Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 113)

Great race Jen! It is not fun racing in that kind of weather but I'm glad the hard stuff held off until later. I know just what your talking about with your kids. My first year racing my hubby and kids came to every race. It should have been fun and comforting to have them there but the reality was I was exhausted.  I had to deal with the kids and carry them around after when I was all tired and just wanted to sit down. I finally told my husband he didn't have to come and bring the family if he didn't want to. They have not watched me race for the last 2 years ha ha ha. It was no picnic for him either.

BUT the flip side is my son still remembers crossing the finish line of my HIM with me and he talks all the time about how he beat Mommy. He is actually the one who encouraged me to race again this year because he said he wants to do that again .

Woops! I think I did that. Just saw the link and copied my bio from last time when I had a chance.

I've quit sugar like that before and I always feel better but my cravings never go away. I quit for over a month one year and then one day the Halloween candy called my name and it was all over. Keep it up!

So my son(age 7) has decided he wants to run with me lately. He has always liked to run and entertains himself running sprints around the house while we time him or setting up a hurdling course in our back yard. Running with me is something new. He keeps up pretty good but of course like any little one he does not know how to pace himself. He ran 2 miles with me on Friday night. Then yesterday we bought him some new running shoes so he was BEGGING and nagging me all day if we could go again, and did I mention it was raining? Well he gave himself a side stitch today from sprinting over all the puddles but he still made it a mile!

Anyway, I know he runs every day just while he plays but do you think he is too young to be running these distances with me on a regular basis? So far we have been running on sidewalks and we take walk breaks whenever he needs one.

On another note,  I have been running in my HOKA's for the last few runs and I really like them except the top of the shoe is hitting just in the wrong spot for that cyst I have below my ankle on my left foot. It is causing it to swell again and bringing back the slightest bit of the pain I dealt with last year.  I tried making a little pad out of mole skin yesterday and placing that around the cyst on my foot. I did not feel anything during my run but this morning the cyst feels irritated. Does anyone have any other suggestions of what I can do because other than this issue I really like these shoes.

Jo63 - 2013-05-06 7:03 AM

DirkP - 2013-05-06 4:35 AM

Jo63 - 2013-05-05 10:33 PM Matt, nice ride ! Sam I am so sorry you are still having so much trouble with your elbows, I hope You can figure something out soon. My hip thing I didn't feel at all on my ride and after it didn't hurt at all it must of just tightened up from yesterday but it's all good now. My shoulder is just in need of a good massage I will have to schedule one with our therapist this week. My ride went pretty good, it was really cold and windy and I didn't dress warm enough so went out for 2 1/2 hours then finished inside, i was able to finally conquer a hilly part of my usual ride with out having to rest at the last hill yeah! Once inside though I did cut the ride by 45 minutes I was starting to feel really exhausted and I know this can be a good thing but right now it brings back bad memories My son and his girlfriend didn't leave till late so no RR until tomorrow it's time for bed!

Had you taken in any calories for your ride?  If I am reading your post correctly, it sounds that you were planning a 3:15 ride.  If you went that long without any nutrition I'm not surprised you felt like you were exhausted.  Depending on your body weight you should be looking at a caloric intake something like 150 calories an hour for 120 pounds.  You can short cut that if you are trying to train your body to be more efficient or trying to lose weight, but I would not ride that long without taking in about half those calories. 

I would also have something more close by in case things began to feel like you were draining quickly.  Something that would be absorbed into your system pretty quickly.  For me Clif Shot Bloks seem to be one of the things that hit my system the quickest.

I was planning a 4:30 ride, I ended up with 2:30 outside plus 1:15 inside, I weigh 140, I took perpetuem, drank 12 oz when i was outside, when I got home I ate a banana and 3 bloks, I am now thinking not enough??

JoAnne I agree with Dirk I think you may not have taken in enough calories while you were out riding. I did a little bit of a shorter ride on Saturday and only took one bottle with me. One 22 oz bottle of powerbar perform and it was definitely not enough for the two and half hours I did.

