Asphalt Junkies Winter Edition - CLOSED (Page 28)

Will, I don't concealed carry (only because I haven't taken the class and applied for the permit yet), but I live in a much more weapon friendly area than much of the rest of California, and I do know some others in our congregation who do carry. 

Originally posted by tmoons Happy Easter Dirk and Jeff... keep the rehab and conditioning going. sounds like its all coming along nicely.... Derek... great finish.

I had planned to do a HIM this month, but cancelled due to being out of town for things and not being able to train. Currently I have been swimming and running once a week and trying to bike 3X per week. I've got a 100 mile bike race in 2 weeks. I also want to do the Little Rock 100 mile in the Fall again. Beyond those, I dont currently have anything else planned... might try to find a late fall HIM or OLY. What's everyone else got brewing?

I finished the Swim Miami 5k OWS yesterday.... about 30 minutes off my planned pace (2:22:34). At the first mile I was at 34 minutes but I got elbowed in the jaw around mile 1.6 and had to stop a few times to get it aligned because I couldn't open my mouth... after that I couldn't really find a rhythm. next weekend its: 4/26 I have a 200k bike http://www.mapmyride.com/us/weston-fl/snake-road-clewiston-ramble-2... 4/27 a 30mile bike and 10k brick (2x5k) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=725118234186814&set=gm.3... That is all..... thee may be a 30 mile run on May 1, the Law Enforcement Torch Run for special Olympics if my work clears up, then really nothing until the HIM on June 8. the photo are of myself and some teammates who all swam.....

Nice swim Terry!  I have thought about distance swimming a few times but there's nothing around here that I am aware of.  I am not likely to do a lot of research to find one either, there's just not enough interest for me.  The only distance swim I know of is in the Chicago area and there are 5k and 10k distances at that swim.  And I am NEVER interested in going to much of anything in Chicago.

I know many of the big churches use armed guard for some of the pastors because of the threats they receive on a regular basis.  One pastor (Mark Driscoll) that I listen to via podcast has had a man waving a gun at him in a service.  I think your doing the right thing by being someone who reports rather than confronts a criminal.  That said I am also a 2nd amendment supporter and a CCP kind of guy and would defend myself and family (or others) if it were necessary.

Originally posted by Jo63 Question....in the TR programs is it better to shoot for precision or power? I ve been doing some hard rides and these tend to fluctuate so I am a thinking Iam lacking in smooth pedaling (!if that's what I should call it) so then question 2 should I be working on smoother pedaling? I know when I have done 1 legged drills in the past I catch or stall at the top. We are off tonight to NY/ PA we will be going to Binghamton first then to Muncy Valley PA for a memorial service. My husbands aunt died in Jan but her daughter didn't want people traveling during winter so they bumped it to this weekend. This may sound odd but I am really looking forward to getting away and 2 of our kids and Maria and Gabi are going, we rented a van so we are all traveling together, my oldest has finals for Law School so he won't be able to come but it should be a fun road trip even if it's for a funeral.

I can't remember for sure but I believe you're doing one of TR's training plans and the question is stemming from different cadences and intensities throughout the plan.  These differences serve varying purposes to develop certain aspects of your cycling to strengthen your overall cycling ability.  The high cadence drills develop a better pedaling efficiency and smoother pedal stroke. These things should help you develop skills to get your power curve to smooth down.  Now, as I have glanced at some of your TR rides, you seem to be following the given ride as closely to the designed numbers and that's a good.

If you're not following a TR plan you can add some long interval work at higher intensities to work on the endurance aspect of your training.  I wouldn't suggest all of your rides be with long intervals however,  The very short intervals capture fitness such as VO2 capacities that will make be more efficient at burning the oxygen in your blood.  The moderate length, high intensity (90-105%) stuff helps push your FTP higher essentially allowing you to ride faster with less effort.  The longest intervals will provide adaptations that keep you at a higher FTP for longer periods of time and develop muscular endurance that you will need for long course racing, ie. HIM and IM.

Hopefully between Jeff and I we have answered what you're looking for.

As Jeff stated, you should be working to smooth your power out over the ride so that if it were possible, which it's not, you would see a smooth yellow line indicating your virtual power as a smooth, consistent line rather than the jagged line we all actually see.

Originally posted by JeffY  FWIW, I wholeheartedly endorse a dead spot at the top of the pedal stroke! I've been thinking about bringing up the topic of pedaling technique lately. Maybe it's time to bust out the graphics tools and draw some circles.

