MaXpiXie's Group - CLOSED and Motivated to Train!! :) (Page 7)

I am officially signed up for my first triathlon!  And I am possibly the first online registration for this triathlon as well!  It is a local "Try This" triathlon, 500 m pool swim, 16k bike and 3K run on June 1.  Sounds like a good intro.  It may also leave room for a triathlon in the late summer as well.

We got a second bike trainer yesterday from a coworker, for a really good price.  So now my hubby/trainer and I can train together on our trainers.  i actually prefer the 'used' trainer and now my hubby is using the one I was using.  He now appreciates how hard it is. 

Today is my first swim lesson - should be interesting!

Happy training everyone...

Tracy in very snowy Calgary 

Swam and learned a few things x2!

Like: must keep legs closer together and make sure they are straight.  Like: keep elbows bent and stop playing catch-up.  Also, left arm much weaker than right.  However, there is hope.

I'm looking forward to my try-a-tri and looking forward to some slightly warmer weather.

We definitely all have to start somewhere.  I will actually be much slower when I start my left arm drills and flutter kick without fins, probably tomorrow.

Tracy

Just had to share this...caption was "Government health warning...don't swallow chewing gum!"

I will never be able to keep a straight face in a stability ball class again.

Hope everyone had a great day today.   I had my husband and younger son sick with either food poisoning or the stomach flu.  Both are feeling better now.  I did manage to get a great stationary bike ride in this morning.  Swim and run on tap for tomorrow.

Michele,  glad you liked that picture.  Sorry to hear things have been hectic for you.  I try to pack my bag the night before so that I am sure I have everything I need.  While I don't have to go to work every day (work part time and set my own hours but do have mornings trying to get everyone off to school/work and myself off to the gym then work),  I know exactly what you mean about forgetting things.  I have gotten much better at it.  A checklist would be a great thing to have.  One thing I do leave in my gym bag so I don't forget is an extra set of makeup and toiletries so that when I do shower there, I have that stuff and don't have to think about it.

Randi/Michelle - I can relate too!  My most hectic days are those when I take a day off (e.g. last Friday) and have to help get the kids ready for school. My husband works out of our home so he usually has that task.  I usually just wake up, get dressed and get myself to work - which I realize is pretty easy!

I also usually work out at lunch and it's bad when you are all psyched for a workout and then realize you've left an important component at home (running pants and jacket are critical at this time of year).  Still, it's worse to forget a part of your work wardrobe.

Tracy

Christine,  I just want to thank you for this month's challenge.  I was feeling down for a change about the lack of weight loss again and battling whether I even cared about my workout today.  After my WW meeting and listening to everyone there lose weight this week except me (an honestly EVERYONE but me did),  I really wanted to just crawl back into bed and cry.  But,  because I knew that I needed one more swim for the week and won't be able to get in a workout tomorrow,  I headed off to the Y.  My plan for today called for a bike ride too but since I already rode twice this week and my legs are sore, I planned to skip that anyway.  I kept thinking that to be 100% this week I needed that last swim.   So,  thanks again for the motivation to get my butt to the gym and get in my workout.  As it turns out,  it was great getting into the pool and just thinking about the swimming rather than everything else that has been stressing me out this week on top of the weight issues.  My workout called for 850 yds but I was enjoying the gliding through the water that I ended up doing 1100yds.

Thanks!

Heyyyy, no problem! It's been motivating for me too, since I better darn well make sure I get my 100% every week, being the "Mentor" and all

However, I've been lax in other things, like reporting everyone's status in the challenge!  Last week, we had Randi, Tracy, & I at 100%, Michele had 86%, and the Traveling Cheri had 72% (darn hotel pools!)

This week, Randi, Tracy, & I are again at 100%, Michele is again at 86%, and Vacationing Cheri has done approximately 123,587,340,950,923 hours of skiing.

This is the LAST week of the January Challenge, and please note, it's a squishy one.  You only have until THURSDAY to get your 2 Tris + 1 in.  None of that last-minute stuff this time, no way, ladies!  Thursday is the last day of January, and is therefore the last day of the Challenge.  Good luck, y'all!

Now I have to come up with something for February

I start my lunch hour Spanish classes on Monday and Wednesday this week, for the next 10 weeks.  Darn it, it will get in the way of my lunch hour Mon. and Wed. swims

Can I count my Spanish as 'mental training'!? 

Just kidding (sort of...)

Tracy

PS = I'm vacationing in Maui in April so I'm sure my spanish lessons make a ton of sense  

Unfortunately the 123,587,340,950,923 hours of skiing has come to an end.   But what a fabulous time it was!  The weather was cold but glorious, and we got some snow at the end of the week.  There were a couple of "glitches" though -- I took a tumble on Friday morning and pulled a muscle (not too badly, though).  Then I tried to fly home on Saturday but Delta wasn't cooperative, so I didn't make it home until Sunday afternoon. 

So with all of that, there is no way I'm going to make the challenge this week either.  But good luck to the rest of you!  I'm going to head out for a run right now and see how my leg feels.

And I'm looking forward to the February challenge!

It has been so-o-o-o cold here -48 to -50 deg. Celsius including the windchill (I think at that temperature, C and F are equal).  Definitely too cold for me to be outside and I think the cold germs can't survive either.  Thanks to my Spanish class being cancelled I think I might be able to get in my challenge workouts.

Feel better Christine (and Randi).

Hopefully we'll be out of this cold and these colds very soon.

