September 2015: Training Ramblings....A Mixed Bag

September was a real mixed bag with a lot going on which impacted the training schedule but for some very good reasons.  The month saw the start of the cyclocross season at Fort Ritchie where I finished just off the podium in 6th place and was a solid start to the season. 'Cross this year will take a back seat as Xterra World's take precedence but hopefully my fitness will take me through the season in November and December.  After the Fort Ritchie race Sarah and I headed to the Appalachian Trail and ran/hiked a 10km section. 

Appalachian Trail at Penn Mar

It was then off to the annual InterBike trade show for a quick couple of days seeing the latest and greatest in the bike industry. It's always good as we also get to spent some time with Kyle and Amy out in Vegas. 

Back from Vegas and it was back int training and racing. Somehow I managed to convince Ace to race the Patapsco 100 MTB race.  We did the single loop option at 33miles and the race report is here. The race was so much fun and already has me looking at some Endurance MTB races for the 2016 season.

The week after the race was the weekend that USA cyclists had been looking forward to for about 5 years! The UCI World Championships were just down the road in Richmond and the World's best cyclists gathered over the week to contest the Time Trial and Road Racing.  My write-up of the weekend is here and it without doubt was one of the highlights of 2015 so far!

As far as training the couple of trips gave me a few days of extra rest, which is probably not a bad thing but other than that it was all consistent with some good time on the trails. I am feeling much more confident on the MTB and that simple comes from riding it often enough. I finally got to ride Patapsco trails both the southern section and the northern section (as part of the race). They are much different to the trails of Rosaryville that it is worth the short trip to get there. Time swimming took a bit of a dive in September as not only the time away but mainly the change in the length of the day!  Getting up in the summer when it is sunny and light at 600am is easier than now when it is getting colder and darker.....more willpower is needed!

Just one month to go now until Xterra World's in Maui, a few weeks of training, a taper week to include travel and then race day. It all sounds so simple......

September Total: 468miles/41hrs 09mins/2488 TSS
Swim: 7.47m/4hrs 10mins/ 165 TSS
Bike: 370m/25hrs 06mins/ 1462 TSS
Run: 91m/11hrs 53mins/ 860 TSS