ASPHALT JUNKIES Summer Bronzing Crew - CLOSED (Page 108)

Originally posted by JeffY Hey folks! Yes, I know, I'm a stranger and you don't know me.... But I just had to post this. I am about to pull the trigger and register a team for Ragnar Trail Atlanta. http://www.ragnartrail.com/locations/atlanta-gaIt's April 4-5. If I get about half the people to send me their entry fee by today, I will register today for the price break. It goes up somewhat tomorrow and if there aren't enough with their hats in the ring we will delay registration and just each have to pay a little more. My daughter gave me permission to invite some of my friends since her friends haven't filled the roster yet. If you can make a decision like this at the drop of the hat, then paypal me your share of the entry fee to [email protected] I would have invited sooner, but my daughter hadn't given me permission to recruit my own people. If you would like to, but just can't pull the trigger this quickly, there's still a good chance we won't have enough people for me to fill up the roster (8 total) for another week or two. Thanks!

Oh Wow this sounds sooo cool and how fun to have a team of Junkies! Those trails look really nice. I might be a little spooked running on a trail in the middle of the night . My son has his First Communion that same weekend but you know my running is too inconsistent to try to plan anything. I'd hate for people to be depending on me and then turn up injured again.

Congrats Karl!  That's a great way start the weekend.  2nd place in AG makes a person feel pretty good.

As Christmas approaches, how has everyone been doing for their shopping?  I mean, for everyone else rather than themselves.  I haven't done any shopping for Lis but then she, like me, already has the biggest gift she'll be getting.  She had asked for an iPad a few weeks ago and I told her I wasn't going to get it for her.  Of course I told her that be cause I needed to throw her off the trail since I had been planning on buying her an iPad since August. 

She and I have shopped around a little bit together, buying a few things for both of the girls, but mostly I don't do much shopping.  If it were up to me I would spend my time shopping online and stay completely away from the stores.  I will however be headed out to get Lis a few other things because I cannot stand that she would have nothing under the tree on Christmas morning.

Dirk funny you should mention shopping - we are heading to Champaign today to go shopping as a family. This should be interesting! My shopping list is so long it really stresses me out a little just to look at it. The kids have asked for big ticket items this year so they are not getting as many presents - just a Zike and stocking stuffers. Have you seen Zikes? http://www.zike.net/ They look pretty cool and I think I might want one too . But we have cousins, gift exchanges, parents (the hardest to buy for), teachers, teachers and more teachers....... Ugh.

I set hubby up with a deal for my Christmas present and I'm getting a used Garmin swim. A fellow BTr contacted me that he wanted to sell his so I told hubby here - get me this for Christmas. I also signed up for 4 sessions with a personal trainer at the Y so my husband is off the hook. My PT sessions start on Tuesday and I am a little nervous.

I'm still messing around with this groin issue and not sure what to do. I was able to kick in the pool with full force last week and did not have any nagging discomfort after so I thought all was clear. I ran a short easy 2 mile run on Friday and had zero discomfort during the run but a little irritation after. Then I rode the trainer for 1 hr 20 min yesterday and now it is more irritated. Again, it is not all that painful or anything it just makes me hesitant to get after any serious training type workouts. If it is not healed  I don't want to drag it out into tri season and still be messing with this so I'm not sure what to do.

Karl congrats on your run, that is excellent!  I can't even remember what too hot feels like . I did not  put one foot outside my house all day yesterday. It is cold and snow covered here.

Tony sounds like you are learning a lot on how to manage your mountain bike. And you have not hurt yourself so that is a bonus!

Anyone hear from Warren? I wonder if his pain is any better.

I just got my Retul bike fit done.  I guess we'll see what kind of a difference it makes in my riding over the winter and maybe some aerodynamic changes for some races next season too.

The entire session was scheduled for 2 hours but I was in and out in about an hour and fifteen to twenty minutes.  The good news was that there weren't a lot of drastic changes.  Most of the changes were about seat adjustments that helped open up my hip angle some.  The before and after pics produce fairly clear evidence that I am opened more and I should have a better breathing efficiency than before.  It's not that I was having trouble before but it should be a little better oxygen exchange.  I'll probably post the pics after I get them.

I also had a major change up front in the amount of squeeze in my shoulders.  This had been an adjustment I had made myself to help reduce some frontal drag for shorter course racing.  Now, with IMWI next year, I needed to get a more comfortable position so I can take 112 in the aeros. 

I plan to test the new position out later this week when I get my new HR monitor and speed/cadence sensor.  I ordered a new one of each yesterday and the speed sensor on my roadie was just put on about 2-3 weeks ago.  Rather than switch everything around again I'll wait a few days and put the new one on and try the new positioning for the rest of the winter training session.

