shifting gears....

Do you know when its the right time to shift gears? Do you sometimes find yourself in the wrong gear going up or downhill? or maybe when trying to surge ahead and drop someone when passing in a race. I have on occasion found myself in the wrong gear trying to stay on a wheel going up Town Hall, or trying to sprint at the end of a crit race. It leaves you feeling kind of helpless for a short moment until you shift and get it in gear! the right gear that is.

What about in some of the choices we make as athletes....(like Lance in the tour this year;) do you ever find yourself pushing the limits maybe 1 too many times and wind up injured or blowing up huge and ending on a sour note? OR on a more positive turn.... things are clicking along great with training so why not switch gears and step it up a notch, enter a race in the elite wave, or go off to Nationals or pick a race with some real competition. Shift gears and move ahead and take it to the next level!

This year August has come so fast and I am already feeling a shift in gears so to speak. I have to turn lights on earlier in the morning and in the evening, I've been school supply shopping for a 2nd grader and seen football on tv. Adam is gone off Kona training and I have only 1 more triathlon on the schedule. Work is slammed, and I say SLAMMED with people wanting to come in hurt, to be fixed and put back together before school starts back up. I had seriously thought about ramping it up for Nationals or another 70.3 ..but laughed at myself in the mirror realized I would be crazy to attempt this now and I might wind up like Lance with a big L on my forehead. So after Chicago its time to shift gears.

I already feel the shift in my training too. Shorter more intense workouts, the kind I LOVE and fit best into my world. Chicago Tri is the last triathlon on the schedule for me so I've been trying to find more speed and snap with workouts involving a lot more intensity.OUCH but love it. While Chicago is the last tri, it not the last race for me. I'll be stepping up the biking and gearing up for cylcocross season which begins in Sept.and finishes in Dec. at Montrose. Like here

I hope to make it on the call up list each week and race at the front of the pack. So even though 1 race season is coming to an end, another one is just beginning!