And so it goes...

Today is March 17th. I have about one month until my triumphant(ly horrible) return to mountain bike racing. I need to get serious about the training. This is a tough week - I am flying to Massachusetts for two days this week, and unless my hotel has a weight room, that puts me behind the 8-ball with respect to getting some spinning in this week.

I had a pretty good streak of training days last week - three days in a row of spinning with some running mixed in (until the friggen pain in my side got bad enough that I had to stop). My wattages are looking good, considering that I had to take a some days off with being sick. I'd have to go back and look at my data on my garmin but I know that I averaged 246 watts on the second session and 270 watts my third session (for about 30 minutes) - I dont think I could maintain that wattage for the full hour. I've geen hitting the mid 400 watt range in my sustained sprints (~ 30 seconds).

I'm definitely modfiying the classes as I take them to better suit the actual skills that I would need to apply to a mountain bike. Some of the "moves" in the classes arent very applicable to a bike, so I'll do my own thing while the instructor takes the rest of the class through his/her routine.

I got a referal to a couple of sports medicine specialists. I have to call today and setup an appointment with one of the Dr.'s that my GP highly recommends for this nagging sidepain. I really want to get this thing straightened out so I can race in the tri in July up in Towamencin

I am going to cobble together a training plan today that's going to have me put alot of time in with the bike because that's the immediate training need in light of the upcoming mountain bike race, with some swimming mixed in. If I cant train for running, there's no harm in at least trying to train for the other two legs of the tri while I am training for this MTB race.

I need to get my f*t @ss into shape

The title cuts right to the chase.

I went out for a ride on Sunday - only the 2nd time on the new Jamis since I picked it up this winter. I haven't been as dedicated with my "training" as I had in the earlier part of the spring - I got sick and that lingered on for about two weeks, and then it took me a bit of time to get my rear back into the gym.

There were times on Sunday that I truly felt my that heart was going to jump out of my chest, run along side of me, and curse at me and heckle. My legs felt ok, which leads me to believe that the hours of spinning that I have been throwing in lately have had some sort of payoff, but the engine needs some tuning-up.

So, I have decided to register for a mountain bike race on June 18th - Guy's Neshaminy Classic. I have done this race three times (I think) over the course of the past ten years. Its a good course and a great race and I need something to motivate me to get my ass up out the bed at 5 am to get to the gym

So its done. Registered. I am registered for the Sport Class - that's like the intermediate division. I thought about Beginner, given the shape I am in, but a former teammate of mine bitch slapped me. He's got a point - I've been riding since 1993. That's close to 18 years of experience. Just on principle, I don't belong in the Beginner Class, even if I get my ass handed to me in Sport. It will be 14 miles of pain. I have a month to train. Let the fun begin.