Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 101)

Hey everyone!

Everyone is freaking awesome! Great racing.

I've been MIA for a few weeks. I've had to deal with some problems at home (had to kick my 21 year old son out and wife is very sad), my new job (at the same place) I'm now in charge of 2 casinos doing the ordering of all foods and etc. for the reataurants, and I took a week and a half off (vacation) and went on a cycling exursion. I took a 300 mile tour of the Sierra Nevadas, then a 220 mile tour of the Napa & Sonoma Valleys. I just ended it yesterday with my longest day of riding here in the Tahoe area of 167.6 miles in one day. Needless to say I am very tired. Today, back to work. I haven't updated my logs and will get them up to date soon (when I have time). I estamate around 630 miles in 12 days with over 30,000 + ft. of climbing.

I have to say it was an awesome experience. We started with about 22 of us and by the end there was only 7 of us left. I hurt in places I didn't know could hurt. Even my hair hurt. LOL

I still have a plan to get one more tour done before the weather is crappy. I want to ride Highway 1 from Bodega to Fort Bragg to the Avenue of the Giants. Anyway, that's why I have been absent for the last few weeks. I tried to keep up with everones great accomplishments and all I can say is you all are truly amazing.

I am now training for a bike race in Sept. (race around the lake) and I'm looking to get a PR by making the race (72 miles) in under 3:20:00. I planned on doing the HIM distance (Expedition Man) at the end of the month, not sure if I will do it. I not sure I am ready for the run.

Just wanted to check in. Again, you guys/gals are just awesome!

Karl, that is too funny and you have my sympathies. Glad to hear that your wife had an uneventful ride. Hopefully the new pedals will help her out and she'll get more comfortable riding the bike. Also, no more crashes!

Oh my gosh, Stan!  What an amazing experience!  I'm exhausted just reading all of that. 

I love it!  Very cool, Jo!

What's on the plate for everyone this weekend? I've been taking a little recovery/relaxing training  week this week and don't have any big training plans.

It took the RD for my last race until yesterday to post the race results but I got some interesting data from them. The women who placed 3rd overall had a faster swim than me and a much faster run. I only beat her by 15 seconds - but she took over a minute in both T1 & T2. Check it out:

                                                              T1                                         T2

 And if your bored this weekend you can always catch up on the 8 page long thread I started in TriTalk yesterday. Funny what can stir the pot on an internet forum!

This weekend?

I have a sprint tri on Sun.

I'm just resting for a couple days. I plan on just going all out at the race. Other than that, I am still debating the HIM distance race next week. I'm still worried about my run. I can do the distance, but the heat is going to be an issue. I haven't had the time to train in the heat.

Anyway, hope everyone's weekend is great.

Dina that was great question you posted in the forum yesterday and yeah I think you might have ignited a fire in that forum but it was all interesting discussion there. IMO I don't think doing or not an IM really makes a difference, as long as you are enjoying what you are doing why should that matter.

For me I have my last Sprint Tri for this season tomorrow morning. I sort of wish it was on Sunday to give me and extra day to catch up on my sleep but it is what is. Once this race is out of the way I can focus on the HIM coming up in Sept and the Marathon for Nov. I need to be running more! In any case I really want to do well tomorrow so the plan is to take it easy on the swim and stay away from the mosh pit if possible then hammer away on the bike and survive the run. Looking forward to the run it is a trail run and that is pretty much all I do so I am hoping to take advantage of that. I also want better times for both transitions this weekend so I will be making a bigger effort to see if I can do better than the last race.

Good luck to all the other Junkies racing this weekend, be safe, have fun and represent as always.   

Looks like nearly 50 seconds in T1 and 25 seconds in T2?  for a 1:15 advantage.   So she beat you in the 'tri'athlon, but you beat her by enough in the 'fourth discipline' to take the win.  That's a very good example of how if you are a competitive triathlete ('competitive' as in your actual finish time matters to you) then you need to work on everywhere you can gain seconds.

Also noteworthy is how triathlon is slanted towards cycling.  You spent 38 1/2 minutes gaining on her while cycling and then on the run she only had 23 1/2 minutes to gain on you (plus about 9 minutes while swimming).

Tony, Stan...have a great time racing this weekend (anyone else?)

Welcome back to the board Stan.  I have to say that I'm impressed with your cycling mileage.  That's incredible.  What a great base you are building.

I want to tell everyone about my swim practice this morning.  Coach had us start our main set early today to get it all in.  He typically has us doing some variation of the same old sprinter-based workout that is pretty modest (meaning geared toward the 'less competitive' master's swimmers).

Today's workout was something new.  It was a good distance workout (which is great for triathletes).  After a token 150M warmup we started the workout.  It went like this:

2x500M

4x200M

6x100M

8x50M

10x25M

It was all done on a 2:00/100 base.  Which for you YARDS swimmers is about a 1:48 base.  That means you LEAVE for the next repeat 2:00 per 100m (1:48 per 100y).  (so for the 500s we started the 2nd one 10 minutes after starting the 1st one - or convered to yards that would be equivalent to leaving 9:00 later).

