I feel you wind....

Thank you, for making me not take todays ride for granted.

Thank you, for only blowing the sweat into one eye at a time when you were crossing me.

Thank you, for not letting me rest even on the down hills on the way out.

Thank you, for blowing harder just as I got to the top of that really long hill so I couldn't rest and recover.

Thank you, for making it hurt just a little extra so I can better learn how to embrace that pain during a race.

Thank you, for challenging me to put the effort in even when I wanted to take it easy.

Thank you, for shifting as I turned for home so I couldn't enjoy your push quite as much.

Thank you, for helping with the 35mph thrill ride on that big down hill.

But most of all...........

Thank you, for making me appreciate those days when you aren't there.

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Custers last stand and Craigs repeated fall...

First off I just want to say that I have a new found respect for the mountain bikers. My hat is off to anyone who chooses to put themselves into tight, twisting, log in the way peril and chooses to do it as fast as possible. Wow!

Now on to my race report from my weekend Xterra triathlon.

I got to watch the pro's start up close and personal but once they hit the bike it was my turn to gather my wits and prep for my race. Here is my observation about the pro's. They are AWESOME to watch up close and personal. They are just like age groupers only faster and their confidence and command on the bike and run is astounding. Jamie Whitmore , a former women's world champion Xterra pro, did the announcing for the race and did a great job at that. She is an amazing person who has battled cancer and is unable to race now because of it. What an Insperation to the rest of us. Also thanks to Doug V. who looked me up and said hi while we were setting up transition. That was cool. Great job out there as well Doug. You passed me on the bike and even though you looked like you were struggling a bit on the run when I passed you back, you stuck with it and finished. From the smile I saw on your face afterwards you might just be hooked like the rest of us now. Welcome to ranks of being a triathlete!

I hit the water about 15 minutes before my race start to try and get as acclimated as possible. It was a chilly 33 F on my way to race this morning. The only good thing was that I was sure the water had to be warmer than the air. It was, but not by much. It was a mass beach start of all of the sport distance athletes, male and female. (read sprint distance for all us roadies) I had a great line to the first buoy and was almost gassed by the time I hit it. I made that turn and managed to find a pair of feet to draft most of the way to the next bouy until their driver decided to take the scenic route off course. Thank God I was still sighting for myself. I made the turn for home and dug down deep for the final push. I came out of the water hardly able to get my feet under me and moving and I figured out why after the race. The timing mats by transition were about 100 yards up hill from the water and I still turned in a 10:02 swim time for 500 meters. That was smacking it a little too much and I paid the price in T1 and for the first few minutes on the bike trying to get my breathing back under control.

T1, I took my time on purpose this race. I knew I was out of my league on the bike so I dogged it in transition just to give some of the faster riders a head start. I don't remember my split time for T1 but I am sure it was 3+ minutes.

The first couple of miles on the bike were fun. Twisting and turning through the woods and I was flying pretty good. Then some joker decided to try the same twisting and turning while throwing logs in the way and adding a bunch of elevation changes both up and down (read straight down and straight up) That is when I got my first biff of the day. I learned the hard way to watch for lesser riders having issues on the uphills. When clipped in and suddenly coming up on a traffic jam right at the top of a climb, no momentum spells Craig on the ground, the hard way! 3 of my 4 biffs were the result of that exact scenario. Then I learned a cool way to dismount when going down a steep rut filled section. After that I latched onto another rider of similar skills to mine and just followed her at an easy pace until about the last mile when I found I could carry more speed than she was willing to in some of the twisty sections. (Thanks Monica for the assist and laughs about us roadies having no business on bikes in the woods, lol) I was never so happy to get off my bike in my life. Muddy, bruised and scraped up pretty good but happy none the less. (as a side note, Pusher I know we've had a lot of problems getting the kits right but I gotta say, the tri shorts are awesome. I was sure they'd be torn to shreds given the cuts and bruises I got on the inside of them, but the shorts don't have a scratch on them.) One last note from the bike. There were not 1 but 2 creek/river crossings on this trail and I am proud to report that I managed to at least keep it upright through both of those. (water depth was up to the axels on them both)

T2 was uneventful, I striped one layer of shirts off, changed my shoes, grabbed a quick sip of sports drink and I was off. Still not as fast as I am capable of but ok none the less.

The real test of my early season fitness came on the run. I am proud to report that I am ahead of schedule. I ran the entire 3 mile trail run with about the freshest legs I can remember having off the bike. The trail wasn't too hilly or technical and I was able to finish strong, right around 30minutes.

