Sorry it’s a bit delayed but here it is,

The first of 5 stops on the Xterra Championship Series was in Temecula, California a little over a week ago. The southern California air was hot and slightly humid and the course was dry and dusty and loaded with hills on the bike and run. My race went reasonably well, although I know I have much more in me and look forward to continued improvement as the series rolls on.

Being fired up to finally see the fruits of my labor over the winter in the pool, I was anxious to get started in the swim. Being my proverbial weak-link, I have put considerable time and effort into my swim training over the winter hoping to see a major improvement. On this day, the major improvement proved to be only a minor one as the front group of swimmers eluded me once again leaving a considerable effort between me and them heading into the bike in about 50th place.

Once on the bike, I struggled to find my rhythm early on but as the race wore on I began to settle in and find my groove. The bike course consisted of two laps that began with a gradual fire-road ascent that turned to a nice 1500 foot climb on loose double-track. After the climbs there was a fast descent that followed a ridge line full of ups and downs quick turns. Then came a fun tight single-track section with some sandy sections and more tight roller-coaster up and downs. Over the course of the 24 miles I worked my way into 16th position while many of my competitors behind began to fade.

Onto the run we experienced more hills. By this time the temps were in the upper-80′s and sun was beating down as we traversed the many steep up and down sections of the run course. Here I managed to gain one more spot moving into 15th place halfway into the run and holding there until the finish.

My 15th place finish amongst a field loaded with all of the major players, and then some, in Xterra was a satisfying finish for my debut race as a pro. My 15th place finish also netted me 28 points towards the National Series, the last placing to get points. Next up on my schedule is stops #2 and #3 in Pelham, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia on June 10th and 17th. I am looking forward to improving my results as my fitness continues to gain momentum over the summer.

Thank you for your continued support.

CW

A few weeks have passed since my last entry. I’m will be trying to get better at posting entries on an every other day schedule.

Anyway, I have had a few good weeks of Race Prep training. My training volume has been a bit lower than what I initially had planned out for this period of my season. Other areas of my life have been competing for my time and often these other areas, non-training areas, win out. Aah, one of the differences between being a “part-time” pro racer and a real professional, is becoming quite apparent. Having the time available not only to train as much is needed, but also to recover properly, get adequate sleep and eat well is so key. However, I find that staying busy with many areas of life and having to reschedule and miss occasional workouts, keeps things in perspective and hopefully makes me a better coach and possibly even a better athlete.

Okay, enough with the “poor me” and “I’m not getting enough time to train” excuses. The truth is I have managed to make most of my key workouts the last few weeks and the workouts I have missed have been mostly fluff anyway. I have gotten in some great mountain bike rides, trail runs, interval workouts, and transition runs to continue my progress towards race fitness. Next week is a planned recovery week before the first big Xterra championship race in Temecula. This will be my first big test with the big boys for 2007. I’d better get to work.

CW