Xterra Lock 4 Race Weekend

My wife Kira and I kicked off the fourth of July weekend with Xterra pro Craig Evans and family in Spring Hill TN. After a fun Friday evening watching Dara Torres make swimming history and ducking the neighborhood fireworks shrapnel, the rest of the weekend focused on racing. Craig and I met up with local triathlete Bruce Gennari for a Saturday morning road ride. Since we were all racing the next day, I figured it would be an easy 2 hour stroll through the countryside. Unfortunately Bruce and Craig's idea of a stroll ended up being a 3 hour 60 mile sweat fest. Although it was a stronger training effort than I intended, I got to ride on the beautiful Natchez Trace parkway, and still had enough fuel in the tank for Sunday's Xterra. Despite being down for a few weeks after the crash, I still managed to put together a pretty strong race. Weather and course conditions held up beautifully and I rolled across the the finish line second overall behind Craig and over 5 minutes faster than last year. Although I felt strong for most of the race, the lack of running over the last few weeks really made the 4.5 mile run hurt. I managed to make it through the run with slight abdominal muscle cramping and achilles pain that would have been debilitating if I pushed it any harder. It turns out that the achilles pain, which I thought was plantar fasciitis, is actually achilles tendonosis. With three weeks until my next Xterra, the JCC will consume more of my training time than usual. Core work and physical therapy on my bum foot will suplement running and most of my cycling time in the immediate future. I also have a Strassburg sock on order to try and speed the healing...