I can’t exactly admit to embracing this whole “getting older” process with open arms. It often scares me to think about the changes that the future will bring. I am a creature of comfort, as evidence look at the fact that during my first year on the bike I only rode 2 routes. One was out to the race course (4 turns?) The other involved riding down route 5, veering off a bit, then turning and coming back…on route 5 for umpteen some miles. This year in particular I admit to being a bit concerned with the prospect of the future. In the coming year I will leave my undergraduate school of William and Mary and either go to graduate school or find some sort of employment. Some sort of anxiety is to be expected, however in reflection my fear is foolish. I realize now that for the past 22 years of my existence, simply by living I am risking change. Every second I am alive, something new comes to be. The year of 2010 has been 365.24 of the best days of my life and why should I expect the next year to be any different?
Later, when I have time I will try to do a synopsis of the past year. Now it is time to drink and be merry with the family. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
TRI THIS
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Using the little ring
As competitive endurance athletes many of us are extremely type A. I admit whole heartedly that I fall victim. My friends frequently have to remind me that not everything is a competition. For example, the other day my good buddy Ben and I were discussing our obsession with the sport. I proceeded to try to make my point that my passion for the sport was greater than his by discussing how much I loved training. Ben then proceeded to tell me that he woke up at 5 or 6am on the weekends to watch ITU races on TV. Quickly we realized the foolishness in our debate as Ben reminded me that it was no competition. When you are as competitive as we are, anything can be a dick measuring contest.
Another example is when I go out for rides frequently it is hard for me to, in the words of Stingle "chill." When Savage and I ride we constantly find ourselves pulling at 23mph, crushing one anothers legs and sprinting up hills. We may be some of the worst offenders of pointlessly massacring each other. Even if there is no race in sight, and no point at all to be going anaerobic, that inner desire simply drives us to constantly try to "one-up" each other.
The need to constantly compete against one another is simply part of being a competitive athlete. It is this desire that gives us the motivation to spend an ungodly amount of hours in the saddle, or get up before sunrise to get a workout in. HOWEVER, we must understand when it is time to shift to the little ring. Ironically, our competitive edge is one of our greatest faults as well as one of our greatest assets. As during winter training on the bike, we cannot always be riding around in the 53x11 (the biggest gear combination on a typical bike). There are times for hammering and there are times for "chillin'." It is being able to balance ourselves, and knowing when to use the little ring that is important. There is nothing wrong with Jon and I's weekly hammerfests we enjoy them, and that is what it is all about. On the other hand, there are times when life dictates down-shifting as well. It is critical that we pay attention to these times in our lives as well. I admit that to frequently I fall victim to the constant hammer philosophy. This week, and in the future I will work on knowing when to sit up and spin easy.
Another example is when I go out for rides frequently it is hard for me to, in the words of Stingle "chill." When Savage and I ride we constantly find ourselves pulling at 23mph, crushing one anothers legs and sprinting up hills. We may be some of the worst offenders of pointlessly massacring each other. Even if there is no race in sight, and no point at all to be going anaerobic, that inner desire simply drives us to constantly try to "one-up" each other.
The need to constantly compete against one another is simply part of being a competitive athlete. It is this desire that gives us the motivation to spend an ungodly amount of hours in the saddle, or get up before sunrise to get a workout in. HOWEVER, we must understand when it is time to shift to the little ring. Ironically, our competitive edge is one of our greatest faults as well as one of our greatest assets. As during winter training on the bike, we cannot always be riding around in the 53x11 (the biggest gear combination on a typical bike). There are times for hammering and there are times for "chillin'." It is being able to balance ourselves, and knowing when to use the little ring that is important. There is nothing wrong with Jon and I's weekly hammerfests we enjoy them, and that is what it is all about. On the other hand, there are times when life dictates down-shifting as well. It is critical that we pay attention to these times in our lives as well. I admit that to frequently I fall victim to the constant hammer philosophy. This week, and in the future I will work on knowing when to sit up and spin easy.
Monday, November 1, 2010
The hardest pill to swallow
I am trying to get the hang of writing entry's without discussing races, as if I only wrote about racing there would be a large gap in my blogging between the months of September-February. Just last week I discussed a revelation that I believe I have undergone since beginning endurance athletics. Coming into the sport i was extremely focused on being number 1, overly so. This is a common trap many of us fall into. It is easy, when we really want something, to put on the blinders to the world around us. Some might call this a "one-TRACK mind" (ha,ha,ha).
