PSSsssss.....

....that's kinda the sound that has been emitting from my training over the last couple months. Where to start?! Since my last post a lot has happened and most of it not too good. Life is good but the training gods have not shined on me this summer. Actually this spring started off awesome. I came off the snow season with a great base and felt the most fit in years. In March I did a rollerski TT and set a PR by over a minute for a 5km course. I came within 1min of my PR on the Island Lk Yellow loop with only 3 runs in my legs. I also bested my time on the Island Lk Mtb trail by about 4mins over the previous summer. I was definitely fit. XC Skiing does that. I was pretty amazed with my spring TT's and felt very motivated for a summer of bike racing. I did a few of the NSR Tue night rides and felt pretty good. It was fun to mix it up with the group and not feel like I was hurting all the time. Things were looking good....the best in over a decade. I even was making sure to get in a weekly double pole session to keep my upper bod from forgetting what it learned all winter.

Ouch! It was somewhere in May that I lifted a bunch of 4 x 8' sheets of plywood by myself. The next day my lower back didn't feel right, but I still went for a ride. A couple days latter it was still nagging me but I still got in my rollerski. After a couple weeks of this nagging pain I was beginning to think I may have pulled something?! This was a new thing for me....I have been doing endurance sports for 25 years and have only once been "injured" and I was still able to ride and rollerblade. This back thing was not getting better or going away. I decided to take it really easy for a couple weeks. I did a few rides during that time just to keep alittle fitness. It was early June and I woke up one morning and my back felt good! I was healed!

Ouch #2!! I was flying around the Island Lk mtb trail making good time on my new carbon Scott bike and while I was shifting my right hand slipped off the handlebars. The bars turned 90 deg. and sent me flying. I was going 20mph at the time....hammering on a flat section....and the next second I was sliding on my hands/arms and knees down the trail. Major rash, I have never gotten rash like this on the Mtn Bike. Plenty on the road but never on the trail. I collected myself and limped home. As I cleaned the dirt out of my wounds back at the car, my good old back had a familiar feeling and it was not good. This seriously bummed me out. I mean a Lance Armstrong, 3 crashes in a day, this has ruined my chance to win the Tour de France...bummed out. I went from having the best fitness in years to not being able to put my socks on in the morning.

Ouch#3!!! Pretty much most of June and July has been a few bike rides but mostly just laying low trying to avoid the heatwave. We had a nice family vacation up north for some camping and waterpark fun. The kids got sick during vacation, mild fever, but it still was a pretty good time. When we got home I got their sickness and was down for a week. Now here we are in early Aug and I have a cough!? How do you get sick twice in the summer!!?? So... I was bummed before, now I'm sick and bummed and haven't trained in 10 days! I feel like jabba the hut and really need to get back into the routine. My back is still nagging me too.....but with the time off its feeling better.

I hope as my cough goes away my back will be in a state where I can start the slow road back to fitness. I had really high hopes for the coming 2011 Mich Cup Season....but now I will be happy to enjoy regular exercise again. The next couple weeks should be interesting and hopefully the bad training luck is gone for a while!

Think Snow!