Still Training

Friday - 10 mile MTB
Saturday - Ultimate tournament / 12 mile road bike
Sunday - 15 mile MTB
Monday - Yoga
Tuesday - 1 mile run / core with trainer
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - 5 mile run
Friday - 8 mile run

1/2 marathon training continues despite the holiday week. John out here last week was great for my riding, but hard on my recovering neck. I've been putting in some hours working on my new bike and stripping my old bike. We had the in-laws over for Thanksgiving and have plans to spend lots of time with friends this weekend. Life as it should be!

Pain in the neck

So two weeks before XTERRA Nationals in Tahoe (two months ago) I woke up with a sore neck. I figured it was from all the last minute training I was trying to get in as I prepared for nationals and powered through it. Well, it never seemed to get better so I finally made a trip to the doctor last week who ordered x-rays. Turns out I have a pretty severe case of whiplash that has gone untreated for the last 8 weeks. Now I'm on a pretty heavy medication regimen to let it heal and I'm supposed to be taking it easy.

That whole "taking it easy" part didn't work out this weekend as I had two great rides with John visiting from Nashville and the final end of season tournament for my ultimate frisbee fall league team. I did forgo my long training run for the 1/2 marathon, because I'm sure of all these things that would have been horrible for my neck :).

SoMo National Trail Lookout

National is gnarly in so many places

The unforgiving desert

Hawes = wide open spaces

It was a tough day on the SS

Trying to catch this man

Led to this

and this
but it's still warm enough for this

Breaking radio silence...

Blog posts have been few and far between lately, but not because there hasn't been any news related to my plans for XTERRA in 2009. I still haven't decided what role XTERRA will have in my 2009 athletic season, but several things have fallen into place that have me leaning that direction.
1) I miss racing
2) I miss structured training
3) I have a new race bike
4) I have a new all mountain bike
5) I've been working on my running
6) I have a new triathlon coach

Some of these items, like say #6, might seem to suggest that 2009 would be a lock for XTERRA. More details in coming days, but the most important thing may be that I miss racing or at least miss having races to look forward to. The weather here in Arizona is also amazing right now and making me wish I had some structured training to be out doing in this weather instead of 100+ like it was all summer. Anyway, thanks for reading and more updates soon.

Enjoying the off-season

Saturday - we went for a great hike in the Prescott Granite Dells area. Beautiful. I can't wait to go back to this trail and bring the bike for an easy all day ride. A casual dinner at Casa Bonita and then the movie Smart People.

amazing views

the familybaby girl

Sunday - slept in, ran 5 miles, and jumped in the hot-tub with some java juice. I can't belive that during this relaxing off-season I've managed to completely tweak the hell out of my IT insertion point in my hip. WTF? I think it is just thinking about the 1/2 marathon in January. Anyway, nothing some trips between the hot-tub and ice can't cure, especially when my Titans are destroying the competition. 9-0 baby!!the off-season is hard work

Vote

Just Do It.

Papago Park

Today had it all. I slept in, ate some breakfast poolside, worked on the bikes, and the highlight of the day - riding Papago Park with A. We hit the trail around 11:00 and it was in the upper 80s, but dry, so pretty much perfect. It had been a while since I had ridden with A, she prefers this boring thing known as running.
After getting her ride dialed in, and breaking a brake cable, she got the hang of it again and we had a great mid-day ride.