kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2013 (Year 3!) - CLOSED (Page 108)

Running and biking I've run into deers, foxes, skunks, turkeys, swans, squirrels, coyotes, hawks and probably some I'm forgetting.

I include a benign animal like a squirrel because twice they've almost run into the spokes on my front tire and I'd have to imagine that would do some damage bare minimum and I'd be likely to crash and get hurt.

I include the hawk because I was running with my IPOD on and he swooped me from behind coming over the top of my head by feet. It was actually really cool because I was on a long straight section of road and he just glided for several hundred yards before taking off. It didn't scare me at all and was rather relaxing.

The turkey packs around here are nuts. I've run by them constantly but riding by them is scary because like the squirrels you have no idea which way they'll go. I've run by deers in the woods many time but once there was one standing on the yellow line in the middle of the road. I came to a complete stop and my friend said why did you stop and not go around him? Because one of those hit my car once and the car lost so I'm not taking it on. He eventually took off to the side of the road we would have passed him on.

A skunk came out from behind some trash when I was running with a headlight on at 5AM and scared the crap out of me. The swan I mention because he was on this small pond up against the road and I took the corner on my bike and I scared him and he scared me. He hissed and spread his wings which had to be 12-14ft across.

The coyotes and foxes I actually saw way in advance and have avoided them. There's a red fox I see a lot down by the marshes and he must be hunting bird's nests down there. He notices me and goes the other direction.

I was in Australia for some work and they have some trails around the facility that we were at. You have to sign out that you are taking a run around the trails because of all the "wildlife" that is out there in the Outback. Well they were not kidding. Me and this guy were running a long and a Dingo decided to join us for a little bit. We finally stopped and started throwing rocks at it to scare it away. They may look like dogs but they are not of the friendly type.

"Maybe the dingo ate your baby."

Anyone??

That's pretty funny. I work for a company based in AU and am waiting for a business excuse to go down for at least a few weeks. I don't that it will ever happen but I keep hoping. That would be a dream trip.

No...I meant does anyone remember the line...Elaine from Seinfeld..."maybe the dingo ate your baby."

Nope, I'm sticking with Pimp Wing  

I think you should get a cycling kit built around the theme.

They don't take 45 year olds even if I could smoke most of the recruits in the fitness tests!

It has been a difficult week. I started out with a bad allergic reaction to something at the end of last week that made me feel like I had the flu. By midweek that had morphed into a sinus infection. On top of it, I had a conference at work that I couldn't miss. So the bottom line is that today is my 8th consecutive day with no exercise at all. I'm on antibiotics now that should finally take care of things health-wise, but it is frustrating to miss so much training with my first tri ever three weeks away.

I just realized I sound like my grandmother talking about her ailments. I guess the point here is not to request pity, but to ask what the best way to proceed now is. Once I start again (likely a day or two away yet) should I jump back into my training schedule with the same intensity as before, or should I ease back in? What about tapering before the event? Should I not taper as much given that I've just been off for so long? The event is an Olympic-distance event.

That's a very cute baby picture, by the way, Scott.

You're going to need to ease back into training.  What's the date of the Olympic?

Does anyone know if allergy medication affects HR?  I started taking Claritin a week ago, and ever since then my resting HR has been about 20 beats higher than normal.  Usually I start a workout with a HR in the low 60s (sometimes upper 50s).  This week it's been upper 80s - low 90s.  I have also been struggling with insomnia.  I wake up every hour and toss and turn.  Sometimes I'll feel my heart racing.  

I've been taking this medicine at night, so I'm going to move it to the a.m. to see if that helps with the insomnia.  Not taking the medicine isn't an option, as I live on the lake and have severe seasonal allergies that can send me to the hospital with an asthma attack. 

A group of wild turkeys is called a harem.  We have a very large harem near the house with one male and close to a dozen females.  Shaun has nicknamed the male "Pimp Wing."  Wild turkeys are scarier than you think, they can get up to 60 mph and cause some serious damage.