The athlete thread

[CHEMIKER]

I noticed (interestingly enough, in the "going to quit drinking" thread :BLAA: ) that there are a couple of athletes on here. What's your passion?

I'm training for my first marathon on May 1st. The hard part of my training is done, ran my long 20 mile workout last Thursday. Now I'm on my "taper", running short workouts but resting a lot getting ready for race day. I know Lefty is getting tired of hearing that I can't ride because I have to run, so he'll be happy when my race is over LOL.

Right after recovery from my marathon I start training for my first triathlon in June. No rest for the wicked right?

In the past, I've run 3 half marathons, and a handful of 10K and 5K races. I'm not super fast, but I always get there :thumbup:

 

[Hellgate]

I've been a life long athlete. The two sports I always come back to are cycling and skiing. This year was my 40th season skiing. The only one I missed was '06 while I was in Iraq.

I am currently shooting archery, "3D Shoots", with my son, and I help coach his flag football team.

I'd been a runner since middle school and my career peaked at the Junior Olympics for Cross Country in 1982. After three knee surguries I no longer run, but I do walk about an hour a day at a fast march pace.

I've also raced bicycles forever. I was a CAT 3 on Road, and for Cyclocross. In 2005 I placed second in the Texas Mens Masters Cyclocross championship.

This year I really want to focus on track days with the R6. I lift weights, walk and cycle to stay fit.

 

[CHEMIKER]

I've been a life long athlete. The two sports I always come back to are cycling and skiing. This year was my 40th season skiing. The only one I missed was '06 while I was in Iraq.

I am currently shooting archery, "3D Shoots", with my son, and I help coach his flag football team.

I'd been a runner since middle school and my career peaked at the Junior Olympics for Cross Country in 1982. After three knee surguries I no longer run, but I do walk about an hour a day at a fast march pace.

I've also raced bicycles forever. I was a CAT 3 on Road, and for Cyclocross. In 2005 I placed second in the Texas Mens Masters Cyclocross championship.

This year I really want to focus on track days with the R6. I lift weights, walk and cycle to stay fit.

Cyclocross, cool! I just put cyclo tires on my road bike, but just for fast trail riding where I don't want my mountain bike. Haven't been to a cyclo track yet, but I want to someday.

 

[Erci]

Wow.. nice goals and accomplishments so far!

I'm currently training for a solo century (100 mile solo bicycle ride in 1 day .. no support). Been seriously into cycling (XC, DH, road and a bit of trials) for about 12 years now.
Been into snowboarding for about 6 years now.
Been lifting for about 20 years now.. never aspired to be a bodybuilder though. Just want to be lean and strong.

 

[Erci]

Cyclocross, cool! I just put cyclo tires on my road bike

Be careful. Road frames don't have as much tire clearance as CX ones. If the tires you put on are relatively fat and you're gonna ride through some mud, it'll quickly start eating away at the chainstays. Of course the bottom bracket is also lower on road frames which makes it less than ideal for trail riding.

 

[CHEMIKER]

Wow.. nice goals and accomplishments so far!

I'm currently training for a solo century (100 mile solo bicycle ride in 1 day .. no support). Been seriously into cycling (XC, DH, road and a bit of trials) for about 12 years now.
Been into snowboarding for about 6 years now.
Been lifting for about 20 years now.. never aspired to be a bodybuilder though. Just want to be lean and strong.

Nice! I've never ridden a century, but might this year. There is a century on the same day when I normally run my local 1/2 marathon in October, so I have a decision to make. Solo would be nuts! How do you carry all your supplies??

I used to lift weights but haven't made the time lately. I need to get back into the habit of well-rounded fitness rather than just the distance stuff I've been doing.

 

[CHEMIKER]

Be careful. Road frames don't have as much tire clearance as CX ones. If the tires you put on are relatively fat and you're gonna ride through some mud, it'll quickly start eating away at the chainstays. Of course the bottom bracket is also lower on road frames which makes it less than ideal for trail riding.

Thanks! I would consider a cyclo bike if I ever wanted to get into it for sure. I just didn't want to ride in gravel and on dirt with my slicks any more - too slippery. But yeah I don't get too crazy with this setup, just commute on trails to work and back.

 

[Erci]

Nice! I've never ridden a century, but might this year. There is a century on the same day when I normally run my local 1/2 marathon in October, so I have a decision to make. Solo would be nuts! How do you carry all your supplies??

Road Camelbak (water, food, tools, wallet, phone) + water bottle.. that's all I should need.

 

[sniff6]

I noticed that there are a couple of athletes on here. What's your passion?

:

Phew m8 i get out of breath running a bath. Let alone a marathon!!!But well done and good luck:thumbup:

 

[spdyike]

Growing up, I was a avid runner from age 5-19. Was pretty good; sub 4:30 mile, 52 sec 1/4 mile, 16:00 5k. Also played a lot of Basketball. Messed up my knee pretty bad playing Squadron basketball back in 2002, had surgery in 2004. Been doing enough to pass PT test since.

NEW LOVE: My wife and I started doing Crossfit back in Jan. I freakin love it. If you've never heard of it just google crossfit or crossfit games. It's addicting.

Anyone else heard of it?

 

[FloppyRunner]

High school and collegiate Cross Country and Track and Field athlete here; 10,000 was my favorite.

It's been more than three years since I've been outta school and I still can't get on a consistent schedule balancing work and running. It sucks when competing is no longer basically your job.

