Cherry Cherry Pow Pow

3 of the past 4 days have been spent surfing the frozen curl as I like to call it. Thursday was 2'+ at Beaver Creek, Saturday was Copper with some EC friends, mostly in the trees searching for the goods and Sunday was spent at A-basin. With the pass being closed for Haz-Mat cleanup everyone was at Keystone and when we got to the Basin there was hardly anyone there, we spent the day mostly in the land of the giants avoiding rocks and jumping off the unavoidable ones. Registration is open and today marks the start of week 3 of the 12 week high-intensity part of the 25 week training program.

Avalanche Death Shocks the Ski Community

After the latest series of storms pounded the West, the ski community was hit with tragedy on Sunday when two people died in separate avalanches: Heather Gross, a 27-year-old grad student at the University of Utah, was buried while skiing High Baldy at Snowbird, Utah; and Cory Brettman, a 52-year-old father and former ski patrolman at Aspen, was killed in a slide just out of bounds at Aspen Mountain, Colorado. The deaths were a sobering reminder that the euphoria of skiing deep powder can quickly turn to tragedy—and that such accidents can happen to anyone at anytime. The following account was sent to Powder.com from Jake Kirshner, a friend of Heather Gross. The report was first posted on Jakecast.com.

Every time I read a story about a skier who has died doing what they love it makes me think about what I'm doing everyday and with my life. Today, like yesterday and tomorrow will be spent in a cubicle with some biking and running to look forward to at the end of the day, when all is said and done is this what I always wanted?

Heather Gross was a grad student working towards loftier goals than harvesting fresh pow lines everyday but when she got the chance to do it she went. And she died doing presumably what she loved, if you got hit by a truck on the way home did you die doing what you loved? Did you at least take the risks inherent in going for it all? They say the only people who have found the edge are those who have crossed it, well there is a reason so many go looking for it, and tomorrow when i tell my boss I am 'working from home' I will double check my avy safety equipment, take a moment to appreciate where I am and who I'm with and go searching for the ever elusive 'edge'.

Back in the saddle

Got back on the tele skis for the first time since surgery and they felt good, got 2 days in this past weekend for #4 on the season. Prett weak start to the season snow wise but we got around 2ft over the weekend with more coming this week. Training kicks into high gear next week and now with my nutrion plan in place I am set to attack.

I only got an hour of biking and about 5 miles of running over the last week and half, traveling to Charlotte for Thanksgiving can do that to ya. So far this week its been biking and weights, a nice long run will come tomorrow morning.

The final pieces to the Frankenbike will be arriving Thursday and I will have everything ready to go before then. A quick breakdown of what went into the Frankenbike:

17.5" Gary Fisher Marlin Frame
80mm Rox Shox Judy TT front fork
Race Face Evolve XC X-type crankset w/ external BB
Shimano Dual Control BRK/SHFT levers
Avid BB7 front disc brake
Avid BB5 rear disc brake
XT front deraileur
LX rear deraileur
SRAM 990 9SPD rear cassette
SRAM PC-971 chain
Rhynelite disc rims
Panaracer 2.1 tires
Oury grips
Handle bar and riser off Jamis Dakar XC sport

This project has taken a while to come to fruitition by once I get my first test ride in this weekend I will know a lot more about what goes into a sweet bike build and whether I was succesful or not.

End of the week training wrap on Friday.

...And we're back!

After a short hiatus to allow the swelling to go down and to reasses my goals it's time to step it up a notch. Week 8 is the new week 1, I received my meal plan from Casey the trainer and I got support from Schmess(she bought me the remaining parts needed for the Franken bike).

Going to start incorporating some of the Crossfit techniques into my routine, todays crossfit:
"Twenty-One"
Complete the following for time:
20 push-ups/1 sit-up
19 push-ups/2 sit-ups
18 push-ups/3 sit-ups
17 push-ups/4 sit-ups
16 push-ups/5 sit-ups
15 push-ups/6 sit-ups
14 push-ups/7 sit-ups
13 push-ups/8 sit-ups
12 push-ups/9 sit-ups
11 push-ups/10 sit-ups
10 push-ups/11 sit-ups
9 push-ups/12 sit-ups
8 push-ups/13 sit-ups
7 push-ups/14 sit-ups
6 push-ups/15 sit-ups
5 push-ups/16 sit-ups
4 push-ups/17 sit-ups
3 push-ups/18 sit-ups
2 push-ups/19 sit-ups
1 push-up/20 sit-ups
Push-up standards: Body stays planked whether you are on your toes or your knees. Chest touches the deck. Arms to full lockout.

