Disaster, Recovery, Perspective

Racer X, my training and Adventure Racing partner, tore the meniscus in his right knee. That pretty much dumps this season's races. We're both bummed. For him, it's clearly a big blow--he's facing possible surgery and a few weeks of recovery. Maybe he can be prepared for our October 24 hour race, and we haven't written it off, but the odds are high against it.

For now, I need to recalibrate my goals and training regime. Having a goal provides motivation and drives away the easy and convenient excuses for slacking off or toning down the intensity. Maybe I should coast, but it's not my style. Let's face it, training can sometimes be painful so goals are wonderful reminders at times when the mind says "how about a Sundae instead?"

Because our ARs are skewed towards long cross-country mountain biking, my running distances and times have definitely been far shorter than in the Spring when I trained exclusively for a 50K. As my last post indicates, I love mountain biking too. But, there's only so much time and energy the fully employed family man can afford. So, accordingly, mountain biking was taking up a lot more of my schedule.

With Racer X out for a while, I'm going to try and balance that out somewhat. I love trail running. Today's run reminded me of what I do love about it. I put in a short, steep hill run today up on my favorite local trail. Just a 5.2mi loop with about 800' elevation game; but a good quad and calf power builder. I was the first out on the trail at 0645 and the morning East Bay area sky was it's usual cool, dry, and clear. I hit the top and had to stop--not 'cause I was winded--just needed to take in the beautiful vista that covered the ridgeline forest and the stirring activity of the valley citizens below me. I'm reminded on days like this that one reason I love trail running is not just the chance to get away from the noise and the bustle of city streets, but the chance to get quickly and deep within nature itself and take in great vistas or views of bob-cats, turkeys, deer--nature's bustle of activity.

So, I'm going to reset some goals. Maybe I'll do some half-marathon trail runs for now. This fall I have 4 days in Italy--I hope to run Chamonix or the Matterhorn area. I need to train and be ready for that. I can't wait.