Ben's Mentor Group w/ Google Hangouts! ***CLOSED***

Hi! I'm here! I'm in for the long haul until spring!

I'm in. More info to follow. Enjoying a last evening of being lazy and having a few beverages with my brother-in-law

NAME: PsyTri/Gary

STORY: 43 YOA. Just finished 1.5 seasons of triathlon. Generally athletic but never a serious athlete until started triathlon. So no expertise in one discipline, per se, but I've learned a lot along the way. I have 5 sprints under my belt along with a handful of running races and swim-run biathlons. Moving up to Olympic distance this season. This last season, generally MOP'er in AG but top 20-25% overall. Moving toward the FOP in the run. Set some PR's this last season, so I'm very encouraged.

My focus this season is sticking to a fully periodized plan, remaining injury free, and getting much stronger on the bike. I've been delving heavily into Friel's 2009 Training Bible and am just about planned out. Starting base phase in next 2 weeks. Also have a year-round strength training program from Training Peaks superimposed. Really psyched and raring to go.

STRENGTHS: Goal-oriented, motivated, like planning, stick with training plans. Strongest on the run, good swimming form. Training gear. Great local triathlon club.

LIMITERS: Injury-proneness on the run (flat feet, some recurring left lower leg tendonitis, tight Achilles) so need 2-3 days and much intervention to fully recover between runs and avoid intense interval work; weak on the bike; need more OWS confidence and skills.

FAMILY STATUS: Married, 3 kids

CURRENT TRAINING: Strength, running, bike, miscellaneous activities in prep phase right now. Building my long run. I'm over an hour, about 8 miles. I have several running races in next few months in the 5 to 10 miler range.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: "A" race is Nations Triathlon Oly in September 2015. Many smaller local races (2-3 Oly, 2-3 Sprint, 1 duathlon, a couple shorter running races) sprinkled before and afterward.

WEIGHTLOSS: Not an issue.

I've been with BT since the start of my training, and it's been great. Looking for some new and varied perspectives so joining a new mentor group. Looking forward to listening and learning.

Edited by PsyTri 2015-01-01 10:31 PM

I'm in

NAME: Chris (EDIT: woops forgot about this)

STORY: 27 YOA, and have been training for sprint tri's about 6 months and now upping to Oly. A few years ago I got diagnosed with lupus nephritis, and currently I am symptom free. I did unfortunately get bilateral AVN of my hips as a side effect of my medicine though, which led to me to swimming and cycling for exercise and my interest in triathlons. I use to HATE running, but once I was told I wasn't supposed to do it anymore that magically changed :D. My original plan was to just train for the swim and bike and then crawl to the finish line (sprints only), but the competitive bug bit me as everyone passed me on the run. Now I train running too, but I try to focus more on swimming and cycling when I can.

CURRENT TRAINING/FITNESS: I'm currently using a free plan on training peaks that I got for signing up for USAT (USAT Age Group Nationals Intermediate 6 week plan). I'm doing it twice in preparation for my March 1st Oly. I currently swim around 1:45/100y, probably avg 20mph on the bike, and about 8:30/m. Those are the best paces I think I could hold currently (well atleast a month ago before the holidays) in an Oly race.

STRENGTHS: Time. I'm a stay at home dad so I have plenty of time to train. My son loves being run in the stroller and my gym with a pool has childcare. He also takes great naps so I can hit the trainer then even though I hate the trainer.

LIMITERS: DIET! I've lost 20-30 lbs since I started, but I still have plenty of flab to go. Assuming I add no muscle I probably have 10lbs to go, but I'm not worried about the # more about the %. I'm also horrible at self motivation and time. Depending on my wife's rotation she could be gone from 5am-7pm 6 days a week. Like I said earlier I hate the trainer, but I really need to focus on my cycling.

FAMILY STATUS: Married w/ 2 boys (2 and 4).

RACES: I only have the one Oly planned. We find out where we move at the end of March and then we move in May. I'll probably add some more, but not sure when yet.

