Early Season Training & Racing

I haven't blogged about anything in a while, so I decided that now would be a good time to get something up.

It's been a tough start to the season thus far. With our "new" little one, Mila, in the picture, priorities have changed, schedules have changed, and pretty much life in general has changed. It's all a good thing, but getting back to the "other" things in life that have been such a big part of our lives for a while now, has been a series of fits and starts, and mostly stumbles. We had been doing pretty well during the winter with our xc skiing and the odd run or swim thrown in here and there. By the end of January, Dina and I thought we were doing pretty well and were feeling pretty fit, actually. But alas, putting little Mila into daycare where she was exposed to all of the Ninja baby-viruses, really started to take its toll on her and on us. Amazingly, she has done pretty well with it, but some of that stuff Dina and I hadn't had (or perhaps never have had) since we were little ourselves. Dina and Mila just picked something up again right after Jay Benson, so that put Dina out for another 10-12 days. Ouch.

So, with all of that, plus slow motivation and having family visits (both here and elsewhere) to show Mila off...well, you all get it. I know I'm mostly repeating everyone else's stories here. But, I've been the master of domain all of these years, being able to somewhat prioritize my workouts and fitness over going to social functions, family functions, work functions, etc., etc. Now, it's all catching up to me and I've had no place to hide. I figured that getting a slow, late start would be a good thing for building up energy reserves and recovering from years of abuse and all of that, but getting sick during all of that time was a major setback. We didn't see that coming. And poor Mila -- it's so hard to watch a baby be sick, but man, do they bounce back quickly, while we adults just have it linger for weeks.

So, all of this complaining aside, I have been able to get out and do a few events, and even an odd training session here and there. I am not so accustomed to just jumping into races so ill-prepared as I have this year, but I went out and did it anyway. I wonder what the outcome of this experiment will be, whether I will turn out stronger than ever, or fall flat on my face for lack of a slow-build base in the early part of the year. Hmm, only time will tell.

Earlier this year, Dina and I had to attempt to figure out what our plans/goals might be for racing and training. All of that has now changed due to finding out how volatile the situation can be with a baby that is still breast-fed and the apparent ease that viruses are contracted, by both baby and mother. It's weird. So, while I complain that getting back "into it" has been tough for me, it's been infinitely more difficult for Dina. She seems to be able to get in about four or five days-worth of light workouts before she either comes down with something, or injures something in her back or knee or some other critical biomechanical location. Ooof.

Anyway, I had planned to do more local stuff and perhaps give Dina the chance to do some events further afield while I watch Mila. Back in Februarly and early March, I signed up for La Tierra Torture mtn bike race (two days, short track and the cross-country), and for the Jemez Mtn. Run 1/2 marathon race. I figured I would have had time to properly prepare for both of those events, since they were all the way in May. In between, I'd throw in Jay Benson Triathlon because it's so easy and I'd certainly be able to go hard in that too. Funny how things didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned.

Jay Benson was a rough one for me, but all-in-all, it was a good day, surprisingly. I expected nothing special, and while I didn't win, I'll take the 2nd overall I managed to pull off. A couple of days later, I went out on the LANL "Hard-Attack Tuesday" ride and my legs were so sore and hurting that I struggled to keep up. My legs just kept hurting every day, and I had the Jemez Trail 1/2 Marathon on Saturday, followed by a big group ride out into the Jemez the following day.

The Jemez 1/2 Marathon was OK. Chip took off hard and I felt really heavy and didn't even try to keep it up. I just paced myself and as long as the hills weren't too steep, I was able to fake it. When we hit the Mitchel trail, I was hurtin' and had to back off. My hips, thighs and back were just so overworked that I couldn't muster much more than a shuffle on the upper steep pitches. Once over the top, I tried to kick it back in and actually felt my running legs get under me a little bit. That was encouraging.

I managed to catch one of the guys who had passed me on the steep stuff and hoofed it in for 4th. It wasn't quite what I was expecting in terms of time (...didn't care about placing much), but I had to be somewhat pleased with the final push.

The next day, I struggled BIG TIME on the tough-guy ride out to the end of the pavement past Fenton Lake. It was over 80 miles on tough terrain with INCREDIBLY sore legs. I still had fun and had another epiphany about my nutrition when I'm really tired: I need to take in more calories to keep from bottoming out when I'm at the end of my body's workload limit. At one point, I was struggling just to turn the pedals and didn't really feel very hungry, but took in almost all of my food at once and then a few miles down the road I really felt it get into my blood stream and I recovered to finish strongly on the ride, feeling actually better than I had in the early parts...another good sign.

A little rest the following work week (more like helping out around the house more...) and a couple of good workouts in the rain the following weekend, and I finally started feeling fit and strong again. That was great. Next up: The Deuces Wild XTERRA for me, and the Olympic-distance for Dina.

We're finally catching up to the speed of the season.......