cayrip's and AbbieR's Mentor Group - Closed

Welcome Cara!  Wow. I am impressed with your training already.  How did you find BT?  Once we have filled up (I'm limiting the group to 6), I have a whole bunch of fun intro questions.  Be thinking about your 2010 goals.

Have you considered using the workout log to record workouts?  I'm pretty good about logging all my time there except for bike commuting time which is roughly 30 mins a day.  However, one goal for me in 2010 is to record what I eat and when.  I think that will help me lose the extra lbs and get me to where I need to be for IM St. George.

What type of engineer are you?  I assume some sort of mechanical based on you forum name.   My father-in-law is a biomedical engineer and teaches at Boston University.   His brain works in an amazing way.  My oldest son has the same brain and he is making his first electrical circuits at age 7 and keeps asking me to explain physics to him.  All he wanted for Christmas was new light bulb, switches, boards, etc.  I'm loving it because most kids his age sit in frontof the TV or computer.

Welcome Cat!  This group seems to be turning into the C's.  Triathlon has certainly kept me injury free.  They say biking does really help running but for me it has evened out a lot of muscle imbalances and made me a better runner.  Boston qualifying is definitely hard.  I came close in Chicago and it is something I want to do before I age up again.

Don't forget to add each other as friends so we can quickly check in with each other, inspire, and find out what you are doing in your training.  If you don't want to use the log and just participate in the discussions that is okay but being able to encourage each other in our logs makes it a bit more personal, etc.

You can chose to keep your log/blog private except to your friends if you prefer.  A lot of folks prefer this so they don't feel compelled to respond to random inspires or want people looking at their training especially if they post weights, personal goals, troubles, personal pictures (kids, fitness/weightloss progress, house, car, who knows what else), etc.

Cameron

Cayrip,
I'd like to join your mentor group.  I'm not sure how other than this post, so if there's an official method for joining your group, please let me know and I'll comply.  I'm very new to this site, so you'll have to be patient with me as I learn.

A little background on me...I'll be 33 years old on the 27th.  I ran cross country in high school and have been a runner on and off since then.  At 6'0" and 155 lbs, I've never needed to run to control my weight, so over the years I've done it to stay healthy and in shape.  But, I have to be honest, I was never as serious about it as I was in high school.  I think I was afraid to go back to those painful, fully-redlined-the-entire-race type runs. 

 Well, about 18 months ago, we got a little dog (Toy Fox Terrier) that has more energy than any dog I've ever seen.  He's only 10 inches tall, but he could run a marathon (and I'm not kidding - I once took him on a 9 mile hike that was a 3500 foot ascent the first 4.5 miles and a 3500 foot descent the second 4.5 miles, and although I was DEAD afterwards, he was still running all over the place).   So, I started running much more to keep him on this side of sane.  Anyway, through those runs I've learned that I really enjoy the long slower runs and am enjoying running now more than ever.

 I’ve always wanted to cross train because of all the known benefits and because I want something I love in case running becomes too stressful on my body someday.  So, one day I decided to do a triathlon, and I’m planning to do my first on March 27.  I found a training program online (can’t even remember where now), and I’ve been doing it religiously for about 4 weeks.  I’m training for the half IM.  If I feel ready come March I’ll do that one.  If I don’t feel ready, I’ll do the Oly or Sprint instead.  Not only do I like a challenge, I NEED it to be a huge challenge to motivate me.  I can tell you that if I thought I was training for a Sprint, I would not be motivated enough.  I need that challenge and fear-factor to push me.

 I know a half IM for my first is a lot to bite off, but I’m not that concerned about the physical aspect of it.  As long as I can keep my IT rub in check, I’m pretty certain I can be ready physically.  But, I’m very concerned about all the other unknown aspects of a tri.  I have no idea how the logistics work, so although I’m guessing it’s not too complicated, I also don’t want to embarrass myself on race day.

So, I need as much advice as I can get from those who have done tri’s before – on everything…training, health, race day info, etc.

Welcome Cody and Kevin.  We are no longer the C's but can still claim the hard Ka sound at the beginner of our names.  I'll be monitoring the site for new members.  I think we can handle 2 more in our group.  I probably won't respond too much for the next few days as I'm home playing with the boys.  We got 8 inches of snow yesterday and sledding is calling our names. 

Feel free to chat amounst yourselves and I'll talk to everyone soon.

