stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL (Page 219)

speedwork defiinitey, neil!!!  i love speedwork.  we've started doing a 1x week track session and I love it.  it's so funny because i was in track and high school and i would feign illness on interval days.  i was such a sissy in high school.  no doubt, i am in better shape now than when i was 16-18.  i wish i had known my potential then, but hind sight...i'm sure you've heard about it.

so, my ftp test on the bike friday was okay.  7% improvement since the end of january.  i was a little disappointed in that.  i don't know what i was expecting.  i had done one of these test on 12/31/09 and then another on 1/21/10 and there was 7% improvement during that period.  i guess i was hoping for more from jan to april.....but as my coach keeps telling me, i don't want to peak yet.  anyway, just the 7% from jan to april would translate to roughly a full mph improvement.  i'll take a full mph improvement in any race.

i've been kind of derailed on the running these last few weeks because of a massive blister issue that turned into an infection.  it has been really painful and not fun at all.  there were a couple days in there that i could barely walk to get around.  it's been incredibly frusturating to feel physically great otherwise, but to not be able to run at the level i want because of the foot pain.  ryan has been dutifully applying antibiotic cream and bandages, and they seem to be getting a little better.  i am going to try for a run tonight and see how far i get.  i don't want to push it because i have the cherry blossom 10 miler this weekend.

not sure what i'll do on the cb 10-miler.  not sure if i'll try to "race" it or just use it as a pretty training run.  it's a "c" race for us, so our coach has us training through it.  we have a 3.5 hour bike ride and a 30 min brick run on saturday and then the race on sunday.  we'll see.  my training plan currently looks for it to be a training run......i don't honestly think i will be able to keep that mindset at the start line.  i would at least like to beat my time from last year, which wasn't slow  (8min/mile).  i guess it will also depend on if the feet are cooperating

did i mention that ryan got a new bike?  he got an orbea ora.  it's beautiful.  he loves it.

first tri in just over a week!!!!!!!!!  getting nervous!!!!  i agree, mindy, a certain amount of nervousness is good.  i've never done a tri this early though as "practice" for other tris that i care about.  i'm feeling like i haven't done enough transition practice, and i have definitely not done enough visualization to guide me through the process as a whole (transitions especially).  lots to be done this up coming week to prepare.

there is a group of about 20 of our team that is heading to rumpass for the tri next week and since it's nobody's "A" race we're using it as a training camp.  bike/run on friday, race/another swim/another ride on saturday, run on sunday.  sound fun?  i'm not sure yet.  crazy people.

nathan, you're still coming to Eman, right?!  I'm looking forward to meeting you and hopefully seeing Jess again!

steve, any races coming up?

hope you are all well!

Lisa, good luck on your upcoming tri!  I think you are the first tri-race of the season.  I hope that this season is all you hoped it would be after your hip surgeries and recuperating of last year.  I'm finding it hard to motivate much past the 3-5 mile maintenance runs lately.  I ran 4 miles outside yesterday, and with our pollen counts at 3000 have been paying for it ever since.  I am so glad that we seem to have finally said good bye to winter though.  I am definitely a hot weather person! Just got back from a long weekend at the beach and it was sooo great.  Wishing it were summer now.

Neil, you are not the kind of person to have no plan so I suspect you will, in fact, have a plan very soon.  Just keep it flexible so you can make last minutes changes if necessary.  Good luck on the house and job.  Those are two large life transitions to have to go through them at the same time! 

Steve, Patty, Nathan and the rest of you (if you are out there lurking...) hope all is well!

got our cherry blossom bibs:

ryan is bib  4397
I am 4396
http://www.cherryblossom.org/

I'm not sure if there is race day tracking.  I would really just like to beat my time from last year.  That, I've decided is my only goal.  You're right, steve,  after a big training day tomorrow, I'm not expecting to be in the strongest form for Sunday.  For me, it's just going to be a fun early test to see how the longer distance running is coming along. 

