Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 2)

OK, so far I've got, in order of appearance 

slowrnow / Randy

Experior / Michael

AV842 / Bennet

jimmyb / Jim

sschaar / Steve

stexfjr / Dewayne

WoodrowCall / Jamie

Blanda / Blanda

Catwoman / Rene

juneapple / Stu

mchlspil / Michele

We have room for a few more.

Michele -- welcome!  Post a bio when you get a chance.

Stu-always appreciate your sage advice. Glad you decided to join us again.

Michele-looking forward having you as a part of the group.

Randy 

Name: WoodrowCall/Jamie 

Location: Greenville, SC (pretty close to Experior)

Story: I’m a 32-year old male high school English teacher. I’ve always been an “active” guy who enjoyed athletic activities: hiking, basketball, biking, etc. However, I’ve never really been serious about my health or exercise. That all changed last year when some friends of mine who ran asked if I wanted to train to run the Savannah HM; we started training in July, ran it in September...and I was hooked. I really enjoyed running, and carefully trained with the 10% rule so as not to get hurt. I went from barely being able to run 3 miles at 5’11” and 188 to completing my 1/2 injury-free and now down to 170. I’m pretty ADD and couldn’t see myself just running forever, so I started looking into triathlon training. Now I’ve been training since mid-February with the Sprint 13-Week Training plan and love it: my swim sucks, but I’m committed and am getting better. I’m not fast, but I’m serious about training hard and getting faster. My last 1/2 hour of swimming felt a lot better than my first 10 minutes back in February.

Family: wife and three dogs. She puts up with my new obsession, runs with me every now and then. She’s great.

Races: I’m signed up for the Clemson Sprint on May 12, and then I plan on the Greenville Sprint Tri in August, leading up to the Anderson Rev3 Oly in October. 

Why I’ll Be a Good Member: I’m committed. I really want to get faster/stronger. I want to talk to anyone who knows more about tri than I do, which is just about anyone. 

Can’t wait!

Welcome Jim-tell us about yourself when you get a chance.  Glad you are getting back into triathlon.

Randy

Two Jims is better than one!  Welcome!  Post a bio when you get a chance.

Hey guys,

I'd like to join the group too.

Name: Jen

Story: Finished my first sprint last summer.  I work, commute, and read a lot. 

Family Status: Married for 5 years

Current Training: Averaging about 5-7 short workouts a week. My goal is in the 8-10 hour range. 

Past Year's races: My first sprint. I finished! It was awesome. 

2012 Season: 2 sprints, 2 sprint relays (swim only), and a few 5Ks.  

Weight Loss: My big focus on nutrition would be to get my body fat% down. I'm up around 26% and would like to get down to the 19-20 range. 

Other fun facts about me: I do not own a bike.  Yet. 

Welcome Jen!  Congrats on finishing your first tri!

You know the formula for the optimal number of bikes to own, right?  (Answer:  N+1, where N is the current number of bikes that you own).  So, for the moment, your optimal bike number is 1.  This will change....

Jen-good to have you in the group.  No bike?  Got to fix that.  At a minimum you should have at least one bike that you need to sell and one on your wish list   No need to get too fancy at the beginning.  Hope we can help you with your journey.

Randy 

Name:  JuneApple / Stu

Stu's Story:  High school swimmer (and tennis), biked a bunch in college, but never ran.  After leading a fairly sedentary lifestyle during my 30s and early 40s, I found myself at mid-life under a bunch of stress and 50 lbs overweight.  So I decided to change some priorities, starting with health and fitness.  I started running a bit (I was really slow) and worked my way up to a half-marathon and my first triathlon (sprint) 4 years ago.  Had some injury issues along the way, but have had two solid seasons now in 2010 and 2011, including lots of personal bests (yes, even over age 50!).  I attribute much of my success to the information and support here at BT, and frankly, our two mentors.  At age 52 (aka "sage"), I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm very thankful for the role triathlons have played in regaining my health.

Family Status:  Married for coming up on 30 years with one daughter in college.  My wife gets to the gym every now and then and is generally supportive of my habits.  Trying to figure out this whole empty nest thing.  I should have more time now, right?

Current Training:  My approach is all about consistency and balancing training with the rest of life (work, family, music). For me, tri races are the goal which helps me make better lifestyle choices each day.  Just purchased my first bike trainer which I hope will encourage me to up my bike miles this season. 

2011 Races:  3 sprints and a marathon.  After finally breaking the 200lb barrier early last year, I became an age-grouper.  I'm generally a MoPer (middle of the packer), but had my first podium finish (1st even), which was a strange, but somewhat motivating, feeling.  Finishing the marathon was definitely the highlight of the season.  I might even consider doing another one... it was much more fun than I expected.

2012 Races:  So far, just running races (5K - PRed, 1/2 Marathon, and 10 miler).  First tri coming up in 3 weeks (sprint), and hope to focus more on Olympic length this year.  Just not many of those around here that match my schedule.  For the first time in my tri career, I don't have "longer" goals.  I've done a HIM and a marathon and I can't say I have any overwhelming drive to attempt an IM.  More than anything, I just want to have fun this year.  Granted, fun when it comes to triathlons does have a semi-masochistic element to it, but I don't have to explain that to all of you! 

Weightloss:  Ultimately would like to get to 185 or so, and I do have to monitor my diet and avoid late night snack raids.  Been a struggle thus far in 2012.

What will make me a good member:  Every group needs an old MOPer :-)  Really looking forward to working with Randy and Michael part deux and many thanks for leading the group!

