WAYYYYY overdue!

Well where to begin? A lot has happened since my last post. Through out the holidays I have attempted to stay consistent with the training. Shelley and I have been going into the gym every morning for some training. I have been lifting weights three days a week, and the other days I have been getting an hour run in. Shelley has been concentrating on getting a quick lift in three days a week, doing the elliptical every day, and adding in some treadmill work on the days that she does not lift. We are both very happy with the progress that we have made this month.

For the riding, it has been OK, but not at consistent as I would like but hope that this will change next week! I had to spend a couple of weeks on the trainer due to the cold weather, and we all know how BORING this can be. So, during this time I was trying to get as close to two hours as possible, and still keep my sanity. The cold broke around Christmas, and after that I was able to get outside until this week.

The day after Christmas Matt, Lelan, Tim and myself went out for a nice training ride! It was actually so warm that I was able to ride in just a jersey and shorts! We went for a 50 mile ride that was pretty high intensity. We covered the distance in two and a half hours. This was quite good, due to the fact that it was quite windy that day. It was the first time to get the heart rate REALLY elevated in a couple of months, and it felt good.

On December 27, we went to Colorado to visit my family. I took the cross bike and got in three nice rides in the wonderful Colorado weather. It felt SO good to be out side. The weather was around 50 the whole time we were their. We then returned to Kansas and I was able to go on a fun group ride on New Years to start off the year on the right foot. It was a casual 42 mile ride through the Flint Hills. A good time was had by all.

This week things have changed a little though. I am back to work, and doing the day shift thing for a week and a half until school starts. I am trying to piece together workouts to try to keep on track. Early mornings with Shelley, lunch runs and something aerobic for a little while after work. It has been the exercise bike at work the last couple of days, due to the fact that my new coat DIED on me Monday! I spoke to the company, and they are going to replace it for free. The problem is that it has cooled again, and I will not have a winter riding coat for this week and next. WHAT A BUMMMMMER. Next Wednesday school begins again, and my new coat should be just about here, so I can at that time attempt to get some sort of regular training schedule established for this next block.

On the racing world, the season it quickly approaching! The first race is the "Bone Bender" March 14, in Smithville Missouri. It will be a 6 hour race. It will be a nice practice/warm-up for the Ouchita Challenge which is April 5, on Oden Arkansas. This race will be BIG FUN!!! When registration opened, they had to close it again in ten hours because it had already filled. It will be 60 miles of goodness! All of this is going to be wonderful training for this years Dirty Kanza 200 which will take place on May 30. WOW, this race season is already shaping up to be AWESOME!

Well, the digits are getting tired so I will let you all go for now. Hope that all is well, and stay tuned.

Peace Out