By Kelly Guest
Feb. 5, 2007
-- A new year and, therefore, a new season. This can be a great thing if you take the time to look back and address the things missing in other years. This time is filled with optimism and excitement as we all plan out our races and set our goals for the season ahead.
For myself, I have shifted gears, so to speak, for this year. I looked back at previous years and realized that I have not spent enough time mountain biking to fulfill my heart's desire, and I have jumped around between various distances more than I should have. This jumping around between distances and disciplines has had a cost. If you start off the year with a sweet time-trial bike for half-Ironman distance, a fantastic road bike for draft-legal races and a really cool mountain bike for off-road races you don't get enough specialization -- some do, I don't.
So how am I going to fix this for this upcoming season? I have decided to hit the dirt and focus on the USA XTERRA series and the Canadian XTC series. This will hopefully make the most effective use of my training time and satiate my desire for the dirt.
To prevent temptation to jump back on the road I have limited myself to a cyclocross bike and a couple of mountain bikes. I am super excited for these mountain bikes to arrive! Both of the bikes I am going to get are XC dual-suspension bikes from Giant, and the one I am most excited about is the Anthem Advanced. This bike is a sweet all carbon XC dual suspension racing machine! The last carbon dual suspension I had was the Giant NRS Air and if you read my articles at that point in my life you will know that I loved that bike, this new Anthem Advanced is supposed to blow the doors off the old NRS with different linkage points and a new ride.
You may be wondering if my decision to race off road this year was determined by the bike . . . well no, but it did make the decision a little easier.
So now that I am back at training, I can say that I always find this an interesting time of the year. You get back into training after a much-earned rest; the first few sessions don't feel super, but it is nice to be back at it. Then about two to three weeks into it you start feeling the fatigue build up. This to me is the interesting part because I automatically think, "Oh no, this is not good. I am hardly training compared to last year, and I am already feeling wiped". Then when I look back at my training logs I realize that I am actually training at a decent level.
It amazes me how my brain goes back to the last bout of big training and thinks that is where I have to start this year at. I think that is when most athletes get injured, the "jump back in head first, with your hands at your side" mentality. That is one of the reasons that you have to keep those training logs. So dig them out, blow the dust off them and use them when you are planning your 2007 season.
I hope that your season is looking and feeling as exciting to you as mine is to me. I think that is a big key to a successful year. That is why we do it, right? So until next time, train smart, and keep the endorphins flowing!
Interested in the Mountain Man? E-mail us your thoughts.Kelly Guest is sponsored by Giant Bicycles
and Brooks. He is coached by Competitive Edge Training.