GOALS: I want to be faster at all 3 of course, but I really want to up my MPH's on the bike. I also want to do a HIM by the end of the year or early next year.

I'm sure I left stuff out so feel free to ask if anyone has any questions. Can't wait to start working with everyone and having some accountability! Thanks for taking the time to lead this Ben, and for all of your other help in the forums too.

Edited by Lupy 2015-01-02 7:22 AM

I'm in

NAME: kt2007/Kyle

STORY: 38 YOA for a couple more months, and have been training for sprint tri's about 1.5yr and now upping to Oly and HIM. About a month ago I got diagnosed with patellofemoral pain syndrome, and currently I am on the up side of it. Took 3 weeks off using RICE. Just got back after it about 10 days ago. I use a open knee brace on it currently. So my training focus is diffidently on Biking and running. I am military so we run a lot already and I have a nice bike and got a trainer for Christmas so got it hooked up. Swim is my down fall. We have a indoor pool here on post that I use and have never done a OWS. My current swim ability is 4 to 600M.

CURRENT TRAINING/FITNESS: I'm currently not using a plan on training. I'm doing runs 2 or 3 times a week with a avg of 9min mile at 4 to 6 miles. I currently swim around 20min about 500M, and can swim about 150m to 200m nonstop. On the bike trainer I avg about 20MPH with prior to runners knee were 50mile long rides with 20mile rides avg 2 to 4X a week. I completed 3 tri sprints last season. All swims were in a pool. I know the course very well cause its on the military post I live on. PB was 1hr 46min for 500M swim, 14mile ride, and 4.5 mile run and this was on my old Mountain bike.

STRENGTHS: I would say endurance and self dedication. When I set my mind to something I am pretty good about getting it done. As for in tri life I would go with Bike. The friends I ride with say they try to keep up with me and hill climbs are so much for for me. I just love to stay in the saddle and push nonstop to the top.

LIMITERS: DIET! I've lost about 30 lbs since I started but with this time a year I am back up about 10lbs. I am over weight but I do meet the military standard for Body fat (22%) weigh in at 212lbs. Assuming I add no muscle I would like to drop 15 to 18lbs. It has been a many of years since I was under 200lbs. Depending on my wife and kids scheduled we are very bad about eating out. The wife works 6 days a week my daughter is in High school and very involved in school activities. I like my trainer, but I really love riding outside. I need to put a lot more focus on my swim.

FAMILY STATUS: Married w/ 2 kids (Son 20 and daughter 16).

RACES: I have no races planned. I am currently changing my job in the military and will be relocating in the next 4 months. I'll will add some when they come up. I am a add at the last min kind of person. Would really like to set a date on Oly to know when its coming. Also have a ideal if people with more experience could tell me if a HIM this year is possible. Just want to complete.

GOALS: I want to better at swimming and want to complete a HIM to make my way to a IM 1 day.


I really look forward to learning in this group. I am on but have never used that hangout forum or what ever it is. Thanks for having me and lets complete some goals together.

I will write more tomorrow but I have closed the group for now. I may allow for 1-2 more to join, but I want to keep this small so we can talk effectively between each other and really learn and get to know each other.

This will also make the google hangout sessions more effective!

Hi, my name is Alfredo. I really hope that you can consider my application to join.

STORY. Back in 2008 my business took a dive and had to closed down for good. I picked up the pieces and on 2009 I decided to go back to school. At that time I got an 8 to 5 job just to get me trough college. I also started to run and bike to keep me sane. In 2013 I did one Oly and one sprint. By 2014 l had to cut training due to school and work getting hectic. Fortunately I graduated on December 2014 so no more school!! :-). My 8 to 5 became permanent and yesterday I turned 40 YO.

FAMILY. married with 4 girls 13, 16, 25 and granddaughter @ 5.

TRAINING. I stopped completely 4 months ago, before that I was training 5 to 7 hours a week. Don't know much about techniques, HR, zones etc.. I know that I need to train smarter. I also love to go mountain biking.

weight loss. This 4 months have been nothing but eat and eat, tamales, and all that Mexican cuisine that I love so much have gained 20 lbs, need to lose about 25lbs to feel right.

