Into The Off-Season

It was a fun November, but now it's time to go down for a few weeks. I'll recap the last month since it's been a while since my last post.

BAA Master's men - 2nd at New England Cross Country Championships
The last time I had run at Franklin Park was 22 years ago, when I was an undergrad student at Northeastern University. It was fun, although I had already lost some fitness. The team was put together by my team mate Mark http://runfastermaster.blogspot.com/ and we had a strong lineup. My team mate Andrew and I helped displace the competition and keep us in second. I want to come back next year in shape and take this race seriously.

Palmer Cyclocross Place?

I wan't last, but this was a brutal course with steep run ups, which by the last lap was killing my back. My tank mountain bike just wasn't cutting it and I was at a huge disadvantage. This was my first cyclocross ever, so my MRC team mates were congratulating me anyway.

MRC Wrentham Cyclocross Cat 4 36th

Boy - a completely different course! I actually felt great on the bike and will take a mid-pack finish any day. My triathlete team mates were actually surprised I did as well as I did. I actually passed a number of guys (boy, that must have been embarrassing) and finished strong. The down side was the 20 degree temperature made the day just brutal and I barely survived. My mountain bike has just had it and loosened up again, where the crank was hitting the chain stay - I didn't care, just keep cranking those pedals. The day was a blast - drinking frosty John Harvard's brew in the freezing cold. I look back at last year at this time and I hadn't been on the bike for a month and a half, so this cyclocross thing is good motivation to keep going after my race season and something I can do for just fun and not take serious!

Anyway, I have run very little the last week and it is time to go off-season. It's very important for the serious athlete to do this part of periodization ever year. I think it's also helped me keep going all these years without any serious problems. I have checked the blogs and the pro triathletes are also on down time, so now is the right time. The only real training I will be doing is drinking beer and watching the Patriots. I'll continue to swim and go to the gym though, so things don't get too out of control.

Everyone else should be taking some time off too! Boston Marathon training starts in three weeks!!

Cheers!

-Kyle