Good stuff

lately. We've been running quite a bit since cross ended nearly 3 weeks ago with some longer road rides and a few nice nursery and off road rides thrown in too. The trail runs have been fun and challenging and the few longer road runs that we have did are just plain boring. There is no need to try to run fast on the trails due to the hills that get the heart rate up so we're just enjoying the trails and the friends that we've been running with. We plan on doing a 1/2 Marathon trail race this winter and a 15 mile trail race in the spring with a few shorter distance races as well.

We hooked up the power taps on the TT bikes the other day too, so when we're on the trainer we can see what we're doing and maintain some bike fitness, but for now, we're content on just riding along outside when we can and trying to stay off the trainer until absolutely necessary.

Tony and I did a swim workout yesterday for the first time in almost 4 months. Actually I wouldn't really call it a workout, we just got back in the water and tried our very best not to drown. We did some pulls, kicks and some 100 meter free sets until our shoulders had enough and said that's good for now. We're just going to take it easy in the water for a while, there's no need to get too excited about anything since out first tri isn't until May in Virginia and then it's not a very long one. So for now we're just having fun and not overdoing it staying fit and mixing it up.

Hope everyone had a terrific Christmas.

What a great morning

it was for a run. Scott, Tony and I drove to Vertical Runner in Hudson this morning to meet the large group that was meeting there for the Christmas Eve run and there were ALOT of runners there too by the time we arrived at 8 a.m.. Anyway Nate rolled in and we decided to head over to the Happy Days visitors center on 303 just inside the Cuyahoga Valley for a trail run instead of the road run that the group from Vertical Runner had planned. Just then a long time friend of mine and ex training partner Royden Kern walked in with his brother-in-law J.B. I was really surprised to see him since he lives in Lexington Kentucky, but it made sense because his family and his wife's family are from the Kent area and Royden and his family are up for Christmas. We then all decided to head to the Valley together. Nate showed us a very challenging but beautiful 9.6 mile loop with some awesome technical areas and some pretty steep hills. Everyone ran great and had a good time. Here's a post run picture.

Merry Christmas all.

Lotsa running

lately and most of it has been on the trails. I was really looking forward to spending time on the trails after cyclocross was over and I have been doing just that. We're still riding but it's mostly been on the cross bikes in the nurseries and trails also which is great. We have about 2-3" of snow on the ground now so the offroad riding and running has been awesome. Today Tony and I did a 10k road run for the first "real" road run since triathlon season and the first longer run Tony has done since rolling his ankle a week before Boughton Farm. He ran very well and didn't seem to loose very much fitness, although he has been on the bike, it's nice to be 18 and recovery from injuries so fast..........

This Thursday morning we're heading to Hudson to Vertical Runner to meet up with the Crooked River Trail Runners for a Christmas Eve training run. Im not sure yet as to where we're going to run, but most likely on the trails in the CVNP. Looking forward to that.

Hope everyone is enjoying their off season so far and also to those that are still racing.

Arrogant Bastard

Ale. This is the first time that I have tried this beer and it is EXCELLENT. I'm told it is very expensive and I now know why. It's super smooth and creamy, has a little bit of a bitter hoppy aftertaste but the flavor is very good that you can enjoy tasting minutes after swallowing. We recieved this as a gift during cyclocross season and I just now opened the pint bottle. The alcohol content is 7.2% which is pretty strong so it's not a beer that you can sit down and drink alot of unless you want to go to sleep fairly quick. This is probably one of the the best ales that I have ever had in my opinion.

Never mind Contador

holding up the Tower, instead, check out the guy on the right, looks like he's sportin' an old school Indians cap.

Kona coffee

Scott brought over some new coffee to try in the new coffee machine. We didn't try it yet cuz he wasn't able to join in on the bike ride today and we all have to be together and have a cup before or after the ride or run. Thanks Scott, lemme know if you can make it tomorrow, I want to try this stuff.

