Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED (Page 49)

John - great race and it's great to his your aggressive goal!  Awesome job finding someone to pull you along and keep pushing.  You should race report it so you have a copy of your thoughts and comments about the race.

Stan - Tough time with weather.  Amazing that you went from a potential ride around the lake to being buried like that.  Tahoe does seem to have some epic snowfalls, even if not so much this year.  Stay with it and let us know how you do this week.

Way to go Vero & Mambos !!!!

Wish I was racing. I did get a 13 mile ride in this morning and some running last night after work.

The weather up here can be crazy. Today is suppose to be 59 degrees (a heat wave lol). Tomorrow windy and Tues. snow. If the weather channel is right Fri. is a warm day of 60 degrees. This may be my long ride. I can't wait! I'll be sure to get some pics.

I really want to push my running. I know better. The brain can really mess with you sometimes. The body says don't over do it and the brain thinks it can. I'm keeping with 20 minute runs until my body is very confortable with it. Then I can start adding more. I'm really trying to keep form, a good stride, and cadence. I'll get there, I just need to keep patient. I find that I like to start before my run with about 10-20 minutes on the bike. I feel more confortable and the legs are warmed up.

Anyway, Dirk get home safely. All you guys racing, great races. All of us still on the mend, get better soon. And everyone training, keep up the hard work and stay safe.

mambos - 2012-03-04 2:59 PM Post more details later but the short of it for the 10mile race, 127overall, 5th in AG, with a time of 1:22 which is an 8:18 pace! Guess I missed my goal of 8:30

Unreal Matt, you just couldn't hold that 8:30 pace, huh?    That is out of the park.  All the work is really paying off.  The bar is being set pretty high by this group.

Last year the group was all about maintaining PACE, I struggled with this for awhile but I think I may have figured it out.  As you can see below, except for Mile 8 and 9 (hill), my pace was almost dead on!  I had fun in this race and believe I'm starting to get to the point I can work through some of the "pain" of a race.  Here is the RACE REPORT

Mile 1: 8:13 HR AVG 154
Mile 2: 8:11 HR AVG 161
Mile 3: 8:16 HR AVG 161
Mile 4: 8:14 HR AVG 164
Mile 5: 8:15 HR AVG 168
Mile 6: 8:14 HR AVG 171
Mile 7: 8:13 HR AVG 173
Mile 8: 8:20 HR AVG 175
Mile 9: 8:33 HR AVG 175
Mile 10:7:55 HR AVG 173

That was a great race, Matt! Way to push through those hard uphill miles, and especially that fast last mile!

I worked on a training schedule for myself this weekend. If you get a minute stop by my blog and take a look. Tell me what you think. It is a lot of days but the volume is small right now. T/Th swims will only be 30-40 min, super short runs but 6 days, and then Jorge's plan for cycling. I also picked out some possible races but I'm not signing up for anything yet. I'm being a wimp and waiting for the weather reports first . I've had too many races in the rain, sleet, cold, crazy wind and I've learned that for ME that is not fun.

I personally like the idea of a basic week which is repeatable.  Life often says - these are the times available, so being consistent week to week can make sense.  As long as something is progressing (either time/frequency/duration), and your workouts are getting more specific to the races you’re targeting as race day approaches, I think this plan is good.

I’ll say that the biking will be super intense, so just be sure to keep the running easy and I’m assuming life will rear its ugly head and force some off days.  You know your body better than anyone else, so listen to it.  Don’t be afraid to drop the 4^th bike for now if you’re not feeling it that day - though if you’re going to do that aqua half you’ll probably need the bike volume to build starting 2-3 months out (I didn’t see a date so I don’t know when the half is happening).  I would try to build the run times as you find it possible, but again, that bike plan is really geared to a big bike focus block.

I agree on the racing in lousy weather.  We have our fair share up here but my races so far have mostly been pretty nice, though sometime a bit cooler than I’d like (39 degrees is too cold to be jumping in the water imo!).

Yes actually.  I rode with my club on Saturday morning.  I did sneak out for a ride over the holidays against my Dr's orders.  But now I'm allowed to resume riding outside.  So this was my 2nd real ride since surgery in early September.  It was great to get outside and ride some humongous hills.  I also enjoyed that thigh-fatigue that stayed with me all day that the trainer rides just don't give me.

