ASPHALT JUNKIES Summer Bronzing Crew - CLOSED (Page 33)

Hello Junkies! Sorry for dropping off the map these past couple of weeks. After my super sprint tri on Father’s Day My life got pretty busy. A big deadline at work coupled with evenings as a vacation Bible school leader and then a few days camping all combined to eliminate all training for 2 weeks straight.

I’m happy to report I am back on the wagon since Monday and I’ve picked up my training plan for back to back sprint tri weekends in September. My planned Olympic this year went out the window due to work schedule, but after feeling sorry for myself for a while I’m okay with it now and focused on the sprints.

There has been a lot going on in this group! It has taken a bunch of time over the last 2 days to finally catch up on reading all the posts for the group.

Very cool to hear that Tony and JoAnne got the opportunity to meet at Syracuse and that you both pulled through a tough situation with the weather.

JoAnne, reading the last part of your race report about helping Katie to finish was awesome. Part of what is so great about the tri community is that it is filled with stories like that.

Warren, your post about the minimal difference in length of swim when starting on the outside was great. I tend to start “wide” to avoid the egg beater of the middle of the wave and seeing that the increase in length is so minimal will certainly help my mental state knowing I’m not swimming that much further by doing that.

Tony,  hitting the asphalt on your bike can never be a good thing but as Derek said it's only a matter of time for all of us.  So far for me I'm still in the " those waiting to crash" category and I hope I remain in that category for a very long time.  I hope the crash is leaving feeling good today since many times the day following something like that can leave you feeling a little worse.  I also know of another in the group that had a crash recently but I'll allow that person to decide if they'll talk about it.  The person is fine, so no worries. 

All the discussion brings up this story too..... Richie Cunningham ...... Be careful out there!

Derek, you know chicks dig scars right?  You could have laid on the ground for just a moment to get a little more attention before popping up and being the tough guy.  Not that I would have done that of course!

Vero,  It's great to see you're back to training and getting ready to hit a couple of sprints.  Work seems to get all in the way of what is really important, TRIATHLON!!!  I guess I should go for my pro card and make all the money.  NOT!!!!

I just read Joanne's RR and something came up in there that got me thinking about the swim.  Heres my quoted text from the RR.........

"..............remember you can't see all that well when sighting so whoever it was that came upon you at that corner probably was unable to see you because of the low profile in the water.  To be honest, I don't look for people when swimming, I feel for them.  Attempting to feel the water in front of me to sense the turbulence that comes from another athlete that's kicking.  Once I can feel this turbulence I determine if I should try to draft or pass them straight away.  And sometimes I come up on swimmers from other waves fast enough that I never have the chance to feel them.  In this case there's little to do but swim over them because I've come on them so quickly that I don't even know they are there until I smack them in one form or another.  Rest assured I don't do it on purpose."

I bring this up because we sometimes aren't looking for people in the water, especially after the water seems clear from the initial start of our waves.  When we are sighting properly we should be land marking to find our predetermined points of reference to keep our line.  When we sight properly ahead of us we only get a fleeting glimpse of what is directly in front of us, not allowing ample time to find the low profile of a person in front of us.  The objective of sighting should be staying on our line.  Sometimes faster swimmers can come up on slower swimmers really fast and can unknowingly collide with them.  I have been on both sides of this scenario and it's unpleasant either way because it slows both athletes down and knock rhythm off...........

........Something to think about as we get ready for our next races.

Tony - I'm glad the crash wasn't too bad. I managed to go 20 years between my last two crashes. When I did go down about 2 years ago I was going too fast down a paved trail I had only ridden once before in the other direction. I came around a corner just after a rise near the right hand side of the trail and the trail jogs over to the left there to cross a small creek. I launched off the side and tore the skin on my left leg up pretty good on the rocks around the culvert outlet before going over the handlebars and head first into some bushes. I was picking branches out of the vents of my helmet for a while after that. The bike was okay though.

Along the lines of swimming - I have only been in smaller races before. My largest swim wave only contained about 50 swimmers. When I swim I am constantly looking for that telltale column of bubbles ahead of me caused by another swimmer's kick and as I breathe bilateral I'm typically gauging distance to the swimmers on either side of me when I breathe in. Because of that I seldom come into contact with anyone during swims. I have had my ankle grabbed and been kicked in the chest when rounding a buoy but those both happened during a race I was trying to stay in the main pack more than usual.

