It feels like there's been an explosion of local races this year - both trail and road. Check out Steve's blog for the Fab 5 Fifties races and also the UMTR website for the full details on the local trail series'. And then there's the new road marathons in Stillwater and Minneapolis. Although... I have decided to opt for Grandma's! The timing works much better for me given that I will need some recovery from Chippewa and then a decent stretch of speed and tempo work as well as the long runs. Hopefully I'll find a few other willing souls to split the ridiculous cost of 2 nights hotel...
I've been getting back into the swing of more regular workouts this week. The early mornings have not been as bad as I expected though I am making a better effort to get to bed early so that helps. Still not running much which suits me just fine right now. I might venture outdoors later today if the temps creep up to 20. Swimming has been going well, which continues to surprise me. Some days the strength training gets easier and other days lifting the same weight as the previous day seems impossible... but I'm finally able do more than a few girly push-ups so something must be working! As for spin... I nearly died last night. Thursday's 2hr class includes stair running and walking lunges and whatever else Johnny J decides to throw in the mix. We did a 30 minute time trial also to get a baseline for the year. Even though I most likely won't do any triathlon this year it's a killer workout and since he's great with teaching form I feel like I'm building good overall strength with very low injury risk. Having said that my shoulder hurt like hell going to bed last night. I think the aero position for the time trial did me in. But an adjustment this morning seemed to release it. Often I find no difference when I get an adjustment but something definitely moved the right way today.
It's snowing a little now - some nice fresh power for the weekend... Snow shoeing is on the cards again. I think I'll strap on the backpack this time and get some training in for the big mountain hike.
