Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 134)

Thanks Samantha, but that was one of the worst experiences in my life.  yea I went out fast on the original but we had 4 - 5 minutes to rest.  I'm going for another OWS at a near by lake just to practice w/ the wetsuit...you see I am and should be locked up...justifiable lunatic and the most hard headed person in the world.

?I went by the local pool but they were booked.  The only time open was 1 - 2:30 in the afternoon, well I have to work then and 7:30 - 8:00 at night.  The rest of the time it is reserved for swim meets, swim teams etc.  So we are going to a lake to swim...even better than a pool.

Even if I was rested, I would not have made 600+ yards.  I thought doing sets of 130 yards w/ a break I would be ready, kind of like doing intervals for a long run...WRONG again.  So wife and I are going to start doing OWS maybe 2 - 3 times per week and stay in our pool the test of the time.

?What is so bad is some of the people in the group were NOT in shape... and they beat my brains out!!!

Don't lose heart Tony.  I think OWS practice is great.  And Dirk is right on all counts, but the most relevant point for a tri in a few weeks is to relax and SLOW DOWN.  If you know for sure it will be wetsuit legal, wetsuit practice is perfect.  Practice breathing comfortably, forget about pace at all.

Given you have only a few weeks, do whatever it takes to be relaxed while swimming OWS.  Over-rotate to breath, breath every stroke, breast stroke to catch your breath, but whatever it takes for you to be relaxed and comfortable do it.  Another thing to think about is that the feeling of being totally out of breath and gasping for air is actually often C02 buildup, which is caused by not fully exhaling before you breath in again.  So make sure you are getting a full strong exhale.

Don't worry about "out of shape" people beating your brains out.  I've only been to the pool a few times this year, and without fail there's either some 70 year old granny or a 40 pound overweight dude lapping me and looking totally effortless in the water hammering out 1:20 hundreds like they're watching TV.  Remember, swim fitness is NOT at all the same as bike/run fitness, so forget about comparing.  If you want to be really humbled check the pool records for the 12 and under swimmers.  Their 100 times look like my 50 times, literally.

You will get through the 600 yards, and the key point is to relax and be ready to ride and run.  I would say most of us went through what you're experiencing or worse.  If you want to compare yourself and feel better - it took me almost 2 weeks to be able to put my face in the water and breath out when I started (only 4 weeks from my first tri which had an ocean swim), so you're WAY ahead of me.

Well that was a very memorable first HIM for me! The good news is I did finish the bad news is I was not even in the neighborhood 6 hours. I am not sure of my official time but I crossed at 7:28. I probably did something like a 7:10 or 7:15. So first let me say I thought about you guys a lot today and I could not have imagined this race being any tougher than it wound up being for me.

The forecast was low 60's cloudy with chance of PM showers. Well let's just say the weather folks were not even close with that forecast. It was miserable for the entire bike and part of the swim. I think I did pretty good for me in the swim the water was cold and it was a little choppy but I think I came out in about 45 minutes which is great for me. T-1 was very long as I was trying to get dry and made sure I had everything.

The bike was absolutely miserable. It rained, it poured there was a headwind in every direction you were riding in. By the second loop I was probably close to hypothermia it was that cold. My hands were so cold and wet I could not shift gears well without fear of losing my balance. During the bike ride I decided I needed to reset my expectations, no sub 6, no 6:15, no worries about time at all. I just wanted to finish without crashing on the bike. I decided after what happened at the last sprint that I would back off and make safety the priority. That is exactly what I did, this is not easy course there are several hills so some tough climbs and some fast decents. There are two short out and backs which when wet are absolutely treacherous in my opinion. The first loop was bad but the second loop was even worse. I made several restroom stops just to use the hand dryer to get feeling back in my hands. I was so happy to get off the back it was no even funny. I was probably just over 4 hours on the bike. T-2 took forever too because somebody put there bike in my spot on the rack so I had to deal with that and my hands were so cold I could not get my helmet off or my shoes tied.