Sit-ups on an Abmat with feet unsecured

I will report back tomorrow how it feels and some more planning on this weeks training.

Suicidal Squirrels

So the knee is feeling a little better and I have been biking to work to keep it loose, I will be back in the gym tomorrow but no running this week. But as I was riding along yesterday a squirrel popped out of a bush and ran into my back tire. Luckily I didn't run the little fella over he coulda would up like this guy had I been going faster and if I had disc brakes perhaps.

#'s from last week and possible setback...

Bike = 3hrs
Run = 1hr
Ski = 4hrs

While on the skis saturday I came to a hard stop and I think the pressure to the outside of my knee caused me to strain it a bit. It's a little sore and swollen and I'm not gonna push it too hard this week. It feels ok on the bike and I have the ace neoprene brace on my knee for now. We'll see how it goes and possibly get back in the gym by the end of teh week.

Lesson learned, lift more and be in more control, don't go to hard to fast yet, your knee is not ready...

And there was celebration in the streets!

Even here in Boulder, I could hear the shouting from my window. At approximately 8:45 PM MST it was announced that Barack Hussein Obama would be the 44Th president of the United States of America.

There was plenty of whooping and hollering from the locals in my neighborhood, people were even setting of fireworks and dancing in the streets. I never expected quite that reaction but then again it is a momentous occasion.

"Yes We Can"
-Barack Obama

502

That's what the mileage read on the cyclometer this morning as I locked my bike to the rack out in front of the building I work in. That's a pretty good feeling knowing I have put that many miles down, almost all commuting. I bought it about 8 weeks ago so that mean I am getting roughly 63mi of commuting per week. Not bad but I expect that number to increase as I lengthen my commuting trips for training purposes.

Surrounded by Apes

Picture yourself surrounded by 700 Mountain Gorrilas. That's where I was saturday morning. Now these weren't your average gorillas, they drank, smoked and generally acting like a bunch of people. It was of course the Denver Gorilla Run. My roomate, a few coworkers and myself signed up at the last minute to get some sweet gorilla suits and run a 6k through Denver.

In the past I had heard that the temperature was pretty cool, considering it's the end of October and all. Well it was 75 and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, great for pics, bad for staying dry. Those suits were roasting, I had to take the mask off a few times to breath.

We decided running wasn't going to be fun enough in gorilla suits so we brought skateboards, the one problem being we had 3 and there was 4 of us. Clown boy solved that by finding a bench 150 yds after we started, took a nap for 45 minutes and then got up and ran back to the finish. It takes a special kind of person to do something like that.

All in all it was fun doing the people slolom on the long board and then boxing CB across the finish in a gorilla suit with boxing gloves.

Man my groin is sore from all the skatin.

JPEG Magazine

Cold this morning

But that means it's even colder in the high country! Hopin to make it to A-basin this weekend to see how the knee is gonna react to the first turns since surgery. I am nervously excited about testing it out, I feel that I have rehabbed it well and the uncomfortableness is all a mental issue.

Hmmm, most of my problems are mental issues...

Back from Amsterdam

What a trip, exhausted from the traveling but an what a trip.

It's not going to be easy getting back into the swing of things but considering there is snow on the ground in the high counrty and I can still Mtn bike here in Boulder it shouldn't take very long.

Coolest thing about Amsterdam, everyone bikes everywhere. People are aware of bikers, cars are aware, other bikers are aware(save for a few oblivious tourists who I saw almost get run over multiple times). I could see enjoying the simpler life in a place like that.

Back on Monday with an update on how the training went this weekend...

www.denvergorillarun.com

Walker Ranch and Choppin Brocoli

"Whoo, I'm throwing rocks tonight!
-Donny, The Big Lebowski

Walker Ranch is an 8-mile loop at the top of Flagstaff mountain in Boulder. The loop begins with a long technical downhill to the valley floor. From there you hike up a large set of steep stairs leading to some more downhill before beginning the first of 2 large ascents. The decent between the two climbs is very technical and I was blasting through it, so much so that my thumb trigger for the rear de-raileur came loose and fell off, now my bike is basically a 3 speed, that made the last climb out brutal, legs are still sore from that one.

Thursday is normally a yoga day but instead last night it was a log day, Burns and I hauled two loads of wood outta the forest and into his truck, we finish choppin and then sell on saturday morning.

