Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN (Page 6)

John thanks for posting the picture of the finish. I tried to finish in style today lol. I'll get a race report up this week but here is my recap of Syracuse today. JoAnne they did change the run course inside the park and made it harder lol. You actually had to run around the grass parking lot uphill and downhill not fun at all. The rest of the course remained the same. Syracuse is a freakin tough course man.

Swim 46:35 - I felt like I had a terrible swim today. I'm not sure why but I just never got into a good sustained rythym. I felt like I had to work way harder then I should have and that was a little disappointing to me. I was hoping to take a few more minutes off my time and I just didn't swim well enough to do that. At the end I just wanted to get out of the water today and it was actually very nice. Not much weeds and the water temp was awesome. It was good to do this before IMMT though in a race situation so while I'm not happy about my performance I'm glad I was in the mix today.

T1 7:21 - Not sure what took me so long but this is an improvement believe it or not. I need to work on these transitions.

Bike 3:15:52 - Garmin Time - 2:56 - First off let me say I really wanted to get in under 3:00 on the bike today if nothing else. Syracuse is a tough course for the bike and run probably a notch or two below Quassy but I was going to push it to get that 3:00 time.and was on target to do it. Now did I have a great bike probably not. I broke every one of EN's rules you could break. I should have been riding at 152 - 163 watt range today. I think my normalized power was somewhere around 188. I didn't push hard on the uphills but the power numbers were around 210 way too high. On the downhills and flats I was hammering along not recklessly but harder then I should've. My nutrition was not good as I didn't drink or eat as much as I should have. My stomach really was doing good today and I didn't want to force the issue. I did eat and drink but not enough so at the end of the ride I was starting to fade and was paying for it. Thankfully we hit that Clark Creek road at the end which is all downhill. I caught a big break there but I did give up time leading up to that because of my poor nutrition. As I was starting the last stretch on Apulia Rd. into the no passing zone between miles 53 and 54 I hit something and pop when my back tube, son of a biscuit! I'm having the bike ride of my life and I get a freakin flat. So I figured I'm gonna try and ride to the end well I rode a little but didn't want to damage my Zipp wheel so I walked it up and found a spot to change the tube. I must've wasted 20 minutes right there. I was very disappointed but there wasn't much I could do. When I got back and looked at the Garmin with the auto pause for the ride time I did the course unofficially in less than 3 hours so I was pretty happy about that. I think changing the tire also recharged my batteries because I thought I was going to have a terrible run. Maybe it was the break I needed and maybe my ride time should've been a 3:05 to 3:15 instead?

T2 - 6:54 - Ok I suck at transitions nothing more to say here. Actually I went to the bathroom this time so it took longer plus I changed my bike jersey to a tri top.

Run - 2:17:39 - I had great run considering how crappy I felt towards the end of the bike. It was getting pretty hot out and there is not much shade on the course and the hills suck big time. The one on Paladino Rd then turning into Ransom Rd for another long hill can just crush your spirits however I didn't let that happen today. I ran a nice conservative pace faster then last year and I actually ran up the hills on the first loop. The second loop I had to walk up some on them but pretty much ran the entire course. I was also able to eat something and the perform, water and infinit was going down without an ill effects so I was feeling good. After the turnaround I was able to push the pace to the end and I actually think I ran the second loop faster than the first even with the walking. I'm amazed I was able to run like this after not pacing myself properly and taking care of my nutrition on the bike.

Overall and up and down day, some positive things to take away from this, some things which I need to address and certainly some lessons learned. Had I not flatted I think I could have been closer to like a 6:10 but this stuff happens and you just have to roll with it so after a crappy swim and not riding the bike smartly I did bounce back with a decent run on a tough bike and run course so I can't complain. I can always come back next year punish myself again on this course.

Anthony, that's a solid effort. Flatting that close to the bike finish must have been mentally tough. I've flatted once in a race and wondered the same thing - despite the time taken, it did give me some rest so I took it as a mixed bag. Certainly adds to your overall time though, even with the rest. I suspect that the flat was one of the reasons you were able to run a little better than you'd have thought given the bike effort. Overall though, great job and this race had a purpose for you which it served.

