You're probably wondering what I've been up to these past few months (or not, it's ok, you can tell me), and why I was absent from Azalea Fest Worlds yesterday. Long story short, it's been a rough winter. I don't really feel like getting into all of it, so I'll give you the bullet points.
-Calf injury caps off the end of last season
-Calf heals with rest, but mysterious patellar tendonitis pops up in other knee with no activity
-Both clear up (for the most part), and I'm back to training
-Super cold morning run, calf flares up again
-1 week off, no good; 2 weeks off, still no good
-Possible tear, 6 more weeks off
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| Damn you Phil |
To cap it all off, I recently missed a full week of training due to the flu/bronchitis/some gnarly s#!@, that lingered for another week or so. I figure if I go Bill Murray style from Groundhog Day, and take out Punxsutawney Phil, I should clear right up. What's the worst that could happen.
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| Don't drive angry |
Alright, enough Debbie Downer crap. On the bright side, not being able to run has it's perks. Today, I competed in the
Tom Dula's Revenge gravel road race up near Wilkesboro. This is a really fun 50 mile road race that includes about 15 miles of dirt and gravel roads. It was a very challenging course, and my form was a bit lacking, but I had fun with it.
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A couple of these stream crossings spiced things up on the final 11% gravel climb.
credit: Andrew Stackhouse |
If I go too long without some sort of race stimuli, I get a little crazy. The race was just the kind of ass whopping I needed to get me fired up for the rest of the season. Had I raced Azalea Fest yesterday, I would have never had a chance to do this race. I am already planning on doing Boone-Roubaix (same style race, but with bigger climbs) at the end of the month to keep things rolling and race myself into some good form.
Still reading? I admire your tolerance to pain.
Oh, and one final note. In case this blog just isn't fulfilling your Matthew Wisthoff needs (let's be honest, can you ever be fully satisfied?), you can check the Star News sports section, where 4 local triathletes and I are being featured in a year long story about triathlons and junk.
Here is a link to the first article, and
here is a link to the blog.
Thanks for reading. As a parting gift, here's a super throwback/OG pic from one of my first races. Enjoy.
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| Azalea Fest, circa 2005 I think. It was a bit wet that day. |
