Funny how things go. After the McLaren Park race, I had a couple thoughts about how, as badly as things went, my calf was solid and I could begin work on ramping up the “work” for the next three weeks in anticipation of the Golden Gate Park race on the 24th. Sure, everyone else had the same three weeks, but I’d held on OK despite very little actual “speed work” in prep for this year’s cross season, and had the delusion that there was a potential benefit.
Things shifted a little that evening, as I could feel something going a little south, throatwise. By the next day, it was pretty clear that a cold had invaded, and so mentally clicked back the clock to lose the next week.
True to forecaset, sore throat turned to stuffed ears and cottony brain. A couple days later, the cottony brain (I think) failed to immediately realize that the guy sitting behind me in a class, coughing on the back of my neck, was a danger. By the time I moved away, whatever microbes he had been harboring had landed, began colonizing and would be my good friend for another week. Of course, I had to get over the cold first.
Today - Tuesday - is the first morning that the walls haven’t been moving. Thank goodness for small victories. The Peet’s Holiday Blend seems to be having its standard effect as well. Big dog and I woke up, did our morning rituals and rather than follow her example of finding a warm and soft place to lie back down, there’s a momentum which keeps me upright and typing. Normalcy is a nice change.
It also has me revisiting the whole CX race thing. Since the last outing, my training to date has included the following:
1) Swapping saddles/posts between Quickbeam and Hilsen
2) Walking the dog around the neighborhood.
3) Holding the dogs while my wife trimmed them
This is not the sort of stuff you can just find in a free Chris Carmichael column, y’know…
You’re probably way ahead of me, but this represents the sum total of my:
1) Weight training
2) Endurance work
3) Intervals
Which may have a moderate effect upon efforts in GGP on Sunday. Like I said, funny how things go.
Oh well.
As you may have inferred from earlier posts, I’m kind of a “run what you brung” kinda guy. It is where I am, and as long as it doesn’t seem I’ll do any damage, it’ll be fun to toe the line, figure out how to shift again, and sweat with the other oldies in the beautiful setting of SF’s largest urban park. While I wasn’t harboring any illusions about cracking the top ten, it would’ve been fun to see some if things progressed with a bit of specific prep effort.
That sounds a little depressed as I reread it, which is really not the case. It feels great to be not actively ill. And every day feels just a little better. Finishing will be good. Heck, even not doing damage will be good. I think, as they say, it’s all good.