Hey gang - so the word I would use to best describe this past falls training is smooth. Things have actually gone very well - good weather, no injuries, and I have a good feeling going into the winter's x-c ski race season. The only bump was when I found out Alpina wasn't going to be supporting a ski team this season - but I was able to connect with Salomon and am really excited about racing with their new equipment. So, things stayed smooth. Salomon has actually created some ridiculous new boots in the S-lab Pro. Check 'em out.
The last race of the bike season was the Boston Criterium - where my teammate Clayton "Big-Show" Barrows went on a $100 bill vision-quest and won all sorts of money - which definitely made paying the bills in the fall a bit easier. So, once again, thanks Clayton! I'm riding again next year with Empire Cycling - and promised Clayton I'd finally make him some money.
After that race, I listened to Helen's sage advice and took a week completely devoid of exercise - as much as it pained me. It was a good choice though, and something I mistakenly didn't do last year. As a result I've had good energy and motivation this fall for training.
I've been basically doing the standard stuff - rollerskiing, running, strength exercises, and riding the bike. I've actually been able to ride more this fall because its been reasonably warm. I even made a pass over App Gap in November with Steve Francisco. With rollerskiing I've been mostly getting out a couple days a week with Eli Enman. I really enjoy training with Eli and hopefully I can race more with Eli this season (at the front of the pack, drilling it).
I was able to get together one weekend with my Alpina teammate from last year, David Cahill, for some great training. We did a time trial up Honey Hollow, which UVM uses, and that went very, very well. Helen and I are going to head out to Wisconsin this winter to race the Birkie and David (a Birkie vet) is helping us figure our travel and lodging arrangements, which I really appreciate.
The highlight of the fall training was easily Helen & Jake's Gourmet Training Camp at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT. Over the summer I had a good day at the Equinox Hill Climb and ended up winning. The winning prize was a full weekends stay and accommodation at the resort. Helen and I used the stay over Halloween weekend and we made the most of it - taking in some seriously plush rest and relaxation, but also some great long run/hike training in the mountains around Manchester. You'll be seeing me at more of the hillclimb races in 2010 that have bed and breakfast or resort/spa prizes. I'm a fan.
On the home front Helen and I were really able to get settled into our house in Winooski once the fall came around. The house is in a great location and is very comfortable now that everything is settled. We even hosted the famous "elastic waist band" dinner just last weekend - which strangely has become a who's-who of 20 and 30 something x-c ski people. So, needless to say lots of food was eaten and sizeable amount of beer and wine was enjoyed. Yay elastic waist bands.
Here's a smorgasbord of fall pictures..
Helen relaxing in the back room
The view from the top of Bromley
Oh, yeah - I did the Westford Turkey trot. Cruising with Binney Mitchell.
The view up the Lye Brook waterfall.
We were running all over the mountains.
1 comment:
smooth- it doesn't get any better when describing training!
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