Double duty

today with the workouts. It was pretty nasty out today so the ride we had planned for noon got cancelled this morning, I was really looking forward to it too, but thats the way it goes with the weather, especially this time of the year. Anyway I figured I would go it solo today since Tony had duty with the Explorers and the Concord Fire Dept. giving out H1N1 shots at the local High School for the day and Scott was heading to the YMCA. I did a TT bike trainer workout in the cave and I could tell my legs were feeling pretty good. They were kinda sore during the week with the trails and the hills that we've been running, so I'm glad the soreness had worked it's way out. I did a nice bike workout and then changed into running garb and drove the 3 miles to Masons Landing to begin my run. I do a loop from this small Metropark area that is probably 1/3 dirt and gravel with some nice hills and the rest pavement, it's a great loop. It rained during the whole 7 mile run and I was soaked afterward but I felt great, I actually love running in this kind of weather, so I took advantage of it. My legs were responding on the hills and my heart rate came down very quickly afterward and on the flats I kept it at an easy 145-150 BPM.

It was a good day and a good week workout wise with all base and some high hr stuff, but that was just due to running uphill. The weather is supposed to be nice this week so it looks like more easy stuff outside.

Catch ya later.

Gotta have coffee

and the old coffee maker just wasn't cuttin' it anymore. We saw this one on a commercial the other night and thought we would give it a shot. This is a nice one that has a sealed bean hopper that keeps the beans fresh and grinds them to whatever strength of coffee you want, thats worth the purchase right there wouldn't you think? It's a pretty nice one though with some gadgets that I'll probably never use, but at least they're there just in case.

Runnin' hills

at Girdled Rd. Reservation today with Scott. Girdled is a great place to trail run and also CX ski. It's the alternate place to ski when your not skiing at Chapin Forest in Kirtland Hills. We park on the Girdled Rd. side of the park when running which has some of the Park's longest and steepest hills with lots of steep steps. We run down into the creek valley and then parallel to Rt.608 near the bottom of the Cleveland Ski Club and then back up the long hill to the Radcliff side of the Park, that's where everyone parks when skiing. We do the ski loop and then back to the Girdled side for a total of 8+ miles and lots of ups and downs. It's a great place to run to get your hills in.

It was pretty cold and windy today but the woods shield you from the weather and we actually had quite a good sweat going. The weather is looking better for the weekend so we're going to hit up the local trails and nursery roads.

Here's a few pics while on the way home.

Lovely, isn't it?

It was just a matter of time I guess, but the good thing is they're calling for all this mess to be out of here just in time for the weekend, cool! We're heading out on Sunday for a fun CX, MTB ride on the nursery roads and to the Outdoor Y, along with some other off road stuff along the way. Actually a couple of inches of snow would make riding really fun, I know I won't be saying that in a few months though.

The window guys are supposed to be here early this afternoon to relplace a cracked picture window in the front of my house, they couldn't have picked a better day to do that. Hopefully they'll be experts and get it out and the other one in in a hurry, or I'm gonna have one cold house, after that it's off for a trail run.

I hope our locals are racing well @ Nats.

Windy

as hell today, didn't ride or do anything outside, glad we ran yesterday. Sitting in the cave right now with the heater on bloggin' & FB'n passing the time away listening to the wind. My legs are pretty sore after a couple days of trail running. The downhills are the killer. You can cross race for 3 months straight and try to get as much out of your legs as humanly possible during races, and it still feels nothing like running after being off for a while. I feel my age today........

Here's a pic from Indian Point where Scott and I ran yesterday.

Boughton finale

It was a hard race today and everyone in every race will say the same thing. The weather was cold but the sun was out and warmed the ground enough the turn the mud sections to very muddy sections. I ended up running the section after the long grind uphill in the field because the mud was almost unrideable and it was much faster to run than ride, for me anyway. After that section the downhill was nice and the soft muddy corner at the far end of the course wasn't that bad either. The fields were the worst actually and you really had to keep the power on in the rutty sections or you would drift off and loose it. The singltrack sections were awesome and I felt great in those sections, I wish there were more of those in this race.

Everyone raced hard today and throughout the whole series. Hats off to all of my teammates who participated and raced. Our series is 11 years old and stronger now than ever. We had over 300 different racers participate this year, thats incredible, just shows how popular cross has become in NE Ohio and all over the country for that matter.

