Mulex

So I have a question for you. I looked up Austin results because I knew Charisa was racing and wanted to see how she did. You had 4 pros racing Austin, didn't you? You coach a lot of really good athletes. Here is the question. I have to be pretty low on your totem pole. Do you have space to keep coaching me? 

That was quite the week. Super busy with Mulex and work and still being sick. I was stuffed up and coughing all the way through Sunday.
I was pretty bad about following the prescribed plan. I am looking forward to not being so busy and having time to myself to exercise.

I was doing a 30 minute run. Super excited about it. I haven't run in a long time. Had my music in and the weather was beautiful. I passed this kid on the trail and he flagged me down and asked if he could run with me. I was a little annoyed because I was enjoying my run, but I couldn't say no. He ran probably 20 minutes with me. Then when we parted wanted my phone number so that I could let him know when I was going to run again. During the run I was telling him about Mulex. He showed up at Mulex. He raced the beginner race and won a helmet which was great since he didn't have one. So long story short, I have a protege.

Mulex was a success. The weather was awesome and we didn't have any insurmountable setbacks. I think I was a little to relieved it was over on Sunday night because I drank the bottle of champagne I won on Saturday plus a bunch of beer from the keg and was so hungover on Monday I had to call in sick. I was in good company though, managed to get John Curry as drunk which is pretty hilarious.

I raced (very last minute) on Saturday and not so very last minute on Sunday.  Saturday was awesome. The course was 100% designed for me. Up and down and around corners. I could have gone around 10 more times. Plus, my stuffy nose and cough is not related to me being sick because once I got warmed up I felt great. Sunday was a bit tougher. There were some longer stretches of bumpy ground and my legs were starting to buckle the last couple of laps. Still had a good race though.  I really, really like to race cyclocross.

anyway, I might be convinced to go to Kalispell for the state championship in two weeks. Especially if the whole Bozeman crew goes. However, it is time to get back on a plan.

One more thing. PT update. I have one more appointment with the PT on Wednesday. But as of right now I have a list of exercises to do.

Hamstring- put leg up on wall and just hold it for a minute or so and switch sides.
Lay on my back on a foam roller and make angel motions with my arms. Do 20x or so.
4 exercises for my SI joint. Hold each 6 seconds and do 6x each.
Also, whenever I run, I am going to do my Achilles stretch.

Sick

So this week was quite the bust. I did a whole lot of nothing, and a little more of a whole lot of nothing, followed by a trip to Urgent Care on Sunday to start antibiotics, and as a side, a whole lot of nothing. Still feeling coughy and snotty on Monday afternoon, but it is a beautiful day and I am ready to dig the hell out of Rose Park. Give the City a big fat FU, but that is a whole different story entirely.

Went to the PT last Tuesday. This was the back PT. He gave me some exercises to do and wants to see me a few more times. I didn't get much of a long term plan from him like I do from Jason. Looking forward to going back to Jason. Healthcare is expensive. I just want to be healthy but hate paying for it.

Races-
Have you heard of the HITS series? What do you think? There is a race in Grand Junction Colorado in mid-May. I have a buddy to go to it with. The other option for the last week of May is a paddle, ride, run in Bigfork. I don't have a boat, but could find one  and that race has cash prizes. The HITS series is only 150$ if I register in January. Lots of pros and cons for both. Still deciding. The races are on different weekends, I just don't forsee myself driving to Colorado one weekend and then Flathead the next.

I am just not into Troika. Thinking a little about St. George again. Also, thinking about Rev3 Portland but that is right in the middle of the summer. Sort of messing up with my idea of a couple of blocks of races.

This would give me a couple early races and then a block of later races.

Other for sure races:
Grizzly
Big Horn
Spring Meadow
Polson
Heck why not: Garden City

Other ideas: An Olympic distance race in Saskatoon. My Dad has a friend there and has been wanting to go.

I had a list with dates the other day and lost it. Sorry this is a really bad blog. For some reason MuleX this year seems like more work. Also, being sick has left me taking quite a few naps.

Do you see anything taking shape here?

Thinking and planning

So I have been thinking about what you said last week. The idea of racing triathlon like racing cross is appealing to me. Maybe I won't try and throw a half in there and just keep everything shorter, do more of them, and have a lot of fun.  So, honestly, what keeps me hesitant, is that in my mind shorter races means less training. I love the training. Probably even more than the racing. I love how IM training makes me feel. So, let's talk about this, but I want you to promise to kick my ass for these shorter races.

So what about two blocks. Instead of April to August, maybe I could find some early season races and then take a few weeks to sleep in, dawdle over morning coffee, and then jump back into a summer series of races. Now that being said, I am going to start looking at races.

I have also had a lot of thoughts about racing triathlon and racing in general. Last year even, I thought, okay, one more Ironman and then I am done. I was looking at racing triathlon as something that I was either all in, or all out and that I just had a couple of years to get good and that I could get good in a couple of years. I am starting to think differently about this. It seems like there is a lot of work to do and it takes a long time to get "good". I guess, some people can do an Ironman, and be very good, but there are those that have to work at it.  It seems the ones that are just good right off the bat, maybe aren't very mature about it? I don't know about this, for sure, but it seems that people who are long term racers are very mature. I like the idea of being a "triathlete" something that is part of my life that I don't give up on. 

So going back to the first paragraph. Why not try racing some other distances? Why not take this winter and maybe next winter, to really focus on swimming? I have years and years of racing and training and working at it to get better. 

Racing cross this year has been really interesting for my perspective above. The first race I did here in Bozeman felt awesome. I felt like I did really well and I loved it. Then I went to Helena, felt like crap, and got my ass handed to me. Then I go to Victor and Saturday I felt okay, but not great at all and this masher on a mt bike beat me. I didn't even care to chase here down. Then Sunday, I didn't even see that woman. I was so far ahead of her the whole race and even got compliments from Erik that I was looking really good. Even better than a few years ago when I was really training for cross. It is so amazing and interesting how some days are good and some days are bad and it doesn't matter what kind of training you put into that one day. Ironman Kona had a good example. Heather Wurtele rocked the year, and I don't think she even finished that race. 

So, this year for triathlon (or next year, if all of a sudden I get pregnant) let's do the above (first paragraph). Let's rock the triathlon scene. Over a bunch of races, I will get a good picture of my fitness, my ability, my weaknesses etc. It will be a really good platform to work off of to get better.

Now to a few of your questions:
In general. Bender was sick all weekend, and I stayed in the same house as him etc. I think I am coming down with something. Felt good Monday morning but started feeling that sore throat and ache in the afternoon. Am going home to rest. Don't want to catch this bug very bad.

G-fit. I want to figure out what I will be doing for PT before I start doing G-fit. I really want to get working on this. My lower right back hurts so bad at the end of a cyclocross race and I am sure it is all related.

Wednesday night race. Maybe race, maybe not. See how I feel on Wednesday? Can I have a back up plan?

Feel much better cyclocross racing on Sundays or after a day of riding. Can I do a hard cyclocross bike ride on Friday? Maybe go over the where we do Wed. night races and ride some hard laps. Then practice turning around trees for a while. Rolling Thunder brings more pressure than other races and I want to at least feel good.