Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 89)

This sounds like a very interesting swim that could have went south.  It's good to know you'll be able to keep your composure in a big race with a lot of people beating on you during wave or mass starts.  I've only done larger wave starts but sometimes they can get kind of hectic with everyone crushing in on each other as they jockey for position.  I think it  good to experience this type of thing occasionally for very brief periods to keep you honest, so to speak.

Wife is struggling w/ her bike riding...she was just getting out of the garage last night, and starting down the driveway when she crashed.  She hadn't gone 20 feet.  She got a bloody knee and elbow, how she did it, I'll never know.  She was so upset w/ herself.  I tried my tri bike and I understand how she feels. I almost crashed it!

Now my question.  My road bike has mountain bike pedals.  My tri bike has road bike pedals, when I got on my tri bike, my shoes would not clip in.  Is there an adjustment or do I have to get new shoes for the tri bike to meet the pedals?  Sorry to be so stupid!  Hey this is BEGINNERtriathlete..right???

Catching up again - great races this weekend everyone! You all are very inspiring for me and help me strive to work a little harder. I would probably loaf through every workout but then I think of this group and try to make it count.

Love the post about complete or compete. I've raced enough by this point that I know I can complete but I am always my worst competition and my hardest critic.

Tony glad you managed to stay calm when things got rough in the swim. Sounds like you are really getting a great OWS education and I'm happy to read you have a group to swim with!

I'm teaching VBS this week (I have the preschoolers of course) and it is really eating into my BT time. We're gone every evening from 5:15-9:00. I'm also working on a total reorganization of our basement.  It's not finished and full of a ridiculous amount of toys, half of them my own from teaching preschool for so many years. Hopefully when I get this done we'll be able to start working towards a more finished space down there.

I'm taking this week as a swim focused week since the TDF challenge is over. I'm interested in some different swim workouts if anyone would care to post. After so many years of tri training I'm getting a little bored. I made this one up yesterday and it was pretty hard:

400 race pace then 2 x 200 all out

300 race pace then 2 x 150 all out

200 race pace then 2 x 100 all out

It was harder than I thought it would be in my head . I was hurting pretty bad by those last 100's.

I did this swim outside in the local public pool. It has been in the 100's again this week here. The day before I ran for 30 min at 3:30 in the afternoon when it was 103 then had to go to VBS so I didn't have a lot to drink. I only mention that because at the end of the swim I had 2 bad charlie horse type cramps which I NEVER have. I'm thinking maybe dehydration or at least low on fluids?

Dirk it was a good experience for me. I am not sure how I will react once I am in the thick of it with people banging into me hopefully I will keep my composure as I fully expect that to happen. Fortunately for my first race this weekend it is a time trial start so it may not be that bad. I probably lucked out for the first race but they will not all be like that. I think I can keep head straight when it does happen which is reassuring to know.

Karl sorry to hear about your wife. I hope she is alright. I am not expert in regards to the bike so I will defer to the other guys here who know far more than I do but maybe you need to change the cleat on your shoe to fit the pedal. Typically the cleat and pedals are a set when purchase them.

Swim workouts that'll make you sick?! Awesome! Oh wait - you said fit? That's less fun. Here are some that I've used. My T-Pace (pace for a 1000 yrd TT is around 2:05-2:10, so adjust times for intervals accordingly.

1 (if you're not hurting after this...):

WU - 200 easy
20x100 on 2:05 (T-pace -0:05)
CD - 300 easy

2500yrds total

2:

WU - 300 easy
4xPyramid - 25,50,75,100,75,50,25 (400) - 25s and 75s are drills, 100 is EBEH (25 easy, 25 build, 25 easy, 25 hard)
CD - 200 easy

1700yrds total

3:

WU - 200 easy
Pyramid - 25,50,75,100,125,150,175,200,175,150,125,100,75,50,25 - Go from sprint to race pace, so 25 sprint, 50 a little slower, etc until 200 at race pace, build back up on the way down.
CD - 200 easy

2000yrds total

4:

WU - 200
5x100 on 1:55 (t-pace - 15) - (I struggle to hold this and usually get the last one or two on no rest)
200 easy.
5x100 on 1:55
200 easy
5x100 on 1:55
CD - 200

2300yrds total

Our masters coach had us doing 50yrd intervals on the minute too... that was tough. Once upon a time I found a website that had a bunch of workouts on it. Masters also does a lot of IM (individual medley) stuff. I think work on other strokes has really helped my speed.

I'll see if I can find that website. :-)

Tony - great job in that OWS!

Karl - Sorry to hear about your wife, that really sucks... I hope she gets back to it soon. It's also not the shoes you need to change, but the cleats on the bottom. The cleats should match the pedal you're using. What's the brand and model of your pedal? We can help you get the right cleats or tell you whether they're compatible!