Stu-how do you like the Lemond trainer so far?  You had mentioned having someway to monitor power.  Have you looked at www.trainerroad.com ?  They have lots of workouts/training plans for biking and have estimated power numbers for many of the popular trainers.  I think they have a free trial and then its like $7/month.  Great data from each ride that is stored in your "career" on their site.  I use it several times a month and really like the variety of workouts.  

Randy

Randy/slornow ,Experior/Michael, 

I would love to join your group if you still have space for another group. Let me know and I will right up my bio ... 

Thanks, 

Wow you guys are popular.  There must be talk about how resourceful you (Randy and Michael) both are.  I'll move aside and let others enjoy your wisdom this go round.  I'll see about another group.  Stay in touch.  I'll be a lurker if that is OK.

Calf is getting better!!!

Brian

Aw, thanks, Randy! Too kind. You guys are so awesomely supportive. You make it easy to share and get involved.

Hi, everyone! I was with these guys last round, and they were great at making this newbie feel welcome. They have so much knowledge to offer, as well as the rest of the group. I'm not finished milking their brains yet!

NAME: Blanda is my name.

STORY: I'm a retired Guam national team soccer player. My youth and competitive years were dedicated to my beloved sport, so was unable to enjoy any other one as much as I would have liked to. I did run throughout those years though to maintain cardio fitness, and for therapy!

Last year my soccer teammates, who are also my good friends, thought it would be fun to train for and participate in the Xterra race this past March. I had not ridden a bike for years, and had a huge fear of waters because of bad experiences I had as a kid, but I'm always up for a challenge so I went for it. Fell in love with mountain biking and learned how to swim in 5 months! Unfortunately, I missed the cut off to do the run portion of the Xterra, but I'm proud of my efforts in the other disciplines. I will own at next year's race, by golly.

FAMILY STATUS: Married to an awesome human being who's currently deployed. He was my biggest cheerleader as I crashed through my mountain biking training, and wouldn't let me get out of the pool when I nearly drowned (not really, but I swallowed a gallon of water and clung onto the lane divider thinking I was) at my 1st day of swim team during warm up. We have three wild things. Two girls, 20 and 6, and our 11 year old boy.

CURRENT TRAINING:  Current training is mostly running at the moment, but will get swimming and biking back into the schedule next week. It's spring break at the moment, so training has to incorporate the littles. Pretty much just running after them while they bike!

PAST YEAR'S RACES: My first super sprint November 2011 where I froze on a rock during the 200 meter swim. I was the last in and out of the water. The paddle boarders were sweet to let me work it out and finally get the courage to continue. Hooked after that with the support of the Guam Tri Fed community and did two sprints earlier this year. ALMOST had an Xterra race under my belt, but it wasn't meant to be. Next one is mine, so help me...

2012 RACES:  We don't have much going on locally, so I'm crazily eyeing some HIMs in the Asian region. Somewhere in November/December. I'm just going to start a training program and hope that I can actually participate in one. Would depend on if husband returns by then, finances, and how well training is going.

WEIGHTLOSS: I started out at 145 at the beginning of my Xterra training and have gotten myself down to 136. Yay! I've learned that I can't eat whatever I want like I did when I was younger and training 7 days a week for soccer. Hard, hard lesson that took years to learn. 

It is awesome seeing a few familiar faces, as well as all the new ones.  I may be most excited that Jen does not yet own a bike, and we can live vicariously through her as she decides which bike to buy!!!  I did my first triathlon on a mountain bike with slicks.  Then bought a road bike, road that for several years, then upgraded it, and just this year added a Tri bike to the stable.  N+1 indeed!

This is my third mentor group, and I would like to say to those who have not participated in one before, that you get out what you put in.  Be active in the group, and you will have much more fun.  

Also, if you are new to the sport,  STICK WITH IT!  It is easy to miss a work or three, get down on yourself, and then give up.  Don't be afraid to come back to the mentor group because you are embarrassed about stumbling, or because you may feel that some people (Michael, cough, cough) are putting up numbers that seem huge to you!  If you stumble, that is exactly the reason to come post in the group.  Everyone stumbles, especially when starting out.  Life just gets in the way.  The key is to forget about yesterday, and focus on today.

Have a good Tuesday everyone.

Bennet

Well, in my 15 minutes of training thus far (cough, cough), it seems to have a better road feel than the training bikes at the gym.  Though not as stable when standing.  Have to say it is nice to be on my own bike.  Thanks for the link - looks like a requirement for more toys to use that... I'll need to play a few more gigs!  The site does look good though and I can see the need for something in addition to tunes.  The trainer will take a bit of getting used to, but I think it will be an important tool in my training chest.  No problem thus far with noise.  More reviews later this week!

Stu

Always rom for another Michael!  

Aw, Brian. (I got a large size in my last duathlon, BTW, if you're interested! It's got a Chamorro word on it, haha!)

Morning all.  What's on tap for today?  I'm going to try to get in a swim and a bike ride, and maybe a run.  Thing is (as some of you know), I did something rather stupid on Sunday which ended with me taking a spill into the street, landing smack dab on the wallet in my rear pocket, the result being a nice (and painful...) bruise on my backside.  We'll see whether I can sit on a bike saddle this afternoon!

Have a great one everyone.  I've got to work all morning, but I'll try to check in a couple of times.  Either Randy or I will 'close the door' on the group when we hit around 15 (getting close I think).