Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 167)

Jeff those are alot of hours and miles for the bike and run respectively. I only got you on the swim put I have sort of been up at the pool 3 to 4 times a week. I am not putting in a lot of distance just working on the basics. I have cut my running back though to get more work in on the swim and the bike. I think that is where I need to improve the most. The bike will increase this month as I am starting Jorge's winter plan today pretty much kicking off the IM training.

Jeff you are a beast on the bike. 1999 calories is impressive not to mention everything else. Do you have the same instructor for each session of the spin class? If you stick around that long they might be asking you to instruct the class next!

Here are my totals for November. I'm kind of all over the place.

 I'm happy I was able to swim that much and that is not totally accurate as a couple of the swims were while we were away in Chicago at the hotel pool which was only 45 ft long. I did not bother counting laps, just swam for time.  Running, of course very disappointing but I'm used to it by now. Cycling, fair. I wrestle with not doing longer rides during this time of year. I mean I could do longer rides on the trainer but after about 1.5 hours I just start to wonder what is the point of this when I could be doing so many other things with my time. A long ride outside with friends in the summer is an event, a social outing and training all in one.

This mornings trainer ride for me was 2 x 20' with 2' rest between each 20' set. I'm ready for some data. I tried to maintain an RPE that I could sustain without having to back off at the end but I think I probably could have gone harder. 

Warren did you quit sugar all together like read labels and avoid sauces or condiments with added sugar or quit sweet treats? I quit sugar completely a few years ago for a little over a month but one day I wanted some Halloween candy and that was it! This time I am not as strict, just staying away from sweets and treats. I was just wondering if to stop the cravings I have to be more strict about it.

Have any of you used pepper spray on dogs before? We have had a lot of trouble keeping our neighbors dogs off our property and I'm ready to teach them myself. I would not care if the dogs came over if they were friendly but they are not. They are threatening, aggressive and scare my kids and the owners do nothing about it. The overwhelming majority of the time these incidents occur while everyone is away at work and I am home by myself. I'm wondering how powerful of a spray comes out of the pepper spray because it is pretty windy here and I can just see me trying to spray the dog and spraying myself !

Jeff, that's a great month.  And Matt and Tony, you hit your targets so those are great months as well.

I essentially took November off, more from a lack of mojo and trying to get back to playing hockey, so my totals are embarrassing.  Looks like one week for you guys.

S:  4550.00 Yd - 1h 33m 39s
B:  58.02 Mi - 2h 50m 22s
R:  40.87 Mi - 6h 15m 09s

I'll be back on the horse for December, but I'm still deciding exactly what my real goals for this winter are going to be.

Warren I sort of did the same. I was just doing unstructured workouts in Nov. and considering it my offseason. I even took this past weekend off I can't remember the last time I did that. Matt's run total's are really nice and Dina had some very nice swim totals for the month.

Dina no I have not used pepper spray on any dog. I try very hard when I run to avoid any areas where the owners are careless. Same with the bike, I have only been chased once. If I were you I would probably call the pound and have those dogs picked up if they are running loose and the owners are not responsible. At the same time I can understand your concern especially with your children outside and these dogs running loose. I heard sometimes it works and some times it doesn't but it would probably work on the irresponsible owners

I quit all sugar, and that meant all, including sugar found in carbs.  It was VERY difficult and required 100% focus and planning.  It's phase one of South Beach diet and I did it for I think 3 weeks.  Maybe it's similar to paleo diets, I haven't really looked into those.  I wasn't really doing it as a diet I wanted to maintain, but simply as a way to quit the cravings for sugar because I was in a bad place and sugar controlled me.  That sounds melodramatic, but it was true.

This is a really long story and I'll spare you all the details but yes we have called Animal Control more than once - they don't take the dogs just hand out a fine. We have to have photo or video of an attack for proof according to the last Animal Control guy. We have written to the Village Clerk of our town who also fined the owners, they had a visit from the Mayor, the most offensive dog is labeled a dangerous dog. A different neighbor called Animal Control this summer after the dog aggressively blocked the sidewalk while a woman was trying to go for a walk then lunged at her as she came near - did I mention she was carrying a toddler? That time the owners locked the dog away in their house and denied they even owned the dog. So, here I am. They don't care about fines, they will flat out lie to the authorities and the situation for US is not any better. I was trying to put up some Christmas lights outside last week and here comes the dog to harass me for 30 min in my own yard while the owner is inside. When she finally came out to see what all the barking was about I said a few choice words. I was not proud of myself but honestly, I have had enough.

