Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 108)

Dirk- Glad you have come to a decision that both you and your family are at peace with. It's awesome to see what great relationship you have with your wife and daughters.

The foot photo reminded me of when I lost a toenail after my HM...guess this sport not always pretty

I went to a spin class today and ran/walked 20 mins afterwards. Normally I like running outside (and it is awesome weather here!) but the treadmill has actually been good at forcing me to keep a pace for a set amount of time and be able to very gradually increase it each week. Right now, I'm setting the running pace at an easy 12 min mile (which is actually not so easy for me at this point) and walking around 17 min mile. I hope to eventually get back to my 9 min mile and 15 min walking pace, but that may take a while.

I think the workouts are effective and not too easy, as I am sweating more than I have in a long time. I had trouble keeping my earbuds in on the treadmill. I know I am a long way off from where I was 2 years ago...but for the first time, that is truly irrelevant to me. I am just happy that my heart is back in it again. 

Karl I'm sorry to hear about your dog I hope things work out for him with the medication. Nice job biking to and from the run and going out there and doing a great job with the 10K. I hope your toe is alright and hope it's not broken.

Jackie I think it's great that you are thinking about getting back to swimming. For now I'd just swim for fun and see where you're at, no pressure.

Jo63 - 2013-04-28 7:52 AM I am in for next session Matt, not sure when your race is so... I hope you had a great race or. Good luck today. Sam I sure hope this week helps your elbow Iam sure you have tried everything but icing always seems to help. Jackie that is so awesome that your hubby is going to do the HM with you. Dirk I say go for it, have you decided yet? Tracy I am hoping it is just allergies. Tony how did the ride go with your group? Karl wow biking to your race? That's awesome. Sorry about your dog poor thing. I will try to get some pictures up; but yesterday during my ride I notice that on my right side every so often my knee would bump my elbow when I am in aero Iam thinking I need to move my seat back? And on a side note this is the first ride, probably ever, that I didn't have or felt like I was gonna have a melt down, in the past I did so much bad self talk. I followed my bike with a run and was able to do a 10:54 which i know for some of you is like oh my god slow, but for me this is 1:16 off my pace from anything i ran last year. I think I finally have the confidence that I am strong enough to do this, and it feels pretty great!

JoAnne sounds like you had another great workout and I am very familiar with 10:54. I'm not a fast runner either. Great to see you  improving your pace and gaining confidence in yourself and your ability. 

Dirk good for you and no doubt you'll be back running at Boston whether it was next year or some time in the future. It's great to see your family support you in your decision and for you to take them into consideration. It helps too to have your wife see it from a different perspective and tell you so and for you to value her opinion so much. You'll be back there no doubt about it.

What an awesome day today, absolutely beautiful day. I got a 48 mile bike ride done today on the North Shore of Long Island this morning. My first outdoor ride of the season. I was in very good company trying to keep up with 4 Ironmen and to be honest I didn't do all that bad although Bobby did try and kill me with a climb before we reached Oakwood which the others passed on. I should actually thank him for that as I need the work.

I was a little conservative on the descents since I was not familiar with the area and there are no shoulders or very limited shoulders so you had to be cautious about traffic but I did great hammering and spinning my way around. Some of the hills were killer, there was one particular winding descent and climb which the guys call Oakwood. Now going down is a lot of fun you can fly down there but coming back up is HARD man. They do there repeats there so I got to do my first infamous "Oakwood repeat". I only did three since I figured I still had to ride back so anymore than that and I would have been lying on the side of the road somewhere. I believe the record is 13 and I don't think I'll ever attempt 13 repeats of Oakwood during the same ride much less the same week.

Overall just a great ride for me, not only were the hills tough but throw in some wind here and there especially at the end of the ride when I actually got to ride on a nice flat level road and sure enough right into a head wind. My legs are still on fire from this ride. The thing is I can't imagine having to do another 64 miles and then run a marathon so this was a reality check.

Still a lot of work to do but I'm really happy with this ride. I only got dropped once and that was because I missed a red light and sort of got a little lost but thankfully Bobby came back for me and I was at least heading in the right direction and the other guys were waiting for us. Having the opportunity to ride with these guys is only going to make me better and I can see the work over the winter definitely helped me. No way I could have done this ride last season.

Nice ride Tony!  I know I am ready to get into some bike focus time.

Thank You to all who popped in on Facebook today to wish me luck.  I always appreciate the support that comes from this group.  My goal was to finish around 1:40 and unfortunately I missed it and finished with a 1:44. I am not dissappointed at all though, I gave a good effort and do not feel that I left much on the course.  I finished in the top 10% overall and top 25% in AG so a good day!  I will post a race report when I get a chance!

Matt congrats on a great finish and a new PR in miserable weather today. Looking forward to the race report.