I apologize for the pun, hopefully you are still reading. I guess I have become quite the comedian in my old age, I have to attribute the puns to my mom and her boyfriend Mark, as they dwarf me in their linguistic abilities.
To get back to the point, I would like to believe that I have gotten BETTER at pulling off the blinders and looking at the rest of the world around me. I do believe that being surrounded by so many like minded individuals we can help each other to see the world in a more holistic manner. I do spend a fair amount of time discussing training and racing with my friends but this is what I like to do, there are much worse things that is for sure. One of the biggest parts of training, that I discuss nearly ad nauseum is setbacks. Setbacks are inevitable with endurance sports, and it is these setback that make victory taste so sweet.
Last week I discussed that it is during times when we cannot train because of injuries that we can grow the most. Maybe I should have knocked on some wood because a week later I find myself completely out of commission for running (peroneal tendinitis). I have been fortunate over the past year to undergo very few injuries, which has been phenomenal for my training. I have seen friends around me suffer from numerous setbacks and injuries and I have been quick to reassure these individuals that if they are smart and focus on recovering they will be back in no time. Now that I find myself in their position I find myself antsy as hell to get healthy again just as they were.
If a friend of mine had come to me and told me they were having the pain I was last week I would have told them to make sure NOT to run on it, and ice and stretch well. Why then is it that I feel that I should do anything different? Of course I tried to run through the aching foot for two days before I decided to take a few days off completely before resuming biking and swimming. During my drive to and from Philly Evrett and I discussed for some time the irony in the fact that it is the advice that we are the quickest to give that is the most difficult for us to follow. It is difficult for us as imperfect human beings to look at the situation from an outside point of view. It is our own medicine that is by far the least palatable for ourselves. Fortunately, it is November and there is a long time until next season. This will give me the chance to put some much needed work into my swimming. It is important for us to realize our imperfections and be patient and listen to ourselves. Frequently, the answers for the most distressing issues we deal with are best answered by the one-and-only you.
I apologize for the pun, hopefully you are still reading. I guess I have become quite the comedian in my old age, I have to attribute the puns to my mom and her boyfriend Mark, as they dwarf me in their linguistic abilities.
To get back to the point, I would like to believe that I have gotten BETTER at pulling off the blinders and looking at the rest of the world around me. I do believe that being surrounded by so many like minded individuals we can help each other to see the world in a more holistic manner. I do spend a fair amount of time discussing training and racing with my friends but this is what I like to do, there are much worse things that is for sure. One of the biggest parts of training, that I discuss nearly ad nauseum is setbacks. Setbacks are inevitable with endurance sports, and it is these setback that make victory taste so sweet.
Last week I discussed that it is during times when we cannot train because of injuries that we can grow the most. Maybe I should have knocked on some wood because a week later I find myself completely out of commission for running (peroneal tendinitis). I have been fortunate over the past year to undergo very few injuries, which has been phenomenal for my training. I have seen friends around me suffer from numerous setbacks and injuries and I have been quick to reassure these individuals that if they are smart and focus on recovering they will be back in no time. Now that I find myself in their position I find myself antsy as hell to get healthy again just as they were.
If a friend of mine had come to me and told me they were having the pain I was last week I would have told them to make sure NOT to run on it, and ice and stretch well. Why then is it that I feel that I should do anything different? Of course I tried to run through the aching foot for two days before I decided to take a few days off completely before resuming biking and swimming. During my drive to and from Philly Evrett and I discussed for some time the irony in the fact that it is the advice that we are the quickest to give that is the most difficult for us to follow. It is difficult for us as imperfect human beings to look at the situation from an outside point of view. It is our own medicine that is by far the least palatable for ourselves. Fortunately, it is November and there is a long time until next season. This will give me the chance to put some much needed work into my swimming. It is important for us to realize our imperfections and be patient and listen to ourselves. Frequently, the answers for the most distressing issues we deal with are best answered by the one-and-only you.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The See-Saw of Life
So i realize that it has been way over a month since I last made an entry. I have been busy, life gets like that sometimes. Also, I have not been racing except for a 10k I did last week that was just for fun. I realize though that just because I am not racing does not mean life ceases. There is far more to life then just racing, in fact, the amount of time that any of us actually spend racing, no matter how much we do so truly accounts for a very minute amount of time in our lives.
