stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL (Page 248)

IMAZ in a few weeks...after that I will be focusing on 13.1 and then a 70.3 in April. I am determined to get a bit faster.  T0 be more Steve-Like.


That bike is all carbon, so I imagine the C is for carbon.


Lisa did a spur of the moment 50K...wow!

NEIL -

I just mentioned the P2C part because when I looked at the photos all I saw was the P2. I think Cervelo has a plain P2, as opposed to the P2C, but I don't know what the difference is. And, of course, I just might be flat-out wrong about two different models!

One of the things I vowed to myself was that I would get - and keep up - to speed
on equipment such as bikes and wetsuits and whatever there is. As it stands now, i have not honored my self-vow. I know I could be more useful to anyone and everyone if I paid attention to gear beyond the insolated times I need something myself. I guess I kinda keep current with running shoes and nutrition, but the big-budget items I just let slide.

All of that is my way of saying I'm sorry I can't give you much advice! What I can say that might be helpful is that the P2C is an incredibly responsive bike -- much more so than the P2K was - and if the P2 you are selling is closely rlated to it, someone will get a very sweet bike.

When I say responsive, I'm referring to how quickly it generates speed when the pedals are, um, pedalled. Cars used to be (and maybe still are) evaluated by how quickly they went from zero to sixty, and that's how I view the P2C -- it is just easy to generate speed.

And Lisa doing a 50km on the spur of the moment?? I genuflect in her general direction!

NEIL again -

Great minds think alike, perhaps?

I too am toying with the idea of emphasizing half irons next year, and am eyeing a few more half-marathons between now and then. But more on that later, including my possibly misguided reasons for thinking this way.

Stay tuned! (Please! I will want youze guys' thoughts!)

JESS -

Ack ! I missed your posts!

Very glad that you're back to feeling human again. Yay for meds!

I hope you have a good cram-bam week of training, and you just might seeing as how you have inadvertently given your legs some much-needed rest. I'm not a big believer in "things happening for a reason", but I strongly believe that good things can develop out of seemingly bad things, and hopefully that is how your recent pestilence will be viewed a bit further down the road. Keep us posted as to how the training is going!

Life is tough right now for you Devils fans, huh? Ouch! However, I think some of the Mets' recent moves are excellent and leave me full of hope. Alderson is a great catch for them, and if they can land J.P. Ricciardi, he'll make some shrewd moves in order to improve their long-term talent pool.

But as for the Jets -- glad to see them crash yesterday. GO PATRIOTS!

(And can you believe randy Moss being let go by the Vikings? Six million for him, they gave up a thrid-round pick.....and he played four games. One of the women in the other group lives in MN and is a huge Vikings fan, and I need to find my diplomatic face before I post to her again! )

LISA -

Why thank you!

(I feel like a scuzzball for fishing for compliments.....but desperate times called for desperate measures, and there it was!)

I was and still am thrilled with it. My outside goal going in was 1:40, but it was just one of those days in which it all came together. It helps that I ran about 20km of the course about ten days before, but I've done that sort of things lots and it doesn't necessarily lead to good results.

And, yes, I felt I still had a fair bit left in the tank. I can't say with any confidnece how much, but I wasn't gassed upon finishing. I had a slight slump around mile 10/11, maybe, but came out of it for the last two miles, i guess.

Doffing the socks was key; I just wasn't going to be comfortable in socks for the first time since early May, most likely. I mean, it almost qualified as "don't wear new gear on race day"!

If you go to www.zoomphoto.ca, and click on 9RunRun, and search for bib #2444, you'll get two pages of photos of me. (Zoom is phenomenal, always shooting a ton at any given race.) If you click on the two in which my image is largest, and which have nice yellow leaves as a backdrop, you can see my fetching accessorizing --- the lump over my left hip is my EFS flask, and the white things hanging from the right top of my tri shorts -- that would be the unworn-but-carried-just-in-case socks! How haute couture is THAT??? (And if you look carefully at the gloves, you can see the musseldude from Musselman -- those gloves were the best part of the Musselman swag!)

More on my 2011 plans shortly. I really do want the opinion of you fine souls, as I'm not sure my reasoning is 100% sound. (Me? Lack of sound reasoning?? Tsk-tsk.)