I don't have all my splits yet but I do know I had a 10:02 on the swim and was a 1hour 59 minute something total. I can't wait to get back on the road now but the experience was awesome!

This weekend was a good test for me on my current training plan. Friday I rode my first solo 50 mile training ride, raced Sunday morning and came home Sunday evening and ran a mile and a half easy run with my wife. I feel pretty good and the increased work this winter is already showing some results.

It was awesome wearing my new RACING GREYHOUND kit and hearing go GREYHOUNDS while out on the course. I'm bruised and battered and grinning from ear to ear. I can't wait for Motor City and road redemption. I'll put some pics up shortly. They had photographers at the finish and on the course in a couple of places so I should even get to show off my awesome GREYHOUND bad self, haha, just for you Mike.

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And so it begins.....

Somehow my triathlon season has suddenly snuck up on me. Now don't get me wrong, I feel plenty ready for this weeks race. (more on that in a minute) This off season has just flown by. I feel like I have maintained my aerobic fitness this off season. That was my primary goal. I also committed to riding my mountain bike outdoors on a regular basis this winter. Again, mission accomplished. I forced myself to put in over 300 miles on the indoor trainer in February with the hope of jump starting my fitness for this season. Why did I do these things instead of taking an extended break this winter? Every race last year left a bitter taste in my mouth from a fitness standpoint. I had the heart but I felt like my body let me down more often than not. I have committed to not having that be the case this year. I want to finish strong and have legs left for the run this year. I may never run fast but.... I can be fresh enough to run strong off the bike. With that in mind I have focused on bike fitness more than anything this winter. I stayed out of the pool, my first love, until April and hoped I would not lose the main edge I have at these races. After last week, I don't think that will be a problem. Bottom line, I feel GREAT about where I am right now at this point in my training.

Last week I turned 42. It didn't even faze me this year. I feel better than I have in many years physically and I think that helps. Once again I celebrated by completing the bfit birthday challenge. You celebrate your health by swimming the first number of your age in either yards or miles depending on your ambition, you run the second number of your age (and if its a zero you get to do 10 miles) then you ride your entire age in miles. This was a challenge started by Roman Mica over at http://www.bfitbday.com/ . I completed it last year and decided to continue the trend this year. I set the goal of doing everything in miles (yes the swim too) and to complete it within a 24 hour period. I can report, after the fact, that I was successful. I began Thursday evening after work with a little 4 mile swim (2 hours 12 minutes, 26 minutes faster than last year, so much for lack of swim fitness haha). The next morning I ran 2.5 miles (sorry, I'm an over achiever) in 21:43 and that afternoon I hoped on the bike and cranked out a 42 mile ride in 2 hours 43 minutes. All in all it took me 5 hours 16 minutes 43 seconds. I cut 15 minutes off my time from last year and ran and rode one more mile each! Who says you can't get better as you get older, lol. After all that effort in a 24 hour period, the fact that I was not sore and could have trained this weekend (I took it off to celebrate my birthday and have one last hurrah before I get serious with my training) I feel like I am more than ready for this weekends race, fitness wise. One interesting note from my swim. I found it quite interesting that the longer I swam, the stronger I felt (until about the 3.5 mile point, then it was a suffer fest for the last 800 meters). I never once felt that last year. I hadn't felt that since the days when I swam competitively in high school. I'll be interested to see if that carries over into my season as my races get longer.

This coming weekend is my first ever Xterra event. I'm dong what they call a Sport race (pretty much a sprint distance for us roadies) It's a 500 meter swim, 10 mile mountain bike ride, 3 mile trail run. Just a fun little race to kick my season off right. Also, I recently found out it's one of 2 stops for the Xterra pros in Michigan this summer and both Melanie McQuaid and Conrad Stoltz are scheduled to race. (for those who don't know they are the Female and Male reigning Xterra World Champions and both won their last race a couple of weeks ago) I can't wait to observe them and see how they do things for race prep, etc that an average age grouper like me can learn to from. I have no expectations for this race other than to finish strong. I also get to race for the first time as a RACING GREYHOUND in my awesome team kit. I'll see if I can't manage a pic or two for the race report. I'm going unsupported (read solo, alone, sans family) to this race so pictures might be hard to come by but we'll see. I'm training right through this race as I am into my build period in my Half Ironman training, 12 weeks out and officialy trying to follow a plan this year where every workout is mapped out from now through Aug 1. We'll see how that works, haha.

Ok kiddies, that's all for this week unless I get the urge to write more before Sunday. So until my first race report of the year, next week. Train smart and work hard!

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