I was banking on the bigger breakfast I ate paying off but the last 30 or so minutes of the ride I was kicking myself for not taking that bonk breaker bar I put aside for this with me. It's not bad to experiment with your nutrition which I have been doing so for me that was a good exercise. In any case nice job in getting in a nearly 4 hour ride done both in and outdoors. I think I would have called it a day after 2:30. 

Here's how I deal with it!  It works great!!!

After I get my wetsuit on, I roll up the suit on my left leg, turning it inside out as I pull it upward a few inches.  Put on the timing chip strap.  Then roll the suit down again so it covers the timing chip.

Because it's under the suit, you have the added benefit that it cannot get lost in the swim.  Then when you are in transition and you are peeling your suit off, it's turning inside out as you peel and just rolls off over the chip without issue.

If that explanation isn't clear I could probably make a video of the process.

You did great!  The swim was a success and so was the bike and run huh?  Pacing issue aside it was a positive indicator.

And Tri-ing it as a single Mom of 2 little ones is pretty hardcore too!

Ok, so last weekend was my first triathlon.  The Xterra at Fort Yargo.  I don't know if I'm going to take the time to write up a race report.  But here's the synopsis.

I got there Thursday and got 1 lap of pre-ride in as well as a lap of the run course just as it got dark.

Friday I got 3 more riding laps in and was feeling good about the course and the speed I was carrying around it.

Saturday was cold and rainy, but the rain pretty much stopped before the race and the temps were brisk but comfortable.  With a wetsuit, the water (mid 60s) was just fine.

The swim kicked my butt because it was the most crowded and brutal mass swim I've ever had.  Not that I've had much experience with that.  I fought it out valiantly for about 175 meters (first buoy) then backed out of the mob and trailed up the rear after that.  It was nasty.  I heard the same story from everyone else I spoke to afterwards. (getting kicked, smacked, pushed under)

I was a little over-taxed and dizzy coming out of the water so T1 was slow as I struggled to do the things I needed to do while unable to stand up without holding something.

Did well on the bike and then did well on the run. 

I was initially disappointed to find I was only 34th overall and only 4th in my age group!  But upon analysis I did have a decent race, it was that the competition there was brutally tough.  In fact, the guy that won my age group is one of the contenders for the national championship in our age group.  He has a USAT ranking score of 97.  The last race we did together he was the first amateur to cross the line.  And he was only 11th in this race!

                       Finish           Swim       Bike         Run

Another thing of note:  My strongest event in this race was the run!  It's always the bike.  And 2 seasons ago it was a toss-up whether my worst one was the swim or the run. 

Thanks Jeff, it's pretty clear. I normally pull my wetsuit over my timing chip, but just barely. I think I need to pull the timing chip up a little higher on my leg..... But, not garter belt high... Lol.

Great job on your Xterra tri. Does the guy you are closing the gap on know you are gunnin for him?

No he doesn't!!! 

Not yet.

I think you are on the right track with the Hokas.  Find a way to modify them to avoid that pressure.  Is this spot above the last lace on the shoe?  Or can you finish the laces another hole lower?

As for childhood running...I don't know if the American Academy of Pediatrics has a specific recommendation on this.  I will say that over the years the 'default' advice has always been to keep children from doing too much exercising before they are grown to a certain point.

But I believe that prevailing wisdom has been pulled out of the air and not based on facts.

I would suggest having children run as much as they want and even more than that if you are so inclined.  I would just suggest that you never have the child run if he indicates that a joint hurts.  He will be undergoing growing spurts off and on and some of his bones and joints may be out of phase for a while as growth happens irregularly.

Otherwise set him loose!  There are those who suggest that the reason the Africans are so dominant in running these days is that they begin running when children and this allows them to make adaptations that can't happen later in life.

