Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 97)

Karl I totally understand and trust me I think the lifeguards must have been ready to jump in when I started doing it. I was like I can't do this and I wanted to give up on it but I didn't. It's exactly like when you started learning how to breathe for the first time when swimming. If you can get through the initial learning curve which was probably a couple of weeks it is well worth it. It has gotten easier and feels more natural over time.

I am so indecisive about what kind of race to shoot for.  There are parts of me, and others who have suggested, that I just have fun at this race.  The perspective is that I have already made it to the pinnacle of marathoning, now I can kind of drop my effort a notch or two and just enjoy the atmosphere.

The alternative perspective is one of "This is Boston!!  You have to PR Boston!"  This one is probably the one I struggle with the most.  After working so hard to get to Boston and contemplating not going for another PR is almost completely foreign to me.  With nearly every race I have run I have shot for a PR, either for the course or the distance, and I don't know if I can allow my mindset to alter that typical perspective.

In the end it will probably be a race time decision.  After getting several people's opinion, including Warren's, I have gotten some good recon on the course itself and I am a little more prepared for what's in store.  I am not sure I will have any idea how I will attack the race until 10AM Monday morning.  In all likelihood I will see how I feel on the course and decide as the race unfolds.

My foot is feeling pretty decent right now.  Last week I was having some struggles with it; enough so that I needed to take some Aleve to calm it down.  It began again this week but it is well under control right now.  I do not expect it to cause me any issues that I haven't already encountered during my long runs.

My back is feeling much better.  I had some residual issues on Sunday and Monday but each day seemed to become more and more minor.  As of right now I don't have any issues whatsoever and I just got back from a 25 mile ride on Shelia, my TT bike.

If your feet are dropping as you say it's just as likely that you're raising your head when you are taking a breath.  Without actually seeing you swim this is where my money would lie.  I am not discounting that you are likely turning too far to one side or the other but this wouldn't normally result in your feet sinking.  It is an absolute certainty that if you raise your head your feet will follow.  This is where I would begin to work.

This guy is my hero!!!

Can anyone figure out where I might have been heading into a 25 MPH wind and where the tailwind miles were tonight?  I had a great ride outside tonight on Shelia for the first time out this season.  I almost ditched the ride because of the winds but I had seen enough indoor riding for a while.  Other than the wind I had a great temp for outdoors.........81 degrees, but it felt cooler than that.

Man the weather was awesome today! I got out at about 5:30 pm for a run and it was 80 degrees out! The first loop I did was a little tough not having run in quite some time with it being that warm out but it cooled down nicely and I got a great 11 mile run. I ran negative splits the last 4 miles and definitely got stronger as the run went on. Too bad the warm weather is going to be short lived here but I definitely took advantage of it this evening.

Wowee!  That's some wind!  Quick trip back! 

That sounds nice.  Well, a little too hot for me.  It still sounds nice.

It was pretty warm here today.  Almost 60 degrees!  I was wearing my tank top!  It felt great to get some sunshine on my skin!

Oh no!  I hope you start feeling better.  This group is full of injuries.  Let us know what you decide on.

Dirk, go ahead and fess up, you are not "wired" to just go and enjoy the run  lol.  You are going to go ahead and PR it!  Pam and I have already discussed this...lol

Tony, great run..yes enjoy the weather.

Well I tried to breathe to my left yesterday...what a fiasco!!!!!  I felt like it was my 1st time EVER in the water, bad strokes, couln't get my head right to breath, I was doing what I did when I firs started swimming,...trying to push down w/ my hands to raise my body.  I only had a short time in the pool and it was crowded, pretty weather so everyone thought they should go for a swim.  1/2 of the pool was for just "playing".

