Things Change...

It's been awhile since the last post and a lot of things with the season have changed. I completed the Shadow Tour 100mi TTT with the Moment Cycle Sports Team and we finished 2nd overall with a 04:58:00 time. Next was the Carlsbad HM, I entered the race with a 01:25:00 goal and was well on my way to finishing that when I hit the turn around at 38 minutes, unfortunatly there was another 6.5 miles to go. I finished the race with a 01:28 which was my best HM to date; however 3 minutes off the goal. A couple of weeks later we were back on the bike, just a road bike this time. We drove a couple hours east to the Boulevard Road Race where I experienced the most miserable race of my existence. Between the terrential downpours of freezing rain and the flat tire at mile 35 it made for a rough day. I experienced my first DNF at this race as I had to be picked up from the course due to the flat tire. Back to the Triathlon bike with 7 weeks to California HIM, which should have been plenty of time to ramp up to the race. Busy at work and a week in Pittsburgh 2 weeks out from the race made for what I thought would be a good training day into a pain, not to mention the tendonitis in the ankle. The race started off ok with a swim that wasn't far off from my previous years time (without a lot of time in the water), onto the bike, the first half of the course was great, I felt strong and I was holding pace with some of the strong riders in my AG. Once we hit the backside of Camp Pendalton my lack of training over the previous 3 weeks caught up with me, my muscle endurance just wasn't there and the hills and wind killed me. I finally made it back from the bike with my worst bike split of any HIM to date. The Run.... do I push the tendonitis and risk injuring the ankle further or ditch the event based on a poor bike performance. Since I hadn't DNF'd a HIM to this point I wasn't going to start today. Off on the run I was holding a very strong pace coming out of T2; however the ankle just kept getting more and more sore with a lot of pressure building up in it. I hit the half way mark with a respectable time and that was it the pressure on the ankle got significantly worse and the pace fell with it. I ended the run with my strongest run to date, which is pathetic based on the injury. 5 weeks after Oceanside and the ankle is still injured, I have a hard time running more than 15 minutes without pressure building up in the ankle, which brings me to the delimma Louisville or No Louisville at this point training is limited to the bike and swim with very little running. I have signed up for Wildflower Olympic, which is where I am sitting tonight typing this information and the Encinitas Sprint. I have until July to make my final decision but it's looking a little bleak right now.