Next Steps

Before I begin espousing my future plans, I need to share a rather less than inspiring but slightly humiliating moment. About this time last year I started going to the gym. Nothing all that serious, but as I wasn’t running due to a hamstring injury I needed something to keep me sane. I was also completely unimpressed with my utter lack of physical strength, i.e. cutting our lawn was far more challenging than necessary. Typically, I would bastardize a CroffFit workout to support me fleeing the weight room in less than 20’.

Fast-forward 12 months and I’m still routinely going to the gym. I’ve learned a lot, sometimes the hard way (doing bench press without a spotter can lead to mortification when you need to crawl out from under the bar). Still, no one will confuse me with Arnold Schwarzenegger but I have gained almost 10 lbs. and my lawnmower quivers in fear whenever I walk passed our shed. As so it was, late last week I found myself perusing a CroffFit site looking for an interesting exercise when I saw the name “Karen”, the session consisted entirely of wall ball shots. How hard could squatting a weighted ball and then throwing it against a wall be, really? Three days and 150 repetitions later my hamstrings still ache. Idiot.

As for my immediate future, the initial plan was to allow a few weeks recovery after the half marathon before tackling BC XC Championships on October 30th. This was to be my last race of the season prior to a couple weeks off, followed by 6 weeks of base building. Nonetheless, with a memorial scheduled for Ally’s grandmother that day I won’t be racing. All the same, as I read recently. “always take advantage of an advantage”.

In late August a good friend of mine was about to compete in a local Xterra event (off road triathlon). I don’t think anyone including Carter expected to qualify for the World Championships. And so based on that understanding my lovely wife kindly put forward that should accompany him, should the stars align and he be awarded a spot.

And that’s why much to Ally’s chagrin, I’ll be leaving tomorrow for Maui to participate in the Xterra trail run on October 23… and also starting my rest and recovery phase one week earlier than scheduled, in paradise. Now, if only I could rid myself of this cold inherited from my loving daughter…

Training:
Oct 18: easy 24:15
Oct 19: 1:00:03 w/ 5x6’ tempo (2’)
Oct 20: easy 28:44