Asphalt Junkies Winter Edition - CLOSED (Page 26)

Jeff,  Everyone already knew you're BA!  Is there a surgery required?  I can assume not since you didn't mention it and you have to wear the boot, but if it's crushed it seems something more invasive might be required.  Whatever the required rehab, I hope it goes as well for you as it appears it's going for me.  Sure, I'll be running before you but you may be outrunning me in many future events.  I'm considering throwing off short course, fast paced running due to the increased impacts from this type of racing/training.  Although I am not sure which of the two, short course or long course, would be better.  One could easily make the argument that long course may not have the immediate critical stress inducing impacts of speed running but the impacts are over a longer period of time.  We'll see what happens.  I love racing everything so, I don't know!

TT-ing?  With my vast experience of climbing on the bike, I would say much of how I personally would attack a course would be subject to the course profile itself.  I can'y imagine holding FTP during a 2 mile climb, especially if this course is during triathlon.  I think holding FTP for anything longer than an Oly would be burning matches (but I suppose this is a rather obvious statement) as long course racing is done at a significantly reduced effort.

As far as dealing with downhills specifically, I agree that in most cases, again course profile considered, soft pedaling would be my biggest general strategy.  Most of the courses I race are flat enough to keep a higher level of intensity on the downhill to gain some "free speed" and carry it into the flats while maintaining high efforts. 

I agree.  Pretty soon we're going to have to change the name of the group to the "Wheelchair Junkies."

There could be a few things going on here.

1. The first thing I think of is that you're toeing down slightly causing you to cram your toes toward the ends of your shoes.
2. This can sometimes happen to me during longer rides as some additional fluid seems to accumulate in my feet.  It more commonly occurs when I'm hot or when riding outside the temps are up.  Outside is less common because of the additional air flow allows my feet to remain cooler.
3. Either your shoes are too narrow or you could be wearing thicker socks than normal.  I doubt the former is the case unless you have recently changed shoes.  The latter doesn't seem to be all that likely either because I would imagine you would have considered this already.

Originally posted by strikyr Last 5K run test for the outseason in the books tonight. I finally broke 25 minutes which I'm pretty happy about but I think I could have done a better job pacing myself. I was so worried about trying to hit the time goal that I went out too fast instead of easing into the run a little better. In any case it's a minor miracle that I was able to accomplish this. I was so close to breaking 24 minutes had I know I would have pushed harder but there is always next time 5K test Feb 25 25:52 5K test tonight 24:02

This sounds like a really incredible run!  It would seem that you are putting in all the right kinds of work during your off season.  You'll blow by your IMWI time at IMMT!

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I plan to give you all a little more info on my knee sometime tomorrow.  I had my doc appointment on Thursday afternoon and I'll let you all know where I'm at with his assessment.

I went for my one and onl followup appointment this past Thursday afternoon.  The results aren't 100% favorable, at least over the long term.  Everything right now seems to be ahead of schedule and on track to have me running the first of May.  

The surgery cleaned up the re-tear of my medial meniscus as well as some minor damage to some other tissue (I can't remember what it was right now) behind my knee cap.  I am very certain the latter was caused by the bike crash and the meniscus was related to the crash but not necessarily caused by it, at least not directly. My ACL is in very good shape, as I've stated before, and the lateral meniscus repair that was done in 2003 with my ACL reconstruction is in tact and unharmed by either of these recent injuries.  That's the good news.

And the bad news.  As my doc reviewed my pictures with me he pointed out some of the "shaggy" parts of the femoral head.  It has a look that is rough and marred with very small peaks and valleys.  What he was pointing out was cartilage damage.  There's no way of knowing when this was occurring or actually occurred but it's likely something that has been going on over a period of time (the latter is my opinion).  The prognosis is that I have about 10 years before more work needs to be done.  He actually wouldn't discuss what happens in 10 years because "it hurts too much."  (Don't get the wrong idea about his comments or reluctance to discuss this either.  He's an extremely well respected doc who's developed a very strong clientele because of his successful procedures.)  I have come to accept the fact that I will have to have a knee replacement later on anyway, but there's a longer story to that.

