Grizzly

This week seems to be broken into a couple of categories.

The "yeah" category and the "funk" category

"Yeah"
- I went to the Chiropractor on Thursday to get all set for the race. My ankle has been bothering me and I finally pinpointed how to express how and when it hurt. Also, my left shoulder gets really tight when I ride and I have some serious pain when I try to move my head or turn. I told the Chiro about both and he did his magic. The ankle immediately felt better and on my ride on Sunday my shoulder was remarkably less uncomfortable. He said the should was some fascia impingement. I also had a rotator cuff muscle that was really sore that he worked out and by Saturday it was feeling great. I am getting sucked in. Never a believer of a Chiropractor before.

- St. George plans- Talked to LeAnn on Saturday. We are going to leave on Wed. night and drive a few hours so that we have a little more time in St. George. I would like to have time to swim, since I haven't worn a wetsuit or swam open water since September. We are also going to bring mt bikes and stay until Monday so that we can spend a little extra time enjoying the trip. I am excited. It will be nice to make a longer trip out of it.

- My Grizzly swim time was 15 or so seconds than last year. I wasn't the first out of the water, but as the years go by I am getting out less and less on the last end. The water was very warm and very murky and I sucked at a few of the turns. I also followed my plan to swim 500 at a strong pace, build 250, and race 250. I think it went pretty well and am happy with how my swimming is progressing.

-Sunday ride- This was a little hard to motivate for. I didn't plan on riding the full 4 hours until about 3 hours into it. I did a little loop that involved all the roads I like and took out all the roads I don't. I felt really good and like I said above my back was noticeably less restricted. I made a little adventure out of it and stopped and ate tater tots and Dr. Pepper from the Taco Time in Belgrade. Rode in the aerobars a lot. At about 3.5 hours into my ride I came out of my funk. See below.

- Bobcat opened Monday morning and at 1pm we already have 12 entries. Already off on a good foot for the race.

"Funk"
- The Grizzly put me in a funk and I can't quite pinpoint it. I am going to list a few reasons why.
1- Those top 3 girls were very far ahead. I felt a little demoralized and even more so after. In my head I had really gunned for top 3, but I was way back.  I know that it all depends on who shows up etc. but my standards got higher this year. I also set  myself up to do better than last year and other than the swim it wasn't.
2- That Megan girl wasn't very friendly. I think a bit self absorbed. That bothers me.
3- The energy of the race was lower than normal. Shaun Radley was hugely missed. I might have been biased but even Erik said he thought the race was off a bit this year. One thing that makes that race so great is the high energy. I am not sure I am going to be so excited for it next year.
4- I cramped up really bad on the downhill, again. I am very annoyed that this keeps happening and I really want to figure out why (more on this in a minute)

- I have this really traumatizing experience with a mouse that Mister caught on Sunday. It was so cute but injured and I couldn't kill it. Instead I prolonged it's torture. I have shed a few tears about it and still feel so sad about it. I know it doesn't make any sense. I am a mouse killer too. I just got emotionally attached to this particular animal.

Other-
Cramping- This cramping this really bothers me. What is going on? So, I decided I am a scientist. I should be able to figure this out. From my very limited research when laying on the couch last night I have one hypothesis. In downhill running your quads are eccentrically contracting and I never train them . I need to test this hypothesis and do some fast downhill running. I usually run hard going uphill and take it easy on the down.  I am going to keep reading but at this point what do you think?