Asphalt Junkies Winter Edition - CLOSED (Page 2)

I have been lurking the past few days but somewhat unable to post.  Of course we had the blizzard blow through this past weekend that caused minor issues at work.  Only a several circuits were out but the actual damages were very minimal.  The conductors were galloping and the phases were contacting each other and causing the circuits to lock out.  Once a line goes into this condition there's nothing that can be done.  You have to wait until some of the ice melts off or the winds slow.

After Monday I needed to go to Columbus Ohio to do some pre-assessments for potential new linemen we are hiring.  It was only 2 nights out of town and one full day of pre-assessing but the day was a long one.  The good news is that I found a solid candidate for my line crew.  He climbs like a monkey and was constantly active helping others throughout the day.  He will be getting a job offer very, very soon.

Others......

Dina,  Your HR sounds like a spike from a poor connection from your HR monitor.  Occasionally I will get something similar but there are a couple of factors that seem to point to the reason it occurs.  Sometimes, and more times than not, it happens when there is a bad connection due to little moisture/sweat to conduct the signal.  For this reason, especially in the cooler months, I will wet the monitor prior to use.  The other common reason is on the bike.  When I drop into the aero bars and squeeze my elbows together it creates a small gap that will most of the time knock the HR monitor out but other rimes it has caused a large spike.

Whatever the problem is I wouldn't get alarmed until you've begin to see something like that occur more frequently.  However, if you felt dizzy or like your heart gave you a fluttering sort of feeling you should stop your activity.  I am guessing that isn't what you felt and that thing were otherwise normal. 

Tony,  Enjoy the HM training!  That is still my favorite running distance to train for.  There's not a huge time commitment but it is still very much an endurance event, something I feel I have a bit of an advantage over a few other people.

You mentioned your recent bike ride felt a bit easier.  That could be a strong indication of the increase in fitness as you stated but maybe you should do another test to be sure you're using the correct FTP numbers.  It's likely you either tested a little easier than you could have or you had some fatigue built up that didn't allow you to test well.  The numbers I am using right now feel a little off some of the time and I feel it's because of the fatigue I carried into my last test.  I don't think the numbers are far off but it could impact the way I'm training.

Derek and Matt,  You two have me peeking into the Sufferfest workouts to see if I can handle these workouts.  One of these days I'll do one of them but I hate to pull out of my HIM focussed plan right now.  I suffer plenty through all of my workouts right now, I don't need to add anything harder or more abusive for another 8 weeks or so.

Brenda,  You know we're not ditching you!  You bring the smiles to this group.  Heck most of the time I feel your smiling face through your posts. 

New group?  We haven't had anyone bight yet so we'll see who jumps in.  I was out of town when I got the email notification that we were going live.  In the past the group has filled up so quickly that I was nervous about how to manage taking on new people.  This time around it appears I/we may not have to worry about it so much.

Originally posted by Jo63 Brenda....no way your going to loose us glad to see you found us! Tonly lol on the veggie/ intervals Dina good for you to push thru what sounds like some pretty hard riding!!! So I got my pre- training bloodwork done and it turns out I am pretty anemic and I have to do a more in depth adrenal test no wonder I am feeling exhausted. I had hoped by now all would be good with these 2 things but nooooo. I am hoping if I can get my anemia in order my HR will come down during training even after reading Derek's post about some people's HR being high this always worries me, so I am a little afraid to push to hard during my runs, although the trainer pushes us during his w/o and it gets up to the 180s and I am fine with that..... I guess after all this time I think it should be lower during my runs. Oh and we are having a heat wave 29 here this morning!!

Glad you got the test done though so now you can try to get that issue worked out. What kind of changes will you have to make? Good luck!

Matt maybe there is something that could help you in either of these articles?

http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/cleats.html

http://sheldonbrown.com/shoe-pedal.html

Or really I would go to a bike shop and have them check it out. Good luck, hope the foot pain clears up quickly for you!

WHEN CAN YOU START: Now

Personal Bio:

USERNAME: jfought  Name: Jayne

STORY: My mom died of cancer 4 years ago and I realized I had better get my a$$ off the couch and find the athlete inside myself that had been there when I was younger.  It was time to start challenging myself and living life on my own terms.  I had always had difficulty running because of "shin splints".  What I found out was it wasn't really shin splints at all, what I had was called Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome.  Check out the link on my training blog page if you want the details.  November 2010, I had surgery on both legs and have been running relatively pain free since.  I started out with weight training and cycling, but started having some knee pain.  Someone suggested I try swimming.  I didn't know how to swim, but that was just another challenge.  I went to the pool, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and taught myself how to swim.  Then after the surgery on my legs, I began to run.  Well, I wasn't particularly good at any individual sport, so why not try triathlon.  That was where it started.  I started training, lost 35 pounds and felt better than I ever had.  I've done 6 sprints, 2 olys, and 6-50k ultramarathon trail races.

FAMILY STATUS: I am 47, newly divorced and dating a really awesome triathlete named Bruce.  I have two children, Ben (26) and Samantha (23). 

JOB: I've been teaching 8th grade US History for the past 15 years.

CURRENT TRAINING: Trying to maintain some sort of base for now and will start gearing up more around the beginning of March.

THIS YEAR'S RACES:  So far, I've registered for the Nantahala Hilly Half Marathon trail race this April in North Carolina.  It has 4,500 ft of elevations change that just might kill me.  I've also registered for my first 70.3 at Lake Logan, North Carolina in August!  Anybody know where you can hill train in Indiana

LAST SEASONS RACES:  Last year was a transition year for me personally.  When my husband and I separated, I moved out of my house into a temporary apartment, and have moved 3 more times since then.  I'm still not settled and won't be until this summer.  Last year ended up being a running year for me.  I did a lot of trail running, and not a single triathlon.  Last year I completed 4, 50K trail races and a few shorter races.  It was a good year, but a difficult year to do any consistent training. 

MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: Just getting off the couch and challenging myself to become an endurance athlete has been my biggest success.  I hadn't run more than a mile in my life until a few years ago and I taught myself to swim.  I can do ANYTHING because I am a bad !  LOL

WEIGHTLOSS: I would like to lose about 10 pounds.  It would really help with the wear and tear on my body.  When you get a little older, you have to train smart and take these things into consideration ;-)

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE:  I love to do what I can to motivate and encourage others.  I also have a good sense of humor and like to have fun. 

NOTE:  My first trail race was a relay with none other than your very own Asphalt Junkie himself, Dirk.  I've also raced with one of the most inspiring women in the sport of triathlon, the one and only biggest smiling face in the sport!!  bswcpa "Brenda"!!!!! 

Welcome Jayne, as Tony stated you found one of the best groups on BT.  I also have similar problems with hill training, where I am at in Ohio the biggest hills are more of a speed bump.  So I find the best one possible and then do repeats, 1st set several markers going up the bump.  Then run to the 1st marker and back down, then the 2nd marker and back down.  Repeat until you are at the top and a 100ft long bump becomes a mountain!

Warren, I understand what you are saying about the foot placement and this may be a factor.  I am somewhat pigeon footed and when I run I tend to roll out off the outside of my foot.  My bike shoes are currently straight so the motion is more off the big toe which may be causing the issue.  I am also still on the fence though as to the source of the problem.  Doing a little internet MD over the past few days an the source may be more of an ankle issue, which brings me to todays events.

Against better judgement I decided to go forward with the trail race today, and all in all it wasn't terrible.  They did remove the creek crossing which was disappointing, but they said something about it looking like a raging river.  The course itself was a complete mess, with the change it became a 2 lap course about 3.75 each lap.  The mud was crazy thick on the 1st lap and the 2nd lap was just a mess.  Slipping, sliding going all over the place really a lot of fun but difficult.  During the run my foot did not feel terrible, occasionally I would notice it but nothing major.  I also had a few times where I could feel stress on my ankle which made think the foot issue may be from the trail run I did last Sunday, but we will see.  total time for the 7.5 miles was just shy of 1:20 at a 10:31 pace.  I know super slow, but I had to save my energy for Sunday so I can do it all over again.

That's not at all slow for a muddy trail run.  Mud is worse than anything else.....so hard on all of your stabilizers.  Congrats on a good race.

Warren has hit a very good point when discussing the rotational issues with your foot related to pedal/cleat position.  If you can, use a full length mirror the next ride and place it directly in front of you.  You'll need to pedal slowly to be able to see your feet and ankles.  As you pedal look through the mirror to see if you're able to see where your ankle is positioned related to the centerline of your foot and your knee.  Normally you should have everything centered on a line so that there is no rotational stress occurring at these joints.  (Normally, because people that are pigeon toed or have other forms  of natural misalignments may need a slightly different adjustment.)  The best position you can be in will keep everything, including your hip joints, in alignment with your knees and ankles.

A better option to attempting to view this yourself would be to use some type of video recording to check these angles.  As you slow your pedaling down you are likely to inadvertently change the mechanics of the way you normally ride.  Video recording would be more ideal because you can pedal at a more natural cadence and (hopefully) see the tracking better after slowing the video down.  You may even post the video here to allow us to assess as well.

Now about your foot.  I doubt that you have a problem with your foot that developed over one ride ride due to improper pedal placement.  I believe that in order to have had that occur you would have had some fairly significant issue during the ride that could have caused you to stop the ride altogether.  I would ask you to reexamine how your foot feels in the shoe at the point of the pain.  It sounds to me there's a possibility the shoe could be a shade narrow at that particular point in the shoe fit.  Make sure you give the riding a few more chances before making any determinations.  It could simply be the change from your riding position in cages to clipless will take s bit of time.

Honestly I feel the foot issue is less likely related to riding and more to running.

I left above things I didn't know.

Welcome to the group!  We will have a great session with you involved!

Running the Huff relay a few years ago with you was awesome!  That was the year of epic water and equally epic shivering when I came out of the water and finished my leg of the relay.  I shook for 2-3 hours while standing in front of a pool watching my daughter swim following that race.

I don't know much about the KK computer but does it require re-calculating occasionally?  Power meters require this before every ride (I think) and only take a few seconds.  You might try checking all of the other electrical connection (if not wireless) as well, batteries, etc.

Welcome, JAYNE!!   I got the biggest smile seeing your name pop up!   You're too kind in what you said but I got NOTHING on you.   I'll not forget your unbelievable kindness at Potato Creek - getting me to the finish line and staying with me until I was able to stand.   I called you an angel in my race report and that's how I think of you now......Angel Jayne!        You obviously love the beautiful state of North Carolina and I'm impressed with you doing your first 70.3 there.  I'll be looking for hills too, so I'll let you know if I find any- that would be fun to do some training together.    Congratulations on completing all your 50K's last year - 4 of them -  wow!   While I'm thinking of it - since you're on Facebook - you may want to join the Asphalt Junkie page and then everyone that's on there can friend you too.  So far I think DEREK is the only one not on FB. (let's get with it, Derek!)     Any ways, again, welcome to the Junkies, Jayne!   You've joined a great group of wonderful folks and I know you'll fit right in. 

Thinking of MATT this morn out on the trails doing his 12 miler.   Go Matt Go!!  Hope your foot cooperates and doesn't give you pain. Will look forward to hearing how it went.  

Have a blessed Sunday everyone!