PROS. I get easily motivated and I am a stubborn person I don't give up.
CONS. I get easily distracted sometimes bite more than I can shew.

RACES. I want to complete a half and a only by this year and a full IM by next year to get me through my master's.

I like the fact that you want to keep your group small to have better communication, hopefully one more (me) would be a burden.

Correction: I meant "not be a burden"

Got the new year off to a "great" start this morning. Woke up on time but snoozed, and next thing I knew, it was 1.5 hours later than planned for early morning ride that involved driving to the beach for a long, straight ride up the coast. Had to settle for a more local route. Ran off the road once due to car getting too close and having no bike lane. Saved myself without wrecking. About 10 min later, popped my first flat! It took WAYYYYY too long to change it but I learned a lot. I think I'd be quicker next time, or in a race. Cut the ride short by 1/2 hour to get home to family. Hate impinging on family time in the morning. Still, got some miles in and "practiced" overcoming adversity, which is what this sport is all about!

Happy weekend to all!

Great job on getting out and doing your first repair. I have not had that pleasure yet. It will reach me 1 day I know that. I been on duty at work for the last 24hrs but I did get in a 18.5 mile ride on the trainer yesterday morning and going to try to get one in before bed this morning. I am in Kansas and we got thick fog this morning at 27 degrees and a windchill in the high teens to low 20s.

I had a fun group ride with some friends this morning too, about 28 miles. All you northerners are going to hate me during the winter since I live in Miami, and this is the best time of year for us to get out. Are we all logging our stuff on BT or doing something else? I've stopped logging here since I have an ambit 2s and have to do it manually, but I can go back to doing that no problem.







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Alright folks here is a bit more about what I want to accomplish with this group.

My goal is to share my knowledge, and pass on others knowledge. I will post articles, link blogs, videos, anything and everything that I think and find useful for the audience of this group. I will NOT be writing you training plans, but looking at the overall process of what is going on. I find sometimes these groups get a bit too technical with questions on training and for most in these groups simply doing the work and not worrying about zones/paces/intervals is the best way to go, at least IMO in the first couple years of training, more on this later. I will post some of my favorite and fun sessions I like to do and when they might be best to do them.

I want to use Google Hangouts as a place to chat interactively once per month. I see this being a 60-90 minute session where I am the MC and everyone talks about what they are doing in their training, questions they have, ideas to be shared, etc. This is where we can do more coaching to your training and setting you up for the next month.

I plan to visit this group on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sundays. I simply cannot commit any time on here on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays. I spend about 12 hours of my day on those days coaching and getting my own stuff done. I might pop in occasionally on those days but don't expect much from me, I just don't want to promise and not live up to it.

I will try to post something shareable to discuss for the week every Sunday. It might be very specific to triathlon, it might not. BUT it will always be helpful to improve performance.

DISCLAIMER: I work in a private gym as a strength coach, this is my full-time "job" it is my passion, it is what I do. In my gym we work with about 20-30 triathletes that have seen significant gains in their performance from what they do in our gym. I am a FIRM believer that the APPROPRIATE strength training program with the PROPER coaching will give any triathlete a boost in their performance. We do a lot of stuff in our gym that you maybe have not ever seen and stuff that might seem a bit….basic and rudimentary, but it works. I feel many triathletes have poor movement patterns and thus their performance never meets their potential. I intend to share a lot of this as we move on and hopefully open your eyes.

I will run this group though April 15 and see where it goes and how to move forward.

Lastly, I want to share a quote with all of you that I firmly believe in that I want you all to think about.

"Move well, and move often" -Grey Cook

I will post an official list of everyone that is onboard for the group tomorrow.

Ben
Did you get my PM?

Ben, is there any way you can add me? I meant to respond earlier in the week and forgot! So sorry!

