stevebradley's Mentor Group FULL (Page 5)

zipper goes in the back

Hey Becky,
I am pretty sure that this is the first tri for Patty, Isaiah, and the Jess from Yukon in addition to Maryland Jess and Mindy (who already chimed in)....and you. that is 6 by my count. You have plenty of company.

Since my first one was not too long ago, let me share a few things.....

1.) i did my first triathlon on a HEAVY mountain bike retro-fitted with skinny tires. It was not a majestic machine by any stretch of the imagination. I, personally, would not worry about getting an expensive tri bike until you have one under your belt. The woman makes the machine, not the other way around.

2.) triathlon is an incredibly fast growing sport I wouldn't be surprised if 20% of participants at every race are first timers. (fyi: 70% of the time I make up 100% of the statistics), but the sentiment is true.... ALOT of first timers.

3.) this site offers a bunch of plans in the "programs" section for all different levels. I have decided that anyone who puts those together is definitely smarter than me, so I stick to it....that and whatever our fearless leader, Steve, tells you.

Just my thoughts. For whatever it's worth. This and $4 will buy you a cup of coffee (inflation).

lisa

YOU ALL -

This is just like from my teaching days - leave the classroom for a while and hope to high heavens that the students don't tear the place down. You kids REALLY play well together.....and soon we can all have some extra recess time!

Terrific comments from all of you, supportiveness sprouting all over the place! I will try to carve some time this evening to summarize who all we are; you can't tell the players without a scorecard!

Does anybody who has a photo on site (Mindy's caricature counts) know the easy way to get it posted? I emphasize easy, as I am computer-friable and crumble readily when faced with nominally simple tasks.

Thanks!

scroll up to the top of the BT page, there is a status box. click the link that says "control panel"
scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a box that says "upload image profile", click browse.
This opens a dialogue box to find the picture you want from your computer. Find it and click okay. that should do it.

hope this helps.


Edited by hooslisa 2009-01-26 3:51 PM

Thank you, Lisa!
I have now sent three photos from our October trip to Spain to my son for cropping, and we'll see what comes back, and whether I am capable of following your sounds-so-easy instructions.
Merci!

Yeah, I should probably go for a race one as well, but I'm not sure if they can be transferred and used in such a way, if not previously purchased. I'd hate to have the Brightroom police track me down and belabor me on and about the head and shoulders with gel packets and CO2 cartridges!

WHO YOU ARE!!!

In order of appearance:

Patty ----- location unknown (care to divulge, Patty?)
Neil ----- California (Hollywood)
Mindy------ Georgia (Atlanta)
Patricia------ Mississippi (by way of Florida?)
Becky------ North Carolina
Isaiah------ Georgia (Atlanta)
Jess------ Yukon (Whitehorse)
Grace------ Pennsylvania
Trevor------ Oregon (Portland)
Eric------ New Hampshire (Merrrimack)
Nathan------ Afghanistan (for now - where on return?)
Lisa------ Virginia
Jess ------ Maryland/New Jersey

Of the 13 of you, 9 of you are aiming for your first triathlon this season, and two of you have one under your belts from '08.
(I have kept ages out of this, as even though all of you, except Nathan, have posted your age, it is sometimes a dodgy issue!)

Edited by stevebradley 2009-01-26 6:47 PM

Still no individual ages divulged, but I will say that the average age of you all is 32. I will also say that it is somewhat depressing that when I average my 60 years into the mix, the group average jumps up two years to 34! TWO WHOLE YEARS!!!!

Well it's always good to know that I am "above average"!  

Spinmeister Mindy - I like your perspective on things! That must mean I'm WAY "above average"!!

BECKY -

I almost lost this one in the flurry of activity since yesterday. I guess I need to remember to prowl back a ways through the posts each day!

A true brick is when you proceed from one discipline to another in rapid succession. ("Rapid" is a relatively relative term.) As an example, it would be doing a ride, then quickly ditching your bike, changing into running shoes, and going on a crisp little run. Or, finishing a swim and moving quickly on to a ride. HOWEVER, bricks need not follow the standard s-b or b-r format. As a conventional example, duathletes will regularly do a run-bike brick, which of course reflects the first two segments of a duathlon. Less conventionally would be doing bricks "backwards", such as run-swim and bike-swim. This may not help train you to work though conventional transitions as quickly as possible, but they will help your body to adjust to different forms and levels of activity. And, they also provide a welcome break form the same-old, same-old, which I sense is an aspect that has a lot of appeal for you.