I finally got it together and got out running and what do you know it stops raining, no wind and the sun comes out. Son of biscuit! Anyway the run went well for me I ran with two different guys I met during each loop to pass the time and take my mind off the pain. When I didn't have anyone to run with I just thought about you guys and everything you guy have accomplished and all the war stories about everybody here facing adversity and just digging deep and gutting it out. That is pretty much what I had to do for this race. I think I was just over two hours on the run, maybe 2:10 somewhere in that neighborhood. The Garmin got messed up too for run I am not sure what happened there but I did not do something right when I had it in multiport mode. It was just one of those days.

I can't be more proud of myself for not giving up and getting my butt across the finish line. Nothing was going to stop me from doing that today I was not going to be denied. Am I disappointed? Absolutely not! What a memorable first HIM! As many times as I was saying all those bad things and cursing the weather people on while I was on the bike I knew I was gonna finish. I have to say it was a pretty amazing experience. I also want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all you guys, you guys are totally awesome! Had it not been for all the amazing support from this group this year I am not sure I finish this race.

I also learned some valuable lessons today as well. Make sure you bring cold weather and warm clothing to the Mighty Man HIM, I mean bring everything and don't listen to the weather forecasters they are probably going to be wrong anyway. The other one is that even when we face a little adversity we all have it in us to overcome it. I've seen it all year from this group. While my time was not so good today I hope I did the Junkies proud today because I am certainly proud to be a part of this group. Besides it'll be pretty easy to PR my next HIM. I'll get a race report up when I get home on Monday but just wanted to give you guys more then just a finishing time.

Thanks so much for the encouragement Junkies.  I was actually ready to throw in the towel but i went for another OWS, just a little while ago and it went much better.  I got in the water and just floated prior to swimming, then i started swimming and got tired but i went thru it and could just then go w/o a problem.  I plan on going back minimum 2 X per wseek and hopefully 3 or 4 for ows and I'm going to be leaving my pool alone.

AGAIN...THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karl that is great to hear. I can't offer any better advice then what everybody has already said. What I will say that helped me was just keep going out and doing as many OWS' as you can do. You will get better. I can tell you I never thought I'd be able to cover the HIM distance in the swim but I did and you can cover that 600 meters for your upcoming Tri. Just keep swimming.

Here's my race report: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=462918&posts=1#M4434233.  Overall I did pretty well for my first half marathon- I was only off of my goal time by a little bit.  I finished in 1:46:15.  It was my husband's first half marathon too, and he finished in 1:39:10.  My legs are sore today

Karl, ditto what everyone else said.  Hang in there.  It will come. 

Dirk, I'm glad Laiken's out of the hospital.  Now you can go on your trip, right? 

Johnny, way awesome that your young kids are doing cross country.  That makes me so excited.  And a family training run?!!?!  Sounds like heaven.

It seems shallow to talk about anything sport related after what happened to Tracey's friends.  I'm resolving to run on the left side of the road from now on. 

My running club that runs wednesday nights has a rule that you must wear reflective clothing if not lights during the fall-spring when it's dark during the run time.  There will be 1 to 2 hundred runners with reflective gear and many of them wearing strobe lights front and back. 

On my bike I use a rear blinkie even in the day time.  I don't know if it's visible in the bright daylight or not, but I have seen a cyclist with a rear flashing red light once during high noon on a sunny day and I was drawn to his blinkie a quarter mile before I got to him.  It's not always about being able to be seen, it's often about breaking through to the driver's consciousness.

Of course drunk drivers can't be rendered safe.  That's why it's so important to get them off the road.

Karl, you are experiencing the challenge of triathlon.  If you stick it out you will be able to succeed.  Just know that it takes repetition.  It seems you have shrugged off your discouragement and are back at it.  That's great.  Just look at the difference from the first to second swim.

