Lake Stevens 70.3

It's an appropriate time to begin this update section as I am coming off a knee injury that necessitated almost two weeks of rest. After a bike crash 3 weeks ago, I bruised my patella and it led to some tracking issues. Thinking I would just shut down the training before my race in Lake Stevens and be fine, I headed to Seattle to visit friends and hoped for the best. My race day performance was less than stellar. A non-wetsuit swim which was a touch long left me nearly 3 minutes in arrears, and the knee was hurting throughout the bike, so I never found my usual rythym. I came off the bike in 5th place and knew that if I could hold my spot it was worth $1250, so I just settled into a decent tempo run. When I reached mile 4, the pain had subsided as my knee went numb, and I was able to pick it up for the remaining miles. Heading out to the last turnaround, I knew I wouldn't be catching 4th place Tim Marr, and he gave me a boost saying "don't get caught." I stayed steady through the final miles and held off 6th place by about 2 minutes. I didn't have a great race, and it was frustrating to feel restricted on the bike when I normally rely on it as my strength, but I was happy to win some money and see some good friends in Seattle. Additionally, my coach Elliot Bassett (http://www.mountainendurance.com) and I had agreed on a good rest block after Lake Stevens, so I took some good down time here in Colorado. Now I'm back to training at full-tilt in Durango, with plenty of swims, rides, and runs to get my fitness back to a high level. I was originally planning on a trip to Boulder for the 5430 Long Course triathlon on August 10th, but I won't have the proper running fitness to really attack the course like I want to, so I'm opting for a good training block which includes a cycling race in Gateway, Colorado, with my team (see the website at http://rmcfcycling.wordpress.com/). I'm actually looking forward to some quality training again with fewer races, as the first half of the year was pretty hectic between triathlons and bike racing. I do have a few races planned for the second half of the season, including the Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, TX, and the Harvest Moon Half, but I'm leaving it open enough to provide ample time for Ironman training. There is a small local sprint triathlon this weekend in Durango, so I'll be using that for some top-end speed and a chance to race against some of my training friends here in town. Until then, more quality training awaits...