Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED

Ready to go -- beat the holiday rush! NAME: Steve Bradley STORY: For two previous versions of this, go to the Mentor Archives and look at my initial post at "stevebradley's Mentor Group" and "GrooveTime!group"; these reflect my "status" as of Jan. 13 '09 and Dec. 15, '09, respectively. In a nutshell, though, 2011 will be 12th year of multisport, with the count is now at an even 100 races: 82 triathlons, 12 duathlons, 6 aquabikes (There are also lots of running races as well). Doing the math will tell you how much I love this stuff, as I compete as often as I can and take it all very seriously. I have not yet responded to the post on the main forum about what is my most-loved part of triathlon, as for me there are about a dozen of the categories that carry pretty much equal weight. As the current locution goes: It's all good! FAMILY STATUS: Turning 62 on Jan. 13, and in another nine days I will hit 35 years of marriage. Lynn is 15 months my junior and we have two "kids": Jane is closing in on 27 in April, and Peter just turned 24 two days ago (our ancient dog, Luna, is a fairly spry 13-and-a-half). I retired in '07 from a few lifetimes of teaching (mostly elementary), and live in the flat farmlands east of Ottawa, Ontario. (I was born in Boston, however). CURRENT TRAINING: I remain currently self-coached, but as always there is a big tip of the bike helmet to Eric Cagnina of D3 Multisport, who worked with me for 3+ years from '03-'07. I am pretty much emerged from my off-season, which incorporated separate stints of four weeks without cycling and four weeks without running. I didn't take much of a break from swimming, other than moping for about eight days after it got too cold for open water swims before trudging off to the pool for the next 7+ months (sigh...). I hit the gym 3-4 times a week, where I love the discipline of tri-focused lifting. All of my training is solo. THIS YEAR'S RACES: There were 11 triathlons and three road races. The tris were four sprints, five olympics, and one half-iron; the road races were two 10kms and a half-marathon. The focus was, for the second year in a row, building consistent speed at olys, aiming to be consistently sub-2:30. The larger goal is to incorporate some of this speed into half-irons, realizing after about 17 half-irons that having good speed at shorter distances can transfer nicely to longer distances. I am very pleased with how this plan has progressed! 2011 RACES: Once again, nothing is carved in stone at this stage. My "A" race will be the USAT Age Group Nationals in Burlington, VT, on Aug. 20; this is olympic distance. The "A-" race will be USAT Sprint Championships, same venue, following day. How I get there will likely be through a series of olympic-distance races, and after the Burlington races I will hopefully finish the season with two or three half-irons. Stay tuned for never-ending and ever-evolving developments! WEIGHT LOSS: Not much of an issue. I am 6'2", and currently at 172. I race best at about 170, which I was at for virtually all of the '10 season. I have been known to creep up to 180 during the looooong winter here, but last year topped at 176 or so, which made the slide back to low-170s quite easy. I make a decent effort to eat "mindfully", a habit built during a few years of being vegetarian ('03-'06). (Could always be more mindful, however! ) GOOD MENTOR: This will be my third group, with the other two having started in Jan '09 and Dec '09. Both are still active, with the former at 6299 posts and the latter at 6472 posts --- prolific, and then some! If you want to see how I "operate", just go the the Mentor Archives to the two groups mentioned above and trawl around for a while. I answer virtually everything that is posted my way, and more often than not in copious detail. I rely on three attributes: my many years of doing triathlon, the knowledge I gained from being a certified Level I USAT Coach, and an overriding interest in helping new(er) triathletes identify and attain their goals. The teacher in me has never quite gone away, and being retired means that I can settle into the computer pretty much whenever I want -- it's a good one-two punch! Finally, I am keenly aware of how life's "little realities" (work, family, other interests, injuries, etc) can affect training, and try to always keep in mind the need for balance -- both for me and the people in my groups. Ready to get your mojo workin'? I am!