BigSkiesMentorGroup - COMPLETE! (Page 44)

HELP ME ... I'M MELTING!! ... isn't that what the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz said? 

I'm so disgusted with things down here.  We've broken the record set in 1980 for the most 100+ degree days in a row (I think it was 24 in a row); broken the all time record for the most 100+ degrees in any given year; and tied the record today for the highest recorded temp ever, and are likley to break the record tomorrow. And we've had maybe about 1" of rain in the last 4 months.

I've been walking/running (emphasis on running) in a sauna and swimming in a bathtub and can't take much more.  Maybe I'll do my only tri this season in October provided it ever cools off, certainly not a given.  I start training with a running coach next weekend to prepare for my half marathons (St. Jude's in December, Houston in January, another local in March). 

DENISE, saw your post awhile back ... really, the 40s??  And what a celebrity you are, congrats!!

STEVE, nice race (and race report ).  Are you jinxed or something?  Be safe out there, will ya?

JOE, sorry your race didn't go as you'd hope but sounds like it was not all for naught, as you learned something along the way.  Hope you don't have much impact from Irene and that your wife is making a speedy recovery.

JEFF, guess things are quieter around your house than they have been for awhile.  Your wife needs to put herself first and spoil herself for awhile.  She'll get out of that mood really quick!

MANDY, congrats on the new addition ... what a cutie!!

OK, back to pouting in hiding!

LISA

I might be the king of the castle but there is no doubt who runs the castle (the QUEEN)!!

Lisa,

Like you I'm suffering in the heat/humidity.  This year I decided during the months of August and September to take most of my bike/runs indoors.  It has made a huge difference in the quality of my workouts.  Last year I had a very difficult time just finishing the workouts.  This year so far (knock on wood) I'm finishing all my runs and they are not sufferfests.  Perhaps the biggest plus is the mental aspect.  Now I'm hitting my bike/runs and I don't feel bummed out that I didn't complete them.  I know it's not for everybody.  Sitting on a spinner for 2+ hours or running on a treadmill for 90 minutes is trying mentally.  However, for me it has worked wonders.

Good luck with the run coach.

1st race with new bike:

Last year: 17.3 mph

This year with new bike: 18.8 mph

Steve - did a copy/paste - mostly worked - Denise

STEVE'S RACE REPORT

RACE REPORT --

Park City Mossman (1500 - 25 - 6.2)
Bridgeport, CT, 21 Aug. '11


PRE-RACE
Late sign-up, and all that was left were charity spots for an extra $50. Decided to do it on Thursday, and left early saturday morning -- not before wrenching my back heaving the bike in the car. This bothered me all the way down and until I ewent to sleep at about 10:30, but was fine in the morning. WHEW!
I got to the race site sat. aft by about 4:30, with the drive down being 440 miles. i got my race stuff and used the on-site mechanic to make a couple of fixes -- actually, more than I planned on. Found a motel to check into, spent oer an hour looking for a decent eatery, settled for a sprawl of a buffet, and was back to the motel by 8, and alseep by 10:30.
Woke up at 4 and headed to the race, arriving as the 6th vehicle and claiming a great parking spot only about 100 yards from transition. I got the end spot of my assigned-range rack, fought off hordes of vicious little balck mosquitoes, and waited to meet Alex.
We made contact by about 5:30, I think, hung out some, kept up the process of getting ready, and were set to go. Breakfast was bagel and tea, and I had part of a Clif Mojo bar, and a PowerGel, before the swim.

SWIM
In Long Isalnd Sound, which was nice and calm. We were both in the thrid of three waves, and got to see the other waves struggle with extensive shallows for quite a ways heading out diagonally to the first buoy. By the time our wave started, I was aware that many guys around me were talking about running parallel along the shoreline through the shallows before starting the swim in a mnoire direct line to that first buoy, and I decided to follow suit. When we started, I ran for over a munte and could feel my HR spiking higher with each high-step through the anle- and clf-deep water. I rested for about five seconds before didving in, and was off -- finally actually SWIMMING.
It was a good one for me, second good one in a row. I had good, fast arm turnover, and my sighting was almost perfect with no significant wandering to my right. As at West Point, this swim was counter-clockwise with buoys to the left, and even though I am a right-side breather, buoys to my left help my sighting and inhibit my wandering ways. I apssed lots of folks in the two previous ways, and made it out of the water and over the mat in 24:25. A great time for me.....but i'm sure the course was a bit short. Sigh.
24:25
2/6 a.g.; 56/243 o.a.

