Friday, August 19, 2011

Big rides, some big falls

The summer is beginning to wind down, but you would never know it by the temperatures. We hit 98 this week! I can't complain though, because 98 here feels like 80 with humidity back in PA or NH. The past few weeks have gone fairly well with long endurance training to build back the base aerobic fitness. I've been getting some of the biggest rides of my life in on Saturday's with about 90 miles, 6 hours and 6-7,000 ft of climbing. Long runs around 1.5 hours with 1500-2000 ft of climbing have also been on the schedule. I really enjoy this type of training, as it isn't as mentally tough as pinning it for intervals and trying to keep an intensity at a specific heart rate or power target. This stuff is more go out and work hard, but not too hard, just do it for a long time.

I was supposed to race Xterra Indian Peaks on August 6th. Unfortunately, that race didn't happen for me. I was warming up before the race and somehow managed to wash out my front tire in the parking lot and rip up my hands pretty bad. The worst was my left thumb. This low speed, freak accident actually ripped my entire thumbnail and the tip of my thumb off. I went to the ambulance and they wrapped up my hands, but I started to get nausea and light headed, so I threw in the towel at that point. Very disappointing to say the least.

Next up is Xterra Lory on the 27th. I need to have a good race to get the points I need to qualify for nationals. Hopefully I will get the job done. If not, I don't see the hard work since the Mountain Cup race as a waste. Every training session is a building block for the future.

Keep the rubber down,

NS