My husband isn't and hasn't ever been a runner, but he did start walking on my treadmill about 2 months ago and he's lost about 10-15 pounds so far. I don't know if he will ever run, but you never know.

SGeranium - Yeah the race is next weekend and it will be my first running only event and therefore longest. Hehe. I plan on doing a half mary in the spring, but I haven't picked out which race yet. I'm feeling pretty good about it I did a 9mi run tonight so I know I can do the distance just not very fast!

Weight loss: I just use my bodybugg which is basically just calorie counting and working on your deficit. (I try and aim for 1000 or so a day) so yeah it's basically the same old same old, but I do find having it graphed out helps a whole lot. It's really interesting to see how little you burn doing some things and how your overall daily activity can really boost your overall burn.

paperclippy - You're really getting speedy!! Woo Hoo! Swimming class is going well thanks for asking. Were mostly just doing drills and such. I did swim on my own today (2000yds) and I figured out a few things to improve my form, so their comments have helped. Makes me think individual lessons would be good maybe if I can afford them in the spring.

Hey did you guys see on "Diet Tribe" the TV show they are doing a triathlon? It's on Fridays... on Lifetime I think?

Muse, good luck on the race!

Geranium, my weight loss plan is just calorie counting. I aim for under 1400 cals/day M-F, usually hit around 2000 on Saturday when I have my "cheat" meal (meal where I can eat whatever I want in whatever quantity I want), and somewhere between 1200-1600 on Sunday. In terms of what I actually eat, I take sort of a whole foods approach. Lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean protein. I am not afraid of carbs and I eat bread, rice, and pasta pretty much every day. My primary rules are (1) only one restaurant meal per week, (2) no dessert on weekdays, and (3) no second helpings.

The other part of my plan is exercise. Right now I'm doing HIIT runs MWF and strength training (new rules of lifting for women book) TTh, with the weekend as "active rest" days.

Diet tribe meet and consume afternoon...... So I had never heard of diet tribe and quick search-a-roo told me I could watch me the whole thing on line for free....... Please don't judge to harshly I've been home with sick children for a week; or has it been forever (read sick myself now and STIRCRAZY)???...... Any who thanks for the show heads up it's kind of everything I've ever hoped TBL would be. Good TV, plus I talked to two girlfriends last night.

So do you have girlfriends to race, train , diet etc in reallife?

I have fallin' into the "I work out a lot what could it hurt" trap. It is hard to find the balance of enough calories to fuel what I'm doing and not make me a CHORE to live with, but enough of a deficit to lose.

Yeah calories are always a struggle. I try and listen to my body if it needs a day of more calories once in awhile I don't sweat it. Lots of people warned me though training for an IM and losing weight are sometimes hard to do at the same time. This is why I'm trying hard to get most if it off before spring.

I haven't watched the first season of Diet Tribe, but I plan to get around to watching it too. I try and watch most of my stuff on the treadmill while running/walking so I don't feel too guilty!

Idealmuse: Congrats on the run. I hope your feeling better. Your new pic is adorable.

Clippy: I hope your well and running fast......

hey ladies. looking for some advice for a wanna be beginner triathlete on a bike purchase

I recently started to bike twice per week, either spinning, indoor on the trainer on a nice Trek road bike (not mine), or outdoors on a cheap walmart road bike GMC Denali. I have very little experience on the bike and still feel a little nervous on roads and intersections and tentative about using the brakes and drops. I also have some pain in my back with an aggressive riding position. i would like to do some duathlons and tris next summer. I'm a competitive person but I definitely am not going to be trying to place or anything.

I want to replace the cheapo road bike but I'm torn on whether I should go for a hybrid or road bike. I want to be comfortable on long training and race rides but I also don't want to feel unnecessarily slow.

What do you gals think?

Lobon, I have a hybrid bike that I got back in college for riding to class. It's comfortable enough for doing sprint tri's, but if I ever move beyond that level I will probably get a road bike. My bike has 24 speeds but I find that I only ever use the top 5 or so. Maybe a road bike would have higher gears that would go faster? It does seem kind of silly to me to be riding in my highest gear a lot of the time, but on the other hand I don't have a very high rpm so I still have plenty of room to improve with my current bike.

Idealmuse recently introduced me to this thread and I'm writing to say hi!

I haven't yet registered for a triathlon but am definitely doing one in mid-April. Mostly, I can't figure out if I want to do a sprint or an Olympic, so I'm putting off the decision til I see how the training is going. I'm mostly intimidated by the really hilly course and I don't know if I want to challenge myself that much on my first tri, or if I'll even be able to finish (which is my goal for the first one).

Regardless, it'll definitely be The Rage in the Sage tri in Vegas, though, so I'm kind of excited to beat myself up in the morning and then hit the town in the evening. I guess that's added incentive

And there's also another triathlon around here in late June so maybe I'll do the sprint in Vegas and train for the Olympic here. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Anywhos, I've been working on developing a training plan, and it looks like my week will be swim, bike, run, swim, bike, run, rest, with varying speeds and intensities depending on the workout. My town is also very big on triathlons so maybe once I get a good base, I'll go to some of the local triathlon club workouts because I'm pretty sure I can't keep up right now.

Au - If it's anything like my Tri-club they have people of all levels. You may be one of the slower ones but I doubt the only one. I'd suggest checking it out. My club is rather large so they have a whole program with newbie clinics and so on...

Lobon - If you at all think your going to do more the one Tri... I'd highly suggest the road bike. A road bike if fit properly to your body (make sure you get fitted at the store by a person and not just standing over the bike kinda fit) will be just as comfortable if not more so then one where you sit more upright believe it or not. I used to get numb hands on long rides with my old hybrid but not with my road. It doesn't take as much time to get used to as you might think. I had never ridden a road bike until a few months before my first Tri. Anyway, a road bike will get you a few MPH faster over dirt/hybrids with the same biking effort and there is usually "room to grow" as far as gearing.

BTW for the new people:

"The Slow Fat Triathlete" if you haven't read it already is a great/funny book for timid beginners. It's the thing that sparked my interest in thinking I could try one some day.

Welcome Au!

My parks department is offering another session of adult swimming lessons and I think this time I will sign up early to get in (signups start tomorrow). The session is basically one month long of a 45-minute group lesson MW 7:15-8:00pm for $65 total. I think I will sign up for one month and see if after that I feel like I need more coaching or if I just want to go it alone. I do think I need some help right now though.

Question for you guys though -- if I'm going to be swimming from 7-8pm, when do I eat dinner?

It's been pretty quiet lately, so I thought that I'd mention that I finally registered for my first triathlon! I opted for the Olympic distance since I have the time to train. SO...

April 17th in Vegas I will become a triathlete!

Aug - congrats how exciting! Did you pick out a training plan?

Jess - Before swimming I generally either grab a latte or light sandwich. You don't want too much squishing around while your swimming. I've never had issues with eating something light despite the old wives tale about waiting a certain time length between swimming and eating.

Not much going on here. I did some run intervals at 6.0mph the other day... that was kinda cool. Only 2mins at a time (and then 3 jog) but hey it's progress!

Ideal - I'm going to be doing a 20-week plan I found in a book: Triathlon Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide

I like that it has a bunch of levels of workouts, so I can do more advanced stuff for swimming, while still starting slow for running. And it's super detailed, which I really like.

So that "officially" starts on Dec 28, but I've been doing something most days of the week now, trying to get some sort of base before the real training begins.