I will get my bio started tomorrow. I actually hired a coach to write a plan for me. My wife must have been in a great mood when we were skiing as she agreed without hesitation .

Today was my last day of freedom/leniancy, so a few beers, a great burger, and some popcorn. I think I am pregnant with a food baby. I did hit up the Rubber Glove Sufferfest video and raised my (virtual) power 20 watts. I'm not sure if that's a good thing with the Tour of Sufferlandria coming up! Anyone else stuck on a trainer for the winter? I find it's much more enjoyable with the Sufferfest videos.

My story:

NAME: John Mosey - Toefuzz

STORY: 10 years ago I suffered from idiopathic hypersomnia (fancy way of saying I was always tired and didn't know why), slept 18-20 hours per day and had to quit my dream job at the family business and move to a new town. After trying just about every pill out there with some success I decided to run a 25k on impulse. My wife was a bit shocked by this as I weighed 271 pounds at the time (5'10"... still 5'10" actually), couldn't run for more than 30 seconds, and my greatest feat of endurance was watching all 6 Star Wars movies while eating an entire bag of pizza rolls. Fortunately I had signed up for next year's 25k (5th 3rd River Bank Run), not the one the following weekend. I have problems with impulse control so it was a legitimate concern on her part. I started training in my basement so no one could see me and thought I was going to be sick after my first Couch to 5k workout. Fast forward a year and I finished my race but ended up in the hospital for dehydration. I never had a problem in training but it was a nasty day. I had switched to a Paleo diet and lost 70 pounds! Unfortunately at that point I stopped running and switched to Crossfit, which lead to powerlifting, which lead to a stupid "bulking" phase. Earlier this year my brother-in-law was looking at a picture of me post 25k and wanted to know who the guy standing with his family was. This pissed me off so I jumped on the scale and was shocked to see I had put 30 pounds back on! I went through my old training logs and realized that what worked best for me was endurance training with a "clean" diet. I signed up for the Grand Rapids Marathon that day and proceeded to lose 30 pounds (again, down to 201). Unfortunately, as I'm prone to do, I went too much too soon and injured myself (PF). I took some time off and switched to the half marathon and finished. While sitting on the deck at my parent's condo in Petoskey I discovered a triathlon in a month's time not more than 400m from their place! I've always been intrigued by the idea of triathlon and my wife says it suits me as I'm less likely to get bored as I have 3 things to hold my interest instead of a single sport (I also have problems with attention span). I signed up for that in the middle of my half marathon training and was hooked from the start. I completed a second sprint tri later in the year and had a truly terrible swim (held onto the jet ski, lots of breast stroking, etc) which puzzled me as I was a definite MOP swimmer in my first tri. The best part about a crappy swim is that you can pass lots of people on the bike. I stuck with the race and ended up taking 2nd place in the Clydesdale division in what should be my last race as Clydesdale.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with two kids. My son is 11 and my daughter is 8. She was inspired to complete her own marathon last year (train 25 miles and then run the last 1.2 miles on the actual GR Marathon course)

CURRENT TRAINING: I am in limbo at the moment. I have hired a coach but that won't start for a few weeks. I've been trying to run 6x per week (Barry P plan from Slowtwitch) but have run into some issues. I will be looking into shoes and an orthotic this week. I have a swim class 2x per week starting Wednesday... definitely nervous about that one as I'm more of an introvert. I signed up for TrainerRoad earlier this year and it's the best $10 I spend every month. I also bought myself all of the Sufferfest videos as a Christmas present and am looking forward to the Tour of Sufferlandria next month so I try to ride 4 or 5x per week.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I didn't start training until late May:

5/24 - Memorial Day Bridge Run (across Mackinac Bridge) - 5.05 miles (11:41 pace)
7/4 - T-Rex 10 Mile Trail Run - 10 miles (12:41 pace)
7/19 - Bear River Crawl 10k - 9:37 pace
8/17 - Petoskey Sprint Tri - 1:28:34 overall (5/9 in my age group). Swim: 9:34 (500y), Bike 42:05 (11.39 miles), Run 29:41 (3.1 miles)
9/14 - LMCU Bridge Run - 10 miles (9:56 pace)
9/20 - Le Tour De Donut Bike Race - 33.88 miles (17.4 mph). Fun bike race, deduct 2 minutes for each donut you eat, minimum 2.
9/28 - Tri the Creek Sprint Tri - 1:16:34 overall (2/7 in Clydesdales). Swim: 12:29 (500y), Bike 31:56 (10.33 miles), Run 28:42 (3.1 miles)
10/4 - Michigan Mountain Mayhem Gravel Ride - 1:09:37 (18.09 miles)
10/19 - Grand Rapids Half Marathon - 2:10:21 (9:55 pace)

2015 RACES: Big year coming up! My goal is to win the West Michigan Endurance Award for completing the River Bank Run, GR Marathon, and a half distance tri

3/28 - Barry Roubaix (36 mile bike race) Just for fun with my team
4/25 - Rivertown Races Half Marathon - Training run for River Bank Run
5/9 - Fifth Third River Bank Run 25k - First "A" race of the year
6/14 - Grand Rapids Triathlon - Olympic Distance
7/4 - Bostwick Lake Sprint Triathlon - Fun race close to my house on 4th of July
7/18 - Tri Del Sol - Olympic Distance, benefits a camp I went to as a kid
8/23 - Michigan Titanium - 2nd "A" race, half-iron man distance. Fired up for this one!
10/18 - Grand Rapids Marathon - My first marathon, last "A" race
11/8 - Iceman - Largest mountain bike race in the country


WEIGHTLOSS: Weight loss is big for me and an ongoing struggle. It seems that every time I get down to 201 I do something stupid and sabotage myself. I haven't been south of 200 since Jr High. My goal is to lose around 5# per month and be closer to 180 by the time my "A" races roll around. I am down 7 pounds in the three weeks since I tightened up my diet and even managed to lose weight over the holidays. They say you gain 2 seconds per pound lost... I should be flying come May!

Here is our official group:

Ben/bcagle25
Kim/ingleshteechur
Gary/PsyTri
Chris/Lupy
Kyle/kt2007
Katie/KatieLimb
Jason/Wannabefaster
John/ToeFuzz
Jeremy/triguy1043
Nicole/ligersandtions

That leaves our group at 10.

I am scheduling our first Google Hangout to be on Suday, Jan 25th at 6:00pm CST. Let me know if this time works for everyone.

I wrote to Ben and asked really nicely if he would let me join up with his group. He was kind enough to say yes, so:


Name: Jason/wannabefaster

Story: 43/44 year old triathlete in my ninth full season of Triathlon. I have always worked out, but some people at work convinced me to do my first sprint triathlon and I have been hooked ever since. I have slowly worked my way up the distances and have done four Iron distance races with a fifth one on my schedule in 2015. I will race every distance from sprint to IM over the course of the year. I am a mediocre (but improving through much effort) swimmer, slightly better than mediocre cyclist but a reasonably good runner.

I have been a part of the mentor groups for the last several years both as a group participant and a mentor.

Family: Married to a very supportive wife and have two kids, 17 and 12. I work full time as a physician so I can definitely relate to being overscheduled and the trials and tribulations of fitting an active life style in to a very busy schedule.

Training: In 2011 I took the major step of hiring a coach. Little did I know what I was in for. My coach was hard-core and wrote me a very aggressive training schedule. I used him for four straight seasons and still love the guy but decided this year to go back to self-coaching. We will have to see how that works out...... I usually get in two workouts a day, one in the early hours of the morning and one later in the day. Scheduling is always an issue. I have just given up on sleeping......

2015: two Spring marathons..... with a HIM in between. Not smart but I wanted to give it a try. Racing the Sprint and Olympic races in Milwaukee at AG nationals. I will try to squeeze in at least one more HIM later in the summer (but it has to fit in to the family schedule so Muncie and Steelhead are out so it might be a smaller local race). I'm sure that I will find other races but the other absolute is IMAZ again in November. It should be a fun season.