Marvelous Monday Junkies!  Sorry it's been a while since I posted.  Thank you for the responses to my cadence question.  That was all very helpful and understandable.  I printed out the cadence test, Dirk.  I haven't done it yet although I plan to.

WARREN - how are you feeling, brother?  You're being covered in prayer.

JEFF - doing the Ragnar with your daughter is an awesome way to make a memory with her.   Seeing that's it's the first of April doesn't work for me but I have no doubt it would be a blast.  I know Pam loved it.

WILL - your comment on "pass me another coke and a honey bun" made me laugh out loud.   Good to know you're taking a bit of rest from it all.

MATT - you should be done with the night shift this week, right?   Ugh, that would mess me up somethin' awful.

JENN - hope you're gaining confidence in Higdon's marathon plan.  You got sound advice about it here.  Like JoAnne, I used the same plan for my first marathon last March and it got me to the finish line.   If I can do it, you can too!  I LOVE your profile pic on Facebook.  Had no idea you had tattoos.  They look cool.   I know Dirk has them but don't know what other Junkies do.  Any one want to show off your tats?

TONY - did you get any of the snow from the storm?   I thought about you yesterday as I was watching some of those crazy football games and wondered if you got out in your mountain bike in that stuff.   Just so you know, I'm rooting for the Cowboys to lose tonight.  Just sayin'. 

VERO - way to complete the 6 mile Turkey Trot with 1000 runners!  That's a lot of folks.   I had no idea there were 8 levels of black belt.  I'm impressed with your long term goal to reach the highest level. 

KARL - you're traveling so much doing tax seminars, right?  Wish you traveled up this way.   I sat through 2 days of tax seminars last week and thought how fun it would be to sit under you.   Instead of asking you questions on Affordable Health Care, I'd ask you questions on running strategies. 

DINA - congratulations on the continued sweet cut-out.   To not gain any weight during your lay off of activities is an impressive accomplishment.  Are you going to be baking any Christmas cookies?  How in the world will you not taste any?  Tell me your secret, please.   You've inspired me so I've cut out any sweets after dinner.   It's a start.

DEREK - glad to know you like suffering with the Blender, too.     You haven' posted much so I wondered how you've been in the off season.   I would suspect you're covered in snow in Canada.

JOANNE - happy belated 30th wedding anniversary!   I love celebrating long marriages as I know what kind of work it takes to make them happen.   Have you gotten some strength back and are you back on track with your eating?   Personally I wouldn't worry about that part until after the holidays.     You'd asked about the swim book and yes, it's good.  It's all about the catch and pull which is something I've never had.  When people talk about having a feel for the water I've been clueless to what they're taking about.  It seems like I'm back at square one with learning to swim, though, as I'm exhausted after just 100.  I'm sticking with the workouts, though, because I know I'm making some progress in feeling the water move around me.

DIRK - glad you like your KK trainer and now have your bike fit done.   I swear you're already ready to kill the IMWI bike course.   Glad Lisa got her big present early, too.   She deserves the sainthood award to put up the likes of you.  (just kidding, wink wink).   On your shopping question - I hate, HATE going to the store/mall to shop for Christmas.  I'm doing most of mine on-line which allows me to maintain good will toward men. 

All's well in our household.  I still don't have a plan in place for IM.   After I'd signed up in September I was literally waking up in the night with sweats and horrible thoughts of crashes and missing the cut-off by seconds, etc.   I figured I needed to not think about it AT ALL for a while if I was going to be alive to even attempt to do it.   That's worked well and I'm just enjoying learning to swim and doing some runs with friends.  I'm at a good place mentally for the holidays even though I may not be in great shape physically but I'm OK with that.   

Sending you all well wishes for a wonderful week!

Brenda - Love the way you succinctly do a Monday recap and do a shout out to everyone. Yes, I am getting more confident with Higdon's plan. I actually logged my first ever 17 mile run on Saturday and it felt pretty amazing. When I started it was 75 dregree (4:45 am), and by 7:30 am it had cooled off to 68 degrees and was pouring rain by the time I finished. I'm not one to go for a run in the rain, but I'll stick out just about any run if I am already out there and get caught in a downpour. Had to be one of my most enjoyable runs ever! I'm sure people were staring at me as they drove by.

Karl - Congrats on the 2nd place finish. That's awesome!

Matt- I feel for ya.... my husband pulls night shift every 28 days and he is usually in zombie mode during those 4 weeks. I try not to bug him with much.

You are in my prayers daily Warren.