T1
The longish run up the beach and into transition gave me time to remove my westuit top and get the bottoms down to my hips, so at my space the rest was easy.
1:15
1st a.g.; 52nd o.a.

BIKE
Simple course --- five loops on perfectly flat par roads, clsoed to traffic. At each end was a narrow traffic island, so while caution was slightly needed, it was faster than doing a 180 at a cone. Each subsequent traverse revealed more small tricks of "attacking" the course, so it was fun feeling prgressivley more proficient. After the 4th circuit I was averaging about 22.4mph, and knew I had to reel it back some for the final five miles. So I did some soft-pedalling at times, and in trhe final 1/2 mile I practiced what I ahev preached here -- alternating standing grinds and faster spins, seated. I also knew that the wind had picked up from the west as the bike progressed, so that would affect the run some. I came close to a full wipe-out at the dismount line, trying my "flying dismount" right on the heels of swerving to avoid a dopey older guy wandering across the narrow roadway to the dismount line. Ack! One 20oz bottle of HEED.
1:07:09 (22.3mph)
1st a.g., 33rd o.a.

T2 Only two bikes in ahead of me on my M45+ rack, and I was sure they belonged to two "youngsters", so I didn't rush it too much. Put BodyGlide on my feet, and was off. 1:20 1st a.g., 138 o.a. (not too impressive) RUN About as simple as the bike -- two out-and-backs along the boardwalk (actually, concrete surface). Got out well, passed a 58-yearold and chatted with him on the fly, and kept pacing along. No shade, really, and there was the wind on each return part. Approaching the first turnaround a few of us were diverted a ways off the course, parallel to it but describing a wider arc, and that might've cost me 20 seconds total. Kind of aggravating at the time, but ultimately no big deal. I never felt great on the run, but kept a decent pace throughout. I probably did push the bike a bit too hard if I hoped I would break 47 minutes, and ended up misising by 48 seconds. There was some talk that the course was maybe a tad long, but given how I felt through the whole 10km, it seemed close to 6.2 miles. One gel on the run, Gatorade at three aid stations total. Passed just once, by a 37-year-old "punk"! 47:48 (7:42/mile) 1st a.g., 38th o.a. 1:21:58 1/6 a.g (2nd place was 11' back, 3rd was 19' back) 34/243 finishers POST-RACE VERY fine spending over an hour with Alex, and then I followed her for about 50 miles until our paths diverged. Great race ambience overall, and for winning the age group I got a free entry into next year's race. It's the day after Jane's wedding, though, so whether or not I can use the free entry.............

Steve - looked at your sportsstats.ca - very cool

I use athlinks.ca to stalk my competitors - below is what I found for you - these are just the NY races - for some reason I had to select location to get races - I think because there are too many Steve Bradleys who race

2011           West Point Triathalon 2011 62 NY 8/14 1:26:41 2010           Lake George Triathlon 2010 60 NY 9/18 2:30:40 West Point Triathlon 61 NY 8/15 1:32:12 Fronhofer Tool Triathlon ~ 2010 60 NY 8/07 2:25:22 Fronhofer Tool Triathlon ~ 2010 60 NY 8/07 1:20:49 Musselman Triathlon 60 NY 7/11 1:25:01 Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon ~ 2010 60 NY 6/26 2:10:11 2009           Mightyman Half Triathlon 2009 60 NY 10/04 5:23:31 Lake George Triathlon ~ 2009 60 NY 9/19 2:31:46 Crystal Lake Triathlon ~ 2009 60 NY 8/29 1:36:37 Nautica New York City Triathlon ~ 2009 60 NY 7/26 2:31:55 2008           Musselman Triathlon - 2008 55 NY 7/13 1:16:04 Musselman Triathlon - 2008 55 NY 7/13 5:36:39 Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon 2008 55 NY 6/29 2:12:21 2007           North Country Triathlon 55 NY 6/30 2:37:59 2005           Ford New York City Triathlon 2005 56 NY 7/10 2:36:12 2004           Ironman Lake Placid Triathlon 2004 55 NY 7/25 12:57:38 Musselman Triathlon ~ 2004 55 NY 7/11 1:17:17 Musselman Triathlons ~ 2004 55 NY 6/11 1:17:17