There are also bricks that repeat, such as run-bike-run-bike-run-bike-run-run. Honest! My former coach, Erik Cagnina, set this one for me a few times, and he called it "Icks", which is close to "bricks", but is REALLY close to how it makes one feel!!! I can't quite remember the parameters of it, but each segment was relative short but very intense - except for the final run part, which was a merciful "cool-down".. I will dig back through my logs and find out exactly how it was set up.

If you are doing two (or more) disciplines a day, and they are separated by a while (say, half an hour to several hours), then that is usually not considered a brick. It is useful, to be sure, but it just doesn't meet the lofty standards of a true brick!

I would say that if you are feeling healthy and frisky, that you can try to add a few things to the mix of your schedule. My qualifier here is that if at any time you feel that what you are adding somehow detracts from the quality of a subsequent workout on the schedule, that you should think about dialing things back down a bit. Actually, I'll change that a bit. Let me say that if FREQUENTLY your additions cause scheduled workouts to suffer, then that's the time to rethink whether your extra enthusiasm will ultimately help or hurt your progress. And that is NOT a cut-and-dried decision -- especially if you feel that you have been more challenged immediately after your own additions than you are by the set workouts on the schedule.

If you want to bounce your responses to your workouts off me, then I will be more than happy to comment on this. It can either be done here, or through the private message option.

I'll return in a bit with some ocean swim thoughts.

SUBJECT: "ICKS!"

This is a follow-up to the above post to Becky. It concerens an especially twisted form of brick workout called "Icks". The basic parameters were 4 X 5-6 mile bikes, separated by 6 X 1-mile runs. The bike parts were set for race pace. The run portions, excepts for the first and last, were to be as fast as possible, that being faster than 5km pace. Transitioning was to be as rapid as possible.

to do this, I parked in a turn-off on a wide, flat road with ample shoulders, and my "transition zone" was the back of my Ford Focus wagon. And away I went, thusly (each run was 1 mile, and each back for this "course" was 5.9 miles):
-- run (warm-up, smooth, easy pace)
-- bike
-- run
-- bike
-- run
-- bike
-- run
-- bike
-- run
-- run (COOL-DOWN! eeaasssyyyy pace)

I got these down to just under two hours, which included transition times. They were killers, to be sure.....and I dreadded seeing them on my schedule (only once or twice a season, however).....but secretely I loved them.....and no other workout ever proved as satisfying after-the-fact as the "Icks"!

And remember, they are an EXTREME form of brick, nothing at all that any of you should be trying for a while! (Becky, I'm watching you!)

BECKY -

First, I would figure that a wetsuit WOULD be legal in the ocean in May. USAT rules allow them if water temps are under 78 degrees, and so I think it would apply. Usually this sort of thing is mentioned in the course info. Jekyll Island is where, however? I'm thinking off SC or GA, but maybe I'm wrong on that.

Second, unless you will be swimming behind a barrier island or a long man-made barrier, you can probably expect the unexpected. That is, the water can be calm, it can be ripply, it can be choppy, it can be full of turbulent waves (usually when it gets to this point, however, the swim portion is switched to a run, and the event then becomes a duathlon). Lakes can get like this as well, and at Musselman last July the waves were pretty fierce. It is quite amazing, however, how many races I have done where the water was wild the day before the race, and then conditions changed overnight and on race day it was as calm as a meditating monk. (In '07, however, I had two races within a three-week span get turned into duathlons - one because of wild water, the other because an inversion overnight in Lake Ontario caused the water temp to drop from 73 on the Friday to 56 on saturday, race day).

The other thing about ocean water is its yumminess--- well, okay its "unique salinity". I actually quite enjoy that taste, although many people don't. I will say, though, that if the race has overhead hoses set up under which athletes can run as they head to transition, take the detour to get a bit of the salt off your skin; you'll feel less "tacky" through the bike and run if you are not salt-encrusted!

I love ocean swims as part of triathlons, and just wished that I lived closer to the Atlantic so that I could do more of them. One of the things I liked most about Eagleman (one of Lisa's races this yar) is swimming in the Choptank River -- which even though it is a river in name, it is actaully quite brackish, being mostly estuarine in nature. It is subject to wave activity as well. Fun and games!

I hope this has been somewhat useful. And, I'll try to track down the wetsuit situation for the Jekyll Island race.

BECKY -

Last one tonight!

The race's website says "Given the time of year wetsuits might be allowed", but if you look at the flowing pictures on the left sidebar, just above the Felt Bicycle logo, they show competitors ONLY in wetsuits. That's good, that's good!

One thing I forgot to mention above is that because of salinity, ocean water is more buoyant than lake or pool water. In a perfect world, an ocean swim will be calm AND wetsuit-legal, and it will feel relatively effortless to swim in such conditions. BIG bonus!!

G'night!

NATHAN!