But I'm still trying. I was always saying I didn't want to run a marathon until I had accomplished everything I thought I could in the 5,000 and 10,000, but lately I've been thinking that at this point a marathon isn't going to hurt either of those because I'm not training intensely enough anyway...

Lift a lot too, but I left for definition and tone. No roid-rage or "how big are my biceps today" here.

 

[Erci]

Growing up, I was a avid runner from age 5-19. Was pretty good; sub 4:30 mile, 52 sec 1/4 mile, 16:00 5k. Also played a lot of Basketball. Messed up my knee pretty bad playing Squadron basketball back in 2002, had surgery in 2004. Been doing enough to pass PT test since.

NEW LOVE: My wife and I started doing Crossfit back in Jan. I freakin love it. If you've never heard of it just google crossfit or crossfit games. It's addicting.

Anyone else heard of it?

Crossfit is NUTS! Too intense for me. Maybe if I was 10 years younger..

 

[CHEMIKER]

I still can't get on a consistent schedule balancing work and running.

That's a constant struggle. Between work, grad school, and kids, I was only running a fraction of what I wanted to several years ago. I'm just now getting to the point where I can work out consistently, and it's largely due to my wife being so supportive.

 

[dstaffx]

:mikebike:

Mountain biking for me. Haven't done it in a few months though as I had a kid and bought a house so my weekends are pretty busy. Hardly enough time for a spin on the FZ6.
The best events I did are Trans-Wales. A 7 day mountain bike event that covers between 50 - 90 miles a day. The cycling was grand but it rained for all of the 7 days. 2008 was the wettest August on record for Wales I believe

Also did a couple of 24 hour events. There great craic as we did them in a team. Some crazy extreamests do it solo.

:mikebike:

 

[dstaffx]

....and it's largely due to my wife being so supportive.

Supportive partners are a BIG help. I have to say my other half is great.:thumbup::rockon::thumbup::rockon:

 

[greg]

I'm a crossfiter too, been doing it for a few years now. Also interested in movnat and barefoot running, I also like running up hills

Ran the manchester 10k barefoot last year, which was quite fun and painful at the same time.

Currently training at the crossfit amsterdam box, previously I trained crossfit by myself in a globo gym so it's a nice change

 

[MHS]

I ran cross country in middle school, that's about where my athlete stopped and wasn't even good at it then.

I do an "Insanity" workout video 5-6 times a week, and some days run a few miles on the elliptical, but in no way am I an athlete or even in shape.

 

[Sotex]

Great thread, it's very cool to see what some of the folks here are up to.

My personal form of joy (and pain) is endurance road cycling. It's a non-competitive form called randonneuring -- basically riding to complete a set course within set time limits, while having to pass through checkpoints along the way within max/min time windows. No personal outside support is allowed except at checkpoints, although organizers sometimes include neutral support of varying degrees.

Anyway, it's sort of a throwback form of cycling that originated in Europe in the early 1900s and is increasing in popularity now, with organizations holding events around the world. The main sanctioning body is in France.

We do single events from 125 miles up to 750 miles (actually set out in kilometers, with traditional distances of 200/300/400/600/1000/1200 km), all as "one stage" -- once the clock starts on your event, you're on and the time keeps ticking until you cross the finish line, sometimes days later for the long events. It's all about finishing, period, and not about finishing before the guy or gal riding next to you.

The American national organization is Randonneurs USA -- I'm serving a term on the board of directors at the moment and would be glad to answer any questions anyone might have -- always looking for more riders (Erci?)!

Off the soapbox now...

Best of luck to everyone on their goals!

 

[mxgolf]

I am very active. From going to the gym 3-4 times a week to golfing. I like to hike a lot and riding my dirt bike. I still shoot hoops a lot and bowl or frizbee golf. I've never been much into running. I do snow ski however and it's probably my most favorite sport. I ride my mountain bike some but not like I used to however. I would rather use a throttle. I probably forgot some (getting old) but a great thread. Thanks :thumbup:

 

[Nelly]

I noticed (interestingly enough, in the "going to quit drinking" thread :BLAA: ) that there are a couple of athletes on here. What's your passion?

I'm training for my first marathon on May 1st. The hard part of my training is done, ran my long 20 mile workout last Thursday. Now I'm on my "taper", running short workouts but resting a lot getting ready for race day. I know Lefty is getting tired of hearing that I can't ride because I have to run, so he'll be happy when my race is over LOL.

Right after recovery from my marathon I start training for my first triathlon in June. No rest for the wicked right?

In the past, I've run 3 half marathons, and a handful of 10K and 5K races. I'm not super fast, but I always get there :thumbup:

I used to run five miles a day before we had children.
I had never run to any extent before. At the start it took me 3 weeks just to get to a mile. That was actually my goal lol. If I could run a mile I would class myself fit.
The bug kind of got me. I went on to train for a half marathon in 2005.
My marathon training program culminated with a big run of 10 miles, 5 days before the big day.
That morning I had the best run I ever. I was feeling really relaxed and happy with my effort.
When I got to my house at the end of the run I inverted my ankle on the door step.
I ruptured the ligaments and could not weight bare for 7 days. I missed the marathon and was gutted. Then our beautiful children came along and I got lazy.
Now at 40 I have started to re-evaluate my health again. I need to start exercising.
My motivation is that I recently discovered that I have a cholesterol level of 7. And a good family history of heart disease.
Well done fellas I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Nelly
PS for anyone thinking of starting to run I can’t over emphasise the importance of warming up and warming down. Also buy the best running shoes you can afford, and if possible have them fitted at a running shop. The proper shoes took 30 seconds off of my initial mile times.