Today I ran with water bottles in a belt, well it was hard to keep them up..I had to keep tightning the belt...this was the 1st time I've ran with it so it was all experimental.  It was 63 degrees at 4:00 am, perfect running weather.  The 1st mile, the extra pound of water seemed so heavy but I'm a small guy so 1 pound is a lot but after about 3 miles I basically forgot they were there. I ran with them just so I could be familiar before I took off on a long run.

Some of my raining may be lacking in the next few days because we have o get a rental house ready...I can't believe how some people live...it has got to be painted, yard cleaned, house cleaned etc etc etc.

Samantha -

I hope you feel better and can still do the 5k. We are not all full of injuries, we just all voice our pains here that we don't normally tell anyone else about, since it is likely that they would tell us we are crazy.

Samantha- I know you have been going through a lot lately and I wanted to know if the pain flares up during your training and stops you while you are training? Or, does it hit you during recovery and then the does the inability to recover affect your ability to continue training? I only ask this cause Jeff asked me very similar questions when I was battling through IT band issues. He asked questions that I never thought about and just figured I would throw them out to you as well.

Karl-

I wish we lived in the same neighborhood. I was stood up by two mama's for a 5:00 a.m. run. I ran alone with my Nathan hydration belt and just a little bit of water in each bottle. I also attach the dog spray to my belt (and have had to use it) and put my phone in my belt. My 70 minute run was slower than expected. The earlier I run and get on the bike trainer, the harder it is and the slower I am, which never use to be the case. 

What kind of belt are you running with? 

Have you ever swam wwith a pull buoy between your legs? You might try using it to help you float while you work on breathing bilaterally.

Looks like it was all uphill going out and all downhill coming back! I am impressed, especially since I rarely get above 18 mph.

EARLY MORNING TRAINING thoughts...

I am admittedly an early morning person. I used to get my best running and gym sessions in early in the morning, up at 4:45, workouts done by 7:30, shower and change and get to work just about 8:00.

However, I have been struggling with my early morning workouts recently. I don't know if the time change is a factor. I have pushed my runs back to 5:00 a.m. (4:45 a.m. wake up), and my bike sessions back to 4:20 a.m. (4:00 a.m. wake up). I have this schedule 3 weekday mornings a week. I am getting enough rest (the best that I can get).

Lately (as in the last few months), my running pace and cycling pace have been much slower than usual on these early morning sessions, I'd say at least 15-20% slower. The other morning I gave up on the bike session when I still had 30 minutes to go.

If I wait and do these training sessions 60 to 90 minutes later, I am able run and pedal faster. Knowing that I am up earlier, I would think that it would just take longer to find my groove, but it doesn't seem to come.

I am thinking about changing my bike sessions to night time sessions after my kids go to bed, making them start at 8:30 p.m. and finish around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., which is not in my nature to do so.  

Anyone ever experience something similar? Any pointers? Do you think night time bike sessions are a good idea? The thought of staying up till 11:00 seems crazy to me! LOL.

x2 on the pull buoy. That has really helped me in learning to breath bilaterally. Also it is exactly how you described it Karl like learning to swim all over again. I also agree with what Dirk threw out there about your legs sinking that defintiely sounds like you are not keeping your head down. I still have that problem when breathing to the left side on occassion and am working on that. It takes time to get comfortable breathing to other side and to get your technique right if you only breathe to one side and then try going to the other side.

Samantha I'm sorry to hear that you will not be running the HM. I know you've done ALOT of running and would have had a great race but I think you are doing the right thing. No reason to risk any further injury especially after what you've gone through already. Let us know if you decide to do the 5K.

Jen I am totally not a morning person and hate working out in the mornings. I have great respect for anyone getting up at 4 and 5 AM to go get their workouts in. I don't do much training in the early morning but on the oft occasions I do that I feel much slower and not alert. I've mainly swam in the mornings at the lake but it's hard to say there is any difference then swimming in the evening since I'm slow anytime I swim. Same with the pool I'll do late morning sessions but I see no difference in my performance if I swim late in the afternoon.