MINDY -

One way or another, you ALWAYS have something to contribute. And moreover, you needn't feel humbled at all. You're the one who has the biggest juggling act of any of us, what with a job.....and those masochistic kids!

What is the foot pain that you are feeling? Have you mentioned this before, and I've just forgotten? (oh nooooooo.......) Which shoes are you in, and which are looking at getting?

Are you getting any pleasure form the bike these days? you are so lucky to be able to get outside and ride, which I guess is the flip side of suffering through the past horrifically hot summer.

Regards to Ivan!

Warm and squishy thoughts are going out from me to WTC right now. I often grouse and whine about them, but right now I am very impressed with their generous offer of a free 70.3 next year to anyone who was at Miami70.3 this past weekend. Considering that it wasn't even their show that was run (even though it was a 70.3), they have responded in an unexpectedly pleasing way. Between that and scrapping the Ironman Access program, they seem to be trying very hard to listen to the public. (If they listened to me, they'd also scrap the 5150 series.....but I'll be content for now with how they have handled the IA program and the Miami70.3 train-wreck!)









Edited by stevebradley 2010-11-03 6:41 AM

NEIL -

Is there only one "sax" in the triathlon cyberworld? If so, I saw your post on Slowtwitch directed at R10C making fun of the new guy.

He - R10C (formerly Record10Carbon) - has been doing that sort of stuff forever. He is a great one for making fun of newbies, and he also has a way of "collecting" extreme cases (such as what he describes in the post you responded to) that is very disbelievable. One example, maybe; but several? Not likely.

Anyhow, he got fried pretty good in tat thread, and then someone else started an "old triath uuuuuh lete" one directed at him - R10C. Overall he has a following of sorts there and he has said some useful stuff over the years, but it seems as if much of his support system there has vanished; there wewrr very few people defending his stance in that thread.

How is the late-stage training going??

bike and swim are all good...run I am a bit nervous.  My plan is to use good execution to help me.  AS I said before, last year I avg 11:30 pace due to fading at the end.  In that case why run 9 to 9:30 miles.  That is not going to happen this year.  I am committed to running a 10:15-10:30 pace through at least 20 miles.  At that point if I feel good I will make a run for it, but I must stay strong and run a touch slower to hopefully make out in the "long run".

yeah that was me!  R10 just seems like he falls in that lower ego group, needing to "make fun" to feel better.  I posted it earlier, but from the stuff I read on these MB's (bad habit, should probably stop reading) it seems a lot of people are almost embarrassed to be in this sport, they would rather live fake lives as a swimmer, roadie, or runner...heaven forbid they admit to being a triathlete my wearing the proper gear.

I for one, am "that guy" apperntly as I run my marathons in my deSoto tri shorts.  SO apparently everyone is secretly laughing at me during the race.  hmmm, I just think they are better than running shorts, as I can store my stores while preventing the chaff.  hmmm

NEIL -

I figured the bike was feeling good for you, and very pleased for you that the swim also seems good. As for the run, you'll be fine -- especially if you can stick to "good execution". Your thoughts, as you state them, make a great amount of sense, and I would bet my left elbow that you will execute it all to perfection.

Getting giddy with excitement yet?

NEIL again -

Yeah, it's weird that some triathletes dis those of us who run running races in tri shorts. Like you, I've got DeSoto ones with four pockets, and they provide some compressive benefits, so why wouldn't I wear them? Seems like a no-brainer to me!

When I ran Boston Marathon in '04, it was three months before IMLP - my first iron. So, I ran it in my exact tri outfit, just trying to get a feel for what 26.2 would feel like dressed that way. I had always worn conventional running shorts for any road race, including marathons, up until then, but by way of "dress rehearsal" for IMLP, I figured that doing Boston looking like a tri geek was the smart way to do it.

Fortunately, that was the heatfest year of Boston, so dressing minimally did not pose any problems with being too cold -- which is far more commonly the scenerio at Boston in April. I do have to admit that I was one in about 20,000, dressed as I was, but it worked well for me -- and maybe helped me from being one of the hundreds who collapsed or fainted or had to be ambulanced to hospitals because they overheated (were they overdressed?).

