Ridgelake's Group - Filled up with Fantastic Folks!

Howdy Rob,

     I hope that the Christmas season has been a good one for you and your family. I would like to join your mentoring group.

     I am in the same boat that you were a few years ago. Right now my body fat is running around 28% with a 38/40 waistline. I have gone from 276 to 236 over the past year and one of my goals to take off approx 40-50 more pounds. 

     Over the past year I have completed several 5Ks, including my very first race. My biggest goal accomplishment was completing the Whiterock Half-Marathon (fmy first long distance race) under 3 hours. Well I made it in 2:59:23, made that one close. It has also been a desire to do a triathlon(s). Completing the half has given me new vigor to set the goal for a sprint.

     I have began my training for the sprint and logging them in the log, so I am well on my way. I believe that a mentor will be a tremendous assest for me.

Scott

Goal Summary:

1) Complete the St. Patricks Day Tri in Keller, TX.

2) Complete the Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon.

3) Complete a sub 30m 5k.

Welcome Scott!!!

I'm very excited to have you join this group!  From your desciption, it looks like you're well on your way to achieving many, many, fantastic goals! 

40 lbs lost so far?  Excellent!  Run your first 1/2 marathon?  Wish I could do that!  Great job!

So you've got your first tri coming up in a couple months or so?  Awesome! 

I'll take a look at your logs and see what good stuff you've been doing.  If you have any questions about anything, please let me know!

Welcome again!

Rob

Hi Joann!  Welcome!

Glad to have you join Scott and me in this little adventure we're on! 

I just took a moment to look through your logs, and I think you've got a very similar philosophy to what I've come to believe.  Gradually increase distance/effort so as to minimize injury risk.  Consistency is the key.

You mention walking leading to running.  Well, as I was coming off injury this past summer, I started doing 30 minute walks.  Those led to occasional 1-2 minute jogs while doing the 30 minute walk.  More time went by and the amount of running increased and the amount of walking decreased.  By the end of the summer, I was doing hour long runs.

We're going to have to be careful about your knee.  Don't want that getting aggravated.  It seems like you have a good handle on whats upsetting it though.  Knowing the triggers are half the battle.

I just noticed that this was your first post.  Hopefully that will be the first of many!

Please feel free to ask questions.  Thats what this forum is for. 

Welcome aboard!

Rob

Welcome, Brad!

We now have a nice international flavor to our rowdy bunch.

Looks like you've got a nice base going with working out since July.  And looking through your logs, you do seem like you're a pretty good swimmer. 

How's the knee holding up the last 6 months?

I've got some thoughts about diet and how that all fits in. 

Glad to have you part of the group. 

Rob

Welcome David!

I like that name.  Catjammies.  You could have a lot of fun with that one. 

Glad to have you aboard.  You've got a very ambitious goal for yourself with a Half Iron late this upcoming summer.  No time like the present to get started training!

Learners permit for the son?  Oh boy, I'm NOT looking forward to that milestone with my kids. 

Its great that your wife is interested in tris.  Thats got to help so much having a built in training partner and additional motivator there with you all the time. 

So you're a swimmer.  Good deal.  Thats a major hurdle for a lot of people getting into tris.  If you can do 1:30/100 yard pace aerobically, you're going to be in the top 10% of swimmers in most any tri you do.   So it seems like we're going to have to get your bike and run up to snuff for your tri.  Fair enough. 

I just took a look at your logs.  Yes, you have taken a bit of time off the last 6 months.    Ok, we'll have to see what we can do to change that. 

Welcome to the group.  Glad you're part of the team!

This group will take 1 more spot.  I think for my first time mentoring, 5 will be the group size.

Brad,

Very glad to hear that the knee is not causing problems.  Thats a big relief!  And not incidently, I think your approach to build up running very gradually is spot on the right approach.  I've learned that lesson the hard way.

You have several questions.  I'll do my best to answer them.  I'm going to wait on the nutrition question when I have more time to piece together a response.

Winter exercise.  You're right, we are indoors a lot more.  For biking, I do 2 things.  1) I have an indoor trainer that I hook my bike to.  I'll ride for an hour or so and watch TV, usually football.  If you could not tell already from my avatar, I'm a big Dallas Cowboys football fan.  So riding my bike on a trainer is one thing that I'll do.  2) I'll participate in spin classes at the gym.  SPinning isnt exactly the same as outdoor biking, but its close enough to be beneficial.  I do try to set up the spin bike to be close to what my regular bike setup is like.  And I also try to make sure my cadence on the spin bike is similar to what I'd use on the road.  Often, the spin instructors want the class to go in a different direction that what I'd prefer as a triathlete.

