-sbc
Monday, December 29, 2008
2008 was GREAT!!
-sbc
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
December Prep Work
Last week after being sick on Monday and Tuesday, I got motivated and hit the pool twice - on Wednesday morning and then Friday morning. I knew it was gonna feel hard and sure enough. On Wednesday, all I did was a steady 30 min swim (no lap count or anything) with an ez WU and then pulls for CD. For Friday -5x500 (2500 yds) - avg'd around 1:35 per 100. Not fast but I was really working on trying to get my stroke to feel smooth. I really felt like I had been swimming really good towards the latter part of the summer, so I'm hoping that by getting back in the pool a little earlier this year - I won't lose too much of that "muscle memory" technique. Its amazing that as I swam more I realized how important it is to be efficient. I was pulling consistent sub 1:20 / 100 pace (while wearing baggies) back in June - August. In an Xterra race, its nice to come out of the water in good position so that you don't have to pass a lot of people in the singletrack. A wide open trail is a fast trail! As for running, I got in about 13 miles total - 4 miles on Tuesday; 3.5 on Wednesday; and 5.5 on Friday. As for the weekend - I didn't do JACK!!! No riding, running, or swimming.....just mainly worked around the house and hung out with the Stephanator. Had plans to run on Sunday, but opted to stay out of the cold and sleep in and then drink a ton of coffee. Oh well, it was nice and relaxing and one of my home improvement projects is nearing completion.
As for this week - last nite i put in 6 miles at about 8 min pace - just a nice jog down 1st street. Nothing hard. And this morning (Wednesday), back in the pool for another 2500. I "felt" a little faster but my watch said otherwise. But that's alright, definitely not stressing on times or pacing right now.
I'm considering scaling back my plans for the marathon in February - might just do the half - but try to do it sub-1:30. My thought process is that since I'm not doing anything long distance, a marathon might not be the best idea. Besides, I'll need to start puttin in some longer bike miles in January and February and marathon training could get in the way. Time for recovery is definitely a rare commodity around my house. I've got to think about goals and priorities. It would be nice to do the marathon, but I think my tri stuff might suffer. Oh well, really not that big of a deal - but just something I've been kicking around. Right now, nothing is set in stone.
Next race - Gator Bowl 5K on New Year's Eve -- i'm really wanting to set a 5K PR here. Last year, I went 0:20:43, so there is some room for improvement.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Outback Half RR
MILE 1 -- 6:49
MILE 2 -- 7:00
MILE 3 -- 7:07
MILE 4 -- 7:18
MILE 5 -- 7:09
MILE 6 -- 7:44
MILE 7 -- 7:06
MILE 8 -- 7:15
MILE 9 -- 7:28
MILE 10 -- 7:28
MILE 11 -- 7:21
MILE 12 -- 7:40
MILE 13 -- 7:34
FINISH TIME -- 1:35:46
All in all, it was a fun race. I loved the course - it was out in Mandarin and covered a lot of the roads that we ride on. It was a little cold at the start but I was hot and sweaty within the first mile. I really felt comfortable for the majority of the race - I settled in to my pace and just tried to keep my splits within a couple of secs. My goal pace was 7:40/ mile but I ended up going a tad faster without any problem. Going into this race, I had not done any runs over an hour. I knew I was stretching it a little bit and would probably be hurting for the last 5K -- sure enough. I had brought a couple of powergels with me - and took one at about 50 minutes and took the second one around 1:15 -- they definitely helped. So as my goal time was 1:40:00, I got it by almost 5 minutes. Pretty stoked on that -- I think that going sub 1:30 is definitely within reach for me, so that'll be my future goal for that distance.
BUT, for now I have to get the soreness out of the legs and get back to puttin in the miles. Hopefully, I'll feel good enough to hit the trails for some off-road running soon.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Run ...... eat.......work around the house.....repeat step 3 over and over and over
Friday, November 21, 2008
Sometimes ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.......
This way i figure it, when January rolls around, my "work orders" will be done and I'll be ready to hit it again. Oh well, such is the life of the "weekend warrior".
As for the mtb race in Felasco --> scrapped.
But, it's time to run. I want to just run. Especially, since my mtb is still jakked. I figure I can still fit some running in. Time-wise its perfect. Most of my runs are 30 - 90 minutes max, so its not like I'll be out riding for three to four hours. And, I can run in the dark - i figure its much safer than riding at night.
