Gearing UP

Believe it or not I still have 3 athletes still waiting for their " A " race of the season! What a long haul! But their day is finally almost here and they are ready to go. Good Luck to my IM AZ and IM Cozumel athlets racing in just a couple weeks. Clearwater is finally almost here for those athletes too! Good Luck

I think the retailers are gearing up for the holidays before anyone else is really ready. Isn't it always that way? I love Christmas and the holidays but dont' want to be sick of it before it even gets here. Patience people. Let me eat my Turkey and pumpkin pie first!

I was talking to my coach Thomo the other day and telling him I still haven't a clue what races or goals I'd like to chase next year. After 20 years of doing triathlon every single year minus 1 to have a baby...I am left to wonder what motivates me in the triathlon world. For a while I thought I might try ..a couple 70.3 races and Clearwater, but .........I would never want to still be triathlon training this time of year, and Ironman is so not appealing to me anymore and I've done the nationals and worlds thing with some great success. So what to do. Hmm. The jury is still out, but ....as long as I'm still having fun and getting fit and fast then there is a goal out there for me. But this is the cool part and my coach even agrees....I don't have to decide right now! Plus, I am having so much fun doing the cyclocross series, that I havent' even been thinking about next triathlon season. Same routine, same triathlon races, same goals....= stagant and boring.

With this off season my goals started off the same as the always are. Run.....because its easy to fit in, and do a bunch of 5ks. But this year I threw in "try a couple cyclocross races". Change is good. Same old Same old gets very boring. Riding through the trails and woods even when the weather is a little nasty has been fun. Its as close as I can get to the feeling of being in the mountains back home as I can around here. The Chicago Cross Series has been a blast and what a great change of pace. Different people, differnt attitutdes. The courses are so crazy and different every week you never know what to expect, and the venues have been so awesome and the crazy crowds just make me laugh. You'd NEVER see this at a triathlon......I guess thats why it seems so fun to me.

This week's race was called "Save Ferris", not sure why, but what a cool name. Bueller? Anyone? The hecklers were out, this time 1 guy dressed in a type of Belgian get up with an antler as megaphone....I had my best race yet on a tough technical course, and who can top, short sleeves in Nov.! The best part of the course was a barrier right before a gully at the base of a steep uphill. At one point I even found myself in about 4th place until I kissed a hay bail coming out of the sand pit 2nd time through..... still not sure how that happened. I finished 6th and keep moving my way up in the overall standings despite missing the first 3 races being on the island. There are just 3 races left in the series, everyone gearing up for the final race in Dec. Secretly I think some are wishing for snow and mud.

Oh and haven't quite made it to any 5ks yet this fall, but have been running some. Maybe I'll get to one of the jingle runs. And....I do still love triathlon, enough to even sign up for Sue Welker's new swim program and I may actually get back to swimming like I used to.