Cameron

NAME: Mike

STORY:  Generally athletic all my life.  Grew up on soccer.  Ran 10k's when young with my dad.  Been playing volleyball most of adult life.  Slacked off from athletics when kids were very young.  Moved to CO 5 years ago and decided to get in shape again so I didn't hurt myself playing vball.  Wife decided to do a sprint tri 2 years ago so I thought I'd join her.  Took swimming lessons and started to s/b/r train to mix in with vball training.  I've only done 2 sprint tris so far, and at the end of this summer decided to take a hiatus from vball to focus on s/b/r.  Then signed up for the 5430 series for 2010.  I was just going to do sprints and first Oly, but can't turn down a good deal, so signed up for the HIM also.  Almost 40, but probably in the best shape of my life, except for college when i was playing vball 4x a week, and soccer 2x a week.

FAMILY STATUS: Married.  Have a girl and boy: 8,6. 

CURRENT TRAINING: Just building base to see whether I can even get to HIM distances.  Probably start a 20 week HIM plan in March.

2010 RACES:  1 sprint, then 5430 series (sprint,oly,him).

WEIGHTLOSS: Since switching my training to fully s/b/r in fall I lost 10 pounds and am more concerned now with just keeping weight on.

NAME: Kurt

Age: 22

STORY:  Just finished my B.S. degree at UF and moving to orlando for my masters in mechanical engineering next week. I never was big into exercise but I started road cycling last year and I really like it and now looking to ramp up my over all fitness with running and swimming.


FAMILY STATUS: As single as they get 

CURRENT TRAINING: I run (1-3 miles) or bike (15-20 miles) everyday. I plan on swimming once I get into school because they have pools. My running is real weak because my right knee is not that great but I am working on it.

2010 RACES: I'd like to be able to do some sprints in Orlando over the summer and I really want to do the HIM Miami in October

WEIGHTLOSS: Right now I'm 6 foot and 190 pounds and I'd like to be around 175 by the summer

Cameron,

Hey, it sounds like everyone is jumping on your bandwagon.  Is there room for  one more?

I am a father of four very active boys and don't have as much in common with twenty somethings with no kids or family obligations to interfere with training.  I really interested to hear ideas how you balance it all.

My Story...As I metioned I am a family man, very devoted to my wife and kids.  I am an ex weightlifter, football, short distance track man, etc.  The thought of running, swimming or biking farther than necessary seemed crazy.  Fast forward twenty years and my wife started running, I decided to into better shape and did P90x, and started biking, and next thing you know I did my first olympic distance tri, ran some 15k's just under 8 minute miles (with little training) and now I'm hooked!  I am registered for the New York Marathon in 2010 through a charity with some good friends http://tugmcgraw.org/team/support.asp.  I would like to do several tri events in spring and summer before I start focusing on NY on November 7th, 2010.  I am the head coach of my sons football team with practices 5 nights a week and games on Saturdays from Aug to first week of Oct.  This is going to make training really hard right before my marathon.

I need help with balancing the training between the tri events early then transitioning to the marathon later.  Even more basic is how to balance life, kids, job, church, and training to get to the next level to really be competitive.  I am looking at a new tt bike and have equipment questions also.

Hopefully, we can all share some good insights and get stronger and faster.

Bret

NAME: "XTB" XAVI, Spanish married with Brazilian living an a member of Hong Kong Dragons Triclub.

STORY: I am 38 years old, APAC Controller and I started training many times but dropping it very fast due to lack of goals!...I am a Type "A"  guy and need to have objecgives in my life to achieve those. Past sport experience, is sailing from 6 to 24 years old in many international championships, as World, Europeans and other International championsips. In October, I did my frirst Olympic triathlon and planning to achieve my second goal in March 21st, 2010. You can check my other goal about raising funds for a Cancer Childhood organization in Spain. If you want to know more about myself just check my blog started in June 2009...when I started training for my first triathlonhttp://trixavi.blogspot.com)

FAMILY STATUS: Married to Elaine, Brazilian, from my first expatriate experience 10 years ago!

CURRENT TRAINING: I'm in HIM beginner training plan to participate in Singapore 2010, 21st March. Xmas time...not good to follow it up!

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I did Hong Kong Olympic Triathlon race in 2h34'47'' and I received "Best Newbie 2009" member from my Dragons Triclub in Hong Kong.

2010 RACES:  Some HM's, 2 Olympic Triathlon and 2 HIM.

WEIGHTLOSS: I want to drop 20lbs, as I am 231lbs and would like to get to 210lbs maximum.

and I would love to join your group as a new Tri-beginner!

Thanks a lot,

"XTB" Xavi.