Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 28)

The car shopping is done.  Finally!!!  I hate car shopping......well shopping in general pretty much sucks.  We got Kyrie a 2005 Cavalier with 70k miles and a pretty sweet deal too.

I am glad for more reasons that the car shopping is done too.  Training has taken a huge hit for 2 weeks and it has been driving me totally insane.  Looking at my training graph is depressing.  I have missed 2 long rides and 3 swims as of today.  i hope tomorrow is the beginning of getting back on track and getting back into the swing of hard core training. 

I have had a knee issue crop up as of last week and I am not going to do any speed work for a week to allow some recovery.  The pain came up at a ridiculous time.  I was bending over to pet our dog and a tremendous burning occurred in my left knee in the "sweet spot" I have come to know from past injuries/surgeries.  It is fine right now but I am allowing some time to let it recover and heal properly before trying to do any more hard running.

Paul, it sounds like you had a great race!  Great pacing too.

Vero,  Let the knee heal properly if it needs it.  What kind of pain is it and where is it located?  What are the miles on your shoes?  Since the bike provided some relief you may be alright with just an extra day of rest and a reduction of running for about a week.

Allison, I would caution you to keep from running any additional miles.  If the pain in your knee is severe enough to cause you to limp it's likely to need more time to recover, not add any miles.  If the first minute of the run is severe pain on a consistent basis it's possible there is a more severe injury waiting to emerge.  I suggest you keep the runs slow, easy and short.  Use the bike as a warm up for the run and see how that feels.  NO MORE running without a 10-15 minute cycling WU.  Give that try and report back.

Your feeling of fitness loss are strictly mental and not physical.  I understand what you are feeling with the desire to make sure you don't lose any fitness but trust me, you have not lost any fitness.  As long as you remain active you aren't going to lose any fitness. If you are able to put in 10 minute runs 3-4 times a week you'll maintain your fitness and still be fine for the Hawaii race.  With only 2 weeks before the race you can put yourself out by pushing more than you should.  Stick to the easy and short plan, ice and rest.  You have an entire season ahead including a HIM in a couple of months and If I remember correctly that's your "A" race this year, don't jeopardize that one.

Paul congrats on a great time for the HM today and glad to hear it went well for you.

Vero sorry to hear about the recent knee troubles, take it easy and take care of that knee.

Allison I have to agree with Dirk I would not push too hard especially with your race coming up in the next two weeks. I would take it easy and take care of the knee so you'll be able to race in Hawaii.

Dirk glad to hear you finally got the car shopping squared away and can get back to focusing on your training.

So my first week of HIM training is in the books and while it wasn't the best week I did almost everything I planned to do. I didn't have a great swim but then again I got there late and the pool was crowded. I actually did more socializing at the pool then swimming but got the chance to meet another triathlete there racing and volunteering in some of upcoming races I will be doing so it was very educational. It also gives me something to shoot for next week since I felt the swimming was subpar this past week. I also got 20 miles in on the bike on the trainer and got out for a 3 mile run so I feel like I finished the week strong. It wasn't a great week but at least I feel like I can do this and I'm hoping I'll recharge my batteries by taking the day off tomorrow.

Looks like I need to catch up on some posts. I didn't get a chance last night after my ride and today my internet was down. I'm at work so I'll try to catch you all up on my ride yesterday.

I spent Thursday hydrating well and carb loaded on my meals. I went to bed early 11pm (early for me) cause I needed to be up by 5am.

I got up at 5am and had a meal of a Carnation breakfast drink, a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, & 2 cups of coffee. The plan was to meet up with the rest of the guys (a total of 10 of us) at 8:30am. I biked over to the meeting place (about 3 miles from home) at the base of the first mountain climb. I sucked down a Cliff shot with some water and we were off! We spent the first 15 minutes getting warmed up and we started up the first climb. The climb was 7 miles at around 3,000 ft. That will wake you up. lol Then a nice 7 mile decent at about the same elevation. I hit a top speed of 39.8 mph. The next 20 miles was some ups and downs with about 2,000 ft of elevation. This was just a another warm up for one of the big climbs. At mile 50 we started what I thought would be the last climb (as we were only going to do about 75 miles). This mountain was brutal! This wthing was 20 miles at about 4,000 ft of climbing. I was sooo happy to be at the top. When we arrived at the top, everyone agreed that we might as well finish the course and get the whole 110 miles in. They figured "What's another 30-40 miles?" I was thinking they were freakin nuts! I did end up going. The ride down this monster climb was freakin awesome. I hit a top speed of 44.7 mph. I have never hit this speed. It was crazy! Then in the distance I could see another freakish mountain coming up. I really didn't think I could do it. They egged me on and told me to suck it up and I'd be glad later I did it. So, I got my mind straight and off we went. 10 miles up at another 3,500 ft of elevation. I thought my legs were going to blow up! Down again at about 37 mph and we reached the bottom. A few more miles and a friend was there with his van to drive my sorry carcass back.

I got home and ate and soaked in an ice bath and went to bed. I was sure sore this morning, but I sucked it up and still got a small workout in. I did the course in 5:47:41. My goal will be 5:30:00 or under. I have to tell ya all, this is my first (unofficial) Century. I am very proud of myself. A new milestone!