Thanks go out to everyone that raced in our series and contributed to help make it what it is, as I always say, if it wasnt for everyone showing up weekend after weekend there wouldn't be much cross racing and a Bike Authority / Lake Effect series around the Cleveland area.

Good Luck to those that are making the trip out to Oregon for CX Nationals, represent NE Ohio well.

See everyone out on the roads.

Zipp day with bike repairs

Tony and I went to the shop this morning for the Zipp day and also to give my mountain bike some well deserved lovin'. My old Lefty fork hasn't been working like it should which makes riding the mountain bike not as much fun as it should be and we are planning on riding the MTB's more this winter. Rudy had a new rebulit one at the shop that Big Mike installed on my bike this morning, he also went over the bike with a fine tooth comb adjusting the shiters, bleeding and adjusting the brakes and truing the real wheel, Thanks Mike, your awesome and you did a great job on the bike! He also trued my rear Zipp 404 that I use on the road bike and the TT bike. It had an ever so slight wobble in it from the crash that I was involved in this summer at Westlake, but easily took care of it.

We were going to do some openers on the road when we got home for the race tomorrow, but the closer we got to home from Broadview Heights the worse the weather was getting. Once we got home it was snowing pretty hard so we decided to just open it up on the trainers in the bike cave. All's good for tomorrow's finale at Boughton Farm and the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the lower 40's, perfecto!

Later

What to blog about?

Now that Facebook is so popular it seems that the blogging has taken somewhat of a backseat to the popular social network. I am kind of caught up in this whole Facebook thing myself thanks to Tony. It is pretty neat, but I still like the blogs and to read about all the what's going on's and race reports and what not's. So as I sit here planning out my day, I thought I would take a few minutes and look over a few blogs and see what's going on in the world of our local bike racers. It looks like all the bloggers out there might possibly be doing the Facebook thing more these days too, not too much updated reading material out there. I know, it's hard to be consistant at both the blog and the Facebook, kind of how it is with the different forms of racing. It's hard to be consistantly (above average) dare I say, in many disciplines of racing, meaning, being decent at road racing, triathlon and cyclocross. I would love to be equally as good in all three since these are the three main types of racing that I do along with the occasional few running races per year. Unfortunatley that isn't the case. Coming into cross this year I thought I was going to have a better season than last since I had a better triathlon season and my fitness was high. As cross is just about over now (last race this weekend) I can look back at the 15 races that I did and the ones that I felt good at, the ones that I really struggled at and the ones that I was pushed hard, sometimes much harder than I wanted to be by other racers, and it's been somewhat of a roller coaster cross season for me, but still much fun. My fitness has remained high throughout, but as of late my racing power has ebbed. I know I dont peak for the middle to later part of cross season like I should, but that's because I have only a few peaks per year, usually in the early season and one in the middle of tri season. It's hard to decide where you want to peak during the season. For me next season, I'm going to concentrate less on early season fitness and strength and work more on mid summer triathlon and then again peak for cross, I think it makes more sense for me. Cross is so big now it seems like the consistant crossers are really focusing on these 3 months and their training is really dialed in for it. It's hard to race at full tilt weekend after weekend especially when you have 45 races under your belt for the whole season, so the training has to be more defined for this type of racing. Road racing as everyone knows, allows you somewhat of a break and recovery during the race. Triathlon is similar to cross because your at your lactate threshold and above for the whole race, but your not jumping and chasing and putting out the power like you are at cross and of course there are no technical skills involved in triathlon either. Albeit, the three require speed and power, just in different ways and applications.

I look back at this season though and I can say that I raced reasonably well. I had a decent early season, an above average tri season but I started to fade later in cross. Tony and Scott got much stronger this year and so did Robert, that in itself is so worthwhile to see and be a part of. I also look at where I have been in the past and where I would like to be in the seasons ahead and I can still say that I love to ride my bike, train and race, and most of all, I can say I really enjoy the guys and gals that we go out on training rides with and the racers that we see just about every weekend, that's what keeps me coming back for more.

Thanks for reading everyone.