European Tri-Group - CLOSED (Page 2)

Hello everyone!

I hope I can join this group because I'm a total beginner in triathlon - haven't still participated in races.

NAME: Iva

STORY: In 2008. I got seriously ill and spent some time in hospital. I gained quite a bit of weight, and after leaving the hospital decided that I need to get back in shape. So I started with boxing training and mountain cycling. This year I started running - currently my usual run is 5k, which is quite a lot for me. A month ago I introduced swimming (twice a week). Today I start my gym programe because I feel I need some strength training. Cycling is a bit of a sore spot - here in Croatia is winter, with short days so I can only cycle on weekends. This weekend I started with bricks - still recovering from that.

FAMILY STATUS: Live in Samobor with husband and a son.

CURRENT TRAINING: Running 5 times a week (on one run I try to run farther than before), swimming twice a week, gym 3 times a week, hiking once a week.

THIS YEAR'S RACES(2010): none.

2011 RACES:  I do hope to get in shape for half marathon in October. That would be my first race EVER.

WEIGHTLOSS: I'm embarrassed to write, but how will I progress if I hide info, right? I was 95 kg last year (180 cm). Now I'm 78 kg. Still need to lose 18 kg.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE:  I'm training on my own and pushing myself very, very hard. Hope you will help - obviously I have a lot to learn.

Hello Everyone, 

First day in the office for me today, not a very nice day either, I'm not starting 2011 too well so far. But you do and that's what matter.  

I'll try to reply to your recent post in reverse chronological order:

- Hans, well done on training outdoors, that shows dedication! I admire you for that. Would be good indeed to get that old bike fixed (and maybe that's an idea for you too Iva to get those tires with ice picks?) Hans, have you put some thinking in how you are going to look after your back problems?

- Iva welcome to our group. Don't worry too much about being a total beginner or about your weight. BT is meant for you, and we are not hear to judge one another, but to help each other. I guess one of your challenge will concern nutrition, the other the getting ready for your half marathon in October. Have you planned any other (shorter) races or Sprint triathlon before October? I would advise you to do so. Because October is a long time away, and having some intermediate objectives (so called B races) help you stay motivated and achieve intermediate objectives. If anything, between us all, I'm sure we can give you a tip or two that might help you.
  
- Steph, should you train when sick? Well depends how bad you feel. Sometimes a run in fresh air works miracles...On the other hand, two things I would recommend to everyone is to:
  * listen to your body
  * don't feel guilty when missing a training. Just think that you'll do better next time. Guilt is not helping anything. So, you missed training, think of it as recovery time, enjoy it, and train harder next time.  

For all of you, I entered my training plans in the training log for this month (not necessarily what I will do, but what I plan to, I also entered the races I will do). I invite you all to do the same. If you have trouble figuring out how January should look like, let me know. Afterwards, we can start discussing your plans.

Tonight swimming with my team after the holidays, it's going to be excruciating! very much looking forward to it!

Train well, cheers, Herve.  

This user's post has been ignored.

I like to join europe mentorgroup

Name: Jyrki from Finland

Story: Now I am 43 years old and old time when I am a about 20 years old, I was been a few tri-races (1,5 km swim,40 km bike and 10 km run was longest). Then I just bike a little.
Now I want to race agen.
Problem is my age and maybe a few extra weight. Next summer I like to be half or minimum sprint race in tri. (Sorry, I don´t write wery well..)

Family status: Married, two kids

Current training: Run about 2-3 times in week about 30 min
                            Swim about 1-2 times in week about 600 meter
                            Bike we have 1 meter snow and -15°C (sometimes skiing)
                            Summertime I bike in work about 25 km in oneway
I have been in tests and my work W is 405 W, VO2 liter/min 4,5 and VO2 ml/kg/min 42

Hello European tri group, 

Welcome to our new member, Jyrki (not that it matters a lot, but I can't help asking you are you male or female? I am not so familiar with Finish names sorry). Concerning your age, it's the poorest excuse one can find not to do triathlon (and if we cannot mention the age of our female group members, Hans and I are not exactly spring chickens).

