Recovery/Rest week - Good

My pre-'cross racing practice agenda is pretty much centered around two hard/loaded weeks then one lite and easy (a standard format for many). I am looking forward to it more than I realized... but it won't start until Sunday (this past one).

Friday morning I met Ira at SBU courses and we got to driving bikes. After a short warm up we knocked out 3 x 5min efforts (with 3min recovery) on the tightest of the three courses then moved on to one of the more open ones and hit another 3x 5mins. Afterwards he headed off to class and I cruised the SBU XC course for another hour and worked turns and short climbs. I limped home as it was a solid morning. Work was work and in mid-afternoon I jumped in the pool for some easy pull-buoy laps, but turns out they were the fastest since I re-started a couple months ago. My form/technique is improving as the times dropped AND I used significantly less effort - nice. I really like the fitness I get from my swims and the strength (upper torso and core - which is what drives the entire stroke) is top notch.

Friday evening we all (yes, that includes a rare appearance from Jake) went over to some friend's casa for 'build your own pizza and movie night'. They had never seen 'The Village' so that's what we took in; I like that flick and enjoyed it again. Super fun evening!

Saturday early morning (Deb reminded me how EARLY it was) Deb and I met up with my bro and Dale and got in a 50 miler. Decent temps at 6:30am and by 9:45 (finishing time) we were glad to be getting out of the sun. My bro is getting ready for a century in October and this was one of his longer rides of the year and he rode great. Who would have thunk it that years from our childhood we would still be riding bikes together... Deb, who has turned out a great tandem partner, and I took it Dale early on regarding sprint/city limit signs. The two early we got did have a downhill approach and he had little chance coming around us at 45mph+, but uphill signs spelled our doom and the day finished Dale - 3/J&D - 2.

After a quick breakfast at Brenda's it was time to load us all up and hit my grandmother's 90th birthday party. Mildred Smith is incredible as she looks (and it super active) for even a 70yr old, let alone 20+ added on. A lot of folks came through and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Afterwards we grabbed some grub with my bro's crew at Old Chicago before heading home. Bit of a disappointment as they no longer serve their 'stuffed pizza', but what we did eat was solid (as always). Back to the casa...

Lazy rest of the evening except for the 'first layer' applied to the cross tubulars.

Sunday was the start of a week of recovery as I have hit it pretty hard for the past two. Plan to stay active, but at a lower effort level. Haven't decided how I'll ride on the A&B Dirt Crit on Tuesday, but imagine I'll race it full on and have it as my only elevated effort for the week (it's just too much fun not to get after it).

Slept in then we all headed off to church. Afterwards it was grocery shopping with Deb, relaxing at casa (Tiger Woods '09), and then quite a bit of yard/garden work. We are in good need of some rain as the yard is looking thirsty; Thinned down some of the tomato plants (getting overgrown). The Roma's just won't quit pumping out tons of 'maters every day so I keep chopping them up for fresh Pico ('when life gives you lemons...'). All in all a super relaxing day with several little chores accomplished and the all important 'second layer' of Mastik applied.

Monday morning I hopped over to SBU and knocked out some low effort bike driving; just a ton of turns, turns, and a couple more turns... Really nice temps. At the end of practice I put together a couple clips of the 'Library Course' just to give Justin B a glimpse of our little bit of 'cross heaven (will show other two courses over the next week or so). This course is more of a 'pedaler's' loop as it has longer grass sections with a mix of sweeping turns and just a couple areas of tight turns; lots of grinding out grass stuff:

Played a lite hour of basketball at noon.

Tuesday morning started the 'run' part of 'cross. Laced 'em up and headed out on the road for a bit, hit the stadium stairs repeats for a bit, then off to the pool for a quick 1000 meters, and finally back to the casa; 50 minutes in total - nice and easy.

A&B Dirt Crit (really more of a short track than crit) is tonight and I am debating full on racing or a lesser effort as I want to keep it all low-key this week. It will be a startline decision (which usually means 'full on'), but if I can keep in the top 5 and not exert too much I'll do that (don't have a prayer of keeping up with Gullett, Cale, and JB).

Haven't really talked much lately of Jake's xc running as it's a tough topic... He is running with the team, but simply cannot kick this pleurisy (SBU recently had an All-American get it at the beginning of his last senior year, already red-shirted one, and didn't get to run all season). Our doctor recently gave him a steroid inhaler to combat the pain/restricted breathing and it looks to slowly be working. Jake said of late that it is getting better, but he is still far from on top of it. He is so frustrated as it's his senior year and so much hard work over the last three years is not providing him the 'big payoff' he expected; several times he has talked about simply quiting. As a dad it is killing me inside as he seems lost. He and I continually talk about developing as a person and it's easy to be on top and these tough times are what forge true character and champions. Deb, I, and coach keep focusing him on late October (Conference, Districts, and State) as the targets and all other meets count as little; it's tough to do that no matter the age. He doesn't whine and gripe about it as he understands these things happen and getting upset cures nothing; he is quite the sharp kid. We keep praying for God's healing hands and understand if He has other purposes for the injury/illness in the big picture. I imagine that if by mid-September it is not better he'll call the rest of the xc season off and try to regroup for track.