Wednesday, November 25, 2009

2010 Goals, what are they?

I have been researching races for next year and trying to figure out my focus so I can have my training peak at appropriate times......hehehe, Im laughing as I write that, I can honestly say, I am not sure I have ever peaked at any time, let alone appropriate times. So, with the comic relief out of the way, I truly want to do well this year but Im not sure where I want to do all this peaking. I want to do XTerra, I want to race on the track, I want to PR at a 70.3 race, I want to PR my 20 and 40km TT's, and I would like to go to World's for ITU Olympic distance as well as XTERRA World's.

To accomplish any or all of these items, I require TOTALLY different training. Power training for the track, a maximum race time of 1:25minutes, endurance training for 70.3, a maximum race time of 7 hours (hoping for 6.5hr), a mixture of the two for XTERRA races, average race time of 4 hours, and I would like to get my TT times to around 31min for the 20km and 1:03 for the 40km.

I dont think I can do all of it.....well, I CAN do all of it but something is going to suffer. If I can get classified sometime late this year or early next year, I will have a goal time to make for the track and I will most likely just focus on that and making the paracycling team. If I cannot, I suppose I will more than likely work on the Oly distance/Xterra races, which in turn will help my TT speed (my thoughts, not one of a coach, perhaps I can be schooled on why or why not that is a good idea). The 70.3 would probably be a June race so if I choose to peak for that, there are also a couple of XTERRA races around that time that i might be able to do one as a training race. Im waiting for the XTERRA CUP schedule to come out sometime in the next thrity days to finalize my decisions.

I have been told that if I am going to be a kilo track rider, I need to focus on nothing but however I am a challenged athlete and I can do more, just need the direction first. If any of this makes sense, great, Im still confused, hasta la vista baby.
Happy American Thanksgiving to all my peeps south of Canada, gobble gobble.
DS out

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Cross Crusade at PIR

What I did on my bike today was not as much fun as looking forward to it. Like all 43 year old boys, I love play in the mud and today was a perfect day for it. It rained almost an inch over the last 24 hours so the course at Portland International Raceway was soaked and muddy. I had forgotten to pick my cross bike up at the shop yesterday and didn't think I would be able to race but thanks to Twitter, my good friend Gary from Athletes Lounge let me know he would be there early.

I picked up my bike around 820am and made my way to PIR. I got dressed, signed in, paid my money, and did a little warming up then lined up to race. Because of my number I started in the back. This suited me fine as I wasn't feeling all that great about my fitness anyway. The horn sounded and we were off. Around 55 heavy weights rumbled out of the starting chute and onto the course. Each lap was 2.5 miles and pretty flat. There were two or three run ups, depending on your bike skills, but that was it for hills.

My legs were tired quickly due to the amount of mud that made up the course. There was a nice puddle section which got deeper and deeper each successive lap. I tried to ride that section on the bank of the puddle but I ended up riding through the thick mud.

Upon starting the second lap, I began to realize that I was DFL, dead freakin last, and I wasn't even half way through that lap when I got lapped. I was having a lot of trouble getting back into my pedals when I had to remount after clipping out. I have ridden with these pedals a lot but have not raced with them until today. I also had not been on my new bike in a race yet either.

Upon trying to remount after a short run up, I tweaked my ankle again, rolling it on the soft surface. I got on again but wasn't able to clip in on the left but I did manage to swing my crank around, smacking my tibia with it. I started walking again, along the course but kept rolling my ankle.

I decided to pack it in and walked across the course in time to see the finish of the race.

On the drive home, I was thinking if I should even be doing this. I have fun, to a degree, but its no picnic. I enjoy the time on the bike but not so much the getting on/off all the time. Too bad Stacey isn't taller, i would just give her my bike and I would stick to events that I don't have to mount/dismount as part of the course.

Falling asleep, guess that means I should sign off. Not too exciting and I know I had more to say but for now, that's it.