Jo - A false flat is something that LOOKs flat, but is actually slightly up or downhill (usually up). It's disorientating because you feel like you should be doing one speed, but you're actually doing another.  It's frustrating and you can sometimes feel like you're really struggling, even though you're not.

John

Jo63 - 2012-07-25 7:13 AM

KWDreamun - 2012-07-25 5:46 AM

Wife is struggling w/ her bike riding...she was just getting out of the garage last night, and starting down the driveway when she crashed.  She hadn't gone 20 feet.  She got a bloody knee and elbow, how she did it, I'll never know.  She was so upset w/ herself.  I tried my tri bike and I understand how she feels. I almost crashed it!

Now my question.  My road bike has mountain bike pedals.  My tri bike has road bike pedals, when I got on my tri bike, my shoes would not clip in.  Is there an adjustment or do I have to get new shoes for the tri bike to meet the pedals?  Sorry to be so stupid!  Hey this is BEGINNERtriathlete..right???

Something I can actually contribute to. When I got my tri bike I kept my old road bike shoes I did get new pedals so I didnt have to take the ones off my road bike, and they are the same style as the ones I have on the road bike. In the IM Wisconsin thread someone posted about having trouble gaining speed in a certain section, the response was false flat, can someone explain?

For shoes - it all depends on the pedals.  There are different types of pedals, so your cleats have to match the pedal type.  If you post a pick of your pedals we can figure out what they are.  Also, as far as clipless shoes/pedals there are definitely mountain bike shoes and road bike shoes.  Road bike shoes have 3 holes (4 for some specialty TT shoes I think) on the sole and mountain bike shoes have 2.  If you have shoes with 2 holes, you could use mountain bike pedals on your road bike - I did that for my first and a half.  The shoes are much heaver than road shoes but they work fine.  If you want shoes to match your road pedals and you have mountain bike shoes, you will need to buy new shoes.  The cleats often come with the pedals but can be bought separately.

A false flat is a section of road which appears flat but is actually a slight uphill.  These can be notorious for ruining a long race like an IM is you hammer too hard up these hills trying to maintain a certain speed.

Triathlon looks cute compared to this.  Who's in for 2013!?

Death Race Challenge

Hello all.  I had a different kind of weekend.  Saturday my son and I got up early and went to the kid's duathlon held in conjunction with the Music City Triathlon. 

Evan competed in the 11-15 year old age group.  He ran nice and slow for the first 1/2 mile run (I taught him to pace properly...but in this case he probably was running his 5k pace), he then rode his bike pretty well passing kids over 3.5 miles.  He finished up with another 1/2 mile run where he held his place and didn't walk and said it was hard!

We were there until about noon.  Except while he was racing he spent the rest of the morning (7:30-12) occupying himself with a stray cat that walked up.  It had mange and was literally starving...as in so starved it may not have been saveable.  He got it some food and it ate.  It was very friendly actually.  It was glad to be approached, petted even picked up (which I did).  After his race we couldn't find it anymore despite his desire to keep looking for another hour. 

He was heartbroken by the fact that we couldn't find it and by the fact that I told him we wouldn't be taking it home.  That broke my heart too.  What I did want to do was take it to an animal rescue.

So on that very somber note Evan raced and his heart wasn't in to it.

We then went to the zoo and spent some time there looking at the animals, but the main attaction for him was the aviary with Lorakeets.  They are free flying and interacting with the people.  They are hand-fed and you have the option of purchasing 'nectar' to feed them.  We spent time in there twice.  The first time the birds had finished their morning activity and were resting in the heat of the day so no luck for us.  The 2nd time they had gotten active again as the sun got lower and had a blast interacting with them.

I was outside in the sun from 7am - 6pm.  No workout.

Sunday we got up early again (4am) to get to Nashville to work as volunteers at the Music City Triathlon.  Evan spent the day looking for the cat to no avail while I worked a corner on the bike course.  Standing in the sun from 7:30am to 12noon.  We left there at 1pm. After that I went home and cut the grass.

I was outside in the sun from 6am-6pm. No workout.

Of course that no workout part really bothered me.  Weekends are for those key long endurance workouts and I squandered a weekend.  I value Evan's participation in the duathlon, I value his enjoyment at the zoo, I value not being hated by my neighbors for foot tall grass, I value volunteerism...so I have to be OK with it.

On the up side, Monday I felt very strong during swim, then effortless during my run, then as strong as an ox on the mtn bike ride that night.

Felt similarly strong on Tuesday's workout, and this morning too.

In fact, last week was a very good workout week too.  I had a training class Mon-Thurs and didn't have time to eat breakfast nor lunch if I worked out....so I lost 6lbs last week.  I believe that I was a bit overextended in my training when the week ended so the weekend off was probably very good in fact.