Tony,  That ride sounds like a great one indeed!  I would love to have some actual hills in the area but there is nothing that would constitute that around here.  In order to get anything close to hills I would have to drive almost an hour north before find  anything close and then it's rolling hills rather than climbing hills.

Matt, you had kind of lousy weather for a race yesterday morning.  The temps were a little bit cool (at least in Ft Wayne) in the morning and add some rain on top of it and it would have made things a little more difficult.  I can't wait to read the race report.

It sounds like everyone got a good outdoor ride in this past weekend.  I had a 43 mile ride that was split with a group and solo.  Kyrie had a ROTC formal ball to attend with her boyfriend and he had to take a bazillion pictures so I needed to cut the ride off early and head for the house.   The ride was scheduled for 57 miles but I just didn't have time to make the entire distance and be ready to leave, so it was shorter.

The wind made for a slightly more difficult ride out but the way back was pretty quick.  I stayed at or slightly below threshold for most of this ride including the group segments.  I was up front nearly all of the group portion, except when I lost my water bottle but that provided little rest.  I had to stop and get it then sprint back up to the rest of the group.  By the time I got back into the peloton I was toast.  I needed that draft to recovery!

Jo, glad you felt better riding!!!  BTW, how are your sisters?

Tony, great ride, congrats!  Keep it up!

Tony, let us know when U get a Race report up...or it didn't happen...lol

Dirk, codngrats on making a decision.  I know it was tough but you and Liz know what is best.  Now you can concentrate on an IM and enjoy your daughter's graduation.  You probably feel better just making a decision...and when the time is right, you will BQ again....maybe even in your IM.

Dirk - What beautiful feet you have.... makes me think of how a teenage girl would paint her toes for color variety. Thanks for sharing about your decision about Boston 2014. Sounds like you have an awesome wife! 

Matt- Congrats on your race time. Looking forward to reading your race review.

Tony- Great job on the bike ride.

For those of you with dogs... Karl- I am sorry to hear about your dachsund. Dina - Hang in there. I adopted an awesome Siberian Husky when I was 18 and he was my companion for 12 years. He passed away on my 30th birthday. terrified he would chew up my dad's furniture, I ended up freezing wash cloths dunked in chicken broth. That was the only thing that satisified his teething issue for months. We want another dog, but I am waiting till my girls get old enough to help, and I don't feel like potty training a puppy right now, so I feel for ya.

I didn't get much tri trianing in this past weekend. I was in Jacksonville for an Herbalife training and had a pretty awesome time. I met a young man who just turned 50 and completed his first Ironman last year, I was inspired to say the least. I thought about taking my bike and getting in a bike ride Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon, but I really just wanted to spend time with the hubby and munchkin when training was over.

We headed home early Sunday morning and I thought I would get in an afternoon bike ride, but had too many doggone chores and unpacking to do. When I went outside in the afternoon the wind was pretty strong (25 mph + gusts) and I knew I didn't want to ride in that nonsense. I got in a decent bike/run workout this morning and will have a few more workouts this week and am looking forward to next Saturday's tri. I feel like my biggest hurdle at the moment will not be resting enough this week since I didn't get in all my workouts last week.   

Will yesterday was a reality check for me for sure but like you said if we stick to the plan and trust it and get out there and get our long rides in we'll be able to do it. The guys I rode with yesterday have been doing this a lot longer then I have and they've told me the same thing. Which is sort of hard to believe when you see them ride but they were in the same place we are when they started out. I figure we keep working hard we'll get to where we want to be and we'll be able to do that 112 miles.

Trust what you've done to this point and just be sure to get some recovery at least those last 3-4 days.  You'll do great.  They key is - whatever you bring to the line race morning, that's what you have for that day.  Don't worry about what was or what might have been, just execute and hammer the race.

Dirk just another vote that your decision about Boston sounds right on. Even when you separate out the emotions of it all, just trying to BQ the same year as an IM sounds really difficult. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I remember you had to sacrifice a little bit of cycling to focus on the marathon? For some reason, being the Junky you are, I don't think you will happy doing that knowing an IM is looming. Which IM are you aiming for?

And where has Jeff been lately?

Okay, so think we all know I have a bit of a "reputation" for going absent for a week.  So sorry about this.

Big news though.  My HIM training plan started last week.  I pretty much increased my training load a ton and my legs really felt it by the weekend.  I had a really crappy ride on Saturday followed by a really crappy run on Sunday.  I'm feeling pretty good today though.  I just had a bad week of sleep and almost came down with a cold, but I sucker-punched that cold in the face and we're good!

Unfortunately my elbow tendonitis is as bad as it has been.  Funny thing is that yard work is what really kills it.  I'm heading to get an arm strap today.  Hoping that helps.  It's my grip strength that really suffers.

