Gearwhore/himself Group - FULL

Welcome!  First member to the group (except me, of course)!  What should I call you - HK?

December is a good time to take it easy on the training and focus on friends, family, the holidays, etc., so don't sweat taking a little time off this month.  January is a good time to get back on the horse and start really focusing on building base for the upcoming season. 

Do you have a race targeted for early next season (or a race schedule built)?  Nothing motivates better a race on the horizon.

Also (sorry for the long post), have you considered logging your training in BT?  I'm probably most helpful if I can see what kind of training you're getting in and how things are going with you as far as motivation, etc. 

Okay, happy training and I'll chat with you soon.

AJ -

Plenty of room in the group, and welcome.  I play ice hockey on the side, so we have some hockey in common there too, and don't give that up for triathlon (if you can manage both).  I think it's nice to have a team sport going while you're training for an individual sport.  Flyers fan?  Sorry about Forsberg, I'm an Avs fan and sorry to see him go, but he's turning into a constant injury liability for you guys this year.

Thanks for the bio, that was really helpful.  Sounds like you have a good start and the right attitude about tackling tris.  Are you registered for the Philadelphia Insurance Oly on June 22nd?  That's what came up first when I googled.

On the weight loss thing, I've done Body for Life in the past too.  I liked it, and the 5 meal a day thing is great for losing weight, but a little difficult to manage for a busy professional like you and me.  I have adopted and maintained the "free" day from Body for Life though, I like having that one day/week when I can eat whatever I want.  I think the BFL plan is a little heavy on protein for an endurance athlete, and I think you'll find that carbs are your friend when you start doing some longer workouts, but that's natural since BFL is really more for body-building and strength.  Anyway, we can talk diet and nutrition more in the next couple months, and the point is really that I'm sure you can hit your weight targets by race season with no problem.  Alright, sorry for rambling, more later. 

Happy training.

Yeah, ice is a decent cardio workout, but as you get deeper into your training you'll find that it doesn't make a huge difference.  This sport, well really all training, is about specificity.  If you want to be good at swim/bike/run, then you have to swim/bike/run.  I just play hockey as a fun thing, to hang out with the guys and have a beer after the game, and scratch the competitive itch. 

One thing you have to realize about triathlon is that it's 99% training and 1% racing.  We all do 400 workouts to get ready for 1 race, and you can start getting a little stir crazy in the spring to race.  That's why I say, especially for anyone who has been an athlete, try to keep up another sport where you compete more frequently if you have time in your schedule.  It takes the edge off that antsy feeling that you just want to race.

6 months is definitely enough time to get ready for an Oly.  No question.  The only thing I will harp on, which I mentioned in my bio, is that consistency is paramount.  It's more important to train 6 days/week at an easy pace than it is to train really hard 3 days/week, and it's more important to get in some of your workouts all of the time than all of the workouts some of the time.  Life gets in the way and everyone misses workouts, don't get me wrong, but you will see HUGE results if you just stick to the plan and get the workouts done.

hkdanalyser - 2006-12-28 6:13 AM hey, Thanks for the advice. No races targeted yet. I looked up races, but I haven't found something suitable yet. I want to do it around April / May, but the latest I could find around me was in July. I will start logging the training in BT from now on. Seems like we have more members now. Should I say thanks to me Talk to you soon.

Thanks HK!  Yeah, once someone trusts you enough to sign on, then it's easier for a second, third . . . .

Maybe do a running race early season?  Last season I did a 5K and some biking time trials really early in the season.  Kept me fresh mentally and gave me something to train for.  But start swimming, that's always the thing new triathletes are worried about, and now is a great time to get in the pool and work technique and basic endurance.  A month of focusing on swimming will pay big dividends next summer.

My weight loss success had a lot to do with moderation, not abstention.  I think that depriving yourself of everything just makes you want it more, and alcohol is the prime example.  So my thing is just to go out after hockey and have 1-2 beers instead of 4-5 (or more, my team drinks heavily).  It takes a little will power, but not as much as sitting there with your buddies calling you a sissy for drinking coke while they swill beers.  And let's face it, none of us are getting paid to race, so don't stop everything about your life just because you're training for tris.  If you have a great summer, race really well, love triathlon and want to see how far you can take the sport, you can revisit whether cutting out beer completely is a priority for you (but it's not for me).

Don't know enough about your pace right now to say whether you could place highly in the newbie division.  My guess is probably so, since most beginners don't work on a structured program and don't train very consistently, but without knowing more it's hard to say.  I'll check out the results from past races.

AJ - I don't see anything on the Philly Tri website about first timer results/awards. 