Tony,  Getting 3 solid WO's in yesterday sounds like a good day regardless of how you felt going into it.  20 mile bikes can be a nice cycling base ride.  Last year I upped my normal, routine ride to 25 miles from the 2010 normal of 20 miles.  And a 3 mile run to follow makes it all the better.

Stan, that is one INCREDIBLE ride!  I have yet to do a century and I don't see one coming for another year or, more than likely, two.  I doubt I will do anything that big until I make the decision to complete an IM, which will happen no sooner than 2014.  110 miles in one day sounds like you met a huge challenge head on and came out pretty good. 

I really like all the climbing you were able to do and the descents must have been exhilarating at some of the speeds you were coming down.  Some day I would like to be able to get some rides in like this one. 

Dirk I had something similar happen with my knee last weekend. I was squatting down to help my daughter with her shoes. All of the sudden I felt this sharp, stabbing pain right in the middle of my knee, it came totally out of nowhere. I hadn't had any pain like that during training so I was pretty ticked off. The good news is the pain was better by the next day and gone by the 2nd day. I hope your pain is something little like that and goes away without any major interruptions. All I can say is it sucks getting old LOL!

On another subject, I am losing my enthusiasm for todays last minute race decision. The weather has changed from 65 and sunny to 60, rain and 20 mph winds! Nasty.

Stan, congrats on the ride...GREAT job!

Dirk, careful w/ the knee.  Let us know and good luck!  BTW, I but U have a happy daughter right now!

That sounds like you had an amazing day!!  Congrats!

So how'd it go?!

Stan congrats on completing that century plus ride. That must've been pretty awesome and it sounded pretty brutal with all the varying elevations. That was also a great time especially considering the course and that it was your first time. This will go a long way to helping you prepare for the that upcoming century ride. Now you know you can do it.

Dina I'm with everyone else hope you decided to do that race this morning despite the bad weather.

JoAnne congrats on completing your second 20 miler and doing it solo. It was great to hear that finished out even though I'm sure you did not want to. That's been a recurring theme for me all week. Good luck on kicking off the IM training today. BTW which plan did you decide to go with?

Hey!!  Speak for yourself!  I am defying the age thing.  I am currently 43 and my birthday is in September and I will be celebrating my 42 birthday AGAIN!  The way I see it, I am getting younger with every swim, bike and run because I am getting faster with each one.  Hey, it my logic and it works for me so don't be hatin'.

Hopefully you did the race.  I agree with Brenda, I think you'll regret not doing if you tossed it.

BTW, my knee burned really bad for the rest of the night but not during a bike that I did about an hour after that onset of the pain.  I did have some pretty significant pain following the bike but it was mostly gone the next day as well.  I know what it was.  It is part of the problems I have from an ACL reconstruction about 8-9 years ago that came with meniscus tears.  They could not repair one of the two tears and had to remove a piece on the medial meniscus.  It flares up from time to time and I just have to allow some time for it to settle down and then get right back into it.  I am keeping everything light on the run this week, meaning no speedwork.  I'll come back to that in a week or two and come back to it a little slower.

After a windy and exhausting ride today (it felt good to be done!!), I can say that I have successfully built volume in each of the past 3 weeks in all 3 disciplines.  So I think for next week I'm going to be giving myself a recovery week of sorts for my rides and runs, keeping them all casual.  For my swimming, since I haven't really been doing anything too extensive, I may just continue to add on.

Ok - since you all won't let me be a lazy slacker....

The race is complete. Windy (20 w/ 30 mph gusts) and cold (55) but no rain thank goodness. Not sure of my time - I always forget to look. I was totally shocked to hear my name called for first in age group. This AG win comes with a $20 gift card to a bike shop too! Remember when I said my age group is tough - well 2nd and 3rd OVERALL women were from my age group. I should thank them for being so dang fast and leaving me the scraps .

I'll write a race report when I get all my splits.

Thanks for giving me a kick in the pants!

mtn biking in the desert is fun.  I could get used to this.  But the rental bike left something to be desired....at least compared to my super bike.

http://tpks.ws/eAJP

Hope everyone is doing fine.  Suddenly there's a huge rash of leg pains popping up.  Take it easy folks...

Up for tomorrow morning...early morning run down the strip before the conference.

Tonight a vendor is taking us to a circe de solei show.

It's a riding mecca out here.  Must have seen 50 roadies in the vicinity of red rock.

Dina congrats on the great finish and for getting out there today even though you didn't want to. It must make it a little more satisfying.

Matt great finish today in the HM but sorry to hear about the issue with the hamstring. Glad to hear that you were able to finish. Take care of that hamstring and hope it's alright.

WAH! WAH! WAH! "I don't want to race!"  Gimme a break AG Champion!  No more belly aching from you anymore.  I hope I don't feel like racing the next time I'm up for a race if the results turn out the same.

Seriously, that's awesome!  I can't wait to read the RR!

And Matt,  you're in the top 20% for your race.  That's some serious racing right there!  I think we may have to rename the group to something more fast sounding if this kind of thing keeps happening.

You guys have set the bar a little higher than I think I may be able to reach.  What a stellar group of athletes we have gathered in one place.