Since "Operation Incline" has come and gone there is only one more race in my 2008 season that matters. My whole season has been about getting back to Maui and the Xterra World Champs. The title of this post comes from a song from my all time favorite bands, Bad Religion. I had a mix of a bunch of old Bad Religion on my ipod while I was riding last week and this song came on. I thought it was fitting. I also changed my header photo. It's the podium (empty) from last year at worlds. I want to be up there in a couple of weeks.
listen up.
I want to conquer the world
On Saturday I had one of my hardest workouts of the year. A hard mountain bike with some race pace intervals followed up by a great run. After the bike I was shelled and was expecting the run to be a slog... but that was not the case. I felt faster than I did last weekend in the race. My "top gear" was definitely there.
getting it on the bike.
The rest of Saturday was spent lounging around the house and watching the Kona coverage. The race was killer and a lot of local people had good races. I have been thinking a lot about Kona and IM, but I will get to that later this week in another post. We both had our recovery uniforms on and cooked up a good dinner of BBQ pork chops and veggies and some wine from the Clif Bar winery... I thought it was fitting because we were watching the race.
Sunday morning was pretty typical. I slept in and then when Beth headed our for her 3 hour mission I hit the trails for my long run. Seriously, Beth has been putting in some big mileage and it's awesome to see. I chose a really hilly route on my local trails to simulate the course in Maui. The weather was perfect and there were a ton of people out on the trails running, mtb'ing, and hiking. Good to see.
When the little monster got home from her run (frozen yogurt in hand... and some for me!) we hit 24 hour fitness for some dry sauna action. I swear this is helping my recovery in a HUGE way. If I hit the sauna after a hard session and use the stick to massage my legs I wake up feeling great the next day... and you meet some crazy ass people in there too. Yesterday we met a guy that lost a 100lbs from just jumping rope. He now teaches jump rope classes and hangs out at the gym and jumps rope and lifts weights for 4+ hours a day... and he has run marathon and is training for another. Weird.... but I guess it works for him. He looks an NFL linebacker.
Finally. The Chargers looked like the team everybody has been saying they could be. I had my favorite meal and watched the Bolts take care of the Patriots. Rivers was killing it! Hopefully this will become a trend.
favorite meal. Steak and Salad.
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13 comments:
Great song - Good luck out there!!
For some reason - BR's Suffer keeps on poppin up in MY shuffle!!
Nickelback's "Rockstar" does it for me. I'll be watching the streaming vid from Maui and screaming for ya.
Sauna, compression tights and stick. Hmmm. Sounds scary, and not necessarily like recovery to me. ;)
You sound well primed for HA. Just keeping going to that edge and pushing a little more come race day.
I am thinking I might need to build my own sauna, sweat lodge in the backyard.
The game was bitchin'. I also had steak and salad mid-game, but no hard workouts ;)
Love to see everything in this post - even the picture of you looking like a candidate for "What not to wear." Everything except the part about the Patriots! Yeah, I had to turn the channel in the fourth quarter. Couldn't stand to look anymore.
That's weird, in the header photo, I swear I see James Walsh standing on the center podium! Go get it.
Killer ride this weekend, and glad the bolts are getting back on it. All makes for a good vibe.
James, don't look so enthused. Could you be anymore uninterested in posing?
The focus is there. The training is completed for the most part (keeping the blade honed is ongoing). The countdown has begun. Launch in 13 days.
Keep the telepathic ports open and we will support you from afar.
seriously. i am goign to have to get some administrator privileges on your blog to approve photos.
you're doing awesome...i have no doubt that you'll be ready in 2 weeks.
and yeah, our sauna friends are awesome.- sure helps pass the time
Can't wait to watch online when you throw down at worlds. Keep the updates coming for those of us whose season is over.
"I have been thinking a lot about Kona and IM, but I will get to that later this week in another post."
You're no longer allowed to give me crap about IM, and coming back to XTERRA if this means what I think it means.
Vance
GO MEAT!!!
don't forget to taper for the post maui party....the most important part!
hopefully maui and kona go back to back again cause i want to do the double - because that i think would truly be tough!
we head back to boulder tomorrow where will kelsay is housesitting...i'm just hoping our house is still standing!
good luck is maui - i'll be following on line!
Go James! You're so ready! Keep up the great work!
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