Where Does a Week Go?.....

Sometimes a week really flies and you have to think what you did. The last blog entry noted that I was heading to the Chiropractor to take a look at the stiffness in my neck and upper back. Essentially she said that it is was caused by a combination of bad posture while in front of the computer all day at work (don't I know it!), being a stomach sleeper and the fact that I have a slight forward carriage of my head. Good news is that it only requires some rehab and nothing more serious than some stretches and a change in posture. Oh yeah, and Sarah kicking me in bed to make sure that I turn off of my stomach :-)

So the neck and back kept me out of the pool all week but I still managed to run and ride so it wasn't a lost week. I even surprised myself by riding and running in the rain.....twice! Normally if it is looking decidedly dodgy in terms of rain (I know all the weather channels by heart on cable) I will do another workout later in the day or head for the trainer. On Sunday, however, I rode out to Tradezone in the rain, raced the B race and then rode home in the rain. The race was good, a smaller field than the previous week and although I didn't bring the fireworks I made it a good workout by heading to the front and occasionally trying to get off the front...if you were there you could see that the kick is still a work in progress :-) Managed to get a good photo taken though by Les Doerfler...here

With the threat of rain on Monday evening I headed out again to hit the hills (in Bowie LOL) for running intervals.....I had just about finished the set when the rain came and I quickly headed home. So two successive days of rainy workouts, I can't remember the last time I headed out in the rain......

At Last.........

Last Tuesday I went and picked up the new CAAD 9 frame (in Team Latitude/ABRT livery) and the box of parts in the garage could finally be put to good use. Over the course of a couple of evenings I put the bike together and rode it briefly for the first time on Friday night.

At last I turned up for the Davidsonville ride on Saturday without the Fixie and just about managed to remember how to use the brakes and gears :-) After four months of riding the Fixie it was quite an odd sensation to be able to change gears and it took a while to coast rather than pedal the whole time. I know that a new bike always feels great on the first ride, it's still shiny, the drivetrain is clean but I did feel good and I think riding the Fixie has certainly made me stronger! The real test will come once the weeknight Davidsonville ride starts and the hammer really goes down!

After 80 miles on Saturday I jumped into the B race at Tradezone on Sunday....my first road race since Walkersville last year. As such I wasn't expecting any great fireworks but was just hoping that the surges and accelerations wouldn't spit me out the back. I have always found the surges and accelerations relatively hard to handle as training for the long-distance triathlons I don't have much fast-twitch fibers....slowtwitch yes, fast-twitch no! Now that I have the road bike up and running I plan on trying to incorporate sprints into the workouts to simulate race-specific needs.

Anyway the Tradezone race was a great workout and I bagged a pack finish. No fireworks at all from me but it was good to see Kyle flogging himself to death the whole race and hopefully once I get a few more race miles under my belt I can try and help him out a bit (until he upgrades). Hopefully the weather will corporate next week so I can get into Tradezone again. In fact I might try and do both the B and C race to get some more racing in.


Photo Courtesy of Amy Jones