Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 133)

That is kind of a neat concept to run in two separate countries for the same race.

Huntington is a hop, skip and jump from me.   Less than 20 minutes to the east side of Huntington for me.

Kinda checked out a little this week and just catching up.

Tracey my deepest condolences to you for that terrible tragedy. Really I have no words.

Karl have fun with the swim!

Best wishes to all the racers. I am totally confident you will rock your races!

I'm still numb and shaking from yesterday's events.  When you know one person involved in an accident, it's hard.  When you know all three involved, the grief and disbelief is astronomical.  I'll be ok, though.  Don't worry.

I'm going to ride my bike on the trainer today.  I plan on riding outside tomorrow.  I'll pass right by "the spot" twice.  I might ask my husband to drive SAG for me.  That would make me feel better.

Tracy, I'm so sorry for this event.  I think Dirk summed it up very well and I agree that I'm ok with forgiveness but also punishment.  Of course, none of that changes the tragedy and the loss.  Grieve and don't hold back.  There is a time for all emotions.  That ride might be kinda tough.  We're here.

Dirk I'm sorry to hear about your daughter Laiken. I hope she is feeling better and I'm glad to hear that it is not serious. Your fustration is totally understandable as well, we know how much you care about her.

Jo63 - 2012-09-28 4:46 PM Tony and Allison......Good luck this weekend!! And to anyone else I might of missed. Dirk I am sorry your daughter is sick again I hope she recovers quickly.

Yes!  Good luck on your races!

Dirk.....your daughter is having quite a time of it right now.  I hope she is doing better.

A Memorial Fund and Medical Funds for all three families have been set up for all three runners.

Law enforcement has been very quiet regarding their investigation into this hit and run.  There is a lot of speculation out there as to how the chain of events played out and it's scary.  In the end, my friends were in the wrong place at the wrong time when evil people came into their lives.

Really, this could happen to any one of us.  Do all of you carry ID of some sort?  I always have my RoadID on.  I'm thinking about getting a second one and putting it on my bike, too.  How about lights while you run and / or ride in the dark or crappy weather?  Yeah, get as much reflective and lit up stuff as possible.  You want to look like a UFO out on the road.

My friends did all of this.  Unfortunately, you can't escape evil people.

owl_girl - 2012-09-28 9:09 PM

Jo63 - 2012-09-28 4:46 PM Tony and Allison......Good luck this weekend!! And to anyone else I might of missed. Dirk I am sorry your daughter is sick again I hope she recovers quickly.

Yes!  Good luck on your races!

Dirk.....your daughter is having quite a time of it right now.  I hope she is doing better.

Yes she is!  I asked Lis as I left the hospital tonight why she thought things were working against her right now.  She replied that her immune system was still in a weakened state and that she had just begun to east decent after the bout wit the kidney infection.

When I left the hospital she was fairing much better than when she was admitted.  I hope she will be out tomorrow.  I am not sure why they would keep her at this point except that her throat isn't looking any better yet.  But she is due to have another round of IV antibiotics tonight or tomorrow morning.

Keep us posted on what the PD finds out about whats going on.  Maybe they are keeping the details under wraps to make sure they can get the right person.

I always have my Road ID on me.  I have one of the nicer ones that I never take off.  I actually don't like this one but I don't want to spend the money on a new one and another reason I bought this type was because I was finding that I didn't have my sport model on my ankle after I had already left the house for rides and runs.  I opted for the more permanent version so I wouldn't forget it..

Bad weather riding only happens to me because something comes up without notice, so riding in dark and foul weather isn't something that occurs with me very often at all.  Running in the dark is okay with me.  I wear some lighted bands around my knee, a light on my hat/visor and a light on the back of my belt.  I also don't run on any primary roads.  Actually I am not sure I would describe the roads I do most of my running on even as a "secondary" road.

Dirk, how is your daughter today?

Allison congrats on your HM finish. You absolutely killed that run today, can't wait to read about it in the race report. Can you please send some of that speed my way for my race tomorrow it really would be appreciated.

Dirk I hope your daughter is doing and feeling better. I hope she is released today.

Tracy if you have more info on the memorial fund please let us know about that and also please keep us posted on the investigation. I agree with everything you said. I always put safety first. I never run or ride in the dark or poor weather conditions and I typically only ride or run on secondary roads where this is little to no traffic. I never run or ride without my Road ID. It is one of the best investments you can make. Even with taking all these precautions it almost seems like it is not enough.

I'll be heading out soon to Montauk and the race site to pick up my packet and attend one of the pre race meetings as well as checking in to the hotel out there. The weather was not looking so good for this weekend but the forecast for tomorrow looks really nice now. The rain looks like it will be clearing out today so I might get a really nice day tomorrow. I'm hoping that is the case as it is a really scenic and beautiful course.

Nothing left to do now but distract myself from thinking about the race. My goal will be to finish tomorrow. Being realistic I think 6:15 is what I will be shooting for however I am feeling like if everything goes my way I can go sub 6 but I am trying to keep my expectations tempered. In any case I just can't wait to get out there and do this.

Tony, you've got this in the bag.  You are going to do great tomorrow! 

Hello Junkies!

Sorry for not checking in for so long. Things have been very busy for our household.

Here's a quick rundown on whats been happening. Some crazy deadlines at work for my wife and I. Our older daughter Haley (11) has run her first 3 cross country meets. Our youngest daughter Natalie (7) has run her first cross country meet. Haley went on her first junior high service retreat last weekend with the youth group from church. I've been training in Kung Fu San Soo for the past 2 1/2 months. I've only just gotten back to running 5 days a week this week. I did manage to run one 2 mile fun run/race a couple weeks ago. And most importantly today was our first family training run! All 4 of us (my wife, both our daughters and I) all went for a run this morning (there's a picture of us just before on my facebook for those that have friend-ed me there)

Tracy - so sorry to hear about the tragedy involving your friends. My prayers go out for all those affected.

