Keepin' Busy

Things just keep on moving along. Not much else since Anne's left for me other than working and riding my bike. A little running mixed in there for fun, but nothing over 45 minutes. I'm amazed at how easy it is to crush yourself when not under the guidence of a coach.

Since dropping out of the Ohio Rev 3 iron distance race, my season has effectively been over. Instead of trying to find another race to jump in to (if there was another XTERRA availible it would have been hard not to!), I decided instead to call it a season and spend more time with my girlfriend and enjoy life as a "normal" person rather than an overly obsessed triathlete:). Not that there's anything wrong with being an overly obsessed triathlete (I fully intend to return to my manic-triathlete-esque state), but I needed a bit of a break after working hard for the better part of the year. Call it burnout or whatever you want, the time had come for me to change focus for at least a little bit until I could get my head around spending a ton of time on my bike again. Not to mention, who the hell wants to ride a bike all the time when you could be spending time with a beautiful girl your crazy in love with...kind of a no brainer!

So anyway, since Anne's been gone, I've been riding and riding, and riding. While it's nice not to have an aim to the workout, it can also crush you too. I find that I ride VERY hard when I have no specific focus to my workout. I like to go fast and I like to ride at the edge of my abilities (on the mtb). Pushing the envelope like that can really be bad news, both in the form of crashing (which I've done plenty of-still having trouble moving my shoulder in certain ways:) though it hasn't effected my swim stroke!) as well as beating you down from over training. After riding hard on the mtb the last 3 days, my skills are super sharp but my legs are wasted. I'm having that "going up the stairs" tiredness going on. It's not the worst thing, I think, at this time to be feeling this way. While I'm sure it would take me out for next season if I kept training this way, I will be taking a break when I head to England this Friday, and I will be getting structure back in working with my coach, David when I return to the states as well. Besides, if I'm going to compete at XTERRA like I want to next year, I've gotta sharpen up my skills on the bike. Riding hard and pushing it like I am seems to have boosted my technique quite a bit. I'm amazed at the leve I can ride at this point and I know it's only going to continue to get better. I'll take the blood and crashes I've experienced so far, it's the only way to progress:).

The rest of this week before I leave Friday will be dedicated to crushing myself further. It might be dumb, but when I get on the plane on Friday evening I want to be completely exhausted. It'll be a good feeling heading into a bit of a break from training a lot to feel like I really need it. Maybe I'm hard-headed (maybe actually meaning "I am"), but I like the feeling I get from training out of my realm. I should rest, and I should relax, but I'm gonna have some fun no mattter what:).