Tracy

Hi everyone.  Stay warm Tracy and Karen.  Welcome Cheri.  Glad to read on your blog that your skiing injury was not too bad.  I am sure you will get back your running legs.  I think taking your upcoming race as a long run practice is probably a good strategy - definitely less pressure and you feel great just by finishing.  Christine,  sorry to hear you are sick.  I am battling something too.  It is probably from letting myself get run down as I stress over last minute details for our cub scout Blue and Gold dinner which is Saturday.  My job was to create a video slideshow of pictures from the past year except my computer decided it did not want to cooperate and kept crashing, hence why I have not been on BT.  I have spent days uninstalling extra programs, defragging my hard drive (yet to actually finish that) scanning for viruses, worms, etc.  But,  I FINALLY got it done at 2am this  morning. 

I guess I am sitting pretty with the challenge for this week.  I just have to get one more swim in and think I will try to do that tomorrow but will depend on how I feel in the morning.  I picked up some of that Zicam this morning and it does seem to be helping - even more so than decongestants do.  I also picked up one of those saline sinus rinse kits which really helps get the gunk out of the sinuses.

My swim instructor from last session at the Y is now the aquatics director.  She and I were talking yesterday and she is looking to get a tri-club started at the Y. That would be very cool! Seems she has something like 10 people in the swim class right now who are all training for triathlons too and there are probably many others who are members that we just don't know about.  I also asked if she would be offering the swim clinic during the day and she was interested which would be great for me.

Have a great day - stay warm, feel better!

Well,I got my swim in today if you want to call my 150 yards a swim.  I did try but my sinuses are so congested that I was totally winded. 

I have been using zicam which does seem to be helping prevent my cold from progressing and I used my sinus wash today.  While it is a strange sensation, it definitely helps A LOT!  Not to be gross but it clears out the gunk that you just cannot seem to get clear by blowing your nose alone.

I forgot to add that I have been doing a lot of reading about starvation mode and how too few calories can set your body into that mode.  I did take the weekend off from figuring calories, percentages carbs/fat/protein and just ate what I wanted when I was hungry.  I did make some poorer choices but realize that for the most part,  I still chose better foods than I would have not too long ago.  I read that it can take up to 3 months to kick-start the metabolism out of starvation mode so I am going to continue eating more calories and based on my activity level,  I should be eating about 1800 calories a day to be able to lose weight without taking into account the training, with the training is jumps anywhere from another 300-700 calories and will address that each day as I exercise.  These ranges are significantly less than what my WW points allowance would be on a daily basis so I am going to keep tracking calories and not worry about points.  I am still going to meetings and will continue to do that for now. 

Thanks again to everyone for the support and suggestions.  I  have learned that while WW had taught me to make better food choices and pay attention to the types of food,  right now it is not the best "diet" choice for my body and seems to  have been the wrong thing for my metabolism.  I wonder too if all this might be directly connected with a borderline slow thyroid which shows normal on tests and what an endocrinologist says is not causing my slow weight loss.  The one I say just said I should eat less and exercise more.  Nice, huh?

You sound like you're on the right track now, Randi. 

And speaking of tracks it's time to talk February Challenge!  This is even more simple than January's challenge. 

Since this is the "off season," I'd like to use this opportunity to do a little more strength-building than I normally would when training before a race.  Since most of us have weight loss and endurance goals, I'm going to challenge you all to incorporate at least 3 strength workouts a week, in addition to whatever your training plan calls for.  Working new muscle groups can be the difference between maintaining your weight and finally getting off that plateau! 

Strength workouts use resistance to build muscle - so things like SimpleFit or resistance bands or even power yoga and/or core training will count. 

Who's in for February?

Thanks Christine.  Hope you are right about being on track. 

Since I don't have weight training in my training plan any more,  this sounds great to me.  Count me in for the challenge.  I would guess pilates or other stability ball workouts would count too, right?

I guess I'm in for the strength training challenge.  It hasn't really been something I've incorporated into my training before.  Any ideas on what I could do, without having to make a trip to the gym?  My time is very limited right now -- I'm training for a half marathon in early March (and paying for being off the road for most of January), plus my full time job is essentially full time and a half right now.

Cheri

Sure, pilates and stability ball count too. 

Cheri, take a look at SimpleFit.org or CrossFit.com (it's a little intense, but don't get scared by it - modify!) for some ideas.  Unless you have a pull-up bar, you won't be able to do those, but most of the other exercises at SimpleFit don't require any kind of equipment.  Do you have a cable service at home that offers free workout shows?  Many of the "on demand" cable services have a section of free videos that you can access any time, and include pilates or core/ab workouts.  I also have a pdf file of core exercises that KathyG gave me a while back, from her coach.  If you PM your email, I'll send it out.  Lastly, just try the basics - push-ups, sit-ups/crunches, plank, lunges...dig out your husbands set of dusty dumbells and you can do curls and tris and lat flys and squats. 

Don't anyone go getting hurt on me though - start with just your own body weight as resistance if you need to, and watch your form.  If it hurts, stop   Try for at least 20 minutes of exercise per workout, keeping your intensity high but do-able. 

I'll see if I can come up with more ideas and/or more structured workout suggestions for everyone, just to get you started

I didn't realize "the basics" counted, but that's good.  I've been doing push-ups and crunches forever.  But I do understand that strengthening my core will make me a better athlete, and at 50 that's very important -- flab just attaches itself at my age. 

Thanks for offering to send the pdf.  I'll send you my e-mail address.

Happy Friday everyone!

Okay - I'm in!  I *know* I need to to more strength, especially for my legs (which I always forget to do).  After running hills/stairs yesterday at noon, I am definitely feeling the need for squats & lunges!

This weekend I will be busy preparing for a joint birthday party for my kids (one turned 6 yesterday and one turns 8 on Sunday) so it might be hard to fit in my workouts.  I can probably do some weights, though, while watching the SuperBowl on Sunday afternoon.

My off season officially ends on Sunday!  I'm starting a 16 week program leading up to my first tri on June 1.

Tracy