So right now I have absolutely given in to the idea that I will be getting to Madison and completing my Ironman.  I have not looked beyond that at this point or in the shorter time frame either (as far as races).  I have taken a brief look at whether it's a good idea for me to do the Huff 50k trail race in December.  I have long wanted to do this race and timing has been poor the past couple of years.  Now, after another knee surgery and recent news of the deterioration of my cartilage, I don't know what I'll do.

My future in racing triathlon would appear grim I suppose, but I am not one to give up much.  I will probably make decisions based on ability and pain tolerance following this season and what happens in the run up to Ironman.  Understand, I am not down about this, in anyway.  Rather I feel I have the perspective that I have been blessed to have become as well conditioned an athlete as I am in a relatively short period of time and I'm thankful for that.  I am truly blessed!

Hello Junkies - Sorry for being absent so much. Life has a way of filling up on you sometimes. Work has been a little crazy with deadlines and the mood in the office is unusual. Some of you know from Facebook that a friend of mine who I work closely with was in a terrible motorcycle accident last weekend. He lost a foot and has a broken pelvis. I was finally able to visit him for a few minutes at the hospital yesterday (even though he is still in ICU and they usually only allow family in ICU).

My daughter got on a bus headed for San Diego this morning  at 6 am for a week long missions trip. About an hour down the road the bus should have passed the site of Thursday's bus accident on I-5 that took the lives of several high school students and chaperones. It was a little frightening seeing my little girl leaving on that bus, but I know God has a plan for her and I'm trusting in Him.

My run buildup is still going well. I did 3 runs this week (3, 5, and 7 miles) with no shin pain. I think that has healed up for good now. I'm up to 15 miles per week which is right where I wanted to be to start the 12 week plan for the Vineman HIM in July. Swimming and biking... not so much.

I did get to try out my new 910XT on this morning's run. Talk about information overload. It's a good thing my eyes don't focus so well up close or I'd have spent the whole run staring at the watch and taking in all the info. My wife bought it for my birthday at the end of march. 45 now and that puts me into the next age group. Not that it matters much since many of the local "fast" guys are within one year of my age, so at my pace I'll always be 5th or 6th at best if they all show up to races.

I haven't caught up on all the posts but I did read some.

Tony - that is a great 5k time! Nice work.

Jeff - sorry to hear about the broken foot

Dirk - keep up the good attitude and work on your rehab. I look forward to stalking you electronically in Sept for IMWI.

Good morning Junkies

I finaly hit the pool this morning. Only 800 yards in 50 yard segments, but I have to build back up after 6 months without a swim. Fortunately the YMCA is close to work so I can go straight to the office after my swim and still make a 7 am start time. Getting up at 5 was tough though.

Matt - Good job getting that run in around family time. I sometimes will do a run while my daughter is in her Kung Fu class, although the last few classes I've gotten the opportunity to help with the teaching of her class so I may not get many runs in that way for a while. Nice "hills" ride too.

JoAnne - Way to tough out that long ride. I was planning a long ride Sunday too and I wimped out because I wasn't feeling up to fighting the wind we had.

Tony - Nice job on that long trail run. Running new courses can sure help the miles seem to go by easier.

Matt's ride has me wanting to post my effort from yesterday.  I posted this in the IMWI thread a minute ago.........

I got outdoors for my first ride of the season yesterday and it was a doozy.  It was slightly breezy with sustained winds of 22-24 and gusts to 31MPH according to the national weather service.  I was still able to manage a ride with a 20.3 average speed over 50+ miles.  Now, before any assumes I should be riding in the Tour this year, I was riding with some of the best cycists in the area including a national champion time trialist for his AG.  the winds were out of the SSW and we were headed due south and then west for the first 25 miles and we were holding 18-20 MPH speeds throughout this first half.  The turn back north brought speeds of the upper 20's and low 30's.  Man I love that feeling!!!

Anyway, we had a quite a group of riders so we could all take turns pulling.  Although this was slightly above the threshold (85% FTP) I was supposed to be riding since my 2 week old knee surgery, it was fun and my knee seemed to experience no ill effects from riding at this intensity.  It was a heck of ride and an equally hard one at that.