BIG PLANS, BUT DENIED AGAIN

Well, it turns out that at least Tomas reads this, so I better keep it going. Had big plans for today, but they didn't happen. Originally, a few weeks ago the plan was to be at Starcrossed/Rad Racing this weekend getting dirty and with the big boys of cyclocross, just to see what it's like. I trained pretty hard so I could at least not totally embarrass myself, but I just couldn't totally commit due to work, family, etc. Turns out my daughter Mariah had soccer games in Helena Saturday, so as soon as I found that out, the Seattle trip was off. At least I'd have one more good weekend of training before the racing starts, with one last chance to get in a solid long ride to boost the base fitness before changing things up to more short, high intensity cyclocross type efforts. Best laid plans.....

Mariah had been sick most of last week, but started to feel better Friday afternoon, conveniently enough so she could play soccer Saturday. She awoke Sat am saying she felt great, let's go play some soccer! I, however, woke to the beginnings of a sore throat and a bit of congestion, not good. Turns out that Mariah was also still feeling it a bit once she started running for the game. It slowed her down quit a bit, but she was a trooper and fought through both games, even scoring three goals along the way (she's a total stud) I actually didn't feel to bad for most of the day, and thought I may have gotten off easy, so I still planned on going for a long ride on the 'cross bike from my house out in Belgrade, up and over Flathead Pass, down Bridger Canyon, and back home. I did it last summer. I think it was about 90 miles, plenty of which is on gravel, with some solid climbing along the way. Well. no such luck. I woke up feeling much worse this morning. I was far from being on the death bed, but had a pretty bad sore throat, congestion, and headache to boot. No way I was dragging myself out of bed at 7 am for a long ride. I chose instead to try and sleep it off. I lazed in a few more hours, but felt pretty much the same as the day wore on. I was up and functioning, and thinking I could probably go for a ride, and I really wanted to. But, I knew what advice I'd give to a client in this situation. Rest and get better. Do not dig yourself a hole by training hard while your body needs the energy for healing. It's a long cyclocross season, and though it's frustrating to miss training days when your motivated and feeling strong, it's much smarter to take a few days off/easy and get over the sickness. If I can get through from now all the way to Nats in mid December with just this little sickness as a set back, I'll feel pretty lucky. Chances are I won't be that lucky. So, no training the last two days and probably nothing for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll feel better in time to go play with the rest of the GAS crew and other Bozemanites that are crazed for cyclocross on Tuesday evening for the GAS cyclocross practice. Good times practicing the skills and drills, and chasing Curry around for some practice laps, should be fun.