But, yeah, my rear shock has been sent back for warranty. I'm hoping the Warranty-God will smile down on me and get that thing back soon. I want to get the Spark fixed up and ready for the 09 Xterra season. It's in pretty rough shape now, but since i'll be taking some time off - i figure it'll be a perfect time to have a little "MTB ANNUAL OUTAGE".
So, the plan for my weekend is to finish rebuilding the gable on the front of the house. Run some. Chill with the wifey and then drink some beers.
(Oh yeah, and i'll probably waste a bunch of time on that damn Facebook........man, I'm addicted to that crap. )
Friday, November 7, 2008
Been a good week (so far).....
So far, I've gotten my rides in everyday including the super fun "Urban Assault" ride on Wednesday night. There's a couple of guys that ride old-skool fully-rigid mountain bikes with slicks and road cassettes through some backroads and I did the ride with them on my mtb - with knobbies. It was about 30miles total and I had a blast. We rode through the cemetary and then back along the intracoastal on some roads that were SUPER DARK. It was cool, i'm definitely gonna try to incorporate this ride into my wintertime training. I've gotta get some slicks soon.
Tomorrow, I'm gonna do about 3 hrs or so on the road - with a handful of 10min efforts thrown in to the middle. Sunday, I've got a 7miler with the SeaTurtle running group then maybe a lil Hanna Park mtb ride in the afternoon.
Should be a fun weekend with some great weather!!! This time of the year, the temperatures ROCK!!
So here's the beer of the week --
Dale's Pale Ale -- Rocky Mountain Brewing -- it's darn good AND comes in a FULLY RECYCLABLE aluminum can.
Monday, November 3, 2008
random thought....
Monday, October 27, 2008
Long naps, good food, and easy riding.......
After that, we headed on back to the 'hood.
We ended the night with some killer fresh linguini pasta mixed with broccoli rabe, roasted chicken, pine nuts, and freshly grated parmesan and awesome fresh garlic bread from Fresh Market. Deeeee - lish. Oh yeah, and after me and Blue discovered these on this past Thursday, I went to the corner store to pick up some Dead Guy's. Good stuff. Highly recommended.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Can't sit still.......
So, as I sat in the Toronto airport on Sunday night waiting for my plane (and drinking a beer, eh) I came up with a little "mini-plan" geared towards the race at San Felasco at the end of November. Its six weeks out, so I figure I can put about 2wks of easy miles in, then about 3wks of some build workouts with some intensity, then give myself a slight taper and be ready for the race on the 30th. Easy enough. So this week, is "only" 9 hrs - most of which will be on the trainer watchin tv. Fun stuff. It does feel good to be riding again.
Also, i've decided to run the 26.2 with Donna in February. This will be my first marathon and I'm gonna use the training and prep as run-base work for the 09 tri season. I figure its a worthy cause, a great route (no better place than Jax Beach!), and Tony J. will be running it also. So, I will be keeping about 2 runs a week in the mix - but mostly 30-45 min ez jogs. That way, as soon as I'm done with my mtb race, I can kick off a 12-wk plan at the beginning of November and be good to go for February 15th. My goal is 4hrs or better - preferably "better" --> so, that equates to a little over 9 min miles for 26.2....... Sounds ez, but I've yet to surpass the 15 mile distance, so I know those last 11 will be the "fun" ones. Oh well, goals are good, right? So now its out there!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Back to Reality (Tahoe Race Report)
Here's some pics from the Flume Trail on my preride.......
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Come on 5 o'clock.......Come on.........
Saturday: Snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday Night: A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32.
Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 47.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Gettin Ready...
I got this past weekend started a little early on Friday when I got the go-ahead from my boss to leave early so off to the pool I went for an ez little swim. Did 500 WU then did 1500 at race pace - held just under 1:30/100 avg with baggies on; then did 500 CD. Then Saturday morning - i woke up a little late and didn't leave the house until 8 - figured i'd missed the group ride so just decided to do my own deal. As I kept riding - I noticed that I'd see the pack every once in a while. So at that point - I decided to try to bridge the gap. Good thing I was riding this:
After about ten minutes of pullin hard and blowin thru dropped riders, I realized that there must be some serious horsepower on the front. Sure enuff - Curtis Long, Jeff Kopp, Steve Petit, and Walter Campbell were up front rolling hard. So then I just settled in and took off down to Guana River to finish out with a little over 2hours. Then went for a nice ez run down to Cradle Creek Preserve. Must've been the early on efforts on the ride - cuz the last 15 minutes of the run HURT!! Once i got home, i put on the RECOVERGEAR and chilled for about 45 minutes - after that me and the Stephanator hit up some Mojo's BBQ with the family and watched a lil of the Gator game........ sux they lost ......... but then we hit up the Town Center and Black Creek Outfitters for some shopping. Steph scored a sweet Arcteryx rain jacket that she'll definitely need when we're out hiking Mt. Tam......... I had to keep telling her that the "quality is long remembered after the price is forgotten"...... she'll be happy once she gets stuck in the rain that ONE TIME!!