Are you steve bradley? Click here to save these results. Not your results? Do you know steve bradley? Then share these results: Share | <script language=JavaScript src="http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/569437/0/vj?z=athlinks&dim=569099&abr=$scriptiniframe"></script><noscript><a href="http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/569437/0/cc?z=athlinks"><img src="http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/569437/0/vc?z=athlinks&dim=569099&abr=$imginiframe" width="300" height="250" border="0"></a></noscript>

Steve,

I looked at your Moosman photos.  There's a lot of nice ones - I like the bike ones - they make you look very speedy indeed.

Lisa,

I'm so sorry it's so hot there.  It's great here - 40s at night and 70s day.  When your son gets out of school, think about moving.

Also, that's when the age group competition really starts falling off, so you'll need to be ready to bring home those medals and trophys.

Denise

Jeff and Steve,

I'm putting my Y membership on hold for 4 months - not going to swim until January.  I really don't think it will make any difference.  And, since we're planning on moving close to Mpls/St Paul next year, I bet I can find someplace to get "good" swimming lessons.

Hey Steve and group, I'm back from Italy!! Woohoo it was fun! Didn't get a chance to training while I was away, but I did get in some beautiful and relaxing swims around the island of Capri. The Mediterranean is so clear and beautiful, I couldn't resist swimming every time I got a chance.

I was hoping to come back to some normal weather, but alas it's still hotter than hades here. Hottest summer on record for OKC, by far. Hottest record for any city in the US in July - ever. Breaking all sorts of heat records. Training in it is just awful...so hot and miserable. It just makes me want to give up training, order a pizza, drink a PBR and start smoking cigarettes. Maybe get a tattoo, also. 

Signed-up for a half aquabike the third weekend of September. Hopefully the lake will be healthy enough to swim in by that time, because said lake is currently low and stagnant from no rain and prolonged high temps....we've been warned by local officials that there is toxic green algae in the city lakes and to avoid skin contact with the water....

So I haven't gone back and read everyone's posts. Hope everyone is having a great and injury-free summer and bringing home the hardware from all your races!

Oops double post.

Denise,

Good luck with the new swim strategy.  Hope in January you pick up right where you left off.

The lights are back!!!!!.....and Irene is history.  Of course there is now rumor of another one brewing but that is a couple of weeks away.

Steve, thanks for your insights and taking the time to share.  I will tone it down on the nutrition.  I think that I was attributing my slower run times that I was experiencing on my bricks to lack of nutrition and tried to correct for that on the race.  So much for that theory.  On my bricks I have been losing a couple of minutes per mile on the leg portion when compared to my stand alone runs (12 on bricks vs 10 on stand alone runs).  A couple of folks I have shared this with believe I need to back off on my bike pace and balance the ride/run.  Recommendation includes more strength building rides and of course running.  So I will try slowing my bike pace, following your nutrition recommendation and give that a try on an OLY in 2 weeks (sept 10). 

My A race is the Beach to Battleship HIM which is a relatively flat course and the swim this year will be with a strong incoming tide.  This will be my first "big" race so I am looking forward to the event.  I am not sure how the transitions will work since T1 and T2 are in different locations which is new to me, and they bus you to the swim start.  So the swim is a single pass swim down the channel to T1 and then bike to a different location (the battleship) for T2 and then and out and back run.  This will be my second HIM. My first one  (White Lake, NC) was last year,  I ran coming off an achilles injury which required I take 3 weeks off before the race.  During the bike, my achilles flaired up and the last 15 mile of the bike I did essentially with 1 leg.  If I wasn't out in the middle of nowhere I would of called it, but my stupidity prevailed and I finished the race with no lasting injury. So this year I would like to stay injury free and enjoy the race hopefully with a calm stomach.

JK

Joe,

For some reason, I think Steve knows a lot about Beach to Battleship.  I seem to remember him posting about it in the far distant past. So he may be able to give you insights.

Denise