Carry on, my favorite IMAZer!

Neil -

How'd your weekend go?

Are you officially in taper territory? If so, congrats! You've worked hard since the stress fracture, and I can't wait to see how you do race day

As for me, another full weekend

Yesterday, I had to go in to work for a while. I slept in, got up, made a pancake breakfast (YUMMM). Then, decided that if I had to go in on a Saturday, I might as well try out my bike commute! It was chilly but beautiful out. It was an absolutely fabulous and fun ride. I cannot wait to start bike-commuting full time in the spring I would do it now - it's been pretty warm out, but with daylight savings now - it would be dark by the time I head home everyday ( =/= 7pmish).

Was my first time on the bike since HVJ (!!!!!) Felt good. Just enjoyed the ride - there were a few good hills.

Went to visit my parents Saturday evening, we had a great dinner.

Today, I did my first (and last, hahaha) 20 miler. Did it on the treadmill, mostly just because I was too lazy drop off waterbottles and get dressed up for the cold. Went FABULOUS. Finished in 2:59:ish. PERFECT. I am ready to rock sub-4. I know it. I listened to "This American Life" the whole time, and watched the NYC Marathon on the TV.

I forgot gels and didn't eat before starting. I was STARVING by mile 17. When I finished, I ate a huge sandwich right away. For some reason, it didn't sit well. My stomach is killing me right now... I've never had stomach problems, weiiird.

JESS -

20 miles on a treadmill = mental toughness x12.
2:59 running without anything solid = some variety of tougnhness x7.

So! Full marks for 20 miles in 2:59 and accumulating valuable toughness points - redeemable in Philly in 14 days!

And congrats on the prototype bike commute ride! Up here, well, with each passing day I am counting my lucky stars that I di not sign up for B2B; the fall weather has beenn miserably msierably, a far gry from the fall forecast issued back in July, probably, that said fall would be much warmer than normal. Sheesh. Ya can't trust nobody no more!

My running has ground to a halt, compliments of several foot issues -- the left big toe bunion, activated after years of dormancy as a result of the half-marathon 15 days ago; possible neuroma symptoms, contracted on last Wednesday's run; sore metatarsal heads, also from that same run. So, I have not run since that run, and decided not to do the Cookie Run 10km yesterday. this might be the official beginning of my running off-season.....but I'll decide that in a few days. I am 99.9% sure that I won't bother with the Rehoboth Beach half-marathon on Dec 11, and now have to think about doing either a 10km or a 10mile race in two weeks. I think the chances are slim, and I'll probably stay relatively inactive until December, picking it up again in order to do well at the Resolution Run 10km on Dec 31.

I guess it's a bummer of sorts, but the season was long and I cannot expect to go forever withoutany ill effects. I will see my sports doc on the 16th about the bunion, and if the feelings I'm having that seem to be neuromaistic are still there, he'll hear about that, too.

Again, well done on 20 miles on the 'mill. Lord have mercy!!!

Steve -

With your mention of foot-pains, I do have a question that has recently arisen. 

I got new shoes last week - same model - Mizuno Wave Rider's.  At first, I put my orthotics in there, but I was getting weird feet aches. I have the dropped met on the left foot, but my right foot was aching, along the outside edge. I was thinking, maybe my orthotics are worn out? Is that possible?

So, I took them out starting on Wednesday. Felt a little weird at first, because my orthotics are only 'half-sies' - they stop before the toes. So it was weird running with the shoe liner which does go under the toes.

Anyway, that felt ok on the right foot, but of course, I had lots of met-head numbness with my left foot. Since I know that can't get worse (right?! It's been like that for years, I'm resigned to the weirdness of it).

Anyway, I guess my questions are:

1) do orthotics 'wear out'? and
2) Can you see any problem with running Philly without them? I ran 20 today without them, and I did have lot of numbness in the right foot. Maybe I should use one of those donut pads and tape the met-head up for the race.

JESS -

Are your orthotics custom-made, or over-the-counter? I would not count on c-m ones wearing out too quickly at all, but maybe if they are some of the newer breed of onces that are somewhat flexible, they might break down more quickly. If they are o-t-c, then I wouldn't expect an overly long life. Years and yrears ago I used green Superfeet, and I thuink they wore out, or at least lost their efficacy, within a year. If yours are c-m, can you call the folks who made them?