On Sunday, we loaded up and took off to Ft Clinch to check out round #2 of the FSC series. No racing for me, but we were there to cheer on Tony J., Radd, and Char. Radd won his sport class, TJ scored a top ten, and Char got second. Props to them - it seemed like a tough course judging by the amount of dirt that was stuck to TJ's face!! Me, Steph, and Jacob got our run on while we were there. I got in an hour - mostly on the road b/c the trails were taken up by the mtbr's. I did manage to find the hiking trail but it was only good for about a mile. At one point - I was running on a thin land bridge between two swamps - I kept thinking to myself, "this seems like where a gator would be" --so I decided this would be a good point to throw down some intervals. Got out of there quick!!
Finished the weekend off with some much needed napping while watching the Jags get it in overtime!!
Garrard definitely put down some work - i kept thinking for sure that that guy was gonna get worked over solid everytime he ran.
For dinner, we kept it mellow at the house with a some grilled shrimp, fresh steamed brocolli, and some organic mac&cheese................ oh yeah, and a delicious DFH 60min'r!!!!
- sbc
Friday, September 26, 2008
Scary feeling.....
But anyways, everything is coming together for the trip - picked up Rich's wetsuit the other day and I luckily found a hoodie at BikeFitters, so i should be good to go for the swim. As for the bike, the RP23 shock will work alright for the race - but i'll definitely be looking to get the DT Nude shock taken care of through warranty when I get back.
As far as training goes, this weekend i've got a 2:30 ride planned - starting at around 7 and then hooking up with the Lodge ride at 8 for a little intensity - then a 45 min ez run off the bike. The weather should be good - so i'm looking forward to it. As for sunday, me and the stephanator are gonna head up to Ft Clinch to cheer on the crew at the FSC #2 mtb race. I'm not going to race ( my bike is enroute ) but I'm going to get there early and put in about 10mi on the trails. Should be fun - i've never ran there - only ridden - so I'm lookin forward to it.
Have I ever mentioned that i love running on trails? It is WAYY better than runnin on the road! UNF (my alma mater) has some great trails that I hit up on this past wednesday for about an hour. It was raining a little and there were some big puddles of mud - but it was way fun. I seriously didn't realize i had been running for 45 min when I first looked at my watch - it felt like 15!! Hopin the run in Tahoe goes by just as fast!!
- sbc
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
caution: LONG WINDED POST!
#1. I got married to the coolest chik in the whole world. Yup, me and the Stephanator are NOW official. We even have the certified document from the state!! September 6th was the date at the Casa Marina in Jax Beach. We had been sweatin it because of Hurricane Hanna was meandering up our way - but thank God, it passed by without affecting too much. A little rain on Friday morning but other than that it was awesome weather. The wedding festivities went off great as well, the whole crew was there and got jiggywidit (drinks were free - whaddayaexpect?!?) BigBlue was shakin his moneymaker as was the Raddster. I think I saw TJ even bust a move or two (or three!). Good Times, fo sho!! Two days spent at the Ponte Vedra Inn (Presidential Suite - 2 steps to the sand!! yeah - thats how I roll!) Actually - they upgraded us because a bunch of peeps canceled due to the storm - haha - suckas!! The official honeymoon is kickin off with the Tahoe trip October 2nd - then off to Frisco / Wino - Kuntry for some good ole fashion chillin with the ole lady (ha - she'll punch me in the eye if she reads that!)
#2. I turned 30 years old. Un-friggin-believable! Can't believe i made it this far!! Thought for sure I would've been run over by now - but survived another year - whew!! Well, if you're reading this (i.e. one of the two people who will read this) you were in on the whole SCHEME!! Crazy surprise party thrown by the Stephanator. That was by far the coolest thing that anyone has ever done for me. That Saturday started pretty mellow with a little bike ride and was gonna end up with some dinner at Clarks Fish Camp with the folks. After some great food we headed back home only to be surprised by all of my friends who were waiting inside. i totally freaked out. I about had a heart attack - it was the craziest thing ever!! But the fun didn't stop there. Steph had gone WAYYY above and beyond and bought me a new bike - a SCOTT PLASMA!! Holy Heck. I got pretty emotional when I saw it - just couldn't believe that someone could do SOO much for me. She's definitely the coolest chik ever!!