The bulk of my workouts during the week are in the evenings. On weekends it is the late morning or early afternoons. I prefer working out in the afternoons and evenings. I feel like I am awake, hydrated and fueled. I have not really done any workouts after 8 pm but I think I would do better at that time then in the early mornings. Early mornings would be an absolute last resort for me.

Jen, the pollen right now is affecting a lot of people, it zaps our energy..give it a few weeks and it will be better.  Also the temps are warming up and that is another adjustment, expecially on the bike trainer.  Since I get up so early, I'm normally in bed by 9:00 pm.  If i wait until evening, I can always find excuses not to train..

Now I'm going to tell you my secret and I AM NOT RECOMMENDING this but it works for me  There is a pre-workout supplement called Jack3d, you can get it on-line www.bodybuilding.com   This stuff is the cat's meow, best thing since sliced bread, you get the point.  I take it EVERY day.  If I go a day without, all I want to do is sleep.  I do not take a full scoop, that is to potent for me.  If you come over here, you can try mine to see if you like it.  They have it several places here in town like the vitaminshoppe and a supplement store in the mall.

Wife took some and she will not take any more..said it should be outlawed...lol

I tried the pull buoy and i was trying to drown the poor thing...  my stroke was all screwed up on both arms..I tried it a while but went back to normal just to feel like it was not a complete waste of training...lol  I will try a little every day I swim and MAYBE it will catch on...

Dirk,

First off, thanks for the note on FB, I'll get back to you/give you a call.  Work is nuts right now.  I'm trying to get someone to fill in for Monday just so I can come watch the race.

I do want to comment on your race day though.  I think big race experiences like Boston are an important part of who you are as a person.  If there is any chance at all that this is the last time you may be able to do this race, I would enjoy it as much as possible.  I'm not saying don't run it.  You should still feel tired at the end...it's 26 miles for crying out loud.  What I am trying to express in a horrible way is that 20 years from now you want to be able to say things like you took all of the race in...all the way to the end, running down the finishing shoot (which by the way is ABSOLUTELY NUTS).  If you push so hard that the last 3-4 miles are just a blur of hurt, you're going to miss out on this experience.  And 20 years from now you will say, I put my all into that race...and that's good.  But when someone asks you how cool was it to experience?  You're just going to say I don't know.  And you've robbed yourself of that.  There will be other marathons to PR and to put yourself thru the hurt locker.  This one could be very special.  Drink it in. 

I know I'm trying to explain this to a very competitive and driven person.  I get that.  Let me put it to you this way.  If you and your girls were going to be able to go for a hiking trip together one last time as a group, would you go too hard to enjoy eachother along the way, or would you stop every once in a while and enjoy a view with them?

To each his own.  You don't see me running or qualifying for Boston, but I would rather get teary eyed running down to the finish because I drank it all in...not because I was in pain and wanted to throw up.

I just want to point out to everyone that this is one smart lady.  You do everything you can to get there, but if it's April and you may seriously regret pushing yourself through a race where you may hurt....there goes another week/month/season.

Injuries should be taken care of quickly and carefully, but it takes a while to get back to top form, so be it.  Smart move making this decision.

Dirk, I tend to agree with Jonathan on Boston.  Kathy saved an article for you to read about how to enjoy Boston.  It's just a few short tips - you can read it when you get back here.  I think there's a balance between really racing it and dawdling along.  You'll find the right balance of competitiveness and sightseeing, but you're running the BOSTON freakin' MARATHON!!!!  It’s the big daddy, and you may never do it again.

This is why I really want to spend Sunday/Monday just making your day(s) as enjoyable and stress free as possible.  Please, please use the offer to be selfish tailor your days.

As far as taking care of early season injuries, total kudos to Samantha for being smart and not just sticking to a plan which isn’t reality anymore.  We all have to remember that there is a time to push and a time to realize things have to be adjusted.  Focus yourself on the main race or races and target everything for those.