stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL (Page 26)

2009-02-22 10:05 PM

in reply to: #1975597

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

MINDY -

Yay! You made it to the wonderfully-named Silver Comet Trail!

How did the new bike feel on what was maybe its first serious outside ride? First rides on new bikes are among the sweetest things on earth. Unfortunately, for most of us they don't come around that often ---- but when they do they are SO sweet!

Never speak ill of cross winds, as they are present more often than not - or so it seems. Like horses, they can sense fear or animosity, and will respond accordingly. Cross winds make much better friends than enemies. I may not know much, but I know what I know about cross winds!

2009-02-22 10:09 PM

in reply to: #1976505

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

Hey! Top of the page! I win Trevor's and Mindy's gel awards! Hurray!

TREVOR and MINDY -

Your gel awards are assembled and ready to be sent. If it's Tuesday from NY, they should be to you by the weekend. If it's Tuesday from here (Ontario), think about mid-April. Aw, no, not really --- but definitely not by the wekend!

Anyhow, I'll let you know when I've sent them, and from where.

2009-02-22 10:11 PM

in reply to: #1976508

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

THATGIRL!

Jess! I apologize! You wrote a day or two ago, and I forgot about it until now -- which is bedtime. I will get to you tomorrow, I promise!

Have you gotten decent rest after that ordeal of night classes??

ThatGirl

2009-02-22 10:49 PM

in reply to: #1896958

Expert

745

Bethesda, MD/Northern NJ

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

Haha, actually, I JUST walked in the door. I just got home from over 12 hours at school on a SUNDAY. It was Law Review elections this weekend, which is probably meaningless for everyone else in the world, but for us, it was fairly similar to electing a new pope... It required being stuck in a room, negotiating over suitable candidates for any number of positions, and finally getting 20 egos to agree. It was torture.

I like the idea of a top three goals for the week, and mine are similar to Lisa's:

1) Hit every scheduled workout. I was fairly close last week (only missed Monday), but I'd like to finally make this mythical status this week.

2) Monitoring EATING. Needs to be done. Meal schedule is way out of wack.

3) Get in a long ride outside next weekend. Due to elections/weather, I was stuck on the trainer for two hours yesterday night. I also wasn't able to ride outside last weekend because I was sick. So I want to get in a good, long outside ride next weekend, regardless of weather!

And Steve, no worries if you don't respond! The act of writing and formulating thoughts is very helpful and cathartic And I love reading the back and forths between everyone! And I'm jealous of where Neil lives!

Oh, and I'll join Lisa in eating a whole chicken raw if it will make me as fast as Grace!! My 10k pr is like 50:25, and that was at the Pike's Peek 10k race last spring. I don't know if you're familiar with it, Lisa, but it's basically straight downhill on the Rockville Pike for 6 miles. Very much like cheating

Ok computer's battery is about to die, as is mine. Night all!

mindymcc

2009-02-23 7:07 AM

in reply to: #1976505

Veteran

481

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

Steve, the first ride was great! I didn't fall over once. I was worried about being saddle sore but no problems whatsoever. I practiced a lot changing gears and had no problems getting in/out of the clips. I'm looking forward to the next time I can go back there. You have to dodge a few runners/walkers/etc for the first few miles but it is great not to have to worry about cars. I only rode about 14 miles. My much faster husband rode about 22. He said the path thins out considerably after the 7 mile mark or right around my turnaround point. I either need to ride longer or start further down the trail to avoid the foot traffic, but it wasn't too bad. Most people obey the standard traffic rules. It's the little kids that worry me as they are a bit unpredictable. All in all, I'm happy with my bike!

2009-02-23 7:42 AM

in reply to: #1974284

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

JESS -

Rise and shine! (No? Not yet?)

Is today a day off for you, in terms of school commitments? That was more cruel and unusual punishment yesterday, it sounds like. Is there any rest for the weary or the wicked?

Yes, I will definitely be happy to package up a bunch of drink mixes and send them along to you. I guess I would go with one bottle's worth of each of what I have, and then if there is one that seems to work for you, I can send along a second, larger sample of that so you can verify its efficacy. ("verify its efficacy" ---- did I really just say that???)

My guess for the added protein in the GL formulation is that it's there partly for muscle repair, but mostly so that over the course of the event the body doesn't cannibalize the muscle cells to access protein. Now, the question one might ask is what if the event is both long and hot, and in that case I would use the GL one and try to add my electrolytes through other sources. (More on that later.)

