Catch-Up

    Wow. It's been a crazy few weeks. Got back to Colorado from Fayetteville, where I was working, to try to cram a summer's worth of errands and life into one week. I was busy, but got a lot done. My training suffered more than it should have, but I did get a sweet ride up Mt. Evans in! Of course, on my truncated schedule, I couldn't do the whole thing, but had a really good time with some friends. I'm traveling again, so I don't have the numbers in front of me to put up, but it was a good sustained 120min of climbing and then 30min or so home, followed by a twenty-five minute run. Then it was off to Seattle for more work. Just in case you were curious, traveling takes a toll on your bike. Every time I take mine out of the case, no matter how much padding and care I put into packing it, something is wrong. So I tinker and get it back to race ready in about a week. This time it was the brakes and the rear derailleur. Of course, it didn't matter because I spent the next four days in bed. I had incredible pain in my left side. For a while, I thought it was pancreatitis, the treatment for which is nothing by mouth for a few days and some serious drugs. Of course, the onset was directly after my medical coverage through the army stopped and before my wife's picked me up. My coverage had literally lapsed for less than 48 hours before I got sick. However, I know a few doctors, so I called one, and he (nicely) explained to me that I was an idiot. Told me to take a bunch of tums and if I felt better it was an ulcer and I should take some over the counter H2 blocker, like Prilosec. So the tums worked, I started on Prilosec, and felt better after 24 hours. I started the drugs Wednesday, and had a race Saturday. I talked to my coach, and was like, well, screw it- I'll race. I got one workout in Friday afternoon, a pre-race brick. The bike portion was 27 minutes with an average of 176 watts…. I was weak as a kitten. I felt good and was pain free though, so I couldn't complain too much.

My race plan was two giant scoops of "Take it easy", and I did. Not that my body really gave me a choice. I swam well, finishing in 26min. The bike was awesome, right along Lake Chelan. I never really noticed the scenery, but I sure did Saturday. My average watts were 201 (a normal zone 2 easy training ride for me), but my average speed wasn't bad at 21mph. I finished right around 70 minutes. The run was the bane of my existence due to stomach discomfort, and I had to stop to…. let's just say I stopped and started again because my stomach became very violent and persistent. I momentarily panicked because of the ulcer, but I had no pain. I found out after the fact that my wife was sick that morning as well, so we're betting it was food poisoning from dinner the night before…. the hits just kept on coming! Finished up the race 14^th out of 40 in my age group, hardly a bad showing for the week I had.

Healthy, organized, and connected again (I've had constant computer and internet problems on the road), I'm back at the training. I have to say, it feels great! I got two and a half hours in on the bike Friday, with a 25min run afterward. Average watts were 161, so I'm hardly recovered entirely, but my HR was right where it needed to be and I feel great, so my numbers should come right back up.