I was pretty hammered after returning home from Alabama. Tried to ride and run easy on Sunday and my legs were totally cooked. Didn’t even attempt the run. This week was a scheduled recovery week, so I decided to make the most of it and take a small break from structured training for a few days. This will allow my body to recover and keep me fresh for the long haul through the summer and fall.

So the plan is Mon-Wed no training except for some light activities more for sanity than anything else. Memorial Day was a complete day away from training. Got caught up on some chores, spent time with the family, got to bed early. Tuesday I hit the pool for 30 minutes of light swimming followed by a 45 min weight session to maintain the gains I made in the gym over the winter. Wednesday was a very light open water swim with a new triathlete client of mine. Taking people out on their first open water swim is always a little nerve racking. I once took a client out and 200 yards out into the lake she totally freaked out on me! I had to grab her as she panicked and get her to calm down and relax. My client yesterday was nothing like that, but I still get nervous not knowing how people are going to react in the open water.

Now for the remainder of the week I am going to revisit some base training. A mini-base camp if you will. Start out easy with a 90 minute hilly trail run today, then a 5+ hour hilly bike for Friday, long open water swim and 2 hour hilly run on Saturday and finally a 5+ hour hilly mtn bike ride on Sunday with a run after if I have anything left. With all of the racing and traveling I’ve been doing over the last 4 weeks “training” has slipped a bit. Racing is the best form of training, but after several weeks you begin to lose endurance from the lack of volume. It’s far to early in the season for me to be losing volume, so a nice 3 1/2 day blast will be good for the long haul.

I’m only 7 weeks away from my first priority event of the year. It’s coming fast and I’m feeling confident.

So I raced in Michigan on Sunday. Flew home on Monday (12 hrs travel time), recovered a bit on Tuesday, then got in some training on Wednesday before flying out Birmingham on Thursday. Whirlwind. I wouldn’t have even bothered unpacking my bike, but I wanted to bring the ASR to Bama to handle all the roots and rocks the course offers up.

The course is covered in roots and rocks like those in these pics.

The ASR gobbled them up with ease and speed.

Thursday was another all-day travel experience. Extremely tiring. All week my legs felt terrible following the race in Michigan, but by Friday I was beginning to see the light and feel better. Rickey Tolliver (travel buddy for this one) and I hit the course early for a ride, run and swim of the course. The weather was cloudy and cool. Nice change from the previous two years of 85 degree heat with 85% humidity. Back to our hotel by noon in time for a nap and pre-race packing. Then off to Whole Foods for the traditional pre-race pizza dinner.

Up early, 4:30 am EST, on Saturday morning. It’s hard to eat that early in the morning. An easy 5 mile spin to the race venue, warm-up run, back on the bike for a couple hard bike efforts and into the speedsuit for the non-wetsuit swim warm-up, before the cannon fires at 7:30.

Out of the water 3+ minutes behind the leaders in 8th place. I really need to work on the swim, seriously folks, can somebody help me? I rode alone again for nearly the entire race. Besides a couple fast swimming amateurs and Melanie, I didn’t see anyone out there until the about a mile to go. I was riding hard, staying focused and trying to not get discouraged when through the trees I saw someone ahead! Fueled by the opportunity to have someone to start the run with I dug deep, bridged, and passed Branden Rakita. I continued to apply pressure and reached T2 about a 20 seconds ahead in 7th place.

Whipped through transition again (not sure what’s gotten in to me with transitions lately?). Rakita was hot on my heels. My legs felt surprisingly good and I kept thinking to myself: keep those legs moving, fast and light. Into the trees we go. Through the winding, rolling trails that make up the first half of the run, Rakita was hanging tough, but not gaining any ground on me. I was pleased. Then we made a right turn on to the hiking trails and the 7 steep hills that make up the second half of the run. I hit the first one hard. Up then down. I hit the second one harder. A quick look back and all I saw were the trees. Onward I went, thinking I may be able to catch someone else. But alas, I was way to far behind the 6th placed Craig Evans.

I was pleased to cross the line in 7th place. I felt like I had a solid race. Considering the previous 10 days, very solid race. To continue to gain fitness through weekly racing and travel is a good feeling and leaves me thinking I am on the right track. Up next is a few days rest to recover and prepare for the next Race Prep push. I’m feeling very tired right now, but at the same time I can’t wait to race again in 10 days in Idaho. It will be tough to improve upon the 7th place, but I am chompin at the bit!

