Thru Endurance We Conquer!

Welcome back to winter time! After a week and a half of nice, warm weather, Colorado is back to the teens. I was riding in jersey and shorts on Tuesday, working on my tan lines. On Saturday, I was bundled up with wind-proof bibs, Craft wind blocker shirt, heavy jersey and Gore Jacket. I just got the Gore Wear Oxygen jacket a week ago and wow – it works great. Normally, I would have been stuck inside on the trainer at 20 degrees. The hubby conned me into riding outside and I got in the whole three hours I had planned without even noticing the temperature. This is good, because we have 24 Hours of Old Pueblo coming up in just a few weeks and he’s freaking out. Last year when he raced solo, the weather was horrible. I flew down to Phoenix for a marathon on the Sunday of the race and drove to Tucson to say hello. There was snow in the mountains around Tucson, and it rained the whole time. One of those 35 degree rains that just chill you to the bone. Everything was covered in mud. The road ...

Finally, most of the race dates for the Xterra series have been announced. I was hoping to race the minimum needed for full scoring in the series, but I think that's going to be too much travel. All the Cup races are clustered together and I would be off a week, work for a week, off a week. I would be so burned out on travel that I wouldn't race well. Besides, I commited to racing the MSC series for Feedback Sports, the mountain biking team I joined last year. So it's down to three cup races for the Xterras - the West Cup in Las Vegas on May 2 nd , the Northwest Cup in Coure D'Alene on June 6 th and the Mountain Cup in Beaver Creek on July 18 th . I will also race in Odgen at the National Championships and at the World Championships in Maui. Las Vegas should be fun. I have a stay at the Wynn that I won at Silverman last year. This seems like the perfect time to use the certificate. It will also give me a chance to do a few short rides on the Silverman course....

I submitted the paperwork for my elite triathlete license in the middle of December. I got the email yesterday that my application was approved. It's a big step, but one that I look forward to taking. I'm only planning a few races this year - a few Xterras, 5430 Long Course and Silverman. My boss looked at my list of days off requests rather cross-eyed. I have a lot of work to do if I want to be competitive. My bike is still weaker then I'd like, but I'm focusing on that over the off season. I've also decided to do a VO2 max and Lactate threshold testing later this month, get a good baseline for training. This is only the first year - I have a lot to learn, I'm sure.