Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 28)

Hey Kris,

I already have Netflix as well as Amazon Prime/Instant Video.  Unless I am on the trainer I'm just not one to sit in front of the TV for hours on end.  I think I am just going to try and turn the negative down time into a positive and go visit all of my clients over the next couple of weeks.  If nothing else, it will give me something to do.

Thanks for the suggestion though.  There is certainly a lot available that can occupy a great deal of time.

Hey everyone.  It's Friday and just wondering what's on tap for the weekend?

I know some of you may be digging out from massive snowfall, and others may be just trying to stay warm, but there might be a few of you that may be able to get out for some training or maybe even a race?

Since I am sidelined, I am going to take my wife for a weekend get-away - Las Vegas is only a few hours away!  I may not be able to use my left arm but I'm thinking that shouldn't keep me from using my right arm on the Blackjack table or the slot machines!

Scott, glad to hear the prognosis.    Fun in Vegas is a great start!

Weekend - we are currently in Greenacres, WA = my friend training for her IM, is here for USAT officials class.  Yesterday afternoon, we had a great ride and run by the river on the Centennial Trail - it was so awesome to not have to worry about traffic.  She is on her recovery week so the ride was not Sufferlandria hard but steady.   

Today we will head to a fitness center and swim and then explore the river trail again.  She only has an hour ride but  - I am guessing we will be out longer exploring.

Great training all - have a wonderful weekend!

I think spring has finally arrived (for this week anyway - we'll see what next week brings).  Lots of people out enjoying it.  I went to my normal park for my run - got in a good 5 miles.  What a change from last week!  At my race last Saturday I had on 3 layers of clothes and was still cold, yesterday I was too warm in capris and a LS t-shirt. 

Good swim this morning - 100's are getting easier to do and I feel like my rotation is improving.  This afternoon will be a trainer ride.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend!
Janet

• +5 points for no weight gain
• +0 points for 0 pounds lost
• +20.7 point for 621 workout minutes
• Total: 25.7 points

Recovery week ahead. I'm really wiped-out and looking forward to the week of easier workouts.

Scott I.




Edited by EchoLkScott 2015-03-09 9:17 AM

A good Friday swim and long run (1:30) set me up for a 2:30 bike trainer ride yesterday morning.  I did the same ride last year (a simulated GranFondo 160km ride) and I was about 7% faster/further than the first ride.  I'd sure like that to transfer outside this summer.  After getting off the bike yesterday I felt pretty good about the ride.  Next Saturday is the last trainer ride of the season and it will be a full 3 hours.  Lots of fun.

Weight loss:

11.6 hours workouts = 23.2 points

No weight gain          = 5 points

Total                          = 28.2 points

I have lost a couple pounds but I'm up and down so fast I'm waiting to hold a weight like Tom.

Weight - Lost 1.2 lbs

Workout - 0

Here are the current Weight Loss/Workout Challenge points.

Impressive workout totals!  Good job to all.

(0308_weightloss_workout.jpg)

I will share what I do, and I seem to recall that Deb said she does the same thing or something very similar.

I weigh myself first thing in the morning everyday.  Then on Sunday I average the weight for the week.  We all know that weight varies day to day and I found if I just weighed in one day a week, I might hit a high fluctuation one week and a low fluctuation the next week so it seemed like I had huge weight swings week to week - up 3-pounds one week, down 4-pounds the next week.  Using the daily average smooths the daily fluctuations and I don't get the big spikes so I get a bit cleaner picture of any trend over time.

Obviously as triathletes we all have to swim, bike and run.  Most of us are striving to learn proper form and develop our aerobic engines.  We know that in addition to physical preparation/recovery we have to manage overall nutrition, race fueling, and race execution/pacing to name a few things.

I wonder how many of us consider that there is also a mental side of triathlon.

Many of you have heard me say in the past that I think sport is 10% physical and 90% mental.  I will share a brief story, and my apologies to those of you that heard it last season.  Back when I was swimming, I had been putting in 12-15,000 meters/day - seven days a week - for a few years.  I was fairly successful at the age-group level but was rarely qualifying for events at the national level, let alone having podium finishes at the national level.  Then my coach started working with me to develop mental fitness.  I learned about motivation, focus, having control, and emotional involvement - in short I learned about the mental side of sport.  In the space of several short months, I went from an also-ran at the national level to setting a world record.  Physically, nothing had changed.  I was doing the same workouts.  Mentally however, I was a different athlete and that mentally tough athlete began to compete at an elite level.

Motivation is arguably one of the most important pillars of mental fitness AKA mental toughness.  It is motivation that will get you out the door for a run when it's 10 below zero and there's 2 feet of fresh snow on the ground.  It's motivation that will keep you going 12-hours in to an Ironman.  And for those that say, " I will never do a long course event," it is motivation that supports you and keeps you moving towards the finish line, even when you are DFL in a local sprint triathlon.

So my question is, what motivates you?  Going hand in hand with that question is, what is triathlon to you?

In my case, I was an elite athlete back in the day.  Then I allowed myself to become just another fat guy that was woefully out of shape.  Triathlon has become my path back to being an elite athlete again and as such, triathlon has become a central part of my life -  indeed, pretty much everything revolves around my training and race schedule.  My motivation, my "love of the game," flows from my mental image of me lined up at the start in Kona and turning that dream into a memory.

Looking forward to hearing about what motivates you.

Motivation? ....that's a good question.

I played a lot of sports growing up and ultimately settled on tennis. Started playing junior tournaments and got smoked in the first few. 3 years later I was beating the guys that had previously crushed me. I know I have a very competitive nature and obviously that translates over into sports...including triathlons.

When I decided to do a triathlon I jumped in whole hog and frankly the swimming from one place to another was a real eye opener. But, I kept working on it. The biking and running came relatively easy but swimming remains a constant struggle. In my second year of racing I started getting on the podium occasionally in my AG and that fueled the flames a bit and motivated me to be more focused on my training. Fortunately, I have improved each year and I think the desire to improve is what motivates me. I do almost all of my training alone and it can be hard to get out in the garage for a hard bike session in the evening when the couch and a cold beer are much more appealing. However, I have realized that being consistent in my training pays dividends.

I think it is important to set personal goals each year. Doesn't have to be qualifying for Kona...maybe it is running the 5K at the end of a sprint triathlon under "X" minutes. My goals have become higher each year and I always feel a sense of satisfaction when I meet or exceed them. Something else that I think helps motivate me is being part of a tri team. A couple of years ago I was asked to be on a sponsored team that does races on the Gulf Coast. We have 7 "team races" each year and you get points for overall or age group placing.  You don't have to do all 7 races but you have to earn points to retain your place on the team. The guys on the team are exceptional athletes and I love having the opportunity to participate as a part of the team. It motivates me to get out and train sometimes when I really don't want to because being a part of the team is important to me. I am sure the same could be said of membership in a tri club.

So, there it is. Also, I don't think anything feels better than the 30 minutes after you finish a race where you gave it your all, executed well and are drinking an icy cold beverage with friends.