Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 92)

I have been unable to get out and ride today.  AND IT KILLED ME!!!!!!!!!  The weather has been really great but I'll be inside for a shorter than I'd like ride tonight.......I hope!  Lis and I went to buy some flooring and we ended up driving around shopping for a new grill too.  It took much longer than I anticipated and the I had to assemble the new grill so we can eat supper from the grill.  I am really going nuts not begin able to be on the road today.

It sounds like your getting a great season outlined for racing. 

My early race is likely to be at Pokagon again this year, which is a week later than Muncie.  Brenda and I are both planning to do that one.  They have a sprint and Oly with the runs being off road on the trails of Pokagon State park.  (They have a campground there if you want to do that race.

I haven't pulled the trigger on Muncie 70.3 or Rev3 Cedar Point but they are both on my list this year.

Tri-Indy has a KOA campground east of Indy.  Lis and I will be staying there and if Brenda goes she'll be staying there too.  It has a small pool for the kids and putt putt but we've never played there.  It a reasonably nice campground and very close to the race venue on an early Sunday morning.  It only takes about 15-20 minutes to get there from because the freeway is nearly vacant and it is almost a straight shot.  I would recommend it.  I think Sara would really like the swim portion being able to walk the entire course and possibly hang with Lis and my girls (if they come).

T he cold water was almost definitely a factor for your swim today.  In temps as cold as we were discussing earlier in the week you cannot discount that it was a shock to your mind and body.  Besides, hanging on to a kayak is better than the alternative, unless Pam is looking to cash in on some life insurance money.

I am sure you remember my race last season when I swam an additional 150 yards because of my own foolishness and personal vendetta (kind of).  That race had me so mad that I wanted to pull the plug on it, out of frustration.  Each of us will have some of those races.

I'll look forward to seeing the RR.

So I am normally the one getting the speech from Lis about how poorly I performed but now I guess I get to be the lecturer. 

With 2 splits faster than your last race you have little to be upset about.  I don't know if you were feeling very cold or not immediately after your swim but it is likely that your body's core temp was lower and your muscles less responsive for the bike.  By the time you got to the run tings were back to a more normal state and you had a great run.

You definitely put in the training time, so no worries there.  You'll be fine for the oly's later!  Stay focused and keep the training going.  Get the swim workouts in as much as you can and add as many OWS as possible too.  this will obviously help you get past the panic strikes at the beginning of a race. 

Matt it's great to see that you got a chance to ride outdoors today and then make a bike/run brick out of it. Also glad to see you get your race schedule together for this season and include that HIM at Cedar Point. I think you'll get some redemption there this year.

Karl and Jen first off congrats on going out there and doing that tri today and finishing. It may not have gone as well as you both would have liked it to but sometimes it happens that way. I'm sure the cold water swim didn't help you guys any as well. I wouldn't get down about this at all. We all have tough days like this the important thing is that you guys both pushed through it and finished. When you look back at this race you'll appreciate your efforts and it'll be something that will motivate you both going forward. 

Dirk I can relate to not getting out to ride today. I was invited to do a 60 mile ride outdoors and it was beautiful out there today. It would have been perfect to go but I had a lot of running around to do today so I couldn't go. Took the dog to the vet and went shopping and was out most of the day. By the time I got done with everything I didn't even feel like working out so I wound up not training at all. I hate missing out on opportunities like that but today was a life happens day.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The race results are out.  I was DFL in the swim in my age group.  I guess I'll never learn to swim.  Going to post a RR now.

I've got to dig deep right now, I could very easily go back to the gym, that is the easy way out.  I love the biking and running but I'm still slow in both disciplines, the swim is in a class of it's own.  Can't decide to sign up for a bigger tri to make me get my act together or head off to the gym.

Sorry for whining!

Karl, don't beat yourself up over the swim!!!!  Really, by continuing to tell yourself you are "DFL" in your age group in the swim I think you are making yourself feel worse than you should! It is a TRIathlon after all, can't just be looking at one sport! Overall from reading your race report, given the conditions, I don't think this race went as bad for you as you say it did.