CW

Overall, the race went well. However it appeared to go well for 10 others as well as I finished in 11th place in the pro men’s field. The weather was down right cold in the morning. The car thermometer read 34 degrees as we pulled into the Ft. Custer Rec Area at 6:30 am EST. Luckily the sun decided to come out after yesterday’s rainy day hiatus. I think we maybe hit 60 degrees near the end of the race.

The swim was a two lap 1000m swim. They decided upon the shorter length swim due to expected chilly water temps. Good call. While swimming it wasn’t bad, but getting out of the water and onto the bike was cold. I had a great start with the lead group, but quickly lost contact (as I always do). However I was able to push hard throughout most of the swim. I figured I was in good position coming out of the water. Later after the race, I discovered I was still 2.5 minutes down! Damn. Swimming is so frustrating.

On to the bike. I had a great transition, in and out in 48 seconds despite cold feet and hands. The bike course was all big ring power with a lot of tight finesse sections. I was hungry to begin picking people off. Despite pushing hard, that never happened. Each time through the two water crossings on the course my hands and feet would go numb from the cold wetness. Brian Smith came by about 1/2 way through the first lap and I dug deep to hang. On the pedaling sections I was right with him, but in the tight finesse sections he was able to gradually pull away. I continued to push hard onto the second lap. I hit a tree and went down hard on my left side. I sprung to my feet almost instantly as the soft forest floor cushioned my blow but my wind was knocked out of my sails. After I gathered myself, back pedaling the bike, I got back after it but lost my chances of bridging to Seth Wealing, Ryan DeCook, Craig Evans and Branden Rakita which I was beginning to bring back. Into T2 I rolled, in 11th place about a minute behind the group ahead.

In and out of T2 in 33 seconds (3rd fastest, I’ll take my victories where I can get them) I hit the run hard. My one goal for this race was to push hard from the gun and not let up. This has been a problem for me in the bigger races, especially on the run. With the exception of the bike crash mishap, I was able to get it done. Legs felt good off the bike as I ran down the 300 yard beach run that starts off each of the two laps. Into the woods, feeling strong and settling in. I felt like I was moving good, but there was not another racer in sight. All alone I pushed hard and kept my legs moving as fast as I could. One lap down, still feeling good, but not making up any ground on my counterparts. Seth blew the race apart with a sickening fast run (congrats to him!) while DeCook, Evans and Rakita hung out at about the same pace as I not allowing me to make any ground. I finished strong and was happy to have been able to stay focused and committed the entire time.

More improvement is definitely needed for me to be able to consistantly crack the top-ten. I will keep plugging away as we continue with the season leading up to Beaver Creek and Ogden. Next week is Alabama. A little better bike course for me (more pedaling) and a tough run course. We’ll see who can recover better and who has the legs next Saturday. I’m feeling confident.

CW

I’m in Battle Creek, Michigan preparing for the XTERRA Midwest Cup. The second stop on the XTERRA National Tour will be held bright and early (8 am) on Sunday morning. I’m feeling way better heading into this race compared to Vegas just two weeks ago. Still on my upward climb towards peak race fitness in July, my confidence has improved significantly and I’m feeling ready to throw down this weekend.

Since Vegas, two weeks ago, training (and recovery) has been pretty solid. It took several days to get recovered from Vegas. Sunday through Tuesday were all very low-key recovery based workouts. By Wednesday I was ready to hit a long ride/transition run workout. With my racing season hitting full gear, I will be racing (either tri, mtn bike, run, or combo of two) pretty much every weekend. The racing will provide my “race pace” training workouts, leaving my endurance/strength workouts and speed workouts to be done in between races. I’ve always been a fan of the “racing is the best trianing” mantra. So aside from my weekly racing, the bread n butter workout for me over the next several weeks will be the long, hilly bike ride followed by hilly trail run. I’m talking about 5-6 hours, 8000+ feet climbing on the bike followed by a hilly hour run on the trails near my house on Green Mountain. Then weeks when it works, I will also include a speed transition workout with repeats of anaerobic intensity interval on the bike immediately followed by an anaerobic intensity interval on the run.

