Frustration

Saturday at Vail, my soleus was a little sore. I came home, stretched it and it felt better. Sunday I went for a long run and it got sore again. So I wrapped it and either stayed off my feet or made sure I had shoes on and it felt better. Last night while doing leg presses, it got sore again; same treatment, same result: improvement.

Today I went out for an easy 60 minute run with some foot speed work and leg hops...and it starts to hurt. Leg hops made it really painful and I was unable to stretch it away or walk it off. So I screamed "F*CK!!!" at the top of my lungs and walked home. I'm sitting here with it wrapped after taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen and seriously considering hanging up the running shoes for the whole season.

So I'm back to square 1 with this f'ing leg. I'm staying off it for the rest of the week: no more lifting, no MTB riding (hard, low cadence efforts anger the leg). I'm just going to swim and ride the road bike and hope for the best.

Stupid body.

E.

Nutrition, Recovery and Toys!

It's only been a few days since I last posted, but Mondays (my usual posting day) are becoming more hectic and Sundays less so since I started back training.

Saturday I headed out to Vail Lake with Luke, Allison, Justin and Eric H. for a couple laps. Amazing how fast your fitness drops off once you stop training. I rode with this group (minus Eric) before Snow Valley and the pace seemed casual; Saturday it seemed decidedly less so. No worries, its' my first week back and they're all gearing up for the 12 Hour Race out there next month. Seriously, I'm not losing any sleep over it.


Friday I made a trip out to B&L for some nutrition and they were out of GU. Rats. I picked up some Shot Blocks instead just to try them out. Pretty tasty little suckers! The Margarita flavor was neat with the 3x sodium adding a salty tang to offset the sweetness. They seem kind of bulky and would be cumbersome if you had to carry a lot of calories, but they're a nice treat otherwise.

As for the "recovery" part, I'm taking it much more seriously this time around: 300 calories and water almost immediately after I walk in the door and stretching while I'm still warm. I'm hoping taking time out for those little details will help my fitness and stave off injury once I get deep into training.

Toys!

New bike parts are always nice, but my rig is at that point where stuff is in need of replacing. I already had the rear wheel rebuilt recently as well as replaced a front spoke. The new tire I'll put on later, but the brakes are in dire need if being bled. In addition to a good cleaning, the bike needs: chain, bottom bracket (on order), rear brake pads and a new seat pack (broke the part that ties to the pack to the seat post). New stuff is cool but all I can think of is how much food all that money could buy. Ugh.

Other than that, training is going pretty well and school is still...school. I'm being good about not doing any unplanned racing that might screw up my '09 season (yup, I'm patting myself on the back for that one) :D.

E.

Going Solo

Yup. You guessed it. Holly and I have been crunching over our finances for the year and it looks like we'll have to cut some luxuries (what luxuries?) in order to make ends meet. With that in mind, I'm going to have to coach myself this season.

I called Jim today and broke the news to him. He was very understanding and offered to consult during the season if I think I could use some help. What sucks is that I'm going to have more time this year to train than ever before. Once Fall quarter is over, I'll be taking one class per quarter, that's it! Talk about lots of free time for huge training! Kinda bitter sweet: tons of time for physical destruction and no money to pay a coach to beat me up. Dammit.

So I'm going it alone. I'm sticking to the Training Bible philosophy and I'll be using the Training Peaks Virtual Coach software for direction, but the weekly hours and workout arrangment are totally up to me. Scary.

Speaking of training, I got back into it this week. So far I feel good (I forget how sore lifting makes me; ouch!) and the calf is holding up. I'm going in for a massage today and it looks like I may have a hook up so I can get one every month, stay out of the poor house and keep up with the volume planned.

Oh yeah, volume. Without going into too many details, I'm going BIG this year. A BIG Base period and some SERIOUS time goals for key races. I figured I have the time and the race experience to make it happen, so it's time to get serious; and I mean train like it's my job serious. I know I have the talent and the training plan to race with the bign boys and it's time my commitment matched matches my talent.

I have a unique opportunity this year with the amount of time I'll have to devote to training and I'm not letting it slip away. It's go time.

E.

P.S. I turned 33 on Thursday. Happy Birthday to me! Too bad I had midterms this week. D'OH!

Now What?

I've been spending a lot of time on the couch letting my various problem spots heal up. What's funny is that they seem to heal in the order they started bugging me in: the foot/calf healed first and now I'm working on the right hamstring/gluteal. The hamstring/glute proves stubborn and I'm working on getting in for a massage Friday to help speed the recovery.

