Woah! It’s been three weeks since Worlds, and SO much has happened. I’m back in Colorado and finishing up what is probably the last little training block of 2010, getting ready for Huatulco and Puerto Vallarta (World Cup and Continental Championships, respectively), catching up on schoolwork (I guess if I wasn’t behind it’s not really catching up, but that’s how it feels), and trying to keep focus for just a few more weeks (meaning I’m NOT thinking about all the awesome things I’m going to do in the off-season… maybe a trip to Hawaii for a month or two, if I take a trip to Europe I’ll be Platinum Elite on Continental Airlines – that could be fun – somehow I need to get my cross country skis to Colorado, so maybe I’ll go back to Seattle for a little while… okay, I’m NOT thinking about this yet!)
After Worlds I felt pretty terrible until a few days ago. I trained right through the fatigue, knowing that it was mainly just jet lag, and was hoping for a miracle at Nationals in Tuscaloosa last weekend. The miracle happened in the form of a crash and a blown tire within the first minute of the bike. In other word, there was not a miracle. By the time I got to the wheel pit and changed tires I was out of the race, so I caught up with a small group of U23 athletes and turned the day into a fun workout. Once the pressure was off, I managed to have a much better time than most of the guys in the front pack. Steve Sexton, for instance, had a temperature of 107 degrees when he crossed the finish line – WOAH!! Maybe in Tuscaloosa one should wear their ice vest during the race, not just before.
So I came back from Tuscaloosa empty handed. I dropped out after a hard 5k run in order to save my legs for the bigger races coming up.
Back in Colorado… There’s really not much going on here. I spent a few days with Rory and Mojdeh in Boulder, and got a bike fit from Retul on my new Orbea Orca road bike frame. That bike is awesome! I really wanted to get some exposure for Orbea at Nationals (it’s going to be on Verses 10/14), but I’ll have to get my TV time at another race. The bike deserves a blog post of its own, so I’ll stop here and save more for another post.