Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 8)

Happy Easter!

No training today - definitely a fat day - no tracking food today.

Goals for 2012 - unfortunately, I have things planned through June. I have not yet finalized after June, though, I have some ideas. Goal is for an OLY TRI - my base winter running is plenty for the run distance - my base bike and training rides will get me past the bike - boils down to my CONFIDENCE in the water/swim..and being able to finally relax a bit in the water while swimming and smoothing out the stroke. After my winter swim lessons - the answer is confidence. I do not envision a race marathon - but I'm thinking about doing the Tecumseh Trail marathon. Hilly 100 bike ride in October - a few sprint Tris' during the summer. I've rn one half marathon and have two more - one in two weeks and another two weeks latter. My first sprint Tri is this Sunday.I'll be ready - I hope the weather is at least in the 50's.

1) Improve half marathon speed - compare HM speed from races this spring to one in the fall to gauge. Goal 1:38 or  less. --- incorporate at least 1 key speed workout each week. speed train elements during each workout.   

2) Improve confidence swimming. continue 2-3x week training. swim with Tri group. (join masters?)

3) Continue progress gained over winter on my bike. guage: last summer-I was getting dropped on the group rides - this year goal is to not get dropped. ride in a century ride.

--- Continue to take care of myself - push myself - learn my limits and how to exceed.

Vero, I also just had my longest training run so far.  I ran 6 miles today, which is only the time besides the 10K I ran last year that I have ever run that far.  I felt good the whole time, and kept my 10 minute pace.

Matt, I really appreciate the continued reminders of lots of miles at a slow pace.  I keep feeling like I need to speed up, but I keep my pace and remind myself that I'm training my body.  Seeing your times from last year, which look just like my times now, and then your times this year, really helps keep it in perspective.

Happy Easter everyone!  I’ve been out of town for the weekend.  Although I have been reading all of the posts, it was too difficult to post from my phone. 

In response to all of Dirk’s questions:
My goals for this season would be
1. Get back to pre-pregnancy weight and running race speed (I can check this one off!)
2. Race in 2 sprint triathlons and place in age group in at least 1
3. Complete an Olympic distance triathlon (I will have a time goal, but I don’t know what it is yet)
4. Compete in my first half-marathon (goal time of 1:45)
5. Become more comfortable on the bike and in the open water

Welcome to Samantha!  We’re glad to have you in our group.

Kurt, your charger story was hilarious.  I laughed out loud when I read it. 

Congratulations to Kate on her half-marathon and Matt on another awesome PR!  Nice work on the bike too, Matt.  Can’t wait to hear how she rides. 

Stan, what a great experience to be able to swim with the South Korean Olympic team.  I imagine that is something you will remember for a long time.  I’m glad you learned a lot from it too. 

John, I just realized that you switched your blog.  I read your old one and thought it was hilarious.  Now I better get caught up on this one.  I like the name of it J

Tony, you have some great goals.  I like that your #1 goal is to have fun.  That should probably be #1 for all of us. 

Dina, I can’t believe the sweets didn’t taste good after waiting for so long.  I don’t follow the best diet, and sweets are a staple for me.  Maybe I should give your plan a try. 

Vero, way to go on your long run.  It sure feels good to accomplish something that you’ve never done before. 

I am having a couple of problems that I could use the group’s advice on:

First problem is my left leg.  As some of you might remember, I got new running shoes a couple of weeks ago.  They were causing the lateral part of my left knee to bother me, so I returned them and got a new pair.  The pain never went away completely- I raced with a sore knee and have been back to my slow and easy runs since then.  I even eliminated the strides that I had been doing.  Well, things are getting worse now.  The pain has started to spread to the lateral part of my left leg now.  I would say that most of it is on the side of my calf (I think muscular), but even my ankle and up near my hip have been bothering me.  The pain is severe at the very beginning of my runs (probably for about a minute) and then becomes tolerable but still a nuisance for the remainder.  After my runs, my leg is really sore for the rest of the day.  What should I do?  Stretch, ice, icy hot, take a day or two off?    