Somewhere I have the specifics of my own personal formulation, but it's easier to go back to the sliders and locate the history of my orders with them. (Actually, this is a history of what formulas I have conjured up and sort of registered there, without necessarily ordering at that time.) When I do this, I'll tell you how to get into my file (it's not exactly a top-secret operation!) and if you want you can go and look at how I set up my formulae, which I believe were all set up around the idea of using them for distance events.

Having your fuel belt with you at Moosey is a good idea. One of the advantages to that course in this regard is that the run is a double out-and-back, which means that if you get tired of the belt and are feeling fine, you can just drop it over the fence into t-zone as you pass by heading out for the second loop.

Mooseman, at that date, can have weather all over the place, so think about coming prepared for just about anything. I'm not saying that by way of sounding threatening, and, really, the odds are that it will be on the cool side of things. The run is about 65-70% shaded, so that helps.

Your mention of "The Perfect Distance" has me wondering where mine has gotten to; I haven't seen it in a long while. I can't imagine I loaned it to anyone, but I have no explanation for its disappearance. Hmm.

Jess, whatever "progress" you can make with your eating will be miraculous, and you definitely should not beat up on yourself if you can't get to where you want to be with this. You are in a situation that almost defies any attempts to eat healthily or even half-wisely, so whatever you can "sneak" into your regimen that is better than just random snacking will be a bonus. I will try to find something by way of an eating plan for someone who fits into the serious scholar-athlete mode. I don't know what I'll find, but I'll try.

A few days ago in the NYTimes there was a neat piece on one of the women's teams at Tour de California. There are several women on the team who are either in graduate school or recently out of grad school, and they are still heavily involved in scholarly pursuits. so, if the team has a website, it may be that one or more of the woman have posted something on nutrition or eating plans. That's maybe just a shot in the dark, but it's a start? (You referring to the Infinit sliders as appealing in a "nerdy, geeky" way is how one of the woman describes the team - maybe using both those words. She might've been the one who was taking about a mealtime topic of conversation being banana slugs, which one of the women studied for her PhD!)

Seems as if there was more, but it's skipped my ditzy little mind for now. Maybe it will return, maybe it will return.....

2009-02-23 8:10 AM

in reply to: #1976555

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

JESS again -

The team I was referring to is Team Tibco, where 6 of its 13 riders have post-graduate degrees.

If you got to www.nytimes.com and use Team Tibco in the search bar, it comes right up. (For whatever reason, it did not come up when I used the writer's name, Juliet Macur, even though many of her recent articles did.)

The team leader is Brooke Miller, and the article refers to her web site. I will look for that later. She describes herself as "a nerd and a jock -- a rare combination of unadulterated dork who exercises their body into a fine-tuned machine." Can you identify with this? Anyhow, she got her PhD in evolutionary biology.

I will put on the next post a comment she made about sacrificing, and nutrition. Somehow, I don't think you want your food monitoring and revamping to include her tongue-in-cheek implication!!

2009-02-23 8:15 AM

in reply to: #1976766

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

ANOTHER SOURCE OF PROTEIN FOR THE COMPETITIVE ATHLETE??

From the New York Times, Feb. 16, in an article by Juliet Macur about women's professional cycling teams:

"But the women find time to talk about cycling. Most have goals of making the Olympics. Miller has put her life on hold to train. She lives in a friend's dining room, draping a bed sheet across the room for privacy. She said the salary she draws from cycling was so low it was basically, "You eat what you kill."

2009-02-23 8:20 AM

in reply to: #1976775

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

TO THE WOMEN (AND I GUESS INTERESTED MEN AS WELL)

The article cited in the previous two posts can be found at www.nytimes.com. Do a search for Team Tibco, and it comes right up. Team Tibco is a women's pro cycling team, and the title of the article is "Women's Pro Teams Struggle for Recognition." It's a good piece.

2009-02-23 8:29 AM

in reply to: #1976680

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

MINDY -

Sounds like a most favorable first ride! All systems go, and with no complaints. YES!!
My first few rides were plagued by various sorenesses, mostly wrist, neck, and shoulder. Well, "plagued" is abit strong, but I felt compromised enough that I wondered if I was in a position to which I would never completely adjust. (After several rides, though, it was all fine.)

It's also good that your bike shifted well, or that you managed to shift it well. That is sometimes a tricky issue, so if the gearing is solid that's a real plus.

14 miles sounds just about right for a first ride, and before you know it you'll be at the 22 mile point. As for the kids potentially getting in the way ---- uh, think "natural selection"?? Nonono, I don't really mean that at all, and I know that sort of thing can be a real concern. I rarely (ever?) ride on recreational trails for that reason, but recognize that where traffic is an acute problem, rec trails provide a truly viable option.

