Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - CLOSED
BY: Ryan Mac on 2014-12-24 9:05 AM

GROUP FOCUS: The focus of the group will be primarily geared towards the Half Ironman distance and those racing an early season HIM event (April – June) although folks preparing for Olympic to IM are more than welcome. A bonus if you utilize power on the bike but not required.

NAME: Ryan Mac (McEnhill)

STORY: I do not come from a heavy background of swimming, biking or running but played every sport growing up and excelled at hockey, basketball and soccer. I got into triathlons after college and did my first sprint in 2008 and was hooked. I steadily improved from that point being self coached and eventually focusing on the Olympic and Half Iron distance with my best race being Spirit of Racine HIM (now IM 70.3 Racine) where I went 4:36 in my first try at the distance. We started a family in 2011 (now 2 kids) which put training a little bit on the back shelf and really got serious again last winter under the guidance of a coach.

FAMILY STATUS: Happily married with 2 great kids. Keelyn is our 3.5 year old girl and Quinn is our 18 month old boy which keep us on our toes.

CURRENT TRAINING: I had a pretty long 2014 season so I regrouped and took it easy in October and got back into structured training in November. I train with power on the bike and pace/HR on the run. Last year was heavy on the bike and swim and made huge gains in both sports. Now, we are looking to build my run and put it all together in 2015. Right now I am building my run volume and looking to maintain my bike/swim until we got into more specific prep early next year.

2014 RACES: USAT Long Course Nationals at Grand Rapids (4:42) and IM 70.3 Steelhead (4:48) were my A races last year. I also got 2nd OA and 3rd OA at a few local Olympic Distance races missing out on 1st by 40 and 90 seconds. I made huge improvements on the swim and bike but my run never came through in the HIM distance to get closer to 4:30 which was the goal.

2015 RACES: Targeting Grand Rapids HIM and IM 70.3 Steelhead again this year with lots of running races, Olympic distance races and possibly another 70.3 if I am feeling good. The main goal is to continue to improve and would like to qualify for 70.3 WC in Australia for 2016 if everything goes well.

WEIGHTLOSS: Not a major issue for me but would certainly like to eat better and more nutritious foods which is not the easiest with kids eating pizza! I think it would be beneficial to drop a little bit of weight prior to race day in June and improve my body composition.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTOR: I have been a part of the mentor groups since they started and have been fortunate to be around a lot of smart people in triathlon which has helped me immensely.  I feel like this is a good time to help out others either brand new or experienced to reach their goals in triathlon.

The only requirement for this group is that folks check in and post with the group at least once a day. It can be as simple as what you have planned training wise for the day to keep everybody engaged in the group.

Please post a bio similar to mine above, if you would like to join us.

Edited by Ryan Mac 2015-01-08 6:51 PM

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: juniperjen on 2015-01-05 12:02 PM

Hey Ryan, I'd love to join! I've been in a group with you before.  Planning my 4th HIM for June.  Busy with an 19-month old daughter at home.

Will post bio later. 

RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-05 12:51 PM

Awesome Jen.  Glad to have you.

One of the nice things I have found with our son that age is his 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day to get some trainer time in .

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-06 2:46 PM

Hopefully we can get some more peeps rolling in soon and get this thread cranked up. 

This is open to athletes of all abilities (beginner, novice, intermediate and advanced) who are looking to complete their first HIM or to PR at their next one.

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: juniperjen on 2015-01-06 3:19 PM

Here is my bio!

NAME: Jen Snyder

STORY: I’ve been at it for a while. Started as a runner and saw my then boyfriend, now husband do Ironman Canada back in 2007 – I thought it was awesome. I had to learn to swim which was pretty tough. And I needed to get a bike which wasn’t so difficult. I kept at it and started doing triathlons in around 2009 – I even DNF’ed a race being way too scared to do the swim. Somehow and for some reason, I kept on and have worked my way through various distances and am a pretty happy swimmer now (most of the time).

In 2012, I did my ultimate goal of doing a full ironman. I had a great day and a really great result for me (I am still thrilled two years later). Just a little more than 9 months later I had a baby girl and decided to get back at it. I missed the 2013 season but found muscle memory is an amazing thing and I am back to where I was – just more time crunched – and still just as enthusiastic to keep at it and stay with it for the long haul.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with a 19 month old daughter, a dog and cat

CURRENT TRAINING: just trying to keep doing all three sports. I swim twice a week with triathlon swim group coached by a local pro. I feel like I’ve been improving what was my weakest (or previously non-existent) sport. Using one of the winter maintenance plans, I really need to focus on the bike.

2014 RACES: I did an early half marathon, my first real race post-baby, and was happy with the result (1:54), then a half ironman on a super flat course and scored a huge PB on that distance (5:46), a sprint-ish tri at the end of August, and closed out with a PB on the 10k distance (48:44) just last month.

2015 RACES: So far I only really have the one Half Iron planned for June of this year- the same race I did in 2014. I wouldn’t mind a half marathon or a few 10k run races and maybe one other short tri for the year.

WEIGHTLOSS: Also not a major issue for me. Similarly, I could eat better and focus a little more on getting to a leaner race weight but I am in a healthy weight range and try not to worry about it too much as long as my clothes still fit

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I am enthusiastic and spend lots of time on this site! I love to support others' in their journeys. 

RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: juniperjen on 2015-01-06 3:21 PM

Not really a great day for me today - i woke up with a very unhappy tummy and resulted in me staying home.  I am starting to feel better - but it's probably better not to do any workouts today. 

Yesterday, i had a good swim. I finally spent some time working on my flip turns which I haven't quite gotten the hang of. 

RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: GAUG3 on 2015-01-06 3:30 PM

Hmmm.... not sure why I didn't notice this group before I joined Baowolf's Winter training.  If it is OK, I'll  jump in both groups since I'm doing huge winter base training for GCT 70.3 in May.

Here is a little blurb about me...

I'm married to a runner and I'm a daddy to 4 children (12, 9, 9, 9). I got into tris in 2011 after doing a few 5Ks here and there. I hated the shorter distances at first because I didn't want to stay red lined the whole race. I guess I like to be cooked long and slow. So, I did IM Augusta in 2012. Thought it was "fun" and signed up for another HIM in 2013 and did IMFL 2013. Training for an IM was great because I have an awesome wife who knows the importance of sticking to the plan. The support was there and she never complained. She joined me on the long runs. I did about 85% of my bike training on a trainer. I didn't have that big guilt from being away from the family on long ride days. I took 2014 off from racing because I wanted to give back to the family. Only thing I did was a 3 mile bridge swim... which really came out to be 3.6 miles.

Swimming is my strongest, then biking, then running. I have tons of improvement in all three areas; however, I'm focusing more on running. I just established my Tpace, FTP & LTHR for the start of 2015. I'm racing a HIM in May so I've been doing nothing but base training (11-17 hours a week). I will probably sign up for a couple more HIMs.  I'm weird... I love the trainer and treadmill.

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-06 6:46 PM

Jen - Congrats on the little one and glad to see you were able to pick up right where you left off with training. That is a really solid 10K performance recently. What is the HIM you will be doing?
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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-06 6:49 PM

Welcome aboard.Triplets huh. WOW! That must have been quite a surprise. I think that is great that you have the support from your family. That is a big part of being happy in this sport and that balance is something I always have to keep in mind and sometimes struggle with. I see you just started logging your training on BT so that is great. I want to check in on all of you frequently and check how things are going as you prepare for races in the Spring.
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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-06 6:53 PM

Keep working on the flip turns. You will not regret it. I started doing them in my WU and CD and then eventually worked them into easier main sets and finally after about 2 months was able to work them into my threshold sets. There is definitely a learning curve but just stick with it. I was the guy practicing them after every workout just doing flips and working on my entry into the wall.
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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-06 6:54 PM

Sorry about the formatting. The Ipad does not let me start new paragraphs!
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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: marcag on 2015-01-07 5:53 AM




Any room for another member ?

RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-07 6:28 AM

Absolutely Marc. Always welcome.
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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: marcag on 2015-01-07 6:34 AM

NAME: marcag / Marc

STORY: Used to be quite a bit heavier (about 60lbs). Started to run for health reasons. I hadn't swam in 30 years but decided to go back to it in 2009. A friend convinced me to try a triathlon and I got addicted

CURRENT TRAINING: Mostly HIM and Olympic distance. I train about 10 hours per week during winter and about 15 during summer.

2014: I carried an injury from 2013 into 2014 and never got back to normal. I tried to compensate by overtraining and just made things worst. It seems well under control now.

2015 RACES: 2 or 3 HIMs and probably a few Olympics. Chicago ITU worlds in September is currently my ‘A’ race.

WEIGHTLOSS: Definitely need to drop a few pounds before the season starts.

I love the sport for many reasons. Of course I love the fitness part. I am a type 2 diabetic so the sport keeps me healthy. But I am also a geek. I love the data side of things. I am really interested in physiology. I love to experiment. I have tried many things, some more successfully than others. I have also developed a good network of very knowledgeable people that I learn from.

I was really surprised this group didn't fill up immediately. I have know Ryan from previous groups and he is a really knowledgeable guy. Glad to be able to share ideas.

RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: GAUG3 on 2015-01-07 8:53 AM

It was a HUGE surprise.  Yes...my wife is awesome.  We are actually going to relay GCT 70.3.  I'll do all 3; however, I will pass the chip to her on the run.

I figured I should log my workouts here.  I'll still use Garmin and TrainingPeak sites.

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-07 9:45 AM

Marc - Glad to have you and the group will certainly benefit from your knowledge of the sport.

Any idea what HIM's you are planning on yet?

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-07 9:47 AM

Well we got destroyed with lake effect snow the last couple days (about 12-inches worth) so I moved my threshold run to today (2x2 mile Z4).  I am actually traveling and went 1.5 hours inland and they barely have any snow so should get a better result.

What does everybody have on tap today?

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: GAUG3 on 2015-01-07 10:31 AM

This morning was a 1h Z1 base run on the treadmill.  This evening is 1h ride on the trainer focusing on force reps.

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RE: Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - OPEN
BY: Ryan Mac on 2015-01-07 12:59 PM

My run had me questioning my sanity.  7 degrees and -10 wind chill but luckily on pavement with just a few slick spots.

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