In response to that problem, I’ve been spending more time on my bike.  I did a 90 minute ride on the trainer the other day and came across a new problem.  After my ride, my hands were shaky and tingly.  This is a huge problem for someone whose livelihood depends on a steady hand!  I spent most of my time in a regular position but also spent some time in aero position.  Do I need to be switching position more often, or is this a bike fit problem?  I got a professional fit when I got my bike a few years ago, but I haven’t had anyone look at it since. 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.         

Was it just your hands that were shaky & tingly?

I can think of two things. It could be a low blood sugar crash (I've had that before) or you are gripping the bike too hard. Remeber to ride with your core. You should be able to pull your hands away and still remain balanced.

You said in your bio that you are a fish in the water so you are ahead of many other in the group in that arena.  Depending on your available time I think you could go with any of the 16 week plans right now.  Your first race is only about 14 weeks out but that isn't really a problem.  You could do the 3x balanced plan if you have that kind of time available but the 2x plan would be sufficient as well.  If you chose the 3x and need to drop a work out it might be best to drop a swim if you are comfortable enough with it.  Something about the swim that is very important is that you get an open water swim in at least once before your race if you aren't used to open water.  Open water swimming feels very different than a pool and I greatly encourage you to take some time to do this later.

John, Tony and David, Congrats on those long runs.  I remember as I was building my running base a few years ago, the excitement of reaching new milestones.  My logs would read each week like a kid in a candy store as my mileage got bigger and bigger.  And just as you guy have heard, keep the miles slow and easy and allow the time on your feet to develop a good base.  Matt has done very well following the advice of slow, easy miles and he is way ahead of my curve when I started running.  something else that will help you with your running fitness is some INTENSE cycling, so add that if you can.  We can talk about specific WO's later if you like.

Allison,  I'll let one of the other mentors get to your knee issues first, but right now, on the surface, I would say take a couple of days off but I think I need a little more specifics.  Right now I may be late for work if I don't get going.

WE had a great Easter.  I hope everyone had a chance to think about what Easter was really about.  The sunrise service was my favorite but the 11:00 service was special too as the pastor really got the children involved. 

Anyway, I ate WAY to much after church.  I was tired all afternoon.

Today I got up at 3:30 am stretched and ran for 23 minutes, then headed off to the gym to work my back.  It is so hard getting everything in.  I'm trying to get more runs in, more biking and still trying to learn to swim.  The swim has been on the back burner since we had a cold front come thru.  The water temp dropped from 79 to 71.  I can NOT force myself to get in water that cold.  I do not have a wetsuit.  If anyone knows of one for sale, please let me know.   I'm 5.71/2 and weigh 142.

Got my bike fitted and clip on shoes/pedals.  Still getting used to it.  Also made the bike more aggressive by lowering the bars and pulling the seat forward.  My neck is sore from looking up while riding.

I think I'm going to incorporate the training plan for an Olympic even though a sprint will be my 1st.  If I can train for an olympic, the sprint will be a piece of cake.  The swim seem to be the problem and if it warms up, I'll spend a tremendous amount of time in our pool.

Ya'll train hard and enjoy the journey

My legs always feel shakey too, but I just figured that was normal.  Thanks for the good advice about my core.  I'll have to check that out on my next ride. 

I need to learn everyone's names!  Congrats to everyone on some great weekend workout!  I managed a nice, 25 mile bike ride on Saturday and an 8 mile run on Sunday before Easter brunch with the extended family.

I caught the cold that my son has had.  Yesterday, after my run, I could feel it coming on.  This morning, it has definitely taken up residence.  Hopefully it won't be as bad as his since I've been trying to make my workouts mellow and I've been taking Emergen-C, vitamins, herbs and lots of fluids.  Today, I have a swim session with my swim coach.  I may bag the remainder of today's workouts.  I guess I'll just see how I feel.  I have to teach Spinning class tonight.  That's not a workout for me, though.  I'm more of a cycling coach than an aerobics instructor.

