Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 53)

Yes, the Aqua Sphere goggles are the bomb!!!!  So worth every penny!  I can't wait to try them in open water!

I love that you take the Junkies everywhere!  I think we need to design a jersey. 

That's just lame. 

Tracy sorry to hear about what happened today between the break in of your neighbor and your chickens being attacked by the dog. Hope you have a better day tomorrow.

Brenda good luck this weekend with the race and enjoy your day off from training.

Samantha thanks for sharing your tips on nutrition the wraps sound like a good idea, easy to make and they sound pretty good too.

David congrats on going a mile non stop sounds like you are making good progress and yeah I endorse the auqasphere goggles as well. They are great but I need a new pair as the strap on one side snapped on me and even though I am able to use them they have a tendency to leak as I can't get them as tight as I need to on one side.

I had a great swim today as well as I was able to get in 1600m and even though I have been battling nerves lately and again today I was able to work that out and get relaxed and get in a good swim. I also found that I was moving a little faster today. I noticed that I had my fingers spread out a little bit and not all close together I was able to get a little more power on the pull and felt like I was moving faster especially when I got into a rythym. Not sure if that was all it was but it seemed that way. I finally got outdoors on the bike during the week for a change. The weather was great this evening so I took a pass on the trainer and got outside and got in 17 miles but I did give blood as the mosquitos seemed to be out in force tonight. It was worth though and I'm glad that I got out there and got my ride in as I need the work.

Morning everyone! I hope everyone is doing well. Great progress from a lot of us in all areas!! It's pretty cool to see. You guys are the best ever!

Quick question for you though - I did a hard ride on Tuesday and yesterday (2 days afterwards) I had a REALLY sore hamstring. I finished my run and ride yesterday going very gently, although I cut the ride a little short at the end because my legs were WASTED. The hamstring isn't painful, just very very sore... is this something I should be concerned about or just take it easy for a couple of days.

I think it comes from the extra effort of pulling up on clipless pedals... any thoughts?

John

WOW so much is going on!!!

yea there are a lot of jerks on the road...bottles, blowing, seeing how close they can come and still miss U etc etc...

Thoe of ya'll racing this weekend, be careful and good luck.  Leave all ur energy on the course, hold nothing back!

Well I was going for a 2 hr ride today at 4:00 am so it was DARK but I was on major roads w/ streetlights and had gotten to the 1/2 point and turned around.  About 2 miles from the turn around I hit a shaded area and also hit a pothole.  I couldn't jjust blow 1 tire, no I had to blow BOTH.  Called wife to come pick me up.  Only had 1 spare but it didn't matter, when I got home to change it... well let's just say I'm going for a learning lesson at the bike shop.

Ya'll have a GREAT weekend!

Probably ok to train to discomfort.  Learning the different between injury and fatigue/pain/discomfort is a very useful tool to acquire.  This sounds like something you should keep an eye on and if it doesn't improve maybe get a PT or ART person to evaluate, but I'd expect it's mostly normal fatigue from hard training.

However, as far as pedaling technique, there shouldn't be all that much pulling up even with clipless pedals.  I know the "pedal in circles thing" creates religious wars and 20 page threads, but the truth is most of the power of any cyclist comes through the expected parts of the stroke, though there is ample evidence the top and bottom are places where we should try to eliminate dead spots.

Just pedal smoothly and naturally, and don't try to "pull up".  I'm not saying only mash the pedals on the down stroke, but just maintain a smooth cadence throughout the stroke - maybe think ovals rather than circles.  I try to focus on the top and bottom as places to not lose contact with the pressure, if that makes sense.  The muscles which pull up are very weak and fatigue quickly, so I think if you tried to pull up for any length of time you'd bring into play the hamstrings and maybe some of that fatigue is due to this.

Looks like there’s some good food advice already.  I don’t have much to add to that discussion other than to loudly toot my wife’s horn on that one.  Essentially, she just asks “good or bad this week, and how much”, and the correct type of meals and snacks magically appear in the fridge for me to take to work and eat.  I do spend Sunday evenings helping prep and portion out stuff for the week, but for the most part I’m just a lucky recipient of an awesome partner!

I sort of agree with David on the people honking and throwing bottles at bikers (or generally doing stupid hurtful things with no benefit).  I try to send them some positive vibes and then I’m thankful I only have to live with them for this moment, but feel sad for them since they have to live with themselves all the time.

A mile swim is no small feat David!  Congrats.

That deck is looking great Dirk.  I’m looking at my falling apart deck off my house, and wondering if you could come by and give me a price!  I did a new deck on the cottage a few years back, and it was fun but more work than I thought it would be.

I’ve been in a mini-funk post HM, and I have my first tri in two weeks so I gotta snap out of it.  Work has really gotten stressful, which is more of an excuse than a real contributor, but I’ve been using it to be relatively lazy!  I’m planning a hard, 2 hour ride into the wind up to the lake (well, that will get me halfway there) this afternoon and then a nice long ride on most of the Timberman 70.3 course tomorrow.  I’m also planning to get in the lake for some swimming this weekend, though the water temp was 55 last I checked.

I'm with Warren.  I'll give you my opinion and tell you up front that some good cyclists will differ on this but I think I'm right....and I'm a good cyclist and ex road racer..