On the positive side, my cardio system wasn't fatigued and I felt like I was in great shape.  Just need to do a few more long rides with all the huge hills in the area and my quads should be good to go.

Matt, I'm really excited for you.  It's awesome when you completely miss your goal in a race isn't it?!?!?!  At least when you miss it by running way faster.

Looks like great pacing.  if the splits stay even and the effort gradually increases it's the textbook example of even pacing.  And since the pace wasn't the planned pace then it must have been paced by RPE which is excellent.

When you are pacing by RPE, you are free to have breakout performances like this.

Now let's build that bike and get you ready for the ride this summer!  (I hope you bought that iPad!)

John & Matt, congratulations on a couple of fantastic races.  I'm very proud of your guys...especially you Matt.  If I remember correctly it wasn't that long ago that you were having a tough time doing 30 minutes at under 10 min/mile pace.  Such a huge leap in performance!  Just goes to show how hard work and consistency can pay off.  Just awesome.  I'm envious of your speed!

I did my longer run yesterday.  About 7.3 miles.  Felt good.  Legs aren't sore today, so that's good. 

Anybody get numb legs after like 4 miles?  I have this happen a lot.  I will be running along and my legs will feel a bit sore and have little pains here and there...and then all of a sudden they don't hurt at all and I can just cruise.  The point at which this happens starts later and later in my runs.  Anybody?

Well, I will get a numb sensation in my thighs on my longer runs.  Sets in somewhere after 8 miles depending on the type of run and whether my speed varies.  It seems to set in sooner when the run is at a very consistent pace such as when I run on the treadmill.

It's associated with my legs feeling heavier and even threatening not to obey my commands!

It's fatigue....and I have been noticing how soon it sets in and using it as an indicator of my muscular endurance on the run.

I'm not sure if that's what you are describing though because it sounds like you are describing something positive where your performance increases...

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing about the long rides on Jorge's plan - need them if I'm going to do the half but if life gets busy they will be dropped. It's a lot easier to look forward to the long rides when I can get outdoors with friends. The half is June 17th so I think I've got enough time to try to get ready.

Now it's time to get to work!

Yeah, I think it's tough to tell.  Honestly, I think it is fatigue.  I'm not sure that I have tried to really increase my speed a lot when I have this feeling.  I just know that there is no longer any sort of pain in my legs.  Unlike cycling where after an hour and a half or whatever, I still can make my legs burn like crazy.

I agree with Warren.  If you can swing a 7 day schedule that will pay benefits very well.  I suppose you may feel a little bit of fatigue if you are not used to doing 7 days a week but that will pass quickly.  The volume you are looking at isn't going to be substantial either.  BUT like Warren said, the bike is going to leave you trashed after a lot of WO's.  Embrace the pain and let the fitness increase.  Take a day off of the other activities on the days you are feeling really fatigued if you want to maintain a stronger bike focus.  But just to reiterate, the bike is really hard.  But work as hard as you can, even through the sets you can't finish in the target zones.  These type of efforts will pay tremendous cycling benefits when the season opens.

I agree with Jeff.  It's fatigue.  Over my longer distances during marathon training I would experience this nearly every long run. However, I'm not really sure I would describe it as numbness really, but more of a sense of weariness as the miles got longer.  As I ran farther and farther during these runs I began not to experience the fatigue but regardless of the distances of my long runs I would always have this feeling for a few miles. 

I also think that a general lack of hydration affects this too.   During longer efforts I would have water on board but not enough to keep me from becoming somewhat dehydrated on the run and then I could also have been fluid deficient from bikes on previous days too.

OK, so now it's my time to brag a little about my trip to Wyoming.

It was an amazing trip to say the least!  I only wish I had more time spend out there and with my brother.  He and I haven't had than much hang out time in years and it really was a joy to spend that much time with him doing a few thing together that we haven't shared ever.  He's not a runner or triathlete but we both love being outside and active.

The trip into the Bighorn, Shoshone and toward Yellowstone mountain ranges were breathtaking and awe inspiring.  I could not help but see the hands of the Creator involved in vivid display.  There was so much life everywhere I looked.  The winds were absolutely fierce almost all the time.  Winds that we get here in northern Indiana pale in comparison to the normally sustained winds I experienced out there.  Wind speeds are normal at 20-30 mph and gust of 40+ are expected most of the time.  I am planning on dropping more images of the trip on facebook, so check them out.  I apologize but I am not likely to post them here as they take so much time to modify and I have far too many to try to pick any favorites.