Oh!  I bought a new pair of goggles that I'm excited about trying!  They are AquaSphere Vista.  Has anyone tried them?  They look and feel like a SCUBA mask without the covered nose.  I've had trouble finding goggles that don't leak.  Are there any others out there worth trying?

For a cold take zinc tablets w/ a meal.  w/o a meal I feel nauceous.  Take it 3 times per day.  I also keep a cold eeze cough drop in my mouth all the time too.

Hope U feel better. 

Can't help w/ goggles.

My initial reaction is the gripping too.  Were you gripping tightly?  Maybe blood wasn't able to get to your hands?

Or, not just the grip, but are you putting too much weight towards/on your handlebars?

I know this advice may go against the grain a little, and is a little long, but here goes.

Since you've mentioned you're a fish, I'd say a canned plan might not be the best for you.  Most triathletes struggle in the water and I think plans are geared toward that.  This group is a perfect example of that.  If you want to love running, I think it is important to run lots, mostly easy, and really focus on running. 

Also, a strong bike is a requirement for a good tri run. If you burn out on the bike, your run will be no fun, so being a string cyclist is very important.  The swimming portion of a tri - particular in short course races, is so short that if you are a relatively strong swimmer I think spending more time running and biking is fine and appropriate.  The one thing to be sure about the swim is that your form is adequate to get through the distance without expending too much energy since you don't want the swim to have much if any impact to your biking and running.

My disclaimer - this advice is not appropriate for attempting top AG finishes - at that point I think you need to re-evaluate everything.  Until my 5k times are well under 20 minutes I know that's out of the question for me around here in sprints, so I don't worry about that!

Nice work over the weekend, and good luck with the cold.  Hopefully it will be mostly gone by the weekend, but I bet you'll be fine either way.

I swim races and open water swims with those same goggles.  I absolutely love them; in fact they’re so comfortable I don’t even realized I have them on.  I have a weird shaped head/face I guess, because I also couldn’t find goggles which didn’t leak at least some unless I tighten them to the point of pain and leaving marks for days, even with all the tricks my swimmer friends tried to show me.

Allison, in regard to the leg I suggest this:  You don't look like you've slowed down your running yet in response.  Since you are in a stable pattern of injury, rather than just stop running, I suggest that for 1 week you cut all your running in half.  Do the same number of runs, just half the distance.  And keep the pace for ALL runs at your slowest recovery pace.  Often stride length plays a role in the pain, especially the lateral knee pain.

Compensate by putting all the extra time in on the bike.  This may mean some short bike rides on days that used to be just a run day.  In fact, putting that cycling FIRST, before the shortened run may be helpful to your leg.

At the end of the week it will be clear whether the leg got better as a result or not and we can further strategize from there.  At any point if it becomes worse than it's been just pull the plug.  And for treatment, try these things:

• Ice the painful areas for 15 minutes each day, preferrably after the run.
• Take 2 aleve (double dose) each night before bed.
• When running avoid any surfaces slanted to the left.
• If you don't already do this, ensure you are always doing it....run silently (the easiest way to land softly)

Regarding the shaky hands, we need to figure out the cause.  Was it circulation?  Did you have the shakes from low blood sugar?  Did your hands shake from muscular fatigue?

If circulation, then answer is to change your grip all the time as you ride (when on your hands).  On the aerobars you shouldn't have as much trouble with circulation.

If blood sugar, then train more and it will resolve itself.

Muscular fatigue in the hands/arms?  Just relax the upper body.

This is my GOALS post.  Hmmmm.... 

My goals this year aren't much different than previous years.  The first and most important one is to improve my performance over last year.  I would be happy to improve in just one discipline but indications are that I may be better in all 3.

3 seasons ago I was already happy with my cycling performance but that continues to improve.

