An Unspecified Location

It's a good thing I don't have a coach. Coaches like specificity. I'm at a very unspecific time in my very unspecific training program with very unspecific goals. In fact, since last August, my only goal has been to be a better overall athlete. Which, although woefully unspecific, is at least consistent with my longer term goals of staying alive, healthy, and able to continue enjoying the training process, unencumbered by goals. Ummm, wait a minute...

Goal or no goal, I think I'm a better athlete today than I was last August, so that's good. Along the way though, I've fallen for some of the traps I'm always cautioning others to avoid. There's been no real break in training since December, and that was short. I started racing early in the spring, and for the past eleven weekends I've been in competitions of one sort or another. Of course, it's now the height of the season and there's no shortage of events in the next few months. And I don't have much of a plan for any of them. I don't even know where I am now. I'm not peaking, not resting, not building, not tapering. I'm not really sure which of these I should be doing.

I am observing though. Reading your blogs. Don't be dismayed by the lack of comments. Despite my alternate identity as Nega-Coach, in reality I'm a pretty helpful mofo. You've give me a lot of ideas, and there's a lot I've wanted to comment on at length, but for now I'd rather watch, listen, and maybe learn something. As well, I've noticed (or maybe it's just what I read) road racers don't blog about their races so much. Maybe it's because all races are kind of the same. Some of them blog about their training, but with the power meters that's about as exciting as reading Oldsmobile torque specs out of an old Chilton's manual. Then some of you attempt to be funny, with mixed success. The mountain bike racers (and displaced cyclocrossers, remind me to expand on that later...) write more about their races, probably because they get lonely out there and have a lot to think about. And each race is different, more of an adventure than a race. These guys don't train either (I'm kidding) so there's nothing to write about there. Then we have the multi-sport people. In contrast to my race twice every weekend and forget all about the successes and failures two days after they happen approach, these fine folks build their entire seasons, and in fact their entire lives, around one or two events per year. This give them a lot to blog about, but it's mostly stress, pressure, and the mental struggles that go along with building for months and months all toward one day. I'll shut up about that for now too.

I told you this was unspecific. And oh yeah, I have a sore hamstring. Not typical either, this could be trouble. Which of course, sets me adrift even further this month. I'd sort of been thinking of shit-canning the entire month of bike racing, doing just some local running races to save cash, then making a six week charge through my favorite bike races in July and early August, but now that might not work. I can ride fine, but I'm unsure about the running. That's it for now. Good luck to everyone who has a big event this weekend. And click the Cheney pic and scroll through some of the results if you want some laughs. Thanks for reading.