Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 73)

Good luck to your son and his team!

Well, not exactly the performance I was hoping for, but I made it through my 2nd tri.  Here's my race report from this morning: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=447354

I think Dirk is going to share pics later too

Warren I am sorry to hear about your cousin and will certainly keep her in my thoughts and prayers. I hope it turns out not to be as serious as it sounds.

Allison congrats on finishing your second Tri just catching up but can't wait to read the race report.

Busy day today attended my younger daughter's graduation ceremony this morning as she graduated from high school. Nice ceremony and they moved those kids out fast. I think it was like 605 of them graduating. It was hot too I wished I had my hydration belt and some GU man I was sweating like crazy. It was nice though to see her finish up and of course we are proud of her. I did manage to sneak a bike ride in for the afternoon before we took her out to dinner. I figured I would need to burn off all those dinner calories. I had a few issues with the bike though, had to take it back in to adjust the dropouts a second time for the tire rub. Also had a problem with the sensor for the bike computer I knocked it out of alignment. Once I got that taken care the ride was great managed to get about 90 minutes and 26.5 miles in. Glad I did because the calories really added up for the dinner tonight. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Just my weekly check-in.

1st, Good luck to everone racing this weekend. & congrats on those who raced.

I'm still trying to catch up on all the posts. I'm still about 5 pages behind. I've been crazy busy at work. I have 3 more days left in my current position/job here and set to transfer to my new one next week. I'm still worried about rearanging my training schedule. I'll be working 5am-2pm and have Tues, Wed. off. I'll figure it out.

Well, one week till my century race. I layed off the bike a couple days this week and was back on today . It really felt good to rest. I put in a 60+ miler today, going to take a day off training tomorrow. I've worked 15 days straight and I'm tired. I plan on two medium rides and a couple short rides before the century to keep the legs loose. Not sure if I'll do any swim/run this week.

I decide to splurge on some goodies today. I had extra $$$ (due to so much OT @ work). Nashbar & Performance Bike are having some big sales through Sunday. I spent about $180 on some extra tires (GT 4000's), some extra tubes, brake pads, bar tape, a new helmet, new bike shorts, and a new jersey. I saved $114 + free shipping (another $25).

I'll catch up on posts tomorrow (1 day off).

Keep racing hard and train safe!

Awesome racing everyone.  It's so cool that you guys all got to meet up.  I know it was a blast to meet Jonathan in person last year at Black Fly.  Someday I'd like to race with some of you as well.  Certainly if anyone is ever in New England shout out and we'll set you up.   And if there any BQ'ers out there, we'll definitely give you the red carpet treatment for your Boston experience.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes for my "cousin/daughter".  She's doing as well as can be expected and her attitude is awesome.  She's been in some pain but she's well enough to joke that the pain shouldn't be surprising given she has a ping pong ball in her head!  The surgeon has decided not to have her undergo any more diagnostic procedures and will just assume the swelling is continuing to go down since all indications are showing improvement.  Unless there's an emergency, hers or someone else's, she's still scheduled for Tuesday surgery.

Congrats to all the racers this weekend.  It looks like once again everyone represented the Junkie group well.

For me the frustration is starting to build.  This entire month I have been chasing 1 schedule change after another and have not come close to the volume I need.  Today I started getting that nagging thought that I may not be ready for 8-26!  Hopefully I can get back on track this week, supposed to have been a recovery week but since I am coming out of a recovery month that is scratched.

Different topic:  I competed in 2 5K's this week, one on Thursday and then on Saturday.  The path to the finish was different but the time was almost identical.  On Thursday it was extremely humid and then a wind storm blew through during the race and we were pelted with branches falling off the trees.  The race almost turned into a survival course.  On this race the pace started out extremely hard and I attempted to keep up, but after 1.5 miles the heat had toasted me and fell off dramatically.  Here are the splits: (Notice the minute drop from mile 1 to mile 3)  Finish 23:02 and exhausted.