After nearly 4 weeks of not training,cabin fever got the best of me and I hit the pool Monday and set my threshold pace for the month...it's slow. Tuesday I hit Penasquitos Canyon for a night ride with some guys and my light crapped out on me. Great. I borrowed one from Mark and we continued on until my bottom bracket came loose on my single speed. WTF? I just had it adjusted! Whatever...EBB fixed and we kept going until the batteries on Mark's light that I borrowed came loose in the holder. One more stop for mechanicals and we finished the ride with no further problems. Why I have problems at night and not during the day, I'll never know.

So Wednesday I took my light back to Niterider, hoping they can fix it and I won't have to buy a new battery. It's not holding a charge and the customer service guy said it's probably the circuit in the battery that controls the charging. Furthermore, it should be under warranty since it's less than 2 years old (not that I bought it new, but whatever!). Still, my plans to race the 12 Hours of Temecula on a 3-person team are in jeopardy unless my light gets fixed before that.

Saturday I hit up Sycamore Canyon with another random riding buddy (Brian) and it felt good to ride the geared bike and just cruise. Perfect temps, not too crowded and a great ride all things considered.

As for "Now What?" let's talk 2009!!

I've put together a tentative race schedule and a plan so I know when to start prepping for my "Base" work. "Prep" phase starts Nov 1st and "Base" in early December. I'm still working on how I'm going to continue to pay my coach for 2009 and right now it doesnt't look good. I may have to coach myself; which is BAD since I'm not very objective when it comes to my own training. Let's see if I can scrape the cash together and keep my coach. I don't think I'll make my season goals otherwise.

Speaking of goals, I'm setting time goals at key races this year instead of "get on the podium". Placing goals don't work unless you know exactly who you're racing and how their season is going. With time goals, I have a solid benchmark I can compare myself to. Those are staying a secret until AFTER I do those races, by the way, so my competition won't be able to use it against me. Not that anyone ever reads this crap...

So here it is:
March 7th: Vision Quest (racing Luke)
March 29th?: Xterra REAL
April 13th: Xterra Castaic (if it's an Xterra points race)
May 3rd: Idyllwild Spring Challenge XC MTB (racing Luke again)
May 17th: Xterra West Championships

Arizona Xtreme that I did in 2008 has been cancelled because they are no longer allowed to use the highway as part of the race course. So after 8 years, that race goes bye-bye. Suck, I had a SOLID race there last year.

So that takes me up to my first peak of 2009. Things are bound to change since the Xterra schedule has yet to be announced. Back to the books.

E.

Littering aaannnd...?

Results from my Ranger/Lifeguard interview came in the mail today. Out of the thousands of people that took the exam and interviewed for the Ranger position where did I place? 13th!

My Lifeguard rank is even better...5th!

I think I'll start growing the mustache tomorrow. The Rayban aviator sunglasses are on order. Ha!

Lock it up! (2008 re-cap)

So my 2008 eason is in the books and I'm just over a week into my off-season. I think it's time to look back and evaluate the season. Hindsight is 20-20 afterall...

I had the chance to listen to Brad Kearns (retired Pro Triathlete) speak and something he said stuck with me. I'll paraphrase:

In order to truly enjoy Triathlon, you need to release yourself from your objectives. He clarified by giving an example of his best race ever. He merely focused on having the best race he was capable of putting together on that day. Despite the cold water, rain and seriously delayed race start, he found himself in front on the bike course with a chance to win. By ignoring the conditions, his competitions reactions to them and by focusing on maximizing his own performance, he was able to win.

I raced 2008 with that same mentality: ignore what other people are doing and race your own race. Chucky V. said something similar in his Pacific Crest Trail journal that amounted to "hike your own hike".

I definitely feel that intrinsic motivators are more powerful than racing for a place or arbitrary time goal. Can you miss a time or place goal and still have a "good race"? I'd like to think so; otherwise my 2008 season was lackluster at best.

Vision Quest:
Personal best by 20 minutes. Still think I could've gone faster if not for my GPS foul-up. Totally my fault, though.

Racers and Chasers:
A prettty big let-down. Dead F'ing Last (DFL) in my AG. This plus Xterra REAL put a huge "?" on my seasson.

Xterra REAL:
Took 2 weeks off before this race to focus on school. Same time and placing as last year, but all I had at this point in the season.