Ta-da!!

2009-02-23 5:23 PM

in reply to: #1976793

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

MID-ATLANTIC FOLKS -- WARNING! -- BEWARE OF IMITATORS!!

While going through the USAT rankings today, I found myself.......and then down further I found myself again. That is, there is a SECOND Steve Bradley who competed in M55-59 last year, although he is listed as 57 while I am listed as 60 (meaning, he was 56 last season, whereas I was 59).

Curious about this, I wanted to see where he is from, so I searched his name and up came the following races: Little Pepper, Montclair, Kinetic, Beach2Battleship, and -- RESTON TRI and RESTON SPRINT TRI.

Lisa, aren't you from Reston, or, if not, didn't you do one of the Reston tris last year? Small world, eh? Kind of cool, actually - another "me", seemingly living in the VA/NC region!

Well, I don't know what this guy looks like, but if you meet a "Steve Bradley" at the races down there, and if he isn't 6'2" tall and doesn't have a too-long face, ears that are too big, and eyes way too close together, then he's a mere impostor, a shallow version of yours truly.

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!!

2009-02-23 6:20 PM

in reply to: #1977973

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

JESS (and maybe others!) -

Over at www.slowtwitch.com there is a discussion on the forum that is pertinent to our recent dialogue about drinks, specifically Infinit. The title of the thread is "For Infinit consumers...", and the author is JerseyQuaker. Right now (7:19 p.m.), it is quite high up on page one of the main tri forum. Let me know what you think of it!

gracetaBitha

2009-02-23 8:29 PM

in reply to: #1975427

Regular

111

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

hooslisa - 2009-02-22 8:07 AM if sucking down raw eggs gets me running "easy 6 miles in 45 minutes", then find me a chicken.

Lisa & Jess,

Make sure it's a free range organic chicken if you're going to chomp it raw (lower chance of getting salmonella). Just kidding! Somewhat...

I actually haven't had raw eggs for over a year now, but since I started thinking about easy-to-digest foods for races, eggs were the first thing that came to mind after milk (raw that is, I don't digest pasteurized milk well at all).

gracetaBitha

2009-02-23 8:42 PM

in reply to: #1976780

Regular

111

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

stevebradley - 2009-02-23 9:20 AM TO THE WOMEN (AND I GUESS INTERESTED MEN AS WELL) The article cited in the previous two posts can be found at www.nytimes.com. Do a search for Team Tibco, and it comes right up. Team Tibco is a women's pro cycling team, and the title of the article is "Women's Pro Teams Struggle for Recognition." It's a good piece.

STEVE,

Thanks for sharing, it was a great article! I could see myself having dinner time conversations about banana slugs' sex lives. I am quite the dork.

gracetaBitha

2009-02-23 8:48 PM

in reply to: #1976680

Regular

111

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

mindymcc - 2009-02-23 8:07 AM Steve, the first ride was great! I didn't fall over once. ... I only rode about 14 miles.

MINDY,

Wow that is awesome! I've never ridden anything more than 12 miles so you whupped my @**! Hmm, I really should be getting on my trainer more. I missed my bike time today and instead visited the gym.

Happy vibes all round!

2009-02-23 10:37 PM

in reply to: #1978257

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

I hit one of my week's goals tonight, doing two hours on the trainer. This was preceded by 76 minutes last night, so I'm feeling sort of righteous!

Also did 38 minutes in the pool, but still feel flat about swimming these days/weeks. I don't know what this is, just a prolonged rut, I guess.

Tomorrow it's the gym for lifting and rowing, and I'll either revisit the trainer or, more likely, break out the rollers - they would be goal #2 met! Mercy!

G'night, all!

2009-02-23 10:40 PM

in reply to: #1978246

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

GRACE and all -

On Brooke Miller's (Team Tibco) webiste, www.brookecycling.com, she describes herself as "champion cyclist, slug activist, thigh muscle goddess". Just so you know.

2009-02-23 10:41 PM

in reply to: #1978246

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

ALL POWER TO THE BANANA SLUGS!!!!

mindymcc

2009-02-24 12:14 PM

in reply to: #1896958

Veteran

481

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

Lisa - Thanks for the words of encouragement on my training log. My consistency is a daily battle in my head, but for me, the fear is ever starting back up again if I allow myself to slack off. I have a goal of 6 days a week, which other than a long weekend out of town, I've been able to maintain so far! Mindy

2009-02-24 4:44 PM

in reply to: #1979301

Champion

10618

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

MINDY and TREVOR -

Da goods is on da way!

