Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED (Page 19)

 That is what I found too. Nothing specific for women. Then I got totally confused and didn't know what to look at. Thanks for the leads! The Mizuno I've been wearing does not have much cushion so I don't think that will bother me too much.

Agreed.  I have the Adamo saddle myself and just like Warren I experienced instantaneous relief to the numbness issue.  Before the Adamo I would shift side to side to keep feeling "there."  I hadn't heard of Cobb until after I had purchased the Adamo and with the exchange policy you mentioned I wish I had heard about it before hand.  I would suggest discussing the possibility of a mens saddle at the LBS.  It seems logical that the aggressive position on a TT bike would not cause issues relative to a specific gender.

The down side of the Adamo that I see is that it is very flat.  There is no arch to the seat as is typical with other saddles.  This can add a little bit of pressure on the sits that if not used to it can cause some discomfort on those bones.

That is a lot to take in for one week. Sounds like you have a close family which is always something to be thankful for.

I come from a large extended family. There is always someone sick or struggling but I just try to remember there are just more of us praying for one another too .  

Brenda, I have a Bontrager Cruiser CRZ+ Saddle.  I like it a lot and have never had any issues, but it might be a little cushier than you are looking for. 

It seems like several of us run in Brooks Adreneline GTS 11s.  This is my current running shoe too.  The local running store told me that this is one of their most popular shoes.  I've also had great success with New Balance- I loved my 1223s and think I might try out one of their successor models. 

My husband laughed at me on the treadmill today, as I ran my 2 miles at 10 min/mile pace.  I took it even slower today to give my legs a break for tomorrow. 

Tomorrow is my first race of the year.  I am nervous for so many reasons, one being that we are under winter weather advisory right now and expect lots of snow tonight.  Dirk and Brenda, are you sure you don't want to meet me in Columbia City to race in blizzard conditions??  Lol.   

Today has been a very active day in the group.  Everyone, including myself, is picking up a lot of valuable information and everyone's training seems to be on track.  Everyone seems to be pretty well motivated right now and sometimes that can be a fairly large hurdle.  Great job everyone.

It seems like everyone should have a pretty good idea of how the all of the more experienced people in this mentor group feel about the running focus to build speed........."Run often, mostly slow, sometimes hard" mantra.  If there are still questions about this make sure to bring them up.

Question:  With all the talk of running shoes, does everyone track the mileage for their shoes?  This can be pretty important to remaining injury free. Especially for people that are prone to injury such as myself.  Each persons abiltiy to take a shoe to a certain distance will vary based on weight, running efficiency, past injuries and tolerance to the impacts of running.  For instance: I can only get about 350 miles out of a pair of Mizuno Inspires before my left knee can no longer take the abuse.  My Brooks Adrenaline's, so far, have 370 and I should be able to get around 400 out of them.  I currently have 2 pair of Adrenalines.  One pair with 370 and the other with 291.

Be patient Allison, one day when you're beating your husband in races because you ran more miles at a slower pace he'll be totally dumbfounded. LOL

If I had planned to run this race in Columbia City I might be there but I have a 8-10 mile run for tomorrow on the agenda.  Actually I am trying to decide how to run tomorrow.  I am considering only 8 miles tomorrow because of the projected snowfall and I wouldn't feel totally comfortable leaving Lis here for that long without me.  I am certain she would be fine but I would be more comfortable being close enough if she needs anything.

Besides, Since I am always looking for a PR I am not sure I would be able to get one in the conditions that could be there tomorrow.  The good thing about the course is that it is a road course so the footing may be pretty decent.

If I wasn't on this darn Valentine's Day weight loss challenge, I might have signed up for the ICE CREAM EATING CONTEST that follows the race.  Bummer. 

Where is this race again?  That's one I could podium for sure.  I'll sacrifice one for the team...

Holy crap you guys.  I go away for a few hours and come back to a half hour of reading material!!

Dirk,  I'm glad you are hanging in there.  Good to hear that Lisa is staying strong as well.  You're a good one to have around, I'm sure.

As far as the saddle goes, I am putting an adamo on my road bike soon because the numbness I get when riding on the trainer.  My saddle is relatively comfortable, but its not perfect.  My tri bike is just bad.  I don't usually have a problem with it during races because I just hammer and don't put as much pressure on the saddle.  Now that I use a different pedal stroke (more rounded) I actually have more pressure on the saddle when pushing hard.  So I need to evaluate and change the current one out.  I actually have a Cobb V-flow and a V-flow plus that anyone can try out if they want to.