There are few things more satisfying than the sound and feeling of a good clean CHOP through a large round where the split pices go flying in opposite directions, SNAP!

Not Stolen...

Phew! After a great ride thursday, up the Link trail 2laps around betasso and down the Link, I woke up friday morning to my bike missing and the lock just sitting on the ground near where the bike had been. I was devasted, not only do I commute to work everyday on that bike but I had my tires and rims from my Franken-bike project on the commuter so I could start going off road. As I was headed for the police station to file a report I get a phone call from my roomate, Clownboy, and he tells me he is the one who stole the bike. He took it to work, even though he has his own bike, and then got drunk and left it inside the bar he works at and got a ride home. Now I don't know what could have compelled him to take my bike or what would have led him to believe it was ok to leave it downtown but either way he had a barrage of tennis balls awaiting him upon return friday afternoon and one his cars may or may not go missing for a few days in the future.

At least the bike didn't get stolen, I'm thinkin of getting one of those locks pee-wee Herman used on his bike in the Big Adventure just in case...

Headin to Betasso again

The above is a pretty nice video of someone on Betasso, some cool angles and fast shots making it look more challenging than it truely is, still it's a lot of fun to train on and is great for me just getting back in the saddle.

Another round of Yoga scheduled for post ride, we'll see how that goes...

No Weights this week

Knee is sore and I don't want to re-injure anything. Just biking a short run and more biking for this week. Training plan almost finished, still working on phase II which is the 12 weeks leading up to the race. The first 12 are set and those weeks are to prepare your body for the coming 12 weeks in which you will learn the limits of what you can handle. For now enjoy this video from last years inaugural XTERRA Winter Worlds...

Guess Who's back? Back again..

..Stevies back, Mountain bikin'.

Finally got back onto some singletrack for the first time since my knee surgery(basically 1 year since I wasn't mtn biking in the winter). It felt great! I was a little rusty on some of the downhill spots but for the most part I felt really good. Burns and I went up to the Betasso Preserve at the top of Magnolia Road in Boulder. It is a 2.3mi loop with the bikers currently going counter clock-wise(every other month they switch it up), it's not too challenging with lots of fast dry single track and a few technical spots.

Today is going to be a run day after I bike home from work this afternoon as I continue with my training and Goal of finishing 3rd in my AG at the XTERRA Winter World Championships!

Ooohhhhhmmmmm

I've been wanting to try Yoga for a while now and with the Ski season fast approaching, my training plan in full swing and my knee still not at 100% but getting close, I figured it was time to try.

Note to self, do not do an upper body workout just prior to your Yoga session. This was a rookie mistake that just meant the muscles in my upperbody would be fatigued while trying to hold my body up in certain positions.

Yesterday's class was called Flow Yoga so you are constantly moving from one position to another with little holding or resting. It was hard to get my breathing synced up but I have heard that will come with time and practice.

All in all it was a good experieince and I look forward to making it a part of my regular routine. I am a little sore today but that means it worked(at least that's what I tell myself).

Long Road Ahead

Yesterday was an easy day. Roughly 20k of biking(mostly to and from work) then a few beers and chillin. Today is my weights/Yoga day and following that I'll be ready to sleep about 12 hours. This week has been dragging on and on...

Numbness

Been getting a numb(pins and needles) feeling on my left shin just below the knee. Most likely this has to do with the surgery, possibly some nerve damage near the repaired area. It doesn't hurt and is not too uncomfortable, it may just be something I have to deal with the rest of my life...

A little background...

...on why I started this blog, what I'm doing with it, my goals and my previous experiences.

Around February/March of last year a friend of mine got the idea to sign up for and start training for an XTERRA off-road triathlon. I ran cross country in high school, and had recently gotten into XC mountain biking, so this definitely piqued my interest. We signed up and trained for 16 weeks leading up to the competition in June. When it came to training I made a plan but had a hard time sticking to it, and when race time came around it showed in the swimming event. It was a 1k open water swim(water was 56 deg) and I struggled. The mountain bike was next and I actually did OK, had a better time than my buddy. 20 miles of trail riding at 9000 in Buffalo Creek, CO is no cake walk, the best(worst) part is the 3 mile climb up a logging rode back to the transition area. The 5 mile trail run that was the final leg of the tri was brutal, I had lost my water bottle without realizing during the mountain bike race and was becoming seriously dehydrated. I felt like they made the course as tough as possible, literally running up and down the side of a mountain, and by the time I was coming down the home stretch my hamstrings were refusing to move as I asked them too. I limped across the finish line and collapsed. time = 3:50:21, 114Th out of 149 overall and 8Th of 10 in my AG.