I raced a relay with my middle son T this past weekend. My oldest was scheduled to swim but couldn’t at the last second, so T agreed to handle the swim portion given my shoulder malady. We didn’t really plan to do much given that he isn’t really a runner and almost never swims, but depending on who shows up you never know. And it’s really just a chance to bond with my boys and give them a chance to participate with the old man, though I take the bike portion very seriously of course.

The race is small with 4 waves of 50-60 people. T went off in the first wave, and finished toward back of the pack. I got on the bike with quite a few people in front of me, but I knew that could be great motivation. The course is short (12.4 miles) but tough – 819 ft. gain per my TrainingPeaks map from last year. It starts right out of transition with a steep 100 foot climb, and since I wasn’t running afterwards I just hammered hard and passed a lot of people right off the bat. There is a steepish descent from there with winding turns out to the main road. I had to control my speed a lot due to the congestion of participants more than anything, but it was probably ok to stay safe through the twists and turns.

The course then basically goes out and back with the out being a steady up and the back being a steady down. I really hammered all the way to the turnaround. I was trying to push beyond FTP for sure, and my breathing was really labored though the legs felt great. After the turn around, I had issues pushing as hard downhill, so that’s a lesson for training. I do most of my hard efforts on uphills, so I think I’ve learned that I need to spend some more time pushing on flats and/or downhills. There were a few times where I had to wait behind cars as the cars couldn’t pass a line of cyclists due to traffic congestion from the other direction. I know there are rules for drafting other cyclists, but didn’t know how the rules read for drafting a car. I opted to stay far enough behind to not take the chance, but I admit it was tempting to pull up to the bumper and hang out in the car draft! I tried to use the aero bars from time to time, and in general it hurt a quite a bit but I could tolerate it for a minute or two at a time, so I rode as much as I thought made sense in the bars. The road also had some serious frost heave damage from the winter, so the ride did get a little bumpy at times.

Once I turned the last corner I knew there was about 2 miles to go, most of it uphill, so I figured I’d just hammer as hard as I could and leave it on the course. I finished pretty strong and felt like I had a great ride. Overall I really don’t think there was much time left on the course even with the short car pauses and shoulder issues.

Last year – 36:49. This year 35:45. I know I was only riding so it’s not apples to apples at all, but it was 8th fastest bike split of the day. This race is on a tough course so it has become a place where some of the best triathletes in the area like to come to test themselves, so I’m still pretty pleased being that high up.

Tony and Warren great efforts. Tony I checked in on your splits a few times and was cheering you on. Great job all around guys.

Great job this weekend Tony and Warren.
Matt, Brenda how did you guys do??

John I am sorry you are still hurting, hopefully these next couple days wll be the last of it.

For my race I am really happy with how everything went except for the fog. We ended up having a 2 hr delay so they decided to make the swim a 2 loop which was crazy because of all the swimmers, there was a sprint also going on. I liked it though because I tend to freak out when people are swimming up on me so it was definetly a training day for the IM and seeing as I have only been swimming 2x a month I did ok, I lined up on the wrong side and ended up swimming wide to the first buoy but was good after that and ended up with a time of 44 minutes

They had some Challenge Athletes and this one girl was so awesome, she had I believe downs syndrome and someone swam and pulled her in a boat when they finished the swim she was such a ham she got out waving to everybody as we were all clapping for her and she was bowing and having a great time. She defefnitly reminded me to have fun!

Bike went well, they ended cutting it down to 21.6 from 24 again because of the delay, and i actually passed people on the bike and averaged 17.28 it is a relatively flat course but for me this was good. The only issue I had was it was a bit cold out and my feet were wet from the moisture in the air so I got pretty cold the last 5 miles.

I also had a good run considering in all my tris i have ALWAYS walked part of them and i didnt this time.....plus I decided on Thursday to get new shoes and wore them I figured nothing could be worse than the hurt I have been having when I ve been running in the newtons. And luckily I had absolutely no issues ( I ended up with a pair of mizunos after they did video of me running in about 10 different pair) I ended up with a time of 3:19 Over all .....yes Iam still working on my speed but I also wasnt the last for the race or in my age group!!!!!

