ASPHALT JUNKIES Summer Bronzing Crew - CLOSED (Page 104)

I'm not sure this week will ever end!  Yesterday some clown broke 8 poles on 3 separate lines (only one of my poles) by driving a truck with his boom in the air for about 7 miles.  He was not far from killing some linemen that had just completed work on some new poles they were working on 30  minutes prior.  Then, as I'm delaing with that one a call about another pole that was on fire an hour away from the broken pole.

....I'm beginning to lose my sense of humor!

Goodness, DIRK - how does one not know his boom is up?  So glad no one was hurt.   Ya gotta keep your sense of humor, though and keep doing the job you were meant to do.  Plenty of hours in the next 10 months to get yourself in top shape.

DEREK!!  Thanks for checking in as we wondered where you'd gotten to.  Being a dad is the highest calling you'll have on earth and it sounds like you're investing well in your son.  

So, I think my work week is done........I HOPE!!  I have put in about 65+ hours and had about 23 hours of sleep with last night being about 8 hours.  It seems that my body clock would allow me to get any more sleep during my mandatory 8 hour "rest periods" at the end of my work days.  Then the following night (uhh morning) I got 5 hours sleep.  After that things got closer to normal but my mind and body were finally ready to sleep past 5 AM but then a regular-ish work  start schedule dictated a 6 AM beginning to my day.

I will probably try to work tomorrow for a few hours but it will be office type stuff to get ready for an upcoming job.  I'll see what the day holds before I make a time commitment, I guess.   I'll also try to get a bike and run in tomorrow too. 

Now, if I were a betting man, I'd bet that I'll be out of bed by 7 AM because my body clock says it's time to get up.

Happy Friday everyone! Dirk I really hope you get some sound quality sleep. I would be just about sick by now if I were you.

Another of my BT friends is getting feedback on some test results today. If you think of it say a prayer for Laura/Whizz & her husband. They are expecting and some of the tests showed signs of Trisomy 18 - just exactly like what my sister went through last year. Well, you all can imagine the torment of waiting for these results. So if you have a minute think of them. I shared my sisters story with her and how the tests were totally wrong but now I am really afraid that was the wrong thing to do in case it does not work out the same for them.

I've been cleared by the NP to go back to light activity again. She says no more than 30 min, to keep it all easy intensity for another week and no running yet. A little is better than nothing. The groin really feels pretty good and I see why I did not stop with the original injury - because on my painful injury scale it is just not that bad. But I can still find that tender spot and put my finger right on it AND I really want it to go away all together so I will take the time now. Getting harder though.... I usually try to have some kind of mega workout early in the morning on Thanksgiving but I won't be able to do that this year. Stupid thing to fret about I know.

Still no sweets for me and I'm eating less junk and more veggies so I'm really happy about all of that. I tried spaghetti squash for the first time ever last night - that is one cool vegetable and Gracie loved it too .

JoAnne you have inspired me to get help from a trainer at the Y when this injury clears up! So glad your bank stuff has gotten worked out.

Karl congrats on reaching your goal of 1000 miles running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably no Turkey Trot for me this year due to the training setbacks. I was looking forward to our local 6 mile run. It was really fun 2 years ago when I did it for the first time. Who knows though, maybe after today and tomorrow's runs I'll feel like I can do it.

Dina - Paryers sent for your friend.  Good job resting your injury this week. Ease into it when the time comes. There is no good reason to rush your training and risk re-injury.

Karl - 1000 miles is amazing. I wont even reach half that this year.

I have exceeded last year's run total but swim and bike totals were way down this year for me. I'll probably be double on time spent training in Kung Fu though, so it hasn't been a wasted year fitness wise.

I didn't get a chance to run yesterday because I had to take time from work to wait for the matress delivery/pickup guys to come and get the matress we purchased 3 months ago that hasn't worked out. Now we'll be sleeping on camping mats until Monday when the new matress gets delivered.

I'm hoping to take off early today since I've got my hours in for the week already and get a run in on the track at my daughter's school this afternoon.

Karl,  Congrats on achieving a very major goal!  1000 miles in one year means you're a serious runner who's not prone to injury and trains smartly.  good job!  An interesting thought I had as I was penning this.  I was doing a job interview for a perspective new linemen a week or so ago and he mentioned he had ridden his "bike" about 2300 miles so far this year.  He was thinking he had ridden a lot of miles on his "bike"..........Motorbike!  I mentioned I had ridden nearly 4500 miles on my bike......."the kind with pedals" and he kind of stared at me for a second, then everyone else in the room sought clarification and began to ask why in the world I would do that.

Dina,  Have you heard from Whizz?  I pray the tests have turned out the way we all would hope.  And I don't think you did the wrong thing by providing some encouragement to her with the results of your sisters tests.  It can provide a measure pf perspective when challenged with extraordinary stress.  An encouraging word can go a very long way to a person dealing with life changing events.  Besides, the measure of your heart is what's important and your reaching out to her will become the measure of her importance to you despite the results of the test.

Warren,  Lis and I are talking about doing my traditional "Galloping Gobbler" race together this year.  It's a 4 mile race that I placed 1st in my AG last year and I've been moving up through my AG field over the past several years.  I absolutely love this particular race but this year will be a very different experience for me and one I'm likely to struggle with to some degree.  I'll hate being there and not running it or beating myself into the proverbial ground.

Me?  Well, I'm back to somewhat of a normal schedule I guess.  Part of my crew is working but I'm taking the weekend off.  My guys would like the OT and I'll give them as much as I can as long as it makes sense.  They're working south of Ft Wayne where we have 6 steel lattice towers on the ground.  The towers are in another crews' response area so we aren't required to be there, but they can use a little help.  I needed some decompression time after some extreme stress during this storm, so no workie for me! 