So the 500s get you slammed to threshold and you hold it there.  That was great.  I swam the 2nd one faster than the first.

The 200s up the anti a little bit because you swim a little faster knowing it's shorter but your rest is shorter.  I came in at 3:20 on the first one and around 3:30 for the others so rest was only about 30 seconds.

The 100s are progressively harder for the same reason.  Only about 15 seconds rest now between them...And so on.  Can't decide of the 50s or the 25s were the hardest.  During the 25s there is about 5 seconds rest.

What's cool is that I swam about the same pace throughout all of these distances and sets and repeats.  No falling off.  I stayed aerobic (barely) because I am finally getting the hang of relaxed breathing.  I am able to breath as effectively as when I'm running in the air.  It's been really hard for me to breath that freely when I'm face down in a suffocating fluid.

I'm certainly not a good swimmer yet.  But I think I've reached the point where the swim doesn't completely undo my chances in the triathlon.  Good news for me.

That's a great workout Jeff.  1:48 "off the wall" pace for that duration workout seems smokin to me.

Stan, that's tough with your son.  I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision.  Sometimes we have to show love by just doing the right thing and praying they get it eventually.  At some point their decisions really are their decisions.

Good luck to all the racers this weekend.

I'm doing my half relay this weekend at Timberman - I'm the bike leg.  I've got the compact crank on the bike so I'm ready for the hills.  The following weekend I'm doing the Rev3 70.3 at Old Orchard Beach.  Hopefully the ocean water stays "warm", though that's a relative term up here in New England.  The Maine beaches have been in the 62 range lately, so if that holds it's about the best it gets up there.

I'll be largely (if not totally) offline since I'm on vacation and we don't have access up at the cottage.  So here's to everyone racing the next two weekends.  Matt and I have a friendly competition going, so we'll report on the results of that.

Jeff it sounds like you had a great swim workout this morning and I agree with Warren that seems like a pretty fast pace to me for some of those sets you were doing. I can only dream about doing 2:00/100m pace at this point.

Warren good luck and be safe for your 70.3 relay this weekend. I really hope the TT bike makes a big difference for you and you go there and own the road for this race.

Best wishes to everyone racing this weekend!! Can't wait to hear how everyone does.

Jeff that swim workout sounds really tough. That had to hurt!

mambos - 2012-08-17 11:53 AM Warren: good luck in your race this weekend! I fully expect you to hammer up those hills so you don't let your partners down! I'm sure you will recover for 8-26! If you don't recover enough, well that's a shame !

I'll be sure to do some long, hard workouts this coming week to give you a fighting chance Matt.  Just keep chugging those Yuglanders, or whatever they are.

strikyr - 2012-08-17 6:11 PM Well I don't think I will be improving on my T1 time this week. Just got back from the packet pick up and scoped out the swim course and the transition area. It is a LONG way from the swim and it is all uphill. Damn it was a workout just to walk down to the pond to the swim course which looks like it might be shorter then the 750m's advertised. I don't think I will be running up hill to T1 in any case and it will especially suck if the swim is anything like my last race. I am looking forward to the trail run though assuming I have any energy left after the swim, T1 and the bike! 

Don't let it psyche you out Tony. You run/jog/whatever up that hill and watch how many people you pass. I listen to people pre race fret about all kinds of things - rocks in T1, how far it is, running up hill etc. Then I know where their mind is - already making excuses before the race even starts. You focus on your goals and watch what happens. The course is the same for everyone - it's what you do with it that matters.

Now dig deep and bring it home!!!!!!

Yes, and you can tell what I have been working the hardest at in my training for the last year and a half. A solid bike split goes a long way in this sport. Now if I just had some race wheels and an aero helmet Hee hee

I do want to note that was my worst swim on that course ever - swam a little off line. By the time I swam back to the pack I was MOP and squeezed up against the first turn bouy. No big deal but I lost a little time. Note to self - when you are enjoying a clean start with no feet in your face it's because everyone else is swimming the right direction .

trigal38 - 2012-08-17 8:27 PM

strikyr - 2012-08-17 6:11 PM Well I don't think I will be improving on my T1 time this week. Just got back from the packet pick up and scoped out the swim course and the transition area. It is a LONG way from the swim and it is all uphill. Damn it was a workout just to walk down to the pond to the swim course which looks like it might be shorter then the 750m's advertised. I don't think I will be running up hill to T1 in any case and it will especially suck if the swim is anything like my last race. I am looking forward to the trail run though assuming I have any energy left after the swim, T1 and the bike! 

Don't let it psyche you out Tony. You run/jog/whatever up that hill and watch how many people you pass. I listen to people pre race fret about all kinds of things - rocks in T1, how far it is, running up hill etc. Then I know where their mind is - already making excuses before the race even starts. You focus on your goals and watch what happens. The course is the same for everyone - it's what you do with it that matters.

Now dig deep and bring it home!!!!!!

Dina thanks and no worries I will do my best as always. To be honest I am more concerned about the weather. It looks like rain is in the forecast for sure. I can deal with rain but I hope those thundershowers stay away for a few hours.