I also got home and didnt feel terrible like i usually do and i ran and strength trained today with no issues ......... I had so many wins with this race that I am feeling good about where I am heading!!

I was so excited bout the good things in my race I forgot about the one issue I had, terrible cramping under my rib cage, I got home and looked it up and it said it most likely had to do with exhaling when I strike with my right foot.....so I thought I would give it a try when I ran today as this has been an issue for quite some time and I don't know if it was just because I was really focused on my breathing and starting my exhale when my left foot hit and didn't have any problem with it today. Does anyone have any thought s on this?

Edited by Jo63 2014-06-23 7:58 PM

Warren I thought the same exact thing. I really think the flat gave me a little rest and it probably helped my run alot. I was able to eat and drink more on the run as my stomach was unsettled throughout the bike. My back was also bothering me earlier on as well but with all the things go on I still did pretty decent on the bike and with the run. Need to work on that swim.

John glad to hear that your recovery continues to go well. Hopefully you'll be feeling better soon enough and you'll be able to get back to training.

Warren congrats and great job on the bike. Sounds like you had a killer ride yesterday and 8th overall is fantastic. It's funny you mention the downhills like you I usually coast during training and work hard on the uphills. Yesterday it was a whole different story, I was trying to do the same and get the most I could out of the downhill momentum. I think you raise a great point because I very rarely hammer the downhills in training especially when there are a lot of hills. We always try and slow down so we have to pedal up the hills. Maybe you're right about working more in training on pushing the downhills. Sorry to hear you were shorthanded but glad you got to this with your son yesterday it sounds like you guys had a good time.

JoAnne congrats and great job on your race. It sounds like you also had a great race yesterday and that you've made big improvements. It sounds like you had a great bike leg and you ran well. Glad to hear that you've got the shoe problem taken care of as well. You are definitely stronger this season and it's going to go a long way for you at IMWI. We missed you in Syracuse and believe it or not they made run harder. I'll explain in the RR but more running on the grass around the parking lot. It definitely wasn't any fun doing that.

I've been at camp all week and just caught up on all the posts. Update on me is I've signed up to volunteer IM Florida 2014 so I can get in for 2015... only hurdle is we are trying to get pregnant... so if I sign up (year in advance) and then we get pregnant 3 months later then I will be out a lot of money... please pray we get pregnant before this year's race (Nov). That would make planning much easier! The other hurdle is my wife thinks the biking is lowering my sperm count & wants me to stop biking... and all other activities in the heat (heat kills sperm)... I'm going for the test this week, PLEASE pray the count comes back high!

Jo - I know you already got new shoes, but for the record I like asics and currently run in brooks glycerin,
As for exhaling on left foot, that sounds very interesting... I've had the same cramp issue before and would like to know if others have experienced the same thing...

Tony - Great time for the HIM. I had a friend flat near the end of a race and he ran his bike a mile to the bike finish and still won his AG... ha!
I dont see anything wrong with you pushing it on the bike in the HIM... you're smart and know not to in the FULL

Okay, Brenda, can you tell us the story of your 2 kids? Your fb pics are the best!

Some people in Shreveport are buying and liking these. Any thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CNZDCZK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?i...

Tony/Warren/Jo, looks like all of you had great races eve with some slight difficulties, flat tires, injured shoulders and a bunch of fog isn't enough to slow you all down. Keep up the good work!

Will, I wish you luck in your count test, but I'm afraid science may be against you on this one. Maybe you can "study" a little and get a better result

john, sounds like your still reeling a bit from your bike incident! remain patient and the healing will come. But seriously, a wound just stopped bleeding? That's rough!

Will, thanks for the post on the wheels, I am interested seeing as I opted to not get the Flows.

Tony just want to dbl check the tracker you got for IM was my athlete tracker live. I saw a post saying this had sold out last year for IMOO so I want to get mine early

Congratulations on your races, Tony, Warren and Jo!

I am not posting much but am reading a lot and want to thank everyone for his or her contributions.