I've had an incredibley busy week trying to get prepared for my last race (for which I was handling registration and timing) and trying to get ready to become incapacitated in the aftermath of my shoulder surgery (yard work, seeding, cleaning...)

And after checking in today I won't be posting much.  I will not be much for a keyboard for a while.  I have been keeping up.  I can and have read everyone's posts.

The last few days before my race had me feeling weird emotions.  I was excited for the race and grieving a little about the loss of momentum and beautiful fall training time. 

I'm going to work on my race report now.  It will probably be long winded.  But there is a lot of fun stuff to write about.

congrats to all of you recent racers out there.  Stryker: Way to go.  You proved your mental strength.  I hate being cold!

If you want to help those involved in the accident, here is the website to our running club.  All of the info has been posted on the webpage.

6 Rivers Running Club

I went for a bike ride on Saturday with a friend.  My husband played SAG.  We had a good time.  The site of the hit and run is in the straightest, most open section of road.  It disgusts me.

I did a trail run with some friends on Sunday.  I was only going to do 7 miles.  They talked me into 10.  It wasn't bad, though, because they were so slow.  Really, I didn't even feel like I went for a run!

I'll catch up with everyone soon.  I hope the racers did good this past weekend!  Cheers!

Race report.  Now retirement (hopefully short).

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=463033

Jeff good luck with your surgery and I hope your self imposed retirement is short and you have a quick and uneventful recovery. Thanks again for the props on the race as well, the bike leg was not fun but I got it done.

Tracy thanks for posting the link I will check it out this evening and glad to hear you had a good ride and run yesterday.

Can't wait to read both Jeff and Allison's race reports and I will get mine up there and post the link tonight as well.

Here's a coupon code for RoadID.  It's for $1 off.  I know it's not much but every penny counts, right?

ThanksTracy18340715

A very quick update from me.

Laiken is home from the hospital and Lis and I are planning to head to Fla.  However, Laiken had another doc appointment yesterday to do another blood draw, now we are waiting to hear if there is a any reason to stay back home.  Lisa's mom and sister are coming up here to help mind Laiken while we are gone if she needs it.  Once we're on the road is when I'll know we are going south.

The car is packed and as soon as we get home from work, barring poor results from Laiken's blood work, we are leaving.  We are planning on having a computer with us so I'm sure to be checking in occasionally.

Hello Junkies!  I apologize for my extended absence.  I competed in my first triathlon to help myself overcome some very difficult experiences from my childhood.  It was a great success, but I really went overboard.  I kind of checked out on Leah and the girls during my training.  They were all very supportive, because they knew how important this was to my mental well-being, but I still feel bad.  

After I completed my race, I took a total break from any training, and focused on my family.  I just started training again, because I feel like I'm in a better place now.  I'm thinking right now that I will plan to do the same race Memorial Day weekend again next year.  Maybe I'll add some other races in, but I'm going to take it slow and keep my family first.

I really appreciate the support from this group, and I look forward to being part of this community again.

David

Jeff, thanks for the good canoe laugh! If ya'll had been filming, that could have made the funniest home videos...lol  Hey good luck w/ your surgery.  I hope the dr's do a fantastic job and you have a quick and total repair w/ no pain.  Let us know how it goes when you get a chance.

Tony, thanks for posting your race report...but this Junkie would be complaining about the rain!

Dirk, I'm glad Laiken is better and ya'll are getting your anniversary.  Enjoy the warmth and humidity.  Have a safe trip!

David, glad your 1st tri went good and welcome back to the group!

One quick question that came to mind reading Tony's report.  Do they make road bike tires w/ treads on them for the rain?  I was just thinking it would be good to have them if you know it is going to be raining?

David welcome back and it is great to hear from you. I am glad that you are doing well and things are going well for you where you can get back training and racing again. I think that is great.

I run Gatorskins on my bike in the winter.  They're heavy and very difficult (to the point of impossible) for my girl hands to change, however, I really like them.

Yes!  Hello David!