4 years ago I was in my senior year of high school. A run-a-holic, I was a racing nut. I lived to race. I devoted every waking moment of my life to running XC/Track for my high school. I was dead set on running in college, regardless of where I would have to go to do so. Therefore, when I received an offer to attend the University of Miami where I would run XC and Track for the Varsity program ecstatic only began to describe my state. As most of you know that did not work out for me so well. In addition running lost its "fun."
The other day after an hour on the rollers on a rainy day I laced up my shoes and set off for a run in the rain in 60 degree weather. As I cruised around the campus, people carrying umbrellas gave me disdaining looks as I flew past them over the brick covering the campus sidewalks. The weather perfect, my body perfectly in-tune with itself I realized that I was smiling. Smiling and running? What the hell is this, training isnt supposed to be fun....right?
This is where many of us are wrong. Some of you know Jon Grey, the all-american runner at the college as a 28 10k guy. This is one hell of a feat. Unfortunately, Jon tore is labrum last year and has been suffering with mis-diagnosis and will now have to undergo surgery. The other day Jon and I were discussing being injured and having to take time off. Jons time away from running has been tough for him. When I was injured in Miami, or last year when I thought I had torn my ACL, my friend and family had me on suicide watch (almost no joke).
Surprisingly enough we decided that it is the time away from the sport that allows us to step back and take a different perspective of who we are and where we are going. It gives us a chance to put our athleticism into perspective. Both of us have aspirations to be professionals in our disciplines, but you must be ready for the worst. That means living life today in a way that you would be proud if there was not a tomorrow. This balancing act is tough but being injured/not able to do what it is we love gives us perspective and makes it easier to balance ourselves out. On one hand we want to be the best athletes we can, but we also must enjoy ourselves while we are doing so. Keeping this "see-saw" balanced is no easy task, especially because there is constantly new things being thrown on either side. However, we are people, I am NOT just a triathlete, Jon is NOT just a runner, and it is important for us to remember this. We as athletes must be careful to avoid this trap. We should be encouraging of other to try out sport and getting them into it and realize that after all, it is about enjoying yourself. If you see someone who needs a new tube on the side of the road please do not ride past them. Lets be accommodating to the rest of the world too, we are all homo-sapiens, dependent on air, food, and water, lets not forget that! I hope this does not come out as preachy, as i write this as a PERSONAL revelation NOT to be a dick.
A special thanks goes out to my buddy Jon who has helped me to understand this. Best wishes to him for his pre-consult next week and surgery Nov 1st!
4 years ago I was in my senior year of high school. A run-a-holic, I was a racing nut. I lived to race. I devoted every waking moment of my life to running XC/Track for my high school. I was dead set on running in college, regardless of where I would have to go to do so. Therefore, when I received an offer to attend the University of Miami where I would run XC and Track for the Varsity program ecstatic only began to describe my state. As most of you know that did not work out for me so well. In addition running lost its "fun."
The other day after an hour on the rollers on a rainy day I laced up my shoes and set off for a run in the rain in 60 degree weather. As I cruised around the campus, people carrying umbrellas gave me disdaining looks as I flew past them over the brick covering the campus sidewalks. The weather perfect, my body perfectly in-tune with itself I realized that I was smiling. Smiling and running? What the hell is this, training isnt supposed to be fun....right?
This is where many of us are wrong. Some of you know Jon Grey, the all-american runner at the college as a 28 10k guy. This is one hell of a feat. Unfortunately, Jon tore is labrum last year and has been suffering with mis-diagnosis and will now have to undergo surgery. The other day Jon and I were discussing being injured and having to take time off. Jons time away from running has been tough for him. When I was injured in Miami, or last year when I thought I had torn my ACL, my friend and family had me on suicide watch (almost no joke).
