Manatee Mentors 2016 - Part deux (Page 42)

Well that monkey is finally off my back.  I'm talking to you, SRDP (yearly review process at work)!  DONE! REVIEWED!  I still have a job!

Speaking of coaches, I'm less than happy with mine at the moment.  While he's never been much of an emailer or communicator, this season he's dropped off what little he had done to nothing.  With my race this past weekend, I didn't receive any pre-race emails (I don't think I did last year, either) and no 'how'd things go" email afterward, even though in my race log I wrote comments about what I felt I could've done better or things I wasn't happy with.  Part of me wants to dump him, but yet I want/need his help (by him creating workouts and sort-of answering any questions I may have along the way) to get through the season.  I think next year he will be gone, I'll let him go.  I'm hoping to be able to maybe change to the coach my pal LT switched to this year; he is a complete 180 from my guy as far as feedback and communication, I just have to convince myself I'm worth it, LOL.

Speaking of worth it, what is the group's thought on power meters?  Current coach is selling a Stages crank-based (single leg) power meter and I'm thinking about it, maybe...

I've been reading a book -- Connecting to Change the World -- for work and participating in a discussion about it.  In my mind, I have been using the Manatees as my example social network.  One of the things that I found very interesting is that it pretty much explains why the mentor groups are a good thing (see also, Where Did all the BTers go?);-)

Anywho, this is what I wrote in my training blog about this last week.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I've been reading a book for work called Connecting to Change the World and using the Manatees as my personal example as I think of the ideas discussed in the book.  The book is about building social networks to affect change.  One example is a network of city planners who created a group around sustainability and climate change.  They put together resources to help each other with planning around that topic.

One idea that comes up a a lot in the book is Value Proposition. Generosity of members - what do you want to get out of the network and what do you put into it?  So, using the Manatees as an example, what do I get out of the group?  What can I contribute?  My personal answer is: Getting to know people. Getting and giving support. Giving and receiving advice about s/b/r.  Support.  Connecting to a group of people who can relate.

If you are a Manatee, are you getting what you expect/want/need from the group?

If you are a Manatee, are you getting what you expect/want/need from the group?

Wow, great stuff in here this morning. I had to jump in before I head out to what will be a "read only" morning

Mel, make the switch.

Stacey, I love that you got to go to such a conference and that you are working to put it in to practice!!!

As for the group, I'll explain with an example... When talking with Coach Scott yesterday, on more than one occasion I referred to members of the Manatees, singly or collectively, as friends. With no stipulation that I've never met most of you in person. I can't imagine how much less I would have grown as an athlete these last few seasons without you all. {{group hug}}

As for the meeting with Coach, it went well. We are on the same page. He is going to put together a "proposal" of options i.e. gold, silver, bronze, for me by the weekend so we can fine tune. He was impressed with my current running base :D

Yes, but I feel like I'm a weak contributor though.  The problem I run into is that because this thread moves so fast  I find myself struggling on what to comment on, because I don't want people to feel left out.  TaN was really bad about that, and I don't want us to become that.  Because of all of that I choose to either comment on the more recent topic or not comment at all, hoping someone more active will keep the group involved.  Due to not commenting on other people's topics, I feel like I don't need to post as much about what I'm doing, because I don't want to be the "only posts about myself" guy.  Maybe I put too much pressure on myself.

This isn't a complaint about how active the group is, by the way.  It is great that it moves that fast, but with so many subthreads going on within the thread, we're almost better off with a FB group type format.  That way (unlike in a forum) you can at a glance see what people are saying much faster and join the conversation in a more streamline manner.

You are definitely not a Post Only About Myself or Pop in Only When You Have a Race Coming Up and There's a Problem kinda member, not at all.  I think that we all know that you are paying attention because when we say something like, MS Matt has a power meter you jump right and and give power meter advice!  We'd love to hear more about what you're doing!

Ditto to Stacey!

As for PM, **for me** your two paragraphs sum it up, but I interpret what you've written in an apparently different way.

The second part, about how hard is hard, is exactly what I've found useful in training (and I think the FTP testing is even more useful there).

For racing, though, I've been using my HR to stay at a targeted exertion level and my PM really only to avoid huge excursions (like looking at it after I hear cowbells - which really get me going - or pass someone or am on a hill to make sure I'm spiking silly Watts).  Different application during a race than training.

So, I suppose there are many ways to skin a cat - or justify getting a PM!!!

(of course, it's always fun to look at the data AFTER the race and see how the power numbers compare to what I thought I'd see for a given HR - THAT can be surprising)

Fun to see how people use them differently, too...

Matt

Yes, but I feel like I'm a weak contributor though.  The problem I run into is that because this thread moves so fast  I find myself struggling on what to comment on, because I don't want people to feel left out.  TaN was really bad about that, and I don't want us to become that.  Because of all of that I choose to either comment on the more recent topic or not comment at all, hoping someone more active will keep the group involved.  Due to not commenting on other people's topics, I feel like I don't need to post as much about what I'm doing, because I don't want to be the "only posts about myself" guy.  Maybe I put too much pressure on myself.

This isn't a complaint about how active the group is, by the way.  It is great that it moves that fast, but with so many subthreads going on within the thread, we're almost better off with a FB group type format.  That way (unlike in a forum) you can at a glance see what people are saying much faster and join the conversation in a more streamline manner.

You are definitely not a Post Only About Myself or Pop in Only When You Have a Race Coming Up and There's a Problem kinda member, not at all.  I think that we all know that you are paying attention because when we say something like, MS Matt has a power meter you jump right and and give power meter advice!  We'd love to hear more about what you're doing!

What do you mean by "consistently"? I have read that men tend to stop pedaling more than women. Are you changing cadence a lot? Or completely stopping?

My low cost, fun fix for cadence issues has been a fixed gear bike. It taught me how lazy I am.

Warning: the below might seem like self-horn-tooting (so feel free to just pass on by), but it's really about how lucky I am to work at a great place.  Not tri related, but thought I'd share...

My company just tweeted this from the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas (CPRIT), from whom we have and are just finishing a grant to use next generation sequencing (NGS) to diagnose and direct treatment in cancer.

Only a part of what we do, but a fun part.  I'm very lucky to be able to work someplace where the product is good ONLY when it helps people.  Having been personally affected recently, it's even more weird/great to work on this stuff (we are hopefully about to have the first FDA cleared test in blood cancer, in addition to the NGS products above, and that's from what my mother recently passed).

Sorry if it seems like bragging or such, but there aren't many groups of folks with whom I even CAN share something as geeky/goofy!

Matt