I had an incredible ride today!  I rode with the 2012 TT Masters national champion.  He could have dropped me like a school boy had he wanted to but I was able to hang on for 30+ miles.  This was supposed to be an easy ride to set myself up for Ironman Muncie 70.3 on Saturday next week but when I have the opportunity to ride with someone of this class I'm going to take it.  Below is a copy and paste from my log for today:

The highlight of this day was the return ride with Gary Painter. I had heard of him but never ridden with him. He won the Masters national championship for TT last year (2012) at 57 years old.
The ride started out as a "welcome ride" with 3RVS and it was supposed to be a slower than normal pace to keep all of the other slower riders intact. Much of the time we do this until the break and then there will usually be a fast group to take off. Today this was pretty much the normal pattern. At the stop we discussed who was going with the fast group. I knew only one of the 4 other riders and was acquainted with one other. Patrick, on e of the strongest rides in the group wasn't going with us for this ride back. We also planned to ride an additional 10 miles, making the return 30 miles. Riding with Gary was bad enough but the added distance made me especially nervous.
As we started the return I was not feeling really good about my decision! I don't really think of myself as a strong rider, not when I've seen what some of the other cyclists I have ridden with can do.
I ended up sitting in second position and wasn't sure how that would work out either. Sitting right behind Gary's wheel meant I would be working even harder than the others riding in the last 3 positions. I was in this position for almost all of the return trip. The good thing about this part of the ride was there were several stop signs that allowed recovery, but even then I was having a hard time staying up with him by the final 5 miles or so.
For the final push we had a choice of hills or flats and we chose the hills. By now we had dropped 2 other riders and it was myself and Bill staying with Gary. We had a big downhill that pushed Bill out of cogs while Gary and I sped ahead. I actually spun out and could only tuck and try to draft what speed I could but Gary was pulling away, having more cogs left. I was able to stay close enough that I was able to start pedaling as we neared the bottom of the hill and get close to him. Once at the bottom I pushed hard and was back on his wheel, Bill was gone having dropped behind about 200 yards. From here was just Gary and I and we were headed into the hilliest section of the ride. We stayed together from here except that he pulled away from me as we climbed one of the hills. He could have dropped me like a school boy here. I was pretty much cooked at this point. I had been sucking his wheel for 30 miles and he could have buried me right now, instead he pulled back and waited on me.
It was an awesome ride!
I was able to sit on his wheel for a very long time and watch him ride, trying to learn from his every move, every gear shift and every pedal stroke. I hope I can pick up some of these lessons and put them to good use.

I was really pleased to have been the lone rider of 4 others to have been able to stay with him for all of the return trip.  Some of the other riders in the group I ride with occasionally tell me I'm a strong rider but today those statements were reinforced by one of the beasts of the sport. 

Dirk - That sounds like it was a fantastic ride and experience today! Trying not to be jealous of you here.

I did finally manage to finish my race report from the Father's Day Super Sprint Tri.

I have a Brick on my training schedule today: 45 minute bike followed by a 2 mile run. Now that the chores are done around the house I can finally get out there. It looks like the weather is being nice to us today. It's only 90 degrees right now. It has been triple digits every day for the past week. The 116 degrees on Tuesday was a new record for that day. I'll be carrying plenty of water for the ride.

I retweeted something yesterday that Greg Henderson said during an interview following the stage of TdF on Friday.  He said: "Watched an interview with @Greghenderson1 about yesterday's finish. He said they were doing 75km/h. That's ~46mph!"

........I say That's INSANE.  I have not even been 46 MPH going downhill yet and they were moving the entire train along at that speed.  I guess I'll not plan to throw my application into the TdF race next season after all.

Your cycling week has come to a close and that is one killer, awesome week!  I would love to do that sometime too but if would be far to boring around here.  By the end of the week around here I could tell you which crop is better though, corn or beans.  I Know seeing your posts and knowing the terrain you're riding in has me itching so badly to get some great rides in on some crazy hills.  I know you can't see it, but I'll tell you the truth, I am a very, very dark green right now!