Last Thursday, after my big climbing day, I did just that. I hit the track with my bike and trainer in hand. After an hour warm-up on the bike and run, I hit 5 intervals as 3 min on the bike at 320 watts, 20-30 sec transition followed by an 800 on the track (2:40). Four minutes recovery and repeat. Tough workout mentally and physically. Friday was a recovery day.

Saturday I hit the Battle of the Bear XC mountain bike race at Bear Creek Park. This was nice because it was only 4 miles from my house. 3×10 mile laps, mostly flat, super fast single track with 3 short climbs per lap. Our 30 strong pro field had some major players including Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, a U23 National Team member, local speedster Brian Fuentes as well as many other strong colorado pro xc racers. A poor start leaving me in 23rd position entering the first singletrack had me battle the bear throughout the whole race. I managed to pick my way up through the field to the chase group that I eventually attacked and dropped on the final lap to roll into the finish in 4th place behind the big boys I mentioned above. Big time confidence booster! My lower level of bike training over the winter doesn’t seem to have left me far off my abilities early in the year. I’m even more excited to see what happens now that I’m back on the bike and spending more time in that area. I’m hoping that my “train your weaknesses over the off-season, and train your strengths in-season” plan will payoff this year.

Sunday I was toast. Planned a long run, but ended up bagging it for just a short one so I could recover and spend time with my family on Mother’s Day.

This week I hit another bike/run anaerobic interval session (this time I included hills on the run portion) on tuesday, big bike/run combo on Wednesday and took the day off for travel on Thursday.

Also early this week, I strated going to bed earlier, getting up earlier to get myself on Eastern Time for my Michagan and Alabama events that are up the next two weeks. Historically I do not travel east very well. I wanted to make an effort to minimize the stress and adaptation by getting myself “on time” for these coming races. I’ve been able to stay on my regular diet by bringing a lot of food with me and hitting the grocery store here in MI and eating my usual meals on my own in my hotel room. Seems to be working well as I’m feeling rested, regular, and not dreading the 5 am EST wake-up call on Sunday morning.

Thursday’s travels were L-O-N-G. I left my house at 7:15 am MST for the airport. Reached hotel in MI at 9:15 pm EST. Exactly 12 hours to get from Denver to Battle Creek! Too long. Chicago traffic and MI road construction are mostly to blame. Not ideal, but we made it.

Friday we hit the race course. The swim is in a nice looking lake. Water temps are cool but not cold. I think I heard 63 degrees. The shorter 1k swim sounds good to me! The bike course is 2×10 mile loops on mostly flat, smooth, fast, twisting singletrack (sound familiar?). Big chainring the entire time. Great traction as of yesterday on damp sandy soil. The similar in terrain 2×3 mi run course is even flatter than the bike course and promises to turn in some very fast times. I’m going to say that the winner will break 2 hours on race day. It’s that fast.

To be honest, it’s not my best kind of course (more finesse oriented, less strength). However, I’m feeling healthy and fit. Even more important is my confidence is high. Since Vegas my girlfriend Kathy has been giving me pep talks that I can do better than I’ve displayed over the last season and that I can mix it up with the big boys. I feel ready and williing to hit this race hard from the gun and make most of my ability on Sunday. I want to continue building momentum towards July.

The season opener in Vegas went reasonably well. I had my average swim, solid bike and weak run and landed in 13th place overall. This may sound blah, but I’m actually pretty satisfied. Why you ask? Well for starters, I only just finished my BASE phase of training leading up to the race. This means good size volume, but no race intensity training (or racing) yet. I intentionally set up my training plan this year to start a little later in the year so I can build fitness throughout the season and finish strong rather than fizzle out like I have the last two seasons. Also, my back had flared up the week before the race and I was nursing it back to health leading up to the race (including race morning).

So for me to be able to race at my last year’s ability at the first event of the season with only base miles under my belt, I am satisfied. And to have my back surprise me by feeling good during the race with the exception of standing up coming out of the water and bending over in T1. Other than that the back felt good. Go figure.

I’m not saying I don’t have some serious work to do to allow me to meet my goals of a top 5 in Beaver Creek, a top 10 at Nationals and maybe even a top 10 in Worlds. Because I do. But I feel like I am on track and ready to get going into full Race Prep mode!