#3. Xterra First Coast - July 27th at Hanna Park. Had a great race - somewhat expected due to the fact that I know those trails pretty good. But even besides the bike section - my swim was good and my run didn't totally suck. Put all those together and I scored a third overall. Came out of the water in fourth - while Omar Fraser was out almost 2min before me, Fannin, and some other dude. Got rollin on the bike - and started pullin hard - ended up catchin Omar at the end of lap 1 - with 2 more to go, i attacked hard to try to get a gap on him. I also knew that Drew Edsall was back there somewhere and he'd be working his way up as well. Going into T2, i was leading but was seriously lacking basic functioning skills as I had dropped my energy gels on lap two. I felt like I was in transition for about 12 minutes, but I eventually figured out how to put on my visor and running shoes. Who would've thought that I would be confused on how to wear a visor? But anyways, Omar caught me right at the first mile - Shawn Burke said he made up about 30 secs just in T2, so oh well. That guy came running past (maybe OVER me - he's like 8' tall or something) and i tried to hang on his pace for about a minute but then dropped back. It was friggin hot (uh - yeah - i guess i shoulda expected that for Florida in July, huh?)!! About two minutes after that I hear Drew coming up and I tell him that Omar is only a couple of seconds ahead of me. I was actually lying (he was probably close to a minute up) but I knew that that would psyche up Drew and with the pace that he was running - he'd be able to catch him..... and sure enough. Drew passed Omar to take the win, while I stayed in for third. Great fun race - and I actually scored 50 bux for the fast bike split - heck yah!!
#4. Gainesville FSC #1 --> was just this past weekend at Hailles Trails. My original plan had been to just use this race as some good intensity training and work on pushing hard up the climbs.I had no real expectations other than to try to stay within the top ten. Going into the race - i didn't have a whole lot of saddle time, especially not a lot of dirt riding. In fact, the mtb had only been used twice since Xterra Hanna (and one of those times was when Blue rode it at the 8hr race) and the other time was the Wednesday before this weekend!! . Now, as most Florida racers do, I love racing/riding at Haille's trails - especially now that Reddick is gone. For this race, Dave Berger would run the race in the direction which puts the climbs that are out in the field as the last part of the lap. Not sure of which I prefer - either way its pretty dern hard. We were scheduled for five laps and we voted on the line. I did vote for four laps, i must admit, but mainly because it was already 11:30 and it was a scorcher. I guess I don't understand why the wave that is going to do the most laps / time has to race in the hottest part of the day. I mean, I know you have to mix up the order, but there comes a point when it can be dangerous. But anyway, my futile attempt to shorten the race was stifled by pretty much everybody else who voted for five (wtf?? did they not feel the heat?) But anyway, As the race started, I found myself sittin 6th and then we hit the tight turn into the singletrack. Figured there would be a little jockeying, especially with this being the first race and all - and I was right. Two dudes passed me in the single track, kind of dick-passes if you ask me, especially since this was going to be a 2+hr race. The first 2minutes doesn't mean a whole lot in an expert race. Eventually the stronger guys will make their way through, not like in beginner class- where not getting a hole-shot can cost you a race. So as the trail dropped out into the field, we were strung out in a line with a couple of guys ahead of me and then a big gap would open up so I'd jump to cover the gap and the dillholes who passed me in the single track would grab my wheel and then they'd cut me off going into the next single track. So after this happened for the third time - I just sat back and recovered for a minute once the trail popped out in to the field before dropping into the first quarry section. The two goofballs AGAIN let a gap go to the first couple of guys - I guess they expected me to cover it once again - so i sat for a couple of seconds - then CLICK , CLICK, ..........CLICK - i motored around them and pulled up right behind first and second place. We dropped down the first descent and then shot up the first quarry climb - aha! - we gapped em and now I just sat in to recover. The pace was high but definitely manageable. Shawn Smith was upfront riding smooth as was Joe Vietro in second. I just settled in along for the ride and within about two minutes my hr was back down and I felt great. "DRINK! DRINK!", I told myself - my last couple of laps would now depend on how well I manage myself for the first couple of laps, so I consciously