Mile 1: 6:58  Avg HR 169  Max HR 176
Mile 2: 7:37  Avg HR 178  Max HR 181
Mile 3: 8:02  AVG HR 176  Max HR 180

Now for the 2nd race on saturday, much cooler and instead of being in the evening was an early morning race, closer to the time my body is used to working at.  This race started off much like above, but instead of trying to keep pace and push I held back and played the HR game, 1st mile below 165, 2nd mile below 170 and then last mile let it fly.  I had this plan earlier in the spring and set a PR.  No PR this time, but felt extremely under control during the entire race and even had enough for a kick at the end (Sorry ladies but motivation was to keep from being chicked at the end).  Here are the splits for this race, Talk about consistency!  In hindsight the way I felt I probably should of pushed the pace down to 7:05-7:10   Finish time 22:56 and felt great at the end of the race.

Mile 1: 7:21  Avg HR 160  Max HR 171
Mile 2: 7:19  Avg HR 173  Max HR 176
Mile 3: 7:18  Avg HR 177  Max HR 180

Sorry for the ramblings, Have a good Week!

I got my vote in this morning.  I'll try to remember to get one in a day as long as my mind can keep on track.

On my weekend note: I had an incredibly awesome weekend.  The race supports my spectacular time over a couple of day but really it was spending the weekend alone with Lis that really made this weekend special.  I love having her support at my races and now she is taking a bike around the course to be able to get pictures of me while I'm out.  She has been taking pics of me for a while but now she can get to different places on the course a little quicker and be a little more relaxed knowing she'll see me.

Also she and I went for a 9.5 mile run/ride yesterday morning.  I ran while she rode behind, beside and in front of me.  It was a special time for me and I got to share some cycling experience with her and she plans to do it again whenever I do my 7 mile runs and maybe even my long runs (12-15 miles) as soon as her backside thinks it can endure.  She's even talking about getting a good bike instead of the lead sled she currently rides.

I'll try to get a RR up later on this afternoon, but I got a 3rd place AG (3/38) and placed 17 overall from a fairly large and competitive field (17/418).  A guy in my AG placed 1st overall with a 1:01 time to my 1:09.  I'll share more info in the RR later but it was a great race and great fun with my Junkie friends.

Brenda and Dirk, great job on ur race.  Proud for ya'll!!!  Awesome job!

Matt, great job running.

Brenda, we are 1 and 1 in baseball.  1st game we lost but had 15 strikeouts on the team.  My son batter 3 times and never struck.  he also pitched 2 innings and they didn't score a run on him.

2nd game we mercied the team.  We have been in a rain delay since then.  We are currently under tornado warnings from TS Debbie.  They may cancel the tourney and if they do we will not qualify for the nationals is Mississippi because just the top 2 teams advance.  Th other team tht would go in front of us we beat 16-1 in regional play but that is baseball.

haven't had the weather to swim, to much rain, might get wet or something but i have been going to the gym riding the stationary bikes and using the dreadmill.

Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend and as usual posted terrific results.

Karl I hope the weather holds out for your son and that you guys get a chance to advance. It sounds like your son is having a great tournament. Good luck with the weather and for the rest of the tourney.

Matt those are pretty nice times for your 5K's, I also enjoyed the "getting chicked" motivational factor involved in the second 5k. I did get a kick out of that.

Matt, great job on the 5ks.  You learned something day1, and then applied it and really nailed day2.  And plenty of time for the half training, you'll be ready.  Though not ready enough!

And Jo, good job on the race.  Oly is a tough distance and you did well given some setbacks along the way.  Way to power through.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=447637&posts=1#M4278741

Here's my race from this weekend.  I did great!

I said it in the race report, but I'll say it here.  Wow!  Your paces are science fiction.  Awesome race.  I think Dirk is in trouble!

Random discussion....

At the race Saturday I was talking to a local tri coach that I have been beating lately (not by much).  He explained how he's been focusing on running for a year now trying to bring up his weak event.  He's done this by swapping time that used to be spent on the bike over to time running. 

We were discussion the theory that this has made him slower.  Here is how his reasoning goes:

He did the same race last year and here are some of his splits:

2011:  Run1=7:06   Bike=30:15   Run2=13:13

2012:  Run1=7:17   Bike=31:22   Run2=13:45

If his run had gotten better I would have expected his Run1 to be faster this year than last.  But it's not.  So perhaps his run actually has NOT gotten better.  That could be for any number of reasons and without figuring that out it's hard to draw conclusions.