The dogs are on shocker collars but the collars are completely unreliable.

Anyway, I'm ready to take action to defend myself and my kids. Just not sure what will be the most effective without putting myself in harms way.

Sorry for getting so off track with all of this!

I understand. I'm not ready to go that extreme yet but I might be asking you for more info about this!

No, but I've seen pepper spray demonstrations and they spray a fairly tight stream, not a cloud of mist.  But wind will still be a problem.  If you are upwind they will do great from 10 feet away.  If you are downwind and therefore shooting in to the wind it might not work out so well.

Put on protective eyewear and hold your breath during and for a few seconds after spraying.

You could also get a supersoaker style water gun and fill it with water containing juice from a jar of jalapenos with some cayenne pepper dissolved in there.

Or get a harmless CO2 powered BB gun and pelt them rapid-fire when in your yard.

But dogs are smart enough to know when you have a weapon or not and behave differently.  Getting them to stay out of your yard might require you to contact the authorities.  The process will take many, many repeated complaints before the neighbor is sanctioned.  And you will need to provide proof in the form of video footage of them in your yard.

You could try getting a pet skunk! 

I hadn't seen this when I just posted that last reply.

The dog being a THREAT to people outside it's own property line....please don't hate me for saying this as I'm a pet lover myself....that justifies deadly force.  That woman with the toddler would have been justified in shooting the dog.  And if the dog did more than bark at you in your own yard you'd be justified in shooting it (referring to threatening behavior like growing, baring teeth, pinned ears).

Warren, as far as months off go...November is the best possible one to take off IMO.  How do you feel with the MOJO now?  Reclaim any of it? 

And btw, those totals are awesome!  What WEEK did you do that??? 

Dina, I love my dogs more than I should, and I admit I'm probably fonder of my dog than my boys some days.

That said, I'd have to agree with Jeff on a dog who is threatening me or my family on my property after I've given the owner a chance to deal with the problem themselves.  I understand the ramifications of living next door to someone after that has happened, but it's really up to the dog owner.

One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was to make that decision about a dog I rescued years ago.  I simply couldn't get her to not be aggressive around the neighbors children, and after many months and more money in training and other things than I will ever admit publicly, I had to give the dog up.  I never blamed the dog as there was a story I didn't know and the poor dog was just dealing with whatever horror it had already been exposed to, but I couldn't put other people at risk.

If the owner can't get the dog under control, you are justified in protecting yourself and your family.

I think my MOJO is back finally, in some weird way getting some snow Saturday really helped me get back into the mood to run and buying the bike has me ready to hit that as well.  I need to sign up for an late winter HM and I have an indoor bike race planned for late Jan, so that usually gets me off my butt.

I'm also realizing running is becoming more than a training thing for me, it is really something I need to do.  Though I can NEVER admit to my wife since I used to give her such a hard time about needing to run. 

And I was talking about one of YOUR weeks, not mine!  But I did get a big bike week in this summer:

Thanks for the sympathetic ear about the dumb dogs. I 100% know this is not the dogs fault and this situation just eats at me. I know that the problem is the owners. It is sad because this all could have been prevented if they would have just locked the dogs up somewhere safe when they are away for the day. I have a dog. She goes in the garage when we leave for the day, it is not that difficult.

I think I need some hardware so I can join this thread :http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=469889&posts=50&start=1

In all reality we don't have anything like that in the house. I'm going to research the laws in my area  and see what my options are.

And don't worry about offending me or anything. My Dad is always saying he would have "taken care of it" a long time ago.  

I have thought about toughing my training out and I am getting close to getting back into it but I am going to wait and hear what comes from my next appointment on Wednesday afternoon before I make a determination.  Even with the appointment I am likely to wait until Sunday  before I begin running again.

I will start my running slow again once I start but I could use a little input about how to pick it back up and train through the pain a little.  It's not that I have no idea where to start but I would like to hear thought on how quickly to pick up the mileage, especially the long runs.

BTW, I picked up some of the Superfeet Green last week.  I'm still trying them out and can't really provide any feedback about how well they are working.