I have interest in this discussion myself.  As I have done some pedal drills more recently I have the same dead spot near the top of my stroke.  I'm interested in why we should keep this dead spot.  It seems to me that it would be almost impossible to completely get rid that dead spot.

Originally posted by tmoons I really enjoy following the cycling discussions. I learn so much. I haven't done much since last weekends swim... - getting over the sunburn, and general real world work increased this week also. I've been doing my strength conditioning and joined a few friends for a 30 day abdominal/core challenge. - day 6 today I have a 200k ride tomorrow, and a 30mile/5-10k brick on Sunday and some other friends asked me to join them in an OWS afterwards.... Next weekend in another 200k ride and run following. I seem to be in a workout funk.... I'm eating and sleeping well. I just seem to be in a "blah" for the daily planned training..... I have about 43 days until the June race and don't seem to want to do anything this week. I know I'll pull it together next week for speed and race specific work but all I want right now.... is more ice cream my facebook link is below: https://www.facebook.com/terry.moons

It sounds like you have quite the weekend of training  coming, or at least what's left of it.  That should be something killer from today to tomorrows workouts.

Let the funk work it's way through, it always does.  the big thing is to not let it get the best of you.  Make sure you get some rest, maybe take a couple of days off altogether before getting back into it.  A couple of days off is not going to hurt you whatsoever but not taking time off when needed can break you.  Just don't eat too much ice cream on those days off...........I'll eat your share for you!

That sounds like something some friends of mine didn't allow to happen to them last year during a road race.  Their strategy was to pull the pack around until about 10 miles left and then act like they were burned out, fall back to 2nd or 3rd position in the peloton for a couple of miles, recover and push the pace harder.  It worked!  They drove the second place team in the ground and won the race.  

Congratulations on an epic ride!  It had to have felt great when you saw how hard you were able to push the pace for so long a period of time.  Now you know what you're capable of when you have a reason to push.

Oh and the sucking wheel thing?  Yeah, I did it too.  Once!  Once! 

Tony, Nice riding but I'll stick to something other than twinkies for my fuel source.  Whenever I go out with one for the groups I ride with there's always a stop at the halfway point but I usually don't get anything.  I try to keep my situation on the bike and save a couple of bucks and poor carbs.

I'll be going for a small charity ride tomorrow.  The benefits are for the Ronald McDonald house here in Ft. Wayne.  there are 4 routes but I think the only route for me will be the long route of 65 miles.  Some of my teammates will be doing the ride so it should be fun.  It is supposed to be windy but it appears we'll have the wind in our faces for the way out and a great tailwind on the way back.  We'll see how it goes.

Tony,

I am trying to plan to have the race tracker that you used last year for IMWI.  I cannot remember exactly what the name of it was and how it works.  I know you said they mail the chip to you and you have to return once you've completed the race.  I think it's a great idea to use so Lis can track me and know, almost exactly, where I'm at on the course throughout the day.

As far as I could tell from your race last year there was only one time when your chip seemed to provide false information.  It was an inopportune time too!  It was near the end of your bike leg and it had you basically in one spot for a long time.  I was texting Brenda to let her know where you were and you were "sitting" in one spot on the stick as you returned from the loops.  I remember texting Brenda and telling her what was going on but then she saw you go whizzing by when you were supposed to be sitting somewhere on the stick.  According to where she was and where you were supposed to be according the app, you were several miles apart when you blew by her.

___________

Knee update:

I had a minor setback last weekend.  A friend of mine whose father had just entered hospice care asked if I could help him move some things from his fathers house to the garage so they could get ready to sell the place.  I of course said yes and I wish I hadn't.  The thing about Darrell and his family is that they have always been there for us and I just didn't feel I could say no after all they have done for my family over the years.  Darrell has "rescued" Lis or one of the girls several times from dead car batteries and so on when I've been out of town or doing storm related work.  I felt like I wold be letting him down if I wasn't there for he and his family.

So in the process of moving furniture, nothing particularly heavy, I was carrying things backward and I could feel my knee not liking what was going on.  I felt some minor aggravation in the sweet spot but I kept going.  That was Saturday.  Then on Sunday I forgot to take my mobic (anti-inflammatory), which I think contributed to the pain on that day.  By Monday noon-ish I was feeling fine.

