Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN (Page 3)

Cap'n,

Just as the others have said I'd go with the tri shorts for the whole event. I wouldn't use body-glide for a sprint unless you tend to have chafing on your training rides or runs. If that is the case then apply liberally to the areas where you are prone to chafing. In my Olympic Tri last Sunday I didn't use body-glide and I was fine.

I drink water on the bike during most of my sprints, but I've even gone without water during one before too.

I've taken one Gu about mid way on the bike course during a sprint before. I don't know how much benefit you get from a Gu during the event, but I liked going through the motions of it and it probably at least provided a mental boost knowing I had the extra available energy in me.

I wouldn't take anything but water during the run.

Just go into the race with the intent of having a great time. I spent most of my first one reveling in the memories of obstacles that I had overcome to get there and I just had a big grin on my face all day long.

You are going to do great!

**CAUTION GORY DETAILS AHEAD**

Hey Junkies,

While out on my morning ride today I was descending on a pretty popular local route that I had just climbed and I went down pretty hard in a curve. It was at an intersection that is more of a Y that comes in just at the bottom of a hill. The road curves left and the Y comes in from the right. I was too close to the center double yellow paint stripes coming into the curve and there are 4 or 5 raised reflectors that mark the centerline at the intersection right in the middle of the curve. At somewhere around 35 mph I realized I was either going to hit one of them or I wasn't going to make the rest of the curve. I stood the bike up a little to miss the reflectors and gave it some rear brake to try and slow enough for the curve. The back tire started to slide and then I was down and sliding across the pavement with the bike sliding ahead of me. It seemed like forever before I came to a stop, but I'm sure it was no more than 20 feet. I kept my chin tucked to my chest as I slid and that helped keep me from any head contact with the ground (thank you Kung Fu training). When I stopped I tried to assess where it hurt and if anything felt broken. I couldn't put pressure on my left hand without wrist pain and I couldn't lift my left arm without shoulder pain. Everywhere else except my head seemed to have wounds ranging from light scrapes to the full on hamburger of road rash. I was laying on my back and when I stood up I moved my left hand to brush gravel from my rear end and the hand came back pretty bloody. I moved the bike out of the road, grabbed my cell phone from the top tube pack and called home to ask my wife to come pick me up since I wouldn't be able to ride in my condition.

Fortunately I was only about 6 or 7 miles from home. In the 20 minutes it took her to arrive I had several other cyclists stop and check on me. I do love the camaraderie of the bicycling community.

I had my wife drive me home first where she cut what was left of the bike shorts off and I got into the shower to scrub as much of the gravel out of my wounds as I could before heading to see my chiropractor and then to the walk in clinic. The scrubbing of the wounds was excruciating, but I new it would be worse if I left it all to the Doctor so I did as much as I could stand.

After the Doctor scrubbed the wounds off I felt bad for the nurse having to spend so much time spreading burn cream on my backside and then having to bandage me up, but she said, "I'm really sorry this happened to you, but thanks for coming in. This is a lot more exciting than ear infections and colds."

So for now I'm bandaged up on both cheeks and my left arm, there is a wrist brace on my left arm, and I'm barely moving. I've been laying down and thinking of all the training I'm going to miss while healing. I haven't given up home on Vineman 70.3 but it is in 5 weeks and I was just about to enter the peak phase of my training.

Anyway there were some bright points. Had I slid off the road right there I would have ended up in poison oak or hit a telephone pole, neither one happened. I somehow had clear cell reception in an area that is usually spotty at best and our insurance deductible has now been reached for the year.

I hope everyone else is having a safe day of training and racing.

Vero. that sounds like a rough day!  and yeah the worse part is scrubbing the gravel.  Take time to recover and rest and you will be back at it in no time.

I completed the strawberryfest 10K today, even thought it took a quite a bit of motivation to even go to the race.  I had my 20 year class Reunion Saturday night which involved a few chicken wings and way too much beer.  I think i made it home around 12am so when my alarm starting screaming at 5:30am to get moving I almost threw it across the room.  Finally around 5:50am I was able to get moving and headed out the door only to find it raining extremely hard.  So the 2nd time I questioned whether I should just stay home.

Anyway, made it to the race and did a short warm-up and headed to the start line.  Since it was a 10K not a whole lot of details, as normal I took off out of the gate too fast and had to hold my self back.  By Mile 2 I had found a decent pace and was able to hold it for the majority of the run.  By the last mile I still felt somewhat decent but my legs were starting to get heavy.  I pushed the pace as much as possible but there wasn't much left, what was left was enough to finish with a final time of 45:45 which turns out to be a new PR by 1s.  A whole second   I didn't even realize it until I was home and looking through last years results.  Below are the splots

(Capture.JPG)

There's been a lot going on this weekend!  3 people racing and one crashing his bike for the first time.