Arizona Xtreme Triathlon:
Hot, Hot, HOT! I suck in the heat, but managed a respectable finish considering the heat and the stacked field.

Idyllwild Spring Challenge:
A training race for me, but I pulled top 5 outta my a$$ and qualified for NORBA Nationals as a reault. I also beat some guys that whooped my a$$ last year. Hands down, my most surprising race of the year results wise.

Xterra West Championships:
Again; hot, hot, HOT!
A strong race for me. Camping in the heat probably put me in a hydration deficit, but still redeemd myself after last year's broken chain debacle.

Xterra Snow Valley:
Missed opportunity. Here's where Brad's (and my) philosophy broke down. I raced my own race and got 4th, when I had 3rd in my grasp. This one still stings a little.

It looks like I'm stil learning how to race up to my potential. Some guys have that innate ability to push themselves right up to the brink of their fitness, and beyond if necessary (yeah, that's James for sure!). They have that intangible "thing" that drives them and allows them to acheive amazing physical feats. I find myself wondering if I have "it".

Perhaps I need a paradigm shift. A switch from "zone" defense to "man-to-man". Develop my "killer instinct".

At Idyllwild I told myself I'd hang with the front pack until I blew up. Amazingly, I hung on for much longer than I thought I could. Maybe it's time "race your own race" gets replaced by "fake it 'till you make it".

Maybe...

E.

24 Hours of...spectating!

Saturday morning, Holly and I headed up to Idyllwild for Luke's 24 Hours of Adrenaline solo attempt. He'd raced 8 and 12 hours races before, but this would be his first solo 24 bid. If you're clueless about 24 hour MTB racing, you basically do laps from noon Saturday until noon Sunday. The guy (or team) with the most laps in the shortest amount of time wins. Simple right?

Races like this start with a run to your bike so the field spreads out a little on the first lap. I can only imagine the chaos of a mass start.

Bikes lined up at the start. Luke's is the orange and white Kona in the middle of the photo.
Luke getting started on lap one...of many.
Heading out for lap one. Fresh as a daisy!
I did my best to give Luke accurate splits to the guys up front. Didn't know how much his pit crew knew, so I gave him the info I'd like if I was racing.
Once it started getting dark Holly got cold. We headed over to Lake Hemet where we had picked out a campsite and stashed the truck and most of our gear before the race start. Off season means we had our pick of the tent camping sites. While we were gone, a lage group set up in the next area next to us; they blasted Ranchero music for a few hours, but stopped at bed time. Small miracle!

Our view of the lake.Holly said this looks like a commercial for Jeep. The mountains are pretty in the sunset, a phenomenon called "alpenglow". The colors of the sunset really accentuate the features of the mountains; absolutely beautiful. Setting up the tent. Rainflys can help keep heat in even though it's not raining. Holly asked if we'd need it since the daytime temps were nice and bordering on warm. Good thing I threw it on; it got COLD!
I woke up in the early morning to pee and noticed Holly shivering in her sleeping bag; teeth chattering too! I tried crawling into her bag to warm her up; which worked; but we were too big for the bag. We swapped bags, which helped. I feel bad for her being so cold when we go camping; a huge fire at night, hot food and my thermals did little to help her stay warm throughout the night. She just needs a "real" sleeping bag: the Wal-Mart Coleman bags are good for summer camping, but not fall in the mountains.

Sunday morning we packed up early and headed back over to the race venue. It was still very cold and we heard LOTS of talk about how cold it was that night. We were enjoying our hot brakfast just as Luke came out of his pit. He'd done 13 laps before retreating to his car for some heat and sleep "did 13, got some sleep, gonna go get some more laps".

The mountains are so pretty. Early morning at the start/finish. Luke fought hard trying to make it onto the podium, but it was not to be this time around. He managed to grab a solid 4th place by turning 16 laps. Stud.

Finish! If you look closely, Luke is in the brown in the background. In the foreground is MTB Pro and race director Robert Herber. Herber's team "Team Heat" pulled 30 laps. SICK!

Once Luke finished, we congratulated him and then beat feet home. Holly and I were both tired from lousy sleep in the cold. We later found out the temps dropped into the low 30's/ high 20's!

Huge props to Luke for riding night laps in weather that cold, I don't think I would have been able to do so.

Props also go to Holly for taking ALL the pics and for dealing with the weather and the Ranchero music with a smile on her face.

All in all, an awesome weekend and a great mini-vacation since I scrapped the Tahoe plans.

Back to school Thursday...yuck.

E,