No Christmas shopping for me. I've passed the torch to my hubby this year. He is picking up the girl's presents (will include running shoes for my oldest) and I will be tackling the family feast on Christmas Eve, which will include his mother and the rest of the inlaws. I'm usually so into the holidays I am emitting red and green and holiday music left and right, but no so much this year. Not that this is a bad thing. I set out early this year to positively touch people's lives all year long, to volunteer at least once a month, and essentially embrace the spirit of the holidays all year long (respect everyone's beliefs here).

Stationary bike is calling my name.....

Here's the bike fit pics.

The after the fit pic is the first one.  Below is the before pic.  Can anyone tell much difference?  I can tell pretty quickly just by looking.

There is a better hip angle allowing a slightly better air exchange and hopefully a better bike speed.  I also have a slightly lower profile allowing for less drag (as mentioned in my earlier post.  The most obvious thing to me is my scrunched look in my arms and shoulders in the before look.  I knew that was/needed to change and it was one of the first things I told them would need changed.

(Fit After.PNG)

(Fit before.PNG)

Hey Gang, quick check in for me. Things have been very busy between work deadlines. kid's performances, Christmas shopping, Kung Fu classes, and just a few runs each week it seems like I have no time for getting online to catch up.

The shin issues just wont go away for me. I still have discomfort around mile 2 on each run. I'm stretching and wearing compression calf sleeves trying to get past the issue, but it's been frustrating that I can't seem to get through a run without that pain.

Pretty much spot on Derek.  All of the things you pointed out are adjustments that were made.  It was kind of funny about the base bar and aero bar adjustments, I hadn't really noticed the angle on the base bar much.  The aero bars on the other hand I had thought about adjusting my self for a while and just never did it.  I am hoping for a little bit more speed from the drop at the stem.  It was a 15 mm drop from the original position and I still have a very opened up hip angle.  They said I could probably drop a little more if I would like but it would require more work to the bike.  I'll settle in where it's at right now and wait on the pro contract and $$$ before I start changing much more.

Oh, and they did raise the seat and slide it forward too. 

So far I think it will provide a little more comfort and going into next years' race that's going to be pretty important.

Dirk - In the "after" photo, you look more aero and even faster.

As far as getting a custom bike fit session done, do you recommend having it done? Our tri club has a deal with a place in Tallahassee and we can have it done for less than $300, and half a day. Our superstar Ironman in our club had it done and he shaved off a lot of time on his bike leg at IM- Florida. Basically, what I am asking is..... since I was crazy enough to sign up for an Ironman next September, is getting my bike custom fit something I should consider doing?

Marathon training is coming along well. I am getting a fourth run, but I don't demand a lot of myself on that fourth run. It is usually between 2 and 3 miles with no gear - no watch, no phone, no timing. I did my long run this morning since I am working at a half marathon tomorrow as the finish line photographer. I was supposed to log 18 miles. I covered 18.89! Yay! When I started, I thought I was going to have a terrible run, everything hurt and the temperature did not feel great. I've been doing yoga, which really seems to help my hips and IT band.

Stats from last week's long run and this week's:

17.39 miles / 3:42:32 / 12:48 avg pace / Temp: 75° start, 71°  and raining at finish

18.89 miles / 3:40:07/ 11:39 avg pace / Temp: 32° start, 37° at finish

I'm keeping up reading but too brain dead to think of anything to say this week! I've been under the weather for one reason or another all week and I'm just trying to make it through each day.

Warren are you feeling better?

Vero sorry to hear your shins are not letting up. My groin is still tender too so I feel your frustration.

Dirk I stared at those two pics of your bike fit and could barely see a difference except the hip angle!

Jenn great job with those long runs!

Sorry to hear you've been under the weather, DINA.  That's especially tough with all the holiday things a mother generally has to do.  Drink lots of water to flush whatever it is you have out of your system.  Did your friend decide to sign up for the HUFF?  

JENN - super job on those back to back runs!   You're doing great keeping at it.

Oly's are tough, KARL and there's no shame in sticking with that distance.  You're a wise man to know how much time to devote to training with keeping family and real-life stuff a priority.  If I was wise like you, I'd probably just do sprints. 

I can't help you out on your core WO question, WILL.   The only thing I do consistently is crunches.. 

Thinking of you today, DIRK, with the winter storm we're in the midst of.   The snow seems to be falling gently so hopefully there won't be any issues you'll have to work OT this weekend.   The only thing I noticed about the 2 bike fit pictures is that you actually matched your clothing pretty well in both and you didn't grow a beard like you'd threatened Lisa of doing. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!   Keep the important things the important things!