This weekend has me racing another Xterra triathlon in East Tennessee.  I'm going out there Friday with hopes of pre riding 2 laps of the bike course as well as a run on the run course.  Saturday all my buddies will be showing up and I hope for 2 more laps of the bike course with them on Saturday before the race on Sunday.  It's pretty awesome that I have 6 other Nashville athletes that I know who will be out there for the race.  3 of them will be doing their first ever Xterra!

(Evan_birds.JPG)

(Mangey_Cat.JPG)

You've probably posted about this and even shown a picture....but what kind of bike did you wife get?

I was about to call the people doing this lunatics.. then I realized that a year ago, I thought triathletes were lunatics too...

---------------------------

Okay - I have my first bike fit video. Tri shorts and no shirt because everything I had was too loose.I also do NOT have aero bars, but I do drop into an aero-esque position on the trainer sometimes. I'm thinking of moving the seat forward a little because in my mind that opens the hip angle(?). I also tend to ride with straight arms however long/short the cockpit.

http://youtu.be/cxLqFZvF75s

Jeff glad you got to spend some quality time with your son this weekend and sounds like you had a great time. I know the urge to train must have been killing you but good for you for resisting and getting some rest.

Jonathan I like challenges as much as anyone but that is not a race that is insanity.

Dina, re: swim workouts.  This might not be good for main sets, but could add variety nonetheless.  This came in a USAT e-newsletter in 2010 or something, but I like it because it adds some shorter bursts of speed.  It suggests repeating the sets a couple of times. This is really more of a "pre" workout, since it's designed before your main set.  (There is also a main set suggestion.)

http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/articles/swim-fast-to-get-fast-the-50s-102510.aspx

John, any fit must be at least comfortable enough to sustain for your training and racing so it needs to always be understood that when talking about bike fit that it always assumes it's only an option if you can handle the position.

I can sum up my feedback very simply.  When you are on the hoods you should be as low as you are when in the drops now.  So lower the handlebars to that point... 4-5" I guess?  You might get there by moving your spacers above your stem and flipping the stem.

Your hip angle is plenty open.  The seat doesn't need to move forward at this point.  Once you make the change, if you can't breath when you are in the drops then you can come up as much as necessary.  If you don't use your drops when racing in a triathlon then you really give up a lot of performance so don't put them in a position too low to use.

I'm about to sell a wheelset and thought I'd offer it to this group first.  I'll put it on the general classifieds later, perhaps tomorrow.

HED Jet clinchers.  C2 rim profile.  I think they are the 2010 model.  The front is their 60 and the rear is their 90.  It's a great choice in wheels since the 60 is still very aero but doesn't get blown around too much.  The rear never gets blown around, is lighter than a disc (still not as fast as one) and if you ever qualify for Kona it's legal there (a disc isn't). 

I raced with these wheels in 2010 and 2011.  They are very lightly used, never damaged in any way and are true and free spinning.  The wheelset only includes the wheels and skewers.  Pictured is a cassette and tires mounted as well as the valve extenders.  Those aren't included unless you want to talk about throwing in a small amount more.

(wheels_s.jpg)

Over the years I've introduced a number of people to road biking via one of my spare road bikes.  Many people find it extremely unstable...much like the way you and I found our Tri bikes to handle.

Does your wife have any bike, perhaps an old clunker somewhere, that she's used recently that she feels confident on?  If not, it might make sense to find a way for her to progress from a more 'stable' bike to her new Giant.  I'm thinking comfort bike, cruiser, or even mtn bike. (even if you can borrow one)

Then when making the switch to the road bike there are some things you can do temporarily to help with the initial adjustment.  The further backwards a person's weight is on the bike the less twitchy the bike is (extra weight on the handlebars increases induced steering effect).

Is there a way you can slightly lower her seat (for now) and move it ALL THE WAY BACK and her still be able to reach the handlebars?  Also raise the handlebars as much as you can.  I know that the stem may already be as high as it can be and that she may not reach the handlebars if the seat is moved too far, but if any of this is possible it will increase the stability of the bike and then over the next few weeks these settings can be moved back toward the original locations.

Dirk, I know your love for your daughters knows no bounds.  Perhaps this isn't an ending but a beginning.  Have her look in to a triathlon club at college next year.  Maybe there's a whole new chapter to write!

Hey!  Find the next local triathlon and enter as a relay team.  She can swim while you do both the bike and run. 

Dirk, agree with Jeff.  I'm doing a relay with a friend who was an ex-D1 swimmer.  After some training swims to get ready for the tri, he's getting the whole competitive thing stoked up again and just joined a maters group. 

And is college swimming out of the question for her?