November 2015: Training Ramblings......Nothing to See Here

The month started on a big high at the Xterra World Championships in Maui and the race report for that can be found here. With the Summer and Fall being geared completely for the World's, the rest of the month was dedicated to not having to think about structured workouts or upcoming races.  

The week after the race was spent relaxing and exploring Maui! It was amazing and quickly gets to the top of our list of vacation spots...we are already trying to figure out how and when we can go back.

So literally there is nothing to report from a training perspective, it was just riding along with some fun MTB  and road rides.  I did jump into the MABRA Cyclocross Championships at the end of the month at the always muddy Taneytown course and snagged a 5th place finish in the Master's 123 race. It must have been carry-over fitness from World's but it was certainly a shock to the system to race all out for 45mins after a few weeks of de-training.

The best this so far about Fall/Winter? The weather has been awesome and riding at the Parvilla Cycles Annual Cranksgiving ride was done in shorts! Long may that continue.

What I am drinking this month:
1562 Roastery:  Colombia Chalo Fernandez - Apple, Raw Almond, Red Wine!

November Total: 199miles/19hrs 32mins/1049 TSS
Swim: 4.96m/2hrs 33mins/ 125 TSS
Bike: 166m/13hrs 16mins/ 686 TSS
Run: 27.4m/3hrs 32mins/ 228 TSS

Nov 30th - Dec 6th: Training Ramblings.....MABRA 'Cross Championships

After a more voluminous week last week, this week was a planned recovery week.  It did start off on Sunday with the MABRA Cyclocross Championships which also doubled up as the D.C. and Maryland State Championship races.

Fortunately I had a good 2nd row starting position in the Masters 3/4 race, unfortunately I didn't take advantage of it due to getting rear ended on the start line and having to sort out the rear brake just 50 meters from the line. The field was relatively small compared to some races so I was able to get back and through the field by the end of the first lap and then start hunting down the top 10.  With the course gradually melting as the laps went by, I was able to gradually reel people in and it was beneficial to have raced the course last year so I at least knew the decent lines to take (whether I executed them is a different matter!)

If you are wondering what it all means....check out the awesome videos at cxhairs.com

By the end of the race I had got to 3rd so made the podium and with the guys in 1st and 2nd not being from Maryland, I was State Champion for Masters 3/4.

3rd Place and the Maryland Champion

With the rest of the week being a recovery from a good build through November, it was filled with a couple of shorter steady runs and a few rides indoors on the computrainer at Parvilla Cycles.  It was a needed rest and now the build starts again with a run focus for December as I will have two weeks off the bike while on vacation.

 Total: 66 Miles / 6 hours 24 minutes

Swim: 5,450 yards / ~3.09 miles / 1 hours 46 minutes

Bike: 50 miles / 3 hours 0 minutes

Run: 13 miles /1 hours 38 minutes