This storm was one of the most stressful one's i believe I have ever worked.  The organization was lower than normal and a couple of events sky rocketed my stress level to heights I've not experienced before.  For the most part things are settled but it'll be a few weeks before I can truly rest easy and put this storm behind me.

Lis and I went to Starbucks this morning for our weekend coffee together time and then we went running around to the grocery and a couple of other places.  Now it's time for a 2 hour bike after doing another test to determine virtual power on TR.  Hopefully the new number will keep me from completely trashing myself further.  I tested yesterday and now I am suffering from the effects of exercise induced brochospasms.  This is a condition I feel I developed from riding the bike so hard all of the time.  Now, since being diagnosed, I am supposed to use an inhaler 5-10 minutes prior to riding the bike but I have been very forgetful since taking the break following my bike crash.  The conditions doesn't cause anything serious.  I just have to clear my throat all the time until I have cleared it up.

Matt,  I was pretty happy for a somewhat uneventful weekend.  But it doesn't sound like you had anything of the sort.  One day those kids will thank you for a being a great dad (I'm still waiting for this myself) and all of the personal sacrifices will have been worth it.......Skip the training!......As you have done.

Joanne,  Dive right back in the pool.  Don't stay out too long.  It gets easier to stay away the longer you stay out and before you know it you'll be on top of the IMWI dates.

Congrats on an un-official addition to your family.  By your comment I'll assume that they have been dating for quite some time?  I, for one, will wait for a while before I hear any of this talk around my house.  Although Kyrie's boyfriend is getting her a promise ring for her as a Christmas gift.  (Apparently there are pictures but I haven't seen them.) 

Tony,  That's a wicked ride!!  Sounds like you'll be on top of training for IMMT if things continue to go down that mountain road. 

I had my own 3 days of somewhat hard riding on the drainer.  The Trainer Road 8 minute test this past Friday and then 2 hours rides both Saturday and Sunday.  I was struggle fairly profusely for the last few minutes of the test on Friday but I have new numbers for virtual power.  Then Saturday I rode some long endurance intervals and again on Sunday the same but Sunday the intervals were harder.  By the last half of yesterday's ride my legs were feeling trashed and fatigue was setting in quite a bit.  Then the last half hour I was struggling to keep my effort in the targeted range..........I failed!!  I was 15 watts lower than the target.  I felt miserable!  All I could think about was needing something to eat for the last 15 minutes.

I did have to work on Saturday night too.  I was out from 8 PM until 1:30 AM repairing some conductor on a line in the frigid wind.  For the most part though, it was a fairly good weekend.

I don't know why I stopped receiving email notifications last week of Junkie posts  but I thought you all had been really quiet until I actually got on site and had to catch up on what's going on.      I re-toggled the notification thing so hopefully I'll start getting them again.

KARL - Way to go on 1000 miles!!  Impressive distance and it showed with your PR in your HIM last month.  Hope you and Pam had a nice get-away

DINA - Any update on your friend?  Prayers continuing.  As I eat another piece of coffee cake I think of how you've cut out sweets.  I wish I had your self-control!

JOANNE - That's wonderful news of Justin's engagement!  Adding more family members is a happy thing.  Also great that the bank stuff with the business has worked out.  I'm sure you have much relief.   Good job getting in the pool!  Keep it up!

WARREN - Have fun in your Turkey Trot with Kathy and your son!   I envy you having a spouse who runs/is active.  Hope you make good family memories!

DIRK - Glad you got the well-deserved time off for the weekend.  Our county had 3 confirmed tornadoes and the paper had pictures of the damage all week. Hope you were able to take a deep breath and start this week refreshed.  Sorry to hear of your bronchospasms.  

VERO -  Hope you enjoyed your day off, too.  What award did you achieve that you mention in your facebook picture?

MATT - Sorry your Saturday got booked with dad/hubby stuff but there's more reward in that any ways.  Shopping for a new camper?!  Exciting!  Looking at another pop-up?     Are you doing any HIM's next year?   Saw where HFP is putting on a new one at Mohigan State Park and I'm looking at it as a possibility.

TONY - Oh. My  A 5 hour mtn bike ride?!   Wowza!   I'd say that's a memorable day with Wynn.  It's nice to have friends to do things with.   Glad you enjoyed yourself - hopefully you're not paying too dearly for it today.

I've been using Spinervals DVDs for my trainer since I started doing tri's but just downloaded my first Sufferfest video (Blender) and need some help.  .  Blender gives a perceived effort number along with a cadence which is typically 100 for the main sets.  Spinervals tells you what gear to be in and a cadence to shoot for which is rarely 100 for any sustained time so I'm not used to spinning that fast.   Trying to hit the higher cadence in Blender makes me take it down to lower gears  than I'm used to using and my perceived effort becomes higher than what is recommended.  Needless to say, I wasn't able to finish the whole video before I was spent.    I need someone to talk to me about cadence.  I have no doubt you Junkies have discussed it before so please forgive me for not taking note of it.   What's a good target cadence for triathletes for general sustained effort?   I don't even know what other technical questions to ask, I just know I'm befudled in how to approach the Sufferfest training.  Help! 

There's a FA50K (meaning no fees, no bibs, no awards and self-supported run) the day after Thanksgiving in the same State Park as the 50K race I'm scheduled for in December.  Although I'd love to do the whole thing, we have something scheduled for early evening so I plan to run at least one 25K loop.   I expect to eat A LOT on Thanksgiving day so it'll be a good chance to chase away some extra pounds. 

Hope everyone has a Marvelous Monday!!

In the time it took me to write my post, 3 other posts came in and still no email notifications.   Hmmm......   Any one else having this problem?