Dirk - I hope your daughter is recovering well. Prayers go out for that too.

Dirk sorry about Laiken and your trip.  Hope she is better soon.  Maybe you can postpone the trip by a week or so.  We NEVER get our anniversary trip on our anniversary because it is in the middle of baseball season   lol...didn't even get one this year.  Parenthood!

Allison, great race!

Tony, I got up thinking...  what is Tony doing right now.  It is 5:15 am.  Hey good luck Tony!

I don't know where to start.  I attempted my 1st ows yesterday.  A lot of people showed up so they split us into 2 groups.  I was in the group that swam 1st, the other group biked and ran 1st.  I was the only one in a wetsuit, this was practice..right???  They had us get in a tight group of 6 or 12 and practice starting where we swam about 15 yards and stopped, next we started again but swam out to the kayak and had to circle it and back which was about 50 yards out. We were bumping and hitting, it really was fun and it was good to see what it felt like.  I was very winded when I got out but I was swimming hard, staying w/ the folks out front. 

Next we were to swim to the kayak hang a right, swim about 200 yards and exit.  Since I was winded, I thought I'd go out slow and relax.  When I got close to the kayak, I was getting tired and when I rounded it, i started losing my breath and my shoulders started cramping, so i swam about 10 yards in and stood up and walked out. Thank goodness the lake was shallow.

So I walked out, got my stuff together and came home.  I was to embarassed to stay for the bike and run portion.  I was about as low as I could get!

I know I just started learning to swim in March but this was pathetic.   My pool at home is 42 feet (13 yards), I do laps in it but I get a quick breath every time I get to the wall.  I have swam over 1,000 yards in practice but I stopped every few laps to rest.  I think the most I've done is maybe 30 lap non stop, then stop for a few minutes.  I thought w/ a wetsuit on, it would be a piece of cake to go 600+ yards.  I was way wrong. 

Is there anyway I could be ready by Oct 27 for this swim 600+ yards?  Plans?  Am I being redicilous in trying to swim that far in just 1 summer of learning or am I just not pushing it hard enough?

Right now, I'm ready to sell my bikes and go back to being a gymrat.

Karl,  Your desire to do a triathlon doesn't need to be thrown out just yet.

What you experienced is something that all of us have experienced at one time or another and we are very likely to experience again.  To put it into simple terms you were out swimming your fitness.  You said you were able to stay up with the lead swimmers in the earlier drills and I think this is where you began to get of course.  Unless you had a previous swimming back ground and had the techniques down well, I wouldn't expect to be able to swim with those swimmers.

You also experienced the anxiety that comes in the beginning stages of a race.  This anxiety has likely lead to many people falling off pace, grabbing the buoys, kayaks and any other flotation device to stay afloat.  There have been other boards that have claimed that this same stress has caused the deaths of athletes during the swim portion, I will not get into that because there is no way to accurately support that assumption because only the athlete could answer questions related to how they were feeling immediately before their death.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Stop using your pool as the means to get your swim in.  Swimming in a pool that 13 yards long does not leave you with the ability to work into an oxygen deprived state before reaching the opposite side of the pool.  25 yards isn't a long way either but it will help force into swimming longer without breaks.
2. Try to learn flip turns as you begin to feel comfortable swimming longer distances.  Arguably we don't need to learn to do flip turns for open water swimming but my suggestion comes from another experience.  Using flip turns does not allow you to hang on the wall for a couple of deep, solid breaths before taking off again.  When I began doing flip turns about a year ago (maybe a little less) I found my self sucking all kinds of air and breathing longer throughout the rest of the reps.  This lack of oxygen seemed to force me to develop a stronger technical swim stroke.
3. SLOW DOWN!  Your swims, especially at first need to be slow, relaxed movements.  Use proper techniques such as pointing your head at the bottom of the pool, use long, even strokes to get used to feeling a little bit of stretch in your lats.  Slowing down will probably provide more benefits to getting you on track than you think.
4. Swim with this group again.  Embarrassment or not these people can teach you a lot about what you need to know and any athlete worth their salt will help.  Be honest and tell them your weaknesses and why you left and I can almost 100% guarantee they will tell you many, many stories of how they have been through the very same thing.  Remember, most of us have come to triathlon later in life and many hadn't had any form of proper swim training prior to becoming a triathlete.
5. Finally, don't approach swimming with the group in open water as something you have to prove yourself capable of.  Trust me, the group will be more impressed if you are honest with them and they see they can help you.  If you show up and are flailing about, like a fish out of water, every time you come to practice they eventually will turn sour to you coming.  I have no idea who these people are, but one thing I have learned in my short time involved with triathlon is that athletes are very supportive as long as your not a jerk or completely oblivious or unwilling to see your short comings.

This group is about helping others become better athletes and passing on knowledge and ability to others.  I believe you can find the same things elsewhere in the triathlon community when you know where to look.  And honestly, there is no better way to learn than with a face to face encounter with other athletes who can show you, visually, things that can create a better technical athlete.  This forum has worked wonders for me as I am sure for others but it's downside is not being able to visually work with others and their specific weakness.

There are some in the mentoring forums that are very capable of being able to describe techniques and drills that can help make you a well rounded triathlete (Jeff has been the strongest I have seen so far) but nothing can replace that one on one mentoring that you can get from an experienced, articulate athlete.