drank (a lot) and sucked down a gel. Now, I hadn't done a pre-ride so I was a little shaky when the pace got flowing in the singletrack, but surprisingly i would pull back in when hittin the climbs. The nice thing about G-ville is that the laps are short, the bad thing about G-ville is that the laps are short SO we DO Five of them, but before I knew it we were finishing up the third lap and we started the fourth lap and I was still sitting in third - i started getting excited, but then I remembered my last G-ville race where i was in third until the last climb on the last lap and then got passed -- "DRINK, DRINK, CONSERVE, CONSERVE!!!" I told myself. Two more laps to go - and I was sure the pace was gonna get lifted. Sure enough. Up one of the short little power climbs I cramped like a MUTHA!!! But once I got going I pulled back in behind the two leaders. Smith still setting pace - I'm sure he wanted either one of us to pull through, but I had nothing in terms of any fast pace left in - i knew i'd be in "survival mode" on the last lap. After a couple of tough cramps up some of the last climbs before the feedzone, left me dangling about 30 secs off of the leaders so I decided to sit up and recover to make sure that I could finish the last lap strong to hold off from being overtaken by the fourth place rider - who I thought was Mark Gerrard. So I rode the last lap by myself , fairly conservative but just kept saying to myself, "Move Forward, Move Forward" and it worked - that is until .............. AHHHHHHH! "THE LAST CLIMB ON THE LAST LAP" --- OH NO, NOT AGAIN!! ........ About three feet from the top of this climb both of my legs just locked up - not even a simple hamstring cramp or calf cramp - I couldn't move my legs - it felt like they were wooden poles and my feet weren't responding to my brain messages. I couldn't believe it - I looked back expecting to see fourth place coming but there was NOBODY! I took a deep breath and splashed some gatorade from my bottle on my legs - now mind you - i'm still not on the top of the climb - i'm just stalled out - not moving, but the "bright side" was that i hadn't slid all the way down the climb. FINALLY, my right leg bends and i scoot myself up the hill - still have the rigamortis feeling in my left leg, but right leg is GOOD TO GO. So I clip in and ride on down the hill towards the finish line. My stiff left leg was flappin in the wind as i rounded the last turn towards the chicane and then it finally regained movement. THIRD PLACE! Way stoked. Gotta give some appreciation to my wife, the Stephanator - as always - a great job with the bottle handoffs and for keeping my splashed down with cold water through the feed zones as well as other places around the course. It seemed like she and Big Blue were EVERYWHERE and they were always ready with the cold water to pour on my head.
So, as you can see its been a pretty eventful couple of months, so hopefully that'll fill ya in.
Well, til next time, sbc out.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Trying to get back on track.......
It goes like this:
Oh well, I'm sleeping in - I'll just do an open water "swim" this afternoon........
--or--
I'll just do the group ride - that'll be good enough...........
--or--
Whew, i just ran three solid miles..... i'm done - give me a BOOST Chocolate Shake (300 calories to replace to the 125 that I burned......)
Man, when it comes to making deals with myself, I'm definitely a used car salesman:
Well, I put it out there, no more hiding -- it's time to get back on the program. Not too much racing coming up except for the last BFAST on July 12th and then Xterra First Coast on the 27th. Tahoe is looming out there in October, seems so far away, but I know it'll be here before I know it and I'll be gasping for air at 7500' wondering what the hell was I thinkin back in June......
NOTE TO SELF: Tahoe is going to be HARD.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
2008 - 1st Half RECAP
In beginning of March, I did my first ever Gate River Run. Now for those of you not in the KNOW - this is a HUGE running race held right here in J-ville. Its deemed the USA 15K Championship. Of all the years living here, I've never participated - so this year, with my tri-training in full effect, I figured I check it out and use it for some good run training. Had a great time, even with the 40mph winds on top of the bridge - and will definitely hit this race again. Now I will say it just for the record - I AM NOT A RUNNER!! So for me to be out there with some elite runners, I'll say that I was somewhat happy with my results - I'll definitely improve next time - I was kinda nervous about THE BRIDGE at the end of the race so I held back a little for the first 10k, but in retrospect I coulda pushed a lil harder. Next year - sub 1hr but this year's result: 416th OVERALL and 72nd in age group -- not bad considering there was something like 12ooo people there!
