Asphalt Junkies Winter Edition - CLOSED (Page 20)

Just got home from the 2nd annual St Paddy's Dash fundraiser for my daughter's (and 2 nieces) middle school. Both of my girls ran the 1 mile dash with their 2 cousins and finished 6, 7, 8, 9 and my wife finished 10th out of 50 participants.

I finished in 24:46 on the 5k run. Not my best ever but I'm still very happy with it. Especially since I took it easier (about a 9:00 first mile) and then ran negative splits to finish near an 8:00 overall average pace. Out of 85 participants I was 14th overall and 3rd in my age group. They only award top 2 in each age group so no hardware.

After finishing I ran back on the course to meet my brother in law, who was doing his first run since 1994 in the Army, and ran with him to the finish. Then I turned around again and ran back to meet my wife's Dad and went in to the finish with him. That got me an extra mile for the day.

Vero,  Very nice running today!  To go from a 9 MM for the first mile and then be able to pull the run down to an 8MM average is cooking for a couple of miles!!  Solid in my book.  And 3rd in AG regardless of awards lands you on the podium!  It sounds like your entire family being there with you made for a great event all over.  

Matt,  How was your nutrition on the ride?  Did you take in any calories?  If not, that is the likely culprit for why you felt so horrible.  I have found that I can tolerate only about 1.5 hours on the bike while riding hard without taking in some form of nutrition.  When I get on the bike for 2 hours I always have some for m of caloric intake sitting next to me.  Most of the time it has come in the form of a 100 calorie bottle of Heed but I do use dried fruit to help.  It seems that dried fruit has a similar effect like Gu Chomps or Clif shots, plus it helps fill the hunger pangs that are nearly certain to come with long rides.

Me?  I got the biggest swim in today I think I've ever gotten in one day and I polished off the biggest swim week ever.  I've had a really good week in the pool with swims of 4000, 3500 and 5100, respectively, bringing the total to 12600 yards for the week.  The week in riding was much shorter but I have figured out his plans. Riding was only about 5.75 hours but there was some intensity with a long ride tomorrow of 2.5-3 hours that will get uncomfortable.  

Zach plans to alternate weeks of long training.  One week is heavy bike and then the next week is heavy swim.  Once I can run again I suppose I'll see similar types of running.

Those both don't look easy to me but if I had to choose one I would pick exp. 1 too.  Both runs certainly have there place in your training regimen for different reasons.  One is a faster pace for a shorter period of time while the other gets hard and stays hard.

By the description given, it appears to me that the first run is in a similar zone as a tempo run (or a little bit harder) while the second is a steady state run.  The first will allow you to accumulate lactate in your muscles without being able to clear it and will really make you hurt a little bit.  The great thing about this one is that you'll be granted some recovery time before beginning the next pain session

 The steady state is run at a pace slower than tempo/10k but fast enough that you know you're working fairly hard.  This run shouldn't hurt really but it should be comfortably hard, yet challenging.  It should be done around your HM pace or a shade faster but remain consistent throughout.  

You're discussion of running only makes me more determined to get back to doing some of these runs.  In reality I would just like to run!  

Doc appointment today!!  If surgery is the suggestion I will be getting it as soon as I possibly can get in the OR.  I want to get this thing done so I can get on with the business of IM training!

I had my own bout with poor in ride nutrition yesterday. I was scheduled for a 3 hour ride at a fair intensity for that duration and took a 100 calorie bottle and decided the dried fruit would supplement those calories. It proved to be insufficient to keep me going for that long. I also didn't really take to much of ther fruit in very early which was a second mistake. I tried sipping on the bottle early to get some of the early calories in but I should have been eating to maintain a little better fuel levels. But ther is a caveat, I felt like trash most of the day and even napped for 30-40 minutes after feeling pretty flat early in the morning. I think I am pretty shot after the past couple of weeks training and it really snuck up on me. Today is a rest day so I'll be doing only PT exercises this evening.

Anyway, i said all that to say you're not the only one learning something about nutrution the past couple of days.

BTW, are trying to cut weight during your training? Trying to balance weight loss and successful workouts can be challenging to say the least. I am trying to do this and I have some work to do. I am just beginning to discuss this with my coach to try and work through some of the ideas and thoughts here.

I'm in the docs office right now waiting to hear the word....wish me luck or intelligence to make the right decision!

Edited by DirkP 2014-03-17 8:55 AM

Dirk, Seen on FB that surgery is in your future, hope everything goes well and that you heal quickly.  What does the time frame look like?

Looks like it may be a trail weekend for several of us, I have a 10 mile trail race on my schedule.  But as you 2 mentioned it depends on the weather, after the brutal trails runs in January (Mud) and February (snow) I only want to run if it is nice and dry out.  If it looks like a mess I will pass and do an easy run from home.

I made it to the pool today, barely.  Goal was to get up early but as you all know that does not work for me.  So instead I went on lunch which means I only have about 25 minutes to swim.  So I did 2x200 easy, 10x50 extremely hard, 1x200 easy.   I managed to keep all but the last 2 50's under 1m, with the majority around 57s and the fastest at 52s.  It still a short work out so I am not putting much thought into it being an improvement, but when the life guard acknowledges my effort as I walk out the door, I at least have to be headed in the right direction.