Surprisingly enough we decided that it is the time away from the sport that allows us to step back and take a different perspective of who we are and where we are going. It gives us a chance to put our athleticism into perspective. Both of us have aspirations to be professionals in our disciplines, but you must be ready for the worst. That means living life today in a way that you would be proud if there was not a tomorrow. This balancing act is tough but being injured/not able to do what it is we love gives us perspective and makes it easier to balance ourselves out. On one hand we want to be the best athletes we can, but we also must enjoy ourselves while we are doing so. Keeping this "see-saw" balanced is no easy task, especially because there is constantly new things being thrown on either side. However, we are people, I am NOT just a triathlete, Jon is NOT just a runner, and it is important for us to remember this. We as athletes must be careful to avoid this trap. We should be encouraging of other to try out sport and getting them into it and realize that after all, it is about enjoying yourself. If you see someone who needs a new tube on the side of the road please do not ride past them. Lets be accommodating to the rest of the world too, we are all homo-sapiens, dependent on air, food, and water, lets not forget that! I hope this does not come out as preachy, as i write this as a PERSONAL revelation NOT to be a dick.
A special thanks goes out to my buddy Jon who has helped me to understand this. Best wishes to him for his pre-consult next week and surgery Nov 1st!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Edogenous Opioid Peptides
Endorphins- an endogenous morphine (edogenous opioid peptides) produced by the body during exercise, excitement, pain, consumption of spicy food, and orgasm. Produced by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus in vertebrates during exercise. Craved by Gregory James Grosicki. Produce analgesia and a general feeling of well-being.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The experience of a LIFETIME
As most of you know, this past weekend I competed in the biggest completion of my life, the Duathlon World Championships in Edinburgh Scotland as a member of Team USA. A year ago when I begun the sport of triathlon I did so for the same reason everyone else does, to push myself and test some new waters (hahaha). Okay, that was a bad one, but you’ll just have to live with it. Anyway, a year later I found myself toeing the starting line in Holyrood Park at the biggest Duathlon competition that one can compete in. Before I recount my tale I feel as though I need to say HOLY SHIT I AM SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED IN SO MANY WAYS IT IS UNBELIEVABLE. Alright, now that’s said let us move on.
All of my life I have loved to compete. For me, there is no greater satisfaction then testing my limits and seeing how far I can push myself. Let us go back to the lima bean bet of my younger years. One day at dinner as I refused to eat my lima beans my dad bet me 20 bucks I couldn’t eat 3 spoons of lima beans. We made the bet but I told him I would do it in a few days before I had eaten supper. That night he came home with the LARGEST spoon you have ever seen in your life. I HATE lima beans, they are the most repulsive food known to man (and I am NOT picky, just yesterday I ate Haggis and LIKED it, and for those of you that don’t know, Haggis is sheeps stomach stuffed with organs). After choking down the beans I went up to my room with my 20 dollars sick out of my mind, but oddly satisfied with myself for rising to the challenge. A love for competition or possibly a masochist/idiot? You decide for yourself.
My mom and I were discussing the reason for my obsession with competition and I still cant really figure it out. Fast forward to last week and an entire WEEK before DuWorlds I was already nervous as ever. The desire to feast that typically plagues me hourly was no longer present and sleep began to come in shorter and shorter intervals. Yet, for whatever reason, this is what I do. I spend all this money to make myself sick out of my mind. The days before the race I swear I was more moody than a pregnant woman on steroids (thanks mom, for putting up with my bs). I did still manage to enjoy Edinburgh the week before, however as the race grew closer and closer my enjoyment began to dull. The night before the race with the help of a beer I managed sleep about 45 minutes, and I thought Christmas eve was bad when I was 5….
Race day did come, but there were no boxes or bags, just a whole bunch of incredibly nervous athletes crowded in the metal confines of the starting box, waiting anxiously for the gun. 10 minute delay….great, 10 more minutes of anxious waiting. Everyone makes nervous casual conversation in the box, a little different when its in about 5 different languages and a lot of different accents. The gun goes off and we begin making our way up the 1200 meter hill before the turn around, which we would do 4 times for the first run. Not even 25 meters into the race a lad from Great Britain falls over and eats shit directly in front of me. I am no steeple chaser but fortunately I manage to hurdle him. The first 2 laps go by and the 3rd lap I know will be the hardest. I grind through this lap, the slowest one of them all, and before I know it Im on the bike with a new 10k pr.
