kelpeng's Group - FULL (Page 4)

Hi everyone. I would say I have 2 things I struggle with. First is just finding the time to train. I don't like to take family time, so I try to train while they are sleeping. I also don't like to train in the dark, so it's very difficult in the winter, but not really a problem in the summer.

The thing I really, really struggle with though is swim training. I swim at our Y, and the pool is in the basement with no windows, so it's really dreary. Plus it's only 20 yards, so I feel like I'm always turning around. Somehow I just never really get in that really good groove with the wonderful feeling of mind/body/world connection that I get when I'm running or riding outside. Since it's just a mental thing, I think I just need to shut up and get in the pool already. Although I have to say that I always really enjoy the swim in a race.

Absolutely. Your traing is impressive and inspiring Lea.

Anthony

You are lucky! I'm so jealous... The pools I swim in aren't in dungeons, but there are no windows either.

My husband has a very competitive streak too, so I think that's why he only races a couple times a year. He's not a strong swimmer, and I don't think he likes demonstrating that for people.

How was your weekend? Mine was good; saw two movies--The Departed and Night at the Museum. Did some ok training too.

This week I need to find a training plan I can actually stick with. I'm on the run focused winter plan right now and I just don't have the time that is called for in the plan. So then I don't really follow it, and then I skip things, and then... and then... So I need to find one that I actually *do* have time for and stick to it!

What are your mini goals for the week?

Hi everyone. Lea, that's a good idea to try to think about a race while I'm swimming. I am going to do my best to get a swim in this Thursday, and I will give that a try. Terry, I am jealous of your pool with the big glass wall. The pool at my son's college is real bright and airy with a lot of windows, and it looks like a great place to swim.

I had a good weekend. Managed to get in a bike ride (short and slow) even though it was a little cold, and ran a local 5K race which I worked into my planned running for Sunday. It was at one of these Winter Series 5K's last year that I first got the idea to try triathlons; I always thought that tris were only Ironman distance, until one of the other runners last year told me about sprint distance tris, so here I am having a great time.

My goals for this week are to swim for the first time in a long time, and hopefully sqeeze in 2 bike rides.

My bike is the entry level tri bike from Quintana Roo:

http://www.rooworld.com/bikes/2005/trueno.aspx 

Mine is a 2005. I bought it in October 2005 as a closeout before the 2006 models arrived, so I've had it a little over a year. It was on clearance for $800 (I think), normal retail $1200. I actually don't think they are making this model anymore as I don't see it on the 2007 model list on the new QR web site. It's worked well for me, although if I were a better cyclist I'd probably want a little better bike. The only things I'd change are the seat (which I finally just replaced this week) and the fact that it doesn't have bar-end shifters on the aero bars. Otherwise it's been fine for my purposes.

Before I bought this bike, I rode a hybrid for my first two seasons, the Giant Cypress SX ($500). I didn't want to invest too much money in a bike until I was sure I was going to stick with triathlon, so I got a hybrid thinking that even if I didn't stay with it, I'd still get some good use out of a multi-purpose bike.

What type of bike are you considering?

I thought that for a long time too! It was when I was watching the 2003 Lifetime Tri on tv while donating platelets at the Red Cross that I found out otherwise! NBC put a graphic on the screen with the sprint and oly distances for the race and I thought..."Hey! I could do that short one!" So the next year I did!

Good luck with your goals for the week. It seems that a lot of people are dipping their toes back in the pool this time of year.

Hi everyone. I have a Specialized Allez Sport which is like 1 step up from entry level with 105 rear and Tiagra in the front. It's a triple which comes in handy because it can get hilly where I live. Its name is Darth because it's all black and my breathing sounds funny when I'm riding I'm thinking of getting clip on aerobars, but I'm not sure because I find myself shifting pretty frequently.

Hopefully soon. We've had a freakishly warm winter except fror the last few weeks which have been a little colder. Also no snow (which is really strange) until last night when we had a couple of inches, so I had to skip my planned ride today.

Anthony

Oh wait; maybe that only applies to me... It's going to be a scorching 4 degrees today, and a high of -1 tomorrow here in MN. And that's before factoring in the wind chill! I don't anticipate getting out the house a whole lot, although my daughter does have a swim meet this weekend and I'm sure I'll drag myself to the Y at some point. Be safe if you're out in the cold!

Anyone do yoga? Any suggestions for good yoga DVDs for triathletes? I know there are some available; just wondering if anyone has actually tried any of them. I seriously need to work on flexibility and balance.

Well, some of that cold weather is heading our way, but it's only supposed to get down into single digits here; nothing like you guys in the upper midwest or Canada.

I have to brag about my run this morning; probably my best training run ever. 10 miles at a 10:20 pace which for me is really good.

Don't know anything about yoga. I'm trying to get my wife to do a yoga or pilates class at the Y with me because I am possibly the least flexible person around.

BTW Kelly, Brett is back!!!! Obviously he's not what he once was, but realistically, how many better QB's are there in the NFL? Maybe 5 or 6? I wish Chad Pennington had Favre's arm!! When the Jets played the Pack this year my wife saw Brett and said, "Who's that guy? He's really cute!"

