Ups and Downs....

Lets start with a few ups of the past few weeks. The weather is peaking around the spring corner. Only peaking though. And spring in Flagstaff means wind anyway. So, I have been off my bike for the a few weeks. I got absolutely sick and tired of riding my trainer. I couldn't handle it anymore. Second, the wind and chilly temps most days have kept me off the road. I am kind of a pansy when it comes to weather. I am a self described good weather rider. The wind doesn't bother me if I can get out on the trails, but they are still covered in snow as far as I know. So, with one positive, the weather, comes a few hiccups.

Also, I don't remember if I posted that I was diagnosed with a couple stress fractures in my tibias. Yes, both tibias. So, I have been in the pool at least 3 days, trying for 5 days a week in the pool doing some aqua jogging. I have never done it before and I am not sure I like it, but its all I have right now. We shall see in a few weeks if the jogging has translated into running power.

Positives include increased fitness in the pool. The majority of days that I am in the pool are positive. I am hitting times in my workouts that I have never hit before. It is a hugely positive experience for me. Plus, I have been more consistent in the pool the last month and a half, averaging 8000-10000 meters in the pool each week. I am topping my build up in the pool this week at 10000m. I will taper a little next week before my race. But, I am mostly going to hold this fitness and work on some increased speed through May and into the Deuces Wild XTERRA on June 6th.

In other news, I had my first race of the season last Saturday and it ended in a less than positive way. I raced the Prescott Punisher Mountain Bike race in Prescott. It was a 15 mile, 3 loop course. I decided to ride my single speed because I truly love it and I finally built it into a reasonable racing bike. The most recent change was switching my SID World Cup fork from my old hardtail onto this bike. It makes an incredible difference on the viability of my hands. The course went downhill (no pun intended) when I accidently took the wrong loop. I followed the green arrow loop instead of the blue arrow which cut my loop by probably less than a mile (?). I couldn't really tell you how much was cut short by my shortcut but it was enough to put me into third place at the finish which was above my actual ability by maybe 3 places. I DQed myself. And to add injury to my insult, I crashed on my final lap. Totally not expecting a patch of loose dirt, my wheel was grabbed and thrown to the side and I went down. I hadn't raced in a short mountain bike race in probably 4 or 5 years and hadn't been on the trails since last fall. I was out of shape and out of the race. The next race comes home to Flagstaff in May and I hope to finish respectably and bring some praise on my hometown turf. Stay tuned for that update in a few weeks.