Chris and Terry you guys had some great triathlons.  

Chris, you tore it up for your first race and I think there will be all kinds of things you'll be able to take away from this race once you have some time to reflect.  A couple of thoughts about your race.  I wouldn't take the rime to hit the lap button during the swim.  Besides adding a small amount of time over the course of the swim, you may also throw yourself out of a rhythmic stroke pattern causing an even greater time loss.  This only matters if you're really trying to make sure you're working on a specific goal/time.

Your bike, well,  I've been there done that.  I think last season I left my bike on the small ring by accident.  The big ring is probably the best to begin any race with unless you've got a hill immediately after the bike out.

Don't worry about your run.  Proper pacing is something that all of us have to work out on our own.  It comes with more experience as you learn training paces and what happens during a race.  In time this too will come as well as you can imagine.

Terry,  without your RR I can't give any specifics but judging from your times you had a great day.  I'll wait to read your race report but certainly congratulations are in order.  

Matt,  you had a spectacularly paced race today.  take your first mile out of the race and you were only 8 seconds apart for the rest of your miles.  Very well done!!

Vero,  Well, nearly all of us can say we've been where you're at.  I'm very thankful you're not as trashed as I was (meaning stitches and so on) when I crashed.  Take a couple of days to heal up and see if you can get back into some training.  You're the only one that can decide if you'll be able to suffer through some of the burning that is likely to come from sweating into opened wounds and if it'll be worth it.  As long as your wrist isn't causing any issues  while riding, or possibly swimming, I would get  back on the bike as soon as you can.  You're not so close to your race that you can't afford to take a week off too.  If you feel that's what needs to be done you're not going to lose any fitness in that amount of time.

____________

Me, well I have been lying down some  pretty big weeks of training the past couple of weeks.  Last week was 14.5 hours and this week hit over 15 hours.  Both of these weeks have had me in the saddle 10 hours and 9:53 respectively, with a 5 hour trainer ride today.  Swims are about 3.5 hours total over the past 3 weeks with yardage totals of 12k, 12k and 13k for each week.  My fitness is getting stronger.  I can feel it.

My runs are coming along but I'm taking slow.  I have run 6.7, 6.7 and 8 miles for the past 3 weeks.  There is still some pain and i'm working through it but it a long road ahead.  Brenda sent me an inspire last week that really encouraged me and has helped me keep my head in the game.  I'm still pretty nervous about what IM will be for me but I have to say that my confidence is getting stronger and stronger.  I'll continue to covet the prayers of all of you as I get deeper and deeper into my training cycle.

You haven't been doing anything wrong.  I have advised people for sometime to fill their wetsuit with the colder water before the race begins because it removes the cold water factor.  When you know you're going to be swimming in colder water there's the initial shock when all of the water comes rushing into your suit, possibly causing you to gasp for air and having an immediate HR increase.  This can have a pretty adverse impact on your race right at the beginning of the swim.

By filling up with water prior to the swim the shock value is substantially reduced , if not completely eliminated.  The shock begins when the water starts creeping in but you have 5-10 minutes to recover.  It also creates a warmer water barrier between you and the cooler water on the outside of your suit.  And, since the suit is already full, there are no more voids for more water to seep in and produce anymore shocks.....

.....Keep letting the water in if you're asking me.

Terry,

Congrats on an incredible PR.  It may not have been what you were looking for but to cut an hour for a HIM is something to brag about.

As far as your trouble in the swim with getting around others, I would have sliced through.  I have had similar things occur to me in races and I feel it's part of the sport.  I doubt these folks would have gotten to upset about it, and to be honest, I wouldn't care if they did.  It's not that I'm being harsh but if I'm trying to set a PR, I'm going to do whatever I can to get there.  Now, with that said, I wouldn't just go bounding through them either,  I would try to navigate around them first but if I were unable to get through in a less "civil" way, I would go through.  If you're doing this too, you have to recognize the risks as well; getting kicked in the face, goggles knocked off, etc.

Performing hill work on the bike can be done in a variety of ways.  You can do longer interval work, place a riser under your front while on the trainer or a combination of both.  For instance, I rode 2.5 hours with my front elevated to the highest point on my riser this past Sunday and then removed it for the final 2.5 hours.......Now my quads are crushed but it'll help with the hills.

I can't really help with the leg cramps much but I would suggest not running so much the day before a HIM.  If I read your post correctly, you ran about 12 miles +/-.  That's far to much and likely left your legs a little flat for the day on Sunday.  Riding the bike to the race on race day wasn't a big deal.  That may have helped wake your legs up a bit and promoted a little better race.

.........A 200k ride this weekend??????  You're not right!!!!