I'm almost certain that my soreness is due to running down the steep asphalt 1.5 mile hill from my house at the start of the run. I haven't ever done it before and it fits with the skiing/Quandary soreness scenario. It could also be the reason I get so smoked on the downhills in trail run races. I do well on the uphills but get dropped on the descents. Whatever muscles my legs use running downhill must be really weak. -------------------------------- That 13.1 mile run did me wrong. I was so sore yesterday I could barely walk. Today isn't much better. I'm so sore that I feel ill. This is something I experienced back when I was in good tri shape when I was young. Even though I was in terrific physical condition, I'd come to Colorado to ski/hike and I would be so sore the next day I couldn't even walk. There's something that happens when I do extended but different motions from S/B/R that just trashes my muscles. The same thing happened before the Boulder Peak last summer when I ran up/down Quandary which I used to do weekly to train for climbing when I wasn't in nearly this level of physical condition. After Quandary, I was sore for a week afterwards including the day of the race. In this case, I think the constant six mile uphill may have worked my muscles slightly different as compared to the flat 10.8m Wash Park run that I've been doing easily at a harder effort with minimal next day effects. It's like once I go past some line my body just rejects it and this extreme soreness occurs afterwards. The worst part is that I have no warning. I felt fine during that run. There was never a point where I had any abnormal pain, thought I was doing damage, or going too far and that I should stop. The soreness is strange as it's every part of both legs from my foot arches to my beltline. So it's not any kind of injury. It's a full lower body rejection of that level of run workout. I've done the Wash Park 10.8 mile run at a harder effort many times and been fine the next day. So with this, the cold rainy weather pattern we're in, and the BB on Monday, there's no way I'll make any of my volume goals for this month. Today, a swim is about all I'll be able to do. Then, I'll regroup tomorrow. Hopefully this cold rain will go away and I can get a ride in. 40 degrees with icy rain is miserable to ride in. After the BB, I'm going to do this same run again to see if my body handles it better. I've got to work this out because before the 5430 HIM, I'm going to be in shape to do my HIM training ride/run at least twice as a brick. ----------------------

rest

I think my legs will be pretty trashed after today's run so tomorrow I'll just swim.

Splits ------ Home 0:00 TT Start/end: 4:16 (4:16) 1.65m/0' (23.2 mph) Copper climb start: 20:34 (24:50) 9.15m/328' (22.1 mph) Top of Copper Climb: 15:28 (40:18) 4.12m/659' (16.0 mph) Copper Parking Lot: 3:47 (44:05) 1.36m/52' (21.6 mph) Stop Light: 1:07 (45:12) 0.36m/20' (19.3 mph) Start of Vail Pass Climb: 4:56 (50:07) 1.37m/128' (16.7 mph) Vail Pass Summit: 21:24 (1:11:31) 5.68m/1076' (15.9 mph) ----- 1:11:31 for 23.69m/2263' (19.9 mph) ----- Copper Climb Start: missed split 11.62m/243' Church Turn: 27:06 (1:38:37) 1.17m/20' (28.3 mph) Stop Light: 5:37 (1:44:14) 0.88m/16' (9.4 mph) Swan Mtn Turn: 26:20 (2:10:34) 9.62m/581' (21.9 mph) Swan Mtn summit: 14:06 (2:24:40), 3.17m/617' (13.5 mph) Hwy 9 Light: 3:30 (2:28:10) 1.85m/62' (31.7 mph) Main bike path: 0:50 (2:29:00) 0.31m/10' (22.3 mph) TT Start/end: 15:30 (2:44:30) 5.40m/459' (20.9 mph) Home: 8:59 (2:53:29) 1.65m/400' (11.1 mph) ----- 2:53:29 for 59.36m/4671' (20.53 mph) ETA on 05/20/08: ---------------- Still celebrating yesterday's ride... I set a PR from home to Vail Pass by 4 seconds without even trying hard and with a full flag west wind in my face up the entire climb. Last PR was on 06/26/08 and I know the wind was calm that day and I pushed VERY hard because I was trying to go sub-2 on my TT->VP RT split. (I never pushed that ride at that effort again all summer). Climb from Frisco to Vail Pass Summit (12.89m/1935') in 46:41 (16.6 mph), all into that wind is phenomenal for me. I never used my 39/25 on the entire ride. I'm almost positive that this is the first time I've never hit the 25T on this ride. It's important because I want to switch to my 11/23 for training very soon and I want to kill the Boulder Peak Stagecoach hill in 39/23 with heavier TTX/Zipps. Don't know exactly why I was so strong yesterday. Probably some of all the below: 1. Stronger than last year even with only riding the goofy stationary all winter. 2. ~50% more volume this winter vs. last winter on the stationary. 3. Constant resistance all winter differing greatly from my outdoor rides with all the climbing/descents. 4. "easy-week-->rest-day-->hard-short-race-->rest-day" sequence set me up for a good ride. 5. Random strong condition yesterday. OK Steve, time to move. Your buddy Scott summitted Everest yesterday and you went on a bike ride...

A little sore so rest today and hit it hard the rest of the week. Probably won't make Bolder Boulder in fresh condition as I just can't skip another weekend day of riding.

See Race Report.

My legs are a little sore today. I tend to always mess something up right before a race. I think I'm so anxious to prove to myself that I'm ready for the race that I push too hard a few days before. This is just a warm-up race for me anyway. I'm not going to worry about anything other than enjoying my time in the race. This soreness is due to the new bike and I had some good reasons for not riding it until yesterday. It would have been a huge mistake for my race to have been my first ride on it. When I first started riding that thing it felt almost unrideable. At least this isn't as bad as before Boulder Peak oly. Five days before that race I decided to run up/down Quandary Peak. It trashed my legs so bad I was sore for a week including the day of the race. While I'd love to ride 60 today, all I'm going to do today is put the Zipps on and then just ride a mile or so, enough to cycle through all the gears a couple times.