My legs are fried. I desperately hope that power returns to them soon. Fortunately after a couple minutes they begin to feel rejuvenated. I get to the climb, which we will do 5x and immediately begin to reel people in, god I love being a skinny bastard in times like these. Not before I got to the end of the first of the five laps I feel my calves begin to cramp. Fuck, this has never happened to me during a race. I try to stretch them out a bit and keep the crampinig at bay. The first 3 laps go by rather uneventfully. I didn’t get caught and managed to catch a good amount of guys. The fourth lap though both of my hamstrings turn to pretzels at the top of the climb. I stand up and lean back trying to stretch out the monstrous knots in both of my hamstrings. The unrelenting cramping continues and negative thoughts about not finishing begin to creep into my mind. I am only moving forward at about 5mph, and people begin to go by me. A man from Australia in the 25-29 encourages me as he flys by me. Finally I felt that I could pedal and began to slowly turn over the pedals, I feel the micro-seizures of my hamstrings with every rotation, but fortunately I was able to hold off disaster for the rest of the bike. I knew this may plague me in the run so I finished my water to attempt to rehydrate.
My flying dismount went epically and my transition felt fluid and smooth into the second run, just 2 laps this time. The first lap hurt. The 1200m uphill teased me with the fact that as I ascended it I would only have to loop around and do it all over again in less than 9 minutes. An 800m hill workout I did over the summer at Occoquan Park began to creep into my mind and I focused on staying smooth and working my way to the top of the hill. On the final ascent I cruised to the stop and tried to open up my legs into the final downhill. My quads had different ideas however and were not pleased with the pounding they took as I tried to open my stride to coast down the downhill and pick up speed. As I approached the finish line I heard the announcer through the loud speaker “And here comes Grosicki of the USA, the Mens 20-24 Gold Medalist” my mind immediately went nuts, I looked backwards and saw that no one was close and through my hands up as I crossed the finish line. My state was shock and disbelief as I gasped for sweet air in the finishing area. Overwhelmed with emotion I was stuck between disbelief and sheer joy. Tears began to make their way down my cheeks, what a bitch I am I thought to myself. I went over to the fence and hugged my mom and called my dad.
Before I left, everyone told me I was embarking on the experience of a lifetime. Everyone told me how sure they were that I would do well, but no one, not even I, expected this. For days people asked me if I was still on cloud 9, the answer is yes I was, to be honest its almost a week later and I still haven’t come down. Just typing this up has got me all worked up like a mom watching her kid get on the school bus for the first time. I can’t put into words how lucky I am. I am so blessed. So blessed to have such a great family that has supported me and been with me all of my life. So blessed to have the BEST friends in the entire world, and lots of people say stuff like this but I know theyre full of shit because I really do have the best. You all are fucking incredible, thank you so much for being there for me and encouraging me. So blessed by the lord to have all that I have and be able to do what I can. Thank you everyone so much for all of your support, especially the past couple months. What a gay way to end a blog right? Could I possibly have been more trite? Maybe…but I am the champion of the world in the duathlon not JK Rowling, so if you were expecting wizards, thats your fault.
All of my life I have loved to compete. For me, there is no greater satisfaction then testing my limits and seeing how far I can push myself. Let us go back to the lima bean bet of my younger years. One day at dinner as I refused to eat my lima beans my dad bet me 20 bucks I couldn’t eat 3 spoons of lima beans. We made the bet but I told him I would do it in a few days before I had eaten supper. That night he came home with the LARGEST spoon you have ever seen in your life. I HATE lima beans, they are the most repulsive food known to man (and I am NOT picky, just yesterday I ate Haggis and LIKED it, and for those of you that don’t know, Haggis is sheeps stomach stuffed with organs). After choking down the beans I went up to my room with my 20 dollars sick out of my mind, but oddly satisfied with myself for rising to the challenge. A love for competition or possibly a masochist/idiot? You decide for yourself.
My mom and I were discussing the reason for my obsession with competition and I still cant really figure it out. Fast forward to last week and an entire WEEK before DuWorlds I was already nervous as ever. The desire to feast that typically plagues me hourly was no longer present and sleep began to come in shorter and shorter intervals. Yet, for whatever reason, this is what I do. I spend all this money to make myself sick out of my mind. The days before the race I swear I was more moody than a pregnant woman on steroids (thanks mom, for putting up with my bs). I did still manage to enjoy Edinburgh the week before, however as the race grew closer and closer my enjoyment began to dull. The night before the race with the help of a beer I managed sleep about 45 minutes, and I thought Christmas eve was bad when I was 5….