Not bad, not great, most importantly, not last. Lots of lessons to take away from that race and decided I would train harder and come back next year and demolish my pathetic time. On February 27Th, 2008 that changed. While skiing at Big Sky in Bozeman, MT with some friends from back east I decided it would be a good idea to throw a backflip over a 25-30 drop. I had my landing picked out, the lip was perfect, perfect rotation, tight knees, then, uh oh, overrotated-thought I could ride it out-then the skis took a different direction without releasing and POP! There goes my ACL. We were on the backside of Loan Peak, this means it would take forever for Ski Patrol to get out there, and me being me, I said I could ride back down. Needless to say it popped again on the way down and I had to push my self on one ski all the way back to the front side of the mountain, that sucked.

4/7/2008 - ACL reconstruction surgery, using a new procedure, Dr. Seng removed part of my ITB(middle hamstring, back of the knee area) and put it in place of the damaged ACL. He drilled a hole in my Tibia and screwed down the new ligament, reattached my separated medial meniscus and shaved my MCL as that was sprained as well. This is a fairly new procedure and the worst part was recovering from the harvesting of my own hamstring that was used to replace the ACL. Doc says the knee will be stronger that ever will the right training and a little dedication.

9/7/2008 - 5 months out of surgery, itching to get back into something. Road biking to work everyday and rides on the weekends are not enough, then I find www.xterraplanet.com/winter/events.html and I am pumped. Training has begun and I will post a schedule soon, still making lots of changes to tailor the training specifically to this race.

So there ya have it, a brief overview with many more details to come in the future as we lead up to the Race, and of course photos and results afterwards. Let me know what your think, am I crazy? Is this something you might be thinking of? Do you have any training tips or suggestions? I'm all ears.

I am not going to get up today!

Hard time getting moving this morning.

Yesterday was a bike/run day, I did ~16km on the bike on the road and then ran ~4k. After doing roughly 95km on the bike over the weekend the knee was definitely feeling a little sore. During the run I noticed a feeling of numbness below my left knee, kinda like pins and needles, not painful but odd and a bit disconcerting. I have an appointment with Dr. Seng in two weeks and if this persists I can speak with about it.

Two more weeks until I 'should' be cleared for plant and pivot movements, about time. I can finally start mountain biking again and play some basketball and , the big one, SKIING!

Today is a bike/gym day, biked to work this morning, 8k, and then bike to the gym after work for a leg/knee routine and then 30sec on/off sprints home. Pasta dinner and pass out.

Ah ha! I've got it! Brain, how can I ever thank you?

Did 95km on the bike this weekend riding around Boulder. Sunday was a rest day and today was a bike in the morning then bike home from work followed by a 5k run then MNF.

Entering week 3 I have seen a slight improvement in my riding and overall physical shape. I am going on a nutrition plan beginning this week, I will post the complete plan once finalized but for now it includes oatmeal, fruit and juice in the am (~700 cal), then rice bean and some meat, chicken or steak, for lunch(~1000 cal). For dinner I will be focusing on pasta, rice, beans, veggies, fish and chicken(~1000+ cal). Initially I will be aiming for roughly 3000 calories a day and increasing that number as my workouts increase in intensity.

Counting this week I have 3 more of training before going to Amsterdam and setting myself back a bit, it'll be worth it.

Wrapping up week 2 and Welcome to my blog

This is where I plan to share the pains and triumphs, trials and tribulations of training for The XTERRA Winter World Championships. I had reconstructive ACL surgery on April 7Th(left knee), and after nearly 6 months of rehab I am ready to get back on track.

I have 24 weeks from the first week of training(9/8-9/14) until the competition (3/7/09). Eventually I will publish my training and nutrition plan but for now I am honing it and making changes daily.

The first week of training contained 81km on my bike(all on road) and 6k worth of running. This was the first distance running(I know not very far) since my surgery and it was a bit painful, knee was sore after each run. Also some weights at the gym(one leg hamstring curls, one leg presses, calf raises, one leg balance on elliptical ball then sprints-30sec on off-home on the bike) to round out my training routine.

So far week 2 has been very similar to week one, all told I will have about 86km on the bike(on road) and 6-8km running. Weights at the gym twice this week and still haven't started doing Yoga but either Saturday or next week I will begin to incorporate that into my routine.