As for doing Philly without the orthotics........tough call! You've been in the orthotics for so long, your feet have to have made some adjustments for them. On the other hand, you made it through 20 miles yesterday without them, and aside from foot numbness, I guess you did okay.

Another thought is to exchange the shoes for - hopefully - ones with a less-intrusive arch. I am very sensitive to that sort of thing, and back in the day before I started using Newtons, it was not uncommon for me to find pairs of conventional shoes with offending arches. I attribute that to simply mass-production of them, and glitches that happen through that process.

Yet another thought, thinking about an aching foot along the outside edge (and along where the arch is?), is a subluxed cuboid bone. Did I mention his to you eons ago? Anyhow, I have always managed to resolve mine simply by finding a hard surface (the edge of a low table is perfect) and angling my foot about 45 degreees so the sore side is pressed against the table edge. Just keep it pressed there, maybe slowly moving it back and forth only about 1-2 inches, with the idea being to force a small bone (the cuboid) back up; I think the ache comes from the cuboid dropping down a bit. Google this - subluxed cuboid - and see what you come up with. If nothing else, it will make for an ideal conversation-starter at your next cocktail party!

I hope some small part of all of the above nattering is useful to you. Keep me posted on how you are handling this stuff!

---------------------------WHAT A GIANORMOUS WEEKEND!!!!!------------------------------------------


216.8 miles!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what JESS, NEIL, and LISA will cover on Nov 20 and 21!

(1) ----LISA kicks things off on the 20th with her 50 miles of Stone Mill.

(2) ----JESS comes out on the 21st for her 26.2 miles of the Philadelphia Marathon.

(3) ----NEIL will bring it all home a few hours later having conquered Ironman Arizona.

What a ton of effort, YOU THREE!



(I guess I would like to add a meagre amount to it, by doing Whitby Waterfront 10-miler, but I think that is unlikely. )

And LISA.......are you considering the 56-mile option? (I see the handy-dandy bib punch that will be hanging for a tree or something and that must be used by the hardy souls who do the 56-miler!)

oh boy...I guess it is about that time!

Yup! A few more crisp workouts, I guess,a nd then it's taper-time!

When are you planning to head there?

LISA -

Will you see this? One never knows!

Do you spend any time at the First Endurance website? If not, there are discussion groups for both TTT and IMLP -- if you feel like adding more "social discussion" to your life.

There is also a very detailed Kona nutrition support from Michael Lovato; you might want to check that out. The ones from Donna Phelan and Amy Marsh don't have much detail -- and Marsh's lost me as soon as I saw she uses gummy worms!

It still frustrates me that I can't make EFS work! Yet! I'm still trying, or more realistically, planning to try; I haven't consumed any in over a month.

I have enjoyed the pre-mix from Infinit -- especially the Run one. That's orange, and Ride is lemon-lime, which isn't quite as good. For a pre-mix in an envelope, it's quite loaded.

The quicker link to the cooler stuff at First Endurance is www.team.firstendurance.com.

And that's that.

Steve -

What a wise man you are. I love how we've all been together so long that you can remember that I've had similar pains before (I have! I totally forgot about it!) and that we've discussed this before. I would bet $5 - though I'm too lazy to comb through our threads, haha - that my previous experiences with this kind of pain was also at a point where I just got new shoes.

My orthotics are the hard, custom-kind - I got them done at the podiatrist back in 2007, right after I was told I have the dropped met head. That was right before my first marathon - Marine Corps. So I've used them for 2 marathons, 2 half irons, and all training since November 2007 essentially. They're approximately 3 years old. They really do wonders for the numbness from the met-head: literally within 20 minutes of running in shoes without them, my foot goes numb.

ANYWAY - I put them back in. They seem to have settled in better. Pain on the side of the other foot has diminished. Crisis averted.

Otherwise, I'm ready? Starting to obsess about the weather forecast? I ordered a pair of arm warmers, and they came in yesterday. I've always wanted a pair - they'll come in handy for future training/races, and I thought it would be good to use them in the morning since it might be chilly. I'll also probably wear capri-length running tights. Maybe shorts, but it depends on the weather. Right now, forecast high is around 45, so it'll be chilly at the start.