Here are my numbers from November.  Not at all what I would like to see in anything really.  The bike is the only thing that is close to what I would like.  The run is pretty obvious as to why I am short there.  As I began planning to run and train for Boston November would have been a 90-100 mile month and escalating from there.  The swim is another thing that is horribly lacking.  the lane times at the pool are the worst they have been sice I began training there.  It is now only opened to lap swimmers during the work day......BRILLIANT!!!  I can get a swim in on Friday while I am off and then on Saturdays when they done have club swim meets.  The club meets are frequent!!!  I am trying to figure out what other options I have available without having to buy a membership somewhere else.  Frankly the swim is almost as aggravating as the PF.

A dog problem like you are having would certainly warrant any amount of force you should chose.  But I like a could of Jeff's ideas before deadly force.  the super soaker with Jalapeno juice would work wonders.  The best shot would be in the face but the dog would most likely lick the liquid off of itself and begin to feel the burn if you missed the head.  Personally I think that one or to shots of that will cure the problem.  If not graduate to the BB gun and pelt it as many times as possible.

I also suggest that if you feel the need and have the weapon to use for deadly force that you make sure that if you must put the dog down that you get some pics of where the dog was shot and use as many angles as possible to determine the property lines.  Also have all police reports and animal control reports in hand prior to ANY activity you take upon yourself to do.

Here are my November numbers:

S:  11900.00 M - 4h 29m 20s 
B:  93.60 Mi - 5h 31m 
R:  61.10 Mi - 9h 39m 40s 

Again, it gives me a starting place, and from here I hope to continue to build!  The part you can't see in the numbers that I'm happy with is the general consistency I had from week to week.  

My December goals are as follows (for now)...

S:  15 times
B:  11 hours (I am tempted to say more, but then that would be over doubling my time from November..)
R:  100 miles

Also I've been getting in the habit of lifting weights a couple times a week, even if it is just a few simple exercises.  So, I hope to continue this.

Over on slowtwitch they are having a 100 runs in 100 days thing starting December 15. (This doesn't necessarily mean 100 consecutive days of running.)  I am thinking of starting it.  (I say start since we'll see how things progress....)  I think it can go in nicely with my goal of running at least 100 miles per month.

michgirlsk - 2012-12-03 9:07 PM Just one person's opinion............. I don't think you should tough it out... It already sounds like it's bad, I feel like it has the potential to get REALLY bad if you put in good mileage through April.  I understand it's Boston, but, then I'd say, aren't you a triathlete first, a runner second?!  If you wait until late April/May to start to heal yourself (at which point I feel it could be even worse and take even more time to heal), I feel like you've started to give up part of training time just when the triathlon season is beginning!

It's actually not that bad.  On Friday of last week, prior to the treatment, I was asked what the pain was on a scale of 1-10.  I responded that at the time it was about a 2 but the highest it had been since I really started feeling it was about 6-7.  I suppose in some ways I am a triathlete first but it was running that got me involved in triathlon.  I began triathlon to begin cross training because of a knee injury that left me with a severe muscular imbalance.

Boston itself was a goal I had for my marathons last year.  I ran 2 marathons 3 weeks apart in an attempt to BQ because that was my goal entirely.  I had planned only one marathon but I so narrowly missed the BQ time qualification that I opted to run again 3 weeks later.  Boston is kind of a dream and I am not willing to give it up.  I will certainly proceed with caution when I do begin running again but at some point it is very likely that I'll try to work through some of the pain if it re-surfaces.

The weather here is nuts - it was 70 degrees here yesterday on Dec 3rd!

Dirk I am relieved to read your pain level is low.

Same here with the weather, was 60 in NY yesterday and is supposed to be 60 again today. Now if it would just stop raining so I can go get my run in during lunch that would be nice. I'm gonna run either way today rain or shine. I hate running in the rain but it's gonna to be too warm to pass up an opportunity like this, 60 in December unbelievable.

I would just settle for running......PERIOD! 

But this seems to be the kind of winter I was looking for when I knew I got into the Boston Marathon.  I was hoping for another mild winter with little snow fall and warmer than normal temps to help on my long runs.  I have run as many as 12 miles in snow, probably only 2 inches or so deep, and I don't particularly care for it.  Footing different and if it's really cold, like single digits with lower wind chills, it had a tendancy to cause me to lose motivation.

Dirk I can sympathize it sucks not being able to get a run in or any activity that you want to do when you are hurting or having issues. I hate to say it but I put my run off until 3 pm today. I just didn't want to deal with the rain but at least I'm getting to run so I should not be complaining.