JeffY - 2013-05-06 10:59 AM

Ok, so last weekend was my first triathlon.  The Xterra at Fort Yargo.  I don't know if I'm going to take the time to write up a race report.  But here's the synopsis.

I got there Thursday and got 1 lap of pre-ride in as well as a lap of the run course just as it got dark.

Friday I got 3 more riding laps in and was feeling good about the course and the speed I was carrying around it.

Saturday was cold and rainy, but the rain pretty much stopped before the race and the temps were brisk but comfortable.  With a wetsuit, the water (mid 60s) was just fine.

The swim kicked my butt because it was the most crowded and brutal mass swim I've ever had.  Not that I've had much experience with that.  I fought it out valiantly for about 175 meters (first buoy) then backed out of the mob and trailed up the rear after that.  It was nasty.  I heard the same story from everyone else I spoke to afterwards. (getting kicked, smacked, pushed under)

I was a little over-taxed and dizzy coming out of the water so T1 was slow as I struggled to do the things I needed to do while unable to stand up without holding something.

Did well on the bike and then did well on the run. 

I was initially disappointed to find I was only 34th overall and only 4th in my age group!  But upon analysis I did have a decent race, it was that the competition there was brutally tough.  In fact, the guy that won my age group is one of the contenders for the national championship in our age group.  He has a USAT ranking score of 97.  The last race we did together he was the first amateur to cross the line.  And he was only 11th in this race!

You can't compare performances from one course to another unless you have a benchmark in the form of the other racers.  So by comparing how I did compared to this guy (% slower) I can tell whether this performance was better or worse than last year.

Here's the breakdown between him and myself:

Lock 4 blast 2012

                       Finish           Swim       Bike         Run

Mark Rudder   1:50:47         15:27     1:02:58       30:48
Jeff Yeager      2:04:58         16:47     1:10:12       35:23
                      12.8%             8%        11.4%       14.9%

Fort Yargo 2013

Mark Rudder   1:32:29          14:58        41:38       35:53 
Jeff Yeager      1:40:19          16:50        45:35       37:54
                        8.3%           12.2%        9.3%       5.6%

So I closed the gap on him in the run and in the bike and got worse in the swim.

And overall I closed the gap on him even with a swim that I know should be better.

I guess I'm encouraged by this.  It could be as much him having a bad race as me having a good race.  The rest of the season will tell.

The swim isn't something I'm very worried about.  He's not a strong swimmer and I do think that once I get my act together in open water that I will swim as well as he does.

 

Another thing of note:  My strongest event in this race was the run!  It's always the bike.  And 2 seasons ago it was a toss-up whether my worst one was the swim or the run. 

(strongest was determined by my overall ranking in that split)

 

I paid for this race later.  Racing, especially off-road, leaves my heels/Achilles hurting in the extreme.  I hobbled around very badly the rest of the day and the next.  I also have a pulled muscle in my thigh that I had been successfully nursing all week and never felt it during this race.  But later that evening it began to bleed and became incapacitated.  I couldn't walk.  So I had to pull out of the mtn bike race the next day.

All of those pains eased up and Monday was just fine, with training as usual.

 

Jeff thanks for posting and man you write some of the best race reports. You are definitely making gains on Mr. Rudder and congrats on a very strong race this past weekend. Sorry to hear that the heels and achilles are still acting up on you. How much if any has this affected your perfomance? If you didn't have the issues that your having now do you think you might be able to close the gap some more on this guy?

I am inclined to agree with Jeff.  I cannot cite any pediatric studies either so take my thoughts from an observational standpoint.

Usually when adolescents are discouraged from certain types of exercise it is in the form of strength exercises that involve weight lifting.  The primary reason for this is that it can stretch the tendons and ligaments before they have the elasticity that develops in post-pubescence.  The overstretching that occurs when doing weight lifting for kids does not allow the recovery of those tendons/ligaments.  Kids can gain strength and muscle mass just the same as a teenager but they risk damaging themselves later in life from years past.