There are medical conditions that can make tri dangerous, but for most people age is not an issue, for instance there is an age group over 75 at the World Champs Ironman, so don't you worry about that! Looking at your current training pattern, a Sprint tri seems definitely within your reach. You would have to put a bit more volume for an half ironman, but an Olympic distance is also possible.

I guess for you I'd say: figure out what will be your major objective for this year either sprint, olympic, 70.3, doesn't matter, but that goal should define your training, not the other way around.

Ali - Well done on the interval training. You might want to give a try to the Fartlek training like Steph, it has the benefits of interval training, though it's softer and less prone to injuries. If you start putting some speed in your runs, you may want to think of that. And since you are into reading, you might want to check the book the woman's Guide to running of Liz Yelling (she's an Olympian) and I think I read somewhere that she suffered also of chronique fatigue, not sure if the book mentions it, but worth checking out...

Swimming for me tonight, did not go exactly as I had planned, but well it's just the beginning.

Train well, don't forget to input your training plans, cheers, H. 
 

Hi Herve
I would like to join your group if poss,
i live in the uk 35  male i have 2 children 8 +2
ive got more out of shape in the last few years as ive changed my job to a less maunal role,
my aims for this year are to compete in my 1st sprint triatalon around july time,
i am around 16st 5ft 9
have just got back in to doing some exersice in the lats few weeks in a local gym which has a 25m pool
i was fairly active in the summer months buy really slow down in the long winter!  
im looking to lose weight set a goal to aim for my 1st triatalon this year to not only finish but come fairly respectible place, not last!
 im looking for guidance and some motavation from other beginners
and a help on training plans

regards
Paul

Hello Paul,

Welcome to our tri group. Sprint tri in July should be within your reach. Seems like you have a bit a weight to get rid off, which will help you become competitive in July. First advice, start cutting on alcool and sugar (if appropriate). Now is a good time to get started (last year I lost 10 Kg / 22 pounds between January and June). Few questions for you:
Do you have a diet you plan to follow?  
Do you have an idea of the times you'd like to be doing to be competitive this summer?
Do you know where you are right now?

On this basis, we'll see if we can help you with your training plans.

For the rest of the group, how is everyone doing? are you busy training? are you busy planning?

I have been a bit lazy this week, but I felt tired from coming back to work so I took it easy, I'll try to do some good work in the weekend.

Cheers, herve.  

Yesterday running... today just snowwork.... it´s raining snow all day. Maybe it´s good workout??

Still sick. I think I'm going to go out tomorrow morning and try some run/walk. If I feel awful, I'll stop.

Just a hello to all my fellow europeans. Fraid i'm already in the Manatees , but thought i'd drop by and say hello!
If any one has any specific england / uk related questions, feel free to pm me
Stephen 

Hello Everyone, 

Stephen, nice of you to pay us a little visit. Don't hesitate to pop in and contribute to our little group. 

Paul, sounds like you have your diet plans in hands. I am a believer in the salad box, that is my normal lunch (almost every day). Good move on your side! Fruits are also good for you. 

Concerning your training plan, it's a typical 3x3. If you have enough time to follow it, it will probably take you to the finish line of a Sprint tri. What's good about it, is that it has several bricks in it (days with more than one sport, but most of them are swim-run / which is the easiest transition - I would favor bike-run transitions that's what's hurt). Additionally, we are not equal in all sports, so the amound of effort we put in each does not have to be the same. For instance, I do fairly little cycling because I easily average above 35km/h on 80K so most of my training is about maintaining what I have and some very specific power/speed sessions. On the other hand I'm not a great swimmer, so I spend quite a bit of time in the water which has paid of. So my training can have up to 4 swims in the week and as little as 1 bike exercise.  
Finally, and that's the key to success, be sure to vary your training, otherwise it might quickly become boring and repeatitive (that means vary the distance, intensity, and routes) - you'll find many training plans on this website, including that one which I find quite progressive:http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=262 

Looking at what you wrote, but not knowing how well you can swim, you seem to have some margin of progression on the bike. At this time of the season, I'd put some effort working on power (session at specific Watt output) and RPM (sessions at low power / high RPM, above 90RPM) to get that average a bit up. Doing simple maths, you'll spend most of the 1:45 on the bike, that's where you can also gain most of the time. 