2014: Raced a bunch of different races, starting the season with American Triple T and culminating with IMAZ which I finished in 10:19. Thought I might have been able to go sub-10 but a very windy race day erased any chance of that happening. With that being said, I was incredibly satisfied with my performance.

2013: Was a pretty light racing season for me. Wrapped up the year with IM Tahoe in September which was the hardest athletic event I have ever done. It was hard!

Weight loss: You can never be too rich or too thin...... Really, I am doing OK on this front but I do have an interest in everyday and race day nutrition. I have a very well developed and effective (for me) nutritional plan that I am always happy to share.

What will make me a good group member: I love triathlon and endurance athletics. I have gathered a lot of information and I really enjoy spending time on this site and helping people get better at their athletic endeavors. Randy and I had a great group in the last three times. As much as I love tri, I really like helping others out as well. I look forward to being an active participant.

Sunday the 25th should work for me.

My wife got me swim lessons for Christmas and I had my first lesson today. Overall my form was pretty good, but the minor tweaks he made helped make a pretty good difference in the little time I had to try them out. I only swam a few 25 and 50s, but I went from trying pretty hard and avg'ing 1:45/100y to focusing on form and using less energy and avg'ing 1:35/100y. I still have 4 lessons left so hopefully I'll be able to commit everything I'm taught to muscle memory and keep making gains.

How's all of your training going?

Ben - Thanks for letting me in, even though I was a little late to start

Here's My bio:

NAME: Katie Limb - Katie

STORY: I started running almost exactly 5 years ago because I wanted to lose weight. I knew that to stay motivated I had to pick a race to train for. I picked a half marathon and trained for it with a free online plan, and completed it 6 months later. I was hooked, so why not jump right to a full marathon? I did that just 4 months after my first 13.1. It was a positively miserable experience. I swore never again. However, that didn't last long and I recovered from that race physically and mentally and signed up for another one. After a few seasons of running, my Dad (an injured runner turned cyclist) talked me into buying a bike. That was 3 years ago. I started triathlon that year and have done dozens of them, mostly sprint and Olympic, but I have done two 70.3s...my first was the perfect race, then second...my worse race ever! I am now training for my first IM...IMTX on May 16.

FAMILY STATUS: Married for 16 years to Ken, and have two adopted kids Joshua age 11 and Janae age 9

CURRENT TRAINING: I had a really good off season, but that ended on December 16 when I started a 22 week Matt Fitzgerald plan for IMTX. I have done this plan flawlessly for the past 3 weeks (I do really well on a plan, I love the routine). I have added to it strength training 3x a week for 20-30 minutes at a time.

RACES: For this year, I have a sprint tri in March, IMTX in May, then a 70.3 at the end of August. I will probably put in another sprint or Olympic in there somewhere through out the summer. I also like to add a half marathon in the fall.

WEIGHT LOSS: I need to lose around 10-15 pounds. I have just finished reading "Racing Weight" and am excited about dialing in my nutrition.

This will be a great group! Excited to learn from the rest of you. Jan 25 works for me, but I am pretty tech stupid, so someone will have to explain how to do Google Hangout

I'm looking for some input on choosing my first ("C") race of the season. Moving up from Sprint to Olympics this year. Fully periodized (Friel) season. Looking at first race (South Beach Triathlon) in late-April, which will be in the middle of Build 1 period. They have International (.93-mile swim | 24.25-mile bike | 6.2-mile run) and "Classic" (Classic Course.5-mile swim | 20.7-mile bike | 4-mile run). Just looking to experience the longer distance in a race context, but a bit unsure of taking the leap to the longer OWS. Nothing else about the longer bike or run phases me. The one downside to the Classic is that you have to wait around an hour to start, until the Intl waves clear out. My two "A" oly races are in mid-June and mid-September. Thoughts re: the international or the classic as my first foray into longer distances? Any input appreciated.



Edited by PsyTri 2015-01-04 8:30 PM