I have read a few things that encourage children to do strength type training such as push ups, pull ups and sit ups because the only resistance is body weight.  I would suggest that Gabe could run for the same reasons that he could do push ups.  If he can do it without any joint pain and within reason, meaning no marathon training, then I think running a few miles a week with mom isn't going to harm him.

JeffY - 2013-05-06 10:59 AM

Ok, so last weekend was my first triathlon.

Another thing of note:  My strongest event in this race was the run!  It's always the bike.  And 2 seasons ago it was a toss-up whether my worst one was the swim or the run. 

(strongest was determined by my overall ranking in that split)

 

I paid for this race later.  Racing, especially off-road, leaves my heels/Achilles hurting in the extreme.  I hobbled around very badly the rest of the day and the next.  I also have a pulled muscle in my thigh that I had been successfully nursing all week and never felt it during this race.  But later that evening it began to bleed and became incapacitated.  I couldn't walk.  So I had to pull out of the mtn bike race the next day.

All of those pains eased up and Monday was just fine, with training as usual.

 

Sounds like a great race!  But I have to say, when you say you're weak in something that is very relative.  Your relative weaknesses are still quite strong and it's almost funny to see you discussing your weaknesses.

Hopefully you can get past this season without any unforeseen problems or season ending injuries.  I know I've been wondering how your heels have been doing with some of the up-scaled mileage you've been doing with Jordan.  Have you decided if you'll address the heel spurs in the off season with surgery?

DirkP - 2013-05-06 8:27 PM

JeffY - 2013-05-06 10:59 AM

Ok, so last weekend was my first triathlon.

Another thing of note:  My strongest event in this race was the run!  It's always the bike.  And 2 seasons ago it was a toss-up whether my worst one was the swim or the run. 

(strongest was determined by my overall ranking in that split)

 

I paid for this race later.  Racing, especially off-road, leaves my heels/Achilles hurting in the extreme.  I hobbled around very badly the rest of the day and the next.  I also have a pulled muscle in my thigh that I had been successfully nursing all week and never felt it during this race.  But later that evening it began to bleed and became incapacitated.  I couldn't walk.  So I had to pull out of the mtn bike race the next day.

All of those pains eased up and Monday was just fine, with training as usual.

 

Sounds like a great race!  But I have to say, when you say you're weak in something that is very relative.  Your relative weaknesses are still quite strong and it's almost funny to see you discussing your weaknesses.

Hopefully you can get past this season without any unforeseen problems or season ending injuries.  I know I've been wondering how your heels have been doing with some of the up-scaled mileage you've been doing with Jordan.  Have you decided if you'll address the heel spurs in the off season with surgery?

This is exactly what I was thinking too. Weakness? What weakness? But I guess that is what makes him such a great athlete - never settle! Another great race against some serious competition.

Now, I'm just a little concerned about that pulled muscle in your leg and the pain in your heels. I have my fingers crossed that you will recognize when you need to scale back a little and not muscle through things to the point that you really hurt yourself. Consider that my motherly lecture for the season .

There is one more hole to the very outside of the shoe. I have not tried to lace them there yet, for some reason I thought it might make it worse/tighter if I laced them all the way to the outside but it won't hurt to try.

As far as my son running, he always runs around barefoot and it makes me think of the Kenyans. All those hurdles and sprints around the yard - barefoot. Tonight he rode his bike with his Dad but he is already asking when I am going to run again!

The only way I can get to the new forum is thru the link Dirk posted... I saw it was in development, but when i click on that tab, there is no drop down menu.  

Also, why is it in development and not the spring/summer mentor section?  

The link I provided is direct into the staging area. And you can access it through the main forum but have to follow a couple of other links.......Mentor groups......Become a mentor......read for instructions......mentor staging area (about halfway down the page) and then you're there.

Currently we are in the staging area to allow some of the other mentor groups to fill up.  As they fill they will toss other mentor groups into the main forum to allow it to fill and son on.  I kind of expect it to go in the next day or so then we'll fill up rather quickly.