Now my focus is the run, but my swim has improved too.  But this goal can't be counted as accomplished until deeper in to the season.

Along with that is a goal I have had for some time now of someday winning overall at a triathlon.  I took a 2nd last year and so that goal is a possibility this season.

And I've been thinking a lot about a 2:10 olympic time. 

So let's say these are my 3 goals for 2012:

1. be faster than 2011
2. overall triathlon win
3. 2:10 olympic

So I've bolded a couple of things that I find most important about your post (in reference to the running part).  The number one issue is that you are back to your slow and easy runs and things are getting worse.  Your pain is "severe" and I would never argue with a mom that you don't know the meaning of severe.  You have a single issue that is causing your whole leg to hurt.  This is compensation, but in order to fix the problem, you are going to have to take care of that knee first.  I browsed through your logs and see that last run when things got a lot worse, your heart rate was pretty high.  Maybe you weren't going easy???  I find myself doing this...thinking I'm going for an easy run and then turns into a harder run.

I am going to say no running at all for the next three days.  Period.  Ice that knee three times a day for 15-20 mins.  Pay attention to how tight your hips and quads are (both legs).  Most of those muscles that hurt are probably tight and aching from trying to support your knee.  Stretch them out and think about a massage also.  Do what Jeff says and spend your running time on the bike.  NO INTERVALS for the first three days.  Spin out the legs in a comfortable aerobic gear.  You have to fight the inflamation, not worsen it by mashing the pedals.  Normally I wouldn't take this conservative of an approach, but lucky for us, it's only April 9th and you can afford to be smart right now.

Now that you're on the bike your arms and hands are falling asleep.  Totally normal.  My fiance has had this happen a million times.  Usually when she stops riding her bike in October and gets back on it in January/February.  She locks out her elbows and rounds her shoulders to support herself.  Keep the hips rotated forward and the core tight.  Stay loose in the shoulders and elbows bent slightly.  Chance the position of your hands from the cross bar to the hoods and back a few times during each ride.

Are you looking for a new suit or a used one?  I guess the way you phrased the question sounds like you are looking for a used one.   I got a great deal on a used one through ebay once. 

But just in case, there are some good deals on new ones that you should be aware of.  With some regularity, Xterra Wetsuits has a sale and you can get their entry-level full-suit for $150 or less.

I've got a bit of a crazy year coming up.  I have a bunch of races, but my goals aren't exactly the same as what they normally would be.  In order of priority:

1.  Get married.
1.a.Survive getting married.
2.  Have fun.  Really get the most out of my year and see what I'm made of.
3.  PR all of my races.
4.  Run a sub-8 min pace for at least one of my races.
5.  Swim a 1:05/100
6.  Stay lean and mean.  Trying to race around 180.

Jonathon, congrats on the marriage!  and all ur goals.  I know U R a smart guy but just be prepared that when U get married, U really become dumb.  U see, when U get married, U can do NOTHING right.  I found out I didn't know how to wash clothes, been doing it wrong since I started back in college, can't think for myself...as far as I know, I've only done 1 thing right since we've been married and do U know when it happened, I got up and wrote it down on the calendar.  Son got a kick out of that.

A couple of phrases you need to memorize...  "You are right, I'm wrong, I'm sorry", another is "What is hers is hers and what is yours is hers"  Don't ever try to use anything of hers...lol

Really marriage is fantastic and I love my wife but it is a lot of work but well worth it. 

Jeff, yes I would prefer a used wetsuit.  I've been looking e-bay, wetsuit rentals etc etc.  I found my bike on e-bay.  I will definitely look at xterra.

thanks!

karl

Xterra had a clearance sale going on a while ago, I swiped a used sleeveless for like $70 or something. It was a steal. They had a limited number of sizes, so YMMV, but it's worth checking out. Wetsuitrentals.com had a number of great deals on used and clearance suits as well, although again, there were only limited sizes.

John

Dirk, could you elaborate on what you mean by INTENSE cycling?