Steve - did you see that email about HVJ today? So sad! I thought they had a fantastic race. Suitably challenging, beautiful area, and a fantastic post-race party

How is your foot feeling? When is the doctors appointment again?

Rode my bike to work this morning. It was aboslutely amazing I might try making this a nearly-full time thing.

Of course, I also got my first flat. I have NEVER flatted out on the road (ok once, in Belgium, but I had my host-brothers there to fix it ). I fixed today's flat all by myself! Took less than 10 minutes.

But! I forgot to check the inside of the tire before I put the new tube in. So now my bike is in my office and it seems to have gone flat again. Oh well, I'll have the gearhead two offices down help me out I bet he has a patch kit in his car, since I have no spare tubes left.

JESS -

Ten minutes to fix your flat -- that's about my going rate! I read about the guy who won IMFL, AND he won big, AND he spent about four minutes fixing his flat. Four minutes is a decent goal, I think, and his experience versus mine at West Point this year just supports the truism that one can flat in a long race and still have lots of time to gain back lost time, whereas in the shorter races it's kind of S.O.L. for hopes of finishing high up. (Although even with my 9-11 minutes at W.P., I somehow managed to go psycho enough on the bike and run to get 2nd a.g.........but I don't ever want to do THAT again!)

Only after getting back on the road aftetr the W.P. did I realize that I had not done a rub-through of the inner walls of the tire. So that just added to the manicness of the rest of the bike -- fretting that the offending object was still there. (It wasn't --- WHEW!!!) A big part of the flat-in-a-reace thing is keeping cool and not feeling that the sky has fallen. At West point, i figure I was only about halfway there --- still have a ways to go to deal effectively, mentally, under that kind of duress. There's a good goal to set for when I hit 80

Moving on.....

As a compromise between running shorts and capri, why not your tri shorts -- especially if they have pockets! Neil and I had a quick blitz of camaraderie about this a week or two ago, and the more I have thought about it, the more I feel that is the way to go. seeing as how I am not a fuel-belter, having someplace to carry stuff is incredibly useful. At 9RunRun half-mar a few weeks ago, the right pocket server famously for my EFS gel flask, and were I to do a full marathon again, I would find uses for the other three pockets. My tri shorts are DeSoto Forza -- the four-pocket variety.

Waht is the extended forecast for next weekend? NEXT WEEKEND!! How exciting is that?

I propose that you are fully/mostly/virtually/completely ready for next weekend. I further propose that weather is your biggest potential problem, but late Nov.....Philly....how bad can it rally get? FWIW, my last stand-alone marathon (well, before Boston) was on about Nov 28 just north of Baltimore, and the weather could not've been better. In faxct, by the end I might've liked it had it been a degree or two cooler, which probably is about the range of what you're looking at in Philly, a week earlier than mine.

And returning to you and the bikle commute, that is just realy fine that you are loving it so. And just wait until spring is in full form. Hot diggity!

Finally, yes, way too bad about HVJ. I still think it gets hammerrd by being the week after Timberman, and for the next two years he also faces being the week after the USAT Nationals AND Sprint Championships, held in Burlington. So, he is wise to move away from that race-and-date, unless until after 2012 which is the second and last year of the USAT contract with Burlington. Good for Jerrod, too, that at least Lake Dunmore has been awarded staus as a qualifier for the Nationals!

My soulution?
(1) Change the name from something so airy-fairy to something a bit more agressive. Definitely NOT a something-man race, but at least holding some regional flavor. Green Mountains Half-Iron? Rattlesnake Point Half-Iron?
(2) Take the "new" race (which will probably be like Lake Dunmore) and keep it there. Then take the current date of Lake Dunmore - or even a week earlier - and bill it as a tune-up for Timberman. Heck, move it back to the last full weekend in July and have it on the lkae Placid weekend -- for the biulk of the masses who aren't racing there, but might still like a long-distance race under their belt. At that point it would even be a better tune-up for Timberman!

I plan to write him at some point, if for no other reason than to give him some support that it IS a pretty special venue and that i hopehopehope it returns -- sooner than later!

If you disappear for a few days, have a great weekend!