I am entering my 4th week of the HIM plan and starting to feel a little stronger but also beat up.  I think my knees and quads are taking the most of stress right now.  My quads are always somewhat sore and my knees are stiff.  Its not a pain or anything like that but just that stifff sore feeling you get from a good workout, the only difference is that I always have the feeling .  When I woke up today, I felt pretty good and that lasted until the 1st trip up the stairs at work, my legs quickly grumbled and I spent the next few hours at my desk.  All this and I am still struggling to get all the workouts done, I am over the top on the run, close on the bike but only in the kiddy pool for the swim.  

Well it's probably a little too late now Tony but I hope you took the splurge for the swim today.  While you feel a little buried your recovery will be closer than you think.  If nothing else you can make the swims around hard workouts easier and use it as somewhat of a recovery workout while still getting some benefits building fitness.  You can use this time to keep the swimming efforts going knowing you'll have to take those 2 weeks off.

IMMT being 20 weeks away makes it sounds pretty close.  Since you posted that I checked into IMWI to see how many weeks I have to prepare.  I have about 25 weeks until I'm in the water in Madison.  But what's going to be key is my surgical recovery and the number of weeks I'll have available to regain some running and get myself prepared for a marathon.  According to my count I'll have 19 weeks from May 4 to get my run on.  May 4 is essentially the drop dead date for me to get ready from a running perspective according to my coach.

Joanne, I'm with Warren!!  3x20' is no joke at all!  But isn't ironic that there are so many workouts we can complain about yet we continue to put ourselves through each and everyone of them.  Think about it; 15x1' @ 125%, does anyone sit on the bike and think "I can't wait to do these intervals!" ever?  I mean I have nearly fallen off the bike during some of these.  How about the 6x4' @ 110-118% on Thursday last week or the 3 hours at .76-.79 IF (Intensity Factor).  I kinda think they all suck most of the time.   Uhh?  Someone remind me why I am doing this again?!?!?

Oh yeah, my point!  We all tend to workout very hard and so much of our work is pretty "hot" on the bike, in particular.  I think it's funny that we do this to ourselves repeatedly for whatever personal reason we choose.  Many times we complain about how hard the workouts are.  Many times we wear the pain of a given workout as a badge.  Either way it's somewhat humorous.

Jeff,  Have a great weekend racing!  You definitely have to keep us up to speed on your choice of races, one or both.  I imagine your fitness has been improving over the winter and it'll be another PR.  And Cat 2 racing sounds pretty insane to me.  I can't imagine racing against that level of cyclist.  I'll leave that to you, although I may look at doing a TT on May 18 if I thikn my knee will take the abuse.  There's a big TT series here in Indiana that some of the road cyclists I ride with compete in.  It's the Colaveta Time Trial Series and it seems to have earned a fair amount of following, at least from my perspective.  The May 18 race is on almost brand new asphalt on an extremely flat road surface for 12 miles.  Thinking about it is getting my competitive juices flowing!!

Now about my knee.....

Most of you know that I had my doc appointment today and I am going to need surgery.  There is nothing conclusive about the findings other than "they are consistent with a medial meniscus tear."  He could not tell if this is a new tear or a re-tear of the old one I have dealt with for several years.  My instinct tells me it's the old tear resurfaced and a little bit worse.  I maintain that I can describe "with needle point accuracy" the exact location of the pain and it's the same as the other times, so I feel confident it's the same place.

Rehab from a meniscectomy is 3-4 weeks which in my case would be best for IM training but worse in the long run.  A meniscus repair on the other hand takes significantly longer to make a complete recovery, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 months.  To be truthful I am not sure which scenario I would rather have ion the short term.  Long term?  Well that's an easy one; I'd take the repair!  It would be disappointing if there was a repair to be done because I wouldn't make it to IMWI.

Presuming a meniscectomy (cut another piece away), activities post op could begin as soon as the suture sites are sealed well enough to get in the pool, possibly a week.  The doc mentioned I wold be able to get back on the bike in a couple of weeks but I imagine the intensity would be significantly reduced for another week or two (guessing).  

Running is the big one obviously!  The initial assessment based on my fitness and level of muscular structure and ability to recover seems to point to about 4 weeks or a little more before I can get my run on.  We did not discuss the running increase but I am sure the first little bit would be a little slow before taking off at something a little more aggressive.

I am optimistic about the surgery and recovery.  I have had a peace I can't explain about this ordeal.  Normally I would have throw a few things, broken a few things, possibly even cursed once or twenty times and found a large dog to kick.  But not this time.  I cannot explain why I haven't been upset like my normally would have gotten.  I guess I feel like God has given me this hurdle to cross for some reason but I cannot come to a reason why.  There has been one other time in my life I felt this sort of security and God proved more than sufficient in some very dire circumstances.  While this isn't the same type of situation, the peace is similar  . But yes!  I am still very nervous and even scared a little bit that I might be wrong.

So there it is.  As soon as I know when the surgery is scheduled I am sure you'll all hear about.