Notice that his bike was slower.  Don't take that as written in concrete because I have no idea if the turn-around cone got placed in exactly the same spot as last year.  But if he's been sacrificing biking for running you would expect some slow down.  You would hope that it's gained back on the run.

But you can see that his Run2 is slower.

So here is what he and I both theorized.  Even IF he has become a better runner, being weaker on the bike not only slows him on the bike....but it slows him in a run after biking.  It goes like this...how well you run after the bike is partly determined by how good you are on the bike (ie. fatigue resistant).  A super, super strong cyclist will be able to run a 5k after his/her ride at basically the same pace as they run an open 5k.  That's a REALLY strong cyclist...but in a real life example for instance, it looks to me like I run about 20 seconds per mile slower after the bike...while many 'runners' get off the bike and their pace will be slowed by 1 minute per mile.

My same splits are:

2011:  Run1=7:09   Bike= 30:38   Run2=13:03 (13:41?)*

2012:  Run1=7:06   Bike=30:39    Run2=13:26

*=That run was way out of the norm for me and seemed like a fairy tale.  The results showed me having a 1:18 transition just before that run but I know that I transitioned smooth and fast and that it was right in the neighborhood of 40 seconds.  My theory is that they botched my split leaving transition and had to guess...so that run was probably actually 13:41.

Unfortunately, my run hasn't improved much either...But my bike is more consistent.  That's to be expected because I'm not cycling ANY different this year than last year.  My added running has been additional new time spent training, not a sacrifice of other training.

But if this coach and I are right, cycling ability pays dividends twice in a triathlon. 

Just got home!  I'll read through everything later.

I did a trail run / scramble up Black Butte near Mt. Shasta.  It is 2000 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles.  The last mile was pretty much no running due to the large boulders and loose talus slopes and no trees.  The top is at 6300 feet.  Fun stuff!  The elevation didn't affect me at all!  I felt great during the parts I was able to run!  I think I'll do just fine at my trail hill climb race in August!  Pictures coming soon!

BTW....I started my run before the actual trailhead.  My time from the trailhead sign to the top was 54 minutes!  People at the top were impressed!

Jeff, I'd have to agree that improving cycling fitness pays the most in overall tri improvement, particularly once a runner is posting FOP times.  But I still contend the better runners tend to be the best overall triathletes.  Part of that could be that it seems every good runner who takes up the sport become at least a very good cyclist rather quickly, but many great cyclists never seem to be able to get their running beyond the mediocre level.  I'm not sure why that is true, but it sure seems to be from what I've seen.

On the other hand, I'd be reluctant to agree that your run hasn't improved much.  From what I see, taking the second run since that's the money run, you were 15 seconds, or about 7 sec/mile faster, on a 2 mile effort.  For ham and eggers like me, and especially those new to the sport like me and others in the group, a few seconds a mile could be categorized as not great improvement, but once the paces get down to your numbers and after years of training, that's a pretty significant improvement.  Not to mention nature (age) is working against us trying to slow us down after 40, so realistically just keeping pace is actually improving.  Add all that together and I'd say your run shows a pretty impressive improvement.

Nice races, everyone.  I enjoyed meeting up with some BT-ers over the weekend. 

Samantha, I got in my vote!  I hope your friend wins. 

Matt, congrats on the 2 races.  Your 2nd one was great, especially considering you didn't have much time to recover from the 1st. 

Jeff, I loved your discussion on the bike.  I have already decided what I am working on in the off-season this year.  I was actually pleased with my performance on the bike this past weekend- it was good for where I am at now.  However, there were some fast girls on the bike who showed me that it's possible to go so much faster.  (Brenda was one of them!)

Stan, I hope work is going well.  I know you have a lot on your plate right now. 

I agree 1000%!!  Sometime you have to challenge yourself beyond what you think you can do.  Otherwise you never really know what you can do.  I planned to do that at a 5k earlier this year but the weather didn't work out well to try to run a "blow up pace."

I haven't had time to even read Jeff's report and I KNOW I'm in trouble!  But just like the race this past weekend I enjoy reading and the races and trying to plan ahead to one day maybe be close to as fast as Jeff.

Ok.  So finally I have gotten my Race report up and you can read it here.  A word of warning, it is long winded but then many of you have probably come to expect that of me.

I loved the race and I think I nailed a decent effort throughout.  Enjoy the reading.