Hey Junkies, I'll be so glad if we ever go live...lol

Jeff, congrats on the race.  You are just killing it...GREAT job!

You know work is really interferring w/ my training...lol  It looks like I will be out of town 4 weeks during the next few months, Atlanta, Ga;, Sarasota,FL; Miami, FL; Los Angelas, CA.

Jonathan, I'm thinking about cutting out cookies.  Someone sent me the link www.Rawforbeauty.com They said it was good for natural cooking but cost $19.95 so I'm not sure...  any othe good links out there?

Dina, as far as your son running, take him to a track that is soft like a highschool track or off road trails or grass fields like football fields where the landing is soft.  The growth plates are very soft right now.  Glad he is enjoying it.

Thanks to you and the others who are concerned about my feet.  In case I didn't give the low-down in the past the problem is that I have large calcium deposits on the back of both of my heels.  I think the likely cause is years and years of irritation in that area from the shoes that I have been wearing and probably the way that I sit (with weight on the heels). 

I have noticed for perhaps 20 years that the backs of my heels are tender when they touch hard things but assumed it was normal.  Maybe not.

The calcium has infused my Achilles tendons sort of like the process of wood becoming petrified. 

The solution is surgery that requires the removal of my Achilles, removal of excess bone, reattachment of the Achilles, then 5 months of rehab.  And it has to be done twice.

I'm trying to make it through this whole race season at least.  If I can make it, then I will probably have to go in and submit to the procedures.

The doctor agrees that the ONLY downside to me continuing on in the meantime is the pain I feel.  There's no downside regarding my health.  Even if I rupture an Achilles, which he doesn't think will happen, it would just mean that I have the same surgery right then, that I need to have anyway.

It flares up badly when I run fast, or run trails.  So obviously racing off-road is the worst!  Then they usually return to feeling good either the next day or the 2nd day. 

All the extra mileage I did while training with Jordan for the marathon was a non-issue.  Since our pace tended to average 9:00 pace, the range of motion my ankle made during the running is in the mostly-free-of-pain range and training with her never made anything worse.

Strangely enough, taking days off from running makes it worse.  I usually just ride on Saturdays.  Sundays they always hurt worse. 

The muscle pull is feeling much, much better at the moment.  Almost can't feel anything out of the usual there.  In fact, the race didn't even worsen it.  It's just that I took my daily dose of anti-coagulants right after the race rather than the night before.  It's a safeguard in case I have a bad wreck on the bike.  I think that when I took it, it just triggered spontaneous bleeding in the muscle that had been pulled.  It was better as quickly as it got bad.

So at least with these things I am pretty sure I'm doing the right thing by continuing to run.  But please keep an eye on me to make sure I don't try something stupid like continuing to run with something like a stress fracture forming, or an IT band that's getting worse by the day!

Thanks!

Oh, Tony asked if I'd be running better if I weren't hampered by this.  So far it hasn't affected my training volume.  But it HAS meant that I've been unable to do any speed work, or even faster tempo runs.  I feel as though I am otherwise ready for that type of running and that it would help me somewhat. 

However, I will race often enough this summer that by July, the races themselves will have put the sharpness on my running.  It just means that I am not able to start the early season in top form.  But that's actually a good way to go about a race season anyway.

Those of you that race less frequently might want one solid threshold effort each week between races.  It could be 3 x 1 mile repeats at 5k race pace.  Or you could just fine a local 5k fun run or charity run to race as often as you can between triathlons.

If you are targeting a full or half IM race, threshold work is unnecessary and you should use all of your time and all of your body's recovery ability to put in extra easy volume.

I do have one question: Would a bike fit (cleat position) cause any adverse reactions and cause or support PF?  Or how about pedal stroke?  I could see if I were toeing down significantly during the down stroke I could allow my achilles and calves to tighten up but I don't think that is the case.

Thoughts?