More on diet/nutrition: I'm not much of a meal plan guy.  I read a lot to try and educate myself on the issue, and then just try to use common sense.  I eat 5 or 6 times a day, all the fruits and veggies I want, and try to cut out obviously bad food (no soda, no french fries, very little or no fast food, limited sweets).  But again, all things in moderation - I drink a beer after hockey, eat sweets on ocassion, I love Mexican food and eat that pretty regularly.  I also keep good basic snacks at work like instant oatmeal, granola bars, kashi bars (all easy/cheap stuff at Sam's Club), and then I bring in fruit to round out the snacks.  I also find that bringing leftovers or making sandwiches to work is healthier and cheaper than eating out a lot, restaurant portions are HUGE, and it's too difficult for me to exercise self control faced with a heaping plate full of food.  Lastly, I try to remove a lot of temptations at home.  I know that a bag of chips in the pantry will be devoured in one sitting, so we just don't have them around.  Beyond that, I try to listen to my body, eat healthy snacks when I'm hungry, and make good choices most of the time. 

If you're a reader and want to look into this more, I would check out Carmichael's (Lance's coach) book on nutrition for endurance athletes, which includes meal plans.  Like I said, I don't use the meal plans, but the information was very useful.

AJ asked a Q about supplements in my log, so here are my thoughts (and you can look around the forums to find MUCH more):

I take a multi-vitamin because I think that no matter how well rounded your diet is, short of having a personal chef, it is difficult to get all of your nutrients all of the time. I put a lot of demands on my body with training, and while I can't say for sure that I deplete basic nutrients at a more rapid pace, or that a multi vitamin has in any way protected me or made me a better athlete, I just like taking the multi and forgetting about it.  So, I personally believe that the easiest way to ensure that I'm not being shorted on any of the fundamentals is to simply take a quality multi-vitamin.  I use the GNC Men's Mega, but there are a lot of good ones out there.  Some people will tell you GNC is the best, others will say it's crap, I have no strong opinion and could be convinced to use a different multi, I just haven't been convinced yet.

I also take 500 mg of Vitamin C and 400 IUs of Vitamin E daily.  Both are proven anti-oxidants, and with the constant physical trauma of training, I think my body could use a little assistance clearing out the junk.  Plus, Joe Friel endorses these two in the Training Bible, and I trust most of what Friel has to say about training, nutrition and supplements.

Fish oils - Right now, I'm experiementing with Omega-3s.  Supposed to be good for the heart and have some natural anti-inflammatory properties.  I have a long history in my family of heart disease, so I thought I would give this a shot.  I don't know if I'll stick with this or not.

Lastly, I take Glucosamine Chondroitan.  I had arthroscopic knee surgery last year and want to help my joints in any way possible.  I'm not 100% convinced that I'm doing that with this supplement, but I feel like this is good insurance for not much money.

Here are some I have tried and rejected:

Aminos - I think this is important for a bodybuilder who is tapping the very last bit of fuel in the muscles to produce extremely forceful contractions.  Not so much for an endurance athlete, and I never noticed a difference using amino acids.  Amino Vitale is the product I used, and they claim it will give you more energy before and particularly during a workout.  I didn't find that to be true, and my (admittedly limited) reading indicates that aminos are a relatively insignificant source of fuel for the endurance athlete, and don't appreciably speed muscle growth or recovery for endurance athletes.

Creatine - Before triathlon, I used this supplement when weight-lifting.  I noticed a marked strength gain when trying to max out my bench press, but I think it is of no utility for an endurance athlete.  Again, this is a good supplement for someone trying to get that last 5% of force in a strength workout, and endurance athletes NEVER need that.  Okay, perhaps in the final sprint to the finish line, but if you're training is focused on the final kick, you're a LOT farther along on the training curve than I am, and I think that type of training is largely a waste of time for the age group athlete.  I'm not even sure the pros would bother with that type of training, and this supplement is largely ignored by the endurance community.

Milk-protein anti-inflammatory - I experiemented with a product last year that is a micro-nutrient from milk (sorry, can't remember the name).  Supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties, which I thought would help speed recovery.  It made no noticeable difference.

Green Tea extract - my wife was taking this for a while, so I gave it a shot.  I think the basic premise is that the extracts contain anti-oxidants, but I'm already loaded up on that front.

Echinacea - Supposed to help you avoid getting sick.  I stopped taking it about 6 months ago and haven't noticed any difference.  I think the best strategy to avoid getting sick is to get a flu shot, get plenty of rest, and wash your hands a lot (seriously).  With those basic strategies, this is probably a waste of money.

Other random performance enhancers - there are all sorts of potions and pills out there that you can try.  I have a friend who used to work for EAS, now runs his own company, and he designs supplements.  I would never tell him this, but I think some of the things they come up with are just ridiculous.  Some of the weed extracts in particular are just laughable.  And keep in mind, many, if not most, of the supplements on the market are for strength training, which has very little practical value for an endurance athlete.

A final note - as with everything, these are just my opinions based on my experiences over the last couple of years.  You should check out the BT forums, the internet, publications, and experiment on your own to find out what you like and what you think is necessary.  I've done my own reading, and I'm happy where I'm at with things, but I am by no means an expert.

No experience with either.  Do a search in the "search forums" function and see what you come up with.  There are a few guys on here pretty into both supplements and strength training, and they may have posted a thread.