I did a quick 2.5 mile run off the bike (55miles) last weekend and paced 7:28s.  I was happy with that.  I need to pace 7:34 at Eman to hit my goal time.  I still have 2 months to go, and the bike distance was the same as Eman....and it was a ridiculously hilly, nay, mountainous, course. 

We had our first hill repeats training this week.  i wish i could say that was fun.  6 repeats of a nice 105 foot climb over .3 miles.  i was nervous i would just fall over to the side, but as it turns out the worst part was going downhill.  steep downhills on active roads scare the crap out of me.  i think i rubbed my brakes flat.

the feet are doing much better.  i've cut some of my runs short this week to give them some more healing time.  when i was in the newtons i had blister issues that were right underneath the outside corner of the lugs.  i loved the shoe, but the blisters were killing me.  i changed to the nike lunarracer and got the WORST blister ever in the history of blisters under the base of my middle toe, but the old ones from the newtons healed up.  so, my plan now is to get another pair of newton motions (my old ones were shot) and alternate them with the lunarraces.  i figure since they hit me in different places, alternating them will give my feet a chance to heel and hopefully build up some calluses in the area.  not sure if this makes sense, but it's all i've got now.

yes, the improvement on the wattage since dec 31st is 15%.  I suppose i should be happy with that, but i feel like it should be better.  chronically unsatisified, i guess.

I'm sure the training alone gets very boring and very isolated.  I actually am finding that i am more of a loner in my training.  I'll go to the group stuff, but then stay to myself a little.  ....especially with running, i like being along.  the biggest benefit of the group is mental.  when i'm really feeling lazy and don't want to work out, i know there are a ton of other teammates that are out training and improving themselves.  not wanting to fall behind is typically what motivates me out the door.  that's fine for training, but with race season about to start in full swing i need to remind myself that i can't have my race goals be linked to how others perform.  there are two other women in my age group that are really fast.  i keep dreaming about beating one of them (the other is just out of reach right now), but it's bad news.  I don't want to have a really great race and then feel disappointed in anyway based off of my rankings.  it's a tricky thing when comparing yourself to others is motivating for training, but it isn't a good idea for races.  it's hard to turn on and off.  not sure if i'm making sense or just blathering. 

i'm sorry your season is not coming along the way that you had probably hoped.  you've had a big stress with the loss of lynn's father.  these things take a toll way deeper than you would have ever expected, i'm sure.  being sick doesn't help.  take it easy on yourself.  do the races that will make you happy, the ones that you would be excited about.  otherwise, what's the point.  ...I am selfishly hoping, though, that you make it to columbia.

ryan's bike is the Orbea Ora.

Neil, those are some sweet paces!!!  looks like you could have an awesome season in front of you!!!

Keep plugging away Mindy.  There is plenty of time to add on more mileage later!

Hi Patty!  Hi Nathan!

I hope you are all well.

quick note!

jess, nice hearing from you for starters!!!

so good news and bad news from this weekend.

on our long ride yesterday ryan was hit from the rear by another cyclist who didn't see the group slowing.  he swooped in on the right and sheared off ryans rear derailer completely off and broke a spoke.    his bike isn't a month old   he was a little sad.  a lot sad actually.  we took it to the tri shop and they should be able to have it fixed by thursday, which is good since our first tri is next weekend.  he's saddest about the scratch that is on it.  poor boy. 

so yesterday we did everything you shouldn't do before a race.  i rode 53 miles of a really hilly course, it took us 4 hours of walking around dc to get our race packets, and we were so hungry and late that we each ate a 12 inch pizza for dinner.  great pre-race nutrition.

...so the good news is that we finished in roughly 1:16:20.  that is over a 4 minute pr from last year.  we were both really happy with that.  ...and we definitely didn't finish feeling like we were dying.  ...and we finished together.  great day. 

i'll write more later.  gonna take a nappy nap.