Have a good weekend everybody.

Anthony

That's awesome! Congratulations!!

woo hooooo! He's back! There's a debate in COJ that you may have seen about how good or not he is, but I'm happy he's back anyway. The bottom line for me is that they'll win more games with him next year than without him.

Does the woman live in a cave???!!   Yes, he is cute!

Have a good weekend and congrats again on the great run!

Hello everyone. How are you all today?

I finally swam a little this morning. I woke up about 5 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to head over to the Y. I had the wrong goggles so they leaked and I lost a contact lens, but I actually felt pretty good. I was slow and I certainly felt out of swimming shape, but I felt comfortable in the water.

I've been good about getting in my run training, now I have to get consistent with swimming and biking.

Man it has been cold for some of you guys, I hope it gets better for you soon. How's everyone doing illness wise? There seem to be some nasty bugs out there. I'm fortunate in that I almost never get sick.

BTW Kelly, my wife does live in a cave when it comes to sports. Although back in '86 when we got engaged and the Mets won the World Series, she was very interested. After we got married.....not so much

Anthony

Hmmm, interesting that your post got stuck in the middle here...? I almost missed it!

Anyway, thanks for checking in. The week is ok for me so far. Yesterday was a crappy day, but today will be better!

It is still super cold here. It's a roasting zero degrees right now, with the -11 wind chill to go with it. It was -25 wind chill when I left for work this morning and my feet were like ice by the time I got off the bus. The heaters just cannot keep up when heating a big bus in this kind of cold. brrrr We're supposed to have a high of 10 today at some point, but I'm skeptical.

I also rarely get sick (knock on wood), but my kids have had it this week. My younger daughter missed two days of school but is back at it today.

Have a great week!

Hi all,

How was the weekend? Mine was good--lots of training. I started with a 5000 yd (!!) swim on Friday night as part of my daughters' swim-a-thon fundraiser. Then Sat. was strength and a run, and finally Sunday was a PR for bike trainer time. Anyone who knows me at all knows what a feat it is that I stayed on that stupid thing for 90 minutes yesterday! Woo hoo! I have a new saddle, so that certainly helped.

Any good weekend stories out there? For non-tri-related conversation, what was the last movie you saw in a theater? My daughter and I went to see Night at the Museum a couple weeks ago. It wasn't bad, actually. The day before I saw The Departed with my sister. Violent, wow. But good.

Hi everyone.

Very impressed by your 5000 yard swim, and then you followed it up with a good ride and run, too.

Lea, I'm kind of the opposite of you, because I do my best training on the weekend. You're also much better than me at having a plan and sticking to it! Weekends are best for me because I'm an early riser, so I have plenty of time, and I don't have to worry about getting everyone else out of bed, and their breakfasts, and making sure they get out of the door on time. I had a great run on Sunday. I'm feeling really confident for my half marathon in a few weeks. Way more confident than I was for my first 10K, sprint tri, or oly.

Another good thing over the weekend is my 10 year old son is really enjoying basketball at the Y this year. He hasn't been real athletic in the past, so it's good to see him having fun with it.

We also don't go out to the movies much, but I'm definitely looking forward to renting The Departed when it comes out on DVD. We went out for dinner Saturday, and our 17 year old daughter actually wanted to come out with us. Although I have to say, having the 4 of us out together made me miss my oldest son, who's away for his first year of college, a little more.

Anthony

Hi there,

Sorry to be slow with the reply. The past couple of days have been super crazy.

Anyway, I got a Terry Butterfly saddle and so far it's helped quite a bit. It's actually a little bigger than my last saddle, but I'm willing to sacrifice the size for the comfort. A couple more ounces of saddle really isn't going to make any difference in speed for me.

I've never ordered a movie at home; I should really try that. It's getting to where I can hardly stand to go out to movies anymore. People are SO RUDE. Ugh. Talking out loud, chomping the popcorn as loudly as possibly, kicking seats, answering the phone (seriously!)--all this just grates on me. I'll have to try the on-demand thing.

I wish I had the dedication you have during the week! It's easier for me to find time onthe weekends to train, but the weekdays are tough.

I also do my better training on the weekends--more time! Of course, if I could get my butt out of bed on weekdays to train in the morning it would make the evenings less of a time crunch, but so far that's not happening.

Glad you had a nice dinner with the family. I bet it was hard not to have your son there. My older daughter will go off to college in about 3.5 years, and I get extremely anxious just thinking about it. I don't know what I'll do if she isn't local (besides worry constantly).

Wow, only 12 weeks until your race! How exciting!

Yes, this cold weather is getting REALLY OLD and can quit anytime. We had a brief reprieve yesterday where it got all the way to 22, but today it's back to single digits. I actually considered running outside last night, but ended up on the bike trainer instead. At least it's not totally dark at 5:00 pm anymore.

It's supposed to finally warm up some this weekend, so maybe I'll run outside. What a concept!!

I have my first race of the year on Sunday--an indoor tri. It's a 30/30/30 format where we do each discipline for 30 minutes and the winner is determined by total distance. We have a whole group of BT-ers going, so it should be great fun.

Have a good weekend!