I do track the mileage on my shoes.  I am currently running in a pair of zoot ultra kanes.  They are a stability shoe that has a softer feel.  I will say that when it's really cold out the softer feel kind of goes away.  I have two pairs.  One with something like 170 miles on it and the other ones have about 5.  I'm going to swap them every other day to keep the squish to them.  I've heard this is a good idea.  I did however notice that I had a little pain here and there in my lower legs from the new shoes.  Everyone always raves about how awesome it is when they get their new shoes on for a run....not the case for me evidently.  And yes, they are the same model and the same year.  Lucky for me bonktown had them on sale from 140 down to 56.

I had my final ART appointment tonight.  He did some pretty serious digging around in my left achilles and it's pretty sore.  I am icing and he gave me stretches to do three times a day.  So I will be diligent on doing those for the next two weeks while I am on travel.  Icing and stretching.  Woohoo!  At least this is a minor injury and it's not slowing me down or hurting my runs at all.

Kudos to Warren for suggesting that I go get it taken care of ASAP.  Good advice!

Sounds to me like loops around the neighborhood with a check in at the house every mile and 50 body weight squats are in order.  Yup, if I were you, that's what I would do.  Good call me.

Going to be a long weekend for me. Physical Therapist found a tender, tight spot in my hip flexor at my appointment today. Why is it that these people can find some tiny little spot that you didn't even know was tender and all of the sudden send you through the roof in pain? Anyway, she says lay off anything that uses my hip flexors for the weekend since she tried to work that spot out today. So.... no swim, no bike and of course no run.

It's just the weekend. Surely I won't go completely insane in that short amount of time right?!

Actually I can stretch my normal 7 mile running route to about 10 miles and pretty much stay in the neighborhood for the most part.  I can run 8 and never be much more than 1 mile from the house for any of it.  I like this route in the winter because if I get too cold or something happens I'm very close.

Allison, I appreciate the offer.  She is doing quite well, as a matter of fact she won't even let me fix her a cup of coffee and wash the dishes.  All this with no pain medication.  She has a script for Vicodin that remains unfilled and I'm sure it will remain that way and she is using Tylenol XS for her pain management.  Actually she and I are very much alike in this matter.  Neither of us like narcotics and will do what we can to stay off of them.  For my ACL reconstruction I refused to take Vicodin XS and I was fine without it.

Good luck at the race today!  Make sure you post a race report and let us know when its complete.

Dina,  I hope the weekend off helps keep and injury away so enjoy the relaxation that the weekend holds for you.  Do you have a history of hip flexor problems?

Matt, it sounds like enjoying your runs ON A TREADMILL????  Did you fill my wife's narcotics prescription????  Actually it's good when you can relax and enjoy the workouts.  It shows that things are clicking well, that you have a real understanding about the training you need to be doing and you're not worried about trying to be fast during your training.

_______________________

In my previous post, Jonathon made me think about something that I have discussed in other groups........Safety!  As a Line Crew Supervisor at work it is ingrained in my mind to attempt to complete various tasks with the end game in mind.......keeping all my coworkers (or my own) fingers and toes in the same place so to speak. 

With that in mind, I suggest that everyone when running outdoors, use Map My Fitness to post their routes on the screen while running alone.  I use this so my wife can come looking for me if I don't come home in a certain amount of time.  I also carry my phone which has the GPS turned on so I can be located should I go missing.  And lastly, if you don't own a Road ID I suggest making this purchase too.  With all the miles each of us plan on being on the road running or biking I think this could be a huge lifesaver.  As many of us who have been doing this for some time have experienced, many driver either don't see you or simply don't care about your safety.  Frankly, I trust NO driver!  With this attitude I feel I can be more defensive in my running and riding and it forces me to be more alert to other people on the roads.

If you look for them, there are discount codes tha can be used for the Road ID purchases.  Just google "Road ID discount" and see what pops up.  They aren't all that expensive $20-$30 depending on the model you want.

I took Vicodin once. I didn't know any better - just thought it was a little stronger than Tylenol or something. Yikes, I was loopy. Never took it again!

Glad your wife is doing so well!

I've never had any trouble with my hip flexor before and honestly it does not hurt in that area. My PT was just digging around  looking for some connection to my back issue. She thinks the hip flexor being so tight might be part of the problem. I'm thinking about going to the Chiro to have some ART on the hip flexor to loosen it up. It's a fairly inexpensive treatment.

Thanks for the safety reminders. I have a road ID. My sister bought me one for my birthday. I thought that was a really great gift! I'm bad about remembering to wear it though. Never used Map My Fitness but I'll go check it out.

The PT did say I can swim with the pull bouy but I think I'm better off to just walk the dog and do my PT stretches and exercises. The bouy will keep me from kicking but I think I would still engage the hip flexor just by holding/squeezing the bouy. She just wants me to rest it so I don't mess up all the hard work she did stretching it out. Plus the pool is a 40 min drive and we got some nasty ice on the roads here last night.