For those of you, looking at the falling snow. If you have not considered acquiring an indoor bike trainer (Tacx or the like), I strongly recommend it, that's probably the most useful piece of winter gear you can get. Last year, I spent more time indoor than I did outdoor... if that is not an option. Work on your abs, and go to the gym, that always brings benefits!

And Steph, get better soon!

Nice sportive weekend everyone, Hervé.  

Ok, now I'm (almost) ready to start the last run session of the week: 1H.30' of slow run (5.30 min/km) on treadmill... today for me is the last training session of winter maintenance program.
Tomorrow is my off-day and on monday i'll start with intermediate sprint program. Tell me good luck!

I love the idea of a european group, I have to say, there are very few of us around here....

Anyway, wasn't wishing to step on your toes Hervé but wish you the best! 
 

Hi Herve ( and Everyone else of course),

I would also like to join your mentor group. I am from UK, 30 years old and male. Height 198cm weight 117kg. I have a fairly sedentary job as I work as a Commercial Manager for a Bank.

I think this type of community can be invaluable to assist in motivation and to help get you through when times are tough. Its easy to train when you feel good. Its those days when you feel lousy that are the important ones.

My Story

A few years ago I set myself a goal to complete a triathlon before my 30th Birthday. This kind of got forgotten until about 3 months before (this was last year) when I client came to me and said she was organising a sprint triathlon on 30th June 2010 and did I want to enter. The race was for charity to raise money for a disable football team local to us. I had almost forgotton about my goal until then, but decided to do it. 

Long story short, I finished but only just in 2:17 a very disappointing time but with very little training. I had grossly underestimated just how hard even a sprint tri was and how unfit I had become in the previous years where mostly my exercise consisted of playing golf!!!
 
I resolved that was me done with triathlon but a couple of months later a friend suggested my wife do a super sprint tri (half a sprint for those not sure) and I decided to join them. This was decided about 10 days before the tri and with very little training between the 2 except a reasonable number of pool swims. 

Again, long story short, this one I finished much more comfortably with a time of 59mins and and about 30 seconds. My biggest annoyance was that my wife beat my time by a massive 9 seconds!!!

That was me hooked. I immediately resolved to do an Olympic Distance in 2011 setting my goal as Stockton (UK) in August. Since then, I have been training regularly, although some injury has hurt the running and swimming and the weather has affected the cycling. I have joined Durham Triathlon Club and take part in their planned training sessions nearly every week. 

Goals

I set 3 goals for 2011

1. Complete an Olympic Triathlon at some point
2. Lose 20kg to take me to the lightest I have been since I was about 20
3. To beat my wife in a sprint and Olympic races. (She is also now hooked and has signed up for the same races)

Any help, support, advice, encouragement or otherwise will be gratefully received.

Thanks everyone

Kev (aka Corybantes) 

This user's post has been ignored.

I grew up in a very snowy place and I recall anything done in the snow is more difficult. Like sand, kind of... and added slippery-ness. Is that a word?

Still sick. Nothing since my Fartlek 9 days ago. Hoping for a healthy wake-up tomorrow.

Welcome Ali - I had a riding accident 9 years ago. I jumped off the horse...silly me. But the various injuries will haunt me forever. I have a rolfer who helps me a great deal. The chiro has just aggravated things where the rolfer seems corrective. 

Hello everyone, 

Back from swimming, good session today.
Tomorrow, I'm flying to Italy for work for a couple of days, so expect no posting before the weekend.

At this point, I feel the need for a little recap of our activities. Since we started the following athletes have entered our little community: 
- Alberto, 35, from Italy, main goal this year: sprint and oly tri.
- Steph, 46, from the US, main goal this year: sprint tri
- Hans,   44, from Denmark, main goal this year: 70.3
- Joe, US, main goal 70.3 (probably got lost cause he did not post anything so far) 
- Wendy US, (probably a friend of Joe's) 
- Ali,   51, from the  UK, main goal this year sprint and up to 70.3
- Iva, from Croatia, main goal this year: half marathon
- Jirky, 43, from  Finland, main goal this year: sprint,
- Paul, 35, from the UK, main goal: sprint tri
- Stephen, from the UK (will visit us every now and then)
- Kev,  30, from the UK, with a main goal of Oly tri (possibly beating his wife's time in the process)

That's 11, not all active members, but we are getting towards a critical mass here.