I did drop the efforts on the bike, lowered the weights by about 30% during lifting, kept the Arc Trainer in the regimen but kept the flip turns in place for swimming (although I didn't swim until Friday).  PT was Thursday and I told Todd what was going on.  He didn't seem to concerned, at least that he told me, but if you know Todd he doesn't get to excited about things like that.  I think he has learned to just roll with things, having a thought process of "the damage is done" so let's just keep going and see how it turns out.

Since then I have been feeling good, increasing the weights (per Todd's permission) and dialing the bike back up.  I haven't done anything hard on the bike yet just because I am proceeding with caution.  I am going to wait an additional week before running, per Todd's request, which will put me 5 weeks post op before running.  The extra week feels like a huge amount from one perspective but it's not going to break my Ironman dreams.  Not waiting that week could do exactly what I'm NOT wanting to happen.  I am cautiously optimistic but I have had a few days of worry crop in this week. 

Hello Junkies!

My apologies for not posting regularly the past few months. I found out just after the February marathon that my dad is pretty sick. He is in the initial stages of congestive heart failure, and his kidneys and liver aren't doing what they are supposed to do. He has been a heavy vodka drinker my entire life. He was also the crazy snowboarder, surfer, hiker, and embodied strength and adventure all my life until now. He is coming out to visit us in June and we are going to make some decisions about the near future. we are not sure if he has a year, 2-3 good years, or 5. This means I am not sure where my Ironman training will be- this is an honest response. He may want me to continue training and be there to see me undertake my first Full Ironman, or things may not be conducive to the training regimen I would need to undertake over the coming months.

I know I have not logged my training into BT, but I have been trying to get my workouts in. Swim workouts are the first to get dropped, followed by the bike. I can't tell you how many times I got a run in, headed to gym for work and hoped to get a quick shower in at the gym and it never happened. Talk about being a stinky runner al day long with bed head tucked under my runner hat.

I did manage to do my first Half Iron distance race yesterday!! Two of the top 3 women to finish first were in my age group, which meant that even though I finished 4/7 in my AG, I still took home the title to 2nd in AG! Holy cow I did not expect that. I didn't even treat it like a race, cause lord know I can't race 70.3 miles, but I can trot along and trot along and trot along.... until holy jeepers there is a finish line. Without a GPS to know my splits, I really have no clue what my actual pace was through each mile. But, I realized that the area I dreaded most - the bike, turned out to be pretty decent. I averaged 18.0 mph on a ridiculously hilly course and passed a few people on the hills who I thought would pass me on the second half of the course but they didn't. I went into this race thinking about the Ironman in September. I figured I would come out of this race either deterred by the reality and wakeup call, or I would be hungry to goooooo the distance. I am hungry for the FULL. I kept cracking jokes at the race and nobody seemed to think I was very funny- I think they were hurting too much.

My husband came out to take pictures of our 5 tri club members and see us all finish. He told me afterward that watching us race makes him NEVER want to do a triathlon. He said by the second loop of the run people looked absolutely terrible. He thought I was going to be a mess when I finished and not come trotting along the finish line with a smile.    

Race recap:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=515075  

Thanks Tony! Looking forward to reading about your trail run results. Will- congrats on the 20+ mph long ride and on winning. Dirk- I second Tony's comment And I hope this is a temporary setback.

During my Half Iron training, jump from Oly to Half Iron over 6 month period, I steadily gained weight, about 4 solid pounds. My first Sprint In August of 2012, I weighed 128. In August 2013, I weighed 131 at my first Oly. Now, I weigh 135 and had a great half Iron race. I'm not sure how I feel about this weight gain. I tried to scale back calorie consumption during recover weeks (training scaled back). Whenever I scaled back calories, I found that I couldn't push through the upcoming workout due to major hunger. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I'd really appreciate some feedback Tony!

Quick check in from the office this Sunday afternoon.

My training is going well, but I had to skip a bike ride on Thursday and a strength workout Friday due to long hours here at the office. I still hit my 1 hour ride/3 mile run brick yesterday and a seven mile run this morning before coming to work.

I did get an uexpected opportunity yesterday to join a 3 hour Total Immersion training class so I jumped on it. My first coaching ever in swimming. I'm looking forward to Monday morning's swim to see if I can continue to implement the changes to my stroke and get a little faster at the swim.

Sounds like some good training and some good racing going on by everyone.

Jenn - Fantastic job on your Half Iron! I hope I can do so well on mine in July.

Dirk - I completely understand about helping your friends. I would have done the same. I'm sorry to hear about the recovery setback as a result. Life will always throw things in that change our training plans. Keep being flexible and patient with it.  ( ..and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..)