri, West Point Tri (best of the year)

2012 Races (so far): Pawling Tri.  Still figuring out the rest.

I am also participating in this year's Tour de Pink East Coast (as part of Team Pleva). It's a three-day, 220 mile bike ride from Philadelphia to D.C.

FAMILY: Married, two children (daughter 13, son 10).  My son did three tri's last season and was awesome. He's hooked now. Being the parent of a triathlete is an entirely different, and eye-opening,  experience. His first tri experience was hilarious.

I've also managed to rope my wife into triathlon. She's doing her third sprint this year. Finding time for both of us to train is challenging.

GOALS: Lose weight. Bring time to finish a sprint closer to 80 minutes. Work toward doing an Oly next spring.

Thanks for the bio Mark.....good stuff....funny too!

I'm headed off for a tough, for me,  swim workout.  Frankly, all swim workouts are tough for me.....UGH! Maybe I'll have one of those rare magical days when everything feels easy......doubtful.  I find that I have admiration, respect and a certain amount of "ill will" for those  easy swimmers.  You know, the folks that swam as a kid and can get back in the pool and go effortlessly.  (Stu, only admiration and respect for you....no ill will)

Randy

I had the same mix of admiration/hate when I looked at your training logs and saw that your workout tempo was 7"/mile. My last 5k was right at 8'30"/mile or so and I felt like that was literally all I had. I don't see how it's possible for humans to run that fast for any length of time! You have my respect, sir! 

I have been logging my workouts in an excel file and also on Strava.

Swam last night. I'm bad at keeping track as I usually just work on technique and don't get stuck on yardage. The longest I have swum is 1000 meters and I quit because I was getting bored or maybe I can't count past 40 lengths. Got up this morning and ran 2 very easy miles with my GF who is recovering from a knee injury. Then I went out for 2.5 miles on my own. We will bike around 21 miles after work throwing in a few LT intervals.

Will be cycling this weekend in Kerrville, TX, participating in the Easter Hill Country Classic. A nice flower sniffing ride with some hellacious climbs. The weekend after that its off to Corpus Christi for the Republic of Texas Sprint Tri. Sprint is on the 14th. We're volunteering to help at the HIM and Oly the next day. Should be fun.

I will have to start tracking all my workouts here ... I use Garmin connect since I am using the 910XT and that always worked out great ...

I used to track all my runs via runkeeper with my cell phone. The distance information seemed to start getting more and more unreliable (maybe dropping the phone a few times too many caused that). 

I am thinking about starting a 5 day green smoothie diet/fast. I bought Kale, Spinach, Apples, Pears, Bananas and Grapes. I watched this documentary on Netflix a few weeks back. Its called "Fat, Sick and nearly Dead". Does anyone have any experience with a diet/fast like that one?

Looks like a great group!  A good mix of newcomers and repeat offenders.

Speaking of swimming (and I'm in the same boat as Randy -- I learned to swim at age 40...), I just got back from mine.  I had an eye-opening (i.e., terrible) swim in my first tri this year, and I'm not going to let that happen again, so really trying to put the work in in the water now.  Anyway, I did one of my favorite swim workouts today -- after warm-up, do 16x50 every 4th hard, 12x50 every 3rd hard, 8x50 every 2nd hard, 4x50 all hard, maintaining same pace on all the 'hard' ones.  I've never managed to hold pace through the last 4, though I came close today.  The workout can easily be scaled up or down depending on how far you want to go.  

Like Randy, I encourage you all to log workouts here.  We try to check in every so often to see how you're doing.  I believe you can upload from your Garmin, for those who use them (I don't).

How do you guys benchmark yourselves?  I'm taking time off from lifting this week so it's a good opportunity to get some baseline numbers.

The pool I train in is only 15 yards long and it takes me 30 seconds to swim two lengths at all-out effort. I don't know if that's good or bad. I usually gauge progress by how I feel after 20 lengths or so. It's a very fuzzy metric.

I have no idea how to pace cycling or running.  My assessment usually falls into the categories of exhausted or not-exhausted.

Jamie-its all relative. There will always be someone faster.  My tempo run times are Michael's "easy pace".  It just feels different with swimming.  I have been able to improve my run and bike speed/fitness over the years but swim improvement is hard to come by.  I suspect alot of that has to do with typically only swimming 3x a week.  I think with swimming being so technique driven you have to spend more time in the pool working at it.

Randy

I did watch that movie, and didn't love it. It got a little preachy to me by the very end, but the idea of the smoothie diet is interesting. I'm not a health nut, but I teach English and it seems like once a week I have to stop class and tell everyone what calories are and how Type II diabetes works. The other day, I had a kid who had 6 juices from breakfast lined up on his desk. I checked and they have 10 grams of sugar in each one...so he was getting ready to consume 60g of sugar as a snack between breakfast and lunch.

Hi again, here's the bit about myself:

NAME: mchlspil/Michele

AGE: 33

STORY: I once was an age-grouper competitive swimmer. (age-grouper = 4 – 18) plus some college swimming. But got burned out with the sport so took a break. That break ended up being about 10 years of sedentary life.  Getting bored with just sitting around and now looking to change it up and getting back to being fit and healthy.  I decided that I wanted to try swimming, biking, and running to get a good all around base.  Realized I still HATE RUNNING (at least right now). But I did get talked into running/walking my first HM (I think that means half marathon) a couple of years ago and loved the energy of people (amazed seeing all levels of fitness) and enjoyed themes of races. I got hooked on that. 

I had started reading up on triathlons and Ironmans and it pique my interest in attempting one.  Love swimming, enjoy biking, and learning to be okay with running. 

 TRAINING – I plan to do at least one hour each day, except Tuesdays for rest days. Getting in two workouts each of sport.

Just bought a new road bike and have ridden it a few times.  Forgot how much I loved riding around and how different it is compared to stationary bikes.

2011 Races: a couple of 5ks

2012 Races: Just finished my 2^nd HM and bettered my time by an hour because I trained and ran more in the race this time around.

FAMILY:  single. No furry children

GOALS: Planning to participate in each sport individually and trying my first triathlon which is a short tri-for-fun.  A little nervous to be in a race combing all three which is which I chose this one in June.  If I do enjoy it (which I hope I do) then I’ll enter one or two more sprints this year.

I hope being in a group like this will help keep me consistent with workouts and not get so nervous as it gets closer. just reading what you all experience and tips helps. 

Michael-I took a peek at your swim workout.  Nice job.   I like that workout.  My main set was descending intervals on short rest.  Thought you might like it....of course my times are yards and you are a metric guy. I was worried that this workout might really hurt given the short rest intervals but it wasn't "too" bad.

400 easy warm up

100 kick w/fins and board

9X50 on :55 (descend 1-3) 47/46/44; 48/46/44; 47/45/44

100 kick no fins

6X75 on 1:20 (descend 1-3) 1:12/10/09; 1:13/11/09

100 kick no fins/no board...done on back

3X100 on 1:45 (descend1-3) 1:37/34/29

600 steady

200 cool down

Total 2700

Randy

Michele-great to have another real swimmer here.  I won't hold that against you and maybe you can help those that struggle with the swim...like me. Thanks for the info,

Randy 

There seem to be lots of good deals on used bikes here on BT's classified forum. Good luck on your search.