And the slump is on

July had to be the worst month ever. I think it's the non structures training I've been doing or something. I started out with a good race in Decatur and then came the Evergreen race in mid July. In between I've not been following my training schedule much, just going out and doing whatever. Some days I'm on, most days I'm off or feel just...blah. I feel like my fitness has peaked or something and I'm in a slump. I must need some extended rest or something.

I also feel like my fitness is way behind schedule. I didn't have one single long run in July until yesterday. 13 miles. Are you kidding!? I barely made it out of the water at Evergreen in under 27 minutes. Are you kidding!? My swimming pretty much sucks right now. And I can't even bike a 40K in under 1 hour. Are you...OK I won't say it again. On top of that (I'll just make this paragraph one big complaint) I think I strainied my calf during Evergreen because it won't stop hurting when I run, and my sports hernia just keeps getting worse. Today it just killed and all I did was sit at my desk at work. Ugh!!

To make things worse, I ruined one of my all time favorite rides to participate in. Last weekend was the Miles of Smiles. This was my first century ride in 2004 and I've never missed a year since (well except 2006 when it was the week after IM Lake Placid and I pussed out by riding only 30 miles) It's like the "hometown" century course or something. Anyway, three years ago, Andy Sweet made the bold prediction that he could ride the course faster than anyone, so you guessed it, it was on. I didn't ride that year (see above puss out sentence) but I did last year. It was relatively fun. We dropped a bunch of people and Andy kicked our ass at the end. This year I got a late start and rode out to Geno's house from my house to get a few extra miles in. Only problem was that everyone left at about 7:10 and we got there at 7:30. After signing in, Mark, Keith, and I headed out and were on the road by 7:45. My ultimate goal was to push hard and minimize the stop time at water stops to make the catch near the end. I figured I could make up 30min....oh that's brilliant. Keith and I dropped Mark around El Paso (sorry Mark) and then hammered it all the way to Carlock. From there the temps started to soar and the course turned into the devil. Holy crap who adds the hilly section after the first 75miles of flat? Geno does. He even threw in a few sections I never rode before that were tougher than nails. I ended up dropping Keith at Congerville with about 1hr of ride left. I told him I had one good push left in me and I was sure I could catch those guys. Well by the time I made it back, I had run out of water and was completely wiped. I pretty much time-trialed the last hour and 15 min. There was everyone in the garage, all happy as cows, drinking beer and eating food. "how long you guys been here?" "oh, half an hour". Brilliant I tell you. Sorry Keith, I still feel bad for dropping you in Congerville. To tell you the truth, I'll probably never "race" that course again. I'd rather have fun. I will go back and train on that bitch of a course before Kona though...

All that aside I just need to focus and get back into a good ryhthm for the month of August. I have the Pigman 1/2 Iron race on the 17th so I'll try to make that a good day. From there, the focus is on quality AND quantity.

Good day and sorry for the crappy mood this time... cd