Then in mid-March, I hit the first round of the SERC (Southeast Regional Championship) race in Gainesville (at Haille's Trails, which are some of the most fun trails to ride in FL - too bad they aren't open year round - BUMMER). I had figured it would be a good test of my mtb fitness, as I was kinda anxious to see how my training was doing AND I would be racing my first race in the 30-39 Expert class (yeah, I'm getting OLD!! 30?!?!?! - whoa!! ). Had a great race and found myself sitting in third for the entire race until getting passed on the LAST climb on the LAST lap - Result: Fourth place AND a big mtb confidence boost.
Next, it was on to my first Xterra race of the year - Miami (Oleta River State Park). I was anxiously anticipating this race - as I had decided that this was my main focus for this year. I had been working with Shawn Burke to help get ready for this and I was feeling GOOD going into this race. Now this wasn't my first Xterra ever- but it was my first Xterra ever that I have actually TRAINED for, so it would be interesting to see how I would stack up against some bonafide offroad tri-guys. The race went well - was actually leading after T2 (the transition from bike to run) after setting the fastest bike split of the day and passing Casey Fannin. On the run, Mr. Fannin put the hammer down and made me realize that I've still got a little work to do. Great race - really cool venue - especially the run, with some river crossings where you had to pull yourself across on a rope - A LOT OF FUN!! Result: 2nd overall / 1st age group
After Miami - I took my newfound MULTISPORT ability to the BFAS Duathlon in Nocatee on April 19th. This was kinda a small race but would serve perfectly as a tune-up race for an upcoming Xterra in Ft Yargo. Short distances of a 2mile run / 12 mile bike / 2mile run would suit me well, especially since - say it with me, "I AM NOT A RUNNER". Hit my goals with this one and went sub 1hr - avg'd about 6:30 pace on the run and about 24mph on the bike. Fun little race - hope they keep those things going. Result: 8th overall and 1st agegroup.
Now, here's where it starts gettin good -> the weekend of April 26th and 27th was an action packed weekend full of good times and some decent results. Saturday was the Ft. Yargo Xterra, put on by GoneRiding - who always does such a GREAT job with running races. SUPER fun trails had me stoked to be out riding and I put in the second fastest bike split - right behind Xterra pro Craig Evans. I started the run in second - but faded to 5th overall (probably due to the fact that - "I AM NOT A RUNNER") but was stoked to say the least cuz I actually felt somewhat fast on the run - definitely faster than my run in Miami.
And then this is what's its all about:
The next day was a SERC race and I figured that since I was there then I might as well race - especially since the trails were AWESOME - was feeling pretty good in the race - actually held third until the final lap when i got passed on the last climb (uh, don't they call that dejavu?) (uh, don't they call that dejavu?) Oh well, fourth place for a race that I did totally without any expectations - stoked (as well as $80 richer - expert racing has its advantages!!)(hey check out Trent Maddox (first place dude) - I think he's WASTED!!)
After the Yargo Experience, I had a month until my "A" race, so I hit the training hard - including some good rides with the Bluester:
As a prep race, I did the first round of the BFAS triathlon - felt kinda off that day for some reason - might've had something to do with running late and not getting in a warmup (note to self: warmup at next race). Still ended up 2nd in age group and something like 18th overall. Those are super fun races (and close to home!).
Next up was the BiG Daddy of Xterra Races: the Southeast Championship in Pelham, AL. Was super stoked and looking forward to this race like no other. BUT, it just so happened that I came down with some nasty head cold on the Friday before the race. ARGH!!!!! I don't get sick very often but this was the most INCONVENIENT time possible. Oh well, after a decent swim and a mediocre bike section, my body decided that it didn't want to move forward anymore. Just finishing that run was probably one of the hardest things ever!! The run was a 10K and about half of it was some super steep climbs - a lot walking (and some crawling) and more cramping spelled out a bad race for me. Was in 2nd agegroup but fell back to 7th - but I finished, so considering that I felt like crap - I have to be somewhat happy that at least I didn't die out there on the trails. Well, here's a pic - i had to digitally alter it so that you couldn't make out the painful grimace on my face - I did my best to pretend that I was running when I saw the photog, because MAN, I WUZ HURTING!!
Oh well, 1st half of 08 is over with. Time to move on and learn from the past six months. Looking forward to some fun times over the next couple of months - the big day is approaching (September 6th) and that is gonna have most of my focus for the coming months, but I'll be racing a little bit and will try to put something together for the USA Xterra National Championships in Lake Tahoe in October.