I know we talked about this already but I don't think the scenario you're bringing up happened.  I am convinced it was a pinch flat on the front, this seems to point in the right direction.  At the speed we discussed about you riding around that turn you couldn't have been leaning hard enough to hit your pedal on the asphalt, IMO.  Since you had just changes your tire I think it's more likely you had the tube pinched and you hit the sweet spot at the wrong time.  I'm just really happy that you weren't hurt, especially given that you're needing a new helmet!  How's Jenny with this now?  I hope she's not getting to upset.

Don't worry about your training that's missing from the week.  Do what you can, when you can and things will fall into place.  Like Derek said, your family always comes first but as you get ready to kick IM training off it's not much consolation that you missed something on the front end.  Being with your family and having the opportunities that were presented to you on this occasion are far more important than some bike ride or race training and, yes, even the race itself.

I'm Back!  Good or bad, vacation is over and we have made it back home from Cape Cod, somewhat reluctantly though.  I could probably spend a considerable amount of time there, especially on the outer cape where everything just seems to be at a different pace.  Plus the scenery is amazing, from the ocean views to the bay and marshes and combine that with the meticuoulsy cared for Gardens that seem to come out of a magazine and it is just amazing.  I will post some pics later when I get everything downloaded.

I read most of the posts but a weeks worth is too much to respond too, a few that stand out:  Will/Tony hope you guys are doing ok after putting the bikes down.  Not sure who described it but they were right, either you have crashed or are waiting to crash.  I am still waiting to crash, even though I have had a couple close calls.  Will:Sorry to hear about the loss of your grandmother, those times can be tough.  Dirk: So when are you turning Pro?  All the times you have been putting down are ridiculous and then to hang with a top rider, why would you ever question your abilities?

My June totals were a little dissappointing, Baseball season really got in the way of the longer bike sessions and the odd times for the pool didn't help either!  But it is what it is, and the kids will always take precedent over training.  July is free from sports so hopefully things will improve, until football starts in August!  The percentage listed is how much of the planned milage for the month I achieved. 

• Swim: 14820yds (54%)
• Bike: 221 Miles (49%)
• Run: 59 miles (89%)

Now I was going to Brag about the distances I put in over Vacation but Warren throws out 320 miles over 4 days.  Seriously?  how does your wife approve this?  I think I need to have a discussion about limiting your training time!  I think you are overdoing it and need to stop immediately and eat some Pizza and drink some beer! Anyway, below are the totals from vacation.  If you are bored I have a pretty good desctiption of each day in my log, the best being the swim.  Kettle ponds are awesome!

• Swim: 2000yds (probably a lot longer but I didn't record any of the swims done on the ocean)
• Bike: 121 Miles
• Run: 19 Miles

I wasn't very motivated to ride my bike today.  I've determined that I need to move my long bike ride back to Saturday.  Riding long on Sunday just isn't happening.

Anyway, I rode my hill during my short ride today.  The hill kicked my azzzzzz! When I uploaded my Garmin to Strava, I saw why it was so hard today. I hauled my butt up that hill faster than I ever have in the past! I even surpassed my husband's fastest attempt!  (Sure, I only beat him by one second!  It still counts!)   I felt like I was going to barf at the top and I was saying lots of bad words.

Junkies -

Hope you had a wonderful and long weekend.

My 7.4.2013 race was awesome! Not b/c I raced super fast like Dirk suggested, but because I did something I had no idea I was capable of.... I helped two ladies get through the swim. FOr one lady it was her first triathlon and she told me in advance that the fear of the swim was crippling her. The second lady is in our tri club and it was her second race. Our tri club member was actually swimming back to shore and telling me that she couldn't do it. I told her to turn around, get on her back, and I would guide her through the swim. I helped both of them get through a cold, icky swim through plant vegetation in the rain!

I actually placed 3rd in my AG and rocked what I think was one of the fastest bike legs I have probably ever done. Maybe it just seemed that way since we were just about the last people out of the water and I got to pass a LOT of people. No splits were recorded, just our gun time and finish time. The whole race was in a torrential downpour and made it memorable and challenging. I can't say I would do much of anything different that day, I essentially "gave up" my race and was more fulfilled by the kind of race I had. I'm not saying every race will be this way, I will still want to get out there and push myself as often as I can.

Short blog post about the race ---

Race recap: http://wp.me/p32uES-8P