And Jen... easier said than done but don't beat yourself over this one race! So sorry to hear about that bike ride, ugh!  Did you finish the swim feeling winded at all?  I wonder if your swim impacted your bike at all?  Did you lift (leg) weights this past week?

To both of you... all in the experience!!!!  I'm sure you are able to take a lesson or two away from this which will help you in the future.  And when it does come through for you, it'll just make it that much more rewarding having gone through these disappointing times!!!  I give you permission to sulk for just a little bit longer as it is all a part of the process, but then I expect you to get back at it!

Karl and Jenn, you both had really tough races.  Don't beat yourselves up!  We've all had races that didn't go as planned.  That's ok.  Give yourself permission to be upset about it but as you pick it apart, try to think about how to make things better.   Maybe the weather was the suck factor for everything.  There's not much you can do about the weather, though.  Early season tris are always difficult.

Karl....I've been DFL in the swim more times than I can count!  It hasn't stopped me!  Yeah, I've learned from all of my DFL situations.  It doesn't really get me down anymore.  Now I rejoice when I beat one person out of the water!  Seriously though, I totally understand what your saying in your head while swimming.  I said it myself a few times.

Jen....the only thing that keeps coming to my mind regarding your bike bike ride is whether or not your brake was rubbing the whole time.  I've had that happen on a ride.  Any chance?

I'm glad you both finished the race!  We are all super proud of our Junkies!!!!!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone and thank you for letting Karl and I be grump-allufagusses today. 

Dirk- Thank you for pointing our that I did swim further and faster on this swim than in the last swim and I ran faster in this run than the last one. I did make a big step in the swim area. When I did calm down, I made serious headway and know that in the future I can knock minutes off my swim. I am a pretty good swimmer and just need to keep on swimming... Realizing that helped me put yesterday in perspective. I looked at the official results and it looks as though 30 or so people paid and didn't brave the cold temps and 4 people did not finish.

When I woke up this morning I was still thinking about the bike disaster and was expecting to be a bit sore and tired one day post race. However, while my booty was sore (outside of glutes), my quads and legs did not feel worn out at all. This really had me thinking about the bike situation. So, after my girls got up and we did Easter baskets and such, I decided to get the bike out for a little analysis.

I got on my old bike (attached to the trainer) and rode for 5 minutes. Then, I got on the new bike and took it for a 30 minute hilly loop around the neighborhood that I normally run. At first glance, to the non-trained eye, both set ups look very similar, but ohhhhhhhh I assure you they are not, which is what I learned 30 minutes later. During the ride I realized I was not engaging my quads at all and could not "power" through the hills. When I got home, I adjusted my seat (little higher) and my pedals so that the ball of my foot was further up on the pedal. I went for another ride and felt significantly better.... but, it doesnot end there.... 

Then, I came home and read  dear, dear Joanne's comment above. I grabbed my bike and lifted the back tire to see if it would spin freely -no problem.... Then, I picked up the front tire and attempted to spin it... It spun less than one revolution before stopping. Closer inspection showed that the right front brake had been rubbing the whole time.... I've made adjustments accordingly. If it weren't raining outside right now, I would take it for yet another spin around the block.

Now, I am not normally so ignorant of the fine details of me and my bike. But, I must admit that I was in awe of her prettiness. Afterall, such a shiny, new, fancy little bike shouldn't need so much fine tuning, right? Years of snowboarding came flooding back to me - I never would have gone riding back country all day without waxing, fine tuning my board and stance and gear....  so, shame on me for being swayed by the pretty girl....    

Lesson learned.... and many more to come....

Happy Easter! If I didn't have you all, it would have taken me weeks to figure this one out. If my mother-in-law knew that I spent most of Easter Sunday figuring out my bike, instead of getting ready for Easter lunch, she would not be so happy with me. Sure am glad the hubby supports me in times like these. And, I barely had enough time to get ready to go to his mom's house - didn't have time to put any makeup on and still had remnants of my race numbers on my arms and legs. Hah! I wear them with pride! 