Matt, I'm jealous.  I wish I could take some credit for your running!!!  I am so proud of your improvements over what seems like less than two years...right?

I'm also picking up on the mountain biking.  I think there are a lot of muscles that get used on a mountain bike that get lost on the road, so I'm hitting the dirt a lot more often.  It also changes things up a bit.  Enjoy the beautiful weather while it lasts!  I know some of you are getting some intense rain.  Hope nobody is affected by flooding!

Jonathan, good luck on your HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sorry about your elbows.  Yea we missed you...

Tracy, we are gonna miss you, hope it is a FUN trip.  Enjoy your running....

Hi folks.  If you are a facebook friend you will know that I haven't died.  Although if you don't hear from me for a long time it's best to check and see if I'm still alive.  I always wonder if I might not have another bout of clots and fall dead.

I had a great weekend going to GA for some racing....while my oldest daughter stayed in Nashville for her first marathon.

My weekend was great.  I had Thursday and Friday off work so was able to get an early start to things.  I loaded up the bikes, the gear, the food and drinks and got started Thursday morning.  Stopped north of Atlanta for lunch and that last 'hour' of the trip took a couple of hours.  The traffic around Atlanta is horrible. 
But we still made it to our destination with enough daylight left to check in to the hotel and head to the park to ride a lap of the race course.  Fortunately the course was already marked for the weekend (tape and signs indicating where to go at intersections).  I did a lap with Morgan nice and slow.  After finishing that lap I ran the run course while Morgan followed along on her bike.  The run course was really scenic and fun.  It was quite dark by the time we finished and I was running without being able to see the trail but it all worked out well.

The next day we slept in and sauntered our way to the trail by lunch time.  I did another lap with Morgan, then did a faster lap by myself before heading back to the room for a while.  Later on at dinner time my friend Duane and his wife arrived and we met for a lap together out on the course.  He and I did one medium-fast while Morgan did another one at her own pace.  It was an incredible 2 days of riding.  The trail there is beautiful and invigoratingly fast in many places!  The sky was sunny, the temperatures were warm, but barely, and it just made for ideal days to be in the woods.

Saturday was a different story though.  It was cool and wasn't scheduled to warm up (50s) and rainy.  Fortunately, swimming in wetsuits is nice and cozy.  The wetsuit is so warm the 60-something degree water felt fine and any chill one might have developed that morning was erased by the warmth of the suit as soon as it went on.
It didn't rain anymore after the race started and it turned out to be perfect weather for a race.  It was chilly with race clothes on, but not too much so and it never even started to feel warm during the run.  It would have been pleasant to have the sun out, but that's a minor quibble.

I did well on the bike and run and pretty lousy on the swim. 

That evening I went back with Morgan and we got registered for the next day's mtn bike race.
Then my leg began to hurt increasingly more through the evening until I was incapacitated and nearly incapable of walking.  There was probably some bleeding in my thigh that was due to racing with a pulled muscle.  So on Sunday morning I opted out of the mtn bike race.  But we stayed there (in the rain!) until Morgan's race started. 
She had a great race.  She placed 3rd and won some prizes!  She also finished her lap under her goal which is really amazing on a rain soaked course like that.

So we all went home sore and exhausted and a little wet and needing rest! 

On Saturday my daughter ran a cold, rainy marathon.  She was completely unphased by the weather.  The race is a point-to-point race and she rode a bicycle to the start and left it.  Afterwards she was picked up by her roommate and taken home.  Sunday she did a perfect post-marathon recovery routine.  She went to her pilates class earlier then WALKED the 2 miles from her home to the start to retrieve the bike and rode that back home.

She's complaining that I won't let her run for a minimum of 3 days after the marathon!

Her previous best time for a half marathon (her only) was 2:10.  She cruised to the halfway Saturday in under 2:00 and went on to finish the marathon in 4:10 with a smile!

I will try to get a couple of photos uploaded and show you all. 

Here are some pictures.

That's Jordan running the marathon and Morgan is on the 3rd podium at the mtn bike race.

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(Morgan.JPG)

The race weekend sounds like it a great deal of fun for everyone.  Jordan did amazing at her first marathon and for her to say: "It was a great race. 4:08 is the time to beat next time!" is a great sign that she enjoyed herself.  That in itself has to be pleasing to you.  I would recommend she get a good leg massage for recovery.  The massage has proven to be the single best thing I have done to get my muscles back into shape.

Then, judging from the pictures of Morgan, she had what appears to be some older more experienced competition.  I know if my girls were racing and enjoying themselves the way it appears yours are, Id be mighty happy

Congrats to all of you on a fine weekend of racing and family time!

Hows the foot today?

Funny!  I had some of the same thoughts this year for the first time, but I would never do it either.  It really doesn't take all that long for me to maintain my yard. 1-2 hours a week depending on the rain we get.