I don't subscribe to the 'pedal in circles' theory.  But that requires elaboration.  I think that most cyclists, especially those who haven't ridden tens of thousands of miles over the years probably fight their pedals somewhat.  Any time you are pushing your pedal in a direction that's not at a right angle to the crank arm you are EXERTING more energy than you are TRANSFERRING to the crank.  When the angle is close then it might be OK.  For instance, if you are pushing straight down when the crank is at 1 o'clock through 5 o'clock all is good.  But if you are pushing down at 6 o'clock that's useless and if you are pushing down at 7 o'clock that's really bad. 

So if I say 'pedal in circles' then all I personally mean by that is to ensure that you are lifting the weight of your leg off the pedal as it travels upward, and don't resist the pedal moving backward at the bottom and don't resist the pedal moving forward at the top.

Unless you are out of the saddle, do not use your leg to lift the pedal.

For many years I tried the typical 'pedal in circles' approach and it didn't work that well.  I think that since our bodies are designed for walking, running and climbing (not cycling) that our muscles are only most efficient when pushing down.   They aren't efficient lifting or pushing over the top of the pedal stroke or 'scraping your feet off' pulling back at the bottom.  So any energy you apply to the pedals, while it makes the bike move faster, costs more metabolically. (so it's good for sprinting for instance)

So I used to pedal in circles and especially so when my quads fatigued and burned bad and were weakening during a very hard effort.  I would then focus on using my hamstrings for a powerful pull back and up to continue riding fast while 'resting' my quads.

What I figured out at some point in the recent years is that if/when my quads burn out on me it's because I wasn't using enough glutes.  With conscious effort I can cycle primarily using my glutes.  And after they are conditioned they are an incredible muscle for cycling.  Now I never feel burning quads, kick butt on lighter cyclists on big climbs, and usually am the fastest cyclist in my triathlons....only pushing down on the pedals.  (but again, I'm careful to lift my feet and unweight the pedals on the  upstroke).

I don't know how to 'teach' someone to use their glutes for cycling, especially via written words.

I thought some might find it useful for me to describe what I'm doing in my lead up to racing this weekend.

I'm doing an oly distance race on Sunday.

My plan was to train as normal through today and only take it easy on Saturday.

Saturday was to consist of a gentle spin around the bike course on my road bike. 24.8 miles.

But a few days ago a friend who will also be there invited me to do the sprint tri that is being held in conjunction on Saturday...as a relay team.

I was invited to do the run leg...5k.

That's OK.  I then planned on doing that 5k with about 1 mile of warmup it would be a 4 mile day and that wouldn't leave me weakened for my race on Sunday.  I would just drive the bike course instead.

Well, then yesterday came and my workout would have been 90 minutes on the bike and 5 miles running but my legs felt so incredibly pounded and beat up that I actually worried I would be in a training 'hole' come race weekend.  So I stopped at 3 miles rather than 5.

Today I did my swim team practice and felt great.  I then went to do my typical run and rather than 6 miles I decided to continue with a 'taper' and only do 3 again.  Legs felt awesome.

So this is a situation where I was going to have a 'taper' of 1 day, but because I felt beat up I made it a 3 day taper (and that 3rd day of taper is racing a 5k!)

When added up this amounts to a decrease of 5 miles in total run mileage for the week as I head in to the race weekend. 

Wow!!!  That is so cool!!!

Hey all.  I would love to get into the "pedaling in circles" chat.  Mostly because I am a believer to some extent I guess.  I have to hit the hay.  We have a very early departure of 4:30 AM tomorrow.

Good luck to everyone who is racing this weekend and next.  I'll be back in the states by Sunday.  I promise to get at least a couple good runs and a bunch of swimming in!!

Take care, train hard. 

Stan congrats on breaking the record and being part of history that is pretty cool.

Jonathan have a safe trip and I hope you enjoy your vacation.

Good luck to everybody who is racing this weekend. Race/Train hard and be safe.

Just making a wuick post before heading out to my race today.  I have the bulk of my porch completed but there is still much to do.  Most of it is the cosmetic so to speak but there is still some trim work and more importantly, leak work (that is to prevent the leaks).

The race is going to be interesting because I haven't eaten well nearly all week.  My lunch yesterday consisted of dried fruit and a granola bar.  I have been attempting to rehydrate after a rough day on Tuesday but I have probably just kept from becoming more dehydrated rather than actually re-hydrating.

I haven't been able to catch up on reading and responding for a couple of days and I'll do so later.  I'll also put a RR up when I can.............later today.

I haven't done a marathon (yet), but two days rest after your first marathon really doesn't seem like much!  Personally, I think what you're saying sounds like you haven't allowed enough time for your body to recover.  Remember, listen to your body.  I think if that were me I would try giving myself a couple days of rest and see how I feel.  Like you said, backing off a little now could do wonders for the future.

Literally laughed out loud at that one. 

JoAnne I agree. The last marathon I ran was last Oct. and while I did run two days after the marathon and ran a little through out the first week after as well as some strength training and a little work on the exercise bike I felt very lethargic for that first week and I think it really took me like two weeks to really bounce back and not feel so tired. It might be better to give yourself a recovery week or try to ease back into your training scheduling until you feel like you have enough energy to do what you need to.