Now answering your most recent questions:


Ali, the bone cracking sounds painful and nice at the same time, I've never gone as far as the chiropractor, but I pay a visit to the physio every now and then, and it does help.  
Concerning your training plan, obviously you'd need to train against your most challenging goal which by far will be the half tri. So, I'd have a look at the beginner half ironman training plan here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=52 plan backwards working from the day of your event back to now. Since this is a 20 weeks plan, it will take you to mid April (if your tri is in the first week of Sept). That means that you have a bit of time from now till April. How should you occupy this time?
I would occupy it with training towards your Oly distance tri in June, you have here (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/trainingplans-list.asp?h=1) a range of 16 weeks plans focusing either on your swim, bike or run that should just take you to April. So, if I count properly, you could do these two programs back to back, with maybe a week or two of holidays in between. One particular advice to you, would be to listen to your body and adjust distance, intensity according to how you feel, as well as taking good care for your nutrition and recovery. The drawback of this approach would be that likely you will be a bit slow on the Sprint distance, but that should not be your main worry. 

Kev, nice having you with us! 
Being part of a club is probably the best thing, you'll get plenty of advices, learn the proper technique and benefit from the group dynamic.
Don't hesitate to post your questions here too, different perspectives are always good.

I can't help but react on your post concerning your wife. I hope you can keep the competition friendly  I've no experience concerning how competitive athletes get along together?

Anyway, you may have to consider that your wife is just very good in this sport? When I look at Chrissy Wellington, I just think she's simply the strongest athlete in our sport. She beats 95% of the male field in ironman and I would not be surprise if one day she simply win the whole thing. I wish I could have only 10% of her abilities... My point here being that in triathlon we all compete against ourselves, if you achieve your objective however big or small, you earn respect in it's most important form: self-respect. 

That will be all for me tonight, train well, cheers, Herve. 

Thanks guys, 

Will keep everyone updated.

Wrt my wife, we do keep the competition friendly and it IS a great motivating tool. Its another reason to get out and train, especially when the weather is rough or you really don't feel like doing it.

Catch you guys in a bit

Kev 

This user's post has been ignored.

Ali

Chiropractors are great for joint manipulation but unless they do sports massage as well they are unlikely to deal with the root cause. I used a chiro for over a year a few years ago and felt great afterwards, but as soon as I stopped going the problems came back (basically overuse injuries caused by long term martial arts). My feel is that generally chiropractors treat so that you will have to continually have to go back rather than actually fixing the problem so you never have to go back!

Most back problems can only be fixed with good quality physical therapy. Obviously you are paying for your chiro so its worth (if they dont do it) paying for a good physio as well. Don't go for a sports massage therapist UNLESS they are included in your chiro's practice, physios have a huge level of knowledge and experience that SMTs just don't have.

Also remember to work on core strength exercises regularly as these will help massively with all aspects of this type of injury.

I hate to say it, but it isn't worth getting physio on the NHS (you are in UK I believe) as nearly all of them will not put hands on and will just give a few exercises. Its not worth the wait.

If you are lucky enough to have Private Medical Insurance (BUPA, AXA PPP etc) nearly all of these will pay all or part of your physio cost, where most of them will not pay towards the chiro.

This is just my opinion, but I have suffered enough over the years with Physio's, Chiropractors, Osteopaths and Drs that I have a good idea of what is good and bad.

If I can help any more, feel free to PM me or just post here.

Regards

Kev 

This user's post has been ignored.

Hello
My name is Lina I am 37 years old,married and mother of 2 boys 17 and 13. I am new to this sport and i want to be able to said that i finish a triathlon and maybe get a good place in the race. I am originally from Colombia but i live in Canada. I did Tae kwon Do (redblack belt). At this moment I am looking to get back into shape probably loosing weight at the same time and I also recovering from a cancer that keep me out of the gym for a year. I am taking swimming lessons and I am doing cardio 3 to 4 times a week (25-30 min run and 20min bike). I like the way u have set up the work outs and the experience u had in biking because that is my weakness. I will be very happy to join your group and learn as much as I can.

Thank you for your time and I am looking forward to do my first triathlon.