I just realized that the Map my.... attached to my account.  That wasn't supposed to be the way it attached but whatever.  From there everyone that hasn't used the site can get to the main page from there.

Dina, I'm glad to hear you don't have issues with the flexors normally.  I can see how your back issues could be attached to the flexor problem though.  Our bodies try to change the way we do things based on pain in other locations.  The important thing is that you get back to normal as soon as possible, otherwise those subtle changes can take hold and begin to develop problem in other areas too.

I would agree with your PT that swimming with the pull buoy shouldn't cause any issues.  You wouldn't be engaging your hips through the stroke.  However, you would be using your core and with all the swimming you are used to doing and that should help keep the hips stable too.  I also don't think it's a bad thing to simply take the weekend off, especially if you can avoid any more injury before the official season begins.

I am already making plans to go out there.  I have seen pictures of where he is going to be living and it is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!  I'll make sure my brother buys a big enough place to keep us all comfortable while we are there. LOL

Really!  I can't imagine to many places that would be any more beautiful to live and train.

Jeff

I combined OLY plan and Hal Higdon 3 day/week Marathon plan - I do long run Sat - long run Sun. two a day on Tues is generally a am swim/pm bike. seems to be working ok......so far.

I'll keep note on fatigue. so far, power on.

On Shoes: Nothing is worse than when a shoe company takes a perfectly good shoe -- and changes it! I wear Mizuno waver rider 13 and then 14. 14 were heavier. now, the 15's are TOTALLY different = new last = tops/laces....= new shoe!!! Forcing me to go try on several shoes -- that's the ONLY remedy: in my opinion - go the Local Shoe Store - measure up and try on all the shoes they have - have them watch you run/pronate - and listen to their advice........BE CAREFUL - a run friend "tried" a new "minimal" shoe - ran in them a few weeks  and now has Achilles soreness.......no big changes!!!!

Today: +-2-3 inches of snow --no problems running - stride a bit shorter - wore trail shoes = lower to ground/more lugs....

just go run.

NICE RUN TODAY abergdol !!

Hi everyone!  Thanks for the support on the race this morning.  The conditions were a little harsh, but I got out there and ran with all of the other crazy people this morning.  It wasn't my best race, but I managed to place 1st in my age group (it was a small crowd).  I posted my first race review too: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=421898.  Brenda, a young guy from Warsaw ran this one in itty bitty shorts and a tank top and left us all behind in the snow as he won.

Dina, I hope you get rested and recovered this weekend. 

Dirk, glad to hear that your wife is doing well.  Don't hesistate to ask for anything if you change your mind. 

To everyone else, thanks for keeping me inspired and motivated and for giving me such great advice.  I am enjoying this group!

Paul, I think the plan seems alright except I don't think running only 3 days a week can be very good for a marathon.  It seems to me that yo might be leaving yourself open more to injury because of the lack of mileage.  I know Higdon is pretty well respected but a 3 day a week running plan seems pretty skinny to me.  I think at least 4 days a week is better and you can very the runs in a similar fashion. 

I went back and checked your bio and more specifically your 2012 race schedule.  If you are planning a fall marathon you have all kinds of time to build your running base.   I think this can be done by running 4 days a week and leaving you in much better shape and more prepared to set a solid PR in the fall.  If you have time right now and are willing to go for this idea I think you can start pretty easily right now.

I would suggest doing another 2-a-day work out on Sunday.  Do a run in the afternoon/evening after you have had a fair amount of rest from the long bike.  Begin with a 2 mile very easy run at a recovery pace.  Your legs are possibly going to be a little tender from the day before but if you run after the bike that should be alright.  Another option would be to move this 2 mile run to Friday afternoon/evening before your long run and actually this might be a better option if you can swing it.  As you progress through your training this 2 mile run should be increased in distance but ALWAYS done at an easy pace.  I would say toward the end of the training cycle those runs should be no more 6 miles at the same very easy pace.  The other days of the week can be changed to suit your needs.  Especially for the tri training.  If you can do a couple of 2-a-days, plan your swims on run or bike days.

I think the Higdon plan is kind of a minimalist plan.  I checked it out and the distances seem to work up quite well, I just think there should be another run in there, at least.  I ran my first marathon running mostly 4 days a week and maybe once in a while I threw a 5th run in but not routinely.  The 2nd and 3rd marathons had me running 5 days a week and I was immeasurably more prepared for the abuse I was putting myself through in those last miles.  Ultimately it's going to be your call as to how you would like to handle the training.  Can you run a marathon on a 3 days a week plan?  Sure.  I just think it can leave you open to a little more injury. 

That's a nice race Allison!  I posted on the RR too.  The group is supposed to help inspire and motivate you, so no thanks are really needed BUT it is appreciated.

Thanks again for the offer for helping myself and wife.  She is doing quite well and is now refusing any help from me.