That's the good news. The less-than-optimal news is that they were sent from here, which means that for Mindy, I'd guess Monday, and for Trevor, Wednesday. And that's airmail!

Well, think of later being better than never, I guess.

2009-02-24 7:17 PM

in reply to: #1977973

Master

1524

Reston, VA

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

stevebradley - 2009-02-23 6:23 PM MID-ATLANTIC FOLKS -- WARNING! -- BEWARE OF IMITATORS!! While going through the USAT rankings today, I found myself.......and then down further I found myself again. That is, there is a SECOND Steve Bradley who competed in M55-59 last year, although he is listed as 57 while I am listed as 60 (meaning, he was 56 last season, whereas I was 59). Curious about this, I wanted to see where he is from, so I searched his name and up came the following races: Little Pepper, Montclair, Kinetic, Beach2Battleship, and -- RESTON TRI and RESTON SPRINT TRI. Lisa, aren't you from Reston, or, if not, didn't you do one of the Reston tris last year? Small world, eh? Kind of cool, actually - another "me", seemingly living in the VA/NC region! Well, I don't know what this guy looks like, but if you meet a "Steve Bradley" at the races down there, and if he isn't 6'2" tall and doesn't have a too-long face, ears that are too big, and eyes way too close together, then he's a mere impostor, a shallow version of yours truly. ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!!

someone else has a name as distinctive as Steve Bradley?!?

Don't worry, you won't be hearing from him again. I will take care of everything.

2009-02-24 7:19 PM

in reply to: #1978225

Master

1524

Reston, VA

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

gracetaBitha - 2009-02-23 9:29 PM

hooslisa - 2009-02-22 8:07 AM if sucking down raw eggs gets me running "easy 6 miles in 45 minutes", then find me a chicken.

Lisa & Jess,

Make sure it's a free range organic chicken if you're going to chomp it raw (lower chance of getting salmonella). Just kidding! Somewhat...

I am adding you to the list of people that I want to be with in the event of world meltdown. I am confident you could feed me a beautiful meal made from the land.... that makes....well, just you on that list so far.

2009-02-24 7:27 PM

in reply to: #1978428

Master

1524

Reston, VA

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

stevebradley - 2009-02-23 11:37 PM I hit one of my week's goals tonight, doing two hours on the trainer. This was preceded by 76 minutes last night, so I'm feeling sort of righteous!

Also did 38 minutes in the pool, but still feel flat about swimming these days/weeks. I don't know what this is, just a prolonged rut, I guess. Tomorrow it's the gym for lifting and rowing, and I'll either revisit the trainer or, more likely, break out the rollers - they would be goal #2 met! Mercy! G'night, all!

Yay for hitting goals!!!! I am also really stoked to hear that you are Columbia bound!!! I will get to meet you?!? Although, I will have to think of a test to put you through so I know you are not the local imposter!!!!!

My goals are falling off one by one. This was the first time my training plan has called for a tuesday swim so I didn't realize that the pool closed early on tuesdays. i was actually looking forward to it all day. unlike you, I am NOT in a swimming rut. I am loving being in the water these days.

i also am not doing well on tracking the nutrition. i am kind of doing it in my head, but not so much on paper. it is just another project for me, and being a non-urgent one, gets pushed to the bottom of the list. oh well, the spirit of eating well still lives on. i am carrying around about 8-10 extra pounds from my peak fitness. for the last 6-8 weeks i have lost 2-3 lbs over the weekdays and gained 2-3 lbs back over the weekend. i am not exactly getting anywhere. historically, this all starts taking care of itself after the season moves along, but i'm not getting any younger you know!

anyway, congrats on your goal progress!!!!

2009-02-24 7:29 PM

in reply to: #1979301

Master

1524

Reston, VA

Subject: RE: stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL

mindymcc - 2009-02-24 1:14 PM Lisa - Thanks for the words of encouragement on my training log. My consistency is a daily battle in my head, but for me, the fear is ever starting back up again if I allow myself to slack off. I have a goal of 6 days a week, which other than a long weekend out of town, I've been able to maintain so far! Mindy

well, i echo the original sentiment....that is really impressive. it might be a battle in your head, but it seems you are winning that on a regular basis! the only thing to be careful of is to monitor when it is no longer fun. if you find you aren't having fun anymore that's when you know it is time to ease up or mix it up. just my two cents...and that won't get you anywhere. either way i think it is very impressive.