ASPHALT JUNKIES Summer Bronzing Crew - CLOSED (Page 112)

Matt I am shopping for shoes too. I've read a couple of articles and they all say size is not the same as your normal shoe size. The cycling shoes should not be too tight but also not leave much room for your foot to wiggle around. One article said your big toe only needs a millimeter or two of space. Other important factors with cycling shoes are the width, you don't want it too wide or too tight. Make sure there is no pressure to the foot from the fastening system. And finally make sure your heel does not slip.

There are bunches of articles if you want to read more, I just searched How to find the correct size cycling shoe.

After all of that it sounds really complicated but I ordered my first pair of cycling shoes online knowing nothing and they have been fine all these years. They just smell bad from all the sweat and lake water and the velcro is wearing out.

You will also want to read up on how to place the cleat on the bottom of your shoe. I had mine all wrong at first and suffered with hot spots on the balls of my feet for several months. The bike shop caught it when I went for a fitting and it made a huge difference.

One more thing, and it may not bother you, but I will never get white shoes again if I can help it! They show all the dirt.

Only if they have a wide selection of shoes. I'm in the same boat here. Our local shops are small, don't carry much for ladies and don't stock anything triathlon specific. The shop I go to for tri stuff is 1.5 hours away but their prices are not competitive with online prices so now I am spending the extra money on gas, paying higher prices and don't have very many options when I get there!

I would (& have) try ordering online, just make sure you can return. TriSports, if I remember right, if you buy something from there on sale they don't take a return. I think it was there that I bought 2 pair of zoot shoes on clearance thinking I would try them on, decide what I liked best, and return the other pair. I found out the return policy too late.

Brenda

I just took another look at the Mohican Endurance festival in June and that looks like it could be a really tough and challenging course, also looks to be fun.  Especially the out and back run course along the river with what is called the "Infamous Dam Hill Trail"!  I noticed registration opens on 1-1-2014, Have you decided if your going to sign up for it?  I am considering having two HIM on my schedule and eliminate alot of the smaller races, I have narrowed my early season options down to the Richmond HIM,  The endurance festival or the HIM at Maumee bay.  I think the one at maumee bay may be a little boring though knowing the terrain and lack of difficulty to it.  

And mentors, you may not have to worry about taking on any new group members. Have you checked out the new mentor forum? These groups have been open for almost a week and they are not filling up! What is happening to B.T.? I remember when half the groups were full before I could even join one.

O.k. Junkies. the New Year is fast approaching. Does anyone have any specific goals you are working towards in the New Year?

I mean obviously I know preparing for and finishing an IM is probably a big enough goal for most of you .

I have a couple - clean up my eating. I've been eating bad this last month.

Take care of the issues with my left foot. Time to see someone I think. It's been almost 2 years I've been dealing with what I thought was a cyst which is now gone but I have more pain than ever. I'm kind of afraid to find out, afraid they will want MRI or other expensive tests but also afraid if I don't take care of it I will end up needing surgery. Yikes. Kinda makes me sick just typing it out but there - I said it.

Ok, a quick post since most of the people I am visiting are napping.  I'll see how much I can get through before everyone wakes up......

I have put the Junkies winter group into the staging area.  I asked that we go live on New Years Day but I don't expect to actually go live until sometime afterward.  I'll try to keep everyone up to date on whats going on as we get closer.  Below is a link to the group; Go ahead and jump in with a bio or that you want to stay in for the winter session to claim your spot. 

New Group

I have been keeping up some semblance of training while in Ohio visiting family.  I have gotten 1 swim, 3 rides and 2 runs in while here.  It has been somewhat easy to get all of this in as most of it has been done in the mornings before others have been awake, or at least not really moving around.  I am also planning another swim tomorrow morning and that may close out my training while visiting.

While checking my monthly totals I realized that I may be entering into uncharted territory for me.  If you remember I am in the middle (actually end) of the holiday running challenge and also tagging along with a friend as he tried to push for 1000 miles in 2013.  I set up the following schedule for us to follow (starting on Sunday.  (10,3,5,3,5,3,3).  We then increased the long run by roughly 1 mile each week and the short run on Friday to 4 miles.  By following this schedule I have felt almost no stress on my legs and by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest the affects of the Sunday long run were gone.   Today I ran 13.2 in just under 2 hours and 8 hours later feel very little hang over from it.

Anyway,  it appears that I am going to set a PR for the number of miles in a single month, my previous best was 136 and with 2 days of running left I am sitting at 134.  Not quite sure how it happened as it just kind of snuck up on me.  I am tempted to carry on a resemblance of this schedule but need to get back into tri training before I run the risk of becoming only a runner  

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Happy New Year Junkies!

So here are my 2013 numbers for training.........

Swim: 54h 40m 15s - 187041.64 Yd

Bike: 263h 45m 18s - 5186.81 Mi

Run: 143h 48m 27s - 1041.07 Mi

There are some disappointments in my numbers based on goals I established last January but some of it was unavoidable.  With the bike crash and knee injury I had far too much time off for injury.  I would like to have seen what my numbers would have been had I not been injured because the graph below would seem to point to some numbers that would have been a little bigger.

In the coming year I would like to have a better injury related year and have numbers like....

Swim: - 200,000 Yd

Bike: - 5500 Mi

Run: - 1200 Mi

I am also looking to do the Huff 50k next year too.  They have put the new date for the 2014 race on the calendar and it will fall before Christmas next season (Dec. 20)  If I can stay healthy I would like to run Huff for my first Ultra.  It has been a somewhat long standing goal to be able to complete this race but my schedule for our trip to Ohio has been conflicting for a few years.  I have also considered another run toward Boston but I would need to discuss this with Lis first.  Next year is a big year for a lot of reasons, and financing the race would be the hurdle.  HS graduation, a wedding, IM and whatever else may come up could make for some big $$$!  The good thing about Boston would be that I would not run it until 2016 because I wouldn't try to BQ until after IMWI and by that time Boston registration would long be closed for 2015.

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