Race day did come, but there were no boxes or bags, just a whole bunch of incredibly nervous athletes crowded in the metal confines of the starting box, waiting anxiously for the gun. 10 minute delay….great, 10 more minutes of anxious waiting. Everyone makes nervous casual conversation in the box, a little different when its in about 5 different languages and a lot of different accents. The gun goes off and we begin making our way up the 1200 meter hill before the turn around, which we would do 4 times for the first run. Not even 25 meters into the race a lad from Great Britain falls over and eats shit directly in front of me. I am no steeple chaser but fortunately I manage to hurdle him. The first 2 laps go by and the 3rd lap I know will be the hardest. I grind through this lap, the slowest one of them all, and before I know it Im on the bike with a new 10k pr.
My legs are fried. I desperately hope that power returns to them soon. Fortunately after a couple minutes they begin to feel rejuvenated. I get to the climb, which we will do 5x and immediately begin to reel people in, god I love being a skinny bastard in times like these. Not before I got to the end of the first of the five laps I feel my calves begin to cramp. Fuck, this has never happened to me during a race. I try to stretch them out a bit and keep the crampinig at bay. The first 3 laps go by rather uneventfully. I didn’t get caught and managed to catch a good amount of guys. The fourth lap though both of my hamstrings turn to pretzels at the top of the climb. I stand up and lean back trying to stretch out the monstrous knots in both of my hamstrings. The unrelenting cramping continues and negative thoughts about not finishing begin to creep into my mind. I am only moving forward at about 5mph, and people begin to go by me. A man from Australia in the 25-29 encourages me as he flys by me. Finally I felt that I could pedal and began to slowly turn over the pedals, I feel the micro-seizures of my hamstrings with every rotation, but fortunately I was able to hold off disaster for the rest of the bike. I knew this may plague me in the run so I finished my water to attempt to rehydrate.
My flying dismount went epically and my transition felt fluid and smooth into the second run, just 2 laps this time. The first lap hurt. The 1200m uphill teased me with the fact that as I ascended it I would only have to loop around and do it all over again in less than 9 minutes. An 800m hill workout I did over the summer at Occoquan Park began to creep into my mind and I focused on staying smooth and working my way to the top of the hill. On the final ascent I cruised to the stop and tried to open up my legs into the final downhill. My quads had different ideas however and were not pleased with the pounding they took as I tried to open my stride to coast down the downhill and pick up speed. As I approached the finish line I heard the announcer through the loud speaker “And here comes Grosicki of the USA, the Mens 20-24 Gold Medalist” my mind immediately went nuts, I looked backwards and saw that no one was close and through my hands up as I crossed the finish line. My state was shock and disbelief as I gasped for sweet air in the finishing area. Overwhelmed with emotion I was stuck between disbelief and sheer joy. Tears began to make their way down my cheeks, what a bitch I am I thought to myself. I went over to the fence and hugged my mom and called my dad.
Before I left, everyone told me I was embarking on the experience of a lifetime. Everyone told me how sure they were that I would do well, but no one, not even I, expected this. For days people asked me if I was still on cloud 9, the answer is yes I was, to be honest its almost a week later and I still haven’t come down. Just typing this up has got me all worked up like a mom watching her kid get on the school bus for the first time. I can’t put into words how lucky I am. I am so blessed. So blessed to have such a great family that has supported me and been with me all of my life. So blessed to have the BEST friends in the entire world, and lots of people say stuff like this but I know theyre full of shit because I really do have the best. You all are fucking incredible, thank you so much for being there for me and encouraging me. So blessed by the lord to have all that I have and be able to do what I can. Thank you everyone so much for all of your support, especially the past couple months. What a gay way to end a blog right? Could I possibly have been more trite? Maybe…but I am the champion of the world in the duathlon not JK Rowling, so if you were expecting wizards, thats your fault.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end
And so ends my summer. It is hard to believe that it is already time to go back to school. Ive got to say, the entire summer I feel like Ive spent a good deal of time complaining about how Ive missed school and such, but now that the school year approaches, I have to admit I am a tad nostalgic for the area of which i am from. Even harder to believe is that this is my last year at the College of William and Mary (assuming I pass haha).