When you say "....although I'm still 21 at heart....", it reminds me that I often say something like "I always try to act 20 years younger than half my age". I guess I succeed at this, because my daughter's recent e-card for my birthday contained the following sentiment:

"Here's to another year of complete disregard for age-appropriate developmental milestones."

Can ya dig it??

Moving on, I've been thinking about the times you posted for your best 5k, 10k, and 21.1k. Those are some interesting - and perhaps - telling numbers, especially in light of your statements that you can run and bike forever, and that you are a bit frustrated that speed is not developing as fast as you wish it would.

As I see it, you currently have a fair 5k time, a good 10k time , and a really good 21.2k time. For most people, their 5k time will be less than half of the time it takes them to run a 10k, but for you it is the opposite. Turning that back on itself, if all you had told me was your 10k time, I might have figured that your 5k time would be 22 minutes and possibly a bit faster still. Going one step further, I would figure from your half-mar time that your 10k time might be around 44 minutes, possibly 43-and-change -- with a subsequent re-adjusted of reversely-predicted 5k times (say, easy 22, and likely 21-ish).

So, I think your self-assessment of being able to run (and bike) forever is likely accurate, and it bodes well for working towards your ultimate goal, as expressed in your profile here and on your webpage. The quick thought is that you are blessed with an abundance of fully-functional and cooperative slow-twitch muscle fibers, and that you also may have the heart of a mastadon (ignoring the fact that they're extinct.....). I think both of those are highly likely, but you should not despair about the speed! I think I mentioned earlier the idea of a "plateau" in your training and performances, and I am certain you can move beyond that plateau in time. (And, remember that the longer the do this stuff, the more plateaus you will reach and eventually have to work your way over and beyond.)

Here's something to just think about a bit. When you set your p.r. for the 10k, how deeply did you go into the "red zone"? Now, compare that with your p.r. time for the 5k - how much of a "red zone" effort was that? And, in general, how familiar are you with your own "red zone"? Do you spend much time there, or do you tend to back off it unless really pushed? I became familiar with mine when I did all of the standard VO2-max testing (in fall of '00, I think), and then didn't really revisit it in training until spring of '05, when I first tried a treadmill and my coach started setting workouts that would make me just about die on the thing. What I'm getting at here is that most of us don't willingly venture into our red zone, so that when we need it in a race, it isn't there. Or, it's there, somewhere, but we don't know how to access or are afraid of the consequences (cramping? vomiting? "blowing-up"?).

For me, the red zone is different for all the different run distances --- or maybe it's just that in a 10k I can stay in an orange zone, and for a 21.1 k I can stay in a yellow zone --- but because of the longer distances, the orange and yellow come close to a red zone feeling, minus the intensity. I have had to work quite hard at willingly going into the red zone for 5ks (and the only time I have done these in when they are part of speint triathlons), and the results have been favorable for me; overall, it is much easier for me to rely on endurance abilities to do well in 10k and 21.1k distances.

Hmmm. That's a lot of words to say.......(What was it I was trying to say???)
Just kidding, I know what I want to say, and I will summarize it below:
(1) Your natural-born strengths are liklely endurance-based.
(2) There is an upside for you at ALL distances; I think you are a naturally strong and able runner.
(3) Your concerns about not enough speed might rest in your training, even though you are doing tempo and interval stuff.
(4) Think about your "red zone". How often do you "suffer" during the shorter efforts?
(5) I think you've said that you love 10k, so maybe your experience at that distance is what gives you a pretty sweet p.r. time there, and possibly you just don't have comparable experience at the 5k distance, especially at race-day intensity.


Final thoughts:
First, the arrival of the Garmin should help your training, especially with identifying your various zones. Beyond that, it will "encourage" you to stay in your red zone on selected workouts -- although red zone, or Zone 5, workouts should NOT be the staple of your training! (I will look into the curent resources for heart -rate training, as I haven't used my HRM for a couple of years and so I'm kind of stale on where it stands now. As an example of this, garmin wasn't even really a "player" in this market as couple of years ago, and now they're right up there - and maybe even beyond Polar.)
Second, you might want to try some different tempo and interval workouts, as the guidelines for one tempo workout are quite different from the guidelines of a different tempo workout.


I'll return in a bit with a couple of thoughts about Greensboro Marathon and BQ slot. By BQ, do you mean Boston qualifier? That's what I'm assuming.

Nathan -

Back for part 2, marathon stuff!