About my running while gone:  I was only able to get 2 runs in last week and tried to make them count as much as I felt I could.  I was concerned about the elevation that I would be running at and the affects on my body, so I went a little shorter than I would like to have for my first run. 

I actually am not sure what to make of the running at higher elevations.  I felt no ill affects during or after my run at all.  I guess I was expecting some kind of change in ability to sustain my normal easy running pace, but I felt none of this either.  My 6 mile run was at a average pace of 7:44 and I was incredibly comfortable the whole run.  I watched my HR closely and with exception of the first mile, my HR was 145, fitting very easily into easy run status.  No stress, no strain, no lungs burning, no noticeable leg fatigue or body fatigue.

The second run was my bigger effort.  This was my 1000 foot climb.  This I cannot say enough about!  I was absolutely enthralled by the idea of having a huge climb (for me) on foot.  The distance of the climb ended up being 1050 feet over about 1.75 miles.  According to mapmyfitness I had a short grade of 20% and most of the rest of the uphill was in the high single digits to low double digits for grades.  I was so exhausted but had so much adrenaline rushing through my veins to stop running.  I kept thinking of the accomplishment of running to this kind of elevation change when I hadn't ever run that high at on a flat before.  For the one mile of pure climbing in the data I maintained an average pace of 10:53 for that mile.  The other miles immediately before and after were 8:51 and 9:33 respectively.  These time are of a faster pace because either more or less of the split was at the bottom of the mountain at the start or the top starting the descent.

Today my legs are as sore as they have been but they started getting sore yesterday.  It is the good kind of pain that tells me I have done something my body isn't used to but hasn't been abused.  My legs aren't sore in the quads or the hammy's but in the tensors and adductors.  Obviously I haven't used those that much in the pancake flats of Indian.

I had a few minutes where I got very nervous though.  If you have seen my Facebook page you may have noticed the pic of my mitten next to the wolf track.  I noticed this on the way up and instantly became ultra alert.  I know wolves are pretty aggressive animals but I also thought they didn't normally come to close to people.  Either way I kept climbing and stayed on alert the rest of the way up.  Once at the top I relaxed a little and took a couple of pics with my phone and sent them to my brother and a couple of other people (Jeff) and then began a much faster descent to the earth below.

I really can't explain how I felt looking out over the miles and miles I could see in the vast distance.  I was overwhelmed at the sense of accomplishment.  To say I loved it would be the grossest of understatements but I have no words.

Wow, looks like everyone is doing great!

First, this is for all you GREAT runners here. I am really feeling confortable with my runs now. Other than some muscle fatigue after running (which is normal) and it's that good feeling fatigue. Right now all my running has been on the treadmill. I have been catious of the high impact on my back out on the pavement. I'm looking to start increasing either my duration (distance) or intensity. I need some feedback on which or both would be best. Do I go by the 10% rule? Should I just add more time? Or should I increase the intensity and keep the amout of time running? And what other things should I be considering?

So, Friday looks like the day to get in my big ride. I'm going for the longest ride I've done in many years (almost 20 years). One lap around Lake Tahoe, which is approx. 73-75 miles (depending on my route). I am stoked. I can hardly wait for it. The weather is supposed to be great, especially for this time of year (60 degrees and little wind). I do have to time the ride right. Leave to early and I have a head wind half way through and leave to late and it's a head wind on the last half. I also have an appointment with my nutritionist Thursday to help dial in my nutrition for the ride.

If this ride goes well, I think I will be ready for the Alta Alpina Race Century. I have been on the fence of either a true century distance or the metric century.

Anyway, I appreciate any advice on my running and even my bike ride.

Way to go Dirk!

Really jealous. I always wanted to visit that state.

High altitude has different effects for different people. Some, no problems. Others, get dehydrated easily, get headaches, dizziness, and even tunnel vision. My daughter came up last month and was here for only 4 days and had problems with headaches and always being thirsty. The last day she finally started aclimating and feeling better. When I moved up here, I was biking the next day and had no problems.

Anyway, sounds like you had a great time and wish I was there. I always wanted to see Yellowstone.