Haven't written for a while. I guess I missed the Page County race report big time. It was fun though, nothing like racing through some good ol' hills for 3 hours, it definitely plays to my aerobic advantage. I won't bother writing the details of the race, however I feel it is somewhat noteworthy that before the start of the last 11 mile lap some dudes spokes sliced the top and major buckle on my shoes, making the last lap a tad more difficult. Kind of sucks that my 300 dollar Mavics are probably ruined now, but thats bike racing I guess...better than my bike or my wheels. So ended my 2010 cycling season. Id like to pronounce it a success. I got my Cat 3 upgrade, and proved to MABRA that the guy riding more or less unattached can indeed hammer out some decent finishes in Cat 3 races. Im definitely excited next year to race with Team Bike Doctor though, it will be fun to have some teamates.
The reason i didnt write a report for Page County was because the following week the family and i took our yearly vacation to Lake Anna. It was fun times. Found a good 40 mile loop to ride that encircled the lake, and got in one open water swim in water that nearly cooked me (this stuff was 96 degrees and getting out of the water I promptly hammered 3 bottles) thanks to my mom for kayaking along side me so that I did not end up in some boats engine. The hardest workout of all however was probably going fishing out on the boat with my two cousins, Collin and Stephanie, ages 10 and 7. Unfortunately the stupid fish would not stop biting, which meant constant unhooking, worming, untangling and so on. Largest catch of the day ME.
Got an email today from Team USA about DuWorlds. Im not going to lie, although Im looking forward to the race and being over there, i am undoubtedly more nervous about this race than i have ever been about any. I know that I have been putting in the hours of training, but the whole concept kinda gets me a little worked up. Oh well, I do what I can I guess right? Special thanks to Mark, my moms bf, for sitting at Burke Lake the other day to act as a transition area for my bike and my shoes as i did a mini Du. The legs felt great, got a loop around the 4.7ish mile lake in 2720, then hammered out an hour on the bike and did another 2.2ish mile run in 12 minutes. The money is in the bank, now to play the waiting game for September 4th. Anyway, Saturday I leave for the Burg. Definitely excited, as SemiSonic says "every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end."
Haven't written for a while. I guess I missed the Page County race report big time. It was fun though, nothing like racing through some good ol' hills for 3 hours, it definitely plays to my aerobic advantage. I won't bother writing the details of the race, however I feel it is somewhat noteworthy that before the start of the last 11 mile lap some dudes spokes sliced the top and major buckle on my shoes, making the last lap a tad more difficult. Kind of sucks that my 300 dollar Mavics are probably ruined now, but thats bike racing I guess...better than my bike or my wheels. So ended my 2010 cycling season. Id like to pronounce it a success. I got my Cat 3 upgrade, and proved to MABRA that the guy riding more or less unattached can indeed hammer out some decent finishes in Cat 3 races. Im definitely excited next year to race with Team Bike Doctor though, it will be fun to have some teamates.
The reason i didnt write a report for Page County was because the following week the family and i took our yearly vacation to Lake Anna. It was fun times. Found a good 40 mile loop to ride that encircled the lake, and got in one open water swim in water that nearly cooked me (this stuff was 96 degrees and getting out of the water I promptly hammered 3 bottles) thanks to my mom for kayaking along side me so that I did not end up in some boats engine. The hardest workout of all however was probably going fishing out on the boat with my two cousins, Collin and Stephanie, ages 10 and 7. Unfortunately the stupid fish would not stop biting, which meant constant unhooking, worming, untangling and so on. Largest catch of the day ME.
Got an email today from Team USA about DuWorlds. Im not going to lie, although Im looking forward to the race and being over there, i am undoubtedly more nervous about this race than i have ever been about any. I know that I have been putting in the hours of training, but the whole concept kinda gets me a little worked up. Oh well, I do what I can I guess right? Special thanks to Mark, my moms bf, for sitting at Burke Lake the other day to act as a transition area for my bike and my shoes as i did a mini Du. The legs felt great, got a loop around the 4.7ish mile lake in 2720, then hammered out an hour on the bike and did another 2.2ish mile run in 12 minutes. The money is in the bank, now to play the waiting game for September 4th. Anyway, Saturday I leave for the Burg. Definitely excited, as SemiSonic says "every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end."
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