Greensboro is May 2, so you're looking at a Boston qualifier for 2010, yes? This will be the second year for Greensboro, and even though the course elevation map is not yet available, the '08 results suggest that it is a tough course. I base thing on the fact that my Boston qualifying time, in Nov. '03 when I was almost 55, was 3:29:06 - and that was 12/54 in the 50-54 age group. At Greensboro last year the TOP time for the 50-54 crowd was 3:29:30, so to me that suggests that it is a tough course - or that the conditions that day were unfavorable (heat? cold? wind?). Really, though, there are lots of guys 50-54 who can flirt with marathon times in the low 3-hour range (sadly, i'm not one of them...), and they appear at all marathons, it seems - but not at Greensboro '08.

Having said that, though, a tough course is not necessarily a bad thing! And, if you do well on hills (High Point, NC, is is a name that suggests hills, yes?), then it might a course tailor-made for you. I kind of deliberately chose an easy course (North Central Trail Marathon, just north of Baltimore) for my Boston qualifier, and I got lucky with weather - crisp, autumn stuff (as befitted a Nov. 29 date), a fair bit of wind but much of the course is in a wooded valley, so the wind effects were mostly minimal. And did I mention FLAT?? The course at that time was very flat - a gradual incline going out, a comparable gradual decline coming back. Piece of cake? Mostly.

I did Boston on April 19 '04, which was the heat-fest year, but I stayed smart, didn't try to p.r, finished in the 3:55:40, and most importantly avoided the medical tent, or the hospital, which was not the case for many of the runners that day who did not fully respect the oppressive heat. Where I felt the effects, sort of, was in the following weeks, and especially leading up to Columbia Triathlon, about four weeks after Boston. Columbia is a tough course for an olympic distance, and even though I knew the course from the previous year, I just felt flat on race day -- almost certainly still feeling the efefects from Boston.

I mention that because just about the same amount of time that Columbia followed Boston for me in '04, REV3 would follow Greensboro for you. On the plus side, you will be 30 whereas I was 55, and so your recovery from Greensboro should be much more quicker and complete than mine was after Boston. On the negative side, your follow-up race will be a half-iron, whereas mine was an olympic - a tough olympic, granted, but I have never done a half that was easier than Columbia, so.....

It MIGHT be useful to figure which of these two races is more important to you. If REV3 kind of counts as an "A" race, then you might want to re-think Greensboro. If Greensboro, as a Boston qualifier, thus assumes "A" status then do it, but down-play your goals for REV3. And, it's also possible to have REV3 as an "A", and view Greensboro as a way to somehow get 26.2 under your belt by way of making 13.1 at REV3 seem less daunting.....but that defeats what you said about Greensboro and Boston.

I think it was Lisa who said that from now on her marathon efforts will be in the fall, and I PERSONALLY agree with that. Fall, and maybe into March, but not beyond that. Triathlon is just way too important for me, and I found that recovery from a spring marathon for a late spring triathlon is just too dicey - for me. Also, keep in mind that I have a history of injury problems, and a marathon is just too "injury-inducing" for me to take a chance with so close to triathlon season. But some folks are basically bionic, and can swim/bike/run hard without ever injuring themselves in any serious way. You are VERY fortunate if you are one of the bionic ones!!

I hope this has helped!

MINDY! LISA! NATHAN!

Did we "drop" some people when we got FULL and graduated out of the "Quicklist - OPEN Mentor Groups" category and slipped down to the scrolling lists of full groups? (Or have we lost people because I'm too long-winded for most people's tastes. Therein lies my insecure concern!!)

Anyhow, by way of keeping us high up on the list and more visible, if you get the chance just post some gibberish -- list the alphabet backwards, post your favorite off-color limerick, ask for the answer to 17 down on today's crossword puzzle, whatever it takes to make us visible.

Bye for now!

Did we drop people? I don't know how this group thing works, but I thought we were all still here? Maybe some just forgot to come back?

Oh, i can post all day long, don't you worry about that. This site is my current addiction. I just didn't want to be a blog-hog.

you do know that you can send a personal message to individual people right?

oh, and here is something else. We can all add each others logs to our own. So from my own log I can now click on all your names and see what you are up to. to do this....
scroll to the top of your screen. click "control Panel"
then click "edit your training settings" on the right
and then click the friends tab. from here you can add all our names. woo hoo.

the names then will show up at the bottom left of your screen from your log page.

so make sure you log your workouts! I'm watching

Edited by hooslisa 2009-01-27 11:07 AM

LISA -

Congratulations! You've been hired as this group's Technical Guru! It would take me approximately 283 years to learn all of the stuff you seem to have at your fingertips - if even then. None of this stuff comes intuitively for me, and even though my kids insist that just about any computer mistake can be reversed ------- I don't buy that for a moment!

Thanks for your hints and advice about how to navigate my way around all the tabs, icons, and assorted doo-dads on this site!


Edited by stevebradley 2009-01-27 11:17 AM

I can't find a friend option. Is it only for paid members?