As for running here in winter, I'm still figuring out what my body can handle.  I am consistently fighting some problems with my calves.  I'm in the process of testing what conditions set it off.  I've eliminated snowy paths.  Pavement, I can do shorter distances, but going long on this surface gives me problems.  I'm still waiting to fully test treadmills.

Some alternatives that I've done in the past is snow shoeing, eliptical trainers, stair climbers, and others.  It just depends on what's available, what seems fun, and what my body seems like its ready to handle.

You had a questions about translating prescribed workouts to an exercise bike.   In contrast to the road, an exercise bike really has 2 ways you can ride it.  1) constant steady state.  2) intervals -  from either heavier resistance or faster leg cadence.  Both have benefit and target slightly different physiologic systems.  Intervals are probably more interesting to do.   They break up the monotony.  And doing them probably more closely mimics road riding.  On the road, you go up hills (increased intensity), go down hills (decreased intensity), maybe come to a stop, etc. 

I'll add some more thoughts when I get some more time.  I at work at the moment and should be doing somethign that I actually get paid to do. 

Teresa,

Welcome!  What a great story you have!  Totally turning your life around like that.  Thats whats so amazing about triathlons, BT, and life in general. 

You definitely have a very nice base established if you've got 600 miles biking, run 15 miles per week, and can do 25 minute mile swims.  You are well on your way to doing great in an Oly and transitioning to a half iron! 

I'm very excited to have each of you in this group.  I think we're going to have a lot of fun razzing each other, and more importantly, helping one another reach our goals.  

Over the next day or so, I'm going to put out some questions for everyone to answer.  I'd like to know what each of you is hoping to achieve in the next year, how you think you're going to go about that, and how the group and BT can help you to that.

Much, much more to come!

Ok, I have to ask...Where did you get the Redskins/Cowboys animated pic? I would love to have it!!!

Scott 

Scott,

I get those from a Cowboys blog that I frequent.  www.theboysblog.com

The avatar itself is from the page http://theboysblog.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/  They have a long list of different images.  My avatar is one of my particular favorites.

And for a REALLY funny avatar, check out David's.  You may have to enlarge the pic to make it out, but its freaking hysterical. 

Good morning everyone!  Hope you all are doing well today. 

A couple of things we need to do.

First, I'd like all of you to log your workouts here on BT.  Most of you already are, but it would be great for everyone to do this.  It will be much easier for everyone to follow what you're doing if its in public view. 

Second, please add all of the team members to your Friends list on your blog.  This also makes it easier for all of us fo follow one another.  I plan on visiting your logs regularly.  Hopefully we'll all be doing that with each other to give Inspires, pointers, or whatever.

Now, with those items covered, I have a question for each of you.  What is it that you want to get out of doing triathlons?

I'll give my answer first.  To me, triathlons are an offshoot from a lifestyle that I've adopted over the last couple of years.  One of fitness, health, proper eating.  I feel so much better, much more energetic and vibrant, since I started eating right and exercising regularly.  Triathalons are a fun thing to do.  They give me a goal to shoot for.  They provide a training focus beyond what I'd do normally.  There is so much positive energy at a race, with so many fantastic people, it is truly one of life's great pleasures to be a part of it. 

So to summarize, triathlons result from having adopted a healthy lifestyle.  They provide an increased training focus.  They are great opportunity to spend time with some of the best people I've ever met on this earth.

Here's a link to the Mentor group instructions that Ron posted.  Its got a lot of good ideas and describes methods for doing things like this. 

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=61917&posts=21&start=1

Copied from that page is:

Add your group to your training log
Add your mentor and other group members to your training log for easy access to view their workouts and to leave comments.  You can configure your training log settings and add these people by username to your 'friends' list via your training log control panel.
 
*You will want to set your log to 'public' for this program so your group can see you.
 

To access the training log control panel, go to your blog page.  Under the "Quick Links" on the left side of hte page nest to the calendar is an icon that looks like a chalk board.  Thats the icon for the control panel.  Once you go to the control panel, click on the "Friends" tab.  There, you will be able to enter everyone's names as well as any others you might want to add.

Ok, want to make sure I have all the correct team members:

catjammies

spokanejo

brideout

teresa

smeador

Correct?

Scott