Fred -

Welcome to the group!  Looks like you must be in Colorado, which is a great place to live and train, and I think a very easy place to get involved in sports and lead a healthy lifestyle.  Plus, I've had really good luck finding training partners and groups here in Colorado, which makes training easier and more fun.   

I think you have some really solid and manageable goals, and I'm sure you can successfully complete that triathlon goal next summer.  The weight loss thing will be much easier with training for a triathlon too. 

One thing I would encourage up front, if you can manage the expense, is a heart rate monitor.  One of the most important aspects of training is to manage your intensity and train at the proper effort level.  Too often, especially with "beginners" (even though you're not a true beginner, you have lots of background), athletes get overly excited about training and go out and kill themselves in every workout.  The key to success in triathlon, especially when you're just starting out, is to be VERY consistent about your workouts while keeping everything at a moderate pace.  Moderating your intensity prevents overtraining, keeps your motivation high, builds fitness quickly, and allows you to see a lot of fitness and performance gains relatively quickly.  Training at really high intensity is great for building speed, but initially you're just looking to build a strong aerobic engine, and that is most effectively done at a moderate intensity.

Anyway, welcome, happy training, and feel free to post questions and comments here or in my log.  I'm a training geek and love to talk about this stuff.  Even if I don't have the answer right away, I'm happy looking for the answer and learning something myself.

westwoodrnr - 2007-01-01 11:48 AM If you have room I would like to become part of your training group. STORY: I am 38 years old and am addicted to training. I have been running for 22 years ( maybe not the entire year every year but I have ran every year). I have been riding about 10 year with some of those years being pretty consistant. Just recently I have become obsessed with riding my mountain bike. The swim is my WEAK spot. Basically I can survive and that is about it. I have never really been taught how to swim properly ( one of my 2007 goals). I am currently a member of and Adventure Racing team in Indiana and am really looking forward to the upcoming race season. FAMILY: Married to a wonderful woman for 17 years. I have one son who is 5 and loves to hang with dad CURRENT TRAINING: I have not been following any structured program. I more less go by feel. Some days I run and ride some day maybe just a run or ride. I do try to lift at least 4 days a week ( trying to develop some much needed muscle tone). NOTE: the absence of swimming! LAST YEARS RACES: I competed in the DINO trail run and mountian bike series this past year. I finished 8th overall in the run series and won my AG. I did 2 XTERRA triathlons ( kayak, run, mtb) and finished 8th and 4th overall. I also competed in several trail runs form 5K to the 1/2 marathon distance. 2007 RACE: My "A" race will be the Muncie Endurathon ( 1/2 IM) in July. I also will be doing the entire DINO series ( trail run, mtb race, and triathlons) this year. I will also be competeing in 3-5 adventure races from the sprint 6 hour length to 24 hour races. BIG GOALS: To finish a 1/2 IM in 2007, do a Rim2Rim2Rim run of the Grand Canyon in 2007. My ultimate goal is to do a full IM in 2008 ( I have alwasy told myself I am going to do a full IM by the time I am 40). LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST WITH THE ONES YOU LOVE THE MOST!!!!!

Welcome to the group, we definitely have room for another (in fact, we have room for still one more if any of you viewing this post want to take the last spot).  You don't have to post a real name, but what should we call you for short?  How 'bout Woody for now?

I grew up in Indiana, and I've considered going home to do the Muncie endurathon.  Sounds like a pretty good race, and a great goal for you to tackle this year.  I'm also considering an '08 IM, so we can compare some notes on that.  Any thoughts on which one yet?  I'm considering Florida or Wisconsin, but I don't want to commit until baby gets here and we see how life changes.  I could do it in '08 or push it a couple of years, we'll see.

Anyway, I think I can help with the swimming questions, having been a competitive swimmer.  You can also feel free to ask questions about training for the half, since I'll be training for my second half ironman this summer.  On that note, you guys should also know that you can go to my page, hit "races" under my profile, and go back and read my race reports.  They will at least give you some ideas of how I prepared for my races, how I felt during the race, etc.  And then, of course, we can use this forum to chat about anything you're interested in.

So, Woody, welcome to the group, happy new year, and happy training!

Keith -

Welcome to the group, which rounds out our five members! 

Sounds like you have a strong athletic background, and you have tackled what most people consider the toughest of the three disciplines - swimming.  The cycling and running will come fairly easily, and just require some patience and structured training.  Having said that, I've found running to be fairly challenging, and the physical adaptions to running have come somewhat slowly for me, so it requires some patience and smart training.

I think an early season sprint is a great goal, and if you find that you like the training and enjoy the race, you can commit to a second and possibly longer race later in the season. 

I think the key for you Keith will just be to get on a consistent training plan.  As mentioned above, there are some good training plans here on BT, and lots more available in books and other online publications.  And being kind of a training dork, I'm here to answer any questions you guys have as you get into the plans.

Sounds like a good group, and I'm looking forward to helping you guys in any way I can over the next couple of months.