Jen glad to hear you figured out what went wrong on the bike and that there was a logical explanation for it. That was a good catch by Tracy to point it out. Don't sweat it like everybody has already said it's all part of the learning process and these things happen to all of us.

Sorry it didnt go well.  Best advice I can give you is to swim w/ a group and/or get private lessons... even is the lessons arent from an "official teacher".  I had 2 or 3 friends who knew how to swim well that helped me 1-on-1 and I had lots of guys I met at the pool who I just struck up conversations with and ended up getting good advice.  Not everything ppl told me helped me, but a lot of it certainly did...

Forgot to mention, the hospital released us today.  We are back home with baby Claire.  

Since I used all of my hospital "breaks" to run home and hop on the trainer, I did manage to get all 4 Jorge's workouts in this week (although that's all I did, no run or swim).  I've only been doing 3 each week and I think that 4th WO would really benefit me... just not sure if I would have enough time to get in swim & run... what do you guys think if I focus on bike for a month and alternate the other sports (R & S)?  For example, I'd do 4 bike WO's, 2 runs & 1 swim.  Then, the next week I would do 4 bike, 2 swim, & 1 run... etc.

I took today off.  I was planning a 3 hour ride but my massive headache said no.

As I get older, build more base miles and, generally, become more comfortable with my abilities in the tri sports, I've learned that missing a day (even a long day) will not tarnish the big picture.

With that said, I plan on building my base much wider so I can deal with the unplanned missed days.

Working Hands

I saw this advertised on TV.  Well I went w/ my mother to Bed Bath and Beyond and saw it there so I got a tub of it.  Normally when I finish biking my face is as chapped as a foxes behind, but this time I put the Workind Hands Cream on my face.  When I finished the tri, my face was as soft as a baby's behind, even in the cold.

Will, glad ya'll are home!  how is it going?  Getting plenty of sleep?  Baby doing good?  Mom?

Will I think I would drop one of the Jorge workouts like one of the interval workouts and keep at least 2 swim and 2 run sessions each week. I think if you do 2 of the interval workouts and the one long ride that would still be very good and you don't have to cut any corners on the swim or the run.

As soon as I read this, I knew it didn't compute.  I was going to ask you to check your brakes.  I have a lady tri friend who usually wins her AG who had the same experience at a race last year.  It's easy to forget to check.

In addition to that, I was going to suggest that we see the bike fit.  Since it's a new bike you'd only ridden 3 times it's a perfectly ripe situation for a positional issue.

Post up some pictures and let's see how the position looks.  We can throw out some ideas for you to consider.

Very glad you are back home with your new daughter!  And you should be seriously proud of yourself for what you did workout-wise last week.  But you won't lose any points with us for missed workouts in the near future.  It's very challenging to have a new baby, lose sleep and pick up some extra duties around the house while your wife is overwhelmed...

I had a pretty good weekend of training I want to brag about.

Friday I skipped swim practice in favor of getting extra sleep since it was a day off work.  Later on I did a 10 mile run.

Saturday I did the 3 hours of spin class I've been doing all winter.  That was cool.

Yesterday my daughter, who has a marathon coming up in oh...4 weeks?, dragged me out for a 17 mile run.

We got to talk about nutrition, hydration, pacing...the metabolic processes happening in our legs...We did this run without food or water because we are cool!    The route I picked out for us was all rural, even a good 5 miles of gravel road.  The hills were legendary!

During the 16th mile we had a (gradual) 1 mile hill to go up.  As we approached it I was telling Jordan about Heartbreak hill in Boston because we were nearly as far in to our run as that hill is in the marathon.

She did great!  I am so proud of her. 

This morning I had a great swim practice too...didn't seem any worse for wear.  I was breathing great and swimming strong.  Then did an easy 5 mile run on tired legs.