I have signed up for another race, a sprint in Colonial Beach Virginia on 12 July. The swim is in the lower Potomac River that can be quite choppy. I am trying to gain experience in preparation for the Olympic that I have sign up for in September.

I am a little scared of the swim, I went out over the weekend, set a GPS mark, went 1,000 yards away and jumped overboard telling my wife to go back to the mark and I used the boat to sight with plan of swimming to her. There were 1-foot waves and I was shocked at the difficulty of going in a straight line and even the difficulty just swimming and sighting. I kept feeling like while swimming with my head down that my legs were sinking and they really sunk when I picked my head up.

I watched a Total Immersion video on open water swimming and got a couple of ideas but am looking for more insight if anyone has any. ?

TI does have some good open water ideas. In terms of swimming straight, practice, practice, practice. Swimming straight without lane lines is a skill, and the more you swim without them the better you'll get at it.

In terms of sighting, don't pick your head straight up and take a full stare. Try to find something on shore which is distinguishable and hopefully tallish. Then just glance ahead within your normal breathing, and let your brain fill in the details. It's actually amazing how much you can gather with a just a quick peripheral glance. Then make slight adjustments. As an example, at the ocean tri I do there is a ferris wheel onshore for the last leg. We don't actually swim right towards it, but it provides a nice tall target so I can sight without picking my head up but rather just looking slightly ahead while breathing. And try to sight as infrequently as possible within maintaining a relatively straight path. Only you can gauge how often that is based on your natural swimming tendencies. Another trick is that if you know you drift to pull to one side or the other, place yourself such that most of the people are to that side. You will naturally be forced to gonna more straight path since you'll be bumping into people as you drift. This works best in shorter races with lots of people, but it can help a bit.

Not looking up but rather sighting through a glancing peripheral look is also the key to your last point about legs dropping. Every inch you lift your head to sight makes a HUGE difference in leg drop. Practice sighting without picking your head up much, and the leg drop should be similar to the pool. I don't have a ton of advice on general leg drop in swimming not related to sighting.

Like warren said practice practice practice,get in open water as much as possible and keep telling yourself to relax. Typically the only OWS I did was in a race and it always took me 1/2 ghe swim to relax and this year I have gone 2x outside of my race and The place I just had the race had an OWS that had lifeguard and boat etc and I can not tell you how much that helped me be more relaxed on Sunday. Just keep doing it and it will become easier.

JoAnne yes I did and thanks for reminding me I want to get it again for Mont Tremblant but it's gonna cost me alot more since it's international and I need to get it a week before and have it shipped to my home and not the condo I'm renting. They won't do that.

Chris I think Warren and JoAnne offering up some great advice.Swimming straight in the open water does take a lot of practice. Swimming in choppy conditions to me is more about relaxing and trying to swim calmly and not panic or over exert your self and waste energy. As far as sighting goes it is good to find something that you can sight off of whether to your right or left as been mentioned. Also I tend to try and bring my head up a slight bit and sneak a peek forward after I take a breath every now and then. I also sight off of others the only thing with that is you hope they are going in the right direction. That works well when swimming with my friends in the lake but in a race it can be hit or miss.

I used to sight in open water by bringing my entire head out of the water as I took a breath (bringing head out as arm came out and then turning head forward to look ahead as arm went back in). But last year I figured out something that works MUCH better for me:
I keep my head down (like normal) as I breath. Then, as I extend my arm forward, I lift out just my eyes (nose and mouth still in water) for a quick glance (as front arm is fully extended). For me, this method has kept my legs from sinking. For my IM, I sighted on right side only (so every 6 strokes).

One other thing I have done in some races is if I am right next to someone, then I will just glance over every time I breath on that side and make sure I stay behind them... of course, this method is gambling that they are swimming straight... ha! When I've done this, I'll still sight some just not as often...

For anyone wanting to improve on swim, my thoughts are that 1 or 2 coaching sessions (with actual coach or just a friend who knows what they are doing) can help a lot. Also, for me - once I got to where I could cruise with steady breathing, working on everything else became much easier. Keep practicing... I think swimming is one of those things that most people just have a breakthrough moment at some point and all of the sudden you "get it"